Happy (Belated) Birthday!

Wednesday was my my baby's birthday. Well, he's not such a baby anymore. Happy Birthday T - we love you!!

Who knew there would be so much math?

It always amazes me how much math is involved in crafting. When you sew, you have to do the math to figure out sizing and how much fabric you'll need. Knitting has tons of math - from gauge to yardage to sizing and shaping. Now I have learned the importance of math in weaving. I had two hanks of a hand-dyed sock yarn, and wanted to make a scarf thingie - just a simple one. I did the math, see?
I figured out how much I needed for the warp and set it up. A few months later (I had trouble focusing on this project over the summer, I'm just saying), I realized that I was going to run out of weft way before I ran out of warp. See the empty shuttle? How did that happen?
So I have little bits of leftovers - I have no idea what I'll do with them - but I also have a beautiful scarf/wrap/neckwarmer! I love it. Here it is on my (now empty) loom.
See how pretty the colors are?
Next I'm doing a scarf for my mother for the holidays. With sparkly yarn in a burgundy color! I'll need one hank of Silk Pearl for warp and one hank of Bead Pearl and Sequins for weft. Kathy wrote out hers here. I hope I do the math right this time!! Of course I also have this pretty little scarf (and I mean little yarn, little needles) that I'm trying to do. There just isn't enough time in the day.

Busy Weekend

From work, to charity, to play - a great weekend!

Friday morning, our company participated in an event at the Lowell Memorial Auditorium called "Made in Lowell." Although we are mostly importers/distributors, I thought it would be fun to be part of this event, and we do "make" all our patterns, marketing, etc. Not everyone "got it." We had to do a lot of explaining about what a yarn company does. But overall I think it was great to participate. Next year I think we'll attend rather than exhibit; it was fun to see the companies that do manufacturing in our City. And I think I found a local printer, and a guy who does great tote bags out of recycled and organic materials. I'm calling him today!

This past Sunday the Lexington (MA) Arts and Crafts Society had a "knit in". They asked us to provide a trunk show, so Saturday I met up with my friend Cass (who is a member, and the creator of the pretty pin cushions I wrote about recently) and put up some posters and hung some sweaters. Two other yarn companies had things displayed too. I heard it was a fun day - even Wren Ross was there - but sadly I didn't make the actual event. Some amazing work was on display by the Society's members. The exhibit will be there until October 18 - if you're in the area, check it out.

I didn't make the Lexington event because on Sunday, I walked with my daughter and her family in the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer event in Boston. 38,000 walkers! It was amazing; they raised a lot of money for breast cancer research - hooray! C and her friend were troopers.


After riding in on the T, we trekked over the to Hatch Shell and the official starting line. We all made it the 3+ miles. Although the weather wasn't beautiful, it was perfect-enough for a walk. Not too hot; not too sunny; brisk is how I would describe it. After the walk, we went to brunch at a family-friendly place in Cambridge called Full Moon - really fun for the group, and great food!

Next weekend it's all about getting some knitting done...oh, and some baseball. Go Red Sox!

Travel Is Over!

I'm home! What a journey ... 9 days and 8 nights ... too much. As as much as I planned to photograph the entire journey, the only shot I have is from the last night. I stayed at the O'Hare Hyatt (which I had thought was the hotel on site at the airport, but the hotel at the airport is a Hilton!). The Hyatt is a beautiful hotel, and I had a lovely room. I grabbed a bite before crashing into bed, and it was wonderful! An appetizer called Grilled Prawns and Avocado, with Chipotle Dressing (along with some bread and wine). Yum! Other highlights of my trip? A great photo shoot in New Harbor, ME; 3 great days with friends in Chicago, shopping, dining, giggling at the Bobbi Brown makeup counter with Jasmine (the makeup artist), and going on a great river boat architecture cruise! Chicago's skyline (or river-line) is something else. Then on to Lake Geneva, WI, to another great location. But this time it was two days of hard, volunteer board work. And I came home with way too much to do. It's going to be really wet here this weekend. I hope to re-organize my office, get some laundry done, and chill/knit a bit. Hope you have a great weekend too!

Photoless

It's been a busy few weeks. I took a trip to New York via train, and had a really good visit. I met with, ate with, and visited with my colleagues at Vogue Knitting and Knit Simple; I had lunch and dinner with my brother and his family. And I did a little visiting and shopping at three great New York stores: Knitty City; Purl Soho; and String. Each is very different from the other, with a unique personality, stock layout, and ambiance. And one of the highlights of my trip was getting to see Maksim (a.k.a. Max), who is now 6 weeks old! What a cutie. I was lucky enough to stay at my brother's apartment on the Upper West Side, and managed to get around New York via subway most of the time. What fun to be in the hubbub of NYC!

But no photos. My camera stayed safely tucked inside my bag for the entire three days.

Late last week I had a chance to drive out to Webs, America's Yarn Store. It was fun to see Kathy and Steve and show them some new things we may do next spring. And they gave me a tour of the new bead store, aptly named Webs, America's Bead Store. It's a good thing the bead store isn't in my neighborhood. I could do a lot of damage to my pocketbook there.

I meant to take pictures of the storefronts. Nope. Didn't happen.

Last weekend we went to a great wedding - my husband's 2nd cousin was married in Portsmouth, NH. A beautiful setting by the sea; great weather; wonderful family. What a nice day for them. And they really lucked out - Friday it rained, and Sunday it rained, but Saturday (the wedding day) was PERFECT! Congrats to the newlyweds. Saturday during the day, the two of us explored Freeport, ME, home to the L.L. Bean store and numerous outlets. We didn't do much shopping, but it was a nice day so we enjoyed wandering around.

And no photos from me. Not of the wedding. Not of Freeport or Portsmouth. None.

Tomorrow I head to northern Maine for our spring photo shoot. It's a beautiful area and I know our products will look great in that setting. I'll be there until Friday, then I flyto Chicago for an annual WWW (wild women weekend). Then Monday, I drive to southern Wisconsin for a trade association board meeting.

I PROMISE TO NOT ONLY TAKE MY CAMERA, BUT TO ACTUALLY TAKE SOME PICTURES! Promise.

Next post will be very photo-intensive ... stay tuned!

FO

I always have at least one project on the needles. Right now I have two active projects, and have my eye on a third. Completing projects is a whole other problem. But guess what - I finished my Lace Ribbon Scarf! Veronik Avery created this great pattern. She did hers in a solid color of Alpaca Sox; I did mine in one of the new kettle dyed colors (not yet available in stores...sorry). Don't you love the way the waves of the lace stitch (easy to memorize, by the way) and the changes in the blue hues work together?

I can't wait to wear this, although I dread the cooler temps. And I liked the pattern so much, I may do another one for my Mom! Do they wear alpaca blend scarves in Houston?

If you live on the east coast, stay dry and safe this weekend.

Nuts

My favorite snack mid-afternoon is almonds. Even though I probably eat too many, it still feels like a healthy snack, at least healthier than cookies or chips. I went into my snack stash this morning to open a new can, and discovered that I had bought the wrong kind! I like the Dry Roasted Almonds, and I had mistakenly purchased the Smoked Almonds. Bummer. Guess I'll have to have a party and pass the Smoked Almonds around before dinner.

The knitting is a cardigan for granddaughter C, out of Summer Sox. In Huckleberry. Yummy color.

Crafts

I belong to a great knitting group. We don't knit much any more when we're together, but we all do a lot of crafts when we have the time. It's more of a fun get-together with friends than a knitting group, but we still call it knitting group. My friend Cass showed us some pincushions she had made. She took various materials including machine-knitted pieces, beads, embroidered bits, and yarns, and made little "cakes". They are so cute! I think she did a great job (I bought the one in the center). I'm encouraging her to put them up on Etsy. What do you think?

P.S. The pieces in the foreground are coasters I bought at a crafts fair. They are just felted pieces, cut into squares (not even very evenly). I really liked the colors (one is solid orange; the other is stripes of green and beige), and they are very handy here in the office. And how appropriate for a yarn company!

New Addition

We have a new addition to our family. (Drum Roll Please.) Meet Max! My new grand-nephew. Isn't he cute!! He lives in New York, and I hope to get there to meet him in person sometime soon. Welcome to the world, little Max!

Hydrangeas

We've had a pretty hot summer. June was hotter than usual too. I've never had much luck with hydrangeas - I try and try, but many summers go by without a single blue blossom. But look what happened this year! I have two kinds of hydrangea - one that is pretty traditional (above), and another variety produces a kind of lacey blossom. It's big and bushy, and I can only remember one other year when I got any blossoms at all. But this year is amazing!

And see how delicate the flowers are? I love it.

I hope you are having a great summer! Oh, and let's hope Dolly is kind to Texas.

Baseball and Bunny

It happened again! I've been a bad blogger. Where does the time go? There was a lot of travel in June (a trade show; a great business trip to Georgia, visiting shops & knitters at three wonderful locations), a lot of business to deal with (banks; customers; suppliers - but what's new with that really). And then, before I could blink, it was the 4th of July!

Summer has already been great. Family fun on the 4th, and then yesterday, we all went to a Lowell Spinners game with a bunch of knitters. It was Stitch 'n Pitch night at the ballpark, and we had a grand time. There were probably 100 knitters in attendance, including Jess & Casey of Ravelry fame.

But best of all, C came along, and brought her new best friend, Bunny.

Who could ask for more - family, friends and knitters, a new hand-knit bunny, baseball, and of course, cold beer. Happy July!

Random

I can't believe it's been so long since I posted. A lot has happened around here, but mostly it's just been a busy time. We had a great long Memorial Day weekend - the weather was perfect, we all went to the beach, some flowers were planted (some by me, some by H), and besides the fact that I worked 2 of the 3 weekend mornings, it was a relaxing time.

I was thinking this morning about what joy people can bring into our lives. People like Harvey Korman, who I always loved to watch. Or my family, some of whom are motorcycle nuts, doing silly things on bikes in big cities (when they probably shouldn't). Or little kids. Or good friends. And things that bring joy to us. Like most crafts. Especially knitting. (Wrap/Cardigan knit in Embrace, 100% cashmere. Yum.)


I leave on Thursday of next week for our trade show in Columbus, OH. It's a long trip - 7 days - and I find it exhilerating and exhausting. Then I get to really enjoy my summer.

Spring Has Sprung!

There are the most amazing flowering trees on one of the city streets I travel to work each day. I love how they look, but it doesn't last long! By next week, the flowers will be long gone (especially if it rains). But in the meantime, I savor how they look coming, and going. Enjoy spring!

The rest of the story

April and May are crazy/busy months for me. Trade shows. Launch of a new line. Conference calls. It's hard to keep up with daily activities much less "extras." So, finishing up the last post, I took the photo of me, along with a photo of my daughter at about the same age



Then I took a picture of C - voila!


3 generations, but all photographed at about the same age. I framed us side-by-side. I think it looked great.

Spring has sprung here. I took a photo of some beautiful flowering trees, but I can't find my camera cord...I'll post them you next week, after I find the cord.

Birthdays

Next week is my daughter's 35th birthday. I can't believe it! It takes my breath away that she's that old - which means that I'm getting up there too! Some days I feel like I should be 30; some days 60. But mostly I'm just glad to have such great kids (including kid-in-law) and grandkid. I'm cooking up a surprise for the birthday. Here's a photo of me when I was about 2. I'll tell you after the official b-day gift what I'm doing with it.

Disappointment

I was supposed to take a weaving class tomorrow. It was cancelled. I am sad. But I think I'll take the day, which was already set aside for moi, and do some more experimenting with the loom. Some FOs for you next week? Perhaps. In the meantime, check this out!

What the........

Just for the record, today is March 28th. Spring. I know it's New England, but COME ON GUYS -- we need some sunshine, some little buds on the trees, some HOPE that this will end sometime soon!

Enjoy your weekend. I plan to knit. After all, what else would one do on a snowy day ... in March.

Windy City

Wow. What a great 2+ days I had. I just returned from attending the Yarn Market News Smart Business Conference in Chicago. Fabulous. Really fabulous. It was a great mix of hard core information, fun, networking (really great networking!), and swag. Yep, swag. The conference sponsors (of which my company was one) really outdid themselves with giveaways. I'm having a raffle in the office today to share some of the goodies with our hardworking staff. And the speakers were fantastic! Check out their bios and websites. They had great information to share.

Yesterday, before we all headed home, we were treated to a tour of Lornas Laces.
Beth was a gracious host, explaining her products, showing us works in progress, and she even did a little dying demo! It was fun to see the action.

Soho Publishing (parent company of Yarn Market News) did a great job. I hope this event becomes an annual one, and that I am fortunate enough to be able to go again. It was wonderful meeting so many talented retailers, and brainstorm how we can all grow the yarn/knitting/needlearts business together.

Now I just have to find the time to summarize all my notes and implement all the great ideas I heard about!

Texas

I just got back from 6 days in Texas, visiting my Mom, brother, sister-in-law, and 3 nieces (2 local, one from NYC). I was lucky enough to travel with my daughter and grand-daughter, so there were 9 of us enjoying each others' company. It was a really good visit, and we were able to parcel out small-ish times with everyone. I helped Mom finish her taxes and hang pictures on her walls. She moved to a new space recently, and has lots more room, with big windows and a good location - such an improvement over where she had been! I also had some relaxing time by the pool and on walks. It was great to skip wearing a coat for 6 days!

Now it's back to the grind. Hopefully lots of knitting and weaving too. Even though it's going to snow overnight tonight, I sense that spring is right around the corner! And that means more playground time...

Where Have I Been

I did it. I bought a loom. It's very small and portable, and it's called a Flip - and I love it. Not only is it portable, it was really easy to learn. At the recommendation of 2 very helpful people at Webs in Northampton, I bought the loom and a book. By reading through Betty Linn Davenport's Rigid Heddle Weaving, I was able to begin a small project all by myself. The photo above is warping. The Flip provides a spindle that can be attached to pretty much anything (I used the edge of a bookcase) and you attach the warp to the loom as you go. It's a 1-step process instead of two - easy-peasy!

Once the warp was rolled onto the warp beam on the loom (below)


I was ready to get started. I didn't take any pictures of the work-in-progress; I guess I was too absorbed! But look what I did!


The piece is about 20" long, and is W.A.Y. better at the end than at the beginning! I learned a lot and am really proud of what I completed! I used Cotton Bam Boo for the warp because I wanted something pretty thin, sturdy and non-stretchy. I experimented with various yarns for the weft. First I used a different color of Cotton Bam Boo; then I experimented with stripes. And then, I found some really beautiful Koigu in my stash. So I used the Koigu for weaving about 9", then switched to the Cotton Bam Boo in the same color that was the warp. I love it. I can't wait to try some other combinations.

A new hobby ... woo hoo!!