Do you have any sparkly yarn?

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If you ever want to feel what it’s like to walk into a yarn shop and have every person inside stop their knitting and chatting to stare at you intensely, just ask, “Do you have any sparkly yarn?”

I don’t normally shop at yarn shops because Michael’s can meet my needs way cheaper, and I prefer the anonymity. At Michael’s I don’t have to tell anyone that I am making minion goggles while they are sitting there working on a multi-colored piece of intricate lace. I don’t have to try to justify that crochet is indeed an acceptable way to use yarn. I can walk around and look for what I need without having to remember the difference between worsted weight and sport weight and lace weight and heavy weight champion of the world. And I can use a coupon.

But I was having lunch right next door to the yarn store, and I had a need for some sparkly yarn, and I thought surely a Yarn Store would have more variety than Michael’s. So, leading up to my entrance, it made perfect sense to ask this question.

And then I asked my question.

And then the staring and the silence.

And then I realized sparkly yarn is more minion goggles and crochet and coupons than it is multi-colored intricate lace.

“Ha ha!” I chortled. “I mean, something with a little shimmer or shine, you know!”

“What are you making?” the helper asked.

“Um, an aviator hat? It’s crocheted. I like coupons.”

“Hmm…perhaps I have something in the clearance section.”

In the end, I did walk away with some shimmery (NOT sparkly) yarn for my project, but I remembered pretty vividly why I don’t usually go to yarn shops. Everyone really was nice and polite and helpful, but I just don’t think I am a yarn shop sort of gal.

Here are a few things I’ve been working on lately. As much as I love to squoosh the nice, pricey yarn, it’s really overkill for Hello Kitty hats and diaper covers.

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Fair Remorse

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The county fair was a few weeks ago, and after last year’s big hurrah, I found myself feeling rather inadequate. I’m not sure if I’ve said it before here, but it took me until probably the end of spring this year to feel crafty again after that experience. I rode in cars and watched tv and went to appointments and watched Anya at storytime for months without bringing any knitting along. Sometimes I wondered if I’d ever want to do much of anything crafty again.

Don’t worry. I’m all better now. But when the fair came along this fall, and when I started to go through the list of categories (oh, remember the days when I had that list memorized?), I could only come up with four things to enter. Four. I did, however, write down probably another half dozen that I felt convinced I could come up with if I just got real busy and focused. Then I realized that was crazy, and I helped Anya find some things to enter, and I figured if I added both her stuff and my stuff together that would sort of count as stuff I entered because I made her, right?

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Anya, however, didn’t seem to agree with that and made sure everyone knew that SHE won $15 at the fair and her mother only won $10. Fine, kid. I see how that works. I’m storing this away for later use.

So, what did I enter? There’s an owly crewel piece:

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And the aviator hat I crocheted:

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And Anya’s sweater and one of the baby hats I knitted:

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Enough of that stuff. Tiny as it was, there was more to the fair than the crafts. There were games,

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and chances for Daddy to look silly,

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and lots and lots and lots of corn.

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Then it rained.