Extravayarnza

Thanks to Trent, knitting has been a bit slow here.
I've managed to knit about half a sleeve on the Dutchicans sweater...

I found some super cute buttons!

I also started the toe on my second Iris Garden sock. (yep, a few of you six soxers have a pair before I do) That's at the store, so no picture tonight (not much to look at yet anyways)

BTW the squeamish should stop reading now...

So, my vote for the most painful spot to get a cat scratch (and trust me I have some scars in odd places so I consider myself an expect on this subject) and this goes double for knitters...

This was taken after 4 days of healing. I can finally bend my finger without it breaking back open & the blood under the skin has pretty much cleared up. Despite what the picture looks like... this is a very deep cut.

I think I may be up to more knitting starting tomorrow. I knit continental, so this cut managed to completely destroyed my knitting capabilities. What a week I have had.
Meanwhile... It's 1AM and my mom still isn't back from the Red Hot Chili Peppers concert (the one I missed to have my mind assaulted with 6 days of ABBA). At what point do I start worrying?

Well...
I have some big news for those of you here in Lansing. You soon will be able to find Claudia's Handpaints, Regia Sock yarn, Nashua, and Rowan at my shop!!!
I can't even convey how happy this makes me. I've never even knit with any of these lines!
My big decision right now is whether I'm knitting a sweater out of Creative Focus worsted first or out of Rowan Tapestry. (Of course the first line of business will be knitting myself a pair of Regia Silk socks... the rep had to practically pry the poor sample ball out of my hands.)

BTW can I just say that having great reps is one of the things that makes running a yarn shop so much fun. As much as I liked our rep this morning for being honest & fun to work with but... all the ladies who stopped by on Tuesday morning said that Thom can come back any time. (I almost feel sorry for him, they spotted him from the car ) I totally agree with them but that's a whole other can of worms.

So, I still haven't got much to show for knitting, but I do have a swap questionnaire to answer. So here's yet another round of questions! This time for the Handspun Sock Yarn Swap.

Do you prefer sock yarn that is a solid color, variegated, or striping?
I can like each for a different thing... I love color work especially using a multicolor yarn with a solid. I love socks with all sorts of quirks and details, so sometimes a solid is called for or sometimes a multi can best show off the way the stitches are being distorted.

What are your favorite colors & are there any colors that you do not like?
Socks are pretty much an anything goes. I like purples and greens best. The only pair of socks I've knit that I don't love are my STR X-mas Rock sock (AKA the fugly socks). I guess combining fluorescent yellow, peach, red, and a deep green just isn't pleasing to my eye (despite this fact they happen to be the socks I'm wearing right now so, go figure)

How long have you been spinning & knitting?
I've been spinning on a drop spindle for around 4 years now, I've only had my wheel since August.
I learned how to knit in 4th grade & got really serious about it about 6 years ago.

Do you have any fiber allergies or preferences?
My only fiber allergy that may come into play for this swap is Angora. I can wear it, but not for socks. I'm also very allergic to acrylic, but I'm thinking there isn't to much of a chance you'll be spinning with that.
I only ask for something rather soft. I love wool, but things like Icelandic wool still make me itch.
Feel free to get creative with the fiber content if you wish.

Are you willing to hand wash your socks or are you a machine wash only knitter?
I'm steadily growing a 'hand wash only' collection of socks, so I'm happy either way.

Do you have any favorite candy or treats?
I love chocolate. Especially white & milk chocolate.

Anything else you’d like to share with your pal?
Have Fun!

Okay,
I took a night for myself last night & decided that I'd skip blogging for a night. Which means I've got a bit to cover today because for the first time all week I've really been knitting!

First off, I finished the sweater for the Dutchicans. We'll have to convince Kristi to give us the cute baby in sweater pictures in a few months. In the mean time here's the not so exciting baby sweater sans baby pictures...

& the little button I added along the waist band.

The buttons are all for show. They are very securely sewn on & the two closest to the neck have snaps behind them that open up the neck line to expedite the stuffing of the child into the sweater.

Now I just have 2 hats & a pair of booties to knit in about 2 weeks...

I also started my second Iris Garden sock the day before I got hurt. So, today I picked it up and almost got through the end of the foot.

Hi,
Okay, so there seems to be some misconception going about that Alpaca with a Twist Fino is a fingering weight yarn. I will warn you upfront this may turn into a bit of a rant, but I'll try to keep it as polite as possible.
The main cause of this problem is the CYCA yarn standard system. This was a wonderful idea. Giving each size yarn a number and then if it's on the ball band & on the pattern it would be super simple to substitute yarns. Unfortunately when they divided yarn sizes up they only made  6 distinctions. Therefore Lace weight & fingering are the same category. (In fact my favorite one is that all yarn from 4 to 5 stitches  per inch is classified as worsted & that can really throw you a curve ball when attempting a sweater pattern)
So, while watching over a discussion about what to substitute for Fino when knitting dragon shawl I wasn't too surprised to see this issue since Alpaca with a Twist does use the CYCA sizes on their ball bands. I promise you, Fino isn't a Fingering weight.

To help prove my point I have a photo comparison.
(I put the photo in B&W to eliminate color distortion)

So, the top yarn is Jaggerspun Merino 5,040 yards per pound. Definitely a true lace weight
Next is Alpaca with a Twist Fino 4,000 yards per pound. Still a pretty true lace weight, especially since alpaca is heavier than wool, so the yards per pound is generally less for the same yarn weight. (I measured the WPI as 21-22)

I couldn't find any Trekking at the moment I was taking the picture, but it's one of the thinnest sock yarns and is still only 2,112 yards per pound. That's a huge jump from Fino!

Lorna's Laces Shephard Sock is next at 1,965 yards per pound.
And finally Socks that Rock light weight rings in at 1,355 yards per pound.

I hope that comparison speaks for itself and will help some of you who are looking to substitute. I used an old Grinasco yarn that was a bit too light (defiantly a cobweb lace weight), but it still showed the pattern nicely. I think that Zypher or Helens Lace would both be nice substitutes. I had about 1500 yards of my yarn and still had a good sized ball left after knitting the dragon shawl.

I think I figured something interesting out. It's not good luck or bad luck. It's how you react to the world around you. I don't think the last few days have been that much better than last week (in fact I found out that my last connection coming back from Seattle was rescheduled to 4 hours before my plane gets to the airport... obviously not going to work, but they said they'll fix it the first week in January so I'm not stressing). The secret is just that I'm back to being a duck.
Time to picture Rae being really odd bouncing her feet around singing~
*Twas just a little bit of luck that I was born a baby duck
With yellow socks & yellow shoes so I can go where ever I choose
Quack quack quack quack quack Quack quack quack quack quack*
No seriously I pride myself on my duckiness.
Stress & bad stuff just rolls off my back (like water on  a ducks back). I just go through life splashing around having a good time.
Warning... jumping tracks here momentarily...
I do have a pattern for adult size duck feet socks. I always have wanted to knit them! Got to love 80s knitting books...

Okay back to the whole good mood thing. Maybe it was just a change in the weather. Sunday when I went to work the sun was just shinning. One of the most ideal beautiful days ever! I could have laid out by the pond for hours (much better than being inside a windowless cinder block building). In my mind I was out there by the pond all day.

Did I mention that I just discovered that I have Alanis Morissette, Jagged Little Pill on my iTunes. That's some feel good music!

I also finally am having a good round of Secret Pal!
My SP9 pal send me a fantastic package today.

The sock yarn is soft & absolutely gorgeous. I'm totally in love with the yarn. There's over 500 yards there so I'm thinking knee socks. Plus there was lip gloss with no artificial crud in it, both hot chocolate & white hot chocolate (how did she know that white hot chocolate is my favorite!), some tropical drink mix, a magazine, and more chocolate! I'm blown away. Thank You so Much!!!

I also am zipping along on my second Iris Garden sock. If I remember to bring it with me tomorrow I may even finish it up.

I'm trying to decide what to write across the front of this one. My plan was to put my name in (RAE), but I'm leaning toward maybe ZEN or KNIT. Maybe I'll go see which letters look coolest and find a way to use them all. (I swear I haven't been drinking tonight... Just letting my guard down a little too much).

Last thoughts, tomorrow is going to rock! I'm voting on my way to work. Tomorrow night... The political ads stop! It has been just stupid the last day or two. Tonight I saw a Granholm ad, then a De Vos ad, then another Granholm ad, then one more De Vos ad all right in a row. I'm voting for the end of political ads.

But seriously, Go Vote!!!! It's important, I don't care what party your for or what you find important. The important thing is to use your chance to be part of the system. If that's not good enough chew on this. If the person who you don't like wins at least you can then say "Don't look at me, I voted for the other guy!" This phrase really helped me out in Europe right after Bush was reelected. (I was there the week they renamed French fries, Freedom Fries.)

BTW, expect to hear Alanis Morissette tomorrow at the store. I'm really grooving to it

Okay, I voted.... Your Turn!

Interesting conversation in line~
Chatting about knitting with the next person in line... started out great with her passively insulting me (those needles cost you how much?) Luckily it went a bit better from there when the conversation went to charity knitting & the whole yarn shop thing got brought up.
Then she threw an interesting comment to me
"We like to patronize small yarn shops when we can" (used the pronunciation that usually means to be condescending pat ron ize rather than pa tron ize)

I had to stare at her a few moments to realize she meant to say that word a little different and that she wasn't insulting me again.

I guess we can blame this one on the English language. We have 2 words that are spelled the same & pronounced very similarly but that have very different meanings. Go Figure!

Okay, yeah I'm posting again... for like the 4th time in 24 hours.
But you all need to see this.
I'm doing a bit of a fancy day this Sunday. Fancy enough that I got a new dress & shoes... the whole deal. I'm even fretting about what I'm going to do with my hair!

First were going to see The Barber of Seville at the Detroit Opera Theatre. This is a big full blown opera event!
Check out the guy from the ad~

Yep! They will be traveling to East Lansing to perform this opera Nov 21st. Don't you need to see him this show.

After the show we will be having the fanciest dinner. I never thought I'd eat at someplace so nice. Luckily the menu is online so I could plan in advance.
We're eating at The Whitney.

You need to see this menu to believe it.
I'm thinking of starting with a Field of Greens Salad and then having either the Roasted Frenched Chicken Breast or the Roasted Lamb Chops for the main course. I'm not the one paying so I have to decide how guilty I'd feel for ordering one of the more expensive options, but they sound so good. It will probably go down to seeing what everyone else is ordering.

It should be a lovely day. I'm going with my mom, her significant other, and his son who is my age (and going to some impressive school for some impressive degree).

My big prep work will be altering my dress so my chest isn't quite so visible & walking in high heeled shoes for a few hours Saturday so I don't make a complete fool of myself.

One more thing... I have long mostly straight brown hair. It's very fine and doesn't have body. Is a bun acceptable? Should I attempt to make it curl? Should I wake up early and head down to the beauty institute to let them worry about it? Any suggestions!!

We've been getting in lots of new stuff at the store lately. Cool Books, new colors of Know Knit bags, fun fall yarn... unfortunately since my barcode generator only works on Mac that means all the price tags are made at night. So, no knitting news tonight. I'm tired.
The good thing is that I got all the little micro adjustments to get the new printer to print just perfectly on the stickers. That's the worst part about a new printer. The old one had gotten more and more off center over time & when we got the new printer I forgot about all the changes & ruined the first batch of price stickers. Tonight I managed to get all the kinks worked out.

I started a scarf for Sunday & I'm going to tell you more about it tomorrow. The pattern is really lovely, but with all the work for tomorrow putting everything away, I no longer am so confident about finishing it in time. But I had second thoughts about my shawl & could make it work if I had to.

Yes, I do knit. In fact I've been knitting and knitting on a lace scarf. I lost a day due to work stuff (yes that evil work...). Tonight I got within a few rows of what should be the center. My worst fears were concerned when I saw that it's way short (actually longer that the pattern, but still way short). I'm going to have to do an extra repeat.
I'm totally loving this pattern & the yarn. The pattern was designed by a knitter who lives near me! Go check out the much better picture on the Fiber Trends site~
I'm using Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk DK and as written it will take 4 balls, 5 to add an extra repeat.
So, here's my pathetic attempt at photographing a black alpaca lace scarf at 1 in the morning.

It's a much deeper black, but I had to notch up the brightness to show the pattern at all.

So, here's the cool event of the night. I've felt like I really need to stand up for myself lately & I got fed up enough to actually call the police on someone in my neighborhood (technically on their landscapers). When they left for the night they parked their big flat bed trailer in the street. Not just at the curb, but at an angle sticking way out into the road. It had no lights, reflectors, or any other visibility aids. Everyone I talked to only was able to see it at the last moment & had to swerve to miss it. So, I called the police dept. & they sent parking enforcement over. An hour later I drove by and the trailer was gone! I feel very good about this. (Of course before I bothered them I asked my brother who is a future cop & he assured me this was a legitimate complaint)

Hopefully the landscapers got the point. They've been there for 2 weeks often parking big equipment on both sides of our subdivision road (the only way in or out of the neighborhood). A car can barely squeeze through & you're in constant fear that something big will fall or a piece of large equipment will pull out in front of you. They don't exactly look to see if anyone's coming before rushing into the road. I'm going to do a big happy dance when they're done.

So, I had to slow down last night. I've been letting myself get so stressed out the last few weeks. I actually got upset enough on Friday to make myself physically sick. So, my rule for the next weeks until I see my Doctor is that I need to stay calm, be the duck (see a post about a week ago if you didn't get that one...), the calm pond, visualize myself in my happy place (on a lake up in the mountains), what ever it takes. The deadline knitting (chart riddled black lace scarf) just had to go on the side lines. I can't handle a deadline right now. I also can't handle knitting that particular project at the moment.
So, what to knit?
I found my most pleasurable knitting projects, decided to use those magic words like Alpaca, silk, and cashmere & I became the finisher!
(lots of pictures in the rest of the post... just to warn you)

First off, I finished my Cashmere thrummed mittens~

Yarn: 2 balls of Louisa Harding Grace (Wool/Silk) & 1oz of brown cashmere from Ashland Bay (the best cashmere roving I've found... so soft!)

Pattern: Thrummed Mittens from My Bagatelle

I love these mittens! I wore them all day today. Can you tell which one was finished a month ago & had been tried on by God know how many customers & which one was finished Friday? I'll be so happy when they both have that lovely cashmere halo.

Then I dug into some new products & knit these little dragonfly adorned wrist warmers~

Yarn: Elsabeth Lavold Silky Cashmere (55% silk 45% cashmere... this is a truly magic combination!) 1 skein made a pair with leftovers.

Pattern: wrist warmers from E. Lavold Book #10

In fact I liked them so much I made a second pair out of Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk Aran~

These are for Sunday (the big Opera & dinner). You can see that I actually painted my nails to coordinate with my shoes. I know my wrists get warm & then that causes my tendinitis to flair up so I needed some fancy warmers that went with my outfit. Today I also found these fab 100% cashmere gloves with little cables on the cuffs. The best part is that the fingers aren't too long for my hand. If you can see in the picture above, I have freakishly short hands. Here's a better view of the accessories for tomorrow.

I love the whole thing... Aren't those shoes so cute. I even like the purse. My dress has a beaded ribbon belt, so the purse really picks it up. I'm looking forward to a big day.

My big finished project is my Iris Garden socks!!!

Yarn: My Amber sock yarn in Dahlia & the yarn my dye-o-rama pal dyed for me using a machine knit blank (this yarn inspired my Iris Garden colorway)

Pattern: My Own! Iris Garden socks, pattern currently only available through the Six Sox Knitalong on Yahoo Groups.

What can I say. I love the socks, how couldn't I? I did better keeping the leg loose on the second sock so it goes over my heel better & the pattern distorts less when I where it.

Why put YES! on the second sock?

1~ I need something to help me remember to stay calm & happy. YES! is a very positive message.

2~ There were three letters I really wanted to use in my alphabet chart, K Y S. I figured out that YES was a pretty good way to at least use 2 of the 3. (KEYS could have used all three, but would have made even less sense)

I needed some portable knitting for the ride to and from Detroit tomorrow, so I cast-on for a new pair of socks~

This yarn rocks! Meet 'Karma's a Bitch' from Scout's Swag. I'm going to knit myself some toe-up knee socks. That will really cheer me up.

I'm so tired. Today was absolutely fabulous & so much fun. Barber of Seville was so funny. I think that if you're interested in going to an Opera it is probably a very good first opera. It's only about 2 hours long, it's very funny, you'll recognize several of the pieces, and no... there are no large ladies wearing Viking hats.
Dinner was delicious, the company was entertaining, and I didn't fall off my shoes.

I even got a bit of knitting done in the car~

Nothing wrong with bringing a bit of Karma with you!

Okay, I have a bit more to say, but first I need to ask my family (that's you Mom) not to read the rest. No, it's not juicy or anything...

Okay,
First off... sorry to disappoint you all but no photos were taken Sunday of us all dressed up. It was a hectic day & pictures just didn't happen.

But, I tonight I did get a chance to break out a toy I purchased a few weeks ago. My new light box!

Now, I know they're easy & cheap to build, but I don't have room to store one made out of PVC or a cardboard box. So, I purchased one of those collapsible Nylon ones off ebay.

I think it still works pretty well, my favorite photo so far is my mom's Yarn Aboard goodies~

I only am using the overhead light in the room & one compact fluorescent lamp. For the record the backgrounds that come with the cheap light boxes are completely useless. I went and got myself a few nice art papers at Michaels.

We also got the new Pink Denise kits in today. Part of the profits are going to an excellent Breast Cancer research charity (they pay their own running costs, so all the donations go right to research!)

Plus, don't they just look so pretty in pink?

(if you already have a kit & want pink cables they also released the accessory kits & longer cables in pink!)

Okay,
It's the time of year that I have to figure out a few things & provide a wish list for the family. To make it a bit easier to get it to them I'm posting it here. Feel free to peak if your interested....

Okay,
I just need to show you all my Funky socks! They are turning out so cool.

This is probably the closest to the actual color I've photographed so far. I totally love these socks. It's hard to tell here, but the leg is spiraling in the opposite direction than the foot (because I tightened up a bit on the yarn & made the gauge a bit smaller). As I increase up the leg the spiral should come to a standstill & head back the other direction. How cool will that be! Just embrace the pooling, with a bit of tension control you can be it's master & bend it to your will.
Of course I'm also pretty happy with how the two sides of the short row heel lined up. It almost looks like it was meant to match.

Now, I am going to mention for Scout that this was a 'happy accident' skein (hence the name Karma's a Bitch) & her yarn doesn't usually pool like this. I think she was a bit surprised by how it knit up (happy accident... remember). Although, she is fantastic at recreating colorways & I bet if you asked her really nicely she might dye up a skein just for you. You can read the story behind the colorway over at her blog.

I'm really excited about my new piece in my painting class. This is the first painting that I've wanted to do (I'm a pastelist at heart, so this is a big step for painting).
The assignment is 'Adopt an Artist'. In this particular case it entails choosing an abstract artist, spending some time studying them to find out who they are/were, what was going on that influenced them, and why their painting look the way they do, then finally painting a painting in their style.
Since I'm a big fan of non-objective art & the Bauhaus movement I choose Wassily Kandinsky. In particular I'm basing my painting on his work during the Bauhaus movement.
Technically this piece is from a few years after he left Bauhaus, but it's a good example of the feel I'm going for~

1936-Counter Gravitation      Kandinsky

I'm concentrating on the colors gray, black, white, and red & am making use of his favored shapes; the circle, half circle, and the line.

So today I got to work on my huge canvas (36x48" certainly the biggest thing I've ever painted).

I layed in a graduated background & began adding the shapes. I wasn't adventures enough tonight to tackle the circles, but I got some good advice from my instructor & I'm looking forward to Monday's class!

2006 - the beginnings of my painting based on Kandinsky

It's a bit hectic here in casa Rae right now. Thanksgiving is almost here & this year that means more people in our home than ever before. Our Thanksgiving dinner is going to be a mind blowing 15 people strong (huge for our house... we have 2 dining room tables (don't ask... long story) & still had to borrow folding tables to seat everyone).
Getting ready for the holiday has to mostly be done by tomorrow night. We didn't expect to host this year so no one has the week off. Mum has been attempting to limit the amount of cat hair coating everything, shopping for the big meal,& figuring out where to put unnecessary furniture to allow us room for everyone (and all those other pesky cleaning things). My big job was to both remove my stuff into my living quarters & to limit the amount of visible yarn stash as much as possible.

I still found some time to knit. Friday I finished knitting for the dutchicans & sent the gifts on with Sarah for the baby shower. I love wrapping so I went all out for these special babies!

Of course Kristi was much busier than I on Friday producing two adorable little boys. Go Kristi! and welcome to the world little Dutchicans.

Also, since I last posted I've produced an insane amount of footwear.

It was all sparked on Thursday (the day of much rain here in Lansing) when I stepped into a big puddle while dodging cars, soaking my socks & my shoes. I found some unmatched socks to wear the rest of the day at work, but went shoeless for the day. This reminded me that I never knit the felted clogs from Fiber Trends. What a useful thing to have for cold days at the shop!

I knit pair number 1 between 3 and midnight on Thursday. Then I got a wee bit distracted during felting & ended up with this...

I should have put my foot in for scale, but it's at least an inch too short. For the record I knit them with a double strand of Nature Wool after one cycle they were just a bit too big. I meant to leave them in for just a few more minutes, but the next thing I knew it was rinsing. My bad. I'm going to needle felt on this pair & put them on display at the store.

Friday was all about angora booties! I'll have to try to remember to take a picture of them because they're so cute! They turned out well which healed my ego a bit...

Then today I went in for round 2 on the felted clog quest. This time with a yarn called Andes (about a heavy worsted 4sts/inch) held with a strand of Baby Alpaca. I also went up a needle size just to help give myself a bit more to work with.

They're a bit bigger this time to begin with so I'm thinking that equals a better shot at me not f....ing up the felting. I also like the color & feel of these better.

I got a clog & a half knit on this pair & if these go well I'm also going to knit myself a pair of moccasins from felted knits. I need some slippers that won't fall off when I walk up and down stairs. My current clog slippers are just about killing me in the morning.

Blogging might be a bit spotty over the next week. Just to be on the safe side I want to wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving & please enjoy your time with your families.

They fit. How much more is there than that?

So, a few good notes & hints. I was using the 'new' version of the pattern. Fiber Trends is redoing all their patterns in a new format that doesn't come in page protectors and are just a bit to big to fit in a standard binder. In the case of this pattern they also made a few tweaks to the pattern. Mainly to give it a more slender fit. I highly recommend knitting the optional extra rows to make the wide or even extra wide version. I'm glad I did & I don't have a wide foot.

I knit the Womens Medium size. I didn't knit the 'bumper' when attaching the two soles because I'm adding the slipper bottoms.

Yarn: 1 hank of Andes in color 3 & 2 balls of Alpaca w/ a Twist, Baby Twist in color 1003. I used 1 strand of each held together throughout the whole slipper. Oddly enough, I only had a yard or two left of my 220 yards of alpaca, but I have a small ball of the 165 yards of Andes. The alpaca was used up much faster.

Needles: I used 10 1/2 needles (24" & 16"). I knit very loose & was quite happy with the resulting gauge.

Felting: They felted to fit in about 12 minutes. This was fairly quick for my washing machine.

I am planning on adding the fiber trends slipper bottoms to these. A nice warm pair of clogs is just what I need for the store & I'm looking forward to wearing these!

Next felting project: I'm going to figure out how to make the moccasins from Felted Knits fit me. I didn't see till today that the pattern is only sized for kids & men. I'm hoping to knit the smallest men's size & felt it down.

I also wrote most of my class notes for my upcoming class.
I'm teaching "Design Your Own Christmas Stocking" on Dec 2 & 9 (sat 1-3pm)
The idea is that I've written a basic stocking pattern for worsted weight yarn.  The pattern is both written & charted. You get to color in the chart to create your own design. We talk about different ways to create a color pattern & I have ideas for everyone from a fairly new knitter on up.
As I write the class notes I'm getting more & more excited about this class. So far I have 3 knitters signed up, but I'd love to have a few more if anyone's interested!
My stocking from my Grandma was the basis for the class & for the pattern. The pattern was lost long ago and I feel the need to continue the tradition.

I've had a full day... I hope yours were all filled with food & family.

We had a big family get together. A grand total of 15 people & 4 generations. We would have had about 20, but some of the menfolk were having the more manly festivities at the Lions game. You would not believe how fast my cats disappeared as soon as those kids walked into the house. They went to that super special hiding space that they can hide in for hours without you ever finding them ( no matter what you bribe them with or where you search). Now we're all settled in for the evening & relaxing a bit.

My other excitement right now is working on our local production of The Nutcracker. This entailed over 14 hours at Wharton Center wednesday, another 14 Friday, plus shows on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. Add that to working at the store Saturday & Monday, a second Thanksgiving meal on Sunday night, and class Monday night. Please excuse me if you don't hear from me too much over the next few days.

Yesterday I luckily had some down time to knit. My socks are mere inches from being finished! (the first one at least)

Our break room for the weekend is actually pretty posh, we even have a small couch.

I also started a last minute entry for Norovember. Just a Silk Garden scarf. 2 rows in each of two colors in a 2x2 rib. This was great knitting for a family day. Almost mindless...

One last little thing. Our local knitting guild had a sale night this week. I was there representing my store & had a wonderful time! I also picked up a special little cone of yarn from another local shop.

It's Habu Silk Stainless Steel. This was on my list of cool yarns I want to use in my book. The problem now is finding some inspiration for a mens knit in this lace weight yarn... ( I already thought of lots of knits for me, but all way to feminine for the book) I guess it gets to sit out looking pretty for a while!

A Toast to the end of a long hard weekend & to a well earned day off!

So, as many of you know I had a hard weekend. I worked a bunch of 14+ hour days, had a fun bonus Thanksgiving dinner, and topped it off with a 5am wake up call this morning.

Nutcracker was fun. I will be looking forward to working it again next year. It's really nice to work in the theatre a few times a year. Nothings better to just give me a bit of energy (well, all but that early morning show today). The kids & parents really were just terrific & since I hadn't seen Nutcracker in probably 10+ years sitting through a few shows was a breeze.

I did find some knitting time.... My 'Karma's a Bitch' socks grew just a tad~

I had no scale with me at Wharton, so I got a bit nervous about how much yarn I was using. The longer sock is on stitch holders & I'll knit the second sock up to that point to see how yarn usage looks. I'm hoping to add about 2 inches of 1x1 ribbing to the length of the first sock.

I also started a new pair of socks today now that I can knit in something other than complete darkness (that second sock was knit completely backstage except for the heel!). Luckily Theresa released her Whiskers & Paw  Prints sock pattern.

This is a fun technical pattern filled with her terrific little details. I especially love the cat paw for the toe. I cast-on with the lovely Claudia's Handpainted sock yarn. I noticed in my swatch this weekend that this yarn simply doesn't pool. You'd need to knit a sock with like 130 stitches around to make this yarn pool. Totally cool! In fact each color is only used once per repeat, but it lasts for about 2/3 of a round. It's working really well for the stranded 'cat whisker' stitches on this sock.

Unfortunately I did have one tiny issue with the yarn. After knitting the picot cuff & 2 repeats of the stitch pattern I noticed my hands were completely purple! I still haven't gotten it completely scrubbed off. So, I reskeined the hanks & started washing...

A half dozen washings & a vinegar soak didn't do the trick, so into the microwave it went!

My sock got to just hang out for 10 minutes until the dye was exhausted~

Now, as a dyer I understand how difficult it is to get the dye exhausted in this saturated of a colorway. I doubt this is an issue in most of her yarns. If you ever have this sort of trouble in any wool (or any animal) based yarn it's really easy to solve. Soak for a while in a water and vinegar bath (I used about a half cup of vinegar in a sink of water). Then place in  a glass dish lightly covered with plastic wrap. Microwave in 2 minute intervals until the water at the bottom of the dish is clear. Then let it completely cool & rinse.

I love this sock pattern with this yarn. The picture at the top of the post shows how far I got tonight.

So, I have Tuesday off & I know I'm looking forward to a trip to Ikea and a bit of rest! Then time to get back to my absolutely wonderful routine.

I have no knitting worth showing you today, so I'm going to attempt to distract you with the fruits of my trip to Ikea & our fresh cut Christmas tree.

So, we dumped out the back door planted this tree about 7 or 8 years ago. It was a sickly looking seedling that came free with our Christmas tree. It turns out that the thing lived & loved it's spot just a few feet from our back door. Well, little white spruce grew up & up & should have been cut down last year... now he's just a bit to big to fit in the house. I guess we have some more trimming to do. (don't worry I've planted several trees in the last few years in parts of the yard that are large enough to support them).

One thing many of you probably don't know about me is that I grew up on a Christmas Tree farm. Well... we grew Christmas trees... we moved before any of them got even close to a respectable size. Still, I remember summers of our assembly line like planting. Dad digging the ditch, mom walking behind popping in the seedlings, my brother & I kicking in the dirt and stomping it down. I also remember walking behind the tractor picking up rocks, but with slightly less fondness. So, the point of the story is that, despite growing up on a Christmas tree farm this is our first home grown tree! Now mom & I just need to hash out which set of ornaments to use... her Hallmark or my glass.

We took a day off today to drive down to Ikea. I had a special shopping list for the store & some exciting things are brewing in our store room. Also, the pattern section is being reorganized! Our big surprise today was the small business displays scattered about the store. We spotted a check out counter that is so perfect for the store~

Were hoping that some version of this counter will be gracing our store (maybe in the spring?) I love the red lacquer finish & that little glass display section in the front!
I stocked up on candles... lots of candles.

They had all these lavender pink & purple tea lights. Plus, I had been just placing tea lights right on my table so I invested in some pretty tea light & votive holders.

When I lived in my apartment I did pretty good keeping house plants (mostly Hoya plants). I had a big east facing window. I don't have great lighting here, but I decided to give it another go around. Meet my little succulent plant in his pretty blue glass pot (I'd love to know more specific information if anyone can identify him! My best guess is that it's a member of the crassula genus).

I spent so long choosing a plant. At first I was leaning toward an Aloe (also a succulent I've found out, as is Jade which is another plant I'd like to try growing). This little guy was hiding in the back of the bottom shelf. When I saw the 2 stalks ready to bloom there was no more contest, he won. Maybe he'll be easier to identify once the blooms open up?

Wish us luck~

Rest In Peace little cable modem. You served us well.
Please excuse your broken shell being thrown into the wall, he was taken with grief & know not what he was doing.
Your death has left us with a larger than expected void in our lives. Who knew we were now incapable of living without you. That we'd stoop to such depths as mooching in on our neighbors unprotected wireless network.
Today marked a frantic search for a replacement, sadly yes you are replaceable. With any luck Internet access will soon be resurrected in our household & regular blogging can resume later tonight.