you can stick your ecru shoes lady

well i find it very exciting when i have a photo so obscure no-one gets it :) but yes Taph, it is blocking on a plate...
and here it is:The Lace Tam by Lois Young from A Gathering of Lace. I knit it out of 1 ball of Grignasco Bambi and didnt use the whole thing. I knit it on 3.25mms because i couldnt get gauge on the 2.75mms the pattern called for. cute or what?

Now ladies, i went into the new Wool Shed store in manuka on monday. it recently changed owners and the shop moved a few stores down, but they still have a good range. i went in because they had called me to say that the new order of the Jo Sharp Alpaca Georgette had arrived and i want to knit a vest out of it.
i found the new yarn on the shelf and was suprised to note that the colours had appeared VERY different in the pattern book. i had myself set on a nice sky blue but it turned out to be grey. completely grey, not even a blue-grey. so i take it up to the counter to ask if maybe there's any from last season left or whatever. and the MOST CONFUSING CONVERSATION ever happened.
the lady behind the counter apologised that she usually worked out the back so she had no real idea about what was going on. i asked to see the alpaca kid lustre which was behind the counter. she called out to another lady. I'll call her tweedledum. i repeated my query to T'dum and she went on into this big anecdote about how she only knits Jo Sharp yarns and the colours are incorrectly labled, how she has a pair of shoes that colour. I blink and say that none of the colours are any good for me because they are all 'dirty' colours and i really need clear ones. T'dum proceeds to tell me that pastels are IN this season (T'dum and T'dee were both wearing bright orange). i repeat that pastels aren't the problem... she starts talking about her ecru shoes again. i ask to see the alpaca kid lustre. they both ignore me.
By now i'm feeling pretty frazzled, half expecting someone to jump out screaming "Gotcha!" but no. Sherpa starts to catch my vibe and comes in to rexcue me. i say, thanks but i guess i'll just have to substitute.
T'dum says "what size is it? it's a five ply".
I say "No, it's a 4-ply".
She says "what size are the needles?"
I say "3.25mm"
she says "2.25. well.. blaa blaa blah"
SHERPA says, firmly "NO, 3.25mm"
T'dum says "oh its three two point five... well thats almost a baby yarn. thats like a 4-ply"
ME - grabs addi turbos and strangles her to death.
or not. but it did cross my mind. i am editing somewhat, but i counted and i asked to see a ball of the alpaca kid lustre EIGHT times and neither of them payed any attention.

and these are the women who patronise me on a regular basis "do you know how to rib dear?"

here is the start of my fiddlesticks peacock shawl. I'm knitting it in my own colourway "Grape Juice" it's a nice pattern. I find charts very... comforting or something. its nice to have a post-it note to tell you you're halfway there.

Off to work. yuck.
The sleepy
Ms Spider xo