I have a cold. It used to just be in my nose but now it’s in my head and my throat and my back, too. Other than the little jaunt that comprises this post I spent much of the weekend on the couch. I assumed that resting a lot would mean I’d be better today but that’s not the case and I’m home from work. I have to be better by tonight as it’s a spinning night at the library and I’m the one with the key! That’s my health situation. We now return to our regular blogging.

I do not have a local yarn shop. This is something I lament frequently. Yes, there are a couple of those big box craft stores 15 minutes away. And yes, there is a small but lovely yarn shop 20 minutes away. But right in my town? Nada.

The closest thing I’ve ever had to a truly local yarn shop is Saftler’s but they specialize in fabric and haven’t really invested a lot in their yarn department. Until now. You see, Saftler’s has undergone some major changes over the last year, including a complete redesign of the store.

One of those changes resulted in moving the yarn department to the front of the store and surrounding it with this cute picket fence. It’s adorable and it’s only 7 minutes from my house.

So, Saturday morning Blogless Sharon, along with our friend Debbie, and I went out to breakfast and then headed to Saftler’s for their grand re-opening celebration and sale. Lois was there demonstrating Magic Loop and the yarn department was bustling!

They still have a lot of ack-rylic yarn but they’ve got some decent things to choose from as well – including Trekking XXL, thankyouverymuch. And Addi Turbos. Ahh yes, I can now purchase Addis without shipping charges. Squeee!

There were lines at the cash register all morning, a heartening sight for those of us who have been worried that those big box craft stores would drive our local craft store out of business. And I even had a brief chat with Eric, the owner of the store. I told him he had room to start selling spinning wheels and he said . . . wait for it . . . that he’s planning on doing just that. Double squeee!

I’m definitely going to have to stop complaining about not having a local yarn shop now.

You just never know what pattern is going to sweep through the knitting blogs like wildfire. The first in my experience was the Clapotis. I knit two of those. Then there were Jaywalkers. I knit two pairs of those. And now there’s Fetching. It took me a while but I finally hopped on that bandwagon. I had a skein of Classic Elite Wings in jet black that was just crying out to be knit into these mitts. They were my last finished knit of ’06 and I wore them on New Year’s Eve when we headed out for the night. But you know when they came in most handy? New Year’s Day. Something about the name just really worked for me.

Honey, fetch me some coffee.

And could you fetch me the paper, too?

How about fetching me some champagne, too?

See what I’m talking about? I’m just not sure Dale is as fond of them as I am. Heh.