Saturday, December 30, 2006

The Siren Song of Koigu (Or How I Spent My Christmas Gift Certificate)




Everyone knows about Koigu. Beautiful hand-painted yarns that try to lure you into buying them in spite of their fairly high price tag. You say to yourself as you look at the pretty little skeins (and I do mean little), "They just can't be worth this kind of money. I mean, come-on, it's just merino wool from Canada!" You try to convince yourself that you can live without their subtle shadings, their soft hand, their unique colors . You hear tiny little yarn voices calling out to you from the shelves, "Me! Buy Me!" begging you to take them home because they instinctively know you are sporting your yearly head-cold and your resistance is low this day. They even try flattery, claiming that only you can do them justice by knitting them into a shawl so lovely that others will stop you in the street to comment on their yarny magnificence. Usually you are able to step away from the Koigu with a sigh and move on to more reasonably priced yarns. You congratulate yourself on your practicality and economy in dealing with your only real vice, knitting. Then someone gives you a gift certificate for Christmas and all bets are off.
As soon as I opened the envelope containing the gift certificate to "Imagiknit" in San Francisco I knew I was a goner. In an entire shop filled to the gills with yarn, the first thought that popped into my mind was was "Koigu, I could buy some Koigu!" Of course I could have bought that Koigu long ago. It's not like I can't afford it, but somehow, getting a gift certificate gives you permission to splurge, to be be extravagant. That gift certificate helped to defray the cost of my beautiful Koigu (see above). I'm thinking either the "Flower Basket" lace shawl or the "Shetland Garden Faroese Shawl". I will have to give it some thought. Since I'm still suffering with some kind of walking, snotting crud that I caught at work, I'm only able to knit the edging for Mountain Pines. Anything more challenging will come out poorly I'm sure. Still, one can dream of better days!
Happy New Year to All!