Some Steps Down the Road

I am slowly moving back to working in my office. For one thing, the computer connection is faster than the laptop - which is freaky considering how much older it is. Two, it's my office and I want to get away from using it as a yarn hoarder area and get back to using it as an office where I can be more isolated and concentrate on what I need to do. Third, well, I don't need a third, but Mr. Honey uses my laptop when he wants to go on line. He won't upgrade his laptop with the necessary equipment to use the wi-fi going through the house so he uses the laptop sometimes when I am using my laptop but not right in front of it. My going back to my office will bring some guard against resentment. And banishment - his, not mine.

OK, so you want to see it? It is almost a scarf that would not end and it's not as long as the pattern called for. The pattern says to make it 140 inches long - I'll wait until you divide that by 12 and get more than 11 feet long and then wonder who thought that up. This is made with Cascade Magnum, a hefty hank with a hefty price of $20. This is two of them and is a little over 70 inches. It would take two more - $80 as a base price if it were sold without any thought of making any money on it. Warren Buffett might do that but no one else will.

Coincidentally, we met someone new at the Sunday knit get together. Jean joined us for the first time and she is working on the scarf with the fiber the pattern calls for and she's doing the entire length. She is also doing the Master Knitter's course from the Guild. She's brave on both counts.

It is stunning in the picture and stunning in person. I have to put it away because it is all wool and susceptible to all that can happen to wool.

The thing that is on the needles now is a snake. A snake from a book of knit toys. It's a book with some fun patterns and I am going to be able to use up some of the stash because it's a long snake...and I can make it longer if I want to. Great fun!!!

Here She Is!

Ignore the big person, the star is nestled in his arms. This is my nephew, Mike, I got him when I got Joe. Not complaining - he's quite the guy.

That little sugar plum is Bridget, his third child, second daughter and hereby declared to be my sweetheart. I love Megan (his eldest) and Jason (his doppelganger) but Bridget is going to belong to me. I think it was sweet of them to have a baby for me - a baby they will pay for, provide for and keep - but who belongs to me. Mazel Tov to the happy family and I will be over soon to get my baby (and bring her back when she needs changing.)

In knitting news, I am almost finished with the 'leaf' scarf. I started it a few months back and put it away because it uses size 13 needles and Cascade Magnum yarn which is really bulky and untwisted. It does work up quickly but it also works up heavy. The scarf in it's original pattern is more than 10 feet and I will do that but with a less expensive yarn - not to mention a lighter weight. But it is beautiful and I look forward to the photos. I don't want to spoil it with a teaser. OK, I don't want to mess with it until I have to; that thing will hurt a small child if it falls on them.

I know this will cause some of you to cringe but it's just six months to Christmas. I am using some Etsy guides to improve my store and traffic and this is the time to start thinking about and working on holiday gifts. It makes sense, especially if you are in one of the crafts that require some time. I was going through some books to find something I could point to and say 'gift' and the first thing I came across was an afghan that I started to make a while ago but I am going to start over with a nice chunky weight fiber. I went to the even better organized yarn stash and found I have a ton of this particular fiber so away I go.

Tomorrow, after church, I get to spend time with a couple of my peeps at a new place to knit. I should be able to work on the afghan because it's done in squares with a relatively easy cable pattern. Should be fun!

What A Week!

Howdy!
Yes, I know, it's been a while!

Heather and Cici! You won the contest and I need your contact info to send your prizes!

So, what have I been doing for this past week? StitchCraft was participating in the Pleasant Home Holiday Shop for the week. Pleasant Home is a beautiful mansion and for the first week in December, it is turned into a holiday shop with handmade crafts and art from local artisans.

We've had the pleasure and honor of being there for three years and ever since we've been there we've been the top sellers and I think we've probably had that distinction again and keeping that record holds special meaning for me because this is the first year the group isn't with the church. (They had their own space in the shop far away from ours.)

I was worried there wouldn't be enough merchandise to sell so I was furiously knitting up a storm and I ended up with about 100 pieces. I needn't have worried because five others contributed items and we had nearly 200 items to sell.

Everyone had at least one sale - Marion did really, really well with her jewelry and knitted goods. Overall, we made more than we made last year - which was another personal point of success for me.

Melissa took some photos and I'll let you know when she posts them. But our tablescape was really nice. Melissa did the original setup and Marion did some tweaking. We had a great variety.

My task from Mr. Honey was to come home with less than I left with. I left with four big bags and a box. I came home with three bags. I sold a little over 20 things. My goal was 30 but I can live with it since, well, I have to and because I sold an afghan for over $100!! (it was a great week for me on that front as well.)

I saw a couple of folks who have shops on etsy and still haven't managed to make my top ten list (that will return next week, btw!) and I got some ideas from some of the crafters that I will have to make reality.

So, today, I'm a bit tired and I have a meeting at church. I am going to take the rest of the day off and then come back strong tomorrow. I hope you had a great week last week and a great week this week. I cannot tell you how great positive reinforcement is for the soul.

Make it a great day!

That Which Does Not Kill Me...

Still no DSL. The new modem arrived and when I installed it, there was still no dsl service. I called the Customer Service department and they did a line test and said I was not getting the dsl feed. (So, they couldn't do that before they made me buy a new modem?) The Earthlink guy will be here today between 8am and 8pm. To make matters worse, or just more strange, yesterday talking to the technician, they asked where the outside access to the phone line was, I turned to Mr. Honey and asked: "It's on the pole in the alley, right?" To which he replied, "It's on the side of the house." As if I were an alien being. I relayed the information to the technician.

Yesterday evening, at dinner, I told him the tech would be coming on Saturday to look at the phone line and the box to check the line and he said. "We don't have a phone box on the house."

Huh?
"But you said yesterday when I asked you that it was on the side of the house in the back."
"Well, if we had one that's where it would be."
"So you didn't know for sure when you told me that and I told that to Earthlink."
"No, I was guessing."

Luckily, the distant between the back of the house and the pole where I thought it was is not very far. The technician probably looked at the ticket and thought we were crazy to suggest it was on the house at all and he probably knows it's in the alley.

Mr. Honey. Good thing he has a great looking arse.

Sigh.

The good news is, I had a blast with the knitting group today. There were four of us gathered around at Borders and April mentioned she was at an estate sale close by and they had some knitting and crafting books, some fabric and other goodies. We all looked at each, packed up our stuff, jumped in my car and we went over. I walked out with a knitting book chock full of patterns, a huge ball of cotton yarn, and a set of circular needles for all of $4. In fact, everyone walked out with something.

That makes up for all the crap that's going on that I'm not telling you about.
I have the feeling the answer to it all is I need to be more prayerful. I will have to pray about it...and hire an attorney.

Double sigh.

In the meantime, the shawl is coming along fine. I showed it to the knitting group and they thought it was very festive. While they didn't exactly fall over it (they did fall over the sequin afghan) they were very supportive. I can't wait to finish it so you can see it and tell me what you think. The stain glass afghan is also coming along. One strip is already complete and another in the works. I should have at least one more strip done today because I will be working on it today. Thank God for knitting. I mean that most sincerely.

In the meantime, I've started work on all the books. Yep, I will probably end up alternating them and working them all at the same time. Why should my writing be any different than my knitting?

StitchCraft, my knitting group, just reached 100 members and I'm planning a celebration for some time next year after the holidays are done and the holiday knitting season is over and we can use some social knitting. 100 members. Whodda thunk?


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