Falling off the wagon...

I recently decided to go on a "yarn fast". I knew I had a lot of yarn, probably enough to keep me busy for a whole year. In fact, surely enough to keep me busy for a couple of years... The need for a yarn fast was reiterated when I started uploading pictures of the stash on Ravelry. Yes, I finally got in Ravelry two weeks ago!

So, I knew when I decided to go on the yarn fast that there would be moments when the risk of yielding to temptation would be very strong, and even too strong to resist. Today was such a day. Hilltop Yarn in Queen Anne was having a trunkshow of Fleece Artist and Handmaiden Fine Yarn. Both wonderful yarn lines, with beautiful colorways. I already have a bunch of Fleece Artist sock yarn in the stash, and a couple of skeins of Blue Face Leicester 2/8. Their colorways really are wonderful. And it's made in Canada. I knew I wouldn't be able to resist... So, my plan was to allow myself to buy only one skein of yarn. I told Emily of my plan ahead of time and she said she would make sure I'd stick to the plan. Well, things did not go quite according to plan...

We got there at the same time as the two women from Fleece Artist and Handmaiden, a mother and daugher. It took a few minutes for the yarn to be set up, and lots of customers came in. Everyone was swarming around the yarn, petting it, picking it up. At first things went well. I picked up one skein of Woolie Silk 3-ply, a kit for a hat. I was heming and hawing, and finally gave it up to another customer and felt really good that I was going to leave without buying ANY yarn. Emily was getting the same kit, so I could always borrow the pattern from her and use some yarn in the stash to make the same hat. Well, the lady decided that the colorway didn't suit her skin tone and handed me back the skein. What was I to do? It was just one skein, and I was still sticking to the plan... I bought it. And the holiday issue of Interweave Knits. I'm on a yarn fast, not a pattern fast...



There was a little quiz to fill out and prizes to be won. We had to match 5 undyed skeins of yarn with their fiber content, just by touching them. They were made of silk (Silken), silk and cotton (Swiss Mountain Silk Cotton), silk and wool (Lady Godiva?), silk and seacell (Sea Silk), and silk, wool and seacell (Great Big Sea). While we were waiting for the answers, Emily, Rachel, and I started looking at other kits. Emily tried on the sample Lu and Imogen. I had noticed one of the Lu kits earlier, because the colorway was really nice, mostly reds with some blue and a little green and yellow. It's made out of Scotian Silk. So I tried on the sample Lu too. And that's when things started going wrong... It looked nice on me, and the colorway sold me over.



I was going to stand in line to pay when they announced the winners of the contest. I had gotten all the answers right! I won 2 skeins of Handmaiden Cashmere and Silk! It's a new Handmaiden yarn line. Well, I'm not exactly sure what this prize was worth, but it's cashmere and silk so it's a really wonderful prize! So soft... I must admit that as she was handing me my prize, she had two different colorways in her hands and was about to hand me 2 skeins of a dark green colorway, definitely not my usual color palette... I asked her if I could have the other one... Some may think it was bold of me, but I won (and the others skeins were for the runner-up, so I think it was ok for me to get first choice... don't you?)



From what I can gather from the website, I think the colorway is "Peridot". (Fleece Artist and Handmaiden never marked the colorways on the skeins). I've been meaning to knit a lace scarf or stole in pale grey for a while but could never find the right color. This one has a little bit of pale green in it, I think it will be perfect. I just need to find the perfect pattern... any suggestions?



Now that the Handmaiden/Fleece Artist ladies had given me this heavenly soft yarn, I really had to buy the Lu kit to make up for their generosity... didn't I?
So I left the store with 4 skeins of yarn instead of one. But somehow I don't think it's really my fault. I can't help the fact that I won two of them! Maybe it's Emily's fault for not stopping me? Well, it's not like I stopped her either...