I went!

At last - yesterday was Wednesday and, miracle of miracles, I made it out to a Lettuce Knit SnB. No one forgot. No one got sick. No one did anything that would otherwise have prevented my going. It was great. The only drawback (and it was a small one) was that, for the most part, the people who were there last night were completely different from the people who were there on my last visit three months ago. Which, as I said, is only a very tiny drawback, since they were all very nice and friendly and I enjoyed the evening a lot. (The drawback part stems from the fact that I'm fairly shy with strangers, so it would have been helpful for my introverted self if there had been a person there who could have said, "Oh yes, I remember you!" and thus somehow validated my presence.)

So - an evening of knitting with other crafting kindred spirits outside on a very warm summer evening with a small baby around (LYS owner's daughter) and a beautiful yarn shop to browse through. It doesn't get much better than that.

I spent a bit of time in the shop trying not to drool over the lovely yarn. I coveted pretty much everything that was there, but in particular I was entranced by the Opal self-patterning sock yarn and some hand-spun silk in the most incredible combination of vibrant colours and textures imaginable (the manufacturer of which, unfortunately, I do not remember, although I strongly suspect it is Mango Moon). I have recently discovered the excitement of self-striping sock yarn, so you can imagine what self-patterning sock yarn was likely to do to me. I've been admiring it on other people's blogs, but seeing what it could do in person was incredibly tempting. The yarn came very, very close to overriding my genetic predisposition to follow a budget. I almost took it home with me. The only thing, really, that stayed my wallet was the fact that the colours available, while gorgeous, were not the sorts of colours that I generally like wearing. (And make no mistake, the socks I am planning to make with this yarn will be ALL FOR ME.) And the hand-spun silk was just unutterably gorgeous. I don't even know that I would even want to knit with it, I just want to have it.

Boy, it sucks sometimes being a single-income household. If my husband still had his job (and my 'fun money' allowance was therefore four times bigger than it is now), I would have gone pretty nuts and come home with a whole mess of silk and Opal, lemme tell you. Oh, well. I will just have to save up for it, that's all - and the acquisition will be that much sweeter.

I will definitely be going back for another SnB. Not next week, because each time I go my heart breaks a little at not seeing my girl before she goes to bed. But maybe in a few weeks.

Hooded jacket for baby Sperling

All the knitting is now done - I finished the last border this morning in the car. Now comes the making up. Ugh. Sewing is so not what I like about doing projects. However, it must be done. I may not finish tonight, but before the work week is out I expect I will have a finished jacket.

Stornaway sweater for BIL (blue)

I got a lot of work done on this yesterday, both on the commute and at the SnB, plus a few more rows today. I am very pleased to say that the part with the main pattern is now longer than the ribbing. (I know that doesn't sound like much, but the ribbing is quite long, trust me, it's a big accomplishment.) I also got complete understanding from the other ladies last night regarding my decision to work on this instead of my MIL's Cape Cod sweater. All I had to say was, "But it's alpaca," and I received empathetic nods. See? I'm not so weird. ;)

However, I did meet with a lot of surprised reactions when I answered the 'who is that for?' question, The common response was, "Wow...you must really like your brother-in-law!" I guess maybe most people only knit big, time-consuming stuff like sweaters for super-super-super-important people, like spouses or children or selves. So maybe I am a little weird. :) I didn't think it was such a big deal, myself - I mean, what else was I supposed to do when I looked at the photograph of the sweater in the book and immediately thought, "Wow, that would look terrific on Brian!" Obviously, the Universe was telling me that my BIL needed this sweater. So no choice, really. (Plus, it's such a great excuse to knit this pattern.)

My husband says that the very fact I consider this 'no big deal' is precisely what makes me such a wonderfully selfless human being. At which opinion I must snort. I am, and always have been, one of the most self-centric people I know. I want to make this sweater for my BIL because a) I will enjoy making it, b) his (hopefully) enthusiastic reaction to the gift will make me feel awesome, and c) those who see the sweater will be (hopefully) impressed with my knitting skills. It's self-aggrandisement at its best. Don't be fooled.