Swap-o-rama

My socks for the hand dyed sock swap are done. Yay. I'll be sending out this package tomorrow.
With the exception of the brightly colored socks, I tried for a chocolate theme. I 'm sending some raspberry chocolate truffle bath stuff from Ulta 3, some super duper chocolates from Moonstruck, and my toffee colored Thai Iced Tea yarn. I hope my Canadian buddy likes what she's getting.

This time from Panera and without the cats

This could get to be like "Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego." I'm at Panera drinking hot coffee and checking my emails to see if there are any orders I can't send out for the yarn shop. For better or worse, there aren't any.

The power is out at our place. It's been out since the storm yesterday, and the local utility says that it might be days to get it on again. Or it could be on when I get home. Who can know? That's the fun of it. The power outage brings with it good news and bad news. First the bad news:

1. I can't show pictures of my new Haggis Throwing socks. I'd been wanting to.
2. I also can't show pictures of the socks I'm sending to my buddy in the hand dyed sock swap. I finished those yesterday, and it required a hammer.
3. I went to the commissary the other day and bought a lot of meat. Fortunately, it's still frozen. I'll be packing the freezer with ice to try to save it.

And the good news:
1. Our electric bills in Maryland are outrageous. At least this month they'll be a little lower.
2. I can't possibly work on my paper, not that I want to. And this is a good excuse.
3. I have a fine excuse today to hang out at the mall, the yarn store, and the coffee shop.

In which I blog remotely

Scott, Duncan, and I are coming to you just now from the hallway. We dashed out here with the computer and without my spectacles when a message that a tornado touched down nearby came over the television.

Ugh. I'd intended to go to knitting tonight, but the weather is downright crumby. A line of storms passed through here just now, and another is due later. I'm used to that, being from the Midwest. The thing I'm not used to is that there is no siren system to warn me. Is it just a Chicago thing that sirens go off if there's a tornado? There's no such thing here. Apparently there's another storm front due later this evening that is pretty bad. So I'm staying in with my home activities.

I guess while I'm home I should work on my paper. I have a paper due this week on American Jewish denominations. It's interesting, but I don't want to write a paper today. (Talk about a fine Jewish whine. WAAAHHH!)

Haggis throwing, here I come

Good news. E and I are coming into Chicago June 19 - 22. This means that we'll be in town for the Harlot and Haggis throwing.

It's a good thing I started my new Haggis Throwing Socks last week.

Yummy yummy

So this weekend was pretty busy. We got our wedding album from my sister Peggy and our Ketubah from the framer. We went to a strawberry field and picked some. I finished the socks for my Hand Dyed Sock Swap on Ravelry. E got a new video game. And I dyed some brand new yarn.

The album is very nice. Peg has a masters of fine arts in photography and took the photos at our wedding. After some snafus with the printer (not her fault at all), we've received the book. She got some very nice candid shots, and the posed photos are very nice. Looking at was was a great way to spend the half anniversary of our wedding today.

A ketubah is a Jewish wedding contract. This document has developed into a unique art form with calligraphy and illumination. Ours was the one designed by the Reform cantors organization. Also a nice thing to have up on our wall today.

Have you ever been to pick your own fruit at one of those orchards? They have lots in Michigan. I think it's a great business plan. Plan the fruits with labor you pay, but get your customers to pay you to harvest the crop. Genius. Anyway, we picked a couple of pounds of strawberries this afternoon.Wow. Holy cow. These berries made me realize what modern engineering does to food. You know those gigantic, partially hollow, fibrous strawberries we get in the store for the last umpteen years? Yeah. These aren't them. I'd forgotten how good strawberries can be. These were all less than an inch across, sweet, juicy, and melted in our mouths. We ate strawberry shortcake for dinner tonight. And nothing else.

Also taking a great deal of time this weekend was E's new video game. It must have had something to do with Conan the barbarian, because E spent the weekend flexing his muscles at me and speaking in what he thinks is an Austrian accent.

In the mean time, I dyed a whole lotta yarn today. This is my newest creation. It's 100% superwash Blue Face Leicester. (That's pronounced "Lester") sock yarn. BFL is super-premium sock yarn. Seriously. It's very shiny and round and has a hand like silk. I did small batches of five colorways today to start things out. I'm truly in love with this yarn and may have to buy some out of my stock for Summer of Socks. Yummy pictures will come up on the store when it stops thunderstorming for 20 minutes or so.

Back in town

I will be flying into Midway this afternoon and taking the El downtown where I'll hand out until my class at 6:30. After that, I have a 6:30 am flight tomorrow to come back.

Sedalia Spring Fiber Festival

Amazing E and I took Rock Creek Yarn to our first fiber festival this weekend. It was a smallish affair in central Virginia. Most of the vendors were yarn shops or farms. We had a "booth" indoors in one of the buildings. I say that only because being as small and new as we are, we really had a table of yarn. E was the cashier, and I did sales.

It was great fun. I really enjoyed it. I got to meet so many nice, fiber obsessed people and talk to them about my own fiber obsession. The attendees were so nice. We sold about half the yarn we brought and got plenty of exposure. I'm already looking for my next one.

Hand Dyed Sock Swap

GhostKnitter rocks.

Yesterday I received my package from the Hand Dyed Sock Swap on Ravelry from GhostKnitter. I've never done a swap before, and I'm tickled. The package is summer flower themed. This is what she sent me.

The green socks are made of a yarn she spun made of 100% South African Fine. It's a neat drop stitch pattern. Also in the package are dahlia seeds, scented soap, a flower candle, blueberry coffee, a skein of hand dyed yarn from Mary Jane's Attic, a big Cadbury's chocolate bar, and a pattern for Parallel Socks. I might add that to my SoS list.

The socks fit perfectly. GhostKnitter must be a very nice person. I mean, to send someone you don't know a pair of handknit socks made from your own handspun? Awesome. Now I'm looking forward even more to sending out my package to my Canadian buddy.

I can't believe that I haven't posted since Tuesday. Things have been so busy. Last week I was dyeing and dyeing yarn, then went to Chicago for a day, then came back and did a fiber show. I'll tell you about that later. It was great.

SoS! SoS!

Summer of Socks can't get here soon enough. I'm going to be bare footed in no time.

Today I put on my most comfy Koigu socks. You know, the ones made of The Precious that was purchased Maryland that weekend least summer when E was trying to show me that there are things I like here. Besides him. I put on those socks and took my laundry to the basement for washing when I noticed that the balls of my feet felt like they were sticking to the concrete floor.

Yup. When I got back upstairs I looked at the bottoms of my feet and discovered that they had both blown out very badly. There's no saving them. After a proper memorial, they'll be DARNED! into the garbage can. That's the second pair I've lost to the same ailment lately. I guess I need to get knitting on socks for myself.

Not that it's related at all to my sock woes, but I need to show something off.
It's my first good handspun. One ply is the silk hankies I got at Maryland Sheep and Wool. The other is the suri alpaca I got there. Thanks to a knitting friend, I was able to card it up. Yay. It's so fluffy and soft.

Knifty Red Got Me

I've been tagged by Knifty Red with some sort of meme. I'll go along this time, but she is certain to feel the icy hand of revenge later. I am tempted to send bad Juju to her yarn, but no innocent yarn deserves that.

The rules: Are posted at the beginning. At the end of the post, the player then tags 6 people and posts their names, then goes to their blog and leaves a comment, letting them know they've been tagged and asking them to read your blog. Let the person who tagged you know when you've posted your answer.

1. What was I doing 10 years ago? In May, 1998 I was going to college in Israel and celebrating that nation's 50th anniversary.

2. What are 5 things on my to-do list today - not in any particular order? 1. Finish reskeining all zillion skeins of sock yarn I dyed this weekend. 2. Dye half a zillion skeins of yarn. 3. Watch at least one lecture for my class. 4. Mail away the nine skeins of yarn my wonderful customers ordered over the weekend. 5. Clean the living room before E gets home. There's yarn all over the place in there now.

3. Snacks I enjoy:Anything chocolate. Anything smoked fish related. Never both at the same time.

4. Places I've lived: This could be a very long list. Mokena, IL. Evergreen Park, IL. Hickory Hills, IL. Willow Springs, IL. Wheeling, IL. Be'er Sheva, Israel. Haifa, Israel. San Diego, CA. Ithaca, NY. Countryside, IL. Silver Spring, MD. Hmm. I'm probably missing one or two.

5. Things I would do if I were a billionaire:I'd start a huge charitable foundation and be the chairman.

I will make my own rules here and only tag one person. She deserves it for tagging me before.

http://lapetitetricoteuse.blogspot.com/

Vampire coyotes

Last night at bedtime The Amazing E and I were discussing whether it is more healthy to sleep with the windows open or shut when the weather is nice. I believe it isn't good to have the bedroom air all stagnant and still. I like the fresh air and believe that indoor air is usually dirtier than outdoor air. E seemed to believe that sleeping with the outside air coming in causes allergies and therefore the windows should be shut. Now, this is not an argument that the air can have things in it that aggravate the allergies of people who are prone to them. He was telling me that it would cause people to develop allergies that they don't already have. Mind you, this issue is not resolved.

At some point I brought up that back in Illinois I slept with windows open at least part way almost every night of the year. To that he grumbled "I know." He told me that he hadn't liked sleeping at my condo with the windows open because he could hear all the outside noises. In particular, he didn't like the coyotes noises from the forest that surrounded the condos. My response was that the coyotes weren't dangerous to us because we were up four floors, and coyotes can't jump that high. So I wasn't afraid of the noises and got used to them.

Now, I thought at this point the conversation was lightening up. E asked what if there were vampire coyotes. Certainly they could fly. I said that we were safe on grounds that vampires need to be invited into a home and could not sneak in uninvited. And that my screens were immobile, preventing anyone from letting a vampire come in. E asked "really?" and I replied that the classical stories of vampires said so.

Then in a matter of fact voice he said that all that vampire needing to be invited in stuff was probably just folklore.

Huh?

One thing at a time

There's been a lot of exciting knitting and yarn business going on around here. So much that I've really got to exercise some discipline in posting here.

Today's exciting news is that the new silk yarn is available. At long last. The supplier is just a little small operation with a half dozen employees.

So far five colorways are dyed up in small batches with more on the way. Here are three of them. It's funny with this yarn. It soaks up certain colors really fast. Some colors have to be boiled and boiled, and yet others have to be boiled and then the color is absorbed while the solution is cooling.

I thought it was the end.

For four or five days until yesterday it rained cats and dogs here. We got something like six inches of rain. Schools closed, roads were impassible, and sink holes opened in the earth swallowing homes up. Quite the hellish picture. I was concerned about having to build a boat to save all the Cornish Rexes.

As I've heard in the media, Maryland was in a drought before this rain.

E and I were supposed to go camping this last weekend up in the Shenandoah National Park. We'd been looking forward to it for weeks. But all was not lost. You see, on Friday I got my big old shipment of silk yarn from the mill in India. I'd been waiting for it for weeks. And. Oh my.

I started dying it straight away. But it's still not dry, as it's been out on my porch. Today is sunny though. Perhaps we'll have something interesting tomorrow.

A frightening lesson

I was just nuking a Hebrew National frank in the microwave, and within 30 seconds it melted through the plastic wrap I put around it.

Just thought I'd share.

Contempating summer knitting (heavy yarn porn content)

Today was for resting. E was goofy off all day with reading and other man laying about activities, so I relaxed by sorting through my yarn. After all, Summer of Socks is around the corner, and I want to be prepared. I mean it would be a shame to cast stuff on and then waste time because I didn't have every pair of socks well planned.

So this afternoon I pulled out my sock yarn collection. I'm sorry to say that it's pretty meager. Only enough for 13 pairs, including a skein of my Cherry Blossom yarn. Some of this yarn I don't even live very much, and it will be a cold low stash day when I knit it. Like that plain old gray stuff in the middle and the crazy blue sparkly stuff in the top center. (I got those free anyway.) What's here are four skeins of STR in various iterations, one skein of Froebe Fibers, the strange blue stuff, a skein of Jitterbug, four skeins of Panda Cotton, two skeins of Regia Bamboo, some orange Fixation, boring gray yarn, My Precious, and a skein of my stuff.

So I laid all this stuff out and thought. I even tried to get advice from Elijah about what to do.

Here's what's up.

The first pair I'll knit will be a plain stockinette pair out of this. I think I should have a display pair to show off the fine dye job.

Aw, isn't that cute. His and her Panda Cottons. I think this calls for plain stockinette socks. One pair for me and one for E. Quite disgusting and newlywed-ish, isn't it? The black is for him. He can wear plain black socks with his uniform.

I have to say that I love the Jitterbug yarn. It's beautifully dyed and very tightly spun. The only problem with it that I can see is that the skein are very short. So it's footies for this yarn.
And lastly for the yarns I have is the Regia Bamboo that I bought on one of SnB's trips to The Fold. This is a nice summer sock yarn. It's been marinating for about a year, so it's ready to meet its destiny as some semi-fancy sock.So, you may be asking, what up with this? No STR or Koigu is present in the line up. I know, I know. It's sad and inexplicable. Perhaps I'm saving them to savor when I'm not knitting like a maniac.

Summer of Socks 2008

I've signed up to take part in Summer of Socks, 2008. My goals are modest, I guess. I would like to do five pairs of socks. I doubt I'll get five done, but this is my goal. Right now I barely have a week's worth of comfy handmade socks to wear, so I'll be making four for myself and one for E. After he got is birthday present socks, he's decided the big deal I make about knitting my own is worth the energy. I guess now I have to decide on the yarn. One of my other goals is to knit all the socks only from my sock yarn collection.

You too can sign up if you like. Follow this link. Sign up ends, I think, on May 15h.

In related and very exciting news, Rock Creek Yarn is one of the sponsors of the contest. I'll be donating a skein of sock yarn in Cherry Blossom for a prize.

And now for the important part. From now until the end of Summer of Socks, you can get 15% off your sock yarn purchase on the website. Enter sos2008 at checkout.

My new hairdo

This is my first handspun. It's about 15 or 20 yards of 2-ply icelandic wool in a natural dark brown. I'm fairly proud of it. It's a bulky yarn. Not to much so, but it is larger than worsted. It's fairly even in size and twist. From a technical point of view, it's a good start in my humble opinion.

I don't think I'll ever knit with it. However, I do think I could do some more and make an awesome dreadlock wig out of it. I could have a Whoopi Goldberg hairdo. Guinan was always one of my favorite Next Gen characters.

Oh. I see Trek and yarn coming together.

A danger

I cannot go near my sofa the last two days. Not even to rescue my three active works in progress from one end of the couch. It's very sad. Just sitting over there are my Bayerische Socks which were recently rediscovered, my Cobweb shrug made of yummy yummy Malabrigo lace, and the sock for my buddy in the Hand Dyed Sock Swap. I miss these little guys, but I can't get near enough to them to pick them up and love them. I can't even get onto my couch. This is the culprit. It's a silk hankie I dyed in my Tyropoeon colorway. I started spinning it. Now every time I sit down to do anything, it leaps into my hands and steals my time. It is a monster.
I guess the good thing is that the spindle is about full. I just don't know how to get the yarn off and retain the twist.

I forgot to show you

Remember when E went away for those weeks last month? Well, he was in officer training for the PHS. I have pictures from his graduation.

This is my rather poor picture of E leading the honor guard for the start of the ceremony.
And getting his awards and certificates from the acting deputy surgeon general. (I think that's who he was. The title was confusing. At any rate, he's a high up admiral.)
And last, E coming off the stage.Now he's all ready to help set up hospitals after the next big hurricane or wildfire.

Maryland Sheep and Wool

The Amazing E and I went to the festival today, and I bought no yarn. Knitters, please don't faint. And significant others, don't point the finger of "See, someone has self control." It would all be premature. The fact is that I had a net expenditure of about $20, including food.

We spent about four hours roaming the stalls, tents, and barns touching all things fibery. I touched yak, and I touched silk. E touched all types of wool, and learned that there are big differences between types. And then I got fiber fever.

It was Toni from the Fold. She sold me an Avi Wasserman drop spindle. It's so pretty. The truth is that I've been coveting one of these since the infamous trip during which Knifty Red bought her wheel. This one is 1.25 ounces and made of maple, cherry, and ebony woods. I also got some Icelandic wool and some silk hankies with which I will make my very first yarn.
Lastly, I also got a bag of suri alpaca locks. It's just shorn alpaca, but I got about a pound for $5. I couldn't pass that up! So now I'm trying to figure out how to clean and comb it. Man, this stuff is kinda stinky and has sticks, burrs, and other things I dare not think about in it. So we really only spent about $20. Well, that's after selling three skeins are yarn to Ravelry knitters I met today.

Only $20.

Counting down

To the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival. We live very close by, so I'm dragging the Amazing E there with me for sheepy fun or torment. I even have a budget. With Rock Creek Yarn's new ads on Ravelry, I've earned enough money to be able to pay myself a little bit. I have $80 to spend.

And what will I spend it on? Not sure yet. Hmm. Hmm. I've been thinking about a drop spindle and some fiber, If Toni from The Fold has brought hers. That's right. I'll add to the insanity that has taken up most of our second bedroom.

Not that the fiber obsession is a real drain. Rock Creek Yarn has been fairly successful. After all, we do have to pay the bills around here. Especially for the $100 per month heated cat bed from Comcast.
But seriously, I'll report back after my day of yarn sniffing.

Blown Out

Have you ever started your former exercise routine at full throttle (or half throttle) after a year of being a bump on a log? I did today and now I can't move. You see, I recently exceeded own You Shall Not Pass mark on the scale and figured that my leisurely life of housework, yarn dying, and eating bon bons by the TV must end. Or at least be changed a bit.

It's not that I'm sore. A half mile of swimming does not really make me sore. But I'm tired. So tired I can barely move to knit, sew up the final sleeve on the Green Tea Raglan, or study my readings for my class in Modern Judaism. The swimming has made me tired and hungry, and wanting to sit and eat up the calories I burned this morning.

I have other news. Sad sad news. I'm afraid I have to figure out how to darn my Maimuţă socks. I've been wearing them fairly regularly for several months until yesterday when I discovered this:Observe the symmetrical holes on the balls of the soles. I really liked these socks. The yarn is soft and pretty, and I like the Monkey pattern. They fit so well. Now I have to decided whether to darn them with a needle (which I don't really know how to do) or Darn! them over a garbage can.

Green Tea Raglan

Yeah. It's been over a year. But I had a good excuse. I ran out of the yarn. Fortunately, A Tangled Skein in Hyattsville, MD came through for me and got me two more skeins. I finished just this morning.

But all the pieces of my Green Tea Raglan are done! In looking back on this blog, I find that I started this garment sometime in March of last year. Most of the yarn had been knitted into a tank top that I'd frogged on account of crappiness. To review, I've used almost 12 balls of Classic Elite Bam-Boo and followed the pattern as it was written for the smallest size in Interweave Knits.

Now I just have to sew it up. My teeth are clenched and palms sweaty, friends. I may be a (almost) fearless Kung Fu knitter, but I'm afraid of finishing. I'm not so good at it. I hope it's nice.

Happy Birthday

Today is my husband's 28th birthday. We met last year shortly after his birthday, so this is the first time I'm celebrating one with him.

For the last two or three weeks, I've been working on some secret knitting. He's been pretty patient about not getting many knitted things from me, but lately he's been hinting (in a demanding way) that he'd like something hand made from me. Here they are. E's Birthday Socks.
These are just plain old stockinette top down socks. It's made of less than one skein of Rock Creek Yarn's sock yarn in a, well, special colorway we'll call Luck O' the Dyepot. Actually, when developing the Cherry Blossom colorway, I had three skeins that went horribly awry. Hoping I could at least get some use of the yarn, I threw them in the pot, added black and purple dye, and stirred. This is the result. It's actually very nice. I have two skeins left if anyone wants to buy them. Contact me through the store.

And happy birthday, Handsome Husband.

Spring cleaning - as old as the Exodus

It's that time of the year again... time to banish the previous year's weevils from my home.

Every spring for the last zillion years Jews around the world have taken part in this tradition. In case you don't know, Jews are commanded in the Bible to rid our homes of all leavened bread each year before Passover. Then for eight days observant Jews neither eat nor even own any grain products that have been or may be fermented. I've just finished this process. It's pretty thorough and takes a while. Tonight E will double check my work and find the last bits of bread I've hidden in the house and get rid of them for me. This is usually and kid job, but we have no kids yet to do it. (Could this tradition be an ancestor of the Easter egg hunt? Hmm.) Then tomorrow night we will begin the holiday with a seder in our home.

Last night we had our final chemetz (leavened bread meal) before the holiday. I made Chicago style pizza. Actually, I don't feel like I should even point out "Chicago" in the name of the pizza, as I am a pizza snob as well as a yarn snob. East coast "pizza" is... I don't know what. Crackers?

At any rate, I cannot get anything like pizza here. One nearby attempt calls itself "Greek Style Pizza." Ugh. So I make my own when I want a good meal of pizza. This thing of beauty is a deep dish spinach pizza with fresh garlic and red peppers with the sauce of crushed tomatoes on the top. Oh my. I'm missing you all in Chicago. Happy Passover.

Here and gone again

Perhaps I'll try to sound cheerful in this post. I shall try. After all, I have new yarn. Tzurriz the Stash Enabler, as you know, went to Nana's in Oak Lawn, IL while I was in town last week. That's the shop that's hosting the Yarn Harlot's visit later in the month. Anyway, I got some decadent Malabrigo lace and started with it right away.

And you heard already of the crisp-ity crunch-ity Noro. Boy am I glad that's going to be a bag and not a sweater.

In other good news, the new silk yarn is on its way from the mill in India. Look around on Rock Creek Yarn for it soon. Or here. Super sexy yarn Pr0n will appear here.

Now that I'm all anesthetized by yarn fumes, I'll tell you what's up. E is on another business trip. He came home on Saturday and left on Sunday afternoon. He was supposed to be home at noontime today, but his boss has asked him to come in this afternoon instead.

Almost home

The plane got in a little late this afternoon.

I'm back in Maryland. My trip to Chicago was really awesome. Sometimes I forget what good friends I have, but I was really reminded over the last few days. I did so much and saw so many people. I'm afraid this post is a laundry list of affection.

I was first greeted by Aleta, who generously picked me up at the airport. Getting to spend the long drive from Midway to Flossmoor conversing with her (mostly about marriage) was fantastic. It's so great to have someone who has so much success being married to talk to sometimes. She and her Mr. let me spend my first night there in comfort. Unfortunately, I can't give some sort of commercial plug to Aleta, who did I mention started things off right for me?, But maybe I can make up with it by mentioning her husband. Jan Stoler is my accountant. He presented me with my tax return upon arrival. I can't say how pleased I am with that. Seriously, if you need someone to do your taxes next year, call Jan. I can't believe what he did for E and me.

After I went to stay at Tzurriz's (and Mr. and baby Tzirriz's) new house. Tzurriz was my hostess for the five days in town. She and the Mr. were the most gracious and welcoming of hosts. Besides seeing them, I got to babysit Miss Miriam the Cute and Beautiful baby. Really. I've been around babies, and for a three and a half month old, she's pretty easy. And they're doting parents. Every minute I spent with her was a joy. And educational. BTW, Tzurriz, can you talk to my husband about the babysitting?

And then there were the kidnappings by the Grand and Sprawling Jager clan. You all know who you are, even if you are not actually a Jager. But for those of you who do not know, this is the best name I can give to a huge group of lifelong friends I have back in Illinois. In all seriousness, I've known at least some of these people for going on 27 years. And I'm 31. Anyway, they grabbed me a couple of nights and we girls all got to catch up. This was especially important seeing as how I am a member rather newly married.

And I saw Grandpa. I love you, Grandpa.

Lastly, the knitting stuff. There had to be knitting stuff.

First and apology to SNBWB. I got kidnapped. Sorry. But I will make a firm and binding appointment with you all after the silk comes in on one of my trips in May or June. We just have to absolutely make it a date. I miss you all. And I have to brag, seeing as how one of you married me to my honey. I haven't had the chance yet.

Second, I got to see the Tinley Park girls. That brought me a deep and yarny satisfaction. Oh yeah.

Finally. Sigh. E will read this. Tzurriz, Miss Miriam, and I went to Nana's in Oak Lawn. I could not resist. There was damage in the forms of three hanks of Malabrigo lace and Noro Kureon. They both have assignments. Malabrigo is already cast on to a Cobweb shrug. The Noro is destined to be the Stained Glass Bag. So it's really not stash for my husband to worry about, is it?

And now I'm in Maryland. I'll really be home on Saturday when E gets home. I'll pick him up even if it is Shabbat. I miss him so much and hope that G-d will forgive me if I drive out to get him.

My kind of town

I am in Chicago. Actually, I'm in Flossmoor. Oh well. The flight was even on time.

Last night the South Suburbs SnB group got together at Tzurriz's house. It was great fun. They were all gathering on a Saturday night because Tzurriz's MIL is in town. She is a great knitter with a stash I've been hearing legendary stories of for years. One day I hope to have a stash like that; one so big that I don't even remember what I have anymore. Anyway, it was great fun and a bunch of Rock Creek Yarn and Froebe Fibers got sold. And I got to see my friends. It had been way too long.

E is still at his training. He's really enjoying it, and I'm glad it will be over soon. He's learning all about the opportunities and benefits available to him as an officer (and me as an officer's wife). For example, I can apparently go to the USO to hang out while for airplanes. There must be a lounge there. Oh, and the Amazing E has decided that he wants the sword as part of his dress uniform. Yes, our nation's guardians of public health do it while carrying a sword. I find this quite funny, and can only imagine how it will work out in the future. You know, in about 10 years when we have a little boy telling his class "My daddy wears a sword to work. He's a swashbuckling pirate." His first chance will be at his graduation next weekend. If they can find a sword for him in time.

I can't tell you how tickled I am.

Finished: Anntrelac socks

I like to call these strawberry shortcake socks:
I think she would have worn them. How about you? (I realize how much of a dork child of the 80's this makes me. And yes, I watched the program.)These are the first socks that I finished for myself since Maimuţă, and those were done when I was still a single lady. I'm going to wear my Shortcake socks today when I go to Georgetown to visit the mikveh.

In other news, I'm going to be visiting Chicago this weekend, and staying until next Thursday. Being here only with the kitties is boring me, and Tzurriz has once again swooped to the rescue. So I'll make it to both of my knitting groups, I think. And I will bring yarn.

The Amazing E seems to be fine. His training is going well, and he's pretty excited about all of it. His graduation is next Friday, and then he's allowed to come home the next day. Of course, he arranged another business trip to begin the day after he's home from training. I can't express to you how I feel about THAT!

Cherry Blossom Festival

Before he left for training, E and I went downtown to celebrate spring at the National Cherry Blossom Festival. This is truly awesome. The whole tidal basin is rimmed now with trees heavy with pink flowers.Of course, we took the opportunity for some product placement shots. This is the Cheery Blossom colorway, which is my best seller so far.

Deployment

Did you know that the Amazing E is in the military? I think I mentioned it some time ago. He joined the Commissioned Corp of the Public Health Service shortly before we were married. This is the branch of the service under the Surgeon General. It's very small, about 6,000 members made up of specially trained medical related professionals. E is a biomedical engineer, and today he left on his first deployment. It's only for some of this special training. He's not going to Iraq or anything. In fact, it's really unlikely that he ever will. His branch of the service has not been sent into a war since Korea. He'll be back in a couple of weeks.

In the mean time, I will be visiting Chicago next week. I will bring yarn.

Gro--oss

The good news is that Duncan is still alive and mostly doing okay. He's got problems with peeing that cause him pain and other difficulties. It was these problems that gave us the close call last month. In spite of his problems, my husband loves this little cat. I think he's very sweet, too.

But he has to get a pill every day, and he's not a good patient. Tonight I'm fed up (not that I'm going to stop with the pill giving.) Each night, I have to give this cat a pill. And each night my arms are scratched and fingers bitten. All to have the cat purposely try to get the pill up from his throat by foaming at the mouth after I give it to him through locked jaws. I think at least half of nights he ends up getting it up. Sometimes I find it and give it to him again, but then there is tonight.

I want to show you something cool

The pink dye used in Rock Creek Yarn's Cherry Blossom Colorway glows under blacklight. You can see the strands with heavier dye application standing out is brightly pink. They told me it was UV reactive when I bought it, but this is pretty cool.

Branching Out Finished

There was no chance that I wouldn't cast this yarn on right away. Its the Artfiber Kyoto that E got for me in San Francisco. It's beautiful. One strand of shiny blue silk with a violet strand of mohair plied on.

Rock Creek Yarn is open for business!

Check it out. We're open for business! Rock Creek Yarn

Opening Sunday

The Rock Creek Yarn online store will be opening sometime on Sunday, March 23. Just in time for the Cherry Blossom Festival here in DC. An announcement will go up here

Here's a sneak peek at the initial offerings, re-skeined and fresh from the dyepot. These are all 100% Superwash merino sock yarn. I'm working on adding other yarns and at least two more colorways in short order.

This is Cherry Blossom.
Green Sand Beach.

Trevi.
Bird of Paradise.
Finally, Cartouche.

I've been waiting for a sunny day

To take pictures in some artistic way. But this is March in Maryland, so it's not to be. These are several skeins of Rock Creek Yarn.
These are just a few. More yarn is "drying" on the porch, but since it's raining, mostly they are just hanging there being damp. The yarn will be available on the website pretty soon. In need to get some artistic pictures.

Glamour Shot

I wanted to show you some of the first product of the new yarn store. This is a set of stitch markers I made yesterday. They'll be for sale soon. The store opening has been delayed for a little while because my most of yarn got stuck in customs. I understand that it should be on its way this week, and then I can get cooking.

The Black Hole

There is a particular "town" near to where we live that seems to be a black hole. It is unplottable. Time and space do not exist there. All roads lead there, but none seem to go anywhere once they come within its boarders. Traffic does not move. Every time I am driving in Maryland and get lost, I see a sign that say "Welcome to..." this town. The laws of the universe do not apply there. Not even the laws of knitting.

I ventured into this "town" just now to go to a LYS. Google says it's the closest one to where I live in Silver Spring. It's about 3 miles away, but somehow this trip took almost 2 hours. Strange. I did find the store and went in looking for the simplest thing. A ball winder. I looked around, and that's when everything got kind of strange. I walked around the store, and it appeared to be filled with yarn. However, I'll be damned if anyone could actually find yarn there to buy. There are caverns and caves of skeins everywhere. But finding a yarn you want? Forget it. After walking around and around the store, I finally came back to the front of the store. There, over the door, was a shelf labeled "ball winder." But there was no ball winder on that shelf. So I left.

I left that yarn store with no yarn. I told you about the laws of nature and that town...

Online knitting stuff fascinates me

I've become fixated on all things knitting online. Just ask my husband. I use up precious hours he when he could be on this computer playing Kill the Creepy Aliens from Planet Doom! instead playing with this blog, looking at the yarns of hand dyers and spinners, doing stuff for my upcoming website, and then there's Ravelry....

One of the things that fascinates me most is how people get to this blog. In case you don't look at what cookies you're accepting, I have SiteMeter on this blog. From this I get information about how often people visit, and how they get here. Don't worry, I don't actually know who anyone is or much about you except that you've visited my blog. Most websites these days do have service like this. I don't really use it for anything but entertainment, but it sure is entertaining to me. I hope this doesn't creep you out too much. Maybe you can learn something about what the websites you visit learn about you.

For example, I know that I get about 30 hits a day. Give or take. I know that most of my hits are still from the Chicago area so my knitting buddies there are still reading. (I get a certain warm and fuzzy feeling that I'm not forgotten.) I know that people in the cities where all four of my sisters live are reading this blog. Most recently, I'm getting hits generated from Ravelry. I find it all very cool.

Aside from people I know tere are a significant number of people who stumble on this blog every day through Google. Those are the visits that really crack me up. Sitemeter tells me what keyword they used in their searches. For example, last month people came looking for the following information:

About 30 people visited looking for my sister Peggy Gentleman
About 10 came looking for information about Mass Ave Knitting shop in Indianapolis
3 people wanted to know something about throwing haggis
3 people wanted to know how to make hobbit feet
One person searched here for information on shatnez socks

The list is not exhaustive, but you get the picture.

On another note, did you know that the Spring Knitty came out today. Tzurriz IM'ed me rather excitedly to give me the news. Go look. I'll wait.... This is a great issue. Several very cool sock and sweater patterns. Actually, the sock patterns look really cool. For example, linen stitch on the sole of a foot? Cool. And how about Posey. Really. Take a look there. I can't wait to make that sock in my very own colorways.

Trouble

Apparently I misjudged just how much of a wild animal Scott TC might be. I mean, he's a wimp. Never been outside, never hunted a real bird or mouse. (Although he did get several cicadas last year.) That being said, however, Scott TC recognized that a natural prey for pampered kitties such as himself is apparently hand knitted alpaca bunnies. Last night he was caught dragging the bunny into the living room by its newly dislocated, indeed nearly severed arm.The bunny's new home will be in my bedroom. Scott TC is not allowed in there, so the bunny is resting comfortably. I hope my husband does not object. Reattachment surgery is scheduled for later today.

I am displeased to report other knitting trouble. Remember the blue Green Tea Raglan that has been a UFO for way too long? Well, there's a reason for the procrastination. I've known for some time that I would run out of yarn before the knit was done. My anxiety over this has led to me ignoring its existence for months at a time. Being tired of pitying the fate of this project, in the last week I've picked it up again to see just how short of yarn I'd be. Yeah, I'm nearly done with the yarn and have half a sleeve left. I bought this yarn over a year ago in a LYS going out of business sale. It's already been one other frogged project, so I hate to frog it again because I really like the yarn. It's Classic Elite Bam Boo. I guess I can go and look for the yarn in local yarn stores here and hope I get a similar enough dye lot.

Cross your fingers for these knits. I know I am.

Whoa. I love the bunny.

When E left for San Francisco this weekend, I decided that I needed a cuddley thing. My copy of Last Minute Knitted Gifts has the Lovable Toy pictured below as a six to eight hour project. I was hoping to have a friend by sometime on Sunday evening. So I whipped out the two balls of Plymouth Alpaca Brush I had left from my sister Eileen's holiday gift and got to work. On Wednesday evening my friend was finally complete. Way too cute.


The Amazing E got home at about 3am this morning, and he came bearing gifts. I wasn't expecting anything, and really was only hoping for him to be home safe. I've discovered that business trips suck, especially when you are newly married. Anyway, the gifts were were very nice surprises. He knows me so well. The first thing is a bar of gardenia magnolia soap from a store called Fresh. I've never seen this stuff before, but it smells very nice. I'll break it out tomorrow night for Shabbat. Next was a box of fancy Maya inspired chocolates from Moonstruck Chocolatier. We tried one, and Holy Cow! Saving the rest for tomorrow night as well. Lastly, E in his Amazingness went to a yarn store called Artfibers in San Francisco and got me this cone of silk/mohair fanciness. I feel like I should drop everything and cast it on right away. But what to make?

Anyway. I'm glad to have him home.

No longer an Illinoisan

Nope.

The Amazing E has been out of town for the last five days for work related things. Never fear, this is not military duty. He's at some medical conference in San Francisco. And guess what? My beautiful sister Eileen is in from London at the same conference. I hear they're hanging out. Cool.

I am here holding down the fort.

Lately I've been pretty out of sorts feeling like I'm not quite transitioned here or have a life of my own. It's been kinda hard, you know? But I'm not here to bitch about that. The Parents E came up to stay with me and keep me distracted during my alone time. And it's been pretty good.

First of all, Duncan is eating solid food again. This is very important. I don't know that it means that he's really going to recover over the long term. But it does mean that he's feeling better for now. The poor little guy has really been feeling crappy. I was actually afraid of losing him while E was gone.

I've also been working on my yarn shop. I have my yarns. I have my dyes. I'm getting to work. The store will be carrying three types of hand dyed yarn straight away. Additionally, I think you'll see fancy schmancy hand made stitch markers. After a little while, I should also be carrying some knitting needles and other things. I'll have both a website and an Esty store to start with. Look for the grand opening announcement here in about two weeks!

And! And! And! As of today I am no longer an Illinoisan. This morning I have up my Illinois plates on the truckster in favor of Maryland plates. And this afternoon...wait for it...my condo sold. I guess I'm really making the transition now.