I didn't quite make it to the gym yesterday (I think Sarah's already claimed the jeans now) because I was tracking down the last ball of Lana Grossa Bingo yarn in 24 black in Maryland. Someone had warned me that knitters are insane people...
The story starts like this. Greg watches me knit every night. And sighs when I say "let me finish this row" (which is lots of fun when I'm knitting in the round, hehe). And deals with pointy sticks and balls of yarn every where. And drove almost the entire way to Ohio at Christmas so I could finish knitting the kids' sweaters. The poor guy puts up with a lot.
So while he's mentioned a sweater (oh lord, do you know how much yarn it would take to knit a 6'4" guy a sweater?), he also said he would like a nice black hat. A hat I can easily do. I'm also kinda between projects (I have a kid's sock and an earth tone scarf on needles right now just to be knitting) so I thought now would be the perfect time. And also he's going to Salt Lake City next week on business and I guess it's cold there or something.
So I went to a local yarn shop (I have two within a few miles) and asked for black yarn for a hat. I pretty much had two options, neither I really liked. Did you know there's not that much out there in the way of plain black? There's heathered grays and black with specks but not plain black. Digging around on my own I found one ball that was solid black, wool not acrylic, soft and sturdy, and would knit up with a needle bigger than a piece of spaghetti. (Backlash from the current sock and scarf projects mentioned above. Why am I such an idiot to knit a scarf on size 3 needles?) The price was good at $8.
Except there was only one ball. And I always seem to overbuy or underbuy, I've never hit the right magic amount of yarn in the first try. For example, I had to wait 2 weeks to finish a sweater because I only ordered 2 skeins instead of 3 because when I knit my sweater (same size) I only used 2. Although I ordered 3 of my color then and therefore still have one left over. And then for the kids' Christmas sweaters, I have like 6 extra balls of red and green. Next year's sweaters I suppose.
I bought the one ball anyway. Lana Grossa Bingo in 24 black. It's a really nice yarn, I'm thinking about buying more (online) to knit up hats for the kids.
Knitting, knitting, Greg has a big head, knitting, knitting. About half way through I realized that yeah, one ball wasn't going to be enough. So yesterday morning, I figured I better find another ball. Online ordering wouldn't arrive by Saturday, Greg leaves Sunday (yarn stores need to offer an overnight delivery option). So local was the way it would have to be. But I hate phone calls. Especially phone calls asking for something. Deep breath, google Maryland yarn stores and... There's over 30 yarn stores in Maryland. Like 4 in Baltimore alone. How nuts is that? About 10 within 20 miles of me. My hopes were high.
And slowly one by one, no one carried Bingo. Or they did but no black. Finally I located one ball 40 miles away. Hmm...
I had to wait until the kids were out of school because by that time, I couldn't make the hour and a half round trip before the bus arrived. At 3:18, I piled them into the van with pretzels and the dvd player. (They are good sports about my craft obsession too.) We were in and out of the yarn store in less than 3 minutes. It would have been quicker but I had to dig out 3 pennies from the bottom of my purse.
Long story long, the hat is finished! Except now he's wondering if he's rather have the brim in double rib instead of single. I think I'm going to strategically place some double pointed needles in his chair...
The Black Hat as modeled by Kelly (also wearing her flower girl dress from July because... I don't know. *shrugs*)
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