Lorna's Laces

Mystery Stole 4

2008-08-15T10:14:00.000-07:00

Melanie over at Pink Lemon Twist has opened the sign-up for this year's Mystery Stole.

I am not a very accomplished lace knitter. (That's the nice way of saying I stink at it.) Every year when Mystery Stole comes along, I promise myself that I'll work on my lace knitting so I can sign up for it next year. Invariably something else distracts me and I find myself repeating the cycle.

But I'm delighted to announce that our very own Emily will be representing Lorna's Laces in this year's KAL. I'm so happy to have someone close to home that I can knit vicariously through!

Here's her swatch. She's using our Helen' Lace for the project. It's pretty, don't you think?

One of life's little mysteries

2008-08-14T10:47:00.000-07:00

Why is it that it takes one day of work to catch up for every day that you are away? I was gone for one measly week and four days later I'm still trying to find my desk amongst all the little bits and pieces that decided to breed in my absence. There must be a way to sterilize paperwork so it can't reproduce.

The trip to Toronto was fantastic! We embraced our inner tourist and did all the typical stuff.

On Tuesday, we went up in the CN Tower. At 1815 ft, it's the world's tallest building. The observation deck has an area with a glass floor. There were people laying on it while they got their picture taken. Little children were jumping up and down with incredible glee. I turned green.

All the literature says it's perfectly safe. That it is "five times stronger than the required weight bearing standard for commercial floors." That "it can withstand the weight of 14 large hippos." But my brain did not believe the literature and insisted that if I stood on the glass I would find myself hurtling over a thousand feet straight down. Splat. So like any rational person, I huddled in the far corner and hyperventilated.

We spent Wednesday window shopping on Queen Street West and wandering through the Distillery District. The Distillery District is a marvelous area with lots of restaurants and artisan's shops. No yarn shops though.

Wednesday evening we hooked up with Amy Singer of Knitty fame for dinner. Amy is the one in the white T-shirt.

She's next up for our Color Commentary series and I had a few samples of possible colorways for her to take a peek at and get her input. We had been talking about the color for awhile and sent some pictures back and forth, but there's nothing like seeing it in person. That gave me the perfect excuse to plan the trip in the first place. As it turns out, the color was close, but it wasn't perfect. We need to make some adjustments before it's ready to go out into the world next month.

When we sat down to dinner, Amy pulled out this beautiful peyote stitch bracelet she had made and gave it to me! You should have seen all the people turn around to stare at me after I squealed. The beads are so tiny and the work so detailed. And how sweet is that clasp? I can't tell you how touched I was that she chose to give it to me. I will wear it proudly.

Here's a bit from her blog about the one she made for herself. It's the July 24th entry. I can't figure out how to get to the exact date so you'll have to scroll down a bit on her site. There's also a bit about the working with the delica beads in her June 18th entry. Girl is multi-talented.

After dinner we strolled over to Lettuce Knit. There are a bunch of wholesale produce companies in the neighborhood. Probably where they got the name, huh? It couldn't have been any cuter. It's in a great old red brick building with this fantastic stained glass window over the door.

They must have had that window made since they moved in a year or so ago, but it looks like it's been there forever. I've been on the hunt for a piece of stained glass to go in the window in my kitchen and haven't had any luck finding one. Maybe I should think about having one made. I'd been thinking I wanted a vintage one but this made me think that maybe I can go this route.

There's much more to tell about the wonderful people we hung out with that evening, but it will have to wait until tomorrow. I have to see about clearing this desk.

Oh Canada!

2008-08-01T11:00:00.000-07:00

Next week, my husband and I are off to Toronto for vacation! Yay!

It can't come soon enough. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE my work. Every morning I get up, come in and make beautiful yarn. It doesn't get much better than that. But even with a dream job, it's good to get away from time to time.

We've been talking about where to go for quite awhile. Since it's summer, I didn't want to go anywhere hotter than it is here. I'm a delicate flower and just wilt if I get too warm. That eliminated lots of places.

We also ruled out anywhere with either the pound or euro as the local currency. Unless we win the lotto or come into an inheritance I'm afraid that's going to be off-limits until the dollar comes back around a bit.

We booked this trip just a couple of days ago. Usually I am the kind of person who gets a guide book, spends hours on the internet and comes up with a list of things to see and do. This time I've done virtually nothing. Nada. Zilch. Sometimes it's good to play it by ear. That said, if anyone has any suggestions of places we shouldn't miss, please share!

I have to admit that I am having a bit of a dilemma. There's the little voice that says "I am on vacation and since yarn is work I should stay away from yarn-things". Then there's the (much louder) voice that says "It a whole new country full of yarn. GO NUTS!" Guess which one is most likely to win?

Overacheiver

2008-07-29T13:40:00.001-07:00

Almost every summer I spend a Saturday afternoon making a jug of homemade liqueur. The first one I tried was limoncello, a lemon aperitif with Italian roots. I tasted it in a restaurant in Jackson, WY when I was visiting my brother a few years ago. It was all over when he told me he had a recipe.

Besides being delicious, it's really easy if you are patient. You take some vodka, add lemon zest and wait. And wait. And wait some more. After 40 days you get to add more vodka and some simple syrup. And wait again. After another 40 days it will be done. Then you can bottle it up and share it with friends. It makes a fantastic hostess gift during the holidays. I recommend keeping at least a little for yourself. I keep mine in the freezer.

The limoncello was such a success that I decided to dig around and see what other liqueurs I could easily make at home. I ran across a recipe for framboise, which is raspberry flavored. The next year there was ratafia, made from brandy, oranges and coriander seeds.

This year I got a little carried away and made all three. It's not actually my fault though. There's a local produce store called Stanley's that has the most fantastic deals. When I went in on Saturday to pick up the lemons I needed for limoncello, they were practically giving away raspberries. I'm not kidding about the giving away....they were 2 half-pints for a dollar! Tell that to the folks at Whole Foods.

Lest you think that I've been drinking all the fruits of my labor...I do realize that there are four bottles in the picture. The fourth is a sweet blackberry wine. The blackberries were bargain priced too and I couldn't resist. It's a new recipe, I hope it's as good as the others!

Pomatomus

2008-07-24T10:46:00.001-07:00

Stef is finishing up her Pomatomus socks. It's a Cookie A pattern that was featured in Knitty awhile back.

The description tells us that the "finished socks are reminiscent of blue-green fish scales, hence the name Pomatomus, the genus of the blue fish....Blue fish are somewhat vicious with sharp teeth, powerful jaws, and a cannibalistic tendency.

That decription gives me the delightful segue into this photo.

(I'd seen this article earlier in the week and have been trying to figure out how on earth I could tie it into anything that would make any sense on these pages. I know it's a stretch, but hey, I do what I can.)

Another President

2008-07-24T10:39:00.000-07:00

We're on a real tear with the cute stuffed things around here. Grover Cleveland accompanied Sam to work today. Who knew the 22nd AND 24th President of the U.S. was actually a pink elephant?! A bad joke about imbibing too much comes to mind, but I'll spare you.

Knit Pink!

2008-07-21T09:17:00.000-07:00

A couple of months ago there was a banner ad on Ravelry asking for submissions for a new website, Knit Pink. It's raising funds for Breast Cancer research through the donation and sale of exclusive, designer knitting patterns and knit-related accessories and just went live last week.

Both Stefanie and Emily wanted to contribute patterns so Lorna's Laces provided yarn and they were off and designing!

Stefanie designed Peppermint Lattice Socks.

How cute are these? They are knit from one skein of Shepherd Sock in Flamingo Stripe and one skein in Pink Blossom.I liked these so much that I wanted to ask her if we could keep the pattern for Lorna's Laces. Then I put on my big-girl pants and did the right thing for the greater good.

Emily's contribution is Hand-Holders Fingerless Gloves.

They are knit using one skein of our Shepherd Worsted in Pink Blossom. I know it's July and the humidity levels are mirroring the temperatures these days, but before you know it that long, cold winter is going to make these very welcome!

Woops!

2008-07-17T11:37:00.001-07:00

I hit the "publish" button before I got to the FO I alluded to in the original title.

This is the Tamara Jacket that Diane Zangl designed for us. Stephanie knit it up in Shepherd Sport in a colorway she designed herself. It's our Douglas Fir with just a little bit of Charcoal added in for good measure.

It's such a luxury to be able to tweak colors to get exactly what you want. And something no one else in the world will ever have. I wish everyone could have the chance to spend a day with us and play in the dye pots.

A WIP and a FO

2008-07-17T11:20:00.000-07:00

First things first. The web guys did their magic again and the site feels more like its usual self again. Thank goodness. I will spare you the details of our voicemail meltdown earlier in the week. If you tried to call, please accept my apologies. It has been fixed as well. Let's all keep our fingers crossed that our technological woes are behind for awhile. Why do things like this all happen at the same time?

Let's move right on to fun and pretty. This sparkly number is a scarf that Emily is working on from Ann Hanson.

And here's a close up of the stitch pattern. Isn't it nice?

As a rule, I'm not usually a fan of glitter and sparkles, but I like this. My guess is because of the neutral colors. If this was hot pink I probably wouldn't be so taken by it.

SQL Injection

2008-07-15T13:13:00.000-07:00

That's a bad thing.

Late last week we got an email from a knitter who had tried to go to our website to find a nearby retailer. When she clicked on the "Where to Buy" button all the data was gone! Yikes!

So we got on the horn with our web guys and tried to figure things out. I was told things like "the problem is being caused by a sql injection" and all sorts of catch-y phrases like that. I was nodding away like a bobblehead doll pretending it made sense. They could have been speaking Swahili for all I understood.

I learned that we'd gotten hacked into and someone had added some junk script that screwed things up. Jerks. I mean really. Why would anyone want to mess with someone like us? It's not a site that handles money or has confidential information. Arrgghh!

But by Monday, the web guys were able to do their magic. The retailer buttons were working again and all the data had returned. We were beyond relieved. The prospect of re-entering all the shop information had been weighing heavy on our minds. We did the dance of joy when we dodged that bullet.

So fifteen minutes ago, we got another email. Same problem. Big.Heavy.Sigh. Let's all keep our fingers crossed that it gets fixed for good this time.

Nasty, mean sql injector people. I hope all their socks get holes in them.

Needles!!!

2008-07-11T11:24:00.000-07:00

Today was a good mail day. We got a big (for us) shipment of HiyaHiya needles. We've been really liking them. There's even a little 9" circular for knitting socks. I've always been a fan of the double points, but I think I need to give this a try.

It's far too easy for me to get stuck in the rut of "I've always done it this way" and not explore my options. Another great example of that is that I still gravitate towards knitting sweaters on straights when there are so many compelling reasons to use circs. You'd think that someone who hates seaming as much as I do would be all over that wouldn't you? I never claimed to be the brightest crayola in the box.

In knitting news around here, Caitlin just finished a pair of knee socks of her own design. They're knit from an organic cotton/wool blend. She was just binding off the second sock when I was taking the photo and I was too impatient to wait. They are identical twins. Sometimes when I am doing stripes in socks I do fraternal twins. It's just a matter of how I'm feeling that day.

I wonder how the percentages would break down of people who love/hate the idea of their socks not matching exactly?I'm happy either way, but I know from peeking at message boards that it drives some people crazy. There's just something in
imperfection that appeals to me. Maybe it gives me permission to accept imperfections in myself. I dunno.

We're sending out the first shipments of the new colors that we introduced at TNNA last month today. It's always exciting when they go out into the world. I sure hope you like them.

How about some politics?

2008-07-10T13:38:00.001-07:00

I came into work today and found this guy hanging around.

A few minutes later this fella popped up.

I sat down and had a little chat with them. Turns out the tall, handsome one is Lyndon B. Johnson* and his friend is Hubert Humphrey**.

Perhaps they could run on the Fibertarian ticket? Oh, I forgot. Dolores has that nomination all knit up.

*LBJ knit by Sam in Lion and Lamb in a color she concocted herself.
**HH knit by Emily in Lion and Lamb too.

In Which I Gripe about Post Offices

2008-07-08T09:55:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago, we mailed some Green Line Worsted in Echo to Ysolda Teague in Scotland. She was going to design a sweater for Twist Collective, the new online knitting magazine that Kate Gilbert is launching is just a few weeks.

Imagine my surprise when I opened an email this morning from Kate telling me the yarn had not arrived and that the tracking report said they had tried to make a delivery in Ireland. Yikes!

Two hours and a gazillion phone calls and emails later, the USPS says that Royal Mail has had the package since June 28th and that they have somehow lost or misdirected it. Not surprisingly, Royal Mail says they never received the package and that the USPS still has it.

So, now we have a trace on it. The helpful folks at USPS say it could take as long as 24 working days to figure out what is going on. That's right, 24 working days. That's August 11 to you and me kids.

How many people work with that much wiggle room? Puhleez. So, now we're developing a Plan B. If I knew what Plan B was, it sure would make things easier.

Isn't interesting that only time-sensitive items get lost in shipping? It's always a birthday present or wedding gift. It's never the book you sent your brother on a whim because you thought he'd like it. Or the mittnes you finished in July and went ahead and popped in the mail so you wouldn't have to worry about losing them before winter.

The weirdest part about the whole thing is that I had to stop myself for feeling guilty about it. And worried that Kate would be mad at me. Like somehow it was my fault that the post office didn't deliver the mail in a timely fashion. If only I had that much power.......

Perhaps I should find some consolation in the fact that that the Royal Post office appears to be just as messed up as USPS.

Happy Fouth of July!

2008-07-03T11:00:00.000-07:00

I know it's only July 3rd, but the big fireworks display here in Chicago is tonight so I've gotten used to thinking of today as the holiday. People get up at the crack of dawn to get downtown and stake out their claim to good seats on the lawn in Grant Park.

It's all part of a 10 day festival called Taste of Chicago. Sixty five restaurants set up booths and sell "taste sized" samplings from their menus. In theory, this is a great idea. The reality of it isn't quite as pretty. Think turkey drumsticks, beer bellies and no shirts.....See what I mean?

My brother and his lovely wife have been visiting this week. Last night they treated us to Cirque du Soleil's Kooza. It was amazing! I can't get over what the performers could do with their bodies. The flexibility, strength and creativity were all out of this world.

It made me wonder how a person would get into that line of work. Do they come from acting backgrounds? Or perhaps gymnastics? Maybe more of a circus/carnival thing? I dunno. I guess if I was going to run away and join the circus, that would be the one I'd be heading for.

I keep talking about wanting to take a trapeeze class. There are several of them around town and I've thinking about it for a couple of years. Maybe the trip to Cirque will be a swift enough kick in the @ss to get me going.

I'll leave you for the holiday weekend with this darling little star the Emily created for her beau using our Shepherd Bulky in Sunshine. Cute, isn't it?

Second Quarter Donation

2008-06-30T14:03:00.000-07:00

Our second quarter breast cancer donation was a little different this time around. I got more personal with it than I have in the past.

A colleague has a daughter that was diagnosed just over a year ago. She's been through treatment and is doing very well, thank goodness! When I asked my friend which charity her daughter would most like to see the donation go to she told me about the Green Mountain Ride.

This organization supports the Norris Cotton Cancer Center at Dartmouth. They were more than delighted with her treatment there on both a medical and emotional level.

While NCCC deals with all kinds of cancer, I thought it was a worthwhile place for our money to go. And just so people didn't feel like I'd misrepresented anything, I went ahead and bumped up the donation from our regular 20% of sales of Flamingo Stripe to closer to 25%.

Franklin's Panopticon

2008-06-24T14:17:00.001-07:00

Awhile back I told you we were thinking about expanding on the concept of the Grumperina colorway with a series of colors in conjuntion with celebrity bloggers. Well, we're not thinking about it anymore, we're doing it! We're calling the series Color Commentary.

First up is Franklin's Panopticon. Along with a very popular blog, Franklin has a book coming out in October with Interweave Press.

He came by the studio a few weeks back to play with me in the dyepots. He had a William Morris wallpaper in mind when he arrived. After a bit of fun we came up with this:

Isn't it pretty?

So, today we spent the day doing this:

Bunches of pretty!

I had originally planned to ship so it would be available in shops on July 15th. Then I starting to wonder whether I should go ahead and send it out right away. Or would you rather wait? I didn't think so. We'll get cracking.

Look for a new color every other month. We have Annie Modesitt, Amy Singer, Clara Parkes and CookieA lined up with a few more in the works. This is going to be so much fun!!

Clear Chucks

2008-06-19T09:43:00.000-07:00

Am I the last person on the planet to hear about these???? I MUST get out more often.

You can buy them here.

Many years ago, I dated a guy whose father was the chairman of Converse. He sent me all kinds of wacky Chuck Taylors. I had glow-in-the-dark, gold lame', tiger stripe....I bet I had twenty pairs at one point. These days, they make all kinds of different patterns, but back then, the ones I had were rare. A few were even one-of-kind.

I hadn't thought about Bill in a long time. Our break-up wasn't very pretty and we didn't keep in touch. I hope he's happy and doing well.

New Purple Line Colors

2008-06-13T13:13:00.000-07:00

So, where were we? Oh yeah, we'd just finished dinner on Friday night. On Saturday morning I met with Leslie and Diana from Mountain Colors. We discussed next steps on the Duet Series. Things are coming together nicely there. We have a vest that Ginger Luters designed up next. I'll have good photos soon.

The show floor opened on Saturday morning and we were steadily busy all day. I'm always a little anxious before a show. I worry about how the new colors will be received. Which ones will be hits? Will there be a dog in the bunch? It's always a topic for discussion around here when we're deciding on which will make the cut. We're usually right on the money, but we've been surprised a time or two.

This season we brought out four new multi colors for the Purple Line. In addition, we had a little contest to find new sock designs. Here are the new colors along with the winning socks.

First Place went to h.e. wintermute's Florentine Lace Sock shown here in Woodlawn.

Second Place went to Jeanne Giles's Herringbone Lace sock shown in Maple Grove and Harvest. It turns out that Jeanne works at Jimmy Beans Wool. We didn't find out about that until we were in Columbus.

We ended up with a tie for Third Place. This is Janine La Cras's Fisherman's Fancy Sock. It's knitted in our South Shore colorway.

Last but not least, Sara Morris's Architect Sock in Ashburn.

Aren't the designs fantastic?

I was delighted that folks seemed happy with all of the new Purple Line colors. Ashburn, Maple Grove and South Shore were all universally liked. Woodlawn was a little funny. One person would be unsure of it and the next would tell me she sells those colors like crazy. I'm not sure whether it was a regional thing or what. I know I'm biased, but I think they're all pretty great.

Saturday night was the Interweave Press party. I got to rub elbows with Franklin Habit, Annie Modesitt, Eunny Jang, Marilyn Murphy, Kim Werker, Carol Sulcoski, CookieA. I better stop now. I know I've forgotten many people and I'm going to get in trouble.

Off to dinner with Laurie from Sticks and Strings in Scarsdale. It's always so nice to catch up with shop owners one to one. Especially after being starstruck at the cocktail party.

Sunday was a quick breakfast with Angelika. This was another opportunity for a one on one chat. It was so nice of her to meet me that early. She lives on the West coast, so it was extra-special early for her.

Unicorn books was right across from us at the show. They had lots of famous people signing books. Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, Amy Singer and Jillian Moreno to name just two.

On Sunday evening Amanda went off to play at the Potter Craft party while I attended to business at the Yarn Group meeting. (She'll have to tell you all about that.) After YG meeting, there was a tribute to Pat Chew. She founded Classic Elite Yarn and passed away earlier this year. I didn't know her well, but she a ground breaker in our industry and will be missed.

Afterwards, we had dinner with a few friends from Classic Elite and Vogue Knitting. We had such a nice time and I am grateful to them for always being good to me ever since I was brand-spanking new in this business.

Monday was a whirlwind. Up early for a meeting with a vendor, then we worked the show all day, broke down the booth in record time and back in Chicago by 10:00. Whew!

I still have a surprise or two to tell you about next week. Enjoy WWKIP!!

Columbus TNNA

2008-06-12T08:04:00.000-07:00

Goodness, it's been a long time. Prepping for TNNA got the better of me this time around. Now I have so much to share with you that it will probably come over the course of the next several days.

We left for Columbus mid morning on June 5. There was the usual scramble at the last minute to pack barely-dry yarn and the sweater that arrived via FedEx. This year we had one sweater that didn't make it. Yikes!

We spent the drive making swatches for the new Green Line colors. I posted awhile back about procrastinating. This was what I was procrastinating about. For some reason, I just couldn't make myself sit down and design new colors for it. Silly, huh? Anyway, I finally got them finished and I think they were worth the ~~angst~~ wait.

So, without further ado, here are the five new Green Line colorways. All of them are available in both the DK and Worsted.

This is Fresh.

And this is Passion.

Verve.

Ingrigue.

Last but not least, Sublime.

Speaking of Green Line colors, while we were setting up, Bobbie from Ewe Knit Kits came by with an adult version of Elizabeth Zimmerman's Baby Surprise Jacket. It uses all the solid colors in the line. Pretty spectacular, isn't it? And our Miss Amanda looks very fetching.

This trip was a whirlwind of ~~socializing~~ business meetings. Usually dinners are booked pretty solid, but I had breakfast engagements every morning as well. Thursday evening we had dinner with Craig, Laura and Mark from Loop and Patricia and Margo from Patricia's Yarns I've known Craig and Mark for years and I'm so glad they brought along new friends.

Friday night was Laura and Doug of Jimmy Bean's Wool. Laura was the first LYS owner I met when I bought Lorna's Laces. And, she was the web designer that created our website. She doesn't come to TNNA nearly often enough. I'd like to see her more.

More tomorrow. Among other things, there are new Purple Line colors to share

Soldier Field 10

2008-05-29T09:10:00.000-07:00

The nice man from the trucking company came and took the crate for TNNA. You would think that would mean that things are settling down. Not so. We are still feverishly working on many last minute projects that weren't finished in time to go in the crate. We will tote them to the show ourselves. This year it will require the services of a sherpa.

Because much of the knitting these days is top-secret....new colors, new patterns etc., I can't really show you any WIP's. I'll post it all after we return from Columbus.

One of the things I did over Memorial Day weekend was run in the Soldier Field 10. It's a 10 mile run that finishes at mid-field on Soldier Field. The reason I signed up for it was I thought it would be a thrill to be able to actually be out there on the turf. I wasn't disappointed.

Soldier Field was built in the 1920's as a memorial to soldiers that had lost their lives in wars. It's probably best known as the home of the Chicago Bears, but many other events are held there as well. Soccer games, concerts, rodeos, circuses, stock car races have all found their way to Soldier Field.

It was a beautiful day in Chicago and along with 6000 of my closest friends, I took off for a run along the lakefront.

Besides finishing on the field, they closed a couple of lanes of Lake Shore Drive and we ran the first five miles there. Then we turned back and run on the path. The view wasn't bad.

The finish didn't disappoint. We ran through one of the tunnels just like I imagine the players do and out onto the field. I saw myself on the Jumbo Tron and everything. It was fun!

Procrastination

2008-05-21T11:25:00.000-07:00

Do you ever have one of those days when you have about a zillion things that need to be done by a certain time but you just can't seem to get started?

Like the in-laws are coming to visit but instead of cleaning the bathroom, you work on finishing the baby sweater for a child that has yet to be conceived?

Or that first one's evil twin: instead of working on the baby sweater for the shower this Saturday, you cast on for Christmas stockings. In June.

Or instead of working on the stack of term papers that have to be returned tomorrow, you reach for that bodice-ripper.

Or instead of making the dentist appointment for that nagging pain that you think is going mean a root canal, you head straight to the salon for new cut and color?

Or instead of working on the enormous list of things that need to be accomplished by Tuesday, when the shipping company comes to pick up everything for the booth at TNNA, you work on a blog entry.

Oh wait, that last one is me. For the past two weeks I have worked slavishly doing anything except get organized for what is arguably the most important four days of the year for Lorna's Laces. Yikes!

I wish I could figure out why. It's really not like me to be this way. I'm usually the one cracking the whip around here and staying late to make sure it's all done well ahead of time. It makes me crazy to find myself behind.

The next step in the process is to figure out who I can blame. I am considering my husband. Or vodka.

Edited: I just found out, it's Franklin's fault! He came by earlier in the week to work on a top-secret project. It's very important to know who to blame. I will rest easy tonight.

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

2008-05-16T08:42:00.001-07:00

Sam has been busy making octopi. (I looked that one up. There are two acceptable plurals for octopus, octopuses and octopi. I picked octopi.) They are from an etsy vendor hansigurumi.

The patterns are for knitting rather than crochet like so much of the amigurumi. This is good for us. We're a little crochet challenged around here. I think many of us have good intentions about crochet and then default back to knitting because it's what we know. Like anything else, it's easier to fall back to the known and comfortable.

Anyways, this is Sylvia, he is made from our Shepherd Worsted in Huron with a very sexy Bittersweet underbelly.

And this Orlando. She is made from Brick and Bittersweet.

They are very much in love. They say it is because they are soulmates. I believe it is because they share that Bittersweet underbelly.

A quick WIP

2008-05-15T11:57:00.000-07:00

This is Sam's Ernie sweater. It's from Debbie Stoller's Son of a Stitch and Bitch and knit from our Shepherd Worsted. Even though it's from a book for men, she's making it for herself.

Check back tomorrow for the winners of our sock contest and some interesting things from under the sea!

Sock contest

2008-05-12T12:36:00.000-07:00

We've started getting entries to the sock contest we announced here and here and of course on Ravelry.

The deadline is May 15th. Can't wait to see what else arrives!

We're planning on having the winning socks knit up in new colors and taking them to TNNA. Yippee!!

Mother's Day

2008-05-12T10:51:00.000-07:00

I come from a family of six kids. I always try and call my mom the day before a big holiday. I figure it's nice for her to have the calls spread out a bit instead of spending the entire day with her ear glued to the phone. Before I figured that out, I spent too many holidays frustrated by a never-ending busy signal. It's nice to find simple solutions isn't it?

The weather here yesterday was atrocious. When I woke up it was raining sideways. I love a great storm. Especially when it's one of those rare days when I don't have any pressing obligations. It was easy enough to text my running buddy Edward and cancel the run we had planned and hunker down for a nice, long day of knitting and cable movies. Ahhhh, perfection.

If it hadn't been so ugly out, I would have spent the day doing things. The run, meeting folks for brunch, maybe a movie in the afternoon. (The husband wants to see Iron Man.) But the truth is, I desperately needed a day with nothing on the agenda. I have been working alot of Saturdays and if I'm honest, I needed some time to myself. Yesterday was the perfect antidote.