21?

That's three weeks! Okay, I can do this. Breathe.....

I know what'll help. A Malabrigo fix!

I couldn't help it. Little Knits is having a sale and it's hard to get this stuff. Believe me, there is no softer yarn. There couldn't be. If it were any softer it would be air, and you can't knit with air, now, can ya? As you can see, I found three beautiful colors of the worsted (Applewood, Vetiver, and Blue Surf), a hank of the Twist in Tuareg to try, a hank of the Silky Merino in Redwood Bark, also to try, and a sweet Creamy Natural in the Sock. That last one will be a pair of lace socks soon, I betcha.

Go and get some if you're a Malabrigo fan like I am. Unbelievably, Sue at Little Knits actually has some left! (Well, I guess that wasn't very smart--I just lost most of my readers. Maybe they'll come back after some yarn shopping.)

I haven't just been buying yarn, but also organizing it. A while ago I started keeping a lot of my yarn supply in these cubes. I wanted the yarn to be able to breathe and I wanted to be able to see what I had.

See how there's some space in the cubies now? Well, because in addition to what you see here, I had a bunch of plastic bins (like the ones you can see in the foreground above holding inventory) in the closet crammed with yarn. That's before I finally thought to try some sweater organizers. I love them! I was actually able to make some room in the cubes by moving some to the closet.

The boxes underneath are trunk show samples, and the yarn in the sweater thingys is all earmarked for upcoming projects for samples of future designs. You see lots of Cascade and some Schaefer, and some Pagewood Farm. So much lovely work to do. I love my job, folks.

And what have you gotten done in the way of jobness, Jen? Well, today I finished the crochet hat and mitt sample and now I can write that one up, I got past the toe on the lace sock design (ya know, the one I messed up the heel on the first go 'round), I had a great phone convo with Diane and did some networking, I finally made it over to the tax lady's office and picked up my 1096/1099 forms and paid the bill for filing 4th quarter 2009, and I answered a few e-mails, mostly about Figheadh orders. Now I am about to get busy finishing up the line-by-line instruction on the lace and cable wrap so I can get it to Stormy to test. After that I'll work on the lace sock more, because I have to figure out a really great cuff for it (hang on, Shirley!), and then it'll be time for dinner (split pea soup with ham) after which I'll be knitting on the second sample of the new Lo Shu wrap made with Cascade Indulgence until bedtime.

Sounds like a good Monday. I hope yours is going well, too!

22 More & a Request

This will be a very quick post because I really just have one topic today. Last month I decided to put my Cableology II Headband up for sale on Ravelry. I was getting requests for it, and since I very seldom teach classes, it seemed the pattern was just languishing. I wanted more folks to enjoy it. Almost immediately afterward, the Haiti disaster occurred and a beautiful thing happened on Ravelry. Tons of designers put their patterns up and pledged to send the proceeds to the earthquake recovery efforts. Yea Ravelry folks for doing this!!

My Cableology II Headband pattern is up for sale on Ravelry and I am pledging to send all the proceeds to the Red Cross for Haiti through the month of March. After that, I will send it all to Habitat for Humanity to be used in Haiti.



Please help us out by clicking on the "buy now" link in the sidebar (right over there>>>). You'll be donating a mere $2.00 and getting a cool little headband to knit. If you don't knit, give the pattern to someone who does. You do not have to be a Ravelry member to buy the PDF download of the pattern, nor do you have to have a PayPal account. PayPal will just ask for your payment information. That's it--easy peasy.



Thank you for your help! I'll be back tomorrow with more knitting and crocheting news.

23 Skidoo!

I don't know if that expression has anything to do with today's post--I just like it. According to Wikipedia, it means "to get out while the getting's good." The only thing I'm trying to get out of this morning is the house, to take a walk with Fred. It's shaping up to be a bright, clear morning. A little chilly, but great for a trek down and back up the 29th Street hill.

I've emerged from the week of doctor visits (4 in all!) finding out that my spine is straight (take that, you lying chiropractors), my cholesterol is a bit high, but that I have no evil growths threatening my plan to live to 98.
Life is good!

I spent a couple of hours this morning re-researching short-row heels for socks, which was a continuation of last night's study while waiting for our Garlic Jim's pizza to arrive (our first try and it was yum!). I have a big three-ring binder of notes on sock heels and plenty of sock pattern and technique books. You could get a graduate degree in this subject, I believe. That's how much information there is out there on the subject.

After a little more reading this morning, I was persuaded by Janet Rehfeldt in her book Toe-Up Techniques for Toe-Up Socks to try the Japanese method. I tried it, but I must have done something wrong. You see the result above (but not super-closely, because I don't want you to see the wonkiness). Yep--I will have to rip it and try again. It's not the book's fault. It's a great little book with very clear illustrations of the techniques.

I might go back to Antje Gillingham's method in her book Knitting More Circles Around Socks, which I used on the Coralee Ankle Socks you see in the picture above (a Figheadh pattern about to be released). I liked that one. Thanks, Antje!

Yesterday I did get the crochet cap crown figured out, once I did a refresher course on how to work a 3dctog, thanks to one of my very favorite books, Crocheting School (love the Knitting School one, too!) I also got the last new Figheadh pattern sent to the editors and then I saw Kelli's e-mail that I had a cable correct in the charts but wrong in the line-by-line. Whoops! I also heard from Sue that her Coralee test #2 is done and she learned two new techniques while doing it (I love that!) I did a little more work on the yarn inventorying. I did not, however, get any pattern writing done on the new patterns. That's waiting for me today.

I leave you with this shot of a beautiful cable, made so by this Butternut Silkie yarn, which you can get in many fabulous colors next weekend right here in Tacoma at the Madrona Fiber Arts Retreat. Can't make it? She'll have it for sale on her site by March. As for the Madrona, well, you know I'll tell you about that, and I'll show pictures!

Gotta go! Fred's ready and waiting for our walk. Have a great Saturday, folks!

24 to go

I have a good excuse for not posting early today. Had to go at 7:30 A.M. for a recheck at the mammagram joint. That's not giving it good props at all, though, because the Carol Milgard Breast Center here in Tacoma is too fabulous. I mean that place is fancy. No worries. We're good. Doc said, "See you in a year," so I am thrilled!

Directly afterwards Nat and I had a date for oil changes. Pulled in to Jiffy Lube, told them we were together but going Dutch, each got offers for extra services (as always) and I only accepted two and Nat shunned them all! Go girl! For a little back pat we went for bagels and hot drinks (she, coffee; me, chai) and then went our separate work ways.

On to the P.O. for me to check the box for checks (two, thanks) and to try my darnedest to ignore the LaRouche people set up outside who have the nerve to heckle you as you're just minding your own business. I want to rip down the poster they display of our president with a Hitler mustache, but it's a free country. Just stop yelling your stuff at me, please.

Back home to do some Quickbooks updates and read e-mail and finally here I am, ready to do some pattern tweaking and try to send the last spring Figheadh pattern draft to my illustrious editors, Meredith and Tracey (love them!)

The main gist of my post today was to be a confession. I am a two-timer. No, I am true to one man (the Fred), but I am in love with two crafts. When I'm knitting I love it best, and when I'm crocheting, I love it best. Happily, I'm getting to crochet and knit these days.

These are bits of designs I'm working on with Claudia Hand Painted Yarns Fingering (top two pieces) and Schaefer Esperanza. The fingering yarn has the sweetest twist of any yarn I know and the bulky yarn is 70/30 wool/alpaca and luscious.

When I'm crocheting with fingering weight yarn, it's usually with this ChiaoGoo (which means "crafty lady") hook. The very nice ChiaoGoo folks gave it to me at a trade show a couple of years ago and I can't find any more to buy! It feels dangerous, because I love this little bamboo-handled thing too much and it's the only one I have. What happens if it gets lost or broken? I want every size! I see they just added larger sizes. I'm getting behind, folks.

Okay, today's list includes doing the pattern tweaks, putting a heel in the sock design in progress, figuring out the crown decrease on the crochet hat design, writing up a couple of the new patterns for the March 1 release so I can hand them off to the testers, and figuring out how much more yarn I have to buy for our big April event. More on that later!

Talk to you tomorrow!