Sock Yarn — Patchwork Times by Judy Laquidara

Don’t Be This Person

March 9, 2010 By JudyL

Rude people aggravate the heck out of me! I know sometimes we’re all in a rush or abrupt without meaning to be and even when I encounter a truly rude and obnoxious person, usually I just think I hope I’m never that person and go about my business. But this woman took the prize this morning. The tire dealer opened at 7:30 and when I called my good friend (since first grade) who works there yesterday, they asked me to have my car there first thing this morning. My brakes were making a funny noise over the weekend (of course, they didn’t do it yesterday after I called) and my tires were a bit past due for a rotation.

This is the tire dealer I always used when I lived here and I measure all tire dealers against them and most do not measure up! These guys are nice and helpful and honest and trustworthy and did I say my friend since first grade works there?

Anyway, people get there first thing so there were already 2 guys sitting in their vehicles waiting when I got there about 7:20. The doors open at 7:30 and about 7:26, while everyone else is waiting in their cars or trucks, this woman comes driving up, jumps out and runs up to the door so she can be first in line.

Yes, I know . . in times of war and with people having cancer and Toyotas with sticking accelerators, this isn’t the end of the world but it’s downright rude! Almost always whoever was there first, gets waited on first when the doors open. Not with this woman! She rushed up to the counter, told them what she needed, went to the waiting room where eventually there were five of us and got on her cell phone. She explained to whomever and everyone she could think to call that (1) she had no appointments today, nothing to do at all so she decided to get her brakes checked and the van aligned (so why the big rush to be first in line if she had no fires to put out?) and (2) she was so mad because her parents had canceled their call waiting and caller id just to save $23/month. She went on and on and on and I wanted to say “Woman, shut up!!”

Everyone there in line had something they’d rather be doing and while I didn’t have anything really urgent, I knew there was an update with more Bugga yarn going to be posted at The Sanguine Gryphon and you know how badly I need yarn. The tire shop has wireless internet but I thought about it before leaving home and decided I really didn’t need more yarn so I left the laptop at home. As I sat there in the waiting room, the longer I sat there, the more desperate I became to try to get some of the new yarn.

Since the rude lady was first in line, she was first to leave and then I was very glad she had cut in line and was gone.

My brakes were fine, my tires were rotated and I was out of there in no time . . back at mom’s in time for the yarn update. Yes . . I got some . . too much but I love that Bugga yarn! And I figured that since I’ve put 82,000 miles on my car and my brake pads are only halfway worn, I deserved a treat. Afterall, Vince would have had to pay for the brake job so he should be happy he’s only paying for a few skeins of yarn. Somehow, I’m betting he won’t see it that way!

Tagged brakes, Bugga, rude people, Sock Yarn Filed Under Home & Garden 18 Comments

Why Do Adults Act This Way?

January 7, 2010 By JudyL

Background info first: Less than four years ago I learned to knit socks. Thanks Susan! Almost as soon as I learned to knit socks, I realized that sock yarn was as addicting for the knitter as is fabric for the quilter. We can just sit at the computer and poke buttons .. and like magic, the yarn is delivered to my front door. The honest to goodness truth is that part of the 2010 commitment was to lay off the yarn buying. I really have plenty!

While this isn’t a HUGE supply of yarn, it’s enough to keep me busy for several years. And the beauty of sock yarn, as opposed to fabric, is that I don’t have to come up with colors that match or work together. Mostly, 1 skein of yarn makes 1 pair of socks and that’s it . . move on to the next one. So I’m all set for a while with sock yarn.

Then . . really, it was after the first of the year, like maybe on January 1, I began reading about this yarn called Wollmeise. It sounded like everyone was saying this is THE sock yarn to use! It was like everywhere I turned, people were talking about Wollmeise yarn! I had to have some! To make matters worse, it’s a German yarn and from what I’ve read, there’s one lady doing all the work and this yarn is very hard to find. Some reported that it had sold on ebay for more than 3 times its original cost (and it ain’t cheap!). I didn’t spend a lot of time looking for it because I read on Ravelry that it’s just one of those things you sometimes get lucky and stumble upon but otherwise . . well, just dream about owning it.

Tuesday I had just finished loading Chad’s quilt on the longarm and sat down at the computer to see what was happening in my little world. For some reason, I clicked on my favorite yarn shop, The Loopy Ewe. Don’t ask me why . . I’m not buying any more yarn. I wasn’t even thinking about the much worshiped Wollmeise yarn. And guess what they had! Wollmeise yarn! I clicked to put three or four skeins in my cart . . I was so excited! It was like I’d just won the lottery! I was clicking so fast, I didn’t even know what I got but I managed to get a couple of skeins.

Tuesday evening on Ravelry, someone finagled out of Sheri, the owner of The Loopy Ewe, that she had more Wollmeise to put up later. Here’s where the insanity began.

Twice during the night I got up to check to see if she had put it up. The thermostat is set on 60° at night. Getting out of the warm bed and waiting for the computer to boot up . . insanity! Only to find nothing new on The Loopy Ewe site.

I brought the laptop into the bedroom so I could keep checking it while getting dressed. Nothing!

I brought the laundry into the bedroom and folded it while watching the computer. Nothing!

But, at some point, there was little more I could do upstairs and I needed to go down and sew. Running back and forth across the sewing room to the desktop was just taking too long so I brought the laptop and set it next to me at the sewing machine.

10:32 a.m. and no Wollmeise has appeared on the website.

There were dozens and dozens of refreshes and F5 hits and finally, at 3:05 p.m. . .

More Wollmeise yarn appeared on The Loopy Ewe‘s website. And, I was quick enough to snag a few more skeins. I’m not sure how much of the yarn she had. Maybe 15 or 16 colors were posted but within 10 minutes, it was all gone!

I think a whole bunch of knitters spent a lot of time hitting the F5 (refresh) button at The Loopy Ewe! All I have to say about all this is . . I sure hope I love Wollmeise sock yarn! And, short of something really outstanding, I’m finished buying yarn for a while.

Tagged Knitting, Sock Yarn, Wollmeise Filed Under Home & Garden 38 Comments

Such Willpower

September 26, 2009 By JudyL

There’s only so much blame I can place on my friends (one friend in particular lately). In between classes this week, she asked what I wanted to do and I said “can we go to the quilt shop?” Oh, sure . . she could have said NO! But, she didn’t . . she drove me right to the closest quilt shop. We both enthusiastically walked into that shop, headed straight to the sale shelves, loaded up, found a few things from the not on sale shelves, had our fabric cut, paid our bills, started to walk out of the shop and ran into two sisters . . one of whom had taken up knitting socks after she sat behind me on a bus trip for hours and hours while I was knitting socks. They told me about a yarn shop nearby which was owned by their niece so . . I said to my friend “can we go to the yarn shop?” And . . she drove me over there!

I don’t feel bad about the fabric (though I really don’t ever feel bad about my purchases) because most of this is already designated for a project.

The four fabrics on the right go with the fabric on the right . . not the same collection or anything but they do match and I think I can get the look I’m trying to get, though I may not even use the fabric on the left in this particular quilt.