Time

Well last night at knit night I showed off my Christmas score, I knit several rows on the Pi shawl (just past 12% according to my handy chart I made up... really really depressing. It *looks* bigger than 12%). Wound up the purple jitterbug, picked up the Pi shawl again and found a mistake, ripped back 5 rows to fix it, and then worked 2 rows.

So, I'm exactly where I started from. But I still don't think it was time wasted. I had fun with my friends and got out of the house for a few hours.

it is just past 10:00 and everyone is asleep. The dog is at my mom's, the house is clean enough to leave it, and car is packed. (Oh speaking of mom, she "loves" the wool socks, she told me today after she wore the. Ha! another convert.) Things are going much better than usual time-wise, packing for a vacation for our family. I will likely be in bed at a reasonable hour.

I am taking yarn for like 8 projects, I have no idea which ones I'll end up working on. Seems like I always take something that ends up having a problem, not working out, or being too big/diffuclt to work in the car. So this time I am taking a bunch, and we'll see how it goes. I have a custom order for some large pants, so I'll definitely be working on that. Otherwise, your guess is as good as mine. There should definitely be socks.

Still no pictures. The camera is packed, and there was no time for inventory of yarn today. This time Monday we'll be in Florida, where today it was 85 degrees. Time with my family, not in a hurry, not trying to get work done or get someone somewhere or anything.

'Course there's also 20 hours of time in the car with 3 kids under 10. But I have lots of knitting and headphones.

Pictures when I get back, I promise

Score!

This is a photoless post. I haven't had time to do pictures.

Usually after Christmas I am lamenting that no one ever buys me yarn. Last year my daughter (then 8) was the only one who got me yarn (from the dollar store, but still... she knows..). My husband seems to think that I buy yarn all the time so it wouldn't be special. My mom prefers to buy me clothes at Von Maur that I would never wear. I even went through catalogs and marked them up with which yarn I’d like, sent online wish lists, and everything. Never works.


This year I cleaned up! Apparently I said enough times “I really really *do* want yarn” and “Really, you can’t have too much yarn” and "all the yarn I buy all the time is work yarn, so it would still be special" that it finally worked.

My DH got me a ball of the sock yarn I was using for Christmas gift socks that I was really wishing weren’t a gift (Lana Grossa Meilenweit Bosco), and then wisely gave me a $50 gift certificate to my LYS. My sister apparently found some Jewel Box at Thrifty Threads and bought it all for me (for probably very little, but still, it’s yarn!).

My mom, I was really worried about. Friday before Christmas she called me asking me what size everyone is (even though I had written down for her 6 weeks earlier an index card of everyone’s sizes and color preferences), and admitted that she hadn’t gotten me anything at all yet. I was sure I was going to be spending the day after Christmas at Von Maur returning whatever they had left in their store for her to buy me on December 23rd that I wouldn’t like (she doesn’t seem to ever notice what I’m wearing because she always buys me things completely unlike the clothes I wear. Either that or she’d just prefer I wear something else)... Probably that...

Imagine my surprise when I opened a gift bag with a yarn keeper, needles (aluminum, in a size I already have… but..) and my Knit Picks catalog that I’d circled up for her with a note that said she got it ALL !

I was hoping for 1 sweater’s worth, or a pair of socks or 2. Nope, she got everything I circled as a wish. Enough yarn for Rogue, enough fingering weight yarn for 5 color gloves, 2 pairs of socks, and some gorgeous laceweight. Plus a set of acid dyes, and lace blocking wires. I can’t believe it. Sscore one for mom shopping late! I’d much rather have yarn that I want delivered next week than clothes I don't like.

With the $ from my husband I got another sweater's worth of wool, enough undyed sock yarn for Jeanie, some gorgeous purple Jitterbug, and another ball of sock yarn that I can't remember what it is. Pictures will have to wait.

Sweet!

Still alive

Haven't been blogging much. This is partly why:

I got new yarn for the store
a LOT of new yarn for the store. Mostly Peace Fleece and 100purewool. Yum!










This is the other reason why. 2 pairs of Christmas socks, finished completely Thursday night.


This pair is Trekking XXL color 108. It's a waffle weave pattern at the top.

A warning if you try to use this yarn. It's beautiful, but it does not repeat. Ever.

If I had known that I probably wouldn't have used it for my mom's socks, who is a math teacher and fond of symmetry.

I ended up unwinding the rest of the skein after working the first sock, wrapping it around cards so I could see the stripes, and picking sections that matched pretty well. I broke the yarn twice to pick a new section. Worth it, I think, for almost matching socks.
This pair is for my sister. I loooove them, and really do not want to give them away.

Unlike the first pair, which are too big for me, these fit me exactly. And this yarn is thick and perfect on the feet. It's Lana Grossa Meilenweit 100 Bosco.

I love them so much I have more than once seriously considered going out and buying my sister a book and keeping the socks. I hope she appreciates them!

The only bad thing about that yarn is how much it runs.

This was the first (of many) rinses they went through. Then I heated them up with vinegar, and rinsed some more. I couldn't believe how much blue dye came out of them, and yet they are, surprisingly, still the same color as the unwashed yarn I have left.



So after I finished the Christmas knitting, it was time to finally do something that wasn't plain knitting.

Since we're getting ready to drive to Florida after Christmas, I started a Pi shawl. I look forward to following Elizabeth Zimmerman's footsteps working a shawl on the road.

Yarn is handpaintedyarn.com merino lace (which is now sold as Malabrigo lace). Colorway is Applewood, or something like that.

I love it intensely.

Sheepy Time Knits Grand Opening!

Hurray! The site is up!

And there was much rejoicing...

SheepyTimeKnits is live! I'm sure there are a few things still to tweak, and I have lots of stuff still in my head to add to it eventually, but it's up and populated and I'm really really proud of it.

A million thanks to Kat for all the work she put into it.
Meanwhile... This is what we woke up to this morning. First snow of the year.

Molly got up at 4 and wanted to go out in it. Yeah, sure I'll get right on that...

We did end up going out for the bus about 20 minutes early though.
Looks like I finished Sean's winter gear just in time :)

I am getting better. I'm still not 100% and I keep having to rest from playing Snack Shop with Sean, but much better than yesterday.

So now that the site is up and the store is open, I have Christmas knitting to get to...

Redirected

SheepyTimeKnits.com isn't quite finished yet, so in the mean time, you're being redirected here to my blog.

The site *should* be finished today. At least, my web designer says it will, and I've told people that it will, and there are ads going up, but I'm not nervous at all. Really. I'm fine.

In the mean time, you can look at some knitting.
Sean's winter set. The scarf is the Snake Scarf from Crazy Cat Lady. It's free and really easy. He is currenly awating me being well enough to go to the store and get him eyes, but is otherwise done.

The Hat and mittens are my own creations, just simple ones. I love the yarn. It's Handspun Bulky from handpaintedyarn.com. I have more, and I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it. These used 1 skein plus about 2 yards of the second, and I have most of 2 left. Any ideas? I think it's too think and thin for a soaker.

Here is Sean modeling them



These were all quick knits. I did most of the scarf and 1 mitten at knit night on Thursday and finished the set the next day.

If I had known he was going to love them this much I would have done them sooner :)

In Sheepy Time news... I've been finishing up a lot of mostly finished stuff so I could get the store open. It's all ready and waiting.

Really, I'm not freaking out or anything.