Monthly Archives: April 2010

UFO Night tonight!!

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Its cold and rainy out after a beautiful sunny 80F yesterday and I have projects to get finished. Guess its a good thing tonight is UFO night! And, now I’m making my next Top Ten list public. I really need encouragement to get these projects finished so I can move on to the new stuff!

1. duplicate stitch name on Stocking (for customer)
2. Galway set-in sleeve cap pattern (for customer) [and possibly reknit it]
3. Cassidy in Shepherd’s Wool Great Lakes colorway (back done, working on fronts).
4. February Lady Sweater in Dream in Color Classy Black Pearl (working way down the front to the armhole).
5. Shawl (but I’m doing the scarf size which will look like a shawl on me!) using Mountain Colors Half Wool Crepe (named because it is half a ball of Wool Crepe) in Harmony Lake (airplane and hospital knitting).
6. Insouciant Sock in Heritage Handpaint (need to finished one before sock class resumes April 17).
7. repair on Penny’s Dale of Norway’s Baby Uhl sweater (maybe I can convince her I need to keep it on display since we now have the pattern and yarn, albeit new colorways, for said baby sweater).
8. Noni’s Bowling Ball bag (using scrap Shepherd’s Wool, testing Size 9.5US HiyaHiya Interchangeable – OH YES!!! — can’t wait for the real thing!).
9. Ribby Cardi from ChicKnits (Shepherd’s Wool brown/lt Turquoise on 860+ribber)
10. Cable Sweater for Knitting Today News Issue 4 (on USM)

Really? That’s all that is on the needles in plain sight? Its do-able, right?

Okay, now we’ll start listing what is hidden on the shelf, in knitting bags around the store, or is done but needs ends finished or blocked  . . .

1. Wrap me up shawl – ends (would like to do this again in sock yarn!).
2. Swirl Shawl from Melody Superwash by Jojoland – block.
3. Miralda’s shawl, Knitted Lace of Estonia, from Domy Heather (oh, I want to stock this yarn!) – block.
4. In the Pink – block.
5. baby snowman from Marie Mayhew’s Felted Snowman pattern – started.
6. Butterfly Garden blanket using Kona Superwash.
7. 8 hours baby Blanket using Encore.
8. Filigree Lace Shawl - in Alpaca With a Twist Fino (which I need done by Stitches Midwest 2010 to wear as a sample).

Things I want to start?? Okay, I won’t go there.  Maybe after I get a few things knocked off the UFO list.  I’ll report back after tonight because I have some really great projects in mind for classes this summer/fall.  Plus, I have a couple of huge projects I’m working on: MK Unite! [a retreat for machine knitters with myself, Heather Thompson, Michelle Teasley (shoot, forgot her married name! Sorry, Michelle!), Susan Guagliumi and Mary Anne Oger] for this summer, a new website design, Knitting Today News Issue 4 cables, “Make Your Sweater Fit” class, as well as a handknitting retreat for Fall. 

I’d like to know I’m not alone in the whole project overload arena. . . What is your project list?  I have an extremely useful Fold ‘n Go tool tote to give away to one lucky winner.  Drawing will be held May 16!  Tell your friends to comment too.  All comments must be on the blog (facebook fans, twitter followers, click the post link and go to the website to comment).  If we go over 25 comments, I’ll add a couple more prizes to the pool. . . .  post away!  Lea-Ann

Get it fast, while it lasts…

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Crazyfoot

Knitosophy

Well.  We are technically closed on Wednesdays but I am here anyway.  I usually crank up the radio and open the back door, sing off key if I want to and generally get a lot done.  Sometimes, as was the case today, someone will call and beg to be let in, as this is the only day they can come.  I don’t mind this at all.  I would never decline a yarnaholic a fix.  So.  A group of gals came over today from the quilting retreat in Shipshewana (I knew they were coming).  They were so friendly and having so much fun that I…. I… I let them go through the Knitosophy and Crazyfoot.  I know, I know!  I am always giving Lea-Ann a hard time about doing this but the truth is that it is almost as much fun being the one allowing the “early” buy as it is snapping it up.  I was wooed by the prospect of being, just for a moment, a yarn demi-goddess.  Sort of like a queen throwing cake crumbs to the peasants.  Okay, maybe not quite like that, but I just wanted them to feel it was worth the trip.  Plus, it’s not like we can’t reorder, right?  So I was at my desk furiously working to get the skus in the system before they checked out and thankfully I did. So the counts on the website are accurate and available for purchase. Just to let you know, we are now out of two of the three colors of Knitosophy that I was in love with, so I was not holding out for myself.  Just puttin’ that out there.

Want to see what we have left?  Click on the links above to go to the categories and check it out.

Sock knitters are greedy!

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I tell you what- I keep working away but I simply cannot go fast enough for sock knitters.  Forget about getting scans for the website, forget about giving the yarn a sku- if it’s in the building, it’s fair game.  Sometimes, I don’t even get to see the yarn before it’s gone!  My, my, my.  I was on my way to Purdue for a college visit with my oldest son Friday morning and I got this text from Lea-Ann apologizing to me and it took me a minute to realize what she was talking about and then it hit me.  I had missed knit night the night before and hadn’t hidden the boxes- thus some of the yarn disappeared.  It’s those crazy sock knitters- they have voracious appetites!    For those of you who can’t make it to the shop, I should have both Knitosophy and Crazyfoot online by Wednesday afternoon. There will, however, be a few ugly red x’s in lieu of images for a few of the yarns.  Just ignore them.  These are the yarns that have already been sold and you don’t need an image  because you can’t have them anyway.  LOL  They’ll only show up for a short while and then they’ll disappear.

Until I get (what’s left of) the new sock yarn online, maybe you’d like to check out Serendipity Tweed or the new colors, including a few handpaints, of Wildfoote.  As for me, I need to quit blogging about working and get back to it.

Happy Knitting!

I SAW IT FIRST!!

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Crazyfoot

Mountain Colors - Crazyfoot

Fresh off the UPS truck and in my hot little hands- and Lea-Ann isn’t even here to see it.  This is the newest sock yarn from Mountain Colors- a superwash/nylon blend sans mohair.  It’s been on order for quite some time.  I have fondled it and smelled it (I must admit I was a bit disappointed as Mountain Colors usually has a wonderful vinegar-ish smell and it is absent) and oggled every colorway.  They called last week to approve the shipment and I have been not so patiently waiting for it to come in.  I am a huge Mountain Colors fan – the colors seem so intense and vibrant to me.  Even the darker, more somber tones seem alive.   Yeah, I know all the Thursday knit night ladies are practically foaming at the mouth to get their hands on this but since I won’t be here I may have to hide the box- at least until I get scans for the internet.  Wouldn’t that be slightly wicked of me?

Edited 4/8/10  Lea-Ann is concerned that we’re going to get spam because I used the words “oggled” and “fondled”.  Ooops, I said it again!  Boy, add that to the talk in a previous post  of drug deals and inhaling and an unnamed previous president will be all over this.

insouciant back in stock!

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While Susan has the pleasure of scanning, photographing and describing new yarn, I get to do the fun job of processing reorders, special orders and deciding on new products, books and gadgets. If you’ve been waiting for Cat Bordhi’s Personal Footprints book, its here!! I’ll call you for pickup information or shipping information based on your date of order. Some other new fun gadgets in the store are the Heart Pom-Pom Makers and the Stitchkeepers by Rollie (to keep your doublepoint needles in your project while in your bag!).  restock of Personal Footprints for Insouciant Sock Knitters

image

Heart Pompom Makers

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Stitchkeepers by Rollie

Enjoy browsing!!  Lea-Ann

Opal out of the box!

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The new Opal is checked in and ready for the needles! Click here to see the Masken Ball; click here to see the Best of Rainforest.

I cast on a pair of footies using Happy Feet color 25 Spring Blossom for my daughter this weekend- a nice quick project for when the rain hits us. She is loving the bright colors and cannot wait for them to be done. I have to admit that the colors are looking quite cool. I’m thinking that there might even be enough for a pair of footies for me, as well. I have a hard time getting projects done in the spring because after a long winter indoors I just cannot wait to be out in my garden and flower beds. I spent two days this weekend cleaning up the flower bed and splitting all the bulbs that are choking out my perrenials and I thoroughly enjoyed each minute. Not so much the aching in my back and booty but I guess you can’t have one without the other. I got just over half way done (it’s a very big flower bed) and hope to get another hour or two in this afternoon. Hubbie tilled the garden for me and I picked up my seeds this weekend. So… not a whole lot got done on the footies- not quite to the heel on the first one but if we get the rain they are forecasting I should be able to knock off a pair before I can get back outside. When I get the footies done I’ll post a pic of them on her little tootsies.

Promised Pics and a Sneak Peek!

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I was reading the comments from yesterday and realized that I had not shared where we went for vacation. Sometimes I forget to share little details like that because I know what I’m talking about- it only occurs to me later (or when someone points it out) that I left out information. So, my hubbie and kids and I spent last week on Indian Rocks Beach on the Gulf of Mexico. We had a lovely condo right on the beach- which also had a heated pool and a hot tub. The first day was a little chilly and windy due to an approaching storm that hit overnight.  With the exception of depositing lots of shells and jellyfish on the beach it didn’t really impact us at all.   The rest of the days were just warm enough to not be cold, but not too hot. It was absolutely perfect- we didn’t go anywhere except John’s Pass to see the dolphins (I stayed behind with a sick child) and out to dinner a couple of nights. Wouldn’t have done me any good to know where the yarn shops were because if they weren’t hawking yarn on the beach I wasn’t getting any. I told my kids before we left that we weren’t doing any of the “attractions” because when you have a condo on the beach the beach is the attraction! Here are a few pictures for your enjoyment:

The Gulf at early evening

Lots of shells because of a storm




The Last Sunset

"King" of the beach

These guys are so much fun to watch!

I always leave thinking that I really should live by water. Something about the sound of waves washing in, or a running brook is so soothing. If I couldn’t live by an ocean, or a mountainside creek, I could make due with a small, placid lake.

I feel like there is something that I am forgetting to do. Oh, yeah- it’s the SNEAK PEEK! See how I made you look all through the pictures and read my babble before I got to the good stuff? Makes me feel so powerful- bwah ha ha!

Knitosophy

Knitosophy is finally here! This yarn is so cool! It’s the same base as Smooshy but it is flash dyed so the color plays randomly throughout the yarn.  It is offered in a 4 oz. / 450 yard skein; as you can see, the colors are spectacular.  Just so you know, I have dibs on the orange/pinks blend, or maybe the blues blend, or the purples.  Okay, so I’m not completely sure about which color, but I have dibs on something.  Maybe this is the year of the sock after all!