Summer colds

I woke up yesterday with a head cold. I hate these colds in the summer. I left the shop early yesterday with a note on the door that I was Ill and left early. I've stayed all day today. Several customers and I had a good book to read "How the Irish Saved Civilization" I find it very interesting. I did some weaving on the Ashford loom and I almost finished the purse I'm working on. I'm using Diakeito yarn - I love this to weave with as well as felt. It a one ply varigated. I really enjoy this little loom - it's very manageable and it's the kind of weaving I enjoy. Using lots of different types of yarn to make a scarf or purse and it's fast.

Before I owned this shop I really didn't pay much attention to what kind of yarn or needles I was knitting on. The women who had worked here before me would say, "Oh I love to work with this yarn, it handles so well and it doesn't split, etc, etc. " and I was thinking to myself - " I don't get it, what's the big difference". "What is a Turbo needle.?" I knew how to knit sweaters by following patterns, had some straight needles, knew how to check a guage, had no yarn stash (if you can believe it) but I didn't buy quality yarn very often.
After 6 years, I understand what they were talking about. I have my favorites. Karabella Aurora 8 is by far my favorite for garments. It's like knitting with butter! I love the Cotton Fleece for baby blankets, children/adult sweaters. I love the Blue Sky Alpaca for garments and socks. There are several others that I like for felting such as Cascade or Galway. I'm not fond of the fuzziness of Lamb's pride. I like Lamb's pride in tapestry weaving. Your yarn choice is so important when making a garment you will have, probably for the rest of your life.

I am now working with Ann Lies in her Bungee crochet class trying to learn to follow a pattern and recognize where I am at on a garment. I can do hats and scarves but I've never tried a whole vest or sweater. I love the lacy look of crochet.

Spinning I find very relaxing. I enjoy spinning hand carded fleece or bats the best. The roving can get a little sticky for me. I'm not a fast spinner so my yarn is usually sport weight or BULKY. I just enjoy the process and the feel of the fleece. I enjoy dyeing yarn and fleece alot. Have had some success with that in the shop.

Keep Cool! Knit

Classes

This has been a crazy summer for classes. We usually try to offer quite a variety but people get so busy in the summer it's hard to nail them down to do a class. The Bungee Knitting and Crochet work well because the class runs all summer but the student only come when they need to.

Matt taught his first spinning class and he was very good at it. Meanwhile his real job took off and he's working 70-80 hours a week. He has another class in August and is hoping Shelley will take it unless her new grandson is born and then she's not sure what she will be up to. Shelley has also hired on at the shop a few hours a week.

Catherine had planned to do a sock class with Denise's help. Last week they were all together and Catherine said she's having scheduling problems with her Mom and so they asked shelley to take this class. She did and she loves it. Catherine is coming back to work in August but Denise asked for time off. Traudie's weaving class might go - we have two in the 4 harness class - I'd like 5. Nancy hurt her back last week so she was unable to teach Bungee Knitting - therefore I'm helping a customer finish a sweater that she is trying to finish for some twins.

You can see how life changes around a yarn shop every day. The one thing I love about it is you never know what's going to happen from one day to the next. Flexibility is key.
You never know what customers are going to come in that day, what shipments you will get or not get, how much money you make in a day. It certainly keeps me hopping.

Keep knitting - think Fall!

Finished Projects

I have been on a roll lately. Finished the chenille baby blanket. I also crocheted a cute pink hat for her and actually did some sewing on a onsie. I cut out chenille stars and sewed them on the front and back of a onsie. So easy and cute! My daughter, Nicole, gave me this idea.

I finished sewing a crib blanket for Ellie. It's pink and very soft. I also made a matching pillow. Josh loved his in blue blanket and sleeps with it every night. Gram made him his pillow.

I was planning to see new grandchild on sunday - the wamplers new daughter, and go to a play with Jeanne at a theater in town but woke up sunday morning with light flashes in my left eye. This had happened a year ago in the right eye so I figured it was the same thing. They look like little lightening bolts followed by some floaters (little black specks). I called the Doc on call and he thought I could wait until morning to see some one. This condition sometimes means you have a rip in your retina. It happens as you age (yuk) the gel in your eye becomes thicker and sticks and causes little flashes - if it continues or you get a shower of black dots it could mean a tear has occurred and you want it repaired immediately. Therefore, I stayed home on sunday and watched "Out of Africa";being a Meryl fan, I loved it. I knit and did the sewing projects mentioned beforehand.

I also measured and worked on some curtains for my patio door. I read my most current book which is "The Girl in the Green Glass Mirror" by Elizabeth McGregor. I'm finding it very fascinating. Bookclub is Thursday night. A new club in Prior Lake I'm trying out with my friend Bette. B went with me to the eye doctor and after checking everything it looked okay, no rip as yet.
I'll go back in a week to get it checked and have a couple little moles removed on my eye lid.

I'm helping a customer finish a child's sweater and it looks really small for a size 1, so I'm heading over to the babies house tonight to try it on Ellie - if the arm goes through the opening we're good to go. I came down with a cold, this morning, woke up with it. Unbelievable. I feel lousy and will probably crash tonight. I take ekanacia (sp?) but it did not help. Those baby germs are lethal.

I forgot to say - last week I went to see "Wicked" at the Orpheum. Jeanne went with me and it was delightful. The music was good but not sing along type or foot stamping; the foot stamping would have helped my frozen feet. There was a air vent on the floor and my feet were so cold by the second act I put them (my feet) in my leather purse, which didn't help a whole lot. I loved the two leads in the play - especially the good witch, Glenda. It was worth the money!

We had dinner at a pub in St. Louis Park. We had a beer and fish & Chips. It was great.
I cannot remember the name of this restaurant. It starts with an "M". Sorry, you cannot miss it, it's on the corner on Excelsior Blvd.

Happy Knitting

Heat Wave

It has been hot! In Minnesota that's a big deal. 95 and above is quite uncomfortable for most of us. It also gives us something to talk about. "Staying cool?", "Is is hot enough for ya?", "We could really use some rain", etc. You get the point.

If you are a true knitter you knit wool when it's 100 degrees; it's a task but we're up to it. Several people stop in the shop on their way up to the lake to get a project to work on. We also have many travelers coming through from Iowa, Indiana, Ontario, Nebraska and that's just this week.
I love it - I usually learn something new from all of them.

One of my favorite customers stopped in yesterday. Her name is Ivie. She is a fairly new knitter but is doing very well. She also is a jewelry artist and we have several of her pieces in the Petit Boutique. They are very lovely and unique. She paid me such a nice complement. Made my day. She said, as a new knitter I was very helpful to her and was very understanding. She felt comfortable coming into the shop as a first timer.

The week has been pretty slow at the shop as usual for this time of year. Our classes are going well. Matt just finished his spinning class and Shelley starts her sock class tomorrow night. I have doctors appts. in the afternoon so I won't be back for class.

I had a rather long day today and came home to meet B, I arrived first and went to go in the garage door and it was locked as were all the other doors and windows except for my bedroom window. I called Dan to see why the doors were locked and he thought there must be a burglar in the house. I doubted it because the dogs were in there barking like crazy. B showed up and we got a ladder from the neighbor and he climbed up the ladder ,(such gentleman) pried open the screen with his bare hands and climbed into my bedroom (I was hoping it wasn't too messy) and opened the door for me. What a guy!

We proceeded to have ice water and went out back to water the new trees . B planted 16 arbavitae trees a couple weeks ago. He was getting a little bored watering the trees so he decided to cut the brances off my little crab apple tree. It looks great!

This past week I finished spinning some roving I got at Shepherds Harvest in the spring. It's gorgeous. I even got it plied, washed and dried. I also plied another skein that had been on spools for awhile.

I finished the baby blanket that I was making. (for the Wampler's new baby girl) She was born right after the 4th of July. It's out of cotton chenille from Henry's attic and Chris had dyed it in pinks, purples and white. It turned out real cute - just a simple square, and knit all the way. It does shed a little so I hope that's not a problem for the baby.

I'm now working on the shawl and Ellies pink sweater out of Cashmere. I'll keep you posted.

We are going to start a sock of the month club in the Fall. I think it will really be fun. Pick some unusual patterns and yarn. I also would like to have a knit night at a pub - drink and knit. I saw this on a blog I was on this week. This group in Ontario goes to a pub called the "Spotted Dick" which in England is a lovely dessert (the spotted dick) So this pub is named after the dessert and this group meets there and drinks beer and knits. They usually knit something they don't have to use a pattern for or concentrate on to hard.

Happy knitting.

Happy knitting

Movies

I saw two movies this week with Meryl Streep in them. I saw "Prada" first and really enjoyed her acting but the whole movie was just okay. Last night I went with two women friends to "Prairie Home Companion" - we loved it. Meryl can really sing - it was very entertaining. Lily Tomlin was a treat, as always. I sure wish we'd see more of her. The whole cast was amazing and great music.

The shop had a good week. It was nice to have a few days off for the 4th. Had a great time with the knitting Bungee group. They want to do an Evening knit IN. We'll set a date. Have chesse and wine and knit like crazy.

I've been spinning alot on my Lendrum this week. I'm getting better and have filled two bobbins. Now to ply them. I may wait until Monday night during Matt's class. He has a great group of people. Next Sunday is the Spin- In again. I really enjoy this spin- in event. Such a diverse group of people, So knowlegeable about fiber and spinning. I'm learning alot.

I finished my piece on the Ashford loom and will make a couple purses from it. I will start the next project today. It's a purse for Pam's mom. I hope it goes quickly, she's been patiently waiting.

I'm Babysitting the grandchildren tonight. N & P have their 6th wedding anniversary this weekend. Alot has happened in those 6 years. I haven't seen them since last week so I'm excited to go play.

It's a gorgeous day so I'm leaving to weed the garden.

Happy 4th of July

I cannot believe it is the 4th of July already. Summer always goes so fast. Last week was a little slow due to the holiday. Saturday, Nancy had her Bungee class and it went well as always. I had Sunday, Monday and Tuesday off this week. It was so nice and I got so much done around the house. Dan came home from Canada on Friday. He had a great time and brought me a cute bracelet. He bought himself a great new putter for golf.

Nicole and children came home Monday. Peter was ill with the flu. I stopped over on Monday afternoon (before they knew they had the flu). I went over to say hell0 to the babies and found out later that Josh had the flu. YEA!

B and I planted 16 trees. He did most of the work but it looks great. It's a natural fence across the backyard. He took 10 for his property. We put up signs to sell his property and the city is having a problem with it. They took them down.

I finished the third hedgehog. He's blue and he'll be Josh's. I'm still working on the baby blanket and a sweater for Ellie out of Debbie Bliss's book. I'm using a cashmere blend in a bright pink. I've also started Jeanne's shawl again. I've reworked this about 4 times already. It's out of the the domy heather, a periwinkle color. I'm using a pattern out of the "Shawl" book. It should be really nice. It's a little fitted around the shoulder, which is what she wanted.

I finished weaving a couple purses on the Knitter's loom and am warping it again for a bigger purse that someone has commissioned me to do. I love this little loom.

Happy Knitting