Extravayarnza

A week or so ago I picked up fabric for new curtains at Ikea. I really shouldn't say new... They are 'replacing' my currently non-existent curtains. Lets just say thank god I know of no peeping toms in my neighborhood.
So, anyways, I spent my free time yesterday & today sewing up curtains for my two windows. I had a bit of challenge because Ikea seems to think that people want 18" wide fabric with the sides pre-hemmed. My windows are 34" wide, so I had to add side panels. I also didn't want to get rid of the old seams, so the overlapping area did get a bit bulky. However, they're curtains! I think they can be a bit oddly put together as long as they block the morning sun & look decent with my decor.

I love them! The photo was taken in the door to the class room, not at my home. However, my walls are a gray colored cement. I have lots of purple & green plus some Indian & African inspired wall hangings, so I think they will look good when I hang them up tomorrow. I really went all out with these curtains, all the edges are enclosed & the curtains are lined.

Not as fancy as Grumperina's mitered corners, but quite practical.

My cats were in a photographic mood this morning, so here are some cute cat photos.
Trent being a bad kitty!
Siouxsie catching a nap in the sun.

BTW check back this weekend for a big shop update. I'm adding a shopping cart, 3 new patterns, knitting bags, new colors of self-striping sock yarn, plus some extra bonus items!

I've updated the shop with my new knitting bags,
The Knitters Messenger & The Knitters Mini
A Knitting bag designed by a knitter for knitters.
I have spent years searching out the perfect knitting bag.
It needs room. It needs pockets for all my stuff. It needs a bag my project won't fall out of. It needs enough depth that a ball of yarn will sit flat on the bottom. It needs to be sturdy enough that my needles don't poke through it. It needs a million other picky things I can't think of at this minute.
Oportunity knocked when I was participating in a swap and needed to make a bag. I seached out a tote bag pattern, super cute fabric, and whipped one up. Then requests starting comming in for me to make more. I looked at my favorite bags, thought about how I wished they were differnt, and the Knitter's Messenger was born!
The Knitters Messenger
Big enough for any project you can throw at it. I folded up a chunky throw and carried it to a play in one of these! But it sits confortably at the waist for easy carrying.
14.5" wide * 10.5" tall * 4" deep
The strap is 2" wide & approx. 45" long
2 pocket on the flap, 1 pocket on the end, 1 divided pocket on the front, & 1 divided pocket in the inside
Totally free from yarn hazards such as zippers, velcro, sharp objects, or fraying edges.
The bags are completely lined with all edges concealed.
The Knitters Mini
The Miniture Messenger is designed for your small projects like socks or a lovely lace scarf. The side pocket is the perfect size to fit a credit card for those yarn emergencies. The divided pocket inside can carry all those little notions, crochet hooks or short double point needles.
9" wide * 6.5" tall * 4" deep
The strap width varies by fabric & is approx. 45" long
1 pocket on the end & 1 divided pocket on the inside
Totally free from yarn hazards such as zippers, velcro, sharp objects, or fraying edges.
The bags are completely lined with all edges concealed.

As a side note:
I popped in the DVD of Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy while I was getting the shop updated.... Just to kinda watch out of the corner of my eye.
As I caught bits of it I was a bit confused.
~It seemed to follow the books better than I remembered.
~I didn't recognize the actors
~It was way more campy than I seemed to recall
~And it kept playing credits in the middle of scenes.
About an hour & a half into it I realized what happened (now remember I was only half watching so give me a break here) I put in the DVD of the BBC production from the eighties or early nineties not the recent movie.
Yep.
Quite delightful to watch, but not what I thought I was watching...
and unfortunately it doesn't contain an entire scene created in yarn.
Sad

Well, as you might remember I got caught in some cold rain on Monday. This allowed the mild cold I'd been fighting to become a full fledged illness...
Unfortunately, when you run your own business (and when 80% of your fall yarn shipment had shown up in the last two days) you don't get to take sick days. So, thank you to everyone who stopped by the store. I really hope that I didn't get any of you sick.
Right now I'm feeling like I need one more good nights sleep to really feel well again.

However, I looked at my schedule & decided I could afford to miss a day of school. So after work it was off to home & crashing on the couch. Plus lots of knitting (I hadn't knit in about 4 days...) & 5 or 6 hours straight of Myth Busters.

So, what did I learn on my day off school?

If you really have to jump off a building try to find one with awnings to land on.
A stick of dynamite will clean the build up off the inside of a cement truck.
You can't cut a sword in half with another sword.
DC current & salsa will allow you to break out of jail in about 6 weeks.
There is no such thing as a visible laser security system, they use infrared & are darn had to foil.
It's way easier to conceal an ejection seat in a car than it should be.
A car may be able to jump 175 feet, but neither car nor driver will enjoy the landing.

It takes about a minute and a half to return this~

Back into a ball

And most of the evening to knit this much on design v. 6.0

This was a bit of a design challenge for me. The color that arrived was basically the color I least worked with my original design. My plan was for an entrelac hat, I finally scrapped that tonight because it need to have this finished in about 7 days & have hated every single incarnation of the entrelac design...

I will be giving the entrelac a second life as a beret out of silk garden lite.

*Note: I thought I'd published this post on the 15th,  but now I see I never switched it off draft...*

I think that the Americanized theory of Karma is a very cool thing. I try to live my life well & do good things for others. My life has taken some pretty good turns & I'm generally a happy person.

I see Karma a lot in my life...

My favorite vineyard in Michigan is Karma Vista.  (I'm biased on this one because it's owned by an old school mate of my mom's).
They do have quite nice wines & thinking of it now I do have a bottle of 'Pink side of the Moon' in the cupboard.

This morning Scout posted a nice little post on Karma & I was lucky enough to snag up the 100% Merino,  Karma's a Bitch sock yarn. I was tempted several times by the Lime & Violet, but with the black in there I think the colors just jump.

I now have my camera again and can show you the super cool thrummed Mittens I'm making along with my class~

First off, Yes I'm making the mate for the original mitten...

The amount of yarn left is making me a bit squeamish about having enough, but I've weighted it and there is enough...

Second, I'm super excited about the new pair...
They are Louisa Harding Wool & Silk in Chocolate Brown with 100% cashmere thrums!

These are going to be so warm!

I just got word from Jonelle at South West Trading Company that I can go ahead and show off my design for the book of Karaoke Hats!

I love the way the final design worked out,

This hat makes me so happy. The lines zig zag right into the top. The decreases worked seamlessly into the design. I didn't put a specific turning ridge in so you can fold it to fit your head. In one of the brown or forest green colorways I would totally wear this hat.

The pattern will be available from South West Trading Company later this Fall.

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.

We now once again have working Internet service!
I think the biggest news from this week is our new shelving unit for the store's back room. Previously we had a hodge podge of shelves that didn't hold boxes well, now I have a customized unit that holds at least 4 times as much as the old one did!

It took 2 days to get all those screws in and the shelves up, then I got down to filling them up. I wish we had taken a before picture, the difference is truly amazing.

My other really big news is a finished pair of 'Karma's a Bitch' knee socks. Scout dyed this yarn a month or two back & I've really enjoyed knitting these socks. I had about 500 yards & used all but the last yard or two on these socks. They were knit toe up with a short row heel on size 1 needles. Despite the fact that I have shapely legs I only increased 6 stitches on the legs. The amount of spring in the yarn makes these stay up quite well.

To keep in the vein of socks, I have been working on some Christmas Stockings.

This first one is a store bought stocking I customized for a customer. I don't usually show this sort of thing on the blog, but I'm really happy with how the duplicate stitch worked up.

I've also finally started knitting the next wave of our family Christmas stockings. My Grandma (the one who taught me how to knit) used to knit these for the family. Now I'm attempting to knit a few for new members of the family plus one old one. My dad lost his stocking before I was born & his mother wouldn't knit him a new one. I am knitting him one for Christmas, but like her, I'm only ever knitting him one. He looses it again & he's out of luck!  So, here's his new stocking with one of Grandma's. The eye's and nose will be duplicate stitched on later... (I also choose to photograph is with a different stocking than I based the pattern off of so it's not exactly the same as this one anyways)

Next, I had a new session of my thrummed mitten class start on Thursday night so I took advantage of some new yarn at the shop. This pair is knit in Rowan Tapestry with Camel/Silk roving!

To close things up I'm issuing a warning to make sure small children aren't looking at the screen.

My brother decided to break out his old Teddy Rupskin. He needed a bit of work to clean up the tape deck & get all the workings of the face going. Teddy needed some major surgery to get going again & I couldn't resist a few pictures.

Teddy was a pretty complex toy, especially for being 20 years old. Now we just need a new cable to connect Grummy, a Christmas hat for Teddy, and we get to listen to the wonderful Christmas story book.

So, I needed a bit of a blog break... I had nothing to say for a few days, then I've just been so tired I just wanted to crawl in bed. Tomorrow I'm having an EKG to try to determine what, if anything, is wrong with my heart. I may have blood drawn too, just depends on how I'm feeling. I hate having blood drawn.

Anyways... I have one last installment of Christmas Stockings for the year. This weekend the 'Design your own Christmas Stocking class I taught finished up. Check out these awesome stockings we designed!

I also started up a class that's a hat pattern designed to use any size yarn with no gauge swatch & that's sized to fit as you go. I have knit myself so many hats that didn't fit. When I came up with the pattern for this hat I was just so pleased to finally have a hat that stayed on my head. I am currently working on refining the class notes & writing up the pattern.
The first hat was knit with 2 ball of Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Chunky~

The second one is knit with 2 hanks of Noro Silk Mountain for the brim & Alpaca w/ a Twist Highlander for the crown.

I've already started on a third hat with Socks That Rock Heavyweight, one of my students is using Louisa Harding Kashmir Aran, and another is using a worsted weight wool blend, so I think we've got a pretty good spread of gauges tested.

In other news, I received my Bottle Swap package today from the Sock of the Whenever group. My pal (I'm so sorry, I left the card at work & I can't remember your name) really overdid herself. She made me these amazing note cards & send some great spa soaps & lotions. I absolutely loved it!

As a last thought I'll leave you with a view of the amazing Banana bread I baked last night. I ran out of some ingredients, so I improvised a bit. I only had half the needed brown sugar, so I used regular sugar as a replacement. Then I added a few dashes of cinnamon, used 1/2 olive oil & 1/2 vegetable oil, then since I was a tad shy of the needed about of bananas I used a bit more milk. I don't know what did it, but the bread was so good. I think from now on I'm definitely using the cinnamon & the olive oil.

Hi,
Deadline time again. Finals are all done! But I had some socks that needed a bit of attention...

Yep, Thrummed socks. Not even slipper socks. Real, where them in the day, keep out that winter snow, warm & toasty at work, fluffy, downy, socks.
The yarn is Tofutsies (soon to be available from South West Trading Co.)
The roving is a special type of Merino called Optimum that has been stretched finer than cashmere (also from SWTC)
The pattern? my own, to appear shortly in the SWTC book that will accompany Tofutsie sock yarn!

For those of you who haven't been converted to the wonderful world of Thrums...
Thrums are little bits of wool roving (wool before it's made into yarn).
You take a bit of wool, make it into a ring, squish that ring flat & felt the middle. The end result looks a bit like a bow tie. They can them be added to all kinds of projects, mittens, hats, slippers, earmuffs...

How to add them? Sorry, you'll have to be patient and wait for the pattern for that answer.

Okay,
I'm I'm my Mom's laptop for a while while the main computer is being repaired. So, blogging will be happening!

I want to let you know about a couple of my new patterns.
First off,
My Streamers Hat that I designed for the SWTC Karaoke hat book is currently making it's way to your local yarn stores. You can find photos & more information on this post.
I hope to have copies by the end of the week.

Second,
I want to show off my Thrummed Sock Pattern I designed for the Tofutsie Sock Book.
It's called Tufted Tofutsies~

I had a mini photoshoot this weekend, but alas the photos are locked on the broken computer. Let me tell you though, the look great with the Danskos (and they are so warm!)

The Tofutsies sock yarn is amazing to knit with too. It has enough wool to be lofty & lovely to knit with, but the soysilk adds a wonderful gleam. All the colors should be arriving with the Hat book, I can't wait to choose the color of my next pair.

I'm leaving you with the view from my Dad's house Sunday night. He lives in this quirky old house on the river. He's the last house on the street & right next to his house is a cool round swimming pool in the park. His whole backyard overlooks the river & the power plant. To some it might be a big turn off, but the 3 smokestacks have always fascinated me since I was a kid, plus the power plant makes the most amazing reflections on the river at night.

Next time I need to do a photo shoot for a pattern I need to remember the wooded park, the round pool, and the amazing view of the river. Sometimes I forget that there really are beautiful places in Lansing.

The mighty Trent glooms over his prey. With great intent & stealth his moves in for the kill...

Poor little Ms. Mousie pincushion doesn't know what danger lies only feet away~

Will she escape or will it be off to Mousie death camp?

Trent & I noticed this afternoon that the supply of his favorite toy was running dangerously low. Due to the apparent shortage of fur mice with the all important rattle inside we stooped so low as to clean! A few mice here, a few more there, then we hit his favorite hiding hole.. under the oven. Over 50! little toy mice. At least I don't need to worry about buying any for a long time.

Tonight I finished a big project for me & here's one more quick photo before they get packed up in the morning & sent off to SWTC.

Now it's down to a few last minute Christmas gifts to finish & I can get knitting on my very own pair of Thrummed Socks (they are so warm... I need a pair to keep.)

My big resolution this year is to have a project for the book on the needles at all times. I'm already so excited about getting knitting. I've got notes, sketches, yarn choices, & sizing decisions all piled up from this year.
As I was getting together for the first project I realized I needed one new notebook to keep all the details from each project... stuff like a label from the sample yarn, needle sizes, final sketches, pattern notes. All that really deserves to be all together.
So, I went to my Journal shelf to see which ones were still available. This Blog is the only Journal I've ever been able to really keep. Most of my Journals have a few entries in them... then I just forget or loose interest. I do have several special Journals that I never used just for that fact. I hated the thought of wasting them.
What I found really surprised me. A Journal completely empty except for the inside front cover & the first page. The first page was a list of important French phrases, the inside cover was a gold mine.

This is the itinerary from my Trip to Europe in May 2003. I had thought that this information was lost. This trip was so important for me. I loved Belgium, Amsterdam, and Southern France. Of all the places I've ever visited I never felt like I belonged anywhere more than Amsterdam & Orange, France. There was just so much culture, history, and amazing people. I couldn't find any pictures from my time in Northern Europe (we were using lots of video at that point of the trip & I only recently found out that the tape wasn't lost in the carjacking like I thought. I hope I can get a copy of it all soon)

However I wish to share a few photos from Southern France.

The views from the mountain that overlooked Orange were amazing. I love this photo from the park on the mountain.

Probably most of you have never heard of Orange. It's claim to fame is the Theatre Antique.

This is the oldest Roman theatre still in use. The acoustics are amazing. Plus they pretty much let you wander all over the theatre. Beyond that it's a small French town in wine country.

From there we traveled down to Cannes & Monaco. The view along the coast was simply breath taking.

While there we pretended we were important hanging around the Film Festival (around as in outside the fence, I did get a t-shirt...). We relaxed on the beach, we shopped, I had the best meal of my life, we detoured to Monte Carlo for an evening, and then the ladies spent the day at the Oceanographic Institute. We saw all sorts of cool fish, coral, and assorted sea life.

(I love this last photo! Stone fish rock)

My big regret in going through my photos is my lack to pictures of people, namely myself & my fellow travelers. We did take some group photos our last day in Antwerp, but apparently not on my camera. Those plans of swapping photos with everyone in the group never seem to work out.

This is closest thing I found to a photo of myself from the trip.

The sad thing is that this is one of my favorite pictures of myself. I'm a well worn, comfortable pair of chucks. I think it's fitting. When that pair of chucks died I saved the patches off the side so I'd never forget all the places we went together.

So, I'm honored to use this journal for my book. I'm also finding it quite inspiring. My original 'reward' for when the book makes it to print was to get myself a new laptop. My father has decided that would be a better thing to have for the writing of the book, rather than later, so he's getting me an iBook (or whatever they're called now) that's capable of running all my design software.

This journal has inspired me to shot for a new reward. A trip. Maybe back to Europe, maybe to Hawaii, maybe to where ever strikes my fancy at the time, but it has to be a real vacation. It has to be beyond comfortable driving distance (i.e. Toronto or Chicago isn't far enough), and it has to be with someone I love (family or other).

So off I go, to boldly design where few designers have gone before. With only my mantra of wearable, durable, and attractive to guide me. Bonne Nuit!

You just know that a day is going to be great when this sky greets you.

Michigan, January, upper 40's, no snow in the foreseeable future...
The next clue might be when a day ends with a bit of celebrating (Thanks to Scout for the recipe!)
These were the best Cosmo's ever. period. (plus check out my new Martini glasses!)

So why am I so happy?
Mainly because this book was delivered by my favorite UPS man.

Which contains this pattern...

Who's lucky designer is now celebrating her first pattern published in a book!

So, bright and early tomorrow morning I'm headed off to the LakeDale Resort near Friday Harbor. As much as this is technically a 'working trip' it's also the only vacation I'm likely to get this year, so I'm going to relax and enjoy the island.
As you can imagine the last few days have been hectic, both getting ready for the trip & for being away from the store for a full 7 days (I've never been gone this long since we opened two years ago!). Any of you with a small business know that you get really attached and protective. No matter who your employees are & how much you trust them it's still very nerve wrecking to leave them alone. That said my Mom & Sharon are splitting the week so I think the store's in good hands. Both are great knitters with lots of common sense.
I have all the 'important' things ready for the trip, my iPod now has another 25 cd's worth of music on it, I have knitting projects all sorted out & notions separated into 'plane safe' & 'checked baggage'. Unfortunately I leave in about 13 hours & still don't know what computer I'm taking! This is a writing thing... and my laptop is too old to run Knit Visualizer. My new to me Laptop shipped on Wednesday & I need to call me dad to see if it arrived. If not my brother offered his for the week, but either way I've got a lot of files and programs to load/transfer before I leave in 13 hours!

My Simple Knit Bodice is finished... I hope to take some pics when I'm away to show all of you.
I'm finishing up some traveling socks~

These are in a new yarn from Mondial called Bizarre. It's a worsted weight superwash merino. Each sock is taking one ball. The bizarre part? The second ball is all blue/purple from this point on out! No more green or orange. Crazy?!
I'm calling them my traveling socks because it's a little chilly out there & I always where my Birks for plane rides. Easier for getting through security. Some thick wool socks are just what I'll need for my plethora of plane/car/boat changes tomorrow.
I have been told that we'll have Internet access at the resort so blogging is likely! If not... I'll catch you all next week~

So, things are a bit weird here right now. I'm knitting a ton, but I only have a few projects that can be blogged. I think this transition is going to take a bit to get used to.
One thing I do really want to share with you though is a swatch I'm knitting (yes, for the book, but I don't think it gives away anything wink*)

At Cat's retreat I was luckily gifted with a partial ball of Buffalo Gold yarn. I've been swatching all sorts of patterns to see what it wanted to be. I am so impressed with this yarn! At first in the ball it seemed stiff and maybe even a little rough. However as soon as I started knitting with it magic happened. The knitted fabric is silky soft & insanely warm. I pulled my brother over & had him wrap his hand in the swatch. He agreed that this yarn warms you up immediately. It's like an oven. The stitch definition is great, even with the slight halo that's forming the stitches show through easily. I'm just enjoying every stitch. I can't wait to start the book project with the yarn. (plus I saw on their website that they how have a blend with Nylon for socks! Buffalo is naturally non-feltable too!)

Next up, I'm knitting away on my handspun socks. I chose the Friday Harbor pattern from Knitting on the Road to commemorate my recent trip. I'm making a few modifications though. I shifted the top lace pattern so it flows better into the rest of the sock & I switched the heel to a short row heel. I can totally tell the difference in knitting with a 3-ply vs a 2-ply. I think all my sock yarns will be 3-ply from now on. Only, next time I'm splitting the yarn into 3 even parts before I start spinning. I had to finish up with some Navajo plying to use up the singles.

The other knitting project I can mention is my current anywhere socks. I knit the first one on the plane. The second one is riding in my KnowKnits pouch for any unexpected lines or knitting moments. The yarn is Socks That Rock Heavyweight in Mist.

Okay, one last thing to throw out there... I was so inspired by the amazing power of the visionary retreat. I'd really like to share a version of that creative power with all of you. I'm now brewing hosting a knitting retreat. Right now the thought is to find some secluded place in Northern Michigan & bring in a Nationally know knitting instructor to teach two days of classes, probably in October 2008. Today I looked around at conference/retreat centers & I think I found someplace that would suit our needs... Drummond Island Resort. Before I go any further in planning this I'd love to know what you all think (especially those of you here in Michigan). If there is enough interest I will be delighted to plan this event. The power of that many knitters in one place is amazing, you just leave feeling completely energized. I hope you all are willing to give it a try~

I'm plunking away at learning CSS & Dreamweaver. This is so much easier than hand typing html code.
Last night I got started on my new site. I haven't signed up for a host yet, so I had to just take an image of the browser when I was previewing the new page... but this is going to be the new intro page for my site!

okay, I don't know if you can see that image or not... typepad is fighting me a bit.

Now it's at least not making all my text a big link, I'll stop by later when I have more patience and fix this...

Apparently only I couldn't see the picture, and everything seems okay now. As usual you can click it to see a bigger picture. The move to movable type may be happening sooner than planned. I generally get a bit obsessive about something & then abruptly loss that drive. So, while I'm super excited about the design I should probably barrel through it & get this thing working!

So far, the coolest thing on that main page is that I figured out how to make all these little images out of the big one (so it loads faster). Next I'm working on changing the color of the buttons when they are rolled over so they look more like links... I think we just covered a way to do that...

Does anyone other than Stephanie use DreamHost? Any other suggestions?

Robin & I are starting puppy school tomorrow. One of the things that the school requested we have are a pouch that's easy to get into for treats. They gave us some suggestions like pants with a big pocket, a climbing chalk bag, or a small carpenter apron. My first thought was to use my Go Knit pouch, but I also have to use moist treats for the class and they are smelly & icky so I don't want to contaminate my knitting bag. I also won't use my pants pocket for the same reason.
Then today at work I was putting away some new yarns that I wanted to try out & realized that I could knit myself a treat pouch. I knew I wanted something that would hold itself open so I could quickly grab a treat. It also needed to be easily cleaned, able to attach to my belt loop, and deep enough for treats not to fall out. Here's what I came up with~

I totally love it! I used Nashua Cilantro, which is a cotton/poly blend with tons of stretch. I started with a hemmed edge so the bag holds itself open. Then I increased after the hem to give it a pouch shape to help the treats stay in when I'm moving around. I put a pair of eyelets near the top for a carbineer.
The treats in the background are the ones I picked out for puppy school. I love that they are tiny, so I can give Robin lots of them. Plus they are all natural (no preservatives or artificial flavors!) and peanut butter flavored rather than some stinky meat smell. Robin just loves them.
I see this sort of pouch as having lots of uses. Check in the free pattern section later this week for the pattern!

"...so you do know you have a Sheltie, right?"
That would be the answer you don't want to hear when asking your dog trainer about a barking issue. Yep, I knew Shelties were umm... vocal, but I think the neighbors would appreciate if he didn't bark at everything that moved on our walks. Plus apparently barking is self rewarding for Shelties, so simply ignoring him isn't going to work. Sigh...
On the plus side, other than that he's a little angel. Right now he's curled up on the couch giving me that look at says "mom, why aren't you over here knitting with me!"
Can't argue with that.

I have the pattern for the Doggie Treat Bag up on my site. It passed the practical exam tonight & is now Robin approved.

I'm really into my current project for the book. I've wanted to knit an afghan out of Nature Cotton for years now & I love how it's coming out. My only regret is that I couldn't throw in this amazing raspberry color that would have been fabulous. But check out how these colors look.


I just love it!

Robin also wants to say hi! He's almost 17 weeks old now~

Okay, well I've just spend 2 days recreating the class list. It's redone... time to move on.

One of the new classes I'm teaching this spring is Cut That Knit. It's a little wrist warmer that's steeked open to add a button band. In theory I hope to ease a few knitters discomforts with taking scissors to their knitting.
I've been busy knitting up & charting out the design for the class project. The sample is out of Silky Wool which just has to be one of the best yarns ever...

This is version 2 of the design & I think it's just about right. The only change I'm going to make from here is to add a couple more stitches to the steek. I think it might be a bit less stressful to new steekers to have more than a 3 stitch safety zone. The steeks are crocheted so they are going nowhere & we're sewing in ribbon to finish off the edge. I'll have pics later this weekend of the finished wristband.
I've also been working on a pair of Monkey socks (in Cookie's blog colors no less). It feels good to have a simple pair of socks to tote around. Every sock I'd started lately got ditched because too much thought was needed to knit it & I've got plenty of stimulating big projects right now. But these are perfect~

I have one other project that I'm going to start this weekend. Robin's favorite toy, or at least favorite plush toy, is this bright green fun fur bone.

He loves his fun fur bone! Unfortunately he's starting to over love it...

I stitch it up over and over, but I think it's not long for this world. A search was performed for a replacement, but none was found. So, I'm doing the unthinkable for Robin... I'm knitting him a new fun fur toy. A better one... One that will last forever...A felted one with no seams.
Okay I'm off to build my reserves to knit with the dreaded fun fur... This one's for you Robin~

Well today was just about the most perfect day I've ever had.
The main event was a trip to see the Detroit Tigers with the family. Now, after last season I was starting to think I was bad luck or something because every game I went to last season they lost. Gosh, maybe it was my handknit Tigers Socks or something because the game today was amazing! The weather was beautiful, the tickets I purchased just happened to be aisle seats & in the shade. We won in the 12th inning (all those people who left when we were down by 2 at the top of the 9th missed the most exciting part of the game...)
I think we're going to try to go once a month this season, Tigers games are just so exciting.
Then we went for a really nice dinner in Williamston & for icecream at DQ after. I'm telling you, The Perfect Day!

Plus when I came home Robin was so excited to see me & we curled up in my new hammock to watch the sun set. Yeah, did I mention I now own a hammock? I've wanted one since I was a little kid (kinda like how I wanted a Sheltie since I was a little kid...)

The hammock is one of those new ones that folds up into a bag so you can take it with you. How cool is that!
I finished my first Monkey sock. The only changes I made to the pattern was to use a short row heel & pull the pattern down into the back of the heel. I'm pretty ease wear wise on my socks so lace on the heel & toe is safe for me.

The finishing touches were also put on my wrist band for the class I'm teaching next month. I found these little hand carved shell buttons that matched just right. Then I used some knitting themed ribbon to finish off the cut edges inside.


I found out that I am the only Rachael Blackledge in the entire country...

HowManyOfMe.com

There is 1 person with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

So,
It was a long wonderful weekend. The type of vacation you need a couple more days off to recover from.

Lynn & I headed out fairly early Friday morning to make the 5 hour drive to Toronto. For the first time in my memory I actually ran into construction in Canada. Major construction, this stuff made MI highway construction season look like a kid playing with legos. We didn't get into Toronto until after 4. On the positive side I got some amazing practice driving a stick (that mostly stopped highway backup can teach you how to get into first really well).

It was so worth it though!
Just look at the crowd at Indigo~

As usual Stephanie was charming & funny making sure we were well informed of the presence of CHOKE (they are everywhere) & the need for knitters to be proud and represent.

Plus, unlike any knitting event I've attended before we got to gather at The Spotted Dick and partake in the dangerous mix of drinking and knitting. (For us American's the whole Spotted Dick thing will never get old... I delighted in getting to ask the male employee at Indigo "So, Stephanie tells me you're the man who knows about The Dick", minds out of the gutter people, I was only attempting to get directions to the pub).

After luckily making it back to the hotel for the night and getting in a much too short nights rest, Lynn & I hopped on a street car and made our way to the Naked Sheep (is it just me or does this trip sound risqué so far?)

Can I just say right off the back that every shop we visited was just lovely & I was lucky to have only come home with a modest stash enhancement. My rule for the day was simply that I could only purchase yarn that I couldn't easily get in MI.

Our next stop on the tour was a shop that was new to Stephanie (Thanks Amy for the recommendation), Americo.
Americo was the most unique yarn shop I've ever been to, no Debbie Bliss or Rowan for them, nope only hand spun yarn here.
Funky Wool Hand Spun

Dreamy Cotton Hand Spun

And for me to bring home, Precious Hand Spun Cultured Silk in Lace Weight (about 800yd)

Our next stop of the day was Romni Wools. Cleverly chosen to be the stop before lunch because we easily could have spent a week in there & not have found our way out yet. Stephanie figured calling us all to lunch would be our only hope of ever leaving. She was most likely correct on that point.
Well, Romni is where I found my goal of the day. A skein of Fleece Artist Sea Socks!

A couple of skeins of their Angora/Silk blend also followed me home.

A short Street Car trip & we found ourselves at Kensington Market for lunch & to visit Lettuce Knit. I can hardly believe how amazing Lettuce Knit was, especially since it's only 200 sq feet!
Here's the whole gang infront of Lettuce Knit...

I'm easy to pick out of all the group photos! Just look for the only knitter wearing sunglasses (I have transitions so I'm never in risk forgetting my sunglasses).
Some stash building happened here too...
Some Smooshy for Mum~

And some BFL braids for Me~

After a long wait for a street car (all of 20 min, I'm told that's long in Toronto. Also it's long enough for Knitters to wonder how many of us will fit in a bus shelter... You'll have to go to Stephanie for that answer)
we then headed to AlterKnit...
There were sock Monkeys knitting!

And a skein of Sea Silk that just called for me to bring it home...

So, I'm home again, and my stash has grown to take up even more of my home.

Plus during my days off I started an Etsy Shop! Some of my hand dyed yarn is up there. My patterns will be joining them soon, but in the mean time they're available on my webpage by clicking the link over on the right.

I have a hot new sock design on my needles right now & I definitely need a test knitter or two to double check my math on this one.
What I'm looking for is a knitter who is comfortable following a pattern & doing short rows. This sock pattern uses both a short row heel & the stitch pattern on the leg makes extensive use of short rows...
Most importantly I need someone who will knit the sock exactly to the pattern & who is willing to give me honest feedback about how the sock knit up.

How test knitting works... once I choose you as a test knitter I'll send you a copy of the sock pattern. You then knit it up with yarn from your stash & send me feedback about any issues or mistakes you find with the pattern. Once you're finished knitting a sock (I only require you to knit one, but I hope you'll enjoy them enough to finish the pair) I'll send you enough yarn to knit a pair of socks. The quicker you knit up the socks & the more you communicate the better the yarn reward at the end (hint... I have access to some good sock yarn.... Socks That Rock, Claudia's, Fleece Artist...)

So do you want a peak at the pattern?
I thought so~

It's a little wonky in it's unblocked state, but you get the idea!

Update: I think I've found a few knitters who will work! I will have more test knitting coming up this fall & I'll keep taking names of interested knitters for later use.

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I've added a bunch of photos to my Flower Photo album on Flickr. If you're interested just click on the Peony to hop over & see them all~

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In shop news, Lexie Barnes bags arrived today! Talk about super fast shipping.
Now how do I decide which one to stash away for myself?

I also picked up some cool new file drawers for the patterns at the shop. They're Steel Case so I don't think we'll have any issues with drawers getting stuck open or handles falling off this time. I decided to go ahead & paint this set red. I love red...

Last I just want to share one more photo of my Evolution from Chameleon Colorworks. This yarn just so photogenic & so squeezably soft~

B is for Baseball

Despite my complete inability to play baseball I have a deep love for the sport.
I was born the year before the Tigers last won the World Series. I've been told that I was just a "babe in arms" when I went to my first game. I don't remember watching many games on the television growing up, but I remember working in the fields (planting trees) with the Tigers blasting on my dad's old red radio (the same radio he has now & I think it saw better days well before the 80s). I also remember my brother & I catching balls during batting practice and pretty much ruling the bleachers at old Tiger's Stadium. My glove, the balls we caught, and my baseball cards were prized possessions.


That love has followed me my whole life. I may have cooled on the whole baseball card thing, but I never lost faith in my Tigers. Eventually Tigers Stadium went away, Comerica Park rose up, and the Tigers went from the worst team in baseball practically ever (only one game short of the record most losses) to the world series in just a few short years. Sqee!
All I can say is I'm wearing my lucky socks this post season...

Okay, now for something completely different.
I'm finding my knitting mojo again. My Sockapalooza socks are finished and winging their way to their new home.

The Pegasus Shawl is slowly gaining momentum again & will be finished up before you know it.

I rediscover my love for a pattern I wrote a few years ago. In my now wiser state I'm revamping the pattern. I know so much more about afterthought heels & making them fit now that I just need to fix this pattern up. Plus I found that perfect yarn that alluded me when I knit this pattern up for Magknits.

This pattern was originally designed for a yarn SWTC was going to come out with that eventually sort of turned into Tofutsies. The stripes in the JoJoLand look so much like what I intended the pattern to look like. I'm happy!

I also am once again working on the socks I was designing before Wicked took my attention away. This is the third sock & once I'm done the pattern will be completely proofed and ready for sale. I'm not showing the cool part of the pattern in this photo, but just look at how lovely this yarn is!

Yes, there is still more...
My reward for finishing up my Sockapalooza socks in time was to dig into my precious Sea Wool. I can't say enough lovely things about this yarn. It maybe the best sock yarn I've ever knit. However, as much as I like Sea Wool, and as much as I like the Mad Color Weave Socks, together they just don't rock my boat. This attempt will be ripped, but I'm determined to find the right pattern quickly. I'm thinking Potomus maybe (yes I know it's spelled wrong)

However this big box may make it difficult not to start any more socks this weekend.

Over 200 skeins of STR, need I say more?

These may have followed me home last night...

As well as these...

Okay, first I have some shameless promotion.
I made up a batch of alphabet stitch markers that are great to use with Cat's new book, New Pathways for Sock Knitters. In the book she gives each stitch marker a letter & uses those letters to refer to individual markers in both the instructions & in the diagrams. These sets feature beads with the letters used in the book right on the bead and make it much easier to follow the instructions in the book.
There are two options, a smaller set with A-D.
These are the main letters used in the book. With these you'll be set for any sock in the book except Coriolis & Clematis Vine.

There is also a larger set with A-F.
You'll need an "E" marker for the Coriolis socks and both "E" & "F" for the Clematis Vine. So with this set you'll be able to do any sock in the book.

The beads are Pewter & all the finding are Sterling Silver. I also have 24k gold plated beads coming in late this week to make up gold sets. The links above the photos will bring you to my etsy shop where the stitch markers may be purchased.

Friday was actually my second blogiversary! Rather than posting I was hiding in the back of my shop with the tornado sirens going off & sheets of rain pelting down. Luckily Lansing wasn't hit too hard. We didn't have any tornadoes & the damage was minimal. The major tornado was actually out by where my hairdresser lives in Potterville. Again, luckily the storm claimed no lives in Michigan.

So, with an entire summer's worth of rain catching up to us & Fall severe weather beginning I'm having a bit of a contest.
Please leave me a comment with your favorite way to cheer up on those long gray rainy days.

I'll close entries on Aug 31 & announce the winners the first week of September. (oh, prizes, there will be prizes... I've got some lovely yarns in my stash...)

On a quick last note: Robin & I had our first Agility competition Sunday. The weather was lovely, we had a wonderful day, and despite having some sudden fears of the tunnel, Robin did really well & we're looking forward to our next match.

There are some points in life when you have to grow up a whole bunch all at once. I fear I've hit one of those points head on & seem unable to let go. Most of whats going on in life now is stuff that's too personal for the blog. I think that's a big part of why blogging has been so umm.. sparse... rare... nonexistent... lately. That and the fact that the big computer at home experienced SMEF (Spontaneous Massive Existence Failure, bonus points to those of you who know what this is a reference to...) and our switch to a new phone company at work was a little rocky leaving me with out internet access anywhere for a few weeks.

I've also been entrenched in the process of purchasing a building for the shop to move to this winter. The commercial loan process is a scary thing and very slow moving. I feel a little at a loss in the whole thing, but am still confident that we will emerge triumphant in the end.

Actually I need to be successful in the whole loan thing because I will be living above the shop & lets just say my current living arrangements will be no longer viable sometime in the next year.

A member of my immediate family is also getting married & moving half way across the country. I'm extremely happy for this (and no it's not me), but it's a little scary too.

This is really just the tip of the iceberg, but I hope you'll all understand my lack of blogging lately. I can't say when more regular blogging will happen again, but I'll keep doing the best I can. Currently I'm going to be aiming for once a week and we'll see how that goes. I have however been keeping up my ravelry account, so you can always see what I'm up to there. I also am hosting a group for my shop (Friends of Rae's Yarn Boutique), so if you live in the area & have managed to get a Ravelry account please join us there.

A lack of blogging however has not meant a lack of knitting. In fact when I get stressed out knitting happens in great abundance. Lets try to catch up...

Scarves
I finished up a cute little scarf that we have the kit for at the shop right now. It's a Shetland lambswool and cashmere blend & a very quick knit.
The scarf itself is ascot like & softens up a whole bunch when washed in Eucalan.

I also am working away on my Rave