How many baths can a girl take in one day? I think this will be number four. Although I’m contemplating taking a shower, just so I can wash my hair. But then going to bed with wet hair seems like asking for trouble. But the baths are the only thing that soothe the coughing. For awhile after a bath, the coughing goes away, and I feel warm and toasty. And not like I’m going to expel my left lung at any given moment.

In other news I have a finished object to show from the other day. It’s too big to take a picture of in the lightbox, so I need to wait for sunlight. And today, with the sick, the sunlight just wasn’t happening. It’s a ruffly edged wrap done up in the gorgeous thick & thin cotton yarn – Maya by Takhi.  I will try to get a better picture tomorrow, but with the sudden sick the blog fodder is low, so there you go.

Oh and for those of you who asked, I’m 99.99% sure it isn’t the swine flu. When the boys got sick on Tuesday we went to the doctor and they tested them for flu. So I’m thinking it’s whatever they had. Not fun though. Too much coughing. I hope my version doesn’t last 4 whole days (and counting!). Yuck!

So I have been doing some stash enhancing lately. Working at a yarn store always helps with that. I basically have my pick of all the beautiful yarns there. So nice. And yes, I am spoiled, why do you ask?

But I have to space out the stash acquisitions, I need them as back-up for when I run out of blog fodder. Although I do have a plan for that. I’m gonna make myself do more swatching and show y’all more pictures of upcoming design work. I have goals y’all. Real goals. But onto the yarn!

First up, acquired through one of the swap boards. My good friends have been enabling me in that regard. “You have good stash”, they say. And I think, yes, yes I do. And then I offer up my stash and it’s gone! But I’ve gotten some awesome stuff in return.

This is Dream In Color Starry in the colorway In Vino Veritas. In Wine Truth. Don’t I know it. It’s a gorgeously twisted fingering weight with real silver flecks in it. It would be perfect for a Gaenor or an Argante. But I don’t knit things twice, so it will be for something new I design. Because it’s just that beautiful.

This was the very last skein of Plymouth Ecco Cashmere in the shop. Such a beautiful undyed color. And I already have another skein of it. I’m thinking it might be fingerless mitts and a matching cowl. It’s so soft and lovely, and it just screams lace to me.

And finally the piece de resistance – Wollmeise. There’s a reason this is as crazy popular as it is. My dear friend ContinentalKim has made a career of obtaining Wollmeise – and has decided that sleep is unnecessary. Her crazy lack of sleep is my Wollmeise gain. Let’s just say this Barist O is not the only Wollmeise colorway I’ve obtained from her.

And while we are speaking of dear friends… it’s been one of those days. My boys are sick with some mystery ailment that is not the flu. They are on antibiotics and an obscene amount of ibuprofen & acetaminophen to control their fevers. I’ve been so stressed lately that my jaw is in a constant state of clench. But my friends are my saving graces. Always there to talk to me, to listen to me ramble, to have discussions with me when I’m losing my mind. To send me flickr pool links of the White House because they know my boys will love them, even though they themselves don’t love the Prez in rez. It’s the little things and the big things. And every single one of my dearest friends was brought to me through knitting. Every single one.

(Wow. The sappy introspective nonsense is starting early this NaBloPoMo. Sorry about that!)

It’s a local yokel sort of day. We’ll be meeting at the Riverside Arts Market around 11am for lunch, knitting, spinning, goofing, shopping, and whatever else you want to do. If you’ve not been to the RAM, you’re missing out. They have arts, crafts, produce, fresh baked bread, fresh pastas, all manner of delicious lunch food and interesting products from tons of indie proprietors. It’s a can’t miss!

So come and meet-up with your fellow fiber fiends and have a good day. I know it’s gonna be hot, but it’s cooler under the bridge and we will be down by the river where it’s the coolest.  Cool river breezes and plenty of good company and good food. The storms won’t be coming in until tonight, so we’ll be safe! Also we might be field-tripping over to A Stitch In Time afterwards to see what kind of new stuff is out on the shelves!

Tired. So tired. So ready to sell the dog. Anybody want a quiet lazy beagle? Because oh my sweet cheesy pete. I don’t want to scar my children by killing the dog, but I am not loving the dog right now. Last night he was up all dang night long. Running back and forth up and down the hallway. Whining to get out of my bedroom, whining to get in. Scratching at the windowsills. Running around in circles. Licking his you know what really loudly. I did not get more than 30 minutes of consecutive sleep all night. It was bad. And tonight when I got home from work my husband was cleaning up dog doo. Again. What is with this psychotic dog?

So I basically did some sort of chipper sleep-walk through my day working at the LYS. Fortunately I really love it and the people I work with and for. So it wasn’t bad. But I did some pretty ugly yawning. You know the kind where your entire face stretches out and your chin is the size of Jay Leno’s and you realize too late that you forgot to cover your gaping piehole… Yeah. That kind of yawning.

But it’s ok. Because soon I am going to bed and I swear on all that is holy that if the dog acts up tonight I will lock him in the bedroom with the man, don earplugs and sleep on the couch. And although I love, love, love working at the LYS and helping people, I’m also kind of partial to this stuff…

Three skeins of Dream In Color Baby in the Spring Tickle colorway. I see a sheer cardigan in my future. Oh yes I do. (It kind of matches my peppers from yesterday, no?)

And this just screams shawlette to me. Something interesting, maybe with bronze and/or hematite beads. Ooh, maybe I’ll go crazy and add both!

But like I said, sleep-walking through a day at a yarnstore isn’t all bad. And hey, if I yawned in your face, I’m so sorry! I am normally much more polite. But I really was that kind of tired. And on that note, I’m hitting the hay.

I’m turning into a curmudgeon. (And a non-blogger, but I’m trying to remedy that.) I’m getting older. I  try to listen to current music and very rarely do I find any of it worth my time. And I find myself thinking (or worse saying) things about “back in the day”. It’s pathetic. And when I’m honest about it, I don’t really love the music of my day. I love the music of my father’s day. Of my grandparents’ days. I love 70’s rock, and 60’s motown. I love the standards and Peggy Lee and Tony Bennett. My young adult days produced such classics as Whoomp -There It Is, and Rico Suave’, and OPP.  Yeah. But today we are actually talking about OPP.

Other People’s Patterns.

I’ve been designing for a good chunk of time now, and it seems I’m always working on my own stuff. Never anyone else’s. Sure I buy the mags, and even the pdf downloads, but I never seem to actually knit them. My designing mojo has been missing lately, so I started off by picking back up this – Elsewhere by Amy Swenson. It’s coming along. I’m nearly done with the back of it, and then I will add the side panels and the sleeves.

And then I fell in love with the Heather Hoodie Vest from the most recent Knitscene. And I realized of course that I would get way more wear out of it as a sweater, so I grabbed two more skeins of yarn and I’m rocking and rolling on it. And I love it!

So of course since I am actually doing well working on some patterns that aren’t mine, my mojo has returned. Bringing with it two tight deadlines that I really want to meet. So I need to put the sweaters aside and focus. But I think I’ve figured out how to reclaim my mojo should it hide again.

I have thoughts of making this a regular feature. Each Friday sharing with you some things I love. So without further ado…

I *love* my new part-time job. I had no idea how much I missed working in a yarn store. I love helping people, I love being around the yarn and the crafty people. And I hate to admit this, but it’s nice to have a once a week grown-up day. I actually think that in the near future I might be taking up stitching. Because there are so many beautiful things there. If you’re local you should visit. I’ll be off the next two weeks, but normally I’m there on Wednesdays. The owners are constantly getting new and beautiful yarns in, and it really is my new favorite place to be.

I love the shop, and it’s irreverent fun names and ideas, and I adore the woman. My collaboration with her on the sock clubs has been fabulous fun and it was an opportunity that was not to be missed. We’re taking the summer off, but I’m looking forward to what we’ll come up with for the fall!

Another great shop with another great woman behind it! One of these days I’m gonna get serious about spinning. I’m thinking about wheels and when I get one I will be stocking my new fiber stash with her stuff. I already have a few things and what I do have is just freaking gorgeous.

If you have suggestions for Friday Favorites, let me know. I only want to recommend things I have personal experience with (or trust someone who does) so let me know!

Why do some colors photograph well and even easy and some no matter what you do you can’t capture the color? I’m sure there is a nifty scientific explanation, but it sure is vexing. I’ve gotten pretty good at gimp so I can easily make simple color adjustments, but sometimes the true color just evades me. I have a gorgeous skein of deep turquoise Semi Precious yarn, but I can’t make the color right so I can’t list it.

And then we have these socks. Which are not icky gray brown, they are a rich, deep, chocolatey brown with hints of purple. But can I capture it? No. Not even with my lightbox or outdoor afternoon “golden hour” sun. So imagine chocolate when you look at these pictures…

On this photograph I can gimp it up so that the green is true and lush, but the socks still look greyish brown. I don’t get it!

And this one is for Sugarbee. Who yells at me for knitting my own patterns in the small sizes to save time, when I really should have a very nice wardrobe of socks. I made this one my size, and I actually plan to knit the second one. I love these socks that much.

And the good news for you, gentle reader? I’m working on the pattern for these Broken Chocolate Bar Socks and they are gonna be a freebie! So watch this space.

I started a new sweater. I think it’s gonna be an epic win. It’s the soon to be formerly named Norah sweater by Indigirl (Amy Swenson) and it’s really just made of beautiful. I love the lines. I love the fact that I had the perfect pile of Malabrigo sitting in my house waiting to be this sweater. I love that I got to start it and work on it during some really beautiful days spent in the park (hence the frisbee/picnic table portrait).

Obviously I’ve been in a foul mood lately. That’s why the absence from blogging. If you don’t have anything nice to say, well come sit by me. Seriously though. Sometimes I have to mentally slap myself and remind myself that I have nothing to be grumpy about. At all. Geesh.

Oh and the polenta? Dude. I went to Native Sun today to get some nutritional yeast. We’ve been out of it for way too long. I love a bowl of polenta with some butter spray and nutritional yeast sprinkles. Trust me, it’s really good. But today when I went to put the dry polenta away in the cupboard over the stove…

In other epic win news, the dyeing has been going spectacularly well. I mean even better than I had hoped for. The store will be opening any day now. Watch this space.

Yesterday was awesome. So many people came out! I think at one point we had a top head count of sixty. Sixty knitters in Memorial Park, on a Sunday afternoon. Wearing handknits, chit-chatting, drinking Starbucks. It was very, very good. So now we must pass out some thank-yous.

First Kimber.

Could she be any cuter? She was the mastermind behind this amazing plan. And she really did so very much. Coordinating all the prizes, adding tags, running the raffles, spreading the good word… There’s a reason we all love her so. Also, you can see on the table there with Kimber some of the raffle prizes. Two amazing local yarnstores and two indie dyers stepped up to the plate on this one. So go, visit, buy stuff from them. Because they are made of generosity and awesome.

It really was a wonderful day. And to make it all better, we raised $320 for the Hubbard House in Jacksonville. Kimber and I will be heading over there with a cashier’s check this week. Look for pictures and an update on that later. If you came out, I hope you enjoyed yourself. And we hope to do more Jacksonville Knitting Events in the near future! If you click on the picture below it will take you to pictures I uploaded from the event. If you have pics to share, let me know, I’d love to add them!

Put a note on your bathroom mirror… but don’t forget the Jacksonville Knit In Public tomorrow! Memorial Park in Riverside – 12 noon til whenever, you know you don’t wanna miss it!