What-a-Sale!

Word sure travels when the entire yarn stock is on sale at 50% off!!!

We arrived at the store, saw the parking situation and got our first hint of the crowd that had gathered for this event, but we went in anyway. We had driven 2.5 hours to this great store for their great yarn at a great price, and we weren't going to turn back! Slight concern set in however, that we might not even get into the store before the 1-hour sale was reduced to 40%. But after waiting on the porch for about 15 minutes, enough shoppers left that we were granted entrance and given the precious 50% ticket.

Sardines -- that's the imagery that comes to mind -- not the smell, but how tightly packed the shoppers were in this house-converted-into-a-yarn-store. You definitely could NOT walk freely, instead you waited until someone inched over and you could squeeze into the spot they vacated. We patiently worked our way over to the sock-yarn corner where Gaugina picked out a few skeins and I found some beautiful cashmerino & cash/silk to make a nice soft warm wrap for work.

Brilliant Plan -- we noticed that the checkout line snaked through the rest of the store entirely. So we decided to get in line now and see what else the store had to offer along the way.
See the Red X in the diagram -- that's about where the end of the line was when we joined in.
It was hot and stuffy and the line moved VERY slowly. People actually cheered when shoppers would exit the store with their bags of goodies, because it meant possible advancement! Now, the slow pace of the line movement really had nothing to do with the employees (they were courteous and hard-working) it had to do with the sheer volume of yarn that was being purchased! By the time our place in line had moved to be near the store entrance, the line had doubled back on itself like you see in the picture. That's about when the 10:00 hour rang end of the 50% sale. Luckily everyone in the outdoors line at that time received a ticket so they could benefit from this big discount when they eventually gained entrance.

The Wait -- actually wasn't miserable, especially once we took off our coats and got a bag for our yarn and got near the fresh air from the entrance door. (Gaugina actually ducked out to run to McDonalds for their restroom and some water while I moved about 1 foot in the line). As you may have guessed, we were surrounded by very pleasant women! We chit-chatted with the 2-in-front and 2-behind for our entire wait -- which turned out to be.... (drum roll)... 3 HOURS!

Impulse Buys -- You know how the grocery store has gum and candy in the checkout lane. You don't really plan to buy these things, but somehow they catch your eye as you wait in line. Well, that's how the entire store beckoned to us -- "feel me" "buy me" "what's a little more" "such a bargain at this price" -- or was that our new friends in line encouraging us? Anyway, we succombed a bit and picked up a few items along the way, and the looking and touching was WAAAAAY better than gum and chapstick.

Finally -- we reached the register, made our purchase, and said goodbye to our line-mates, with best wishes and hopes of re-uniting at the same sale in a year with stories of finished projects made from these new purchases.

Time to go to lunch! Johnny Carinos == YUMMY! A Bellini, yummy food, knit time and coffee did wonders to recouperate our weary bones so we could head off to Yarn Tasting....

Ok, I'll join

Just signed up for Project Spectrum. Seems like low-pressure fun. With winter well into the grey/white phase, it's fun to think about colors! February/ March colors are Blue/White/Grey -- after looking outside, I guess I'll probably lean in the Blue direction. I've had my fill of white and grey!

Big yarn fun in store for tomorrow -- Gaugina and I are going on a knitter's dream drive. We'll start the day early so we can catch a sale at her favorite store, get some lunch, then head to Lansing for a visit to another store that we found because they sell Blue Moon Yarn, and then our final destination: Yarn Tasting at the shop! We've been looking forward to this for a while -- since we signed up for the Yarn Tasting, not even knowing what that will be! All that yarn, maybe I'll keep the Spectrum in mind if I make any purchases. Plus, since she knows the way better than me (at least that's how I explained it) she'll do the driving. So maybe I'll finish this sock, that I'm making out of this yarn (redwood forest) as a gift for my mom's birthday. Then it'll be back to knitting koolaid-dyed yarn into socks for the kids.

Try Dying...yarn that is

I thought it would be a Christmas break fun project for the kids to dye some yarn with Koolaid. So I bought 4 skeins of wool and LOTS of Koolaid and gave it as a Christmas present. Well, somehow they had trouble seeing the fun in it that I saw. "Oh yarn....thanks (?)" But attitudes changed when we got down to doing it (after a week of my begging -- "Can we dye yarn today?").

First up, Kid-A. She jumped in quite eagerly...mixing colors...splish-splashing spots all over the yarn. Then we moved the yarn too much and the colors started to bleed all together. We were kind of disappointed that the bright reds and oranges and yellows mushed into a tomato color. I quickly started making promises to order more yarn for another attempt. Disappointment hit a low point when we put the yarn on a plate to cool and it looked like raw hamburger! The yarn was unimpressive as it hung to dry Monday and Tuesday, but when I started to roll it into a ball, it began to show possibilities. Today, she is wearing a pair of socks that she loves! All the different shades really showed up in the knitting and she feels tons of pride in knowing she dyed it herself!

Dye-job #2, Kid-B. After watching the "hamburger" accident, he was much more careful to place his dye in three distinct sections: blue, orange, and black. I wound the ball last night, and it looks like a nicely varigated yarn. His only disappointment is that his "black" looks more purple-ish (it was made from grape) but I think we'll be happy. Originally I didn't think he'd like a pair of hand-knit socks, but we'll see...

Dye-job #3, Kid-S. She's the art student in the family. So she VERY carefully placed her colors and mixed. This is a new medium for her, but she seemed to enjoy it. I'll be starting a moebius wrap today out of the yarn -- we're all very curious to see how that turns out!

Dye-job #4, Kid-K. She's the engineer-minded child. She wanted larger stripes in blue and green, so she spent our whole dying time re-winding her yarn around our bannister...up and down...up and down...up and down and created a very large loop of yarn -- only to find out we were out of blue Koolaid. She'll dye another day. No rush however, because she'll want to knit the socks herself, and she already has a pair on the needles!