Violets are blue (and purple).

Yarn for February
Originally uploaded by The Prolific Knitter.

Lisa from the comments is so right. It takes a while to get back to feeling safe again. For a day or two, whenever I rode in a car, I felt as though every second I was going to see those headlights coming right at my car. I have to admit, when I drove to work yesterday (my mom has the exact same car, in a different color. We like Toyota in this family.) It did freak me out. A lot. As long as I kept the radio on, I was all right on the interstate. But once I got into town, every single turn I had to make was stressful. Was this person going to hit me? What about this one? You know, logically, it's unlikely. But now that it's happened onced, and you're feeling especially unlucky, what's stop it from happening again? So the fear comes, and then subsides, and you feel like you ran a marathon when you get out of the car, finally. It doesn't help that I've lost two brothers in vehicular accidents. I can't tell you the feeling I got today when a police car pulled up in front of my house (though it ended up he just needed to turn around.) Several times we've had the police show up, and let's face it, they don't come to sing you happy birthday. I actually remember my mom, sitting in the kitchen of my granddad's house (we lived there while our house was being built) and I had been woken up by the noise and talking in the very early hours. I stood in the doorway (it had one of those half-doors, where you could just open the top and serve food out to the dining room without leaving. Funny the things you remember!) and she just said "It's Robbie (my brother)." She couldn't say anything else, but even as a kid I knew what that meant. It ended up that he had flipped his jeep into a ditch, and the "oh shit" bar (not the real name, obviously) had failed to perform it's function and he was killed. Thus, never drive a Jeep. They are extremely unsafe.

Wow, I didn't mean to go into all that with you guys. I guess it's just been on my mind. Now you're in a real cheery mood, right? Let's talk about something good, shall we? How about some yarn?

Obviously I am not feeling the Valentine's love over here, hehe. This is all yarn I picked up in the last two weeks; normally I'm not a purple girl but one of my art students LOVES all things purple, so I guess she got me to give it a second chance. And she's right! Is there anything more decadent than a rich purple velvet, or a tart-sweet smear of blackberry jam? What about those fragile little violets you see, cowering under the grass at the start of spring? My mom's bearded irises in full bloom, with purple specks all over their creamy petals (and of course, that fluffy golden beard peeking from inside.) No, I had been giving purple a bad rep, and I apologize!

Clockwise from the far left: two skeins of Silk Garden in 247 for my mom (Little Knits), Five skeins of Patagonia Nature Cotton in 206, a blend of coffee and purple with dark rose blips (Knaughty Knitter), Fleece Artist Merino sock in Mermaid (even prettier in person, also from little knits), Yarn Pirate merino/tencel in aqua/coffee (my only non-purple yarn!) and Apple Laine Apple Pie sock yarn in "Pretty in Purple" (both from The Loopy Ewe.) They make a nice little purple family, don't they? Some of this MAY be for my secret pal. I won't say which, lest I further incriminate myself. ;)

Oh, and The Loopy Ewe? Completely, utterly awesome. While I've gotten some great service from yarn stores before, Sheri has topped them all. We held a whole conversation over email (and notice I did not spend tons of money. So that wasn't it!), she emails you if you comment on her blog, even! Which is also fun and interesting. I like reading about her family business, and how everyone chips in! (I'm especially fond of Starbucks-barista-knitting-daughter, because she reminds me of me a few years ago. My mom had/has an booming ebay business, so I'd work and then come home and pack dolls for a while. Yarn is SO much more interesting though...!) Anyway, pop over to her site. In the interest of full disclosure, apparently she has a thing where she tracks how many people click over and sign up for accounts with her (not buy, just get an account.). I'm really just recommending her and the store because they're fun and really friendly, but I'm also curious how many "clicks" show up. So click over, and maybe if I reach a good number I'll give something away. Something good. (Just sayin'.)

Also, I still do not have a rental, and my car hasn't even moved to the dealership to be fixed. Ugh.