Before I get started telling the story of my latest UFO sighting, I have a few announcements to make.

There is commentary about the latest developments in the stitch and/&/’n bitch saga at girl from auntie.

If you donated to the knitting proposals at Donors Choose after reading my entry–thanks so much! If you haven’t yet, please consider it. One of the proposals is only $165 away from being fully funded. To the donor(s): You rock!

Ok, now that’s out of the way, it’s time to tell the story of the Eggplant Bag.

The Christmas after I learned to knit, my mother gave me a gift certificate to a LYS near my parents’ house called The French Knot II. It’s a little shop with some great stock for its size. I wanted to make Meema’s Felted Marsupial Tote from Stitch ‘N Bitch so I set off for the store in search of some worsted weight wool.

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If you read my regular blog, you know that I am an avid supporter of Donors Choose. Donors Choose is an organization that lets teachers write grant proposals for exactly what they want, and lets donors donate as much money as they can to help fund exactly those proposals that they like.

I first found out about Donors Choose through Tomato Nation’s contest/fundraising drive last year and have donated regularly ever since. Most of the teachers who submit proposals come from urban schools that are in serious need of resources.

Knowing that knitters are a generous bunch, I thought I’d alert you to some of the proposals that involve knitting:

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You might have guessed, based on my choice of yarns for Rogue, that I am a bit of a yarn snob. And you would be right.

I’m not snobbish about price–I have found a number of perfectly good yarns that retail for dirt cheap–nor am I snobbish about fiber type–although I’ve inherited some of my mother’s disdain for acrylic, there are a number of acrylic yarns I am perfectly happy to knit with, if the project requires acrylic. Mostly, I’m just a stickler about quality.

I have bought yarn from a big box craft store exactly twice, and both times I wound up regretting it. I would have been better off taking the $5-10 and spending it on a hundred yards of good quality yarn from a real yarn shop, than spending it on a thousand yards of yarn horror.

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