Much Cry and Little Wool

I was working on a new pair of Mary Janes, in purple this time.

Remember the hippo buttons?

The first one was nearing completion:

I started thinking back on the month of March, and how broke I was after paying to get my driver's license back and then my insurance. How I got that darn fortune cookie in December that promised good fortune in 3 months and how no such good luck appeared. How many days went by with no spare cash, and how many days Vyvyan had a cold that warranted staying inside all day. Again.

I guess it was the cabin fever that got to me, and so I told my mom I was taking myself on a date. I left Vyvyan with her and went to my local bookshop. I got myself a grande White Chocolate Mocha, and I chilled out with a knitting magazine and the second slipper, and I sat there and people watched. I sat there and contemplated my life, and existence in general. Then I wandered around, bought a book and went home.

My pair of slippers looked like this:

 Can you see the problem?

Well then the next day I went outside when I had a nice chunk of time and worked on them some more. I crocheted the whole slipper and slip stitched the back together before I realized it: My gauge was off!!

The first slipper was made during a regular ol' stressful day. The second slipper was made while I was actually relaxed! The pattern calls for 12 rows of double crochet for the foot of the slipper. I'm a loose hooker and have small feet, so I was doing 10. The second slipper? I could have stopped at 7.
No kidding.

I wish I took a picture before I frogged it to oblivion.
I am pretty grumpy about this failure because I was hoping it would be my FO for Friday, since there's no way I'm finishing the blanket in time.


Oh well.
I also procured more yarn. I don't know if you know this, but sometimes Big Lots stores have yarn. (Sometimes it's good yarn, too. Check out your local store- you may have to dig around for it, though.) Right now they have a bunch of sock yarn at my location for $1 a ball. I assume the skeins are underweight, but a buck a ball is still not bad. Here's my haul:

I may talk more about this yarn later; I plan on doing burn tests to find out exactly what the fiber content is. Apparently this "Gala yarn" (actually Ice Yarns from Turkey- you've probably seen their lots of yarn selling dirt cheap on Ebay) uses the same label for each yarn. All three of my yarns have this information on the label:
GALA Yarns
Mixed Fiber
Acrylic, Polyester, Nylon
50 gr-1.76 oz
Machine washable and dryable
Made in Turkey

Of course, you'll notice there is no information about yardage, or fiber percentage. Still, I liked the yarn and have plans for it all! I just have to make some swatches and test out the wash-ability. And what can beat 9 skeins for $9?? I usually buy a skein of sock yarn for twice that much!