Days 4-7 – September 4-7, 2009
The weekend started early since I had to drive members of my family into Boston so they could start their weeklong cruise to Bermuda. At that point, I had already emailed in most of my orders from the previous week. A number of stores were holding sales, taking the day off, etc. in prep for the fall yarn season.
I spent much of the weekend spinning more of the Kidspun yarn for Great Adirondack Yarn Co. Images of yarns, etc. will be coming soon as I plan to spend some quality photo time next weekend. Over the weekend I spent about 20 hours at the spinning wheel working on yarns for GA and for myself. Of course, there was some great tennis to watch along the way as well as the Torchwood marathon.
Next week: one more trip to central Vermont and a big phone/email yarn selling push
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Day 3 – September 3, 2009
Miles driven – 221 Time on road – 11am to 7:30pm with one store stop
Start/Stop points – Best Western Waterbury, VT/Home
Number of coffee shop stops – 1
Music listened to – “I’m Not Dead” Pink and various NPR channels
Worst part of drive – length of drive
Best part of drive – gorgeous weather and seeing part of Vermont that I have never seen before
My only appointment was in the afternoon. When I scheduled the trip I left Thursday morning open since I was hoping to meet with one or two stores. Neither needed or wanted to meet, so the late start. However, the time was put to good use as I finished a sample hat for one of my companies and I was able to rest up for the long drive home at the end of the day.
Today I visited with Miriam at Wool Away Fiber Arts in St. Johnsbury, VT. The visit went long as many customers came to the store while I was there. However, I always have a sock at the ready, and I continued work on the Waikiwi sock #2. Amongst the things that Miriam ordered is some Raggi yarn in camo and other colorways from Swedish Yarns. Hunting season is approaching and some of her customers are looking to knit some items for the hunters in their lives.
Note: I started writing this on Friday, the 4th, but didn’t get very far as some of my family showed up for me to drive them into Boston for their cruise.
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Harley Two Socks & Rosie O'Grady
I am up here at Great Adirondack Yarn Co. getting my creative juices re-energized. As you can see, two of the company ‘owners’ are showing us all how to relax on an early spring day.
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A kind and confused knitter just pointed out an errata in the Silk Lace Shawl pattern that folks purchased at Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival last week. Row one of the pattern should read: Row 1: Knit and inc one stitch at each end of row.
I apologize for any confused knitting that my mistake may have caused you.
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This weekend I had the wonderful experience of offering 10 tubs of coned yarn in my basement for free (recipients pay postage) to the whole world. After making a couple of posts on ravelry, photographing most of the cones and then entering them on my stash pages, most, if not all of the yarn is now claimed. It was amazing to see how people jumped at the chance and were very gracious about it. There is a whole group of ladies in the UK who all seemed to want the same color of yarn. Fortunately, I had enough of that color for all who asked for it.
This week I will learn the ins and outs of flat box shipping, custom forms, and the like. The people at the post office will get to know me a little better after I ship out the 45+ boxes!! What yarns that were not claimed by individuals, will go to a non-profit organization in NH that is teaching people with disabilities how to weave. All those people will be happy and I can then use the tubs for storage of things that have been just lying around in the cellar.
As I went through the tubs, I came upon some yarns that I still saw as treasures. However, I realized that they didn’t have the same allure for me anymore and that it was time to let them go to homes where they would be used and appreciated.
I really had a blast doing and I know that I will have as much fun packing it all up and sending it off to different parts of the planet.
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Safari Vest
I have been far too busy spinning and knitting to blog. The list of finished items doesn’t reflect the six batches of yarn that I have spun and have already sold to stores. However, it does reflect my current knitting situation. These are images of the Safari Vest that I am creating using Safari Yarn – 100% cotton from Great Adirondack Yarn – which will have some beads on the front. The other is a detail photo of my Secret of the Stole ii where I am definitely in the Tortoise club – midway through clue #3. I have added beads to it even though the pattern didn’t call for them. I have definitely gone bead crazy.
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I looked up from my yarn winding to see my two furbabies taking a nap. Now, I could only learn to relax like that!
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This morning I organized my needles & hooks. Thanks to Ravelry, I now know what I have. if anyone sees me buying any size 3 dp’s or size 6 14″ needles – stop me, please. While I went through them, I found the unique antique needles pictured here. The hammer really moves through the closed fist. And, I love the fact that the hands has nail polish on them. The elephant vase is where I have kept my extra sets of needles for at 25 years. It was a gift from a former apartment mate.
Last evening I had put part of one fleece outside to dry. This morning I looked out and saw that some creature had either tried to take some with it or moved it around to make a little bed for itself. Either way, I have to rinse/wash it again prior to dyeing today. So, no damage done. I hope that animal had a restful sleep!
Now, I head off to dye more wool and then start adding projects, etc. to my ravelry. I think the yarn inventory is going to be the last to be entered. That is going to be too daunting a task for this weekend.
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The past few evenings I have been spinning up some Leicester Longwool and Alpaca that I dyed up a few weeks ago. It is hot and humid here in New England and sitting at my wheel is the coolest area in my living room. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that my wheel is in the direct path of the central fan that we have in our apartment.
I thought that I would also answer some questions that people have posed regarding my MS3. No, I didn’t dye that yarn. It is a yarn from Great Adirondack Yarns called Cobwebs (80% alpaca and 20% silk) in the colorway Pheasant. I am using size 4 needles on it and the beads came from a little bead shop up in Stowe, VT. The beads go perfectly with the yarn. I must have a good memory for color since I didn’t have the yarn with me when I picked out the beads. As to the condition of my kitchen sink – we rent our apartment and I am very careful when dyeing and rinsing out my wool. Fortunately, the kitchen sink is stainless steel. The kitchen has no evidence of dyeing but you should see my collection of old towels!
Today I head off for the western part of MA to babysit my sister’s house and Bull Mastiff. I am really looking forward to knitting and spinning beside the pool with few or no mosquitoes. Even better, her house has air conditioning!!
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Okay – I will admit that I was one of the first to download clue #3 from the MS3 site on this past Friday morning. This is only a sign that I ave grand illusions of grandeur as I was heading up to Manchester, NH to work at a booth at the TKGA show being held up there. However, upon my arrival I saw that a MS3′er had left a message begging for a look at the chart for Clue 3 as she did not have her laptop with her. So, at least, I was able to satisfy one member of the list with an exposure to the chart. Also, I brought my stole in progress along to show other lace knitting addicts.
However, I did not get a chance to start work on it, in earnest, until Sunday morning. At this point, I am only half way through the clue/chart. One thing that I have learned is that I need to get up at least an hour before my DH on those mornings when I am going to work on the stole. This morning I didn’t have enough time between my wake up and his to get into the stole ‘zone’. So, when he left for work, I was not relaxed enough nor feeling secure enough in my stole knitting to idly look up from the chart and wish him well on his day’s journey into the morass of daily work. I did look up from the chart long enough to kiss him goodbye but went right back to the chart as he was heading to the door. He went on to tell me pertinent information, like when he was coming home, and he made the mistake of looking back. When he noticed that I wasn’t looking at him and intently listening he asked if I had in fact heard him. Yes, I had. But, following the chart ( on a row with many decreases, etc.) was far more important at that time. This could be one of the reasons why men don’t get this fiber addiction that we seem to have.
Sleep well and may the threads of your dreams remain untangled.
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