This is how I felt, yesterday. Part of the reason for this terrible stress was that my beautiful sister gave me a $50 gift card to Eat Sleep Knit, and I knew what project I was buying for. I bravely narrowed down the brands, judging by skein length and composition, and then I. . . had to choose a Madelinetosh colorway. I don't know if you've ever tried to do that but it is
very difficult. Like... I want to eat those colors with my mind. Especially because - do you see how they're photographed? True colors, good lighting, and bundled up like toffees? In the end, I chose the Malachite colorway, for use on the
Emily Capelet by
Ysolda Teague. I was torn, originally, between getting a neutral (my heart pitter-pats for Fawn and Alabaster), and a brighter color. But most of my clothes are neutral because I am a chicken, so that green is necessary to keep me from looking like some kind of a Sepia cartoon character.
Partway through the stress of decision-making, I pulled out the shoe-box from under my bed, took out my Malabrigos, and clutched them to me, palpating and sniffing. Fondling and wriggling. Sometimes I make them scoot like inchwarms - end to end, stretch out again! end to end, stretch out again!
Such is the life of someone who has recently discovered that wool is not all the worst-feeling, hive-inducing thing on the face of the earth. I put the yarns on my face.
Christopher decided to join the fun, and then threw yarns onto me from my living-room stash (I'm like a squirrel - they're everywhere!) His aim was true, thank goodness, and none of them hit me in the face. That would have made me even grumpier. I told him if he was going to decorate me, he had to get my phone, because Hipstamatic needed to bear witness to the ennui of the yarn intelligentsia. He obeyed, and now the event is chronicled. He asked what was wrong, and I said, "Can't you
see? I have all these yarns, and I can't knit them all at once!"
Eventually, I placed my order. I was worried the yarn shop might think I was racially profiling (not really, this is just a totally contrived excuse), so I also ordered a skein of Malabrigo Silky Merino in Teal Feather. I already have one skein, and plan on making a cropped
Leisl sweater (also by
Ysolda Teague) with the pair of them.
This is a weird thing about my Malabrigo skeins. I have single skeins. What I really want is to live out the rest of my days in a sweater made from it. But I am not brave enough to make that kind of financial commitment, so I have skeins of worsted in Verde Esperanza, Purple Mystery, and Pearl Ten. I have Silky Merino in Pollen, and Teal Feather. And I have Sock, in Solis. And there they lie in wait, for me to think of the perfect (small) projects. The
Handmaiden SeaSilk (gotta love yarn store sales) lives in that box with them, and I have no idea what to do with that either.
Well, that's all for now. Gotta go fetch Karen's Cashmerino Mitts out of the wool wash and set them gently to block. They came out so sweet, and that pattern uses exactly one ball of Cashmerino DK at my gauge!
