But I've been thinking about a yarn store I visited in Cedar Falls. The boys and I were up there to see an exhibit on Slow Food to Fast Food at the UNI Museum . . . and poke around the town. We saw a sculpture garden and the University greenhouse as well. But downtown, I spotted the Yarn Store and was magnetically drawn in!
Once inside, though, I didn't feel so drawn in. There were the bins of beautiful yarn, there were the racks of patterns, there were the ladies sitting and knitting, but I felt out of place.
I suddenly had this memory come back to me of when I was learning to knit. I was in grad school, and my neighbor in the dorm was teaching me to knit. I had done a couple of hats, and wanted to try a sweater. So we went to the Yarn Store to get yarn and a pattern. I found some beautiful yarn, and a cute and easy pattern . . . but when I went to pay for it, the supplies added up to more than $30!
OK, you say, $30 isn't that much for good yarn and a pattern. But I was a grad student--very poor--and that was a LOT. I was used to sewing, where you could actually save money if you knew how to sew. I remember that it dawned on me that unlike sewing, which was frugal, knitting seemed like a very expensive hobby.
That $30 ticket scared me away from knitting and serious crocheting for many years, I think. I kept sewing (until recently, I ALWAYS had a sewing project going), but didn't ever get back to knit & crochet . . . until eyelash yarn!
And recently, it was an article about the crochet coral reef that got me going again. I made some fun forms with CHEAP yarn--they amused me! And of course it was just a tiny step from there to amigurumi--quick and cheap thrills, if you ask me.
So I may go to a yarn store again . . . or I may not. Right now, I'm working with some beautiful sport-weight wool-blend yarn I rescued from a garage sale . . . finding an unexpected treasure like that (for $1 a skein) is just as cool as a yarn store, isn't it?
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