The Time Draweth Near

Well, the time may draweth near, but right now, I'm on break. So what am I doing? Posting. Not only am I posting, I'm doing it before midnight. Will wonders never cease.

First of all, I put up three new yarns on the Yarn Review page. I thought I had more (I took a shitload of photographs), but it turns out that I've reviewed most of them already. That's okay - I have a bunch more to take pictures of, and there are more in that group to be reviewed.

For the time being, however, I'm putting up part of the first batch of photos. I don't want to spoil you all at once, now do I? I have to have something to keep you coming back.





These are both from Rio de la Plata in "SP10" and "SP30".



The top yarn is a mystery - the label fell off, and I can't find where I bought it (these things just sort of come to me in the mail); the other is by Curious Creek Fibers Wasonga in "Early Sunset". The picture is larger because the smaller one came out blurry.





These are by Perchance to Knit in "Midnight Rainbow/Harlot's Peacock" in merino/cashmere (this yarn looks black, but isn't; there are a myriad of colors running through it - hence, the "rainbow" and "peacock" designations"); the other is by Rio de la Plata in "SL06".

Want more? Okay... just a few.





This is by Bizyhands in "It's That 70's Yarn!" and is another of those gorgeous handspuns with - get this - 548 yards. Drool.





Last but not least, the top yarn is by Stash Up Yarns in "Glim Glam"; the bottom yarn is by Thank Ewe in "Purple Paradise".

I think that's enough for today.

If everything goes well tonight and tomorrow, I'll be making my announcement tomorrow night. What time tomorrow night is up for grabs; since I stay up all night, as long as I'm up and the sun hasn't risen, it's night.

I'm happy to say that I've added a few more vendors to the shop. We're up to 38 vendors right now. Are you drooling yet? I've fondled each and every skein of yarn, every notion, and I can tell you that it's all drool-worthy. Heh.

Tomorrow is going to be tough for me. It's the anniversary of the day we first took possession of the keys to our old house. I remember it like it was yesterday. We got the call late in the day and shot over to the sales office to get the keys. Then we drove to the house, I opened the door, and we stepped inside for the first time as the official owners. Our big-screen TV came the next day; we sat on the floor eating popcorn and watching DVD's since we didn't have our furniture or the dish yet. I can see it. I can smell that new house smell. I can remember thinking how incredible it all seemed, that I owned this gorgeous house, and I had such plans for turning it into a home. And I did. But I found out that the whole thing was a lie from the start, that we really couldn't afford it without going on a budget, and that I was incapable of budgeting. Hubster juggled the bills almost from the very start and didn't tell me; it was also my fault for not being more active in the finances. How I wish I could go back in time. But I can't. The only good thing to come out of it was that I grew up in a hurry. You'd think I would have learned the day I had to sell my Corvette, the dream car in the garage of the dream home. So I hope my announcement comes tomorrow. It will be a good thing to offset something that is already cutting my heart in two, and things are being made worse because all that runs on TV right now are advertisements for auctions of homes in foreclosure. It's sickening, and what makes me even more ill are the huge numbers of vultures just waiting to snatch up a home for cheap at the expense of someone else's shattered dreams and abject grief. Fuck.

That's all I have to say on that subject - I'll start crying again if I continue. I've cried enough and am desperately trying to move forward. The shop is a huge step in that direction. So is standing in the rain that's pouring down right now. It cleanses my soul instead of being depressing.

Enough of this shit. I'm not helping myself or anybody else by blathering on and on about something that bores the shit out of everybody.

So I've been test knitting this pattern that is cable-intensive. The nice thing is that the cables are one stitch each - meaning that you slip one stitch and knit one stitch, then do your cable thing. I've been trying the no-cable needle method. At first, it drove me apeshit. You have to slide the left needle through the slipped stitch, pinch off the stitches at their bases, slip the right needle out of both the knitted and slipped stitches, then slide the right needle through the stitch that's hanging at the back (the one you knitted). Easy, right? Now it is. When I began doing it, the yarn kept splitting. You also have to be careful about stitch orientation, or you're going to end up with a twisted stitch. Once you get the hang of it, though, it goes much faster than using a cable needle. Grumperina gets the credit for this method. It works well with yarn that stays together or a limited number of stitches, but I'm not abandoning my cable needle for larger cables. It would be difficult to keep three or four live stitches oriented in the correct direction and get the needle through them without the stitches splitting. I'm also doing this with DPN's. I tried doing it on a circular, but it was far easier to do it this way (for me, anyway). I've crossed over to the dark side. Yes, I still knit socks two at a time on two circs, but for those patterns which are written for DPN's, I'm too lazy to convert it. It's also reminded me why I don't like knitting cables. I've just never been a cable sort of broad. Now lace and textural stitches (other than cables) - that's the ticket.

Hubster is still coding like crazy, asking me all sorts of questions about what I want and don't want; I'm still working with the ledger and tagging things, as well as doing other odds and ends. I actually bought a typewriter (not my beloved IBM Selectric - that will come later), because it's far faster and easier for me to type the odd label or envelope on that instead of trying to figure out how to do it on the computer. I hate computers for that reason. When I was a secretary, we didn't have computers. I had a dedicated word processor with the ultra-modern dual daisy wheel printer (one was Greek for equations, the other regular type), a brand-new dumb box just for finding out flight information, and my IBM. I carried my typewriter from one department to the other - I loved that thing. And it was BLUE. Too cool for words. Now I've got this lightweight Brother which may be convenient and portable, but those of you who remember those behemoths understand my longing for the solid sound the element made when you hit a key.

I guess I've bored you all enough for one day. I'll be posting again tomorrow and showing you more pictures, as well as (hopefully) making my announcement. It's time to go fight the cable war.

Maybe later, I'll pretend the Brother is an IBM and relive my misspent youth.