“Supermarket Sweep” at the LYS

That’s how it was on a balmy Saturday evening in Toronto. We’d planned a very fast, grab-and-go trip to the city this past weekend, knowing we’d get a late start leaving the country. I figured I could just about squeeze in Romni Wool trip with friend Tracey. Turns out ‘squeeze’ is the right word. I was sure they were open ’til 7. Wrong. We arrived at 5:58; the shop closed at 6:00. How much damage can a girl do in 2 minutes? Plenty!

Though I’m sure I didn’t lose any weight racing around the yarn store, this kind of merry chase is my new favorite athletic activity. I’m usually very thoughtful and careful at the yarn store. It’s a balancing act. Beautiful yarn must be had but budgets must be balanced. It is a rare occurrence when I whimsically purchase yarns with no purpose. Therein lies the beauty of the “Supermarket Sweep” theory of yarn shopping…there is no time to think, no time to consult lists, no time to calculate yardage. LYS Sweeping is driven purely by inspiration and immediate response.

Of course, any knitter roams the world with certain ideas, those little color, pattern and  texture bugs that live latently in the brain. For a long time, I’ve had an idea for a color block stem-and-leaf design. Shazam! There was the leaf-green Jo Sharp Alpaca Kid Lustre. I’ve been a little obsessed with deep aqua/purple-y/blue-y colorways. Bing! There was the Drops Big Delight in “Atlantis”. And deep in my stash was a single skein of Universal Deluxe Chunky Tweed in Mango just waiting for the perfect accent yarn. Bang! Debbie Bliss Angel in “Magenta”. (Then, of course, I had to add a little somethin’somethin’ for a pair of Nordic Mittens I’ve been dying to make.) Kismet.

Just goes to show you that there’s value in that load of lemons…make 2 minutes worth of lemonade 😀