I know I mentioned that I had taken a crochet class at our TNNA Market this summer. It was fun and I came home wanting to make something with my newfound skill. I happened upon the Attic24 blog. (I have no idea how I found my way there, but you know how blog reading goes. You read one, click something from that blog, then read another and click one of their links, and soon you’re way down the Information Highway with no idea how you got there.) I made a few Granny Squares, thinking I’d do a pillow, but then decided that what I really needed to do was to just do rows and rows of plain and simple crochet. I thought that would be the best way to get the feel for it and to get the tension right, and all of the things that come with time and experience. This Granny Stripe pattern (free on her blog) turned out to be just the thing for me to practice on.

This was going to be a baby-sized blanket, but I miscalculated how many stitches (chains?) to start with. I still have to figure that part out. But it didn’t matter, because as soon as I started working with this yarn, I decided that I wanted to make it a throw blanket for my house and not give it away. I wish you could feel this yarn. I’m hoping they continue to crank out new colors, because I can’t wait to make something else with it. Now that it’s done? I want to start another one. (Smitten with crochet. Yes, I am.) But do I want to make the next one out of this or this or this? Oh – or this! I can’t decide. Although I think it’s good that I was able to narrow it down to those three four. If you were going to make one of these throws, what colors would you put together? Pulling colors is half the fun.

Sheri whoalsowantstomakeherselfasweateroutof
AmyButleryarn-yum!

(Note – we put the last of the available September Dream in Color Dream Club yarn up, and I also found four more skeins of the August colorway, if you’re interested!)

It has been a rather quiet day around these parts. No Mail Mondays mean that we get a long weekend, and that makes all of us very happy. So around my house:

Gracie was keeping an eye on the birdfeeders (and my camera):

Zoe was stretched out on the porch railing, catching some sun:

And I just may have started another project with a potential new indie dyer line:

Of course it wouldn’t be Monday if I didn’t have Monday Update news for you, would it? And it’s a BIGGIE tonight. So many things! Hop on over to The Loopy Ewe and click on See What’s New. Tonight you’ll find:

Madelinetosh Merino Light – This went SO quickly the last time we had it in, so we ordered more quantities and more colors – 60+ in this batch. This yarn makes beautiful shawls, scarves and sweaters. I have a few skeins set aside to try a lightweight cardi this winter.

3AM Sock – You’ve loved Keri’s bags for a long time, and I know you’ll feel the same way about her new yarn line. Perfect for socks, but also beautiful in a shawl, scarf, hat, or mitts.

Sweet Georgia Tough Love Sock – Re-stocks of your favorites (although each time they come in, they’re a little different – truly hand-dyed. We re-photo each time.) Also, some great new colors in this batch.

Lang Yak – Can you imagine getting fibers from the belly of a yak? I’m glad someone else has that job.  We just get to knit with it in beautiful colors. Blended with wool, this aran weight yarn is quick to knit up and would make great holiday gifts – try it for hats, scarves, sweaters and vests.

Opal Hundertwasser 3 – The latest rendition of Opal’s special line based on renowned Austrian painter, Friedenreich Hundertwasser. Check out the colorway names. Interesting.

The Loopy Ewe Solids Line – Our last two colors are finally here! With Olive and Charcoal, it brings our total to all 90 solid colors. Now we can work on those color cards for you….

Berroco Ultra Fine Alpaca and Trekking re-stocks.

Patterns: re-stocks and new patterns from Chic Knits, plus the two Sock Club Patterns from our March 2010 Club (A Little Jazz and March Mosaics).

Accessories: re-stocks on many of our regular knitting accessories and Addi Turbo and Turbo Lace needles.

We might need an extra day to get all of your weekend + Update orders out. We have a big crew in tomorrow to work on it, so we’ll do the best that we can to get them shipped and on their way.

Sheri canwetakeMondayoffeveryweekforaholiday?

From time to time, you ask how it is that the Elves can work here and not take everything they see, home with them. I have to admit, it is a particular problem of mine. (Taking things to MY home. Not the Elves taking things home.) I try to stay away from unpacking new yarn and moving lines from one place to another, because when I do, there can be trouble. I am often heard to say (to anyone who happens to be listening), “You know, this is really really beautiful yarn. I need to make something with this.” And …. yet another project comes home with me. I need to stop this.

Some of the Elves knit, some of the Elves crochet, and some of them don’t do either one. We’re still working on them. Here is a beautiful scarf that Head Elf Susan made out of beautiful Juliespins Merino. She used the stitch pattern from the Dream in Color Shrug and just turned it into a scarf. I love how it turned out. Out of the Elves who work here, Susan and Donna knit (and Donna also crochets and spins), Sue and new Elf Lori crochet, and Vicki, Anna, Karen, Mary, Sharon and Diana don’t. But we have high hopes for them one day. Maybe they’re afraid that it’s just a slippery slope.

This is a holiday weekend in the U.S. and there is no mail service on Monday. We won’t be here working on Monday, but we will definitely have an Update for you on Monday night. We have a new Yak yarn for you to try, the new Hundertwasser Collection from Opal, 3 AM’s new yarn line, Sweet Georgia’s Tough Love Sock re-stock (plus new colors), and a very big order (60+ colors) of Madelinetosh Merino Light going up. Plus new patterns and needle re-stocks. So it’ll be a biggie.

Are you doing anything fun this weekend?

Sheri itwasadelightful63degreesonmywalkthismorning.yay!

Need to know what to invest in? Wondering who is having an argument with their spouse? Want to hear about the trouble that Little Bobby got into the first week in school? Come visit my office. My desk is pushed up to this window, and this is THE PLACE for all break-time phone conversations to occur. I think most of the people in our building stand here at one time or another. And they talk loudly. Like these people:

Sometimes, I think it’d be fun to yank the blinds up and scare the latte right out of their cups. (Is that wrong? Was I having a bad day when that idea occurred to me?) They have no idea that they starred on a knitting blog today. That makes me feel a little better about the whole situation. These weren’t all on the same day. But after it happened over and over and over again, I decided to take photo evidence. You never know when I might need it. Now I just need to get photos of the other 23 people who make this a habit in our building. Or maybe I’ll stop now.

Anything interesting going on outside of your windows today?

Sheri Icouldmovemydesk,butwhatfunwouldthatbe?

It was hot again today. Actually, more humid and muggy than anything. I made a Sam’s run for more peppermints and tootsie rolls for all of you, and was never more glad to get into the car’s air conditioning after loading all of those packages up into my car! Even though it’s hot and humid, I’m ready for Fall weather. Are you? In the hopes of speeding it along, I brought out all of our Fall house decorations and put them up around the house yesterday. I think this is my favorite season for spicing up the house – even more fun than Christmas. When we moved into our house 15 years ago, I didn’t really like this over-the-sink window in the kitchen. It was just kind of …. weird. But I soon discovered that I could fill it for each season, and now I’d be hard pressed to give it up. The little window looks into our screen porch so it can’t really be called a “garden window” any more, but it’s just nice to have changing scenery to look at. (The other thing I like about this photo? It shows – clearly – that I need to add in a few more things. Which might necessitate a little shopping. Yes, I do like a fun mish-mash of things full up in there for Fall.)

But I know the real reason you came over to check out the blog tonight. You were wondering what went up in the Update tonight, right? Well let me tell you. We added in:

- Namaste’s Messenger and Hip Holster bags in black. (We also have these two styles in Peacock.) The Messenger bag is great for larger projects. It also has a padded divider and I know some of you are using it to carry your laptop around. The Hip Holster is great for smaller projects (like a sock-in-progress), but several of you have mentioned that you’re using it for a purse. Also a great idea!

- Fleece Artist’s BFL Sock. You’ll like making socks out of this yarn, but it’s also perfect for shawlette’s – those 1-2 skein patterns for keeping you warm around the shoulders in the Fall. (I have Fall-on-the-brain. I can’t help it.)

- The Loopy Ewe Solids Line. We’ve added in one of the three missing colors – Vintage Rose (#69-84). That means, there are only 2 colors left to get in, and we expect those within the next two weeks. THEN we can get those color cards done and ready for you. I know you have been waiting patiently!

- Dream in Colors September Dream Club Yarn. This month’s skein is Groovy, their bulky weight yarn, in a colorway called Bayou. What’s nice about it is, it’s quick to knit up! The pattern with this is for Slipper Socks, which we will email to you separately. Here’s the thing you’ll want to know about this. We have a lot of people on pre-order for this yarn each month. We aren’t taking any more to the list, as we had to turn our numbers in to Dream in Color awhile back. However, we’ve also added extras to be able to put up on the website each month for the rest of you. Plus, the pre-order people have the option to buy it or not to buy it from month to month. That means that we’ll continue to add in extra skeins (if there are pre-order people who take a pass on it), each evening. All pre-ordered skeins need to be paid for by next Monday, so by Tuesday, we’ll have the final counts up for everyone else to purchase. Make sense?

Back to my knitting, now. For some reason I didn’t get very much done over the weekend on any one of my knitting projects. Did you?

Sheri didyougetaPumpkinSpiceLattefromStarbucksyet?
MoreevidencethatFallisjustaroundthecorner.

The house is quiet. Way too quiet. Knitting Daughter went back to school on Wednesday. There are no more computer cords, water bottles, extra shoes, piles of mail, and books laying around. (Oh, ok. There are. But none of them belong to her.) She was happy to be back in the college environment, after having a perfectly happy summer at home. WH and I are both glad that she is in a place that she loves. But jeez. We miss her. And the house is quiet. Way too quiet. We might’ve sought comfort in a little bit of Ivanhoe’s on Wednesday night. (In the form of a Trojan Three Shake – peanut butter ice cream, chopped peanut butter cups, topped with a scoop of cookie dough ice cream. Ivanhoes is reason #2 to visit little Upland, Indiana. 100 flavors of Shakes and 100 flavors of Sundaes. Reason #1, of course, is visiting Knitting Daughter.)

I’m keeping myself occupied with knitting. I’ve been working on Wendy’s Shetland Pi Shawl knit-a-long. I’m making mine out of The Sanguine Gryphon Bugga (Giant Stick Insect – although I prefer to think of it as “that really pretty green”). I kind of wish I had used Skinny Bugga instead, as I think this is a little heavy and thick. Plus, I’m in love with Red Spider Mite (although I prefer to think of it as “that really pretty red”). I know it looks like a big green blog so far, but just you wait. When it’s blocked, it will look smashing! This is a great pattern and if you haven’t started in on it, you ought to. When you focus on just one chart at a time, it’s totally do-able. I might make another one when I’m done.  I guess maybe before I do Shetland #2, I ought to finish Girasole #2 first. That would be the responsible thing to do.

September’s Dream in Color Dream Club yarn has arrived! For all of you with pre-orders, we’ll be sending your invoices to you on Monday. Dream in Color asked all of their stores not to sell it or show photos of it before Monday, the 30th, so we’re going by the book. Technically, that’s still 2 days before it’s officially September, so you’re still getting a jump-start. The rest of the yarn (yes, of course we ordered extras for everyone else) will go up Monday night for you.

Is your house quiet or loud today? If it’s loud, can I come over and absorb the noise for a few hours? Just to see if it makes me feel better?

Sheri I’mprettysureourtwocatsaregrumpyaboutthis
“noknittingdaughter”situation,too