The yarn shop is The Balanced Skein. It is in the ground floor (suite 103, I think, but there are signs pointing to it - it's kind of in the back). It's a tiny little space but they've used it very efficiently and have a lot of good, basic yarns for making things with. Mostly Berroco and Universal Yarns (I think those are ones where the distributor is easier to work with, based on what someone else I knew who had a yarn shop said) but they also have Cascade 220, which is good.
I wound up buying more than intended. I knew I wanted to look for a small amount of bulky yarn for this cowl sort of thing
I debated on colors - my winter-winter coat is dark blue, my midweight coat (the raincoat) is hot pink. I ALMOST bought a hot pink but I loved the purple twist too much:
Universal Yarns' "Deluxe Bulky Superwash."
The other yarn is Berroco Remix dk - she has a LOT of dk, which is good, because lots of patterns I have call for it and it can be a little hard to find. I just fell in love with this color - it's sort of a corn color - not quite yellow, not quite tan. I have about 2000 yards of it, which should be more than enough for any cardigan I might want to make: I have to look at my different hoarded patterns to see which one I put aside with an "oh, man, wait 'til I get access to some good dk weight" for it.
It will *probably* be a cardigan; I wear those the most because it's easy to take them off if I wind up in a room that's too warm, and I also just *like* cardigans.
But yeah. I wished her continued success and I am going to try to go back periodically. She has some sockyarn and I guess she's going to try to have some more different dyers' yarn? She also has some spinning supplies, but I don't spin.
I also went to the Women's Gift Exchange that is also in Kelley Square. There's a small network of these across the country (I think there used to be more). The idea of these is they are small, volunteer-run gift shops, and the proceeds go to support local charities in addition to them working to raise awareness - I know this shop sometimes has benefit dinners and the like. And I found a wonderful thing:
My niece's birthday isn't until October but this was *so* perfect that I decided to buy it right then and put it aside to send to her for it. It's a kid's craft "library" in something kind of like a briefcase - pipe cleaners and beads and pompoms and all the wonderful goofy stuff that is so much fun when you're a kid.
My niece seems to be quite a bit like me in some ways, so getting gifts for her is easy: if I see something that would have delighted me when I was her age, it will probably be good.
(The kit was about $45, which is the upper limit of "gift spending" we do in my family but it seems SO perfect and so right...and yes, maybe I am trying a little bit to be the "cool aunt," though my niece has only one other aunt, and she has kids of her own to worry about, so maybe I don't have that much competition...)
Then, off to the big antique shop. It was kind of hot and by the end (on the third floor) I was kind of getting a little wavery from the heat, but I did find some good things:
Another cottage. I will have to find room for it on my mantel (I may have to just move my big vase of straight knitting needles somewhere else) but I loved it too much not to get it (It was about $12 - it's a more recent one, stamped "Teleflora" on the bottom.)
I think part of the reason I buy these - and I have My Own Private Ponyville set up on my mantel is that they do, for me, represent a nicer and happier world. The cottages are all sweet and cute, with rambling roses and other wildflowers around them. And of course, despite the occasional invasion of monsters and demons, Ponyville itself is a very nice and sweet place, where the Ponies by and large treat each other better than humans here do - and if one is being mean, there's probably a reason for it that can be overcome, like they're hurting or they were bullied themselves, or something. No one is permanently broken.
And yes, this cottage does have a "Fluttershy's Cottage" vibe to it, so that's partly why I wanted it.
And a few more things:
Yeah, I love those funny old cookbooks (Though this one looks like it has some interesting recipes in it). And those are Hello Kitty cookie cutters. (You can't see the third one, which is on its edge, but it's a flower shape). I almost NEVER make rolled out cookies, but maybe sometime I'll do a batch of shortbread and give these a try with it. (Or, heh, maybe sometime I just go all out and make rolled sugar cookies to take over to school and Hello Kitty-ize them)
The last little item is a tree ornament - another one of those 101 Dalmation ones - I got a similar one this winter, so now I have two differently posed ones (my other one has a little Santa hat) for my tree.
After that, I ran back to the good barbecue place (Cackle and Oink). The owner was behind the register today and he greeted me like an old friend (I think he does that for a lot of people, but you know, that's good. Being like that, I think, makes people even more want to come back. I mean, the food is really good, too). He shook my hand and welcomed me back. (I had my usual - the smallest serving of pulled pork, and beans and corn as the sides. So I think I can count that as my vegetables for the day - I got strawberries and blueberries at the Kroger and they might make a big part of my dinner given how hot is is out.)
After that, though, things went downhill. Went to the bookstore - found the magazines I was looking for, and also a neat book on "how to predict the weather from natural signs" ("The Weather Detective" - Peter Wohlleben). And a couple other things.
And I got in line - the only one open - behind a woman who kept asking for more and more and more stuff, and kept asking more and more and more questions. I finally had to set stuff on the (empty) next register area, because I was gonna drop it. There was also a kid and his family edging up, and I told myself, "even though you've been waiting longer, he's gonna try to jump ahead of you in line" and damme but he did, and I had to say "I was waiting before you" (politely, even though I was nettled - there was also an alarm going off in the store and a cop had come in to check it out. Turned out it was a malfunction, but it was still loud). So yeah.
Gudetama knows that feel:
An egg with a butt:
Oh friends.
Oh. There were so many people in the Kroger I could have hit with my cart if I weren't paying attention. People would just randomly step out from aisles and other places and wander on out into "traffic" without looking. I don't even know. Also, I had to dodge the danged "we're picking up the groceries so the person paying the fees don't have to" and while I get that's great for people who are disabled or elderly - it makes it REALLY hard for ordinary shmoes like me to get in and get our food. (You'd think they could pull stuff from the stockroom rather than having 5' by 3' carts trundling up and down the aisles).
I managed to get my food and pay and scram but yeah. Tired and hot and just wanting to get home.
I will say, bless the guy in heavy traffic (who couldn't get over but who could slow up ever so slightly and flash his lights at me so I knew he saw I was trying to merge) so I could get in. I waved - I don't know if he saw it - once I was safely in the lane of traffic but yeah, that helped.
And then, when almost home - about 15 miles out? A mudflap peeled off a truck, and I couldn't safely swerve, and it banged into my driver's side front and apparently rolled through the wheelwell. I almost pulled off then and there to look for damage but it seemed unsafe to, and I figured, "If my car's taken some damage, every mile closer to home I get before it fails means I'm that much more likely to be able to get help fast" and I kept going. I did try the quick-and-dirty alignment test my dad taught me - get on a straightaway, take your hands away from the steering wheel, see if the car pulls right or left. It did not, and the tire held up (my fear was that maybe there was a metal part in the mudflap or something that might damage my tire bad enough for a blowout). There is a big yellow smudge on the tire from the "LOVE'S TRUCK STOP" advertising that was on the mudflap.
I left the car standing in the drive while I unloaded on the grounds that if the tire had a slow leak and went flat, it would be easier to deal with in my drive than in the garage. It's been sitting there for about an hour so when I go out to put the car away I can look at it again but maybe I got lucky.
But yeah. I guess Kroger's was bad because it's Payday Friday and also it's the Friday before a big holiday. I didn't take that into account but whatever.
So, tonight: gonna finish my piano practice, have a light dinner, take a cool shower, and maybe sit in my bedroom (the coolest room in the house) and knit.
Tomorrow I'm gonna try to get the catkins down off the roof first thing in the morning before it gets too hot...
Edited to add: Evening goal has been achieved:
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