Chickenlips Knitting

Another year almost gone...

2011-12-18T13:04:00.000-08:00

Dear friends, customers and anyone who is still interested in this blog...here it is the end of 2011 already! When this year began, I had no idea that by its end I would not only become the owner of a fabulous yarn shop, but also that I'd be able to continue my dyeing in the store's basement, after four years of dyeing a metric ton of yarn in my kitchen. It was great fun, but it's also nice to have most of the Stitchjones paraphernalia moved out of our house. I've been very fortunate, and am very grateful to everyone who supported my indie dye work, from the wonderful Twisted who sold my first few skeins on consignment, to my pampered preciousses who signed up for Yarnageddon 2012. I'm in the midst of dyeing the first shipment, and am totally excited about it - and also the special gift I'm including in the packages! I hope you're gonna love it. As soon as everything is ready, I'll announce it on the Stitchjones Mosh Pit Facebook page and also the Yarnageddon discussion board on Ravelry. This is truly an interesting phase of life - sometimes it feels like all the challenges I face in getting my feet under me as a new LYSO are going to eat my brain, but I welcome it, too - being swamped is much better than being un - or under-employed. As may show from the photo above, the speed and quality of my knitting have improved somewhat. This is the Evergreen shawl (free pattern on Ravelry) made with 1 hank of Cascade Heritage handpainted sock yarn in Rainforest. I finished it in just a week, and gave it a light blocking. It looks much better worn than on a hanger!

If you'll allow me a bit of reflection...last December sucked in both my personal and professional lives. But without re-hashing the past too much, I've got to say that I couldn't be happier about the way things have turned around on both fronts. By last summer I was surprised at how depressed and despairing I felt. Launching Yarnageddon did good things for my spirits, and the fact that my mother-in-law finally kicked Jason's brother out of the house improved our family life dramatically; we were able to have a peaceful visit with her over Labor Day. I don't hate my BIL - we all have our demons to wrestle with, but as they say, enough is enough. Now that my MIL is stepping out from the shadows of the abuse she has had to live with, she's getting out and about, traveling, and still enjoying life at the age of 82.

My wish for you all, is that any dark clouds on your horizon dissipate. May the sun come out and shine brightly for you in 2012!

Love,
Sharon

Exciting news!

2011-10-27T09:05:00.001-07:00

Dear readers, fellow knitters, & esteemed Stitchjones customers,

Some big changes are happening, and I'm very excited and happy to share the news with you. Effective November 1st, I will be the proud new owner of Kathy's Knit Korner in Forest Grove, Oregon! Back in 1999-2000, I found myself with some extra time once my daughter was in elementary school, so I decided to take up knitting which I'd put aside to chase after her. When I walked into Kathy's Knit Korner for the first time, I discovered yarns more beautiful, varied and amazing than anything I'd ever seen in a craft store, and it turned me into a true knitting addict. Although my knitting skills improved slowly, Kathy was always supportive and encouraging of my efforts, and she always tried to help me find just the right pattern for the yarn I picked out. To be able to provide the same assistance, advice and inspiration to knitters and crocheters is no less than a dream come true!

You might be wondering though, now that this is happening, will there be any more Stitchjones yarn & fiber? Rest assured, there will indeed, because the shop's basement is the perfect space to set up a dye studio! I've started packing up my mini-dyeworks already. I'm still reeling from all the excitement, and so very grateful for this unique opportunity to do both things I love. In the weeks and months to come, I'll be getting to know the many wonderful customers at the shop, and starting a brand new adventure. My enormous thanks to everyone who's supported Stitchjones, because without you this would not be happening. I'll send out frequent updates on Facebook, Twitter and Ravelry groups about both the studio's progress and news & happenings at the shop. I hope to see many of you there!

Yarnageddon2012 Yarn Club - a quick update

2011-08-05T17:25:00.000-07:00

Sorry folks, I forgot to include any payment information in the previous post. Basically, I am asking for the dough by September 30th. Payment in full by that date is preferred, because it lets me begin tracking down hard to find and/or not always available yarns and fibers. I'm totally willing to split it into two installments to make things easier, though. If you could do 50% of your membership by September 30th, with the remainder due by December 1st, that will work out fine.

Method of payment that works best for me is Paypal: sharonfs AT comcast DOT net. If you prefer, I can send you a Paypal invoice - just let me know.

Checks may be made out to Stitchjones and sent to the following address:

Stitchjones Hand Dyed Yarn and Fiber
PO Box 1814
Hillsboro, OR 97123

Oh, and when you sign up, please let me know whether you prefer yarn only, or yarn and fiber.
If there are any questions at all, please don't hesitate to get in touch. Thank you for the emails and excitement! I'm thrilled!

Sharon

It's not a "gang"...it's a Club!

2011-08-04T15:40:00.001-07:00

That's right - I have given this a whole three minutes of serious consideration, and decided that next year I will do something exciting that I have wanted to do since the founding of Stitchjones Hand Dyed Yarn in 2008, and that is - a yarn, fiber and gift club!

I couldn't resist "Yarnageddon" because of next year's notorious numerals. However, I promise that there will be no apocalyptic hype, even if it stars John Cusack - just superb yarns and fibers as fine as my customers deserve, and as beautiful as I can possibly dye them.

There will be 4 club packages, which will be ready to deliver and ship in February, May, August, and November of 2012, by no later than the 15th of the month. Club members have two options for package contents: 1) yarn, and 2) yarn & fiber. At this point there isn't a fiber-only option, but this is just the first time around.

Not to suggest that we're only talking yarn and fiber, though! There will be original patterns, fun accessories and other goodies, although these may or may not be included in each package. What especially fires me up about this idea is that it's a chance for me to share something with you that's not necessarily yarn-related. It could be a memento of something that inspires me, something that makes me laugh, something I enjoy. I can't divulge more than that right now, but I can tell you that it will be chosen with thought and with love.

Now to the not so fine print: Prices. There are two price options, depending on how you want your packages to get to you.

If you are local to the Portland, OR metro area and would like to arrange delivery/pickup, the price for all 4 packages is $150.00.

For US and International first class shipping, the price for all 4 packages is $175.00.

To be clear, members will receive hand dyed product in a generous quantity each time. This will give me the opportunity to carry yarns I dream of, for instance this:

500 yards/250 grams merino/silk worsted weight yarn, handpainted in "Earth Angel". This is not a spoiler or preview, just an idea of what I'm talking about. Borrowing from the idea of CSK, or Community Supported Knitting, this is a way for me to get my hands on stuff this good - so I can get it into your hands!

Interested? Just email me at sharon AT stitchjones DOT com! The number of memberships I can offer the first year is somewhat limited, but with your support I will be able to produce more and better product, and give you more than your money's worth by putting together something beautiful and special - just for you.

Thank you!
With love,
Sharon
Stitch Jones

blogging my heart

2011-07-22T16:05:00.001-07:00

"I have a tendency to wear my mind on my sleeve
I have a history of taking off my shirt" - Barenaked Ladies, One Week

Dear friends...I have a confession to make. Some people should stay off Facebook, and I'm one of them. I have gone and created unneccessary drama, which I now regret. You all know that I married a great guy from a crappy family, and that last Christmas for no good reason I was essentially kicked out of his family, for which I should be glad - or at least indifferent, because let's face it, they suck. Over July 4th husband & daughter went to visit them, without me of course, but I have not as yet been able to get over my hurt and anger about the whole mess. The perp, my brother-in-law, insists that he "has nothing to apologize for because he's done nothing wrong". Prick. Well, I own my mistakes and when I'm wrong, I admit it. I took it to Facebook, never a good idea, and changed my relationship status from Married to It's Complicated (why can't it be both, anyway? Dumb Facebook) and dropped my married name of Spence because I want no connection with that den of vipers. The truth is that we are not splitting up, and while I have no actual plans to legally change my name, I've come to the decision that the best thing to do, is to professionally use my birth name (Fletcher) and my married name, for my husband's sake. I am ordering new business cards, and will become a chick with 3 names, like Mary Tyler Moore.

I apologize for being misleading. I know it was childish behavior on my part. Eventually it will get easier...it's just taking a long ass time!!

Sheepish

Besides the perennial dyeing, which I will always love, I have suspended work on my ubiquitous 3 dozen odd knitting projects in favor of baby knits. I have become very attached to the kids in my husband's family and have enjoyed watching them grow up. I have one brother, and he & his wife stayed childless by choice. A niece on hubby's side is expecting. Whether or not they still consider me family, I've made things for the baby, so here is my little parade of FO's and near FO's.

Garter Yoke Baby Cardi, a free pattern on Ravelry, almost done. I'm using Cascade 220 Superwash Sport, which I like very much.

Sunshine Hoodie - made with just over 3 balls of "Aspen" wool-cotton yarn. The pattern is the Baby Tunic from Knitting Pure & Simple. I made the 12 month size.

More Elizabeth Zimmermann baby leggings. This pair took just over 1 skein of Shepherd's Wool. Very soft, & knits up beautifully.

Debbie Bliss ribbed baby cardigan. I had some Bliss Rialto Aran in my stash. Love! Since baby knits are as addictive to me as socks or shawls are to other knitters, I prefer to go with genderless colors and styles. The things I don't gift will be donated to charity.

Shawl we dance?

2011-06-30T02:34:00.000-07:00

Dear friends...I should always re-read these blog posts before I hit "Publish". Last post seems almost freakishly maudlin in retrospect! Things certainly aren't always bad as all that, and I'm sorry to have given that impression. The 2011 Black Sheep Gathering has come and gone, and I enjoyed it tremendously. The weather was beautiful, which did much to bring people in, and everyone was...excellent to one another! Case in point: a spinner's wheel unfortunately went missing, which is definitely not excellent, or as Gene Simmons would say - "That does not rock!" However, a collection was taken up among the vendors, and enough was donated to replace the wheel. Demonstrating once again, that fiber and yarn people are exceptional and should be in charge of the whole freaking world. JMHO.

Upon finishing the above Citron in 2/3 skein of baby alpaca-silk laceweight Friday night, I gave it a quick and dirty blocking best I could at the motel, then displayed it in the booth on Saturday. I think I tweeted something like "if you've ever blocked a shawl on a motel wet bar...you just might be a yarn vendor". Don't worry, I'm not ready for the Blue Collar Comedy tour just yet!

Here is this year's Black Sheep booth.

On my show wish list: more gridwall, hooks, and I think we're ready to get a free standing banner. Behind the partition was the Fiber Arts display and judging, and the people in charge of that graciously left the partition up so I could keep my sign where it was. I may not always be so lucky though!

Yarn For Sale...

Here is one of my recent favorites:

It's Boutique (baby alpaca-bamboo-merino-nylon sock blend) in "Smoke and Orchids". I seem to recall a TV show or movie from the 60's called "Summer and Smoke", and must have been free-associating. Anyway, I only made one, so I may have to just...ahem...commandeer it for my personal stash, as I'm eager to see it knit up!

This is a definite shawl-heavy post. I also finished a forgotten-about WIP, the Diamonds and Pearls shawl designed by my friend Shelia January, in The Knitter's Book of Yarn (Clara Parkes).

I know the lace columns are completely wonky. However, it's exquisite Artyarns silk & mohair, which I bought almost 3 years ago, and it is the perfect pattern for the yarn. I'd knit it again, and would make extra effort to get it right!

And...the last time I showed you this, it was a poorly lit blob of unfinished yarn object. I have since finished it. Here, bathed in Oregon sunshine, is the Palatine Stole (Ravelry free pattern download).

It's an easybreezy knit, really just a giant swatch of the Dewdrops pattern from Barbara Walker's first Treasury with a garter stitch border. I used a luscious blend of 50/50 merino-cotton yarn from Urban Fiber Arts to make this one.

Non-Yarn Stuff (skip if you find this boring)

The fam is leaving for Spokane tomorrow, well today actually ;) and I don't have to go, neener neener, happy dance!! In all seriousness, though, there isn't anything here to dye (yet), although I did re-stock all my dye colors this week. So I'll be doing odd and sundry things over the weekend. Not sure exactly what yet. Will probably try to get away from the house as much as possible, what with all the fireworks in the immediate vicinity!

What are your summer plans and projects? Anybody up for a marketplace meetup during Sock Summit? I'm not sure what day(s) I'll be there as of yet, but would love to hang with you for a while and knit!

Tweets from the abyss

2011-06-17T21:44:00.001-07:00

Just a little riff on Carrie Fisher; a la Postcards From The Edge. My friends, I have to say that 2011 kind of blows so far, and things seemed to have reached the nadir last week. Not that we're guaranteed a thrill a minute or anything, but come on. Vise-tight finances + ongoing dental issues + basal cell carcinoma + my daughter's mental health issues since January = me spending way too much time boo-hooing and worrying, and far too little time doing the things I enjoy: dyeing, knitting, hanging with friends, visiting LYS's and so forth.

However, we fortunately received some financial help this month, so we could put a stop to at least some of the stuff that happens to you when you're flat ass broke with no end in sight. I didn't realize how low my spirits had become.

One of my favorite, oft-quoted people is Mary Kay Ash, the founder of Mary Kay Cosmetics. In the 90's I joined the company and became a beauty consultant. I enjoyed doing that for a while, but wanted the chance to do lots more things (many of which I later got to do). In addition to the excellent sales training I received, I also learned some good strategies for keeping a PMA. Some of them are very basic, like the rhyme about "work for your two hands to do/and something to look forward to". Well, there's always knitting. But lately, I've actually been too depressed to knit. I made half assed attempts at housework and gardening, although it's been so rainy that not much has been accomplished in the yard. I really felt purposeless and adrift. This isn't a pity party, I promise! I do have things to look forward to, like the 2011 Black Sheep Gathering, which is next week! Because of the money thing, I didn't add as much to inventory as I was hoping. That's ok though - I have lots of nice stuff, and new patterns to sell. If you're going to BSG, Stitchjones will be in Bldg. 1, next to the fiber arts display. Come see me!

Ideas for more knits keep popping into my head, too, which feed my compulsion to do fiber art. Unconsciously I picked up the Knitty model: I make two samples of each design, using yarn that's readily available at most LYS along with my hand dyed. So far, I've only designed socks and hats, but by Oregon Flock & Fiber at the end of Sept. I should be able to add mitts, a shrug, and a shawl to the pattern line.

And of course, the thing that will save the first half of this year, is another chance to see Rush in concert. We three will be at the Clark Co. Amphitheater on June 28th, a Tuesday night, rocking out. Things can't be all that bad, if we as a family get to see the one band we all love!

Jason and I had a chance to escape out to Cannon Beach last Saturday. It was a perfect day. We took a long walk on the beach, then back to town. I put one foot in front of the other, breathed fresh salt air and enjoyed the warm sun.

My spirits are much better now.

playing catch-up

2011-05-09T11:09:00.000-07:00

Here it is May already! And I don't have a single finished project to blog about. What I do have is a big pile of WIP's, and I'll be finishing one good-sized knit fairly soon.

On Easter, I went to my friend Cindy's shop Urban Fiber Arts, and bought what I think is the nicest wool-cotton yarn I've ever knit with. And it was on sale to boot! It's Schulana Merino-Cotton 90, and it has more wool in it than cotton, which gives it elasticity and drape. This project uses up most of the 10 balls I purchased. It's a long stole knit in the Dewdrops stitch pattern from the first Barbara Walker Treasury. The openwork makes the fabric light and airy, but still warm. I started swatching it and couldn't quit!

Mostly I've been hard at the dyepots and steamers, building up as much of an inventory as possible because -yipes! Black Sheep Gathering is a mere 6 weeks away. Although we did well at last month's Columbia Gorge Fiber Festival and sold more afterwards, I think I could make this year's BSG the best one yet for Stitchjones if I just had more to sell. Gonna try to pull out all the stops; the hamsters that live in a tiny corner of my brain are running furiously in the wheel as I try to figure out how to make that happen. All I can say is that since I became a mom, I stopped being such a scared cookie and learned how to welcome challenges, because I believed that if my daughter grew up watching me take them on, she'd know how to handle whatever life throws at her. It's still yet to be determined if I did the right thing or not. One thing's for sure though - when I decided to go for it as an indie dyer, I opened the door for all sorts of challenges, so it's a good thing I know how not to run from them!

Didn't mean to wax philosophical there. For those of you with kids, whether they are 2- or 4-legged, I hope you had a fantastic Mother's Day! One thing my offspring knows about me is that I love pink flowers. The camera doesn't capture how pretty the color is.

I can't wait to roll out more colors of my newest sock yarn, Indie Label merino-cashmere-nylon. So squeezable. There may even be one more new yarn, because I need to build inventory but can't get any Titanium Sock base until next month. I know everybody's excited about another Sock Summit, but it makes the demand for dyeable sock yarn skyrocket thus creating backorders, and I am not a happy camper when I can't get my customers' favorite products! There, I said it. I'm not bitter, just momentarily cranky. It was my decision not to have a booth at SS11 because I knew I wouldn't be up to it. After all, on the night SS09 ended, I was so wiped out that I had a minor car accident. So this year it'll be way less hassle for me - I can go as an attendee and enjoy it!

Anyway, here's new Indie Label MCN Sock in a new summery colorway, "Peach Harvest" (cozying up to some Wensleydale in Quince Blossom in the photo).

So with that, I'd best log off and get busy! What are your plans for Sock Summit 2011?

promises that happen*

2011-04-22T00:19:00.000-07:00

As I looked back over the posts I've written since the end of 2010, I can't help but think I was being rather short-sighted. In several areas of my life I had come to the end of several relationships and situations, and the difficulties were real. What I didn't express or address was how I felt inside, and that was like I'd failed or was some crazy-how bad for not being able to produce as much yarn out of a home kitchen as other indies who have a basement, garage or studio. I admit to thinking more than once, that Stitchjones was probably over as a business.

Spring, however, has brought with it new ideas and fresh opportunities for things I didn't see coming, yet they do make sense. During my crisis time I felt strongly moved to share the knowledge and inspiration I've gained, and I've found that I love teaching people how to dye yarn! Earlier this month I had my first experience leading a dye workshop at Wynona Studios. I had some jitters, not knowing exactly what I would say or how I'd do the presentation in a way that helped people the most, so I approached it just as though I were in my own kitchen studio. Going step by step, I prepped the yarn, mixed the colors, handpainted a skein and put it in the steamer - and then the group went right to it! They'd brought bagfuls of naked yarn from Knitpicks, and they had a ball. I was blown away with the inventiveness of their colors and techniques; there was definitely more than one fiber artist there that day. And I found that mixing colors on the fly without really having a plan was somewhat risky - yet I got "in the zone" and ended up with some good, funky sock yarn (picture next post, I promise). The good news doesn't stop there - we've scheduled two more dye classes, in June and August!

Two other positive, exciting things converged last weekend. I had a vendor booth at the first-ever Columbia Gorge Fiber Festival. It was an awesome event! I was inspired by the colorways and yarns of my fellow dyers - I traded some of mine for yarn from Abstract Fiber and Sincere Sheep, which was a great way to try merino-cashmere-nylon sock yarn base and an organic merino sportweight. In fact, I just ordered some MCN today!

One thing that had become clear to me is that I don't seem destined to become a spinner. I know how to spin; I've had the best teachers one could ask for - I guess making my own yarn just doesn't sparkle for me. I love to knit, dye and design, and have so much cooking with those interests that I decided to sell my new Lendrum. I hated the thought of it sitting around neglected when someone else could be enjoying it, so I sold it at CGFF. Seeing how happy the new owner was to have it showed me that I'd done the right thing.

I also finished another shawl.

This is the Bollywood Shawl pattern created for Stitchjones by Tara Miller (Ravelry link). The original was made with Dyepot Worsted in Bollywood. This one took 2 skeins of Baby Alpaca DK which I had kettle dyed in Sligo. I think more subtle colorway showed off the feather lace and lattice stitch patterns.

There are more good things happening, but drowsiness is taking over. I'll have to tell you about it in my next post, which will be sooner rather than later! Blogging has been filling my need to write, and while I can't let the cat out of the bag just yet, I can say that keeping my writing skills honed will be to my benefit this year! No, it isn't a book, although somehow that seems to feel like more than a pipe dream these days.

G'night...

*"Promises" is one of my favorite parts of the original 12-step text, or "Big Book". If you will indulge me:

If we are painstaking about this phase of our development, we will be amazed before we are half way through. We are going to know a new freedom and a new happiness. We will not regret the past nor wish to shut the door on it. We will comprehend the word serenity and we will know peace. No matter how far down the scale we have gone, we will see how our experience can benefit others. That feeling of uselessness and selfpity will disappear. We will lose interest in selfish things and gain interest in our fellows. Self-seeking will slip away. Our whole attitude and outlook upon life will change. Fear of people and of economic insecurity will leave us. We will intuitively know how to handle situations which used to baffle us. We will suddenly realize that God is doing for us what we could not do for ourselves.

Are these extravagant promises? We think not. They are being fulfilled among us—sometimes quickly, sometimes slowly. They will always materialize if we work for them.

just a fool

2011-04-01T17:20:00.000-07:00

It's April Fools' Day, but there will be no jokes, pranks or jackanapes - just me! Haven't blogged in ages, so I wanted to make sure I got in on this action. Trying to make a blog post count.

Amid the various ups and downs of life and Spring upon us in full flower, there has been some knitting. However, my pictures kind of suck, so instead of doing the whole FO rotogravure I'll just hand pick a couple of significant items.

This is the "Little Glam Bag". Basic pattern is from the Not Just Socks book. The pattern's a bit futzy and whatnot, because rather than a simple eyelet row for the i-cord, you knit a casing for it and stitch it down. Totally worth it, though. I used about a half skein of Glam Sock in Hemlock, and I love it. It only took most of a weekend to finish, so by making a few more I could whittle down my sock yarn stash! Yeah, good mantra...rinse and repeat...

On a somber note, my dear friend Darla (she was married to my BIL Jonathan, who passed away in 1998) just began chemotherapy for breast cancer. I picked STR Lightweight in a beautiful colorway called "Sophie" to make a chemo cap for Darla. (And I love using my KISS stitch markers, which were a gift from trtlgrl!)

I'm not using a pattern, just winging it. 2 x 2 rib for 3", then stockinette stitch until it's long enough to begin the top decreases. Keeping the design plain because the yarn's so pretty.

Last but not least, I'm getting ready for spring & summer fiber festivals! I have lots of lovely baby alpaca & blends yarn in new colors. Here is "Secret Garden" (in Japanese, himitsu teien).

I gave the Japanese translation not to be a geek, but because I'm donating half my profits from the sale of this colorway to the Red Cross and designating the funds for Japan earthquake/tsunami relief. Here it is on a skein of Titanium Sock. Busy, yes, but if it helps, the color repeats are way short, so it shouldn't flash or pool.

Thanks to Michele over at PDXKnitterati for the banner!

I always forget to remember stuff

2011-03-01T00:03:00.000-08:00

Lately I seem to have the memory of a guppy! I finished this big ol' Pi Shawl before writing my last post, and clean forgot to include the photo.

This was taken before I blocked it, but really it doesn't look much different after blocking. There isn't any lace to speak of, just eyelet holes on the increase rounds. I kept it in stockinette stitch because of the high color contrast.

Here are the minutiae: Pi Shawl by Elizabeth Zimmermann. Yarn: Fleece Artist handpainted Bluefaced Leicester 2/8 (lace weight) in "Cosmic Dawn". I think I used a size 6 needle. Finished size is about 37" diameter.

Having never knit a round shawl before, I did a final increase round when I already had 500 + stitches, which meant that my knitted edging (Sickle pattern from Barbara Walker Treasury) came out looking more like a ruffle than lace edging. Which I rather like for the flirty effect, although it took forever and a day to finish! At the end of the day, I'm willing to overlook my rookie mistakes in favor of having a soft, cuddly, warm shawl that is also beautiful.

Here are a couple of pics from last week's road trip down to Medford and Ashland. I love this "Your Move" statue by the Ginger Rogers Theatre, downtown Medford. Snow was really coming down, but none of it stuck that day.

While I waited for the yarn store to open in Ashland, I walked around Lithia Park. So peaceful and gorgeous, even in late winter - I caught these pink buds about to blossom.

Somehow, 3 skeins of Manos Silk blend followed me home. I'm seriously far behind in photographing my stash yarn for Ravelry! I really should catch that up, because it's the only way I can see what I actually have.

I did have a mini adventure of sorts. I was driving a rented Kia Soul, which was a pretty fun rig - the only problem was that I got lost. You wouldn't think that would happen, because the towns in Southern Oregon aren't that big, but I figured out a way to do it. I got on the freeway heading the wrong direction, took the Mt. Ashland exit and followed the road that winds all around the mountain. Got back on the freeway, only to discover I was still going the wrong direction. I went over Siskiyou Summit passing all the semis and even saw a sign welcoming me to California before I was able to execute a course correction. Well...we can't knit all the time, right?

We arrived home late Friday night, and were greeted by my favorite couch potato.

***

Another year, another Yarn Crawl

The pace of my business has slowed down considerably, which sucks because I'm not earning, but it's better for family members who like to eat in the kitchen and not get chased out by me because I need to get yarn done. However, next weekend is the annual Portland Yarn Crawl, which is metro-wide fun, and I, ~~Rosanne Roseannadanna~~ I mean Stitchjones, have been invited to 2 area yarn shops! I'll be bringing selected items for a trunk show & sale - I've been busy creating some special surprises. So if you're local and wondering which shops to hit, come see me at Urban Fiber Arts on Saturday afternoon, and Wynona Studios on Sunday. Personal appearances, I loves them!

Funky

2011-02-21T14:41:00.001-08:00

If you're looking for clever knitting, I'm sorry to disappoint, but you won't find it here! I put together some bits from stash and became completely mesmerized by the color combination. Without another thought, I cast on and began knitting.

I held together a fingering weight and laceweight, used size 11 needles, and didn't look up (almost) until I had a light, floaty garter stitch scarf about 60".

So taken was I with the brighter-than-a-thousand-suns red that I forgot to slip the first stitch of each row for neatness. It felt rather like coloring with yarn, so I went at it like a preschooler and didn't worry about staying inside the lines.

The yarn backstory: almost a full skein of Curious Creek Fibers Wasonga sock yarn, and gorgeous handspun laceweight by Kathleen of Busy Digits. Kathleen spun some Wensleydale I had dyed, and plied it with a shiny nylon thread. I really love the pairing of these two yarns.

Jason and I are heading down to Southern Oregon tomorrow for a couple of days, combining a business trip with a bit of fun. I plan to hang out in Ashland, visit the yarn shop of course, and knit. This time I'll remember to bring my camera!

Achoo!

2011-02-06T15:21:00.001-08:00

Scuse me, I haz sniffles. Fortunately the vile microbes lodged in my sinuses aren't communicable via the internet, so I can still communicate!

I'm thankful for being able to fight off this bug long enough to go down to Newport for the annual spin-in. It was my third time attending, and this one was the best yet! This year's event was held at the Intermediate School, so there was plenty of room for spinners and vendors without that crowded feeling. I had a lovely time, but by 3:00 I started to feel like I had just enough energy to pack up and make the 3-hour drive home, which I did before collapsing.

Here's a wonderful bit of serendipity! A rummage through the front hall closet unearthed some small dog sweaters I had made several years ago. I kept the silliest one for Toki (click on link to view), and brought the other two with me. As soon as I started moving my stuff in yesterday morning, I saw Chris from Fog Wash Soap Co. and she was "wearing" Tina!

I was so happy that no sooner I'd found those sweaters, than I found someone with a little doggy needing warm! The other one is purple trimmed in matching boa yarn. I think it was Crystal Palace's brand. Looking back, now I'm glad I didn't go too crazy with novelty yarn stashing. That fad sure came and went fast! Isn't Miss Tina a princess? She even granted me a free bar of soap, my choice of fragrance! I chose Kumquat - it's very subtle.

I even finished something on my needles.

This is how it looked pre-blocking, although it didn't need much since it's a loose gauge and not actual lace. Even though it's a small shawl, it's made at the right gauge to be light, warm enough, and it stays on my obnoxiously round shoulders. It's the Citron shawlette, of course - chances are you've made at least one if you're reading this - in Noro Sekku, 4A. (I hatez numerical colorways! Half the fun of being a dyer is naming your own.) Very pretty, but never no more shall I buy another skein of Noro that is finer than Silk Garden. It's overspun and it tangles and knots like crazy. I had way too many broken ends to weave in.

I have lots of other knitting that I'm excited about, but I'm kind of fired up about dyeing, too! To some extent, I'll be free styling and choosing my own colors and fibers. The Columbia Gorge Fiber Festival is just a couple of months away, and I intend to have as big and varied an inventory as I possibly can!

Plus, I haz to blow my doze...

Plum Tomato

2011-01-21T10:44:00.000-08:00

Oh lordy, I am in deep ambivalence about this one! It started out so good. I knew it should have been a tank though, such as the Trellis & Keyhole tank. I picked up the yarn at a clearance sale last summer, and of course when I got to the lower edge of the garment I was on the last ball and had to do the ribbing in another color. While at Knitting Bee, I ran into a friend from knit night, and thankfully she talked me out of the pumpkin orange I was going to use for the trim - the dark plum color definitely pops more.

Before I get to my grousing, let me supply the details.

Pattern: Tomato by Wendy Bernard, from No Sheep For You
Main color: Dale of Norway Svale, 10 balls, shrieking neon orange (ok, that's not the real color name, but it might as well be)
CC: Queensland Bebe Cotsoy, 1.5 balls, plum
Needles: Size 6 (body) Size 5 (trim)
Size: 3x

And now for my unrelentingly harsh critique:

- Fit isn't everything! I managed to make something that fits me well but I probably won't wear it out of the house, because I'm afraid of being laughed at. It should have been a solid color.

- I suck at picking up necklines. Granted, this still needs blocking, and while the blocking project has a magical way of washing away our sins, I don't think it's going to fix the ugly pickup line along the front neck.

- That mysterious stain visible in the second photo. I have no idea what it is. I took this project with me to California and back, so something must have spilled on it. Praying I can get it out when I soak-wash the garment.

My verdict: epic fail. I'm willing to forgive myself, it being my first try at an awesome, infinitely customizable design. I will knit this sweater again, and do a better job.

Celadon-ic haze

2011-01-18T15:58:00.000-08:00

I'm back from Southern California, still feeling warm sun and hearing cool jazz. While visiting Abuelita's in South Pasadena, I became acquainted with Ulli. She's a talented knitter and lovely person originally from Austria, who not only could name a handful of yarn shops right here in Portland, but also knew all about the annual Seattle to Portland Yarn Train! It made me do a double take, because I figured I'd probably seem like a hayseed in uber-hip Cali. I know, I've gotta get out more! We are DIY Central though, and I'm proud of that.

Ulli also introduced me to some nice music - she was playing a Madeleine Peyroux CD in the shop, "Careless Love". At first I thought it was Billie Holliday singing, that's how good it is! Stitchjones into jazz, you say? Not to worry. I still have deep reverence for all things headbanger, but I am over 50 after all. Plus, the music goes with the climate down there.

The last thing we did before heading back to Bob Hope Airport in Burbank (so tickled to have been to/seen places named for celebrities! I was only ever through the Ted Williams Tunnel, formerly the Sumner Tunnel, in Boston) was visit the Pacific Asia Museum in Pasadena. Really awesome place to visit if you're interested in Asia, which I have always been, ever since I was very young. Back then the door between the US and China was firmly closed. That's why the exhibit we saw, "China Modern", was so enriching. This exhibit coincided with the Shanghai Expo, so a whole part of the display was about young Shanghai ladies in product advertisements of the 1930's. Shanghai was a modern, progressive city of the era, and the images of young women smartly dressed and coiffed in ads for soap, fabric, etc. were striking. However, when I saw this cigarette pack in a glass case, I was absolutely blown away.

We also saw beautiful pieces of textile, pottery and art from China and Japan. I took special note of the bowls and dishes in celadon. As a lover of color, I have under-appreciated this shade of blue-green. In the authentic pieces, the color stays closer to one universal shade than I imagined. It's a bit tricky to create this shade with consistency in yarn dyeing; each type of fiber received the color differently. Here's the results of last week's color play:

Felting Wool Worsted (formerly Grand Design Worsted) in Lemongrass - yellowy chartreuse, more traditional yellow-green with celadon as an accent

Baby Alpaca DK

Glam Sock

There's a bit of gray showing on the Glam Sock. Not sure how I feel about it yet; it seems to make the blue-green appear dirty, which is counter-productive, if anything.

Happy New Year...now what?

2011-01-11T13:26:00.000-08:00

Happy 2011, everyone! Please know that I wish good things for you all in the new year. I admit to having distanced myself somewhat from the news reports. I'm not trying to be an ostrich, or the queen of denial, I am just trying to keep as much negativity as I can out of my mind, heart and spirit. Although we are blessed with abundant food, a place to live and love for one another, it was a rather unhappy Christmas for reasons I described in previous posts. I've made a conscious decision to leave it all in the past. While one of my more glaring character defects is the tendency to hold a grudge, I do accept that I have no control over other people's behavior. It's a start.

I'm also trying to walk a more righteous path where my health is concerned. Since the holidays ended, my diet is much higher in salads and fresh vegetables. I haven't completely given up sugar, but I'm staying away from it as much as I can. Although my daughter, who has lost 70 lbs. cautioned me not to get on the scale, I had to know. I lost 4 lbs. It's a start.

Looking at the blog post title, maybe I answered my own question of "now what"? Not to get all hippie dippie 70's psychobabble about it, but someone a long time ago told me, "It's ok to just be." So I'm not going to take on the monster task of re-inventing myself, or pushing my tiny kitchen to produce mass quantities of hand dyed yarn and fiber with chemical dyes when I miss cooking a variety of good food. Self-care has to be priority one right now. It's a start.

I recently finished a pair of socks.

These are just plain vanilla's. The yarn is Deborah Norville Serenity, and I got 2 50-gram balls for $5.00 at Jo-Ann in Spokane. Talk about cheap azz crafts! It's a blend of superwash wool, bamboo & nylon. Very soft and comfy - I'm pleased.

That's all the knitting I have to share right now - I'm working feverishly on a big project, the Tomato sweater. Jason is going a convention in Pasadena on Thursday, and I get to go with him! I've never been there and I'm excited. Just to get away from the too-cold weather here for a few days will be a nice break. Anyway, I wanted to have the Tomato done before we left, but it won't be. I'll take it with me and work on it while we're there. I plan to visit Abuelita's while he is at the convention center.

The rest of this post is gonna be pictures of food. Michelle and I were craving the Sizzling Rice Soup that we enjoy at China Bay , so we tried to make it at home.

You're supposed to spread the cooked rice on a greased surface - I put foil on a cookie sheet and sprayed it with Pam - and bake it at 300 degrees F for 40 minutes. I had a mixture of chicken broth with a bit of soy sauce, sliced green onion, pea pod, carrot and sliced beef steaming and ready, and I couldn't wait for the rice to be done, so it didn't get crispy and sizzle when I added it to the broth. No matter - it was still pretty good!

Jason's family is from the South, and Southerners eat blackeye peas on New Year's Day for luck. We adopted the tradition.

I use the canned kind, add some brown sugar and simmer it until the liquid in the pan is thick.
For New Year's Day we also had a standing rib roast, and to go with it I fixed Yukon Gold potatoes roasted in olive oil with onion, garlic and fresh lemon thyme.

***

I am dialing back how much time, energy and money I will invest in Stitchjones this year. I still plan to do dyeing. The fiber events I will vend at this year are the Columbia Gorge Fiber Festival in mid-April, Black Sheep Gathering in June, and Oregon Flock & Fiber in September. There's going to be another Sock Summit here in Portland this summer. I was a vendor at the first one, and as much as I'd like to participate in the second one, I know it's out of my reach. Scaling down also means being less active in social networking, so I'm backing off the Facebook/Twitter thing too. Closing some doors, waiting for a window to open and trusting that it will.

It's a start.

Not all bad

2010-12-29T16:34:00.000-08:00

Thank you for the kind, supportive comments from my last post. It means a lot to me, and I'm feeling better. Went to the doctor today, and we discussed things I can try to help with the pain and anxiety. Maybe they'll work, maybe not - a doctor visit was a good first step though!

Despite the encounters with Grinches I talked about last time, there were some pleasant moments over the past few weeks. Here are a few.

This is one of the views at Spence Farm. The little rodentlike creature on the right would be Jimmy.

Both dogs loved being able to roam, explore, and play in the snow. At least they had this opportunity to do so. I gave Toki Dramamine and pulled his food the night before we left, and also before the trip home. It didn't seem to help his motion sickness, although his having an empty stomach was easier to deal with. I still want to be able to take my doggy places, so I will try other remedies the vet's office suggested, such as a certain pheromone he can be given to soothe and calm him. I forget the name of it now. Ginger doesn't work because I can't get him to eat it.

I love this pic of my 3 cute guys!

I discovered that in Spokane there are no longer any places to buy good yarn other than Paradise Fibers. They were, of course, closed Friday and Sunday in addition to Christmas Day. That nice shop on the South Hill, A Grand Yarn, appears to have gone out of business. I knew Toki needed a sweater while there, so my only option was Jo-Ann. I used 1 ball of Stitch Nation Alpaca Love and a small amount of a second ball to knit the chest piece. It seems to fit him well.

Here is one of the gifts I gave my mother-in-law, the Feather and Fan Circle Wrap from The Naked Sheep Knit Shop's blog. I used most of a skein of Mushishi wool/silk blend. Mom seemed to like it; she had just bought herself a teal sweater that matched the wrap.

Not sure what those mysterious orbs are on this picture, other than maybe a dirty camera lens - but here is the zip front cardigan I made for my brother, in Imperial Stock Ranch Columbia wool.

Pretty good fit, and he can wear the shawl collar up or down. He was really happy with it, and so was I. You just can't beat those Knitting Pure & Simple patterns. Drove myself about half crazy trying to put in the zipper with a knitpicker - the method is outlined in the Winter 2010 issue of Interweave Knits. After several frustrating hours and colorful swear words, I gave up and stitched the zipper in place by hand. Should have tacked it down better at the bottom; easy fix, though.

And that's mostly how I'm keeping my loved ones warm this winter!

Crossroads

2010-12-27T17:26:00.000-08:00

For too long, I've been neglectful of certain things in my life that I need to address. Now they seem to have all converged, from small localized blazes into one massive conflagration, and I've got no choice but to put out the damn fire.

1. Stop the madness

First of all, the way I have been pursuing my business seems to no longer be working for me. I haven't quite figured out everything I want to do in order to make a fresh start in the new year, but I am at a point where I can no longer handle large volumes of wholesale orders. I just had a very negative experience in which I knew a business arrangement wasn't working for me but I didn't speak up in time. I ended up falling behind, the customer got pissed and I lost a major account. Without going into too much detail, I got my ass chewed out in a yarn shop in front of staff and customers, three days before Christmas. And I was facing another stress-filled car trip to Spokane to spend the holiday with my inlaws, which I'll get to later. In all honesty, I wasn't enjoying dyeing dozens upon dozens of the same 2- or 3-color sports team colorways. I really don't want to sound conceited, because I still have tons to learn, but I feel that I've established myself as a fiber artist. I can't mass produce. I need to be in the drivers' seat when it comes to how much output I can create and what colors I use. Dyeing textiles is an art, and art requires inspiration! At least for this artist. I now know exactly how a gifted, driven artist feels when they have to sell out for a paycheck. Those rah-rah colorways were the fiber art equivalent of having to make, say, 50 clown paintings for people to hang in their bathrooms. There, I said it, but it needed to be said. I am simply taking back some control. That much, I have learned this year. I'm not saying I will refuse wholesale orders; perhaps the only major change I need to make is in what I am willing to custom dye. Most of my customers order colorways which I created and still love to dye, so I'm glad to continue making what they want. There might be constraints on volume per color/colorway and adjustments to my production time, but I think they are reasonable when I remember that I'm working in a small kitchen, I have little to no storage space for materials, and I perform every step of the process myself. What it boils down to is that I will work at being more realistic about what I can actually do and how long it actually will take. I'm aware that I may lose more business as a result, but until I have the dye operation of my dreams, I'll have to accept the outcome.

2. Health issues

During the past year, I've noticed a sharp increase in both physical pain and anxiety. The pain is worst when I am on my feet for hours doing dye work, and I'm out of commission for quite a while afterwards. This is a big part of why I had the bad experience described above. Although I haven't seen my doctor in quite a while - she's been out on maternity leave but I think she's back now - I think the anxiety and sleeplessness is a part of aging. My goal is to see the doc by the end of this week and get some answers and some help.

3. Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting different results.

OK, you've all heard me bitch and moan about visiting the inlaws in Spokane. This time, however, my brother in law, who is an abusive alcoholic, abused me verbally in front of his mother on Christmas Eve. I did not stand for the abuse; I got right back in his face. Oh yeah, it was a Jerry Springer Christmas spent in a split-level instead of a double-wide. My husband defended me, thankfully, and the upshot is that I never have to go back. Ever. As much as I love my mother-in-law, staying in her house is unsafe as long as her drunken mess of a son lives in the basement. Unless he changes, it will only get worse as time goes on. It's a sad state of affairs, but it's freeing for me to have the pressure off at last.

***

It seems appropriate to be facing significant changes in my life at the end-of-year holidays. I don't make New Year's resolutions. I just seem to be waking up to some facts. People pleaser that I have always been, I'm the one who is living this life, not anyone else. And I've got to make it work as best it can - for me.

A month of Glam

2010-12-06T00:10:00.000-08:00

Well hi! Still here, still yarning. I've gotten so much into Facebook and Twitter over the past few months that my blog is starting to fall by the wayside. However, when you want to say all of what's on your mind without worrying about character count and put up a mess of snapshots, there's nothing quite like the blog.

A couple of weeks ago I finally received my eagerly awaited shipment of base yarn for Glam Sock, and was able to finish and deliver orders that were open since July and August. My customers were infinitely patient, and since I've improved my dye techniques and skills since the last time Glam was in, (at least in my humble estimation), I got some great feedback!

Since I had a whole case to play with, I came up with some new colorways.

Victorian Christmas

Black Magic

Mulberry

You'd think black would be a no-brainer and I'd have figured it out early on. Not so! For me it was a matter of finding the right dye. For much of my black dyeing I use Country Classics Raven, which is more of a charcoal gray than true black. Trying to get the right black for my textile artist friend was a challenge and forced me to experiment (which was a good thing). Next I tried Ashford black, but that wasn't working either. Finally I used Jacquard jet black, and voila - that seemed to do the trick. It works great on Glam; usually I double dye it in a pot for developed and even color. For handpainting a variegated colorway, though, I still use CC Raven, because the Jacquard tends to separate into brown at the edges of the dyed area.

The Mulberry's a challenge, too. To make this color I combine 2 dye shades, and can never seem to get the ratios exactly right from skein to skein, session to session. Usually they come out so much prettier than my camera can show, that if there is hue variance it's slight and not much of an issue. As for Victorian Christmas - this colorway danced in my vision like sugarplums for months. Finally got to do it, what fun! It's just a little twist on a Christmassy silver, red and green.

Didn't think you were gonna get a dyeing tutorial, did ya?

Socks Are Not For Suckas

Shawls in hand dyed fingering weight are awesome sauce, yes they are. However, I still love sock knitting. One at a time. Top down. On dpns. It takes me immediately to my happy place!

I love the Nutkin pattern, and have been itching to knit it and drooling over the skein of Madelinetosh in Baltic that was percolating in the stash. I then proceeded to change just about everything about the design, except for keeping the beautiful (and easy) stitch pattern on the leg.

Finally there's a blue pair in my sock drawer!

Not an afterthought...

I got my spinning wheel! It's a beautiful brand new Lendrum that works great, but we haven't exactly bonded yet. There are a few issues with me, spinning, my house and pets. First of all, I'm not as consistent a spinner as I thought I would be - and it will take lots of practice, not only to spin uniformly but also to build those leg muscles! I went to a spin session, and it was more of a workout than I imagined. However, those things aren't really obstacles; I shall overcome. The biggest issue is keeping my wheel safe from dog whiz. To Toki, it's just another piece of furniture to lift his leg on, so I've got the wheel put up out of reach. I also need to be sitting in one of the kitchen chairs when I spin; my knitting chair won't work ergonomically. Holy cow! Over the next year one of my goals is to work out all these bugs, so I can spin as leisurely as I knit.

Look out, it's Christmas

Without sounding like a bah humbug scrooge, I really, really don't want to do much for Christmas this year. I don't want to put up lights or spend $60 on a tree that we'll throw out, although we will do these things for Michelle. I guess the reason I don't want a tree is because I can spend virtually zilch on gifts. So while it'll be simple holidays for us, I'll do what I can to make it decent looking around here. My objective for the coming week, along with keeping Stitchjones going of course, is to transform the clutter of a business office, warehouse, winding station and mail room - along with a music room - back into what they started out as, our dining and living room. I put away a lot of stuff today and did some cleaning, and although it'll take some doing, I'm in a "believe and achieve" frame of mind. That means the psychoactives must be working!

I promise not to be absent from here for so long, and am about 3/4 done knitting a sweater. I'm eager to finish it, do a photo shoot and blog it, of course, so I'm off to knit more on the sleeve. Hope you are all finding ways to stay warm and happy in early December!

now back to regular programming

2010-11-06T20:57:00.000-07:00

Halloween is over, and it's that curious season in the stores where the Halloween candy and decorations are still around, often piled in grocery carts at fabulous discount prices, and the Thanksgiving and Christmas trappings prominently featured. A friend observed that Thanksgiving seems to be about football and overeating, and not much more these days. Perhaps that's true. In our case, we eat the traditional type feast and have football on TV; the three of us typically spend the holiday weekend with Jason's family in Spokane. And if you're a regular reader, then you know how much I enjoy being around my charming brother in law (almost as much as I enjoy kvetching about it). This year, though, we're going to do our holidays a little different. We'll stay right here for Thanksgiving, and I'll cook our holiday meal. My mom isn't up to hosting or cooking, and my brother is having his own celebration with his friends. He seems to be adjusting to singlehood better than I hoped, which is great. For Christmas, though, we will make the Spokane run, and get together with my side of the family when we get back. I'll try to be gracious about the ordeal of the trip, I will - I promise! If I get whiny, feel free to remind me that pain in the kiester in-laws are nothing compared to how sweet my husband is to me. Thanks in advance, goodly readers!

I'm dubbing this time of year "HalloThanksMas". Last weekend being Halloween, I actually dressed up, which I hadn't done in a few years. Pulled a costume out of my *ahem* the night before, is more like it, but whatever - I wanted to be dressed up because a special trick-or-treater was coming over! Isn't she cute as bugs knees? Her name is Hazel, and she's 16 months. She seemed to enjoy wearing her garden gnome costume. Here we are with Hazel's mommy, my friend and webmistress Rachel.

I haven't done the blogging thing lately, so it must look like there's been no knitting going on. I assure you there has, just not a lot in the way of finished items. One thing I've discovered a new obsession for is sock knitting. No, I haven't learned Magic Loop, 2 at a time, one inside the other or toe-up. (My apologies to Judy of Magic Cast-on fame - she's a good friend, and whenever she sees me knitting socks she tells me I'm doing it backwards. Someday I'll learn your technique, Judy! Pinky swear!)

Nope - what I've discovered is cozy socks I can make in two hours, and fabulous yarn to make them with. I've fallen in love.

These are called Yeti Socks, (Ravelry link), and they are made with Jarbo Garn Raggi, a heavy worsted/Aran weight yarn that is soft and comes in great colors. I bought two balls of this purple mix yarn, made a pair in the medium size for a charity project - and completed the pair with only one ball. I immediately ordered more yarn to make a pair for Michelle. It looks like several family members will be getting these for Christmas! If nothing else, they're great for wearing around the house or to bed when it's really cold.

Another groovy thing about this yarn, is that you can order it online here and through the magic of Shopatron, a yarn retail stockist will ship it to you. In my case, it was shipped from right here in Portland. Not bad! Beats running around town if you know what you want.

Here's another contribution to the charity knitting pile. Totally accidental Argyle-ing! It's the My So-Called Scarf pattern on size 8 needles and Rio de la Plata hand dyed wool. It's similar to Manos del Uruguay Wool Clasica, but a little softer, I think. It's almost done, so I'll photograph the scarf when it's blocking. The argyle stayed pretty much regular, then veered off at the perfect point for the back of the neck, then picked up again - it's a miracle! Or a mackerel. Or something.

Duty calls, my friends, so I must sign off - you probably won't be hearing from me for a couple of weeks. As it turns out, long story, but we are on for FiberMania in Southern Oregon next weekend! Totally stoked - I've never been to that part of the state, and my friend pdxyarnho is going to be there! However, I've got considerable dye work ahead of me if I'm going to be ready to get on the road next Friday.

Until next time then...happy knitting and spinning to one and all.

one more trip around the sun

2010-10-22T23:25:00.000-07:00

O hai friends! It's late October, which means birthday month is in full swing. Michelle turned 20 last Wednesday, so I no longer have a teenager for a daughter. We've had our struggles with adolescence and some of them are still ongoing, but I couldn't be prouder of the young woman she's become.

Although she has always had her own style, her current one is a bit less freakazoid. Two tone hair, which is OK by me as long as they're natural shades; one of her dad's old shirts and a more or less perpetual wry expression. It may be too much to hope for, that she'll trim the fringe so it doesn't overhang her eyes...

Since my sparkly sock yarn, Glam Sock, is hopelessly backordered, I found myself with nothing to dye on her birthday, so I decided to bake chocolate cupcakes with pink icing - all from scratch. I used to cook and bake all the time, before I discovered that my kitchen could yield a product that generates cash flow (does that ever sound like I'm in my kitchen cooking meth! Well, given the addictive nature of yarn, maybe I am) so I figured it'd be sweatless. Boy howdy, was I wrong.

On the first batch, I overfilled the cupcake tins, resulting in overflowing tops that stuck to the pan. Meh. So as fast as I could, I switched tactics, having made a bodacious amount of cake batter - a Ghirardelli fudge cake recipe that tastes just as awesome if you use Hershey's cocoa, which is what we had. I decided to make a layer cake.

The powdered sugar supply level in the cupboard being critical, there was enough to fill and frost the 2 thin cake layers with pink (I used rather a lot of Wilton's rose icing tint) and literally "fudged" enough chocolate icing for the cupcake carnage. Yeah, the whole thing looks like a big bag of sad. The top layer broke apart, so I made Frankencake, sticking it back together with icing. If only this dreary story would stop there, but Michelle has classes until early evening on Wednesdays and is usually in a less than genial mood when she gets home. Such was the case on her birthday, and so she declined to eat any of the cake at all.

Next year: Hello, Haggen supermarket? Bakery department, please.

OFFF my rocker!

2010-10-02T14:17:00.000-07:00

Oregon Flock & Fiber has come and gone, without being so much as a blip on the radar of my poor neglected bloggie. And here it's October already and my knitting (and dyeing) is in full swing.

But first, let me tell you about last weekend's fiberganza down in Canby, Oregon.

I have no pictures, but if you visit Michele's blog she was kind enough to take a picture of me at my booth. She's also a talented photographer, knitter and designer, so I recommend perusing her posts and patterns while you're there! All I can say about the festival, is that I'm so glad I a) was invited to be a vendor, and b) waited until I could be given indoor space, as I'm not a fan of putting up a canopy and selling from a lawn since I got rained on my first year at Black Sheep Gathering (June 2009). Normally, the weather is dry and beautiful here at the end of September. And it was - on Friday when I went down to set up my booth, and on Saturday. Sunday, though, the skies opened up! I think at least some folks who were planning to go Sunday, decided not to because of the weather. Still, this festival was very well attended, and I'm chuffed to be a returning vendor next year.

It was wonderful to see and visit with my friends and customers, and to have my sweet husband sitting with me for most of the time. He was content to read a book or work on his laptop. His birthday was last week, and I had this whole synergistic, serendipitous lineup of the planets where I a) finished the Cobblestone sweater I began last year, and b) managed to get it to fit him to a T.

I'm not sure how many balls of yarn I used, but it was around 10 or 11. The yarn is scrumptious - it's Classic Elite Portland Tweed. This sweater was a delight to knit from start to finish, and I now wonder why I left it in time out for almost a year. I have since become Jared Flood's most devoted fan! Believe me, knitting a garment that comes out fitting so well has not been the usual thing with me - although I am improving.

And the good news doesn't stop there! We here in Yarn Shop Heaven, I mean Portland, Oregon, have a brand new store that just opened in the Pearl District: Urban Fiber Arts. My friend and knit night buddy Cindy realized her dream, and she's created a shop that's not only beautiful but also offers yarn, fiber and accessories made by local artisans - one of which is me! I'll be spending many happy hours there in one of the cozy chairs, knitting away.

I know this post is short on pictures, but trust me, I've become a Spinner. I resisted the powerful siren song of the Turkish spindles I saw at OFFF, and have eschewed my drop spindle for one of these. It isn't here yet - Mr. Stitchjones ordered it for me last weekend, and I apparently must wait until my birthday at the end of the month before I can have it. Drat!

One of the reasons I've slacked off on blogging has to do with my mom. She's fine, no worries. It's just that last month, her mammogram showed granular cell tumors, and she is so small and frail that the doctor didn't think a needle biopsy could be performed safely. On the 14th, she had a surgical biopsy under general anesthesia. The surgeon told us we would have lab results in two days. However, after two days we never heard anything, and my mom WOULDN'T call, which drives me absolutely batshit freaking insane. That's been one of the hardest things for me to come to terms with about my aging parents - they meekly accept whatever they are told by healthcare providers, whether they understand it or not, and won't be pro-active in the least. But when it seemed like my mother didn't want to know whether or not she had cancer, I really had to practice self-restraint! Finally, nine days later she went in for a follow-up and got the All Clear. She's fine. As for me, my state of mind is like a T-shirt I once had that said, "Elvis is dead, Sinatra is dead, and I'm not doing so hot either".

Amen, Shalom, and Blessed Be.

Scarfapalooza 2010 (photo heavy)

2010-09-02T12:45:00.001-07:00

Hey all! It's September already, can you believe it? OFFF is fast approaching, and I'm nowhere near ready. However, FWIW, I thought I should take time out to update the blog.

I haz the scarf knitting bug something awful! Well, it's got to be better than bedbugs, right? Yeesh! I'm hoping it's just the media blowing smoke as usual, making the situation worse than it actually is. Not that it isn't a problem. Mr. Stitchjones travels so frequently, I'm afraid one of those vile loathsome critters will stow away in his suitcase. Now that I've put this disturbing suggestion out there for you, try to forget all about it and look at my knitting.

Here is a super quick scarf, which used a single skein of specialty worsted wool from Storm Moon Knits. It's called "Mandragora" which I think is a Dr. Who reference (the totally awesome daughter would get really annoyed with me at my ambiguity; her professed religion is now "Who-vian"). Anyway, I liked the colors the dyer put with the retina-searing green, and not shown in the photo is a subtle gleam to the yarn courtesy of a polyester thread.

I had 3 skeins of Royal Llama Silk in the same purple color, unfortunately one of the skeins was a different dye lot. So I did the best I could, and winged a double moss stitch pattern scarf - it would look really nice with a pin, ok, so I'm a big fat FAIL as a photo designer - or it could even be a unisex scarf I think.

This is my take on the Chevron Scarf from Last Minute Knitted Gifts - the book isn't at my fingertips, so I think that's the title. You've probably all seen it; it's the one with the little green bag on the cover.

I used 1 skein of Koigu semi-solid dark brown, and 1/2 skein of sock yarn from Knitting Like Crazy in a colorway called "Adventures in Babysitting" which was a really fun movie. Clever colorway name; because in the movie they went out for ice cream, and things got strange.

Even though the scarf is supposed to be 78" long or so, I knew that wasn't gonna happen. It's actually a respectable 52" or thereabouts; even after blocking, it wants to fold in on itself but I mushed it down flat, folded it and stored it in a ziploc bag. Hoping for the best.

This scarf took 2 balls of Kureyon and just a few hours to bang out. Old Shale, Fan & Feather or whatever you want to call it - it's the best!

I actually squoze in a little sock knitting, too. Here's an extreme closeup of the leaf lace pattern on the instep -

-and the big picture.

The second sock is nearly done. This is the Leaves of Grass Anklets (Ravelry link) by Marilyn Roberts, aka the Knitting Curmudgeon. Mar is a knit blog pioneer - she liberally peppers her blogging with profanity, which isn't everyone's cup of oolong, but I think she's cool - or "rare and handy", as she would say. Anyhoo, it's a nice pattern, and a lot easier than it looks. If anybody cares, the yarn is Araucania Ranco Solid. Still in a vain attempt to use up the stash.

Well cookies, I'm right out of FO's to show ya, although there are 3 other scarves in progress. If I can finish them by OFFF, I'll be happy because I got a deal on this way cool display rack that spins, from Portland Store Fixtures. I was so jazzed about selling both handknit scarves I had in my Black Sheep Gathering booth, that I definitely wanted to have more handknit accessories - the proceeds would at least pay for my yarn jones! With cold weather on the way, perhaps I'll manage to sell one or two.

Happy September, and for those of you who have kids going back to school (that includes me, but not until the 20th), enjoy it!

too busy knitting to blog?

2010-08-13T12:43:00.000-07:00

Hello world! Another 3 week absence from my blog - but as they say, I do have an alibi. I've been knitting myself into a stupor! While I'm keeping busy dyeing, I have managed to curtail the mad yarn buying and focus on whittling down my stash - if for no other reason than I'll be able to justify more shopping sprees. Just between you and me, I blame the yarn companies. They keep coming out with new, nummy yarns and I just can't resist them...yeah that's it. You know what they say, addicts blame everybody else for their compulsions, right?

Anyway, here are a few things I recently finished.

My own design: Pontocho (Ravelry link).

3.5 balls of Berroco Comfort in Orchid made the solid color version. I love it - wore it all around Seattle last weekend (will get to that later). Soft, comfy, slinky, warm yet breathes. Comfort is the nicest acrylic I've ever worked with, and it so happens I have more in my stash and want to knit it into this, in a solid color throughout, of course. If I were going to do that fancy ass patterning, the last place I'd want it would be around the bustline. But that's just how I roll...waddle...whatever.

***

I love this! It's Buttercup (Ravelry link) .

The so on and so forth: 10.5 balls of Baby Bamboo in Jellybaby ("Jellybean" for us non-Brits). Size 4 needle. Mods to the pattern: I didn't care for puffed sleeves, so instead of changing needle size and doing the decrease row, I just knit 4 rounds even, then worked the garter stitch edging. I have the world's shortest decollete - there is virtually none to speak of between where my neck ends and cleavage begins! So I did extra rows along the neckline. Could have done a few more; my bra still peeps out. Other than that, the fit is great and the fabric is so drapey and fluid...I feel like a princess in it! Sort of.

***

I managed to turn 2 strikingly different dye lots of the same color yarn into a serviceable item. 3 skeins of Royal Llama Silk made up this rather cool, unisex scarf in double moss stitch.

Not sure if I mentioned it in a previous post, but I do have a vendor space at this year's Oregon Flock & Fiber Festival, and wanted to have some handknit goodies to offer for sale.

Note the dachshund Beanie Baby on the mantel behind Britney. Michelle gave him to me for Mother's Day.

***

Last night I cast on for another scarf - this one may be a kid or tween version, because I'm using a OOAK skein of 200 meters. I also have 2 other scarves OTN, which really need finishing, also a shawl, 2 pullovers, 2 pairs of socks, oh and a cabled wrap...

Before I pick up the needles again, let me fill you in on how I spent last weekend! It's always a special treat to see the Holy Triumvirate in concert. They kicked so much ass, are pushing 60 yet show no signs of slowing down, and for these and many other things I love them so very much. All 3 of us - Mr. Stitchjones, Totally Awesome Daughter and I - got into our glamourous Kia Rondo and drove up to Seattle for the show. Now when I say "Seattle," yes we did go there and have dinner at our niece and her husband's restaurant in the Fremont neighborhood, before the show. However, the concert venue itself, White River Amphitheater, is in actuality nowhere near Seattle. To quote one of my favorite films "Thelma & Louise," "it's not exactly the middle of nowhere, but you can see it from here." Driving there wasn't so bad. Getting out though, was a nightmare. A solid hour just to get out of the parking lot. The things we go through for our favorite band!

Rather than drive all the way back to Portland in the wee hours, we stayed at a motel then joined Valerie and Nate, the owners of 9 Million in unmarked bills, at their awesome place for brunch on Sunday morning. I am so proud of these kids! And I never thought the day would come when I refer to 30-year-olds as "kids". Valerie is my brother-in-law Mark's daughter.

It's supposed to be sizzling in the 90's today and for the next 5 days or so! Time to brew some iced tea. Stay cool out there, my dears!

a midsummer evening's blog post

2010-07-24T20:04:00.001-07:00

Haven't blogged in something like, 3 weeks! A first for Chickenlips. Well, I do have pictures to show you, but before I get to it, let me grouse a bit about life. It was a real scorcher of about 94 today and it's supposed to be even worse tomorrow, and hot weather and I don't get along too well. Combined with the events of the past week, I'm feeling kind of meh. Once it cools down again to ideal Oregon summer in the high 70's, I'll perk up.

Where to start? Last Sunday evening, a dear friend and amazing person passed away. She was a very tough fighter and gave it all she had, but complications from cancer took Bev from us. This evening we attended a celebration of her life. The church was absolutely packed, and the service was beautiful. It's strange, I got all weepy when I got there and saw so many familiar faces - but Bev had so much joy and positive energy that we could actually feel it in remembering her.

The other thing that happened was that Monday night/early Tuesday morning, someone broke into daughter's car - which wouldn't have been a big deal if she hadn't left it full of valuables instead of bringing her things into her friends' house where she was staying! However, this is often how we learn what not to do. Unfortunately she lost her laptop, clothes, makeup collection, notebook full of songs and writings, and two electric guitars. So I've been dealing with the insurance company; got her car window fixed and just finished filling out the claim against our homeowner's policy. At some point, hopefully, we'll get some money out of 'em...

And now to the "meat", if you will, of this post! Here is something other than dyed wool I created in my kitchen: Italian Sausage and Zucchini Soup.

Super quick and easy. I browned 3 mild Italian sausages in a little olive oil. These ones were pork, although I imagine chicken sausage would be good too. Then I took the sossidges out and sauteed 1/2 onion, 1 garlic clove and a sliced zuke. Poured in 1 can beef broth and a bit of water to dilute the salty taste a bit, put the sausage back in and simmered it for about 20 minutes. Then cut up the sausages and sprinkled some grated parm on top. Fabulous!! I didn't add any seasonings - the sausage was spicy enough for me.

Handspinning Revisited

Recently I treated myself to a finely crafted cherry wood drop spindle, which made a big difference in both the quality of my spinning and my enjoyment of it. This is the "Shuksan", from Cascade Spindle Co. in Washington state.

I'm getting better, as the above photo shows. Although my handspun singles aren't great, I can spin finer and am eager to learn how to ply. I am seriously coveting this wheel, or one like it.

Well that's about it outta Chickenlips, folks - now that Totally Awesome Daughter doesn't have her own computer for the time being, we're back to sharing. Stay cool out there!

things you don't see every day

2010-07-04T15:10:00.000-07:00

Happy 4th of July, everybody! I'm having a mellow, quiet day here with Toki and the cats. To escape the fireworks noise, the kittehs are safely in the garage and Toki has a snuggly place under the bed. The rest of the fam is up in Spokane. I have tons of dyeing waiting for me, and will get to it sometime today or tonight - but for now I'm procrastinating in favor of reading, knitting and updating the blog.

I had a rather childish post up for a few days, and then took it down. It was a YouTube video of Weird Al Yankovic singing the ultimate breakup song "One More Minute". I'm a huge Weird Al fan and that song is dynamite, but really I was just being ugly about the fact that my brother's wife moved out yesterday. That kind of spiteful stuff only makes me feel better in the short term but doesn't really help anybody. I wanted to be there for him, so I took him out drinking. I don't drink, I only sort of "pretend" to - I never liked alcohol for the taste, that's for sure! He said it cheered him up, and even though Friday was a rough day for him, he coped well yesterday and got a bit liquored up last night. We at least had a few giggles, and yeah, some of them were at the soon to be ex-wife's expense - so the hell what? Given the situation, it was appropriate. The good news is that he's found a nice apartment, and will spend a couple weeks getting his stuff organized and the new place painted before moving in.

He also entrusted to me one of his most prized possessions for safe-keeping during the move.

Ever since he was a child, Rick has been a movie buff. He knows everything about the silver screen. A few years ago Jane Fonda wrote her autobiography and went on a book tour. He stood in line to meet her, and chatted with her for a few minutes. Said she was charming, regal, classy and a bit flirty, everything you would expect from someone who led a privileged (if tragic) early life and then spent all her adult life in the public eye.

Now I know there's still a lot of anti-Jane Fonda sentiment out there because of her going to Hanoi back in 1971. I have just begun reading the book, and am very interested to know what she has to say about it. So far her memoirs are completely frank and unflinching, and I'm sure I will have a better understanding of what was behind her actions. I will say this: Jane Fonda has certainly spent years trying to help people in different ways, such as summer camps for underprivileged kids, and campaigning and supporting women's issues and rights. If she did do harm to American POW's during the Vietnam era, I think she has also used her fame to do a great deal of good for many. I'm going to suspend judgment of her actions of 40 years ago, at least until I read her reflections about them.

Ehh, enough about that. Except for sewing down the picot hem and fixing the gap problem at the top edges of the front and back, my Lacy Lines Camisole is done.

I began it sometime in March, I think. It took 10 balls of Debbie Bliss Cathay, a cotton/viscose/silk blend, and size 2 and 3 needles. The camisole pattern is by Jennie Atkinson, from a book called "Knitting Goes Large" and I made the biggest size. The finished measurements given in the pattern are smaller than what I wanted them to be; I figured that using the needle size given would compensate for that because I invariably go down a couple needle sizes for gauge. Happily, it worked - other than the sagging, which can probably be fixed by a row or two of single crochet, it's a great fit. The back has the same eyelet lines and a smaller lace medallion.

Even though I have another summer top in progress, right now I'm on a scarf knitting kick. I also revisited spinning, so the next post will be all about that! Not really participating in Tour de Fleece, just trying to practice each day until I can make good yarn. I bought a cool new drop spindle and this time, I really get it. Who knew?

not baaad!

2010-06-22T01:06:00.000-07:00

Was so frazzled getting ready for Black Sheep last Wednesday that I didn't get to write a blog post after all. I got home Sunday evening tired but happy because I did a little better than last year. An interesting side effect was that everything I brought down to the event - including myself - was smelling rather pungent. The show booth was very close to a barn full of sheep and goats, you see. I've always been a city gal and it isn't often that I get that close to the source of fiber goodness. All the yarn, fiber and knitted samples are being aired out. I didn't mind the smell, although the dust from the hay irritated my eyes and throat some. The main thing is that I got to sell my products indoors this year - yeah!! Very grateful for that, because it did rain Sunday afternoon.

My product inventory was colorful if sparse. I'm still scoping out display racks and what have you, so I can have a well-designed 10 x 10 booth all by myself. I really didn't mind sharing the space with another dyer; the beautiful yarn brought customers into the booth to see what I had too, and helped generate sales. It may sound lame but I must admit: blame it on my Leo rising but to me, Stitch Jones is all about being a "rock star" - figuratively, of course - and I found myself just not at my best sharing the limelight! It will be my summer project then, prepping for fall and early winter fiber events by collecting more display goodies such as the borrowed spinning rack where I hung the little things I've been knitting, and building up inventory.

Hey, did you see that little purple stripey bolero? Let me show you a better photo.

I finished it bleary-eyed at 2:00 AM Thursday morning. All the pieces had already been blocked, so it was a matter of seaming everything up and picking up & knitting along the outer edge. I probably could have steamed the lower edge and neckline but um, yeah, no. Not gonna happen at that late hour! For those interested, I shall chronicle the details.

Pattern: Round and Round the Garden Bolero (Ravelry link)

Yarn: Bare Sheep Yarn Company superwash merino sock in "Bleeding Heart" & Rowan Pure Wool 4-ply in Lupine

Needles: Size 2 (body) & Size 1 (ribbing)

Fits: 12 months

Baby sweaters are usually no big whoop for me to knit, however this was a rather ambitious project. I just wanted to have a little topper to go with the sun dress I made for my booth. I'm not trying to make a living from selling hand knits -- I'm still new at selling my handmade items, and love knitting as much as dyeing. I figured it wouldn't hurt to have them in the booth and see what the reaction would be. My knitted goodies got lots of looks, and I actually sold the green and blue scarves I included in the display-- which made me quite happy!

I could go on; however, the hour is quite late and I've had my day off to recharge. I'm off to beddy. Back in a few days.

everything I need to know, I learned from country music

2010-06-12T14:05:00.000-07:00

O hai kittehs! It's a beautiful warm sunny day here in NW Oregon at last. I just got back from hanging with some of my knitting buddies at the Hillsboro Farmer's Market for World Wide Knit in Public Day. We were right by the fountain so I got a kick out of watching all the little kids splashing in the water. Much yarny work awaits me, so I'll make this a brief post but wanted to show you the latest baby item I finished.

Aren't the tiny cables sweet?

Design is "Bliss" (Ravelry link). I made the 12 months size, but it looks small; probably would fit 6-9 months. Yarn: 3 balls Classic Elite Pebbles, a cotton/acrylic blend. I think the yarn has a little too much texture for the design, so while this was a quick and fun knit which I would make again, next time I'll use a smooth yarn such as Baby Cashmerino, or a soft cotton blend DK like Jeannee.

Kiki asked about the yarn I dyed for Community Sock Club. I'm sure it's fine to show a photo, as it will soon be up on Ravelry. I love Kristin's sock design - it's gorgeous!

Lots of chartreuse happening here before the event. The overflow was hanging from the shower rod. ;P

If you ain't laughing, you ain't living.

Heard that somewhere, I'm not sure where, probably from some comic on TV. Our culture is rife with ex-spouse jokes, and even though it's a bit on the perverse side it does help to laugh. Here are some of my favorite breakup-themed country music song titles:

-She's Cheating On Both Of Us

-How Can I Miss You If You Won't Go Away

-Get Your Tongue Outta My Mouth Cause I'm Kissing You Goodbye

-She Wrote Me A Dear John And All I Got Left Is My John Deere

OK, blogging break's over. Signing off for now - I'll try to get in a post before I leave for Black Sheep (can I get enough stuff dyed before Thursday?) All you Oregonians & SW Washingtonians, have fun in the sun but don't forget the SPF!

still here, if a bit shaky

2010-06-07T00:35:00.000-07:00

Thank you all so much for the kind thoughts regarding my family situation. I am now past the initial shock and have entered a kind of anger-alternating with grief- phase. The good news is that today I spent a lot less time crying or even thinking about it. My brother went out of town for the weekend, which I think did him a lot of good. He says he's doing well, all things considered, and that's the best I can hope for. My life is pretty much on hold until BSG, which is coming up rather quickly - and then I'll be able to help him with moving or whatever he needs.

I made another pair of Zimmermann baby leggings last week. I happen to love color pooling, and I think it came out pretty rad on this project.

This time I used Fibranatura Aspen, an 80/20 blend of superwash merino and cotton. It's worsted weight and very soft. Found some Baby Cashmerino in almost that exact shade of pink, and plan to make a little coordinating cardi to go with the pants. I'm almost through with my baby clothes knitting jag - it's so much fun!

Also finished a pretty lace scarf. The photo sucks, but that's because I took it while it was blocking. I have a better photo which is still in the camera.

It came out to a bit longer than 50" and took 2 balls of Stitch Nation Bamboo Ewe, a soft & shiny yarn from Jo-Ann. I got the pattern from the Northwest Regional Spinners' Association newsletter.

Stitchjones' First Sock Club

I dyed up all the yarn last week for the Community Sock Club, and it was a hit! This was a great sock club - I have so much yarn that I don't join these clubs, but for this one I made an extra skein that I got to keep. Along with the knitterly goodies such as yarn, pattern and stitch markers, a sumptuous luncheon was held at Gino's Restaurant in Sellwood, and I was invited to attend as a "guest dyer". I felt so honored! Not only was the pattern designed by Kristin Spurkland , but the club members seemed to really love the yarn color. Because I'm not sure if everyone who is in the club got their yarn yet, I won't post any "spoiler" pictures, but if you want to see the pattern it may be on Ravelry under the designer's name. I finally met Kristin as we were seated at the same table, and we may collaborate on a future project - something I'd really enjoy.

I seem to be having recurring bouts of insomnia - at least, trouble falling asleep - so last night I didn't get to sleep until 3:00 AM. It being Sunday, I slept in until noon today. I don't really like doing that, because I feel it wastes too much of the day. However, it rained so long and steadily today that it was a good day to climb back under the covers! I even dozed off in the late afternoon. Anyway kittens, since I'm still going through some emotional stuff I think I will turn in, and try to sleep more than my usual amount - I probably need it.

is blogging instead of doing other stuff procrastinating?

2010-06-02T21:42:00.000-07:00

I have 30 skeins of yarn soaking in vinegar water, and they are due for a sock club this Saturday. It is now Wednesday, and no I didn't space out on the yarn, I was finally able to get it from the supplier and it arrived this afternoon. (It's not worth going into all the why's and wherefore's of not getting it in sooner - suffice it to say that being in the yarn business is sometimes a goat rodeo.) Right now I should be in the kitchen getting it all dyed up - fortunately it's a semisolid, so it should go fairly quickly - but before I can do it, I have to go out for more plastic wrap because I don't think I have enough to do the whole job. So why am I not out at the supermarket then?

My younger brother, my one and only sibling, told me today that he and his wife are divorcing after 21 years of marriage. Up until Sunday, I had no idea there was anything wrong. Our parents and I never saw this coming, so I'm numb with shock. They had no children, but it's still very sad - especially since he has been heartsick for the past two years, yet he told no one. I don't feel comfortable sharing more details right now, all I can say is that they always seemed perfect for each other and very happy. They have a beautiful house and put a lot of work into restoring and decorating it. Now neither one will be able to afford to keep it. His future is now uncertain. Bro is doing his best to be stoic about it, but he can't hide the cynicism, bitterness, humiliation and most of all sadness, because he was willing to work things out if that was what she wanted - however, it was her decision to leave the marriage. So for me, in addition to whatever I may be doing with yarn, my first priority is now my family of origin. I want to help look after my brother in any way I can, and also help my elderly folks deal with this loss. They love their daughter-in-law dearly, and my mother is grieving.

I have a couple FO's that I wanted to show off, but given the circumstances, that will have to wait. Just telling someone what's going on helps, and now I think I can get off the computer and go do the things that need to get done. Thank you dear blog friends - blessings to you all. One thing I learned from this experience is that you should tell someone if you are in pain, don't keep it to yourself. You are loved far more than you realize.

the usual

2010-05-27T14:05:00.001-07:00

Normally I don't use my knitting blog as a space for commentary on current events or issues. However, I felt I had to make an exception in the case of the WBC. I wasn't aware of how long they have been around, and that they carry their heinous picket signs at funerals of people who have died of AIDS and service persons who were killed in Iraq and Afghanistan - because they object to the U.S. military's so-called "tolerance" of gays. (Our military shows homosexuals anything but tolerance, IMHO.) Had I known about the WBC before, I certainly would have raised awareness of their evil on my blog. What got to me is when I learned through a Facebook friend that they had scheduled a picket at a Portland high school. These people are far beyond crazy-- they're dangerous! I don't want them anywhere near where I live, or especially around school kids. Anyway, I just felt I had to say something, and I thank you for leaving comments.

I'll go back to talking about knitting. I'm hooked on knitting baby clothes lately, and this week I finished a little kimono sweater.

It needs to be washed and lightly blocked, then I'll probably attach ribbon ties -- although I was thinking about making a little loop and sewing on a button. Here are the details:

Pattern: Baby Kimono by Kristin Spurkland, from Interweave Knits Summer 2005.

Yarn: RYC Cashcotton DK, 2 1/2 balls.

Needles: US 3.

Size: 3 to 6 months.

I got the right and wrong sides mixed up, because in the photo, the straight side of the sweater front was on the opposite side. I'm not too upset about it though--it's garter stitch, and also the baby who eventually wears it won't mind! I love the yarn, too. Picked it up from the sale room at Woodland Wool Works. It's very soft and machine washable. The only thing I didn't care for is that it's 18% angora, and the myriad little hairs made me sneeze the whole time I was knitting!

It's a nice pattern, well written and simple. Kind of a "trust" knitting process along the lines of the Baby Surprise Jacket--in the words of Roseanne Roseannadanna, "you don't know what you've got there"! It doesn't look like anything, and you're wondering how in the hell it's going to go together. Just breathe and follow the directions, and then it becomes clear that two 3-needle bind-offs at the sleeve tops will give you a sweater that just needs seams at the sleeve bottoms.

As this Memorial Day holiday approaches, I wish peace to all of you and those you love, and yarn. Lots of yarn.

sometimes I just gotta.

2010-05-24T00:19:00.000-07:00

This is a musical message for the Westboro Baptist Church in Kansas. I won't link to them, so if you don't know who they are, a Google search should fill you in.

Warning - not safe for work or young children.

going a bit Andy Rooney on your hiney

2010-05-18T13:03:00.000-07:00

Is it just me, or does Monday seem to be getting way more than its share of hate mail these days? I mean, something must be up with that, because an inordinate number of blogs and Facebook posts begin with "Dear Monday" and then go on to name various body parts that Monday is invited to suck. Now it isn't as though I haven't had many starts to my week that were effed up to say the least. It just seems that the whinefest is louder than usual, and in Monday's defense I have to say that it never promised you sunshine and noodle salad. And if you think Monday done you wrong, just look what it did to John Travolta. Seriously, that man's life the past few years has been cruelly tragic. I do feel sorry for him, but I admit I'd feel worse if he weren't rich and Scientologist. Yes, I know I am bad but really, I'm just trying to make you feel less bruised about Monday. No need to thank me, I do what I can.

The truth is that I don't have much going on right now. I finished a couple of big orders and am waiting for yarn to do smaller ones. While working on adding to inventory for Black Sheep, I did a couple skeins of an inexpensive wool single ply with an acrylic thread wrap that I call "Crinkle Worsted". I love green and am exceptionally pleased with the results here. All the different greens reminded me of a veggie patch, so I named it "Jolly Green". The yarn is quite soft, too. I think it would be great as a cowl, hat or scarf.

I've been spending more time on knitting. The second Pontocho is almost half finished, and I also finished a pair of man socks for Mr. Stitchjones. The yarn is Dream in Color Smooshy and the colorway is "Tea Party". I used an ancient Ann Norling pattern for wide wale rib socks; I think I've lost my actual copy and I just wing it now. They make really comfy socks that stay up and aren't too tight.

X-treme closeup of the color intensity variations and stitch definition.

Last Friday evening, J and I went to Tamera (Tammy) Bremer's reception at the Alpern Gallery in N.W. Portland. I wish there was something to link; however, the gallery's website has been down for a while. I was amazed at her works. Not only were there the nude self-portrait rugs hooked in laceweight alpaca yarn that I dyed for her, both front and back view (!), but also, hanging in the front window were two gowns consisting of handfelted baby alpaca top that I dyed in ecru. The felted top was attached to a flesh tone tulle backing, so the whole effect was see-through and the theme was "nowhere to hide". There were other things in the exhibit too, that both defy description and pertain to the artist's life in a very personal way. I was blown away that the most random and clever collection of objects could all say about the creator, "This is who I am". And I am very proud to have taken part in it. Purely to brag on myself- indulge me or not, as is your will - on the list of thank-you's, "Sharon Spence of StitchJones" appears directly beneath "Tina Newton of Blue Moon Fiber Arts". That was an ego shot, and I totally mainlined it!

I really enjoyed working with Tammy, and we discussed collaborating on another project in the future. I never could have been part of this if I hadn't made the decisions which I agonized over a few years ago...so it's all good.

And what blog post would be complete without a picture of Toki? He sleeps on a crumpled old bathrobe of mine, which is where Buster used to sleep. :) I was trying to sneak up on him but he wasn't going to be fooled. Note the custom gnawed bed frame - one of these days I really must do something about that...

photo finish

2010-05-16T16:26:00.001-07:00

Baby Liddy Buck and his biological mother, Irish. Can you believe those legs?!

it's a boy!

2010-05-15T22:13:00.000-07:00

and no, he can't speak up - he's a little horse. :) Sorry, couldn't resist. But hey, great news! A beautiful colt came into the world at about 1:00 AM (Friday night/Saturday morning). I'm working on getting pics (more about that later), just wanted to share that I'm a grandma-sort of.

The photos are still in Michelle's camera. She's exhausted, having driven straight through from Spokane and only stopping to drop her friend off at home, so hopefully we can get them uploaded tomorrow. I saw them though; he's got these long white legs and brown spots on his coat, so he's definitely a paint, and it looks like he will grow to be very big. His name: Liddy Buck. I would never have known that that's a nickname for Lindsay Buckingham, if not for my daughter's passion for 70s and 80s music. Yes, in this family it's all about the music!! At first I was like, "aw come on". I mean we all loved Fleetwood Mac's Rumours, however it hasn't been 1977 for quite some time so let's move on! But when I thought about it some, you know what? It's really not a half bad name for a pony.

Liddy Buck...I rather like it.

Am whipped because we got up very early and went down to Scio for the Lamb & Wool Fair. Which was kinda fun. Not only was it a beautiful day, but also there was the quintessential small town parade going right down Main Street, past the hall where the fiber arts show and spin-in was being held. I haven't been to a parade like that in ages! Antique tractors, Shriners in mini cars, rodeo princesses - total Americana. Had no idea all this hoopla was going to happen, otherwise I would have brought my camera. Anyway, I'm going to turn in - will be back as soon as I have a slide presentation!

it's been lovely, but I have to scream now

2010-05-11T21:53:00.001-07:00

This afternoon was spent working on the last 42 skeins of a never-ending order...although I love my customers to tiny bits, I do need to learn to cap orders and open new ones, for the sake of my sanity. One more dye session and the whole shebang is finished. Anyway I'm working away, and with the steamers going, the kitchen gets rather swampy and the process tends to turn me into a giant ball of sweat. At those times I become a different animal...not simply engrossed in the work; it's more like yeah, I'm nasty and my back aches, but I'm in the zone-don't bug me! I don't answer the phone. I'm not quite ready for human interaction until I'm finished, the kitchen is swabbed and I've showered.

However, because campus is close to home, TAD (that's Totally Awesome Daughter, as I referred to her last post) comes home between classes to eat. Here's the exchange.

TAD: What's for dinner?
Me: Haven't figured that out yet. (continue working)
TAD: I need something to eat.
Me: OK, but can you maybe take a sack lunch next time you have morning and afternoon classes? I'm right in the middle of things here.
TAD: Gee, I'm sorry to be such an inconvenience. Imagine wanting something to eat in my own house!
Me: (silent, suppressing the oft-uttered response that the kitchen is...my...studio)
TAD: Toki pooped right in front of the door. When I opened it, it got smeared.
Me: Well, could you clean it up? I can't deal with it just now.
TAD: (huffs) I have to go back to school!! (Just to be clear though, she did clean it up.)

***

So you see, in this house, being 19 means "I'm an adult, you can't tell me what to do" and also, "you still have to take care of my needs". Nurse? Nurse??

***

She and her bff are going up to Spokane tomorrow. Yes, I worry because it's the longest road trip she's taken on her own. However, it's an exciting event for her and I wouldn't want her to miss it. Last summer, my mother-in-law bred her mare, Irish, a beautiful reddish paint horse. The foal is going to become Michelle's horse. I did not know that it takes 11 months to make a baby horse! Well, it does and the birth is imminent. It would be thoroughly awesome if the kids got to witness the delivery. I'll keep you posted and share whatever pics I can!

Back to the dyepots...

Pontocho goes live

2010-05-06T22:16:00.000-07:00

I just couldn't wait to carry out the elaborate plans for my Pontocho wrap that I discussed in the last couple of posts...mainly because, let's face it, it's really a poncho, and ponchos have a (totally undeserved, IMHO) bad rep. I'd hate to put all the effort into shopping around a design that deep down I don't think will fly. I guess that Hollywood photo shoot will have to wait until I design the right garment!

So even though I'm still knitting a solid color version of Pontocho, which looks cool now that I have about 6" done and the fan lace really shows up, I decided what the hell - it's ready for prime time. The pattern is now available for download on Ravelry, and also in my Etsy shop, for a paltry $5 which helps keep us in milk. Seriously - between TAD (Totally Awesome Daughter) and her best gf who lives with us 3 days out of the week (complicated - but not in a bad way) we go through about a gallon every 2 days! And we have a small fridge, so stocking up isn't an option. Was going to segue into my rant about never letting your husband pick out appliances, however that discussion needs to be tabled because I actually have to throw on my fabulous wrap now, and go down to 7-Eleven because there's not enough milk for breakfast.

See ya...

Respect the Noro

2010-05-04T11:43:00.000-07:00

I have heard quite a few gripes about Noro yarn from my fellow knitters, such as the detritus in Kureyon, Silk Garden and other yarns; the fact that when there's a knot, the color sequence changes; the roughness of Kureyon worsted weight and sock yarn; the price, on and on. Don't get me wrong, I'm in total agreement with these complaints. Such as it is, I find myself in an ongoing love-hate relationship with Noro yarn. The color, man, the color...! So all I can do, since I'm unable to quit Noro, is just accept these quirks about the yarn and keep knitting with it. It is what it is. You may not get regular color sequencing, but you will get something brilliant and unique in all the world.

That said, here is a first look at an original design of mine: Pontocho.

Now I'm trying hard to not be driven batshit crazy by that teeny strip of brown; this is a Japan-inspired design with Japanese yarn, so I figure the least I can do is adopt a Zen attitude about it. Pontocho is actually an alley in Kyoto near the center of town; it's across the river from Gion, and both are famous as geisha districts. I found myself ~~getting lost~~ wandering through Pontocho one day, and although I didn't spot any Geisha (I later did in Gion), I was fascinated by this narrow, cobblestoned walkway with expensive restaurants and tea houses. It seemed mysterious and out of the way. And by now you probably know that I love plays on words, so I didn't design Pontocho as a shawl, but a triangular poncho. I used the Fan Lace stitch from the first Barbara Walker Treasury. The stitch pattern might be somewhat obscured by the bright stripes of color, but a recent stash exploration yielded up enough Berroco Comfort worsted to knit it again and really showcase the stitch. It looks complicated but is easy; after a few repeats I was able to memorize it. Which is really saying something, because I have my issues with lace knitting!

Here are the nuts and bolts, in case you're interested:

Noro Taiyo, color 9A, 3.5 balls (about 700 yards). Size 8 needles. Width: about 22". I knit the rectangular piece to 58" long but could have kept going, as I wanted the neckline bigger, however blocking relaxed it enough to fit me.

I have big dreams for this design - I'd like to have a photo shoot with a model, write it up and submit it for publication. Of course, I could always put it on Ravelry or Etsy, but I want to see if it has a shot at being accepted somewhere. For the photo shoot, the Japanese Garden would be ideal, but alas--they require a photographer's membership ($150) for any kind of portrait photography. I'm undaunted, though, because this is Portland, and there are many gardens and parks which would be a nice background.

So there you have it, the Pontocho poncho. My other WIP's will have to languish a little longer, because when I get the proverbial wild hair up my...well, you know, I just have to run with it and see it through to completion!

knitting something fabulous (I hope)

2010-05-02T22:31:00.000-07:00

...but I can't show it to you just yet.

Here's a sneak preview though:

The yarn is Noro Taiyo, which I just love. It's a nice soft cotton blend with hardly any twigs in it. I'm not ready to divulge any more info about the project except that this is my own design, it's almost done (!!), and now I'm looking for the perfect solid color yarn to knit another one. Suggestions are welcome! Here are my criteria: a) it must be a cotton blend with little or no wool, b) Aran weight preferred because I'm knitting this on 8's -- I almost always go no bigger than a size 7 needle when using worsted weight, ) and c) inexpensive! The Taiyo, while a great yarn, is pricey, so I'd like to offer another yarn option that's more affordable and in a solid color to showcase the stitch pattern more effectively. I had a look around Knit Picks' web site but didn't see anything that I thought would be good--however, that doesn't mean much because I hardly ever buy Knit Picks yarn. So if you've tried something I might like, please tell me about it in the comments.

OK - gotta go finish this sucker!

manic monday

2010-04-26T16:16:00.000-07:00

I just gave myself an ear worm! Now I've gotta play that whole Bangles song in my head. "It's just another manic Monday...wish it were Sunday...cause that's my fun day..." Make it stop!!

I was at the skeinwinder several hours this afternoon, and although it's nice to sit down and write a blog post, break time will be short 'cause there are basins of soaking yarn all over the kitchen needing dyed. My shipment of Titanium Sock finally got here last week, so I'm hauling arse to get caught up on orders.

But before I get too far along, I have to show you something that will melt your heart.

This is Leeloo. She is a 9 week-old Yorkie with a smidge of Silkie Terrier. Is she not the sweetest baby?!

Leeloo belongs to Tami. Last Friday they came by for a visit. Tami and I sat on the floor while Leeloo and Toki checked each other out. Toki did his usual running up and down, and Leeloo mostly stayed right next to her mommy, but she was curious about Toki and had some playful moments. Toki settled down a bit and sweetly lay down on his side, outstretched his paw and the two puppies just touched paws for a few moments...precious. Now Toki has two girl friends, Leeloo and Lily.

Shawl knitting complete. Here is my Multnomah (Ravelry link) or as I call it, "Maltnomah".

First, the hot sheet: I used just under 2 100-gram skeins of Mountain Colors Mountain Goat in "Gray Wolf". Which yielded only 7 reps of the fan & feather border pattern. I considered doing one more rep but the amount of yarn I had left was iffy, and I decided to play it safe. Check out this blog post by Yarnhog and the reason behind my decision will be clearer!

And to explain the deliberate mis-spelling of "Multnomah": in a previous life, somewhere in the 1980's, I was madly in love with a raging alcoholic and sometime poet. He was originally from Chicago but lived in Seattle when we were an item. I met him through friends here in Portland. When we went to Renner's in Multnomah (now "Multnomah Village" because it's about the shops and galleries, you see, and not just a place to get hammered) my paramour dubbed the district "Maltnomah". Renner's is now a restaurant, but back in the day it was a tavern with a back room called "The Suburban Room". Clever drunks that we imagined ourselves to be, we re-named it "The Subhuman Room". Ah, memories. Yeah, I didn't do much with the first 30 years of my life. My experience can attest to the fact that life does indeed begin at 30!

tiny pants

2010-04-19T12:03:00.000-07:00

Wow, I haven't written anything on here since April 2nd! There just hasn't been anything blog-worthy going on; I've simply been doing the necessary things to keep this juggernaut Stitchjones moving forward. We are on for Black Sheep Gathering in June, where we will have a nice big indoor booth, and the Scio Lamb & Wool Fair in mid-May. I'm terribly excited about these events and hope to have enough product dyed to fill my booth. Selling out prematurely wouldn't be the worst thing, I know--but I always prefer "too much" to "not enough". I also have two sock clubs to dye for, and an appointment to meet the owner of a new yarn store in Salem (opening soon). So I'm popping my head up for a quick "Hallo" and then I'll probably be more on Facebook than here.

And now for an interesting segue: you know I love the Yarn Harlot to bits, right? Last week she posted from base HQ of Sock Camp with pics of the most adorable baby bootees evar. The cuteness of the tiny shoesies reduced her and Tina to baby-talking puddles of goo. Well, it did inspire me to knit something cute too, so I set aside my adult size projects temporarily. I am not a baby sock or bootee knitter, so I made the baby leggings from Elizabeth Zimmermann's Knitter's Almanac.

These are the leggings that are with the February Baby Sweater. It only took three evenings to make them, and I could spend weeks making more! Total fun. The fine print:

Yarn - FibraNatura Cobblestone (100% superwash merino, 154 yards) 2 balls

Needles - US 5 12" circ & dpn

Size - 3 to 6 months

Knit for: ?? I have two friends who are expectant moms, so right now it's a toss-up. This was the first time I used Cobblestone; I picked up two balls of it from The Naked Sheep Knit Shop and it turned out to be just enough for the pants. It's a great yarn! Different color plies to look like handspun, very soft, stretchy and springy which made it a good choice for leggings.

***

In non-knitting news, but very exciting to my world: guess who's coming to the Pacific Northwest this summer? Oh yeah. Aug. 7th, White River Amphitheater in Auburn, WA. Did we buy tickets for all three of us the day they went on sale? Does Pinocchio have a wooden butt?

OK, I'm done recycling my jokes. Back later when I finish my shawl or camisole...although those leggings do seem to call out for a cute sweater, oh and maybe a hat...

how did this happen?

2010-04-02T23:01:00.000-07:00

So today I was in a hospital waiting room, having accompanied a friend who underwent a procedure, and while waiting I sat on a comfy couch intermittently knitting a sock and leafing through People mag. (I'll get more into that in a minute.) I was semi-aware of the Muzak playing, then I paid more attention as I recognized the song. It was Ballad of John & Yoko.

Not such a big deal, right? Well, let me take you on a little journey back in time. Imagine that it's 1969, you're 14, and listening to 45's in your room (those are vinyl records, for you young pups) and when John Lennon sings "Christ you know it ain't easy" you have to turn the volume wayyy down so your parents won't know that there's a swear word in the song, well...okay, just imagine it. Were we repressed much? Nah...

OK, now let's fast forward 41 years. Whoosh! So much music from my childhood and youth that we thought was edgy, or revolutionary, or just plain out there, is now blase canned music or being used to sell products on TV. I sat there listening to that, and even though I had to smile, I felt really old. When I was listening to those 45's in my room I never had a thought for where I find myself in life right now--approaching senior citizenhood. Just another graying baby boomer. The answer to the question in this post title, of course, is that I didn't die. Which is fine as paint with me!

It used to bug me, this ongoing trend of pillaging my childhood memories by mining entertainment from the 60's and 70's (now it's the 80s and beyond) and replaying, repackaging, remixing and remaking it to no end. Now I guess I'm used to it. I did see in that People magazine, however, that they are bringing to the big screen, none other than Gilligan's Island. Good Lord. The kid from "SuperBad" is playing Gilligan. The bombshell Ginger? J. Lo. I won't give away any more of the casting, just that it's inspired and pretty clever. Will I go see it? I'm pretty sure they won't be able to make what was a silly TV show into anything other than a silly movie--but out of sheer curiosity I kind of want to! And that's saying a lot, because I don't go to the movies anymore. The last time I did, I forget what I saw but I think I paid $9.50. It probably costs more than ten bucks now.

So when it comes out, if anybody's up for seeing it with me, tell me so in the comments! And thank you for indulging my old lady rant. Since I got up this morning, I had one of those days where I didn't feel like my usual, freewheeling, headbanging self, and that mood persists. On the plus side, though, I am making progress with a couple unfinished projects. Will check in again when I have pretty pictures to share.

sidetracked

2010-03-29T18:07:00.000-07:00

Know how many sweaters I have on the needles? Go on, take a wild guess. If you said "5" you win the bagel dog at Noah's! Aww, except that they're fresh out. Srsly, I went to Noah's NY Bagels this afternoon specifically to get my bagel dog on, and they were all out, so I had to settle for a turkey deli sandwich.

But anyway, yeah, I've got five unfinished sweaters. To be fair, one's a camisole, and another one just needs sleeves. Even so, these little quickie projects--and not so quickie small projects--keep distracting me from finishing big pieces of knitting. Here are a couple such.

Last week it was warshcloths; this week it's chemo caps. I did manage to knit this one yesterday all in an evening. It's the Lace Slant Hat from Ravelry.

Had just enough Malabrigo left over from my poncho to knit this. It's a bit snug for me, but then again I still have my hair. It's for a friend who has to face more chemo. Bev, who is a member of a fiction review group I used to belong to, had breast cancer about 18 months ago. She underwent chemo, then surgery and follow-up radiation treatments. Unfortunately, the cancer returned and it is in her liver, bones and lymph nodes. Last week I went to dinner with Bev and a couple other gals from our group. She is as upbeat and pragmatic as one could possibly be under such circumstances. She wants to get out and enjoy life as much as she can before having to be sick, so we had a grand evening and lots of laughs. I'm raiding my stash for the softest, cushiest yarns I can find to make more caps. And I have a shawl for her queued up, too.

I also dipped into my Stitchjones inventory for socks.

Just a plain basic sock for Titanium Sock in "Four Green Fields". I love green, and I like the flashing and semi-regular skinny stripes the short color runs made. However, I have something of a sock curse going. I know damn well I should have cast on 72 stitches with size 0 needles. But duh, I cast on 66, so they're snug! I'm blocking them to within an inch of their lives. Actually, the second sock has been cast on but it's waiting until I get the hat knitting out of my system.

And finish one frickin' sweater...

little things

2010-03-23T10:22:00.000-07:00

Hello, blogland! Still here, a-knitting and a-dyeing. I just finished the cutest dang baby girl sweater ever, and couldn't wait to show it off.

The pattern is Boheme, a free pattern on Ravelry. I used about 1.5 skeins of Stitchjones Dyepot Worsted in Tiffany, and made the 18 months size. Everything about this pattern is a winner - the no-fuss garter stitch raglan yoke, tulip lace stitch and picot bind-off. Hmm, I hear some pink Encore in my stash calling to me...

I recently unearthed my small stash of dishcloth cotton yarn, so I'm now on a warshrag knitting jag - rediscovering the joy of knitting dishcloths! Here are a couple.

Top: "Squidge Cloth" made with Classic Elite Flash marled cotton mercerized, which was a freebie I picked up from the swap table at a spin-in. Super easy, and I just finished another one in red. Bottom: "Windmill" in Sugar & Cream Twists. I especially like this one, for its cool resemblance to the shuriken or "ninja star". Both patterns are free on Ravelry. My goal is to make a bunch and put them away for Michelle.

Proud Parent dept.

Speaking of Ms. Michelle, she has made the President's List again at Portland Community College for winter quarter with a 4.0! Her reward is that tomorrow, she will fly down to her mecca, L.A. for a couple of days. Her dad is there on business until Friday evening, so it's not like she will be completely unchaperoned. And who knows, maybe she will get discovered and become the next Lady Gaga...

I finished something! And some late nite retro yarn pr0n

2010-03-13T22:33:00.000-08:00

Our top story tonight: Stitchjones finishes a Citron shawl in 3 weeks! Here it is just off the needles, unblocked. My messy coffee table and supervising puppy are also in the photo.

I have no earthly idea who would wear such a thing--certainly not me; I don't wear scarves, and the thing is way too small for me to ward off any serious chill. Mainly I bought it because I fell in love with the laceweight merino which was beautifully dyed by Carissa. As soon as I saw the yarn I knew it had to be made into the lovely pattern from Knitty. I did one extra repeat of the ruffle pattern and ended up using about 650-700 yards of the 880-yard skein. What a nice way to use laceweight yarn without getting all looped up in yo's, ssks and k2togs.

I'll wash and block it at leisure, then probably put it away for gift giving.

***

Health Update

Not sure but I think last time I posted, I was just coming down with something which I didn't know what it was. Turned out to be the worst bronchitis I've ever had. Last Saturday night I ended up in the ER, which was my own fault for waiting too long to see the doctor or go to urgent care. After 2 hours or so, I was given a nebulizer and a scrip for Zithromax, then sent on my way. Last weekend I had things scheduled for both Saturday and Sunday which I would not dream of canceling! The Portland Yarn Crawl was in full swing and I was doing a trunk show at For Yarn's Sake in Beaverton. The folks there were amazing. They loved my yarns and I sold quite a bit. I could only stay for 2 hours before I started feeling really crappy, but there was no way I would have missed it.

Last Sunday I began teaching a 3-session class at The Naked Sheep Knit Shop (sorry, I'm too lazy to hotlink tonight) for beginning sock knitters. I have 5 students and tomorrow afternoon, I get to show them how to make heels. Woot!

I'm feeling tons better now than I did a week ago. Fever stopped last Saturday morning and the sinus congestion is almost gone. The cough, though, is stubborn and won't go away, which generates the need for continued Robitussin aperitifs. Kind of reminds me of the days when I actually drank Campari...

Let's see, how do I make Dark & Divine again? Oh yeah, eye of newt, it's all coming back...

I have several wholesale orders for sock yarn colorways I made in 2008, when I had no idea what I was doing, just blind, furious ambition to be a rockstar indie dyer! Now in 2010 with my beaded yarn and whatnot, I'm just finessing myself right outa my shorts, but I'm not about to retire my first colorways if people still want to buy them!

So I started today, and do you know what? I had fun! Here then, is a pictorial stroll down memory lane with Victor, Andes Mint and Tank Girl.

And I keep thinking up new ones...

I'm crawling to the Yarn crawl!

2010-03-04T13:22:00.000-08:00

Yes, friends--the Portland Yarn Crawl is happening this weekend, and as a PDX area indie dyer I'll be at For Yarn's Sake on Saturday, hanging out, knitting and chatting. I'm afraid to call it a "personal appearance" because I don't want to get a big head. Although then it would match my body! ;) Srsly, I'm just very excited to be a part of so much good stuff going on around town. Then on Sunday, I'm teaching a beginner's sock class at The Naked Sheep Knit Shop that goes for 3 consecutive Sundays from 2:00-4:00. We'll be using Stitchjones Dyepot Worsted superwash merino. Woo hoo!

There is only one down side to all this, which is that I'm sick! :( Yeah, wouldn't you know. I mean, the revolution happened while I was in my housecoat, and now I have the galloping crud just in time for a big fat yarn weekend. Oh, but don't think that's gonna make me miss the fun! No way, nohow. A nip of Robitussin and I'll be good to go.

Here's how my beaded yarn experiment turned out.

I just sold both skeins! More are waiting to be dyed in fabulous colors. The bead stringing's a labor of love; all the seed beads I could get on the skein were about 100 before having an apoplectic fit. So while it isn't the gem encrusted wonder I'd envisioned, the random bead here, bead there effect gives it a subtle sparkle. And of course, the yarn itself is lovely, a 50/50 merino-silk blend that feels like pure silk.

Got some label printing to do, so I'll be off. See you at the shops!

making like D.B. Cooper

2010-02-24T16:58:00.000-08:00

...just dropping in, that is!

This week is turning out to be busy, but deeply satisfying. I delivered two orders, one for 40 skeins of worsted superwash merino for a LYS and the other for 5 lbs. of alpaca fiber dyed in flesh tone (which is more challenging than one might think)!

Day before yesterday, Sara gave me a hand with reskeining the worsted, and brought her adorable little boy Connor. As you can see, even tiny tots know good stuff when they see it. ;) He was practicing saying "YARN" while helping us pack the finished skeins for delivery.

We had a local spin-in last Saturday, and it was well attended with beautiful weather and lots of vendors offering the best stuff. I couldn't resist this skein of laceweight (and I almost never buy laceweight, because of the time factor). I ask you, have you ever seen anything more gorgeous? I literally spent a good long time just admiring the skein.

It's 100% merino lace from The Cupcake Factory. I'm making it into a Citron shawl, and so far I absolutely love knitting it and watching the colors unfold. Doesn't it look like a sunset?

Drum roll please

I'll give Neil Peart of Rush (the greatest rock drummer in the history of the world) a break, and just tell you that inspiration has struck and I can't wait to see if it will pan out as I envision it. Basically, I want to try my hand at making and selling hand dyed, beaded yarn. Oh yeah.

Snooty boutique yarn makers, watch yer arses, here comes Stitchjones! ;)

I got the proverbial wild hair in my turban and jerry rigged a way to thread seed beads onto the yarn without having to buy a special needle, because the local bead emporium was sold out. All in a single afternoon, I was able to go from not having any idea how to proceed, to this.

It was just a test run with yarn I had on hand to see how many beads would be involved, and how much of a time and cash investment would be required. It'll be some work, but it's doable, and I'm on fire to get some skeins made up and see what folks think. A cone of lovely merino/silk worsted weight is winging its way here from lovely Kennebunk, Maine, and I've picked out the beads, so next week I can get under way.

Brothers from other mothers

And finally, here are my naughty boys, Jimmy and Toki.

I'll be back sometime next week with an update. Haven't been watching the Olympics, although from my friends' Facebook posts it looks pretty exciting, and some of the news headlines make me sick. Mr. Stitchjones is in Colorado this week visiting customers, most of whom are school administrators, and then I heard there was another school shooting in Littleton. He's fine, he wasn't anywhere near it, but jeez louise. How do these kids get the damn guns!? That's bad enough but it's really just the tip of the iceberg. President Obama on the right track tells people that kids need their parents to turn off the TV and video games, listen, care, and make them do their homework. And of course, that got him called a Communist by some. Before I get mired here, I'll just say that school violence is a tragic societal ill that Washington can't fix, but families are in the best position to prevent. I'd love to know what you think, not necessarily about this issue but about anything that's on your mind. If you read my blog, please leave me a comment! You know who you are. ;)

Oh no she didn't

2010-02-19T12:57:00.000-08:00

Forgive me for that post title, I have been watching way too much RuPaul's Drag Race.

I wanted to create some dyed yarn that expressed my inner drag queen--just because I'm a girl doesn't mean I don't aspire to turn it out like a runway diva!--so here is a colorway which is probably a giant FAIL except for those who adore screaming pink (like me). I kettle dyed some 100% merino sock yarn in a light to medium peach. Then, in what felt like a bold move, I poured hot magenta over it and didn't mix. Here's the result.

Tentative colorway name: "Hot Mess".

Playing with color over the last week has yielded some more new colorways for the year. Here are a few.

"Jungle Love"

"Storm Large" (I didn't put this one on Facebook because my daughter would get furious; she hates the Stumptown chanteuse but I think she's the berries!)

OK, this was really an experiment that despite the bad picture, looks kinda cool. I wanted to see if I could create yarn in all my favorite colors of eyeliner. The result is decidedly masculine, so I wanted to call it "Guyliner" (if you don't know how smokin hot eyeliner looks on guys, go here)
but thought it might be confusing to some. So I'm going with "Preppy Goth". It feels safer.

Settling down and being a good little dyer, I also tried to express my fondness for green, in a non-St. Patty's-green way, even though it's named "Four Green Fields" after the classic Tommy Makem ballad. (I'm not Irish but I did grow up in Boston; that ought to count for something.)

It's Hemlock, Forest, Sligo and Chartreuse laid out side by side in short repeats.

***

Sound The Hallelujah Chorus

I finished something!

I love it. It's an ancient Fiber Trends pattern by Lily Chin, called "Charlotte's Easy Lace Shawl". Blocked, it came out to about 26" depth--not a huge shawl, but those take way too long and I get too bored to finish them--and 72" wide at the top. I used 4 balls of Queensland Bebe Cotsoy in Plum. The cotton/soy blend is so soft and light. I'll be putting it up on Ravelry soon. I'm not doing the Ravelympics thing, but if you are, good on ya!

Tomorrow's another spin-in, this time at the Aloha Grange--it's 1:30 and I'm still in my nightie, so I'm outta here for now. Pictures of a much more grown-up Toki to come.

blogsolete?

2010-02-08T13:19:00.000-08:00

For the past few weeks, I've been wondering if the blog as we know it has run its course. I mean, widely read blogs--even the ones that aren't about knitting!--still have their audience and that's great. And not that I plan to stop blogging. Looking back over my archives, I see that 2010 marks the fourth year of this little blog, and that gives me pause to say "wow". Four years. That's enough time for certain former Presidents of the United States to start two wars, destroy the environment and screw millions out of their money and jobs! But I digress. Now that so many of us are on Facebook, I just think that for me, blogging might seem a little repetitive. The flip side, though, is that a blog gives me more space to expound on whatever may happen to be on my mind, however random and/or silly it may be.

What's on my mind today is fiber festival season. This in itself is not a silly thing at all. On Saturday, I had a lovely time at the Newport Spin-in. There were loads of people there, and I had the best sales I've ever had at a single day fiber event. I couldn't be happier. I also got to chat with people who coordinate other fiber events, and it was an ego shot to know that Stitchjones is welcomed and sought after at these events. So, it's all good. The only problem I have is my own particular personality and temperament, when it comes to selling in public.

I think I do have some sales skills and abilities. After all, 14 years ago I was a representative for the largest cosmetics company in the United States, and their training program gave me people skills and confidence I have carried to other areas of my life. I genuinely enjoy interacting with people. The only thing is that I have always been a sensitive person, something my mother always chastised me for (as if I could change it), and my little feelings are easily hurt. I admit it, it's very hard for me to accept criticism, even when it's not really intended to hurt me.

For example, last year at a large fiber festival, a woman was browsing in my booth and she had a rather ~~bratty~~ opinionated daughter of about 10. The woman was just shopping like people do, she'd pick something up and look at it, then look at something else. To everything the mom picked up, the kid would say "Yuck. Ecch. Ick." OK, sure, she's a kid, and at the age where kids are establishing their personalities as separate from their parents. But I was getting kind of pissed off! Especially since the mother didn't seem to think there was anything rude about her child's behavior. As the fiber artist, however, I didn't particularly enjoy having to sit there with a smile on my face while someone was dissing my work! I certainly am not unrealistic and I would never expect everyone to like what I do. However, it took considerable restraint not to ask the girl how she would feel if I looked at something she painted and went "Yuck. Ecch. Ick." Most of that, though, is my attitude toward children in general--not my friends' kids, because they're all awesome!--I'm just trying to say that now that I've raised my own, I have little patience with strangers' kids. Please don't hate me.

I should add that this kind of outspoken-ness extends to certain adults. 99.99999% of my customers, both retail and wholesale, are absolutely wonderful. Occasionally, though, I get one who goes through my yarn like she's at a rummage sale (and I'm talking about a wholesale customer who, darn it anyhow, I just can't seem to get around to visiting very often). Throws offending skeins aside with, "Too dark." "I don't like that." It really is kind of funny, in a less-is-more kind of way.

I've gone over all that I've written and asked myself the obvious question: "Gee whiz, Sharon, you're really digging deep to find something to bitch about!" Well, yes and no. It is a minor, but nonetheless real, part of the business I'm in that I had no prior knowledge of. I just ask in my prayers for the ability to take that sort of thing in stride and with grace. And the bottom line is that the benefits of doing shows and festivals far outweigh the hassles.

Well, dear blog audience, thank you for reading my little rant. I certainly can't write stuff like that on Facebook, not that I would want to, and now you know a tiny tidbit of what's in my heart of hearts. I don't want to always be all knitting, yarn, pretty colors and everything's hunky dory--but so far, 2010 on its worst day feels better than 2009 on its best day!

Pictures!

2010-01-31T16:39:00.001-08:00

Thought you might like to see a picture of Toki at 4 months old. He's growing really fast! Long legs--or at least it seems so because I'm used to dachshunds. It's hard to get a good picture of him unless he's sleeping, so I sneaked up on him while he was gnawing a rawhide bone. Other than my occasionally leaving knitting where he can get at it, we aren't having too many problems with wanton destruction of property. I now have a bag or basket for all WIP's and am careful not to leave anything out within puppy jaws range. His chewies are strewn all over the house, too, so there's usually something to distract him or keep him busy.

Yammering about yarn

I am continually captivated by the work of other indie dyers, especially when I see something radically different from my own repertoire. This is wool/bamboo/nylon Panda Sock in "Fall In", dyed by Susan of Susan's Kitchen. We were booth neighbors at Sock Summit. I love the short splashes of color, the interplay of colors she chose, and of course the yarn! Soft and shiny.

Decided to keep it plain stockinette to show off her dye work. I'm on the heel flap of the second sock.

Shhh...don't tell anyone, but I heart big box craft stores!

Guilty pleasure #247: I shop at Jo-Ann's. A lot. I'm a die hard coupon clipper, plus I'm on the mailing list for weekly flyers. Being in the store almost often enough to warrant a cot in the back, I saw this new yarn called "Stitch Nation", of Debbie Stoller's Stitch & Bitch fame of course. I was intrigued by the natural fibers. The best color selection is in the single ply 100% wool. There's also an alpaca/wool blend. I used a coupon and scored a trial skein of the wool/bamboo blend for $2.99. At 177 yards, I'll be able to get a hat or mitts out of it. That way, I can see if it would be a good choice for sweater knitting. Speaking of sweaters--I was in the Ravelry forums this morning and saw that Patons has this slick booklet of sweater patterns which I had to have. Not that I don't have sweater yarn galore in my stash, but I'm of the opinion that a knitter can't have too many yarn options!

Those coupons also helped me get this spiffy set of Crystallites knitting needles and Silvalume crochet hooks for Marischka for just $20. The beads and yarn have been in my stash for a long time; I'm just glad to have found someone that wants 'em.

Next Up

Stitchjones is hitting the road next weekend for a spin-in down at the beach in Newport. It's sponsored by the Yaquina Fiber Arts Guild. Was there last year, and it was a blast! I'm looking forward to it. Our schedule is whirlwind, so there probably won't be any beach pictures, but maybe I'll have some new hand dyed goodies and/or a FO to show off! And of course, I hope to see many of my local spinning buddies down in Newport.

in case you were wondering

2010-01-25T22:44:00.000-08:00

I just wanted to confirm that the children's home "Marichka" in Ukraine is really real. Jason wondered if I was perhaps being solicited by a bogus charity, because it does happen, but even before I received a detailed email from Elena the needlework club director, I felt it was true because I was being asked for craft supplies, not money.

Elena told me that there are over 100 children in the orphanage. Many of them are from alcoholic and/or poverty stricken homes. They have plenty of donations of food, clothing and toys, but there are more kids who want to participate in crafts than there are materials available. In addition to yarn, needles/hooks and beads, they would like fabric and cross-stitch kits. Among these kids are some budding designers, and this impresses me down to the ground. Elena also sent me some very sweet pictures, which I would like to share with you.

Top: Darina and her little sister ; 2nd from top, Marina

some Needlework Club projects

Needlework club group photo

***

Stitchjones Stuff

A busy dye schedule has kept me from finishing any of my knitting projects--I've even had to set aside the sparkly bolero! Although I'm glad to be busy, I don't think I've even introduced my new yarn on the blog yet. I have been looking for a great Bluefaced Leicester wool, and I've found one that is superb. It's called Kensington BFL Aran, and it debuted on Ravelry and Etsy last week in a half dozen kettle dyed colors. Put ups are 100 g/181 yards. The stuff is so soft and shiny, I can't stop petting it! I only got in two cones to try, so all of this shipment is dyed and/or spoken for--however, I will be getting in a larger quantity next month.

Because I'm having trouble manipulating photos in Blogger, I'm unable to display the new yarns here. However, Kensington has its own category in my Etsy shop; to see all the colors, click here.

As a customer driven indie dyer, I as always welcome inquiries and custom orders. In case you might be thinking about a sweater's worth of this luscious yarn, I give a volume discount on 5 or more skeins. Just a little food for thought!

Destash and help others

2010-01-23T12:52:00.001-08:00

By now we probably all know that the fiber craft community's financial response to the recent disaster in Haiti has been overwhelmingly generous. I have heard the question raised about sending yarn and/or knit & crochet supplies, but since it is a hot weather climate, those items are probably low priority. I myself have been wondering where in the world I could send some of my vast personal stash of yarn, beads, knitting needles and odds & ends I will never use. The answer came to me yesterday in the form of an Etsy conversation. I wanted to share it with you, so

I've reprinted it verbatim below.

"Hello, I'm heading for the knitting club at the orphanage "Marichka". In our club, do girls of different ages. They are very passionate about crafts and show diligence and perseverance. Girls are trying to learn the secrets of knitting and needlework, weaving of beads. But in our club has a problem - we do not have enough yarn for knitting, knitting needles and hooks, beads. Perhaps you have the opportunity to help - please contact us by e-mail in our club. The girls are waiting for your participation. We would welcome any assistance. (Perhaps you have a very old, but a working model of of laptop. In our orphanage burned down the computer) Our address: dreams-yarn (at) ukr. net Sincerely, Elena"

Although I don't know exactly where it is, the dialect and "ukr.net" suggests it is in the Ukraine. I emailed back this morning for their mailing address, and am waiting for a response. This morning I picked out some items from my stash. I checked usps.com, and they do ship to the Ukraine but there are limits on package dimensions - I believe 12" on any one side.

I included the email address so that anyone interested can contact the knitting club leader. If you do, please let her know you heard about them from My Mom Made This/Stitchjones on Etsy, so that she knows I passed on the information.

Thank you, have a wonderful weekend, and God bless.

Sometimes sleeves won't wait

2010-01-16T23:27:00.000-08:00

Have you ever been knitting something that was coming out so cool that you wanted to tell the world, even though you thought you would keep it a complete secret so that when it was completely finished you could whip out this stunning masterpiece at the next knit night that nobody even knew you were working on, and all your friends would be blown away?...anyone? Bueller?

*sigh* I guess it's just my head that needs work, then. (Which was never a secret.)

But seriously, you guys, look at my awesome glitzy bolero sweater! All I have to do is give it sleeves, weave in the ends, sew on the buttons, and steam it--I'm not going to wet block, I have a feeling that will make it grow too much--and it's good to go!

Here are the down and dirty details. Feel free to skip this part. For me, the blog has taken the place of that "Knitting Journal" I half-heartedly tried to maintain about 10 years ago pre-blog and digital camera. I knew people who actually put photos of their finished projects in those books, along with detailed notes and yarn samples, can you believe that? I think it was only in the last 5 years that I became a "real" knitter, whatever that means. And I consider myself still learning.

But I digress. Here, then, are my Knitting Journal Notes (to make me feel better)

Project Title: Glitz Happens Bolero

Pattern: Women's Neck Down Bolero from Knitting Pure & Simple

Size: 36" (will get to that later)

Yarn: 9 skeins Southwest Trading Company Yang (MC) a wool/bamboo blend with a sequin thread wrap

-and-

2 skeins Southwest Trading Company Yin (CC) a lusciously soft wool/bamboo DK to light worsted weight

Needles: Size 8 (body & sleeves) Size 7 (ribbing)

I found the yarn on sale at The Naked Sheep Yarn Shop and had to have it. I bought one skein of each, started knitting with it, and immediately called the shop to make sure I could get enough for this sweater! If you look up the pattern on Ravelry, someone has made it out of Yin & Yang, and I thought it would be spectacular in the blue. It is a pleasure to knit, I'm having about as much fun as you can have with your clothes on, and it's not even done yet!

You may be wondering who this is for, because if you know me you know I'm a big gal. If I were going to knit something for myself with sequins, I'd do a scarf or maybe a shawl. And I like my sweaters long, so boleros are out. Well...I have 2 slender, beautiful sisters-in-law. Annette is married to my brother Rick, and Darla was married to Jason's brother Jonathan who passed away in 1998. But she is still my sis-in-law, and a great friend. I don't think it's the right style or color for Annette, and I'm not sure if Darla would like it, so I have to give it some thought. I'm considering donating it to the local UU church auction which is held every fall; however, handknit items tend to not bring in much money and I have to admit, I'm kind of attached to this project. I'm mulling it over. All I know for sure, is that I love sparkly yarn whether it's metallics, beads or sequins. However, I'm way too lazy to do bead knitting; I want that part already done for me!

***

In other news...I've come up with a slogan of sorts for Stitchjones in the new year/new decade. It's called "Rockin' a little harder". I have 3 new sock colorways in the works, which I expect to unveil in about a week, and when you see them...provided they come out looking close to what I envision in me head...the slogan should make sense!

***

Now I need to talk a little bit about Haiti.

I have had to stop watching TV news coverage; it brings me to the verge of tears every time I let myself think about the morass of poverty, disease, violence and death. Forces of good willing to help but there's barely a way into the country right now because of the devastation. We donated what we could afford as a family, to the relief effort. I am part of a global knitting community of extremely generous souls. The Yarn Harlot has been spearheading Knitters Without Borders, knitwear designers are donating part of their proceeds to disaster relief, and local folks--not just the fiber network--are doing amazing things. This is Portland, Oregon, USA--Grass Roots Central. As a fiber business person, I feel it is incumbent upon me to do more, to follow suit. However, right now I'm not in a position to do so. I absolutely would if I could, though.

There is also another concern that is vying in my heart for that "price of a skein of yarn", or percentage of sales of a given colorway. It's something that was recently mentioned in Letters to the Editor of the local newspaper. It's a need right here in America, and I imagine relatively few people are aware of it.

Click here if you'd like to read about it.

As more help is able to get into Haiti, I am hoping that a lot of the violence and disease that threatens to become widespread will abate. I give thanks for all that I have, and I can't say enough that I appreciate those who actually read my late night ramblings. If blogging is the cyber equivalent of open mike, I'm pretty sure my time's up for tonight!

2010 Knitting

2010-01-08T22:05:00.000-08:00

Here I am again, with pictures of knitting projects that are close to finished. First up is a pair of man socks in a plain 3 x 1 rib, with Kroy sock yarn. Mr. Stitchjones likes solid, muted colors, and boy is this color meh! I try not to think about it too much, that I'm a dyer with "Color Goes To Eleven" for a slogan and I knit socks for a husband who likes only the plainest colors and styles. Kind of like being a gourmet chef cooking for people who will eat only bologna sandwiches. Oh well, he's my man and I'll knit anything he likes.

Anyway, I haven't decided whether this yarn is brownish gray or grayish brown. "Taupe" I guess would be the closest, although on the label it lists the color as "Flax".

Whatever. I'm now on the heel flap of the second sock, so these should be finito soon.

I'm not much of a cable knitter, but this Caera Cowl (Ravelry link) had me at hello. I bought several skeins of Alpaca With A Twist Highlander with a gift certificate from one of our many LYS. For some reason, the color refuses to photograph accurately; it's a pale celery green that I think is very pretty although it looks greyish green in the photo. Maybe because of the black background. The yarn is so soft and comfy, I'm tempted to keep the item but I'm sending it to my MIL. She's in Spokane where they have longer, colder winters than here, and she hinted at wanting me to knit her a cowl. I'll also send her my copy of "The Friday Night Knitting Club" which I think she'll enjoy.

Cable action closeup. Although this is the most intricate cable pattern I've ever knit, it really isn't that hard. Making my Loppem gave me a chance to practice cables.

Because my fortune told me to flash them colors, here is a new sock colorway for the new year. "Blackberry Sage" was a colorway I did on fiber last year. Two of my knit sibs spun up fiber in the same colorway and made gorgeous shawls. I think the colors look pretty good on Titanium Sock. I'll be offering lots more fiber colorways on yarn, and vice versa, this year.

That's about it for now as far as yarn and knitting. I have other things in progress, including several projects I'm completely stoked about, but I'll save them for another time. Here's one last photo, which is captioned by guest blogger Toki.

Oh hi, ladies! Did you miss Toki? Here I am. I may be little but there's plenty of my kisses and snuggles to go around. In this photo I am keeping Mommy's favorite chair warm. I've had a very busy week. Yesterday I tasted Alpaca yarn for the first time. Yummy! Sometimes I don't understand Mommy but she seemed kinda mad. Today she bought me some little rawhide chew bones to keep me busy. They're good but I would rather chew on her hands, feet, ankles, brand new slippers, and anything that is soft and belongs to Mommy. She told me I have these little things called "testicles" and I had better enjoy them while I can because they're coming off very soon. I wonder what that means...

Obey the fortune cookie.

2010-01-07T17:54:00.000-08:00

Happy 2010, everybody!

During my formative years in the 1960s and 70s, I read my share of popular science fiction authors of the day--Arthur C. Clarke, Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury. (That was before women sci-fi authors could get published; we've come a long way, baby!) Back then, the "Year 2000" and beyond seemed so, well, futuristic, for lack of a better word. Me, I'm just glad I'm still around to see it come to pass. As a species, we have quite a few pesky problems to lick, but today finds me optimistic for the future.

My family's annual Christmas Eve Chinese feast was great fun--even if a few of the usual suspects did have one too many and started singing Christmas carols at the table, which drew some strange looks from restaurant patrons. Now I love fortune cookies, but I know they are as transient a thing as snow on the valley floor (during normal circumstances, anyway)! You break it open, read the message, crunch, and it's gone. However, I particularly liked the fortune in my cookie. So much so that I decided to make it my motto for the new year.

You are a creative person. Let your colors show.

It just so happens that I have new yarns and lots of new colors planned for this year. Hey, who am I to argue with 3,000 years of Chinese wisdom?!

***

Hope Santa Claus was as good to you as he was to me! Look at the beautiful knitting books I got.

I also got other nice gifts and some spending money, with which I bought a whole lotta yarn. I have a metric ton of new projects on the needles. Most of them have managed to escape the jaws of Toki, unfortunately some did not and are now in that place where all UFO's trashed by puppies go. I want to show you what I'm working on, however something is wonky in Blogger and I can't move photos around! So I guess I'll have to post again later today or tomorrow with lots more pics.

gratitude list

2009-12-31T22:07:00.000-08:00

Some of my friends on Facebook, and at least one of the blogs I follow, are expressing relief that the year 2009 is about to be over. I'll admit to feeling that way myself, and looking to the new year with more than the usual amount of hope. I try to refrain from getting all South Park potty mouth on the blog, but a lot of things about this past year did in fact suck ass! The worst things were that loved ones died, and we got sued. Although obviously we could do nothing to change the first thing, we were able to make the second thing go away but not without it costing us a hell of a lot of money. At a time when it's most important for all of us to hold onto what we have, our retirement savings are about gone. So, bleah.

I certainly don't intend to write a bitchy post, though. Nor is this about New Year's resolutions. I don't make them, because to me they seem about as empty and meaningless as politician's campaign promises. In this reflective post, I just want to be honest, and that means gratefully acknowledging the things that were good or went right.

1. Neither Jason nor I suffered any major illnesses this past year. Over the past 6 years I've had my share of tumors, both malignant and benign, that needed surgery and also some close calls and scares. But none of that happened over the last 12 months.

2. Our daughter successfully navigated adolescence without any serious trauma. At 13 she was having such a tough time relating to peers and authority figures that I took her out of school for a year. She is now 19 and just completed her first quarter of community college with a 4.0 GPA, and she has a plan for her education and career. I consider us fortunate parents indeed.

3. My parents are still alive. While they are becoming more frail, they still have their house and seem nowhere near changing their living arrangements. Both are so very generous and good to us, and I'm thankful to have them around.

4. Over the past year I have felt closer to my brother than I have for many years. His personality can sometimes be irritating, but I now have a sense of comfort by his presence in my life.

5. I have the best husband a gal could ask for, and we were married 20 years last August.

6. We are still young enough to earn and save for retirement, replacing some of the funds we lost, while helping our daughter pursue her education.

7. Even with all the money mess, I have built a successful business that continues to grow. Amid the constraints and concerns, I am thankful to have something that gives me the creative expression I need to thrive, and is all mine. As scared as I was to step off the precipice, I understand and accept that that was what I needed to do to find peace within.

8. For the first 35 years of my life, I never felt connected to anything, or that I was part of a larger community, but now I have many friends who share my passion for wool. My connection with others has strengthened over the past year, and the fiber community keeps growing. Case in point--the bunch of new yarn shops that recently opened in our area! Are we in PDX the luckiest yarn ho's in America? Hell yeah!

9. At this moment, I am ready to let go of a grudge I have held for much of the past year. This may not seem like a big deal but I assure you that for me, it is. I'm a Scorpio and we are the biggest grudge holders in the zodiac! We never forget hurts or slights. The one that's bugged me the most is the anger I've felt towards my brother-in-law Mark, the operative words being "bugged ME the most". He isn't affected at all by my anger! So, being tired of what it's doing to me, I release it.

Whew. Glad I did this; it's gratifying to see what's piled up in the "Assets" column instead of focusing on the "Liabilities". Since I don't smoke or drink, I think I'll go into the kitchen for a piece of chocolate and watch the last hour of 2009 wind down. Love and good things in 2010 to you all!

Poncho and a mini-reflection

2009-12-23T12:57:00.001-08:00

I finished my version of A Very Harlot Poncho (.pdf) using 3.5 skeins of Malabrigo Kettle Dyed Worsted in "Oceanos". Like a dope I cast on with size 9 needles--"I don't need to make no steenking gauge swatch", y'know--then about 6" down switched to size 10's. So the opening is a bit snug, but not strangling; even without a scarf or high neck top the soft wool feels comfy. I haven't even blocked it yet and I wore it out shopping last night.

Since I'm not a fringe gal, and I didn't want to mess with making fringe out of single ply yarn anyway, I finished the bottom edge with 4 garter stitch ridges (8 rows). The length from neck edge to bottom point is about 29".

This year I've done fewer Christmas preparations than ever. I haven't gotten holiday cards out, at least the ones I need to enclose notes with. Still need to get a gift for my mom. The tree is up and some decorations are out, thanks to Jason and Michelle, but I haven't made any cookies and Christmas Eve is frickin' tomorrow night!

Relax, there's still time...as the emails I get from various retailers say. All the ingredients for my cookies and Christmas dinner have been bought. Dye work can wait until next week. I just wanted to get in a post to wish everyone who reads this blog (thank you! thank you!) a wonderful Christmas with people you love, and activities that bring you joy and peace.

And now for my mini-reflection.

This has been a very difficult year for us. I'm not going to re-hash the family deaths and money problems, but they bear at least a small mention because the emotional cost has been considerable. There were some joys as well though, which helps balance things out. Our DNA jackpot of a daughter graduated from high school and is an outstanding college student, and we celebrated being married 20 years. These are big things, great things. I'm blessed and I'm thankful.

At my worst moments during the past year, I confess to having felt pangs of regret for my decision to leave my job in September of 2007 to go to work in a yarn shop and start Stitchjones. However, a former co-worker had commissioned me to knit some fingerless mitts for her niece, so yesterday I went back to the company and visited with some of the folks who are still there. I found out that I had been replaced; however, my replacement was laid off less than a year later. So in essence, it turned out to be as I figured it might: the economic downturn would have caused my head to roll had I stayed with the company. And of course I have no regrets about leaving the yarn shop after only a few months. All drama aside, for me yarn shop employment was a trap, because I spent so much of my pay there! It's dangerous enough for me to have yarn shops as wholesale customers, because I can never leave without buying something.

What being the owner-operator of a small fiber art business has done for me, in terms of personal reputation and feelings of self-worth, business and personal contacts, and friendships--is tremendous. I've met amazing people I never would have met had I stayed where I was. I've done business with people all over the world via the Internet. I've discovered that I have things of value to offer and talents I didn't know were there but were waiting to bloom. What I'm trying to say is that I don't regret the path I chose and now walk. It's been an adventure and a privilege, and it still is. I'm looking forward to seeing what 2010 will bring. May it bring us all renewed prosperity, peace on earth, and dear God- Health care!!

swingin'

2009-12-19T02:04:00.000-08:00

Behold, I give you a Sunday Swing Sock from Knitty. I seldom knit lace patterns into my socks, but this one is so easy even a short attention span knitter like me can fairly cruise. I'm using Misti Alpaca handpainted sock yarn, which has quite a nice feel and is beautifully dyed. Last night I finished dyeing an order of 40-plus skeins, so I'm going to take a brief Christmas break from Stitchjones and focus on finishing some things in my huge pile of WIPs, which can make me feel bad about myself if I let them.

This week tried its best to drive me insane. Very early Monday morning, Mr. Stitchjones and Michelle left for L.A. The night before, at 1:00 am, there was a knock at the door, and it was a police officer. Fortunately I was still awake. The officer told me that they'd had an anonymous tip that either our house or the one across the street was targeted for a burglary. Oh, goody. Pleasant dreams, Stitch! As it turned out, it was our neighbors' house, and the officer came by again Monday night at a more humane hour to let me know that the two ~~creeps~~ individuals planning the break-in had been arrested for some other dirty deed. All morning long on Monday, there was a police car parked close to the intersection--our house is on a corner--and that did help me to feel considerably safer.

Want the flip side? Of course you do. My road warriors came home late Wednesday night, both sick. He has a bad cold; she was feeling strep-ish but it didn't keep her from having fun shopping on Melrose Ave. So on Thursday I juggled dye work, running some yarn to a LYS, taking Michelle to a new doctor because she's outgrown pediatric care, making homemade chicken orzo soup, and oh yeah! I started Christmas shopping this week, too. There will be an iPod under the tree for Jason. We also got good news about our financial situation, and he got a sweet commission check yesterday. J has been a salesperson since before we even met, so that's going back some 25 years, but in his current job he doesn't receive commission until the company has been paid on the orders. Although that makes things dicey from time to time, today it's all good.

Toki Time

Remember the nefarious pile of WIP's I alluded to earlier? I usually have half the coffee table loaded up with yarn, books, patterns, needles and whatnot so everything's within easy reach. I've barely had time to catch my breath since bringing the puppy home, but this weekend I've got to put dedicated effort into rearranging all my knitting paraphernalia. Toki has been able to reach things I didn't think he could reach. He chewed the tip off one of my size 7 dpns and trashed a nice ball of soft chunky weight acrylic/wool blend in pale pink, which I had planned to use for a hat. Then the little ~~ass monkey~~ rascal got hold of a ball of my Noro and before I could get it away from him, he had spread it all over two rooms. Fortunately my patient daughter was able to wind it all back up for me, so I can salvage my beautiful scarf which is more than half finished!

Just wanted to get in a blog post before too much time gets away from me. Until next time...Amen, Shalom, and Blessed Be!

holiday spirit

2009-12-11T19:02:00.000-08:00

Today for the first time, I felt some holiday joy instead of pressure to spend more than I have and do more than I'm able to. I'm unable to explain exactly what changed--but that's ok; I'm enjoying a good mood and don't need to examine it too closely!

I won't be giving handmade gifts this year. It's too late to start anything now; I have a lot of things on the needles but very little knitting time. I just delivered a sock yarn order today and have many skeins to get finished, shipped and/or delivered by the end of next week. It's good to be busy though; maybe that holiday spirit is the possibility of enough "jingle" to buy a couple of special things for my dearest loves! Mr. Stitchjones would love an iPod, and I would love to buy it for him and also a digital camera for Michelle. She hasn't asked for one, but I know it's something she'd like.

I found a free pattern for a Bow Knot scarf/neckwarmer and knit it up in just under 2 hours. The yarn is Cascade 220 Heathers in a color I liked when I bought it last February, but when I pulled it out of the stash it looked ghastly to me. I much prefer wearing this as a headband, even though it gives me a Miss Piggy look. What the hell, it was good for sh*ts-n-giggles last night with Michelle!

Jason is heading home from Cali tonight; thankfully his flight gets in early because it's supposed to snow overnight. Readers outside the Pacific NW--we've been in the deep freeze all week here in Portland, Oregon, and a storm is headed our way. I just pray it won't be as bad or prolonged as it was last year. Man, that was brutal. Then Monday morning, he and Michelle are going to L.A. for a couple of days. He has customers there to visit and now that finals are over, Michelle plans to amuse herself hanging out on Hollywood Blvd, hoping to get discovered I guess. During the first half of the year, she wrote sketches and plans for a TV comedy show with animated spots; now she's writing song lyrics for which her dad will compose the music. She and her friend Sara are very into "Electro" which is re-warmed 80's synthesizer rock/pop music, and neon colored makeup, clothes and jewelry. They've formed a band, and believe me I tried to talk the girls out of this, but they're calling themselves "Digital Twat".

I sense some of you pulling away from me. What can I say? She's 19. All I can do to ease the sting is to show you a photo of the adorable Toki catching up on a few Z's.

Hope you're enjoying your holiday preparations!

cozy and content

2009-12-06T22:45:00.001-08:00

Things have been and continue to be somewhat chaotic in our household, and I'm not talking about just the arrival of a new puppy, although because he's so tiny it does keep us on our toes and walking carefully lest we step on him! The icky legal situation we have been in for most of this year isn't exactly over, but there's finally light at the end of the tunnel. And I'm pretty sure it isn't the oncoming train, because that already done run us over.

And of course, Christmas is almost here. Already? I can still taste Thanksgiving dinner! Alright, that was probably an overshare. With every year that goes by, I become more thankful for the Internet. I was able to get a start on my gift shopping without leaving the house. I like that, because I dread malls and heavy traffic!

Even with all this schmattah going on, I managed to bang out an FO. Above is my version of Cartman's hat from South Park, for a zany--yes, even madcap!--friend of Michelle's. I used a basic stockinette roll-brim hat pattern that I found free on Ravelry. Now that we're in the deep freeze here, I hope she'll be able to deliver this hat to her friend tomorrow because it's plenty warm. I have most of the skein of yellow Lamb's Pride left over, and I might use it to make Toki a new sweater. I made him one out of leftovers of my Dyepot Worsted--don't have a decent pic--but that's OK, because it's already snug on him.

The rest of this post is puppy stuff, so if that's not your cup of tea, I'll be back in a week or so with something I can't stop knitting out of the Malabrigo I recently bought.

On Friday Toki had his new puppy exam. He's 2 lbs. 8 oz. and very healthy, except for a bit of dry skin. There's no evidence of it other than scratching, so some supplement oil was prescribed. I'm adding small amounts to his food daily; hopefully that will do the trick. We also got prescription shampoo, but with it being so especially cold right now I'm suspending bathing him until it warms up. It's not like he gets too stinky anyway--he weighs about as much as a meat loaf.

Antics report: the vet proclaims that Toki has the appearance of a Pomeranian, but the bravery of a Chihuahua, and I can see the fearlessness even now. He loves to chase Jimmy, who is very sweet and tolerant of the new baby. It's been a week and when they play, there's no loud yipping. Toki was on the couch beside Jason, but he decided to see what Jimmy was up to so he leapt off the couch, and instead of landing on the coffee table he bonked into it and landed on the carpet. I tell ya, who needs HBO?!

Intelligence: A-plus. This from a veteran owner of Dachshunds, who are wonderful dogs but impossible to house train; they do their business wherever they damn well feel like it, thank yew. "Training pads? We don't need no stinking training pads," say the Dachshunds. Toki, however, trots over to the wee-wee pad now without having to be put there, and it's only been a week. So much for the so-called "expert" at Nature's Pet, who told me I wouldn't have success at housetraining until he was 10 weeks. He's only 8 and catching on, so neener neener neener.

Why yes, I am over the moon about this little mutt. Why do you ask?

Early Christmas

2009-11-29T21:00:00.001-08:00

We're back from Spokane, and it is oh so good to be home! Not that all of it was bad; the weather was cold but clear, and being away from home gave me extra time to knit so I finished a couple of projects.

This is the Beginner Sock pattern from Knitting Pure & Simple. It uses worsted weight yarn. I'm excited to be leading a workshop at The Naked Sheep Knit Shop this winter for these beginner socks, using my own Stitchjones Dyepot Worsted. Here is a class sample in the colorway "Salmon Dave".

It took a couple months, 6 balls Rowan Kid Classic in "Tile"--a tangerine orange which I think is a discontinued color--and 1 ball Kid Classic in red for the sleeve and neck trim--but I finally finished my St. James.

There are no words for how much I enjoyed knitting this, and the yarn! Great drape, soft and comfy, even if it is extremely warm. I need the kind of cold snap we had a year ago--without the snow, thanks--in order to be comfortable in it. At my mother-in-law's house, the heat always seems to be up around 74, which is too warm for me. I went around all weekend in T-shirts and tank tops. And all day today on the drive home and since we arrived at 4 pm, I've been zooming around like Moses on a motorcycle doing mountains of laundry, unpacking and what have you, and I've been feeling feverish! I took my temp and it was normal, so I'm not sure what's going on. Hopefully not the onset of flu; I feel fine otherwise.

One more note about my sweater; necklines still give me fits. It's a sort of modified boat neck and is quite wide on me, since I'm basically shoulderless. I'll just have to adjust the undergarments so straps won't show. It could also benefit from some blocking, as the neck trim is a bit floppy and needs to stand up more.

***

Mystery Date With Mystery Wool

I forgot to show you this last time I posted...I got some undyed mystery wool yarn in a swap. I think it's Wensleydale handspun. There are lots of broken ends, but there's about 350 grams, enough to make something, and it has a nice hand to it. I tried to handpaint it in Mulberry, and the dye sort of broke up and it came out looking kettle dyed a la Malabrigo! The photo is horrid; it's much prettier close up. I won't be selling this, as the swap was part of the Shawl Ministry--it'll probably end up becoming a shoulder shawl.

***

Ooooo-kayyy! Those of you who are friends with me on Facebook probably already know this, but my Christmas wish came true on Friday. Meet Toki Wartooth*. He says to please call him Toki.

Toki is a PomChi; his daddy is a beautiful fluffy Pomeranian and his mom a smooth coat Chihuahua. He's 7 weeks old. There aren't enough A's in Adorable to describe him--he is the precious baby I ached for since losing little Buster. I happened to find him on kijiji.com and had to bring him home with me.

The adoption story: Toki was born on a little farm in Spirit Lake, Idaho. Out of a litter of 4 babies who were all different colors, he and his sister were left. The 2 puppies were being offered at a very good price, as homes were urgently needed for them. The lady who sold him to me met me in Post Falls, Idaho, about 35 minutes from Spokane. I had Jimmy with me in his pet taxi, because no one was home at my mother-in-law's and I didn't want to leave him. It was kind of weird; the lady gave Toki his booster shot right there in the freezing cold parking lot of a truck stop off I-90! She was going to give him the wormer as well, but he started drooling a lot and I just wanted to get him to a warm house, so I said we'd take care of it as soon as we could in Portland.

She drove away with her daughter, the little girl puppy and $120 in cash--and I then realized I had absolutely nothing for the poor little guy. I was away from home and definitely needed to pick up a few things! Necessity and a slim budget (there's that word again) dictated a stop at the Wal-Mart in Spokane Valley. I put Toki inside my zip front hoodie sweater and took him into the store with me. While getting a pet carrier, training pads and some toys, I didn't realize it but Toki had become nauseated from the vaccine and decorated my sweater sleeve. Here I have to stop and say how nice all the Wal-Mart employees were that I came in contact with! On Black Friday no less, the busiest shopping day of the whole year. Amazing. A young man led me to some paper towels and water so I could clean off. Then in the checkout line, the cashier took the time to remove all the tags from the carrier and wrap a training pad around the bottom so I could transport the puppy safely. I never expected that kind of customer service from Wal-Mart and I later called the store manager to let her know the cashier did a great job. Even the customer behind me in line was really nice and patient! I realize that part of this extreme widespread good will had to have been in direct correlation to the cuteness of my puppy, but who am I to be picky!?

Fortunately, my MIL loves animals and she was the one who encouraged me to look at the ads. Little Toki settled in very well at "Grandma's house" and for a tiny one who's been through a lot, he is doing fine the first night in his new home.

*"Toki Wartooth" is the name of a Norwegian guitar player in the animated show Metalocalypse, which is a satire about a fictional Scandinavian death metal band. Being a huge fan of Spinal Tap, I think the show is hilarious. Jason, Michelle and I deliberated for an entire day over what to name the puppy, and Toki was the only one all three of us could live with!

Now to catch up on some extremely overdue dye work. Tonight I'm a very happy knitter and dog owner, and I hope the Thanksgiving weekend brought joy to you all too.

undaunted

2009-11-24T20:58:00.001-08:00

I realize that for just one week, this is way too much yarn for me to have purchased. Necessity is forcing me to curb my stashing. All I can do is use the "b" word--budget. As in setting one and enforcing one and therefore never having fun ever again. Of course, time was when I felt that way about drinking, which I no longer do. But the question is, was I really having fun when I was finishing off two bottles of wine and passing out?

I'd much rather talk about the yarn than how I was 25 years ago; it's far more enjoyable. And if it ain't obvious by now, I'm nothing if not a pleasure seeker!

Good ol' Lamb's Pride Worsted, in the perfect Cartman hat colors. For a wacky friend of Michelle's.

Enough DIC Classy in Absolute Magenta to complete my February Lady Sweater.

~~Boring~~ Subtly colored Kroy sock yarn, to knit another pair for Mr. Stitchjones. Of course I clean forgot my knitblogging friend's discovery, that the yardage on these is a scant 162 per ball, which means I should have bought 3 balls instead of just 2. Thankfully, it's readily available!

Drool inducing Malabrigo Worsted in "Oceanos". I fell so hard for this stuff that they practically had to pick me up off the floor of Knitting Bee. Can you envision the Clapotis I could make for my mother-in-law? I get choked up just thinking about it.

Heading to Spo-Compton tomorrow. I'm still planning to go to Paradise Fibers, but I am making a solemn promise to be good (spending-wise; there are no guarantees about in whose shoes Jimmy might "accidentally" poop) and only buy things needed to keep Stitchjones rolling...like dye. And Gawd as mah witness, I won't be going to any freakin' malls! This marks the first year where I am eliminating "Christmas shopping" as I have known it all my adult life. Not that I plan to make many gifts, as time is short; I just hate with a passion the fact that so much emphasis is on the retail aspect of the Christmas season, especially in these lean times, and I feel pressure to go out and do things I quit enjoying some time ago. I never go to department stores like Macy's and Nordstrom anymore, and so to please those on my list who really like stuff from those stores, I'll have to rely on my creative inspiration. Not necessarily knitting. I think my folks will get stuff like postage stamps, maybe a gift card to the Olive Garden, or whatever I can come up with to minimize their need to go out as they're both in their seventies and being a passenger with either one is terror inducing. I realize I could shop online at Macy's or Nordstrom, but doing so makes me feel like an unwilling participant in some sort of diabolical Christmas-shopping-department-store-artificially-generated-happiness machine. Or maybe I'm just getting older and more befuddled. It's just that there's something undeniably appealing about being able to get gifts at the same places I get groceries!

Rant over. I wanted to natter on some more about knitting, but I'll cut it short because Michelle wants to use this machine for audio uploading EVEN THOUGH SHE HAS HER OWN DAMN COMPUTER dang there goes my evil twin again.

Love to all. May your Thanksgiving be filled with love, joy and peace.

sometimes...

2009-11-17T20:12:00.001-08:00

...bridesmaids catch the bouquet.

...perpetual losers win.

I've worn my share of ugly bridesmaid dresses and never caught the bouquet, and while I can't call myself a perpetual loser, I'm certainly an infrequent winner. I'm not grousing (much) because *some* things in my life are going right; I mean hey, I've got the world's greatest husband and a beautiful, talented, smart and kindhearted daughter, right?! Still and all, I won a lovely prize in a contest, which makes it incumbent upon me to gloat!

This plum ruched fabric knitting bag with lavender piping, magnetic closure and velvety black handle (don't I sound like Johnny on Let's Make A Deal?) is from Lantern Moon and I won it in the October photo contest at the Twisted website. The theme was "Animals and Knits" and I posted this picture of the adorable Winston wearing a Stitchjones original.

My daughter and Winston's owner have since had a falling out, and now they are not on speaking terms other than to mutter "skank" at one another should they happen to run into each other at Jamba Juice, but dang, Tess's puppy was cute!

Be that as it may, I love my prize, and of course when picking it up at Twisted, I bought enough Dream in Color Classy in Absolute Magenta to finish the February Lady Sweater I started a couple months ago. It'll be a good project for the upcoming ~~slog~~ trek to Spokane for Thanksgiving. Last year I stayed home to dye yarn, so there's no weaseling out of it this year. Please pray for my self-restraint, so that I won't assassinate my waste of skin brother-in-law. While at Twisted I also cleaned them out of white pear tea. My mother-in-law enjoys that, so I will brew us some of it for when we have our pumpkin pie.

Show 'em what she's knit, Johnny!

Recent FO's: a Simple yet Effective shawl for the UU church Shawl Ministry, knit with about 650 yards of Patons Classic Wool in 2 different shades of brown. It blocked out to about 33" deep and 60" wide. The side edgings are not I-cord; the photo's not good enough to tell where the stockinette and garter stitch bands are, but I finished with about 1" of stockinette stitch, and it rolled rather nicely, creating a built-in edging.

I loves me some color pooling! I finally knit up that skein of STR Lightweight in "Backstabber". This will be my last pair of plain vanilla socks for a while; I'm working on some lace socks right now and have downloaded great patterns and planned out my sock knitting agenda right up through January.

"WTF" Photo of the week, or Michelle in disguise

Just had to post this picture of Michelle being Michelle. She is a huge fan of the British girl group Robots in Disguise. Being a skillful makeup artist, this was her getup for Halloween, along with a vintage black lace dress (think Morticia Addams).

That's all the blog fodder I got for now, good people. The KISS concert in Portland is happening right now, I mean *this very minute*, and I am not there...sigh. Trying not to think about it. Into the kitchen for a bit of dyeing now. I'll get in a post before we leave next Wednesday.

Living EZ's words

2009-11-10T17:15:00.001-08:00

We all know the Elizabeth Zimmermann quote..."knit on with confidence and hope through all crises". I like to think that knitters know what to do at those moments in life when the non-enlightened (or "muggles") are at a loss. Even though the passing of my sweet doggy has hit me hard, I'm still knitting and have even finished a couple of small projects.

But before I put up pictures, I want to take a moment to let you know how much I appreciate your words of condolence in the comments and on Facebook. I believe that shared sorrow is easier to bear, and many of you have cherished pets and understand the empty place they leave behind when they are gone. Each day I'm taking time to remember little Buster. Because I especially love having a tiny dog that I can hold, carry, and knit sweaters for, I may at some point adopt a puppy, but I'm nowhere near ready for that--I still find myself looking around for him. Anyway, thank you for being there with me as I go through this process; it really does help to know I'm not alone.

So here is a pair of socks I knit for my friend Janet. She lives on the North Shore of Boston, close to New Hampshire, and we went to junior high and high school together.

The yarn is Kraemer Saucon Sock, a cotton-acrylic blend which was a great score from my friend Cindy's de-clutter sale last month! I don't think I've made socks before that weren't wool. I used size zero needles, so they are densely knit and will probably be snug, hopefully not too tight! I have one more pair of plain-vanilla socks on the needles. When they're done, I plan to get jiggy with it and make either these or these.

I wanted to send Janet something extra in case she wasn't thrilled with the socks, so I also made her a pair of Irish Hiking Handwarmers.

(extreme closeup of cable action)

I used some mystery wool from my friend Gail's destash last year. I think it's Manos; it's thick/thin and soft.

My WIP's are calling to me with plaintive little voices, and the stash is eager to be knit...so I'm going back into the knitting salon now, which is just a high falutin' term for the family room. But I'll be back soon with some retina-searing socks from one of my most treasured stash items, the Blue Moon STR Lightweight! There's one stash yarn I'm not touching yet though, because I firmly believe that you cannot have your Wollmeise and knit it too. Even though it reeeeallllly wants to become a scarf...

Buster, 1999-2009

2009-11-07T15:19:00.000-08:00

I will always love you and miss you, my little friend. I wish you hadn't been in pain and could have stayed with us longer.

Thank you for being a wonderful pet.

best birthday gift ever!

2009-10-30T19:14:00.000-07:00

The wonderful Rachel made me KISS stitch markers for my birthday! I love 'em. Tonight I'll put on some classic Kiss, crank "Detroit Rock City" and knit on my sweater in progress. I'll swap out those boring plastic ring markers for these. "Increase one when you get to Rock & Roll Over..."

NOW who would dare to say that knitting is dull?! If my smacking them upside the head didn't educate them in a hurry, that is.

Wednesday night is macaroni and cheese night

Do families have a set dish for a particular night of the week anymore? In our house, Wednesday seems to be the craziest weeknight. I have my knit night, Mr. Stitchjones has either an early evening meeting or band practice--so we need something good that goes on the table quickly. Here is the Chickenlips version of Mac & Cheese. It's perhaps the one remaining way I stay true to my Italian roots.

Ingredients:

1/4 cup olive oil
2 cloves garlic, peeled, cut in half lengthwise
1 can (28 oz) crushed tomatoes
1/3 cup dry red wine
1 tsp sugar
salt and pepper
Pinch of dried basil and oregano

2 cups uncooked rotini pasta

2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese (aged)

In a deep saucepan, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add garlic cloves. Swirl pan so that the garlic browns gently and evenly, do not allow garlic to become dark. With slotted spoon, remove garlic cloves from pan and discard. Add tomatoes, wine, sugar, salt, pepper and herbs. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer uncovered 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until sauce is reduced and thickened. Remove from heat and let cool slightly.

Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain and add to large bowl. Pour half the sauce over pasta; reserve remaining sauce for another use. Toss gently to mix. Add cheese and toss until cheese melts and is mixed through with pasta and sauce.

Enjoy! (3 to 4 main dish servings)

too old to rock & roll, too young to die.

2009-10-27T18:49:00.000-07:00

I got so many birthday wishes from my buddies on Facebook! (it was yesterday and no, I ain't telling my age; it's finally higher than my bust size though.) Thank you, buddies! I had a wonderful birthday. Really! Remember the amazing daughter I blogged about last week? She baked me a chocolate cake. No boobs this time, it's in a regular cake pan. Delish. I also got boxes full of new bloomers and brassieres! You're not allowed to see them, but they are lovely. I'm betting nobody is much interested in granny panties anyway; if so, I hear there are websites for that.

Michelle also got me Season 1 of Metalocalypse on DVD. There are a few Adult Swim cartoons I really like, and this is one of them. The show was originally intended to poke fun at metal bands; however, it took off and is hugely successful. It's kind of like if Spinal Tap was a death metal band. There's even an animated concert of the band "Dethklok" (umlaut over the o) that is touring the US. We watched most of the DVD yesterday and I knit socks. It doesn't get much better than that.

Dyeing is coming along; today I finished work on two orders. One of them is for one of our many fabulous LYS and the other is going to a new online customer, The Local Needle. I'm very excited to add The Local Needle to my retailer list! This lovely shop offers a large selection of sock and laceweight yarns. I recently got in 40 skeins of base yarn for Dyepot Worsted, and in the next week or so the first batches will be ready. I'll have some new colors for fall.

Because I don't like to write pictureless blog posts, here is an exclusive colorway available only at StitchCraft in Vancouver, Washington.

Oh, and one more thing: Dude! If you haven't looked at the Stitchjones website in a while, check it out! Rachel (aka trtlgrl) has resurrected my site and it now looks state of the art!

Nineteen

2009-10-20T12:52:00.000-07:00

Someday I'll be able to make scanned photos look good...but until that day, these will have to do.

Nineteen years ago today, you were this impossibly tiny creature. You now stand 5" taller than me, and I have to reach up to hug you! The other day, your dad and I were finally able to hand you the keys to your own car, which will take you to college and wherever you want to go, as you are now drawing your own road map. You have grown into a beautiful young woman, and I am so proud of you.

Happy birthday, Michelle.

All my love, Mom

Say Yeah!

2009-10-15T23:05:00.000-07:00

Now I don't have to kvetch anymore about Wally Mart being so dang far away, because my friends trtlgrl and pnwbookgirl (aka Rachel and Tami) went on a fiber road trip this week and hooked me up with the new KISS album! Oh but it is smokin hot. Well worth the wait. Thank you so much, ladies. Stitchjones was tooling around in her badass Kia Rondo all day, visiting customers in Vancouver and NoPo and rocking out the whole time.

Yeah!!

Someday I shall have a new hat

...but today is not the day.

I do love this hat design, even if the top decreases are wonky. It's from a Leisure Arts booklet called "Cabled Accessories". I used up another ball of my mega-stash of Galway wool, and followed the pattern directions for the adult size...on US 4 dpns. Hmm. It's a very warm hat, to be sure, but if I were to make it again on size 6 needles, I'd probably have a hat that fits me. I just need to find someone with a head that my Le Suck beret and this hat will fit, and it would help if that person also needs some hats.

1,2,3,4/Hey, look me over/Tell me do u like what u see?

Did you just flash back to '84? OMG, weren't our clothes dumb? Seriously, I have been hearing "Baby I'm A Star" from Purple Rain in my head all day. That is, when I wasn't listening to KISS. The reason is because today I was invited to hold a dyeing workshop for a knitting guild, make a personal appearance (and do consignment sales) at a yarn shop and also teach a beginning sock class there this winter featuring my Dyepot Worsted yarn. I can't divulge any more info right now, however as things become more concrete I'll be Facebooking about it like mad crazy. It made me feel important, valued, recognized, appreciated...aw hell, like a star! Who knows, if this keeps up, maybe someone will ask me to sign her spinning wheel. Then I'll know I've made it. (wink)

In the meantime, there will be lots and lots of this.

Eh...I've had worse!

Loppem

2009-10-13T15:21:00.000-07:00

Awright, so I suck at taking photos. But I can hold my own in a knitting group!

Just surfacing to show you Loppem. It now has buttons--2 toggle buttons from Jo-Ann's that are antique-y looking. I love wearing it, however I'm shy about modeling for photos.

The yarn is Nashua Creative Focus Superwash; (213 yards per ball/5 balls). Addi Natura needles size US 7. I hadn't worked with the yarn before, but I love it--it's soft, nice drape, blocks beautifully.

Mods: good grief, 9" from cast on edge to underarm?! No freaking way. I made the body length to underarm about 18". I spaced the body decreases 3" apart instead of 1.5", and it works quite well--nice, body-skimming fit.

The yoke decrease instructions in the pattern are incorrect; that caused a minor problem but not too bad, the sweater isn't lopsided or anything. Also, the sleeve bands are supposed to be picked up around a reverse stockinette ridge. After trying it and having it come out weird, I said screw it--I didn't think double rev. stockinette rolls would look good on my bingo wings anyway! Wearing it, the sleeves just look like a cap sleeve with a single rev. stockinette roll. I can live with that. And I do love the elongated cable panels on the fronts. Garment construction is bottom up, one piece, completely seamless--my kind of sweater!

Of course, finishing a major garment means I get to start something new. I have Cascade 220 Heather percolating in the stash, and of course I bought another bagful today to make this--but I dug out last winter's purchase of the Cascade and want to make this in the worst way. It's probably all wrong for my body type, but I have to at least try it before throwing in the towel and making another Bombshell. Hey, when you're fluffy, ya gotta go with what works!

Off to start another ill-advised project now...

knittin' on a prayer

2009-10-11T12:14:00.000-07:00

I never thought I'd say this, but apologies to Bon Jovi for that blog post title!

Yesterday my prayer shawl group reconvened after summer hiatus. We meet the first Saturday of every month (Oct.-June) at the local Unitarian Universalist church; I am one of the co-founders of the group. We started with two to three regulars; by yesterday's count there were nine knitters in attendance. Since our inception in 2006, we have given 42 shawls! Most of them are made of machine washable acrylic; I prefer to knit with wools. Some church shawl knitting groups restrict materials to Lion Homespun only. As a co-founder, I was the one to say that if our group did that, it would limit creativity because of my interest in natural fibers. I'm glad that was OK with the other members, because we have since attracted more wool aficionados. We have cards that we attach to finished shawls that have a Buddhist meditation on one side, and information on the other that includes care instructions.

After our meeting I was totally inspired to begin a new shawl, since the last one I made was back in April. I dug through my stash and found odd balls that make a nice autumn palette when put together, so I cast on for a Simple Yet Effective shawl last night.

I also have socks in progress for Mr. Stitchjones. He likes solid colors, so this is another plain vanilla seed rib sock, in Cascade Heritage sock yarn. My first time working with this yarn; I rather like it.

Here's a random photo; it's not mine, but I meant to mention it during my vacation recap blog post. On the way home we drove through Aberdeen, Wash., which is the home town of the late Kurt Cobain. This is what you see when driving into Aberdeen.

(Chick is optional, I would imagine.)

Sonic Boom

Nobody who follows my blog cares about this, but KISS just released merchandise their fans have been awaiting for 20 years...a new album! And I haven't heard it yet. Why? Because you can get it only at Wal-Mart. There are 3 Wally Marts around, but each of them is a minimum of 30 miles away, and I haven't had opportunity to make the trek yet. I will in the next week or two, though.

As if that weren't enough to get excited about, we have a brand new yarn shop in Portland, and another one in Beaverton opening in the next few weeks! We PDX stick wielders are the luckiest, most spoiled bee-yotches in the U.S. of A, I must say.

Coming up: Loppem is done! It is now being pampered silly in a washer full of lukewarm water and Soak. I am now off to run errands and such; will be back in a few days with pictures.

sometimes once is not enough

2009-10-01T15:58:00.000-07:00

I promised you non-vacation pics. Before it completely slips my mind, which now that I'm over 50 has a really nifty Teflon (R) coating, here they are.

The NSFW (Not Safe For Work) cake that our precious daughter baked and decorated all by herself, for her dad's 50th birthday. Yes, we're a weird family, why do you ask?

What the hell, it was worth the expression on his face when she presented it to him...

Autumnal Pursuits

Not trivial at all! Even though I've speeded up production to keep up with yarn orders and maintain an inventory, I've been severely bitten by the fall knitting bug. I started a February Lady sweater in yarn I just love, however I need 5 more skeins and they're on special order. To keep the mojo going, I started this from the Berroco Norah Gaughan book using this yarn. I'm just about halfway done. Really cranking on it, because fall is here, it's getting chilly, and I don't want to break down and buy myself a sweater! I guess that's motivation enough to finish something.

I also finished one of two hats I've been working on.

This is Le Slouch (I call my version "Le Suck") from Knit and Tonic. I absolutely love the yarn--Debbie Bliss Donegal Luxury Tweed. I'll probably give this one away though; it's not a bad pattern but even if I could pull off the beret look, it's way too small. I only usually wear a hat when I'm at the beach; the wind is always cold no matter what time of year it is, and it bothers my ears.

Guess I'll be back when the cardi is finished! Enjoy the first weekend of October. That's right, I said "October", where did 2009 go, anyway?!

Home again (photo heavy post)

2009-09-29T18:47:00.000-07:00

We're back from our mini-vacation, 5 days touring Washington's Olympic Peninsula by car. Amazing how we can anticipate our vacations for months, and then you set off on your journey and you're so stoked, then you have yourself a great time... and bada bing, it's over! Just. Like. That. And you come home to your: (choose all that apply)

-mountains of unfinished work.

-grody house.

-bratty kid.

-unpaid bills.

In my case, it's all of the above. However, I'm just not ready to think about any of it yet! Why don't I show you some pictures? What better way to savor good times and make them last longer? Here are a few highlights from our trip.

Our first morning in Port Angeles, I was eager to get out and explore, so we went to this very cool place for breakfast. (Shirley is my mother's name; I liked the sign.) They have a great collection of license plates from everywhere, and a model Amtrak train that runs all around the restaurant.

Black tailed deer were everywhere! We came upon several that evening at a house under construction; hanging out and ~~playing Nintendo~~ doing their thing.

Next day...we drove out onto this long arm of land that sticks out, creating the harbor on one side and the Strait of Juan de Fuca on the other, it's called Ediz something or other. Here's the inveterate rock jock, Mr. Stitchjones.

And while watching the ships in the Strait, we were visited by...yes...several Sea Otters!! Cute little critters ain't they? There were at least a couple of them. I think they were curious about us as well.

Between Port Angeles and Sequim there's another strip of land called Dungeness Spit. It sticks out into the strait about 5 miles with a lighthouse at the end. I did the 1/2 mile hike from the trailhead down to the beginning of the spit.

On our way down to Ocean Shores we visited the Hoh Rainforest and hiked the Spruce Trail...hand to God, this is an elk cow! I'm no photographer, and my mini dachsies are the closest I ever get to wildlife. But there were two of them, just watching us. There were signs at the park warning visitors about incidences of elk charging at people; we stepped lightly, believe you me. Didn't want to piss em off.

A much better photo...interesting growth of rainforest fungi.

Aaaand finally...sunset at Ocean Shores.

I'll probably post again tomorrow, because I have a couple more non-vacation photos to show you...but for now, I'll just quote the punchline of that time-worn joke, "break's over--everybody back on your heads!"

afterthoughts

2009-09-23T18:01:00.001-07:00

...afterthought heels, that is!

Smacking myself in the forehead because I've been wanting to make afterthought-heel socks, but the thought of snipping a stitch and unraveling really spooked me. So I Googled up this method of knitting the heel stitches in waste yarn and then knitting them again, and dang if it isn't the exact same principle as Fetching fingerless mitts, which I've made several times! D'oh. *forehead slap*

There's something I love about the idea of socks that are off the needles, yet not quite finished, and they're waiting patiently while I futz around with other projects. The yarn I used is from Spinners' Web, lovely local folks who dye yarn and fiber. I made these with my pet sock needles, Kollage Square dpns size 2, which I now want to use for all sock knitting!

But doesn't everybody love orange?

Here are sample skeins of new fall colors in laceweight, done somewhat slap-dash. While I refuse to let product quality suffer, I do wish I could have made that screamin' orange somehow more red. These are only 600-yard skeins, which I'll probably keep around for display. I had a couple of wholesale customers wanting laceweight in darker colors, but the second from the left (which I dubbed "scarlet") seems to be a unanimous FAIL. Can't hit it out of the park every time, I guess! The other colors, left to right, are Hemlock, Royal Plum, and Crimson.

The other new item from your friendly neighborhood dye slinger is Glam Sock. Yes, it's back! For a limited time only, as I waited several months for the shipment. More than half of it is already spoken for.

New Glam Sock Multi: Rainbow Fish, Japanese Maple, Her Majesty, and Moonlight Meadow.

It's officially Mr. Stitchjones 50th birthday and I am fixing a steak dinner for him. He'll be home in like 10 minutes, so I'd best get my hiney in the kitchen. Our offspring baked him a cake that is most definitely NSFW--I'll have a pic up soon. And on Friday we're off!

my camera has a happy

2009-09-19T00:17:00.001-07:00

I don't usually remember to bring my camera when I go places, but I thought there might be a photo op or two at the beach on Wednesday. Alas, with my child being a stroppy little cow (thank you for that, Kiki, it was perfect!) there was neither the opportunity nor inspiration for picture taking. However, by Wednesday night we had declared a cease-fire, and yesterday, we went to PCC Rock Creek campus so she could locate her classrooms without any problems next week when school starts. It was a beautiful day and I was delighted to discover the camera still tucked into an inside pocket of my purse.

I graduated from PCC in 1995. Back then, there were three buildings at Rock Creek and they had just broken ground on a new sciences building. Now there are nine! And I forgot how pretty it is around there.

Thank you so much for your sympathetic comments and helpful suggestions on how to deal with my kid being such a PITA. Tranqs are great, but I've gotta say that as the mother, I've got dibs on any good prescription drugs that find their way into the house. :) Seriously, though, your support means a lot to me.

And to usher in this new era of domestic harmony, we collaborated on her dad's birthday cake.

She did the baking, icing and decorating; all I did was the cursive writing. Chocolate layers with cherry preserve filling. He loves Black Forest cake; before we were married I used to go all out with the three layers of chocolate cake, shaved sweet chocolate, cherry liqueur, fresh whipped cream, the works. Now? Feh! I love him not a jot less than ever, but all I make in the kitchen these days is yarn. And a mess. It so happens that the kid has a deft touch with doctoring cake mix. Culinary burnout that I am, I'm all about the shortcuts!

I even have new knitting for next post. Somehow, life seems a good deal sunnier than it did a couple of days ago!

Next week is going to be extremely busy, but I'll get that post in if I can. I did the goofiest thing this morning. Before having enough coffee, I called and scheduled my yearly mammogram for next Friday, totally forgetting that I'm actually going on vacation with my husband next Friday! So I called back, and scheduled it for the following Tuesday. Totally forgetting that we are coming home Tuesday. Yes, a whole five days, a real gosh darn vacation! I was too embarrassed at being such a dingbat that I'll wait until next week to call the imaging scheduler back. =)

free to good home...

2009-09-16T18:11:00.000-07:00

Girl, age 18. Blonde hair, blue eyes. Extremely bright and gifted, but has had an enormous 'tude with her mother for the past four days.

Seriously, WTF? We went through some stuff at age 15 and 16, but right now it's worse than ever, even though she's turning 19 next month. Everything I say is stupid and everything I do is inadequate. I embarrass and repulse her no matter what. Yet I can't ever go anywhere without her. Her wants are endless; it's like attaching a vacuum hose to my bank account, and then none of it makes her happy.

So I'm trying to figure out, is this hormonal? Or anxiety-related because she starts college classes next week? I've tied a knot to the end of my rope and am hanging on, but am starting to lose my grip!

***

Enough about that. One thing I've learned since I became a mother, is that the situation always gets different. But man, is this a tough one to ride out.

Yarn is the constant in my life; it's always there. Either I have made it as beautiful as I can, or others have, and knitting just a few rows helps so much to calm inner chaos. My long-awaited order of Glam Sock base yarn was on the doorstep when I got back from a day's drive down to Manzanita at the beach--I had the aforementioned kid in tow, so it wasn't as great as it could have been, but I sold some sock yarn to the wonderful Olga, who owns T-Spot Yarns, Teas and Chocolates.

I was invited to teach a class at that shop next month, and I'm so proud because it's on my original design!

Introducing the Dream Tote (Ravelry link).

This is a knitted, not felted, tote bag that can be made with any worsted weight yarn. It was intended to be a stash buster, so because the sides are squares of log cabin the color combinations are endless. The bag gusset is just a garter stitch strip and the handle is (oh I'm a feckin' genius, if I do say so myself) Purl-Twist fabric, a stitch pattern I found in the first Barbara Walker treasury. It creates a fabric that naturally rolls under, but is textured and much stronger than stockinette stitch or I-cord. Works perfectly for this purpose.

Sample details: about 600 yards total of worsted weight yarn; I used 2 hanks Punta Yarns Merisoft Handpainted for the sides and 1 skein Lamb's Pride Worsted for the gusset and handle. My gauge is very loose so I used a size 5 needle, although a 6 would probably work for most knitters, just so long as you're knitting a bit more tightly than worsted gauge. The finished size is 13" wide, 12" high and 2" deep. Fabric lining is optional, instructions included. I posted the pattern for sale on Ravelry and also in my Etsy shop.

I had more to blog about, unfortunately sleep was elusive last night and I'm a little muzzy. I think I'll finish the essential chores and go to bed!

random is good

2009-09-12T00:12:00.000-07:00

I hope it is! At least that's the slogan of a local FM radio station.

This is yet another one of those posts where I'm unfocused, but I wanted to make sure to tell those of you who do pickling, preserving and canning that my dear friend Kiki has posted some scrumptious recipes for pickled garlic and jalapeno jelly, in addition to pictures of her beautiful knitting and crochet! I have never pickled anything in my life, unless yarn soaking in vinegar water counts. But when I saw Kiki's recipe for pickled garlic, I immediately became hungry for it!

Pretty Yarn & Nice Pattern = Ugly Scarf?

If it's my project, unfortunately yes. I brought 7 balls of Galway wool out of my stash and decided to plow through at least some of it. With the best of intentions, I cast on for the Sunray neckwarmer (Ravelry link), except I made it full scarf length, at least 50" or long enough to wear any way you want. It used up about 2.25 balls of the Galway.

When oh when, will I learn to add edge stitches to a flat rectangular piece? Either a garter or seed stitch border would have been more than adequate to keep the piece from rolling, which it did like mad crazy. My knitting buddies suggested single crochet all around the edges, and I thought that would be just the ticket. What I didn't realize, though, is how much I suck at crochet. Instead of stabilizing the edge, I got a ruffle--after blocking, I mean--and a long aqua lasagna noodle is not what I was aiming for. Since I hardly ever wear scarves anyway, this will go in the Christmas gift/charity knitting bin, and I'll deal with it later.

I really love the stitch pattern, though. It's super easy and I had it down after a few repeats. I think next, I'll do this or this, and use up another ball or two of that Galway!

Got Purple?

As I chug along with dyeing up wholesale orders, I try to keep coming up with new colorways, or at least reproduce ones that have sold well, for my inventory. I probably reinvented the wheel with my "shock treatment" method of kettle dyeing--it's really just veil dyeing, adding one color at a time--but this is one of my favorite purples. I almost don't want to sell it!

Don't yell at my President!

Not to get political, but I had to weigh in on the news story of the week. While I'm working I like to have MSNBC on during the day. Sometimes I get a little tired of the talking heads, but I'm unable to focus on a movie while doing yarn, so liberal news is (pardon the pun) a happy medium. Anyway, the best quip I heard, regarding the Congressman who shouted "You lie" at President Obama during his speech, was "Join the Wilson Picket!"

My opinion and $3.50 will get you a grande latte. However, I think the whole undertone and psychology behind an outburst like this has to be racial at its core. The politician is from a Southern state and belongs to some ultra-conservative white people's group, the name of which escapes me at the moment. Apparently in British Parliament, they yell at the Prime Minister all the time; however, it's America I'm interested in. Other people have said that nobody in Congress ever yelled at W., although God knows somebody should have, and smacked him a few good ones while they were about it! I just don't see this week's incident as random or spontaneous; I see a cracker, for lack of a better term, forgetting that the black man speaking before him is the President of the United States, and letting loose what he really thought. There is no excuse for that. It's way worse than just rudeness; it is racism and unconscionable behavior for any elected leader.

Seven years ago, I was an exchange student at Kansai Gaidai University in Hirakata-Osaka, Japan. It was a year after the 9-11 attacks and six months before we invaded Iraq. Watching television news in another country and talking with Japanese people, I learned a great deal about how the rest of the world sees America, and it was a lesson in humility. Ever notice how if you look at a map of the world, the United States is smack in the center? A large map of the world was on the wall of the student lounge at KGU. What country was in the center? Japan. A US Air Force colonel's daughter from Texas was one of my classmates. On 9-11, she looked at the flags representing every nationality of students at the university, and was upset that the Stars and Stripes was not lowered to half-staff. I told her it would be, if we were at home.

A few Japanese people I spoke with wanted to know my opinion of President Bush. I told them in my poor Japanese that I didn't think he was a good president, and some of his policies made me feel embarrassed to be an American. I do love America and still think we have much to be proud of; it was just such an eye opener to see that in Japan America is viewed with skepticism along with curiosity, and regarded as no more important than any other country. In fact, for historical reasons, China is far more important to the Japanese than America is. Perhaps a prerequisite for political leadership should be to have spent some time in another country!

Well, had I had a topic for this blog post, I would really have gone off the rails. I'd better get back to work now; Mr. Stitchjones and Michelle left this morning for that garden spot, Spokane. The BIL hosts an annual golf tournament. Although Jason and his brothers grew up on a golf course because their dad was a PGA professional, he never plays golf and doesn't particularly enjoy it. However, he views it as a family obligation and attends it every year. They'll be back Monday, so I should get cranking and get as much yarn out as I can! At least it's going to cool off over the next few days. Yesterday was too dang hot.

Harumph!

2009-09-06T22:31:00.000-07:00

Mr. Stitchjones faithfully reads Willamette Week, a local free paper. Some may like Willy Week, but I don't, even though they have broken some major expose-type stories about local politicians in recent years. You know how it is, though; if it's laying around, you'll pick it up and read it. (Come on, we've all been in waiting rooms!) I think WW comes off as rather impressed with itself, journalistically speaking. Mind you, the equivalent of WW where I grew up was the Boston Phoenix, and right or wrong, my cultural bias remains.

I read something in this week's edition of WW which pissed me off, like, epic. Their cover piece "The Young and the Jobless" featured interviews with twentysomethings, and one 24-year-old woman (who is now employed, so technically doesn't qualify) said she took to knitting while job-hunting. Great, I thought. Then I read how she lamented the absence of people her own age in Portland. Nothing wrong with that, I thought. Then I read the last sentence. Her knitting group, "more often than not, has people my mom's age".

GRRRRR!!!

Yes, that's right. Poor lamb. Face time with fossils, how it must suck to be her. We obsolete, hopelessly out of touch knitters have absolutely nothing to offer Miss Thing, do we? Why, biddies and fusspots like us could never be social networkers and professional contacts, much less vast resources of information on all manner of fiber arts. Never could we be forces to be reckoned with, and we certainly would never do anything so audacious as to start our own businesses, carve our own niches, do whatever it takes to succeed and make our mark, and just generally kick ass and take names. We should just stay home, seeing as how we're such a blight on the so-young-and-hip-it-hurts social landscape of Portland, OR. How reassuring that demographics are apparently everything to this member of Generation Z. Don't worry dearie; menopause isn't contagious!

Willamette Week, who needs it?

***

Ahhh. That's more like it. Nothing makes me feel more alive than a good drip of sarcasm! And nobody needs a T-shirt that says, "51% sweetheart, 49% bitch, don't push it" more than me. So just to show you that I'm more sweetheart than bitch, without further ado, I'm going to announce the winner of the Name That Colorway contest.

The winner is: Bluebird49. In the immortal words of Socrates, who said, "I drank what?" the hand-dyed green sport yarn now has a name, and it is "Hemlock". You suggested "Socrates Shake" for a name, but said the color reminded you of Hemlock, and that nails it. You've won a Stitchjones gift certificate for $25. Email me at sharon AT stitchjones DOT com, and I'll send you info on how to claim your prize. Congratulations, Bluebird49, and thank you all for playing! Your suggestions were absolutely wonderful.

just what the doctor ordered

2009-09-01T17:19:00.000-07:00

Sometimes the best medicine...is a new doctor!

In an ongoing struggle to conserve funds, I found it necessary to fire my primary care physician, because she wasn't willing to work with me on generic substitutions for certain long-term maintenance meds. Which is a pretty good indicator that she's in bed with the drug companies and doesn't give a rat's ass about her patients! However, this afternoon I had a new patient appointment with a doctor who will not only help lower my monthly prescriptions cost by one-third, but is also closer to my house than the previous one and is very thorough, having counseled me on health issues no doctor had ever discussed with me before. She also, unlike my last doctor, didn't waste time harping on me about exercise. At my age, and given certain health conditions, if I were able to change habits and routines, I certainly would. I appreciated this new doctor's approach, and she did what I hoped, which was "just work the problem". All in all, I left the medical office today feeling better than I have in the past two years about the kind of care I'm receiving.

With all the stress of the past few months, culminating in the crappiest August I've ever lived through, I knew I needed to find a new doctor, but for various reasons--and this is going to sound lame--I felt I had to make my own health a low priority. Folks, don't let this happen to you! It's the oxygen mask principle. If you suddenly lose cabin pressure, you can't help the person in the seat next to you if you don't put your own mask on first. If I allow myself to become a falling-apart mess, what chance do I have of taking care of the other stuff? And so, to my marital obligations, to my financial struggles and especially to my shaming, hypercritical mother, I have only four words to say.

"Screw you, I matter."

***

Da Contest

You guys are suggesting such wonderful, interesting and creative names for that yarn! I'm enjoying your submissions. However, due to the fact that I recently had a "blog crasher", e.g. someone who left unwanted anonymous comments, I felt I had no choice but to turn on comment moderation. I usually get email notification of comments, however some comments fall through the cracks and I don't see them unless I sign into my Blogger interface. So if you don't see your contest entry posted, don't despair. I'll make sure they have all been published before the deadline comes and I announce the winner. Which is going to be difficult to determine!

***

Top Secret

Once again while delivering an order to a LYS, I succumbed to the siren call of beautiful yarn. This is 2 skeins of Punta Yarns Merisoft, a single ply, yummy-soft handpainted merino. I immediately began knitting it into an original design, and am still fascinated by the ever-changing colors. I bought it at Knit Knot Studio in the Pearl. Hopefully I will be able to offer a pattern soon! The photo does nothing to showcase the sheer gorgeousness.

***

I made socks and then forgot that I made socks.

Can't believe I forgot to post a pic of a finished pair of socks! Well, given all the trauma and drama in my life since Sock Summit, I actually can believe it. Anyway, I knit up that ball of Kureyon sock yarn that was in my stash since last winter, and finished the pair right after the Summit.

Kureyon sock yarn--ick. Kureyon sock yarn colors--swoon.

With apologies to Warren Zevon

2009-08-27T11:45:00.000-07:00

...because my last blog post could have been titled "Poor Poor Pitiful Me".

First of all, you guys are awesome and I appreciate your words of support and encouragement. I've stopped crying and today I feel so much better about things in general, even though my situation hasn't really changed. I know it will change eventually, and that alone helps cheer me up. I just want you to know that I loves each and every one of you!

Michelle and I came home from Spokane late Monday afternoon. The life remembrance for Jennifer was held the day before. We cried a lot, but laughed some too, because she left us with some great memories. The one I shared was of her at about age 3 or 4. Back then, I used to knit with Red Heart or Berella--imagine! And all I made were afghans. It's only been in the last 10 years that I really began learning about knitting and wool. Anyway, I was working on an afghan while visiting with the inlaws, and little Jennifer said she wanted to knit. I started to show her how to make a stitch, but she said, "I can do it" and started taking the stitches off the needle. It was funny at the time, but upon reflection it showed determination and faith in herself, which are essential traits for an artist. She was a talented painter, and her paintings were on display at the memorial gathering.

I will always miss you, sweet Jennifer.

***

On to happier topics. Here is what Mr. Stitchjones sent yesterday for our 20th wedding anniversary.

I love the little pink flowers in the bouquet; they really seem to set off the red of the rose blooms. And being sent flowers, who doesn't like that? Thanks, sweetie!

Now that I can knit with the big girls and boys, here is a sock I finished for Michelle's size 11 feet. (Thank God she doesn't read my blog, she'd kill me for that.)

The yarn is Malabrigo Sock in Ravelry Red. I bought it a couple of weeks ago from Knitting Bee. I'm using my Size 2 square dpns, which are like a size 1 gauge-wise, and the second sock is about one-third complete. I like to make socks on the plain side, so the pattern is yer basic seed rib stitch.

Last post I mentioned loving some new yarn colors that I dyed up. Here is some Alpaca Lace in a medium-pale turquoise I call "Alpine Lake". Couldn't resist a little wordplay there.

I got a sample of a new 100% merino sportweight. The jury isn't out on it yet. It doesn't seem to be a true sportweight, it's very similar to the base yarn I use for Titanium Sock. I may go with the sportweight I've used before, which comes from Henry's Attic. This is what I did with the sample skein, which is 100 grams/350 yards.

With fall coming, I definitely want to make more of this color. It's the mix I use for Forest, with Raven added.

Ya know, I love naming colorways. However, I'm stuck and don't know what to call this. As a matter of fact, it's been forever since I've held a contest on the blog, so let's do that. Leave your suggestions for a color name in the comments. Be creative. (Of course you're creative; you're knitters!) Be outrageous. Capture the Stitchjones "je ne sais quoi" --oops, I spoke French there and hurt myself! Seriously though, since it's naming my yarn, I'll have to pick the winner personally. I hope that's OK; I unfortunately can't use the random number generator thingy on this one. The winner will get a Stitchjones goodie. Let's set the deadline for Saturday, September 5th, at midnight in Bangalore, India. Just kidding! Midnight Pacific Daylight time.

One more thing- please leave an email address, if you would be so kind.

Let the games begin!

Juliet of the Spirits

2009-08-20T17:04:00.000-07:00

"Juliet of the Spirits" is my original design. It's named for my favorite song by the B-52's.

The picture of the finished garment is very poor quality, and I apologize for that but it's all I could do under extraordinary circumstances (which I'll tell you all about later). Here is the best photo I could get of the stitch detail in the lower part of the top. It's knot stitch, which once I got the hang of it I rather enjoyed doing.

The garment was knit flat in 2 pieces and seamed at the sides and shoulders. A band of seed stitch separates the A-line skirt from the bodice, and seed stitch edgings were picked up and knit using smaller needles.

The p's and q's:

Yarn: Dale of Norway Svale in Chinese Red - 12 balls

Needles: US 5 (body) and US 4 (neckline and sleeve edgings)

Size: to fit my 3x girth!

I haven't written up the pattern, but I will add the project to Ravelry when I get a chance. Maybe I'll wear it to knit night when I a) fulfill my seemingly unending in-law obligations and b) can stop crying about the stupid stuff that's going on in my life right now. This is the third day I've been off-and-on weepy, and my daughter's getting really sick of it. So am I; however, I don't have any tranqs on hand at the moment.

It's not that I want to depress everybody; I just wanted to feel good about finishing this project and have my husband here to photograph me wearing it. As big as I am, I'd still put on makeup and fix my hair and pose in front of some trees or something. I'm proud of this design and just want to rock out with my bad self. However, since Sock Summit I've seen Mr. Stitchjones for exactly one day, and I miss him. He's away on business the entire month of August. Next Wednesday we will have been married 20 years, but I won't get to see him. We have to postpone our celebration/second honeymoon for a month.

I know that isn't enough to make me slide into despair, but unfortunately that's only the tip of the iceberg. Don't feel obligated to read on, really. I can tell you right now there ain't much good news in this post. I just don't have anywhere else to air all these little things that combine to make one huge bummer.

Our niece's memorial is Sunday, the day she would have turned 24. It's in Spokane, so I have to drive there tomorrow. It's about a 7 hr. drive, which I know I can handle, I'm just not used to it. Getting there wouldn't be a problem, except for the fact that we have some legal issues going on which has created a money shortage. Because of this, I am behind on Stitchjones monthly bills and have temporarily suspended business advertising, so that I can get caught up. Having to drop everything and run up to Spokane (for the third time this year) is going to put me behind on wholesale orders, which means my customers will have to wait longer for their yarn and I will have to wait longer to get paid the balance due on their down payments.

Are you beginning to pick up on the domino theory at work here?

In order to be able to buy gas and incidentals for this unexpected trip, I had to borrow a small amount of cash from my elderly parents. (Humiliating.) My father, who is the type of guy who'll give you the shirt off his back and throw in his wristwatch too, offered without hesitation, and at first I said no but then I realized I had no other means. But then, my mother started in with the third degree about how we handle our finances (she doesn't know about the legal stuff) and declared my business to be a failure. (Thanks Mom, I love you too.) So another hurt on top of 54 years of guff from dear old Mom, added to the constant cash shortage, added to the grief of losing our young niece (whose father is the self-centered, overdramatic brother-in-law I can't stand) has me a teary mess. I'm just trying to hang on and make it through the next three days.

See, I told ya it wasn't good.

I have made lots of mistakes, but when I search my heart, I have no malicious intent toward anyone, truthfully. So I don't think it's karma. It's just life, which is quite difficult right now and I need to be honest about that or go insane. And I've made enough trips around the sun to know that eventually, it'll get different.

(I can haz change now?)

Stitchjones at the Crossroads?

I mentioned temporary cancellation of my advertising, which means that after this month you won't see Stitchjones ads on Ravelry or Google Ad-words. At least, not until things get back on track. Since Sock Summit, retail sales have fallen off, and I'm convinced it's a combination of the following: a) knitters "caught their limit" or went over-budget at SS09; b) the economy sucks the butt of a dead woodchuck right now; and c) there are more sources and options for yarn than ever before. That includes yarn stores, both brick/mortar and internet; indie dyers, Etsy, what have you. These provide fiber enthusiasts with a vast number of choices.

So I'm tinkering with the idea of sharply curtailing my retail business and concentrating my efforts on being a wholesaler. I have three wholesale orders in progress, about 150 skeins of yarn total, plus one order in the pipeline and 1 prospective new customer. I also have 2 sock clubs coming up in 2010 and other opportunities to put my dyeing abilities to work. This is just thinking in cyberspace; I haven't made any firm decisions yet except about advertising for the time being. Given my emotional state at the moment, I know this is not the time to make further business decisions!

***

Whew. I've unburdened myself a lot, and just by writing it all down I feel a little lighter. I sometimes think that I should never reveal the fact that I have problems, that things are sometimes less than perfect (or sometimes downright suck). However, I'm too old to pretend to be Polly Perfect, and most importantly, none of this is going to stop me from doing the things I love, or cost me the loss of people I love. I went to spinning yesterday--they let me hang out and knit with them, even though I'm not a spinner yet--and got support and hugs. It helped a lot to know I'm valued and that my friends care. If you've stayed with me to this point, please know that you're appreciated and loved.

I'll post next week. Believe it or not, out of my personal anguish this week have come gorgeous new yarn colors! Now I understand a little better that thing about great art being born of suffering.

In memoriam

2009-08-13T11:16:00.000-07:00

Jennifer Lynn Spence

1985 - 2009

On Monday evening, our dear niece died suddenly, of cardiac arrest. She was just a couple of weeks shy of her 24th birthday.

At the age of seven, Jennifer became seriously ill and was in intensive care for several weeks. It was the onset of juvenile diabetes. She was insulin dependent throughout her life. Jennifer graduated from the Cornish Institute in Seattle two years ago, and moved to the Bay Area. She developed health complications from her diabetes, including asthma. We know very little about the circumstances of her death. An autopsy was ordered. Her father, my husband's brother, lives in Spokane, and her older sister lives in Seattle. The two of them are traveling together to Oakland to bring Jennifer back to Spokane.

The news has hit our daughter especially hard.

As we wait for more information from the family, we remember a young woman whose artistic gifts shone through serious illness and a broken home.

Thank you for your love and prayers.

Mission accomplished

2009-08-11T16:54:00.000-07:00

SS09 is over. And it was good.

All I can do is jot down my experiences, ranging from Wonderful to Meh to Feh! (there's only one in the "Feh" category, and it doesn't really have to do with Sock Summit.)

Before I get started, let me offer you a piece of banana cake which I baked last night and slathered with chocolate buttercream frosting. All from scratch. There's also coffee. Cream and sugar?

OK. Here is my list of The Wonderful:

-seeing so many friends and customers all in one place!

-the excitement and star-struck-ness (if that's a word) of the attendees, meeting and taking classes from so many well-known people in the knitting world.

-the parade of gorgeous handknits! Endlessly fascinating and inspiring.

-Meeting some of my Etsy customers.

-Being shown some beautiful things made from Stitchjones yarn.

-Handing out my business card to knitters who wanted to view my products online, and also to yarn shop owners looking for indie dyers who wholesale. Woot!

-Seeing people I haven't seen for ages.

-The nice things I heard from people who buy my yarn at local shops.

-My personal favorite compliment: "I/my husband gets such a kick out of your yarn label! 'Color Goes To Eleven'--from Spinal Tap, right? Great marketing." (I usually respond with the truth, which is "I love it when people get what I'm about.")

-Obviously, selling quite a bit of yarn! While I wouldn't have minded selling more, I'm pleased overall with my sales volume. I now have three wholesale orders booked, two of which came in before Sock Summit, and as soon as all the credit card payments fund into my bank account, I can place a materials order which will keep me busy dyeing all through August and well into September.

-And one last thing, which is mightily awesome. I can't reveal any of the specifics right now--but I can tell you that sometime in the future, Stitchjones yarn is going to be featured in a book! OMG, could you die?!

***

The "meh" part of Sock Summit is really regret that I couldn't spend more time in the marketplace. There was so much to see. I would have liked to take classes, but my first reason for being there was to grow my business, and I haven't yet figured out how to clone myself, although I'm working on it!

***

And one thing I really didn't like, although it certainly isn't the fault of the event organizers. I have always hated officious pricks, ok? Just a pet peeve of mine. I hate it when someone is telling me to do something I clearly cannot do, but won't offer assistance, just stands there and watches me struggle and fume. It so happens there was an officious prick barking orders at me on the drive-up ramp at the loading dock. At the end of the show, Kathleen was doing her usual efficient job of helping me tear down and pack up. I was so wiped out that I couldn't back up the minivan in ju-u-ust the right way to suit this dude in a sport jacket, who kept trying to get me to move six freaking inches to the right because there was a truck and trailer on my left. There was plenty of room between the vehicles for people to walk and transport stuff, but he was being so picky-perfectionist about it that I could have slapped him! Standing there with his hands folded, as useless as you-know-what on a bull. I could have done without that.

***

OK, that's quite enough of that. I was so preoccupied with vendor concerns that I neglected to take any photos at the convention center! However, if you go to my blogroll and visit my friends' blogs, or for that matter, go to Ravelry, you'll be able to see lots of pics. If you go to my friend Rachel's blog and scroll through her photos, you can see me holding her daughter, Miss Hazel Rose. Who was sporting a Lantern Moon tattoo on her little baby leg. And totally rocking a Stitchjones button! Only the best for this future knitter. ;)

In an attempt to reserve as much funds as possible for the business, I showed as much restraint as I could in the marketplace. Here's all I bought:

Small project bag. Love the original Beatles logo. The bag is lined with a print fabric that says "All You Need Is Love". I bought it from the booth next to mine, Susan's Kitchen. Susan's a sweetheart as well as a talented dyer!

Some coveted Mini Mochi in Strawberry Lime, and a skein of STR Lightweight in Spirits "Narikama". I've learned a great deal about wool dyeing over the past couple of years, however I am astounded by this. "Spirited from the color orange" is what the product blurb on Blue Moon's website says. Howdeydodat?! It is so beautiful! They achieve this by adding white to a color, apparently. I didn't even know there was white dye. Not that I'm anxious to try it, I'm just in awe. Here's a close-up to show the color better.

When the marketplace was slow, I knitted on a fine-gauge chemo cap (which is actually "Tipsy Sailor" from Interweave a few years back). Instead of Koigu I'm using Kona Superwash, a Henry's Attic base yarn I discontinued last year, handpainted a medium aqua blue, and Size 2 circs.

OK; now I'm gonna knit! Still on post-Summit R&R, you see. :)

The party's about to start!

2009-08-01T19:18:00.000-07:00

Approaching Defcon 5 level of readiness for Sock Summit. Dyeing for the show is finished; just need to reskein and label yesterday's batch. I now have 4 sock patterns for sale; I've printed those, plus extra copies of Katherine Vaughan's designs using Stitchjones worsted weight yarns. (Link is to her blog--scroll down to see the awesome Good Day Sunshine Tote. It's available in my Etsy shop.) I've gone to the bank and got some cash to make change; made a special "Summit Mix" CD to play while setting up and bought batteries for Michelle's portable stereo (no electrical outlet in my booth). Some of the songs are ones that inspired a lot of Stitchjones' sock colorways: Twisted Sister, Alice Cooper, Gene Simmons/KISS, and of course, Rush. Made Czech glass bead stitch markers and got a few more buttons from Zazzle. Went to Costco on Sunday for a 4-ft. table. Now I'm just trying not to go bonkers thinking I'm gonna forget something! Yes, I do make lists, but you know how it is.

Today I put "Kamikaze Raspberry" semi-permanent color on my hair, so I look rather grotesque. No photo, sorry, you'll have to come see me at Sock Summit or stalk my friends' blogs for pictures! All I can say is, I look like Bozo the Clown's love child. It's not so bad though--most people who come by the booth will be looking at the yarn, not at me! Also, it'll wash out eventually.

Lace all over the place

The yarn biz being nothing if not seasonal, I'm looking ahead to Fall '09 and predicting that the watchword will be "lace". I'm bringing in 2 new laceweight yarns: Nirvana Lace (70/20/10% baby alpaca/silk/cashmere) and Alpaca Lace (100% alpaca). I just added both yarns to Ravelry, so if you go to "Yarn" and look up "Stitchjones" there they'll be.

Here is a blog post from a happy customer of one of my customers, Knitty-Noddy. I must get cracking on this hand dyed laceweight thing; I think it's gonna be hot hot hot!

I do have a Noro Kureyon sock finished, but I've been lax on taking photos. The red Svale baby doll top is about four-fifths done and languishing on the coffee table. I cast on for this so I can use up some of my stash.

And of course, I'm thinking about fall and winter knitting too! I bought this pattern today (the Calluna Cardigan from Knitpicks), having first seen it on Yarnhog's blog. Yarnhog is rocking the design in Cascade 220, which I happen to have in my stash.

I'm intrigued to see how it will look knit up. I have always fallen hard for orange!

Well possums, I'll be incommunicado (at least on the blog; Facebook's another story) until next week. I'll have lots to report! Hope to see many of you at the Oregon Convention Center for the biggest knitfest this town has ever seen. We're gonna stand Portland on its ear!

knittin' up a sweat

2009-07-26T22:58:00.000-07:00

It's so dadburn hot here that all I've been able to do is sit in front of the floor fan, watch TV and knit!

Here is a sock I designed last year, but since I was just starting out as a dyer, I wasn't doing semisolids yet. And this stitch pattern needs a semi-solid colorway to show it off. It's called "Chain Lightning" and is an easy peasy chain rib stitch you can do while watching TV, reading Twitter-pated posts or what have you. The sample is knit in Stitchjones 100% merino sock yarn, although Titanium Sock would work well too. I used size 2 needles and zipped through this sucker in just a few days, where it normally takes me at least a week to finish a sock.

This is a new colorway I call "Shadow Rose". I love coral-y pink. Since we're getting down to the wire with Sock Summit, and I only have 5 or so skeins of sock yarn left to add to my inventory--the rest is committed to wholesale orders--I may or may not have this color available in my booth. I'll try, but I think I'd better make extra skeins of my Sock Summit colorway, "Magic Judy", so created and named for Judy of Judy's Magic Cast-on fame. Fortunately, Judy granted me permission to use her name even though I forgot to ask her! -blush. I got excited when I heard "Sock Summit dyers' contest" and all protocol went out the window.

Magic Judy - Stitchjones Titanium Sock

Before the voting started in the Dye for Glory contest on Ravelry, I thought I only needed a half dozen skeins or so. Even though there are yarns far more beautiful than mine entered in the contest and I don't have a snowball's chance of winning, this yarn has been seen by so many folks that I think I'd better stockpile! 'Cause ya never know. If it sells out at Sock Summit, I'll take orders. And if you haven't gone over to Ravelry and voted, please do so! It's hard to make choices because they're all so nice. Mine is in the "Painted" category.

And now for another of my sock patterns, "Carole's Socks".

The sample was knit by Bobbie of Tiggywinkle Knits in Stitchjones 100% Merino sock yarn in "Bliss". Didn't she do a lovely job?

Both patterns are available as Ravelry downloads, they're dirt cheap at just $4. They are also in the Etsy shop, along with Magic Judy in Titanium Sock.

But the pretty colored FO's don't stop there! Here is a Diagonal Baby Blanket, made with 11 oz. of cuddly Cormo wool in neon green from Dayspring Farm in Corvallis, Oregon. (Yarn was purchased from Bellwether Wool Co. at Black Sheep Gathering.)

I haven't washed and blocked it yet--just folded it up and put away for now. When the weather cools off, I'll wash it. I've decided to keep this for the grandbabies I might someday have. I've also bought other yarn and picked out baby items to knit this fall and winter, to add to the collection. Not that I'm in any hurry to be a grandma; I want Michelle to finish college and have the hit TV show she's already writing before she becomes a mom! If and when the day comes, though, this Nana will be prepared.

***

OK now, brace yourself. Here is a photo of Noel Fielding of the hit BBC comedy show The Mighty Boosh, in character as "Tony Harrison".

Yeah I know, "WTF"? I mean, "WTF-ing F!?"

I share this with you my friends, because ever since I first saw Monty Python's Flying Circus I have loved British comedy. My daughter has a big crush on Noel and is obsessed with his show. The first time I saw this whack character, (who talks like an upperclass twit by the way,) I couldn't stop laughing. I even bought some pepto-bismol pink yarn and tried to knit a stuffed toy of Tony Harrison. It so happens Michelle is flying down to L.A. on Tuesday to meet Noel at a personal appearance! She'll be accompanied by her dad, who will already be down there on business. Lucky girl, eh?

My idea was to knit a stuffed-toy version of this character for Michelle to give to Noel when she meets him. However, even though a designer friend was helping me figure it out, I just didn't have the mojo. I got discouraged when I realized I'd have to make all those tentacles, then sew the whole thing up--and I hate sewing!

As I get older I'm becoming more scatterbrained, a la Lucy and Ethel hair-brained schemes. My heart is still in the right place, though...no matter what you may have heard!