Baz Luhrman was right about that. Wear sunscreen.

Otherwise, you will end up like me, boiled lobster girl, after a day at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival. My back and shoulders were an alarming shade of red. And I had my hair in braids, so I am now a bona fide redneck.

Luckily, I speak fluent southern.

Aside from that, the festival was awesome. I went with Mary and I also saw Cristina there. I missed the blogger meetup, due to not being sure where it was. Oops!

So what did I buy? A drop spindle, assorted wool (a large bag of white, two small balls of turquoise and red), and a cone of gorgeous purple laceweight yarn.

The yarn was a tough one–I knew I wanted to make a shawl to go with this amazing black dress I got on sale at Bennetton and haven’t worn yet (though Mary borrowed it and looked amazing) but I didn’t have enough yarn to make the Candle Flame Shawl, my original idea.

I cast on anyway, thinking I’d get more yarn, then I got the new Interweave Knits. As soon as I saw the Icarus shawl, I knew I had to make it. Thankfully, I hadn’t gotten too far on Candle Flame.

So there I am, knitting away, when I notice that the end of my needle is missing. And there are little kitten toothmarks on the end. I eventually found the rest of the needle, so no vet bills, thank god, but I had to go get another set.

The needles I started on were dollar spot ones from Target. So no big loss. I go to Michaels, get a pair of Clover bamboo needles. Not circs, because I couldn’t find a pair of US4 circs, I’ll order some online soon, but I can make do with straights for a while.

I start knitting this morning.

I look.

THE NEEDLES AREN’T THE SAME SIZE.

The Clovers are bigger than the dollar spot needles. So now? It’s time to rip back. Rip, rip, rip all the way back to the beginning.

On the other hand, having to order circs from Knit Picks gives me an excuse to get some more yarn so that I can get free shipping…..