Keepin' on...

Fall is packing a wallop, I tell ya! I didn't think that working 18 hours a week was going to be such a big deal, but after not working away from home for the past three years, it's a bit of an adjustment. I am constantly tired but don't ever feel like going to bed early. It doesn't help that I have things going on nearly every night during the week and both days on the weekend. I've been fighting a scratchy throat and itchy nose all day, and I'm terribly afraid it's going to win...

It's a very interesting thing, working in a yarn shop. I get a whole different perspective on the world of knitting than I did as a customer. It's also very interesting to read all the reviews of shops and why people like certain shops and don't like others. It seems that people have very high expectations of shops. It also continues to confirm my suspicions that viewing the whole world of knitting based on the online world of knitters leaves one viewing it through a very narrow lens.

I think the online knitting world is fantastic. But I also think that there are some things that the community expects that aren't necessarily realistic. For example, there's a discussion going on Ravelry about why people like (or don't like) their LYS. There are some folks who are frustrated with yarn shop employees' lack of knowledge about what's happening in the online world. While I think this point is somewhat valid on the one hand (it's always good to be educated about what your customers want), I also think that it's a bit unrealistic to expect yarn shop owners to be totally plugged in to what's happening online when in reality, a very small portion of their customers are going to walk in, start talking about the latest Knitty and expect the person helping them to jump right into the conversation. There's a language in the blogosphere that's rife with lingo and expecting everyone to know all about that is a bit, how do I put this, cliquey? I think it also gives people a skewed perspective about how skilled the average knitter is. I'm really seeing this as I work in the shop - there are still plenty of scarf knitters out there, and there's nothing wrong with that!

Knitting (and crafty/artistic pursuits in general) is a very personality-driven business. I really, really love working in the shop and talking to people about knitting all day, but I also am finding that there are a gazillion different comfort levels with talking about knitting. For instance, I was talking to a customer about Magic Loop the other day. I spent some time chatting with her about what needle length would be best for her to try, and then she mentioned she liked cables. I got all excited and dragged her over to look at Janet Szabo's Cables: Volume 1 book (which is INCREDIBLE, BTW). She got this kind of trapped look in her eye like I was giving her the tough sell, and then wasn't all that interested in the book because it didn't have any patterns in it. I really have to remember that these aren't my knitting friends coming in to chat. I need to be sensitive to people's comfort level with being helped and with having things suggested to them. I also need to really work on not taking it personally when they're not interested in what I have to show them (I don't take it personally, but sometimes I feel like I make the person I'm helping think that I am...if that makes any sense at all).

It's also kind of hard to divine how much (or little) assistance each person needs. I want to make sure I'm available to help, but I don't want to hover. It's hard to figure out how to let people know that it's okay to ask for help if they need it. There are so many stories of people who think they're being ignored by the staff of their LYS, and I want to make sure I'm not doing that! There are so many expectations that it's a little bit nerve-wracking being on the other side of the counter. I'm sure I'll continue to feel more and more comfortable as I get used to the job.

Oh, yeah, and I've been knitting up a storm. Here's a sneak peek at some of the things that are currently on-deck for the TNNA show in January:



And currently blocking, a top using the coolest lace pattern ever:



As if that wasn't enough to keep me totally occupied, Bill decided that we should try making some bread today. Here's the result:



Yummy! There is nothing better than bread fresh out of the oven. I found a great recipe that uses the food processor to mix up the ingredients followed by a couple minutes of hand kneading. Our oven has a bread-rising setting, so the whole process was ridiculously easy. I might have to do it again sometime! Even the kids liked it (which is great for me, since I despised my mom's homemade bread growing up - I was an unappreciative little brat!).

And because I couldn't let the post end without at least one picture of a kid holding a chicken, here are the latest. These are new and unusual because Rhoda (the red chicken) doesn't like to be picked up, and none of the chickens like being picked up by Owen! I was so surprised to find them like this the other day.



Of course, halfway through the photo session, Rhoda freaked out and went flapping off, clucking madly, Owen hot on her heels in pursuit. Sydney kept ahold of Ruttager, and we won't talk about the poop on the cushion that Rhoda deposited as she made her escape... It's almost time to clean them and put them away for the winter anyway, right?



At least the poo didn't land on a kid (this time around, anyway). I would've shot you down cold if you would've suggested five years ago the number of poop references I'd be making per day just a few years later...

This really takes the cake...

We've got a lot of cake-taking going on around here. And some cake-eating. But first, Owen really did take the cake on Monday morning. I think I mentioned that I got a part-time job at a local shop, Dublin Bay. Yes, I am becoming a regular shop-ho around here what with teaching at Twisted and Close Knit and now getting paid to hang around and talk to people about knitting at Dublin Bay. I'm hoping to avoid any conflicts of interest, and so far the shop owners at all three places have been delightfully unpossessive.

Anyway, Monday was my first day of work at Dublin Bay, and I was scheduled to start at 11. I was all ready to load Owen in the car and take him over to my mother-in-law's house for the day. I ran upstairs to grab something, thinking that the boy was occupied watching the Wonder Pets, but when I came back down I found him locked in the bathroom. Yes, somehow in the two minutes that I'd left him unattended he managed to go in the bathroom, shut the door and turn the deadbolt. Of course, I panicked. I called Sue and asked her to come over, and then called Bill to ask for advice. He was most unhelpful, telling me to just break down the door. Um, what? No, honey, you're supposed to tell me it's going to be fine and that you'll come home right away to help. Don't tell me to break down the door. It's a deadbolt lock with a metal plate on the door frame. The door is original from 1911 when the house was built and so it's solid wood. That sucker isn't coming down without an axe and I don't know where we keep the axe. Can't you just see me going at the door panel with an axe, ala Jack Nicholson in The Shining?

While I was waiting for Sue to come, I took the doorknob plate off, hoping that would give me access to the deadbolt mechanism. No such luck, but I was able to get the doorknob out and this gave me a little hole to peek through so I could see what kind of trouble Owen was getting himself into. He'd immediately found some old Halloween makeup and was proceeding to smear it all over every available surface in the bathroom. I tried talking him into unlocking the door, but he was having way too much fun to be at all interested in coming out. I begged, I pleaded, I threatened, I tried bribing him with M&Ms. No dice. Bill's next bit of helpful advice was to tell me to "just yell at him until he turns the knob". That was about as effective as telling Sydney to turn off the TV and put her shoes on so we can go to school. I was getting quite concerned about being late on my first day of work.

Sue arrived and I took off for downtown. Bill had managed to borrow his brother's car to drive home and help sort the situation out. I arrived at Dublin Bay pretty close to 11 am although definitely not on time. I walk in the door, say "hi" to Tricia, and the phone rings. She answers, then hands it to me. Way to make a great first impression! It was Sue, letting me know that Bill had managed to talk Owen into opening the door back up. I got off the phone, turned to Tricia and said "boy, do I have a story for you..."

Here are a couple pictures of the aftermath:





There are still remnants of pink and black smeared in out-of-the-way spots in the bathroom (and a particularly stubborn bit behind Owen's right ear). Needless to say, the deadbolt has been taped off so it can't be turned again and the baby gate has gone back up across the bathroom doorway.

Other than that bit of panic on Monday, my first two days working at a yarn shop have been great. It's very fun to be surrounded by yarn all day (particularly Tricia's great selection of Handmaiden and Fleece Artist) and I get to pick out store projects to make. Yes, I get an opportunity to knit things from other people's patterns while it's slow at the shop. I'm finishing off a Christmas stocking that a former employee had been working on, but after that I'm going to make the Sand Dollar Sweater from Norah Gaughan's Knitting Nature. There are so many possibilities - I can't wait! I'll be working Mondays, Tuesdays and Saturdays if you want to stop in and say hi.

Last night my knitting guild friends Amanda, Katrina and Donna came over to my side of town for a little birthday get-together. Yes, my birthday was in August but this was the first time we could manage to get all of our busy schedules together. We met up at Twisted for some tea and knitting (Katrina bought a whole armload of sock yarn) and then headed to the Kennedy School for dinner. Look at what my lovely friends got me:



Amanda got me the Folk Style book from Interweave (and it is fabulously inspiring) along with a little birthday-cake shaped tape measure from Lantern Moon - love it! Katrina got me a little sock kit from our friend Tiffany that included sock yarn in the Oregon Ducks colors, some ChiaoGoo bamboo sock needles and little donut stitch markers. So cute! I didn't even know that Tiffany was dyeing yarn, but she's got a little Etsy shop with her lovely yarns. I love it! Finally, Donna won the creative presentation prize with her awesome yarn bouquet. The "flower" is a skein of merino/tencel sock yarn from Chameleon Colorworks, and there are little chocolates attached to the branches. So cool. I am going to make some socks just for me with this yarn. It is just gorgeous.

It's also Amanda's birthday in a couple weeks, so we surprised her with some yarny gifties as well. After dinner, Katrina and I stuffed ourselves with the Molten Lava Cake. I could barely move when we were done. It was so good. Thanks again, ladies, for a great time! I just adore my knitting friends!!!

PS - I will be teaching a class on my Snowflake Socks from the fall Interweave Knits at Close Knit at the end of November. If you're interested, go sign up now! We'll get you knitting with both hands in this class. And now I smell a dirty diaper, so it's time to move on to less pleasant things. The little stinkpot is trying to destroy my office so that I'll stop typing. Right now I'm wishing he was locked in the bathroom again!

An Ideal Weekend

My goodness! What better way to spend the weekend than hanging out in the midst of fibery goodness? I've been to Oregon Flock & Fiber as a customer the past couple years, but being a vendor is a whole different ball game. I know that I said this would be my first and last foray into selling at shows, but I think I may need to make an exception and have a booth at this one every year. It was so much fun!

I didn't get my camera out until today, which was probably a good thing since yesterday was busy, busy, busy! Donna came and helped me out for the entire day, including set-up. I got lost on the way to her house (which is pathetic since I've been there many times). I think I was irritated at something I was listening to on NPR and drove right by her exit. I hadn't ever approached her house from the south and ended up going a very round-about way to get back since she lives off one of those roads that doesn't have ramps from the freeway in both directions (who plans these freeways, anyway?). After I located Donna, we managed to get ourselves lost between her house and Canby. What's really pathetic about this story is that I have navigation in my van. Even more pathetic is the fact that we had the route mapped out and STILL managed to miss our exit and go about 6 miles out of our way. Fortunately we got to the fairgrounds in one piece and set the booth up not much after the 9 am opening.

Saturday was filled with sales, and Donna is an extraordinary salesperson. She was awesome! I suck at sales, so it was nice to have someone who wasn't afraid to talk to people about the stuff in the booth. I had my Feather Lace Shawl displayed on a dress form out in front of my booth and people just went crazy for it. I had to keep repinning it (I didn't have a nice shawl pin so I just fastened it with a dpn) because so many people were fondling it. The pattern sold like hotcakes along with my Winter Branches sweater and my Autumn in Oregon socks. I was expecting the yarn to sell well, but I didn't expect the patterns to sell like they did - it was really fun to see people actually enjoying my work! I'm still amazed that anyone would want to knit anything that I designed. You'd think I'd be over that by now...

I got to meet so many cool people this weekend. One of the fun things about doing a local show is there are so many familiar faces. I got to chat with JC Briar, Janel Laidman from Spindlicity, Trish Andersen of Tanglewood Fiber Creations, Betsy McCarthy of Knit Socks!, Tina from Blue Moon (yes, I actually caught her for two minutes this morning before her booth was re-swamped), Cindy, Tammy, Chrispy, Meghan and the totally awesome Jen of Woolgirl. Donna and I also got to chat with Peggy and Mims of the Oregonian Knitblog. If you haven't already, check out their blog for everything knitting-related that's happening in Portland. They are two very cool ladies! I know there were others, but I'm halfway through my post-show glass of wine, so please forgive me if I forgot to link you. The weekend was a blur, to say the least. It was so much fun chatting with everyone and seeing all the awesome knitted stuff everyone was wearing!

I also had the privilege of getting peed on by a chinchilla named Linus. Really. Sydney was very upset that I didn't bring the chinchilla home with me, despite all my explanations that he wasn't ours and his real mom would miss him too much if we took him.

Now, for some pictures. This morning I set up in no time (despite almost spilling my coffee on the roving in the booth next to me - fortunately it was ALMOST) and was joined by Amanda and her darling little guy for the morning. Here are a couple views of the booth:





Here's Amanda with our smallest salesman:



I don't know if he actually helped sell anything, but he sure got lots of attention! He is such a good-natured little guy. He looks a little grumpy in this picture, but he's just staring intently at his feet. He was such a delight to have around.

Of course, we couldn't get away without the requisite fiber animal pics (our booth was right near the barn, which was cool since we could hear the sheep bleating all day long). Our neighbor on one side was a woman who raises Pygora goats and was selling Pygora fiber along with goat milk soap (I talked her into trading soap for a shawl pattern - yay!). She brought her goat over to visit for a little while and the kids adored him.



We also saw lots and lots of adorable sheep of all shapes, sizes, colors and fleeces. I thought this one was particularly cute:



There were also a wide variety of Angora bunnies:



I really, REALLY wanted to bring one home, but we need to wait until the kids are old enough to really help (and not just pretend help while actually making a bigger mess) before we add any more animals to the menagerie. We were *lucky* enough to witness the mating of two bunnies - and boy, they go at it like...well...rabbits! The woman buying the doe wanted her preggers, and we were lucky enough to walk by and witness the fun. It was actually quite comical, especially since the kids were too young to know what was going on and we didn't have to get into a long discussion about where baby bunnies come from...(the rabbits pictured above were not the lucky ones).

We also saw some very nice llamas:



There were also alpacas and yaks and a very friendly baby camel (who we heard about but didn't actually see - Donna's girls were lucky enough to get to feed it).

All in all, it was a great way to spend a weekend. Now I've got some bookkeeping to do. Hope your weekend was just as good as mine, even if it didn't involve naughty rabbits!

Is it Friday already?

Where the heck does the week go? Sometimes it seems as if I just blogged, and then Bill will mention that I haven't written anything in nearly a week. Wha? If I'm not careful nobody will be left reading this thing except Bill and my mom (hi, Mom!). Then I'll really be in trouble since neither of them knits and poor Bill hears enough about knitting from me already. Guess I'll have to post more pictures of the kids...



Notice Sydney's little friend? Those two are attached at the hip these days. Sydney can't wait to get home from school so she can let the chickens out and spend hours picking them each up and holding them (she spends the most time with Ruttager - the one pictured on her lap - because she's the most amenable to being manhandled). She likes to pretend Ruttager is her baby and will rock her, sing to her, coo in her ear...it's quite sweet. Have I already mentioned that chickens are the best pets EVER? This was my dinner last night before knitting guild:



Yummy! We're still waiting for the third girl to start laying, but the other two are giving us one egg each almost every day. We're going to have to start eating eggs more often! It's hard to make the transition from thinking that each egg is a precious treasure that needs to be saved for a special occasion, but it needs to be done since we're getting nearly a dozen a week now.

This afternoon Bill's meeting me down in Canby to help set up for OFFF. If you're there, come buy some yarn so I can get it out of my office!!! I'll have stuff from Lavender Sheep, Chewy Spaghetti, Zen Yarn Garden, Nature's Palette and a few precious skeins of Mama-E's Ceyeber Fiber. Begone, sock yarn! I am looking forward to a fun and hopefully busy weekend. Donna and Amanda will be there (Amanda's bringing the baby on Sunday morning) to help out, so be sure to stop by and say hello.

Finally, I've managed to get myself entangled in more fiber-related work. I'm going to be working part-time at a lovely shop in downtown Portland called Dublin Bay. I just keep burying myself deeper and deeper, don't I? I'm really hoping I don't spend my entire salary on their gorgeous selection of Handmaiden and Fleece Artist when I'm taking this job to help offset the cost of Sydney's preschool.

Speaking of which, it's time to get ready for school! Hope to see some of you this weekend!

Oh, my!

I should really be going to bed, but I just love the peace and quiet around the house once the kids are asleep. Since Sydney started school, we are working really hard to get the kids to bed before 9. During the summer they stay up with us (and honestly they've just gotten to the age where they don't wake up screaming every 15 minutes if we're downstairs and not up with them), but I'm loving this early-to-bed stuff. I feel like I need to take advantage of it while I can!

Life is reaching the overwhelming point once again. I know I whinge about this every other week or so, but I can't seem to break the cycle. Just when I feel like I'm on top of things and everything is swimming along nicely, I take on too much and all of a sudden I'm back in the hole. Or else I remember the 50 things that I'm supposed to be doing (like FINALLY drawing for the Sock-A-Month 3 prizes...the KAL has only been over for a month and a half...) and the walls close in again.

To make matters a tad bit more stressful, Bill's company is converting all of their sales consultants from employees to independent contractors. He'll get a much bigger commission from each sale, but there will be a few iffy months at the beginning of the year before things start kicking in. We're not one of those smart couples who has no credit card debt and a 6-month emergency savings account... I'm trying to get my business in the black ASAP so that I'm not draining our personal money anymore paying for my office expenses. So far so good, but it's not easy when most publishers don't pay you for your work until the book/magazine/whatever is actually published. For books, this could mean waiting like two years to get paid! Fortunately my wholesale patterns and teaching give a little influx of cash to cover things like TNNA booth registration and that hefty fee for upgrading from affiliate member to wholesale member.

Should I get myself a beer?

I just charged up my iPod and I'm having fun listening to a bunch of stuff I finally got loaded onto it. I go through these phases where I'll listen obsessively to that thing and then I'll put it down and won't pick it up again for 9 months. Right now I've got episodes of Cast-On from the whole summer that I'm listening to along with some books (including the Yarn Harlot's latest, Barbara Kingsolver's "Animal, Vegetable, Mineral" and Bill Clinton's "Giving"). One thing I don't like about knitting is that it has turned me from a voracious reader into a very occasional one. Audiobooks help fill that void a little bit.

I should also announce that I officially have a booth space out on the lawn at Oregon Flock and Fiber on the 22nd-23rd. I'll be clearing out the last of that sock yarn and will potentially have some good deals. For sock yarn fans, I'd also highly recommend checking out the Chameleon Colorworks booth. The owner & dyer, Janel, is the editor of Spindlicity and has this amazing merino that is unbelievably soft. I saw it at TNNA and went crazy for it. If you're there, definitely stop by and say hi!

Finally, for any of you on Ravelry, I'm thinking of starting a Chicken Lovin' Knitters group. I know you chicken people are out there - help me out! And now, it's off to bed. I will not go back on Ravelry, I will not go back on Ravelry, I will not... Oh, screw it, who am I kidding? Who needs sleep, anyway?

Bawk!

Check it out!



The monster on the right is Diddy's, but check out the egg on the left. Someone else has been getting busy in the nesting box! I'm not sure who, but I'm so excited. I can't wait until we don't have to buy eggs at the grocery store anymore. Even the free-range organic eggs that we get at the store aren't anywhere near as yellow or flavorful as the eggs these girls lay for us.

Another great benefit of having chickens - they eat our leftovers! Owen throws half his morning bagel on the floor? No problem! The chickens don't mind a little grit with their meals. Last night I made pasta with cherry tomatoes and zucchini and the kids ate about half of what I served them. I stuck their bowls out in the coop and when I went back out this morning they were picked clean! It's awesome, and I know that the more tasty stuff they eat, the better their eggs will be.

I picked another full bowl of cherry tomatoes this morning, and I'm terrified of how many green ones are on the vine. Anybody have any recommendations as to what to do with hundreds of cherry tomatoes? I need help!!!

And now, I'm headed back to Ravelry. I know that it's extremely annoying to read about how great Ravelry is when you know it will be months before you get in, but I just can't help myself. I wasn't expecting to be as impressed as I am. It's amazing! Before I was like, "why the heck would I want to catalog my stash? I can do that in an Excel spreadsheet if I really feel like it." But now, I can't wait to photograph and catalog everything. It will be so useful - I tend to buy yarn for projects and then forget I have it because it's so difficult to dig through everything. And forget about cataloging it in Excel...it's not going to happen. However, in Ravelry all the ball band info for the yarns is already entered and I can just log how many skeins I have and in what colors. Next time I have a slot free to add a design to my pattern line I can go in and remind myself of all those yarns I bought months ago with a great project in mind. Awesome!

It's also very interesting to see who is knitting my designs, what the ratings are and see pictures of people's FOs. It's not always easy to take (like, why in the heck did that design only get 4 out of 5 stars?), but it's great market research.

And now, I'm off to photograph more of my stash!

Now I see...

what all the fuss is about! Last night, I finally got my Ravelry invite. I have been wasting time in there ever since. If you haven't yet signed up for an invite, go now! It is really cool. I finally feel like I'm a member of the "in crowd"! (Yes, it is a bit annoying that they limit access, but I understand why they're doing it and it's a necessary evil - little did they know when they started this little website what a sensation it would cause!)

I've also discovered over the weekend that the creative process of knit design has started to finally spill over into other aspects of my life. For example, I've never liked cooking. It has always seemed like a chore to me. All my life, though, I've been one of those people who always followed the instructions to the letter. I couldn't cook anything without a recipe. I couldn't knit anything without a pattern.

Realizing that I can experiment, and make mistakes, and rip back (or rip out completely) has been so liberating for me. Recently, I've taken my newfound freedom into the kitchen and started tossing stuff together. We've been getting some great stuff from our CSA farm share and I've decided that I'm no longer going to let it sit in the vegetable drawer until it rots into compost. Bill suggested I make pesto from some basil that we got, so I tossed it into the food processor along with some garlic, salt and olive oil. Voila! Pesto! Then, I decided to get crazy and make some chocolate chip zucchini cake. I did follow a recipe for this one, but I wantonly substituted whole wheat flour for white. Yum!

We got a bunch of different kinds of peppers in our CSA basket this week. The first kind were some sweet frying peppers, which they suggested we fry up with butter or olive oil. Normally, these peppers would be doomed to the compost bin after they shriveled on our counter for a few weeks. But I got motivated to try something new and so I fried them up in a pan - they were so yummy! It was such a grand success, I decided to use the other peppers we got and make some chile rellenos for breakfast yesterday. These were a bit more of a failed experiment (I didn't get the outside breading right and it slid right off, and the peppers didn't cook long enough to soften up), but they were still mighty tasty. I stuffed them with cheddar cheese and just ate them as finger food. What really surprised me is how much Owen liked them! He literally ripped the last bite out of my hand and stuffed it in his mouth. That boy likes his veggies!

I can't help but think that my newfound freedom in the kitchen has something to do with the creativity inspired by my new career. I wonder what other aspects of my life I can enhance with my creative liberation?

And now I must go - Owen got ahold of some safety scissors and is currently stalking the house for any unguarded pieces of paper...this after I told him that under no circumstances could he cut the t-shirt that I'm wearing (or any of my yarn)!

Summer Bounty

We've got our own little food farm going here. We've got cherry tomatoes:



And gargantuan zucchinis:



And little blue eggs:



I'm not sure what's up with that one gigantic egg in the back (she laid that one two days ago - the one she laid this morning was tiny again), but it really doesn't matter what size they are - they're delicious! Now I'm very impatiently waiting for the other two hens to get laying. Maybe I need to give them each a little squeeze? Think that would help?

waiting, oh so patiently...

I've got 233 people in front of me in the Ravelry queue. Previously, I'd check my place in line every once in awhile since there were thousands and thousands of folks in front of me. Now that it's getting down to the wire, I check obsessively to see when the count goes down (meaning more invites have been sent, and I'm getting closer to MINE). Although I need another time sucker like I need a hole in the head, I am very curious to see what all the hype is about. And I'm quite curious to see what people are saying about my designs - according to Katrina, they're all over the place in there. I have no idea what that means since I haven't the slightest idea how Ravelry works, but I am VERY patiently awaiting my invitation...

I realized that I forgot to tell y'all about my coffee date with Donna Druchunas, of Arctic Lace fame! She was in town to teach some workshops (which I unfortunately wasn't able to attend) and, since I'm working on a design for an upcoming book of hers, we met up at Powell's to talk shop. It was very fun, but the best thing of all is she gave me a proof copy of her upcoming book Ethnic Knitting! I was very excited when she handed it to me, thinking that she was just giving me a sneak peek. I almost fell over when she told me it was mine! It is going to be another fabulous book with knitting styles from the Netherlands, Norway, Denmark and the Andes. Very cool. Like Arctic Lace, this is another great book to have in your library of technique books since it goes beyond just patterns and includes lots of great stuff about the history of the knitting itself.

And now, I've got some swatching to do. I've got the first two summer sweaters to be released at the TNNA show in January finished - how many more do you think I (and my test knitter posse) can crank out before then? Wanna test knit for me? If you're a reliable sort, drop me an e-mail! I'd love to have you!!!

Whoops!

This morning, my brain and reality were not working together. For some reason, I'd gotten it in my head that Sydney's school started on the day after Labor Day. I also knew that school started on the 5th. As you may well know, the day after Labor Day is not the 5th. Whoopsie! I talked Bill into taking Sydney to school this morning since she was acting reluctant and I didn't want to have to drag her into school, kicking and screaming, and carry Owen on my hip at the same time (to prevent him from running into traffic).

Bill was silly enough to trust my handle on the calendar and took her. He brought her back around 9 and informed me that school doesn't start until tomorrow. He was even nice enough to bring me a sugar-free vanilla latte. What a guy! Needless to say, I don't have any doubts about who will be bringing her tomorrow, reluctant or not!

We are also making a concerted attempt at potty training here in Chez Knittin' Mom. We bought Owen a potty that makes music when you go, along with a bunch of underpants featuring characters from Cars, Go Diego Go, and Elmo. So far Sydney has been much more interested in both the underpants and the potty than Owen, but we'll see what happens. My evil plan is to get him potty trained this fall and then put him in preschool in January. How heavenly that would be! I always feel guilty about pushing my kids into school as early as possible because one of my best friends is a dedicated homeschooler and I completely agree with all of her reasons for doing it. I bandy the idea of homeschooling about every month or two, but I need to resign myself to the fact that I just don't have it in me. I've met so many homeschooled kids who are smart, polite, and just generally lovely and it makes me want to do it. But, like I said a moment ago, I just don't have it in me. I can't wait until both the kids are in school full-time. I'm not overly impressed with my parenting skills as it is, and I figure that spending 50% of their time away from me (or rather, away from the television, which is just too good of a babysitter when I'm working on a tight deadline) isn't a bad thing. I sure wish being a parent was easier...

But enough complaining. I've got some knitting to talk about! I got my fall pattern books from Classic Elite today, featuring the three patterns I designed for them. The Cabled Coat, the Kids' Cabled Coat and the Lacy Scarf. I was delighted to see the Kids' Cabled Coat featured in the Classic Elite ad on the back cover of the most recent Yarn Market News!

I also have a few new patterns that I've added to my pattern line. You can get them through selected retailers, including downloads from Sandra Singh (I'm hoping Knot Another Hat has them up soon as well, but since Sarah has a relatively new baby, I'm not sure when it will happen!).

First, the Feather Lace Shawl:



This is made with a single skein of Handmaiden Sea Silk or 100g of your favorite fingering-weight yarn. It's an easy repeat that you knit until it's big enough (or you run out of yarn) and then bind off.

Next, Hearts & Snowflakes for kids:



I designed these for the kiddos last winter and they wore them (to great acclaim) all year. I think they'll still fit, although I may need to hunt for a lost mitten or two. Someday I'm going to make adult versions since Bill has asked several times for a matching hat in the snowflake pattern...

And another non-sock pattern, the Spa Cloth Set:



His-and-hers washcloths with fun but not too difficult stitch patterns.

Finally, my lone sock offering - Mix-and-Match Rib Toe-Up Socks:



This is a "learn toe-up" pattern which features three different ribbing stitches that can be used on any of the socks. It's sized from newborn to Men's M. I'm currently teaching my Twisted class using this pattern, which is a very interesting process but a subject for its own post.

Since I'm no longer selling patterns myself, I'm going to be releasing designs a couple times a year. Right now, my test knitters are busy working on two summer sweaters (a tank top in GGH Touch Me - yummy! - and a top in dk-weight) and of course more socks. Can't wait to see what people think of them at TNNA in January!

Hope you all had a great Labor Day weekend - I'm back to pattern grading. How exciting...

Poor blog!

How I've neglected you so. You've become like one of my children - given enough attention between knitting projects to keep you breathing, but not much more than that! For those of you who were wondering about my movie quote, Katrina did indeed come through for me with the correct guess of Coal Miner's Daughter. Sissy Spacek won both a Golden Globe and an Oscar for her role in that fabulous movie, and (as Bill likes to remind me every. single. time. we watch it) she sang all of her own songs. If you've never seen it, get thee to the video store, now.

In knitting news, I've recently bit the bullet and upgraded to a [rather expensive] wholesale TNNA membership. I've also applied for a half-booth at the January trade show. It is terrifying and exciting at the same time, and I'm so curious to see what will come of it. I've talked my friend (and lone sales rep) Donna into coming to Long Beach to help me out, so if nothing else we will have loads of fun! In preparation for my sole focus on my wholesale business, I've taken down the option to download patterns from my shop. The sock kits will still be available as long as they last, but once they're gone, I'll be wholesale-to-shops only! Yay! For those of you without shops, I will still have some online outlets. Both Knot Another Hat and Sandra Singh will have downloadable versions of all of my patterns available for you impatient and/or shopless types.

And...I've got another sock pattern published for y'all - this one is in the newest Mag Knits and is made from the SWTC Tofutsies. I knit this pair on our trip to Tokyo and named it Kaibashira after the Japanese name for scallops. You can find the pattern here.



I had great fun with this pattern, so I hope you like it, too! And now I'm off to knit (I've finished the sweater-from-hades and sent it off to Interweave - now I'm busy knitting stuff to display at TNNA in Jan). I'll leave you with some bison pictures from Yellowstone, better late than never.







And, so as not to discriminate, some elk: