I’ve been at it again — buying yarn which is gorgeous but I honestly have no business buying at the moment. And not just yarn but other stuff which was that completely irresistible thing . . . a Great Deal!

I knew I should be worried when the Big Lots moved into my neighborhood. It’s been there for two weeks now, and I’ve already visited it four times. The other day I brought home this:

It’s sort of like a very fine sander for your skin; it comes with several interchangeable pads, and it exfoliates and removes hair. I hate shaving and have been using other methods of hair removal for the last few decades, and I’m always on the lookout for the next technological improvement. And if that weren’t enough, you might notice the price tag up there in the right-hand corner — it says $5.00.

Yup, that’s what I paid for this gizmo, complete with storage pouch, 4 large and 2 smaller discs, and an instructional DVD. I just could not pass this by.

And of course there is yarn. As usual, one thing (reading a post on Ravelry about Freecycle) led me to something completely different (Craig’s List) which led to yet another site (a bunch of links to hemp yarn auctions on eBay) which led to eBay, back to Ravelry, to Knitty, and then back to eBay to buy six hanks of Hemp for Knitting Allhemp6 in Raspberry. Can you say splurge?

This is one I’m not sharing with the Big Guy for awhile.

Even though I originally planned to knit Eiffel with my coned black angora/wool from Colourmart, now I’m thinking the hemp’s the thing.

Today I also got these in the mail:

They came from a nice Raveler, Chellebelle.

I’ve got more yarn on the way, some Moda Dea Cartwheel ordered from Herrschner’s and some Loet Gems for socks from destash on Ravelry.

And then — I’m done, finished. Really. Because until my work starts up again, I’m not going to be getting very many paychecks and yarn seriously has to go to the bottom of my priority list. And besides, right now I’ve got enough yarn to last me for the next five years . . . at least.

I have of course been very busy working on my Simple Knitted Bodice, even knitting on the rest day. In fact, I used that day to catch up after taking the well-considered decision to rip back two inches of lace plus one of the two purl ridges. Since I’m short and don’t have the long, willowy body of a model, I chose to go with only one purl ridge on the top and bottom instead of two and to knit two inches of lace instead of three. It hurt a little bit to frog all the lace, but now I’m all caught up again, and I’m very pleased with my results.

I hope soon to be able to put the sweater on and model it properly. And I feel I’m making excellent progress and stand a good chance of finishing by the end of the Tour (although as a Yellow Jersey contender, that’s not absolutely necessary). I am planning on knitting long sleeves, but I haven’t made any firm decisions yet about how long they should be; it all depends on what style will look best on me.

And that’s one of the things I really love about knitting: I can adapt my pattern to fit me, just the way I want it. Knitting is so awesome!