Well, each of the other teachers came up to me individually and said "I'm glad *I* didn't have to do this Sunday School lesson!" So I guess it wasn't just that I was uncomfortable with it - I suppose anyone would have been uncomfortable talking about "marital relations" (and yes, that was the euphemism I used. I am such a spinster.) in front of a group of mixed people, some of whom they really don't know all that well.

Yesterday I mostly spend on an expedition to replace/obtain a few items I needed. (and as usual, came home with a few items I didn't literally "need" but wanted).

I replaced the lamp with a true Tensor lamp (as true as the Tensor name is, given that it's probably been sold/bought out several times by different companies). But, this is a better design - the cord runs all the way up through the center of the lamp and it doesn't have those bird-boned extensions on it. It looks rather like a miniature version of a streetlamp. It has a "true color" light bulb which I suspect IS fluorescent, but it's not as obnoxious as most fluorescent bulbs. (I just hope I can find a replacement when it eventualy burns out; it's an odd shape and wattage.)

I also needed a new front door mat as my old coco mat had pretty much dissolved over several years of rain, bright sun, and being hit by the sprinkler. I found a synthetic one with an all-over pattern of river rocks. I like it a lot; I hope it holds up well. (And doesn't get stolen. Things have a way of disappearing in this neighborhood).

And I got a salt-grinder. I had bought a fancy big tube of coarse-grind sea salt at the natural foods store and find I wasn't using it. And then I knocked my salt shaker off the table and broke it. So I decided maybe to just get a grinder and use the sea salt all the time, rather than just while cooking things like soups where the bigger crystals would dissolve.

And I wanted a pair of summer slippers - I have fuzzy feet for the winter (but will soon need to make a new pair; they're starting to wear through), but nothing light enough for the summer. And my feet get beat up while walking barefoot on the hardwood floors.

So I found these.

Ha ha ha ha ha.

They are totally incongruous given my usual style - flaming pink and covered with marabou (or whatever that feathery stuff is. I hope it's a byproduct of chicken processing or something; I'd hate to realize that some kind of critter died just so its feathers could be used on slippers). But they work, they were on a good sale, and they make me laugh.

And if they make me wear them more regularly, so my feet get less beat up, all the better.

Most of this shopping was done in McKinney.

I also went to the Michael's (a big craft super store, for those unfamiliar). It looks as if perhaps the novelty (at least furry) yarn trend is on the downswing; they had a lot of fur yarns on sale, possibly clearance sale. They had a lot of the smoother yarns, though, including the Paton's wool. (However, I did see a few moths fluttering about the store. I'm sure that's a risk in the big craft super stores - you bring in the grapevine wreaths, and the dried flowers, and displays of candy, and wool yarn, and you've probably got Insect Critical Mass going on.

I did buy a couple balls of the wool - perhaps foolhardily - but am keeping them sealed up and segregated. I will probably solarize them later this week just to be safe. I plan, once I'm sure they're bug-free, to make hats and mittens for the Dulaan project out of them. They were a good price.)

I will also observe that they have punchneedle embroidery stuff coming in. So, while you may not have heard it here **first,** I think I may be among the first craftbloggers to predict that punchneedle embroidery (and perhaps embroidery in general) is going to be the next thing that the hip and "now" people do.

I also went to Yarn Again and the owner was there again, this time plying yarn she had spun using her Fricke wheel.

(TChem: not to tempt you any further into buying a wheel, but she highly recommends Fricke; she says they're the best value out there and are very easy to work with. She was working with her Fricke wheel yesterday.)

She invited me to sit down and talk with her while she plied. We talked about knitting, and about surviving the summer in the Texas area (she's also from "up north" but didn''t specify where and the conversation changed so I didn't ask where). I found out that she and her husband are looking to move somewhere "more affordable" and she asked me about my town (and, as much as I'd love for her to live there - an instant fiber friend! - I hope it doesn't mean she closes her store. It's the only near source for real yarn. And no, I don't think it would survive HERE if she moved it here, not a big enough population base and not enough people who are knitters or spinners or crocheters.)

And here's something a little sad about me: I guess I spent so much time as a child being unpopular and eating lunch alone and all, that I am always a little surprised as an adult when someone wants to be my friend. It's not part of my past experience (good friends I had in high school - and those acquired seemingly painlessly - notwithstanding) to have people quickly make friends with me and seem interested in who I am. I almost go a bit on the defensive - "what might this person want from me?" - and that's sad. But that's kind of how I am.

Let's see, what else? I went to the quilt shop, got a few bits and pieces to fill in, also some of the new Denyse Schmidt fabrics in fat quarters for a quilt to be made later. The fabrics to me look somewhat 1970s-ish, sort of like the kind of fabrics I had dresses of as a girl. Which may be what draws me to them.

I also found the new KnitScene magazine, at Books a Million. (Michaels' disavowed any knowledge of the magazine; fie on them). I did also buy the new Knit.1 - I had studiously avoided "The Man Issue" mainly because I hate double entendres. But this one did have several items in it that I would wear (And COULD wear: they aren't doing a 38" bust as an "extra-extra large" any more) I like the cropped green cardigan and could see making it, but in a less-brilliant color). And I L-O-V-E the crocheted "Frida Kahlo" shawl - the white one with butterflies - I want one.

I will observe that it is somewhat intersting that both KnitScene and Knit.1 had some similar features - Knit.1 claims a Frida Kahlo-inspired section; Knitscene calls the look "Folklorico." Knit.1 also has a "The Factory" (as in, Andy Warhol) section, whereas KnitScene has "Mod."

I am going to assume that both are drawing on what are seen to be coming trends in fashion, rather than that, say, the Knit.1 layout was a "tweakling" of what KnitScene was doing.

At any rate, I liked KnitScene better, it has more things I'd be likely to wear. (I love the green cabled hoody and will make it sometime - perhaps out of some of the alpaca blend I have in my stash, and I also like the Tulip Lace kimono. And I like most of the Girly Girl tops, even if I cast a critical eye on my own body and say "you couldn't wear that Molly Ringwald top.")