Road Trip 2

Cody got a skateboard for his birthday a few years ago--like 4 or 5 years ago. He rode it maybe three times, then basically forgot about it. It hid under his bed for a while, then laid around in the yard for awhile, and finally, about a week ago, it vanished altogether. Funny thing that. After years of ignoring the board, as soon as it disappeared, Cody suddenly decided that he had to have a skateboard. Just had to have one.

I sure wasn't going to buy him another one, so he saved his allowance and began looking for a skateboard he could afford. The local Wal-mart didn't have any. Neither did the Wal-mart we went to last week. The local sporting goods store was a little too proud of their skateboards, so Cody began bugging me to head North, toward Memphis, to see if any of the stores up that way had any.

About the same time, I noticed that Monty had outgrown his hide.

And I began to get the urge to head up to Kathy's yarn shop. I hadn't been there in some 6 months, and what with us being off this week (both of us), it seemed like the perfect time to go.

First stop, the yarn shop. As I pulled off the highway into Hernando, I began to wonder if I'd remember how to get there. I knew you had to turn back under the highway, then turn left, then right and there would be the shop. I just couldn't remember where to turn left. "Hmmmm," I thought. "I'll turn here." And I picked out a street that felt right. And sure enough, there was the shop.

As soon as I got there, Kathy called MrsTommie, who'd said she wanted to meet me, being a martial artist and a knitter herself. We had a good visit, and I stayed about an hour. Cody played with the shop dog, Rex, but soon began to get restless. So we left.

While we were there, I was prying into Kathy's knitting projects and discovered a hat she was knitting out of this yarn she had there in the store. As soon as I saw it, I knew I had to have some. So, on the way out, I grabbed three balls, enough to make a nice scarf.

The yarn is Tonalita, by Trendsetter Yarns, color 2352. No name, just a number. Amazingly enough, I didn't buy any sock yarn. I think Cody slapping my hand every time I picked up a ball might have helped.

We left beautiful downtown Hernando and headed on up to Southaven. First stop was the Petco, to get Monty's new hide. Wouldn't you know it, they didn't have any big enough for him. They did have some baby snakes there--corns and ball pythons, plus a blood python and some red tail boas. I'd forgotten how tiny they were when they are babies. They were sooo cute, but I managed to resist and didn't get any.

Next stop, Walmart, where Cody managed to find a reasonably priced skateboard. Then we went on to a new yarn store that just opened up in Southaven. It's so new, in fact, that they haven't even had their grand opening yet. I picked up some wool there in almost Cowboy colors for another Chemo cap. I can probably get two out of this pretty easily. I'll make one blue with a silver stripe, and one silver with a blue stripe.

Again, I managed to make it out of that store without any sock yarn. Cody making "put it back" gestures every time I picked up a ball had a lot to do with that. I also picked up a new set of size 9 bamboo DPNs. I'm not that thrilled with bamboo needles, but I'm anxious to get my chemo caps cast on. Still, I am determined to finish my toe up socks, which seemed to have hit the neverending stage. They are almost finished, but though I knit furiously, the yarn balls never seem to get any smaller.

I'd say the day was mostly successful. We got everything we set out to get except for Monty's hide. I guess I'll have to order him one online.