Knit In Ann Arbor

Last night I took the plunge & went to my very first knitting meetup at Sweetwaters in A2. I was pretty nervous. You may be surprised, but those who know me well can tell you I am actually very shy & have a hard time meeting people!

Anyways, I had a total blast! There were about a doz. knitters who came in through the evening. They were all very nice & educated & funny! I was particularly excited to meet Lynne whose blog I have been reading for a while! She is great fun! I was astonished to learn she has only been knitting for a year!! WOW!

So, not only did I meet some wonderful ladies, I got to spend 3 hours knitting! I finished my increases for the french market bag & even knit about an inch on my sis' sox!

I will definitely be going back next Tuesday & am looking forward to getting to know all the ladies I met!

Yippie!

Wheee!

The new Interweave Knits is HERE! Yippie!

I'm off to snuggle on the couch with a cup of hot tea, a warm blanket & my summer issue! (damn michigan weather!)

Finally, Some Knitting Done!

This has been a very hectic week! We are almost through with the Grass Lake House. A realtor came out on Monday & a bookseller came out on Thursday. The realtor is very excited about the house, so hopefully he will be a very motivated seller. The bookseller was completely overwhelmed! LOL We told him the size of the library, but I don't think he believed us until he actually saw all the boxes... dh counted 453, and there are still some books on shelves!!

Anyways, we are going to do a little painting there tomorrow & probably finish up there next weekend! WOO HOO.

Despite everything I was actually able to get some knitting done this week! I got a few inches completed on my sis' sock #2, a few repeats on the Irish Hiking Scarf.. and actually cast-on a 2nd French Market Bag! I just love that pattern & it knits so quickly! I have already moved it from the dpns to the circ & only have 25 inc rows left! :)

Still haven't found the usb cable for my camera.. sigh! Its in a box somewhere... Maybe I'll find it today?

Happy knitting!

Owie...

Another weekend at the old house trying to get it ready to be put on the market. Lord, I am so tired & sore. I don't know if I have given the full story behind this move, so I am going to give y'all a little background right now.

My father-in-law was a sociologist & an obsessive collector of books. He died just over 2yrs ago from colon cancer, and at that time his library was about 20,000 books. My mother in law couldn't possibly handle their enormous house (about 3,000 sq ft) & getting rid of the books alone, so my husband & I moved into their home & she bought a condo in Ann Arbor.

Over the past 2 yrs, dh & I have been trying to catalog & sell as much of the library as possible and get the house in sale condition. We have managed to sell about 5,000 books online but at this rate it would take a lot longer than anyone wants to spend on this.

Anyways.. the house is pretty well cleared out right now except for the books. We spent all day today moving the boxed books & cleaning the basement. Next weekend we get to paint, can you sense the enthusiam?

Right now my whole body is sore.. really sore... "oh my god I can't move" kind of sore. I am really dreading waking up tomorrow...

Blogthingy

Haven't posted a stupid little blog thing in a while & this one kinda nailed me.. so evidently, I am a libra with...

Your Rising Sign is Scorpio

You're so intense and passionate - you're on fire! You want to be an angel or a devil... you can't decide which. No wonder you seem moody and even a little dangerious. You've got some major mystery going on, so work it! Your personality is the strongest of all signs, making you hard to deal with. While you're ruthless to your enemies, you're loyal to your one true love.

What is Your Rising Sign?

Sad day

I got to work this morning & opened my email to discover that my previous lys is going out of business! They were such a sweet little store! And they are the only store in a 40 mile radius that actually carried spinning supplies! :( They are liquidating everything, so I will probably make a trek out there this weekend to pick up some bargins & say goodbye... (sob)

In other news we went to see David Sedaris last night. OMG is he hilariuos!! 2 hours of his stories & I thought I might actually wet myself I was laughing so hard! There is just something about his delivery of his stories that make them so much more entertaining than simply reading them from his books. And he mostly read new material too! He is currently doing a 30 day tour so you should see if he is coming to your town!!

No knitting done the last few days, although I have been hand winding hanks because my ball winder (although unpacked) is currently under a pile of about 15 boxes & quite frankly I'm too lazy to dig through them to get at it!

Knit Picks Yarn

I just received my very first order from Knit Picks & I am absolutely thrilled! Great prices & wonderful yarn! I got 10 skeins combined of the their Wool of the Andes in Winter Night, Grass, Stream & Evergreen.. very soft & you can't beat the price!!! I am planning on using them to make felted bags. In addition I got 5 skeins of the Alpaca Cloud in Smoke... OH. MY. GOD! I can't stop fondling it!! (mops up drool) This stuff... oh, go now & order some for yourself! I mean it.. stop reading this & go buy some! I have no idea what I'm making with it, but it is for ME.. You hear that! MINE MINE MINE!!

Is it wrong to be so in love with a yarn??

Boycott Smileys!

Here is a snippet from an ongoing issue with smileys from Diana of knitchicks...

Here's my note to Smiley's:

I received an order today, AA43673. The
Berella Polar yarn is the wrong color. I ordered Wine/Spruce/Brown. The
yarn enclosed is Wine/Mist/Ombre. I had started a swatch and noticed it
is not what I had in mind then I checked the yarn label. How shall I
return it for an exchange?
Thank you,

Here's my note back:

The color you received is the same color that you ordered. Berella calls
it " Wine Mist Ombre". As stated on our website under "return policy",
all sales are final.
Trudy

Here's my reply to that:

No it is not what I ordered. The yarn has a totally different name. On your website it reads Wine/Spruce/Brown that is NOT what I received. It has NO brown in it! How can Wine/Mist/Ombre be the same as Wine/Spruce/Brown?

A no return policy is fine when it's my mistake but not when it is the companies. I was sent the wrong yarn. You'll get no furthure business from me or several others I share this with."

The latest update is that Smiley's has changed their website so the yarn now reads Wine/Mist/Ombre, but is doing absolutely nothing to satisfy Diana.. they haven't even apologized! I understand they have a no return policy, but they should allow her to swap this yarn since it was misrepresented! She has been forced to sell the yarn in an Ebay Auction

I have never purchased from Smileys & now I never will. Please spread the word that this is not a good company to deal with. They obviously do not understand the meaning of customer service & are unwilling to acknowledge their own mistakes!

Sooo so sleepy

It has been one long week! We are mostly moved now, but still heavily in the land of boxes. We spent all weekend at the old house sorting through my mil's things & cleaning & we aren't done yet. We still have half a basement left to go... at least I was able to find some time this evening to carve out the dining room & *gasp* do laundry! Woo hoo!

On the plus side, I was finally able to finish the first sock for my sister AND I got my super nifty Salle bag! She has a little pic of it on her blog, mine is the black one with geisha kitties! :p I will post pics of both soon! I finally found my camera, now I just need to find the usb cable for it! LOL

The end is nigh!?

Its Tuesday & I am still living in the land of boxes.. but it seems the end is nearing... I hope. We are loving the new place. The cats are particularing enamored of the enclosed front porch. Since the weather has been so lovely the past few days (78 today), we have been leaving the front door open so they may enjoy it at their whim.. they are most excited by all the little kids across the street! LOL

Thank god my mil hired movers for us, we ended up with 3 1/2 TONS of stuff in the truck & that wasn't even everything! My wheel & loom are still at the old place & dh moved about 100 boxes before the movers even came! I have no idea where all this crap came from!! But the living room, bedroom & bathroom are all set.. the kitchen & honey's office are 90% done.. and I am getting my computer desk tonight so I may set that up & retrieve my loom & wheel tomorrow.

We would be further along, but the place was an absolute mess when we got here. The kitchen especially! Not only hadn't anything been wiped down in ages, but there were globs of dried jam on the counter & gods only knows what on the stove & cupboards! It took me 2 days & half a bottle of lysol cleaner with bleach to get that stuff clean! I'm sure the fumes killed off several brain cells, but they were the weak ones anyhow! LOL

Ok.. done for now.. hopefully I'll actually be able to get back to knitting by the end of the week!!