Precious

So I went in an estate jewelry store today. I knew I couldn't buy anything, so there was no danger in me looking.

And then I saw it -- it whispered to me from its velvet-lined box.

It sparkled from across the room, its soft siren voice asking me to come closer, to be nearer, to come and see...
It lay nestled in soft black silk velvet, its box tilted open. As I came nearer, I felt my heartbeat quicken.

I stood before it. I looked down at it. And when I saw, I wanted to wear. I wanted it. I wanted to possess it, to have it, for it to be MINE. I could not remember wanting anything in my life as badly as I wanted it at that moment.

My desire ran on a knife's edge.
I exhaled slightly. My mouth felt dry. I bit my lip.

In an instant, I recognized it as my precious. I knew it because the thought that ran through my head with wild passion was, I would sell my soul to have this.

And then I thought, well... maybe not sell it as such. Maybe mortgaging it at a reasonable rate. On a non-recourse loan. After my lawyers have read it.

I asked to try it on.

As the saleswoman opened the clasp, I knew it was too small. This tiny Victorian beauty was made for wrists smaller than mine. She slipped it onto my wrist and closed the clasp. It fit perfectly. It was light and sparkling. They were stars of diamonds. My constellation... my perfect tiara I had searched so long to find wasn't a tiara at all. The perfection I had sought was here, now -- it was real, now. It was bright dizzy delight of champagne and sensual earthy pleasure and it belonged here, now, with me.

It was so right. It was the inherent rightness that makes you think, "this is so right."

There was never any question that I had to give it back. At the same time, it was almost painful having to admit to myself that I had to take it off. It was like something that had come out of a blissful golden afternoon, stayed through the jasmine-scented night and --

gone.

It was not mine. It felt like heartbreak, that it could not be mine. This beauty, this delicate sparkling beauty, that I would adore -- that I would love as much as a person can love something so cold. It felt like having come home, only to be asked to leave again.

My beautiful bracelet.

Maybe in another life...

Stash-Diving Results

I am a-hankerin' after some lace.

I know, after I finished SotS (my first lace project ever), I felt I had my lace fix for the next... ever. That was until I went stash-diving this morning...

The ball is Handpaintedyarn.com Merino Bulky, for Cherie Amour. The big hank is Lisa Souza Lace (100% Superfine Merino), colorway "Sapphire." The two little navy skeins are Reynolds Wash Day Wool, for Sirdar 1521.

I pulled out the Wash Day Wool first, because I thought a baby sweater would be the ideal next project. Then I thought, "what's up next on my Ravelry queue?" And I remembered that Cherie Amour had been top of that list for a loooong time. And then I tried to remember why I hadn't cast on for either of those...

I don't have size 3 or size 9 needles. Seriously. I don't know how this happened. Well, my next step is obviously to hie me to the KnitPicks site and order up some Options tips. What am I going to do, though, until they arrive?

Those Jenkins #2 needles have been itching in the back of my mind for a while now. I pulled out the laceweight drawer of my stash... and what was waiting for me but beautiful Sapphire blue Lace? Off to peruse the Ravelry queue. No worries -- I don't think I'm about to cast on for the Princess Shawl...



No, seriously, I'm not.