Let it .........

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snowglobe

Commence the count down.....

Counting down the days until my vacation from the mortgage paying job begins.....

Pulled 3 skeins of Gedifra's "Scarlet" from the shelf on Saturday to make the Shape It Scarf from The Knit Stitch for a store sample. It's working up nicely, but I must add that the fibers are doing a number on my hands. And I'll probably need 2 more skeins to finish it off.

The new Knitty is out. I love the French Market Bag and the shawl.

Did you see the ad for the second installment of Average Joe? Too scary for words...and I won't miss a minute of it! Oh and the "the next big superdooper model" show is coming back on in Jan too. I know what I'll be doing!

Expect the expected...Be prepared...

Just had an I told ya so moment. Glad she was on the phone. I was able to do my little dance and make a face without her seeing. Has to do with my "mortgage paying job" and the fact that 3 months or so I told my boss she would not be able to move 40,000 customers in 6 mo's time and she insisted she could....she told me today the dates on her project have changed ...her project must be completed before mine can begin because I'm moving the phonelines that her customers use ....so she wants me to replan my project based on the new dates and have the info to her on Monday morning (it's Friday 2:00 now). I'm 20 steps ahead of her. I have a second (and third and fourth) plan already calculated and in a document ready to send to her. I know the business, I know our support units and know what they can and can't do. They're good, but callling and having 40,000 customers do something while you have them on the phone takes more than 6 months time. My fourth plan has dates out into 2005.....

Did I tell you about my vacation? With so many managers this year, each asking me to "postpone your vacation until we get the department back on it's feet" (I was on my feet, they didn't know what they were doing) has left me with 12 days of vacation.....which I have now scheduled for Dec 15 - Dec 31! Woohoo! 3 weeks. My what I want to do list is getting really long.

Played around with some left over Cascade 220 the other night. Using size 10 needles, I casted on 40 stitches and st st for about 2 yards. Then felted. I was imagining a beautiful felted scarf with cut fringe on the ends. Fabric if you will. I almost have it I think.

Result is a yard of material, a bit thicker than I'd like. And the ends flair. But cuts nicely for fringe. Next try will be with larger needles, fewer stitches and not so long in the water.

Optically Delusional back is at the point i can stop increasing and begin working towards the shoulders. With DK wt yarn and size 6 needles you knit forever!

When is black really black?

After the chaos of Friday, I decided to get to Ewe Knit Kits and Yarn earlier on Saturday to finish putting out the yarns and have a few moments to get ready for the day. As I got out of my car at about 9:15 I noticed a woman sitting in her car watching me. Our first customer of the day.

Not as busy as Friday, our Saturday customers came in spurts. It was nice to have the quiet time inbetween to straighten up the shelves, put back needles not wanted and finish marking the sale yarns. During one of the spurts, Beth from Lorna's Laces stopped in. I didn't get a chance to talk to her, but Sherry filled her in on what customers were looking at.

So one of our customers wanted a solid black yarn to carry with some Eros and Eyelash...I think she pulled one of every skein of solid black yarn off the shelves...there are lots of blacks out there let me tell you! She ended up with a sock weight solid Lorna's Laces. It'll be an all black scarf.

How many scarves can be given as gifts?

I ask this only because I sold so many different yarns to people to make scarves with on Friday that everyone in the US, heck maybe I should even include Canada, will get a scarf for the Holidays.

So I arrive at Ewe Knit Kits and Yarn about 9:40. Plenty of time to put away my things, grab my reading glasses, and check out the new yarns before we open at 10:00. Sherry was on the ladder making room on a top shelf for new yarns. She had this exhausted look about her. 5 big boxes of yarns (including the new Eros with a bit of sparkle had come in Wednesday right before closing, Bobbie made price labels, and Sherry had come in at 8:30 on Fri to put them out. And she'd already had 3 customers!

It was quiet for a time. Sherry and I putting up the new yarns and catching up. Bobbie came in about 10:30. A man came in to shop for his wife (sweater kit and gift certificate), a few phone calls about our hours, but all in all pretty quiet.

I glanced at my watch, 10:50, and Sherry mentioned she still had a box in the back that needed pricing. The next time I had a minute to look at my watch it was 2:20. I ran in and took a few bites of a sandwich and back out on the floor with me...

They came in droves!!! Scarf knitters of all ages and sizes...scarves for everyone! Credit Cards were being tossed across the counter, size 15, 17 and 19 needles were sold out, what are we to do?? don't worry a shipment is due next week...we'll be back...how long will it take me to knit this scarf?....do these colors go together?...how long is a scarf suppose to be?...what color is good for my sister-in-law/mother/sister/daughter/husband/best friend/son/kidsteacher?....the receipt printer was smoke'in!

Whew! Bobbie's family was in town for a visit and stopped in about 4:00. Bobbie mentioned in passing that it was the stores 6th month anniversary. She's done good.

A few more customers trickled in after that and we closed shop at 6:00. I did ring up a few sweater sales and gift certificates. And lots of questions about classes.

After walking the dog, fixing a plate of leftovers, I sat in front of the tv....I didn't pick up my needles all day.

Thanksgiving Day

It was a typical day with my mother.

Back to square one....

Pulled out the Optically Delusional last night (from Simply Knit). I was short 2 stitches on each side of the mitered corner. Suppose to be 112 stitches on each side of the marker...I had 111. Grrrr.....So I was taking out one row at a time and that was too slow. So I ripped back to where I added the new strand of yarns....about 15 rows and 4 hours of work at Knitters Review Retreat. Oh well, I'm back on track. And I've decided to count every other row.

I threw the Crystal Palace Cotton Chenille Facecloth in the wash on Sunday with jeans, sweatshirts and dark towels. (no lint was seen) Then into the dryer it went. It came out soft soft soft! I washed my face with it on Monday and it's an okay washcloth (I like a little rougher texture) But it's still bleeding and it took forever to air dry. Still damp this morning (Tuesday). I don't think anymore washclothes are in my future. I'm thinking baby blanket though.

I picked up copies of Simply Knit 2 and Jameson Knitting Book 3 (I think that's the title, the one with the lady wearing the white shawl on the front) on Saturday. I have a list of things I'd like to make from each one. LOL I have tooo many lists!

One of which is Thanksgiving dinner....chicken, dressing, sweet potatoes, green beans, jello salad, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie. It'll be my mother and I and she likes traditional foods. The one year I told her I had chicken instead of turkey she cried...tears and all....off and on all day....so I don't tell her anymore...just get a big Purdue chicken, rip off the wrapper and she says it's really moist and goes home with a nice platefull.

Did you see? Did you see? Linda got $250,000 and David got a ranch... and they rode off into the sunset...... Yahoo!