Ukrop's... I love you

This is my favorite part of the whole store! (It's really Ok... my momma always told me "simple things amuse simple minds" and I'll admit it, I have a simple mind) Looking at the picture, the escalator on the left is the people escalator, the one on the right is for carts. You push the cart into the gate, it locks into place and as you ride down the cart rides down beside you. OK, I should stop right there, I told a little lie. YOU don't push the cart into the gate, the very nice customer service people (I swear "bag boy" seems almost an insult to these guys) push your cart into the gate, then to your car and load up your groceries. And if you haven't ever been to Ukrop's before they give you a little history lesson and store hours and such.

I went in with my preprinted customer card form (I love the internet too!) and handed it to the nice lady at the very busy table. She asked me if I wanted a keychain card or a wallet card (the wallet card is my card of choice in case you're wondering) and handed me my card. I took a little magnet for the fridge with all their numbers on it. Mostly because I like magnets on the fridge. (see you're learning so much about me in this one little post!)

I wandered up and down each aisle carefully making decisions about what I wanted for lunch and for dinner. I bought the heathens a little treat (that was 4 cents cheaper per can than another place I usually shop), I bought my dad a .... wait, it's a surprise, I'll tell you later after he gets it but yes it will mail very well, I got some frozen chicken things and some prepared shepherd's pie. Because a lady at work said they've got excellent pecan pie, I bought a piece. I would like to state here for the record that she is right. I mean she's not Southern or anything so I used her recommendation with that in mind, but it's good. The pie is SO good, Pepper tried to eat the fork when I was done. And she's not so big on people food. The pie alone is worth a "I heart Ukrop's" but I'll tell you what really sealed the deal for me (I mean besides the cart escalator going to the underground parking) was they have Ginger beer. Dad originally told me about ginger beer when I was visiting with him but Catie is the one who turned me on to this particular brand. It's MOST tasty. It's also most tasty with a little splash of good tequila (Dad says good burboun too).

They've also got well spaces aisles and a very nice layout. As an added personal bonus, they're very close to where I live. I'll be shopping there again (maybe even to buy some French toast or French bread for the Tour de France KAL kick off . You always knit better after a nourishing breakfast.)

Another KAL

I tell you, I am SUCH a joiner these days!! First the Dish Rag Tag. It begins in August and our team will compete against other teams in the country, one in Australia and at least one in Canada! It's basically a relay race. The organizer (Emily of Yarn Miracle) will mail out a box to each team captain. From there the captain will take the enclosed dishrag and knit a new one from the enclosed ball of cotton. She will put her dishcloth, two balls of cotton (one for the next person to keep and one for them to knit with) and some small goodies into the box and mail it to the next person on the list. And so it goes. The first team to get it back to the start, wins! I may not be the fastest knitter, but boy can I whip out a dishrag!

The second thing I joined (just today!), is the Tour de France KAL! I'm competing under the polka dot jersey for "mountain climbers". I will be knitting on my first sweater! I'm most excited about this and looking forward to finishing my sweater! As a good friend pointed out "It will be cool before you know it". Hard to believe in this 90+ degree heat but she's right.

The links for both of these are in my sidebar, click on the appropriate button.

I also bring you:



Brother. (with a Bartholamew backdrop). Brother is the first fleece Catie bought and processed herself. When she sold me my wheel, she gave me what was left of Brother. After a discussion with my Dad on various subjects, he told me about a double knit Aran sweater my Mom had made him A Long Time Ago. It was still very lanolin rich and he really liked that sweater. Well, I told him that even though I love him dearly, I'm not knitting him a sweater (I haven't even knit me a whole sweater yet ya know?) I did have a still greasy fleece and would be happy to make him another hat? The man lives in the desert. I know it gets cold in the desert in the winter and they even got more snow than I did this past winter but I'm making the man another hat. Being a good dad (and a bit of a hat collector) he said that would be nice. :) So I spun up what is nearing the bottom of the bag of Brother. Catie was amazed that I've kept Brother! I think he's a very pretty gray. The picture really doesn't show the nice gray-ness of it. I know that sounds silly but it's true.

So, I'm sitting here trying to decide if I should rename Brother now that he's all spun up. (Be forewarned: there is MORE silliness ahead!) I thought well, I spun Brother for my Father. Maybe I should rename the yarn "Uncle" (see? Bad silliness at that...) I still haven't decided but am looking forward to knitting my first item with my handspun!

Sunday Catch Up

Well, it's been quite a busy week around here. Wednesday I went out to dinner with Mom. It was just Taco Bell but we still had a great time! Thursday a small group of us went down to the local Barnes and Noble and sat around knitting and chatting. Mostly chatting I think... either way, it was a very good evening. Friday was a quiet night at home.

Saturday, Laura and I headed up to Mosaic. She had gone up last Saturday to help sew the blankets for Virginia Tech together and they gave her a coupon as a thank you. I hadn't been up there yet so she let me tag along (thanks again, BTW!).

It was a whole lotta fun and I was a very good girl and only got this:



It's Cascade Sierra. An 80/20 pima cotton/merino blend. I have secret plans for it. I will reveal them after the plan is complete. Bwhahahahahaaaaa...

This is the first of the roving I bought at knit/spin group the other night:



It's called Eternal Flame.

Last in our fiber category, I bring you a very loving present sent to me by my wonderful Dad and Pat. They were vacationing out in Utah and called to see if I would want some roving they had found. I very enthusiatically said, "yes please!" Pat asked me what color I wanted and started to give me options. I asked her to please just pick something out for me that she thought I'd like. I think she did Real Good!



It's slightly darker than this in real life but oh so pretty. I feel yarn should be named so I named it "Utah Sage". I can NOT wait to spin it! I've got a couple other projects I'm currently working on first though.

Our last picture of the night is our newest neighbor. The glare on the left is from the window glass. I've found my neighbors aren't real fond of me opening the door and taking their picture. Or opening the door in general. What can I say...



A raccoon! Well, he may have been living here for a while but this is the first time I spotted him. So, for the count, this makes Big Fat Groundhog, countless squirrels, a chipmunk or two, lots of birds and now Mr. Raccoon.

I hope everyone has a most wonderful week!

Doing the Happy Dance

Well, it certainly was well worth the wait to get in to our newest LYS!! She had a knitting night tonight and man did we have fun! The long story short is that she did what we all talk about... "wow, wouldn't it be great if I could open up a yarn store" and all your knitting friends go "yeah, that would be so cool"... Well, she did it! The stock is still rolling in but it's coming a long very nicely. There's a great sitting/library/pattern area in the front window with a great view of the comings and goings of the little neighborhood and mountains and a lovely yarn/supply/bag area.

She's going to get a box to put up for donations of premie and baby hats and blankets for the local hospitals.

I have no pictures of tonight. I'm such a bad blogger picture taker!

BUT to prove I'm not totally hopeless when it comes to squares, I bring you this:



Marianne posted a little bit ago about making squares for Greensburg. Well, there was a pattern so I gave it another go and voila! I did it! I've got another one about 1/3 of the way done. I'm using up the last of my Manos. It's extra warm and squishy. Besides which, I think knitting with a yarn you love this much has got to bring extra goodness to the squares, right?

Everyone stay cool out there in this heat and happy knitting and spinning!

Attitude Adjustment

After I posted earlier, I decided that the best thing I could do, despite the chill and damp in the air was go down to a large public park for our local Relay for Life. It was very crowded and getting more so by the minute. It took me 50 minutes to get 8/10 of a mile. It was ok though. I had good music, a lot of patience and honestly, I was glad so many people were coming out. I didn't take any knitting because I wanted to walk and visit with my co-workers. Sadly, not many of them came out but I enjoyed hanging out with those who did.

I wandered around looking for cotton candy (an unsuccessful venture I must add) with my boss' 9 yr old. Walking around and talking with her and her worries (the day care serves the same snack every day) and being there with all the cancer survivors and all the luminaries of those who have died from cancer, it makes you think.

I'm still disappointed in the new LYS but it doesn't matter so much now.

I know several people commented that they were afraid that something was wrong with their computer and I'm so sorry if anyone else did that as well. I just didn't think about that aspect.

I hope you get to do something good this weekend. Something that makes you realize maybe your problems aren't as big as they could be.

So, as Pepper said the other day - go love on a cat or something :) tell those you love, that you love them. And thank you all for reading my little blog. I appreciate you. Very much.

New Yarn Store

Well, as I told you the new yarn store opened today:








This is what I bought:









What? You don't see any pictures? Hmm. Oh, I know, it's because they closed at 5pm today. I know, I'm being a little (cough... a lot... cough) snitty and I do apologize. It's just that I was so excited about a new yarn store and I was so looking forward to going after work today that I'm just really disappointed. She said they'd be open for about 3 hours tomorrow. I'll try to get out there then and keep my fingers crossed that maybe as time goes one she stays open later than 5pm during the week. Even one night a week.

Meow?

The following post is brought to you by Pepper. She asked if she could post so I told her sure as long as I got to do the final editing.

Hi. This is Pepper. I had to tell you about what my momma let me and 'tolamews do. She let us sign up for Secret Paws. We signed up as a family meaning we're only sending out one package and only getting one package. Which is OK by me cuz I do most of the playin' in this family and when he does want to play I let 'tolamews play with any toy he wants. However, he doesn't like it so much when I try to play with him. Only when he wants to play. Grumpy ol' man...

Anyways... I sent Momma to the store today to buy presents for our Paw. He's a cat like us so I told her to buy things I'd like. I think she did OK:



She did buy a little something for our Paws Mom though. I'm not sure that's part of the rules but she told me to hush. She did bring me a new toy home so I let it slide.




She told me if I put up a picture of me I gotta include 'tolamews too. Something about bein' fair or something. Why do mom's get that way? And why is she always chasing us around with that camera thing?



Anyways, I'm out. Y'all go love on a cat or something...

Pepper



Dana- I told Pepper she had to include a picture of Bartholamew for you to see his whole orangeness. I had to include this shot of his tail. I just love it. It's all stripey and has the only white on his body.

Marianne - I hadn't forgot about those questions. I just haven't had a chance to get them answered yet.

This weekend our new yarn store is opening in town and I'm most excited.

Picture Pages!

In an effort to not totally bore you with pictures, I bring you this. It's an online album of all my pictures I took this weekend.

Here's some knitting content not included in the album.

My Aunt Judy's sock:



Fits great. She loved it and said it was "her colors"! woo hoo!

The Knitting Bag I won at Yarn Theory's customer appreciation day:



The green skein is a little skein of Koigu that followed me home from Yarn Theory Friday:



The red I already had. I'd picked out another color to go with it but I like the greens with the reds better. I don't think it's too Christmasy but if it is, what's it matter? It's for a scarf. You wear scarves at Christmas time...

And this... This is my roving I got Thursday at Spin/Knit night.



David Simpson (I almost said Mr. Simpson but he stopped one of my friends as soon as she called him that and said his first name wasn't "mister" :) ) came down to spin with us and brought some goodies in case we were in the mood to buy. Bartholamew felt the need to help me arrange it just so for the picture. I actually have one without him in it, but that little orange paw is just too cute.

A long fun icky weekend

This is going to be a quick catch up. I went to visit my aunt this weekend (who LOVED) her sock! It was the right colors and fit great so the 2nd sock has been cast on.

Sadly this weekend I also got a little sick and was most puny all Saturday night and even though I felt much better today a good 5 hr drive will knock some puny back into you. Thankfully though there was no "sick" today though.

I did take lots and lots of pictues at Harborfest Saturday afternoon though. Maybe tomorrow I'll be able to share those photos along with a little roving I got the other night...

OH, and I must confess that I did not knit in public on Saturday. :( I had all the intention too but we were so on the go Saturday while we were out I just didn't do it. And knitting and walking is not a skill I have. I did knit at my aunt's though... I realize she's not "public" or even anti yarn (this being the aunt who taught me how to crochet) but it's all I've got.

Hope y'all had a great weekend!

Two FO

I have two finished objects to share today.

A little baby hat. It's the pattern that goes with the Steeler's Baby Sweater. This is the basic pattern, but I did the stripes and colors myself. I wanted to see how the pattern worked up since it had (in this order from the bottom up) garter stitches, ribbing and stockinette. This one will go to charity and I'll knit a black, white and yellow one for my nephew. However when I get to the booties, those will be a solid color!



The second is the Steeler's Baby Sweater:



OK. So it still needs a little bath, a good de-cat furring and buttons but it's done.

Now, I'm going back to knitting on my aunt's socks. I get to see her next weekend and I really want at least one done to make sure it fits and all.

Project updates

Well, the Steeler's baby sweater is at a standstill. I've knitted the 2nd sleeve and the neckband. The other night I went to pick up the stitches for the right front button band. I read the pattern and got one number stuck in my mind as to how many stitches I needed. Well, I was wrong. By 6 stitches. That's a fair amount on a baby sweater. So I ripped it out and set it aside for now. I'll probably work on it later this weekend.

So, I picked up the Tofutsie's sock. I just love this pattern! I swear this is the quickest I've ever knit a sock. Hmm, I wonder if those Rosewoods have anything to do with it?



Robin just finished her pair. They're some great lookin' socks!

Last night Mom, Luke and I went to the local baseball stadium to watch a game and some very cool fireworks! After about the 3rd or 4th inning, I broke out the knitting:



It's another cup coozie for a good friend of mine. Easy mindless knitting. However, I did put Mom in charge of making sure I didn't get hit by any baseballs! There was one that came close. We were sitting off the first baseline and it was on a direct trajectory to us but fortunately it hit the sound wire and bounced into the next section to us 2 rows down. Whew!

One last thing, an online store testimonial! Last Saturday I was browsing about looking for sock yarn that I had to have. Well, I ended up going to our LYS, Needle on the Square and got that Tofutsies. BUT I found something else I just couldn't live without.



Stitchkeepers!!



I love them. Admittedly, I've never had a problem with stitches falling off of my DPNs but I worry about them all flailing about in my knitting bag. This way they're all nice and safe and clumped up together. No flailing. The best part? Sheri at the Loopy Ewe (link in my sidebar) mailed them on Saturday and I got them Tuesday! This was a holiday weekend we're talking about here, people! I expected them to get MAILED on Tuesday. She also includes little presents with your first 5 orders! I will certainly be buying from her again. The only "downside" is picking between all her luscious sock yarn!

my purse

Catie tagged me to show a picture of my purse contents. So here ya go:



I was going to say complete and unaltered but I got to looking at my picture and decided a few things (like my drivers license info) needed to be blurred out but other than that it's all there. No cropping - purse dumped and spread out for better picture taking.

The contents are (in no particular order): 2 pens, sharpie, spare keys, earrings, 2 darning needles, 2 mints, paperclip, aleve, wallet, bobby pins, palm, avalanche tickets and schedule, hair band, tic tacs, tape measure, motion sick pills/herbs, fortune from fortune cookie, face and remote for sirius radio in knitted holder, lighter, cell phone holder and eye drops.

For the record, no, I don't smoke but (as I learned from my father) you never know when a lighter will come in handy.

I think Catie tagged most everyone I would but if you want to play along, please do and please let me know!

OH, I also went by my cousin's today to give her the hat and fingerless mitts I made for her graduation and she loved them.

FO, knitting update

Well, I have one finished object from this weekend. My cup coozie:



This took almost NO yarn. I'm thinking of making more for friends or gifts or whatnot.

The baby sweater is lacking a sleeve, neck band and button bands:



I almost went on and finished it but since I'll see my aunt in 2 wks I thought I'd go on and work on her socks:



I'm actually on the heel now. That was taken a little before 3.

In addition to this, I went grocery shopping, yarn shopping (see Saturday's post), and did a little spring cleaning. All in all, I'd say it was a productive weekend.

Thank you!

I'm fairly sure there aren't a lot of military men and women who read my blog but I feel compelled to say this anyway:

To all of the men and women who have served our country, protecting our freedom and to all of their families that have shared their loved ones with us: Thank you!!!

There's a fair amount of people in my family (both birth and extended family) that have served our country. Most thankfully, we've been blessed not to lose anyone since WWII.

That all being said, I'd like to now take a turn to the silly, and thank Bartholamew for, once again, having me up and out of bed before 7:15 this morning. Seems he just doesn't understand "long weekend". I still love the fat bugger though.


"Anything I can do to help, Momma!"

Knitting Guru?

What Kind of Knitter Are You?

You appear to be a Knitting Guru. You love knitting and do it all the time. While finishing a piece is the plan, you still love the process, and can't imagine a day going by without giving some time to your yarn. Packing for vacation involves leaving ample space for the stash and supplies. It can be hard to tell where the yarn ends and you begin.http://marniemaclean.com
Take this quiz!








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After reading the rest of the options, it is the one that best fits me.

40% off!!

I don't think I mentioned this but our LYS (Needle on the Square) has a drawing every month. 4 or 5 names get picked out for various percents off of a project. Well, back in August I won the 40% off! I was so excited! I'd never won anything like this before and it was right at my birthday and I had birthday money and just went crazy. I bought some gorgeous soft pink yarn for a sweater. That's a whole nother story but lets just say that someone else is loving that yarn right now because I sold it on eBay. I couldn't enter the drawing for 6 months so when I went back in April I could finally enter again. And guess what? I won the 40% off discount again! So I wanted to use this discount cautiously. I looked and looked and couldn't find a sweater pattern I NEEDED. So today, I went to the store and got 2 skeins of Tofutsies. And some more black Encore DK to finish off the baby sweater. I decided not to make it as stripey as I originally thought so I knew more black would come in hand. And I got some Cascade Fixation that I plan to make some of these with. Minus the eyelash yarn. I've started drinking more water at work and the cup I have sweats a lot. My poor little felted coaster is getting a work out so I thought I'd give it some back up. Plus I thought they'd make cute little gifts.

I also got some DPNs for the baby sweater and a stitch counter/marker for working the round. They also had some adorable (perfectly sized!) buttons for the baby sweater. Little robots! How cute!!

So I decided since I did get a 40% off discount for all the sock supplies I'd buy myself a little something special. Truth be told, with the discount, I basically got them free! :



Yup. Rosewood sock needles. I can't wait to try them! I'm going to use them to knit up one of the Tofutsies for my Aunt Judy's socks.

Here's a picture of the rest of my haul:



Dianne- I want you to note the other DPNs are the Bryspun you showed me.

I was going to go up to Yarn Theory to pick up the knitting bag that I won and maybe stop by Tapestry on the way home but they're apparently closed today. Which isn't all that bad since I don't need to go to any more yarn stores today!

So I think I've got all that I need to settle in for a long relaxing weekend of knitting. Let's see how many FO's I have on Monday. Or at least how many new projects I have on the needles!

I hope everyone has a very safe happy Memorial Day weekend!

Pepper 'tocks

See, there's these blogs out there where they've showed their kitties 'tocks. It sort of started here. Well, Mayhem and Lucy made me think of Pepper and her Jaguar impression.



So I left a comment and told Mayhem's mom I'd get a picture for her. Well, it was too cute not to share some of them.



And my favorite of all of them:



"Why are you takin' so many pictures of my bum, Momma?"

Picture time!

I have a FO to share with you:



This is my cousin's hat and fingerless gloves in her school colors (yes you Hokies, I *know* what colors they are but they're Carson Newman's colors, too!)

Here's Baby's first sweater (from me) in progress:



Scott's a HUGE Steeler's fan, as is his whole family, and I thought they'd get a kick out of a baby sweater in Steelers (ish) colors. And Baby will be born during football season. Even though Amy will get a kick out of it, I'm making a prettier sweater, too.

Lastly, I bring you:



230 yards of yarn. I know, I think it looks like more than that, too. My calculations are correct but I'm now wondering if maybe my measurements are a little off. Can anyone tell me how you can figure out what size skein your niddy noddy will give you?

I don't have a lot of roving left to spin in this colorway so now I'm really wondering what to make with it. I'd guess its no where near enough for a vest or shawl now.

Catch Up Saturday

I've been trying to find the best way to photograph my homespun yarn (any suggestions here would be great, BTW). So it took me a few days to bring you this:



It's the Beneath the Waves roving I bought. Even though you can better see the colors here, it's still so much prettier in person. I'm trying to decide what to make with it. Maybe a vest? or shawl? I'm just not sure yet.

Today I took the smallest of the 3 Beneath the Waves hanks and my first homespun skein up to Bedford. We went to see Dianne and her Sock Sister Linda at Yarn Theory. They were having a Spring Fiber Fling. I ended up sitting and knitting with them for a few hours chatting and visiting and having a lovely time!

I suppose it'd be nice to show you what I bought:



That's Austermann Step for a pair of socks and Koigu for the Chevron Scarf in Last Minute Knitted Gifts. Yup, I'm one of the last 5 people who haven't made it yet.

Lastly, I'd like to share with you what happened here last week:



I know, the Taco Salads are exciting but what I was showing you that on Thursday, May 17th, the gas prices really broke $3. The worst part was when I left for work that day, it was $3.03, when I got home it was $3.09. For the record, I don't get my gas here. I get it at a cheaper (sometimes by 20 cents!) place near work.

Well, back to knitting and spinning! I'm almost done with my cousin's present (thanks to said knitting for hours earlier today) and want to go on and get that done.

Not Cotton Candy

I finally got to give Mom her yarn and she loved it. Not just as a good mother would but a Knitter. She was already debating with herself what to make with it!

I got a little present in the mail the other day. OK, so it was a present from me but that's irrelevant right now.



I'm so excited. My first bought roving. No, I got some at Sedalia. Hmm, this is my first order of roving bought specifically for my wheel? Yeah... that's it!

I'm glad I learned to spin when I did. All of my TV shows are ending their seasons so I don't have to worry about not paying attention to the show. Treadling, drafting and keeping Pepper away from my roving, her "cotton candy", is enough without trying to pay attention to TV too.

Pat (my step mom) generously offered for Dad to make me a stool to go with my wheel! :) I'll take some measurements and have a good talk with Dad before I get too excited about this though.