The left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing

You would think that a blog that is authored by someone who owns a yarn shop would have more knitting content than this blog does lately, right?

I can't blog about my knitting when I am not knitting...... My left hand is still troubling me.........and it does not allow me to knit more than a few minutes at a time. But,,,,,,,all is not lost, I can crochet and scrumble. I have been working on some brown and pink bits that might grow up to be a shawl.

The first weekend in June, Betty and I will be attending the TNNA trade show in Columbus, Ohio. I hope to have my scrumbled shawl finished by then. The attendees are shop owners, designers and yarn companies. You can be assured there are a lot of fabulous garments being worn and displayed at this annual event. I have not seen anyone wearing a scrumbled garment in previous years, I may be the first. Or not.......depends on my hand.

More flowers from our yard

trillium

diez de mayo?

Tonight we celebrated Cinco de Mayo, never mind that it was 5 days late!
Actually , two members of our regular Knit night group had birthdays this week,,,,,they brought food,,, the most delicious fresh salsa, chips, fruit,,,,,,,,,, and margaritas!

Betty mixing beverages.
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.One of the birthday girls, Sue.

Mary Kay and Florine ,

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I did take a shot of the other birthday girl, but it turned out quite unflattering, ,,,,,,I thought it best not to post it.......I value Dawn's friendship.......that's right it was Sue And Dawn who had birthdays this week! Sisters with birthdays just a few days apart...........

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My sister MB has a birthday on Sunday, the 13th. She could not be at knit night,,,,she is half a world away, but I happen to know that she enjoys the occasional Margarita...... so here's one for you , MB!

For Kyle

As you may know, Kyle lost his Dad yesterday. Some of the "Loose Ends" gang have expressed a desire to do something to help Kyle through this tragedy. We have come up with a plan.

Kyle is 17, but does not have a drivers license, family finances have been an issue for some time and drivers education was unaffordable for him. Kyle's mother, Peggy has never had a drivers license,,,,,,Ronnie drove wherever the family needed to go. So, we at Loose Ends have set up a fund to help Kyle pay for driver's training. We can show our love and support for Kyle and fill a definite need for him, and his Mom. In a small town like this, SOMEONE in the household needs to be able to drive.

If you wish to contribute, just contact me, at the shop, at home , or on the web.

Sad news

Many of you may know Kyle, the young man (17) who hangs out at the shop and often is mistaken for my son.

Kyle's father, Ronnie, passed away in his sleep last night. Ronnie and my husband Dave have been buddies since 1st grade......... And Ronnie was best man at our wedding. Ronnie leaves behind his wife, and Kyle, and another, older son, and an older daughter and 3 grandsons. Ronnie was 57 years old.

Before and after

I acquired this chair somewhere last summer,,,, at a garage sale perhaps, a thrift shop.......I don't remember. If you recognize it, please let me know.

There is nothing in the photo to show scale,,,,,,,it is a child sized chair, covered in scratchy brown upholstery fabric and cat hair. The cat hair accumulated after I got the chair, the chair is the perfect size for Thunder to curl up in.

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I did some scrumbles in my favorite colors and TA-DA! It is now an ART PIECE!

For those of you unfamiliar with scrumbling, it is freeform knit and crochet,,,,,,,no patterns, no rules. I learned from a master, Prudence Mapstone. Check out her website here. Prudence is from Australia, but I was lucky enough to take a class she taught here in Wisconsin a few years back.
I love this technique, it's very "out of the box"! And it is a great way to use up small bits of yarn.

Here is a photo of the chair in progress,,,,,,,,the scrumbled pieces are fit together like a puzzle,,,, and then stitched down,,, If you compare photos, you can see that I moved a lot of the pieces around to different positions in the finished chair.

Come see the chair at the shop. I will be teaching a class on scrumbling on May 5th........just phone the shop if you are interested.

Snow day

What to do on a snow day in mid April?

Betty was happy to clean and sort behind the counter at Loose Ends!

No place like home

Well, I finally caved in to the pressure! Here are the results.

For some years, I have gotten my haircuts in a nearby town, about 20 minutes away. I loved the way this hairdresser cut my hair,,,,,,,, and he is a really great guy, too. We had a lovely time together,,,,,the trouble came when I opened my shop. His salon is closed on my days off......finding the time to get trimmed was getting tough. As stated in my profile,,,I am truly a "homebody", I value my time at home and guard it... traveling 20 minutes to the hairdresser in the evenings when I really wanted to be home was getting tiresome.



I shopped around in Mayville a bit,,,,,did not find a stylist I liked much... I went back to the original guy.........



Dave has patronized "Greg's Barber Shop" for as long as I have known him, and has frequently teased me that I should go there for my hair since Greg's is right next door to my shop. Now I usually don't take advice on my hair from Dave,,,,,,,, and his hairstyle is ..........well...........let's just say vintage. Circa 1966 Do I want to look like that? I think not.And, this is truly a BARBER SHOP, not a salon, think Floyds Barbershop in Mayberry. Striped pole, razor straps..........maybe a checkerboard...............I was not going there!!


After many weeks of untrimmed tresses,,,,,,, I finally caved in and paid a visit to Greg's.... The decor and atmosphere may be retro,,,,,,,,,,,, but my hair has never looked better! Definitely not retro. Who knew? Right next door.

TROUBLE and SCRUMBLE

I have not been knitting much,,,,,,,, trouble
(WITH A CAPITAL t AND THAT RHYMES WITH p AND STANDS FOR POOL)

with my wrist. ( Sorry for the cheesy reference, but it is my favorite movie) Actually P stands for pain, in my wrist, so I have been doing very little knitting, but I can crochet! So I have been scrumbling. I love free form work.........These are a few scrumbles I have done lately, I don't know what they will become yet, probably a bag. In the process, I lost my favorite crochet hook. , After frantic searching both the shop and home, I found it behind a chair at home,,,,,,,,I am almost sure it was NICK who put it there! This hook is a gem, a Grafton Fibers creation. I just love it! I use it for all my scrumbling, no matter the thickness of the yarn, or stitch.

The sock of the month group at the shop has begun stitching. We met Tuesday evening,....... and tonight, Thursday, just 48 hours later, the ladies have made remarkable progress! WOW!

Here is a close pic of some of the socks. The pattern is Meida's Sock from Favorite Socks.

And here is a lovely sock made by Mary Kay on her radioactive leg! :) Just kidding, she has stopped glowing already!

A promise?

I have begun using up bits of leftover yarn in a random ripple afghan. I hereby promise to actually finish this project, all you readers can hold me to my word! December 1st seems like a reasonable deadline,,,,,,,,,

,,,,,all you non-knitters may be thinking' "What? Why does she need that much time?" Well, summer is coming , even an unfinished afghan is way too warm to work on in the heat.......that's why. AND, this afghan is as wide as a queen sized bed,,,,,,,,,one row takes twenty minutes,,,,,,,,Maybe December of 2008 is more like it.........

Mays Sock finished

Here is May's finished sock, two color resoleable. This is Dave's foot.........worsted weight yarn, very warm

May's Sock

Here is May's sock in progress, VERY different from April's. This pattern from the book Favorite Socks is titled "two yarn resoleable sock." It's a utilitarian sock, not feminine or pretty, but unique construction, and practical. I chose colors with great contrast so it is easier to see the way it is put together.
My trouble with this sock is the same trouble I have with anything I knit that I expect to fit well..........GAUGE..... look at those tiny needles! I knit so loosely,,,the pattern recommends size 4 needles,,,,,, I am knitting on 0's, yes, ZERO'S to get gauge! And this is worsted weight yarn. I am on the home stretch, the instep is knit, the heel flap is done, heel turned, and gusset finished. Just the sole and the toe now.

first time for everything

Learning to knit.......... Hmmmmmm, let's see.....must have been around 1966or 67... I was in

4-H. Head, Heart, Hands, Health.







I have only little flashes of memory about it.......the knitting teacher was a Swiss woman, and her accent was thick. Her house was in the back of a cheese factory, my Dad tells me her husband made wonderful cheeses. The house was a little dark and scary. Someone in the home must have been a smoker, the smell of cigarettes lingered and was quite exotic to me. Remembering these details may seem strange to you, especially since most of you know that quite often I can't recall what I ate for lunch only an hour earlier !



We knit on Wednesdays after school...... maybe my first project was a scarf, my memory doesn't include the details of any projects. The feeling and experience of Knitting is a strong memory. Making something useful , maybe beautiful,,,,,, from seemingly nothing,,,,,, was, and still is, magic to me. I loved those knitting lessons. The lessons did not last long, and we met for just a few weeks....



My next memory of knitting is a year or two later. My friend Keith told me that his aunt could knit hats. I boldly asked him to ask his aunt if she would knit one for me.......I had plenty of hats, I just wanted to see a hand knit one, and how it was made and maybe take it apart.................. Keith's aunt did knit me a hat, a beautiful red beret with cables. Sadly,I never wore it, and it was way too complicated for me to copy or learn from independently.



Then when I was thirteen or so, my parents gave me a "Learn to knit kit" for Christmas. Everything I had learned in 4-H came back easily and I from then on I taught myself.

The magic of knitting and creativity is so important to me now, I wish I could thank everyone who helped me in my youth,..........Maybe I can influence some kid..

BIG BUCKS

The temperature right now is 73 degrees! This is MARCH! In Wisconsin! So, what am I doing on this beautiful day? I spent the morning in my basement, making a Santa.? It's my own fault, I procrastinated about this particular Santa for weeks,,, and tomorrow is the dead line. But who knew about this lovely weather,,,, It's hard to think about Santa, Christmas and all that stuff when spring is popping out all over.

Tomorrow night is Main Street Mayville's annual "BIG BUCKS" dinner. In the past, I served on the Main Street Board of directors, and I know the Big Bucks dinner is an extremely important event, in that it is a fund raising party that provides a majority of the money for the organizations budget. It is fun, a dinner, drinks, raffles, an auction. Last year, we played a game similar to "DEAL OR NO DEAL", and I won over a hundred dollars!!!


One of my Tootzle Claus Santas is always included in the auction. Here is this years boy..........fresh from my workshop in the basement. (Look how green the grass is.........THIS IS MARCH)


He will be sold in the auction tomorrow night, but if you are interested, and can not come to the dinner, I am sure you could put in your own bid through Lisa at the Main Street Mayville office, 387-1167. Bid high, Main Street is a great organization, non-profit and can really use the money.

Step by step

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What does my beloved do while I am spinning? See for yourself!

Sock in progress, part 2

More progress on April's sock.

This is the "eye of partridge" heel flap. This style continues the pattern through the turning of the heel. I like it.
I collect sock darners,

but I don't darn socks,

so this photo seemed like an opportunity to use one.

The Japanese have very cool craft/ needlework books. The photographs are all so artfully done.

My sister gave me this one.

All the patterns are in Japanese, but the photos and diagrams are so good, I think I can just wing it without understanding the text.

Very nice crocheted buttons.

April's Sock In Progress, part 1

We do have fun!

Caryl's lips match her shoes! Now that is fashion!

Rita's ruby red lips

We had a lot of fun at knit night,,,, Just not a lot of knitting.

It's just window dressing

. Thanks to Kay for arranging the flowers, so pretty!

A view from inside the shop

Busy, busy, busy.

I have Thursday mornings off, sort of. I planned it that way when I set the hours for the shop, so I would have that time to cut the grass each week. In the summer, that is. In the winter I have two hours free time.

Each Wednesday evening, I think to myself........."oooohhh, tomorrow I don't have to open the shop till noon,,,,,,,I can get this and this and this done, I can run an errand, call that person, and cook a decent meal for Dave before I go to work....It's an extra two hours every Thursday morning! What luxury!

Who am I trying to fool? I hardly ever get any extra things done,,,,,,,, not even one or two things on my list.

I linger over my coffee.

I knit a few extra rows.

I talk with Dave.

I take my time with the routine morning chores, instead of rushing though them.

I chat on the phone.

I blog.

Two hours of extra time, just like that, GONE! Then it's time to leave......... and nothing is done!

But,

I enjoyed that coffee.

My knitting has a few extra rows.

Dave and I had a little time together.

The chores are done well.

I have talked and blogged, and I am happy.

Nothing is done, But I usually accomplish a lot!