CraftsMeow

I WILL DYE AGAIN - PROMISE!!

2010-11-15T07:04:00.000-08:00

For the loyal customers who follow this blog and keep in contact on Ravelry, I apologize for being so absent in the running of my business. I haven't dyed in probably two months and I know my site is looking pretty empty and sad. But there is dyeing to be done!! I've been living without hot water for over a week and today the gas company is supposed to come (finally) to fix that. My job is a 90 minute commute (each way) and I'm just dead by the time I get home. But my skeiner should arrive this week and I plan to rig up a way to hang yarn out on the little patio over the weekend and get at least a few new ones dyed - if you've got a special request for what to do first please send me a note! Very soon you'll hear me say I'm back...and in the meantime I'll just fill you in on the move.

Love Love LOVE the house and the area in general. I'm learning my way around and my two girls are loving being the center of attention without any competition from alpha cat Bailey. I miss Bailey though. Nelson, aka Sir Barfsalot, is with the soon-to-be-ex and it's really nice to be able to walk around my house barefoot without worrying about stepping in his latest mess. I would have loved to bring Sofie and had 3 girls but she and Nelson have never been apart and at the age of 9 they should never be separated. Even if their dad does lock them in the bathroom for hours at a time.

Anyway, I know where the dyes are, and the pots, so I'm good. Just need hot water and some time. Stay tuned...

How to Catch a Cricket - by Katie

2010-11-13T16:27:00.000-08:00

I am the cat who refuses to give in to the diagnosis of kidney failure. I just refuse. In June 2009 Dr.Heit told mom I had end stage renal failure and would probably not live another 3 months. HA! Here I am. 18 months later and I'm doing just fine. And I have moved to Arizona with my mom and...well...other cat I don't like much...Chanel. She's just a prissy-butt who doesn't dare tarnish her tiara by actually doing anything other than sucking up to mom. But that's okay...I get my share of lovin'. And I got all kinds of praise last night for making sure this cricket didn't get over to the sofa where mom was sitting. She's afraid of anything with more than 4 legs and I just don't get it...it's yummy stuff!!


So first of all, you have to trap the cricket and make sure it knows who's boss. I scared him into submission because I'm so much bigger than he was. HA!


Then you slap it with your paw and stick it with your claw - this makes it so it can't move so it won't try to run anymore and jump away!

Chew carefully, and enjoy. My tummy is happy. And Mom is too.

I apparently will not get the opportunity to do this again in the near future. Mom called somebody called an exterminator who sprayed smelly stuff around the baseboards inside the house. It didn't smell too bad but it didn't smell too good either. Then he went outside and he sprayed really stinky stuff in the garage and all around the outside of the house. Mom said she didn't want crickets here because scorpions love them and she would move back to CA if she sees a scorpion. That wouldn't be good. I laughed when she said "If I see a scorpion then the soon-to-be-ex doesn't look so bad."

I better get off the computer now before Mom realizes I posted to her blog. Must wipe my paw prints off the keyboard too. BYE!!

Getting here Part I

2010-11-11T11:26:00.000-08:00

My friend Corliss flew in from Portland to help drive the truck. We left Friday morning, 11/5 and when we were on 580 not quite to I-5 we encountered this scene. It was a rollover accident involving a van of 8 people. Two were injured badly enough to be airlifted by Med-evac helicopters and we had front row seats. Unfortunately one person died at the scene. We were the first vehicle to be pulled to a stop at the scene so they could leave room to land the helicopters.

Med-Evac helicopter #1 arrives and lands on freeway

I believe there were 5 fire/rescue vehicles, at least 7 Highway Patrol, and 4 or 5 ambulances.

This ambulance, one of 5 I believe on scene, carried away 2 people who had been injured.

Helicopter 2 flying off with injured person

So sorry for being away so long...

2010-10-28T20:28:00.000-07:00

Wow. What a difference a month makes. On September 25 I had a family issue that led me to begin questioning what I really wanted from my life, however short or long it may be. I realized that I need to be with Jillian and her family, rather than drifting into a non-existence with my husband. We have grown apart and we keep trying again but we keep having the same result...probably because we never do anything different!! Anyway, I made the decision on September 27 to move to AZ, look for work and a home, and proceed with my life in a much better mind set and in a much better situation.

And here I am. One month later. Today I was offered one job, which I accepted, and then called by both of the other HR departments for the other 2 positions I'd interviewed for and set up for testing and further interviews. And then I got the call from the realtor that I also got approved for the house I'd fallen in love with.

My new birthdate, or I guess "re" birthdate? 10/28/10. A very good day for me. I accepted the position offered, and also accepted the testing and 2nd interviews. Which one is the right one for me will become apparent I am sure in pretty quick time.

In the meantime, this is my new house! It's having some work done as the prior owners did some damage on their way out, but by the time I move in it will be perfect. And Katie and Chanel will move in with me and I just know they're going to love scampering around in their new living space.

Front Kitchen Window - Chanel and Katie will LOVE this!

Built-in storage in the garage

And a work area in the garage - how cool is that??

And the living room...TV will be against that wall

Green Socks Month

2010-09-18T16:04:00.000-07:00

The Solid Socks group on Ravelry features certain colors each month. For October, the chosen color is GREEN!! You can get $5 off any full size skein on my Artfire site by using the coupon code GREENSOLIDSOCKS at checkout. You don't have to buy green solid yarn to get the discount though :) Coupon is good through October 15. Here are a couple of samples of Lucky Charm, a true Christmas-y green.

Mousse (silk blend) - Lucky Charm

Ice Cream Sundae - Lucky Charm

Remembering 9/11

2010-09-11T09:34:00.000-07:00

I didn't know anyone personally who died on 9/11, but like everyone else I remember exactly what I was doing when I heard the news. I cried for days over this horrendous event. Now some idiot who calls himself a man of God thinks it's a good idea to burn the holy book of the Islam people. Are we not a nation of religious freedom? Is this not what brings about most wars? I'm not religious. I'm actually not in favor of organized religion in general. But I also believe that we are free to believe as we wish to believe, worship (or not) the way we wish. All of this is just a small part of what makes America great. A mosque near where the World Trade Center once stood? So what? The people who will go to that mosque are not the people who flew those planes. Islam was not responsible for the events of 9/11 - idiots were responsible. Idiots who did their dirty deeds in the name of Islam. Let's not forget that.

And in the spirit of American patriotism, I created a treasury on Etsy of some of my favorite red/white/blue items. Check it out here.

And wave the American flag and promote that you're proud to be an American. And if you're not an American that's okay too :) Be proud of your country and show your patriotism.

New most popular flavor?

2010-09-04T09:42:00.000-07:00

I did a version of Witch's Brew, but left out the black. It started as an accident, but I thought it looked super cool so I went ahead and listed it. Now I can't keep it in stock! More is headed for the dye pot on Monday, but here's a look.

And be sure to click the handmade pledge - think artisans first for unique items for yourself and for gifts! We're just trying to make our own place in this crazy world :) Take the handmade pledge.

And my last thing for today: I started a MBA program...what the hell was I thinking? This stuff is not easy so if you really love doing algebraic equations and think it's fun to do all kinds of math problems, wanna do my homework for me? Egads...took me 3 hours yesterday for one stinking homework problem. But it's done. Submitted. And hopefully not all wrong. Uneven cash flow stream? Does this stuff really get used in the business world, or is it just busy work for grad students?

Have a great holiday weekend y'all. I'm planning to knit knit knit today!

My very first sale!!

2010-08-15T19:04:00.000-07:00

Back to school in style!! Use code BACKTOSCHOOL on Artfire from August 16 through August 31 and get $5 off every full size skein priced $20 to $22. NO LIMIT to how many, but limited to stock on hand. If you don't see the flavor you're looking for, send me a message. I may have it and just don't have it listed, although I am trying to make sure everything is represented.

NOTE: This sale is only for goods purchased on Artfire, NOT on Etsy.

Knitting Projects

2010-08-10T12:48:00.000-07:00

I'm working this month on completing some projects that have been snoozing for way too long. This top I started last June is super cute, but because I added length I ran out of yarn before I got to the sleeves! So off to the yarn store I go for more...

And Jillian's Christmas present, her ruffle socks made from Chrissy Gardiner's Sydney pattern in my Ice Cream Sundae in Sprinkles. Cute, eh?

Project Bags!

2010-08-07T21:53:00.000-07:00

I've wanted to create a line of sock-size project bags and working with a friend I've managed to do it. These are 9x9, perfect for socks or other small items in progress, and fully reversible. Tie the drawstring around your belt loop or handbag handle and you can carry hands-free!! Totally cute. Enjoy!

Adorable multi-colored kitties with teal lining

Bright gerbera daisies with bright lime green lining

Show Your Team Spirit

2010-07-31T10:33:00.000-07:00

I wanted to do NFL colors last year but never really got around to it. So now I've got some team colors!! One is Ohio State and one is Arizona State, not NFL but there might be some NFL teams out there that share these colors...I give you:

Galactic Gumdrop (silver/gray for the Raiders),

Packers Punch (green/gold for the Packers as well as my own Oakland A's),

CherryMallow (scarlet red/silver for Ohio State),

Caramel Appletini (burgundy/gold for Arizona State)

and last but not least,

still to be named navy/silver for the Dallas Cowboys...

needs a name still. Top of the list right now is Midnight Champagne...your suggestions are welcome! Blueberry Cheesecake just came in from facebook...keep 'em coming!

The finished Mystery Socks!!

2010-07-28T18:18:00.000-07:00

I've never finished a pair of mystery socks before, so this is a first for me. These were a LOT of fun, but I can honestly say I'll be working single stranded for awhile. Back to my own latest design and the bag of projects I'm currently working on. So enjoy a little eye candy...4-season socks designed by Chrissy Gardiner.

July 25 - A Great Day to be Born!!

2010-07-25T21:27:00.000-07:00

July 25, 1988: Lissa comes into the world at 1:19 a.m. after 8 hours of induced labor and that's all we're gonna say about that. Today she turns 22, and the celebration was on first with balloons, one of her favorite things. Today she didn't play with them the way she used to, and I was told she has grown to be quite afraid of them when they pop so now she treats them with a little more respect.

Next, it was time to go into the pool. All of the kids were in their swimsuits and ready to go, but Lissa got a little bit shy about coming out with her swimsuit.

And this was one of the yummiest cakes ever. White cake with rich chocolate filling and a whipped cream frosting. Super yum. And of course there was ice cream, Rocky Road and Cookies 'n Cream. What's YOUR favorite flavor?

So if your birthday is July 25, as Lissa's is and my good friend Jane's too...I hope you had an absolutely wonderful birthday! And if you're looking to decorate your walls, let me recommend Jane's beautiful landscape and nature photography. She's even running a sale this month in honor of her own birthday. We support small business here!

Yay for Small Business America!

2010-07-23T15:22:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday Lisa and I went to lunch in downtown Benicia. We didn't know where we were going to go so we just agreed to meet "somewhere" on First Street. As luck would have it, I went to one end to wait and she went to the other, so talking to each other on our cell phones we met in the middle. It seemed appropriate that the restaurant that was right there be "the one". It was Capitol Cafe, a newly established little home cooking place that has only been open for 3 months. And omigosh is it ever worth it. Great food, great service, and the owner Christine came and talked with us about the perks and problems of opening a new business. Things like getting a review in a paper but one of the other cafes, one that has been around much longer, was given credit in print. If you're up here in Solano County, be sure to head to Capitol Cafe on the corner of First and G in Benicia and have some great home cooking!

Today I went over to Kaiser in Vallejo to pick up our prescriptions. We ordered 3 month supplies of all of our meds since we are going to lose our coverage on August 1. Scary. But that's another topic for another day. At this Kaiser on Fridays there is a farmer's market with all kinds of yummy organic fruits and vegetables, as well as freshly prepared foods and freshly baked breads. About 2 months ago I was there on a Friday and the lady who was selling her homemade Mexican food had given me enough sample bites to fill me up for lunch and her food was so good that I bought something like $42 of food from her - the plan was our weekend meals would be this lady's wonderful enchiladas and salsa. Well, when I got home I couldn't find the bag with that $42 worth of food. Anywhere. It was after the market would have closed and so I just hoped that whoever found it needed it worse than we did.

So today I walked by her booth and struck up a conversation and mentioned I'd bought this wonderful food from her and then lost the bag somewhere before getting home. I couldn't afford to replace it today so I wasn't going to buy anything, but I'll be damned if she didn't say "that was you? She not only remembered me, but I'd left the bag at the bread man's booth next door to her and he didn't see it until I was long gone. She said if I'd paid with a check or a credit card she would have had my number and would have called me, but since I'd paid cash she had no way to reach me. As she was telling me this, she was filling a bag with exactly what I'd purchased that day, including remembering which salsa I'd liked, and handed me the bag. Now that is the way to build a business and inspire customer loyalty. So again, if you're in this area, her company is Mi Fiesta and the address is Broadway St. in Vallejo. She's at the Farmer's Market at Kaiser Vallejo every Friday from 10-2 and probably does other Farmer's Markets as well. Tell her the forgetful lady who left her food sent you :)

I am so happy to see small businesses forging ahead and pushing for success. I'm doing the same and if you're running a small business whether it's a little cafe, a home catering business, a photographer (Janiefer), a yarnie such as myself, or whatever keep it going. It's the foundation of this great country of ours. All politics aside: we're in this together and everyone deserves to succeed and have a warm place to sleep and the necessities of life. Such as good food prepared by ladies who love to cook.

Katie Kat and that damn elusive tail - Part II

2010-07-22T16:07:00.001-07:00

Okay so I posted this yesterday then couldn't get the video to upload. So here's the video. Everyone in the world can post a video to YouTube, but not me!! I tried uploading it to YouTube, Flickr, and directly here and all of the uploads failed. So I took another video this morning using my phone and was able to upload it to YouTube. If I can get another one I'll do it with my camera, which has a much better resolution.

Katie Kat and that damn elusive tail

2010-07-21T20:12:00.000-07:00

Katie is my little tortie who was diagnosed with end stage renal failure and given only 3-6 months to live. That was June 1, 2009. Today is July 21, 2010 and she is showing signs of going nowhere. And chasing that damn tail she can never quite catch. Enjoy!

Unemployment, Underemployment, and...what's next?

2010-07-20T22:57:00.000-07:00

I've got so many friends and loved ones who have lost their jobs and have been trying to keep their heads up and stay afloat. I want to pursue my yarn business full time but it's just not supporting itself, so I've been looking for a job myself. It's quite discouraging to have the experience and the education and still be unable to find anything.

But things are looking up...a little bit. A good friend who lost her job as AP manager for Longs Drugs (when CVS took over Longs and fired everyone in the Longs main offices) has been unemployed since April 2009. She's done a couple of temporary gigs but those have no benefits, no paid time off, and generally no recognition. She was offered a perm position with the company she's currently temping for, and she'll take a $25k salary reduction from what she's making as a temp and what she was making at Longs. But it's better than nothing, yes? Quite a blow to one's ego but at least there are benefits and paid time off.

So I look at this with hope. Hope that in a short period of time others I know and care about (including myself) will find the opportunity to help the economy begin to turn around. Our elected officials did the right thing today by extending unemployment benefits to those who have been unemployed for a long time. It's a start. Now we need to get all of those people back to work. Including a reluctant me. Crafts Meow won't support us. Yet. But with my loyal customers spreading the news of this product, it should.

Template change

2010-07-19T09:05:00.001-07:00

I have changed my background template...yet again...my 50-something-eyes are beginning to have a hard time reading. Imagine that! Hope you like the new light background. Time to go get my hair done...red I think!

Valencia

2010-07-18T23:08:00.001-07:00

I found this pattern on Ravelry and knew I absolutely had to do it. So it jumped to the top of my ever-expanding queue and once I went stash diving and found this lovely yellow yarn it became a must do. I currently have cast-on-itis. But that's one of the great things about knitting as a hobby - there are no rules! If I want to have a whole bunch of projects sitting here in process then I will...because I can. This one I'd like to wear before summer is over but if I don't get it done in time then it will be summer again next year. And since the pattern is called Valencia, I will have to do it in orange as well!!

July Mystery Sock after Clue #2

2010-07-16T17:50:00.000-07:00

I'm half way done with my first ever Mystery Socks that I will actually complete!!

July Mystery Sock

2010-07-04T18:11:00.000-07:00

I've never completed the mystery sock when presented in Ravelry's Sock Knitters Anonymous group...but I am determined this month to finish. I've finished with Clue #1, using Ice Cream Sundae in Banana for my MC and Kamikaze for CC1. When Clue #2 is released I presume it will begin gusset increases, which I find so much easier to do toe up than top down. And the toe pockets hold the yarn bobbins really well!

Just listed today

2010-07-01T19:19:00.000-07:00

Finally had some time to upload some new listings. Trifle in Kamikaze, a rich beautiful teal semi-solid, and for those who have been asking for silk, take a look at Mousse. A few flavors are up now, with more to come in the next few days.

Trifle is 100% superwash BFL wool, and Mousse is 50/50 superwash merino wool/silk. Super yum!

I am busy preparing for Stitches Midwest, to be held August 19-22 in Schaumburg IL just outside of Chicago so if you're going to be in the area I'm bring LOTS of yummy stuff, including everything from the Etsy site!

New book!!

2010-07-01T10:31:00.001-07:00

Chrissy Gardiner is putting together a new pattern book featuring 25 (or more) indie dyers such as myself. The book is set to be released in July at Sock Summit 2011.

Here is a link to the site. I urge you to sign up...what a great opportunity to obtain some of the patterns pre-release, extra goodies, and when the book is in print your copy will be signed by this very talented designer!

The latest addition to the flavor line

2010-03-04T13:15:00.000-08:00

is Cantaloupe Freeze...some of the best ones start out to be something else and then decide that's not what they want to be. Such is the case with this one. It was supposed to be Peach Smoothie, a nice soft peach color but the yarn said nope, it wanted to be darker. It reminds me of the flesh of a cantaloupe. Enjoy!

New Listings

2010-03-03T20:52:00.001-08:00

So the dye pots have been hot and lots of stuff coming out. Spin-a-Yarn, a wonderful little yarn store in Vacaville, is carrying Crafts Meow yarn and selling it quite well. I'm taking a new supply over there 3/10 so if you're in the area stop in and say hello! She's requested jeweltone and pastel semi-solids but I'll take a few variegated pieces as well.

New Etsy listings include pastel solids for the Solid Socks group KAL in April on Ravelry - join in the fun! And the Blankie group is buying up Kiddie Scoops almost faster than I can make them.

Cantaloupe Freeze is the newest semi-solid and will hit Etsy tomorrow after I get it photographed. And a new one I think I'm going to call Punkin Twist will be up too. Go on over and take a look...I'm much better at keeping Etsy up to date than I am this blog :-).

Welcome to Kitty Heaven

2010-02-20T21:03:00.000-08:00

Simon 8/29/04 - 2/20/10

Sigh. I have been preparing myself emotionally for months to handle the upcoming death of my Katie, my little tortie who was diagnosed with kidney failure early in June 2009. She's beating the odds and showing no signs of giving up any time soon.

This morning when I got up Simon was laying on the floor barely breathing. I rushed him to the vet and it is believed he had a pulmonary embolism. He was euthanized about 30 minutes after getting to the vet's office.

So dear Simon now up in Kitty Heaven, I know you're raising hell up there with your incessant talking and desire to be top cat on the hierarchial ladder. Go get 'em! I miss your voice even though it did annoy me at times, and Bailey says if he'd known you were going to leave us so soon that he would have been nicer to you and maybe even let you be top cat...for a day.

I love you Simon and will miss you.

Ray's Disneyland Birthday

2009-11-16T21:22:00.001-08:00

Disneyland gives free admission on one's birthday, so we spent the day on Saturday November 14 celebrating Ray's special day at Mickey's kingdom!

Isn't She Lovely?

2009-10-26T14:28:00.000-07:00

This is my honorary neice/granddaughter/baby...baby fix!

On her pretty little feet are the socks I made for her from Witch's Brew yarn.

SP 14

2009-10-20T14:23:00.000-07:00

So my final package from my secret pal arrived today. At Sock Summit, a lady named Ruth approached me with a little gift from her "friend" who was my SP. I had initially thought my SP was Ruth herself, so she tried to throw me off. But, as it turns out, she did exactly what I would have done. Good move! Anyway, here's the final package. I am super duper excited about the hemp yarn because I've been wanting to work with it and just haven't had the opportunity or the desire to buy more yarn. The small square project bag, which I will use for socks or booties or possibly as a notions bag, is one that I was actually looking at and considering purchasing!

So thank you Ruth!

Team Spirit

2009-10-18T19:45:00.000-07:00

So I'm still in SoCal and still having mixed feelings about the area. On the one hand, and probably the most important, the smog is killing me! I had forgotten how bad it is to see the air I'm breathing...but that's the case. It's not as bad today since it cooled off dramatically.

Yesterday afternoon we went to South Coast Plaza, an upscale mall here in Orange County. I really missed not having a wallet full of cash I tell you! But I'm not going into debt again for "stuff" and there was lots of "stuff" I would have loved to own :-). Anyway, I don't think this area is feeling the recession or the unemployment figures at all. Quite the opposite of malls at home - no closed stores, no empty aisles, no big signs announcing store closing final sale. Instead, there were signs announcing the upcoming opening of a Prada boutique. It was a mall full of designer stores (Michael Kors, one of my personal favorites, for one) and shoppers that weren't just window shopping. Well...we were window shopping, but most of the folks had bags full of their latest purchases.

Last night we went to Downtown Disney. We chose Tortilla Joe's for dinner, and had to wait an hour for a table. The area was seriously bustling - people everywhere, long lines for everything from having a caricature drawn to a sit-down dinner. There is an ESPN store and of course there were television monitors everywhere showing the Angels v. Yankees game that was under way. As I'd heard the other night at Chili's, collective cheers and groans with every pitch. After dinner it was after 9 p.m. which meant it was after midnight on the East Coast where the game was being played. The game went into I believe the 12th inning before the Yankees won, but not until the Angels tied it in dramatic fashion and all of the fans here thought for sure they would pull out a victory. I sure love that atmosphere!! Oh. And waiting an hour for that table was worth it. Food and service was excellent.

Thursday October 15

2009-10-15T17:52:00.001-07:00

Just got to Orange County - spending the weekend w/hubby for our anniversary! I left cool, cloudy and slightly drizzly weather for gorgeous 78-ish weather. SoCal seems to always be like that. I remember growing up here there never seemed to be cold or ugly weather. Anyway, kicking it in the room now watching Game 1 of the NLCS Phillies @ Dodger Stadium. We thought about getting tickets but I know the traffic down here all too well, and there is no way we would have made it in time. Such a beautiful ballpark though and I haven't been there in probably 10 years. Maybe tomorrow.

Driving from the airport to the hotel, about 11 miles, took an hour. I don't miss that! Listened to Vin Scully on the pre-game show and he mentioned some milestones related to today's date. Today is 21 years to the day of the Kirk Gibson game-ending come-from-behind homerun against Dennis Eckersley in the 1988 World Series. He was hurt, and came off the bench for this, and the stadium erupted. Rod, Terri, and I had gotten stuck in some pretty crummy seats...behind the plate but waaaaaay back, and it felt like an earthquake. As he gimped around the field with his arm raised, we screamed and yelled and high-fived people we didn't know...for a really long time. We couldn't hear the play-by-play of course, but we heard the repeats of it over and over and over...

Anyway, I'm watching the game on TV but I'd much rather be there! Post-season baseball is the best. And being an Oakland A's fan...well...let's just say there's not much hope of seeing October baseball again. For awhile. So I root for my Dodgers. And always will.

ETA: We went to dinner at Chili's and during the half hour we waited for a table we sat so I could see the televisions in the bar, where the Dodgers/Phillies game was playing. I observed group moans and/or cheers, depending on each play. I looked around the restaurant and in each group of people at least one person was wearing a team-related shirt or cap. Most of them were Dodgers, even though we're in Orange County (definitely Angels country), but there were a few Angels shirts too. I don't recall seeing that kind of support in the Bay Area when our teams were involved in post-season play. I guess I miss this kind of camaraderie as it relates to professional sports and supporting the home team(s).

OH and it's going to be 95 today. Glad I brought summery clothes!

Trifle

2009-10-12T17:50:00.001-07:00

And the winner is....Trifle. A super luscious dessert!! The 100% BFL has just been launched on Etsy. It's been dyed in Plumilicious too, but it's not dry yet. I can see that winter is going to be a problem for this business. I hung it yesterday morning. It hung outside all day yesterday and has been in the bathroom since last night. It's much too cold and windy to hang it outside. I've got to figure out how to dry yarn inside in a reasonable amount of time.

And I spent over 8 hours over 2 days untangling this one. It should cost double, dontcha think?? While it was resting overnight one of the cats chewed through it, fortunately there was still a full skein in one piece. Damn cats. Unfortunately, I think the chewer in this case was my angel Chanel because the family chewer, Nelson, can't get up on the table. Apparently Chanel has been taking Nelson's naughty kitty chewing class.

New Yarn

2009-10-11T20:22:00.000-07:00

So I just brought in BFL - blue-faced leicester wool in a superwash fingering weight. It needs a name!! Snow Cone? Some other ice-cream or dessert-related name please.

Here's the first dyed skein in Creamsicle. Not on Etsy yet because it needs a name...

Creamsicle is available on Etsy in Soft Serve, Ice Cream Sundae, and Banana Split!

Received a comment offering up Gelato - I already have Gelato, I just didn't do it in Creamsicle flavor. Gelato is 50% superwash merino/50% tencel and super creamy soft just like Gelato. Next suggestion?

A Swap Package from Sara

2009-10-05T13:13:00.000-07:00

I got a pretty darn cool package, but she didn’t tell me her ravelry id so I don’t know who this is other than first name! Once I know that I’ll sing her praises even louder.

This package was so unique…super creative person here! There was a book on top that instructed me to read it first. Each page was a cute little poem and a carnival game. Each carnival game directed me to a numbered package to open. I followed the directions and opened them in the order instructed. The yarn is a hot fuchsia bamboo/silk blend and is super luxurious. I’m going to buy more of it in different colors and create my own mitered corner jacket.

There is a yummy harvest candle, stitch markers, knitters’ journal, and two wonderful hand made items. One is a fold up holder for all of the little knit-knacks such as stitch markers, counters, etc. And the other is a striped project bag perfect size for carrying socks in process!

The tiara has a special meaning. She read my blog post where I was complaining about mowing the lawn! I’ve never had a tiara before, a real one, I had a proverbial one. Now I’ve got a real one!!

So here’s a picture of the whole package on my mantle. Isn’t Sara great??? Now if I could just figure out which swap this is from...

Chicago - Days Five, Six, and Seven

2009-10-04T17:57:00.001-07:00

Sunday September 13. The morning was kind of dead, primarily vendors shopping other vendors' booths, but after the grand prize drawing we had a little rush. Folks wanting to make sure they got their last minute treasures. One of the ladies who won some cash in the drawing came to the booth to make sure she had some CraftsMeow yarn to take home! My booth was on her list to shop online later, but now she had cash and wanted to spend it now.

When 4:00 came and the show was officially closed, Jane and I closed up shop so fast. We packed it all up and drove away at 5:15. Not bad, eh?

Monday the 14th was time to conduct business and ship back everything we didn't sell. The morning was spent at the UPS store, then we scouted around a bit and found the train station that Jane would need the next day to go into the city to meet her friends and go to the Art Institute. The afternoon we just vegged. We went to the hotel and hung out in the lobby part of the time, and for me on the balcony of the room part of the time. It was warm, but not hot, and just a really good time to put my feet up and sort of relax. I was doing QuickBooks for part of the show's sales, but I had my feet up and a big glass of iced tea and enjoyed the fresh air of the Chicago suburbs.

Tuesday was way fun. I bought us tickets to go see the Cubbies. Neither of us had been to Wrigley Field and we were excited. I took Jane to the train station so she could go meet her friends and tour the Art Institute while I went yarn store-ing. And yarn store-ing I did!! I went to a little town called Long Grove. The store is called I'd Rather be Knitting. How cute is that??? I perused the store, chatted with one of the employees and the store owner, and am going to send samples of my wholesale line.

And the day was capped by heading to the bus station to catch the express bus to Wrigley Field. I waited and the bus never came, so a couple of Cubs loyals made a phone call to find out there had been only one bus for that game and we'd missed it. These two gentlemen are Cubs loyals and 27 years' season ticket holders. I rode with Gary and Carl to the game so I got an up close and personal tour of what must be seen. We sat behind home plate with them and had a wonderful time!!

Chicago - Day Four

2009-09-27T19:51:00.000-07:00

Saturday, September 12. We were SOOOO busy all day. By far the busiest day for us for this show. We found out later that half of the vendors had their best day on Friday and the other half of us reported our best day as Saturday. There were lots of people both days, don't get me wrong! But for my booth it felt more like Friday was shopping and Saturday was buying.

Anyway, I met this wonderful lady named Allison who it turns out lives here! We're now buds and she joins Jane and I for our weekly lunches at Randy's in Benicia.

After the show my brother and his wife came to visit and we went to dinner at Weber's Grill. The food was secondary - we haven't seen each other in something like 14 years so it was incredibly nice to have some time to sit and visit and catch up! Their son Matt is 26 and a Grad Student at Purdue, and Becky is 24 living in L.A. working to be an actress. Where the heck did the time go? They were just kids last time I saw them. I'm hoping we'll all be able to get together soon so I can see my niece and nephew!

Chicago - Day Three

2009-09-24T00:18:00.000-07:00

Friday, September 11. It felt very strange to me to be doing a show on such an ominous day. September 11 feels to me like it should be a day of mourning; yet nobody seemed to even acknowledge what horrible day this day was the anniversary of...so before I go any further let me take a moment to say that for anyone who was touched that day by the loss of someone special, I have not forgotten, nor will I ever, the horror of that morning. I hear people talk about always remembering exactly where they were when JFK died. I was too young to remember that. But I will never forget exactly what I was doing, who I was with, and the exact feelings of that morning.

Ray and I lived in his little condo in Antioch. The dot.com bust had made both of us unemployed. I had returned to college, and I was in my home office at my computer doing homework. Ray was in the living room working too. I always have the TV on, but it's usually on Tivo watching something that was recorded rather than live TV. Jillian called me from work and asked if I was watching TV and when I said no she just said "we're under terrorist attack." She then said she was at work and there were news reports of planes having hit the WTC and the Pentagon, so as I'm flipping the TV to a live feed I see the images. I went into the living room, carrying the phone with Jillian on the other end of the line with me. I relayed the news to Ray, who stopped what he was doing and flipped on his TV, and I'll never forget when I said terrorists had flown a plane into the Pentagon he said "why the hell didn't they shoot it down?"

The memories of those who died that day will never be forgotten. We always hear about the first responders, the firefighters and police officers who run into danger to rescue those of us who are running from it. I get it and respect the fact that the people who choose these occupations are heroes and I don't mean to diminish what they do, but I think it's important to recognize the people who were working in those buildings. So to the cafeteria employees, janitorial staff, file clerks, and everyone else who went about their jobs that day only to suffer a horrible end - my thoughts will always be with you and your loved ones. And I am so very sorry that events like this (Stitches and everything else we go to for fun) take our brains away from the respect we should be giving to everyone affected on 9/11/01.

The show went well - it was the busiest day of the weekend. And nothing else that happened that day even matters.

Chicago - Day Two

2009-09-22T00:42:00.000-07:00

Day two is really day one of the Marketplace...Thursday September 10 the Marketplace was open from 5 p.m. until 8 p.m. for registered students. We really didn't know what to expect. Traditionally, classes at Stitches events fill up fast, but how many of those students actually come to the preview??

LOTS of them!! Everyone was SO excited to be there. It was awesome. I recognized SKA members pretty quick, as they came in talking about yellow sock yarn and that was followed by OMG THERE'S YELLOW SOCK YARN!! Yep, I was prepared for SKA's September challenge with plenty of Banana, Lemon Sorbet, Butterscotch, Pineapple Sherbet, and Caramel. Plenty of yummy sweet yellow choices. The most popular? Butterscotch. I had none left by close of business on Friday. Then the Lemon Sorbet went away too. The Banana left too - but it left to make a lovely shawl. She bought all of it. Caramel came home with me, which surprised me because it's really a warm and beautiful gold. And the Pineapple Sherbet? Gone. I kinda wanted to use that one after seeing these socks knitted by a SKA member. Simply gorgeous, eh?

Chicago - Day One

2009-09-20T12:38:00.001-07:00

Finally! Time to add to the blog.

Wednesday. September 9, 2009. We arrived on Tuesday the 8th, and on Wednesday the 9th we went to the convention center to set up. The nightmares I'd had were realized: my boxes were not there. I had my receipts showing the tracking numbers, and we'd checked online the night before and it said that a notice had been left at the warehouse. Not quite sure what that meant, Viper Tradeshow services checked the tracking numbers and claimed to be confused, because the warehouse is one that is always staffed, and they claimed there is no way the post office tried to deliver something and found nobody there. As I tried really hard NOT to totally freak out, but in the back of my mind was thinking that maybe the boxes had been returned to CA and I was there with no product, we went to lunch and perused the area. Then we went back around noon and sat in our empty booth and knitted for an hour, and then we were presented with the shipment. The folks from Viper Tradeshow had gone to the post office and picked up the boxes. Unfortunately they'd taken my receipts with them and left them. $300 in tax-deductible receipts. Gone. I still have to deal with trying to reprint those.

Anyway, we set up the tables/cubes in record time, finishing in only 2 hours. We opted not to stock the cubes that day because we knew we could fill them with inventory on Thursday. Less chance of theft, and more time to think about the layout. And time to go to U.S. Cellular Field to see our hometown Oakland A's lose to the White Sox.

Home from Chicago

2009-09-16T20:49:00.000-07:00

I'll post some info about the trip to Chicago and Stitches Midwest soon, but I have to mention the house when I got home this evening. Sofie, Bailey, Simon, and Chanel stayed home while Nelson and Katie were boarded so they could have their medications. Lisa was coming in to feed/water/scoop and generally make sure they were all alive and well. I got home this evening around 6:30 and Bailey greeted me at the door. I walked in and discovered they'd cleaned out their food container and not even a morsel was available. Plenty of water, but no food. Like it would really hurt any of these chubbos to miss a meal!! Anyway, I immediately added plenty of food to the bowl, opened a can of wet food as a nice 'welcome home mommy treat', and as I walked through the kitchen I see packages of crackers and taco shells on the stove. The ziploc bag that contained crackers was chewed through.

Now, Bailey is the only one who is really smart (and onery) enough to get into kitchen cabinets looking for food, so I know he is the guilty one!! The cabinet that holds canned food was open, despite me having blocked it (or so I thought) with a step stool. He was not smart enough to get a can open though.

So this is what a bag of cheese crackers looks like that have been attempted to be opened by a hungry cat. I think this bag needs to go immediately to the garbage. I'm not sure what he thought he'd do with the tea bags...tea and crumpets, er, crackers?

Stitches Midwest

2009-09-11T05:52:00.000-07:00

So we flew into Chicago O'Hare on Tuesday, and got settled into our hotel. I am SO glad we went to the Convention Center Wednesday morning because when we got there, the booth was empty. The warehouse folks were supposed to have the boxes delivered to the booth, but there was nothing there but the pre-ordered tables. I took my delivery receipts to the administrator, and the post office theoretically left notices at the warehouse of an attempt to deliver, but the warehouse folks swear that is not true.

Viper Tradeshow services had been paid for material handling already, so I offered to go to the post office myself and track down the boxes if they'd trade me the fee I'd paid for another table, but instead they did the right thing and sent one of their staff to the post office to retrieve them. I was sweating it big time because I had fear that the post office had actually returned the boxes, since the attempt to deliver had been 10 days earlier, and that would put me here in Chicago with my inventory somewhere between here and the Bay Area. Fortunately that fear was unfounded. The boxes were at the post office and were delivered to the booth about 12:30-1:00 on Wednesday so we got it all set up. We decided to put the grids together and wait until Thursday to put the inventory up, so we left the convention center around 4.

We went to see our home team Oakland A's play the White Sox. We gave up in the 12th inning and went back to the hotel, listening to the end of the game on the way. The A's lost. Big surprise there. We sat by the nicest people though! The lady next to me kept saying "oh my, last time I came I sat by someone who was visiting their home team and we lost so we'll probably lose now." Her sister, sitting next to her, was a Sox die hard. Complete attire from her T-shirt and jersey, which she later added a hoodie when it got chilly, and her tote bag and backpack and probably earrings all sporting her beloved Sox logo. But when the A's messed up, making 2 errors, she leaned around her sister to high five me and say "your A's f*** up as bad as my Sox!!!"

Blankie Mania

2009-09-05T18:16:00.000-07:00

There is a group on Ravelry called Blankie Mania. These folks make blankets out of sock yarn. I've seen some of the pictures and I spoke with several enthusiasts of this craft when I was at Sock Summit. Absolutely a labor of love! I haven't even finished a baby sized blanket made of worsted weight yarn that I started like 8 months ago! I would probably never finish an entire blanket made of sock yarn. But I have to say that these are some beautiful items. Mitered squares of many colors, sewn together with love. You couldn't do two alike if you tried.

This wonderful group has initiated a dessert-inspired yarn swap. 20 members of this group each purchase one full-size hank of my yarn from my Etsy site, and once all those orders are placed I send the whole thing to the group leader, Terri in Idaho. She will then painstakingly break each 400+ yard skein into 20 mini skeins of about 20 yards each, and then each participant gets 20 mini skeins. What a deal. But what an ordeal for Terri. I love the opportunity to get my yarn into the hands of 20 new customers, and I'm so going to enjoy seeing their work. Hopefully they'll share pictures of the blankets in progress!

Anyway, the first orders have come in, and here's what they've chosen so far. Nice array, eh? I think they're choosing a really nice variety.

On another note, I finished a pair of baby socks using Witch's Brew. They'll be gifted to Miss Marina so she can celebrate Halloween in style. But not until after I display them in my booth at Stitches Midwest next weekend!

Give me back my tiara

2009-08-27T15:01:00.000-07:00

Okay...weird title for a post. I have never felt like a princess or a diva or anything like that. I'm pretty well grounded and down-to-earth, realistic, etc.

However, I am also one who considers 'roughing it' a room that doesn't offer room service. You will never catch me camping. Uh-uh. Never gonna happen. I need an inside shower with plenty of fluffy towels, inside plumbing that works, and a comfortable mattress on a box spring in a room that has a good HVAC. And cable TV. Preferably with HBO.

About 6 years ago I discovered I could hire a service to clean the parts of my house I hate to do and tend to neglect, like floors, toilets, sinks, and bathtubs. For $75/month someone comes in twice a month and does all that stuff including getting cobwebs out of the corners and the dust bunnies off the ceiling fans.

And when we bought this house, we suddenly had lawn to deal with. For another $75/month a non-English speaking guy comes over and keeps the lawn looking really nice. It's always mowed, edged, the flower beds are clean and tidy, branches aren't dropping on to the walkways, etc.

Then the economy hit the toilet. When Ray got his pay cut in December, we had to re-evaluate how we were spending and decided where we were going to cut expenses to be able to continue to live with his pay being reduced. Both the gardener and the housekeeping service were eliminated, along with premium TV channels (goodbye HBO...) and a few other non-necessities. We each had to start cleaning our own bathroom and get better about keeping things tidy.

And we bought a lawn mower and edger as soon as spring time came and the lawn was no longer dormant. After much research, we determined we wanted electric, primarily because they're better on the environment. We looked into the rechargable ones and the reviews were not good, so we bought an electric mower and edger and some really long extension cords. There is only one outside plug and it's on the deck, nowhere near any of the grass.

Ray's first time using the edger resulted in one of the sprinklers being totally shredded. So the edger only got used once. Before he left to work in SoCal, I asked him to be sure he mowed the lawn and cleaned it all up so I wouldn't have to do it. I was hoping the lawn would realize its caretaker wasn't here and go dormant...but the damn stuff kept growing. So I mowed the grass in the back yard yesterday. It really wasn't difficult, once I got hundreds of yards of extension cords untangled (he hadn't used the cord tender I'd purchased). But it was honestly no fun. The front yard has to wait until it's not so hot.

And I guess I am more comfortable in the proverbial tiara than I am behind a mower. I need a gardener again!

And yes, you may offer me some cheese to go with my w(h)ine.

Phil Vassar

2009-08-26T23:16:00.001-07:00

As soon as I knew I was going to exhibit at Sock Summit, I immediately went to Phil Vassar's tour schedule on his website to see if maybe, just maybe, I'd get lucky enough to have him performing in concert while we were there. I was so excited that he was performing at the Tillamook County Fair on the 5th. So after the pre-summit yarn tasting luncheon, we drove to Tillamook, about an hour and 15 minutes from Portland, and we went first to the cheese factory and viewed the visitor's center, tasted some cheese, had lunch, and took this goofy picture of us as the parts of a cow...

Then we headed to the fairgrounds. Jillian and Noah were aching for funnel cakes (which I've never tasted...what am I missing?). They both know Phil's music, but have never seen him in person. We had a blast.

Sock Summit - FINAL DAY

2009-08-26T22:53:00.000-07:00

The last day of Sock Summit was Sunday, August 9. The Marketplace was only open until 1:30 so it was a short day. But it was rather busy! Last minute shoppers flocked in with the lists they'd made but hadn't yet filled, kind of like what I do on Christmas Eve ;-)

A young lady by the name of Katie came in and struck up a conversation with Jillian, and I was only sort of listening. After an exchange that sounded possibly heated but probably in fun, this girl turned to me as if to say something, stopped, and turned to Jillian and said "I can't yell at her! She's like...my mom!" Turned out she'd come for Witch's Brew, but I'd sold out. I offered to ship it to her at my expense since I'd run out and she agreed. I just chatted with her on Ravelry a couple of days ago and she saw the companion to Witch's Brew I just dyed, called Tricky Treat, and she decided she wanted it instead. So it's off on its merry way to make her a happy Halloween.

Anyway, Sunday turned into a helluva lot of fun. Here's the story. And I don't think there is any way to make it short but I'll try.

My car, with my gps unit, was at the shop. I have no sense of direction, nor does Jillian, so the fact that we'd driven to the Convention Center 3 days in a row was irrelevant when it came to the realization that we had to get there without the aid of Garmin. Linus printed us a MapQuest instruction guide and handed us the keys to his SUV and off we went.

This would have been fine, had the freeway not have closed. There was only one detour sign telling us anything, and that was just to go this way (405) because the freeway we really wanted (I-5) was closed. This was obviously veering us in the wrong direction, so we exited the freeway. We asked a nice lady who was getting out of her car with her husband and kids preparing for this special bike ride across all of the effing bridges in Portland event, and all she said was "you need to be on the other side of the river but you can't get on that side today because they're all closed." And she cheerfully scampered away. She's lucky Jillian didn't get out of the car and kick her in the you-know-what.

So we parked, Jillian called the non-emergency Portland police line, and got a nice dispatcher who gave her turn by turn directions to get to the Convention Center. Score 1 for Portland's Finest. We got there, without having breakfast, but at least we got there.

1:30 came pretty quickly and when they say the Marketplace is closed they mean it. By 1:31 people from the exhibit trade show company were hauling down the aisles taking our chairs and wastebaskets. We broke down the booth and packed it up into the SUV by 2:45. What took us all day to set up on Thursday took us a whole hour and 15 minutes to pack up. Of course there wasn't as much to pack, but damn that was efficient!

We pull out of the Convention Center, bidding Sock Summit 2009 a fond farewell, with a minor snafu. We know how to get back to our hosts' home once we get on the freeway, but we don't know how to get to the freeway in the first place. Jillian can't find the paper with the directions that got us there, we don't know if I-5 is still closed even if we could figure out how to get to it.

And then the lack of sleep, the sheer exhaustion, the extreme hunger because we haven't eaten yet today, combine with the fact that neither of us has a sense of direction...and the laughing begins. Jillian makes this statement that we're two grown women who can't find our way out of a paper sack and that did it. I had to pull over because I was laughing so hard I couldn't see. I get control (sort of) and drive a couple of blocks and spot a police car. He's looking for someone to do something stupid so he can issue a ticket, and I'm sure we appeared a bit too happy. Instead of him pulling us over, we pulled him over. I walked to his car to make it obvious I was not intoxicated, explained the situation, and he gave me verbal directions. I think he saw my eyes glaze over and so he offered to lead us to the freeway. And he did. Two points for Portland's Finest.

We got on the road, had a really late lunch at Applebee's, and went to Corliss' and Linus' house to rest before a wonderful dinner.

And Sock Summit 2009 is officially over. What an experience. What fun, what a tremendous amount of work. And I'd do it again in a heartbeat. I hear I have to wait 2 years and get a passport because rumor has it the next one is in Toronto in 2011. Lots of shows between now and then!

Sock Summit - day THREE

2009-08-20T14:25:00.001-07:00

Day three was Saturday, August 8. This day proved to be most interesting in a way that had absolutely nothing to do with the show. We got to the convention center about 30 minutes early, planning to restock and maybe rearrange a little, and when we parked the key wouldn't come out of the ignition. AAA sent a locksmith who managed to get the key out, but advised me not to start the car until I was driving it to a dealership for repair because he didn't think I'd get it out of the ignition again. I had no luck calling local Ford dealerships because none would take the car that day, so Linus came and left his SUV and took my car to the closest dealership...that wasn't really close...but the only one he could find that would take the car on a Saturday. The call with the results didn't come until about 5:30 and there, of course, was good news and bad news. The good news? They could fix it and it was covered under the warranty. The bad news? They couldn't get the part until Tuesday. So guess what? We get to stay an extra couple of days which means we get to go look at scenery and waterfalls!!!! Not a bad thing.

Anyway, at the show Saturday was really quiet - almost eerily so. It actually was kind of nice though, because I was able to take the time to help a couple of ladies who saw me knitting 2 at a time toe-up and were very curious how to go about knitting socks in this way. I was able to show them in detail how to work across the rows and turn, and explain that while it "seems" faster, it really isn't. You're still knitting the same number of rows and stitches to get a pair of socks, but it feels faster because when you finish you're done. There isn't another sock still waiting to be knit. The other things I like about knitting socks in this fashion is that I tend to modify on the fly and I don't have to take notes to remember what I did to make sure I make the modification on the other sock, and if I misread the pattern and goof, I will goof on both socks in the same place...so they match!

Nothing eventful this day whatsoever, other than the car. We had a great time and because there weren't as many shoppers in the Marketplace we were able to visit a whole lot more with the folks that were there. I wondered if maybe the people who had classes all weekend were just burnt out this day too and didn't want any part of shopping. I know if I was taking classes that whole time my eyes would have been glazed over pretty well by Saturday.

I did walk through the sock museum and these two are my favorites. Arrr-gyle and these adorable anklets called Almost Saintly...I guess because they are hole-y. I wold wear those in a heartbeat.

Sock Summit - day TWO

2009-08-19T14:42:00.000-07:00

It occurred to me that one of the most exciting things we did while in Oregon was see my favorite singer, Phil Vassar, in Tillamook. That happened Wednesday after the luncheon. But I'll save the details on that for later, after I get through all the days of Sock Summit!

Day two was Friday, August 7. Marketplace opened at 8 and closed at 6. We got there right on time, totally ready to go. Visitors to say hello today included Janet, who I met on Ravelry and one of my best customers! She came to the booth 'specially to say hello and bought some of her favorite flavors while she could pick them up and take them home and not pay shipping! Look at those colorful bags she's holding. Her yarn stash must be totally awesome.

Noah worked on homework (honors English - he had to read two books and have very specific notes for the first day of school), and helped us in the booth too. Lots of people who other than their natural hair color came in and we really enjoyed the color! I'd done mine Berrylicious, Jillian's had fuchsia in it, and we saw blue, purple, pink, and teal. As well as combinations of all.

I didn't realize I had no pictures on my camera of all of the funky hair...those photos must have been taken by our visitors. Oh well. One of the most colorful things we saw was this young lady's stockings. Hand knot thigh-highs in this wonderful color. She looked adorable, and I admire the length of time it must have taken her to get those knit.

Sock Summit - day ONE

2009-08-17T19:55:00.000-07:00

The official first day of Sock Summit was Thursday, August 6. The marketplace was only open to students for 2 hours in the late afternoon, so we had all day to set up. Silly me, I thought it would be like a 2-hour job. I put on jeans and my favorite t-shirt, foolishly thinking we'd have time to go back to the house and change into cuter clothes before the Marketplace preview. Oops. Anyway, we left Corliss' and Linus' house in Tualatin and drove the 12 miles to the Convention Center. Corliss followed in their SUV toting all of the boxes I had shipped to them in advance. We unloaded in pretty quick time, considering we'd never done this before, and got to the booth and it was like...YIKES!! I screwed up. I ordered a counter instead of a table, so it was really high. The convention center was going to charge me full price for a table and only refund half of the price of the counter, so I said screw it and we'll make the counter work! And we did.

Noah quickly got busy with the hammer putting the grids together. Jillian and Noah worked on them together for awhile, but Jillian was anxious to see and touch yarn. She's been hearing about this for months, but hadn't actually seen anything. So she got the task of hanging display socks while Noah and I worked on the grids for awhile.

Next, it was time to put some yarn into the grids (what a concept!). Jillian has a great eye for color and really wanted to do the layout, and I have no problem whatsoever relinquishing responsibility and delegating :-) So I went on a Starbucks run while they worked. I ran into people I'd seen and spoken with on Ravelry in the really long line, so it was good conversation!

The final booth arrangement. Not much room! There was a line in the first Jaws movie in which Richard Dreyfuss kept saying "We need a bigger boat..." well, "we needed a bigger booth." I thought if things didn't "move" I'd rearrange as the weekend went on, but the only thing that changed was figuring out how to display the Kiddie Scoops (mini skeins for those who are not familiar with my line). Bev, who test knit Paw Tracks for me, stopped by. As did Cara. And Sheila. And I don't even remember who else. There was this loud cheer from the Marketplace (inside) when the announcement was made that the doors were about to be opened for the masses to enter. And there was an even louder cheer from the Marketplace (outside) when the doors opened. Jillian and Noah both just looked stunned. Really??? All this excitement??? Over socks??? Oh yeah...over socks.

The booth, right before the marketplace opened, Sandy and I, boothmates, and Bev Latham and I showing off her pretty knitting.

Secret Pal Swap

2009-08-15T10:55:00.000-07:00

So the SP14 swap is rather interesting. I thought I'd figured it out (who my partner was) but the person who I thought it was brought me something hand-delivered at Sock Summit. Unless I am right and she was wearing someone else's name badge. Which is what I'd do. Hmmm...it's more fun if I don't really figure it out anyway!

Sending my partner's August package today, just finishing packing it up. I wish I could take a picture to show but I don't want to give away the surprise.

So in the meantime, here is my friend Corliss and I at one of the waterfalls on Monday, and Jillian and Noah just goofing around as any good mother and son would do.

Sock Summit - pre-summit luncheon

2009-08-13T21:16:00.001-07:00

Wednesday, August 5, 40 lucky people were guests at Gino's Restaurant in Portland for the pre-summit yarn tasting luncheon. 5 dyers, myself included, were asked to provide free yarn for all of the attendees, which gave us all a great opportunity to network and strut our beautiful yarns. A different dyer and her yarn was presented with each of the 5 (can we say full??) courses. Mine, of course, was dessert. It was awesome. Here are some photos. On the left, the front of the restaurant. It is a charming little restaurant in downtown Portland. On the right, one of the many wall paintings that adorn the interior. The face in the middle of the woman with the brown hair and glasses was our host, whose family owns the restaurant. It is quite unique in that the produce is local and much of it organic, with eggs coming in from her farm!

We were surprised by Chrissy Gardiner giving us all a copy of her new book, a collection of wonderful socks knitted from the toe up.

I've already started a pair of baby socks using the star toe, something I've never done before, and I'm ecstatic to have this new book! I'm even more excited that she talked with me about being part of her next project, featuring 25 indie dyers!

And finally, when it was time for dessert, I got to get up there and introduce my yarn. I chose to give away a variety of flavors, as opposed to one flavor to all attendees. I kind of blanked out standing up there...most of what I thought I'd say got lost in my head. But the attendees seemed to be quite receptive, and I loved seeing them trade out some of their yarn if they preferred another flavor. Jillian and Noah attended too...what a handsome pair they are!!

On the road!!

2009-08-04T09:19:00.001-07:00

On the road to Sock Summit!! Jillian and Noah will be at the airport about 11 and then we're on our way. YAY!!! Chanel really wants to come. She's never even been in a carrier, so when I dropped her off this morning and had to put her in a cage I cried. She cowered down with her ears all flat and just looked totally confused and had no clue why she couldn't stay with me. omg here come the tears again. Time to turn off the computer and get going.

If you're going to be at SS PLEASE be sure to stop by booth 1115 and say hello!!!

My first pattern!!!

2009-07-31T19:02:00.000-07:00

It's finally come to fruition. I designed a sock pattern quite awhile ago, but haven't had time to knit it all up. I played with it to the point that I knew it worked, and I knew it was going to look the way I wanted it to, but I just didn't have time to knit it. So I recruited a couple of folks from The Testing Pool on Ravelry, and I now have real, original socks. The pattern is called Paw Tracks, and I will get it up on Ravelry hopefully before Sock Summit. I plan to give it to customers who shop with me at Sock Summit too. Look how cute!! Chanel thinks so too...

Secret Pal Swap

2009-07-29T21:32:00.000-07:00

So I got my July package from my Secret Pal yesterday. I think I've figured out who she is too!!! The box contained 11 balls of some super yummy baby pink cotton that is such a perfect color for me. Some cute stitch markers and some cute odds 'n ends. The 3 balls of wool are a wonderful shade of pinky tweed and will be perfect for charity knitting projects! Our Benicia store is reopening hopefully in September and I'll wait to see what the next project is, and I'm really hoping it will be hats again because this yarn will be perfect for hats, or possibly afghan squares. Will have to wait and see!! Anyway, Ruth, thank you for the package and for taunting me. I'll see you next week at Sock Summit!!

Sock Summit Prep...nearly done! maybe

2009-07-28T16:20:00.000-07:00

The process for getting ready for Sock Summit has been intense. Exhilarating. Creative. Fun. Exhausting. Anticipation. And much more...

It's winding down. My goal was for this week to do no dyeing. At all. That whatever I'd dyed through Saturday 7/25 would be it. I'd then get it all skeined, packed up in the suitcase Sheila is taking for me on Southwest and the rest in my trunk. And then the Dye for Glory voting started. Creating some special flavors for that event has proven to be quite successful. Witch's Brew is by far the front runner in my Etsy shop now. I dyed an extra 40 skeins just to fill orders and make sure I had some to take with me to Sock Summit. I've got a little yarn store in Utah asking for some too that they can sell during the Halloween season.

Portland's Passion has done well too. I had to make another 20 or so skeins of it to make sure I had some to take to Sock Summit. It would be rather weird to get to the summit and have none of the yarn that got named 'specially for the event!

This is all so amazing to me. I knew when I started this that I had some great ideas for different flavors and I was sure I could make 'em pretty enough to want to buy. But the response has been tremendous. And now I'm worried that I won't have enough for Sock Summit. But I'm not going back in the kitchen right now! Can't do it...too much else to get done.

On the to do list for today: make signage. Laminated menus to be placed around the booth so people know what stuff costs. Time to get off the blog and get that done! If you hear snoring, you'll know that I fell asleep trying to get the signs done.

Two posts in one day...wow

2009-07-25T16:50:00.000-07:00

But I can't resist! I sent some yarn to my friend Nina in OH to test knit some socks for me for display. OMG they are just too cute. The pattern is by Anne Hanson and is called Summer Fun Socks. They're perfect for my yarn because the pattern is little ice cream cones!!

Root Beer Float, and Sprinkles. It's obvious which is which.

How did this happen?

2009-07-25T10:38:00.001-07:00

I'm not sure how I ended up here. This is my daughter Lissa who turned 21 at 1:19 this morning and I'm just not quite sure how she got to be 21 already. What have I accomplished in the past 21 years? A quick look at where I was then and where I am now...well...I've accomplished quite a bit. But enough about me. This is her day!

Her birth was (relatively) peaceful. My doctor had gone on vacation so his partner got to play the role of Johnny Bench at the end of the delivery bed. She went from me into a warm bath and all was quiet and well. Then once she was home she screamed for the next 4 months. Sleep deprivation does really weird things to new moms. And the people who live with them. And the neighbors.

Lissa is low-functioning autistic. She lives in a wonderful group home with 4 others about her age. They don't interact much, rather co-exist. What can that co-existing teach the rest of us? I want the bumper sticker that says, simply, co-exist using all the different symbols of religions, political beliefs, races, etc. I don't want a bumper sticker on my car bumper, but I'll display it somewhere.

Back to the topic. So she's 21, and celebrated in grand fashion with balloons, talking Elmo toys, lots of pretty clothes, and of course cake and ice cream. This cake should be called death by chocolate. Chocolate cake, chocolate mousse filling, and chocolate icing. Give me a teaspoon or so of the chocolate mousse and I'm good. I bought 2 different kinds of ice cream and the kids devoured it. Ice cream is reserved for very special occasions. I have to say that this 21-year-old's birthday party was a whole lot more tame than most. No alcohol, I don't have to worry about her going out partying or being stupid. So there are definite perks to being the parent of a special needs child!

The Hello Kitty sticker book was a big hit, as were the balloons. And Elmo singing The Hokey Pokey is always fun.

And at the end of the day, a great big slobbery kiss for mom. What more could a mom of a 21-year-old ask for?

The rant

2009-07-19T08:16:00.000-07:00

I've gotten quite a bit of support from folks who agree with me on the panhandler thing. Thank you! Pam said she sometimes will take them inside and get them food and it reminded me of something that happened when Jillian was little. We were exiting a freeway somewhere in SoCal, so she had to have been about 9 or 10, and there was a rather disheveled man standing with a sign that said he was hungry and needed money for food. She wanted to know if we could help him, so we went through the drive-thru at whatever was closest and bought him a meal. We took it back and he cussed me out, with Jillian in the car, for having the gall to bring him food when what he wanted was cash. Well, then why does your sign say you're hungry?? That soured me on giving to the panhandlers, so all the panhandlers of the world that cross my path can blame him for why I don't stop.

I will add though that when I was working in San Francisco it crossed my mind that if I gave to every person who had their hands out on that short little walk from the train to my office, that I would soon be one of them. There was one man who was honestly hungry, and when Martha and I would go to lunch she would always box up what we had left over and give it to him on our way back. I tried that one time when Martha wasn't with me and he gave me the evil eye...so he would only take food from select people and I wasn't one of them. Oh well...

Lots of yarn drying, lots waiting to be skeined, and a bit more waiting to be dyed. Time to dye!!

This is gonna turn into a rant

2009-07-17T15:34:00.001-07:00

Okay I've never used my blog as a place to rant...but...there's a first time for everything, right? I wish I knew how to make a vote-type of thing so I could see how many people feel the same as I do on this subject.

I went to the local shopping center to pick up my mail, lunch, and a few groceries. No big deal. But after picking up my mail and lunch at Subway, I walked over to Safeway. I could see as I got closer that there were solicitors in front of the door, and that always bugs me. But there wasn't just a solicitor...there were 3 of them. A homeless man (with really nice shoes) holding his cardboard sign that said simply "homeless please help", and a woman at a little foldable desk on one side of the door and another woman with a little girl on the other. The little girl was quite outgoing and made sure I knew that she wanted my attention for a donation when I came out.

Now, a little about me. I have charitable causes that I support. But I don't give money to panhandlers, and I don't put money in the buckets of people standing outside of grocery stores. Ever. A box of Girl Scout cookies? Sure. But pretty much any other cause...not gonna do it. And it annoys me to no end when I am accosted at the entrance/exit of retail stores. When I drive up and I see them at one door, I park by the other door to avoid them. But this time I was walking from Subway, and the only way to avoid them would have been to go to my car and move my car, which seemed kind of stupid when I was only going into the store for some grapes and air freshener.

I mentioned to the store manager that I really didn't like having any solicitors at the door, but 3 was just over the top. He looked surprised, and said 3? Really? He only approved 1, and the way it works is each group can only be here one day a month. So I told him he might want to go outside and check. The homeless man probably wasn't an approved solicitor, but there were 2 others. He went outside immediately to deal with the situation and get rid of the unapproved one, and I turned to the woman who was in line behind me and apologized for taking that additional 30 seconds to voice my complaint. She then proceeded to chew me out saying why didn't I just walk by and ignore them. Because I shouldn't have to walk by them, that's why. Target doesn't allow solicitors in front of the stores, but unfortunately I can't do my grocery shopping at Target.

Charitable organizations need donations - I get that. I used to do animal adoptions for the local shelter every weekend, and we had donations jars in our adoption room. But we didn't ask for any donations. If people are feeling it, and they want to contribute and are in a financial position to be able to do so, then they do. But all of these folks that are taking donations for every little thing under the sun just drive me nuts as they park themselves in front of the entrances to retail stores. I do what I can for the organizations I choose to support, and I don't need to be asked to do more when all I'm looking to do is buy a pound of grapes.

Rant over. Yarn is calling.

So what is a proper burial?

2009-07-14T18:07:00.001-07:00

We live in Cordelia, kind of a wind tunnel. It's really windy here like all the time. So the other day I find a half of an eggshell on my walk, and so I started looking for the nest which had to be in the trees right there. Couldn't see one. Then I found the baby bird, dead, in the driveway about 20' away. So poor little thing had fought his way out of his shell only to get blown out of his nest. I presume. I didn't think it was appropriate to leave him in the driveway where he'd get squished by tires, so I took him to the flower bed figuring that would be a better final resting place. Is that appropriate? I hope he has a peaceful forever after such a rough, and short, beginning.

It's been pretty hot for the past couple of days and it hasn't been windy at all so the yarn is drying very fast! A good thing since I leave for Sock Summit 3 weeks from today. YIKES!!!

It's not carpal tunnel!!

2009-07-14T06:47:00.001-07:00

None of the treatments prescribed were working for my wrist, including that totally painful cortisone shot, so the hand specialist ordered a MRI because he couldn't understand why nothing worked. I got the results yesterday and I've got ganglion cysts in there. Oh joy! I had one removed close to 30 years ago and they told me at the time that these things are notorious for coming back...and it did. And it brought a friend. Because now there are 2.

The good news? Never cancerous, never dangerous.

The bad news? When it does start hurting like hell I brace it and live with it. Until there is time to have the cysts removed. Which isn't going to be anytime soon with Sock Summit, Stitches Midwest and Stitches East coming up.

I was going to post a link to a YouTube video or something about ganglions but..uh...when I typed in ganglion cysts into google I found a really gross video with some idiots cutting open a guy's neck and squeezing out more nasty stuff than you'd think could ever be there. Ick! "Yeah doc I uh have this big infection on my neck because I let my friends operate on me..." Duh. I won't share that video here since it's really nasty.

Time to go back to dyeing...

Stowaway Attempt

2009-07-11T18:51:00.000-07:00

I started packing up boxes to ship up to Portland for Sock Summit and when I came back into the room this is how I found my empty box...

You don't even know how much I'd love to take her with me! She's so even-tempered. She sits on my lap or in the passenger seat in the car, puts her paws up on the dashboard or stands up to look outside the side windows. And she'd be a joy...but I can't ask our friends who are putting us up that week to have another cat running around their house. I'm going to miss her so much!!

And to anyone reading this who is now thinking my yarn is cat-contaminated, it never comes in contact with the kitties! They're in the room, but never in contact. After it's skeined I zip it into a ziploc bag and this box may have cat hair in the bottom of it, but the ziploc bags are sealed before they go in the box.

It's taken a week but...

2009-07-10T21:55:00.001-07:00

It's taken a full week using the electric skeiner to get everything I'd dyed already wound and ready for sale. So tomorrow it's back to the kitchen to dye more yarn! Interesting experience though when I leaned forward and the skeiner was spinning...just about gave me a concussion as it went off the table and nearly through the 8' living room window. It took about an hour before I could see straight, but neither of us were badly hurt. I keep forgetting about the welts on my head and scratch the itch, which serves as a quick reminder that there are bruises there. No worse for wear though!!

Katie is doing extremely well...so much better than I expected. She's gained well over a pound since the vet gave her the pills to increase her appetite and curb the nausea. She's playful and no longer sunken in. Her purrsonality has completely changed too. She's no longer skittish...at all. Just the opposite. She wants to be held, preferred pose is over our shoulder just like a baby, and carried everywhere. She kneads on everything and purrs constantly. I'm glad I gave her the chance because those first two weeks after her diagnosis I was ready to go ahead and pull the proverbial plug. Now you'd never know she is sick!

SP Swap Questionnaire

2009-07-08T10:05:00.000-07:00

So I have signed up for a secret pal swap and here's the questionnaire and my answers:

Here's the SP 14 Questionnaire!

1. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with? What fibers do you absolutely *not* like?

I love cotton, silk, and bamboo. I really hate mohair, synthetics, and anything that is even slightly scratchy. I can wear wool on my feet but I've tried even the softest merino, cashmere, or alpaca feels fine to work with but when I wrap it around my neck it feels like sandpaper. My feet get really hot really easy, and I've found the wool socks I've made in sock weight/fingering yarn get too warm pretty quick so I'll save them for winter. My favorite thing to knit are sweaters, lightweight cotton, silk, and/or bamboo.

2. What do you use to store your needles/hooks in?

I have one that I bought at Stitches West a few years ago that zips closed and has zipper pouches to keep circulars. It's bulging, so I need to find something that will store more, but I like the compact nature of this particular storage solution.

3. How long have you been knitting & how did you learn? Would you consider your skill level to be beginner, intermediate or advanced?

I learned to knit when I was pregnant with my 2nd daughter, who will be 21 at the end of July. My first project was a zig-zag patterned baby blanket. It took me forever to do, and I was using soft cotton baby yarn. I hated synthetics even back then! I did more sewing than knitting back then, but now I just knit.

4. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list?

I had never even thought of creating a wish list...I do have a "save for later" cart at KnitPicks and another at QVC.com.

5. What's your favorite scent?

I love floral scents - lotus, freesia, and my all time favorite is plumeria. Believe it or not, Avon used to have a plumeria scent in their Naturals line that I bought a whole bunch of when it was discontinued and put on clearance, and I've not found another one. I did buy a nice bottle of Hyacinth in Vegas last October that's nice, but I miss the plumeria.

6. Do you have a sweet tooth? Favorite candy?

I have a horrible sweet tooth. I try to stick with sugar-free though to try to avoid the excess calories. I drink splenda-sweetened Kool-Aid, strawberry and lemon-lime are my favorites. I also like most of the flavored sugar-free waters that are now available.

I actually really like spicy foods, Mexican being my all-time favorite. Spicy salsas pack lots of flavor with little caloric consequences.

7. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do? Do you spin?

I started my own yarn line, so I spend most of my time dyeing yarn. I don't spin, and I don't think I'll learn...I just don't see time in my future to learn another hobby! I have done some scrapbooking and enjoy it but there hasn't been much time for that either. I have all of our wedding pictures waiting to be turned into a great scrapbook and someday that will happen! I bought the book and the pages but still need to find the right embellishments (and the time...can my partner send me some time please?).

8. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD)

Country, country, and more country. I listen to modern top 20 country artists like Trace Adkins, Kenny Chesney, Carrie Underwood, Brad Paisley, Rascal Flatts...and my all time favorite is a composer who has put out I believe 4 studio albums by the name of Phil Vassar. He comes up with a new song and I download it from iTunes that day. He's amazing. I am not a huge fan of Taylor Swift, but her single Love Story intrigued me enough to buy her new album, Fearless, and it's pretty good. I'm anxiously awaiting Carrie Underwood to put out a new album - she seems to have disappeared of late which makes me quite sad.

I have an iPod Touch and I buy CDs and load them into iTunes, and I occasionally download something instead.

9. What's your favorite color(s)? Any colors you just can't stand?

I'm a pink girl - baby pink to fuchsia. I'm not a big fan of blue or green or red, but mix two of them together for a nice purple or teal and that works too. And the three together, pink, purple, and teal? Yeah baby. So I guess I love jewel tones.

10. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets?

Married with 6 cats and a dog. Sofie and Nelson are huge 15+ pounds of Maine Coon mix that we adopted 8 years ago. Bailey was born in our bathroom to a semi-feral cat that adopted us when we moved into our little condo in Vallejo in 2002. We got his mom and his 6 siblings fixed and adopted but Bailey wanted to stay. Simon came along in 2004, born in our vet's office and decided he wanted to live with us. Katie was a year later, adopted because the other 4 had all picked my husband as their person and I really wanted a lap cat. My husband wasn't allowed to even look at her, she was just mine. She has now been diagnosed with kidney failure and is not expected to live more than 3-6 months. And Chanel turned 1 year old on July 4. She's my princess. All white with pink ears, nose, and paw pads. I hand raised her and her siblings from the time they were about 4 days old, got her siblings all adopted out and she is my joy. Prada is a little Yorkie who was dumped at the shelter in April 2008 by the only family she'd ever known. Initially I fostered her since I'd never had a dog before, but she kind of grew on us and is now here for good.

11. Do you wear scarves, hats, mittens or ponchos?

Scarves yes, but only plant fibers (cotton, bamboo, silk) because even the softest merino or alpaca itches around my neck. Interestingly enough, I can wear my Burberry and Coach mufflers and they're cashmere and merino - maybe it's because they're woven rather than knitted.

Hats, mittens, ponchos no.

12. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit?

When I was commuting I got into sock knitting because they're so portable, but now I'm back to sweaters. I really enjoy knitting the Multi-Directional Short row scarf and I made it for myself first, but the yarn had a wee bit of mohair in it and I couldn't wear it. I gave it to someone (without photographing it for my Ravelry page first). Now I'd like to do it in a nice, soft, lofty cotton just for fun.

13. What are you knitting right now?

I'm working on my Carnival top out of Noro Taiyo and after that I'm going to do my Sahara sweater out of Tilli Tomas Pure & Simple. I've got a couple pair of socks on needles too that I tote around with me when I'm in a waiting situation.

14. Do you like to receive handmade gifts?

Of course!

15. Do you prefer straight or circular needles? Bamboo, aluminum, plastic?

Only circulars. I use the KnitPicks 40"-47" circs for socks (magic loop 2 at a time) and I use Addi turbos for everything else. I bought one of those square ones from Kollage to do the Taiyo sweater just because I was curious, but the cord is a bit too flimsy so I won't be buying more. Addi's rock!

16. Do you own a yarn winder and/or swift?

Yes - and I use both every day!

17. How old is your oldest UFO?

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! I found the blanket I started crocheting for my daughter when I was pregnant and she will be 21 on July 25. That blanket will never be finished. No point. I have a few UFOs from the last couple of years that I will get back to. Problem is I've lost a lot of weight and I literally have to re-knit them completely.

18. What is your favorite holiday? What winter holiday do you observe?

My favorite holiday is Halloween. LOVE IT LOVE IT LOVE IT. Winter we observe Christmas but a good friend is Jewish so I buy Chanukah gifts for her.

19. Is there anything that you collect?

Anything modern Mickey Mouse. Don't care for the vintage look when he had the really long pointy up nose, but after he was in his "classic" pose with his vibrant clothes just love it!

20. Any books, yarns, needles or patterns out there you are dying to get your hands on? What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have?

I gave up quite a few subscriptions when I became unemployed in January and I would like to have those back. Knitters and Cast On (Knitting Universe and TKGA) specifically. I also gave up my knit.1 subscription and now they have good patterns in every issue and I regret that one too.

I have lots of knitting books/patterns.

21. Are there any new techniques you'd like to learn?

Not really

22. Are you a sock knitter? What are your foot measurements?

I do knit socks, I wear a size 8 shoe so my foot length is like 8 1/2 - 9" but nobody else can knit socks for me unless they're footies. I have to adjust patterns for the leg.

23. When is your birthday?

May 15 19something

24. Are you on Ravelry? If so, what's your ID?

On Ravelry I am TheCraftsMeow. On Etsy I'm just CraftsMeow.

Miss Katie's 4th birthday

2009-06-24T22:36:00.000-07:00

I spent the day at Lissa's annual IPP, so I was in San Jose. Ray texted me around noon saying that Katie was calling her mommy, just walking around the house crying for me all day. When I got home she was right there at the door voicing her displeasure that I was gone all day without her.

She's never been like this, so do animals just know that their time is almost up and get weird like this? She even lets Ray pet her, and in her little short 4 years of life that's never happened before. She's always hissed at him and ran like hell.

Anyway, Katie's 4th birthday was yesterday, June 23. And she won't make it to her 5th. But she seems to feel okay, she is eating and drinking and staying hydrated. I noticed today when I got home though that her bad breath odor has returned. I'll call the vet tomorrow and see if that's indicative of something I should be concerned about.

Anyway, once I got home this afternoon she parked herself in my lap and kneaded on my neck and chest. She kneads really hard, and I wish she'd do it on my back - it would be a great massage! I fell asleep to her kitty massage and Ray took pictures...

I is a graduate!

2009-06-20T20:12:00.000-07:00

Figured I'd play on improper grammar for a minute. I started my graduate degree program in January 2008 and finished this week! I now have a master's degree in HR Management. The original plan when I started the program was to supplement my full-time job income by teaching online HR courses. Now that I have no traditional full-time job income, I still hope to teach HR online but I also want CraftsMeow to support me so that I don't have to go into a traditional work environment again. Time shall tell. So I'm spending a great deal of time looking online for teaching opportunities at colleges that offer online courses. DeVry University has an HR program but there are no current openings for HR instructors. UofP doesn't have an HR program; however I would think they would have some HR classes required...I've had no luck finding any such openings there either. I may have to pick up the phone on Monday and make phone calls and actually talk with people.

Anyway, anyone who's out there considering going for a master's, I was really surprised that every single course required writing pages and pages of reports. I write well and I know the subject well since I've been an HR professional for more than a few years, but it was just one report after another. I really feel bad for the instructor who had to read all of those pages.

Oh wait...that will be me if I become an HR instructor, won't it? I hate reading anything that is filled with spelling and grammatical errors, so I'll be a pretty tough teacher in that regard.

Anyone hiring?

Secret Pal Swap

2009-06-20T07:34:00.000-07:00

Any of my knitting friends who may be interested in a really fun swap, go to this site and sign up by Monday. The site will tell you that sign ups are closed on 6/15 but sign ups have been extended to this Monday, June 22. It sounds like a whole lotta fun!!

Dyeing yesterday resulted in overdyeing after some yukky results. Lesson learned...don't try to add a lighter contrasting color because the result isn't pretty. So there is some really dark navy and some really dark green drying now that were originally intended to be colors that looked great in my head just not so great in real life :-) Maybe I'll find some orange-y red and do a trio of Sock Summit colors as a special!

I ordered an electric yarn skeiner because I am so backed up on dyed yarn. Unfortunately the demand is higher than what they can keep up with so I have to wait to get it until the first week of July. I need more room to store all this yarn that is waiting to be skeined!

And an update on Katie, she's out of her crisis and doing pretty well. That first week and a half was so intense - I didn't think she was going to make it another week. But the pills the doc gave her for the nausea just needed time to kick in I guess because now she eats, and even asks me for more! She's drinking plenty and staying hydrated so I'm optimistic she's going to last longer than I originally thought and confident that she isn't suffering. She's even gained weight! She was down to 6 pounds 8 ounces and is up to 7 pounds as of yesterday! The vet gave her 3-6 months at diagnosis 2 1/2 weeks ago.

Nelson's turn

2009-06-15T20:39:00.001-07:00

So today was Nelson's turn at the vet. He's really good - didn't make a peep. He got his shots and a year's worth of his meds and a little shave, along with doctor's orders to brush him every single day. He's so big and round at 16 1/2 pounds that he doesn't groom himself real well. But isn't he a handsome devil?? 8 years old but doesn't look a day over 7. He does have a bit of that deer in the headlights look in this picture though.

And the drying on the deck is going really well. I haven't quite gotten a good rhythm down though to get stuff dyed and skeined so I stay ahead of the curve. I'm backed up about 100 skeins waiting to be skeined...only 800 more to go.

Time out for a baby fix!

2009-06-14T11:33:00.001-07:00

My friend Paula had a beautiful girl named Marina Rae on April 17. Yesterday us girls met to spend the day and visit, visits which have become few and far between since she moved to Modesto in March. But we had a great time and little Marina got lots of cuddling and love from her Aunties Carolyn (left), Jackie (right) and Gwen (me, below). Isn't she just the cutest thing??? Jackie and Carolyn are pretty cute too. We even got a smile!!

There are no pictures this day of Marina alone with her mom Paula because we kinda wouldn't give her back, but she did get to cuddle with mom for a minute and got a huge bear hug from Aunt Jackie.And at the end of the day, she lay across my legs and snoozed, perfect for mom to be able to snap her into her car seat for the long drive home.

Please let's do this more often!

Easier trip today

2009-06-12T20:27:00.000-07:00

Today it was time to take Prada and Sofie for their shots. They were so easy. Sofie cried in the car a bit, but not too bad, and Prada loves riding in the car so much that she's like a bouncing ball. Sofie weighed in at a hefty 15#...which is heavy for a cat but she's got maine coon in her and she's been this size since she was a year old so it's not unusual for her. Prada weighed in at 11#, too heavy for a Yorkie, so she gets her weight management lower calorie food reduced starting tomorrow. She's NOT going to be happy about that. And Miss Katie has been feeling much better but we gave her a sub-cu fluid treatment anyway. She's feeling so good that she's up here on the back of the chair. All it took to get her to start drinking was to buy her a fountain water bowl. In fact, two of them so she has one in the bedroom too. Much better than toilet water.

I got a whole bunch of the new Banana Split II skeined up and on Etsy. I really like the way it takes the color - much deeper and richer than the original Banana Split. Look how pretty!!

Blackberry Tea and Blue Curacao

It's drying time again...

2009-06-11T19:42:00.001-07:00

My yarn drying time has been an issue because space to dry it that is away from where any of the cats is pretty limited. My shower, Ray's shower, and then move it into my office where I skein it. And it takes forever to dry, even when I spin it first.

We live in a pretty windy area, and I couldn't get my brain wrapped around how to dry it outside without having yarn all over town. So I bought a cheap clothing rack, put it together, and hung some yarn out this morning while it was warm and no wind. But the wind came in one quick swoop and knocked it over.

Ray came out to help me pick it all up, fortunately off the deck which is clean so I didn't have to rewash, and then strung me a clothesline of sorts. Cheap rope, cheap shower curtain hooks, and the yarn was dry in a little over an hour.

And I had a visitor - isn't she cute?

We must stop meeting like this

2009-06-10T17:09:00.000-07:00

I have been in my vet's office more in the past week than I've been in the past year. My last 5 checks have been written to Fairfield Animal Hospital, and I told the good folks today that we just have to stop meeting like this. And there are 2 more visits coming in the next week, plus whatever Katie needs. We have our pets scheduled for shots annually, usually in April-May but we're a bit late this year. Last week I took Katie first because I knew she wasn't well and you all know what came of that.

Monday I took Chanel. She's so easy - she won't walk on her leash, but she wears it anyway so that if she ever gets spooked and bolts I have something to grab, or step on. She sits on my lap or on the passenger seat and looks out the window, sometimes with her paws on the dashboard which gets lots of people watching us. She got her shots and we were done. Easy.

Today the appointment was for Simon (flame point Siamese, on left) and Bailey (brown tabby, on right). Holy cow - you would have thought they were being tortured. All the way in the car they howled, Simon more than Bailey but Bailey occasionally did this mournful cry that one would swear was indicative of some serious anguish. What a couple of sissy boys! Then Ray recorded them and played it back so it sounded like there were 4 of them - freaked them both out! Then we get there and Simon tries to bolt out of the carrier when all we want is to put him on the scale - like, where do you think you're going to go if you run out of the carrier? Then just try to get him back in...ha!! He spread all of his fingers and toes like he was grabbing on anything to keep from going back in there. He's almost 5 years old and I think he has finally adjusted to not being "top cat". Bailey wouldn't give up that title.

Then it's Bailey's turn on the scale. Mr. Omega Male, top cat of the household, slinks underneath the pad in the carrier like that's going to make him invisible. We get him out of the carrier to the scale and he's got his ears all down flat...couldn't help calling him wussy pussy. Put him back in the carrier to go for the shots. Old man Bailey just turned 7 last week and today he acted like a total scaredy cat kitten.

The shots part is a piece of cake since Ashlea, the vet tech, is awesome and she let them know who was boss. Not a peep from either one of them. And they don't have to go back for a year.

But they did have to go back into the car. And the howling begins again. Earplugs anyone??

We'll be back on Friday and then again on Monday, and then other than Katie's supportive care we shouldn't have to take any more of these guys back for a year. She's feeling a bit dehydrated so I may take her in for another infusion of sub-cu fluids when I go on Friday. They said it should last 2-3 weeks but I don't think so.

Speaking of Miss Katie, she wants to stay out with everyone and it's interesting to watch because she perches herself on the windowsill, and I was curious as to whether or not she'd come for food so I popped a can of wet food and in she ran. She hasn't eaten all day, but she had her share at wet food time. We watched to make sure the bullies (Bailey and Chanel) didn't casually take her bowl away (kind of cute to watch - they try to stick their heads in where someone else's head already is and then just casually pull the bowl away from whoever is eating so they can have more than their intended share). They not only didn't try to eat her food, they kept a distance. I guess they know that she's not feeling well and needs some TLC. She also smells not so good, and unfortunately that's part of Chronic Renal Failure. Anyway, she ate about a teaspoon of wet food and hasn't eaten anything else all day - maybe this evening she'll get an appetite and eat more. I can hope. She did chase a light around like she felt perfectly well, then she crawled under the covers on the bed for a nice long nap.

Dye Dye Dye!!

2009-06-09T18:00:00.000-07:00

Did the math - 910 skeins of yarn need to be dyed before Sock Summit. That's 7 weeks from now. That means 130 skeins per week, and if I work 6 days/week giving myself 1 day off to do something else, that's a little over 21 skeins each day. I did 24 today, so if I stay on that pace it will be good. I was done dyeing by about 10:00, and finished rinsing and got everything hung by about 5. And then realized I hadn't eaten all day so dinner is in the oven.

This could have the effect of taking off a few pounds - can't complain about that!!

Cara was here on Sunday and said I needed more greens, so I did a really pretty green in the new 100% superwash base yarn I'll call Soft Serve. Then I did Birthday Cake for Jillian, and some pretty pink/white swirl that has no name yet. Burgundy Cherry has been popular in the Ice Cream Sundae yarn, so I made it in the Soft Serve today - very pretty. And I also did some BubbleMallow today, but did shorter, more random runs of the colors as opposed to the striping I did last time. it looks good so far!

Katie seems very sad today. She did eat about 1/4 cup of the special k/d dry food the vet prescribed. And I found a couple of websites about chronic renal failure in cats so that I could be a bit more knowledgeable. I'll offer different foods as it suggested since she's already shown that some foods are great today and nasty tomorrow, and one suggestion was to moisten her food with the water from tuna but not to give her the tuna. So I'll buy some water-packed tuna and give that a try. I won't take incessant lifesaving measures to prolong suffering though. At this point she doesn't appear to be in pain or really suffering but rather just doesn't feel real good and a bit depressed. We're watching her closely and when the bad days outnumber the good days then we'll know it's time.

So THIS is what over 100# of yarn looks like...

2009-06-08T18:58:00.000-07:00

The big shipment came today, well, a partial shipment came today. I ordered 100# pounds of undyed yarn so I can take 1,000 skeins with me to Sock Summit. I see a very busy few weeks ahead of me. These boxes came today, and there are several more coming as some of the order was backordered. So this is what a whole hell of a lot of yarn looks like...and one lonesome shoe.

And Katie just wants to cuddle...fine with me! I say it's time to take a break. She had a great day yesterday, eating a whole can of food, but today she hasn't eaten anything or drank anything either - she seems to have some nausea happening (the comforter is in the washer) even though she did take her pills. I guess it will be like this, good days and bad days...

Katie says

2009-06-07T19:18:00.000-07:00

Katie says "don't get ready to say goodbye yet because now that you've stopped making me eat that nasty food the vet prescribed I'm feeling better." I got desperate because she wouldn't eat more than 1/4 teaspoon of food so I took in a teaspoon of the wet cat food the other cats all eat and Katie has enjoyed and she gobbled it. So now it's about 7 p.m. and since 8 this morning she has eaten a full can, given to her a teaspoon at a time every 3-4 hours so she doesn't gorge and get sick, and she's obviously feeling better. She's talkative again and a very cuddly girl. So even though I know this is terminal and there is no fixing it, I feel like she's ready to hang around a bit longer. She even takes her pills now twice a day without fuss.

Amazing stuff

2009-06-07T07:58:00.000-07:00

I took Katie to the vet yesterday morning to get some sub-cu fluids and the doc said not to expect it to have an immediate effect, but that it should help lower her BUN level, which would in turn help her to feel well enough to eat some. She's gotten pretty good at taking the pills, I really think she "knows" and even though the pill isn't the greatest thing, it qualifies as quality time with mom :-) Anyway, the fluids in conjunction with taking the pills regularly did have an immediate effect. She ate immediately when I brought her home. Not much, but at least she ate something - like 1/2 teaspoon of food. Eating like that won't sustain her for long, but at least she still seems comfortable.

And baby kittens have been passed off to a new foster mom which sure helps me to get more sleep! I think they'll do well - they had opened their eyes and were chubby little roly-poly babies already.

I bought a featured spot on etsy today and that gets a bit more traffic to see my pretties. I have much yarn to skein up before my order arrives with more to dye, but I also have a paper to finish that is due - 2 more weeks of grad school then I'm done done done done done! I really hate school.

New foster parent!!

2009-06-05T21:34:00.001-07:00

YAY!! I found someone who will take over the fostering responsibilities for the kittens. She's experienced, having done this many times just like me. She's got a lab that loves to 'mother' the kittens and I can't wait to see pictures. How nice it would be to have a four-legged critter in the house that would take over the cleaning part of this - these guys have to have a full bath every meal. I won't miss that.

Yarn shipment didn't arrive yet, so I am going to play this weekend. I'd expected to be buried under 800 skeins of yarn begging to become something other than white, but it looks like that won't happen until Monday now. That will give me time to go buy some more dye - ran out of some critical colors.

Katie has stopped eating and drinking...already. It seems like maybe she knows and has made peace. Very strange because she was eating and drinking up until the vet visit that resulted in this dx. The only thing she's eaten since is a teaspoon of baby food chicken. The vet gave me some special food today as well as some pills to counteract the nausea he says she's feeling - we got the pill down her...ever read the funny really long humorous thing about how to give a cat a pill? This was similar - if she had more strength and energy it probably would have been exactly like that...but I wouldn't call the SPCA. Anyway, got the pill down her and a teaspoon of the special food but she still hasn't eaten or drank anything. Doc is going to give her some sub-cu fluids in the morning, which he said will make her feel a bit better so maybe she'll eat. If she still refuses I may go ahead and have her put down on Monday. She has a very sad face...I don't know if she's telling me goodbye or save me.

She does sit in the window sill like always, but she used to chatter at the squirrels and birds and she doesn't chatter anymore...just stares. And our conversations are now limited to a single meow...she doesn't answer back like she used to. I swear it's like she's just ready and is getting all the cuddles she can before that time comes.

She sure as hell doesn't want that pill though.

My lovely Katie Anne

2009-06-04T23:00:00.001-07:00

Katie was someone else's foster 4 years ago. She didn't show well - every time she was brought to adoption events she would hiss and spit and hide in the back of the cage. She even nipped at one lady. This cute little 8-week old kitten seemed to hate people, even though she'd been in foster care for half of her life. But when I sat next to her cage with my kittens, she would paw out of the cage and try to get my attention, so I'd pet her and she'd purr and bump my hand to pet her more...in a nutshell she adopted me. After 3 weeks of watching her stress out at being there, I adopted her myself and brought her home. She is a groomer...always makes sure my hands and my face are clean and well groomed, then bumps at my hand with her little tiny golf-ball sized head to pet her more. She talks so much we swear she's part Siamese in there somewhere.

She's skittish, sometimes very difficult to catch to get into a carrier for a vet visit, so I'm glad that vet visits and shots are only once a year. When all of our cats got put on a diet, feeding them indoor formula cat food to help reduce all of their overweight bodies, Katie is the only one it seemed to work for. After 2 months on the new food she was looking nice and trim and we were pleased. Then a month later she looked like she'd lost even more, then settled in so we thought she was done losing and since she was active, playful, and as skittish as ever, and chasing her best friend Simon around the house as they'd romp all over each other up the cat trees and slide across the bare floor because they couldn't get any traction. Then about 3 weeks ago she started looking right out skinny, so I watched her more closely and saw that she is eating with everyone else and still active but not quite as talkative. I made her an appointment for a checkup since it's time for her annual shots anyway, and when I picked her up I knew there was a real problem. Light as a feather. Get her to the vet on the scale and she had lost half of her body weight, down to a bit over 6# in a year.

Blood tests revealed she is in the final stages of renal failure, which for a young cat is pretty rare. Vet said it usually indicates antifreeze poisoning, but she's never been outside exposed to antifreeze. So he thinks she was born with a genetic anomoly, possibly missing a kidney or with deformed kidneys, and he gives her a maximum of 3-6 months. I don't think she'll last another month.

She's now living in our bedroom so she doesn't have to compete for food. Now she won't eat, even the wet food she has always loved, so I bought her baby food chicken and that she'll eat. The vet is going to prescribe a medication that will relieve the nausea he says she is feeling so she will feel more like eating. She loves sunning herself in the bedroom window and seems to enjoy the peace and quiet. So as my eyes well up with tears knowing that in a very short period of time that will come far too soon, I'll be holding her as she goes to sleep for the last time.

I've never been through this with one of my own - fosters, yes, it's happened a few times, but never my own. I feel like I'm losing a very significant part of me, but I would never keep one alive for me. Quality of life is more important than quantity, and I trust her to tell me when it's time.

Updated photos

2009-06-04T22:49:00.000-07:00

The babies are now 9 days old. Sibling #4, the one that stayed out in the elements and was so very cold when I picked him up, didn't make it. But these 3 are doing very well and getting chubby...and noisy! The pics of kitten #3 were all blurry...they're a bit easier to photograph when they get older. Still looking for an experienced bottle-feeder to foster!!!

Root Beer Float!

2009-05-30T21:06:00.001-07:00

Out of the dye pot and skeined up today...Root Beer Float really does look like a root beer float spilled all over the yarn. it's so pretty!! Midnight Craving:

Caramel

I was going to take a picture of the kittens but I just checked them and it's time for a little bit of a bath...so I'll add an updated picture tomorrow.

Sibling Protection

2009-05-30T06:36:00.001-07:00

Awww...

And a pocket pet before he wizzed on Rosemary's shirt...

Doctors are confused!

2009-05-27T19:44:00.001-07:00

The ortho that gave me that &#$*@^ cortisone shot 2 weeks ago did a re-eval today and looked totally perplexed, basically having no clue as to whether this is carpal tunnel or not. So now I get to do an MRI. Yippee!! I'm game - that's non-invasive and non-painful. If it's a cyst, it's one that can't be seen (or felt) from the outside so this should be interesting.

Knitting group tonight was fun - I took my latest batch of yarns to show and see the reactions and the overwhelming favorites were Harbor Lights and Grape-Blueberry Freeze. And a "I must have Obama's Favorite but not today." I love this because they are receptive so it further validates that I'm on the right track.

Any suggestions for yarn names that can somehow be tied to ice cream or desserts welcome. The most recent one involved migraine recovery and I love it! Midnight Craving is coming...drying as I type. Especially for my preggy friend. Hope she agrees that the colors would satiate a midnight craving for something sweet. More pictures tomorrow.

OH! And I started an advertising campaign to launch on Ravelry June 1, and I've been accepted as a prize donation source for the Sock Knitters Anonymous group, which means **FREE** advertising on that group. Over 7,000 members on that one so that should be well worth the cost of a skein of yarn! Such exciting stuff...

It's Quads!

2009-05-27T12:04:00.001-07:00

I went back to Brenda's house to feed her ferals and there was a 4th kitten...looks just like the other 3. Very cold but vigorous, so I'm optimistic. I've got him on a heating pad right now and once he warms up he should feed then I'll put him with his siblings. I think she had a couple more...not a pretty sight.

At least these 4 are safe and out of harm's way. Now I just need someone to take them off my hands!

Foster anyone?? They're very cute...and eat well...

New babies, new venture, and rejection

2009-05-26T18:35:00.001-07:00

This yarn dyeing venture is going to take off...I feel it. Now I need to learn to set up an accounting system. Ray got me Microsoft Accounting 2009 and I haven't even gotten past the initial stage of setting up accounts. Fortunately I've been tracking everything in Excel and if I have to hire someone to set it up for me then I'll at least be able to send them something to start with.

My advertising on Ravelry starts June 1. I did a one-day feature ad on Etsy on Saturday and got 2 sales that day, so that was a good thing!

And it suddenly occurred to me that my job hunting has resulted in 'thanks but no thanks' letters...something I'm not really accustomed to. I've been turned down for jobs that I'm way overqualified for, which I guess is to be expected...but at least I'm not at TPL right now where layoffs are happening yet again. The pressure cooker environment around there when those are pending are just not worth it.

Oh! And I pulled 3 newborn Siamese kittens, 2 boys and a girl, from a really bad situation this afternoon. Hopefully the shelter can find another foster pretty quick...

Woo-hoo!! This is SO cool!!

2009-05-26T14:56:00.000-07:00

I made an appointment with Marie, the proprietor of llama llama knit in Novato to show my yarns and see if she might want to carry my line in her shop. I didn't take everything, I was afraid I'd overwhelm, so I took one bag with a nice variety and got good reviews and a promise of an order to come. Sigh. Renewed confidence. I hope to show the newer stuff that was still in the dye pots at the time of our meeting when I take yarn over for the test sock she'd like to knit. Things like:

Berryliscious:

Atlantis:

And I took these with me and they loved 'em:
Grape Blueberry Swirl:

Desert Sun:

Harvest Mix:

There are more...no time to post right now though. I'll try again tomorrow!!

Headaches are slowing me down

2009-05-24T15:12:00.000-07:00

So 20+ years ago I had a problem with constant headaches 24/7 that wouldn't go away with any kind of treatment. They tried the traditional meds and nothing worked. Then 10 years or so ago a neurologist finally gave me a preventive drug that worked. She explained I didn't have just headaches, I had migraine headache disease and that I needed to take something to prevent them rather than trying to make them go away. It's worked well, so that I was just like most everyone else in the world that would get an occasional headache, take some Tylenol, and be done. And now the past week I've got 24/7 headache that isn't going away. I even tried Ray's Midrin...that just made me sick like Imitrex, Maxalt, and Zomig used to do. Sigh.

It's really hard to stay focused on the job at hand, making sure I've got enough yarn to support Sock Summit when my head is throbbing and I'm nauseous all the time. So I've just been ignoring it as best I can and came up with some really pretty yarn. I thought I'd name one of them after the headache since the inspiration came out of ache, but didn't think naming a yarn migraine would particularly appealing. The one drink that gave me a massive headache back in the day was 151 rum lit at the top and the bar called it Harbor Lights...here's a much prettier version, a blend of dark olive, dark purple, and sky blue.

Harbor Lights:

Licorice Twist:

Ribbon Candy:

and Obama's Favorite:

New Yarn Vendor

2009-05-21T08:53:00.000-07:00

My first order of undyed yarn was quite a disappointment. I ordered from a vendor in Hong Kong after doing lots of research for different wholesale vendors, comparing costs, and looking at samples. It bothered me that I had to buy from abroad in order to get the best pricing, but I did it anyway. Their prices were substantially less than competitors, even with the shipping it was lower, and their yarn felt great. But it was full of knots and flubs, so much so that my yield was much less than expected. When I contacted them, I was told that the "industry standard" is no more than 3 knots per 50 gram skein, but their standards were higher, no more than 2 knots per 100 gram skein. Now, 50 grams is about 200 yards and makes one sock, so I'm being told that it is acceptable per industry standards to have 3 knots in a skein that will make only one sock, which means it is acceptable to have 6 knots in a 100-gram, 400-yard skein? If I bought a skein of yarn with 6 knots in it I would take it back. I don't expect to find even 1 knot, much less 6! So when I skeined up this order, I cut at knots and started making mini-skeins of 100 yards that I was reading on the Ravelry forums people want but not many indie dyers are providing. But I was still discouraged by the numbers of knots and flubs in this order.

The new yarn I just received was from another vendor, here in the U.S. (YAY!!) and I've skeined up 2 of the 9 cones I ordered without a single knot. I'll skein up the remaining 7 I purchased later on today and tomorrow, but I'm quite optimistic that I'll be able to buy domestic product and feel much better about doing it, and have a better yield of goods to sell as well. Very happy dyer indeed.

Time to go skein more yarn...

Weekend Accomplishments

2009-05-18T09:03:00.000-07:00

While I'm kind of beating myself up about not feeling like knitting, I realize I was actually quite productive this weekend despite it being really hot (105 here Saturday and Sunday). I got my airline tickets for both Stitches East and Midwest and made my hotel reservations. I knew stockpiling all of those air miles would pay off someday!

I have no undyed yarn left in my house...waiting for the next shipment to arrive.

I created my menu for the display table at the shows - it's so cute! I made it real simple in Word and it looks like a restaurant dessert menu - ice cream and banana splits in a wide variety of flavors.

Not exactly productive, but I did destroy a skein of yarn too and I did it badly. I hated the way it looked but it was too dark to overdye, so I tried color remover. Not a good idea for sock yarn...it was really slimy and nasty and went from the pot to the garbage. But how would I have known until I tried?? And it's a business loss for tax purposes, right?

Would it be totally crazy to dye Chanel in a nice little rainbow of color and photograph her to show how nontoxic my dye really is? She got a bit of pink and blue on her tail a couple of weeks ago and it looked really cute! Don't know how she did it...

This week's disease

2009-05-18T08:57:00.001-07:00

Okay so last week I had castonitis...wanting to cast on more when what I've got on the needles already are not finished. Now I don't know what to call this disease...maybe it'snevergonnabefinished-itis.

My first Cookie A socks, Vilai, are at the half way point. And I'm reminded why I don't like knitting socks cuff down...I already know they don't fit because she thinks everyones legs are a skinny 8", and the foot is going to take forever. Or so it seems. I have to finish them because even though I can't wear them they'll be great to display in my booth at Sock Summit.

Jillian's lacy knee high socks have heels, and I'm thinking "how far do I have to go to get to her knees?" Umm...maybe not.

Finished the air conditioned socks and they're so cute! But I started the heel too soon to have ankle shortie socks, so I need to rip'em back to before the heel and make the foot part a bit longer. Why didn't I realize that at the time? Guess I should have tried them on more often.

I've been dying to do Hypnosis from the Electic Sole and so I started them with some yarn I'm not happy with the way the dye job came out (for sale) but I like it (for me). If that makes sense. So those got started when I had castonitis.

So NOW somebody posted an adorable pair of socks that I really want to re-create and I can dye myself the yarn even...

Problem is...I don't feel like knitting. At all. How did that happen? I hope this disease passes quickly.

Pretty stuff from this week's dye pots!

2009-05-16T23:17:00.000-07:00

This week resulted in some pretty stuff:
Cherry Berry Swirl

Campfire Marshmallow

Fudge

Watermelon Grape Sorbet

Tequila Sunrise

Strawberry Shortcake

RingMaster's Favorite

Citrus Sherbet

BubbleMallow

Oh the pain of cortisone shots

2009-05-14T21:51:00.000-07:00

Egads. The doc wanted to give me a cortisone shot into my wrist and I've been resisting. I finally gave in. the shot was into the carpal tunnel and the pain was so stinking intense it caught me by surprise. I expected it to be painful, but I didn't expect it to be so painful that every foul word in the English language would come to mind as I broke out into a sweat and watched the room start moving. Good night...that hurt like hell.

Cortisone shot means immobilize the wrist and don't use it. That means no knitting! For at least 24 hours. So I waited the 24 hours, dyeing 12 skeins of yarn during that time, and then tried to knit while at the knitting group tonight and discovered I can't knit yet. So I dyed more yarn. Pictures to follow...some very pretty stuff this week came out of the dye pots! Tomorrow I get to do the least fun part of this wonderful new job I've given myself: skein the yarn.

A disease called castonitis

2009-05-05T21:51:00.001-07:00

I guess all knitters go through this. There is a disease I believe I am afflicted with called caston-itis. It is a disease caused by an addiction. The addiction is knitting socks. See yarn? Envision the socks it could become. But envisioning those socks isn't good enough...must cast on and start making them!

Jillian's lacy knee hi's,

which are going to be way cute, but they're knee highs so is there an end...ever?

The bright panda cotton hole-y socks

I started 2 weeks ago when it was way hot and I couldn't stand the thought of touching wool. Those are nearly done since I'm not making long socks, but simply ankle socks.

And May's challenge for SKA is cables, so I picked a pattern out of the new Sock Innovation book, and they'll be my first socks by this designer. I've gone through one exhausting 28-row pattern repeat and was like "am I done yet?" those 28 rows didn't get me very far.

OH! And May also has a mystery sock pattern. I've never done one, so I started that one too (no pictures yet...)

So what happens? I'm on the phone with Jillian yesterday and she tells me that every time she wears her socks I made (not originally made for her, but they became hers after she tried them on and fell in love with them) from panda silk that Sarah gets all jealous and says she wishes they weren't so girly because if they weren't pink she'd have to share. And she asked if maybe I would make her a pair of socks. So that translated to "I have to make them NOW!" So, Sarah's socks have officially been started.

Can I make Sarah a pair of socks and not make a pair for Noah? No...that wouldn't be a very good grandma, now would it? So I've got the dark green Tofutsies I bought for him long ago sitting out here waiting...

I dyed a pot the other day of a color I'm calling butterscotch and it's gorgeous! It has a pattern called Hypnosis from my Eclectic Sole book screaming "make me make me NOW!" The only reason they have not yet begun is I'm out of needles. Maybe that means I should actually put that yarn up on Etsy so I'm not tempted to use it myself. I can always dye more, right?

What to do what to do??? Buy more sock needles? Sounds good to me. KnitPicks is bookmarked...

This week's dye pot revealed

2009-05-02T18:02:00.001-07:00

Last week's dye pot yielded several disasters, but this week's provided some really nice colors!
Marschino Cherry:

Blue Raspberry

Bubblegum

Burgundy Cherry

Sprinkles

Kitty Socks!

2009-04-27T18:36:00.001-07:00

I've had this pattern in my head for well over a year and I finally got 'em done! They are very cute and very soft and I've got plenty of yarn left to make another pair as a gift. And the dye pot is hot today! New yarn to be posted this week.

Finally some yarn is ready!!

2009-04-10T15:39:00.001-07:00

So Nina let me know that the Etsy link didn't work, so I'll try again.I'm excited...I've been hard at work developing different colors and then making swatches and then washing them to make sure they don't fade...and the first two are now up on Etsy. I've got 3 more base yarns to try so I'll get to those next week.

Since it's spring, and going to be summer soon I hope, I'm focusing in on lighter colors. The rich dark colors will come later...

58,000 yards of yarn on order and in transit...so my Etsy store should fill up soon. I planned to launch at Sock Summit in August, but I'm on the waiting list to be a vendor. I don't know if I'll get in, so I may head to TKGA in Buffalo that same weekend instead. By that time, first week of August, I will have lots of beautiful yarn ready to go! So anyway, here's the first two. All of my yarn is based on ice cream (YUM!) and this one, 75% superwash merino/25% nylon is Ice Cream Sundae. These two colors are Lime-Blueberry and Rainbow Sherbet. It will be obvious which one is which. And my Etsy site is www.CraftsMeow.etsy.com

Original Creations

2009-03-30T19:58:00.000-07:00

So I've decided that I have enough of an eye for color that I can hand dye yarn for sale. From my first couple that I like so much that I'm not willing to part with, however, this could become somewhat of another addiction! Anyway, I'm working on color recipes at this point, and using only non-toxic dyes. My first two that I'm happy with are pictured here. The one I'm not so happy with is not photographed...it refuses to stop bleeding and even dyed my fingers for me after it was dry when I was just trying to wind it. But these two are a success and I'm keeping them. When I get my first order of bare yarn I'll start working on it for real and put it up on etsy. In the meantime, just the stitch markers are available CraftsMeow.etsy.com .

Pictured here: Pineapple Sherbet and Fruit Bowl (top and side shots to show the colors of honeydew base, and splashes of strawberry and raspberry).

Today isn't a lucky day!

2009-03-24T15:42:00.000-07:00

I just read Cara's blog http://www.lazycrafter.com/ and got a laugh out of the astrological info posted for her birthday. So I looked up mine. I find it rather amusing. Some of the songs that were popular back then are ones we still hear today. Don't know that we'll be able to say that about songs that are recorded today.

http://www.paulsadowski.com/birthday.asp if you want to look up your own.

Your date of conception was on or about 22 August 1958 which was a Friday (mom was obviously busy that day!).

You were born on a Friday
under the astrological sign Taurus.
Your Life path number is 8.

Your fortune cookie reads:
Your skill will accomplish what the force of many cannot. Ah! So I am skilled...and learning new ones every day. Love it!

Life Path Compatibility:
You are most compatible with those with the Life Path numbers 2, 4, 8, 11 & 22. Ray is a 4, so I guess we really are compatible.
You should get along well with those with the Life Path number 6. Do I know any 6's?
You may or may not get along well with those with the Life Path numbers 1 & 5.
You are least compatible with those with the Life Path numbers 3, 7 & 9. But Cara is a 9 and we get along great!

The Julian calendar date of your birth is 2436703.5.
The golden number for 1959 is 3.
The epact number for 1959 is 21.
The year 1959 was not a leap year.

Your birthday falls into the Chinese year beginning 2/8/1959 and ending 1/27/1960.
You were born in the Chinese year of the Pig.

Your Native American Zodiac sign is Beaver; your plant is Wild Clover.

You were born in the Egyptian month of Epipy, the third month of the season of Shomu (Harvest).

Your date of birth on the Hebrew calendar is 7 Iyyar 5719.

The Mayan Calendar long count date of your birthday is 12.17.5.10.19 which is
12 baktun 17 katun 5 tun 10 uinal 19 kin

The Hijra (Islamic Calendar) date of your birth is Friday, 7 Dhi'l-Qa'dih 1378 (1378-11-7).

The date of Easter on your birth year was Sunday, 29 March 1959.
The date of Orthodox Easter on your birth year was Sunday, 3 May 1959.
The date of Ash Wednesday (the first day of Lent) on your birth year was Wednesday 11 February 1959.
The date of Whitsun (Pentecost Sunday) in the year of your birth was Sunday 17 May 1959.
The date of Whisuntide in the year of your birth was Sunday 24 May 1959.
The date of Rosh Hashanah in the year of your birth was Saturday, 3 October 1959.
The date of Passover in the year of your birth was Thursday, 23 April 1959.
The date of Mardi Gras on your birth year was Tuesday 10 February 1959.

As of 3/24/2009 6:40:04 PM EST
You are 49 years old. (Don't tell anyone!)
You are 598 months old.
You are 2,602 weeks old.
You are 18,211 days old.
You are 437,082 hours old.
You are 26,224,960 minutes old.
You are 1,573,497,604 seconds old.

Celebrities who share your birthday:

Jamie-Lynn Sigler (1981)	David Charvet (1972)	Emmitt Smith (1969)
George Brett (1953)	Madeleine Albright (1937)	Trini Lopez (1937)
Anna Maria Alberghetti (1936)	Jasper Johns (1930)	Eddy Arnold (1918)
James Mason (1909)	Joseph Cotten (1905)

Top songs of 1959

Mack the Knife by Bobby Darin	The Battle of New Orleans by Johnny Horton
Venus by Frankie Avalon	Stagger Lee by Lloyd Price
The Three Bells by The Browns	Lonely Boy by Paul Anka
Come Softly to Me by Fleetwoods	Smoke Gets In Your Eyes by Platters
Heartaches By the Number by Guy Mitchell	Sleep Walk by Santo & Johnny

Your age is the equivalent of a dog that is 7.12759295499021 years old. (You're still chasing cats!) I'm younger than my dog!!!

Your lucky day is Friday. Very true.
Your lucky number is 6. Didn't know that. I'll remember that next time I buy a lottery ticket.
Your ruling planet(s) is Venus. Love love love!
Your lucky dates are 6th, 15th, 24th.
Your opposition sign is Scorpio. Um...I'm married to a Scorpio. And my oldest daughter is a Scorpio. So opposites attract?
Your opposition number(s) is 9 & 11.

Today is not one of your lucky days!

There are 52 days till your next birthday
on which your cake will have 50 candles.

Those 50 candles produce 50 BTUs,
or 12,600 calories of heat (that's only 12.6000 food Calories!) .
You can boil 5.71 US ounces of water with that many candles.

In 1959 there were approximately 4.0 million births in the US.
In 1959 the US population was approximately 150,697,361 people, 50.7 persons per square mile.
In 1959 in the US there were approximately 1,667,231 marriages (11.1%) and 385,144 divorces (2.6%)
In 1959 in the US there were approximately 1,452,000 deaths (9.6 per 1000)
In the US a new person is born approximately every 8 seconds.
In the US one person dies approximately every 12 seconds.

In 1959 the population of Australia was approximately 10,160,968.
In 1959 there were approximately 226,976 births in Australia.
In 1959 in Australia there were approximately 74,363 marriages and 7,315 divorces.
In 1959 in Australia there were approximately 89,212 deaths.

Your birth flower is LILY. I've never really liked lilies...

Your birthstone is Emerald. Love emeralds

The Mystical properties of Emerald

Though not meant to replace traditional medical treatment, Emerald is used for physical and emotional healing.

Some lists consider these stones to be your birthstone. (Birthstone lists come from Jewelers, Tibet, Ayurvedic Indian medicine, and other sources)

Agate, Chrysoprase

Your birth tree is

Chestnut Tree, the Honesty
Of unusual beauty, does not want to impress, well-developed sense of justice, vivacious, interested, a born diplomat, but irritable and sensitive in company, often due to a lack of self-confidence, acts sometimes superior, feels not understood, loves only once, has difficulties in finding a partner. Okay so I didn't meet Ray until I was in my 40's...

There are 276 days till Christmas 2009! I didn't need to know that.
There are 289 days till Orthodox Christmas!

The moon's phase on the day you were
born was in its first quarter.

Knitting and Etsy

2009-03-20T08:23:00.000-07:00

I'm headed today to a retreat for the weekend with the other folks from the local yarn store. The goal of the weekend is to finish up projects that have been hibernating. I'm taking 2 with me, maybe 3, and the one I must focus on is Paula's baby blanket. Her baby girl is due at the end of next month, but we're having the shower on April 4.

I also started making some cute stuff to sell on Etsy! I'll be doing hand-dyed yarn as well, but that is still to come. CraftsMeow

March anniversary

2009-03-11T22:19:00.000-07:00

Ray and I met face-to-face for the first time today, 9 years ago. We'd been communicating via email for a couple of months but March 11 was our first meeting. Mimi's Cafe in Dublin for dinner. And during that dinner we discovered we worked less than a mile from each other in SF!

March seems to be shaping up to be sock month for me. There has been zero interest in my resume, and now I'm bored. So I knit a good part of the day. My wrist has given me some reprieve and hasn't been bothering me nearly as much...just at night. So I'll have to start wearing the brace again I guess. Anyway, I've finished 2 pair of socks already this month, and here's proof!

Housewife?

2009-03-08T20:14:00.000-07:00

Am I really a housewife now? Wow...who woulda thunk it? I've had absolutely zero response to resumes, and the job listing I get for payroll professionals every other week has maybe 3 jobs listed, never any that are local, when the list used to be 25-30 positions. So, I guess 25 years' experience and a degree just doesn't count for much in this economy. So my life now revolves around the house, planning menus and making dinner, and making economical choices. Such as:

The kitties no longer get premium cat food...they get Cat Chow Indoor Formula mixed with Costco brand. And they don't throw up anymore! So all we needed to do to quit having to clean up cat yuk every day was to put them on cheap food. Go figure...
If the kitties don't get premium cat food then Prada doesn't get premium dog food either...at least not as much. Her food is now mixed with Beneful and she couldn't care less.
Dinner is still the best cuts of meat, but we buy in bulk so it costs less and I've learned to actually do something with leftovers! Did you know that leftover chicken and/or leftover tri-tip makes for GREAT enchiladas? I didn't...now I do. I used to put leftovers in the fridge, wait until they would look like a science experiment, and then throw them away. Not so any longer!
Yarn diet...sigh. Nope. I won't lower my standards on this one...ever. But I am committed to knitting up everything I own before I die. The first thing on my bucket list I guess.

Ray did an in-person interview after a successful phone screening and felt good about it. But it's been a week and they haven't called. Now, looking back on it, he's thinking it was more fishing for information rather than honestly looking for a web architect. Bummer...

So life goes on. This week it's time to find an accountant to start our taxes. I sure hope there will be good news on that front.

Chanel's latest picture - she helps me knit! Actually she just sleeps.

How much can one guy handle?

2009-02-24T21:27:00.000-08:00

Sofie and Nelson decided they had to have daddy's lap, and Chanel wrapped her tail around his neck. How much pussy can one guy handle??