my day out

As I said, I'm glad I cleaned last night; everything seems more pleasant having a clean house.

I left around 9:30 this morning - I wanted to get in my Duolingo practice and a little piano practice (will do more in a bit).

I confess, I debated going: I had a weird premonition about a "car accident." You know how I joked about "if you got struck by lightning [on Tuesday], Andy would never forgive you"? Well, I got the same thought - what if you get obliterated by a semi, or by someone being stupid when they drive. And there had been coverage of a fairly terrible accident over by Milburn (though, granted, if it's where I think it is - there's a weird intersection where it's hard to see and if you're not local, it's not clear how to "do it right."

But I went, anyway (You can't let fear dictate your life. If it had been pouring down rain, or icy, I would not have gone, on the grounds that it would be as unpleasant as it was unsafe).

I'm glad I did. The drive to Whitesboro is always fairly nice - once you get onto 82, it's pretty open and peaceful and you go through countryside. (Similarly, the drive on, I think it is, 56? Is nice. I usually take 82 there and 56 back).

Quixotic Fibers was nice as always. They now have a program - they are JUST starting it, in fact, she said they hadn't announced it yet but she was doing it for me anyway so I wouldn't see the e-mail tomorrow or Monday and slap my forehead, but when you spend $100, you get what is fundamentally a $20 gift certificate -which seems shockingly generous to me, but maybe not many people spend $100 at one go (I think it is you have to spend it at one time). Apparently they are non-transferrable; she put my name on it. But of course: good reason to go back, if I didn't already have one.

Here's the yarn:



The Lamb's Pride is what I needed for the color-bar blanket (it even has a similar feel to the Knit Picks yarn I am mostly using otherwise. I bought two of the white because I need more of that than of anything, and the yardage was JUST a bit shorter on the skein than what was called for. Anyway, I can do something with the leftovers, probably - even stripes on mittens some time.

The greenish speckled yarn is two skeins of Wonderland Yarns' Cheshire Cat - sort of a heavy fingering - in the color "Mint Chocolate." There are 1024 yards, which should be ample for a smallish shawl (maybe one of the larger of Janina Kallo's designs...). The bluish yarn is Cross Creek Sock in "Storm." Which will probably become socks; I have some cable patterns that need a light colored and not-too-busy yarn to show the cables.

I also bought some needles and a little bag:



I wanted a new set of size-4 double points (I broke one of my existing set) and I have a pair of fingerless mitts that calls for them. And I didn't have a set of US 1.5's, and some of the UK sock patterns I have suggest those - just slightly bigger than 2 mm, but not as big as our size 2.

The bag says "I'm a SPECIAL Unicorn" and it made me laugh, so I bought it. I see it as an ironic statement. (I also like the snooty smug unicorn on it).

Then I went to Kaleidoscope Quilts. I really really really was tempted by a kit using a new line of peony-themed fabric, but it was like $189 and I couldn't see spending that much.

I did buy some of the yardage and two charm packs with a vague idea of making a smaller peony themed quilt using one of the patterns I already have:



I dunno. I just really love big, slightly-impressionistic flower prints. I suspect it's because I grew up in the 1970s when these were everywhere. (My parents had a set of sheets not all that different from that fabric). I also got my needles - I've used Roxanne's for years and I know some quilters prefer other brands but I like these, and they come in a nice case (with a tiny shell glued on the top).

The other set of fabric:



I admit, from a distance, I at first thought those were donuts. They are not. They are fat sheep viewed head-on. I got one of the charm packs because I have ANOTHER somewhat juvenile-themed charm pack in similar colors that SHOULD work with it, and I can put them together and make a proper quilt. The sheep yardage will be a wide border on it (I might use a plain color as sashing, if I do sashing). And the plain white is just four yards of white for a future quilt that will need it.

I also looked in Lovejoy's (a "stuff" store - they have some women's clothing, some fancy kitchen things, some of those Doug and Melissa toys, and things like candles) but didn't buy anything, and did the same in one antique shop. (I DID go to JoAnn's on the way back and picked up some of the new magazines and a book on "modern quilts from around the world"). And I ran to Target and got some more cleaning supplies and a few oddments of nonperishables and a birthday card for my dad (his birthday is 2 weeks after mine). And then to the natural-foods store and Kroger, which frankly is quite ENOUGH shopping for a good while. Hopefully for the next 2 weeks or so I will only need to supplement with a few fresh things locally - I got grass-fed ground beef for chili* and makings for pizza some time this week and more hummus and tiny pita-bread dippers for it, and some more beets.

(*Yes, I eat a lot of chili. But I like it, it tastes good left over, it's easy to make, it's pretty much everything you need - meat and veggies and starch (the beans) in one bowl. And dairy, if you put cheese and sour cream on it like I do)

And I got good barbecue from the good barbecue place for lunch. So it was a good day. Now I need to practice piano a bit more, and change the sheets on my bed, and also do a little knitting or something (or quilt on my quilt, now that I have new needles.)