I Snuck Out To A Yarn Shop

Durwood decided that he wanted to take a nap so I got to solo to AAA to consult about an alternate route home that avoids the bridge building snarl in Louisville.  I was moderately successful, mostly because AAA doesn't track smaller roads and construction on them but got us routed around the Louisville mess.  We'll have to get to the Indy construction where traffic is detoured for a few miles onto a state highway but we'll stay on that highway and join Highway 41 on the western edge of Indiana and make our way home from there.  This way adds about half an hour which is more than satisfactory if it keeps us out of the Interstate Highway Construction parking lot system.

After AAA I programmed the GPS to take me to Magpie Yarns in downtown Lexington.  There are two yarn shops here.  DD works all week and she and I will go to knit night at her favorite yarn shop tonight but I wanted to visit the other one too--so I did.  Magpie is in a tiny old house on a narrow one-way street.  She's got the yarn arranged by color along the walls with a special sock yarn section at the entrance, a plant fibers area, and an area of superwash yarns.  The impact of the rainbow of yarn is great when you walk in with laceweight all across the top, DK, then worsted, then bulky, then superbulky as you reach the bottom cubbies.  She has one skein of each line of yarn she carries in the cubbies with additional skeins in the back so it's a bit difficult to see, for instance, what colors of Cascade 220 she has, but there are lots of nice samples all around, comfy couches to knit on, and a big table in the middle of the room where she displays the newest arrivals before they get shelved with their pals.  I managed to nab a skein of Delicious Yarns Sweets Sport in the Black Cherry colorway.  Then I trolled through her 40% off baskets.  (we all know I'm a sucker for "% off" sales)  There was that 100% baby alpaca I'd found at Spin in different colors so I made three of the Lava Red and three of the Khaki mine.  I may be going back for more...  It was my birthday two days ago, remember?

Because having two projects OTN isn't enough, I cast on a washcloth last night.  A couple posts ago I exhorted the Bay Lakes Knitting Guild (BLKG) members to find a stitch they liked and make a washcloth out of it, oh, once a month.  That way they'll build up a supply of washcloths to use or give away plus they'll learn a new stitch.  I'm taking my own advice.  The Yarn Harlot used Bee stitch in the layette she made for her latest nephew and linked back to making washcloths with the same stitch.  I liked it, I'm making one, and in white just like she did.  I started it after supper, got the garter border knitted and then started the stitch, adding knit stitches at the beginning and end of the rows so it'd look nice.  I got a couple of the 4-row repeats done and decided I wasn't thrilled with the edges so I frogged it and started over.  I got one repeat done before I turned out the light.

September 3--Skip Caplan, Starfish.  Savannah snorkeled over the white sand shallows in the protected cove in front of the villa.  She watched her shadow glide over the bottom, seeing the tiny fish and crabs dart away at her approach.  The sun felt hot on her back.  She was glad she'd asked Leo to rub sunscreen on her back before leaving for his deep sea fishing trip. He had been as excited as a kid, talking about the world-record marlin he hoped to catch.  When she asked him if they were good to eat he had been horrified.  "You don't eat marlin, you have them stuffed to hang over the mantle," he said.  Not over my mantle, she thought but didn't say.  Why send him off with an argument?  The whole stuffed fish over the mantle discussion could wait until he'd caught one.  If he caught one.  She kicked a bit and glided over a seagrass bed.  Tiny silver fish darted among the swaying blades and a bright red starfish with four arms and a stub crept along on its hundreds of tiny suction cup feet.

Man, I could be there right now feeling the silky salt water caress my skin as I move along, the hot sun on my back, hearing the whoosh of air through my snorkel.  But we're getting ready to follow the driving tour map I got from Miss Frances, that should be fun too.  Toodle-oo!
--Barbara