Pot O' Gold, After All

You guys are the jiggiest. Because of your unanimous encouragement for me to try option #4, I did contact Knit Nouveau to see if maybe, possibly, per chance, they just might have that other megahank of Handmaiden Sea Silk in "straw" that they had way back in July. Mercedes Tarasovich-Clark, the owner (and designer of such knits as the Retro Redux Shrug and Refined Raglan), emailed back immediately to say that they did still have it, she was setting it aside for me, and if I called with my credit card number she would put it in the mail right away. CAN YOU BELIEVE IT? I couldn't. I felt like such an idiot inquiring about it (because #1 I should've bought enough for the project in the first place and #2 since I didn't buy enough I should've modified the project to work with the amount of yarn I bought and #3 who expects a single perfect hank to still be in stock 3 months later?). Well, I don't feel like an idiot now! Okay, I do still feel like an idiot. But an idiot with a megahank of Sea Silk on its way to me! Word.

[see, if you start a paragraph with a word like "jiggiest" it is not nerdy at all to end by saying "word." right? who's with me?]

Knit Nouveau is officially my all-time favorite Local Yarn Shop, if by "local" you mean 800 miles away. Seriously, favorite yarn shop ever. You've probably read the stories I have, of terrible visits to yarn shops (most horrifying was Alison's account last June). Most of us have had at least one bad experience - I know I have. Stores where you feel like you're not part of their club. Stores where you feel like you're an intruder. Stores where you are steered to the acrylics if you enter with a baby or child (or, worse, frowned at if you enter with a baby or child).

My first experience with Knit Nouveau was last summer - you can read that story here. The woman working that evening went way above and beyond the call of duty. A couple of weeks after my visit, the shop moved to a different part of town - precisely two miles from my BIL's home. So of course you know where I spent a few hours while I was visiting this summer. The first time, I took Little Buddha with me, and Jane, who was working that day, was so kind - when he got bored and restless, she just played and played with him, leaving me plenty of time to sniff yarn and drool. I came back a few days later and dropped a wad of cash, purchasing, among other things, the glorious megahank of Sea Silk (it was my first upclose encounter with this yarn, and I simply couldn't resist).

I also got this:

Tofutsies, for making socks for the boys

Farmhouse Silk Blend, DK, in "seabreeze", on sale
Jane was making a Baby Surprise out of this yarn in a different colorway, and I was so taken with it that I had to get some myself, with plans to make the same thing. No baby in mind, just wanted to make a Baby Surprise. And I found the perfect buttons for it. (sorry, no picture)

Of course neither of these yarns have yet seen the light of day, since I really really must be practicing knitting monogamy right now. The race to the finish is on now (we leave for the wedding two weeks from tomorrow). But the knitting gods have clearly been smiling on me this week, so here's hoping they keep it up just a little longer!

Thanks, friends, for holding my hand during my freak-out, and for giving me such good - and effective! - advice.