I was good...and then bad.

Stitches West was last weekend in Santa Clara. Wendy and I went. She was teaching and I was along for the ride. I don't know if there was actually less to see this year or if it was just my second year and all the glitz has worn off for me, but after 25 min I was pretty much done.

Here's my illegal shot of a tiny little corner of the huge space. Try not to steal any of the fuzy, dark pattern ideas :)



I went with the intention, not of buying yarn or patterns as I have plenty of both, but to try to find a knitting bag. My favorite purse is big enough to hold a small project in a plastic bag with all of the rest of the garbage I persist in carrying, but I am enough of a knitter now that I should have a bag devoted to it (I have a whole section of my studio apartment dedicated so this shouldn't have been a stretch for me).

As I was wandering I came across dozens of knitting bags. Most of them reminded me of carpet bags. Which are cute, but not at all my style. Beyond that I saw there were silk della Q bags. Lovely, but again not my style. Then I happened upon the Jordana Paige booth. And met Jordana, who is lovely by the way. These were much more my style. Mostly because they look nothing like knitting bags. Maybe it's just that I'm picky, but the color choices not the styles were what threw me off.

It was either this pink hounds tooth side bag:



or the purse in muted tones:





I loved the idea of a brown, but in person this brown is very flat. Maybe it was the fluorescents. Maybe I'm too just picky. Or maybe it's just that its a $90 investment and I want it to be a good one. Better to wait it out. So, I was good at stitches.

Oh, but then. then. You remember how I promised I wouldn't buy anymore yarn? And that I wouldn't buy it off eBay. And that it would definitely absolutely not be blue or green...


It's Rowan Calmer in color 480 Peacock. I couldn't help it! 10 balls including shipping for $75. What would you have done? Well, you may have sensibly looked at yourself (?..) and said "Self, you already have at least five sweaters worth of blue or green yarn and you've already knit two sweaters in green. You don't need more yarn, let alone blue/green yarn."

I did in fact say this to myself but the call of the deal. It is alluring. So, I put in my maximum bid. 63.01 (without the $12 shipping) and wouldn't you know I got it. Clearly the Gods like me in blue/green and want all my friends in the same colors. But now that I have it I will absolutely not start this until I've finished the finishing pile. We'll see how long that lasts.