how hot is it?

Wilted greetings from the Wool Cave.

Its hot here. I'm sorry, its really, really hot. I don't want to try to be dramatic and I don't want to compare things here with things elsewhere (I've lived in Houston, TX) but its HOT here right now. It's almost 10pm and almost 90F/30C degrees without the humidity figured in. And tomorrow? 92F/33.3C.

So. Tuesday. Its HOT and I spent the day in a car, driving to New Jersey. I love my friends in the lovely Garden State, but folks? Jersey City? In 90+ degree weather? Not so lovely.

I went with a quilting and knitting (non-spinning so far, but I taught her to knit) friend and we were on a quest. It was at the very least 92F/33C out and we were on a quest. For what? Well, quilting fabrics. And fiber stores where they sell wool. Because it was so damn hot that somehow, someone thought this was a sensible quest.

She enticed me by the offer of a trip to Aunt Jean's Handicrafts in Clinton, NJ, a place that Beth had told me about. Now, please note that Beth thinks she doesn't have a blog. Beth has a webpage with pictures of her projects in progress, FOs, links, 100 things, and even her email address. But it is not a blog. Don't ask me, its too hot. Go over there and ask Beth.

Aunt Jean's is a spinning/weaving/knitting shop in Clinton. It has yarn, looms, wheels, yarn, books, pattern, magazines, books, yarn, and accessories (did I mention books? yarn?) and no internet presence. We fly out to NJ, get out of the car in sweltering weather, and the sign on the door says "July Yarn Sale 10% off" or some such. Ok. 92˚. Wool on sale. Nice.

I was really really good. I bought two old issues of magazines, a book, and two skeins of sock yarn. Because sock yarn is what you buy when there's no real need to buy wool. I would have bought some Zephyr but they didn't have my color. Because laceweight is the other fallback yarn category. My friend, she bought a LOT more wool than me. Which was fine, because she owns a lot less.

Then we went to a quilt shop, ate lunch, and being somehow lulled into some kind of daze by the heat, we then drove 10 miles out of our way to ANOTHER quilt shop,  while making a wrong turn and wasting extra minutes in the heat. In the car. In New Jersey. Buying.... things to use to make things to keep you warm.

Ponder that one fact, please. Things to make things to keep you warm.

Ok, so while squirming, even in a car with air conditioning, and driving all over creation in search of .... things to keep me warm, I managed to lose whatever sense of resolve I had ever had about stash/rational/practical and and I bought these:

Because geekiness just is 1840s chintz repro fabric. Right?

I came home and spun some of my Icelandic/Mohair blend roving from Aboundingful Farm Fibers, bought in Maryland. Icelandic wool and mohair plus hot weather - not so good. At some point Jon got distracted from Harry Potter and pointed out that there was furry gray fuzz all over the couch and his black shorts and.... and I pleaded ignorance.

Gray? Fuzz? Fiber?

Honey, its hot out. I have no idea what you're talking about. Really.

Comments

[Laurie]

I'm one who has never had a problem with buying wool in summer. Quilting fabric sounds positively cool by comparison. And there is ALWAYS room for reference material. Looks okay to me.

[margene]

We sat at our Stitch 'n Bitch group last night in a coffee shop that was 90 with the cooler on. Grrls do what they need to do, you know like, shopping, knitting, bitching and such, despite the weather. You did well;-)

[Norma]

Why do people keep thinking wool is inappropriate for summer? I keep having to remind people about TROPICAL wool. ;-)

Wool keeps you warm when it's cold, keeps you cool when it's hot. It just has to be the right weight.

Those repro fabrics are WUNDERBAR! And I hope Adelaide had a good time, too. I can read between the lines, ya know.

[adelaide]

I hope Norma is right about wool being cool when it's hot, because I hate summer so much I don't buy summer clothes and I'm going to a show tonight and I'm going to have to wear wool since I don't own anything dressy enough in summer weight stuff. Pity the fool! (And, no, it wasn't me! Despite the heat, I wish it had been.)

[Jan]

I'm shocked, SHOCKED at the fabric purchase. (hehe)

[Beth S.]

Oh! You went! :-) Did you see what I meant about the magazines? Seriously, I could go there and leave with nothing but an armful of back issues, and consider myself ahead of the game.

I love the fabrics you bought. Back when I was in quilting mode, I used to head straight for the reproduction prints, too. I think I see an Alice-like bird on one of them...

[Cara]

You should've come by. The pool was nice. And the apartment, well, meat lockers are hot compared.

[Julie]

Those chintzes (chintzi?) you bought are yummy. You mentioned that the yarn shop didn't have your Zephyr color. What color would that be? Not orange, I'm sure.

[erin]

Well you have to do something to keep your mind off the heat. What better way than to buy wool and fabric for the cold weather to come?

[Carole]

Awesome fabric purchases! I'm always in search of reproduction fabrics for Civil War stuff - well done!

[regina]

As I sit in my Jersey City home dripping sweat, I hear you loud and clear. I'm glad the journey was (clearly) worth it.

[Jody]

You didn't menition whether Jon was taken in by your "I have not idea how that fuzzy stuff got there" ruse. Perhaps Alice is molting in a very special way these days. I hear the heat can have strange affects like that.

And I really prefer to think of myself as an emulator, not a copy cat. :)

[mamacate]

I consider it our service to the sheep. Somebody needs to shear them so they can stay cool in this heat, and we provide the motivation for shearing by purchasing wool year-round.

What was that about a rationalization service again?

BTW, great choices on mags--both those issues are tattered and well-read chez mama.

[Mary Beth]

A little better today, don't ya think?

[Cordelia]

Beautiful fabrics.

At least the car *was* air conditioned. Oof. Yesterday was awful. Somehow, today doesn't seem as bad.

[claudia]

I wonder how hot it is in Iceland.

[jackie]

I can't even say "quilt" in this weather.

[Sarah]

You went to Aunt Jeans? I live about 1/2 hour from there. I'm glad you enjoyed the selection and experience.

I abhor the store, though. I went there with a friend to look for fiber to spin and any other stuff we could find. We had our (then) toddlers with us. We were practically escorted out the door immediately with repeated admonitions not to let them touch anything.

Now, we weren't planning to let them touch anything. But we weren't even given a chance to demonstrate our eagle eyes or our willingness to send one mommy out with the kids and take turns shopping, if need be.

We left. We didn't buy anything. I've never been back.

We went to The Spinnery in Neshanic Station, NJ (it's on 202 between Flemington and Somerville but I think it's closed or closing). We began our sojourn in that store with statements like "look with your eyes, not your hands".

The woman that owns the store said "Oh, they can't hurt anything here, it's all made of wool, they should touch whatever they want".

OK, I'm sure that at Jeans they've had stock ruined by sticky little hands and they want to prevent that from happening again. The manner and tone of the cautions were just too much.

[Char]

Thanks for the quilting store links. I've been looking for some within my acceptable driving limits!

[Juno]

You bought quilting fabric? Really?
(hee, hee, hee, ha, ha, hee, hee. Hee.)
Where are you putting it?
And I have Icelandic fiber envy. And don't say a word about how I could have bought some too but I wasn't going to spin.

[Beth]

If he was distracted, you should have grabbed the book! ;)

[Kim]

Still hot here....not so humid, but still hot. Beth's blog....um, non blog is lovely!

Thanks for the link to Aunt Jean's. I frequently pass thru Clinton and this will now be a new stop.

Lovely fabric!!

[Deb]

You came to NJ and didn't call? I'm crushed! (grin) I've been to Clinton--how have I missed this store? And the Spinnery that Sarah mentioned has moved to Frenchtown--along the Delaware River. Still open, just a new location. I agree, though, it's HOT. And HUMID. And just miserable! Though, at least, today it wasn't quite so hazy . . . that's something, anyway.

[Christine]

Heat induced ignorance is all too true. It warps the brain, cancels out long term memory and is a valid excuse when you have overdone it at the LYS or LFS.

[Kimberly]

Love it all! It's great to see a knitter buying fabric. Hehe. My sister lives in Pittstown, NJ- if I go to see her on my trip to the States I'll have to stop at that awful handicrafts store-you bad girl. ;-)
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