Friday, March 8, 2013

Bad Habit

Before John & I retired, we used to go to stores & never look at price tags.  If we liked something, we either tossed it into the cart or told the salesclerk "I'll take it."  I miss those days.  Now I must be more careful of my spending.  I must look at price tags.  I usually remember to do this, but then came New York City.  As I mentioned in my last post, I bought some yarn, mostly sock yarn, from 2 knitting shops there ... Knitty City (my favorite) & Purl Soho.  I didn't bat an eye at the cash register when the clerk told me what I needed to pay.  I figured that I had bought several skeins of yarn & shelling out that amount of money was worth it.  I still think it's worth it, but hoo boy!  I got out the yarn to take photos to share with you today & nearly choked.  I saw that one of the skeins was $30.00!  I then grabbed my receipt.  Seems I paid $30 each for 2 skeins of yarn.  No biggie ... it was a special treat, but I will have to pay more attention next time   : )

This is the yarn I bought at Purl Soho.  Going clockwise from the top left corner, there's a skein of Blue Sky Alpaca Suri Merino (60% baby suri/40% merino) in the color Crimson.  I think it may actually be a bit thick for sock yarn but I'll find something to do with it.  It feels like heaven!  Next is a skein of Anzula Sebastian in the color Madam, 70% superwash merino/30% sea cell which is a blend of seaweed & cellulose.  The next yarn is Manos del Uruguay, DK weight, 70% merino/30% silk.  This is an interesting yarn.  It is hand dyed in large kettles by a cooperative of 400 artisans scattered throughout the countryside of Uruguay.  My skein was dyed by Leticia in the town of Fraile.  Last are 3 skeins of Blue Sky Alpaca, 50% alpaca/50% silk, in the color Plum.  Softer than a baby's bottom   : )   I bought the knitting bag as a memento of my visit to the shop.
This next photo shows my haul from the wonderful, fabulous Knitty City.  Once again going clockwise from the top left corner, there's a skein of La Jolla Original Hand Painted yarn (Baah!), 100% merino superwash merino, in the color Singin' the Blues.  In the top right corner is a ball of Zauberball Starke 6 , 75% virgin wool sw/25% nylon, color name Pale Shimmer.  Under the Zauberball are 2 skeins of Terra-Logwood, DK weight, 40% baby alpaca/40% wool/20% silk.  At the bottom of the photo is a skein of Frog Tree Pediboo, 80% merino/20% bamboo.  No color name.  Last there are 2 skeins, one pink, one lilac.  The pink skein, color Sassafrass, is from Spud & Chloe, 80% superwash wool/20% silk. The lilac skein is another Frog Tree Pediboo, same description as above.  While looking at this photo you are probably thinking "Wow! What a neat knitting bag she bought!"  Well ladies, I did not buy this bag!  It is the bag that the store GIVES you when you buy something!  God bless 'em!  What a wonderful place   : ) 
So there are my stash acquisitions from NYC. This morning I had an appointment in Frankfort (about 40 minutes from here) & there is a well known shop there called The Woolery.  I've been living here in the devil's playground for going on 4 years now & I have never gone to The Woolery.  I checked on MapQuest & found that it is located less than 2 miles from where my appointment was, so I decided today would be the day I'd visit.  I even took my camera along to get photos of the shop!  Sadly, road construction was going on & the route that MapQuest gave me was blocked off.  Ah well, I will live to see it another day.  There is a knitting shop in Shelbyville & one in Louisville that I've never been to yet, & I just found out from Peggy Lee that there's apparently a "drop your garters" knitting shop in Bowling Green.  I see a few road trips in my future   : )

The temps this weekend are going to be in the 60s.  That just makes me want to gag!!! However, it was quite nippy yesterday morning & I caught a picture of Sophie warming her butt on the heating vent.  Silly girl   : )
I hope everyone has a great weekend!  Since it's going to be rather warm here (again, gag!!!), John & I will be going outside to clear some yard debris & I might even do a bit of weed pulling.  Such will be the bulk of my miserable life for roughly the next 7 months ... a constant battle with weeds.  GAG!!! 

17 comments:

Jo who can't think of a clever nickname said...

US$30 a skein! I'd want to hold the baby alpaca itself for that price LOL. I bet whatever you knit will be amazing though.
And at least you got a free bag!
Sounds like you had a terrific trip to New York, I've been once back in 2001 BK (before kids).

Marilyn said...

Thsoe are some gorgeouse yarns you bought though, and like you said, it's a treat. :)
Cute bag to put them in too.
Sophie is too pretty.
Marilyn

gracie said...

Those yarns are beautiful and worth the cost...you will enjoy the feel of them when you knit.

marly said...

Sophie sure is pretty. Sometimes it's best we don't pay attention to prices or we would never get what we want!

Ele said...

Gorgeous yarns! I am sure you will love using them

Michelle said...

Beautiful Yarns my friend x

Karen said...

Lovely yarns! Do you have a project in mind for any of them?

Dawn said...

OH the colors are so pretty, and I believe they owe you that bag, lol. You paid for it somewhere ! I can't wait to see what you make with them Shirlee!

Pam in IL said...

Lovely balls of yarn! Don't you just love how our furry family members always find the best places to get/stay warm.

I agree with you about the weeds, but I'd love to consistently see some temps warmer than 40. Maybe then I'd get to see the ground again instead of the white blanket of snow.

Peggy Lee said...

OH gosh...so much gagging. I tend to gag-up when it's nasty cold out. It was beautiful today. I even went out for my walk that I haven't been able to do in a long time. It felt NICE!! The horses even remembered me.
I wonder if there's room on that heat vent for me too? Do you think Sophie would share?
That is so cool that you know Leticia hand dyed your yarn in Fraile!
I hope you don't hurt your back with all that weeding. I know I wouldn't last five minutes with my back!
~hugs

butterfly said...

Lovely yarns, wool is such a price now, I should get mine down from the loft I have loads from my days of working in my friends wool shop , where do you think my wages went ! yes wool . hugs

Carol said...

I'm sure you'll create something wonderful with that yarn, Shirlee! Now use it and don't put it in a cupboard saving it for "some day." I have a bad habit of doing that and find that "some day" rarely comes :)

Love the picture of Miss Sophie--give her a cuddle for me!

Chris said...

It is amazing how things add up isn't it?
Hugs!

Sally said...

Those yarns are gorgeous Shirlee.

Hope you are doing ok.

cucki said...

Those yarns are beautiful..
i hope you are feeling well..
lots of love for deary sophie..from me and maloo x

geeky Heather said...

Gorgeous yarns...gorgeous colors! I am kind of the opposite of you...I look at the price tag almost immediately, and $30 yarn gives me heart palpitations, LOL! However, I can make an exception if it's "souvenir yarn"...like that crazy-expensive qiviuk I got in Alaska. Let's not even TALK about how much that stuff is! (Actually, I had to buy the qiviuk-silk blend...couldn't make myself buy the pure stuff. But I liked the blend colors better. =)

Anne said...

Wow! That's expensive yarn! But it is sooooo gorgeous and I'm sure it feels like butter in your hands. Hello Sophie!! I see she likes the heat vent too, just like Titus! Heat kitties!!