I'm One of the Cool Girls Now

Remember in My Big Fat Greek Wedding, how Toula always wanted to sit with the cool girls and eat a bologna sandwich on squishy white bread instead of all of the (probably delightful) ethnic leftovers her mom sent her with as a kid? And when she goes to college she finally brings her bologna sandwich on squishy white bread and gets to sit with the cool girls?

That's how I feel. I finally bought myself a Chibi needle case. I cannot exactly say why I always wanted one, except that everyone else had one. But I never bought one, because it was (gasp) $5. Yesterday I finally bought myself a Chibi needle case. It is white and has blue ends, just like everyone else's. And I no longer have to chase my weaving needles into the bottom of my bag.

Next up, I am finally spending the freaking $5 and getting myself some real stitch markers. I have been using the little tied loops of yarn my whole knitting career, envying the pretty little plastic rings everyone else had. Do you see how silly I am? A) I envy people little plastic rings and B) I can't make myself spend the $4 on a package of little plastic rings, even though I've always secretly wanted them.

And then, I am buying myself some of those long double-ended stitch holders, instead of the ones with the hook on the end that catch in the yarn. If I'm going to be investing in nice yarn, I don't want to snag it.

And I just want to look in my notions bag and think "Hey, I've got all the nice tools in here" rather than "Sigh, I suppose these are just as good as everyone else's."

Sometimes I think I must be regressing to age 7 instead of 27.

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Yesterday Mom & I went to the LYS and I finally asked for the pattern for a very lovely vest they have on display. A month ago I had admired it and wanted to make it. It had an unusual construction and showed off a very very lovely yarn. I had thought about purchasing the pattern then, but had decided that since I wouldn't buy the yarn, it really made the project not what I wanted, because the really striking part about it is that it used that lovely self-striping yarn.

But now that I have decided I will make projects out of nice yarn, I bought the pattern and once I am done with my current projects I will buy the nice yarn and, next fall, I will have a lovely Vest of Many Colors to wear.

I feel like a new woman!

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I have decided on some ways I will keep the yarn spending under control, since I *do* want to buy nice yarn but *do not* want to go broke :-) First of all, I am only going to buy yarn for the next two projects in mind, at most. Too often I buy the yarn ahead of time and decide not to make the project after all, and so I am going to purchase as I go. Hopefully this means I will not have to go on a Yarn Diet, as regular diets are unpleasant enough as it is. Yarn is my favorite fat free dessert.

Second, I am going to take my time on projects. I've already found that I take my time more on projects with nice yarn because I am enjoying the process, rather than just finishing it quickly to get it over with.

Third, I am going to intersperse the luxury projects with more inexpensive projects. Knitpicks is inexpensive, but the yarn is nice, so I will use some Knitpicks yarn when it works nicely in a pattern. Socks only require one ball of yarn but take awhile, so they are a good inexpensive purchase. And felting is still fun but inexpensive wool is just fine, so I will enjoy some felting projects in there too.