May you be inscribed in the book of life.

It's time for a new year. 5767 to be precise. And as I enter the "Days of Awe" I find myself considering what I need to do to make this next year a good one. On a material note I have allotted a strict sum for yarn aquistion. On a personal note, that's a tougher one to sort out. It's tradition during these ten days to ask for forgiveness not only for the sins I know I committed but also those committed unknowingly. And pondering the list I realised that most things I need forgiven for are little petty things. So I decided to make it a Mindful year. Pause before speaking, think before eating, tell my opinion to my car dash and not my co-worker; that type of thing.

May all of you have a sweet new year and, always, may you be inscribed in the book of life.

Black Bunny Project decided.

I decided to do Meg Swansen's Feather and Fan circle shawl from Gathering of Lace. Here's the first 30 rows. Look closely, I may never get any farther : )

The Black Bunny Hop A Long

I went out for my this-is-good-for-me walk and loe, in the post....the Bunny! Now I will have to fondle it for a while and consider what it shall be. And it's going to be for ME, ME, ME! (can you tell it's been a rough month?) This KAL is courtesy of
Knitty D and the City. A prime example of why mothers worry about who you spend your time with. The particulars of this unique yarn are....Summer Garden colour, laceweight wool, 2400 yds. So it will definitely be lace, and cheerful, and and and.....

Mea Culpa

Shelly my dear, I apologise for taking so long to post this. Your daughter is adorable and I miss you.

Everyone, let me present Shelly's hat for Katherine.She had actually finished it when I left, but this was earlier in the day. These hats point out how important gauge is. We had three women with identical yarns, identical needle sizes, identical patterns and mondo different gauges. One needed 75 stitches to get 22 inches, one needed 80 to get 23.5, and one needed 80 to get 18. A swatch lesson in there somewhere.

Epilogue - no knitting here either.

The Car Story…the Adored One read the blog and was offended by the content.  “We are not amused” and it sounded like the Royal We.  

Now, in my defense, I have had limited internet contact and so have not been able to exonerate him.  It all worked out in the end.  Very nicely I might add.

So step back in time with me to a balmy Saturday and a test drive.  Yup, I want this car.  Problem...he does too.  Lots of good reasons why he should have it. AAAGH!  So we go home to martial sorta harmony.  Car lots are closed in Wisconsin on Sundays.  Now he says he wants the car and he doesn’t feel guilty and he’s not backing down.  Okay.  That makes up that decision.  So, now, do I cut into my (yarn) household money and greedily buy a car too?  Or should I be wise and sensible and pinch through with what I have?  

I was NOT sensible and I, like the Adored One don’t feel guilty either.  I decided to go on a serious spending freeze and buy a New Car.  Yes, I know new cars are not good buys they lose value, yadda yadda yadda.  But it’s yummy.  It gets nice mileage for the amount of space involved – 3 rows of seats, drives like a car, hauls like a SUV.  It has in dash navigation, heated seats (perfect for that time of the month), DUAL climate control (Amen), and a sun roof.  Last years model, good price, right amount on the trade-ins.  Downside…it’s silver with a black interior.  The Adored One’s is Pueblo Gold with Pebble interior.  Sigh.  

So I spend 3 days accusing him of being a car thief.  (Have to milk while I can).  Then, the day we’re leaving for vacation he gets up early and switches the cars…Awww.  Because I really like the Gold one.  Isn’t that romantic?  Ironic too since one of the emails I received about the blog suggested that I let him get the car, and then load it early in the morning and drive to NY with it.   Only he’s very sanguine and had worked hard over the weekend to convince me to buy the car I bought, and had talked me into wanting to keep it.    So I told him that I need the cool Platinum color to smooth out my hot Sun energy.  (It was before caffiene)  

So, we both got cars.  And the navigation software is handy for finding (yarn stores) new job sites.  It especially helped during our disastrous vacation.  I do miss my tape deck though.

Blog post cop out

Still suffering from Internet withdrawal, but since I drove to Niagara Falls today I stopped for coffee and some free wi-fi. Unfortunately, the pressure to be witty and clever was too much for my brain so I will cop out with a non-knitting related post that features our Cairn terrier instead. Gotta love him.

No Internet, No Phone, Oh My!

Sorry about the lack of posting, but I find myself without phone or internet until the 15th. Funny how used to having it you get. Just like the microwave, never needed it until you got one.

Will tell y'all a little funny. To make a short story long....people complain about how many small businesses are closing within the first 5 years. Yet, how often have you gone into a yarn or quilt store the size of a 2 car garage and been there more than 20 minutes without anyone acknowledging your presence? How much energy would it take to at least give the chin nod, or a hello? I find that I do not want to spend money in these establishments. After all, as much as we like to say "Yarn is necessary to life" or "Fat Quarters aren't fattening, buy lots", the reality is these are little luxury items. If you are selling a luxury item, you should be nice to people. I have to be nice to people all day, so I expect it from others.

This was vividly demonstrated to me this week. On Wednesday I went into a high end quilt store, browsed for 34 minutes without acknowledgment, finally found something I really wanted, went to the cutting table where the clerk was telling a lady her tale of woe, stood for 8 minutes before the woman looked at me and asked "Did you want something?" I looked at her for a minute, looked at the 2 bolts in my hand, set them down and said "I don't think so." And left.

On Thursday, I went into a lovely little yarn store Alfred Knitting Studio in Alfred Station NY. Was greeted as I came in, asked what was on my needles, and then when the owner decided I was new to the store given the tour (naturals on the south wall, man-made on the north wall, notions to the west). Told when the open knit nights were and invited to come. So naturally I bought a $30 book for full price that I probably could have gotten at Amazon for $20 but I wanted her to succeed. The Universe works that way sometimes.

Hope everyone out there is healthy and well, will post in the future so please check back to find out what happened with the car - even if it isn't knitting news.