Finding Larry*

*or, "Cashing In and Dropping Out"

Is it just me?, or do we all have fleeting fantasies of just cashing it all in and dropping out of society - getting out of the rat race. Okay, actually, my life isn't all THAT hectic, maybe more of a mouse jog than a rat race, but you get my drift.

Just cashing it all in and living a simple life somewhere, just the few necessities, whatever we each deem those to be, and sitting around, in my case, knitting, camping, hanging with the hubby.

We have friends who actually did this about 15 years ago. They were both in their early 20's, married 3 or 4 years, both on the way up the corporate ladder, had just bought their first condo, new cars... the whole enchilada. He and his wife were mountain bike riding buddies of the hubby.

They cashed in and dropped out. They figured they were young, had money, could cash out without any debt, were never going to have kids, and just decided to live their dream. They moved to Durango, Colorado to ride mountain bikes whenever they wanted in "mountain bike heaven." They live simply in a trailer park, he works part time at the ski lifts in the winter, and part time during the summer when they use the ski trails for mountain bike downhill races, and she substitute teaches when they need the money. And they ride their bikes. Still, after 15 years. We still get a Christmas card every year.

Soooo, the other day I'm working on the First Class shawl - and just can't get over how soft this yarn is. Prime Alpaca. They're not kidding. Prime stuff. It is so seriously soft.

Now, those who are more fiber-savvy than I will probably say "so what", but I didn't realize until I was buying it and the shop owner informed me, that this stuff isn't even dyed. This is the actual color of the alpaca.

For some reason, I'm pretty sure his name is Larry. Larry the alpaca. He's got to be the star of the herd, the envy of all other alpaci (plural of alpaca, maybe?) - because this is easily the softest alpaca I've ever felt. All those alpaci are suffering some major fleece envy, I'm quite sure.

So here's my plan, we get together a group of like-minded knitters/spinners and hire a detective to find Larry, then we cash in and drop out, start our own little knitting/spinning commune - you know, live in yurts and let the babies run around naked... kum ba yah and all that stuff. Maybe we could get a couple of sheep to keep Larry company, and start spinning and selling Larry yarn. At our own pace, of course, and only what we don't want to knit with ourselves.

"Larry and the Fleece Mamas" yarn - hand dyed, hand spun. I'd buy it, wouldn't you?

Slight problem, though.... I'm slightly attached to the hubby, oh yeah, and the kids - and I'm pretty sure they wouldn't go for it. Well, maybe if there was good mountain bike riding for the hubby... and Kaity wouldn't be too hard a sell. We need a spinner, anyway.

oh, well, a girl can dream.