Remember the Green Shoes?

Remember those green Birkenstocks I was moved to buy because of the green (actually yellow-green) stripe in the Volt shawl that has consumed my life?

They are from a previous year, discontinued and almost impossible to find unless you have short feet. Mine are long. When I couldn't find them at the usual online sites, I Googled them. I usually find what I want on Google on the first, maybe second page. For the green Isis sandals I went all the way to page five before I found them listed in my long, narrow size. I ordered immediately, thanked my lucky stars that they were discounted to less than half price, and breathed a sigh of relief.

Much to my dismay and after the confirmation email, I received an email of regret. The shoes were no longer in stock after all. Boo-hoo! How disappointing. Was nothing related to this shawl going to come out right without a big hassle? Was it a sign? I already knew that the green of the shawl was more yellow than the green of the shoes, but that was okay. No need to be too matchy-matchy, right?

The shawl is finally on the right track and on its way to the fast track. I needed the shoes to keep up my good luck. I turned to my never-failing source for everything--eBay! The few available were not my long, narrow size. I put in a request to be notified if a pair were listed and within a day I was notified of a new listing. The size in the listing was my length but "medium" width. The description led me to believe the shoes were actually narrow width. Every Birkenstock connoisseur/collector knows the filled in footprint in the footbed means "schmal" or "narrow." (An outlined footprint means "normal" or "regular.") A little emailing with the seller, a bid high enough to win and I am now the proud owner of the green shoes at one third (including shipping!) the retail price.

Volt is moving along. I have the rhythm of it now. Following my knitting guru's lead, I switched to Addi lace needles. They are wonderful! Fast, pointy, slick tips with a little drag on the shaft and non-glare when under lights. Perfect!

I bought green nail polish when I knew the shoes were on the way. In the late summer if you see a stylish, older woman on Cape Cod or in Philadelphia wearing black cropped trousers, a white shirt with the Volt shawl thrown over her shoulders, green ankle strap Birkenstocks showing a green pedicure, it will be me.

Bona Fide Knitter

The Volt Drama Continues

Here I am about to start my first green stripe on Volt and drama rears its ugly head again. But more about that later.

It's April 1! The window wabbit takes a last look at the green yarn stash that resided there all of March. Time for some Spring colors he thinks.

After my rant about the length of time it took to get the Isager yarn for Volt from knitisager.com, I never mentioned the great little gift I received with it.

The little pouch is a Chico Bag.

It contains an attached, generous-size project bag. And when not in use, you just stuff the bag back into the pouch which is always inside the bag. Neat-o!

Now about that Volt shawl that might be a Volt scarf . . . Yes, it seems small to me. My gauge is a little off. Enough to go up a needle size and start over? I don't think so. I don't know what happened. It could be that I was tense and knitting tight. I'm half finished the black section and I've used half the ball of yarn. I certainly don't want to go up a needle size and run out of yarn! So far the plan is to knit on and when finished, block it into submission!

This has become quite a project! I had to reorder KnitPicks needle tips when I couldn't find the wooden ones I have, then reorder again when I decided to switch to nickel plated and couldn't find those either. And with all the snag-free stitch markers I own, I had to order more--ones without black wire so I would stop knitting them into the fabric--one bead ones for row 1 and two bead ones for row 2. Clever?



I've just ordered more in a larger size so I will stop losing them in the fabric, in my lap and on the rug.

When my knitting guru speaks, I listen. The Scarlet Knitter told me she sometimes prefers Addi lace needles for their nonglare shafts. So I have two of them on order, doncha know--one for Volt and one for Dawn (for which I already have the yarn . . . shhhh, don't tell anybody). Too bad I didn't consider going up a needle size before I ordered those Addis! The Fine Line, the pattern book by Grace Anna Farrow really hooked me hard. Now if only I can get Volt onto the optimum needles with the optimum stitch markers which make the knitting easiest . . . and the right size.

Stay tuned . . .

Bona Fide Knitter