Lately I’ve Been Thinking…

    So.
I feel like perhaps I’m not as honest here as I could be. I mean, this is my blog. Sure I write about work, and the store links to me, but my boss has told me – repeatedly – that this is my thing and to do what I will with it. I feel like I have little anonymity to hide behind if I want to say something that other people might not agree with, and that’s scary. I mean, ya’ll know where I work! If I say something ya’ll don’t like, you could come storm the glass doors or something, you know?
But I feel like that’s no reason to hide portions of my life, especially things that affect my knitting. I mean, good god, that’s what ya’ll read this thing for anyway, right? I was going to try and be a big source of information and be this amazing guru, but you know what? I don’t function that way. If you want specific information, you have to ask me, otherwise we got a whole lot of ramblin’ going on. I hope ya’ll like the rambling a bit, since I enjoy it. Off we go then.

The Baltic Sea Sweater is no longer my albatross project. That would be my kitchen. Did you know that when you only have one plate that you have to wash it every single time you use it? Folks, there are three meals in a day – Not counting the snacks. If you have a mismatched plate, or one you hate, feel free to bring it by the shop because lordy I will love it like a Southern manager loves grits. That’s a lot of love, you know. Same for drinking glasses! In fact, ’bout the only thing I don’t need is silverware. Don’t ever let your garage sale scouting relatives find out you need silverware, you end up with three or four sets in the course of a weekend. The irony of never having to wash a fork in a month is not lost on me every time I scrub my one and only plate. At least I will soon be scrubbing it in my snuggly Baltic Sea Sweater.
Do any of ya’ll have any special advice on how to determine the best length of zipper for this cardigan? Do you slightly stretch the fabric at all, or maybe you scrunch it a bit, should it be blocked? How do you measure that thing?!

My Hemlock Ring Blanket and I rediscovered each other today. The four rows of plain knitting between each pattern row of Feather-Fan make me so happy I could squeal, but I’ve been told by several coworkers that squealing is not only irritating but unattractive and does not endear me to the customers. I don’t squeal at work anymore, there’s no profit in it.

I found my fingerless mitts from last winter and am deciding that the current version, while better constructed in general, is more constricting than I strictly like. I am tempted to perform some surgery to undo some unfortunate decreases at the wrist. ‘Tain’t nothing a simple snip-knit job can’t fix.

I bought one skein of Socks That Rock Mediumweight at Flock and Fiber. Then my friend Duffy bought me the other one that I adored. Have ya’ll ever seen a gay teen showering adoration on yarn? It’s pretty spectacular, lemme tell ya’. The colourways I got are Space Dust and Gibson.
I know why I love Space Dust, it’s all dark teals and intense red/oranges like a big cosmic jewel box. Gibson is like somebody dropped a creamsicle in the dirt and then wiped most of the orange off, leaving smears of faint brown and pumpkiny orange across a creamy background. I have no clue why I love it, but I do. I hope it’s pretty knit up, or I’m gonna reskein it to be pretty in my living room. This is a totally legitimate use of yarn. Shucks to anyone who says otherwise.

In shop news:

•     We got one of our regulars to take over Monday night and Wednesday morning drop in classes, so we can guarantee a more regular schedule. Except next week when she’ll be away leading a needlework camp. You can expect to see her back the following week, though. Her name is Donovan.

•     Fall classes are starting! If you want to take any of the classes currently on the website, sign up right quick! If you want to teach any classes that you don’t see on the website, drop me a comment or an e-mail. I am the one in charge o’ the schedulin’. You can get to me best at rodger AT abundantyarn DOT com.

•     In the changing weather, please be careful when coming up the front steps. They are awful slick in the wet and I myself have almost fallen down more than once on those things.

•     Hannah just ordered two buttloads of Felted Tweed. If you love that stuff like me and Hannah do then you better hustle your buns here when the order comes in. Don’t worry, there will be a very excited blog post full of gibbering when it arrives so you’ll know real fast. Hannah and I will try not to buy it all. We gotta pay rent after all.

Abandonment Issues

Last night as I was writing up a booklet to go with a class I am teaching here at the shop, I heard a little sniffle from the direction of my computer that has all the pictures intended for blog posts. I thought perharps the all-nighters of prepping for classes were getting to me and ignored the sounds until they escalated into full-out wails and sobs.

I think that my blog posts are feeling some abandonment issues.

It has been pretty hard for me to write a blog post lately, as I don’t have internet in my apartment (That whole budget thing is really, really important for some reason. I think it’s the bills or something.) And I find it pretty hard to write when I am at work, feeling more like I should be working even if I am not on shift.

The Hemlock Ring Blanket Of Doomy Death Sadness Doom is finally back in the clear. We had a tiff, but worked through it ourselves. The Baltic Sea Sweater and I have entered couples counseling to work through our issues, namely the whole Finish What You Start thing that seems to be a roadblock for so much of our happy, warm future. I have come to accept that I just need to go buy the dang zipper already.

I just cast on for another top-down fingerless mitt of my own design, an EZ scarf for my best friend, another afghan project is brewing, and I have to find a way to use up That Darned Stash.

Work itself has been so busy that I tend to forget to take my breaks, or I cut them short because of the guilt I feel for sitting down when we have MOUNTAINS of new yarns to receive. We just got some new sock yarn, Smooshy, as well as a huge order of Bergere De France which is rather interesting stuff. Most of it has acrylic in it, and it may not be the softest thing you have ever knit with, but it has a certain appeal to me. Maybe it’s that sexy French accent it uses whenver it whispers about the things I could knit with it. Most of it is of lighter weight than we have, which is nice, and almost all of it is suitable for children’s garments. Patterns, OH Good God did it we order a BUNCH of cute kids patterns. Stuff in that No Pattern’s Land of just after toddler and just before puberty.

And kids, that’s just the beginning. We practically bought Westminster Fibers. You know what that means, tons of Rowan. KFI is loving our Noro obsession. Aracaunia is a newcomer to the shop, but is truly lovely stuff in the most spectacular array of colours I have ever seen in a yarn. I didn’t know so many colours could GO in one skein. And folks, do they go. I don’t mean to honk my own horn here, but I’m really glad I work here.