Bunny Graces and Purls for Easter

For the past couple of days, Caesar has been wheezing, is more lethargic than usual, and his nostrils are constantly covered with small clumps of dried snot (yes, such a LOVELY vision to prepare me for motherhood). Fortunately, a good sign is that he still has his voracious appetite. When Rich called Big River yesterday, Dr. Cheng said our little boy possibly has an upper respiratory infection, and to get antibiotics into his system right away. Since there was only Rob in St. Louis and myself working out of the entire worldwide team (60+ some odd folks from my office, St. Louis, India, and Denmark), I left work early yesterday to take care of my little “Seize-the-Bun.”

When I propped Caesar on my lap for the Baytril dose, he whimpered as expected but readily slurped his medicine. I then took a damp washcloth and cleaned his nose as if he were a small child, and like a non-placent child, he kicked and whined during the entire time. After the “horrible in his eyes” ordeal, I rewarded fed him with one of the berry-flavored yogurt treats that Martha, my SP7 Pal, sent me. That was when I was forgiven. I swear that bunny is all stomach!

One of my KALs is for Cynthia’s Warming Grace project. I have been using patterns from the perpetual calendar, “365 Stitches a Year” as inspiration. So far, I completed 2 squares with the variegated pink Sugar ‘n’ Cream yarn that I have lots of. But early this morning, I frogged the 3rd square after getting frustrated from losing count and not being able to retrace my stitches. I think that was when I figured I better get ready to visit Sakonnet Purls in Tiverton and pick up the buttons I found for Simon’s cardigan.

The distance to Sakonnet Purls is 35 miles from my home, meaning an hour’s drive and possibly a nice day-trip. I was able to coerce convince Rich to drive with me. He needed a break from his work, and we have not had a date with just the two of us in ages awhile. The store fits perfectly among the surrounding historical buildings. I developed a crush for this bayside town. The remoteness and history reminded me of my beloved Sandbridge combined with the Southern colonial styles back in Virginia. Oh, but I digress…

I really enjoyed my visit to this yarn shop. When Rich and I entered the friendly place, we took a quick step to the right into the (mostly) baby and cotton yarn room. In there I spied all sorts of Vogue Knitting books, crochet manuals, and lots of other great references to choose from. Old friendly stipends and fibers I have heard but not seen were around me. The different yarns called me to touch them one by one. Balls of Filaturo di Crosa’s Zara and bags of Plymouth’s Encore appeared in a huge range of colors. As I wandered back into the main room, I spied hanks of Fiesta’s Gelato and Noro’s Kujaku carefully placed in their bins. I also made a mental note to go back to the men’s sweaters books that I leafed through.

Smiling at the ladies around the counter, I inroduced myself as the one who called about the pewter lamb buttons. One of them remembered the conversation, and quickly showed me where they were kept. While checking out the various buttons, the women said that the yarns in the shed were priced at $4 apiece. Rich did say that he saw another shopper in there checking out the sale inventory. Still, I wanted to see the other rooms of the store before going into the sale shed.

As I entered the next room, I was met with various hanks of kettle-dyed merino in a large wooden bin. A trunk was filled with Rowan Big Wool, and I spied lots of Debbie Bliss and Classic Elite in their various fiber forms. As I was fingering the small pine crate of Schaeffer’s Helene hanks, Rich was at my side telling me about the merino wool he saw in the shed that I really needed to check out. Curiousity came over me, and with the older IK issue I found, I just HAD to see what caught his attention.

Sure enough, in the sale shed was all the store’s Mission Falls 1824 Superwash Merino. The owner, Louise, had just put them there the other day. Fortunately, 9 skeins of the milk chocolate brown were waiting for me in a basket, and I promptly grabbed them and their single grey cousin. Only those 2 colors called; the other muted colors were as silent as their tones. I took a quick glance at the other shelves, and realized that a lot of the yarn was either discontinued goodies, or were balls that were mussed up by sloppy customers. The bottom shelf presented a great find of 3 Jaeger’s Odessa balls in a soft olive green. The fiber is similar to the Australian Heritage merino I have in sage green. All in total, I bought 13 balls of yarn, 4 buttons, and a hard-to-find magazine for under $65. Not a bad way for utilizing my one day (well I still have until 2PM Sunday for my 24-hour day…) allotted to buying yarn!

On a slightly somber note, I hope everyone has a “Hoppy” Easter, and remembered to give only chocolate or stuffed bunnies as presents. Real live bunnies are not toys, and are a huge responsibility. I love my houserabbits, and I also know that they fill a part of my life with Rich as our fur-children. I want to thank Pamela Hood at Sweet Binks Rabbit Rescue for all the hard work in giving now-unwanted “gifted Easter bunnies” a new life. =:8