In over my head, but the water's fine!

I woke up yesterday thinking perhaps I'd better pass on this knit-a-long thing...I haven't knit lace before, I don't know how to read a chart, I'd have to find the yarn, it's not knitting I can do "socially" since there's no way I'll be able to talk & knit on this...etc. etc. I had all kinds of good reasons! Then I had just one more look at the messages in the group....(oh, and there was that tiny matter of Rebecca's encouraging comment the other day - thanks, I think!)

And I jumped in. Jel and I spent most of yesterday afternoon on a mission to find me some lace yarn. Here she is, in the wilds of North Vancouver, an intrepid explorer sighting land, I mean, yarn:


Unfortunately, it was the wrong yarn. So we went to another store - no lace-weight for me, but she found some funky sock yarn. It actually did speak to her! I heard it my own self. It was pretty weird-but-cool.

Well. What to do? We're heading into rush hour, we're still on the north shore...call it a day, or try one more?

Try one more, of course! So a long, long wait to get onto the Lions Gate, rewarded with a view of summer. Doesn't the water look nice and cool?



We made our way toward UBC, where I actually had a bad yarn store experience. Or at least, an uncomfortable one. Granted, I was hot, tired, and hungry...but even taking that into account, the customer service at Urban Yarns leaves a lot to be desired. Enough that, as excited as I was to see their Lantern Moon needles, and Fleece Artist and all the other pretty yarns...I would likely try to mail order from the Beehive in Victoria before I went back to UY.

Jel was a life-saver, though. After they left me alone to try to wind my (expensive!) skein of lace-weight, using a swift set up in a bookshelf without enough room to open all the way, and a ball winder set up too high on the same shelf to be remotely comfortable for any length of time - I was given a wobbly step-ladder to stand on to compensate, and left alone. Jel put down her knitting, and helped hold the yarn coming off the swift. Just when I was frustrated enough to leave the yarn and walk out - she said: "I just thought of something. By the time we're finished, I'll have touched all of your yarn, before you!"

I laughed pretty hard at that. It was enough to convince me not to leave the yarn behind. The fact that no one came over to check on us the whole time we were winding 1250 metres of yarn (that's 1.25 kilometres!) nor said a word to us as we left...was enough to convince me not to go back. But enough kvetching about snooty yarn ladies. Was the yarn itself worth it? I think so! Lorna's Laces "Helen's Lace" in the Mineshaft colourway.

Yes, it's more than a little extravagant. I figure I'm going to be spending a lot of time with this yarn, looking, touching, being confused and frustrated - so I'd better really love it!


I think the variation of colour is enough to keep me interested, without overwhelming the pattern. I hope! Since I actually have no idea what the hell I'm doing! I just know that I couldn't look at the same single colour for that long without wanting to gouge out my eyes! Today I need to go find needles so I can get started.

(Ummm...I just went to the Yahoo group and looked at some of the photos of the first clue...ummm...I think I'm a little nervous! OK, I'm actually a lot nervous. Gulp! But I'm still going hunting for those needles.)