Breathing Again

The sojourners have returned. There was nothing in the news about any breakdown in USA/UK relations, so I assume England survived. They have come home with a marked change in their relationship. I base this on observation and their respective comments when the other hasn't been around. Sometimes your expectations can be confounded in a good way. All I can say is, "Whew!" since it could, of course, have blown up in our faces. As it is, I now have a regular supply of oxygen to my brain again.

Of course the important news, at least to my acquisitive little heart, is I got stuff.

The Westminster Abbey books to help me remember my trip with Clare. The Icon book from the British Museum is specifically from John (Icons and their writing fascinate me). The yarn represents their sole foray into a retail establishment - Liberty of London. This represents, according to them, the full spectrum of Liberty's 6-ply sock yarn. They also had 4 colors of 4-ply. That was it. (Can you imagine going to London and not going into Harrod's? Honestly. Guys.).

This bounty, perversely (I'm not the one who went to England, after all), has left me feeling a little guilty. It would seem, based on the number of times UPS or the mail carrier has rung my doorbell this past week, that I indulged in some retail therapy while I was more or less on my own.

I needed the neutrals they brought home. Shows you what oxygen deprivation can do to you when you're not looking.

P.S. Speaking of the Great Sock Yarn Project, Jess asked (so perhaps some of you were also wondering?) how much yarn the Barn-raising Quilt square took. I am very poor at making this kind of estimate, so here's a visual. This is the remainder of the Walk in the Woods next to an unused ball of Argyle Socks.

Claudia Handpaint comes in 175 yd/50g skeins, which, I understand, is single sock quantity. Allow for the fact that I hand-wind my yarn rather than using a ball-winder, and so there is likely some variation between any two balls of yarn. Still, it should, I hope, help give a rough idea of the quantity required.