Life Changing Moments in the Yarn Store
(file under, Stuff about Rachael you probably could care less about)

I bought some cool yarn in Macon on Wednesday.

I have this new philosophy of finishing a project before I can buy supplies for one new project. Many of you who know me are astonished right now. I realized this philosophy was nessecary when I inventoried the mirage of scrapbook supplies that currently dominate one room of my mom's house. I have enough to open a small store, and I haven't spent $20 on supplies since moving back in here. I brought it allll with me. And yet, not too many scrapbooks to show for it. I have rubber stamps to stamp cards for the next century. So many that I often loan the entire collection to friends, and never miss them. Ever. So I made this new idea up about finishing things before I start new things. (this also came along with balancing my checkbook AND paying bills on time) It's true. And, amazingly, as many of you have been telling me for years, this Theory actually works.... shocking.

So, since I finished the Noro scarf, I bought supplies for a new scarf. The Yin and Yang scarf. I am a scarfaholic when it comes to knitting. Scarves are easy and don't require me cussing, throwing things, or stabbing furniture with my needles. You can see the attraction.

So I now think my yarn store trip was a message. I am not sure from who. Maybe God. Maybe the Yarn Goddess (I haven't actually met her, but I think there is one) You would never guess a trip to the yarn store in little Macon would yield such life changing results. But it did.

How you ask?

Well... part of my new theory of reward crafting is the philosophy of buying materials for an actual project. You know - buying the specific stuff needed to make a specific thing. So, in the shop was the Yin and Yang scarf - finished as a sample. The yarn is all ribbony and purple and blue. It looked easy enough. So, I bought the yarn, AND wrote down the pattern. Wrote it down, I tell you. I stashed the little piece of torn calendar paper with the pattern on it in my purse.

Feeling very satisfied and fulfilled (yes, The Theory also gives me this feeling) and oh so responsible with my stash of mad money (you know, spending it on something I will actually see results from) I left the store and happily drove back to Atlanta. I was so happy, I held the little sack of yarn in my lap the whole way home. And, since my Noro scarf traveled with me to Macon, it was a car ride of complete crafty-responsible-look-what-I-can-do bliss. ADD Rachael was probably pissed. (*Creative Me, Paper Girl, and ADD Rachael* are buddies. The get together and try to sabotage my otherwise mild mannered lifestyle. The Theory totally pisses them off.)

I haven't had a spare second to even look at my yarn since coming home. There has been a lot going on around here... work, school, laundry, dance, rescuing baby bluebirds from the grips of my daughters, to really think about knitting. And, when I am not doing all those things, I am doing stuff like going to bible study, helping get stuff done for church, going to the library.... you know, all the standard mommy things that laugh in the face of spare time. Weeks like this suck. Mommy is tired, the girls are tired, we're all cranky, we all cry about something.... I am exhasuted, and trying to make myself look forward to New York this weekend.

So, last night - around eleven or so - I decided to wind my new yarn into a ball. When I was finished, I dug around for the pattern I had written on the torn piece of calendar paper. I found it in the bottom of my purse (the cute basket purse Katey bought me). When I uncrumpled it, I realized I was reading the wrong side.... the calendar side. This is what it said:

Tuesday May 10th 2005

Rushing and then collapsing is not only exhausting to us. This behavior wears out everyone around us, too.

(For Women Who Do Too Much Calendar, Workman Publishing)

So. To whomever it might have been trying to tell me something, I got it. Thank you for the note. It was nice of you to send it in note form, rather than just slapping me. It was nice of you.

Knit ten rows, purl one row. Repeat.

Rach