My Spring Swoncho

So, today I've been looking around the internet for a picture of the new Spring Sweater/Poncho/Swoncho I got last month. You heard me..... Spring. Swoncho. hee! And I promise this'll be the last "Spring! blahblahblah" post I'll do (until next year.)

It was a little moment of knitterly magic so I HAVE to tell you about it.

(Can't find a good picture online so I'm giving you the best link I could find and there's a picture at the end of this post.)

It was the first day of Spring and I was running into Unwind to get some needles and the birthday gift certificate for Dayna when I was stopped short at the table in the back of the store. There were sweaters all over it. NICE sweaters all over it! Piles of beautiful knitting just... sitting there. I started running my hands over them when Stephanie (awesome owner of Unwind) said "I just got those in and you're the first one to see them!"

"I AM?! What are they?"

"They're samples that were knitted up at Rowan to demo their yarns and designs but are older now so they're letting me sell them."

"You mean..... I just stumbled into the middle of a Rowan sample sale?..... And I get first pick?!"

I think I teared up a little.

(If you're not a knitter, Rowan is one of the most high end "dealers" in yarn and patterns out there. Their stuff is expensive and awesome.)

And then I dove into the pile. I flipped through them with all the speed and mercy of the first hyena of the pack to get to a kill and there it was... toward the bottom... The One. The blue, cabled, fringed ONE. I held it up in awe. It was so soft! I slipped it over my head and it fit like it was made for me. I pranced around the store with the rare joy of shopping success as I got my needles and then... why did I DO this?...

I put it back.

"NO! I will restrain myself! I'm going through a breakup and this is an impulse buy! I shouldn't! I can't afford it! I know... I know... it would have been soooo much more expensive just buying the yarn needed to make it but I'm going to be GOOD! I'm going to be an adult! I'm... ok, if it doesn't sell by the time you have to send them back, will you call me?"

And I left the store.

How long do you think it took me to get back there and buy it? A full WEEK of daydreaming about that damed sweater every day. I couldn't get it out of my head, all swingy and fringy and blue. I went out to dinner with a friend and thought about how that Rowan sweater would be the perfect thing to wear. I thought of it on someone else and knew it would never look HALF as good as it did on me. It takes a certain flair to wear a poncho sweater and make it look hip. It was MY sweater and it needed to fulfill it's destiny! It was crazymaking.

So, I made up my mind and had to sit through work that whole day, knowing that at any moment, someone could be buying MY sweater. They could be doing it right NOW! How could I just SIT here?!

I raced out of work early that day, speeding my way to Unwind, and literally, (I kid you not,) running from my car to the front door. I opened it to find a whole gaggle of ladies happily knitting away and behind them.... a rack.

I tried to be nice... I tried to smile and say hello and pretend that I cared, if only for a second, about anything other than bowling them all over in my need to get to that rack. I think I did a good job. No one was hurt, (as far as I can remember,) as I quickly scooted around them, hope and fear wrestling with each other in my heart and.... "was that?... Is that blue fringe I see?"

YES!

I grabbed it and spun around and nearly started giggling with relief that no one had taken it. I slowly made a lap around the store, so as not to seem TOO insane about the sweater I was clutching to my breast like I needed it to breathe. I casually made my way to the counter, paid for it and once I was safely outside and back in my car just said,

"eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!"

Hoofie loves it too. hee!