“I’m not buying any yarn”, I said. Repeatedly, in fact. I was merely going accompany my visitor to Loop and not buy any yarn. “I’m stashbusting”, I said. “I don’t need any more yarn”, I said. “I’m really not going to buy any more yarn”, I claimed.

I am weak.

We walked in and the next thing I knew, I was petting two skeins of Louise Harding Alpaca like they were kittens. Somehow, I found myself in the queue with three skeins clutched in my sticky paws. But it was only a minor aberration, I said. I certainly wasn’t going to buy any more yarn.

I mentioned my weakness, right?

After lunch, I ended up back in the store. It was all perfectly justifiable. I was going to design my first pattern. We were going to sit in a cafe and knit. I needed needles to knit with! I was just going to buy the needles! Honest!

Best laid plans of mice and men…

Somehow, and I’m really not sure how, I walked out of there with not only the needles but also three skeins of GGH Mystik in a beautiful sea green. Completely baffled as to how this happened. I swear!

But it’s okay. I have plans for these skeins. They’ll be my first patterns. There are beads involved. Possible a set of patterns! Definitely not an entirely random purchase, I say, back-pedalling madly and attempting to track down my wallet, which has scuttled off to hide in self-defence.

I’m serious about the patterns though.