Gluttony

While I would definitely say I am not an out-and-out sucker, I do think that promises lure me if the result is something awesome.

Especially if that result is free yarn.

My favorite little local yarn shop in Texas (one of four or five redeeming qualities of Planet Texas), Yarntopia in Katy, offers their local knitters store credit to knit up shop samples.  Until now, I had never been lured in, but this past Thursday, I caved like a drunk guy in Vegas on his last two chips.  Why, you ask?

Well, the item they needed is a six-foot long wrap with a lace edge on one side and a full-on lace panel on the other, with a plain panel in the middle.  The picture on the pattern, anyway, looked stunning.  I also have a soft-spot (no pun intended) for the yarn it calls for, Halo by The Alpaca Yarn Company, which feels like a built-in cuddle once it's knitted.

Then, I brought it to my friend Kathleen's house and had the same reaction to it as I have every time I start a lace project on difficult yarn:  "Just...can't...stop...the...pain..."

I was relatively silent.  Kathleen is used to watching me make stuff up as I go along, finish a project, be pleasantly surprised by it, and write up the pattern.  All the while, I am the Queen Dish of celebrity gossip.  But knitting lace on an alpaca mohair-feeling yarn is like being a Cubs fan...you REALLY, really have to have faith.  So here I am, following a pattern, using luxurious yarn that has the thickness of a split strand of fuzzy dental floss, all for a store credit.

But I have an idea for a pattern, and there is one ball of yarn in the store that's about a billion yards and it costs approximately the same as the store credit.  I obviously don't get to keep the shawl, but yarners everywhere will be fondling my finished product and I get to walk away with my dream yarn-ball.  Win-win, right?  I'll post a picture as soon as I am finished.