Belief in Mankind

So, today my belief in mankind was renewed!!!We are in the process of painting the new store(2900 Devine Street-in case you have not heard) and it is a beast. The walls were the color of a terra cotta pot, making it feel more like an adobe than a delightful store and the ceilings were painted baby food green, like the sky was falling but you were a tiny person on a baby bib and the sky was the mouth of a baby newly on food! Can you picture it?

Anyway, Mrs. Jot, the store I share space with, happened upon a painter yesterday! We could not afford for him to paint the entire store but the ceilings were a job only Mr. In the Loop and Mr. Jot were tall enough to complete, you can only imagine their excitement (can you say not so silent business partners?) This afternoon we went to pay the painter for our brand new ceilings and he had finished the ENTIRE store for no extra charge. Just said he had and slow morning and "wanted to help a sister out." Praise the Lord-what a man!!! If any of you need a painter, I know just the guy!

Big Furry Decision

How do you make big decisions? Do you make pro and con lists? Research it on the Internet? Ask friends? Take a survey of complete strangers that pass in the park? Flip a coin? At this point I think I have tried them all.



I want a dog, but what kind of dog is the question. Most of you may know that I had a very loyal and durable toy poodle for 18 years. We buried him in September and I miss having that canine connection. The past few weeks we have visited animal shelters, websites, and breeders but are still perplexed. Here is what I know we are looking for a female, puppy that will grow to be a medium to large dog. Other than that we have been pretty open. Through some unusual conversations, we ended up at a Great Pyrenees breeders' house. They are wonderful white puffs. http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/greatpyrenees.htm



But I mean they are BIG WHITE PUFFS! They are called gentle giants-pro. They shed a ton-con. They are very calm creature-pro. They are very loyal and great protectors-this can be a pro or con depending upon the website you read. My new way of making a decision... Ask blog readers to weigh in-come on leave me a comment about what you think!



These are my knitting projects right now-they are neither big nor furry. I just finished the darkside cowl-great quick project and I really appreciate when someone has written a pattern that just involves knitting and purling but turn out visually interesting.





I am also in the middle of the February Lady Sweater-many of you may have already made this but if not it is definitely the modern/trendy look that inspired me to start knitting years ago.

What to knit next??...a dog sweater, perhaps!!!!

Liar Liar Pants on Fire

I cannot believe it has been over a year since my last blog-no blog, no pictures and nothing but lies, all hopes and dreams of posting pictures dashed by a digital camera thief. That trip to the beach my digital camera took with the husband never made the trip back-it must be swimming with the fishes.

Good news and hopeful redemption: new digital camera came for Christmas and it is resolution time. Mine-blogging and the very unoriginal but with the best of intentions "be healthy." Bloggin' should feel pretty special since it has ranked up there with the #1 resolution of all time!



Wouldn't it be nice to assign New Year's resolutions? You know-let's say "pretty good husband" says his new year's resolution is to workout but you really wish it would be hang up the suits that he wears every day that end up in the floor... every day. Or that the "pretty nice skinny friend" says she is going to eat less chocolate in '09 but if we were doling them out we would say her assigned resolution is to quit discussing her inability to find clothes that don't swallow her! Or even your"pretty great mom" resolves to improve her correspondence with friends and family but all you really want her to do is stop calling you on her cell phone and then immediately turning it off so when you call her back it goes straight to voicemail. (that might improve our correspondence)I think I might google how this whole resolution thing got started and determine if we could get this making New Year's resolutions FOR the people we love best catch on. Happy New Year and we'll talk knitting next time! You can all be witness to my resolution success!

Yarn is Keeping Me Company

Probably not a blog worth reading-just trying to keep my blog on! Hubby has been gone all week so I have been in completion mode-can't wait to put pics online -new excuse this week-camera has taken a trip to the beach with hubby! Off the needles this week- I had a request for a scarf that looks like a boa (perfect for some, maybe a little over the top for others) and the short row scarf on magknits.com which I really suggest for anyone that thinks scarves are no fun! I think this one may be worth it. I need not be knitting but holiday shopping! Does 80 degree weather melt everyone's Christmas spirit?? I have not bought the first gift-maybe instead of bloggin' I should be internet shopping!

Practice Makes Perfect

Okay, so can I get a little credit for this not taking me 4 months to post. Though my promises of a pic are worthless...I promise before the end of the month I will post the Lara sweater. In my defense the digital camera is at home, I take the time to blog from home, guess where the sweater is??? AT THE SHOP!!! I know it is not hard to post the pics, just a little geographically challenging. I am putting the camera in my knitting bag in hopes it will make it to the shop with the sweater...
Enough about my shortcomings...I have started a Nashua Simple Jacket that I think many of you will want to start asap, even if you have sweaterphobia. Did you notice the name? Simple!!! it is also knit on large needles...can we say instant gratification??? I hope to finish it this weekend but it is off to the in-laws house on Saturday-not that I don't enjoy a little QT with the family but none of my new family knits so that don't quite grasp the ADDICTION! I have only been married 45 days I am still breaking them in. Give me 90 days and we are in business.

Inserting camera into work bag....are ya'll proud yet ????

Ravel-Me!!!

Have you been on ravelry? That is the echo throughout the store for the past month! So tonight I took some time to sit down and try to unravel this thing called Ravelry! It is worth all of the buzz around the yarn world and most surprisingly it inspired me to blog. Oh wonder of wonders. Maybe I am back on the bloggin horse for good this time. Fingers crossed!
As I type this my new and improved digital camera is charging so on tomorrow's blog-yes tomorrow-I can show off what might be one of my new favs. It is called the Lara-the perfect name did attract me to this sweater but that is not all. This sweater is from Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk-I knit it in Louisa Harding but the attraction is definitely the lack of dreadful seams! It is a cardigan knit from side to side-AWESOME. You'll see...

The needles are calling my now not the computer keys....

Happy knitting!

'A' for Effort

Okay, so I am getting better at the timeliness of my posts, don't you think?? Unfortunately, no pictures can be posted right now because I am having digital camera difficulty. I did complete the openwork summer top I was working on last week and I think it looks pretty good. However, when I tried it on I was not nearly as thin or tan as I had hoped! Unfortunately, that is not a knitting error. This weekend I started the wrap tunic on the front of the most recent Interweave Knits and I love how quickly it is moving. Hopefully, I will solve this camera issue around the time I finish it. My goal is to wear it to Scott's law school graduation-unless once again a pasty white model puts it on. We will see.
Everything in the shop is just great. Classes are filling up and there will be a new classes scheduled by the end of next week. Don't forget to sign up for the Entrelac Class next week-May 9th-Allison is teaching it and she is an Entrelac Expert!! Check out pattern she is teaching at frecklesandpurls.com This is a great class for any of you that are looking to step up your knitting game. I know in June we will be having a fair isle class, sock class, and the REAL MEN KNIT night! I will keep you posted about the dates-just keep checking the blog. Peer pressure helps. Happy knitting!