Monday, March 20, 2006

Crocheting through crabbiness

So, my big hobby in life is crochet. I have many hobbies but this dominates much of my craft time. It also is the main reason I am still close to sane and has prevented me from throwing little children though plate-glass windows. Just kidding. There are no flying children near me now or in the past.

So I love the crochet, but recently I have been the victim of a yarn conspiracy. I have started many projects with what I thought was the right amount of yarn only to discover when it was nearly too late that I did not have enough at all.

The greatest calamity occurred in the form of the Navy Fleck blue sweater. First, I did not read the pattern correctly and used worsted weight yarn instead of Lion Brand Homespun. As a result, I used more yarn than the pattern predicted. But I loved the Navy Fleck and could already imagine the beautiful sweater it would create. I had the back of this sweater almost done when I realized the error of my ways.

So I then commenced the Great Navy Fleck Yarn search. I looked in every store I could with no success. I called yarn stores, no success. I then looked up the Coats and Clark Web site, again disappointment and shame. I called Coats and Clark and learned the horrible truth. The yarn was discontinued -- aaaaahhh!! I had suspected as much but didn't want to admit it was true. I then turned to Ebay hoping for some minor miracle. They had two and a half skeins for sale but by the time the auction was done they wanted $30 for the lot. The inbred cheapness of my pioneer ancestors would not let me pay that much for two and a half skeins of yarn I could normally purchase for $12 at the most. Yes, I know what you're thinking, if only you had. The Navy Fleck I did have was the scraps of another project that was also a disaster because it didn't fit when it was done so I gave it to a friend. Anyway ... I ended up putting the yarn away and starting another project, but the conspiracy continues.

I made a crocheted purse out of another Red Heart color variety, consulting the package first to get the yarn amount needed. I then even purchased that amount. I was about an inch and a half from being done when, yes, you guessed it. I ran out of yarn. Now living in the country's bread basket, 50 miles from the nearest Hobby Lobby, it was not possible for me to jaunt out like some city slicker after the exact yarn I needed. So, I waited and of course started something else. The purse was for me anyway so no big deal. This weekend I went to yarn mecca (otherwise known as Sioux Falls) to pick up the needed yarn only to find out that Hobby Lobby was out. There was no time to visit another store due to numerous visits to scrapbooking kingdoms. So, back I went to Brookings with no yarn to finish the purse. Spring is looming and this is not necessarily a spring purse. What's a girl to do? Can we stand to be deprived of a new fabulous purse. Oh, the horror.

I had listened to the lectures from my three older co-workers, otherwise known as the domestics, following yarn conspiracy No. 1 about buying enough yarn for the project all at once. But how can I cope with patterns that lie? It is a dilemma. Meanwhile, I thought I was running out of yarn for my current project only to discover a huge pounder skein in my stash. A narrow escape, but perhaps the tide is turning and Yarn Conspiracy 2006 is over.