The following paragraphs were originally posted on 8 March and 18 March 2008 on my old blog — slightly edited here:

I visited Babetta’s Yarns for the very first time on 7 March — now I’m wondering why I waited so long!

It was only the second time I’d ever stepped inside a true LYS. Several months ago I ventured over to Frog Pond Knits, just before it went out of business, but that was a very different experience. It was my very last chance to go there, and I was hoping for some serious bargains (I bought 4 skeins of Cascade Luna in Boysenberry which are still sitting in my stash).

Having read tons of posts on Ravelry about other people’s negative LYS experiences, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect — but I was greeted with a friendly hello as soon as I stepped in the door. I felt completely comfortable browsing through the whole store, and that’s saying a lot, given my social anxiety disorder. The owner (I’m assuming she was the owner) was busy behind the counter, answering the phone, chatting with one or two regular customers, and winding some yarn into balls, but after a while she found time to approach myself and the other browsers and ask if we needed any help. All of us were perfectly content to just walk around drooling at all the beautiful yarns!

I went in with the intention of buying one skein of Cascade 220 to knit a slouchy beret for my mum, but of course it didn’t turn out that way. Instead of the 220, which was very nice, I opted for three skeins of Plymouth Baby Alpaca Worsted. I’ve never knit with it before, so I’m looking forward to the experience.

And one other thing — I bought my very first Addi Turbos! I’m a dedicated Options user, but when I saw the 40″ circs in Size 8 I couldn’t help myself. I’m nearly finished with Elann’s Adult Pinwheel Sweater and I’m knitting it on two 32″ circs. One is my Options needle, and the other is a Boye interchangeable. The Boye is okay but a little stiff, so I replaced it with the Addi, and WOW. I can see why people love them so much. I noticed the tips are not quite as sharp as the Options’ tips, but that’s not a big deal.

Well, I did buy the issue of Knit ‘n Style with the Yarn Harlot article, but I swear that’s all I bought. At least this time — I definitely plan on going back. Maybe I’ll even become one of the regulars!

Reading Claudia’s Blog in mid March I saw she had begun knitting Eiffel, a beautiful top, pattern from Knitty. It’s inspired by the Eiffel Tower, of course, and originally knit in a DK/Sport weight hemp.

I began thinking that Eiffel might be a good project for the Tour de France KAL. I knew I must have something in my stash to sub (nothing against knitting with hemp whatsoever, except that it’s pricey, I didn’t need to be buying more yarn, and apparently the dye is prone to fade in the stuff recommended in the pattern), maybe my Dilthey-Wolle, coned stuff from Colourmart, or something else. Just a thought, or two.

Of course I already had plenty of other projects percolating on the back burner — like the lacey version of Deep Breath to name only one.
I wasn’t sure what weight the Maura was, but the Colourmart stuff (angora/wool) was DK, 11 wpi. Ah, when I started thinking about all the great yarn I have stashed away and temporarily forgotten, I just wanted to dive into it and start knitting like crazy!!

At the same time, I was nearly done with sleeve #2 of the Pinwheel Sweater but decided to rip it back about four inches; I wasn’t satisfied with the color progression and the way it matched sleeve #1. I got a bit smug there a few days earlier and just knit away without paying close attention. Then suddenly I noticed a very abrupt shift from indigo to black . . . and the segue to aqua didn’t match. Tried to ignore and failed. Oh well −− not that big a deal, and I wanted to be truly satisfied with the finished project, no excuses or apologies. After all, I was MAKING this, it should be done just the way I want it.