Isn't She Lovely? Cali Namaste Laguna:Lime

Here's a story . . . about a bag I've been coveting for quite some time now, and my growing frenzy and desire to have it. Ever since Elysbeth first told me about wanting a Namaste Laguna Bag in Olive and contemplating it, I started wanting one too. Only in Lime, my favorite spring/summer color. Only problem was, I soon learned, that this bag has become HOT in the knitting world, probably due to much discussion over on Ravelry, as well as just the fact that it's a great bag at a reasonable price.


The day AFTER Elysbeth received hers from Dreamweaver, I joined in the fray of other knitters who were also scrambling to get their hands on one. I ordered mine on March 6th and was signed up on a waiting list, with the manufacturer, Namaste, trying to produce the bags as fast as possible to meet the unexpectedly high demand. Natalie at Dreamweaver assured me that if I could find one in stock anywhere, that I could cancel my order with her.

Each week I waited, each day I searched for blogs who featured this bag, and started calling up every vendor, online and brick and morter, that I could find asking if they possibly had one bag in lime . . . okay maybe saddle . . . how about olive . . . then Hollywood pink? Okay, how about any damn color, even charcoal (though it wasn't my favorite by far). Well, no, no one had one, damn it.

Then ONE vendor called me back a couple of weeks ago, excited, saying she had one in saddle (a brown/caramel color - very pretty too), she charged my card, I was thrilled. Only then she called back to say, "Sorry, that saddle is in the Malibu bag, not Laguna, wouldn't that be okay?" NOOOOOOOOO. I had to have Laguna, not Malibu. She promptly apologized and credited my card immediately. Nice lady, but she didn't have the right bag.

Another vendor had a single one in charcoal, and I briefly considered nabbing it, but Elysbeth wisely advised me NOT to settle on something that would later make me wish I'd waited for the right one. Kind of like husbands, you don't want to settle, doncha know?

Nearly every vendor I called said they'd be restocked in a few weeks, probably sometime in April, but no one knew when.


I'd been secretly hoping to carry this bag with me to the Knitting in the Heartland conference on Saturday April 5th. On Tuesday, during my weekly check-in with Dreamweaver, I found out that she was to receive one bag in my color, and since I was top on the list, she could send it out on Wednesday (4/2). She sent it priority overnight mail with the U.S. postal service. I was so psyched, YAY I'D GET TO BRING IT TO THE CONFERENCE. Thursday came. No bag. Friday came. No bag. I called the post office to check on it. They were closed. Saturday, I went ahead to the conference expecting that my bag would probably be in the mailbox when I got home. Not there, but I traced it enough by email to tell that it wasn't in their tracking system anymore.

This morning, getting really testy with the postal service, I called them to give them a piece of my mind, and discovered that it had been "misdirected" to somewhere in a remote part of Kansas. Oh no. They thought they could find it. If so, they'd be sure and "redirect" it to me.


I was just about to give up, when look what finally arrived today. Isn't she/it just beautiful?



Shaped like a bowling ball bag, she is BIG - about 14 inches across and at least that tall - she has feet on the bottom. She has plenty of pockets, including a dividing pocket in the middle to separate knitting projects on one side, and regular purse stuff on the other. When not full, the top gently folds down and flops over the bag attractively. It has a shoulder carry strap as well as handles. She is made of "pleather" NOT leather.

Though I am tickled LIME (not pink) to get this thing, the whole incident has me scratching my head marveling at my own craziness. Why in all that is LIME, I mean holy, am I so obsessed with something as trivial and materialistic as a mere handbag in the face of all that is serious and important in life? I have no idea, other than I am totally neurotic. But I'm still happy. Thank you Dreamweaver, for making my neurotic middle-aged dreams come true.

Contented sigh. Yes.