My first meme…

Stuff I’ve done/am doing
Stuff I’d like to do
Stuff that I’ll probably never do

Afghan– one in progress and several on the to-knit list
I-cord
Garter stitch
Knitting with metal wire
Shawl– Candle Flame shawl on the needles
Stockinette stitch
Socks: top-down – I’ve got the yarn, needles and pattern – just trying to come up with the guts to try it
Socks: toe-up
Knitting with camel yarn
Mittens: Cuff-up
Mittens: Tip-down
Hat
Knitting with silk
Moebius band knitting
Participating in a KAL

Drop stitch patterns
Knitting with recycled/secondhand yarn
Slip stitch patterns
Knitting with banana fiber yarn
Domino knitting
Twisted stitch patterns – Thermal on the needles
Knitting with Bamboo yarn– waiting to be able to afford enough for Interweave patterns
Two end knitting- not sure I know what this is?
Charity knitting– I have several afghan blocks just .
Knitting with soy yarn- just waiting till I can afford enough for an Interweave pattern
Cardigan
Toy/Doll clothing
Knitting with circular needles
Baby items
Knitting with your own handspun yarn
Slippers
Graffiti knitting (knitting items on, or to be left on the street)
Continental Knitting
Designing knitted garments
Cable stitch patterns (incl. Aran)
Lace patterns

Publishing a knitting book
Scarf
Teaching a child to knit
American/English knitting (as opposed to continental)
Knitting to make money
Buttonholes
Knitting with Alpaca
Fair Isle Knitting
Norwegian knitting
Dying with plant colors- this appeals to the naturalist in me
Knitting items for a wedding
Household items (dishcloths, washcloths, tea cosies…)
Knitting socks (or other small tubular items)on two circulars
Olympic knitting
Knitting with someone else’s handspun yarn
Knitting with dpns
Holiday related knitting
Teaching a male to knit
Bobbles
Knitting for a living– that would be cool, but will probably never happen
Knitting with cotton
Knitting smocking
Dyeing yarn
Steeks
Knitting art
Knitting two socks (or other small tubular items) on two circulars simultaneously
Fulling/felting
Knitting with wool
Textured Knitting
Kitchener Bind Off
Purses/bags
Knitting with beads
Swatching– something I need to be more consistent about
Long Tail CO
Entrelac– Lady E and Eunny’s socks on the to-knit list
Knitting and Purling Backwards – must learn for Lady E
Machine knitting

Knitting with selfpatterning/selfstriping/variegating yarn

Stuffed Toys
Knitting with Cashmere
Darning
Jewelry
Knitting with synthetic yarn
Writing a pattern
Gloves
Intarsia
Knitting with Linen
Knitting for preemies
Tubular CO
Freeform knitting
Short rows
Cuffs/fingerless mitts/armwarmers
Pillows
Knitting a pattern from an online knitting magazine
Rug
Knitting on a loom

Knitting a gift
Knitting for pets
Shrug/Bolero/Poncho
Knitting with dog/cat hair

Hair accessories

Knitting in public- as often as possible!

This is what I was blessed to see this week on my drive home from work…

 

a double rainbow. See it? The second one is kind of faint, to the left of the brighter one. I didn’t even realize it was there until I looked at the photo.

I usually commute on the back roads instead of the interstate, for many reasons, one of which is the beautiful scenery. But it’s VERY rare to see something this beautiful…

 

Something very weird happened yesterday while I was delivering papers. The electric window on my driver’s side is broken, so I have to open the door each time I deliver to a tube. I got to about the fifth house, opened the door and something flew in the window, hitting me in the head and scaring me to death. I screamed and acted like a fool for a few seconds, then looked in the floorboard to see what I believe was a sparrow, sitting there calmly, watching the idiot in the driver’s seat. So I pulled onto the road, rolled down the passenger window, got out and opened the back window and then the passenger door, and tried to talk the little bird out of the blazer. It didn’t want to leave, and all I could think was how I was going to have to clean bird poop off my seats and dash…I mean, I almost wet my pants, how is a bird supposed to hold it in?

But it did, and it took the grand tour, hopping from the dash to the driver’s seat, then to the back seat and the back floorboard, and then back to the front again. This went on for about five minutes. Meanwhile I’m talking to it, waving my hand in and out of the blazer to show it that there’s no obstruction to the outside world, it only needs to hop to the side instead of front to back. At one point I just went to the back of the blazer and watched silently, as it hopped from one side of the dash to the other. Finally it hopped onto the passenger side door and then flew thru its open window, then to a tree nearby.

Now I’ve had birds in the fireplace that have gotten lost down our chimney, we’ve had a couple hummingbirds and other birds that have mistaken our back windows for open skies, but I’ve never had a bird fly into my car before. At the time it happened, I was thinking about my current work situation and how to resolve it…and about another deeper issue I’ll tell you more about now.

This display, God’s reminder to me of His promises, has been especially significant this week because DH is struggling yet again in his job situation. For the past four years, maybe a little longer, he has bounced from job to job, never finding one that he both enjoyed and that had the benefits and salary that we need as a family. He has built custom cabinets, worked in a door shop, helped a home remodeler, and now installs glass in office buildings, both finished and those under construction. This week he found that while he’s being given more responsibility and is currently in charge of the job he’s working on, his boss is hiring helpers at a much higher salary than DH currently makes. A pretty bitter pill to swallow, especially when DH really likes the people he works with and the company has the best benefits of any place he’s ever worked.

So after much prayer and consideration, he sat down with his boss yesterday and asked for a raise, basing it on his new responsibilities, and not mentioning what he knows of the others’ salaries. His boss doesn’t want to lose him, but said he’d think about it and let DH know on Monday.

As a woman and a wife, I need to feel safe and secure in DH’s ability to provide for us. I’ve struggled with this the past four years quite a bit. I know he is capable of anything he sets his mind to do, but we’ve had discussions about his lack of satisfaction with any job…it seems that no matter how good the pay or the benefits, there is always something about whatever job he has that makes him miserable. I personally feel its because God has something planned for him to do, and DH hasn’t sought that out yet. Time will tell. But I always feel like the other shoe could drop at any moment and DH will come home to tell me he’s going to look for a new job…or worse (and this has happened), that he’s already quit the one he has…it’s not a real safe feeling for a wife. And I have a hard time respecting him when it comes to this issue…every time he vents about work, I can feel myself tense up and start wondering when it will happen…I have been praying that God would change my attitude and help me put myself in DH’s shoes. How would I feel if this happened to me? What would I do? How would I handle it, with the added burden of knowing my job as provider of this family? God has a lot of work to do on me, but I hope I can say I have gotten better about how I handle the inevitable moment with DH says he’s no longer happy where he is, and he thinks he’s going to start looking…

But in the meantime, I have these beautiful rainbows and that wonderful little bird to remind me that God is my ultimate Provider and I need not fear the future. Isn’t God good?

Progress!

I feel like I’m finally making some progress in the knitting part of my world. I’m finished with the baby blanket, except for whipstitching the blocks together. Need to pick up another skein of LB Homespun this week to do that. I’m a bit frustrated in that every Wal-Mart I go to to pick this up, seems to be out of almost all their yarn. I’m very afraid that they are doing away with the craft/fabric section of the store, which I’ve read about on blogs/email lists, but haven’t seen confirmed anywhere. I REALLY hope they don’t do this…our town doesn’t have a craft store, and the big-box store and LYS are all at least 30 minutes away from me. It’s pretty convenient to pick up what I need when I’m grocery shopping, and I LOVE the $1 and $2/yard fabrics I can get there.

Now that the blanket is finished for the most part, I’m concentrating on finishing Viveka and dh’s Kangaroo sweatshirt (from Sally Melville’s Purl Stitch book). I’m almost finished with the front of Viveka, which leaves two sleeves and the seaming left to do, but dh’s project is knitting on size 6 needles…it’s making for sloooooowwwww going. He won’t be wearing it this season, that’s for sure, unless there’s a miracle I’m not expecting. I’m about four inches from finishing the back, and that’s all I’ve done. I am loving the yarn, though…Knit Picks Shine. It is so very soft.

Now that our taxes are completed, I have plans to purchase more of this yarn for my own sweatshirt – Celtic Icon from Inspired Cable Knits. I’ll be making it in River and Cloud. I cannot WAIT to get started on it! But must wait for the direct deposit to actually arrive before that happens…

Also on the list of tax refund purchases is a digital camera…so you can actually see what I am working on!

Must get better at this…

blogging thing. I really do want to do this on a regular basis…I just keep thinking I don’t have anything good to say or a good way to say it, so I just say nothing.

Have you seen the Knitty winter surprise? I’m in love with Thermal…that’s definitely a drop-everything-and-knit-now item for me. I was just about to place a Knit Pick order, so this is perfect timing. I love the colors of the Gloss yarn, and it looks like a really fun knit.

I’m knitting fast and furiously on a baby blanket. Almost finished, which is good considering the baby arrived this past weekend. I’m actually knitting three blankets, one for each of their kids, so there’s no sibling rivalry. I really like how they are turning out.

I also finished a cardigan that just needs to be seamed – the LB Autumn Afternoons Cardigan. I fell in love with this when I got the summer LB catalog, but didn’t want to buy it. Finally just couldn’t resist. I’ve never knitted anything from their site that’s actual apparel, and I was pretty disappointed in the pattern writing, especially for one I had to pay for. Directions are only spelled out for the back, sleeves, and one front. The instructions for the opposite front just say “knit as for right front and reverse shaping.” Not too hard to figure out, but shouldn’t they spell that out for you? Also found a couple errors in the pattern…should be interesting to see if they actually post them.

And I’ve succumbed to the downloadable patterns frenzy…I’ve purchased many of them over the past few weeks. Wicked, Sizzle, Somewhat Cowl, Something Red, Ribby Cardi…and I’m THRILLED to know that Knit Picks has started making their patterns available for download. So much fun!

Once the baby blanket is finished, I’m seaming the cardigan and finishing Viveka. I really want to be able to wear it this season. After that, I’m thinking Wicked will be next, and probably another Central Park Hoodie – this time in LB Wool Ease. I’m usually not a big fan of acrylic, but it’s soft and easy-care, and I’m by no means rich. With surgery coming up the end of March, I’ve got to be a penny-pinching Scrooge for a while.

Time goes by…

I can’t believe its been almost two months since my last post. Life certainly hasn’t been quiet, but I just haven’t felt like writing about it. Most knit blogs I read are so clever and the knitters are so interesting that I really don’t feel I have much to contribute.

I did a terrible job of Christmas knitting this year. I had so many plans of things I wanted to do for gifts, but the only ones being done were a pair of Fetching gloves for my new boss, and some knit face cloths for the two women I work with – which actually aren’t finished and I have until tomorrow morning to complete it or its not worth giving.

I’ve been knitting, but haven’t completed anything. Its become a metaphor for life – I start something, really enjoy it, but when I get to the end (the finishing of the knitted item) I have no desire to continue – I usually jump over to start another project. I have so many things on the needles, and even more in the queue, but I still haven’t finished the cardigan I started knitting in September. All that’s left is the seaming and knitting a buttonband. But I can’t seem to find the energy or motivation to finish it. New projects are much more exciting!

I’m also struggling with some sort of illness. I think I may be in the developing stages of either fibromyalgia or chronic fatigue syndrome. I’ve just had no energy lately at all. When I get home, all I want to do is sleep. This is very unusual for me – I usually wind up staying up too late and then regreting it the next morning. But the past several weeks, I’ve been ready to fall into bed as soon as I get home. The last time this happened, it turned out to be mono. From what I’ve read, if the symptoms return, its likely the beginnings of CFS. I don’t have time for that! But it’s not unexpected for this to happen – many women with endo have the same issues. I just REALLY wish I didn’t have to deal with it.

I have big plans though of finishing the cardigan and a few other things I’ve started while I enjoy the 16 DAYS OFF I have over the next couple of weeks. Words can’t describe how excited I am to have this time off. So far, other than the usual Christmas duties, I only have to spend some time with my dad, at an attorney’s office, drawing up a will or a living trust, whatever he decided to do. During the rest of the time, I’m knitting, knitting, cleaning house, knitting, decluttering, knitting, watching “Alias”, knitting, watching “House”, knitting, cooking, baking, meal planning…all the FUN stuff I don’t usually get to do. The desire to be a stay-at-home-wife is getting bigger each year – maybe someday. I’d like nothing more than a house full of kids and the opportunity to raise them, home school, cook, clean, and knit. That would be heaven in my world.

I also plan to try to make my first quilt – a wall hanging, which I’m not sure where in my home should actually hang. Last year my goals were to learn to crochet, knit, and quilt. I started crocheting, but never quite got the hang of it, so I moved on to knitting. In the nine months since I picked up the needles, I haven’t wanted to put them down long enough to learn to quilt. I have a ton of quilting books and magazines, and enough fabric for at least two wallhangings, two throws, and I think one queen size quilt – but I still haven’t actually begun it. 2007 is the year to learn it and actually complete a project.

I love the new year. Other than Christmas its my favorite time of year. I think its because I’m so fond of new beginnings – especially in my own life. Thank God for His grace and mercy each day – we get a new slate whenever we ask forgiveness! He’s so good to cleanse our hearts and let us begin again. I need that so often…

When will it end?

This week hasn’t started out so great. I had my annual review at work and was extremely disappointed, mostly in myself. I can’t say that I agreed with everything, but the things I did agree with didn’t make me very happy about myself. Not a great way to start the week, and I’m already wishing it was over.

On the knitting front, I did start Viveka, and it seems to be turning out OK. I was a little worried once I cast on because I couldn’t quite get gauge exactly (using Caron Simply Soft Tweed in Dark Sage), and while I was close, no matter how many needle sizes I went, it wasn’t exact. I was just about to call it a day and decide to use the yarn for something else when I figured what the heck, I’ll just knit a few inches and see what happens. So far so good. Big relief, ’cause though I’d like to buy more yarn – hey who wouldn’t? – its probably not a very good idea right now.

I did take advantage of the big yarn sale at Michael’s and purchased some Lion Brand Jiffy to make the cover sweater of the recent Knit Simple. I’d just about talked myself out of it when I picked up a Leisure Arts book by Melissa Leapman and she’d used several inexpensive acrylic yarns – and the finished product looked great. I’m by no means a yarn snob, but I’ve gotten to the point where I’m afraid to spend so much time on something using less expensive yarn, only to have it wear out quickly, or something along those lines. Finally I decided that a company probably wouldn’t be in business for over 100 years if their product wasn’t fairly decent, and the reviews I’ve read of the yarns haven’t been bad, either. So I’ll just keep trucking along on my next-to-nothing yarn budget and hope for the best.

I also purchased some Red Heart Soft in Paprika – for a yet-to-be-determined project. Love the color!

Contentment…

I’m really struggling with feeling content right now, and I’m not sure why. I’m feeling pretty bummed lately, and honestly there’s no reason to feel that way. I think the honest answer is that I feel like I’m farther from God than I’ve been in a good long while. There are lots of reasons for this, but the bottom line is that I know I’m not attending church regularly, I’m not spending time with Him daily, I’m not praying regularly…He’s not the first thing in my life, and I’m miserable because of it. I know I need to draw closer to Him, so He will draw close to me, but there’s a part of me that’s saying why? Why do I have to? Why is it so easy for so many other people, especially those that aren’t Christians, yet its so hard for me?

I wonder if I’m the only person who feels this way…here’s an example: we need a new oven, a double oven to boot. The one currently in our house is at least 30 years old (still that beautiful seventies gold) and though we were blessed in that the top oven lasted the first four years we lived in the house, the last 8 months or so, we’ve been confined to cooking in the bottom oven. This would be fine, except that it has started overheating – the temp is always about 200 degrees hotter than what you set the temp for.

So we started shopping around, and found that we were going to have a really easy decision to make – the size of our oven only comes in one model per manufacturer, and since the oven is built into brick, its not like we can buy a larger one and just make room for it. When I checked on prices of ovens a few years ago, I could buy a stainless steel double oven for about $900. Now they are at least $1200, and that’s on sale, and the base model (as I said we’re limited to what we can buy, and the size we need doesnt’ come with bells and whistles).

I’m perfectly fine with making do and doing without – its what we’ve done for years in lots of areas. But I just read of another woman who lives in my state who was blessed with a stainless steel, CONVECTION, double oven for – get this – wait for it – $300. Am I happy for her? Of course! She is one of the sweetest people I’ve ever “met” on the web! But just a little (OK, a big) twinge of jealousy reared its ugly head when I read that. The difference between me and her is that she and her DH are very faithful to tithe, and God is always blessing them for it. Me? I have such a problem trusting Him to provide. I hate that about myself. I am not a cheerful giver, and we honestly don’t give much of anything right now. I know that is awful, but I’m not trying to impress anyone here, I’m just trying to be transparent.

I wish I could just let go and trust Him. I pray someday soon I am able to do just that. I want to let Him live thru me so that He gets all the glory. I want to be used by Him. But I don’t want it enough to surrender. And that scares me, because I know I need to, and I know He is calling me to do just that.

On a lighter note…

I am almost finished with the Central Park Hoodie. Finishing the last sleeve tonight, hopefully, then all that’s left is the hood, seaming, and edging – at least I think that’s all – its my first sweater pattern. Now I just have to figure out what to start next – I have a lot to choose from. I’m leaning towards Viveka or Ivy from the recent Knitty, or Interlocking Cables from IK’s website. I’m also trying to learn continental knitting, so Knitty’s Satchel is a project I’m dedicating to just that type of knitting until its familiar to me. There’s also Starsky to consider, since belted cable jackets are supposed to be “in” this fall/winter. Of course, until I lose about 50 pounds, I don’t need to be wearing anything with a belt. 🙂

Need more hours in the day…

I really need some motivation. Motivation for lots of reasons. Motivation to just do the basics in life – laundry, cleaning, grocery shopping, menu planning, coupon cutting. Motivation to start working out so I can actually wear all the things I want to knit (it’s occurred to me that I wouldn’t have to buy so much yarn if I didn’t have to knit the largest size, therefore I could use the money I’m currently spending on the larger amount of yarn to buy yarn for other projects). Motivation to actually work while AT work.

But all I want to do is knit.

I’m not depressed. I’m just lazy. And obsessed with knitting. To the point that last night, when I got home I had to fold laundry, straighten up the kitchen, start another load of laundry, run a load of dishes in the dishwasher, help DH bathe the dogs, fix dinner, go thru the mail, and take out the trash. All things that most normal women do on any given day. But I was irritated by the time I finally got to sit down, eat, watch TV and knit. Irritated because I had spent two hours doing all these things when I could have been knitting. And irritated with myself because I know I shouldn’t feel this way.

My priorities are out of line. I’m becoming lazy. Knitting is supposed to be a hobby, not an obsession. I know this, yet I don’t want to stop knitting. I keep thinking that I need to just spend a few minutes menu planning and going over the grocery store sales, making lists and designing routines for each day so I can come home, do the things that need to be done quickly, and have more time to knit. I love to read, and I haven’t read a book completely thru in months. Magazines are arriving in the mail and being stacked without me even glancing thru them (my living room is a library right now and DH isn’t happy about it). I’m exhausted because I’m staying up too late at night to knit.

There are so many things I want to do and want to have – a clean, organized house so I can relax and not feel guilty while knitting (and DH would be happier), sell some things on Ebay (magazines, anyone?), cookbooks I want to go thru and recipes I want to try, books I want to read, I still want to learn to quilt and crochet…but knitting is taking priority over all of these things. I keep finding more projects I want to start, many more than I’ll ever actually be able to knit. I have enough yarn for several projects yet want to buy more. I have a list of things I need to have finished by Christmas, yet I haven’t even started on them.

And I have no idea how to stop knitting. And no desire to.

Frustrating.

Reminiscing…

I just ran into a guy I work with who was in Montana last week on vacation.

Montana. Land of my hopes, wishes, and dreams.

Dh and I were able to take what was the trip of a lifetime to Stevensville, MT, in April of 2005. We have always said we want to live in Montana, though neither of us had been there. It’s just such a beautiful state, the weather is perfect (for us, anyway), and the best part is there’s not a lot of people. I love to pull out the road atlas and just look at the cities along the highways, and the vast expanse of land where there’s nothing…that’s our idea of perfection.

So for Christmas 2004, we were handed an all-expense paid trip to Montana, to stay on a ranch in what has got to be the most perfect cabin on earth. It was the first time DH had flown, which was really fun for me to be a part of. We arrived on a Saturday, and didn’t leave until the following Saturday. Seven nights of heaven.

We awoke to this view from the front porch of our cabin:

The first day we were there, we decided to go for a drive into the Bitterroot mountains, and possibly hike. Idiots that we were, we decided to do this late in the day, and keep in mind this was April – many roads were still closed in areas due to snow.

So we picked a trail that sounded good – Hidden Lake, I think it was called – and started up the mountain. As we rounded a curve in the one lane road, going up the side of this mountain, we came up on snow. Since we were in a 4WD SUV, DH took one look at this small spot of snow, which hadn’t melted as it was in the shade of the mountain, and said no problem, we can get thru that. After all, there were tire tracks in it – someone had gone before us.

But no sooner had we started to drive thru it, than our back tires started sliding…towards the edge of this mountian road, with nothing but a drop off on the other side. Talk about losing your stomach…we prayed for safety and forgiveness for our stupidity, and Dh made me get out of the vehicle while he backed up the SUV, with me guiding him to get the tires back into the tracks already there.

What did we do then? Stopped and took pictures, of course!

While we were there, we went antique shopping, went on long drives, drove to Whitefish, MT, and went to Glacier National Park, which we were unable to get all the way in to since only 11 miles of the road into the park had been cleared.

Since we live in central Arkansas, where it rarely snows and 1″ is enough to shut down the city, we were overjoyed to wake up to a winter wonderland one morning.

The entire trip was just perfection. It was very hard to get on the plane and come home, because Montana felt like home, like no other place I’ve ever been has before.

So at some point, should the Lord tarry and should He choose to lead us there, we hope to make it a permanent address. Our tentative plans are to pay off our home, fix it up and sell it, then move to Montana and pay cash for a nice spread there. This way I can return to school for physical therapy and DH can do whatever he wants, as long as he brings home enough money for food, utilities, and yarn, of course!

Bad knitter (slap hand)…

I know, I know….I’m supposed to actually READ the pattern thru before beginning to knit. I realize there’s an actual purpose for doing so, that I can save myself a lot of grief and anguish and clenched teeth, if I just READ the pattern.

But did I READ the pattern? ALL the way thru?

This is my first sweater, the Central Park Hoodie from the most recent Knitscene. I am loving the pattern, I love the yarn (well, as much as you can love acrylic – I’m using Simply Soft Tweed in Autumn Red – hey I’m on a budget!), especially the color, I like the fact that I’m learning cables and these aren’t too difficult…

But I’m just so excited to be knitting my first ever sweater, in a pattern that I just love, and since its actually a little chilly when I do the paper route in the mornings, I’ve been a little, shall we say, rushed, to get this thing finished. So when I saw that I needed to knit the back until it was 14 1/2″, and I got to that point, I figured I’d just keep going…after all, I wanted to make it a little larger than the pattern called for – just a little longer, not much – and the length just didn’t look right.

Mistake #1 – Not reading the pattern thru and not checking the schematic (did I mention this is my first sweater?)

So how much more did I knit past the 14 1/2″ mark? Only five extra inches (I got a little carried away with the process of knitting)…before I actually looked at the schematic and realized that 14 1/2″ is just the length from the bottom of the back to the beginning of the armholes.

I’ve decided its not worth it to rip it out. Yes, it will be longer than I wanted, but I think I have enough yarn – I ordered extra.

So I just kept going.

Today at lunch (I usually try to knit at my desk) I started binding off the armholes. The pattern calls for four rows in which you are binding off, then one decrease row, followed by one regular pattern row, then another decrease row. I should have known better than to try to attempt this part of the pattern at my desk, when my boss was trying to get things together to go out of town tomorrow and my lunch hour was more of a working lunch hour. But did I mention how badly I want to wear this sweater?

So I knit the two bind off rows, and the first decrease row. It was while knitting the third row (the regular pattern row) that I realized I hadn’t knitted the previous decrease row correctly. No problem, said I, the super-inexperienced knitter – I can just decrease a stitch on this row and no one will be the wiser. After all, its the armholes – who’s going to know?

Mistake #2: Knitting at my desk at lunch

Yeah, you guessed it…I decreased a stitch on the wrong end. The decrease should have been on the beginning of the row I was currently knitting.

So tonight I get to frog that row and part of the previous row and actually knit the end of the decrease row correctly. Honestly not such a big deal, just a pain and wasted time that could be spent actually making progress on this thing, not going backwards. I also get to sit and READ THE PATTERN THRU to hopefully prevent another stupid time consuming mistake on the sleeves, front panels, and hood.

And now I’m panicking that I won’t have enough yarn, since I now have to make both the front and the back 5 inches larger than the pattern called for. But this isn’t making me sad at all. I mean, why be upset when I have the opportunity to buy more yarn? 🙂 This is NEVER a bad thing.