Knitting Zen

I took my Christmas money to The Yarn Barn today, and bought some Chinchilla to make a scarf for one of my sisters for next Christmas (starting early!), and yarn for the Hot Water Bottle Cozy.

The pattern called for Lush angora, but at $10.00 a skein, I just couldn't see it. But I did want to see the yarn, to see what it looked like so I could substitute something else. They didn't carry it there, but they looked it up for me, and said it's worsted weight, so I found some Plymouth Encore that I hope will be all right. And if it doesn't work out, it was just $5.50/skein, so I could afford $15.00 to find out.

I also bought a Size 10 circular needle and a set of double-points; I really hated to do that, hated to spend money on Size 10 needles, because I really dislike working on such big ones, but then, I want to make that pattern . . . I got Bryspun doublepoints because they were cheaper than bamboo, and I thought I might as well try them. Also some Bryspun cable needles because they were cute. :)

And those little black rubber stitch markers because I'm paranoid about losing them, and if I have another bag, well, hopefully I can worry a little less about dropping one of the ones I already have.

They didn't have a very good selection of Chinchilla, so I'll probably end up ordering more online; I decided to buy Vanilla (a cream color), since I don't know for sure what my sister would like, or what color coat she'll have in a year.

I decided to start early and knit a bunch of stuff for next year, and I think I can do that as long as I stick to fairly simple projects, like scarves. I also need to have some "mindless" knitting around at all times--I'm going to be working from a chart shortly on the Sweater for Your Head, which is definitely not the kind of knitting you can do at stoplights. Not that I do that, of course . . .