MS#3-casted on/and ripped

Cast on this afternoon - lt. yellow zephyr on size 3 needle. Got to row 15 and lost my place so row 17 did not come out correctly. Ripped it out and will start fresh tomorrow on size #4 needles. I hope this is not the beginning of the end. I always loose my place when knitting lace. I even marked each row but I got interrupted by customers and lost my place. Oh, well!!!

I cannot believe there are over 3000 people knitting this shawl. It is incredible. I signed up for a yahoo account and I'm getting 3-400 emails a day on this site. It does help to read some of them, they give good tips , which I defintely need.

Saw the movie "Evening" last night. I went with two other woman friends. I had free tickets. It is definitely a drama. Great cast so I thought it would be great. Disappointed!

The story is about this one woman who is dying and her children come home to be with her. She starts having flash backs about her life (which were not that interesting) and it is a long 2 hour movie.

When we got out I was surprised to see it light outside still. I thought it must be midnight. We topped the evening off with a drink and salad at a nearby restaurant. It was so dark I couldn't even knit on my dark navy blue sweater.

Tie dye was the thing today at the shop. It was a very good day!

Sold the House

Well, it seems I sold the house. Now I just have a few things to repair (which I didn't even know were broken) Funny how you live in a house and get used to it's quirks until someone tells you it's now working. Anyway, a few minor repairs and we should be done.

I've been looking for a new house and have not yet found one. I'm considering building or renting. It is a little discouraging after looking at 10 houses and nothing is going to work. However, I looked at a house in Carver last night that has been totally reconditioned (it is on the Historical Register as is the whole town of Carver) and it is a gem. It's more than I can afford right now but it is lovely. The basement is the original but cleaned up and painted and the rest of house is all new floors and probably walls, new bathrooms (3) and kitchen.

Grandchildren are up at the lake this week and I sure do miss them. I guess they are having a great time. Fishing off the dock, swimming, picking strawberries and having a great time at the cabin. Wish I was there. My son Dan is going up today to visit for a few days.

Dan bought a trampoline for the back yard this week. It could be worse for an 18 year old graduate but I was a little surprised that he would buy it now. I said, "We're moving". I know we'll take it with. "The liability"! We'll put the sides on it and a lock for the zipper. "It has to be moved on Thursday every week for the mowers". We'll move it to Nick's yard (next door). So after all my arguments were dealt with I had no fight left. These boys love it.!!!!

Waiting for the Center Point guy to get here to check out the air conditioner and furnace today.
Knitting away on my sweater for the new baby. Navy blue Alpaca with the City Sheep pattern.

MYSTERY STOLE #3

In Sundays group we had two new ladies who mentioned the MS3 knit along. Julie and I have signed up along with 3000 other folks. Can you believe the interest this woman gets. She spins her own yarn, knits the stole and writes the pattern plus makes it a Mystery. Incredible. She's had to have the pattern translated into other languages because people from all over the world are doing this Mystery Stole. If you want to join Julie and I go to http://www.pinklemontwist.blogspot.com/ or google her if that's not correct. The mystery stole sign up deadline is June 29th. You have to have a Yahoo account. This shawl is knit with or without beads. (that's the first hint). I love a mystery.

I have started a new sock out of this stretchy cotton yarn. It is so much fun to knit with. I'm making Ellie a sock out of it for her Birthday. It comes in lots of colors and a great pattern book for kids. Stop in and see it in person.

I love summer at the shop. I get travelers from all over the world. It seems we all speak the same language in spinning, weaving and knitting, however. I do learn a great deal from these travelers.

Another heads up I learned about this week. There is a weaver at the Minneapolis Farmers Market on the weekends. Weaving incredible tapestries. I hope to go see him. He spins his own yarn and makes beautiful tapestries. I'll get info when I see him.

Keep Cool.

Spinning Yak

Received my yak from the Farm in Cold Spring, MN. It is very nice to spin. It is so soft, feels like Quiviet but not the high price. It is $20 per ounce -

Some of the Yak I've spun so far. It is very nice to spin on my Asford Traveler.

I've been spinning the indigo dyed fiber that Matt brought in. It is gorgeous and easy to spin - I'm almost done with both bobbins so I can ply it. It is gorgeous. I'm ready to ply it but have a couple students that want to learn how to ply so I'll save it for them.

Did some Dye work this week - Photos not ready yet.

I have been teaching individual spinning lessons this summer and find I really enjoy it. Most of the woman have had their own wheels or spindles so it doesn't require rental from me, which is fine. I would love it if they'd buy one from me, but I enjoy teaching them to spin. Our next Sunday Sit and Spin is this week. Hope to see a bunch turn out for this.

SPINNING/KNITTING IN:

Our Sunday Sit & Spin/Knit IN was last sunday. It was so much fun. We had eight of us knitting and spinning. I learn so much from this group. Diane was the one that told me about the Yak farmer in Cold Spring. It spins up so nice. She also shared with us her information about "Swing Dance " classes at a place in St. Louis Park - I'm going to try this out. She's sending me the info.

Julie & Karen told us about a place, cannot remember the name now, that sells spices. The name is http://www.penzeys.com/. You can do mail order or visit them in Uptown. As I've said before we discuss all topics. Somehow cooking and spices came up and how they don't have a great shelf life. So this place is the place to go for fresh spices.

Zoe came with another shawl spun in singles from some roving I had dyed awhile back. It was gorgeous. Now I have to figure out which color it was. She is an excellent knitter as well as spinner.

Karen, of course, bought some more of my hand-dyed roving and fleece. I have so much fun dyeing it and she is such a great customer. She had done some dying with us a few weeks ago and brought samples of her beautiful yarn. She is getting quite good at this spinning and dyeing thing. I forgot my camera so I don't have photos of what she did. But the colors were orange/reds. Gorgeous. She was spinning today with the Louet pencil roving. She made it look like it was spinning itself. She said it is a dream to spin with, we still have several bags left.

Diane was spinning a gorgeous red/orange roving that she bought to make mittens and a scarf with to match her winter coat. It was gorgeous. I'll have to try to dye some of those colors. Apparently this red/orange combo is very popular.

We had two new comers, both were knitting socks and One was making a microphone holder for her helmet ( I believe I got that correct). They were alot of fun and hope they come back again.

Four O'Clock arrived too soon! I think we'll keep this time slot. 1-4 PM

Coffee, Scones, Sock of the Month

Sock of the Month-June 2007









Sock of the Month was this last wednesday. We are having a great time in this class. We're doing a heavy sock this month and the ladies chose the Plymouth Jelli Beenz yarn for their socks. They are fast and so cute. We have lots of jelli Beenz in stock if you would like to do this sock too. We're using Ann Norling's sock pattern ( a ribbed sock). I'll get photo up next time.


















Jelly Beenz Baby socks







This photo was taken May 2007


The New Cafe Maude is open. Look at the difference: This was taken June 15, 2007

















Dunn Bros. coffee and fresh scones

I have had coffee and a chocolate chip/cherry scone (excellent). They are not doing lunch yet - just coffee in the morning and at 4 PM dinner and drinks. It's very nice inside. Great ambiance! My daughter came by last night and we went over for a drink. (glass of wine)She tends bar at Big Bowl and knew one of the bar tenders. Had a good time and then came back to teach my SOM class.

Morning Routine:

Met Nicole and Babies at the Vet.

Nicole's dog has hot spots (he's a golden retriever) and he was throwing up and not eating so she took him to the vet this morning. Seems he has fur balls caught in his digetive system due to licking his tail. While she dealt with the vet, I took the two babies to Caribou for a treat. We had a good time and entertained everyone there. Bought Dad a Father's Day gift and a card.

Mom showed up and we all went to Babies R Us while Spencer (the dog) had his X-rays. We still had some time before I had to pick up Bob at the airport so we went to Lake Cornelius park. It was getting warm by now and I was melting.

The two little ones torchered the chipmunks with piercing screams and chased them into the bushes and then we headed home. They went home, I headed to the airport. Of course, the plane was late so I sat in a gas station and knit for awhile.

Retrieved Bob, drove to get his car. Had lunch at "The Malt shop" they do have great food but boy am I full-it'll take a couple days to digest that hamburger and malt.

Back at work trying to keep awake. I think I'll go knit.

New Books from Interweave

Caught a preview of Piecework's next issue. Looks great- a little bit of handwork for everyone. Traveling socks, a lovely lace shawl, embroidery, slippers and I think some notecards.

New Books for Knitters are "Bag Style by Pam and Ann Budd", Bags with Paper and Stitch by Isobel Hall, Best of Interweave Knits by Ann Budd, Crochet Jewelry by Waejong Kim and Anna Pulbermakher, Crochet Me by Kim Weker, Felt Forward by Maggie Pace, Folk Style by Mags Kandis, Getting Started Knitting Socks by Ann Budd, How we Felt by Carol Huber Cypher, a series by Erika Knight, Harmony Guides for Cables & Arans, Knit & Purl, Lace & Eyelets, Knit Kimono by Vicki Square, Knitting Little Luxuries by Louisa Harding, The Twisted Sisters Knit Sweaters by Lynne Vogel and for WEAVERS - The Handweaver's Pattern Directory by Anne Dixon and Weaving in the Peruvian Highlands by Nilda Callanaupa. NEEDLEWORK BOOKS:
Color on Color by Janet Haigh, Hip to Stitch by Melinda A. Barta and Paper, Metal & Stitch by Maggie Grey and Jane Wild. Check them out at www.interweave.com

Wow, that's alot to choose from - Most of them are not due until Fall. Hang in there kids!

Recently, I've been fascinated by two new books that came in this week. "The Cute Book"
by Aranzi Aronzo. It h as cute little characters to sew out of felt. There is alot of potential here to use these little dolls on purses, sweaters, jackets, etc. They call it "Felt Mascots."

The other two are "Felt It" by Maggie Pace. 20 projects to knit and felt. Bags, Helmet hats with flowers, purses, scarves, shawls, etc. "Felt Frenzy" is the other one by Heather Brack and Shannon Okey. 26 Projects that are very funky. This is more about making fabric, either hot water or needle felting. Some embellishment ideas are included. Very cool!

I plan to use some of these ideas for Holiday and Birthday gifts.

Finished Sweater

I finished Josh's sweater-Carol Anderson's Wallaby pattern using Karabella 8 worsted weight. I love this yarn. I will try to get a photo with him wearing it. He wouldn't stand still so I could get a great photo of the sweater the other night when he tried it on. He was so excited, running all around the yard with it on. Now I have to make one for Ellie in a size 4, lavender and white in the same yarn. This was knit in the round. I love how this sweater just flows together. It took about a month to complete. There is an adult version also. One day.....

I've also started a baby sweater for the new little one out of Blue Sky Alpaca sport weight using the City Sheep Eyelet sweater pattern. It is knit in the round so it is easy and fast.

I had a very weird dream the other night. The kind you wake up and remember. At the time you are dreaming it, it seems like it all fits together and then when you start to repeat it to someone it makes no sense.

The dream was: a customer was in the shop buying fleece. She had piled it on the counter and suddenly one big chunk went flying onto the floor and 5 or 6 mice scampered out. (I am terrified of mice) I said, "Get the decon". So I went to Ace and got ten or twelve containers of the stuff and planted it around the edges of the shop. Now the mice were running and jumping over the boxes of decon having a great time. Suddenly a small dog appears out of the fleece. (mind you this is fleece I have died and cooked). My customer grabs the dog and holds him up and discovers he is a very valuable dog (I have no idea why we think this). I suggest calling the farmer that we got this fleece from and see if they are missing a dog. (or mice) the end.!

How bizaare is that. Except for my fear of mice and dyeing fleece I have no idea where the dog fits in. By the way, there are no mice in the shop - I do keep decon on hand just in case.

Graduation

I haven't had time to blog much this past week. I have been getting ready for Dan's graduation and of course showing my house 3 or 4 times a day. This is good but it requires alot more time.

Tonight(wednesday, June 6) is Dan's graduation ceremony at the U of M, Northrup Hall. 800 families will converge on the U of M campus to meet at 5:30 PM (rush hour, but the opposite direction) for a reception to take photos before they go into the auditorium.

It is now Friday night and I can tell you - graduation went pretty smooth. We couldn't see Dan without binoculars during the ceremony, however, (and only when he walked up to get his diploma).

The ceremony was very nice and not too long. They called all 800 names by 9:30 ish. Nicole and I left after his name was called because she was very uncomfortable being pg and all. Jenna and Dad picked up his cap and gown afterwards so he could go to the all night party.

They did sing my favorite song at the end. "I wish" by Rascal Flatts. It's just perfect for grads.