Time Flies!

I have been busy which could explain the lack of blogging. This week has been filled with all sorts of stuff....here's the rundown.

Monday: My dad and I attended my great aunt Jenny's funeral. She was 85 and suffering horribly with cancer so it was a blessing. She was my grandmother's last surviving sibling so it was very hard for her. No Duets arrived. :(

Tuesday: I went fishing with Emma on a school trip. Yup! Me! Fishing! Fortunately, daddy showed up to help us get the fish off the hook! Yuck! I was actually quite impressed with myself, I was one of the few moms who could actually cast. My grandparents had some property with a stocked trout pond, so I spent lots of time fishing when I was younger.

It took some coaxing to get Emma to even stand that close to the fish. She loved catching it but the rest was definitely not her style.

No Duets today. :(


Wednesday: I had a hair appointment this morning. My hairdresser thought I should go darker because the blond was being very bleached out by the sun. So now it's way to dark for my taste - although everyone else seems to like it.

We had SnB at my house for Sarah's birthday. Our local LYS cancelled the SnB :(((( so we've decided to still get together here. The only problem with here is that we eat wayyy! too! much. I finished the Dream in Color Smooshy sock yarn Girl's caridgan. I did mess up the stripes - the peach stripe was supposed to be 4th but luckily I had enough yarn! The consensus was that we actually like this sweater better than the one made out of Classy worsted. The last bit of i-cord around the neck just about finished me off - I was going to leave it off but Meg said finish it! Even though I was exhausted after everyone left, there was no way that I was going to bed without it finished because I was not going to be knitting it today. It's the 3rd one I've done!

I've made this crazy deal with myself - I had to finish the sweater (check!), have to finish my Dream in Color socks (no check!) and the last installment of the STR socks (no check!) before I can start the new STR or anything else for that matter. This has lead to not enough knitting this week :(

No Duets today! :(

Thursday: That brings us to today - the last day of school! Emma was very excited to be going - it's only a half day so she will be home around lunch time. I am very happy not to have to get up at 6:30 am tomorrow.

Duets today? Hopefully! Fingers crossed!

Let's have some fun....

Look what's on the way! Yupperdoodle! (Seen Wild Hogs?) Duets Original! Angela emailed to say they were sent on Wednesday June 20th. And....there are some of the most popular colorways included and....some never before seen colorways! Can you stand it? I can't! I love Duets! I still have a whole bunch more coming in the Skinny Duets - that will be fun to see!

So some fun? Here's the contest. Guess the day that Duets will arrive and the number of skeins I have ordered in the Original. I'll do another contest when the Skinny is on the way. The winner will be the person closest with the arrival date AND the number of skeins. This could prove challenging for my little brain! One guess per person....come on lurkers - come out! come out! and play along! Contest will run until the yarn arrives!

Where to start....(STR Spoiler)

I really, really like blogging but sometimes.....I just cannot seem to get to it! The last three days have been non stop - so much so that I keep thinking I'm going to need some help soon! It's actually past the time of needing help but I keep plugging away - silly Type A that I am!

I'm working away on the girl's version of the Simple Stripes Baby Sweater - and so far so good! I'm just about the put the sleeves on holders. My packaging for the kits arrived yesterday so I'm good to go.

The sock club kits are mostly gone - I did them alone this month so that it explains why it took 3 days!

New yarn is on the website from Liisu Yarns - it's really, really nice - I love the superwash/mohair blend. It's kind of Koigu - y in terms of color and kind of Apple Laine - y in terms of fiber. Can't get better than that combo!

Only 5 1/2 more days of school. I love the summer and love having Emma at home. It's a much more relaxed pace and we can sleep in - yeah! We have a new addition to our farm which is turning my dogs into raving lunatics. It's some sort of pheasant who nonchalantly strolls across the backyard every morning. We've been here 7 years and I've never seen another one like this. I've yet to get a picture because trying to get out with the camera means wrestling the dogs at the door

Oh-----and my STR sock club came yesterday - it's soooo beautiful! Scroll down for the picture.

Nice, eh?

Tah Dah!

Here is my baby sweater made out of Smooshy Sock Yarn (knit with one strand) - isn't it cute? The pattern and kits will be available on the website today with shipping for Wednesday.

Here's the girl's combo!

The first Pick Up Sticks pattern! Yipee!

Lots to do today - sock club is ready to go! Orders to pack! Yarn to wind for kits! Where to begin?

Under construction!

Yup two posts today! I had to share the baby cardigan is Smooshy sock yarn I'm working on - similiar to the Tulip one - a collaborative effort between Meghan and I!

I've got the sleeves all organized so it's off to finish the body of the sweater! I'm still aiming for pattern and kit production by the end of this week or the beginning of next!

Yarn Crawl

We started our day at 9:30 am with just a few knitters - after our first shop, we took some time to Knit in Public. The weather couldn't have been better if we'd ordered it personally!

Second stop was Needles and Knits where the always welcoming, Tove posed with some knitters!
Waiting for other knitters to finish shopping, we decided some tailgate knitting was in order! Nancy even had a lawn chair in her car! Here's Lisa and Lynn! I think Lynn won the spending prize! Although, she did take the opportunity to announce to other knitters, that I had purchased Lantern Moon circulars! :)

Pick Up Sticks shoppers! My little yarn room has never seen so many knitters at one time. I was outside squealing with glee - it was just so exciting to see it. Above are Erin and Clare picking through the remains of Dream in Color and to left are Lynn, Elizabeth and Nancy checking prices on their handfuls of yarn!

Knitter's knitting in public after lunch! We had two more stops after this but I forgot to take pictures - I think I was overcome by fiber fumes!

We finished up the day with ice cream from Everything Chocolate on Main Street in Newmarket! Great big cone for $2 - excellent ice cream! Al in all we had over 20 knitters at various points throughout the day - a great success for the first time! Thank you so much to everyone who participated!

I have not forgotten

how to blog - contrary to popular opinion at the Yarn Crawl on Saturday! I did try to blog on Friday and the pictures would not load - and actually from the looks of things right now, they may not load today either. And that would be too awful because I have finished a Tulip Sweater by Dream in Color and I am ridiculously proud of it. After it was finished, I spent a good amount of time, doing the petting and sighing thing that often happens when we finish a project we really love.

Ah - here it is! This is a beautiful sweater and so fun to knit. Now - all of you know that I carry sock and lace weight yarns - that's my thing, right? Well, this yarn changed all that - I've ordered all the worsted weight and all the patterns. Demand is high so the wait will be a bit but it's soooo worth it. In the meantime - I am working on a version of this sweater in the Smooshy sock yarn - I'm really, really hoping to have a few kits of those ready by the beginning of next week. There should be a few girls kits and a few boys kits if all goes according to plan.

Our Yarn Crawl was a fabulous, resounding success - I've got lots of pictures to post but no time right now - I was swamped with orders last Thursday, Friday and the weekend and must get them all out today! Not my usual speedy self but wow! it was overwhelming!

Here's the sweater again - in case you missed it the first time - told you I was ridiculously proud of it! :)

And we're back!

Phew! Pick Up Sticks is alive and well and back on the internet. It's the strangest thing - I mistakenly thought it was my programmers but it turns out it was another company who handles my domain name registration - anyway - I'm not really sure what happened but it's back and I've never been so happy to see anything in my life!

There's lots of goodies on the way this week:

There's this:

the most beautifully self striping sock yarn I've seen - colors range from dark to light even in each individual stripe. A work of art!

There's the yarn that these socks are made out of! And when you order this

yarn, you get this pattern for free!

And there's this.....

I re-ordered Apple Laine today and Louet Gems Merino. More Duets Original

will be here by the end of June with Duets Skinny to follow shortly! Lots to look forward too!

Yarn Crawl and Knit in Public is on!

Saturday June 9th

Meet us

at

Aurora Shopping Centre (Staples)

14800 Yonge Street, Aurora (southend)

9:30 am

Look for my Black Ford Escape with Pick Up Sticks decals!

No Pick Up Sticks?

It appears, much to my dismay, that my programmers forgot to renew my domain name. It's a big mess which I discovered on the weekend. It would be the reason why when you try to go to Pick Up Sticks - there is no shop. It should be sorted out today ..............urrrrr!

And the winner is......

Eleanor from Jefferson, Maryland!

Congratulations - an autographed copy of Stephanie Pearl-McPhee Casts Off is on the way to you!