Karma bites my AS$.

So it's all karmic (though I'm sure I'm using some lame, unauthentic understanding of Karma).

It goes like this:

I'm sitting at my computer and just randomly go to The Loopy Ewe site because I've been wanting some Wollmeise sock yarn. And YIPPEE! There are some skeins left and in colors that I had scouted out and wanted. And I think, no, really you have 10 yarns in your stash, you're not supposed to buy yarn. Yet, I throw caution to the winds and enter the karmic roller coaster and purchase not one, but two skeins, becoming a yarn pigweena (yes, it's a really word. shut up.)

B) So as to not completely shoot my yarn stash vow all to hell, I madly finish socks for Poem-man so as to be able to cast on something else and thus take a yarn out of my stash. Mind your of course that I'm not supposed to be casting anything on--I'm supposed to be finishing the wedding afghan...

C) Unbeknownst to me, the yarn actually arrives in Brooklyn, but not to my greedy little hands because I'm not home on the first delivery attempt and no delivery notice is left either. But that's okay, more time to swatch and get a little new something on the needles. Excellent.

D) I'm walking the few blocks from the subway to Ms. Allena's B-day party (Most excellent fun). As I'm walking quickly (because I'm late) past this tiny, unassuming thrift store, I look in a bin by the table outside the door and find these: Holy Lutefisk! They looked like some kind of authentic Scandavian knitwear. Way authentic, it turns out.

My take was really two pairs of Selbu Mittens and a pair of slipper/legwarmer/mukluk things. The mittens are totally unworn, as they still have the original tags and are still knotted together. The slippers are barely worn. All this for $9! Apparently the mittens are hand-knit. Beautiful find--though now I'm totally too intimidated to try knitting anything like this myself.

So life is good--knitting is happening, beautiful handknits found on in a thriftstore, and beautiful yarn on its way.

BUT--here's the karmic justice. I have to go to our godforsaken post office to pick up my package. Argh. Poem-man actually goes to the Post Office on Saturday to pick up a package for himself, but neither of us know, because no postal carrier left a notice, that there's a package of yarn love waiting for me. Argh. So today, I head home quickly from work and have about 10 minutes to of parking before my car is not supposed to be in front of the Post Office, but right after I go in the busy, godforsaken Post Office, I see a NYC traffic cop issuing me a freakin' parking ticket because I've actually parked NOT in a parking zone that ends at 4 pm, but in a NO PARKING anytime zone. GREAT FREAKIN' damn-you-karma double ARGH!

But in the end, I get my ticket, get my package, and have the lovely, lovely reward of yarn to assuage my pain. sigh. I take this all as a cautionary tale of what happens to a person when they break their stash vow. Consider yourself warned. The kicker is that the name of the colorway of the really lapis blue yarn is Vergissmeinnicht. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that's German for "Forget me Not." damn.

It's a race...

I've been trying to knit as much as possible--opting for the subway rather than driving when I can, avoiding sudoku in order to knit, watching movies at home instead of dark knitting-unfriendly movie theaters.

I got slowed down by the fact that I knit the heel gussets and turned hte heel and had started on the legs (I went toe-up) of these socks when I realized they were too short. The best thing about doing socks two at a time is that they're done at the same time and are totally the same. The bad thing is that when you make a mistake you do it for TWO socks, which means ripping out the work for two socks and reknitting TWO socks. criminy.

In any case, they're done and muchly satisfying to Poem-Man. The yarn is scrumptious and seemingly durable, though I did reinforce the heels and toes just in case. The socks fabric is really smooshy and dense. Nice!

Pattern: Diagonal Rib Socks

Yarn: Shibui Sock in # S323 "Peacock"

Yarn enabler: Webs (in the actualy store!), August 2007

Knit on: One 32" Knitpicks Size 0 Circular Needle

Time spent knitting these instead of that afghan: 19 days

Speaking of that afghan, I have just 5 skeins to go. 5 skeins and fringe. That's all that's between me and one of three sweaters dying to be cast on. In the meantime, I'm in a race against time and stash because I impulsively, compulsively, and serendipitously bought some Wollmeise sock yarn that had been snuck up onto the Loopy Ewe site. (apparently she sold some 330 skeins of Wollmeise in 2 hours. sheesh.) There's not room in my stash just yet, but if the postal service is typically and mercifully slow, I just might be able to make room in my stash for that Wollmeise....

Keep it comin'

What's crack-a-lackin'? Yes, work has begun again and the make-your-own-agenda of the summer is over, so knitting time as been at a premium. And with ALL the projects on the needles, progress has been steady, but a little watching-the-grass-grow slow.

And then--SURPRISE!--this came in the mail today.

I had totally forgotten that I had signed up for the Hill Country Yarns Sock Club back in August, so when I saw a package from a yarn company in the mail. I had to squeal like a little girl. And then when I opened the package, I was doubly happy because I love the color periwinkle and I love Sweet Peas (in fact I carried sweet peas in my wedding bouquet.). And boy am I glad that the green sock in the picture of the pattern is NOT the yarn I received...

More incentive to finish the projects on the needles. And to prove that I am indeed knitting, here are some progress shots. I am on Ravelry now, and have 'made it big,' so to speak, because my picture of the afghan is the featured picture for the Melissa Leapman pattern. Yahoo!