the quacking fiber addict

Yeah. Couldn't resist. Sorry :D

It may or may not be commonly known that I am a soon-to-be victim in Sock Wars (see sidebar). I accept this fate gracefully, I hope. But, since my assassin has gone to such lengths to kill me quickly, I realised I should at least try and get part of a sock done (yes, a sock, singular. I know I suck) before I send it all off to her. I'm finding it amazing how into this some people are, and some aren't. My target has a more laissez faire approach, I guess. (I'm using this term in the non-eco usage here, please don't leave corrective comments)

So, I hit The Knit Shop today to buy a set of Brittany US 5's and some sock of doom yarn. I succeeded in finding the needles, after being pointed to them (blush) and grabbed some random DK yarn - which turned out to be Rowan Wool-Cotton or Cotton-Wool and waaaay out of my price range whatever it's name is. When I went to pay, there was the whole scuffle over my name - do you know how many Sara Morris's live in Eugene? Bloody hell.

Anyway. So, as I'm in a rush, I just shoved my Visa at the lady. And it was declined. OMG. That was sooo embarassing. So, I just shoved all the cash I had at the woman and mumbled something. And escaped as soon as it was all bagged. And now I'm worried that the delayed purchases I made at OF&F will be declined as well. I just sent my payment off, and I'm a 'student', so my limit is low. Like... eeep. I tried checking online, but it only had my statement up to a week ago - so I live in dread of declined charges. Oh, and there's a block on my account, until they recieve said payment. Just... bugger.

So, anyway. The Sock of Doom. It turns out the yarn I bought didn't have enough yardage (by about 30 yards), despite being the right amount gram-wise. *insert choice expletive here* And there's, like, no way I can afford to buy another ball of this stuff. Upon realising my perdicament, and the fact that I totally don't want to go to another yarn store any time soon (bad bad bad idea) I remembered that yarn monkey (who is entirely to blame) chose DK yarn because, and I quote:

This is also a stash busting exercise and every fibre crafter on the planet has a skein of DK kicking around.

A "stash busting exercise", hmm? Well. I have a stash. A sizeable one, in fact. So, after some digging, I found a bunch of DK weight yarn. After arguing with Mum over whether or not the various yarns were scratchy (Mum thought my shetland lambswool was scratchy!!) I finally picked the left-over 100% virgin wool I used to make the Inverness Raglan. There's, like, over 4 oz of this stuff - so there won't be a shortage. And since it was handpainted by me, it's not too shabby either. I'm not being vain, I promise. Here's a pic of my progress from tonight:


And I don't think it's scratchy. I wear a sweater made out of the same stuff against my skin. Maybe I'm desensitized? I don't know. I'm usually picky about yarns, really. It's so strange to get into an arguement over whether a yarn is scratchy or not. But, then, I'm sure my Mum could find a way to complain about cashmere. Oh, wait. She did. She ended up giving me a cashmere sweater she bought that was, and I quote, "scratchy". Right. Onward.

So, now I'm wondering if The Knit Shop will let me return the yarn for either: a) money, or b) store credit. I haven't touched it. I just read the label after looking over the pattern again and cringed. Fun. I'm hoping they WILL take it back, because how in HELL am I going to use one ball of yarn? Seriously.

Anyway, I need to try and be more chipper. The world will not end because I screwwed up my Visa balance, or got killed right away in Sock Wars. And, since I DID manage to get a back-up ball of yarn today for my SKB, I should rejoice. More yarn is always a good thing ;)