I am SUCH a "Yarn Harlot"

You can't possibly imagine my Friday. I was absolutely the worst. So much work and so little time created a tension headache by 10:00 am. Of course, it didn't help that I was clenching my teeth in an apparent self-defeating effort to increase that headache. To top things off, I really needed to leave the office early to avoid the traffic for the Mariner's game. Why did Ken Griffy Jr., need to reappear on the Seattle scene on a Friday. Why not spare us all the traffic insanity and show up on a Tuesday. He hasn't played for Seattle in years, so you'd think the euphoria he created when here would be somewhat reduced. This was obviously not the case.

So, with headache, paperwork and laptop in tow, I left the office early and made it home in under 30 minutes so that I could plug back in and keep working. That was clearly a mistake. I should have stayed in my barren cube and kept that guaranteed Internet access. Instead, I was forced to hunt for a wireless connection and failed miserably until Sunday afternoon. It's been a weekend of computer nightmares.

The silver lining in all this was in fact a lovely bluey-green, and it came in the form of a notice from the UPS man that a package from the lovely Needlework Unlimited in Minneapolis, MN had arrived and was waiting for me at the package pick-up center. Maybe the yarn I had ordered would make the headache go away? After all, it was the softest most lovely yarn ever and meant a new project and a lovely new sweater. This yarn meant not just a better Friday, it meant a better winter wrapped in lovely bluey-green alpaca silk aran - and in a very stylish wrap sweater. I was not thinking of the fact that I've never before made a sweater as I trotted back to my apartment, box in hand, in the late afternoon sunshine. I was not considering that maybe I should not attempt my first sweater with such expensive yarn. I was not even second guessing my color selection - as I usually do.

As I arrived at my apartment with no Internet access to be found, I was forced to simply sit back on the sofa and dig into my yarn. With no Internet service to be found, I had time, it seemed to admire it and pet it and to browse through the pattern and imagine the compliments and accolades I would receive upon completing such a lovely sweater in such an amazing yarn. I wasn't intimidated. I wasn't afraid, I wasn't even feeling my headache to badly at the point. I was just blissfully happy at the sight of all 16 balls of the best yarn on the planet. This yarn meant the next step in a knitting adventure that I would begin to take once I'd completed the first sweater on my list. So I also took the size 6 Addis for Lace out of the box and started to work the lace pattern on the little Rowan pattern shrug I was attempting.

My alpaca silk is tucked away with the rest of the yarn stack in lovely stackable bins in the closet, but I doubt it will remain there long before I have the urge to get it out and admire it again. What a wonderful cure for a headache. What a great Friday!