About yesterday

First of all, thanks to everyone who wrote congratulating me and encouraging me. I have to confess. I don't always know what I'm going to write when I start. I knew I wanted to mention the anniversary. I didn't know I was going to write about feeling discouraged. And I certainly didn't mean to convey that I was going to give up my blog.

I think lots of bloggers go through those periods where it seems like a burden to find something that is suitable. Or appropriate. At any rate that's how it is for me. It wasn't until I started getting comments that I re-read what I had written and realized that I had made it sound like I was quitting, or thinking about it, and that I was looking for some kind of pep talk. And perhaps at some level I was but not up here where I live. Sorry about that. And thanks for the pep talk.

Now, about knitting. I got a couple of rows done on the red shawl last night and then worked on the birthday socks. I'm hoping to get those done by this weekend so I can get on to something else.

rabbit, rabbit!

No foolin'!

Today is my bloggiversary. The second. Those of you who were paying close attention will remember that I don't know exactly when I first started my blog. My archives start on April 1 so that's the date I use even though I know I posted before that. Anyway, it's a close approximation. Two years! and still droning on.

I will admit that it's been a little ragged of late. There's not always a lot to record. I read a lot of blogs and sometimes I think I'll just give it up. There's so much talent, knitting and writing, that it just takes my breath away. I have to remind myself that it's not a competition. So, like I said, here I am, still droning on.

I finished a sock last night and will cast on this morning for the second one. Although I should vacuum and stuff like that. I keep looking at my toe-up sock and wanting to work on it but I need to finish these socks by this time next week and given how things come up that interfere with my knitting time I'd better just stick to the second sock. Tonight is Thursday knit together and I have been working on the red shawl there. I'll take it along just in case I need a break.

It felt a little strange yesterday when 4 o'clock came and it was time for me to leave for the day. I've always worked until 6. I didn't get out right on time because a couple of my knitting buddies arrived just before 4. Hardly anyone knows yet about my new hours. So I stayed for about an hour and chatted with them and planned a yarn shop hop for the weekend. Yay for Sundays off!

I have a couple of hours to knit this morning before I have to get ready. Still working on the socks I'm making as a gift for one of my students. I haven't worked on anything else for the past couple of days except the poncho that I'm making for Skein. And that's pure drudgery. K3, P1 on size 13US needles for 72 inches using yarn that's supposed to work on size 4US. The yarn is lovely though. I think it's a desecration to be using it this way. Hey! I only work here.

I'm reading No Idle Hands. I don't have the book with me right now and can't remember the author's name. It's "The Social History of Knitting in America." Very enjoyable and amusing. Seems like today's knitting craze is just another in the on-going cycle. I also got out my copy of The Sock Calendar by Catherine Wingate and Jackie Erickson-Schweitzer. There are several patterns in there that I think I'll add to my list of candidates, especially the ones named Summer Solstice. I already have several skeins of the Sockotta yarn.

Patrick swings

Those of you who have a cat, or cats, will already know this. Cats believe that we exist to feed and entertain them. Patrick is no exception. Right now he's a little ticked at me because I won't give him any more treats. The other night he refused to eat his regular scientifically balanced kibble. He sulked and sulked but finally gave in a went ahead and ate. I told him cats do not live by treats alone. He just looked the other way as though I wasn't even in the room.

You also know how cats love to get into bags and boxes. I have a couple of plastic boxes waiting to be filled with stash. Patrick loves to get in these boxes. So, thinking I would just tease him a little, I picked him up in the box he was currently enjoying. He didn't jump out so I tried just swinging it back and forth a little. He didn't jump out. Now, every morning, right after his scientifically balanced breakfast, he runs and jumps in the box. I spend five minutes or so swinging him back and forth and carrying him around. If he's not satisfied he comes and scratches my computer chair which he knows is going to tick me off. I'm thinking of putting the laundry basket over him.



The trip to Phebie's was a success. I got a hank of Schaeffer sock weight yarn (Anne) in a beautiful red colorway and some Cervinia Forever Jacquard sock yarn. I now have three hanks of the Schaeffer Anne. One of these days I'll find the perfect pattern. I've never tried the Cervinia. It's very inexpensive (cheap) so I'm not sure if it's going to work up very well. Thus speaks the yarn snob. But I like the sort of acidy pastels. How bad could it be? Anyone know?

We didn't go to Velona's. That's going to take stronger meds. So maybe next week.

Today I'm going to Phebie's with my bi-polar student. She's driving so I hope she remembers to take her meds. She's been wanting to go to Velona's so if she's feeling stable we may do that as well.

It's not like I really need any yarn but it is always a good idea to see what's out there. We're still getting things set up at Skein. Some new shelving is in place so Ann Mary has been bringing out some of the new yarns and there's room for more, as soon as it arrives. One of my favorites is Karabella's Breeze. It's 40% cashmere and 60% silk. Very soft and light. I'm making a poncho shop sample with it. The label calls for a size 4US but I'm using a 13 so it's a very stringy looking thing. Seems like the stringy look is in. And holes all over the place.

I'm also making my first pair of toe-up socks using this pattern that I got from Rob's weekly Threadbear newletter. (Click on Free Patterns and scroll down.) It's too soon to post a photo but so far it's looking pretty good. I'm not really happy with how the M1 increases look but maybe the second sock will be better. I'm using some yarn that a friend gave me, the elann Colori from their Sock It to Me Collection. I've only used size 1US needles once before. It sure makes the size 2s feel big. That's the other pair of socks I'm working on.

So, I have a new work schedule. I'll be at Skein from 11 to 4, Tuesday through Friday and 10 to 6 on Saturday. At least for a while. We're still trying to figure out the best combination. The traffic pattern at the new location is much different from what it was at the old address. Since I don't want to work full time these hours will cover the peak times.

The long week

Usually the weeks go by so fast I'm not sure what day it is. Well, I know when it's Monday because that's the day I don't go to Skein. All the others though, they're all mixed up and kind of all the same. Not in a bad way, just busy. This week though has just drug its self from day to day.

It's only Friday. Two more work days to go. On the up side though, this will be the last Sunday I'll be working for at least six months. Skein will be closed on Sunday starting in April. What will I do with two days off?

I hope I'll have some uninterrupted knitting time. It seems like it's been a month since I've really done any serious knitting. A few rounds on the current sock project while I'm between students or customers at Skein. I did work some on the red shawl last night at our Thursday night knit together. Fairly mindless knitting so I don't feel like I've actually done anything. Mendy and I are starting a mini-knit-a-long in a couple of weeks. We'll be making the Wave and Shell shawl after she comes back from New Mexico. And I'm starting a new shop sample for a poncho.

So it's not that I'm not really doing any knitting. It's just that it's being sort of doled out in tiny segments.

A day without knitting

is like a day without sunshine. And both things happened today. We've been so busy at the new location that I haven't had time to work on anything, not even a sock. And we had no sun today. It was dreary and drizzling for most of the day.

And then tonight I went to another concert by the Southwest Chamber Orchestra. The first half of the program was a song cycle of poetry by Bertold Brecht as set to music by Hans Eissler. (Eissler was one of the first people to be deported during the McCarthy era.) Very stressful stuff but beautifully sung by Kathleen Roland. The second half of the concert was a transcription of Anton Bruckner's Seventh Symphony. Only nine musicians instead of a full orchestra. It was quite amazing. And they had a harmonium. Not the kind they use in India but a full scale real harmonium. I'd never seen on of these things. Apparently the one in use tonight is one that was restored by a local artisan and is the only one around here. It's being shared by all three of the major orchestras here. I tried to find a picture but all I came up with were the Indian ones and they look sort of like an accordion. These look more like a large reed organ. Well, I thought it was interesting.

I took the Gold Line again. It is so much easier than driving Downtown. But it takes longer. So no knitting tonight. Maybe in the morning before I go to work.

What happened to Poobah's?

The new Skein is in a building that for many, many years was a haven for those interested in no longer available records, tapes and just about anything related to pop music. It's an old craftsman style house built probably sometime in the 1920s. Poobah's was a landmark.

The original owner of the business decided to retire last year and sold it to one of his employees. The new owner could not get the financing needed to purchase the property so he moved the business to another location. So now the old house is home to Skein.

You'd just have to see the look on the faces of people who come in expecting to find Poobah's. Mostly guys in their mid-thirties. A few women, too. Sometimes they just stand in the door looking blank. Sometimes they'll actually come in and ask what happened to the record store that used to be here. Or maybe they just jump back and shut the door without ever taking in the change. It's like they've taken a wrong turn somewhere and can't believe they've ended up in the wrong place. One guy last week just stood inside the door for about five minutes trying to grasp what had happened. He did wish us well before he left.

Then there was the guy last week who came in to look around while he was having the muffler replaced on his car. (There are two muffler shops across the street.) He said he had purchased a knitting machine for his wife a few years ago but she didn't seem to like it. And he didn't understand why she always bought cheap yarn. I wanted to, but didn't, say "That won't be a problem if she shops here."

Fruit Cake

Finished the last of the pecan pineapple fruitcake this morning. You didn't know but I'm one of those apparently rare people who likes fruit cake. Well, most of the ones I've tried. A friend gave me this fruit cake after Christmas because he doesn't particularly care for fruit cake. So I've been having blocks of it for breakfast. I really need to go to the market. Today I had to make a decision. There wasn't enough left for two blocks but too much for one portion. I chose the too much for one portion option and it really wasn't too much. I enjoyed every extra bite.

Why am I telling you this? Well, there isn't much knitting to report. I started a new sock yesterday and will be starting over later today. I'm using some Patons Kroy sock yarn and it calls for a US3. That's just way too loose and sloppy for me but I had to try it first just so I'd be sure. It's a good thing that I was fairly busy at Skein yesterday or I'd really feel bad about how much knitting I'll be ripping.

In other even less newsworthy knitting news, I finished ripping the five rows at 350 stitches per row shawl screw up and have made my correction. I'm about half a row from having regained the lost ground.

We had a good time at the Thursday night knit together. What's not to have a good time about? Is it important to like everyone all the time? Can you just accept that some people are boring and let it go at that? Well, we did have some terrific pastries and pretty much solved the world's problems.

Starting over, over

Sometimes I just have to accept that cutting my losses and starting over is the best way to make progress. So I've been working on a couple of pairs of socks, the Fixation ones and the ones I started yesterday with the elann.com sock yarn. They're both history. I thought the Fixation yarn looked like shredded velour and the way the colors were stacking in the elann socks was plug ugly. So now I'm free to try something else.

Not much else to report. Get out there and celebrate!

A couple of things

I did manage to finish the Jawoll Denim Socks yesterday.



I didn't use the reinforcement yarn that's included. Didn't want to be bothered. But I think I will the next time. I have more Jawoll in a few different colorways. I think I'll see if I can find the yellow.



This is the Textured Squares Scarf from Nancie Wiseman's Knitted Shawls, Stoles and Scarves that I started a couple of weeks ago. It's sort of a poor man's entrelac. I guess I need to wash and block it to get all those points to show up. There was one tiny error in the pattern but by the time you get to that point you already know what to do.

One of Ms Wiseman's biggies is that scarves, and to some extent, shawls, need to be shaped so they will fit better around the neck and make wearing them more comfortable. This one is a wide V. People who've tried it on say it does feel better. And it's a little more interesting to knit that just plain old straight.

I need to start another pair of socks so I'll have something mindless to work on at Skein. Lammia gave me some sock yarn that she got from elann.com. Did you know they have their own label? So I think I'll start those.

Cookies for breakfast

and plenty of strong, black coffee. Trying to clear my head of crazy dreams brought on probably by too much merlot. It's my one day off and I have no plans. In a little while I'll get out the vacuum and terrorize the cat. He's going to be very upset anyway because I'm going to fill the new plastic boxes with part of my stash. He loves to jump in and out of these boxes. Oh well. There'll be more later in the week, I expect.

I haven't been doing much knitting. I hope to finish a second sock today between loads of laundry and maybe swatch for the next shawl project. My current red one has something like 350 stitches per row now and I have to rip back a couple of rows because I forgot the center yarn overs. I thought I could just insert them on the wrong side but that didn't work very well but I couldn't see that until I'd done a few more rows. So much for being an experienced knitter.

Workin' retail

I'd forgotten how tiring it can be to work in retail sales. All day running around, being cheerful, listening to the same questions and comments all day, and for the moment, trying to find where that yarn is that you know you have but don't know which shelf it's on or which still unpacked box it might be in. Yesterday we had a couple of Ann Mary's friends to help with getting stuff out and on display but today it was just the two of us. I had a couple of students that came in at about the same time so I could work with both of them at the same time so I wasn't tied up as much as I was yesterday. Most of the day I was workin' the floor.

Seems I've forgotten to let everyone know exactly where the new shop is, so here's the address:

1101 E. Walnut Ave. (corner of Walnut and Wilson)
Pasadena CA 91106

626-577-2035

The shop hours are:

T, Th, F, Sat 10 to 6
W 10 to 8
Sun 1 to 4 (but only until the end of March. After that no Sunday hours until Nov.)
Closed Monday

It looks like I'll be working the whole day from now until the end of March. After that I'm going to cut back on my hours. I must remember I'm retired. I did walk this morning but tonight when Ann Mary offered me a ride I snapped it up.

So I didn't get a whole lot of knitting time today. Finished the heel flap on the second denim sock while I worked with my two students. I'll try to do a little more tonight but I want to start filling some of the plastic boxes that Mendy has donated for my stash organization effort. It'll be fun to see what's in some of the cardboard boxes and platic bags.

Still stocking

I know it's too soon to tell but if the past couple of days are any indication the new Skein location is going to be a big hit. I know a lot of the traffic is from people who are curious but we also are seeing people we never saw before. We're waiting for some more shelving and there's still a little electrical stuff to get straightened out but it's taking shape.

I haven't had time to knit during the day so I was glad tonight was my knit together at Mendy's. I finished the last ten rows on the textured squares scarf and then worked on the red shawl until I ran out of yarn. I forgot to take an additional skein. So I worked a little on the denim Jawoll socks that I started a few weeks ago. I'll be going in a couple of hours earlier than usual for the next week or so. Not much time for knitting in the morning. Gotta play with Patrick sometime.

Skein reopens!

I stopped by the new Skein shop today to help put away yarns and see what I could do to help get ready for tomorrow's reopening. There were people already coming in just to look around. Lots of phone calls for directions and lots of chaos and confusion.

It's too soon to take pictures but I have to say I was very pleased with the way the new shop is coming together. We're going to need more shelving and a couple of tables. There's less storage than in the old space so almost everything will have to be on the salesfloor. Right now a lot of it literally is.

There were some questions about parking, mostly from people who don't live in Pasadena. Parking in Pasadena is a major problem. If you live here you're used to it. We will have a small parking lot soon. The contractor's people where out there today moving dirt and rocks. Probably next week there'll be four or five spaces. Not much but that's more than a lot of small businesses in the area have. There is street parking a block north and some more a block east.

I started the new socks last night. There are some mechanical problems with the pattern. It's designed to be worked on circular needles but I don't have any that are short enough so I'm using double points which make the decreases in the pattern split between two needles. So I'm going to switch to three instead of four and reposition the stitches. Should make it go a lot faster. I don't usually work with three needles because I get ladders when I do. With the Fixation yarn though ladders don't occur. It's very stretchy!

And I have five more pattern repeats on the current scarf. I plan to get that done tonight if I can stay awake.

Not much really to report. I didn't quite finish the new scarf today. I was interrupted for a couple of hours by a visit from a lady who used to live in our building. So even though the pattern is pretty easy to follow I decided to just sit and listen. And then I needed a nap. And then Patrick and I cleaned the refrigerator. He's a big help.

Tonight I think I'll start a new pair of socks. Not that I've finished the ones I'm currently working on but I want to try a new pattern and some of the Cascade Fixation I got on sale a couple of weeks ago.

We're in a cooling trend now. Yesterday it was 99 in Monrovia where Carol lives. It was only 93 in Pasadena. Down to 89 today and maybe 81 by Friday. I broke down and got a fan out last night. I thought Patrick might freak but he just ignored it.

One of the benefits of working at Skein is meeting people and becoming friends with them. People from lots of different places around the world. Yesterday I had lunch with two of the people I've come to know and love. One is from Indonesia and the other from Malaysia. We went to an authentic Malaysian place called Penang. I have to take their word for the authenticity but believe me it was good. I like curry and highly seasoned food so this was a treat. I didn't try the century eggs though. I thought they were figs, and I don't care much for figs.

None of us had anything planned for the rest of the day so we decided to do an impromtu yarn shop hop. We went to Alamitos Bay Yarn Company first. It's right on the marina in Long Beach. It was crowded and hot. I overheard someone saying it was 91 degrees. I can believe it. I didn't buy anything but there were so many tempting things. It's a great shop.

Then we went to Velona's. Seems like I've been there almost every week for the past couple of months. There's so much yarn there that it doesn't matter. There's always something I didn't see before or that has come in while I was away for a week. I did get a couple of sock yarns for my collection. They had cashmere on sale so one of the friends picked up enough to do a shawl.

After we got back to Arcadia, where we had left our cars, we stopped in at Skein. Ann Mary was busy packing for the move today. It's still scheduled to take place even though the new space isn't completely ready. And a couple of things like telephone and charge card connections are not done. So we'll probably not reopen until Thursday. I'm getting one additional day off. I'm planning to go in for a while on Wednesday and help with restocking the shelves. I hope the air conditioning has been reconnected by then. The contractor cut the line to the air conditioner for some unknown reason. The parking lot hasn't been started. So it's all going to be a bit ragged for a while.

Meanwhile, I've been working on a new scarf.


The pattern is from Nancie Wiseman's Knitted Shawls, Stoles & Scarves. The yarn is from Grignasco, 100% silk. Shangai. I got it about ten or twelve years ago when Mariposa was still in Pasadena. (Mariposa is a now defunct shop where I used to hang out and work.) I started going through some of my old stash and this was in the very first box I opened, along with several other yarns that I don't remember buying.

So I didn't make much progress on destashing. Got side tracked by all the stuff I found just in this one box. I think that's the main reason I didn't buy much yesterday. I wonder how many other things there are in there that I've forgotten. The mind reels.

What's up



I got a pattern leaflet from Vogue Knitting a few days ago. It came in the subscription solicitation along with a letter inviting me to resubscribe. Which I didn't. Anyway, the pattern called for one skein of Noro Kureyon, color 102, which I had. I changed the pattern to be worked in the round. It's kinda cute but I'm not sure about that funky looking "tassel" sticking out the top.



I had a skein of the #102 left over from making this scarf. This is not the same scarf I showed a couple of weeks ago. That was #126. Of course the color is off in both photos. But they're both very orange/red so you can kinda get the idea. Lisa is coming over tonight so she'll be taking these home with her.

It's probably getting too warm for these, at least in the daytime. But it's still cold after the sun goes down.

Being on vacation, even a short, stay at home one is nice. I've been emulating Pat the Cat and taking lots of naps. He's much better at it than I am. And I've been looking through pattern books and stash trying to get them to align in some kind of logical way. I suppose I should be cleaning house but I'm on vacation.

Still set to go

It looks like the move will take place on Monday. The plan is to open on Tuesday but I think that may be a little more than ambitious.

Since most of our customers thought we were going to be closed for the end of this week it was pretty quiet today. So Ann Mary said I should take the rest of the week, and the weekend, off. So I'll have some extra hours to maybe get a few things finished and start some others.

I'm pretty excited about the move. There'll be more room for one thing. And the table where the classes are held will not be in the middle of everything. There's room for a separate table in case we want to have more than one class at a time. Maybe some sock knitting classes and anything else I can think of that would be good as a group activity.

And then you won't, part 2

So, I arrived at Skein a couple of hours earlier than usual so I could help with the packing for the big move. Most of the stock room had already been done and the sales floor was filled with bags. So I'm thinking "Great, this won't take too long." The first thing I did was move all the bags back into the stockroom since we won't be moving on Thursday after all. Some delays, blamed on the weather by the contractor, have set the move date back to Monday of next week. We could have moved on Saturday but the movers do not work weekends.

So it was business as usual. It did feel a little like I was at a garage sale. And I never realized how often we referred to the shop samples which were already packed and not available.

No knitting to report. I'm fighting off a bad case of startitis.

First you say you will, and then you won't

That's how it is with the Skein move. We've been telling people that the move will take place on Wednesday and we'll reopen on Friday. Well, Saturday night I went with Ann Mary and KC to look at the progress on the new space and we all felt that it wasn't going to be possible for the necessary work to be completed in time for this week.

However. The contractor has assured Ann Mary that all will be done in time for her to move in this week, on Thursday as it stands now. So we're still planning to move or not, as the work progresses. I just want it to be over. I'm so tired of hearing about it.

Not much new on the knitting front. I did get a few more skeins of Cascade Fixation and a couple of other things, just because it was there. I finished the latest multidirectional scarf and have started another one. I think this will be the last one, at least for a while. I'm still intrigued by the pattern but I'm really getting tired of the Noro Kureyon. The colors are terrific but the vagaries of the spinning are tiresome. Sewing thread thin to rope thick is less than five inches is a little extreme. Who would have believed that poor quality control could be marketed as desirable?

No more yarn!

Not in the immediate future anyway. I was sort of thinking, planning on, going back to Temple City Knits today just to pick up a few more 50% off skeins of Cascade Fixation. But thanks to the generosity of a couple of the ladies who knit I don't need to. Almost the whole group of Thursday night knitters has been to TCK this week. I'm glad I don't have to design strategies for getting yarn inside without letting a spouse or other SO know what I'm up to. Patrick doesn't care. In fact he rather enjoys playing in the empty bags.

On the other hand, I may just drive by, since it's sort of on my way, just to see if they have anything really interesting left. I'd like some Cotton Classic just in case I ever get around to making that one decent top in the new Knitters.

If all goes well Skein will move to Pasadena next week. Will have to wait and see.

We had rain! That should be RAIN!. I don't know how many hours it kept up but it was a long time, six or seven hours non-stop. That may not be much to people living in Seattle or Florida but this just doesn't happen in So Cal. Well, not often anyway. I was all set to write last night but I couldn't get SBCYahoo to let me in. I finally managed to check my email a little before midnight. And things are pretty water logged this morning. Several sites seem to have been washed completely away. And anyone using Typepad has had their page completely refigured. Or I think that's what caused the sudden disarray. And everything was loading much slower than I've come to expect.

So, since I couldn't work on the computer last night I sat and finished the first of the Denim Socks. Will try to get started on the second one today while I'm at Skein. I do have a couple of sock knittings beginners coming in so that seems like appropriate. And tonight is our Knit Together. I'll work on the red shawl.

The concert on Tuesday was an adventure. I took the new Gold Line downtown and met my friend at Union Station. The train ride was nice and easy. I just work myself up into a frenzy when I have to try something new. So I was crazy by the time I actually got on the train. But all went well. We heard the Calder Quartet, a new string quartet of recent USC graduates. And there was Mozart and Mendelsohn. Much more traditional music than we usually hear. Not a brilliant performance but still very nice.

Two bags full!

So here's what happened. I went to Temple City Knits and everything was, indeed, 50% off. So I got some sock yarn, enough for seven pair. And some other stuff. Two cones of Berroco Glace, twelve skeins of Berroco Soft Twist, thirteen skeins of Patons Grace, four balls of Jaeger Winter Ribbon and nine skeins of Trendsetter Solaris. Enough to fill two large bags. I thought I got some Cotton Twist but I must have put it back. It's not on the invoice or in the bags.

On the way home I stopped at A Stitch In Time, a needlepoint store. They're now carrying knitting yarn so I wanted to see what they have. Reynolds, S.R. Kertzer and Artful Yarns. And it's a beautiful shop. Very spacious and elegant. Oh, and very expensive.

So I was feeling nearly euphoric when I got home. And it got even better. USPS had delivered my book order from Overstock.com. Knitting in the Old Way, Knitting On The Road by Nancy Bush and The Green Mountain Spinnery Knitting Book by Margaret Klein Wilson. Someone, I don't recall who it was, wrote about these books on her blog and I got a terrible case of envy so I ordered them for myself. I've only had a little time to look through them but I can tell already that I like them, especially the Nancy Bush book. Socks rule!

I spent the rest of the day knitting. I worked about an inch on the current sock and then almost finished the multidirectional scarf. I ran out of yarn but I think Mendy had a partial skein left over from her scarf. She's checking for me as I write. And then I did a couple of rows on the Mexican Wave shawl. I'm going to a concert tonight so I won't have much knitting time today.

What to do?

For the first time in a long time I have a whole day that has nothing planned. I can work on any project I want to.



The Mexican Wave shawl. I've just started the third skein and have about 260 stitches on the current row. This project would be perfect if I were watching a movie. Which I might do later today.



The current sock project. JaWoll yarn. I'm started on the foot of the first sock. The light is good today so this one will see some action. Probably.



Or I could finish the current multidirectional scarf. I only have one skein to go.



Or I could just start another one. I have four skeins in this color way. We still have a little cold weather to go so this would be nice. Or maybe save it for next Christmas.



But then I have this Koigu, and some Cherry Tree Hill and one skein of Noro. I could start a scarf, another pair of socks or a hat. Probably won't. Just wanted to show it off.

And speaking of showing off.




This is ten skeins of Noro Shinano. Mendy found a bunch of this on eBay and decided I should share. No idea what I'm going to do with it yet. But I love having it.

Now that I've frittered away most of my morning taking pictures and showing off I have to decide what to do with the rest of the day. I think I'll go see if Temple City Knits is still in business. I heard last week that they had closed but later in the week I heard they were still open and everything was 50% off. I can always use some more sock yarn.

Pleased

For the second day in a row I've made it through reading all the dailies without my computer freezing up. I don't know why it does this but I suspect is has something to do with my browzer. Is that possible? My DSL connection is via SBCYahoo. This freezing up problem is a fairly new phenomenon but it's making me crazy.

We had rain and hail yesterday. It came down so hard that car alarms were set off in the parking lot next door. Foothill Blvd. was filled from side to side in a matter of minutes. It was very exciting and I'm glad I was safely inside. The cars, but mostly the trucks, driving past the shop were making huge splashes that looked for all the world like a speedboat race. And all the rain brought out the crowds. We were swamped. It's supposed to continue raining for the next few days. Wish I could stay home and mind my own knitting.

Instead I'm teaching socks today. And one brand new knitter is supposed to come in for a class. Who knows what else will happen? I picked up the gusset stitches on my current sock project while I was at Skein yesterday. That's all I could get done but I got to the foot last night. So I'm not going to finish this pair before the week is out. I'm still on the first sock. Oh well. It was an arbitrary deadline anyway.

Pointless

I was all ready to pick up the gusset stitches on my current sock project. I really like how the sock looks and was looking forward to making lots of progress on the foot portion while I was at Skein yesterday. Except I was missing on of my needles. I thought I had them all when I stuffed the sock into my knitting projects I can work on at Skein bag. I searched the bag thoroughly, counted the needles a few times and finally gave up. I could have used the other size 2 needles I had with me but I'm using my Crystal Palace 8" needles and they're just perfect for the JaWoll yarn.

I didn't get home until after 11 last night because it was Thursday night knit together. I really fretted the whole day wondering what I was going to do. The needle was on the table by my favorite knitting chair. I'm so relieved. These are my favorite sock needles.

So I didn't get any sock knitting in yesterday. At least not on my own project. I have a number of students who are making socks and one of them was in yesterday. I don't know how responsible I should feel for her success. It bothers me somewhat that she's just not getting it. This is not her first attempt. But in an effort to find something positive to say, at least she hasn't given up.

Since I couldn't work on my socks I spent most of the day and last night working on the Mexican Wave shawl. That's turning out to be a popular project with students and customers. I'm almost at the end of the second skein so it's beginning to look like something.

We finally got some more Cascade Fixation so I'll be teaching sock knitting this weekend using that stretchy yarn. I think I'd better get started on the second sock of the pair I started last year.

It doesn't take much to make me happy and restore my sense of equilibrium.

A checkbook that balances even though I haven't checked it in two months;
Waking up before the cat so he doesn't jump all over me;
Getting the laundry done is only two days and not losing one single sock;
Finishing a sock with yarn left over, even it it's only about five inches.

Life is good and we are getting some rain. I don't have to be at Skein until one today so there's plenty of time to stop for lunch at Shakey's Pizza. I'm working on the ribbed denim socks (formerly known as the JaWoll socks) and it's going well. I need to make the second sock of a pair I started last summer. We've been using the single sock as a sample at Skein but since the yarn is gone and we're not getting any more I'll bring it home and make its mate. I already know these socks won't fit Lisa but they'll probably fit her Mom. So, like I said, life is good.

Yesterday's yarn shop tour was a huge success. We got to Velona's shortly after they opened and spent about an hour there. I exchanged the sock yarn for some Lana Grossa Meilenweit Multieffeckt and picked up two skeins of Big Mexico for Mendy. Renee found the Big Kureyon she needed as well as a couple of skeins of regular Kureyon she needed.

We got to Yarn Lady just as Sally Melville's class broke for lunch. I'm not sure what the class was but it sounded like it was about selecting and combining colors. We hung around there for a while and then went for lunch at a bakery/cafe next door. Neither of us bought anything at Yarn Lady's, just enjoyed the displays and checked out the Cascade. (Skein will be carrying the Cascade 220 now. Some of it arrived today.)

Then it was on to Phebie's in Montclair. This is the third time I've been to this shop and I really enjoy it. The front part is filled with beads and Brazilian embroidery fibers plus needlepoint supplies. All the yarn is in the back half of the shop. It's mostly basic stuff like Encore but they also have lots of novelty yarns. And some hand dyed skeins. I got some Schaeffer Anne sock yarn in a dark burgundy combination and a couple of skeins of a nubby yarn called Lime that I'll use for a quick scarf.

So it was a good day and not too expensive considering. Today I finished the second sock of the pair I've been making for Mendy. I plan to continue with the JaWoll socks and see if I can get them out of the way by the end of the week. I want to get back to the Mexican Wave shawl but I'm sort of in the mood to finish some of the small projects that have been accumulating.

Here we go again!

A new week. I'm up so early this morning that most of the blogs I read have not been updated.

I'm off on a repeat yarn shop hopping trip with my friend Renee. She's the mother of my faux grandson. We were on a yarn shop tour last year at about this time when she got the call from the agency she was working with that they had a child available for adoption. She hasn't had a chance to go on a yarn shop tour since that exciting day. Partly because she also had to have some pretty serious surgery that has made getting around pretty difficult and slow. So we're both excited to get out and compare yarn stores.

I'm in the middle of the heel flap on the second sock of the pair I'm making for Mendy. This is about as fast as I can remember ever making a sock. I'd really like to get them done before the Thursday night get together but I have very little time available this week. Nothing special. Just stuff to do. Anyway, I'm going to try.

Patrick got stoned on catnip drops yesterday. I'm not sure if catnip is a good thing for him. But he did get a lot of exercise which I guess is what he needs if he's going to lose some weight. He's a little cranky and pitiful this morning.

Post-birthday post


Well, it was certainly a busy week. Started on Saturday night with dinner at Taix, a pseudo-French restaurant in Downtown LA that is celebrating its 75th year, with friends Bill and Ed. Sunday was dinner with Lisa at Fuji. On Monday Mendy took me yarn shop hopping with lunch at Surf and Sand in Laguna Beach. Tuesday Ann Mary and KC took me to Foo Sheng for classic Chinese. Wednesday was a bye. Thursday was the knitting get together at Mendy's, and Friday dinner at Fanara's with one of my students and her husband. Last night I stayed home and played with the cat and finished the first sock of the pair I'm making for Mendy.



I was supposed to go to dinner at Robert's tonight but he had to cancel due to a family event. There's one more event to go but it's not until the end of the month.

I've been pretty busy at Skein as well. I have a couple of brand new knitters plus some returnees. I've been working with a couple of ladies who want to make socks for everyone on their Christmas list. It's a good thing they're starting early. And I've made quite a bit of progress on the new shawl.

Up there in the top photo you can see not only my first attempts at weaving but also the flowers Anita brought me for my birthday and the rock engraved "Thank You". There's also the candles from my cake and the card Mendy made. You can't read the fine print but it says that The Ladies Who Knit have combined to provide me with room and board at the Knitters' Retreat next November. Thanks Anita, Carol, Lammia, Mendy, Rena and Renee. What a great bunch!

And the sock. It's one of the yarns I got at Velona's. I thought I wasn't going to have enough yarn to finish so I picked up another skein when I was there last Monday. Actually I had about five inches left so I'm planning to return the extra skein when I go back there tomorrow. I sure hope the second skein I bought originally will have at least the same yardage as the first one.

A few days ago, Stephanie posted a couple of pictures of her favorite shawl. When I saw them I remembered that I had some of the Mexican Wave yarn that she used. I liked the look of her shawls and decided that the sweater I had started a couple of years ago should be transformed into something that was more likely going to be finished. So instead of working on the other current projects (three pair of socks, a multidirectional scarf, Robert's sweater, a fruit hat and a heart patterned scarf) I started a shawl.



I'm using a size 7US instead of the size 5 specified on the label. And it's all garter stitch except the yarn overs. It's nearly impossible to see in the photo but there's a gradual shift from a warm, yellow red to a cool, blue red stripe going on. Actually that change doesn't show all that well in the real thing. Maybe when it gets bigger. Meanwhile, I've got some size 7 circulars around here somewhere but I can't find them right now. I don't think I'll need them right away but, just in case, I'll pick up some new ones at Skein today.

Shark fin soup and other esoteric stuff

We went to Foo Sheng last night for dinner. I had shark fin soup for the first time ever and was left wondering what the fuss was all about. Tastes the same as egg drop soup to me except for the crunchy little strings that are the cartilage of the shark's fins. A little bit of sweet vinegar does make it more interesting though. I asked KC why this delicacy is so sought after. His explanation was that it's because of the difficulty of obtaining the material and the complexity of extracting the little bits that are used. Kind of "because it's there".

I've been looking at a lot of different knitting technique books lately. I treated myself yesterday to Simple Socks by Priscilla A. Gibson-Roberts. Well, it was my birthday after all. And I've been trying to read it at Skein but it's kind of hard to follow sometimes, especially when the shop is busy. So I thought I'd better just get it so I could try to follow what she's talking about and try to reproduce her different cast-ons. So far it's a little like shark fin soup.

Ann Mary told me she ordered a lot of Koigu when she was at TNNA. Now that's some esoteric stuff I can get behind. I don't know when it's supposed to arrive but I've heard some grumblings from other shop owners that the Koigu people are very slow with the deliveries. I suspect it's because everything they can produce is going to Indiana and we out here in La La Land just get the leftovers. If there are any. But I'm hoping we get some soon!

It's the big one!

Today, at approximately 4:20 PM, Central Time, I'll reach that landmark known as 65. It's been a long time coming. But like all birthdays I've ever had, it's just one more.

It's nice to have a fuss made over me. I could do without the references to canes and wheelchairs though. I'll be at Skein today, same as always. Passing along the wisdom of the ages, knitting-wise. Should that be aged? And then Ann Mary and her husband are taking me to dinner at one of their favorite mandarin restaurants. And tomorrow everything will be back to usual. Thanks to everyone who sent birthday wishes. It really does feel good to be so loved.

Who has time to knit?

Imagine a warm sunny day. It's probably in the mid 70s outside. Our table is by the window overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Catalina Island is in clear view. Lunch at the Surf and Sand in Laguna Beach. The menu is slightly nouvelle and the service is attentive. And we have one more yarn store to visit before we head back to Pasadena.

Mendy picked me up this morning and took me yarn shop hopping for my birthday. We stopped first at Velona's in Anaheim Hills. It's normally about an hour's drive but today took a little longer due to traffic. But it's one of my favorite destinations. I picked up some sock yarn that I needed to finish a pair of socks I started a few weeks ago and several other things that I'll show when I have time to take pictures.

After that we went to The Yarn Lady in Laguna Hills. This is their new location which I hadn't seen yet. It was wonderful! They had lots and lots of neat samples as well as a wide selection of colors in lots of different yarns. The shop is large and spacious. There was a table of knitters taking a class as well as spot teaching going on all over the place. I didn't buy anything as I thought I had already spent enough and we still had one more shop to go.

After lunch we went to Strands and Stitches in Laguna Beach. A small, charming shop right on the Coast Highway. I found some Kureyon and some Koigu that I thought I ought to have. And that's it! Strands and Stitches was Mendy's first yarn shop so she enjoys going back there to visit. We didn't stay very long as it was getting late and the traffic was going to be even worse than it was in the morning.

Lisa came over last night to celebrate. We had a great time. I now have a couple of new sweat suits and will retire my old ones to the dust cloth bin in the very near future. We had a great time playing with the cat and the went for sushi. Well, she had the sushi. I prefer cooked food.

Anyway, I've only had a few minutes here and there to do any knitting. I'll be home tonight and hope to finish the current scarf and spend some time on Robert's sweater. After seeing all the samples at the shops today I'm really ready to start a bunch of new things. Be patient. I'll get over it soon.

Just so you know

I'm still here. There hasn't been much new to write about. I'm at the end of the second skein of Kureyon on the Multidirectional scarf. I got two or three new people started on it in the past day or so. I've been pretty busy this week with new students as well as a few continuing ones.

I'm going to meet Ann Mary and KC tomorrow morning at the new shop. This will be the first time I've seen the inside. I never went to Poobah's, the shop that was there before. I'm curious to see how it looks before it's converted. If I don't forget my camera I'll try to get at least some exterior photos.

I managed to get all the yarn I had been stashing in the living room moved into the primary holding area, aka, the den. I didn't get any plastic boxes yet so everything is still in bags and stacked precipitously on top of the stuff that was already in there. So now there's just Robert's sweater and my current sock and scarf projects in the living room. That's where I knit most of the time. There's no room in the den.

And then I started this

I just can't get into anything very serious lately. There are lots of challenging, time-taking projects on my list of things I really want to knit. Someday when I'm feeling motivated.



I like the multidirectional diagonal scarf. A lot. I have several students started on them. If you've made one you know how addictive, and fun, they are to knit. So here's my current one. Kureyon #126 on size 9, 35 stitches. I have three skeins but I think I'm going to get one more. I'm still working on the JaWoll socks that I started on Tuesday but I couldn't quit thinking about this yarn.

Is that all?

Not much happened since yesterday, at least on my knitting. A little progress here, a little progress there. Nothing completed. I did break down and start a pair of socks using one of the blue JaWoll yarns that I showed a couple of days ago.

Most of my at home time has been devoted to sorting through my stash. The part that's stacked up in the living room, in a corner behind a chair. Patrick was fascinated by the additional running room he has. I'm hoping to get some more plastic storage boxes soon so I can add this stuff to the pile in the den. And I got all the books and magazines put back where they belong.

I got to see the Mango Moon recycled silk today. I didn't know the company was so close to here. It's in Laguna Beach, not right next door but close enough. Unfortunately they no longer do retail. We should be having some of this soon. I think I'm going to like it. A lot! I already know it's softer than the Sari Silk I got last month. Will have to wait until I can work with it to see if it's spun any better. I only saw a couple of skeins and there was no color card. I understand they sort it into only two colorways, jewel and earth. And it is heavy so will probably work best as a bag or vest but they do have some patterns for pullovers and cardigans, even a throw.

Deep in the heart of texture

If you like texture, especially if it's the yarn that does it, you'll like this sweater. This is the lower part of the back of Robert's raglan.



I knew it wouldn't be easy to photograph and that it would be a boring picture. But it's really good looking in the flesh. The yarn is called Monnalisa and is from Lanas Stop, a Spanish company. It's cotton, linen, acrylic, nylon, polyester and some rayon. I've had some problem maintaining gauge as the yarn is quite stretchy. I may need to rip back some as I think it's going to be too long as knit. I might have lost track of how many rows I'd knit. So I'm doing one of the sleeves to see if the pattern is correct or if my gauge is off.

The stuff that dreams are made of

Patrick likes to wake me up early to watch him eat. He can be quite insistent. He not only walks all over me but butts me with his head and meows in a most pitiful way until I finally give in and get up. I don't know why he wants me to stand beside him while he eats.

This morning, after only about four hours of sleep, he began his tromping and nudging routine thereby interrupting my dream of knitting socks with Tahki's Cotton Classic. Not that I would actually even try it, but in the dream it seemed quite possible. And for some unexplained reason I had sample skeins in all their colors. That would be nice IRL. Anyway, in the dream I was able to knit socks at an incredible rate and rip out and start over in the most effortless way. Would that it were so.

No knitting yesterday. Lunch and dinner engagements plus too many students to knit while I was at Skein. Maybe today since I'm home the whole day with nothing to do except laundry. I need to rip back a little on my current sock project as I didn't start the toe shaping soon enough. Maybe I can get that done and start the second sock. Dream on!

Rabbit! Rabbit!

Brrr! It's cold in here. I should turn on the heat but it'll be warmer soon. I hope. It's Swap Meet Sunday and the people next door are having a moving/yard sale so there are lots of people to-ing and fro-ing on my street. It's not raining and it's generally a pretty day. Good way to begin another month.

I'll be getting older in a few days. In fact, I'll be officially old. But that's okay because my cost of medical insurance will radically decrease. When I was in my twenties I thought it would be fabulous if I could just make it to sixty. That way I'd get to write 2000 as the year and I'd be in a new millineum. Well, I'm here to tell you, that is not enough. There's still a lot of stuff I haven't tried not to mention my yarn stash that needs to be used up. And there's lots of yarn I haven't bought any of as yet.



Here's some stuff I got last Friday when I went to Phebie's. It's Classic Elite Fame. I'm not sure if this yarn is even still available. They only had five skeins but it should be enough for a skippy top, or very long scarf. Our trip was a lot of fun and my student nearly ODd.

I woke up this morning from a dream about knitting socks. Toe-up, with fair isle patterns on the the top, black yarn with red and green flowers. Too much. I think I've read too many sock knitting books lately.

A gift from Lammia. Nice stuff. I haven't tried this brand as yet. But I'm sort of in a blue mood, colorwise, so this is quite timely.

Just got home from the Thursday night group. Two new attendees tonight so it was a little more crowded and diffuse. Both are regular customers at Skein so everyone almost knew everyone. It was a little strange having different conversations going on simultaneously but it was enjoyable.

Tomorrow I'm going with one of my students to another yarn shop. She's been wanting to see what else is out there. So we'll go to Phebie's and then have lunch before I go in to work. Phebie's has a good selection of Noro Kureyon and Silk Garden so I'm planning on picking up another colorway.

I had another two new students this morning almost as soon as I walked in the door. One had knit a long time ago. She's originally from Mexico and learned to knit continental. Fortunately it came back pretty quickly. I'm really bad when it comes to continental. Not that I can't do it, but I don't look my best at it. The other student moved here from Venezuela. She'd never knit before but has done a lot of crochet. I ended up teaching her to knit continental since she kept trying to throw the yarn with her left hand. She wanted to make a hat but decided she'd better practice more before she started.

Then the sock knitters from Wednesday came back. They didn't quite finish the gusset decreases so they'll be back tomorrow. The daughter is really getting it. And she was very good at helping her mother. And there were several other drop-ins that kept me busy for the entire day. I did manage a couple of rounds on the socks and did about eight or ten rows on Robert's sweater. Falling behind faster and faster.

Another cat picture



Some friends came by on Sunday and while they were here they took this picture. I thought I could "fix" the red-eyed cat but haven't figured that out yet. But I did find this fancy framing feature. Patrick was definitely not amused by the whole process. He is just about to leap on my shoulder and claw his way to freedom. He sulked a long time after my friends left.

It seemed like I had a lot to write about when I was reading this morning. I had lots of time, I thought. Then I remembered an appointment and had to rush off before I'd even finished my daily reads. It does seem like everyone is buried in snow, at least the blogs I read. Well, there are some that aren't but a lot are. It's mostly been in the mid 70s here down to the 40s at night. We did have a little rain last night. But that's about as exciting as it's been. If I had a weather pixie you wouldn't have to be reading this stuff.

Anyway, I had three new students today. One was an absolute tabula rasa, not even any crochet experience. So that was a bit uphill. She'll come back in a couple of days for the purl part. The other two were a mother/daughter combo. The daughter has only been knitting for a few weeks, the mother for years. They wanted to make Lynn H.'s Fast Florida Footies. We had a lot of fun. The daughter really caught on quickly, the mother not so quickly. They're coming back on Friday to pick up where we left off. At the gusset. (Get it?)

And I got some more yarn from the person who gave me the partial skein last week. This time it's two skeins of Lion Brand Fun Fur and one of Plymouth Eros Glitz. I was pretty sure when she showed me what she had purchased that she wouldn't be able to work with it. I think she lasted less than five minutes. The last time she tried similar yarns the same thing happened. I made her a scarf that time but I'm not going to do it this time. I'm not sure what I'll do with it. I'll show it to Lisa and if she likes it I'll make her a scarf. Otherwise it's going to the Thursday night group to see if anyone there can use it.

It looks like I may not get to go to TNNA this weekend. I was hoping to go on Monday so I could meet Clara and catch up with some of the yarn reps I've known over the years. But some scheduling conflicts have occured and I may not be able to go unless we go early on Sunday so I can get back in time to cover the floor at Skein. (Weeping, moaning and gnashing of teeth.)

Worms, and not the chenille kind

I've received two suspicious emails in the last twenty four hours. The first one I wasn't suspicious of until after I read the news about the new worm that is currently flooding the internet. I hope my Norton Anit-virus program caught it and kept it from infecting my computer but I'm not absolutely sure. I talked with my friend Bill who is usually very up on these things and computer stuff in general. He has assured me that I'm probably safe. But I'm not 100% convinced. So far everything seems to be normal but I'm hesitant to send emails for the time being. I'm not even sure if it's safe to leave comments on blogs. I hope so because I left a couple this morning before I thought about it.

I've never lost a post before. I've read lots of other blogs where this has happened. Well, this morning something happened and the post I had been working on just "froze" and I couldn't do anything but reboot. I hope this event isn't connected with the stuff in paragraph one. It may be because I tried to use Blogger's spell check. At least that's when it happened.

I got my car back and it's running better than it ever has. For $1100 it should be, don't you think? I'd love to get a new car but that's just not realistic right now. For that kind of money I could update my kitchen, which it sorely needs.

Anyway, about knitting. I made a lot of progress on Robert's sweater. I'd guess I'm more than 10% done since I finished the first 163 yard skein and according to Sweater Wizard I'm going to use around 1300 yards. I also knit a single wrist warmer. One of my students had a small amount of yarn left over from a scarf. She was too bored to use up all the yarn. She gave it to me and I told her I'd make her a wrist warmer. I thought we were just kidding. She keeps asking me where it is. So I did that last night.

Minimal knitting content

I've done some dumb things in my life but this has got to be one of the dumbest. Patrick the cat has a most needy sort of thing going on. He will only eat if I go stand by him long enough for him to get started. So that's not so bad except he likes to eat at about 6:30 every morning. It doesn't seem to matter how much food is in his bowl. He just needs to have someone standing beside him. I talked with his former provider yesterday and she confirmed that he has always been this way. Now I know why she wanted to find him a new home.

Well, the car repair people just called. Seems I might need a new fuel pump. I've already replaced the battery, the temperature sending unit, the shocks and several other items and still the car is acting like it doesn't want to do its job. Maybe I should just have it washed and trade it in. By the time I get through this round of repairs I will have dished out over $3000 in less than six months. Oops! Just got another call and it's going to be even more. I think I'm going to be depressed later on today.

Now for the minimal knitting content. I spent Saturday night swatching for the sweater I'm making for my friend Robert. So I got started with the actual knitting yesterday when I got home from Skein. I worked for five or six hours and finished the ribbing and a couple of inches of the body. The yarn is very textured and is nearly impossible to photograph. I'll try when I have more done. The sweater is a simple raglan pullover but there are a lot of stitches in an extra large sweater.

I didn't quite finish the first sock and made very little progress on the chenille scarf so my goals for last week were not met, except for the swatches for the sweater. But there was some progress. No new goals for this week.

Coming up short

Last night's knit together was the usual barrel of fun. Actually it's the most relaxing time I have all week. And the whole group was there. I tried a new-to-me short row shaping for the current pair of socks. It was more than a minor disaster. It's been ripped and the heel will be the same ol' square heel that I usually do.

I've been on a search for a short row heel that doesn't look like a botched surgical incision. One of these days I will find it and I'll be happy. I haven't tried toe-up socks so I don't know if a short row heel coming from the other direction would be any better looking. I'll have to get a lot more desperate for a short row heel before I try a toe-up sock. But I'm moving in that direction, by default.

I've been so busy with students this week that I've made almost no progress on my goals for the week. At this point it looks like I'll have to settle for not going in the hole. I've had very little at-home time and most of that has been taken up by playing with Patrick and keeping up with all the blogs. It's a tough life sometimes.

Some photos

Just a couple of things to show right now.



These socks are the ones I finished last Saturday night. Knit with Regia 4 on size 2 dpns, 56 stitches, top down with a standard S1, K1 heel.



The multidirectional diagonal scarf was knit with Brown Sheep Kaleidoscope hand painted cotton. Not sure if it's still available. There's no color card for it in our book at Skein. I used 35 stitches on a size 7US needle. It measures 5" x 72". I used just a little over 3 skeins. I'm going to try a matching hat with the remaining one and a half skeins.

Patrick's vet says Patrick is too fat. You can see why.



He's sleeping and I think he looks like a large turkey waiting to be plucked. So I have cut back on the amount of food he gets everyday. He gives me very pitiful looks. So far though he hasn't eaten everything so he's not starving.

And for the last time!



I had to agree to cropping the photo in order to get one of her wearing it. I'm very pleased with how it looks and she loves it. She wore it to dinner last night and felt it was easy to drive in and was nice and warm. So now I'm truly done with the poncho.

I didn't quite make it to the end of my list of goals for last week. I did finish a pair of socks and one scarf. Was just too busy with students and stuff to get any knitting done at Skein. I think I need to be more realistic about what is possible given the number of hours I'm working. So this week I'm only planning to finish the remaining scarf and the new socks I started this morning. And I'll start some swatches for Robert's sweater.

Moving right along

No pictures yet but I've almost made my goal for the week. One scarf is done, the second sock is nearly there and the second scarf is about half way. I've given myself a deadline and I'm stressing about whether I'm going to make it. I know that several people use their blogs to keep track of their progress and to keep themselves "honest" about getting things done. I think it's a pretty good idea. I've never tried it before. It's working for me but do I really need this stress? I think I can use this as a tool but I need to set some more realistic goals.

I've had fewer students this week than I've been having but I'm expecting a goodly number tomorrow. I had a few folks today that were more or less touching base to see if they're doing okay. And several friends came to just sit and knit. Maybe that's the reason I didn't get as much done today as I thought I would. And I spent a lot of time playing with Pat the cat when I got home.

I've never done any felting so I don't have any hands-on experience with it. Only know what I've read. Anyway, I was asked if a high efficiency washer would provide enough agitation to make the process work. Does anyone know, or at least have an opinion? And what is the most critical element of the felting process?

It's hard to type with a twelve pound cat sitting in your lap.

Same-oh, same-oh

There's a real scarcity of stuff to blog about. I've finished the first of a pair of socks and am about a quarter of the way through the second one. This is the pair I'm determined to finish this week. The two scarves are also moving along at what I hope is a rate fast enough to get them off the needles by the weekend. I'm starting the "bind off" segment of the multi-directional scarf and I am about half way through the chenille diagonal scarf that I started last month. I'll have some photos when these are done.

If I have time I'll do the gauge swatch and work up the pattern for Robert's sweater. I keep putting this off for some reason, probably because I know it's going to be a long but boring knit. Now that everyone else has been the scarf route I'm finding myself drawn to them. I don't even wear scarves and I don't think Lisa does either, or not often.

At any rate, once I finish this week's projects I'll start another pair of socks. I've been re-reading Folk Socks by Nancy Bush. There are several pairs that I fantasize making but I don't seem to get started. And I like this pattern too. I even have the yarn. I think the main reason I don't knit any of the more intricate socks is that I have so much of the self patterning yarn in my stash. I haven't counted recently but I think I have enough sock stash that I could knit a pair every two weeks for a year. Not that I could stick to that schedule.

And I still have a couple of sweaters that I started for myself early last year, or maybe the year before, that I ought to finish. I like them well enough. I just get side tracked. And there's also the Wave and Shell Shawl that Mendy and I are planning to make as a knit-a-long. We didn't get motivated in time to sign up for Rachael's group.

I really should make a list.

Kvetch

Do you remember this yarn?



It's the Sari Silk I bought a few weeks ago. Today I got around to putting it into a ball. What a mess! It is so over twisted that I couldn't use my ball winder. There are plenty of knots and some very thin spots. At $19.00 per skein I expected better quality. I realize it's made from silk leftovers but it looks like they took no pains at all to make it "nice". My feeling is that if you want to break into the US economy you'd better have a good product.

I purchased a kit about three years ago from a company called Himalaya Yarn. It contained yarn made from the floor sweepings in the carpet factories of I think Nepal. It was very crudely made and kept breaking every few feet. So I never bought any more and warned anyone who expressed an interest in it about the poor quality.

I haven't knit with the Sari Silk as yet but I'm not looking forward to it. I'll probably have to let the yarn untwist about every five feet or so. I'm going back to the shop where I bought it next week. I'll see if they've had similar complaints. Oh well, the cat likes it.

I spent part of today ripping nine skeins of Berroco Furz. This was from a super long scarf that one of our customers didn't want. She tried to rip it but didn't have the requisite patience. It wasn't really all that difficult. Somewhat like ripping mohair but no where as tedious. Now I just have to put it away until I decide what to do with it. I'm sort of thinking about this pattern that Rob has been talking about. Not sure if I can get the gauge but it would be easy enough to recalculate.

Poncho plenty!



Here, at long last, is a photo of the completed poncho I started last October. It's been finished for a few weeks but I just got around to having it cleaned and blocked. I tried, very unsuccessfully, last night to get some pictures. They just came out all yellow and sickly looking. This one's too blue but I'm done trying.



This one is a more accurate depiction of the color. I used some 100% Icelandic wool that I've had in stash for at least seven years. I have ten skeins each of the same wool in two other brown tones. I don't think they're gonna become ponchos. Right now I consider myself done with the poncho-a-long and will notify Alison just as soon as I finish this post.

Lisa has seen the poncho in progress and is excited to finally get it. Not that it's really very cold here, and this poncho is very warm! I'll try to get a pic of her wearing it when she comes over next weekend.

Not much else that's news. Still busy and running way behind on most of my projects. Well, technically, I'm not behind since nothing has a deadline other than what exists in my own mind. I will finish two scarves and a pair of socks this week, or else.

I finished the two scarves last night and took them to work today. Now I'm back to working on my own things. I made a lot of progress on the multidirectional scarf tonight while I was at the Thursday night knit together. Two of us were working on them and one person was just trying to get started when we broke up. The fourth is getting ready, just has to find the yarn.

There's not a whole lot to say about today. Just another day in knitting nirvana.

Scarf it up!

It's not as if I had no projects of my own. I have plenty both in the works and in the planning stages. So what am I doing? I'm reknitting a plain ol' scarf for one of my students. It's not plain looking but it's still garter stitch. One strand of Trendsetter Eyelash and one of their Sorbert. She's been working on this scarf since last winter and has made a number of errors both of omission and commission. She had dropped an edge stitch and marked it to be picked up later even though the scarf narrowed noticeably at that point.

I asked her to rip it back and pick up the stitch which she half-heartedly agreed to do. Unfortunately she didn't rip whole rows. So some of the edge stitches were still attached and the yarns were getting almost hopelessly entangled. I couldn't stand it so I took it from her and told her I would fix it. It took a couple of hours over a couple of days to undo the Gordian knot she had created. I actually ended up cutting the yarn off the scarf and straighening it out. Then I ripped maybe seven or eight rows before I found one that looked reasonably correct. I've reknit those and am finishing the scarf with the salvaged yarn. I hope she doesn't have any more yarn at home that she's planning to use. I think I'd better just leave enough yarn to bind off and check with her before I do it. It's a potentially beautiful scarf that's big enough to use as a shawl and I know she has at least $100 tied up in yarn. I don't want her to get discouraged and not finish it as she has with other projects.

When I get this one done I have at least one scarf to knit for my bi-polar student. She got distressed with some yarn she had to have and gave it to me. She's always very generous to me so I will knit the scarf and return it to her. She gave me some more yarn today, two skeins of Trendsetter Vintage, that's she thinks is a jinx to her. This one I'll probably keep for my gift stash. Maybe not.

I'm still working intermittently on the multi-directional scarf. It's so much fun to show it off. I'm about 80% finished with this one and have enough yarn to do one more in the same color way. And there's still the chenille diagonal stitch one that I started a few weeks ago. And the heart motif one from Fiber Trends that I've done one repeat of since I started in back in October.

Patrick, my new pet, seems to be adjusting to his new surroundings. We're getting along very well. I got him some toys today and he played with them this evening, at least until I got tired of retrieving the ball from some place he couldn't reach. His favorite thing to do though is wrestle a bath towel. Still no interest in the yarn or needles. Like a kid, he prefers the bags that things come in.

Mail call

I got a genuine, handwritten card a couple of days ago from Clara Parks of Knitters' Review letting me know that someone, a secret friend, is contributing to my trip to the Knitters' Retreat this year. I'm still not sure who the secret friend is, but I've got a pretty good idea. I'm still amazed at what can happen when you put something out "to the universe" and see it materialize. So just as soon as I know who it is, I'll let you know, provided it's okay with my secret friend. Did I tell you how excited I am to be going to this event?

And then, today, I got a package from Bron that contained a clever row counter she created for use with circular needles. I'm not sure if she's marketing these or not but maybe if you asked she could tell you how to get one. So much better than trying to keep track with one of those Katcha-Katcha thingies or ye olde pencil and paper. Thanks, Bron!

I postponed my dental appointment for today so I could go into Skein earlier than usual. The rep from Rowan/Jaeger, Tahki/Stacey Charles was coming in and Ann Mary wanted me to cover the floor while she looked at the new yarns. That was the plan anyway. All she would have to do was go ring up anything I sold. She spent most of the morning ringing up sales. Such a crowd of yarn hungry shoppers. And I had a couple, make that three, students who came in looking for some reassurance and problem solving. Anyway, Ann Mary got to see most of the yarns but it was pretty hurry-up the whole time. Fortunately the TNNA trade show is coming up at the end of the month so she'll have another opportunity to see what's out there. Did you know that pink was supposed to be big this spring?

I had half a lunch at about 2:30 and Ann Mary had hers right after that. We were both a little delirious by then. Things calmed down for a short while after that and then picked up again around 4:30. There were still a couple of shoppers there when I left at a quarter after 6. Business it booming! Who knows how long this knitting craze will continue. You should have seen the "How do you make a scarf" dance routine that the yarn rep did. One of the reps from a different company is predicting no end to the craze. Personally, I think it will last another year or so. I do think we've created a lot of new knitters. And some of them will continue and become more and more expert. I hope so anyway. So long as "fashion" promotes the look knitting will remain a hot item. After that, we'll just have to wait out the cycle.

Pat, the cat. Or, pet the cat.



Meet Patrick, my new cat. I've been thinking about getting a pet and when one of my students said she needed to find a home for her cat I decided to go ahead. He's about a year and half old, has blue eyes, incredibly soft fur and is very big. He weighed 11.8 lbs. at his last physical, a week ago. He's a lilac point ragdoll. He likes to be petted a lot, especially around 3 in the morning. It's also difficult to get him to pose. (I changed his name from Pickles to Patrick. I'm sure he will like it a lot better.)

Now, about the knitting. I'm still working on the two scarves and have a pair of socks started. I also need to start a sweater for my friend Robert. I gave him the yarn last night when we finally got together for Christmas. He's decided he'd like a raglan pullover, just plain. So I'll do a gauge later today and plug it into Sweater Wizard and get started.

What a difference

a tripod makes. Lisa gave me a tripod for Christmas. I can't get over how much better my indoor photos are. It's very overcast here today so about the only light available was the overhead and the flash. I did use "sharpen" on these photos but I think they would have read pretty well without it.



This is the current multidirectional diagonal scarf. The yarn is Brown Sheep Kaleidoscope that Mendy gave me. I love the yarn and I love making this scarf. The color is actually pretty dark and the color transistions are softer but still a pretty good representation of what the scarf looks like, in progress.



This is a hand dyed yarn from a new company named Steadfast Yarns. I don't know anything about the company except they're in Idaho. The yarn itself is Brown Sheep worsted that they buy and then dye. I got this when I went ot Phebie's last Monday. I think it'll have to be scarves since I only got two of each color.




And this is Sari Silk from Muench Yarns. I got two skeins of this. The other one is a different colorway and I gave it to Mendy. There's 111 yards per skein so this will also become a scarf. The sample they had going at Phebie's was garter stitch on size 17 needles. Felt pretty soft. At $19.00 per hank it's a little pricey. But once in a while it's just the right thing to do. And Lisa will love the color.

I really need to go finish cleaning house and getting ready for work. And if there's time I'll work a little on the scarf. Need to start another project soon but haven't decided what it will be.

Here we go again!

Another Rose Parade has come and gone. I watched a little of it from my bedroom window but it's better on TV. So I just ignored it for the most part. The streets are covered with debris. I guess the city will start cleaning up tomorrow. It's times like these that I really get discouraged with the human race.

So I had a pretty quiet day. I worked on the multidirectional scarf and looked through some knitting magazines. And took a couple of naps. Not really much to report. I just wanted to get the year started.

Year's end

Well, chalk up another one. One more day to get all the things done that I said I was going to get done. Actually, I don't think I have any serious unfinished business. My dentist postponed my final appointment until next week. Most of my holiday shopping got done. I need to clean house, as always. My stash has grown pretty much of its own accord. So this year is ending pretty much like the last one did.

Except. I will stay home this year. I usually leave town to avoid the Rose Parade crowd and all the noise and trash that goes along with it. This year, however, I'll stay home and listen to the radio and do some knitting. Robert, where I usually go for the night, still has the flu and I don't want to take a chance on getting it myself even though he said he was getting well. We'll celebrate Christmas next Sunday, I think.

Phebie's (not Phoebe's) was a fun trip. I got some new yarns and a couple of Rebecca magazines that I didn't have. I'll try to get some photos tomorrow when I have more time. I got a tripod for Christmas, thanks Lisa, so maybe my indoor shots will be better.

Just got home from my weekly knit together. Just three of us tonight but we managed to have a good time. I started another multidirectional scarf using some Brown Sheep handpaint cotton (Kaleidoscope) that is looking pretty cute. Pics to come. We pretty much wiped out a pound of See's candy and two pots of coffee.

The big year end news is that Skein is moving. Probably around the middle of February we'll be in Pasadena. Close enough to where I live that I'll be able to walk there. The property where the shop is currently located has been sold and will become a huge Walgren's shopping center. Or that's what supposed to happen. For anyone familiar with Pasadena the new shop will be at the corner of Walnut and Wilson where Poobah's is at present. Ann Mary likes the little house and she thinks it will look good as a yarn store. I agree that it's a cute building but I'm not so sure about the location. Parking will be a problem, I think, and there are two auto repair shops on two of the other corners. There's a Chabad site on the fourth corner plus some other small businesses. An upholsterer and something that I don't recall.

I've known for a few weeks that Skein was going to move but I didn't know until today where it was going. I'm trying to see the good points of the new location but I'm having some problems. I could say "I just work here" and let it go at that but now Ann Mary is asking me what I think. A little late in the game. I like the house. It's a little funky but that could be a good thing. Except Ann Mary doesn't really understand funky. She planning on removing some sheds and the garage which will create a few parking spaces. Maybe four or five. But she'll need one of those for herself. The area is very easy to get to. It's primarily residential except for the main street. I don't think a muffler repair shop and a transmission replacement center are quite what I'd expect if I were looking for a yarn shop.

So with that, Happy New Year!

Final Sunday of the year

Another busy day but only for three hours! I have a couple of new students, one is six and one is seven. It's a little hard to find the right level in talking with them. I don't want to go over their heads but at the same time I don't want to treat them like they're too young to get it.

The seven year old taught herself the basics from a book so I don't think she's going to be a problem. The six year old is the daughter of one of my regulars. I think she understood the sequence but had a little hand/eye coordination problem. I didn't have enough time with her to really get her going but her mom says she's persistent and is content to sit quietly working at this kind of thing.

Carol and I are planning a trip to Phoebe's tomorrow. That's a needlecraft shop in Montclair, a suburb of the suburbs. (No site that I could find.) I saw their exhibit at the LA County Fair last September. I'm not expecting it to be too much different from all the other shops Carol and I have visited but it will be new to both of us. Carol is on vacation from the school where she works and we try to fit in at least one yarn shop expedition any time she has a week or two off. I'm not looking for anything in particular but if they have some Kureyon in bright colors I could be tempted.

What day is it anyway?

I feel like I've just had two Sundays in a row, and it hasn't even been Sunday yet. Christmas falling on a Thursday just seems weird. I'm still recovering and trying to get reoriented.

Friday at Skein was extremely busy and we weren't even having a sale. Ann Mary doesn't believe in sales or bargain baskets or whatever you call it when there's a basket or bin of one or two leftover skeins. We do get a lot of people asking. One of my cheap thrills is to be able to sell something from the odd lots bins even if it is full price. Anyway, today was a little slower. I had a couple of students and spent some time working on the second half of a pair of socks. Almost done.

I'm not planning to make any New Year's resolutions. Not any new ones. I'm still working on the ones from last year. The one that says I'm going to get organized and get all my WIPs done before I start anything else.

And the other perennial one. The one that says I'm going to start a regular exercise program and be more careful about my diet. Of course, I have to finish all the holiday goodies before I can start that. So far I've had three boxes of cookies and some cheese and crackers. And trying to finish the huge slices of birthday cake that we had for Carol's birthday. Only one piece of that to go. I don't think I'll finish the case of wine and the miscellaneous bottles that I got though.

I got a couple of Vogue Knitting on the Go books. Scarves Two and Bags and Backpacks. The scarves book is quite interesting, more than the first one. There are a number of things in there that would be fun to make. And I could see making some things from the Bag book. Mostly I just enjoy reading the patterns. I'll have to see if there's anything Lisa would like.

One of the last minute gifts I got for Lisa was the Acorn Hat pattern from Fiber Trends and the yarn to make it. I'll need to start that pretty soon as she has a thing going for acorns right now. I have no idea why.

My sorta odd Christmas

I had a quiet Christmas, as in I slept most of it away. I did get down to Lisa's for the morning part just as we had planned. But dinner with Robert was postponed due to his flu. I slept several hours throughout the rest of the day. I'm not getting the flu but I think I'm getting something. Might be a throat or ear infection. Too soon to tell. It just randomly hurts, mostly when I swallow. So anyway I think the extra sleep will do me good.

It was also strange because it rained today. That should be in caps. I don't remember when it last rained on Christmas. It has stopped now but I hear there's a danger of flooding up in the mountains where there were so many forest fires this year. And mud slides!

And then, Lisa's friend John, who always joins us for Christmas morning, was not there today. He's in the hospital for a few days for some tests. So that made it seem like we were short handed.

In spite of the odd things about the day it was still a wonderful holiday. I got a stack of new knitting books that I wanted. So I have plenty of reading and dreaming to do between now and the beginning of the year. Lisa loved the fruit hats that I made for her, especially the strawberry and the grape. They took pictures so maybe I'll have some to post in the near future. Her mom really liked the multidirectional scarf and the hat, both in Kureyon, and the one sock I got done.

I just brought the gifts into the house. It was raining too hard earlier today. So I'm off to leaf through the books. I've been working on a diagonal stitch scarf while waiting for the rain to stop, or at least slow down. And listening to Bach's Christmas Oratorio.

'Tis the season

Flu season, that is. I just had a call that Robert has the flu and will be unable to celebrate Christmas tomorrow. There is an outside chance that he will recover quickly but I kind of doubt it. I'm supposed to get a call tomorrow afternoon to let me know. Robert is not the kind of person who would get a flu shot but we won't talk about that.

I'll still be going to Lisa's for Christmas morning. I'll be taking some quick breads that I made as well as the hastily wrapped gifts.

Skein was busy right up to the last minute. Lots of kids home for the holidays as well as people leaving for ski trips who wanted something to knit on long car rides. I didn't finish the last holiday project. I didn't like how it looked so I've started over and will present it sometime next month.

It's nice to feel completely relaxed and be working on a project that doesn't have a deadline. Not sure what I'll do for dinner tomorrow night but I'll have a good day no matter what.

Merry Christmas!

Guess who's going to Knitters' Retreat next November? I can't begin to tell you how excited I am. I don't know all the details yet but when I do I'll be writing about it. One thing I do know though is this is one very special Christmas gift.

I need to get some more facts before I can really explain how this came about but I do know that a couple of bloggers were involved in making it happen. I'm not naming names just yet but you know who you are. And the person who gave it to me, well, she's more special than I can begin to tell you.

I'm too jazzed to even think about anything else.

I'm just not going to talk about it anymore. I'm done with feeling panic about being ready for Christmas. It is what it is. If people get their gifts in brown paper bags from Trader Joe's that is perfectly all right. I will not put myself through this again, ever. I'm starting my holiday knitting on Christmas day. Well, some of it is for this Christmas.

And, speaking of knitting, I worked on project number six yesterday while I "did my blogs". But that's all I had time for. I still think I can finish. I have a few hours before I have to be at the dentist and then I can also work on it at Skein and tonight at Mendy's. I'm supposed to be fringing the poncho but in a world of shifting priorities that's just not going to happen.

Done, more or less

All I have left to do is wrap everything. Not that I got everything done that I meant to, but enough. There's still a couple of things due in from Amazon but there's still a couple of days to go.

The earthquake this morning was a none too gentle reminder of how subject to change everything is. No damage around here so far as I know, beyond the shattered nerves. We're constantly being warned that "the big one" could come at any time. So even a small quake is enough to trigger a flight response. I didn't actually flee but I did move out from under the chandelier.

Guess I'd better get started on the wrapping. Plus I need to see if the laundry room is available. Since I'm already depressed I might as well pay bills too.

The storm after the lull

Saturday and Sunday were both incredibly busy. There were lines at the register most of the day and I had two tables full of students. As far as I could tell everyone got pretty much what they came for and went away merry. We still have plenty of yarn but a lot of the flashy, glitzy stuff is pretty picked over. And there are a few holes in the needle board, mostly the 13s through 17s. We're out of black in almost everything.

I finished Christmas project number five and have cast on for number six. I should be done with this one tonight or tomorrow. There's still shopping and wrapping to be done and a little more baking. And I need a birthday present for my friend Carol, a Christmas baby, a long time ago. And a dentist appointment on Tuesday. I'm making myself very nervous.

Lull

It was a quiet and slow day at Skein yesterday. So weird after the frantic day on Wednesday. Well, it did allow me time to totally finish holiday gift number four and to knit a few rows on the socks that I may finish in time for another gift.

Looking forward to the days when I'm not under a deadline. I've been reading Nancie Wiseman's Knitted Shawls, Stoles, and Scarves which is a book I got for Christmas last year. My fantasy is to make everything in the book, even the ones that I'm not too crazy about. And maybe not the Autumn Leaves shawl. Way too much intarsia in that one. I've already made the Shoulder Warmer shawl using some stash mohair.

There are a few things in the book that I've never tried. Entrelac and mitered squares, for example. I've done short rowing and lace and slip stitches but I could use more practice. One of the scarves, the Chenille Diagonal Lace scarf, is already on my needles. Just a coincidence. The only difference is the number of stitches.

I'll try to use yarn from my stash as much as possible. It should be easy enough to modify the patterns to fit the yarn available. Anyway, I'm just thinking about it during this lull in the action. Who knows if it'll actually happen?

Oy! my aching hands!

I don't think short circular needles are good for me. Much of my holiday knitting involves the use of some size 7, 16" circulars and my hands are hurting like never before. This may not be the fault of the needles but instead the fault of trying to make too many small, round things. But I am going to power through it and I will reach my goal, if I can stay awake long enough.

We had our Thursday night knit together on Wednesday this week due to a scheduling conflict on the part of the hostess. Not that she didn't try to get it changed but she was outvoted. Anyway, it was fun and relaxing as always. I didn't do the fringing I had planned to do because I think I need to steam the yarn first so the fringe doesn't look like a band of dried out spaghetti. Instead, I worked on one of the above mentioned round things. (Next week we'll have Thursday on Tuesday.)

When I got home, after checking what had happened during the day, I started number five project and tried to stay awake long enough to listen to all of Judas Maccabeus but was only able to get through about half of it. I do like my local classical station but I wish they'd start these long pieces a little earlier than midnight. Tonight it's going to be The Chanukah Story narrated by Leonard Nemoy (instead of Theodore Bickel) so that will be neat. And it's starting at eight.

I had more students than you could shake a needle at yesterday. Most everything was easy to demonstrate and everyone went away with progress. But, oh, it was crowded and noisy. I guess it was all the chocolate combined with all the last minute frenzy of holiday knitting. I think it makes Ann Mary nervous when people start having too much fun. Must be the high school principal syndrome she carries.