Gimme and "S"...YAY, Stress!

I had a craptastic weekend.

It started on Friday with a call from my mom. There was an incident at the daycare. This is a very long story that I still haven't gotten to the bottom of yet. No one was hurt, but the story isn't very clear, and I was not personally notified, nor was my X.

So, I wandered home and I found Smooshy in my mailbox, and well, yarn always makes me feel a tiny bit better. Yellow, blue, and purple colors. Beautiful.

I'll tell you, I am completely a Noob at this whole "luxury" sock yarn thing, but I can't tell the difference between the mediumweight STR and the lightweight. Of course I don't have any lightweight. So I ordered some. I agree that the mediumweight is thicker than Koigu, but it appears to be of similar weight to Shibui. It's soft.

I went to Fontana Sushi in Littleton and Abe's Cafe in downtown Littleton on Friday. I had cheesecake. It was nice. I'm good at the description, huh? They had these cute little miniture snapdragons out front and the gentleman working called me "Carolyn" with his accent. I was amused.

The next day I received my order from Fearless Fibers. I've been impressed with what people have knitted with this yarn as it supposedly doesn't pool. Also, it's the 7 deadly spins sock yarn club, at least I think so. Either way, I like the colors, the prices are good, and the shipping is quick.

I met up with a friend on Saturday night and we went to Vines in Parker. I highly recommend this place. It's a tapas bar. I had some sort of filet migion wrapped in pastry and brie. Drool. It was good. I also had the bruschetta, I have to admit I like mine with chunked mozzerella, this one wasn't too bad. More of a cream cheese with tomatos and balsamic on top. The wines they serve in glasses, bottles or basically half bottles. They also have "flights" where you can try 3 types of wine. I thought that was kind of clever. The prices are from $3 - $15 for the tapas. They have a patio or a dining area. I'd post a picture except my phone won't allow me to email pictures to myself anymore. Another lesson learned, take the camera stupid.

That night too, my friend and I talked about the supernatural. So, let me start with this. My experience with people, in general, is that often I find myself talking about stuff with people, and I find that people seem to tell me all sorts of things without any sort of filters, for whatever reason. Also, I get creeped out very very easily. My X always found this mildly amusing and would like to scare me just to see my reaction. I hated this. Lastly, I do think that there are things that cannot be explained. So, here it is about 10:30 pm or so, and she's relating her story to me. I told her, that I'd be more happy to talk with her about it, but it needed to be during the day, this was after about 30 minutes of conversation. She said she understood, but how conversation often goes, she kept going. I then sort of shuffled her out of my place then. Blah, blah, blah, tired, etc, etc.

Well, the next day, I had had my phone on silent because I had been up until 5:30 am watching Star Trek, partially due to stress, partially due to a little creeped out. When I finally check the phone around 11 am, here is this voicemail... "I think you were rude, my feelings were hurt, I was trying to tell you a story, etc etc." Then an hour later, another voicemail... "I'm sorry, I know your under a lot of stress, just forget my prior voicemail."

sigh

I have drama. I'm so normal it's painful I think. Maybe it's because I don't know what I think.

Sunday I went to Michaels to find a cross stitch frame holder. I found one, and I like it, I think it will work with my frame, but...I also picked up a 50% coupon for next week. Rats. I think I'm going to get another one using that coupon. Why, oh why, do I find out about sales when I'm AT the store.

Anyway, my long winded weekend came down to this. Did you know that stress causes you to knit tighter, which causes your gauge to be thrown all to pieces? I know, redundant. :) Sarcasm is my friend. So, my sock, my loved little sock, the first one came out so perfect. The second one came out at least an inch shorter. The YO look way smaller. I almost frogged them both. Dang. I've decided just to finish them up. Chalk it up to a learning experience, otherwise I will be knitting these same socks forever.

I don't think I'm a great knitter. I don't even think of myself to be an expert. I do find people asking me questions. I know quite a bit about knitting and I haven't ever knit anything yet, that I wasn't able to interpret, eventually. One knitter I met not too long ago told me I must just be good. Knitting, it just makes sense to me, now if only the rest of the world did.

Lessons learned from the Noro sock.

1. Stress effects gauge.
2. Try counting rows.
3. Try knitting both at the same time on 2 different needle sets.
4. Don't be afraid to pull enough out so the socks can kind of match, if that's what you want.
5. If making your own pattern...WRITE IT DOWN...more is better than less...

In need of advice, or maybe just encouragement

Let's first talk about dp ladders from hell. They look SO big to me. Poo.

Ladders happen with dp right? They just do. No matter how hard you tug at the yarn between the switch, they just happen. Do they ever correct themselves? I've never really asked anyone I've knitted socks for. Besides the people I have knitted socks for are not knitters, and most certainly they would look at me as though I had lost my mind talking about the ladder in the garage.

Second, how important is it to count rows? I know that tension and gauge can often vary slightly from day to day, and mood to mood. I've always just measured. I'm sure my inner perfectionist is just having a hay day with my brain. Poking at the little worrier child in my head.

I'm using this cast on for my toe. I like it. It's less likely to need tightening. Although the first stitch seems to always be loose. On the first sock I just tightened it and left the little loop it left, the second sock I tightened and then knit it with another knit stitch. This I think may have left a tiny hole, so I may have to rethink my thoughts about that loose first stitch. I may just try the Knitty version of the figure 8 again. It's been so long I really don't remember.

On a side note...I'm so ready for it to be Friday.

It's always seems like I get home at night and all I want to do is sit down, read some blogs, and go to bed. It's not that I forget to take the pictures, I just seem to run out of time.

Today I had a first. I took back sock yarn to an LYS. I'd link you to their website but String, A Knitting Boutique seems to have had it deleted. I don't know what is going on there, but it remains at my least favorite. I'm grateful that they took back the 2 skeins I had. One was a Fortissma, and no matter how hard I tried I just couldn't convince myself that the cotton/wool/nylon blend was going to work with the wool/poly blend of the Opal skein I have to go with it. So I ordered a solid Opal skein instead, and opted to take this one back. I also took back a skein of Noro, not because I didn't like it, but I had 2 of them. I decided I only needed one. Instead for their store credit, I picked up Jitterbug and Koigu. A much better idea in my stash.

I'm still not crazy about this store. I went up to the counter and let the person at the register know I wanted to do a return, she informed me of the store credit thing. I said that was fine and I just thought I'd pick out my new selections now. She nosed through my bag and picked out the solid color Fortissma and said, "Are you sure you bought this here?" I replied, "Yes, here's my receipt." sigh. For that reason alone I don't think I'd really want to be a shop keeper. Maybe I'm a crappy customer having the expectation that you ought to have a basic idea of what is in your store.

I also went to Knitty Cat. Ann has Flat Feet in bright colors. She says she's going to order more. Yay, because the stuff she had, I don't think will last through the weekend. I hope she gets in some of the Noro Silk Garden Sock Yarn too when it comes out. She said she'd ask her rep. I went for Flat Feet and a Jitterbug followed me home.

The Jitterbug has so many colors in it. It's like a crayon box that tastifully threw up.

I also came to the conclusion today that I need to have yarn at my desk...on my desk as a display. For some reason it kind of just makes me feel good.

A little bit of Monday, a little bit of Tuesday

It never fails me. "Cycle" at work comes around, and I can't sleep at night. I hate that. So, the time when I need to be most awake comes at the time when I'm the most exhausted because I can't sleep. Goody. I also start falling behind in every other aspect of my life, blogging, bills, eating, etc. I've done this for 5 years. Oh, how I need a change.

I finished my first sock. Yay. Noro is nice. It can be rough on your hands. My skein had 2 knots, hopefully no more. The colorway looks great on the skein, but can be troublesome because of the knots. It has slubs and sticks. However, it keeps my foot warm. It feels soft to me. I didn't have any problems with breakage, although I have heard others who have had issues with that. I'll be interested in seeing how it handles washing.

Have I ever mentioned I hate feet? I think they're sort of odd looking. I don't paint my toenails and I don't like pedicures. I do like to knit socks.

My second sock has begun, and well, I've miscalculated the colorway. Poo. I thought about frogging and pulling until it matched closer...but...nah...forget it. It's my first set of my socks. I'm sure it will be fine. Yes. Fine. No frogging.

This of course is not the second sock. I haven't had the time to take a picture of the second sock, or post pictures of flowers from mother's day.

This is a picture of my "design," the one that made me slightly batshit insane. It's cute though.
Needless to say, I did nothing last night. I fed the kids, read, and went to bed. My cloud of fogginess is better today and my shoulder doesn't seem to ache, which I am sure is a direct result of work and not from knitting too much. *cough*

I ordered some Smooshy. Seems interesting enough, stupid sock yarn habit. The worst thing about this habit...is when I send my order to my PO box instead of my home address. Duh. Now I have to wait until Friday instead of stalking my mailbox.

I need to figure out how to wear my socks. This I can sense is going to involve a new pair of shoes. I'll have to ponder this. I don't like women's shoes much. I always like to tell the men I've dated, "Slow down. Next time you get to wear the heels." I normally wear some type of boot, heeled usually, looks sort of professional with my slacks. However, this does not bode well for socks. I think my Teva's will work well, but I can't wear those to work or in the winter. I did see some Mary Janes that seem sort of cute, heeled, and in an elderly sort of fashion. No offense to anyone, really, but I remember my father's aunt wearing those shoes. So, it's hard for me not to imagine a 90 year old German woman in association with those shoes, but I still like em. One day I'll even have a link so you can see.

Birthday baby

Tomorrow my baby will be 4. Kinda crazy how quickly time is slipping by.

Today we went to breakfast, hung out at the park, went to Posh, went to the store to buy cookies for class tomorrow, and to another store to buy a birthday present.

Whew.

The only picture I have is this. He helped me pick them out. Ah, yes, training my little ones to pick out yarn. Posh is a nice store, they have roving. It's small, parking can be complex, but they carry Shibui and Happy Feet. I liked the name of this store and the owner is very friendly.

Also, Imbrium, is the pattern gusset similar to this one? I'm lame, I know I could just email you too.

Lastly, a contest! Go check it out.

And fin...

I found a basket. Finally. I did go to the Ross/TJ Maxx stores seeking one. I gave up and just went to the Container Store, which had them in 4 different colors. It's high enough to keep the yarn from crawling out of it I think. It's perfect to sit on my couch, and should deter the children son from stepping inside of it. It even has a nifty zipper.

My order from Crash Into Ewe came in the mail yesterday I think. It's so pretty. Red and sparkly. I think I'm yarned out now until June.

Now I just need to figure out what I'm going to knit with all this lovely sock yarn.

Lastly, I got to go check out Purls of Wisdom in Parker, CO today. Only because hangs head in shame, they have Flat Feet in stock. This stuff just looks so nifty that I couldn't help it. It also makes me realize that I'm very happy I don't live any closer than I do to this store. This place is *great.* Not only did Jen the owner offer that it is okay to just come over and hang out at the store, but the kids can come too. She has a little TV and VCR set up in the back with kid sized chairs. She also carried dyes for wool and roving. What more can I ask for. Sunbeams? Yup, her store had those too at 10:00 AM. Sold on this store.

Atmosphere: 4 sheep
Smaller without feeling crowded at all. Inviting and the knitting areas are well lit.

Kid friendly: 5 sheep
Jen, the owner, has set up a small area in the back of her store with a TV and VCR with kid-sized chairs.

Product: 4 sheep
Nice selection. Could use a bigger selection of sock yarn, but they carry Flat Feet. I'm not complaining. They also sell roving and dye.

Staff: 5 sheep
Very friendly and willing to assist in any information about the product or project you may be considering.

WTF (willing to frequent): 5 sheep
I've never had a yarn store owner say to me that it's okay just to come by and knit in the store's atmosphere. That was really neat actually.

LYS are bad for my health

Okay. Here's the deal. No more LYS and no more yarn until the Estes Park Fiber festival.

Period.

I went to go check out Knit Knack today.

I really enjoyed the store. It was comfortable and there was no pressure to buy anything. The best part was that I walked in on a sale.

Sadly, the only yarn I found on sale was the one on the far left. A good thing either way. I also left with 4 skeins of Shibui, and 2 skeins of Hacho. Sock yarn will be my undoing. :)

Atmosphere: 4 sheep
This is a very cozy store. Much more of a feeling like it's okay not to just shop, but to sit down and knit too. They also serve coffee.

Kid friendly: 3 sheep
Seems as though kids are okay as long as they are not touching the yarn or picking things off of the shelves, like most stores.

Product: 4 sheep
Nice selection of sock yarn, and Shibui to boot. They carry KA needles and interchangable needles.

Staff: 5 sheep
This store can go from busy to quiet quickly. The staff does well in keeping up and assisting when needed.

WTF (willing to frequent): 5 sheep
Just for the Shibui alone I'd go to this store. I'd also go to this store so I can just sit there and knit.

Look what I noticed.

I found a cute little crochet hook to assist in the run and some ideas on how to correct this.

My daughter no longer fits in this sock, but it was my first toe up sock.

I also found a great WPI tool.

Yay.

Now perhaps I can puzzle out what weight my handspun yarn is.

I learned something important today too. LYS are bad for me...it just causes random impulse buys. Although I must admit this one was good one.

I have a terrible relationship with bamboo...but these...are not only interchangable but they swivel.

I adopted a set today. Notice the size 7 that is missing and assisting in the reconstruction of my daughter's scarf. :)

Ah...if it's not the yarn, it will be the notions.

Today in my PO box, I happily discovered Sunrise. Yay. I love the red and black.

Thank you also for the pin and magnet. :)

I can't help but love mail.

Now if I could just figure out what projects to complete with the yarn.

Sock it to me

I think I have a small sheep growing in my closet. My stash is growing. I can't help it. I've been bitten by the sock bug and I can't stop obsessing about it.

My first frantic stop, really, was at Knitty Cat. The Lorna's Laces on the right...I bought a skein months ago. The other day when I was reorganizing my sock stash, I came across my little wound cake and realized that it was awfully small. There was just no way to get 2 good socks out of them. Maybe little ones or short ones, either way I called Knitty cat and I was in luck they had a skein. Knitty Cat is great. Small, but great. I raced over there to acquire the skein.

Atmosphere: 4 sheep
It's small, but it's welcoming.

Kid friendly: 4 sheep
Ann, the owner, and her customers have never glared at my children which as a parent is such a wonderful thing. I wish people really understood this more and how much of a relief it is not to go into a place and feel like you are carrying the plague.

Product: 4 sheep
Quite a selection for a small store. I could use a larger sock selection, but I've seen worse. If Knitty Cat doesn't have it, Ann will take note on perhaps ordering in the future.

Staff: 5 sheep
Ann knows me by name and I've never taken a class at her store. She's more than happy to tell of any of her sales before hand and she advertises them on her Ravelry. Knowledgable and helpful to any questions regarding knitting.

WTF (willing to frequent): 5 sheep
Great store. I always like to come here during sales and not.

However, a Jitterbug, 2 more Lorna's Laces and a Fortissma followed me home as well.

Today String, A Knitting Boutique an additional skein of Cherry Tree Hill, Noro and Fortissma followed me home.

I'm always a tiny bit disappointed when I go to this store. Today I am disappointed because when I just went to get this link, I noticed that they are having a sale on Saturday and the owner didn't even bother to mention it. I'll just be happy with my find of solid black yarn, although Colorful Yarns had solid colors as well.

I went to Knitty Cat once and a situation similar was occurring and the owner very kindly mentioned it to me. To which I made a special trip the following Saturday and bought twice as much as I would have normally. Kudos to Knitty Cat.

I think I'll just skip String and Lambbe Shoppe altogether from now on.

Atmosphere: 4 sheep
It's organized by color.

Kid friendly: 4 sheep
No kid distractions unfortunately, but they don't glare at you if you have one.

Product: 4 sheep
Lots of yarn and notions. They carry a large selection of other Noro items besides Kuryeon and Silk Garden.

Staff: 2 sheep
The staff is friendly when they talk to you. Sometimes it's hard to get their attention, I'm not sure if it's because of classes or just other customers.

WTF (willing to frequent): 1 sheep
I will not come back to this store as I was disappointed that no one happened to mention the sale...their big annual sale...was only 2 days away. I understand this, but at the same time, why not say something?

Finally, today I went to Colorful Yarns and found the orange Opal yarn I was looking for. Yay! On sale, double yay!

In addition, 3 other Opal's on sale and 2 Regia because there was a nice customer who showed me a sock she was knitting with it and it looked super cool.

So, there you go. :)

Here's my list so far in order of knitting stores I prefer.

Atmosphere: 4 sheep
Well lit and nice environment.

Product: 4 sheep
Great selection of sock yarn. Don't forget to check out their clearance area. That's where I found the 3 balls of Opal and granted I probably would not have picked those color when normally looking for yarn, sales are always a good thing.

Staff: 4 sheep
Depends on the staff...sometimes you get someone who is a people person. Sometimes you just get a sales person.

WTF (willing to frequent): 4 sheep
The only thing that sometimes causes me to pause before going to this store is that I have to have cash. I like their selection. I like their prices.

1) Purls of Wisdom
2) A Knitted Peace - They have Kauni
3) Knitty Cat - Smaller selection
4) Knit Knack
5) Colorful Yarns - Good prices
6) Shuttles, Spindles, and Skeins
7) Recycled Lamb - has a box of toys for the kids to play with while you shop
8) The Cottage Yarn
9) Showers of Flowers
10) The Lambbe Shoppe - Mostly likely will not return to
11) String, A Knitting Boutique - Will not return to

I'd just like to say...

I hate my oven.

I used to have this wonderful oven in the first place that I owned with my X. It cooked everythig correctly. Since we moved from there I have had little luck.

This oven has no window, no self clean, and it's set too high.

Note the picture to your left. Those are cookies. They look like pancakes. They would be slightly overcooked for pancakes. I think I may stick to the toaster oven. At least I know that works.

Well, they taste okay. Now if I just had milk. (shh...the kids didn't notice either)

On the up side, I received my order from Dreamweaver Yarns.

Oh happy day. I really like these Namaste bags. I have one with a scarf project, one with a sock project, and one with a blanket project.

I'm still not thrilled with the part of this bag where the yarn goes because the fabric used is very stiff and difficult to close. However, the color is wonderful and apparently I'm a sucker. :)

Too bad the picture quality on the second bag is not my best work. Doh.

This bag is pretty cool though. It has 3 sections inside, and little pockets for stuff. And the color is great too.

It's bigger than I expected from the pictures. This bag is actually the same color as the bag above. Hard to tell, gotta love autofocus and being in a hurry.

This past Saturday, Imbrium got married. In efforts to have well behaved children at the wedding I drove my kids all over the place to try and get them to fall asleep in the car. This effort was in vain. They did however rest and take a small nap directly before and on the way to the wedding.

On my effort to have naps occur, I found myself at A Knitted Peace. I suppose if I pick an LYS this one is one of my top 5. Mostly because of Kauni and Koigu, although the Koigu I was hoping for was already sold out.

Atmosphere: 4 sheep
It's comfortable, the staff is friendly, it's in downtown Littleton close to food and benches in the summer.

Kid Friendly: 2 sheep
It does not however cater to distractions for young children. I only include this bit in my reviews because of the fact that there are LYS that have little baskets of toys/books or TVs even. However, the staff is friendly and they don't hover over you if you do happen to bring your children with you, which is why it's at a 2 and not a 1.

Product: 4 sheep
They have a wonderful selection of yarn and a variety of notions. They don't have a very large selection of bags. However, this is fine now that I have plenty of bags to choose from and do not need more unless I clone myself. This is the only place locally that carries Kauni, and they just started carrying other colors besides the EQ (rainbow). I'm thrilled. So thrilled I bought a cone as you can see above. This also is the only store I've been in thus far that carries Koigu however, my sock yarn fetish has only just begun since I think I want to attempt to make this.

Staff: 4 sheep
Very friendly. Always willing to start a conversation with you and never seem bothered if you happen to walk into a conversation. Knowledgable about their products and willing to advise on technique.

Overall: 4 sheep
Mostly because of the staff and especially for the selection of yarn. If you haven't stopped by, you definately should add this to your list.

WTF (willingness to frequent): 5 sheep
This store is great. It's close to the lightrail. They have an awesome selection of Koigu and more colors in Kauni. Their staff is friendly. I always come here.

I spent sometime last week making and measuring (approximately) how much handspun yarn I have created thus far.

Hello, OCD. I actually ended labelling them twice because the first time I didn't include yardage and I had some of the fibers named incorrectly.

Now if I could just figure out what to do with all of this yarn. I've made rough guesses on how many yards each skein holds, so that will help in the project picking.

Lastly, more yarn.

A friend of mine is crocheting a scarf out of this. Two strands...it's very thick, but fuzzy.

I however have been looking for thick chinelle for the stuffed rabbit. This I think is the yarn recommended for the project if I recall, and hey, it was on sale.

I think that attitude is going to make me go broke.

So...

I've been busy. Doing what, I'd sure like to know. I wish they would let me knit at work. At least that would keep me busy. I think sometimes whats worse than being too busy at work, is being not busy at all.


Anyway, my project of stealth...

A scarf!

I guess that's not that big of a surprise really. I meant for the Karabella yarn to be a pair of fingerless gloves. I just couldn't find the right pattern. Then I worried about size. Then, then, then...

Scarves. Scarves are always nice. This one is soft. And long. And pretty.

I followed a pattern, and I'm lame I don't have a link. However, the information is here. I just don't have a picture up there yet and you have to be a member of Ravelry to see it.


Turned out swell I think. It was for Imbrium. She's getting married this Saturday, and her bridal shower was last Saturday. What better gift to give a fellow knitter than something knitted?!

AND of course I had to get her yarn. I settled on Noro sock yarn. I've decided if the price is right on the yarn, and the quality is anything but acrylic, then really, it doesn't matter what color or fiber type really, they're going to like it.

What a great excuse to go yarn shopping when it's for someone else!

Here it is blocked. I think I did okay and there wasn't any curious boys pulling out the interesting looking pins from the floor. All was well.

Last but not least Karabella Margarite is a faboo yarn. I give it a 5 sheep rating. It's soft, it feels great to knit with, it's small and easily portable. It does have cashmere so it can be a victim to static electricity. I'd use it again.

Review

I have decided that I am going to start keeping track of knitting items I come across. This includes but is not limited to, LYS, yarn, needles, notions, etc. My opinions and reviews are based solely on my experience as a knitter, yarn enthusiast, craft hobbyist, mother, and female.

One of my biggest irks over time has been the rudeness that I have encountered at LYS. Not only that but I have encountered staff looking at me if I have my child or children with me like they are the plague. I have been followed around stores to the point where I just won't shop at them anymore. I have encountered and elitist or snobbish attitude at times as well.

I also have had wonderful experiences where people have spoken kindly to my children, who are not the type of kids to 1) run around in the store, and 2) pull things off shelves. Face it, even though we have kids, and there are times where projects don't necessarily wait for babysitters, we do need to watch over our children's behaviour.

These opinions may change over time and I may review a place, item or thing again in the future.
I have been knitting for about 7 years and crocheting for about 9. I hand spin yarn on drop spindles both top and bottom whorls as well as a spinning wheel. I have been interested in crafts in general all of my life. I am the mother to two younger children and experienced in taking children to all sorts of craft stores.

So let's begin.

I'll start with The Lamb Shoppe.

First, my first trip there was actually my second trip there. I had forgotten.

Ratings are based on a five sheep rating, where five is the best, and one is the lowest.

Atmosphere: 5 sheep
I give them a 5 sheep rating since I am unaware of any other LYS in Colorado that has a coffee bar inside. They have at least 2 tables to sit around and a small sitting area. I also really like the hours that they are open. The one odd thing that I found about this LYS is that it seemed a little library like...fairly quiet and there were quite a few people in there at the time. I think that this may be a quality about LYS that is typical of them, so I didn't downgrade a sheep for it. The one thing I loved was the fact that this LYS stays open late. Most LYS in Colorado close shop at 5:30 pm, which makes it somewhat of a nightmare if you need another skein of something to finish a project.

Kid Friendly: 2 sheep
A 2 sheep rating because if you take a child there, there isn't really anything for them to look at. I hovered between a 1 and 2 rating...I raised it to a 2 because they do have the coffee bar and they did have non coffee products, such as flavored sodas.

Product: 3 sheep
This rating is in the middle...this is because the yarn selection seems wonderful, but I haven't seriously nosed around the store. I'm actually a little irritated about their bags right now. I bought a Namaste KnitTube from them and I think I got completely overcharged. Granted, it was 1) my fault for not researching better before buying, and 2) I never brought it up. Their receipt doesn't specifically include bags in their list of non returnable items. I paid $71.00 for the KnitTube whereas Dreamweaver Yarns has them for $39.00. So, learning that after I got home left a sour taste in my mind.

Staff: 4 sheep
The rating of 4 sheep is good, because I wasn't flat out ignored nor was I stalked. Their staff seemed friendly enough and they did seem to manage smiles, which believe me I have encountered many grumbly LYS staff before.

WTF (willing to frequent): 1 sheep
I'm always willing to go to any store if the product I'm looking for is about 5% to 10% more instead of waiting for it to be mailed to me from an online purchase. However, when the difference is 82% higher it just saddens me and makes me never want to go back.

So, here's the first one. I'll add more categories as I see fit. Feel free to comment if you wish. This was just something important to me.

Grr...

So I don't think I will have any progress on my cardigan to report today. Today I took the children to a yarn store. My oldest has always been perfect at craft stores. My youngest, doesn't get it. My oldest at the same age as the youngest would just peer,never touch, and would stay close to me. My youngest ran in circles around the isle.

I blame this on the fact that I was a stay at home parent when my oldest was that age, and I am not while my youngest is this age.

This brings me to my vent, the lovely worker at the yarn store, old enough to be my grandmother, kindly tells me how they appreciate that the children do not run in the store because of the hooks they have the yarn hanging on.

Duh.

Did I really look like I was chasing my child on purpose? This also brings me to my other issue. I have yet to be at a yarn store in this state that I like. They have...

• Ignored my question
• Ignored me completely
• Could not be found when I wanted to actually pay
• Started helping another customer in the middle of my question
• Have been prissy
• Have been unhelpful
• Been rude

So this yarn store I think has entered the top of my list of bad stores to go to. I am not stupid. I was not just letting the child run rampant. I was with him trying to catch him. I know I would have been irratated if I were the store worker as well. But I think you know the difference between parents' who don't care and those who are trying.

Needless to say, they did not have the pattern I wanted. Unfortunately they do carry my favorite brand of sock needles. I am hoping another one of my unfavorite yarn stores will carry them...or maybe I'll just resort to shopping online.

So I went to the next least favorite yarn store...and they were much nicer. But the worker was a newer one, which would explain her friendly manner. I tolerate this store, because they actually have a little place set up with toys for children. My oldest enjoyed it very much. The youngest napped.

So, they didn't have the pattern either. But I did find this on sale.

Even though it's olive green, it's just screaming to be something felted. So, I bought a book on felting. Should be interesting...when I get to it. That and lace, but that is another blog.