It is official....

I finally set an official opening date for the yarn shop.  It is going to be Black Friday, Nov. 29.  Granted I am not opening until 2 in the afternoon but that is the date.  Now I just have to hustle to get every little thing done that is not done so far. 
I work better under pressure. LOL.
There isn't really THAT much left to do but it is the little nicety that seem to take so much time to do them up just right.  I am sure I will still be working on the shop months after it is open but that is just me.  I want it to be just perfect, which can't really ever happen, but as close as I can get it. 
I need to take some pix and post them.  No one reads this but still I will do it.  I just can't seem to post from my phone.  If I could it would be no problem.  Hmm, let me give it one more try.
Maybe I'll be right back with a new post and pictures.

We Are Open.......Well sort of

I unofficially opened the yarn shop last Monday.  Then Tuesday night some of our "Knit Night" gals came over to help me stock the shelves.  We did not get it all done.
I worked on it off and on this past week and it is still not done. 

We will be having Knit Night again Tuesday.  Hoping they will be willing to help out a bit more.  I have a problem in that I have more yarn that I have shelf space.  Going to have to put some in totes and bring it out later.

Still not advertising done.  Any ideas?

Soon as I figure out how to post from my phone I will put some pictures up on here so I can see them.  LOL

Til next time.

Here We Go Again.....

Guess it is time to post something on here. I am sure no one even checks it any more but here goes nothing.

My last post I told of my beloved Saint Bernard passing. Later that same year I lost my beloved mother-in-law (still too raw to talk about, I loved her dearly) and acquired her mini doxey, Hannah. Hannah is a long haired dapple dachshund and has blue around one of her eyes, hince her name, Hannah Banana Blue. She is a sweetie. I kid that I went from a 165 pound Saint to a 25 pound mini doxey. What a difference. It was a difference that I really needed.

Hannah is a real lover and is my constant companion when I am home. I never thought I would love a doxey, but I do. She is my girl. She and Coley both vie for the prime spot on me which is on my chest so they can tuck their head under my chin. Really helps with the knitting. Haha.

I am about to embark on a new venture. A friend of mine had a yarn shop but it was rather far out in the country so I am going to take over the running of it and move it here to my place which is only about 2 miles out in the country. I had planned to open this past Monday, the 21st, but that just did not happen so I am GOING to open next Monday the 28th even if I only have two skeins of yarn in it. I need to get over to her house and pick up the shelves and get the rest of the yarn. I am running out of time to get things done.

At the present time I will not be online with the shop, just a brick and mortar shop. I hope to get it online at some time. For now I am just trying to get it all done here and open.

I plan to have classes and lessons available here. Tuesday night will be "knit" night but would more properly be called fiber night as we have ladies who knit, crotchet, quilt, spin, weave, and felt. So if you do any kind of portable needle work you are welcome to come on out.

That is about it for now. Hope to post again soon.


Ta....Judy

Good grief......

Where did January get to? Can it be almost February already. I thought we just started this new year.

I finished up a pair of socks made from that new yarn from KnitPicks called Chroma. It is really beautiful yarn and nice feeling. The skein I had didn't have much twist to it so I really am not sure how it will wear. I made the socks with a short row heel which I had never made before so the socks ended up just a tad too long. It seems that if I make any heel except the Widdershins Heel I end up making my socks too long. Don't understand but there it is. So these socks may go into the gift basket.
I have another skein of it, but am thinking to maybe make a scarf out of it. It would feel really yummy around the neck and I wouldn't have to worry about wear issues with that.

I finished the back on my CelticCardigan . I have started on the fronts now. This is made out of my own homespun. Just hoping I have enough to finish it this time. I have already had to spin some more yarn. Maybe I should go back and get some more roving just in case. I doubt that K will sell the rest of it, but to make sure......

It is not snowing right now but they are predicting another snow or ice storm later this week. If I get to decide, give me snow. It is much easier to deal with.

I am so proud of myself. I actually did the link thing correctly to show the pattern for my sweater. Yay, me. :)

I must have lost my mind......

I have this really pretty sweater that I knit a few years ago and I managed to felt it. (Time out to cry about it again.) So I reknit it. I love the sweater, just not the yarn. It is a cotton/wool mix and is just not warm enough for me.
My mother-in-law asks me every time I wear it if I made it. When I tell her yes, I did she always tells me how pretty it is. Sooooo, I decided to knit one for her for Christmas. I went and got my yarn Saturday afternoon and I am almost done with the back already. I have about 4 more inches to do at the top and it will be on to the fronts. I think I just may finish it up in time.
While getting the yarn for her sweater I found a yarn that was almost like the original sweater yarn. I may have to go back and get it to make yet another one for me.
At least having knit this one twice already I know how it goes.
Pics when done.

Just For Paws

Finally here are pictures of our store. I am pretty pleased with how it looks. We worked hard to get it to this point and the hard work really shows.

Soon we hope to have our website up and running so that y'all can order online from us. We do make some awsome treats.
I was trying to arrange the pictures and put some explanation with them, but alas my skills today are null and void. So here are the pictures. They are pretty much self explanatory so enjoy them. Any questions, just ask.

We are supposed to be having a major winter storm (for our area) but so far it has not happened. It is snowing, but not hard and not fast. We will see.

I want it to come so I can go home early, LOL. I have a lot of work I can be doing at home and with the snow, no one is out shopping for pet treats. I imagine they are all at Wal-Mart stocking up on bread and milk.

I'll try to post a few more pics in the near future. I have a couple of sweaters that I need to post on here and a couple of pair of socks.

Stay warm and I hope to be back soon.

Silly Little Crit

I forgot to tell about Crit going missing. Crit is my RoboHamster.
The week of Christmas while we were in VA my daughter called me and asked if Crit had died. I told her not that I was aware of. I had just cleaned his cage on Sat and he was fine then. She said that he was not in his cage now. Since he had not died and I had not disposed of him she and her brother started a systematic search of the offices. (I had to take Crit out to the office since D's dog had decided that Crit belonged to her and would snap at the cats when they would get near his cage.)
I talked to G later in the day and they had not found him yet. I told her to put his cage down on the floor and open the door and maybe he would just find his way back by himself. She did as I asked.
The next day when we talked she said that he had been to the cage as the food that they had put out for him was gone. I laughed and said well that isn't working. They left the cage that way for a few days and each morning the food was gone and so was Crit.
Finally, G decided to take the top off of the cage and make a ramp up to it. Sure enough the next morning Crit was back safe and sound in his cage.
We figure that what happened was when I cleaned the cage and put his wheel back on I got it crowded over to the side and the bars were spread apart enough for him to slip through. He is just a little squirt and he could, and probably did, get out that way. I am glad that he is back. I enjoy watching him when I am in my office. Also, now that it is cold he will let me stroke his belly. I still cannot pick him up, but we are making progress.

About two weeks ago when it was freezing cold outside I saw my cat Velcro at the slider and I thought immediately that "Oh, no, it has started to rain again." Then I looked closer and realized that he was not wet from the rain but he had apparently fallen into the pool ( we had closed the pool as far as taking the pump, etc off but we had not gotten around to putting the winter cover on). I got him inside, got a towel and rubbed him down vigorously. I went out to the office to tell Dale what had happened and that we had to get the pool covered. I came back over to the house and began to rub Belly (Velcro's nickname) down with another towel. He was shivering so I wrapped him in a fleece blanket and sat down to hold him. He was shaking so hard he was making me shake. I was about to call the vet when the shivering started to subside. I continued to hold him for a while longer. He is fine now and did not even get a cold of the sniffles from his escapade. The pool is now covered so I don't have to worry about any more of my babies falling in. Bell was so lucky because he fell in near the skimmer so he had something to get a hold of to pull himself out and also because I was at home and in the family room when he came to the slider. If either of those had not been so I am sure he would have frozen to death. I figure he used up 3 or 4 of his 9 lives on that one.

I have no pics to show. I have been really slow knitting here lately. I am working on a sweater that is really taking some time to do. It will be months before it is done, I am afraid. I will try to take some in progress pics this week and post them.
The pattern is called "Cardigan to Love" #LW1660-WM0312 designed by Lynda Cyr and can be found free at http://www.coatsandclark.com/.
I am knitting it in a sport weight alpaca so it is going to be a lot lacier and looser knit than the picture. So I am making it in a larger size to make it fit. I did a swatch this time (OH! MY!) and got the gauge I needed. I hope I did not mess up in my thinking. So far it looks as if it will be fine.
I made the sleeves wrist length as I just can't handle 3/4 length sleeves for winter and being made out of alpaca it is going to be a winter sweater. I have both sleeves knit and about 4 inches of the body. I am really loving it.

More later.

Back in Virginia

We got back to VA Sunday evening. This time I have both of the dogs with me. It is so good to have Katie along. I really missed her when she was at home and I was here. She is a good dog and a good traveler. Her one big problem is that she is mouthy. She has to bark at anyone new she sees until I tell her to hush. Betsie hardly ever barks.

I got a new "toy"/work item. Here it is. Is'nt she pretty? It may not embroider as fast or as large as my commercial machine but she is portable. This way I can get all those shirts for D done that I just do not have the time to do when we are at home. Monday it took me about half of the day to figure out how to run her, how to set up the design, and which presser foot to put on so I only got 4 shirts done. Yesterday when I started I had all of that figured out so I managed to get 12 shirts done. One thing about her sewing slower is that I have time to knit a row or two between having to change shirts. (So I am getting some knitting done this week.) I have 4 more XL's to do, 17 L's, a pullover sweatshirt, a zip sweatshirt, and 11 fleece beanies. I hope to get all of that done before we go home this weekend. Then next time we come down I hope to have some longsleeve tees to do up. It makes the day go so much faster with something to do.

It is a little after 9 so it is time to go "shopping" for the day. I have to get a few things for dinner tonight and I need to find some silicon spray for my embroidery. Also, I go out at this time so Wilma can come in and clean without having to work around Katie. (Katie is too big to fit in the dog cage.)

Audrey and Marit, I mailed out your PIF packages last week. Aud, yours may be there now or in a day or so, Marit, I don't know how long it will take for you to get yours. Hope you girls like what I sent. :)

Maybe more later.....

Pizza tonight.

The pork chops and baked potato last night were delicious. The gravy was more of just a thin sauce that we put over the chops, but it was good.
Tonight I am fixing pizza. It is a recipe that I got off of E-diets. All you do is use pizza crust and top it with fresh tomatoes and mushrooms. You can add shreadded cheese if you wish. It is really delish. It sounds very plain and flavorless but it really isn't. If I were at home I would also put some Italian seasoning on it, but since I am not it will just have some fresh ground pepper and maybe a little sea salt. I am cheating a bit on this one as I have bought already prepared pizza crust instead of making it up myself. You have to make concessions sometimes.

What little knitting I have done today has been on my fingerless mitts. I am coughing so much I just don't feel like doing anything. But the coughing means the cold is beginning to break up so I should start feeling better soon.

Me again

A few evening ago I was sitting on the sofa knitting. Cole was laying beside me and as is my usual habit I reached over to stroke him. Well, he must have been in coma Lala Land as he jumped like I had shot him and jumped up on the back of the sofa. When he jumped he pushed off from my hand. WOW, it hurt like the dickens and began to bleed a bit. Then within about 10 SECONDS my hand had swollen a bump about an inch high! It really shocked me. I immediately put an icepack on it and kept one one (off and on) for the rest of the night and the following day. Now a few days later here is my hand. All I can say is that I bruise easily. It will go away soon.
At least I am still able to knit. The first day it hurt to try to knit, but I persevered and managed to do it.

It is good that I can knit as I am stuck in the hotle room again. Even if Dale left me the truck I couldn't go anywhere as I am not allowed to drive just yet. Soon, I hope, we will just have to wait and see.

I brought OTN: a pair of socks, a sweater,and a pair of Norwegian mittens. I also brought yarn to make preemie baby caps, an adult cap, and a pair of fingerless gloves. I am well and truly prepared. I also brought some beads to make some stitch markers. And still I am bored. I just don't want to do any of those things. I also don't want to read the books I brought or play with the little pink thing (this is what I call my Nintendo DNS), or balance the 3 checkbooks that I brought along to do. I don't know what I want to do I just know whatever it is I don't have it.

Maybe I will take a nap.