There goes the budget

I went yarn shopping yesterday- something I hadn't done in a while. And by "a while" I mean a week or two. But this wasn't a quick run into Walmart to pick up four skeins for a specific project. I went to a LYS I'd never been to before just to check it out. It was huge. At least four times the size of the shop I usually go to. As I was browsing, I picked up a really pretty hank of yarn and checked the price. $95. Honest to god. These hands have touched a $95 hank of yarn. I put it down quickly and moved on.

The problem with a shop that size is that if you don't go in looking for something specific it's really hard to make a decision. There's just too much to choose from. After about 45 minutes I picked three skeins of sock yarn and boogied. Then I went to 2 Michael's and a Hobby Lobby, looking for Patons. I came out of the first Michael's with three skeins of Vanna White's yarn to make a Jayne Cobb for a friend. (There's probably enough there to make one for me, too.) I didn't buy anything at the Hobby Lobby. The only Patons they had was something froofy- Be Mine maybe? Something I had no need of, and I managed to restrain myself from buying more yarn for Project Linus blankets. I've got a dozen skeins of Caron in a variety of shades. Plenty to keep me busy. Then I bought a half dozen skeins of SWS at the second Michael's. And when I came home, I hopped online and bought a boatload of Shetland Chunky on sale and JoAnn's for $4 a skein and a couple of SWS in Natural Garden because apparently, no one in Houston carries that colorway. Altogether, it was about $200 worth of yarn. So no more purchases for me for a while.

I'm nearing the half way point on the blanket for Jackie. I'm not loving it any more than I was before, but it's going quickly at least. And I've started a faux-Noro scarf for myself out of SWS. I had some bits and pieces, and a couple of stray non-matching skeins, left over from last year's Christmas scarves, and decided to try it. Then of course, I had to buy more. I want a narrow (I cast on 27 stitches) scarf that reaches to my knees, with a few wraps around the neck. I started with scraps of Natural Navy and Natural Geranium, and once the Geranium ran out I changed to Natural Pink. Normally, I hate ribbing- I don't like the constant switching between knit and purl- and this is 1x1. But the rows are short, so I'm switching yarns pretty quickly, and the stripes changing colors keeps it interesting. My only concern is that I'm doing it on #9 needles, and it doesn't seem to have much drape. I'm only 4-6 inches in though, so maybe that will change as it gets longer. I'll try to remember to take a picture and post it later.