sweet moods

A day or so ago, the snowy table out on the deck briefly reflected the soft colors of sunset and resembled buttercream frosting. Next morning the snow was gone and our hard-packed dirt road had turned to squishy mud. Temps are in the 50s again, making this a truly schizophrenic winter weatherwise! Sometimes I feel at the edge of madness - an annual February affliction. But there's hope. I stopped into Francesca's clothing boutique yesterday afternoon after a quiet time writing at the nearby coffee shop and learned that new spring items will arrive in early March. Francesca was heading off to Las Vegas to attend the biggest boutique clothing buying show of the year. I had to restrain myself and not blow my budget on silk scarves, cloth bags from India (which would make great knitting bags) and really cute loose comfortable tops and pants. I may have to go back for a bag today though.

knitting update
Have you ever experienced a pattern you've liked and knitted before suddenly turn nasty? I have. And in recent days I've put aside one project and "disappeared" another. It's like starting to read a novel that I just can't get into. Yet I may pick it up again and find it perfect in every way! This is a mysterious moody thing that I don't even try to comprehend. Newly disappeared is a triangle lace shawl that has been driving me crazy on and off for months - I simply can't get the stitch numbers to come out right. I know how to read charts and I've checked for errata - there isn't any. So it's seems to be my brain working on a different frequency from the designer's. R.I.P. shawl, I won't miss you. Then I abandoned an alpaca Gull Wings sock project (made several times with no problem until now). It was a frustrating mess.
        The good news is that my stash produced a mysterious hand dyed sock yarn bought locally several months ago in an impulsive fear-of-loss moment. I was wildly attracted to the muted chocolate candy colors and slubs. I'm loving it. It's merino and I suspect it's actually KnitPicks Donegal Tweed Bare that some enterprising dyer transformed, relabeled and tripled the price on. No matter. It is delicious. Like knitting with chocolate, pink taffy and sprinkles.

Speaking of yarns good enough to eat, a few years ago I traveled with knitting friends to Winslow, Arizona where we stayed in a creepy hotel for a few days and knitted, ate well, talked endlessly. There's nothing much in Winslow. It's major claim to fame is the Eagles song "standin' on a corner in Winslow Arizona..." (remember?) and the historical La Posada hotel. There was, however, one tiny yarn shop called Loose Ends! We waited for it to open the very next day after we arrived and descended upon it en masse. The nice proprietor was giddy with excitement as we filled the entire space and bought enormous amounts of yarn. She had a small selection of sock yarns and because I always buy sock yarn wherever I find it, I chose one that looked like candy. Strawberry taffy, caramel, dark chocolate, vanilla creme. I began knitting with it the moment I returned to the hotel. The result is a soft sweet pair of socks. I still don't have a clue as to who manufactured the yarn (label dematerialized) and I've never seen it's duplicate anywhere since. Today, In honor of Valentine's Day and because the Mystery socks reminded me, they're on my feet. Non-fattening chocolate and candy. Lovely!

not until March, she declares,
but I'm going back today in February mud
for that chocolate and cream striped cotton bag
to stash the candy socks and passport in