Full Service Yarn Shop

Rock Day, 2012

2012-01-12T10:39:00.001-04:00

I am attempting to fire up the blog again and what better way than to tell you about all the fun we had on Rock Day, January 7. This is our first customer of the day with her drop spindle!
Rock Day, otherwise known as St. Distaff's Day is the day after Epiphany and was traditionally the day that spinners in Europe took up their spindles again after the Christmas holiday. In the last few year, spinners have adopted January 7 as a holiday to celebrate our craft.
It has taken me a few years to get on the bandwagon, but this year I put it on the calendar and I hope to make it an annual event.

We had beginner spinning lessons throughout the day.

I was so excited about the kids that came out!

These two are going to be fine spinners!

I demonstrated the wheel while others brought their own.

And others got to try a wheel for the first time!

We even made drop spindles out of random things.

FYI, a bamboo skewer stuck through either a fingerling potato or a radish makes a really slick drop spindle but a brussel sprout doesn't work as well. Too leafy and not solid enough, I guess.

All in all, we had a great day and will definitely be celebrating again next year.

There Hasn't Been Much Going On

2010-09-25T19:54:00.001-04:00

I just looked at the date of my last post and it's been over a month! I think that's a reflection of two things. One is that my knitting hasn't been that interesting, just a progression of stockinette stitch socks. The other is that the shop is starting to get busier so I have less free time.
I'm still in sock land. I'm getting ready to mail my cousin's wife a tape measure in hopes that she will finally get back to me with some measurements so I can start his vest. Meanwhile, I've done my Christmas knitting list. It's not as extensive as last year's but I still need to hit it hard. The first things I need to complete are the things for my friends Andrzej and Kathy. They live in Hong Kong and it's going to take about a month for their presents to get there. I'm making Andrzej a pair of grey socks (sad face). Andrzej used to be the guy I could count on to wear any kooky, colorful pair of socks I made him. Now that he's in Hong Kong, he's teaching at a temple where the guilding teacher wants everyone to dress in monastic clothing. He's had to put away all his fun socks in favor of white and grey. So, I'm knitting him a pair he can actually wear. I had some left over grey alpaca from a scarf I knit for a monk friend of mine last year so I'm going to knit Kathy a lace scarf with that. That, at least, should be fun and she'll be able to wear it at the temple. I think I'm going to use the Fiber Trends Estonian Flowers pattern.
In addition to those gifts, I've got another vest, eight pairs of socks, several hats, a neckwarmer, a baby sweater and another sweater for my sister (she promised to pick an actual color this time). It's a big list but I'm pretty sure I can get it all done, if not by Christmas, at least by mid-January.

Overheard in the Shop

2010-08-21T12:49:00.000-04:00

I was in the front room knitting while a couple of women with an infant and three year old were browsing in the other room when I heard, "Mommy, can we move in here? 'Cuz then we wouldn't have to drive all the way here when we wanted yarn."

Samples

2010-08-21T07:29:00.000-04:00

Sorry for the lapse. I'm knitting a bunch of shop samples right now. The vest for my cousin is still on hold until his wife gets me some measurements. I just finished a baby set out of the Cascade 220 Superwash Paints (photos coming soon) and a hat out of a new super bulky Platino. I'm knitting a hat out of the Malabrigo Rios even though our supply of that is pretty low. Hopefully, we'll be getting more soon. I ordered it. It's now up to Malabrigo to send it and we all know how that goes.
It's always great fun working with the new yarns!

2010-08-05T13:48:00.002-04:00

The next UFO I've dug up is a vest from handspun that was a victim of the great knitting stoppage of 2009. This happened last year in October when I irritated a nerve in my shoulder and had to stop knitting for a couple of months. What I learned from it is that I cannot continue knitting past the point where my shoulder begins to hurt. I need. to. stop. If I do that, I can knit again after a break. If I don't, bad things happen.
Unfortunately, the stoppage came right when I was in the middle of my Christmas knitting. I've almost caught up from it in time for this Christmas!

This is the yarn I'd spun so far and the remaining fiber. I also had a couple of bobbins full of singles that just needed to be plied. I've since plied what I had and spun and plied the last of the fiber. I've got nine skeins of two ply yarn that are about 4oz each and will probably knit at around a heavy worsted weight. I might knit them a bit tight since it is for a cousin of mine to wear when he's working outdoors in the winter. This is my cousin who got pneumonia two winters ago so I'd like to get this done for this winter. There's one fly in the ointment, though. I've lost his measurements. I emailed his wife and she said she'd get them but she's got two children under four so it may take her a while. I must remember to never write measurements down on little pieces of paper. I inevitably lose them. I have a measurement book for a reason. I've got to always use it!

Meanwhile, I really should wash all this yarn and I can always swatch while I wait for measurements.

Stripey Sweater and Fall Yarn

2010-08-04T17:52:00.000-04:00

Boy, the blog got away from me for a bit, but I'm back.

I had a lovely visit to NYC though it was so hot that if I never have to go back there in July, it will be too soon. What I mostly did was go out to eat and then hide inside and knit. We made it to the aquarium and on the Staten Island Ferry but that's as adventurous as we got. Really, not so bad when you think about it. I got to spend a lot of quality time with my friends Melissa and Andy

and got a lot of knitting done.

I finished the sleeves of the stripey sweater on Sunday morning.

You can see at the top where I ran out of the lavender and white but they don't look bad overall.

Then I spent Sunday afternoon putting it together and sewing in the ends while watching the World Cup final with Andy (Melissa took a much deserved nap). I really like relaxed vacations. I'm just not much of a tourist.

Here's the finished sweater

and a fairly bad picture of me wearing it.

I really need to block the front a bit.

Meanwhile, this is the time of year when all the new yarn starts arriving in giant boxes that we refer to as "Annie Boxes". Why Annie Boxes?

Because, they are so big that Annie could use one for a studio apartment!

Train Knitting

2010-07-08T20:35:00.001-04:00

I'm still working on the sleeves of the striped sweater. I've completely run out of the lavender and will be out of the white shortly so I'll need to start getting creative with the row pattern. I'm almost to the top so it shouldn't be too noticable.
I don't usually take a sweater project on a trip but I'm so close to being done with this that I'm taking it with me to NYC. I'll have a total of eight hours on the train and if I can't get it finished in that amount of time, I'm doing something wrong. I'm bringing everything I need to finish it completely and with any luck, I'll have finished object to bring back with me. I'm also bringing a pair of socks as a back up. I feel like I'm show a great deal of self restrain in only bringing on pair of socks with me to work on. Usually, I'd bring at least three.

The Knitting Won

2010-07-05T17:21:00.000-04:00

I was over at the zen center yesteray. I sat morning practice then was hanging out for an hour or so waiting for a going away party to start. I was sitting on the couch knitting when I started to get super sleepy. I finally lay down on the couch with the knitting on my stomach and dozed off. About half an hour later, just as I was waking up, a friend walked past, saw me passed out on the couch with the knitting on top of me and said, "Looks like the knitting won!"

Vacation, Vacation, Vacation!

2010-07-03T07:50:00.000-04:00

I am so happy to be on vacation! One of the hard things about having the shop open seven days a week is that, even on my days off, I never have my house to myself. Don't get me wrong, having the shop open every day has been really great and mostly I don't mind. I'm just really going to enjoy having the place to myself this week.
The only major plans I have for my vacation is a trip to NYC to see Melissa. I've splurged and bought train tickets. One of my all time favorite things to do is ride the train and knit. I would take a train trip to nowhere just to sit, watch the world go by and knit. I'm hoping to have the striped sweater done by then so I will probably take socks with me. I'm not quite sure what project I'm going to tackle after the sweater. I may do the vest for my cousin Whitney. I meant to get it done for Christmas last year but then my Christmas knitting got completely stalled out when I hurt my shoulder. My bike is at the shop right now getting new handlebars so as to avoid that issue this year. The thing about the vest is that I haven't even finished spinning the yarn. I'm close, though, then I can start knitting it. Yeah, I think that one may be our winner.

The Wonders of Blocking

2010-07-01T13:49:00.001-04:00

The gray sweater is happily blocking on towels. I decided to wet block the whole thing and then use the iron to touch up different spots that needed it.

The collar lay flat just fine but

the pockets needed some extra steaming to not be puckered.

All in all, I'm pretty pleased with it. Now that it is blocking, I can measure the front and order the zipper. I have forgotten whether my sister wanted a two way zipper or not so I'll have to call her.

Next, we have to long neglected striped sweater.

The more I look at this, the better I like it and the more baffled I am that I ever put it down in the first place.

The back was done and the fronts were done above the armholes. It took no time at all to finish those up and now I've started the sleeves (sorry about the blurry picture).

I've decided to knit them at the same time because I'm running out of the lavender and white.

This is all I have left of those two colors. I've decided to just punt on the colors when I run out and get this thing done.

One of the draw backs of doing both sleeves at the same time with this many colors is the big tangly mess that the yarn turns into.

Fortunately, this is mercerized cotton and so mostly just slides right through this tangle. I can get a surpisingly long way before I have to untangle it.

After the super fiddly finish work on the gray sweater, I'm looking forward to the finish work on this. There won't be as many ends as you'd think because you carry the yarn up as you go and the edging is just a row of single crochet all around the edges with a couple of crocheted ties. I'm a little concerned about covering the front edge where I carried the yarn up, but, even if is shows through a bit, it is still worth it not to have to sew in all those ends.

Do you all read Franklin Habit's blog? If you don't, you should. His latest post is laugh-out-loud funny.

Gray Sweater Closer to Being Done

2010-06-28T11:13:00.000-04:00

Really close. It just needs to be blocked and have a zipper put in. I can't even order the zipper until I block it so that I know the correct length to order. I have never made anything, short of lace, that needed to be blocked as badly as this sweater. The hem rolls up, the collar sits funny, the pockets are bunchy. I don't think it's anything that wet blocking and possibly a strategically placed steam iron can't fix but we'll see.
Meanwhile, I've resurrected the Two-Tie Striped Cardigan from Interweave Knits, Summer 2005. I'm not sure if I'll have enough yarn to finish it or even if it will fit if I do finish it. I'm seriously considering putting short sleeves on it if the yarn doesn't hold up. Thus is the price of putting something down for five years. I'll take some pictures soon.

Collar Progress (during which there was swearing)

2010-06-24T14:38:00.002-04:00

I've finally got the collar of the Farmer's Market Cardigan knitted. Let me just say that I am now firmly opposed to collars that are knitted seperately and sewed on and if I never have do another one again, it will be too soon.

Here is the collar and pocket edging finished and pinned on. I had gotten both sides of the collar knitted and grafted at the back of the neck during knitting group last night. It was then that I discovered that the right side band was not long enough. What's more, it was not long enough at the spot where it turns the corner from the pocket to the front of the sweater. I was faced with unravelling and reknitting it (not going to happen) or sewing it on and hoping it didn't look lopsided. I chose option 3 which was to cut a strand where I needed the extra length, put it on needles, knit the extra length then graft it back together. I did this but it wasn't easy and there was a lot of swearing and growling during the process. I didn't realize how much of this I was doing until the girl sitting next to me quietly slunk off to ask someone else to help her with her knitting rather than bother me. I apologize to everyone in the group who were very nice and offered help at several points to which my reply was leave. me. alone. They did and it got fixed.

Now, I get to sew the collar on (yay, my favorite, not).

Storing Woolens

2010-06-22T15:27:00.000-04:00

People often ask me how I store my woolens for the summer to avoid the dreaded m*th. After a lot of years of experimenting, I've come up with a system I like pretty well.
First, wash everything. People always ask me why the m*th hole is always smack in the middle of the chest on their favorite sweater. The answer is that they probably spilled something on the front of it and didn't wash it before putting it away for the summer. Believe me, it doesn't take much. M*ths love anything that is the least bit dirty. So, I run all my socks through the wash and hand wash anything else.
Next, I take a box of m*th balls, open the top and put the whole open box in a quart ziplock bag. This goes in a drawer with all my woolens. By putting the m*th balls in the ziplock it cuts down the stinkiness while still making it stinky enough to keep away the m*ths. Your garments will smell slightly of m*th balls for a day or so after you take them out in fall and then they will be fine. I know a lot of people are against using m*th balls. They are smelly and toxic but there are times when chemical warfare is called for. Using the ziplock cuts way down on the stink and also makes a box of m*th balls last for years. I think mine's been going five years now and isn't done yet.

She Likes Them!

2010-06-18T15:04:00.000-04:00

Wren picked up her socks today.

And they even fit!

I never measured her feet, just took a good guess.

Found It!

2010-06-18T11:59:00.002-04:00

Just found the leftover yarn from my sister's sweater while cleaning my bedroom. Now I can finish the darn thing with the right dyelot!
Also, Wren, if you didn't get my phone message, your socks are done.
I may have started four more pairs of socks at group yesterday (I can quit anytime I want. No, really, I can.)

Sale's Over

2010-06-15T12:19:00.000-04:00

Phew! That was our best sale ever! Thanks to everyone who stopped by. Considering how much stuff we sold, I'm amazed at how much is still here. I've been trying to expand the shop inventory over the years and I guess I succeeded.
The yarn business is very cyclical, this time of year being one of the slowest. I like it, though. I'm planning to use this time to catch up on paperwork, do a bunch of knitting and generally relax before all the new yarn starts showing up in mid-late July. I can't even believe how much new stuff I ordered. Holy cow!
But, meanwhile, we relax. The shop will be closed for vacation for the first part of July. I haven't decided exactly when, but I'll let everyone know as soon as I decide.

Hope for the Gray Sweater

2010-06-12T08:22:00.001-04:00

I still haven't found the bag of leftover gray yarn but I did find a skein of the right gray on the shelf. I'm almost certain it is not the right dye lot but definitely not complaining. I'm going to ravel back the collar a few rows and do the alternating row thing to smooth the transition.
Also, I'm almost ready to turn the heels on Wren's socks.
Oh, just a note on comments. I'm moderating all the comments because I've been having comment spam. So, if you post a comment and it doesn't come right up, you didn't do anything wrong. I just haven't gotten to my email yet.

What a Week and It's Only Thursday

2010-06-10T21:26:00.001-04:00

Sorry I haven't posted for a couple of days but I've been have a crazy week. First, the sale is going very well. Thanks to everyone who's been in. If you haven't made it over here, you have until 5pm Sunday. There's still lots of wonderful yarn left, though the Malabrigo Lace Weight gave us our first empty shelf of the sale. Don't worry, I order a ton of it for fall.
In other news, we've had truly ghastly plumbing issues yesterday and today. I nearly asked the plumber to marry me when he told me everything was fixed. Indoor plumbing is such a wonder and a joy when it is working correctly. Also, clorox is my new best friend. 'Nuf said.

Sometimes You Aren't Knitting For The Person You Think You Are

2010-06-08T19:36:00.001-04:00

So, I have these socks I'm knitting. They are out of some yarn I got from Webs and dyed ages ago. My idea was to try it out to see if I wanted to add it to my line of hand dyed. It is a regular wool/nylon sock yarn and I had two skeins to try. I dyed them both in greens and blues. My friend Wren fell in love with the color but someone else got the extra skein and I kept this one to try knitting myself.
First, I cast on the socks for myself. I got the toes done and they languished. I then unravelled them a bit and changed the size to be for my cousin's wife and they languished. Sunday night I picked them up to finish them but they were fighting me. I pulled off the toes I'd started and cast on again. This time I got the toes done but slowly realized that these socks are not for my cousin's wife. These socks are for Wren! Since I realized this, they've been coming right along and should be done by next week.
Hi Wren, I'll call you when your socks are ready.

One More Down, One To Go

2010-06-06T14:52:00.000-04:00

I'm home taking an unplanned day off from biking today (yucky tummy all night but better now) and I just finished the third of the four unfinished pairs of socks I had on needles. One more pair and I can start a new pair! I am inordinately happy about this (see previous day's start-itis).
I'm still working on the gray sweater. I finished one side of the collar and have started the other. Unfortunately, I'm going to run out of yarn and I can't seem to find the rest of it. When I started and unravelled this sweater the first time, I saved the unravelled yarn and put it aside to wash before using it again. The ball I'm using now is from that batch but I can't seem to find the rest. This is a problem. I see at whole bunch of tearing apart of my house in my near future. Aaargh.

Start-itis

2010-06-05T06:32:00.000-04:00

Suddenly this morning, I've been struck with a raging case of start-itis. Everywhere I look, there's yarn I want to knit. This is a problem when you live in a yarn store.
Must. Resist. Must. Finish. Gray. Sweater.

Blocking or Where the @%&! Are My T-Pins?

2010-06-04T11:24:00.000-04:00

I know all the physicists say matter is conserved but I'm not convinced. I swear matter enters and leaves the universe in the form of stitch markers, double pointed needles, and t-pins. And I'm also pretty sure tape measures all go to conferences to for a week at a time and then suddenly come back. I think scissors do the same thing. How else can you explain it when one day I can't find a tape measure to save my own life knowing full well that I own at least ten and a week later, I find them everywhere. Something has to be going on here. Anyway, I finished the Annie shawl out of the Noro Sekku. I couldn't find my t-pins anywhere but I did have a bunch of common pins and they actually worked just fine.

Yes, I pinned in out a little crooked. It doesn't bother me that much. Once I took it off the blocking board, it was just fine. I'm pleased with how it blocked out. It got just enough bigger to be a nice wearable little shawl. If I were going to use the Noro again, though, I'd use a pattern that started at the back of the neck and worked down. That way the pattern and the striping would be going the same way. It's still pretty this way though I hadn't realized how 70's those colors look together. Eh, retro is in.

Next up, my sister's gray sweater. It is the Farmer's Market Cardigan from Interweave Knits last fall.

It was fun to knit the body but the finish work is getting on my nerves. The collar is just hard enough that I'm having trouble working on it in the shop. Unfortunately, that's the time I have to work on it so I'm just muddling though.

Speaking of the shop, the sale starts tomorrow at 10am and goes through June 13. Be sure to come in and pick up some of your favorite yarn for 25% off.

Cleaning Gnomes

2010-05-31T20:22:00.002-04:00

People often comment on how nice and organized the shelves in the shop look. Do I suddenly have cleaning gnomes? Nope, I've got Annie.
Here she is doing what she spends a lot of her time doing, pulling yarn off the shelf and completely rearranging it. She is the only reason this place is not a complete disaster area 'cuz we all know how tidy I am.

So Much Fun!

2010-05-28T16:06:00.002-04:00

Well, I'm off topic already but I have to write about it.
I went to Little Nephew's spring concert this morning. After the concert, we moved out to the front lawn of the school where the kids taught all the grown-ups how to do all the dances they learn in music class. Absolutely the most fun I've had in ages.

UFOs

2010-05-27T20:46:00.002-04:00

A few weeks ago, a thought crossed my mind. What if I were to take all my unfinished objects and finish them one at a time until I had none left. And then I went, that's just crazy talk! Crazy!
Then, without really meaning to, I started finishing UFOs. First was a scarf, then a pair of socks, then another pair of socks. I have a sweater for my sister that just needs some finish work, a shawl that's a shop sample that's almost done and a cotton cardigan that I may actually want to wear this summer. Hmmm, I might be onto something. I thought about it a bit more and decided to keep finishing things for as long as I could stand it with the exception that I was allowed to have one pair of socks going at all time. I really can't function without a pair of socks on needles. It's just how I am.
So, here I am finishing UFOs without having really set out to. Let's see how far I get!

Thirteenth Anniversary Sale!

2010-05-26T15:05:00.003-04:00

Just a reminder that my anniversary sale is coming up June 5-13. There will be the usual 25% off all the yarn and fiber and I'll be doing a great Malabrigo giveaway. So be sure and get there early to get all the best stuff!

So, I'm back

2010-05-25T20:37:00.003-04:00

I've been thinking about this poor neglected blog for a while and wondering how to restart it. I thought maybe it would be good to re-purpose it a little. I'd been using it as the blog for everything but I think it will be better if I narrow the focus to knitting and the shop with possibly a side of sewing. I just started a cycling blog. It is http://www.fatchickonabike.com/ if you are interested.
So that's my plan. Stay tuned!

Actual Sewing

2009-09-11T14:24:00.002-04:00

I finished cutting out the pieces of the skirt. I've got two sparkly on black, three green and three plain black. I've started zigzag stitching around the outside of the pieces and then I'll (finally) start sewing them together.
On the knitting front, I added up how many pairs of socks I'd like to knit between now and Christmas and it came to something like 14 of which I have three done. That's in addition to sweaters, mittens and various other knitted things. There may have to be a serious culling of the list or the relegation of some projects for after Christmas. Buddhist monks don't particularly care if they get anything right at Christmas so there's a couple of things I can put off right there. Meanwhile, I keep thinking of more things I want to make! Where does it ever end?!

So Much of Sewing Isn't Actually Sewing!

2009-09-04T12:11:00.015-04:00

So, I've started to machine sew, something I've said I'd never do. It started out with two things. One, a friend gave me a sewing machine and, two, one of the monks at the zen center asked me to mend a badly torn work coat of his (apparently if you knit, people assume you can sew). I was going to hand sew the monk's coat but the tears were so extensive that I decided to try out my new machine. And, what do you know? I liked it! I'd done some machine sewing before but always on my mother's sewing machine in her apartment which was awkward and inconvenient and I never really got into it. Meanwhile, eight months ago, I'd volunteered to sew a belly dancing skirt for Doria for a birthday gift. We got all the fabric and trim and there it sat. Then along comes this sewing machine! Having my own machine somehow makes all the difference. So now I'm sewing. Well, not actually sewing.

Today, I ironed. First the pattern,

then the fabric.Then I laid out the fabric,(isn't it pretty?)
laid out the pattern,found the straight of the grain (very important),pinned it up, and finally,cut it out.
Now I just have to repeat this process for the other seven sections of the skirt and then I'll be able to sit down at the sewing machine and actually sew!

Poor neglected blog

2009-08-20T14:55:00.002-04:00

I know, I have been sadly neglecting my blog of late. I'm sorry. I got sucked in by Facebook, oh, so very sucked in. I joined Twitter as I blogged about earlier but I really don't like it as much as Facebook. You can't comment on people's posts in the same way and the Twitter people seem to speak this strange language that I can't seem to fathom. Anyway, if you want to friend me on Facebook, my username is (big stretch) Lucy Lee. If you want to follow me on Twitter, I'm at (another big stretch), mindseyeyarns.
Meanwhile, I've added up all the stuff I want to knit between now and Christmas and I'm afraid, very afraid.

Stage One Complete

2009-07-05T12:10:00.004-04:00

Here's what I got done yesterday. Today, I put the first coat of paint on the crown molding and the first coat of poly on the floor. I thought I would get more painting done today but the crown molding took forever. Notice how the lights are on? The radio is too. I did the floor and forgot to turn them off. Now i can't get to them. Also, the windows are wide open. I'm going to have to see if I can tiptoe in there tonight to turn them off and close the windows. Hopefully, it will be dry enough for that. At least it is a nice breezy day, great for drying!
Tomorrow, I paint the ceiling, get the first coat on the walls and the second coat of poly on the floor. If I have time, I'll do the second coat of paint on the ceiling and walls and then I'll have Tuesday free!

DIY-my favorite

2009-07-04T18:38:00.002-04:00

I'm working on painting the front room of the shop today. Big Nephew helped me move everything out of there and now I'm spackling, scraping and priming. Tomorrow, I sand and put on the first coat of paint. Hopefully, it won't take me too long. I haven't really given myself much time to get this project done. I leave for Maine on Wednesday and I'm going to try to touch up the polyeurethane on the floor as well. And I'm going for a bike ride with Stef tomorrow afternoon. And I'm taking the dog to the vet on Monday morning. I may be living in a fantasy world thinking I can get this all done but that doesn't mean I'm not going to try!
I'll have some pictures tomorrow.

I have succumb

2009-06-19T12:59:00.001-04:00

I'm now on Twitter.

This brings me back!

2009-06-18T18:18:00.004-04:00

To my college theory class!

Your result for Which musical mode are you?...

You are Mixolydian Mode

Mixolydian Mode. The darkest of the Major Modes. Characterized by the lowered 7th scale degree.

Your general outlook on life is positive. You see the good in the world and in people, and you cling to the hope that in the end the good will prevail, whatever that means. You feel like in any given situation, the best answer is to just have a good time. You don't like people who take things too seriously. Despite your fun-loving demeanor, you have an introspective side. You have strong opinions but don't particularly like getting into arguments.

Take Which musical mode are you? at HelloQuizzy

For those who don't know, yes, I was a music major.

MS Ride

2009-06-12T13:44:00.005-04:00

Friend and knitter Claudia of Claudia's Blog is riding the MS Ride again this year. For those who don't know, my brother has MS so I like to support her. She and her husband ride a tandem which is also near and dear to my heart. Last year, her husband broke his ankle right before the ride and she was afraid she wouldn't be able to go. Fortunately, another knitter/cyclist stepped in and rode captain for her on the only all knitter team in the ride! They also raised the most money of any team so got to wear number 1 for the ride. If you can, follow the link over and give her a couple bucks. We knitters have to stick together! (Oh, and she's giving away prizes!)

BTW, next year, I plan to ride the MS Ride myself!

New Toy

2009-06-04T17:36:00.001-04:00

Somebody came down to show me his new toy!

He wanted to know if he could go snorkling in my bathtub.

First Day of the Sale

2009-05-30T18:25:00.004-04:00

And it went well! Here we have our first empty shelf.
That's where the organic, naturally colored cotton used to live. Someone bought it all for an afghan. Thank you to everyone who came by! I hope to see many more of you this week. The sale goes on until the 7th! Check the shop site for more info.

Cool Project!

2009-05-26T18:06:00.008-04:00

This is the last of the three posts I've been meaning to do so here goes!
A little while ago, my friend Melissa asked me if I could turn this sweater pattern into an afghan pattern. The pattern is either something to do with FDNY or her fiance's family pattern. Maybe she'll tell us which in the comments. Anyway, she wants to make two afghans, one for her dad and one for her soon-to-be inlaws.
It took me a little while to work out the motifs, but eventually, I think I got them.The braids were the easy but the two fancy cables took some time.

The raspberry stitch on the ends was the easiest. I just looked it up online! Then I knit this uber-swatch! I'm glad I did because I found a couple of mistakes in my graphs. Then I wrote up the pattern for Melissa. I usually like graphs for myself but Melissa prefers it written out line by line so that's how I wrote did. I have a new found respect for anyone who edits knitting patterns. Proof-reading that thing gave me a headache!

New Hampshire Sheep & Wool

2009-05-26T17:54:00.001-04:00

Another fine time was had at NHS&W this year. Susan couldn't make it this year so I promised her some beautiful pictures of fiber.

Yummy fiber!That's the guy I usually buy fleece from. I never know what I'm going to find! This year's big score was a Dorset fleece. There seemed to be a lot of Dorsets around this year which is interesting because some years you just can't find them. I like it because it makes good socks and is not supposed to felt. That fleece and several others went back to Zeilinger in the trailer. We should see them back here sometime in early August.

By far the coolest thing that happened all day was when Ty and I went to see the alpacas. Now, alpacas have never had any use for me. Whenever I go look at them, they hide at the back of the pen. Not so with Ty. She started talking and suddenly they started humming to her! Look how they are looking at her! They just loved her voice! We went over to another pen and tried it again and that alpaca started humming to her too. I think she's the alpaca whisperer.

More Sock Club Yarn

2009-05-26T17:42:00.007-04:00

Sorry I haven't posted in so long. I have a bunch of posts in my head and I may just post them all in a big cluster rather than trying to do one a day. Frankly, I'm just not always in a posting mood so I should strike while the iron is hot.

Sooo....

Yesterday I dyed May's sock club yarn. It was another flower inspired yarn, iris this time. All the bearded irises look so great this time of year! I was inspired by the ones that are more blue than purple with that little touch of yellow inside.

Once more I started out dipping the two halves of the yarn. Then adding the highlights in different colors.

Something I didn't notice was that my gloves had a hole in one finger. This, unfortunately, gave me gangrene finger when I was done. I did manage to scrub most of it off. I just look like I've got a dirty finger nail now. Hey, what are you gonna do.

I need to find somewhere new to ride!

2009-05-09T12:08:00.004-04:00

I have had it with the bike path! I almost got into a huge accident this morning involving a pack of about ten women runners who felt the need to take up the entire path and a ten-year-old boy on a bike who popped out from behind them trying to pass at the same time I was. I'm still not sure how I managed not to hit that kid!
One of my goals while riding is not to end up in a heap on the ground especially not after having crashed into someone's child. I actually felt safer after I got back onto Mass. Ave!

Gore Place Went Well

2009-05-02T13:22:00.007-04:00

Gore Place went very well this year, though it was as hot as I've ever experienced it.

As you can see, I ended up bringing just about everything I could.

Annie and Regina showed up at 6:50pm on Friday and stayed to help pack. They turned what was going to be about a two hour job into one that took about half an hour.

Then they showed up at 8am with their friend Eamon who is 6'4" and able to sling shelves full of yarn around like tinker toys.

Consequently, the booth was set up in record time and the shopping began!We even got an impromptu Morris Dance performance from some guys visiting the booth across the way.

I did actually get out of the booth more than any other year but, thanks to the heat, didn't end up going far. Our booth really was the best place to be.
Thanks to Annie, Regina and Eamon, the booth was broken down, moved back here and the shop put back together by 6pm that night! You guys are the best!!

Off to Gore Place

2009-04-24T17:38:00.002-04:00

I'm sitting here waiting for the shop to close so that I can start packing for Gore Place. I can't decide what to take and not take. I just want to bring it all!

Festival Season Begins!

2009-04-22T15:14:00.008-04:00

Saturday is the Gore Place Sheepshearing Festival. This is one of my favorites and is the only one I ever take a booth at. The festival is a great time and the thing that makes me the most happy is that you can get there on the #70 bus from Central Square, Cambridge. I love me some public transportation! If you'd like more info on the festival check here.

Anyway, because of this, I dyed 28 pounds of yarn on Monday. This is about twice as much as I dye in a day and eight pounds more than I have ever dyed in a single day by myself.

Here's some of it on the couch waiting to be wound and labelled.

Here's the rest as it is getting put on the shelf. I filled the regular shelf with it and am starting on another.I dyed 22 lbs of sock yarn and 6 lbs of the merino superwash. I had quite a good time and have cooked up several new colorways for everyone's enjoyment.
In other news, I finished the wrap sweater from Big Girl Knits and it is officially my new favorite sweater!

The strap that goes around my back is about three and a half feet long and I have to be really careful not to drag it all over the floor when the sweater is untied!This is my first wrap sweater and though the finish work is fiddly in the extreme, the result is really worth it.

Hope to see everyone at Gore Place. I've got Annie working with me for the whole day and I'm look forward to actually getting out of my booth and seeing more of the festival than the port-o-potties and the Fudge Guy.

Spring has Sprung!

2009-04-17T13:43:00.002-04:00

Okay, I'm finally over the tax thing. It took me couple of days, though.
Today, however, I had just about the best bike ride I can ever remember having! I went up the bike path to Bedford and back (about 20 miles). As I was howling down the path at 23 mph on my way back, I just kept thinking "Who's legs are these?!" Sending all my money to the IRS aside, I'm having a wonderful spring. I feel healthy and energetic for the first time in a long time and I'm really, really enjoying it!
Back to knitting content in my next post. Promise.

Ugh.

2009-04-15T14:17:00.002-04:00

I just sent aaalll my money to the IRS and am now resisting the urge to spend the rest of the day on the couch with a cold towel on my head.

Things are going slow

2009-03-27T16:09:00.003-04:00

on the blue sweater. This is partly because the finish work in this thing is a pain in the ass. I have to knit the edging then sew it on. Seriously, why didn't I just knit it begin with, pick up and shortrow? I'll never know.
That isn't the main problem, though. The big problem here is that I've gotten sucked into reading the Twilight series and I Can't. Put. It. Down.
I know. I've crossed over to the dark side. But I just can't stop! It's like eating candy without getting fat!

Doesn't Look Like Much Now

2009-03-24T13:21:00.009-04:00

but it's my next sweater. This is the other sweater I've been meaning to get done. It looks kind of purple here but is really very blue. I was originally going to make myself an Eris sweater but after I made my sister's sweater, I decided that once through that pattern was enough. This is another one from Big Girl Knits called Lift and Seperate. It is my first time making myself a wrap sweater. I'll be interested to see how I like it.

In other news, I dyed the Sock Club March yarn yesterday and had a lot of fun doing it. I've gotten more and more into painting my yarns lately. I feel like it gives me a lot more control of where the dye goes and the yarn isn't so wet afterwards. The inspiration was yellow tulips and blue sky.

I used two shades of yellow and two shades of green as well as the blue of the sky and the dark brown at the base of the tulip.It was a lot of fun and I'm very pleased with the results. I'm looking forward to knitting some of it up!

That's Better

2009-03-20T10:07:00.008-04:00

Okay, I got it to work again.

So, I get both sides and the sleeves done and run out of yarn. I'd known at an intellectual level that garter stitch eats yarn but now I can say from experience, Holy Crap, garter stitch eats yarn!

That's okay. I own a yarn shop. I'll order more. Until I get the order and my yarn's not there. Next to it on the invoice is the word DISCONTINUED! Discontinued?! Are you kidding me? Cascade never discontinues anything and now they've discontinued the one yarn that I need two more skeins of the finish my sweater?!!

Okay, okay, time for plan B. Fortunately, I had some of the Silk Garden left over so I did the collar with that. I also had set aside a skein of another color that was really, really close. I decided to just let it be close and do the edging with that. I crocheted the edging too since the applied I-cord it called for sounded like one skein wouldn't make it. Two rows of single crochet later, I put the zipper in and voila!

BTW, they used buttons but I have been putting zippers in everything lately and loving it. No gaposis (you know when the space between your buttons gaps? I hate that)I'm very pleased with the result!

Thanks, Sarah, for taking the pictures!

Knitting Things That Are Not Socks

2009-03-20T09:14:00.007-04:00

I know, alert the media!

Every once in a while, I need some new sweaters. I've actually needed at least a couple of new sweaters for a while. I tend to wear the daylights out of my sweaters. I'm not sure why. I also seem to have a small problem with dribbling food down my front when I eat. I mean, I try to be neat and, being all grown up, you'd think I'd be better at it. Apparently not. I have now officially sworn off making myself light colored, solid shaded sweaters because I can't have all that work ruined in a minute. Sad.

So, I had this sweater that I'd started last year. It is Sandy from Big Girl Knits and I just loved it. Well, I dug it out and started knitting it again since I have finally figured out that if you actually knit on somthing, it eventually gets done. I know, took me a while and I practice Zen.

Anyway, it was really fun knitting someone else's pattern and also realizing that I can knit myself something other than a boxy pullover from the sweater pattern in my head. This pattern is great fun! You start out with four panels made with Noro. I used Silk Garden. You sew two of them together for the back and leave the other two seperate for the front.

You then edge them with the main color for which I used Cascade Pastaza, color 18, now discontinued (more on that later).

After the edging is done, you attach the back and one of the fronts into a big circle

and shortrow your way up the side.The remaining hole then turns into the sleeve. Genius!

And that's going have to be all for now because my computer has decided that I can't edit the rest of my pictures. I'll restart my computer and try again.

Wanda is Confused

2009-03-13T09:13:00.006-04:00

She knows something's up. What she'll figure out shortly is that she is spending the weekend with Auntie Kimberly and Uncle Bob.
Meanwhile, I'll be taking Big Nephew up to Maine for the weekend to meet all of his second cousins. A couple of those cousins are under 5 and will be getting bunny hats from me (hey, any excuse to make a bunny hat is a good one!). Doria and Miren are kindly modelling them for you here. How cute are they?!!
Oh, and here are the backs of the hats. Bunny butts!
I am definitely going to have to make more of these!

About time I posted

2009-03-10T18:22:00.003-04:00

Thanks to a poke from Kneyda on Ravelry, I'm finally posting to the blog.As promised, here are the new spring yarns. From left to right, we have Katia Bombay which is a sport weight, mercerized, self-stiping cotton. I got it to replace the discontinued Katia Jamaica which turned into Big Niece's Christmas dress. The next one is Bamboo Silk from Ella Rae. It is really soft and, according to Annie, has a great hand. (I'm making that Annie knit all the samples.) The last one is Sugar Rush. It is made with sugar cane! How fun is that?! It is very slippery and drapy but super shiny.
I'm really happy with these yarns. I already need to order more of the Bombay. The colors are gorgeous and I've set some aside to make a baby dress for a friend. Can't wait to try it!

Busy and Boring

2009-02-11T12:08:00.002-04:00

Well, I'm really falling down on my New Year's resolution to blog more. The problem seems to be that I'm super busy but it is all boring stuff. The shop is busy (nice but boring), everyone's healthy (nice but also boring), I'm making a lot of headway on the bookkeeping (seriously boring) and I'm knitting a lot of socks (not a newsflash). The most exciting thing this week is that I've gotten out for a bike ride twice. Maybe spring is coming after all.
I'll try to do better. You guys want to hear about the spring yarns? I'll try to post those soon.

Went to the Dentist Today

2009-01-20T16:35:00.002-04:00

This is big news. I haven't been to the dentist in a very, very long time. However, Annie inspired me to make it a New Year's resolution so in I went. I had an exam today and the word is that my teeth desperately need a cleaning (this is not news to me) and other than that, I have no new cavities (just one old one and the filling is still good, phew!). This is the one of the reasons I don't go to the dentist that much. I can get away with it.

Fortunately....

2009-01-16T09:26:00.003-04:00

Miss Wanda knows how to deal with this kind of weather.

Unfortunately, my little nephew is sick home from school today.
Fortunately, that means that I didn't have to get up at the crack of dawn on the coldest morning of the year and take him to the bus stop! It is -3 out there! My sympathies go out to anyone who has to be out in this. Stay warm!

Mmmm, Alpaca

2009-01-08T13:20:00.001-04:00

A whole box of alpaca!
I love alpaca *sigh*

Riding the Rollers

2009-01-07T10:54:00.003-04:00

I'm really enjoying riding my bike on the trainer but I think I may have to stay in the doorway for quite a while yet. I tried riding in the middle of the room and completely fell off my bike about three times. I decided not to push my luck and moved back to the doorway. I could just imagine the emergency room conversation if I'd really hurt myself:

ER Nurse: Ma'am, how did you get injured?
Me: I crashed my bike.
Nurse: Where?
Me: Um, in the house.
Nurse: What were you doing?
Me: Trying to watch TV.
Nurse: Hmm.

Post Holiday Blahs or What Am I Going To Do About The Rest Of The Winter

2009-01-05T20:49:00.003-04:00

Anyone else feeling that way?
The shop is looking better. We got a big box of yarn today and another of needles so the shelves are looking much less pillaged than over the weekend. Even though the shop was much busier this fall, I'm not sure if that will hold over to the new year, so I'm ordering more yarn to fill the shelves but trying to do it moderately so that I can pay for it all. It is always a balancing act. Can't sell it if it's not here but also can send some to the power company to cover the gas bill. Ah, the wonder of retail. No wonder I'm not bored with it after all these years.

Goodbye Earthlink!

2009-01-02T20:17:00.002-04:00

Don't let the door hit you on the way out.
I've finally gotten rid of Earthlink and am using Comcast. I was very, very unimpressed with how Earthlink dealt with the death of my modem last fall and had been planning to ditch them since. Instead of reimbursing me for the two weeks I was without service (while they dithered around and finally figured out my modem had kicked it) they sent me a Starbucks gift certificate! I don't even drink coffee!
Anyway, I'm done with them and they only made me stay on hold for 45 minutes while they did it. Ugh!

Happy New Year!

2008-12-31T16:20:00.010-04:00

I hope everyone has a great New Year! This one has been pretty busy, especially this last month! People definitely seem to like the fact that we're open seven days a week.

I got a lot of Christmas projects done and I thought I'd show you the highlights.

These are socks for my cousin Henry. I wasn't really thrilled with the red until I got the heel done and then I found myself quite charmed by them!
These are my cousin Katherine's socks. They are made from Socks That Rock silk and wool. They are handwash only (who makes a sock yarn handwash only??!!) and Katherine was the one I could trust not to throw them in the machine! I made a cotton dress for Big Niece, which she put on immediately after opening it, and a zipper hoodie for Little Niece. We didn't get a picture of Little Niece in her sweater because when we tried it on her, all she did was cry. I hope she actually likes it sooner or later. My sister promised to take a picture of her in it if she isn't screaming. Both girls picked out their own yarn this year! My brother-in-law ask for door snakes so I made actual snakes. The tongues are a little big and they look like they are giving the world a raspberry. Hey, well, sometimes the world could use a great big raspberry so it's nice to know they are on the job.My sister Margaret (she's gonna kill me for posting this picture. Hi, Margaret!) got a bag of yarn with a pattern which will, hopefully, be another sweater for her sometime before next fall.

I got some very nice presents this year! My current favorite is a roller style trainer for my bicycle. Usually, you clip your rear wheel to a trainer and it is like riding a very uncomfortable stationary bike. This kind, your bike isn't attached at all and you ride it like you are riding on a road (a very narrow road). It is fun but almost like learning to ride a bike all over again. Fortunately, they recommended riding in a doorway until you get used to it because you can loose your balance and fall right over. I've been doing a little every day for three days now and I think I'm getting the hang of it. I still ping pong back and forth between the sides of the door frame but not anywhere near as much as I did a couple days ago. My goal is to be able to ride it in the middle of the bedroom. I can't see the TV from the doorway!

So that's the latest. My New Year's resolution is to blog more regularly. We'll see how that goes.

Etsy Shop Updated

2008-12-04T18:05:00.002-04:00

Finally! Thanks to Doria taking care of customers and yelling the numbers of different colorways to me from the other room, I managed to get my Etsy site updated. Phew!

Chores

2008-11-30T12:13:00.002-04:00

Today I'm cleaning my bedroom. I have been ignoring it for a looong time and it has gotten really, really out of hand. Those who know me, know I am a pile maker. There has been a pile of stuff in the middle of my bedroom that has been getting bigger and more unruly and today it is going down! I have a very small living space since I share a one bedroom apartment with the shop but I don't think having a bigger place would help. I'd just fill it up with even more stuff. This way, things get out of hand fairly quickly and force me to deal with them.
So why am I sitting here blogging? Procrastination, of course.
So, now no more procrastinating. I'm going in!

The Verdict is In!

2008-11-22T16:14:00.002-04:00

My sister finally has her sweater! I didn't get to give it to her in person. I sent it home with her husband when he came to pick up the girls yesterday.
The verdict is good! It fits, she loves it and thinks it will be an excellent addition to her wardrobe. This is good news because my sister is a bit particular about her clothes and I wanted to make sure I made her something that she'd get some use out of. Also, she promised to wear it to Thanksgiving so I can take pictures.
That success under my belt, I've got the next sweater all lined up!

Finished Object

2008-11-19T18:22:00.006-04:00

I just finished my sister's Eris sweater!

It was her Christmas present for last year. Yeah.

It's my first time sewing a zipper into, well, anything.

Hope I did it right.

(I know the bottom looks a little crooked but it really isn't.)

I'll try to get a picture of her in it when I give it to her.

Now I feel the overwhelming urge to start another sweater!!

Back Track 2-Halloween

2008-11-18T11:56:00.007-04:00

Warning: Extreme Cuteness!

In my continuing attempt to get caught up, I give you The Fairy Princesses! (a.k.a. my nieces).My older niece has always been very photogenic, a rare thing in my family. You say "Smile!" and she looks at the camera and smiles.

My younger niece, not so much.

Here's Little Nephew dressed up as Death. He was pretty scary! You'd never know he was wearing an old Van Halen t-shirt of mine inside out as part of his costume. It was apparently the only black t-shirt in the house.

They brought the dog, Milo, along dressed as a hardened criminal. I think my brother went as his parole officer.And, finally, we had some grown up trick or treaters. Here are Annie and Regina in their pirate garb. They were headed over to a party and stopped in to say hi.

Back Track

2008-11-06T13:56:00.010-04:00

There's a whole bunch of stuff I never blogged about this fall and I wanted to do a little catching up.

First, I went on two great bike rides with friends using the tandem.

The first was the Hub on Wheels. My friend Stefanie rode stoker for that one. Years ago, Stef introduced me to the saying "Guess what? Chicken butt!" So for last Hannuka, I got her and her whole family t-shirts with that on it. For the ride, I borrowed back Stefanie's husband's shirt and we rode as Team Chicken Butt. Here you see us modelling our shirts! We had a great ride. It was well organized and had a well marked route and I'll definitely participate another year.

The next ride was the Cambridge Bow Tie Ride. I rode this one with my friend Phoebe.

It's called the Bow Tie Ride because Cambridge is vaguely bow tie shaped. The ride was a tour of Cambridge and we saw lots of places in town I'd never been. The drawback was that a lot of the route was on the sidewalk and there were a lot of bottlenecks that were kind of hard to manage on the tandem. I did enjoy seeing everyone with their bow ties, though!

I'll probably ride it again. I may ride it on my regular bike but I probably won't be able to resist riding the tandem again. It was so much fun with someone else. We chat, we laugh. Phoebe was even talking about getting cable installed in the back of the bike so she can watch tv while we ride!

The other event that I haven't managed to blog about until now is the Yarn Harlot's visit. As usually, she was funny and gracious and she even held my socks!

It is always great to see her!

I Got One Thing to Say

2008-11-05T13:30:00.002-04:00

About the election

Hoorayhoorayhoorayhoorayhoorayhoorayhoorayhooray
hoorayhoorayhoorayhoorayhoorayhooray!!!

Don't Forget to

2008-11-04T12:02:00.002-04:00

VOTE

The lines may be long so bring your knitting!

If you already voted, GOOD GOING!

Now all we have to do is bite our nails until we find out who's won.

Rhinebeck Pictures

2008-10-22T17:04:00.011-04:00

I really enjoyed Rhinebeck. We had a great bus ride and the scenery was just beautiful. That's the Hudson River.
The fairgrounds is large but you don't feel like you walk forever to get from here to there.
The foliage was gorgeous and I saw lots of people I know. Ken from Dorchester Farms is the only one I managed to take a picture of. If you are interested in anyting Angora, see Ken!
And, of course, what's a sheep and wool festival without sheep. This guy looooved getting his head scratched!

As promised, here is a picture of my new spindle. I love it so much!

Today's project is taking in the legs of some cold weather cycling pants. They started out as ski pants with really flared legs. Now they are bike pants! We'll see if I actually go biking tomorrow. As much as I love to bike, I am a notorious wimp when it comes to the cold.

Rhinebeck was Great!

2008-10-21T15:44:00.002-04:00

I had a great time at Rhinebeck. The bus there and back was great knitting time. I finished two, count them, two Christmas presents!
One nice thing about going to a fiber festival in fall is that I actually have some money to spend! In May, when things are slow, it is usually all I can to do scrape together enough cash to buy fleece for the shop and get it processed. To celebrate, I treated myself to a Golding spindle. Now usually, I'm not a spindle person but who doesn't like a Golding!? I got a gorgeous 2" spindle which I will post some pictures of. I don't have time for pictures now since I'm playing hookie from the bookkeeping. Then, of course, I needed something to spin so I got 2 oz. of white cashmere. This is going to be for a secret project and is getting spun very, very thin. I don't know that I've ever had this much fun with a drop spindle!
I also got some Socks That Rock silk and merino sock yarn and a nostepinde to wind yarn with. All so much fun!
Rhinebeck itself was great. I ran into lots of people I know. There were tons of vendors, tons. And the food was great! Sara and I indulged in some maple sugar cotton candy that was to die for! It is a good thing we split one because that was a lot of sugar, but, oh so yummy!
All in all, it was a great day. Thank you Kimberly for organizing the bus! I can't wait to go back next year!!

Headed to Rhinebeck!

2008-10-19T05:37:00.000-04:00

I'm very excited! I've never been!

Technical Difficulties

2008-10-06T13:19:00.002-04:00

I was off line for almost a week thanks to a faulty modem and lots of dithering around by Earthlink. I'm actually only online now because I got a wireless card for my computer and I'm using my mother's wireless upstairs. I think I'm probably going to ditch Earthlink at this point. They gave me such a run around.
One way or another, regular blogging will resume (as regular as my blogging ever is) shortly. I have not one but two fun bike rides to tell you about. I'm having so much fun with the new tandem! It shouldn't be legal!

The Amazing Shrinking Woman

2008-09-19T11:13:00.002-04:00

My sister Elizabeth started out about two years ago at around the same weight I am now. She just emailed me this morning that she has lost a full 100 pounds!! Go Lizzie!!!!!
In other news, my friend Melissa called last night and asked me to be her Maid of Honor. I am so honored that I'm almost speechless.

Transition Clothes

2008-09-18T11:43:00.003-04:00

It's that funny time of year where I'm wearing parts of both my summer and winter wardrobes. From summer, I'm wearing a short sleeved shirt and linen pants. From winter, I've got wool socks, shoes (as opposed to flipflops) and a wool sweater.
I'm resisting taking the rest of my winter clothes out since there's not enough room for both wardrobes in my bureau. I may break down and get out a long sleeved shirt if it gets any chillier, though.

My Pockets are Full of Tissues

2008-09-17T17:21:00.002-04:00

And that is never a good sign.
I've got that stupid fall cold that's going around. I was going to go for a nice long bike ride tomorrow morning but I thought better of it. Sometimes I do have some sense.

Tomato Thief

2008-09-12T12:07:00.006-04:00

All this summer, I've been thinking that it just wasn't a good tomato year because of how wet and rainy it was. And to a certain extent, it has been. Little did I know, however, that someone has been eating my tomatos.She looks so innocent, doesn't she? She is so busted!
And being another cool day, I get to wear the third pair of socks I made this summer. I just finished these a few days ago!
Tonight is the first meeting of the Common Cod Fiber Guild! We are having Franklin Habit speak and I'm so excited! Get more details here.

Another Chilly Day

2008-09-11T10:48:00.002-04:00

Another new pair of socks!

These were finished in July and are made from the Noro Kureyon sock yarn. I love them now and I'll love them more when they are washed. They get all fluffy and soft!

Where did everybody go?

2008-09-10T15:59:00.006-04:00

The shop has been incredibly slow this week. Things were riproaring along until about Monday then it turned into Deadly Deadola of Deadsville in here.
One consolation:
It is finally cool enough to wear wool socks. These are out of Arucania Ranco and were finished so late in the spring that I didn't get to wear them.
My other consolation, I'm getting a lot of work done on my bookkeeping...whoopee.

Annie's in the Shop!

2008-09-08T18:58:00.003-04:00

It is Annie's second day in the shop and she's great!

Here she is giving the yarn some lovin'.

I swear, there is an elf yarn party in here every night and I am terrible at keeping up with the mess they make. Let's face it folks, I'm terrible at keeping up with any mess. It's a good thing I live alone.

Fortunately, we've got Annie on the job! Come see her on Sundays and Mondays!

Canoeing with the Buddhists

2008-09-07T19:07:00.002-04:00

My nephews and I went canoeing with a bunch of people from the Zen Center. We paddled all day. I had a great time! The kids had a great time. The weather was perfect. The company was the best.
Now, I have to collapse. So. Tired.

Ah, back to school

2008-09-05T09:14:00.003-04:00

Little Nephew is back to school this week and so we are walking together again every morning. I've really missed our conversations. This is one we had this morning:

LN: Auntie Lucy, I know what DNA is now.
ME: What is it?
LN: It means there's a little part of you in me. Your weirdness.
ME: Oh.

The kid thinks I'm the weirdest person he's ever met, which is fine. Gotta keep 'em guessing.

First Tuesday in the Shop!

2008-09-02T14:28:00.004-04:00

This is the first Tuesday I've worked in over 11 years and it is a little strange. I keep thinking that it's Wednesday and the knitting group is coming tonight. But, no, I'm only working until 7pm. So strange!
Anyway, the trip to the MFA yesterday was great! For some strange reason, I love looking at jewelry but I have no interest in wearing it. I'm usually lucky if I can stand wearing my watch! The Art Nouveau jewelry was really, really gorgeous. Patience and I were both amazed that people actually wore this stuff. It's so ornate and expensive and BIG. I think that, by far, our favorite piece was a tiara that was essentially diamond encrusted antennae. You wore them with the tiara part hidden in your hair with just the antennae showing! Nifty!
Today's big adventure, other than opening the shop, was taking the tandem on it's maiden voyage. I met Stefanie up at Arlington Center and we rode together almost all the way to the Lexington line. It is real different riding with someone else. First of all, you have to coordinate coasting and stopping because everyone's pedals are going around at the same time. We worked it out, though, and had a great ride! I can't wait to take it out again!

Going to the MFA

2008-09-01T09:29:00.003-04:00

Patience and I are headed to the Museum of Fine Arts for the day. We'll be checking out the art nouveau jewelry exhibit, having some lunch and then looking through the rest of the museum. It makes me feel so cultured and grown-up. I'm wearing my pearls and everything!

The Tandem Now Fits

2008-08-30T10:40:00.002-04:00

The tandem has survived surgery and now fits me! I have plans to take it on it's maiden voyage with Stefanie on Tuesday! We will try to keep wobbling, cussing and barked shins to a minimum.
Anybody else want a ride??

Busy Week!

2008-08-29T12:07:00.004-04:00

I've been having a busy and interesting week. On Monday, I got a tandem bike! I had been thinking of getting one for a while. I have a bunch of friends that either don't know how to ride a bike or, for one reason or another, are not super confident riders, especially on the street. Also, it is much more fun to ride a tandem than two bikes because it's much easier to chat. Now, this tandem is great but with one small problem. The front seat didn't go down far enough for me to ride it. The handlebars for the stoker (person in the back) are attached to the stem of the captain's (person in the front) seat post so it won't go very far down. I was able to ride the bike when we switched the captain's and stoker's seats. That was how I was able to figure out that the bike did actually fit me. Fortunately, the seat post tube is about 7" high and can be shortened about 3". It is up at Quadcycles having that done by the owner right now. Nobody else would touch it. You want to see a bunch of bike repair guys twitch? Ask them to cut part of your bike frame off! Hopefully, I will be able to pick it up tomorrow. I can't wait to go for a ride!
Tuesday, I took Darien to the beach. Can I just say WHAT HAPPENED TO AUGUST??!? I had thought I would have taken him to the beach a lot this summer but it just never happened. I think it is because we has so much bad weather. Anyway, I realized over the weekend that Tuesday was literally, my last chance to take him to the beach this summer! Fortunately, that weather was gorgeous. Unfortunately, I was a little cavalier about the sunscreen and got a hell of a burn on my shins and feet. Fortunately, it is almost all healed up and I even got a bit of a tan.
The rest of the week has been work, work, work. This was the last week that I have Tuesday off. Next week, we start the new regular winter hours with me working Tues-Sat and Annie doing Sunday and Monday. Weird.

Zen and Creepy Crawlies, Part 2

2008-08-24T17:48:00.002-04:00

I just got back from a one day retreat at the Open Meadow Zen Center in Lexington. It is a beautiful place to sit and I really like it there except for one small thing. Whenever I go there, all this bug karma rises up! The last time I was there I came back from the long walk out in the Conservation Lands (aka the Pestilent Swamp) with not one but three wood ticks on me. Read here for the creep crawly details.
This time, I thought, I just won't go on the long walk and I'll be fine. Tells you how much good the thinking does ya'. As I was walking along during the first walking meditation (we alternate sitting and walking), I heard the click of beads as something brushed my head. I look around and figured my friend Maria, who was walking behind me, had brushed a mosquito away. I didn't think much more about it until we came around the room again and there's Maria with a couple of paper towels trying to catch a coin sized SPIDER! Apparently, it had been decending from the ceiling and was just about to land on MY HEAD when she brushed it away (the beads I heard was the mala in her hand). Later, she said, all she could think of was Miss Muffet as the thing came dangling down. Thank goodness she saw it!
I still plan to do other retreats at OMZ. We'll see what other creepy crawlies come my way. I shudder to think!

Something Funny

2008-08-22T09:49:00.006-04:00

I recently realized something pretty funny. My dog is not a morning person! For years, I've been used to dogs that wake me up at the crack of dawn. Since I've had Wanda, that just isn't happening. What's more, I have to wake her up, usually by pulling the covers off her which she's burrowed under in the night. She yawns and stretches and eventually ambles her way to the door. When she comes back in, she makes a beeline for the bed and spends the rest of the morning as you see.
I'll remind you what she's like later in the day:

This is how she prefers to sleep anytime the temperature is below 75 degrees. See just the nose and paws sticking out?

I tell you, this dog leads a tortured life.

Congratulations!

2008-08-21T12:35:00.003-04:00

Two of my favorite people just got engaged!!

Balissa and her beloved Andy

Hurry up and set a date you guys. I want to go to a wedding!

Mind's Eye Yarns, 2.0

2008-08-20T12:27:00.018-04:00

Sorry for not posting for so long but this time I have an excuse. I have been trying to change over from using paper bookkeeping to computer bookkeeping. It is a noble endeavor but all that data entry is sucking the life out of me.

Changing to computerized bookkeeping is only the start. This seems to be the year that I'm going to be upgrading the shop in a lot of ways. My next project is adding some more shelves. This is the area of the shop right by the counter. It has looked like this since I opened.

Not very tidy and not the best use of space. So, I went out and got these. These are two seven foot high by two foot wide shelving units.

Now, one can't just get shelves this tall and narrow without securing them to the wall. So, I got all DIY with it! Any excuse to use my electric drill is a good one!

First, I attached some strapping to the wall.

Then I realized that it might have been a good idea to measure how high it was.

Fortunately, lowering it only took a couple of minutes.

I didn't want to block off one of the only accessable outlets in the room so I got myself a power strip. It actually took me two tries to get one with a flat plug. The first one had a sticky-outy plug and that wouldn't do at all.

It was pretty quick work to attach the shelves to the strapping. Then I mounted the power strip to the side of the shelves. I was smart enough to measure it this time so that I only had to screw things in once. She can be taught!All that was left was to take the mountain of yarn in the middle of the floor

and put it

all

away.Wouldn't you know, as soon as I get ahead of that batch, more shows up!By, hey, I'm not mad.

That done, the next big upgrade is coming after Labor Day. I've hired the lovely and talented Annie, knitter, spinner and veteran of many stints of covering the shop. That's right folks, after eleven years in business, I'm hiring my first employee! With Annie's help, the shop will be open seven days a week starting after Labor Day!

More upgrades are coming but may take longer. I'll keep you posted!

Check it out!

2008-07-24T16:23:00.002-04:00

The Marvelous Emily, long time customer and friend, is involved in a really creative fund raiser for the Boston Area Rape Crisis Center. Get the details here!
Go Emily!
P.S. I just bid on your cowl! So beautiful!!

The People At Mu Sang Sa

2008-07-22T16:24:00.012-04:00

There were so many great people at Mu Sang Sa. I feel such a connection with the people that I sit retreat with. As with Hwa Gye Sa, there was someone from the Cambridge Zen Center sitting at Mu Sang Sa.

This is Barbara, the director of CZC. She sat the whole three months!

These two where my kitchen buddies. We got to do the breakfast dishes every morning and then cut up vegetables for lunch and dinner. That is Inn on the right. She's from Singapore. Singapore was very well represented at MSS. I believe that is Jae Un on the left, though I can't find my little book with everyone's name in it. She's from Korea and would help translate in the kitchen. It was a truly international scene in there. The Kitchen Master was Chinese, one of the other helpers was Hungarian and the Kitchen Lady, also known as Bosal Nim (translation: boddhisatva person) was Korean. Not everyone spoke Korean or English but enough people spoke both that someone would always translate.

While we were taking this picture, Barbara popped out of her window to take a picture of us.

Isn't she cute?Notice the laundry hanging up? Laundry was a huge obsession with everyone. We only had access to the washing machines once a week and when things took up to four days to dry, there was a lot of strategic handwashing of clothes.

This Sun Jae. She's a kindergarten teacher in Seoul. She sat next to me at formal meals and helped me remember which bowl was which.Here we have another Chee Song. He was one of a number of people who, when greeted in Korean, responded in perfect English with "Yeeeahh, I'm Chinese." I actually ran into him at Hwa Gye Sa and we both came down to MSS on the same day.

Being a monastery, there were, of course, lots of monks and nuns. In Korea, monks and nuns are both refered to as Sunims. Sunim is a contraction of the words Sungha (congregation) and Nim (person). They are some of the sweetest, kindest people you ever want to meet. This is Myung Hwa Sunim. She is from Poland orginally.I can't remember the names of these Sunims but the one on the right was the Financial Director of the monastery and the one on the left was the Work Master.This is Kwan Haeng Sunim. He is from Cambridge originally! He was the House Master and what a thankless job that was. I know those of us in my room pestered him plenty!This is Myung Haeng Sunim. He was the Head Monk for the retreat. Speaking of thankless jobs, imagine taking care of 40+ people that are doing something that is both emotionally and physically demanding and doing it with a smile on your face. I hope that I can go to MSS again sometime and sit longer. I was glad to go when I did, though. They were just getting into the hottest part of the summer and I was ready find some place with air conditioning. I went back to HGS for the night then to the airport the next day. My flight to San Francisco was uneventful but I had an eleven hour layover there. Fortunately, Lea and her husband carried me off for a few hours for a snooze at their house.

It was a good thing I got that rest. I took the red-eye to Chicago then got stuck there for five hours. I also got seperated from my bag in the cross country flight. It was so full of dirty laundry that I was pretty sure it would crawl home by itself. Fortunately, when I got to Boston, there it was. I treated myself to a taxi home and promptly collapsed!

Tour de France

2008-07-20T12:36:00.002-04:00

I've been into (obsessed with) the Tour de France lately and thought this would be a fun thing to have on the blog.

Korea Trip-Mu Sang Sa

2008-07-19T12:33:00.024-04:00

Here are the pictures from my visit to Mu Sang Sa temple, only a year after I was actually there. The trip to Mu Sang Sa was the first time I'd really been out of Seoul. I got to ride on one of So. Korea's high speed trains and it was seriously fast! It made a two hour trip in one hour! I love the Korean countryside. It is very lush and mountainous. People grow food in every square foot of free space and take a lot of pride in good land management.

The temple itself is half way up the side of a mountain. This is the view from the parking lot.

Here is my room. I really enjoyed the accomodations. I shared this room with three other women but the best part was that our room had it's own bathroom! No more climbing up and down four flights of stairs in the night! Here are my roommates. From the left, they are Eu Young who lives in the US, Grace from Seoul and Swannie from Hong Kong.The buildings all have these wonderful walkways all around the second floor. This was such a great shady place to hang out and relax.

This is the view from our floor over to the Meditation Hall. In Korea, they have seperate rooms and sometime entire seperate buildings for a lot of the things we all do in one room here. This hall is only used for meditation, no chanting, no ceremonies.

This is my seat in the Meditation Hall. I spent most of my time right here looking out that window you can just see at the top of the picture.One day, I looked out and there sat this bird in the tree. He stayed there all day and I can only assume he is some kind of owl. One way or another, we sat together all one day. It was kind of cool.For chanting and ceremonies, we have the Buddha Hall. We walked up the hill to this building every morning and evening for chanting.

Here is another view from the top of the hill. It is a little bit hard to tell but this building is very ornately carved. My favorite carvings of all were the dragons looking out the front of the building. Why were they my favorite? Because we had dragon heads looking out of the front of the building and dragon butts on the inside!

This whole building has since been painting. I'll have to dig up the link to the pictures. The place looks completely different.

Some other sights around Mu Sang Sa were this baby Buddha peeking out of a stone lantern,

the beautiful hydrangeas,everyone's pal, the big toad under the hydrangea,and, lastly, everyone's shoes by the door. This is an image I will aways associate with my trip to Korea. My shoes are the white sneakers just to the left of center.I have more to post about Mu Sang Sa but I've got to do it tomorrow. My sales slips are not going to enter themselves into the computer and my second quarter sales tax is due on Monday.

Yarn Harlot's Top

2008-07-18T19:19:00.007-04:00

That top that the Yarn Harlot just posted about is Ashland Bay Merino Top in colorway Hollyberry. She got it when she was here a couple of years ago. Stephanie-that came out really nice!
I'll be ordering more early next week which means it will be here about a week after that, if it's in stock at AB. I'll keep you posted.
Here are some pictures of Stephanie actually shopping for the top she just spun.

These are from when she was here promoting either her second or third book (getting old, can't remember). What fun it was to meet her in person!

You think she's funny on her blog. In person, holy crap!

I'm Back

2008-07-16T15:44:00.002-04:00

You know you have the right job when you can't wait to get back to work after your vacation! I actually was ready a few days ago. It may have something to do with the fact that I've done so much every day that I was looking forward to the shop opening just so I could sit down. One way or another, I'm glad to be back talking to my customers about knitting and actually doing some knitting myself!
I'll be posting later this week about my trip up to Maine. I saw all kinds of cousins as well as my dear friend Cordie. Had a great time!
Also, since it is a year later I should probably finish posting my Korea pictures. I never finished doing that for some reason. That situation will be attended to shortly.
Not today, though, shop's been wicked busy.

Beet Thing

2008-07-04T13:46:00.003-04:00

Several people have asked for the recipe for Beet Thing so here goes!

Ingredients
One or two bunches of beets, sliced (bonus if they've got the greens attached). If you use small beets, you don't even have to peel them. Just scrub them and cut them up. Big beets need to be peeled.
One large sweet onion, chopped
2-3 T olive oil
1 t cumin seed
Salt and pepper to taste
Optional- 3-4 medium carrots, peeled and sliced
Seriously, folks, I never measure anything so all these amounts are estimates at best.

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet. The skillet needs to have a lid.
Add the cumin seed and toast until brown. This does not take long, a minute at most.
Add the chopped onion and sautee until clear and just starting to brown.
Add the beets (and carrots if you have them). Cover and turn down the heat a bit. Cook them until the beets are tender. This may take 20 minutes or longer depending on how big your beets are. If they are starting to brown too much, add a half cup of water every so often until they are done.
If you have the beet greens, chop the stems and the greens seperately. Be sure to wash the beet greens thoroughly. They can be awful sandy little bastards.
When the beets are almost tender, add the stems, wait 5 minutes and add the greens. Cook just until the greens are wilted. Swiss chard works well if you don't have beet greens.
Add salt and pepper to taste.

So, there you have it. Let me know if you have any questions. If you try the recipe, I'd love to hear how it comes out!

Community

2008-07-02T16:23:00.004-04:00

I got the second coat of polyurethane on the floor. It only took me about an hour and was pretty painless. I'm only one more coat away from glory!
My only other plan for today was to go to the farmer's market with Doria. It is in Davis Square, about a mile from here. This farmer's market goes on every Wednesday, 12-6 throughout the growing months and in eleven years of living here, I've never made down there. So, today was my day! The only hitch was a huge squall that blew through here right after noon. This included thunder, lightning, gale force winds and hail(!!!). We've been having some crazy weather lately but this was the craziest so far. Fortunately, the rain and wind let up after about 20 minutes and we headed over there. I was wondering if there was even going to be anything left after all that wind. Surprisingly, there was! Only one booth had packed up and left. All the others were still there, a little damp and windblow but definitely open for business. I asked one vendor how they kept all the tents from blowing away. She told me that all the customers at the booths grabbed the tent poles and just hung on during the entire storm. The community saved everyone's tents and produce by working together and not letting go. I'm very moved by this. Gives you hope for the world.

And Tomorrow, Coat Number Two

2008-07-01T19:00:00.005-04:00

Thanks for all the nice comments about the floor. If only it took just one coat. I'm girding myself to sand and put on the second coat tomorrow. Wouldn't you know, all the tired from everything I did the last three days caught up with me today. I'm planning to go to bed early and get up late!
BTW, the "Dry" setting on my air conditioner works really well! I don't think it would have dried this fast with the humidity the way it is. And it doesn't seem to be cooling the room so, hopefully, my electric bill won't be through the roof.

Polyurethane or Now My House Stinks

2008-06-30T16:32:00.009-04:00

Today, we got started on the shop floor. First, we got everything out of the front room. Well, almost everything. I left the display case in there. It is heavier than it has any business being and I refuse to move it. I also left the big tall set of cubes in there. I just covered it with a sheet to protect the yarn from the dust.

Here's everything else in the livingroom. I'm very pleased that I can still get to the computer and my chair. The big challenge is not to stub my toe on any of this stuff when I'm stumbling to the bathroom at 2am.

Here's the first coat on the floor. I love how shiny and beautiful my old floor can get. The only drawback is the stench. I'm trying an experiment. I've got the windows closed in the shop (except for one I left cracked) and I'm running the air conditioner on "Dry". I think this means that it doesn't cool the room as much as dehumidify it. I'm worried if I just open all the windows, it will never get dry. We'll see how it works.

Don't worry. I've got the shop closed off and a lot of windows open in the rest of the house. Still stinks, though.

In The Garden

2008-06-29T16:29:00.005-04:00

Another wonderful thing about being on vacation is having the time to garden and the time to take pictures and the time to blog about it!

Here is my new side garden.

Remember what it used to look like?

Now that I've gotten this all planted and weeded, I have to start tackling other parts of the yard. I didn't garden at all last summer because I was away so much and the yard really, really suffered. I'm going to be making up for it this summer.

Gardening will be on hold tomorrow, though. It is time for some new finish on the shop floor and I'm going to be moving furniture and getting that underway with the help of the lovely Doria.