Vacation Day

Rebecca invited me to join her, Meg (She just got engaged! Go congratulate her!) and Mara for a trip to Bainbridge today. (I forgot my camera.) We went for the summer sale at Churchmouse. Between working at a yarn shop and the size of my stash I wasn't too tempted by the mostly picked over yarn (the sale started yesterday morning). I did buy one thing. A button for my Sitcom Chic.

Last night was a repeat of the previous night.

Me: I'm going to finish this tonight!
Me, three seconds later after looking at a clock: It's 1 am??
Me, another three seconds later after looking at my sweater: I'll finish it tomorrow.

The yoke is such a trickster. It keeps looking like it's almost done as it gets smaller and smaller but in reality there's still a ways to go. And I have to do the front bands as well. And I got side-tracked and started a new pair of socks...More on that tomorrow.

Swag Hag

Today I got to attend a small local trade show. Here's some of what came in our goody bags.



Is there anything better than free yarn?

Habu was there, which was a really nice surprise. I've only seen a handful of their yarns in person before. To see a room filled with cones and tiny bundles of all their yarns was well worth the visit. We only got a reorder on Shosenshi Paper yarn which now comes in some variegated colorways! Curious Creek* was there for the first time too. I haven't seen their yarns in person before either. They make a worsted bombyx silk that is insanely gorgeous and feels...well..really silky. I was very excited to see Somerset Designs. They make suede handles and bottoms for bags. The striped tote bag in Holiday Knits uses them. We've gotten a lot of requests for them at the shop. We got buttons and alpaca and more alpaca. Wheeee!!!

I was chugging away on Sitcom Chic last night. Wes wasn't feeling well so I knit and watched two movies by myself. I was thinking, "I can finish this tonight. I only have a little bit left to go." But then I realized that it was 1 am and I probably have several hours of work left to do.



*Doesn't that name sound like a coming of age movie? Or is that just me?

World Gone Mad

An eBay auction for Cotton-Ease--you know that yarn that everyone bought 8 million skeins of at a deep discount when it was discontinued last year--in which the buyer, presumably on drugs or mentally ill, paid over $9 a skein. What's going on?

Edited to add: Did you know there is a Yahoogroup devoted to Cotton-Ease?

Oh No They Didn't!

From the Vogue Knitting Preview:



What on Earth can they be thinking? Being a "hobo" is fun! And chic! Ah, the romance of the rails...

Thursdays are for What the Hell is This?

Staff of Interweave Knits!
I am the sweater god!



I am angered by your unattractive and unimaginative staff projects(.pdf)!
I will be watching you!

Stitch 'N Pitch

I went last night. It was the second baseball game I've been to since the mid-80s. It was my first time at Safeco field. Boy, times have changed.

Either there weren't as many knitters as I was expected or we were really spread out. There were lots of empty seats too. The vendors all had their tables set up. I spotted the president of the Knitters Guild being interviewed by Fox Sport Network.



I also spotted some Mariners-themed free-form crochet.



Hmmm. "Awesome" indeed.

There were dancing sweeper guys.



Apparently watching overweight, middle-aged men boogie with brooms is very popular.



And if you want to get your picture taken, you and your friends should all wear sparkly hats with matching feather boas.

Me? I was just in it for the kettle corn. The Mariners lost. No, they didn't just lose. They were trounced. They were crushed. They were trounced, crushed and then got their asses handed to them. I knit a sleeve.

The Fleece Has Been Toured

Le Tour de Fleece is over. In order to make my goal of 30 hours of spinning I brought my Lendrum up to my bedroom on Sunday to spin near the air conditioner. I finished spinning the cormo/silk but still need to ply it. I put the silk aside because I didn't want to coat my bedroom in hot pink cobwebs. I pulled out Dazzle the llama, purchased last year at Oregon Flock and Fiber. Since all my spinning has been coming out too fat lately I went super-thin with the llama. I have 14 ounces (I think) so I'll be slowly spinning myself a big pile of lace-weight llama.

To entertain myself while spinning I put the first season of Pee-Wee's Playhouse which Wes checked out from the library. The kids vowed they had no interest in seeing it. But as I watched and screamed (for the secret word of the day) and laughed, they drifted over to see for themselves. I really had them hooked by the first Penny segment because they recognized the Aardman-style animation.

The weather has cooled--praise be! Tonight is Stitch 'n Pitch. I'll try to remember to bring my camera and actually take some pictures.

Calgon! Take Me Away!

The forecast said it was going to be mid-80s today. I left the house to take my son to school and it was already 78°, which I took as a bad sign. But now, a mere hour later, it's 87°. I just want to curl up on the ground, rocking back and forth a la Nancy Kerrigan asking, "Why? Why? Why?"

I'm going to take a cool shower before I have to go to work.

Call Me Pinky

This is my Sitcom Chic, light pink sitting on the left, and a Faux Ruffle Tank blocking on the right. The tank is a shop project. It's from Alterknits and is very cute and a super simple knit which I really needed. It's hard to see in the photo but there is a beaded rib pattern in a panel up the front. A novelty yarn gets backstitched into the rib troughs to create a faux, tux-style front. I thought it would be fun and funky in screaming hot pink Cotton Fleece. It's so hot here right now that the pieces were nearly too dry by the time I finished pinning them down.

It has been damned hot here the last few days. I know that most of you are in parts of the country that have been suffering from extremely high heat for weeks now and you think I'm a little whiner. Well, I am. I am one of the least heat-tolerant people I know. Why do you think I left Chicago to live in Seattle? Cool, dry summers. The main problem here when it gets hot is that we're not equipped for it. There is very little central AC in Seattle. We have a window unit for our bedroom and got one for the boys' room this year too. But the shop where I work, the one filled with wool? No AC. Yesterday, after a day of working in the heat I collapsed when I got home in my bedroom. My head ached, I was dizzy and nauseated. I slept from 8 until midnight then was up from midnight until four. I took the boys to the mall today because at least it's air conditioned there. I'm still feeling really woozy and ill. It's supposed to cool down tonight though.

Scenes from the Station Wagon

Kid: I love vanilla bars.
Mom: It's "granola," Honey, not "vanilla."
Kid: Gorilla.
Mom: Granola.
Kid: Granilla.
Mom: Gra. No. La.
Kid: Granilla.
Mom: *sigh*

I Keep Losing My Shit

Literally. A few weeks ago I left my Estonian sock along with my autographed copy of Folk Socks at a restaurant. Today I left my Sitcom Chic somewhere in Ikea. Fortunately the restaurant folks and the Ikea folks just set it aside until a frantic knitter (me) came looking for it. Unlike some people.

Sitcom Chic's body is now about 9 inches long. I finished spinning the cormo/silk and now just need to ply it. I went to drop-in spinning at Weaving Works and started spinning 100% bombyx silk from Chasing Rainbows. That stuff is a bitch to draft. I pre-drafted a lot but it still locks up as your spinning along. And it gets everywhere! My pants, shirt and face are all covered in hot pink spidery webs. Blech!

Thursdays are for What the Hell is This?

While scrolling through the patterns on the Lion Brand site I began to wonder, "What must those models be thinking?" Let's find out.