Changes

Changes

I was supposed to go to lunch with a close friend today. But that got postponed. So now I can do laundry today instead of next Thursday. This is a good change, in a way. Thursday begins my forced vacation. Skein will be closing for a week or so, from June 9 through June 20. Ann Mary is going to TNNA in Columbus, Ohio. And then she'll take a few days off. So Skein closes and I don't get to go in to teach or visit with my usual cronies. It will be nice to have some days away but I'll miss the extra pocket money.

I wrote a few days ago, maybe a couple of weeks, about a problem I was having with some 2nd Time Cotton (Knit One, Crochet Too). Every time I started a new skein the color looked different even though all the skeins are from the same dye lot. It happened again last week. I showed it to Ann Mary, who was mystified as usual. So I decided to rip the whole thing and find a different pattern that would disguise or at least blur the difference. After I had ripped everything Ann Mary decided to call the company to see it they'd had any similar complaints. They hadn't, or didn't admit to it. So now, I'm going to have to reknit what I've already ripped, or at least a large swatch, to demonstrate the differences and then Ann Mary will send everything back to the manufacturer so they can evaluate the problem. I'll try to get this done while I'm on vacation. But I'm returning everything for store credit. I'm very disappointed in this yarn. I'd like to support the recycled cotton idea but not if this is what I get.

One of my favorite new cotton yarn is Jamaica from Katia. I love the vibrant colorways and the hand is really nice. I do think their recommended gauge is a little loose, especially for cotton. When we first got the yarn it sold like crazy. I didn't get around to getting any before we were almost sold out. When I finally decided which project and which colorway I wanted to use there wasn't enough left. So Ann Mary ordered some more. What a change! The original color was intense and fairly glowed. This new stuff looks like they ran out of dye before they got to it. But I brought it home, planning to show it to Lisa when she came over this weekend. But first I showed her the pattern. She wasn't all that excited about it. So I'm taking the yarn back and will get some of the Arc en Ciel, also from Katia, to make a different pattern from the same book. I think we have enough of the color we decided on in stock. I'll know tomorrow when I go in.

(Right about here is where I lost the second half of my original post so the rest of this is a reconstruction of what I think I wrote. I tried Save as Draft and when I went to edit the second part was gone.)

I've read through Loop-d-loop, the new book from Teva Durham. I think I was hoping for some kind of life changing experience, like when I first read Kaffe Fassett's Glorious Knits. Of course, I was a lot younger then and a lot less jaded. I've only read a few of the pattern instructions so far. And I think they're fascinating. I'm not sure if this is really a pattern book, in the conventional sense. It's more of a "let's look at this in another way" kind of thing. I do plan to make the "woven" scarf, even if I don't make anything else.

I have been knitting but not on anything new. The Habu handbag is about halfway done. It's slow going though. The paper yarn doesn't wrap the needle very well so I have to keep an eye on every stitch to make sure it doesn't get left behind. The customers who've seen the progress seem to like it but I don't see any of the kits going out the door.

While Lisa was here last night she helped me rip and separate the two yarns I used in last week's too tight bind off scarf. So that's done and I'll be able to finish the triangular shawl I started with the left overs. Maybe tonight or tomorrow.

The Fern Leaf wrap is a few inches longer than it was this time last week but still not quite half way. It's an easy, relaxing lace pattern. I have a couple of pairs of socks that I need to finish so those should see some action this week sometime.

So if nothing else changes there should be some FOs soon.