I ended up going back to the infamous store (I had store credit, after all, plus I needed to pick up something for a swap), and they were actually nice to me, mostly. Plus the store had a much better selection in this particular item than the newer store in town, where everyone was super nice but they didn't have what I needed. Anyway, I'm gonna consider the karmic debt paid. But I'm still not going to go in there any more unless there's a YARN EMERGENCY. I'm not sure what really qualifies. I do have a decent-sized stash--nothing enormous, but I could go for a while just working from stash.

Speaking of which: I decided to start making socks from my oldest yarn first. I bought this yarn in Charlottesville, Va. last March when I was there for a competition. I tried five patterns, and I've finally found one that works.


The pattern is Leyburn, recently immortalized by the Yarn Harlot (she made them for the BSG premiere, if I remember); I've made a few MintyFresh patterns, and they're always cute and well-written, but I am just SO glad I found a pattern that (a) can be knit at a gauge under 8 stitches per inch (it's a heavier fingering weight); (b) actually fits on my foot; and (c) doesn't look like utter crap. I have dubbed this colorway Lisa Frank Unicorn Barf.

The mitered square blanket is moving along, and it's rather more preppy than psychedelic...

Though I should've known, since I let Mark pick the colors. Should I expect a call from James Spader circa 1984, checking on the status of his blanket? (Actually, that would be a good thing...) I have nearly 14 squares done--17.3% of the 81 total I will need--but then there's the border to think about. I'll probably go with a few rows of crochet. I think I have a month or two to decide.

In actual life, minor disappointments have been the theme this week. Last Saturday we had our long-awaited financial planning meeting; we are in very good shape, but we were really hoping we'll be able to buy a house this spring. Because the banks are so skittish these days (and rightfully so, I suppose), we'll need to save more money for a bigger down payment--so now we're looking at late fall. If I don't kill my A-hole neighbors first... Sunday we were supposed to visit my parents (it was my mother's birthday Saturday) and then go to a knitting friend's birthday party, but there was a snowstorm coming so we canceled everything. It didn't start snowing until after 11 P.M. No wonder I got so many of those damn mitered squares finished! Then the other day I found out there's a serious chance that the show I've been looking forward to this spring may be postponed or canceled because of the financial situation. The company wouldn't be the first to shorten their season this year; I've even heard about several companies that have gone bankrupt. It would be a shame if the show got canceled, but it's understandable...

So the economy sucks. These two links might help some people:

*A yarn bank for charity knitters--donate or claim yarn for your charity projects. I don't do a whole lot of charity knitting, but it is rather popular...

*Lunapads has a program where you can donate cloth pads to African girls who would otherwise miss school during their periods. This is such an awesome idea.