Chickenlips Knitting

I'll be maintaining radio silence for a while. My husband's father died today, so we'll be heading up to Spokane in the next day or two.

My father-in-law's health had been in steep decline for the past couple of years, with advancing Alzheimer's. Last fall he was moved into an assisted care facility, and almost a month ago he had a massive stroke that put him into a nursing home. Over the last couple of days, his vital signs became steadily weaker. I don't know for sure, but I don't think he was conscious at the end.

I've written about it before on my blog, that he was not an easy person to love, or even to like. None of that matters now, though. My husband's relationship with his father was strained, and in his usual way he's trying to be efficient and organized, getting the car ready for the trip, making phone calls, etc. I try to gently remind him that while he may not be feeling acute grief, he's still under stress, and I will be at his side while he goes through this. I'll be bringing several bags full of knitting, and just be the embodiment of Elizabeth Zimmermann's advice "knit on with confidence through all crises" (paraphrasing).

So, when the dust settles and we can get back to routine, I'll be back. Here is a picture of a flowering tree just over the back fence in our neighbor's yard. I just like to look at it.

My pictures suck as usual, but anyway, here's a "little pink sock" I dreamed up! They're called "Carole's Socks" and the pattern is here (Ravelry link). In a futile attempt to use up my sock yarn stash, I made these out of Shibui, but wouldn't they look fab in just about any color of Stitchjones? Nudge, nudge.

The highlights: the eyelet pattern is Cloverleaf Eyelet from Barbara Walker's stitch pattern Bible. Since it's a top-down sock, the pattern is inverted which I thought was kind of cool. Ace sock knitters can do it toe-up and have the pattern come out right side up. And I fudged the math, so there is a slight jog to the pattern at the back of the sock, where I guaran-damn-tee only the most persnickety of sock knitters is gonna look when you have these on! OK, if you want perfection, buy Cookie A.'s new book--but if you like this, consider downloading a copy and help a broke sista out.

I'm not gonna sugar coat it; Stitch needs some revenue enhancement. Paying for vendor space for upcoming fiber events has left me tapped out. My sales have been so agonizingly slow for the past month that I actually had to ask my sweet elderly mom for a temporary loan! It was something I would rather stab myself in the jugular with a fork than have to do, but it came down to saving Stitchjones. I'm proud of the business I've spent the last 18 months building, and this shitty economy be damned, I am not going to go gentle into any good night! What else would I do if I could no longer dye yarn and fiber? Even if my family are the only ones who still believe in me, I'm gonna suck it up, keep going and do whatever I have to do to be successful at this game. I can feel tears behind my eyes as I write this, but my mom didn't hesitate to send me a check, with a little note that said "Good luck at the fair". Just so you know, my vendor spaces at the big shows will be dedicated to Shirley Fletcher!

Moms are the best. I love mine, and only appreciate her more as I get older.

Quite done: the Simple Yet Effective shawl, using just shy of 3 hanks Malabrigo Kettle Dyed Worsted in "Brillante". I wore it all day yesterday while I was out and about, and although it's lightweight, it kept me comfortably warm on one of those half rainy-half sunny spring days here in Portland.

I've been making the LYS circuit, catching up on visiting my customers, taking and/or filling reorders to keep Stitchjones colors on the needles of PDX knitters! Today I spent some time hanging out with Tami at All About Yarn. Among the colorways of Titanium Sock I delivered to the shop--which has a new Malabrigo shipment, BTW-- is "Anjelica", a Tribute Merino DK colorway that translated well to fingering weight yarn.

For the last two weeks of March, my business rather languished, and that always gives me the heebie jeebies. I know the yarn biz is seasonal and cyclical, and spotty rather than steady--my business is a freakin Scud missile, for crissakes! Either the dyepots are quiet and I'm about to revive my stalled design career (ha), or I've got almost more than I can handle. Today, however, is the first time I've had both situations in the same day! You see, I just found out that I made the vendor list for Black Sheep Gathering in late June, so I've been going "squee" and phoning and emailing absolutely everybody--then right after that, I found out I have a potential opportunity to break into the Bay Area yarn and fiber market! I mean, could you die?! I can't reveal more than that right now, but as the details unfold I'll share them.

Since I'm always looking for unique ways to begin and end my blog posts, the remainder of this post will be written in French.

(Very bad French.)

C'est tout, mes amies!

Amour toujours,

Les levres de poulet