Technical (Directional) Difficulties

Amy and I went on our second-half-of-the-year yarn crawl today. And got some wedding prep stuff. Sounds like a good trip huh. It was. Even with our, ahem, mishaps.

Mishap #1:

On the way up, we managed to babble our way past our exit. Oopsie! We saw the exit before and the exit after (which we took).

Mishap #2:

Somehow, we managed to drive from Indy to Beech Grove without realizing it until we were there. The main things that pointed this out were the sign with "BEECH GROVE" on it and the street signs became brown instead of the green we're so very very used to.

Mishap #3:

Still looking for the right friggin road. (Psst. I was looking for the wrong blasted STATE. I kept looking for Washington Ave. instead of Virginia Ave.) Finally ended up stopping at a gas station for directions. Easiest way to get this point across? Stating "I've lost my road!" We were only off by about 5 blocks all in all.

So we finally get to Mass. (No not church, it's the wrong day :p I'm talking about Mass Ave. Knit Shop.)

Mishap #4:

Eek! There's NO PARKING available! We asked a kind lady about alternate parking options and she was very helpful. We got a decent parking place.

After a pleasant hour or so, we realized we were pretty hungry. This was easily remedied, as we'd already decided on where we were eating. I had checked out directions before (twice!), so had a pretty good idea of where we needed to go to get to the restaurant (previous difficulties notwithstanding).

Mishap #5:

No problems getting to the interstate, or finding either of our exits. Unfortunately, we didn't ever think about the exit being CLOSED! So, backtrack to the other interstate and more familiar surroundings.

Off to the restaurant we go! I don't think there were any more mishaps after we ate. We were only slightly miserable due to food intakes. Most of the rest of it passed in a happy food/flower/creativity haze.

And now I need a nap!

Got My Malabrigo

So a few weeks ago, Ames and I did our yearly trip to Mass Ave. We got our yarns, had a great meal, got semi-lost, found the trail again, and then went home to be slightly miserable from eating too much. It was great.

I have almost one sleeve of my hoodie done. Man, but it is slow going - unless I have a movie playing...

The cat is driving me to drink, I swear. She keeps yelling at me to get up! Earlier and earlier each day. I've taken to throwing things like the pillow at her, but it doesn't help. Much. There's an 89% chance that she's plotting to kill me in my sleep. I think there's a 105% chance she's just wanting to make us crazier. Good thing she's cute.

All I Wanted Was Some Malabrigo

Yesterday I woke up feeling a little froggy for some new yarn. I really wanted to get some more Malabrigo Worsted to make a little something selfish. The nearest yarn shop that sells it is about an hour away. So I called my friend Squee and invited her to come with me. Great! Yarn company and a chance to show off my ring!

All goes well in the beginning. We stop for road sodas and are on our way. We get on the interstate - no problem. Mom returns my call en route so we're both chatting at her while I drive. Again, no problems.

Suddenly, I start fishtailing. At 70mph. With traffic in front and behind and a friggin semi next to me. Big Problem!

As soon as I figure out something is wrong, I turn on my hazard lights and pull over. Unfortunately, I'm in the passing lane so I have to pull off on the wrong shoulder. Luckily, it was wide enough for my vehicle.

Squee is giving Mom the rundown of everything that's going on and I'm just hoping traffic clears up enough so I can get to the proper side of the road.

We get over there, I get out and lookit the tires... Yep, one of my back tires has blown. Which is weird, because the tread is still really good on them. The air was fine when we left so it couldn't have been that. Upon closer inspection, the radial? blew out and I could see lots of the wire threads just hanging there.

So, now to change the tire. I have the spare in the trunk. I heave out my little hydraulic pump jack and kneel down to place it. Did I mention I have on a long skirt? Anyway, I get the jack in place and begin the process of changing the tire. (Thank You Mom! for making sure I know how to do this!) Guess what. The jack doesn't have the juice to lift up the car. Bugger.

Luckily, a nice gentleman stops and offers assistance. All I really needed was a jack, but he went on to change out the tire for us. Thank you so much, sir!!!

Next order of business: Find A Tire Shop! But first, to get to the nearest exit. That is NOT something I want to do EVER again! We had to drive ELEVEN MILES. On the INTERSTATE. On a DONUT! You can't drive more than about 45mph on one of those. By now, my nerves are pretty much shot. All thoughts of the lovely Malabrigo have been removed forcefully from my brain.

We get to a tire shop. They're closed on the weekends. *grumblegrumble*
We get directions and go to a second tire shop that we were assured is open on Saturdays. They're also closed. *grumblegrumblemutter*
We find Wal-Mart. *grumblecursegrumble* Fine. Whatever. Wal-Mart it is. By this point, I just want to get the blasted tire and go home. If I'm changing out one, I might as well change them all. And what the hell, let's get the oil changed while we're here.

**TWO AND A HALF HOURS LATER**

Car's ready.

Total price: $386.77

By this time, the yarn shop would be closed by the time we got there. And I had to use the yarn fund plus about half of what I had saved for a spinning wheel for the tires. So the wheel must now wait another month or two...

At least no one got hurt.

And I still want my Malabrigo!

Shawl n Crawl

Firstly, I finished a shawl! It's the Luna Moth shawl and I really want to make another one, but in a different color. This one is going to be a Christmas gift for one of my grandmothers. She requested one and survey says that she'll like it. Cross your fingers...















Secondly, Ames and I went on a yarn crawl today. We had funds, a full tank of gas, no a/c, polar pops, and a fistful of directions. Believe it or not, we found our way to the first stop with no problems. No wrong turns, either!


See, we even have photos with some of our yarn cakes.









The owner of Clementine's was kind enough to let us know that what we had planned on as our second stop no longer existed, and printed out some directions for us to a different place instead.

Third stop: Mass Ave. Knit Shop! I had been here before, but it was Ames' first time. She reacted much the same as I did when we walked in. Which was to stop, gape, and absorb the atmosphere. Sometime during our perusal, the rest of the road trip just kind of ... disappeared. But, neither of us were disappointed with that fact. We spent several happy hours petting yarn, picking brains, concocting patterns, and yarny goodness! I even tried my hand at making yarn cakes with my purchases:










The cakes you see in front of me were wound by me, with one exception. Don't ask which one because I honestly don't remember.










Behind me, you'll see Dru hamming it up as well. (Forgive me if my spelling is off, Dru!)
















And then, much later in the afternoon, we decided it was time to take our new stuff home and introduce it all to its new friends in our stashes. Of course, it's all clamoring to be used right now but I shall be strong and finish the buddy tank first!

(Oh, and you can see my new, much shorter 'do as well.)