Happy Haunting!

Don't forget, I'm still giving away some free yarn. I will pull a name on November 15th for your choice of 2 hanks of Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock, Shepherd Sport, Shepherd Worsted or Shepherd Bulky!! Such a deal!! Names put in the jar will be from those readers who send me a comment!

Took me a while, but my Neckdown Summer Cardigan (Knitting Pure & Simple: Neckdown Summer Cardigan for Women #221-last one on the page) is complete.

This is my second one. The first one was in Lorna's Laces Lion and Lamb. This was is in Cascade's Cash Vero. Both of them I modified to take in the waist some. On the second one I only put the top buttons on the top, leaving the bottom open.

A couple of new things in the store. I've been bringing in the Cascade Superwash Handdyed shades and I'm almost got them all now. This is perfect for children's garments, and garments that need to be machine washed. This is a worsted weight yarn that usually gets 4.5 sts per inch on about a 4.5mm needle (US#7).

Also, I've picked up a few more patterns from Figheadh Yarnworks. I like Jennifer's patterns because they have a classic design and are pretty simple to knit. These two designs (shown in this picture) are both hoodies. The one on the right is a pullover for children. The one on the right is a zipper hoodie and it includes both children and adult sizes. It is a very easy knit. Both of these might make great Christmas gifts. You can see more of their details here.

On the home front, things have been quiet. Our son-in-law has been gone for a few weeks. He stays with us when working on jobs (contractor) down here. Been playing a few games of pool usually daily, but my pool skills are sadly lacking and not really improving. In fact last night I swear I was getting worse!! Don't know if I mentioned it, but my gawd-awful glasses have been laid to rest. I am now using contacts and love them. Well, most of the time I do. I do get angry when they won't go in, or won't come out. The lab technician was concerned I would have trouble because of my long nails. But I hate glasses, so I will prevail!!

Everyone enjoy Halloween and be safe!!!

Monthly drawings, ideas?

This blog is thinking of monthly drawings. So how does one go about this? Send me a comment on ideas and from that grouping I will draw a name for the first drawing.

Success with the photo of the Revelation in Renaissance Romance. Was able to get the red and chocolate to photograph true. Did have to enhance the harvest and dark green in Photoshop, but the colors are looking good!

Life is too short to drink bad wine (or wear cheap shoes!).

I am a believer that life is too short to drink bad wine. While I do not drink $500 bottles of wine, I don't drink $5 bottles. In fact, I drink so little wine, that when I do, I truly enjoy the better qualities. When I get involved in something I get rather passionate about it for a while. Which brings me to my current blog topic. Last weekend hubby, John, and I drove from Lakeside, Oregon (So Oregon Coast) to Los Gatos, Ca, to visit his oldest son, Scott. We left Friday at 1 and arrived at Scott's at 11pm. The next morning the 3 of us drive back north into Napa Valley. I took control (naturally) and told hubby to take a side road. I didn't want to visit the huge wineries with the crowds of people. The first place we stopped at was Silver Oaks. A beautiful building, with mature gentlemen in suits. A somewhat upscale image. Scott and I tasted a 100% Cabernet and a blend. I came away with 2 bottles of Cab (1 was for a gift) and a really cute hand made bag from Sally Spicer. I couldn't help it. I'm passionate about textiles too! What drew my eye was the brown and green colors.

The 2nd winery was just down the road, Plump Jack. This winery had a totally opposite personality. Walking through the door was like walking into a lively bar full of young people. It was difficult to get up to the bar for sampling. The tender caught my eyes a few times, understanding that I was trying. Eventually we tasted 2 wines, but didn't really enjoy the crowd. We did enjoy sitting on their back porch looking into their grapevine fields. We came away with no purchases from this cute places. Eventually we returned to St Helena and selected the Louis M Martini winery to visit. It was late, but we did go on a tour. It was a great tour and Catherine our guide was very passionate about her employer. I ended up with another Cabernet and 2 bottles of a desert wine (very sweet-yummy!!) We ended the day at some friends with a delicious chicken barbeque on the back deck.

Sunday, was fun for me. The men took me into downtown Los Gatos (simply walking down the street from Scott's). We checked out the spa hotel (someday!!) and the unique and fun shops. One of the stops was at a small yarn store called Yarn Dogs. Of course I came away with 2 hanks of silk yarn! Brunch was in the park with sandwiches and coffee from the Bagel shop. After more window shopping, we hopped into the car and headed into San Jose to visit the Winchester Mystery House. The house was very interesting and I loved the finishing work. But I was a little dissappointed. I guess I expected a little bit more "entertainment" during the tour. But right across the street was Santana Row. If you like to shop, and you like top of the line and brand name products, you must visit this place! My favorite shoes are Cole Haan Nike Airs. Of course I had to come away with 2 pairs! Isn't this one cute? The color I bought is a dark metallic green silver. Very unusual.

It was great to get home. Within a day, Janene and I were caught up with shipping. The store itself was quiet this week, as compared to last week, but the website was very busy. I have quite a few pictures to take, edit and post on the web site of new colors of Baby Alpaca Chunky and Cascade 220 colors. Not to mention that all the new exclusive Lorna's Laces colors need to be photographed. I photographed the Renaissance Romance Revelation this morning. I loved the way the wool is so deeply saturated with those colors. But the picture was just "off". The green faded to a dull flat green, the chocolate didn't look as rich as it is and the dark red looked pinkish. So I will try again tomorrow, maybe going outside for a different type of light. Also, I shipped in some of Figheadh other patterns. I really like her zipped hoodie designs. Those aren't even on my web. Maybe this evening with my feet up, and a newly opened bottle of wine I can get those up. Well, mmmm, maybe not!! Time to close up shop for today. I'm taking my youngest niece out for a girls day! She's so excited. She was telling everyone that Tante and she have a "special" day planned today. Have a great weekend. Talk to you again soon!

Gosh is summer over already??

Here is a picture of my Swirl DK T-Top. The fit was perfect. So now I have got the exact measurements that make a perfect fit on my shape. My next machine knit top, will be will some of Lorna's Laces limited edition silk-bamboo blend. and I mean limited. It is only available through the end of the year and only in Amy's Vintage Office color. Two hanks are laying on my desk, and have told me they want to be a long-sleeved, shallow neck pullover with a lace yoke and long lace sleeves. This is a DK weight yarn, so will knit at approx T4 or so on the LK150. Beautiful yarn, very soft, stunning sheen. Just finished both front bands of my black neck down summer cardigan. Now to pick up and knit the sleeves. I could do this in a night or two, if I'd get going on it, but seems like when it is time to put my feet up, I'm working on something else. It'll get done!!

This afternoon, my nieces decided to get their Halloween pumpkins and asked me to join them. So we journeyed up the hill, complete in costume, to Mountain View Farms where Mel Lucky has a pumpkin patch, store and Haunted House/Hillside. Here is Aurora and Ariel playing magic tricks on each other. See the sparks fly!

Ariel loved the haunted hillside (complete with haunted houses and shacks), but Aurora and Tante Angelika stopped before we got to the spooky noises, skipped over the fence and waited for Ariel and her Dad to get through the maise. Aurora just preferred to run through the pumpkins. The day was very crisp. I'm sad to see the summer ending so soon.

Lazy or Over Worked??

I'm going to sneak a post in with no pictures. It has been a very busy and strange week. I did mange to get the bright pink top complete. Well, almost. A bit of blocking touch up and sew the buttons on. I promise I'll get a new picture posted.

Last week I had 2 newsletters to publish. It is not good when they both hit in the same week. Both are organizations I'm a member of. Association of Knitwear Designers and Heritage Textile Arts Guild. I need to have my head examined to have generously offered to give away so much of my time!! Yikes!!!

Yesterday I had company from someone who is special to me. We took him around the lake and out to lunch, then I beat him at 2 games of pool. I love it! But he did confess it had been 20 years since he played. His visit was way tooooo short!

Do you ever listen to Pandora Radio? It is http://www.pandora.com/ and really cool. My laptop has these amazing speakers and even as I type this blog "Crazy on You" by Heart is blaring out of these amazing speakers!!!

Lorna's Laces is dyeing my new exclusive shades this week. I'm hoping they get dried in time to make my weekly box out. There are 2 colors. Renaissance Romance which is a mix of shades (I lied--here is a picture!) and a nearly solid called Mystic.

I think the Amy's Vintage Office Silk/bamboo blend is due to arrive tomorrow. I need to double check the UPS tracking #. This is going to be stunning!!

Enough of chit chat!! See ya!!