People In Norway...

...must be really, really, really relaxed. I finally scored a 2.5mm needle while shopping on my vacation last week, so I could begin my Dale Baby sweater. Last night, after finishing a whole pattern repeat (10 rows?) I realized my gauge Did Not Look Good. I had about 36 sts per 4" and I was supposed to have 32. Now, as you may know, a 2.5mm is about a size 1. I had to go up to a size a 4 before my gauge was loose enough. And I was still, technically, on vacation.

I went to two yarn stores while I was in Phoenix. One I had visited on a previous trip and liked, but this time they honked me off when I had to use the bathroom and they told me to go across the (6-lane) street and go to Staples. I didn't buy anything there. The second is called Jessica Knits, and it was awesome. I loved it so much. I bought Koigu there, and a skein of Cherry Tree Hill sock yarn, and two balls of Hempathy (for gloves) and a knitting needle I don't need. (And they have a bathroom.) That place is now my Official Phoenix Yarn Store.

Read the third Dirk & Steele book while I was in Phoenix. It made No Sense At All. People who write fantasy need to understand we can't read their minds. They need to build their world and create their magic and make the reader see it. That book was the literary equivalent of untangling yarn. Which, since I own scissors and know how to spit-splice, I generally don't wast a lot of time doing. But, I've already bought the fourth one, so I guess I'll carry on. Without scissors.