Irked

I'm really irked. Susan, Annie and I all went to a lot of trouble to get my shop covered so that I could watch Big Nephew's football game. I particularly wanted to be there at the beginning since he is the kicker and I wanted to see him if he did the kick off. Today, the Lovely and Talented Susan and Annie arrived by 1pm ready to go which was good since the shop was really busy (I actually felt a little guilty leaving them but they are troopers). I left with Little Nephew about 1:15 in plenty of time to make the 2pm kick off. I got there about 1:40, saw that the previous game wasn't finished so took Little Nephew to the nearby playground for a few minutes. I got back to the field at about ten minutes of 2:00 only to realize that Big Nephew's team was the one that was playing and that it was the end of the THIRD QUARTER!!! WTF!?? Apparently, after questioning Big Nephew, I found out that the coaches, as a group, didn't bother to set their watches back and started the game at 1pm! I can't even begin to tell you how irked this makes me especially, since after much debate this week, I was assured that the game would start at 2pm. I did get to watch Big Nephew play and he was glad that I came but still! We are talking about a largish group of adult men, 10-15 between coaches and refs, who either didn't know or didn't care enough to start the game at the proper time. It just leaves me flabbergasted.

Living in the Land of Cones

I realized something. If I don't have fun pictures to post, I tend not to post. That's kind of silly. I will try to post more often, even if I don't have fun pictures.
Well, I don' t have any pictures to post today, fun or otherwise. I keep meaning to dredge up all my UFO's and get pictures of them but I never seem to do it. Today, I am winding yarn for dye day on Monday. I just finished winding the two three-pound cones I had left and have started on the nine (nine!) cones that came yesterday. I'm not going to get them all wound but I would like to get as many done as I can. Kerry is coming to help me dye yarn Monday so we'll be able to get through a lot more yarn with two of us. I have a bunch of yarn coming from Henry's Attic but snoozed a little too long last week and didn't get it ordered in time to get here for Monday. I do have a bunch new colors of dye coming which should be here in time to play with. I'll try to get pictures of any new creations. I can't wait to see what Kerry gets up to. She is the one who invented both the Flames of Heck and Coral Snake colorways.
Tomorrow, I freeze my tush off at Big Nephew's last football game of the season. I can't remember the last football game I went to. I think it was in college. The Lovely and Talented Annie and Susan will be covering the shop until I can get back. Wish me luck!

Sock Fest Kick Off

Wow! They came, they saw, they bought, they left! It's 8:30pm and the Sock Fest kick off is all done. I was afraid I'd be throwing people out of here at 9:30pm. Instead, I had a group of people here that were masters of yarn shopping efficiency. Here's what they ordered so far.

I respectable number of these already have enough so that I will order them (40% of the bag has to be sold). I expect most of them will pick up enough by the end of the week to be ordered and I'm sure a bunch of them will go into discount (60% of the bag sold). Sock Fest is always so much fun!

I now get to put up my Regia clad feet and rest. Hooray!
Oh, yeah! I was going to tell you what was up with the fish.
The Cambridge Zen Center has a nifty little pond in the back. Last spring, I wanted us to have goldfish in the pond so I volunteered to winter them over. I was imagining a 20 gallon tank with maybe 6-10 fish in it. Little did I know that the darn things were going to breed like rabbits all summer. Well, I checked them this fall and, lo and behold, the pond was full of little fish! I asked them how many fish they'd put in originally and the answer was five! Well, I volunteered to deal with this so deal with it I would.

I was very fortunate to find a 55 gallon tank on Craig's List for $50. The guy even brought it over here!! I got it set up and running and the next day headed over to the zen center with a big bucket and my fish net. Of course, what was the first thing I did when I got there? If you guessed fell in the pond, you would be right. Splash! Hey, I was going to get soaked anyway so might as well get it over with. Over the course of the afternoon, I got five 4"+ (one is 7" long!) fish and almost 50 little fish out of the pond. They are now happily living in this huge tank in my bedroom.

One problem with goldfish is that the big ones tend to eat the little ones. I have gotten plants and a castle (all fish need a castle) for the little fish to hide in and I feed them three times a day so that they aren't that hungry. I have also told them very firmly that we don't eat each other in this house. Seems to be working, too.

So far, I'm really enjoying the new additions to my household. I've had goldfish in the past and just love them. I may have to keep some of these guys come spring!

Scissors, Paper, Glue

That's pretty much my life for the next few days. I'm working on cutting out each color from copies of the Regia, Trekking and Fortissima color cards and gluing them to cards. This is, of course for next week's Sock Fest. It is a big job too! Do you know that there are 178 colors of Regia wool/poly 4-ply alone!! 178! In honor of all this cutting, I finally broke down and bought this:

When you teach school, you get really spoiled by having access to all kinds of good toys like the copier (ours collated), the lamenator (I nearly fell down when I found out how much Staples charges) and the paper cutter. Of the three, I really missed the paper cutter. I got by for a long time due to the kindness of my friend Stefanie who would loan me hers. Unfortunately, she doesn't work in city any more (she used to be down here almost daily). And though I know that, if I asked, she would get in her car and bring her paper cutter down here right this minute, it was really time to buy my own. So, I did and I love it, love it, love it! So, think of me cutting and pasting this weekend. It's not too bad and it's really fun looking at all the colors!

In other news, what's up with all these fish?

I'll let you know in my next post!

Big News!

Hello All, I'm taking a quick break from everything I should be doing to tell you that I just got my first wholesale order for sock yarn! I'm so excited! I'm ordering more yarn tonight. Gotta have it on hand to dye if this is how things are going to go!
I'll try to post tomorrow but I'm swamped with Sock Fest preparations. I've been looking over all the color cards and I'm going to end up spending my entire wholesale score on sock yarn for myself!! It really is a sickness.

The Great Pumpkin is Living at My House

I really love pumpkins. I've even succeeded in growing them a couple of times.
For some reason, when fall rolls around, I get the urge to buy my nephews excessively large pumpkins. To this end, my brother, the boys and I headed off to Wilson Farms last Monday. They have wonderful pumpkins there as well as apple cider donuts and many other fall goodies.
We were wandering around looking at all the pumpkins when Big Nephew found the stack of giant pumpkins. 'Ooo', he says, 'can I have one of these?' I was obviously wearing my "Auntie Lucy is a Great Big Sucker' sign because I said 'Sure, but you have to be able to pick it up and carry it.' How big a pumpkin could he possibly get?

Really big, apparently, 68 lbs big. It is too big to live in the house. Here it is residing in the backyard until it is time to be carved.

Big Nephew is already talking about lifting weights in preparation for next year's pumpkin trip. I'd better start saving my money! Little Nephew got a nice big pumpkin too, about 25 lbs and I picked up a few fancy pumpkins for myself.

What have I been doing today? Dyeing yarn and, I have to say, enjoying myself enormously! I dyed some favorites and worked up a few new colorsways. I'll have more pictures soon.

The last several times I've dyed yarn, I've been either in a hurry or sick or both. It was wonderful to relax and really enjoy dyeing a reasonable amount of yarn. It is getting to the point where I really need a regular dye day so, from now on, I'm going to make about every other Monday a dye day.

Monsters of Teen Craft

Hello, all. Sorry I haven't blogged in a week. I'm still getting over this cold except that now I'm in the "I feel well enough to get back to everything I need to do except that I'm still sick enough to be still moving a little slow".
A lot has happened since I wrote last so I'm going to tackle it in small chunks.
So, last Saturday I had these lovely people here!
It was wonderful to see Shannon

She knew I was sick so took it upon herself to bring refreshments and flowers. We had an impromptu knitting group all afternoon with everyone who came by.


And I don't know how I've lived my whole life without meeting Kim Werker (that's Humphrey, the tour mascot, she's holding)! She is a delightful person. She mentioned that she'd meant to learn to spin on this trip but hadn't managed to yet. Oh, I said, all innocence, well let me show you! She'd done some spindle spinning so it was a very short amount of time before she was making legitimate yarn on a wheel. It is only a matter of time before she gets one (quiet, evil laughing).
In other news, it has become almost impossible to get a candid picture of Wanda in the house. She hears the camera turn on and this is what happens:

"I'm ready for my close-up."

In my next post, I will discuss why it is a bad idea to tell a fourteen-year-old that you will buy him any size pumpkin he wants as long as he can pick it up and carry it.

Knitgrrl

Well, the day off yesterday seems to have worked! I feel better and my nose is no longer running like a faucet which makes keeping things sanitary much, much easier. Let me tell you, Clorox wipes are my friend (and yours should you come over here!).
This is all a very good thing because today Mind's Eye Yarns is hosting Shannon Okey of Knitgrrl fame and Kim Werker, author of the new Get Hooked crochet book. They are billing themselves as the Monsters of Teen Craft Tour. They'll be here at 1pm and will be signing books all afternoon.
Shannon is one of the few people about whom I can say "I knew her when..." I was there when she bought her first fleece and taught her to spin. Well, I didn't really teach her to spin, more just reminded her how. Some people are like that. Don't miss her new book from Interweave Press Spin to Knit. Shannon's one of those people who talks about the big dreams she has and then just goes out and fulfills them. Her energy is amazing. You should definitely read Dolores' interview with Shannon on Franklin's blog. It is just hillarious! I'm looking forward to a fun filled afternoon here. I hope you can make it!

Close-the-Shop Sick

It is official. I am close-the-shop sick. I gave up and closed today when my 1:30 lesson cancelled. I've been sicker and kept the shop open but I just feel like I'm so contagious. I'm not really into giving people a free headache/sore throat/runny nose combo with their yarn purchase. I like my customers way better than that. Also, I'm hoping I'll get better quicker if I give up and go back to bed. Nightie-night all.

Sniff

After all that talk of returning you to regularly scheduled blogging, here I am again, finally. Apparently, I have that cold that's been going around. I was in denial all day Monday and some of Tuesday even when, Monday, I slept from 11am to 12:30pm while they were cutting trees and running them through a woodchipper 10 feet from my bedroom window. I had to dye yarn but kept putting if off until yesterday morning when I was well and truly sick. I don't feel much better now and dare not stray far from my box of kleenex but at least I've got some yarn dyed. There will be pictures soon. Along with the sock yarn, I dyed some of the Cascade Magnum and I'm really happy with how it came out!
Oh, and to top it all off, my charge card machine died! They are overnighting me a new one. They think it caught a surge through the phone lines (who new?). Thank goodness the same surge didn't fry my computer! As soon as I venture out to do errands again, I'm getting surge protectors for my phone lines.
So, send me healing thoughts. I've learned over the years that my body is just going to be sick as long as it sees fit and there's not a damn thing I can do about it. All I can do is drink tea and take Tylenol until it's done.