Clarification and Pretty Yarn

Hello all - I hope you had a good weekend. Mine was productive - well, at least for me lately. 

Today was bill-paying day. Which is fine, I know that if you are alive on the planet, even if you are not someone who buys a lot of stuff, you still have at least a couple of bills to pay. And I don't mind it if I am organized, but today was not one of those days and it took a lot longer than usual. Plus, I had a really big medical bill to pay, and I thought at first that it must be a mistake - surely they had not yet submitted it to my insurance/Medicare. But then I checked online and they had submitted it, and the amount was what I owed AFTER that! Yikes. And after spending a stupid amount of time on the phone with my prescription insurance over another ridiculous amount, I was wondering if I could just go live in a hut somewhere. It would have to have indoor plumbing though, so the whole cycle is just a circle in the end. 😉

Anyhoo, I wanted to make a clarification before I go any further, related to my time at the yarn store. A dear friend pointed out to me that I may have led some people to think it is/was a terrible place with awful people in charge. I reviewed what I wrote and realized it did kind of sound like that. 

I'm here to say that it is an absolutely fabulous place, with more nice, fun, and cool yarn that you could imagine being fit into such a small physical footprint. One of the best things about working there was that you would walk in, see all the colors, and just feel better - even if you had felt OK before! The owners/managers have kept it going like that for nearly 20 years,  and I've known them for that long. You can probably imagine, with so many yarn stores closing, that it's no easy thing to not just stay in business, but make it a place where people want to keep coming back. 

Did I like/get along with/make friends with everyone else that worked there? Nope, but that's never been the case in any job I had. Some of them I will miss terribly. Others I have kinda sorta already forgotten about ... 

So please do not think it's a terrible yarn store with terrible people. Far from it. Some of the issues are the kinds of things that happen everywhere, even when the staff is small - heck, maybe you notice it more when there are fewer people working with you.  But for the record, I have every intention of shopping there when I decide I absolutely positively must have yarn* for one thing or another. (Yes, if you are wondering, I will miss the employee discount!) So you should as well, either in person or online. 

And if anyone had their feelings hurt, I do apologize. It was not my intention.

Onward.

+++

Speaking of pretty yarn, every time I work on my Anker's Summer Shirt, I think the colors in the yarn I'm using are so very pretty:

I don't care how you slice it, that's just pretty yarn! (And you shouldn't slice yarn, to be clear.) I bought this last summer at an end of season sale at Loop. It's Noro Kakigori, which is cotton, silk, rayon, and nylon. (I will regale you with the colorway next time, as currently there is a cat on my lap, and we all know you can't move until the cat does.)

With such pretty yarn, and the fact that I made this pattern a couple of years ago, I'm enjoying it more this time around. Still not a huge fan of 1 x 1 rib, but now I "get" the way the pattern works much better than I did in my first attempt, meaning there is a whole lot less ripping back and re-doing things. Which is nice when you have 200+ stitches. My progress this time around is much better. In fact I may finish while there is still some warm weather. Not that I currently have anywhere to go and wear it, other than to Dr appts and at least for the first wearing, that would be a waste. 

I worked on this project yesterday for about an hour, and about every 5 rounds, I'd say out loud "This is looking so pretty!" Since I was home by myself, and the cats were all elsewhere, no one disagreed with me, which is always nice. 

That's it for now. Now that I have sent all of our money to other people, I think I'll read for a while and try to figure out what to have for dinner tonight. I have a sneaking suspicion that it may be pasta, because when I don't have something already in mind, 9 times of our 10, pasta is the answer. 

Enjoy the rest of your day, and I hope that whatever you fix/eat for dinner is something you enjoy. 😊

*No, in reality I do not actually need any yarn. I'm sure you understand what I mean there ...