My Sister's Yarn Shop or "Come to the Dark Side"

Episode 19

Production scheduling

1. Events
   1. Ann Arbor Fiber Expo October 22 and 23^rd at the Washtenaw Farm Council Grounds.
   2. Yankee Peddler Festival in Canal Fulton, OH 3 weekends in September the weekend of the 10^th, 17^th, and 24^th. I'll be at this event on September 18^th. Be sure to drop by the Algonquin Spinning and Weaving Guild's booth. There will be crafts for kids I have it on good authority that they will be making yarn and woven bracelets. Not sure if B will be able to pull this off but we'll try. I hear I know the lady helping out with the crafts pretty well. <It's my mom...>
   3. Newly scheduled and the event that I’m most looking forward to! I will be attending Session one of Camp KIP April 21-24 2012.
2. The Yarn Discovery tour is in full swing. I made y 1^st two stops today!
   1. I met a few ladies from my Knitting group at My sister's Yarn Shop in Green Ohio. Very helpful ladies! Very friendly! A good amt of knitted samples of patterns available and the ladies knew where the patterns were. Decent selection including new and trendy items like ruffle ribbon yarn. Which I don't think I would ever use but it was very cool to see and to be show how it's used. This show also has tons of natural light which I think of as a big plus when I'm choosing colors. So what did I buy? I bought a book of Christmas tree ornaments, the samples for these were out in a bowl on a table and they were gorgeous. Picture a glass Christmas ball ornament covered with a fine gauge knitted sleeve with beading. I know that probably isn't the best description but they were very pretty and I'll be making a bunch of these the pattern book is called Beaded Ornaments to Knit by Leisure Arts if you're dying for photos check out www.ornamentalknits.com. Also purchased 2 skeins of Heritage silk in color 5637 Which is a dark peacock blue. I think this is going to become the I Heart Lace shawl, and because I can't resist a funky sock yarn 1 skein of Marks and Kattens Fame Trend Sock in Party... Party seems to be the new purple. This time party is a kaleidoscopic mix of fuscia, teal, brown, purple, and mint green. These are going to be awesome socks! Out of the two shops today this was my favorite.
   2. Second stop of the day was Stitch piece N' purl in Cuyohoga falls Ohio. I was pretty surprised at how close this shop is to my house. I had no I idea where I was until I was following my GPS home. The owner here is very nice (even though I did not catch her name) The store itself is HUGE. But they're nor really using it. When I walked up I was pretty excited to see a Louet wheel in the window. I was hoping for a local supplier for roving but alas all they had were some over priced 2 oz balls in black. <Sigh.> The rest of the room with the wheel and roving was occupied with cross stitch supplies and some comfy couches. (Always a plus.) The next room was the yarn room and they had a large selection of berroco and Heritage yarns. The thing that stuck out the most were the sample projects. I saw a gorgeous alpaca purse (the Brea Bag Pattern) and that made me buy the yarn to make it (2 skeins Berroco Ultra Alpaca in color 6279 which is a reddish brown, something nice and neutral the will go with most everything.) I'm also coveting the Intertwined Shawl that was on a mannequin. That shawl has a basket weave “medallion” for lack of a better word front. It's gorgeous and I may so back and pick up the yarn for that soon. Though I need to decide if I want to do it in wool or cotton as they had both on display. The owner told me she has recently decided to get out of the quilting supply business. I'll definately go back to this shop but I hope she expands her yarn and possibly starts to carry some spinning fibers.
3. Production
4. What's in my Tea Pot
5. QC Inspection
6. Materials Sourcing
7. After 5

II Production / QC

The beginning of this week the knitting was going really well. Then yesterday It went bad, All Bad. So both of my projects are in QC so we'll just combine QC with Production.

1. Twisty Sister Cabled Hand Warmers by Kate Gondwana out of the donated acrylic for my friend with the cold hands. I love this cable it looks so much more complicated than it is. I've been trying on this 1^st mitt all week and admiring it. SO I came home all excited that I had some new toys to play with and in a mood to knit and I picked this up. I was going along fin until I had a double twist row and somehow I got distracted and I had two many stitches and lost my way in the pattern. So I tried to tink back and it wasn't going well so I slid out the needle and frogged the row. I thought I could get away with this because the acrylic is so stiff that the stitches really don't move when the needle slides out. What I didn't bargain for was me not getting them back on the needle in the right order and with that mistake twisted the cable in wrong direction. SO with the yarn harlot's instructions in hand (and I may even follow the advice of having a lie down and a drink before hand...) I will attempt to isolate those 4 stitches drop down and retwist the cable. Though it will not be tonight because I think I've done enough damage tonight. Because we respect our knitting elders around here and because it's a pretty funny and informative read I've linked to The Yarn Harlots Cable fix Tutorial. If things get any worse... I will go for the full on voodoo fix. It might require some rum, a cigar, and some dancing but I'm not above it to fix 4 stitches on the last repeat of some acrylic mitts. :) http://www.yarnharlot.ca/blog/archives/2006/06/20/all_is_not_lost.html
2. The Spiral Viscous … Insert the sound effect from Psycho here. I cast this on for the 1 of sever time this week at knit group last Sunday. I had a few false starts on it and I had it PERFECT until last night... I had the waterfall rib done and I was through the 1^st repeat. I had to tink back one needle to fix an error but that went well and I was back on my way. I was working with out a net no stitch markers and no life lines. I was feeling good! Flying along... Feeling as if I had this pattern beat! Then I got distracted and the lace repeat jumped out of my head and I started knitting a repeat from another row and found it out when I got to the end of the round. SO I took a look at it and tried to find the mistake as I did in the previous round. And I found one on the third needle. SO I tinked back to fix that and put it back into pattern. And I was still one stitch off. On the second tink back to find the mistake I somehow dropped a stitch and as soon as it was free that sucker ran. It ran so far back that I didn't think I'd be able to manage getting the lace repeats correct so I didn't take anyone's advice which was “put it down take a deep breath and look at it in the morning.” I frogged it in frustration right then and there. So I tried to cast it on again today and ended up tearing out again. I'll make another go at it this week and if it doesn't happen I'll let it go back into the UFO bin for a while. AT this point I know the problem with this pattern is all in my head. This is an easy pattern and I'm so amped up and stressed about it I'm making it 20 times more difficult than it has to be. This may be one of those things I set down and pick up and as long as I don't say anything about it and make it not a big deal. It'll happen because there will be no expectations. Besides my knitting mojo has been off this week.

III What's in My Tea Pot

1. Boston Tea party French Vanilla Tea
2. The Back Of the box: Like ice cream dripping from a cone, you'll lick your lips with every sip you take of this French Vanilla tea! The creamy, rich essence of vanilla bean gives a full-body aroma that intensely complements our premium blend of Chinese and Indian black tea. Pour a luscious cup and enjoy this tasty tea any time of day! Take this perfect petite box anywhere you go or give it to a friend, just because you love them! Taste a piece of American heritage with Boston Tea!
3. I didn't have high hopes for this one. I got it in a gift basket. Pleasantly surprised it's yummy. I taste the vanilla and the Lipton – esque black teach with a bit of almond. I got this for free but I would buy it if I saw it. Doing some research it can be order from the Boston Tea Party Website.

IV Materials Sourcing

When the knitting wasn't going so hot I sat down at my wheel to spin. Which was easy to do since I got a new toy!

1. This past Wednesday was my birthday and Joe was an awesome husband and braved the internet and ordered me some gifts! The first being a skein winder from Babe's Fiber garden. This model attaches to my wheel and the price was right. So now that I had my new skein winder the red alpaca was wound off and Skein-ed with the help of B who really likes spinning the skein winder. I hear I'm expecting one more knitting related gift and I think it's my lace blocking wires. He must have bought them off of ETSY because the shipping is taking too long for him to have ordered the ones from knitpicks. But that's me making wild conjectures. Cross your fingers they're the ones from Etsy and that I can review them next week!
2. With the Red alpaca hanging up to dry and not being ready to wind all of the gray alpaca singles into a plying bracelet. I pulled out the 4 oz of merino/ silk mix I got at Woolfest. This fiber is Cranberry with a bit of pie crust brown and white silk. It reminds me of one of Joe's favorite fall recipe’s I make him. Cranberry Duff. Which is sort of an upside down cake with cranberry instead of pineapple. I was worried that the silk was going o make the merino overly slippery but it's spinning up very well. This has been one of those that I've found spins better pre drafted. I have no clue what I'm going to do with this fiber but I can't wait to get it done. I'm about 2 thirds through the braid.
3. I also did some swatching this week and knitted up swatches out of that nubbly Black cherry fiber I got at Woolfest. It's nice spun up it look like a novelty yarn and make a pretty fabric very reminiscent of a sweater I already own. This will be a real PITA to spin, and will make a nice rustic looking cloth. No Idea when I'll get back to it. I'm still a bit put off but how hard it was to get that sample skein. Also swatched was the potluck fiber in the Party Colorway not to be confused with the party colored sock yarn I bought today. I entered this yarn in to the SUM SUM SUMERTIME spin along summer challenge on the I got Ewe babe discussion board on ravelery and I've renamed it Midway because it reminds me of the colors on the Salt water taffy stand at Cedar point. (trust a fat girl to remember what the candy stand looked like...) So I swatched Midway for the slouchy beret and it looks like if I go up to a sz 8 needle I can get it done. SO who knows maybe I'll get that cast on.

V After 5

As I mentioned before Joe is trying to be very supportive of the amount of fiber that's been running through the house. When we met he knew I knit but it wasn't something that I did in front of him all that often. When we moved in together he moved my then meager stash and saw my UFO's bit we were in the midst of planning our wedding and I had other crafts going on. (like the 200 stamped favor bags... or the 150 Jordan almond flowers...) Suffice to say that since B was born and I started sleeping regularly again the fiber crafting has been becoming more and more prevalent. Last night while I was sitting on the couch knitting on the cabled mitts. He said “I think I should support you and try to knit.” Talk about being shocked. I just kinda sat there and looked at him for a moment. Now my dad has been going to guild meetings with my mom and I saw him knitting a pumpkin hat. I don't know that it was ever finished but I know my dad can knit in the round. My dad is also a boat guy and he knows that knitting was one of those things that manly men did on ships Ishmael over there did scrimshaw and Mr, Hornblower knits socks... My husband as we've discussed in the past is not that guy. He's not into the history to know that there's a rich history of knitting men. Or that it can be considered manly. So he went on to say...” I know I saw your dad knitting that hat and if he can do it...” ahhhhh he doesn't know the bit about the sailors... “I don't think I should start on anything large like you do... Maybe something small like that Teddy bear kit I bought you.” That Kit was to make a small stuffed toy with shaping. I told him I didn't think that was the best pattern to start on . Then he suggested something totally off color. Typical... I won't even tell you what it was but there is a pattern for it on ravelry. What we've settled upon is a decepticons wash cloth. So I'll be sitting down to teach Joe the art of Knits and Purls some time in the next few weeks. “Yes, My dear... Come to the dark side....” :)

2 Mustaches and a Beard of "Flaming Marshmallows"

bEpisode 18

Production scheduling

1. Events
   1. Ann Arbor Fiber Expo October 22 and 23^rd at the Washtenaw Farm Council Grounds.
   2. The yarn discover tour is running September 9-24. This is pretty much a 2 week yarn crawl. I can't wait an excuse to go to yarn stores I normally don't get to Hurray! More info can be found at www.yarndiscoverytour.com
   3. Yankee Peddler Festival in Canal Fulton, OH 3 weekends in September the weekend of the 10^th, 17^th, and 24^th. I'll be at this event on September 18^th. Be sure to drop by the Algonquin Spinning and Weaving Guild's booth. There will be crafts for kids I have it on good authority that they will be making yarn and woven bracelets. Not sure if B will be able to pull this off but we'll try. I hear I know the lady helping out with the crafts pretty well. <It's my mom...>
   4. Newly scheduled and the event that I’m most looking forward to! I will be attending Session one of Camp KIP April 21-24 2012.
2. Production
3. What's in my Tea Pot
4. QC Inspection
5. Shipping
6. Materials Sourcing
7. After 5

II Production

Knitting has been my primary focus this week and it's been moving along in starts and fits.

1. Twisty Sister Cabled Hand Warmers by Kate Gondwana. It's been a while since I did anything cabled! These are for a friend who asked for some fingerless gloves. The deal was that I get to pick the pattern and she get's to supply the yarn. Big mistake... I should have let he pick the pattern and pay for the yarn... Because she presented me with a pound of red heart acrylic. <Sigh> I just cast this on tonight I'm through the set up rows and I just started twisting cables. So far so good!

III What's in My tea Pot

1. Choice Organic Teas Lemon Lavender Mint
   1. I found this one while Nate and I were out killing some time in downtown Kent. We stopped by a local coffee shop called Scribbles and I picked this up with my Latte.
   2. Refresh yourself with this calming, caffeine-free cup featuring accents of sun-blessed lavender. Our sophisticated blend combines these blossoms with layers of mellow lemon and crisp mint for a fresh, yet soft-tasting tea that will elevate your sense of well-being. (Caffeine Free)

3. Ingredients Organic Spearmint*, Organic Lemongrass, Organic Peppermint, Organic Lemon Peel, Organic Lavender, and Organic Lemon Oil  *Fair Trade Certified
4. I like this one. But I can;t say that I taste the Lavender. I taste mostly mint with a bit of lemon that hits in the back of the throat. This box will get drunk but it's not a must stock in the house at all times tea.

IV QC Inspection

1. It's baaaack... Spiral viscous is back on the needles. This Sunday was brunch with the knitting group and I had nothing on my needles. I'd been intending on getting the spiral viscous back on the needles soon and as I had nothing better to work on I pullout the spiral viscous This pattern is really called Spiraluscious by Anne Hanson. I've been attempting to knit this in Bamboo and Ewe sock yarn I had in Bamboo and Ewe Purple. I know it's purple but it's a UFO! The last time I decided to frog this it was because I notices a jog in the spiral and I couldn't let it go. Usually I'm not a perfectionist knitter. I will fix mistakes but I take the view of if it isn't noticeable and no one besides myself and the designer will be able to find it I may leave it alone. As long as knowing the error is there won't drive me nuts. The jog in the spiral was driving me INSANE. SO when I pulled out the project with my not cards. ( I like to write out my repeats on note cards and flip through them as I finish rows. It helps to remind me of what row I'm on and saves on ink) I checked the pattern repeats for the body and everything matched up. Since I was traveling with the project I noted how the two moved stitches were to be accomplished. I thought I was set for every eventuality. Only when I sat down at Panera and pulled out my yarn to cast on did I realize the only thing I didn't write down was THE NUMNER OF STITCHES TO CAST ON! Joe has really been earning his stripes as a fiber husband this week. I had to run outside and call him on my cell phone and gave him a quick crash course in how to find what I was looking for on the pattern. Even though he was ale to give me that magic #. (96) I still couldn't get the first 2 rows to come out right. This is not a hard pattern. I should be able to sail through this. But for some reason it's just not happening. I'm making this one a goal and I'll be casting it on yet again sometime this wee.
2. I never go out to Knit group without a back up project. My back up project for this week was the Drop Stitch Scarf by Christine Vogel (another freebie from ravelry) This scarf is very much on the line of my Embassy scarf but I was searching through ravelery looking for something to do with 2 skeins of Lion Brand Moonlight Mohair in Rain Forest. I got these as a gift. I would never have bought this for myself but sometimes things that I would never buy or myself turn out to be really great. SO I was surfing projects made with this yarn and I saw the drop stitch scarf and it was one of the best idea I saw. I hat this yarn. It's hard to work with the mohair fuzz gets matted up and tangled and it hurts my hands. I'm going to frog this wind the ball back up and offer it up at the next stash swap.

V Shipping

1. The Summerflies Shawl by Holly and Ella Knits done in my Indian Rose Zauberball. This pattern is gorgeous and blocked out like a dream. The knotted open work is GORGEOUS I'd like to use that stitch as the body a sweater and the namesake butterflies are ingenious. This shawlette knit up super fast and I love the colors in the yarn. I wore it out and about this weekend and got plenty of compliments. The only thing I'm not crazy about is the picot edge. I think it's a bit busy but I have a lot of color going on so it could just be my interpretation. I would knit this one up again in a heart beat but I think the stitch patterns used would lend themselves really well into a baby / toddler sweater.
2. 

   Pin It
   
   Okay so here's where the knitting got a bit crazy thins week... Nate wants one of those hats with the beard and mustache attached. I looked around and couldn't find and free patterns I liked and the one I did find was 17.00! But I did find a beard pattern and a few mustache patterns and all the hat patterns I wanted. SO Nate decided the base hat he like best was the Ribbed Hat Pattern By Judy Gibson http://tiajudy.com/ribcaps.htm he wanted the beanie style and chose some Lion brand wool-ease in variegated denim out of my stash. The pattern is super easy and super fast I finished the base hat in one night. I really like this pattern and the hat looks good on me too! So I may have one of these in black for this winter. So now that I had a hat I needed a beard we used Chelsea Slater's Short Beard pattern and again dove into the stash for some brown acrylic to match his hair. The pattern is pretty straight forward it's just garter stitch and shaping. The hard part was the mustache. Chelsea slater doesn't provide a link to the mustache in her picture but recommends a crochet mustache. The est one I found as an amigurumi pattern by Tara Murray http://easymakesmehappy.blogspot.com/2011/02/crochet-mustache-pattern.html. This was my first Amigurumi project who knew it would have been a mustache!. Since I was attaching the mustache to the hat I didn't stuff it. But as I looked at it I thought it was a bit to large and hard to breathe through so I went back to the net and found The Knitted Mustache by Holly2 on http://www.instructables.com/id/Knitted-Moustache this one turned out to be little less thick and easy to breathe through but I curls and I didn’t want to knit a second one to “line” it for fear I'd be back at square 1. So Here I am with three completed may patterns and nothing connected together yet. It'll come together sometime this week and I'll post pics. Nate seems to be pretty happy with all his design choices. I think he may be even a little impressed at the speed that things are running at. My only issue? What to do with the left over mustache!

VI Material's Sourcing

With all the knitting this week the spinning has taken a bit of a back seat. I did decide to ply to 50/50 romney alpaca blend against itself into a 2 ply. I started plying the “red” ball. My last foray into the realm of the center pull ball wasn't all the successful so I took a page from Abbe Franquemont and did the Andean Bracelet plying method. Which is a bit rough on the skin if you wind your bracelet too tight, but plies like a dream. Definitely wot having the “Claw Hand: while winding.

VII After 5

The beginning of this week was a bit crazy... Daycare called me on Monday to say that B's eye had swollen up. Joe is allergic to absolutely everything and it looks like he's passed that on to B. So after figuring out that it was most likely hay fever I gave him some benadryl before bed and expected everything to be good in the morning. That wasn't the case. B's eye swelled up Golf Ball size during the night. SO we had to take him in to the doctor. At that point I was pretty sure it was a bug bite but the doc couldn't fin any evidence of it and thinks it's just another allergy and out him on a steroid and an antibiotic to be safe.

Ever since the cook out last week B has been obsessed with grilling out add in that he saw a TV show where the kids camped out with smores and B has been in full “I wanna go camping mode.” Unfortunately I had promised my tent to my friend the bride for the long weekend. I would have just set it up n the back yard and had a camp out back there. we cooked burger and hotdogs on the frill and afterward cooked marshmallows on sticks. B has been talking about making S'nore's all week. And no that the time is here where's he at? Running like a madman with a raw marshmallow in each hand while the dog chases him. I was prepared to dodge flaming marshmallows and sticky fingers the running and the yelling... not so much. :) Though Joe did almost fling a flaming marshmallow of his stick at me...

That Geek in FInance or "The Compact Bus"

Episode 17

I Productions Scheduling

1. Events
   1. Ann Arbor Fiber Expo October 22 and 23^rd at the Washtenaw Farm Council Grounds.
   2. The yarn discover tour is running September 9-24. This is pretty much a 2 week yarn crawl. I can't wait an excuse to go to yarn stores I normally don't get to Hurray! More info can be found at www.yarndiscoverytour.com
   3. Yankee Peddler Festival in Canal Fulton, OH 3 weekends in September the weekend of the 10^th, 17^th, and 24^th. I'll be at this event on September 18^th. Be sure to drop by the Algonquin Spinning and Weaving Guild's booth. There will be crafts for kids I have it on good authority that they will be making yarn and woven bracelets. Not sure if B will be able to pull this off but we'll try. I hear I know the lady helping out with the crafts pretty well. <It's my mom...>
   4. Newly scheduled and the event that I’m most looking forward to! I will be attending Session one of Camp KIP April 21-24 2012. How much time is there to Camp KIP? 7 months 24 days 14 hrs 35 minutes 50 seconds.
2. Production
3. What's in my Tea Pot
4. Shipping
5. Materials Sourcing
6. After 5

II Production

1. The Summerflies Shawl by Holly and Ella Knits and as per usual a free rav3elry download. I'm knitting this out of my Zauberball in Indian Rose I am sooooo in love with this yarn. It's variegated with mostly pinks and reds but I think I saw a hint of purple... Ah well.... I guess I need to ween myself off the purple slowly. I'm using sz 10 needles to get gauge and have made it to the end of section 2. This is my second attempt as I wasn't happy at how the stitches pickup around the beginning “Shawl Tab”.

III What's In My Tea Pot

1. Tazo Zen

IV Shipping

1. The Embassy Scarf is done! Woohoo! This one got a bit monotonous toward the end. But it was a fairly quick knit but toward the end I had to force myself to work on it. Mostly though I was thinking. “If I talk about this scarf for yet another week nobody's gonna listen anymore....” Which may or may not be true but it get's my butt in gear. This pattern was the Embassy Scarf by Amy Polcyn I found this pattern in the Spring / Summer 2011 issue of KnitScene magazine I knit this out of Knitpicks Laceweight in Foxtrot. (Which is of course PURPLE!)
2. Kitschy Teacup Pot Holders: {Free Crochet Pattern} from www.tipnut.com. These are being hooked Sugar and Cream Cotton yarn in White, Rose Pink, and Hot Green. One down and three to go. This pattern turned out to be adorably cute. I'm almost afraid to put a pot on it and get it dirty, I finally mastered the lazy daisy's. Well mastered may be a stretch but they are on there and they look cute. I think my girl friends are going to love these. Now to get them done!

V Materials Sourcing

1. This was a spinning kin of week. I Finally finished that bobbin of pot luck fiber and got 205 yds of sock weight yarn! WooHoo. I was pretty impressed with myself. Too bad I don't think I'll get a pair of socks out of it. I may try any way... or then again I may attempt to replicate the weight and spin some more.... either way I didn't get the rest of the worsted – ish I was planning for that slouchy beret. :P huh... well thank goodness I have about 12 more oz of this fiber left. I like this fiber, I like the colors but I think if I had known when I bought it that I would be spinning this 16 oz for all eternity I may have just stopped at 8. (yeah I know I'm being over dramatic.
2. After the Party colored fiber came off the wheel I couldn't resist the 50 / 50 Romney / alpaca Blend I picked up from Kirkwood farms. (The ones with the Cute sheep bags at Peninsula Fiber Fling.) I love this fiber the singles are really soft, It's been a real PITA to spin. It's probably my inexperience but getting the draft to move across the fiber instead of down the side can be a struggle. That said when things are going well it flows like “Butta”. I thought I bought two balls the same color what I actually have is a gray blend and a reddish brown one. The singles are spun and rested. I'll do some samples and decide I want to ply them together, separate, chain, or double.
3. I also Pulled out the Black Cherry fiber I picked up at Great Lakes farm Park. This one is going to be a challenge I didn't notice when I bought it but this fiber a has some add chunks of something blended into it. The fiber doesn't want to draft. I don't always pre draft. It depends on the fiber and it depends on what I'm doing with it. Usually in the beginning stages of spinning a new fiber I'll try to pre draft a bit and spin a bit with out pre drafting. When I tried to pre draft this it ripped apart. Spinning without pre drafting yielded a very slubbly single. No sure what I'm going to do with this fiber. It may be taking a trip back to the stash to hibernate for a bit more.

VI After 5

After 5 this week has been a whirl wind. I don't know what tit is about back to school season but it always catches me totally unprepared. It never fails that I promise my self I will not be at walmart or target the night before school starts. But when that fated day rolls around where am I? Kohl's. But only because Nate wanted button down shirts. I went to that Plaza intending to go to Target. So now gone are the days of sleeping in and not having to compete for the bathroom. Nate has what they call a compact class at one of the other school systems about a half hour from the house. So we have to make sure he's at school at 7 to catch his compact bus. When I read on the paper he had to ride the compact bus I thought that was PC for the short bus. Needless to say he was quite scandalized by that. Luckily compact does not mean short bus it means the but to the schools within the compact.

Work has been crazy... Hurricane Irene will be causing some havoc for me this weekend. Naturally a lot of my customers went into panic mode and I spent the better part of this week cleaning things up on the coast. We also had one of our younger guys in finance went crazy and decided to put about 20 assorted sun catchers on his window. Now I might understand this if it was a window that got any sum but it's and inward facing window that looks out onto the customer service cube farm. We're also not talking about 1 or 2 sun catchers we're talking 10-12 in assorted shapes there's fruit, a frog, a race car, a flowers... too may to remember, So this guys windows has been a point of conversation about the office and it's driving one of my interns absolutely nuts. This intern has been around for a while. He's been with us since his freshman year and is by now really more of a contractor instead of an intern. He's one of those people who knows how things should be and gets a it angry when someone bucks the rules. Case I point he thinks the sun catchers are pretty un professional. Be that as it ,ay we're a pretty casual work environment. Management worries when I wear business attire. I had an apt the required I look professional and I was asked if I had an interview...:) So the intern came back in a huff this week to discuss. “the window” and I said... “Yeah! What is up with that it looks like somebody's grandmas kitchen.” We discussed perhaps putting up frilly curtains in his window to compliment the sun catchers and then he said it... “maybe we should give him some knitting … to go along with his grandma theme.” Now I know this kid well enough to buy him a Christmas present and have lunch with him. He'll text me after hours if he needs something and is in Kent. He's seen me knit on lunch and he knows about the obsession. I just about had to kill an intern. Instead … “Forget you man! He's not cool enough to knit!.”

This Friday was also my mom's Birthday. SO Happy Birthday Mom.

Special thanks also this week to Jknitsalot for her review on Itunes this week If I'm not mistaken I believe she write the the Knitting in the Red Blog at www.knittingintheredfl.blogspot.com which is linked to in the show notes. Yes... I actually did the link this time.

Recipe Links

It's been brought to my attention that I'm a total slacker and did not link to the recipe's for the Cake Batter Truffles or the Marshmallows. Yeah... had a brain lapse. :) Here they are just in case anyone would like them. Now that I think of it though... Truffles sound pretty good right about now.

http://www.the-girl-who-ate-everything.com/2011/03/cake-batter-truffles.html

http://smittenkitchen.com/2009/06/springy-fluffy-marshmallows/

Summer Spin along Entry

The Center skein is fingering weight 205 the ends are heavier at 30 & 75 yds respectively.

Loopy Me or "I Give You My Heart"

Episode 16

I Productions Scheduling
1. Events
1. Ann Arbor Fiber Expo October 22 and 23rd at the Washtenaw Farm Council Grounds.
2. Yankee Peddler Festival in Canal Fulton, OH 3 weekends in September the weekend of the 10th, 17th, and 24th. I'll be at this event on September 18th. Be sure to drop by the Algonquin Spinning and Weaving Guild's booth. They'll be doing demonstrations and may have crafts for kids!
3. Newly scheduled and the event that is now the one I am most looking forward to! I will be attending Session one of Camp KIP April 21-24 2012. This is not the session with all the cool kids... but as I told my mom who I've talked into going with me. “We're cool and fun...” So we're pretty excited to be going and can't wait to see everyone in session one!
2. Production
3. What's in my Tea Pot
4. Material sourcing
5. After 5

II Production
1. The Embassy Scarf by Amy Polcyn found in the Knitscene summer 2011 issue. I’ll be knitting this out of Knitpicks Shadow lace weight in Foxtrot.
1. I made up for ignoring this pattern last week. This is the project that got most of the love. I think I did a better job with this pattern this week on pain killers than I have in the previous 2 weeks. Go figure! Strictly by eyeball I'll say I'm almost at the halfway point. I've kinda fallen back in love with this scarf this week. I had gotten to the point that the toe up sock was much more interesting. (Maybe since it was a new technique????) The resulting fabric is very fine and I'll admit that Joe caught me wearing it with the needles in it. IS it just me or does anyone else doh that?
2. Knitting A Basic Toe-Up Sock Using the “Magic Loop” Circular Method One Sock on One Circular which is a free ravelry download and available at http://www.tostetoes.com/onesockoneneedletoeup.htm
1. Even though I'm pretty sure I'll be running out of yarn for this i'm still knitting on it off and on. I'm praying for a miracle. But I'm expecting reality to break through at any moment. I'm to the point where I need to decide what I'm doing. I know I should frog the sock and turn it into a hat. But I have another ball of left overs. I'm tempted to cast on the second sock and then find something that coordinates to finish both.... Decisions decisions... I wish I knew why I'm sooo attached to this half done sock....
3. Kitschy Teacup Pot Holders: {Free Crochet Pattern} from www.tipnut.com. These are being hooked Sugar and Cream Cotton yarn in White, Rose Pink, and Hot Green.
1. I finally finished the second of the pink tea cups. So Now I have a set. All that's left to do Is put on the “lazy Daisy's” and whip stitch them together. One problem I can't lazy daisy to save my life. It may just be my currently muddled state of mind but I couldn't pull it off so the tea cup is hibernating in the project bag.

III What's In my Tea Pot
1. Storehouse Tea Company Earl Grey Organic Fair Trade Black Tea Organic Fair Trade black tealeaves and natural bergamot flavor. Organic Earl Grey is a rich full bodied blend of bold flavored Yunnan Dian Hong harvested from antique tea trees infused with natural Bergamot citrus from Southern Italy. Studies show black tea can help prevent plaque build up in the arteries and is effective for cholesterol reduction.
1. Straight out fo the package the Bergamot is a bit assertive. I like earl gray and I never thought I would ever think there was sucha thing as too much bergamot. Luckily brewing tamed it down and this is a nice Earl Gray. The leave are nice and large and stand up well to a second steep. I won't say that this will un seat my favorite Earl Gray but this is a great alternative if I'm out of my usual. I really enjoyed this one.

IV Material sourcing
1. Spinning this week was fairly minimal I did sit down twice this week to spin. I'm still working on the 1st eight oz ball of the 16 oz of Pot luck fiber in the party colorway from Paradise fibers. I'm trying to finish this bobbin so I can try out that alpaca blend I bought at the fiber fling last week. But as the podcast is late and I can't spin while I'm guilty... here I am... I have been looking at the previously plied bobbin and I think the long color repeats will lend itself well to a beret possibly... Sandra's Slouchy Beret by Sandra Alice which is as always a FREE ravelry download.

V After 5

After 5 was shaping up to be pretty productive this week.  Back in the time before AJ was banished to the shipping dock.  I had an office in a quiet part of the building.  I only had on neighbor that I cold rely on to actually be in the office.  We shared our “wing” with upper managerial types that traveled and the line leaders who were out on the production floor all day.  Needless to say my neighbor and I became pretty good friends.  So we started celebrating each others birthdays and exchanging at Christmas.  Even now after my banishment to shipping and her relocation to customer service we still exchange.  It just happens that Mel’s b-day was last Friday.  Now we all know that AJ is early for nothing.  So when Mel decided to take a few vacation days around her day.  I got a reprieve on the present.   Through the years I’ve gotten my friend just about anything you can imagine…  Purses, Earrings, candles, vases….  I’ve even knit for her!  Even though she does support my knitting and suitably oohs and ahhs over my latest pair of socks or lace shawl.  These items are not her style and I wouldn’t consider them appropriate gifts.  So I was in a quandary.  What to get my friend who has almost everything.  I had been hemming and hawing over this for days when even my interns had figured out what they were going to give my friend (A cookbook…).  So while I was wallowing in my indecision I started perusing yarn on line.  (Come on admit it you do this too….)  When I found it! On the Loopy Ewe Blog page.  A recipe for Cake Batter Truffles!  After some thought I figured I’d make the truffles and some Home made S’more Marshmallows put them in a nice new vase / container add some ribbon et voila’ a gift to put the interns to shame.  If you like cookie dough or licking the cake batter spoon you have got to try this recipe.  It’s easy, ingenious, and delicious.  They took about 1 hr total to make and looked like I spent a fortune on handmade candy.  But the best part is that when I was asked where I bought them I gave my little smile and said “Oh, I made those myself.”  my friend suggested that I make them to sell.  (To which I replied Uh …  when?)  And my coworkers are surreptitiously trying to inform me of their various birth dates.    Unfortunately the marshmallows ended up being a day late. The entire time I was in the grocery store making sure I had everything I needed I forgot the gelatin that goes into the marshmallows.  So luckily the truffle recipe made enough to fill the container I bought and have some left over.  I ended up outing that I had planned on making marshmallows and wound up committing my self to make them later in the week.  It was after all of this that I realized it was Wednesday and that I was having surgery on Friday so If they were to appear later that week they had to be made that night.  Why can I never manage to keep my mouth shut?  So B and I went back into the kitchen!  This time there wasn’t much for him to help me with since Marshmallows involve molten sugar.  His involvement was pretty much just licking the spatula at the end.  But that’s the great thing about kids in the kitchen.  They feel like they’ve accomplished something by just dumping sugar into a bowl and licking a spatula.  They almost did not get their chocolate and graham cracker coasting as I managed to seize the dipping chocolate.  Luckily I had some Hershey bars on stand by and everything turned out.  As of now…  In the refrigerator there are maybe 6 truffles, 2 dozen un dipped marshmallows, and ZERO s’more marshmallows.  I think we can tell what Joe like the best.  The one’s I didn’t take to work did not last a full day in the fridge and that’s with me not eating solid food and Nate on vacation with his dad

Not much else has been happening around the house here this week. My world was really derailed by my trip to the oral surgeon. I've been pretty stressed about getting my wisdom teeth out. I have a touch of white coat syndrome as it is. Combine that with all the horror stories I've heard about this particular procedure and my own brand of crazy and you'll get an idea of what a stress ball I've been. It was so bad that Joe got a bit snappish with me and I told him “When something aweful happens to me in their you're gonna regret saying that!” The really funny thing is for all that stressing and freakign out the actual procedure is the easy part! Sit in the chair... get hooked up to the tubes. Breathe the gas and go to sleep. The hard part is the week after. I had no idea how loopy the pain meds were going to make me. I spent the day of the procedure asleep. And when I wasn't asleep I was LOOPED! After that I figured out the dosage was to high and cut it back. Day two – four were spent in mostly sleep with a few precious hours of being up and feeling good. Which I put to good use and I knit! Today was the first day I felt anywhere near normal and that wasn't even until this evening. So I'm really not looking forward to finding all the things I botched at work this morning! But the hands down best thing that came of this was yesterday. Joe had gone back to work and it was just the kids and I home. I was about at my melting point. B just wanted to play and jump and be his normal self and I just wanted to lay down and cry. In typical 4 yr old fashion he suddenly out of no where had to use the potty. So off he runs and in about 5 minutes I hear that little voice … “mooooommmmy...” of course he needs help. So I go in and I;m helping him get back together and he say's. “you know what, mommy?” and I say “What, B?” and he says “I love you, Mommy.” He's already got me but then he pulls out the finisher. “Do you know what that means Mommy? It means I give you my heart.” I swear on a stack of bibles that came out of my 4 yr olds mouth and I did cry. And I told him”I love you to B.” and then he asks “Does that mean I have to give you flowers and presents?” Now if it was his daddy the answer would have been YES, flowers and Sparkly Presents that come in small hinged boxes... but for my little B I told him. “ No Just hugs and kisses.”

Special thanks this week go out to Moxiedot for the wonderful I tunes Review. Thank You!

Fiber Fling or "Nice Tchotchkes"

Episode 15

I Production Scheduling
1. Events
1. Crooked River Fiber Fling
1. Joe, B and I made it out the door in record time to meet up with the Cuyohoga falls knit and hook group. We were supposed to meet up with them at 11:30 at GAR hall.
2. I made a tactical parking error. How was I supposed to know that this “Fling” wasn't at a centralized place. It's spread all over the town.
3. We never found the Knitter's at the GAR hall but it was packed and the first building was tiny. I saw one vendor selling hand painted roving but the prices were way to high. I also saw some really nice alpaca sport weight yarn but to buy enough for a project would have been exorbitant.
4. It was at this point a woman pulled me aside and said we had to pay the admission fee. I have no problem paying admission. I expected to pay admission... But if you're charging admission perhaps you should be in front of the door. Not sitting off to the side socializing! I’m just saying.
5. We high tailed it out of GAR Hall pretty quickly.
6. The next building was across the street at the historical Society. Much better!
7. 1st in the door I met up with John and Kathy Kirkwood of Kirkwood farms. They sell hand spun wool, roving, and crafts in Mt union Ohio. They are a really nice couple and From them I bought 4 oz of white Romney blended with black alpaca. Soooo Soft and squishy! And almost as good as the fiber was the bag, They have hand stenciled little lambs on them! Sooo Cute!
8. After the second building. I think Joe was on Fiber over load and it was about lunch time but we had to walk all the way down the hill to get to our car. After the long walk back down. We fueled up and took the car out to the farms to see the animals.
9. Heritage farm was worth the drive! There were several farms there with their alpacas. One farm had a sheep being walked around on a leash and among the many vendors was my one shoulda purchased item. Sheephaven Huthworks had angora fiber and angora bunnies. They were soooo cute and Since I have a currently un occupied Guinea pig habitat I think I should fill it with an angora bunny. Joe was not thrilled with this idea. The only thing that stopped me from buying the bunny was never spinning angora before. But I have their website and I'll be placing an order! So if Joe still hasn't dismantled that Pig Habitat by next year I reserve the right to fill it.
10. Heritage farm also had the sno cone truck. BEST IDEA EVER!
11. We did make the drive out to The Spicy Lamb. Parking was a bit wonky. But it was only us and two other cars. It was sooo hot and sooo humid the sheep were hiding and the poor herding dog looked miserable. We couldn't make it to the herding demo... (which woulda been 15 mins) I think Joe was about to spontaneously combust and B was getting grumpy. So we packed it in atfer a quick look around and retreated to the comfort of the AC in the car.
12. It's worth mentioning that the whole house crashed hard after wondering peninsula in the heat. We all to a looooong nap.
2. Ann Arbor Fiber Expo October 22 and 23rd at the Washtenaw Farm Council Grounds.
3. Yankee Peddler Festival in Canal Fulton, OH 3 weekends in September the weekend of the 10th, 17th, and 24th. I'll be at this event on September 18th. Be sure to drop by the Algonquin Spinning and Weaving Guild's booth. They'll be doing demonstrations and may have crafts for kids!
4. Production
5. What's In my Tea Pot
6. Materials Sourcing
7. Shipping
8. After 5
II Production
1. The Embassy Scarf by Amy Polcyn found in the Knitscene summer 2011 issue. I’ll be knitting this out of Knitpicks Shadow laceweight in Foxtrot.
1. This one didn't get much love this week. I think I only got one or two rows of this in between other projects. Like when I was feeling lazy and didn't want to wind handspun skeins in to balls.
2. Knitting A Basic Toe-Up Sock Using the “Magic Loop” Circular Method One Sock on One Circular which is a free ravelry download and available at http://www.tostetoes.com/onesockoneneedletoeup.htm
1. I'm beyond the toe and getting ready to start the 1stof the 2 increase rows before the heel.
2. I'm eying my yarn for this (Which is left overs from another pair of socks)and I don't think I have enough. I'm starting to think instead of a heel I'm going to do some ribbing and turn this into a top down premi hat.
III What's in My Tea Pot
1. On the long walk back down the hill at the finer fling I saw a store front that said” Salada Tea” and I was thinking a local tea shop?! Yay! When I went im the shop I found way more nick nacks than tea. But I did manage to find 2 varieties to try. They were hidden in the from of the shop with local jams...
2. Storehouse Tea Company's Black and Red Tea: Vanilla, Chocolate, Apple, Coconut. The packaging reads The rich, creamy flavor of tropical coconut, and chocolate in a base of Black tea and Rooibos make this tea a wonderful alternative to dessert! High in antioxidants and heart healthy. Ingredients om this one Organic black tea, organic rooibos, organic apple, organic cacao nibs, organic coconut, and natural flavoring
3. The first brew of this was decent. I think it's the apple that throws me in this. The last of the pot that admittedly sat with the leave in the pot was really sweet and fruity . Almost cloyingly so. I don't think this tea is terrible but I don't think I'd buy it again.
IV Materials Sourcing
1. I've done ZERO Spinning this week. I'm a huge slacker!
2. The only material I sourced was a Zauberball in Indian Pink which I will be using to swatch for the Summer Flies Shawl by Donna Griffin. ( A free ravelry download.)
V Shipping
1. Taadaa! I finally have something in shipping!
2. The Age of Brass and Steam Kerchief by Orange Flower patterns. I knit this out of my handspun from the Tour De Fleece. It's currently Cherry pink and natural cream,m white. I'm not sure if I'm loving the colors. I have this itch to soak it in some purple dye. MUST RESIST PURPLE!
3. This was a quick and pretty pattern. It shows of my wonky handspun really well and makes me proud of my efforts. (Even though the yarn ranges from laceweight to bulky. :))
4. I knit this with an extra added section of 10 stockinette repeats and it came out shawlette size next time I knit this pattern I think I'll add yet another 10 repeats and get a full size shawl.
VI After 5
1) B Is livin' for the weekend.
1. B's cousin had a birthday party this weekend. We told B about the party back on Wednesday and every day he asked is it time for the party? He had pretty much had enough of the waiting by Friday morning. I was one intersection before day car when I hear him making frustrated noises the back seat. “What's the matter B?” I ask. And he Relies “We can't go to school!” Uh oh... “We have to go to school today...” and the frustrated wail from the back “WHAT ABOUT THE PARTY!” Lesson learned never talk up the weekend to a 4 yr old before you can refer to it as tomorrow or After night night.
2. B is also learning to drive. This week I had B out in the yard with his power wheels car. He only ran me over a few times and is now making the circuit around the yard and through the grapevine tunnel. We did find a rather nasty looking beehive in one of the bushes by the garage. Which Nate and Joe have been bonding over. What is it about the demise of some?bee's that makes the male brain register “good times”? There's been discussion of how far back you have to be while spraying the hive, how layers of protective clothing to where, and what time of day to cut the hive down... JUST IN CASE. The hive is now down and gone but you better believe my rear end was hiding in the house when it was going on.
3. Joe and I took B to the movies this weekend. This was my first outing with him to the movies. I usually try to avoid places where a rambunctious 4 yr old can ruin another patron experience just by being a 4 yr old. I know this is a novel though to some but there are some places that children don't belong. He did really well at the theater! I think it also helped that the movie was Cars 2. I have to say the new Cars was a fun movie for the whole family. Definite 2 thumbs up from us.
4. Lastly next week's episode may be delayed and or I may skip a week. I'll be having some oral surgery to remove my wisdom teeth and I’m not sure if I'll be up to pod casting. Even scarier... I'm not sure if I'll be up to knitting on pain killers. I think I'll be treating next weekend like I'd treat a night with a few glasses of wine. All knitting will be flat and in the round or in some other way idiot proof. I may come out of my recover period with a long wool tube dress. Yeah, that'll be attractive...