Happy New Year!

I hope 2008 is filled with wonderful things for all of you!

Have a blast tonight! And enjoy some good football tomorrow.

(I'd say "go dawgs" but I think Hawaii should win. Don't throw things at me.)

On Christmas

This is the first year that Nate and I have put up a Christmas tree. We have a few ornaments but rather than going out and buying more, we just got a really pretty garland and matching topper.


The tree is just so pretty in its simplicity, it might be my favorite tree ever. Just the garland and white lights. I love it! (He found this cranberry garland at Target. Love that store!)

I'm driving to my mom's house after work tomorrow to visit and deliver scarves, then I'm driving back home on Saturday for Nate's birthday on Sunday. His only wish every year is to not travel on his birthday, and since we don't have kids or a very long drive to our families homes I honor that wish if possible. All that changes the minute we have a child though, and he might have to do a little growing up and getting over it. But I'll still honor the "no red or green wrapping paper" on his birthday gifts.

We don't do a traditional Christmas at all. The only reason we have a tree is because it was free from our neighbor and I insisted we put it up now that we have one. Mostly out of tradition more than anything, since he's an atheist and I'm just not religious. The lights are pretty and they make me smile, so I think it's worth it!

We give each other gifts, but it's never a surprise and we don't wait until Christmas day to deliver. We got each other North Face jackets, and I bought him a very nice chef's knife for his birthday. No wrapping paper or surprise here, and everyone's happy.

Happy Holidays everyone! Have a great couple of days of rest and relaxation and try not to beat any relatives about the head. I know how hard this can be, but only do it if they *really* deserve it.

Smoochies!



p.s. I've added a little info about the mailing list on the left sidebar. If you'd like to join, just shoot me an email. The first one will go out in January!

Why does Theraflu have to taste like ass?

I mean really. I'm drinking the stuff three times a day, I have a virtual BUFFET of Theraflu, and every single one tastes like ass. Not that I know what actual ass tastes like, but in my imagination, it's something really close to Theraflu.

This is all so irritating! Mentally I'm sharp, I'm geared up, I have lots of dyeing and fun things I want to do, and yet about 30 minutes into anything that requires standing and my body says, "oh really? yeah, i think you ought to sit down now, smartass".

So I get two or three skeins wound for my yarn4socks.com order and I'm out of commission for a few hours. They're getting about 20 skeins of the silver yarn, and an exclusive dark pink/purple semisolid called "Kiss Me x 3" (named for the Cure song, natch). And if for some reason they don't like it, I'll put it my shop, cause it is to DIE for. For you Canadians, I also have some of the silver yarn and some Louet going to The Sweet Sheep as soon as I feel well enough to stand over a dye pot. Then I have a ginormous order going to Knitch, again, as soon as I'm well.

At least I can knit while I'm sitting.


I could have been done with my Christmas knitting by now. But no. I got some of the Noro sock yarn and I got sucked into being a selfish knitter. I'm turning the heel on a very tall purply sock for ME. But look! It's green and purple and gray and pink and black and purple again! How could I not cast on?

I think I need to drag my knitting to a Barnes and Noble with a Starbucks inside just to get out of the house, cause I'm getting a little nutty being cooped inside for 3 days straight.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend, ya'll! I'm going back to work tomorrow, hell or high fever!

Grrrr damn it

I had such a fab weekend planned.

Two Christmas parties, both including insane amounts of yummies, tacky gifts (on purpose), and spiked punch (definitely on purpose). And now I have the stupid flu. Physically I feel better, thanks to my chiro therapy, but otherwise I'm pretty sure I got hit by a cross-campus bus around 7:30 this morning. (Read: my bones and joints don't hurt, but that's about all I have going for me.) So I'm OD'ing on vitamins and orange juice and waiting it out. When I get restless I dye yarn or knit.

Thanks for all the great comments on my scarves! I'll be sure to model them when I'm done, provided it's not a weave-ends-then-immediately-wrap scenario.

On a completely unrelated note, I've been getting tons of emails and etsy convos about my yarn, which is awesome, but I'm wondering if setting up a newsletter would be an easier way for me to communicate. What do you guys think? If I started a (totally voluntary) newsletter letting folks know about store updates, would you be interested? I have no idea how these things work either, so maybe a little insight would be helpful too.

Thoughts?

Oh look, it's Wednesday

And I happen to have a WIP report for you (finally).

I'm only knitting three scarves for Christmas gifts this year. I finally got started on Nate's sister's scarf, the Woven Cables pattern in Sublime Yarns Cash/Merino/Silk DK.

I knit a good 3-4 inches further than this last night while watching the last few episodes of Prison Break (2nd season, I'm still catching up), then I discovered a miscrossed cable and had to rip back to about what you see here. Grr.

I only have 3 balls of this yarn (about 300 yards) and the pattern calls for 700 yards, so I'm only knitting one pattern repeat. I think I like it a little better than the original pattern. It's simpler, yet definitely wide enough to be a good fitting scarf. And the yarn is soooooo soft.

This is the One Row Scarf for my mom in Jo Sharp Silkroad Aran Tweed, in the Posie colorway. It's coming along. I'll probably use 2.5 balls of the yarn and it will be as long as I'd like it.

Also in the Silkroad is my step-dad's Irish Hiking Scarf. He's a very tall man, so this is taking forever. At least it's easy and nice to work with!



In other news, Nate and I did the bulk of our Christmas shopping on Monday. Shopping for girls who are 13 and 8 is no easy feat. When I was 13 all I wanted was heavy metal tapes (CDs were just a passing fad), Guess jeans, Swatch watches and black eye shadow. I was such a little rebel, har. I couldn't tell you what I wanted when I was 8. Probably lots of Barbies and a Cabbage Patch Kid. Gosh I feel old now.

Have a great Wednesday!

Ms. Boleyn if you're nasty...

I found this little quiz over at the JollyEwe's blog, and it cracked me up. Then again, I have a strange fixation with all things 15th and 16th century England, so it's fitting.

Which of Henry VIII's wives are you?


this quiz was made by Lori Fury




p.s. Monday is half over! Yay!

And of course, world peace

I feel like I won the Miss America pageant or something! And I didn't have to wear a bikini or do a choreographed dance! Believe me, I would not win any contests if those two things were requirements. The world is lucky that they never have to witness such a catastrophe.

It has been an overwhelming week, but I've survived the "Harlotting" as it were. I swore that I was just going to do the dyeing for my wholesale orders and chill out the rest of the month. But Stephanie had other plans, and I will gladly change my agenda for her. Seeing as how she came to see me in Atlanta and all. And I'm so grateful. Thanks Stephanie, and thanks to your hoard of readers. You guys rock!

So this weekend will be spent winding yarn and packing/shipping orders, which is awesome, wonderful and pleasantly unexpected. There are still a few skeins of yarn in the etsy store at 10% off with the codeword "Harlot". After that I'll be focusing entirely on my wholesale orders til January. I'm a one woman show and I have a full time job, so it's an interesting adventure!

In knitting news, I'm still (yes still) working on scarves for my parents. Not sure that I'm going to get to Nate's sister's scarf. I might just have to hand her the yarn and needles and show her how to knit it herself. Let's hope my time crunch isn't really that dramatic. I'm not sure "let me teach you to knit your own scarf" qualifies as a Christmas gift.

I know you're probably bored to tears without any pictures, but I just don't have any right now. I haven't been able to touch the knitting or the camera all week. I'll get to it this weekend.

In other news, I'm my new chiropractor's favorite patient.

1. I have to go 3x a week at $35/pop because my body won't hold the adjustments. Merry Xmas to her!
2. I nearly pass out at the sight of my own xrays. This is why I'm not a doctor.
3. I also might pass out if she adjusts my neck the manual way (with her hands). My little nervous system goes into "fight or flight," and uh...I'm a runner.

Today she called me Speshal. Can I get that written on my sash?

World Peace!

Ok Monday...

I take it back.


This time.

Happy (in denial) Monday!

(p.s. Back off Monday or I'll kick your ass. Or just refuse to leave the building, whatever.)

Hi! Hope everyone had a great weekend! Mine was somewhat relaxing, but mostly spent dyeing yarn and decorating a tree.

But I told ya'll I was knitting!

Madge introduced me to BMF's Raven colorways and I just fell in love with Korpii. Madge is devious like that. She shows you yummy yarn and just leaves you to drool and mindlessly order while your credit card screams. (Whether it's screaming in pleasure or pain, I'll leave to your own minds.) It was all I could do to resist the temptation to knit and I finally just gave in. This is your generic stockinette stitch sock pattern using the medium weight yarn and 52 stitches (I started with 60 and got icky pooling so I ripped and reduced the stitch count.) They are the most perfect socks I've ever knit. Turns out if you knit them back to back you can remember what you did and not have to write it down or fudge the second one!

Sexy black and purple, no pooling. Rawr.


This next picture is actually a sock I worked on back in Sept/Oct. I've had a few folks on Ravelry ask me for the pattern so I'm working on writing it all out. The cable is the Buckle Braid Cable pattern from Barbara Walker's Charted Knitting Designs book. I love that book with an unexplainable ferocity. In fact, I thought it was missing for a few minutes and almost went into hysterics.

Yup that's my hand in there trying to stretch out the cables. Wish I had sock blockers right about now. The cable stitches and the knit border stitches are knit through the back loops to make them stand out more. I love that trick!

I'm also working on an Irish Hiking Scarf for my step-dad and a One Row Scarf for my mom (both in Jo Sharp Aran Tweed). I need to cast on for a scarf for Nate's sister but I don't have the right yarn. I'm probably going to have to dye something to make it the right yarn. She wants something green, and I have some natural colored Ultra Alpaca that would be perfect as a green semi-solid. I just don't know what scarf to knit. I'd like it to be a quick knit while looking somewhat complicated or sophisticated. I really like the Woven Cables and Inner Truth patterns. What do you guys think? Or should I pick something entirely different? I'm so indecisive.

In addition, I really want to knit the Urban Homesteader hat for myself!! I *need* a hat with ponytail AND pigtail holes! IEEEE! I love that it has buttons where you can close the parts you're not using. Ok, clearly it's time to confess. I'm not really 31. I'm still 5. And I need pigtails and a hat to go with them. And little flower buttons for the closures.

Have a lovely Monday (or as I'm now referring to it, pre-Tuesday)!