Big Pile, Little Consolation....

Here is what was in the bag that I came home with last night. It was all SMASHED into a garbage bag, and was quite heavy to haul.

At the top of the photo is a drop-stitch sweater knit from Colinette Tagliatelli wool tape. I loved this yarn from the moment we got it in the shop. I bought some for my sister. I bought some for my friend Jane. I never bought any for ME! I have loved the sweater from the day Trudy brought it in. Now it is mine, ALL MINE!

It's probably hard to tell what all is in this picture. There is Burly Spun, some of my coveted Noro Blossom, Inca Alpaca, Debbie Bliss Cashmerino, the new Plymouth Tweed, some Galway, Cherry Tree Hill baby mohair loop, some washable wool for future grandbaby knitting, lots of K1C2 Fleece, also for future grandbaby knitting (no, Kim is not pregnant, and they don't plan on babies for a few more years, but it doesn't hurt to plan ahead, right?) Jake also picked out the green Fleece...he wants to try to knit himself a blanket. Go Jake!

This second photo has some more stuff added to it. This is what I've brought home since the sale started. Added to the pile is a bag of Encore Chunky (top) for an afghan I am going to knit for my niece and her fiance. I'm HOPING it will be a shower gift, but it may end up being a wedding gift. We'll see how it goes. Also a bunch of Butterfly Cotton, Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece (top left), 4 new Addi Turbos, and lots of colors of Galway (along the bottom)

Obviously I played a part in this result. Wall of yarn? Practically gone. Talk about "down to the bare walls.....The other wall had more yarn left, but still....it was hard to believe how fast it flew out the doors over the past few days, but especially yesterday.

The place was packed for just about the entire 9 hours we were open. We even sold 1 of our 2 remaining spinning wheels, so that helped too. It was exhausting...physically and emotionally. It's still hard to wrap my mind around the fact that the store is no more. I am going to stop in again today to see everything packed up and maybe that will make it click in my brain.

Here we are after having pizza and a few drinks after the shop closed last night. We've already set up a time and place for our first knitting date. I'm glad we made sure to do that...we've just got to stay in touch! In the photo are Lynne, Chris, Jenny, Me, Delphine and Amie (in the back) I wish Rebecca was there, but she left for vacation on Tuesday. Unfortunately we didn't get this photo until after Trudy had left. Drats.

I hope I can find room for all this yarn...the guest room/craft room is getting quite full! And because it is still the guest room, and we have guests coming in 2 days, I'd better get crackin' and start stashin' the stash!

Blue Morning....

Today is the last day I will get up and go to work at Ewe 'n Hook Fiber Shoppe. The store will close at the end of the day. I have been sniveling about it ever since I got up and I'm sure there will be many more tears before the day is over.

It's going to be a long day (we're open til at least 7pm) and then we are all gathering for dinner and drinks and memories. Sniff..............

Sniff.....

So this is what has been keeping me pretty busy the past couple of weeks.

The Going Out of Business Sale at the yarn store where I have worked, taught classes, and spent a lot of time, energy (and money!) for the past 2 years.

How is one supposed to feel at a time like this?

Sorrow? ... certainly.
Anger? ...yep, a bit of that....long story.
Relief? ... oh yeah, that too....(part of that same "long story" mentioned above)
Denial? ... definitely...it's hard to believe it's come to this.

Next Wednesday is going to be a hard day to get through. Seeing the doors close, knowing that so much of myself that I poured into that shop will be left to settle along with the dust on the floor.

All of us who worked (and played), taught (and learned) within those four walls have become close...kindred spirits...working against the odds to nurture something which probably never really had fighting chance to grow.

Will we find (or make) the time to seek each other out after this is over? To spend time in each others' company, now that the very thing that knit us together has become unravelled? I hope so. Will our friendships become UFOs? I hope not. I hope all the things we said we'd do together in the future really end up happening. I don't want to say good bye to my comrades on top of saying good bye to the shop.

It has been a challenging time for all of us. We have each grown in so many ways. Pushed ourselves past what we thought we could do. It was during my time at Ewe 'n Hook that I started teaching, and then designing. How rewarding it is to have someone come in and look at your pattern, or the store sample, and say how much they like it...and the words come out of your mouth ..."Thanks! I designed that!" It makes me smile just thinking about how many times that has happened.

A lot of things were just dropped in our laps, and we handled it all. Maybe not in the very best way, but in the best way we could. We all put our hearts and souls into trying to make it work, even when we knew in our hearts it would never be.

So in less than 2 weeks, I will be without a LYS job. But what hurts more than that is the fact that I'll be without a place to drop in to see Chris or Jenny or Lynne or Rebecca or Amie or Delphine or Trudy....whoever is working that day, or just hanging out... to chat, or knit...

I'll be without a LYS. All other fiber sources are "not so local". Some of them I just won't go to, because they are not places I have been made to feel welcome or embraced, so how can one feel creative or inspired in such an environment? I will go the extra (many) miles to the stores who know how to treat their fiber-hoarding customers the way we always tried to treat ours. What is it about certain LYS owners or employees that makes them think that they can keep people coming back for more by ignoring them, or treating them with open rudeness and disdain? I will never understand that as long as I live.

So yes, I will be unemployed, but I will not be idle! First and foremost, I will enjoy summer with my kids. I will also become more focused on my business...working on a new website where I can bring together my patterns, my blog, and the other goodies I have for sale, all in one place. I have had a domain name for a couple of years now but have not put it to good use. Now is the time to do so. I will need a lot help with the techy end of it all, but I am excited to move in this direction, and hopefully be able pull in a little more income once this happens. I want it to look professional, but yet with a touch of whimsy. I'm hoping that along with some teaching gigs at the LYSs that I will set foot in, and some new designs, I'll be able to sell enough patterns (etc.) to contribute to the family funds without having to do something drastic like go back to work at Target! ACK!

Class samples

"Knit with Wire and Beads" is a class I have coming up soon. I am finally crossing things off on my "to do" list and got a couple of these done to take to the shop tomorrow. The one on the left is done with 26 gauge wire and the one on the right is 24 gauge. I like the looks of the 24 gauge wire better, but it is harder to knit with. Both of them made my hands hurt after a little while, so would not try doing one of these all at once. Take a couple of breaks and give your hands a rest. You could adapt this technique to whatever size you want....I am thinking a cuff bracelet might be kind of cool. Or covers for jar candles. Anyone else have an idea?

Catching up with photos--in no particular order

Every year Mike gets me a Hummel figurine for Christmas. I usually give him a hint about which one I might like that year, or a couple of choices. I found this little darling on ebay and sent him the link. Can you believe he was the only one to bid on it and got it at the opening bid price (which was WAY lower than what it's worth)? I am not a smoker, but as you can see, she's sitting on the table next to the couch where I do all my knitting, and holds various knitting essentials which change from time to time.
This is a felted change purse I sent to Diane for Christmas. I have several more clasps sitting here waiting here to become something similar. I loved this project. The pattern is from a Paton's booklet, and I got the clasps from Victorian Cottage Treasures. Cute, no?
This is a small moebius basket that I knit for the shop. Below it is a larger one that I knit using Berroco Foliage. We thought that in this color (Carnation) it could be a really cute Easter Basket. These baskets are both shop samples for my Moebius II class coming up in March



Another shop sample. This is the Tote Around bag from Knit Kit. It is one of the choices for my next Felted Tote Bag class. Once this sample went into the shop, we sold out of the patterns and these colors of yarn and had to reorder. It's a hit! Quite large...would make a great market bag.

In the fall I took a Russian Punch Needle class at the shop. I chose this pattern because I wanted to send it to Diane for Christmas. I think it came out pretty darned cute for a first try. I used hand dyed floss which has great shading properties. I like it so much better than if the colors had been solid. A couple weeks ago I bought some weaver's cloth at JoAnn's and plan on designing a few of my own RPN items soon. I recently got another kit to do for my mom for her birthday. Which is on the 18th, so I'd better get cracking on that, don'tcha think? I imagine it might be a wee bit late. Ooops!

This pair of Fast Florida Footies (pattern by LynnH) is now off the needles and has been worn several times already. What a fun pattern and it was interesting to knit with Cascade Fixation for the first time.






This is a shop sample of the B4 Bag for Heritage Spinning and Weaving in Lake Orion. I had the yarn for this since fall and thought I would get it to Joan much quicker than I did. I had plans to do SO much knitting between Christmas and New Year, but with Mike off work, not much knitting got done. Joan had some great dichroic glass buttons that matched the colors of the yarn so perfectly. This one was done in Lamb's Pride Bulky. I dropped it off last week along with some more patterns.


I just love how this Midwest Moonlight (from Scarf Style) came out. I used a hand dyed wool/silk blend from Heritage and never grew tired of knitting this fun pattern. I have entered the scarf in Heritage's Fiber Arts Show, which benefits breast cancer research. Voting starts Sunday, so if you're in the area, stop by and see the beautiful works of fiber art that will be on display. Vote often...each time you cast a 50 cent vote, you support breast cancer research and let the artists know you love their creations!

Long time no post

Yes, I know...I have been remiss. 20 lashes with a wet felted i-cord if you must.

Well, Happy New Year everyone...a little late, but still heartfelt!

I have lots to write about, but little time to do so. Hopefully this weekend I can sit down and write a long entry, with lots of pictures of holiday knitting, class sample knitting, shop samples for stores that sell my patterns, etc. I am SOOOOO SOOOO SOOOOOOOOO ready to knit something for ME! Is that selfish? I think not. Every time I start something for myself it gets put aside and rarely finished. I have so many things on the needles it isn't even funny. Time to finish up some UFOs. And I am REALLY itching to start a new pair of socks. I have been collecting sock yarn at a rate far removed from the rate I knit socks. Cuz, like, I only have 3 pairs of socks that I knit and I have yarn for at least 15 more pairs.

My first UFO tackled is going to be Midwest Moonlight (why do I ALWAYS want to call this scarf Moonlight Madness or Midnight Madness? LOL) I have been working on it quite a bit and am about 2/3 done with it. I'm using a wonderful handpainted wool/silk blend that is like heaven to touch. I want to hold it so much (it's just too good to be true) Sorry if I got that song stuck in your head now :-) Anyway, I am in love with this pattern from Scarf Style, though the picture in the book does it no justice at all. I love the way the stitches seem to be drunk and all over the place in this scarf. It's like magic how you can knit straight across a row and have it turn out so wonky as it comes off the needles.

Anyway, off to bed, with high hopes of getting some test results tomorrow so I don't spend another weekend with bizarre thoughts going through my head of bizarre things going on in my body. Not knowing is worse than any kind of news that might come my way.

There must be a time warp!

Ok, seriously...there really canNOT only be 3 days left before the Christmas festivities are upon me....I mean really, how DID this happen? We are having Christmas Eve with my side of the family, here in this house, in a mere 90 hours. Am I even CLOSE to being ready? Hell no! Right now I am taking a break from some Christmas knitting....yes, I'm still knitting...and I'm almost done with this project, which then has to be felted. Crazy? Wait til you hear this! It's got to go in the mail ....out of state! HA! Funny, huh? And then am I done? Hell no! I still have at least 3 more things to knit. I have come to the conclusion that 2 of them will be New Year's gifts rather than Christmas gifts, but I have to at least get the one done. OMG.....WHEN???

So, I'm going to give those stress-filled thoughts a little rest....

Saturday evening the BeeGees got together and had our little Christmas celebration. It was SO much fun. Tamara put out quite a spread....about 72 different appetizers and desserts (only a slight exaggeration if you must know). We ate til we burst, the wine flowed freely, and there was much laughter and merriment. Tam provided us with Christmas crackers (not Wheat Thins, silly, the ones you pull the ends, there is a small explosion, and inside you find goodies....THAT kind of cracker) These are not the cheap (Cracker Jack prize) variety....these were the good ones....with REALLY nice prizes inside. Of course each one also holds a pink tissue paper crown, and here we all are, sporting them in good humor.

Cute, aren't we?

Front row, sitting: Kim, Tamara, Sharon A., me, and Tamara's immensely talented dog, Chloe.

Back Row, standing: Clare, Frankie, Sharon H., Linda (hiding behind Sharon!), Miri and Pat.

Missing BeeGee: Debbie....sniff... Thanks for a wonderful time, Tamara!

So, today I worked. What a day! Things were definitely hopping. Today is Kim's 23rd birthday (ok, another time warp.....). She came to have lunch with me at the shop, but it was so busy that she had to sit there and eat by herself, my lunch got ice cold while I helped customers, and 2 hours later I finally got to eat. Blech. I decided to keep the shop open an hour later than normal since it was so busy, and that was a good idea because there were several more GOOD sales during that time. Then I spent the next hour washing salt marks off the floor. So much fun. Hopefully the girls have just as busy a day tomorrow as I did today. It's a good thing!

You want to know another good thing? I'm off for 2 weeks! WOO HOO! Well, I may go in for a couple hours one day next week. After Thursday the shop is open only by chance until January 4th. We were going to close down completely but we'll be open....hit and miss...next week. I am glad I'm done for this week though....I need all the help I can get to finish up.

We are having Kim and Drew here for dinner tomorrow to celebrate her birthday. Then it's really crunch time....planning dinner and everything else for Saturday, and making sure everything is taken care of for Sunday. Whew! I'd better get back to my knitting so I can felt and get those puppies drying overnight ....so hopefully they can go in the mail tomorrow!

Oh, and one more thing....I got a package in the mail today from my dear friend Jane. I couldn't help my excitement....I had to open it. Inside was one thing that I kind of expected, and one thing I definitely did NOT expect. The expected....a wonderful repeat of last year...a calendar with each month featuring one of her wonderful photographs. Jane is quite a talented photographer, and each time I get correspondence from her it is written inside a card that has one of her photos on the outside. I treasured her calendar last year, and this year will be more of the same. The unexpected? A beautiful, oh-so-soft baby alpaca scarf that I have around my neck right now just because it's so wonderful. It's in the most beautiful shade of turquoise, and if I could get a decent photo, you'd see it below. But at this time of night, nothing will do it justice. Hopefully tomorrow I can get a decent shot of it and post it right here. Take my word for it....it's awesome. THANKS JANE. Love ya! MWAH!