Rows Red

Warning: Reading this post you’ll mostly likely be certain that I’m a manic airhead. I would like to point out that I’m only a manic airhead when I’m overstimulated and super excited. Like I was today. Ahem.

There are very few things that I’ll get up at the butt-crack of dawn for. Very. Few. Things. As it is I have to get up a half an hour earlier to compensate for the extra ten minutes it takes to get to work (strange math, I know). So to get up at at 5:30, you know it’s got to be something special, and on a workday too! This folks is what the O’Dark Thirty Sale will do to you. Don’t look at me like that, Robin had to get up at 4:30. Because I still underestimate how long it takes to drive through town to get back to Catskill and the bridge (stupid 30 MPH in town), I was running late. I flew, flew I tell you, all the way to Great Barrington. Thank Goddess there were cars in front of me in Egremont because there one of Jess’s cop buddies was sitting in wait, otherwise it was 70 any chance I could get. I pulled up in front of the store at 7:01 a.m. to find the perfect spot free, amazingly enough, and everyone still waiting to get in. Robin was near the front of the line, I was at the back.

The line was pretty long this year, recession shoppers are savvy!

Why all the trouble? Well, 40% off all yarn at the biggest local yarn store within an hour’s driving distance is quite the incentive. Even though they overcharge as a rule, as long as you know your prices, the sale still saves you anywhere from 20-30% off of ACTUAL retail. Considering the yarn store is approximately half again the size of my entire house, that’s pretty awesome. I go every year because it’s a tradition and an adventure, but because I really don’t “need” more yarn I keep my purchases to minimum. My spending money was cut by almost 40% with the new house budget, so I really had to save my spending money to afford it.

Robin ponders pricing.

This year none of my usual cronies wanted to go, but I was fortunate to have Robin to share the adventure with. Let me tell you something, this is a woman I can shop with when I’m on a mission. Unfortunately I had to be back to work no later than 9:45 for my performance review, so if we wanted to get breakfast we’d have to be super quick about it. She and I TORE through that place and we were on line waiting to pay by 7:36. Thirty six minutes! And it’s funny, it didn’t feel like we were rushing, just really focused. By 8 a.m. we were seated and starting to eat our breakfast at the Friendly’s across the street. Props to us!

Cars were lined up the full length of the street and then some.

I went in thinking I wanted to get an acrylic/wool blend, enough for the Stained Glass Afghan that’s been in my queue for a couple years now. Doing the math in my head, even on sale, it was going to cost almost $75 in Plymouth Encore, my favorite blend yarn. Holy crap! Yeah, that’s a lot of money for a crocheted afghan. I reconsidered. Staring at the Encore I noticed something I’d not seen before, they have a tweed… and not a tweed with clown barf colored nepps like so many others, no. This tweed has classy neutral beige nepps. ZOMG love. I kinda sorta bought two sweater’s worth, one in black (eee!) and one in a dusty lavender (double eee!). Yes, I did indeed buy yarn that wasn’t blue, teal, or a shade of red. You may be saying to yourself, really Tina, sweaters in mostly acrylic? Only 25% wool content? I say unto you, judge not, for heavy is the heart that knits a sweater in Cascade 220 only to find that it pills like a mofo when you look at it cross eyed. And for $$22 a sweater in a silky soft and more durable yarn, I am content.

Tweedy love.

I may have also had a little accident in the sock yarn room. But one of these, the brown one on the right, is for my Sole Food swap partner, so it’s not that bad. You see that? I bought something kinda yellow. We had quite the conversation about mustard colors today, Robin and I, for she is smitten with the shade, and I am not. Asking me, “do you think this will look weird on me” when holding up a skein of mustard Cascade 220 instantly promotes a logic loop, for mustard is automatically weird to me and therefore yes, you will look weird. *LOL*

L-R: Madelinetosh Sock, Colinette Jitterbug, Cherry Tree Hill Supersock, Colinette Jitterbug.

Whew. I blame the somewhat random and squee-ful tone of this post to wool fume over exposure. My brain is floating on a fog of wooly goodness, laughter with a friend, and enough greasy spoon cuisine to kill an ox. It was a good day, thanks Robin, for sharing it with me!

Robin and I. Robin believes strongly in action shots.

Oh, and my review was good too, praise Laneus.

Tags: Friends & Fun, Loot