It all started with a quilting accident....

I have long come to grips with the fact that I'm a bit of a yo-yo when it comes to creative pursuits. Interests come and go, and I sometimes find myself with say, a bucketful of paint brushes and some fabric dyes I may not use again (it was supplies for a workshop, and the workshop WAS rather a hoot). I'm OK with that. A bit of luck and a lot of hard work in the last several years of my life did land me in a position where some experimentation with a textile habit won't interfere with the mortgage.

So last week my slightly longer-standing textile habit, quilting, was back at the forefront when, in a fit of head-cold-induced restlessness, the Spousal Euphemism and I drove over to visit my old town, Guelph, and pop in to Greenwood Quiltery. The point of that trip was to pick up the latest (and last, I found) installments of my Swatch Club. Greenwood has recently added a "for Knitters Too!" by-line, and is one of a few stores in the region that carries the lovely, Canadian luxury yarn lines of Fleece Artist and their offspring, Handmaiden Canada Fine Yarns. My Fleece Artist encounters so far have been with their basic Merino sock hanks, the first of which turned into socks yesterday that promptly ran away to live with my sister (picture coming. I really liked that forest green!). I have seen many other lovely yummy Fleece Artist and Handmaiden kits, but since I wasn't into shawls and scarves or a "Maid Marion" vest, I have reverently squished and petted them in stores, but refrained. I DID become very, very intrigued with one of their kits I had seen on-line - a Thrummed Moebius by Cat Bordhi. I've wanted to learn to do Cat's Moebius trick since I read about it - it's the perfect thing for a mathematically-oriented artsy, and if I were to wear a shawl, it would be something geeky involving the word "moebius" I'm sure. Alas, though, at every Fleece Artist dealer I've been to they either have never had that kit, or sold out, or doesn't know about it at all or if they can get it ... so I remained without any Fleece Artist ambitions besides the socks.

Last Easter Saturday at Greenwood, though, I came across the Handmaiden Stormwater Shawl kit. Now I had seen this kit before, often in bright/light pastels. The pattern looked intriguing. If I were to knit a shawl OTHER than a moebius maybe it would be something like that, the pattern is a sort of tesselating wave look (being an engineer by education, I seem to be one of few knitters/quilters who IS enthusiastic about the math concepts behind the designs). The yarn for this kit, called SeaSilk, is lovely. But I wasn't into shawls, and the colours I'd seen hadn't grabbed me - until this one at Greenwood. It is a charcoal black-grey and brown variegated, but because of the sheen of the yarn, the charcoal gray looks like a dark pewter, and the brown, a bronze-copper tone. I was quite intrigued. I petted it a bit, squished it - and talked myself out of it, paid for my swatches and two fat quarters, and left the seasilk in its display basket.

So here's the quilting accident part - I arrived home to a message from Greenwood advising that they made a mistake at the cash, and owed me money back. I hadn't even noticed - I guess I'm used to accidentally spending more than I thought when it comes to fabric. And I did have a head cold, which means my IQ was covered in snot and hence lower than usual. Greenwood was closed by the time we got home, so I would have to call them back about the refund on Monday.

That night, I dreamed about the pewter-copper seasilk and the Stormwater pattern. I woke up pondering it the next day. I wondered if it would still be at the store the next time I went. I often talk myself out of purchases to find I never give them another thought or if I do, that thought is that yeah, I really didn't like that anyway. So when I DO start wondering "did I really want that after all?" the answer is often (though not always) yes.

On Monday I phoned Greenwood about the refund, and they said they would pay me back but I'd have to come in with my debit card. They also offered of course store credit if I preferred (also requiring me to visit again). We concluded that since I was a somewhat regular visitor, I didn't need to rush back with my card and they would keep a credit note on file for next time I was in. I thought about the Stormwater kit, and dismissed it without saying anything, thinking that I'd get back there in a week or so and maybe think again *if* it was still there, and if it had gone in the meantime, so the Fates would have meant it to be.

An hour later I called back and asked if they would hold the kit with my credit note. I said at the latest, I'd come back this Saturday, or maybe on a lunch hour late in the week if I could get away. I couldn't get away that exact day, as I had an hour-and-a-half conference call booked with a customer over my lunch.

An hour after that again, my customer had called to cancel. I get "flex time" at work - so long as my 8 hours gets put in and the required work is done - I can take a long lunch and work until 6. I concluded at that point that the accidental overcharge, required re-visit for my refund/credit, the fact that I actually DREAMED about the shawl, and my cooperative customer were all telling me I did indeed want that *particular* Stormwater shawl.

So this:



...is indeed cozied up on the corner of my desk. I've started and pulled it out twice, as SILLY ME - it's lace and therefore has those "yarnover" thingies that caused the Alligator socks to kick my butt three tries out of four. However, I'm reformulating my plan to involve many many stitch markers and will cast on again today.

This is not the end of this particular story. To Be Continued....