socks life

I'm delighted that Collen and Joy and Sarah and Cynthia and company have convinced me to make socks. They have all been patient and kind about my misgivings and mis-starts, and I've completed two pairs that fit! Hurrah!

Oh my gosh it's the Holidays

Well, It's November 18th. Sounds innocent enough doesn't it. Well folks it's time to panic! Next week is Thanksgiving, followed quickly by Christmas. You were probably aware of that, and somewhere in the back of my mind I knew it too, but now it's really hitting me. I did cut back on my holiday knitting aspirations, but somehow that didn't help and I'm still woefully behind. I will push on though and get my 2 small and 1 big project done. (I'm not saying what they are, so as not to be held accountable if they're not finished) I'm particularly envious of our knitters( you know who you are) who planned well and started in July and are now coasting.
We also have another issue at the shop(besides my whining about not being done) and that is, now in our new shop we have windows. That means window displays!!!. So far it's been fun. Now it's time to put the tree in the window and we have no knitted ornaments. Last year we made a tree for auction for the the Alzheimers Association and all our wonderful knitters pitched in and made hand knit ornaments. WELL, CALLING ALL KNITTERS, WE NEED YOUR HELP AGAIN FOR THE SHOP TREE. We will provide scrap yarn if you guys will help us knit ornaments again. This Thursday on our regular knit group night we will have treats and eggnog so that we can get you in the spirit and then spring the yarn on you. If you have any scraps your welcome to bring them too. The Lighting on the Square is Saturday so it would be great to have a presentable tree for that night. I know that all our wonderful friends will help us out and it will be a great community knitted tree.
This will be our 1st holiday season in our new store, and though we truly miss our little house around the corner it is exciting to be so visable and to have a fresh new place to make more memories. Hope to see you all soon.

It has been a really long time since I have written. The last couple of months at the shop have been crazy!. Sarah Jo told you about the move so I will try to update you from there. We are pretty well settled into our new digs and are loving it. The lighting is spectacular and I'm having a great time decorating the windows. The colors in the yarn seem to have taken on a new life and I'm inspired to start a lot of new projects (but please if you see me eyeing any new yarn in the next 6 months please stop me). I have several pieces started, all of which will hopefully work into great displays or workshops for the upcoming year. The highlight of the last couple of weeks was our day with the owners of OZARK HANDSPUN. They brought basketfuls of yarns and garments and spent the afternoon and evening inspiring us. (you can see some of us in the pic). I hope to see lots of hats and other garments on the streets of Fayetteville this winter in the funky and fun yarn. They showed us their new yarn that is a worsted wool that is dyed as a companion to the handspun that we all know and love(in fact it is called OZARK COMPANION. The colors are amazing! We bought several of the colors, so I hope everyone gets the chance to come see it before it's sold out.

Most of our Fall and Winter yarns have arrived though we are still thinking about some new ones. I'm very pleased with all the Harrisville Shetland that we have. It's such a versatile yarn and I like the fact that it's American made. We got quite a few colors and it will be used by Jane for her shadow knitting workshop. One of my ongoing projects is the Winged Shawl in Harrisville, designed by Vivian Hoxboro. It's on the back burner right now because of the all the other projects I'm working on, but everytime I see the one in the window that Jane did I'm determined to finish mine.

Next week I will be going to Colorado with my husband so I plan to check out the shops in Boulder and Minturn and see what they are doing in that part of the world. I let you know when I get back, Meantime Happy Knitting.

We Moved!!!!!

Hand Held has moved to 15 N Block --- to an actual store! Not that the house wasn't darling, but now we have display windows and fantastic lighting, so You can actually see the beautiful yarn.

It was a strenuous move, but there were lots of great helpers (thanks!)

Our new hours are 10-6 Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday, 10-4 on Saturdays, and 10-8 on Thursdays. Monday night knitting has been moved to Thursday nights.

Sasha has adjusted well, and really enjoys napping in the front windows and greeting customers, as always.

We're having a grand opening Celebration all day on Thursday, October 16th. We look forward to seeing our faithful friends, as well as meeting new ones, at our new location. Join us there!

The power of friends, family and knitting

Good news! Saturday night my son was in a car accident near Denver where he lives. He has been in ICU since then - I arrived on Tuesday to join the on-site vigil. Everything, so far, is progessing in an amazing way. I'm so impressed with the medical expertise, the team effort, the miracle of the human body and the will to survive. He is on lots of pain medication and sedated in order to be on a ventilator (bruised lungs) but he had no general anesthesia today and he is actually communicating as of this evening. He was opening his eyes and acknowledging us, trying to smile with his jaw wired shut and mouthed "I love you". We are so encouraged and hopeful that this just keeps getting better and better.

Knitting saves me through all these fearful times. I ask questions, take notes, pass information on the others that wait and I wait and knit. Thanks for all your good thoughts and prayers.
Joy

Let's Dye!

This is from Juliann, the dye lady here at the shop. We are having a dye workshop on June 22, 2008, at 1:00 p.m. Last year we had so much fun. We played with Gaywool dyes, and did a little bit of Kool-Aid. This year we are going to play with a new dye called Culinary Colors. It is an easy dye to mix and does not make a huge mess! It is set in a microwave, and is kitchen friendly! I will set up a crockpot for some Kool-Aid, but we will spend our time with Culinary Colors.

So please sign up now and get on the list. We will be having a great time playing with color, eating, laughing, and making ourselves turn special colors. Be sure to bring rubber gloves and an apron.

And be prepared to HAVE FUN!

A Quick Note

Just a little note about the World Wide Knit in Public Day this Saturday,June 14th (also Flag Day). We don't have anything formal planned but if anyone feels like coming to the shop and knitting outside in our yard they are certainly welcome. We have some chairs though if the weather is wonderful and the word gets spread you might want to bring your own chair or a blanket. Again we don't have anything planned but the lawn is open. I hope to be back(if I get out tomorrow) from New Orleans. Of course the airlines might screw me up again( today I got to the airport for my 11:50 flight and it was delayed and we couldnt find the right connecting flight so I ended up at home). Don't you just love flying these days? It just makes a person just sit at home and knit. Well I'm off to bed as I have to get up at 4:30am to make the flight they promised me for tomorrow. Wish me luck