Tiny Treasure

So, a funny thing happened Friday afternoon. For over a month now, my checking account balance has not matched the balance from the bank. Not even close. I mean, far enough apart to justify a bit of a panic. I figured something hadn't cleared, something big, and I went off to San Francisco believing it would clear by the time I got home.

Nope. Balance was still off when I got back. So I started poring over my receipts and my register and my statements, and I went to the bank (a small neighborhoody place, where they know me) and explained the problem to them. They printed out extra register material for me and sent me home to check again.

Still couldn't get them to reconcile, so back to the bank Friday afternoon. It took over an hour, but we found the error. Finally.

And OMG, it was a biggie, and it was in my favor.

This is not the sort of thing you want to discover the day before Stitches. The day after, yes, when you're totalling up the receipts and wondering how you managed to spend that much -- that would be the time to suddenly discover an extra few hundred dollars.

But not before. Not when there is market yet to explore.

I went in with a wish list of items ranging from the vague ("some buttons") to the Holy Grail ("4500 yards of fingering weight in a solid color for no more than $100, with a pink unicorn that sneezes silver fairy dust on top"). I knew what I could spend (pre-bank error) and figured I would stick to that, but the extra cash in the bank account might be nice if I found something truly special. You know the kind of thing I mean. Not just special as in ooh, shiny! But special as in, I will never forget this yarn, and walking away from it is painful.

Enter the qiviut.

You know, we can blame this one on those damned cashmere mittens. I knit with that cashmere and loved it so much that it made me curious about knitting with the other luxury fibers. Cashmere is on the low end of the luxury fiber scale. The non-rare end. The slum end.

If cashmere is the slum, then qiviut is definitely the penthouse.

We walked into the booth with the qiviut and qiviut blends, and pet the beautiful, tiny balls, and looked at the photos of the musk ox. We touched the scarves. We sighed over the colors.

Then we left for the next booth. Except, I found myself back in the qiviut booth while Kris checked out whatever was the next stall over -- I don't know, because every time I tried to leave the qiviut booth to join her elsewhere, I ended up right back where I started. I couldn't walk away. I was entranced. Completely and utterly entranced. Finally, after about the fifth time trying and failing to walk away, I said (literally), "Screw it. I'm buying a skein."

I still can't believe I spent that much on a single ounce of yarn. But I must say, it's worth it. I haven't knit a single stitch yet, and already this skein has given me more pleasure than any 100 other skeins combined. Petting it makes me happy. Holding it up to the light makes me happy. Rubbing it on my cheek makes me happy.

And the fact that this tiny little egg of yarn won't add to my storage issue -- that really makes me happy.