It's Thursday... and the last day of May

Well we're rapidly approaching the 2nd half of the year and I haven't completed any socks in 2007. I've started quite a few but none completed. Oh well I have my shawls... guess it'll be a shawl kind of year. Last night I finished and bound off my Habu Silk and Linen Shoulder bag and I'll sew it up this weekend while Ostrich Plume is blocking. And for my next project ....

This is 3 balls of Habu Hand Dyed Cashmere 'kasuri' 2/24 in the Purple colorway. Any ideas of what it'll become? Another hint tomorrow... and tonight I'll do some mindless knitting on a sweater I started back in March.... more on that one this weekend.

Happy Birthday Mom

Today is my mom's birthday and just wishing her the best.

The Ostrich Plume is ready for a wash and block on Saturday ...yea!!! (pictures coming then).

Now I'm finishing up my Habu Silk and Linen Shoulder Bag and that should be done this weekend too!

Happy Memorial Day

Happy memorial day to all and hope you have a wonderful one.

Thusday update

Well here it is late on a Thursday night and I'm finally getting to post an update.

Project updates: Ostrich is coming along but not as quickly as I had planned and no work on the Twisted Flower sock the past couple of days. The plan was to have the Ostrich Plume stole ready to wash and block this Saturday. Well doesn't appear that will happen. Between a slight loss of my knitting mojo right now and other exciting projects whirling in my brain progress is very slow this week. Maybe if I buckle down I can block on Monday morning. But this doesn't mean there aren't pictures.

This is what I call the lifeless lace blob stage....










but this bird has potential... can't wait to see it all grown up.

Besides wanting desperately to cast on for another shawl, another reason for this current knitting slump is I'm busily planning something pretty major for next year that I am very excited about. I should be ready to officially announce by the end of June. All this takes time but it will be so worth it. but more on that next month.


Shop News: Just in this week are 3 new colors of Frog Tree Alpaca Sport (with more on the way), and 6 new colorways of Claudia Hand Painted Fingering Weight (all I can say is Purple).
Next week should bring more Habu Tsumugi Silk cone colorways (10 to be exact) and hopefully restock of the Red Brick color Shoulder Bag kit.

I guess that's all for now. I am looking forward to this long holiday weekend and hope to get a lot accomplished in the garden as well as knitting.

Monday update

Quiet weekend here working around the yard and house along with progress on the WIPs.

The Ostrich Plume Stole is coming along very nicely. Almost through the 3rd ball of 5 and even though this pattern calls for 9 repeats of the 32 row repeats I'll just continue on until I'm well into the 5th ball. This should be completed and ready for bath and blocking on Saturday.

On the Twisted Flower front ... I've worked on this in bits and pieces. I'm on row 23 of the first of two 32 row repeats for the leg. This pattern is so much fun to see how it progresses. I'll continue working on this while finishing the Ostrich.

The other thing I've been working on is a Clearance Bin page for The Knitting Hutch and I have several items available here now.

Later I hope to have the monthly newsletter ready to go out on Thursday.

Tale of two projects and new shopping cart

The Ostrich Plume Stole is progressing really well and I started on a new sock.











Twisted Flower by Cookie A.
My cabin mate from Sea Socks 07 sent me 2 skeins of Koigu KPPM that I knew would be perfect with this pattern I just got in. Looking at the chart at first I thought 'OMG, that will be a challenge' but it's really easier than I thought and after a few hours have made good progress.

On another front I'm looking at a new shopping cart for The Knitting Hutch (Zen Cart). It has some very nice features but will take a lot of work to get set up. I'm hoping by the end of June to have this rolled out.

Well, that's it for today and hope your week is going well.

Happy Mother's Day

Just a quick Happy Mother's day to all. Mine started of very nicely with my son from Wisconsin calling to wish me a Happy Mother's Day. Then more enjoyment ...

I spent the day doing my annual Mother's Day Herb Garden spruce up and knitting in the garden. Three years ago on Mother's Day I decided what I wanted was an herb garden outside my back kitchen door. These are pictures when I put it in 3 years ago.









Some time this week I'll post pictures of what it looks like today.

There was also knitting time on the Ostrich Plume Stole which I am loving the way it is turning out with the Kasuri Silk. I should have this done this week and ready to block on Saturday. Can you tell I'm in a shawl phase right now. I really need to get a pair of socks on the needles soon ;-)

This week I received in some great patterns from independant designers including Cookie A (i'll finish her page tonight). One of them was the Ostrich Plume Stole. You can find them on the new Patterns Collection page.

Forest Canopy is complete

This was my Sea Sock Cruise project so I had something other than socks to work on that week. Even though it is a very easy pattern I found while visiting with the other knitters I somehow kept repeating row 1 on repeat 7 so I had to rip back quite a few times, but I love the results. You can see the rest of the photos and project details here.



Tomorrow ... New Arrivals and update on the Ostrich Plume Stole.

Watch it grow!

I just couldn't help my self. I just received my order from Anne at Knitspot Fiber Lounge for 4 more of her fabulous shawl patters for The Knitting Hutch and well ... I cast on. The combination of her Ostrich Plumes Stole and the Habu Kasuri Silk Tweed were just too much to resist so I didn't. The organic texture and colors of the silk tweed I think bring out the best in this pattern. This will be my main project right now as the others await their turn again.

I'm knitting the larger stole size on Colonial Rosewoods US6 (down a size from the pattern recommend), and I love the fabric and color movement. Check back as this bird grows wings and takes flight.

I am working on an updated pattern page which will be rolled out on Saturday when I have other new patterns from Cookie A and another wonderful shawl designer.

Sea Sock Yarn Booty

Just thought I share the treasures I found on the Sea Sock Cruise.
and again sorry for the high volume of images.

We got a yarn cake of Mama E (C*EYE*BER Fiber) sock yarn that she dyed for SS07.

More sock yarn (Nature's Palatte in a dusky plum, melon colored Lorna's Lace and mix of brown and blue Schaefer Anne). I bought these to try them out and decide if I wanted to add them to my shop. Nature's Palette (yes, later this year), LL and SA probably not because even though they are very nice I don't think I can compete with the other shops that carry these.

Manos de Uraguay - Had to have. Plans to make another felted moebius bowl.

This is a wonderful navajo plied (left) by a wonderful spinner/dyer from New Mexico.

Identity has to be kept a secret for now since I am working on getting her hand dyed sock yarns in soon ;-)

Just because ... you always can use another project bag and of course I 'needed' US5 Addi Lace Turbos.

Next stop ... Sea Sock Cruise

Warning High Photo Counts Ahead

There were knitters... lots and lots of knitters (nearly 90) ....

.... San Francisco, Victoria, a tea shop with way too many dolls, towel animal amusement, and of course classes on color theory and sock knitting.

The Golden Gate Bridge

The dolls of Blethering Place
This was a quaint little tea house in Oak Bay, Victoria reminiscent of the old English tea houses of the 30's and 40's

Leaving Victoria for Vancouver

Elephant towel animal ... there was also monkey hanging in our room but that pic didn't turn out. The cabin steward would create towel animals for us each night

This was my Color Theory Project lead by Mama E. I really enjoyed this class and find that I will be using this a lot in my projects.

Later I will post the knitting project I worked on while on the cruise as well as my yarn booty.

... and how a possum got in my bathtub I'll never know ...

In my worst Groucho Marx impersonation ;-)

OK, to divert your attention from the fact that I haven't posted about the Sea Sock Cruise yet I'll tell you about a rude awakening I had this morning. Throughout the night I heard noises and just thought it was one of my cats outside pushing on the door wanting in. I'd get up to investigate but the noise would stop before I could locate it. Then at 5am I heard it again and went to see what was going on and could tell it was coming from the bathroom, the bathtub specifically. As scenes from Psycho flashed before me I turned on the light and looked in and saw a baby possum. Not just any baby possum the same one that greeted me beside my cats outside my door when I returned from the cruise on Friday night (see there is a Sea Sock Cruise tie in). Yes, my cat's are not much in the way of rodent hunting. I could tell you the one about the field mouse with a nasty attitude that scared my cats off one night.

Jeez, how and when did it get in there? It was a really warm day yesterday (90's) and I had all the doors open and I guess he made his way up the steps and made himself at home, in the bathtub. I'm afraid there won't be any pictures of this one to share, after all it was 5am and I had other things to attend to like how to get him out of my tub. Well I put on my new gardening gloves and got an old dishtowel and draped the towel over him so he and I wouldn't get too freaked out. Then I gently picked him up and placed him outside where he belongs and went back to bed where I belonged.

I will upload the few photos I took on the cruise tonight and post about that and any other animal encounters that might happen between now and then.

I'm back ... and lots to catch up on

It's been a crazy 2 weeks here and just now have time to put up a post. Hang in there this is covering a very busy 2 weeks and goes from sad events to happier ones.

Louise Willie Hutcherson (July 29, 1922 - April 23, 2007)

On Saturday April 21st my Grandmother went into the hospital and was not expected to make it another few hours so I closed the shop packed an overnight back and rushed over to Sacramento. I was able to make it there to see her one last time which I am grateful for and then she peacefully passed away on Monday the 23rd of April. I had to rush back home to work and pack for the funeral and the Sea Sock Cruise (details coming). On Wednesday (25th) I picked my sister up at the airport and we went directly to Sacramento to help with the arrangements for the funeral on Friday the 25th. We spent Thursday burning cd's to give to those who came to the funeral and back to the house afterwards. It was nice having this project as well as the photo boards to work on to keep our minds focused.

The first song on the cd is "It's Such a Pretty World Today' which my sister and I always called "Grandma's Song" since whenver we were there she would sing it to us in the morning and it made me smile. The rest we knew were songs that she loved listening to.

The service was wonderful and I know she would have been very happy knowing we were all there to remember her.

... Onward to happier events ...

On Saturday morning (28th) my sister and I went to the airport in San Jose. She returned to Seattle, WA and I onto Los Angeles for the Sea Sock Cruise. We had lunch at the Falafel stand and drove around downtown before going to the airport.

To be continued ....