Yarn Sale

I forgot to mention where the sale is taking place.

Brainerd, MN has a little yarn shop called Between Friends Yarn.  The shop is closing and the owner is hoping to relocate to Florida.  With the wind howling outside the shop door, I could hardly blame her.  The shop was empty accept for the very back wall.  When I asked if I could take a picture, she politely asked that I not capture the store in its state of deconstruction.  Apparently, the shop was a delightful, warm haven for fiber fiends.   She wants it to be remembered that way.


Of course, one cannot pass by a yarn shop EVER.  And 60% off would make it a crime not to stop and shop.   A lot of the yarn was picked over but I found a few gems.  I have been wanting to make traditional monkey socks (red/gray) for kids, so there are three skeins of something or other.  And a pretty pink skein for my Belle.  Not sure if it will be socks or cuffs or  . . . oh the skies the limit.  And a few items like row counters and coil-less safety pins (so the yarn doesn't get snagged in those little coils).

On a different note: We had a parent donate some yarn to the school, so I took a wee bit and began making mittens and hats for the annual winter clothing collection. 

It's chilly, so I'm off to build a fire and maybe, just maybe, whip a little hat to go with the mittens.  Oh, and I should probably finish up on these arms here.

Does this need any narrative?

The planets must be aligned.

Happy Thanksgiving!

The weather outside is really frightful. 

 

 The sun might be out, but don't let it fool you.  The temperatures are below 0 degrees F.  Whooooooooooo.

But we're up north somewhere,

 that just happens to be a skip, hop and a jump from an indoor swimming pool with heated water.  Mmmmmmmm.
Time to throw the kids in the pool and get some knittin' done.

Enjoy the holiday!  There are so many reasons to be thankful.

Oh God, I'm off the wagon.

I spent about an hour last night looking through Ravelry and Ysolda's website for sweater patterns.

"Why, Rani?  Have you finished your pile of U.F.O.s as promised?"

No.  No I haven't.  I have a terrible Ravelry hangover this morning to prove it.  And kick me when I'm down - we ran out of coffee-cream this morning, so I'm looking at my almost-carmel-colored cup of coffee this morning, cursing myself and wishing I had just turned the damn computer off last night when my half-asleep husband suggested it.  My Ravelry queue is no up to 203 but there are some darling little sweaters in there if anyone is interested.

And there is more bad news.  I was working on a beautiful shawl pattern by Anne Hanson "Luciole".  We were having a nice evening in a snowstorm watching "The Princess Bride".  I fudged a couple of rows and because I had a boldness that came out of a large bottle of beer, I thought I could just keep going without a lifeline and make up for my mistakes by adding an extra stitch here and k2tog there.  I'm too embarrassed to admit what happened next.   But I will tell you that I have a nicely rewound ball of pretty, raspberry colored yarn sitting next to my chair and an empty pair of needles.  Oh, and that empty beer bottle as well.   No matter.  The color was all wrong for the pattern.  It kept nagging at me.

The good news.  There is one less project I have to finish before Christmas.  Don't fret Luciole - I will return and I will knit thee.  In the meantime, I must get back on the wagon and continue . . . slow and steady.  Next stop: socks - plain old k2, p2 socks.  No bottle of beer can mess that up. . . right?

Slow and Steady Finishes the Race

When I was "training" for the Kortelopet ski-a-thon-for-crazy-people race last year, "slow and steady" was my mantra.  It's not the most inspiring or exciting mantra, but for someone who was looking forward to simply being able to finish the race, it worked fine for me.  And surprisingly, they had not yet cleaned up the finish line when I eventually crossed over and dropped in the snow.

The next Kortelopet is a few months away but I won't start to think about it until after Christmas.  Instead, I am chanting the mantra over my pile of ufo's that are having a face-off with me at this exact moment.  I'm maintaining mental control by not spending hours on Ravelry constantly adding patterns to my queue.  I'm practicing the art of self-control and discipline by refusing to cast on one more project until I clear out the knitting runway.  There are too many projects on the tarmac and chaos is threatening to break out at any moment.  197 patterns in my queue should keep me busy for some time, but for now, I will plug away at the current pile - slow and steady.  Slow and steady.

FO:  Baby Cable Yoke Jacket by Cotton and Cloud

I used Cascade 220 Paints Hand Dyed "9843 Paradise Beach"
Details on Ravelry

This is for my sister's baby.  Well, she's not exactly a baby.  I mean, she's walking and da-daing and ma-maing and all of that.  But since my babies are starting to wear shoes that my shoes can fit into, she is still a baby to me.   I'll be seeing her in a few weeks and I'll get a good photo shoot with my (sister's) baby wearing the darn thing.  For the meantime, there you go.  Pretty cute, huh?

The first time I saw this jacket was over at Picperfic's blog.  She whipped out two of these suckers in no time at all.  She said - and I quote, "... a very quick little knit . . ." but somehow, I managed to take eight months to finish mine.  

Sigh.  It feels so good to have an empty needle around the house again.

Meet Stekkjarstaur (aka Gimpy)

True story.  Iceland has various "Yule Lads" that visit on the days leading up to Christmas.  Strange little men, whose mother is thought to live in a cave and feast on naughty little Icelandic children.  If she doesn't manage to snag a wee one, her grisly black cat stalks the country side in search of poorly dressed children.

Nowadays, the tradition has had some sweetener added to it.  You can find little "Jolasveinar" cards, figures and ornaments all over the place (if you know where to look).

OR, why not knit your own.  That was my big fat idea.  Knit 13 varied Yule Lads using "Yuletide Gnomes" by Alan Dart.  That was one year ago.  I finally finished Gimpy.  Stay tuned next November 2011 for  "Gully Imp" (aka Giljagaur).  So in 2023, I should have the complete set. 

Strange.  But true.

ps.  The boys are wrestling with the dog while I'm in my blog-trance.  Until I heard one yell, "He's got my sock!"  To which I screech, "It had better not be hand knit!" I gotta go!  I have some arse to kick.