Merrily she knits along!

Merrily she knits along! Hours and days later, a huge error is discovered!

The front raglan shaping changes at 10 rows. Having done a few other Knitting Pure and Simple Neck Down V Necks, I glossed over the instructions. This caused the front of my garment to be 24 sts too narrow. When did I discover this? about 3 inches of fabric under the arms was complete. Just about enough to lay the garment flat to make sure it was coming out to gauge. Oh my!

I checked, I proofed, I measured, I re-read, and re-read . . . . and oh my gosh, there it was. The instructions were as perfectly clear as I expected. Rows 1-4 are clearly written....repeat rows 3 & 4 5 more times. If I had continued reading, in the same paragraph are 2 more rows to repeat. These weren't separated out into a new paragraph, and that is where my mistake was. Typically I scan the first complete of sentences in a paragraph, and that's it.

Not sure if I want to ravel back or just start over. I think I will just start over. But I did take a picture of the neck band. I put the neck band on yesterday, and it was today I discovered the mistake. The color is Mystic, one of my exclusive colors. This is just typical me. The days are so crammed with work, that the brain just short-fuses. Oh well. Each stitch was fun, and I will start again!!

Wednesday I received the color Mystic in the Green Line Worsted and Green Line DK. This is really a masculine color. A very dark, strong, lumber-jack kind of green. In the Green Line the dye took differently. And I really like it. It has a considerable amount of brown in the green. Sort of like a mossy green, but very dark. And the dye took very unevenly, but in a very attractive variation, but still all greens and brownish-green. Mystic is an exclusive color to Angelika's Yarn Store

In home life, Christmas Day was very quiet. Cody, who lives in Newberg, Oregon was able to get down through the snow on Wednesday. Whitney, who lives in downtown Portland, managed to sneak out before noon on Thursday. Right after she left Portland, it started snowing again. All of our other children spent Christmas with their other families, but are hoping to make it down for New Years.

Once we get through the holidays, I'll put up another free yarn five-away!

the best laid plans . . .

What a week! I had to lay out each day and put each thing I HAD to do on each day. It was the only way to survive! But things have eased up and I'm slightly ahead of schedule, thanks to my detailed "to do" list. Now things would be perfect if I had not pulled a troublesome rib out of place!

But a reward arrived today. A new pattern from Knitting Pure and Simple and I just could not help myself. Since I was slightly ahead of schedule, I decided to put the heating pad on my back and cast on.

Knitting Pure and Simple Children's V Neck Down Pullover #293 Sizes: 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12 (finished chest measurements: 26, 28, 30, 32, 34, 36). The sweater was knit in Lorna's Laces Shepherd Worsted in the colorway Maplegrove. I just fell in love with this little guy. I can see it looks awesome in Maple Grove, and decided I had to have one for the store in Renaissance Romance.

Another thing that happened this week was the installation of new carpet. Don't ever buy Berber carpet. There are different kinds of Berber. But beware. The kind we purchased 5 years ago was beautiful when new, but the dirt never truly came up. and if you have pets, forget it. A few years ago I asked our local professional carpet cleaning service (the owner) what carpet he recommends. Boy was he hesitant. So I rephrased it. "knowing what you know about cleaning carpets, durability, wear and life, what would you put in your house." Nylon was the prompt reply. And as I think back on the children's rooms, he is right. Most all stains will lift out and stay out of nylon carpets. Of course, not model paint! But food, dirt, pop, and even grease comes out and stays out. I looked at only 100% nylon when looking for replacement carpet.

Imagination Needs Time to Daydream

So you see, imagination needs moodling - long, inefficient, happy idling, dawdling and puttering. Brenda Ueland

and I so enjoyed looking at this color while I working on the graphic in photoshop. I had daydreams of feeling the softness in my fingers, envisioning how fast it knits up, textures and cables......I do love daydreaming !!

I just photographed this color of 100% Baby Alpaca. It is such a stunning masculine shade, and I'm thinking something for hubby? But I wanted to share it with you!! It is Cascades Baby Alpaca Chunky. A super soft, and very warm yarn. Usually on #10.5 needles it knits up pretty fast. and for such a soft yarn, I'm VERY impressed that cables and textured stitches stand out so well. Just amazing!!

Lichen #0583

One Kind Word

I found this proverb "One kind word can warm three winter months". As we move into the mind crushing holiday season, be sure to remember this. A kind word, a warm smile, a deep breath can make or break your day or the day of those around you.

Thanksgiving is over and I realize I have hardly touched my Christmas shipping. My eyes are rolling into the back of my head and I want to bury my head under my pillow. However am I going to get caught up! Each season seems to have more commitments and less time.

Thanksgiving in San Diego was great. It was very quiet with just husband and I joining his daughter and family. The 3 grandkids are sure growing up and baby Nora is a giggly, curly haired little girl that wants "Oma" to chase her and her brother Zane. I got two girls' day out!! One with 15 yr old Tyler, where the choice of activity is SHOPPING !! The 2nd day is with Mom and a day at the spa! Now who can't love that kind of holiday!

In the store, I'm working thru new stock. I realized I've yet to photograph the new exclusives. So this morning between shipping I managed to get Renaissance Romance and Mystic in Shepherd Worsted done and posted.

Yesterday I finished one more page of the Figheadh Yarnworks patterns that I brought in. As of this date, I am the only full online/web stockist of this line.

Keep a smile on your face and a kind word in your heart! 'til next time!