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Fledglings

Since we are leaving at dark thirty in the morning for the first half of our drive to St.Paul, MN and won’t be back until next Tuesday, I thought it was a good idea to check the robin nest this morning. It’s a good thing I did or I would have missed them. My last check on them was just three short days ago and they were all still in the nest. Today however I only found one lone fledgling.

I suppose it will be gone too by the time we return. I wonder if it’s the one we saved?

Isn’t it sweet?

I will miss checking on their progress.

This is the mama keeping a close eye on the remaining offspring.

In knitting progress we have reached the end of the foot section and I will be starting the gusset and heel tonight.

I found this “sandman” on my camera when I was uploading these pictures. LOL!

My next post will probably be from Minnesota at Shepherd’s Harvest. Smile

Posted on May 8, 2012May 8, 2012 by yarnmama — 4 Comments

They grow up so fast

In just the few days since my last post these little fellows have already started sporting feathers. Before you know it they will be fledglings. Sniff.

While I was up in the tower getting these shots the papa showed up in a panic. He was flying back and forth squawking like crazy until I left. I only stayed less than a minute. Little did he know that if it wasn’t for me one of his precious little ones wouldn’t even be alive. Winking smile

Speaking of growing up in a flash, look at this one go! He was trying to go up and pay the birds a visit. No, I didn’t let him. If I had we would have had a fight on our hands getting him to leave. LOL!

Too bad our knitting doesn’t grow as fast as babies do, huh?

Posted on May 5, 2012May 5, 2012 by yarnmama — Leave a comment

Plain Jhaynes and Robins

Plain Jhaynes are finished! I love them and will most likely make more. I have several colors of this yarn leftover from other projects which will be thrilled to become more Plain Jhaynes I think.

I find that I tend to reach more for the simpler designs when wearing my hand knits, so I can see getting a lot of wear out of these, and having several pair in different colors would be perfect.

However, I didn’t cast on for those right away, because after I got my new Converse I started Jonesing for new easy care, summer socks. I only wear hand knit socks and while I love all my hand dyed wool pairs, they aren’t the easiest to wear and care for on the road. I do laundry in hotels a lot during the traveling seasons and it’s easier to use socks that are okay to go straight in the washer and dryer without special care. I have found that my commercial yarn socks, like Regia, for example are work horses. I dug through my stash and found some Plymouth Sockotta marinating. Perfect for summer since they are a wool/cotton/nylon blend, and easy care.

I cast on for some plain toe-up socks. I may put some rib or a simple lace panel like the one on the Plain Jhaynes. I’ll decide when I get there. I know I will do a gusset and heel flap since I hate how a short row heel feels on my foot.

I also have a robin update for you. A day or two after the eggs hatched I decided to take a peep at the nest. When I got up there I found, to my dismay ,that one of the poor little things was out of the nest on the bench. There was no way I could just leave it to its fate. It looked so helpless and pitiful and reminded me too much of a defenseless newborn baby. There was only one choice for me and that was to somehow get it back in the nest and hope it would be alright.

I sent Meredith to get a cloth or something so I could gently scoop it up without touching or hurting it. We got that done without problem and quickly got down from the tower so the parent could return.

I was reluctant to check on the fate of the little critter. Ignorance is bliss. Finally, my curiosity got the better of me and I had to know if it was still okay. I ventured a peek yesterday and was so happy to find four little beaks still in the nest!

I got a few shots of the parent on the nest and then when it flew off, in search of food (which I can totally relate to by the way, LOL) I stole up and took a quick close up shot too. They are kind of cute aren’t they? You can already see the feathers starting to grow and they are beginning to look more like Robins instead of embryos, LOL!

In other bird watching news; my neighbors have a bluebird house in their back yard and it usually has at least one nesting pair every Spring. For all I know it’s the same pair. I caught sight of the male on it on Tuesday. They are such pretty birds. I am drawn to the lovely coloring I think.

Posted on May 3, 2012May 3, 2012 by yarnmama — Leave a comment

Lots of new to share

Sorry for the week of silence, but it has been a busy one getting caught up with things after returning from Atlanta. We only have a couple weeks home this time before we will be gone every weekend through the first week of June.

Anyway, this is my knitting progress for the interim. I finished the first Plain Jhayne..

and started the second one. Yep, That’s it. LOL!

Look what goodies I got in the mail yesterday though! I pre-ordered the new Nook Simple Touch with Glow-light on the day they were available and it shipped a week early. I really like it. I love reading on the e-ink screen but the attached light needed for low light is a little bit of a nuisance, and boy! was I going through batteries! This is the perfect answer.

I also got a new pair of Converse in a gorgeous green. What else? LOL!

Oh, do you remember the Robin eggs I showed you a couple weeks ago in this post?

To my surprise they are newly hatched and hopefully well cared for. I was out enjoying the warm afternoon and taking a few pictures of the children playing (below) when I decided to go up in the tower and check the nest. They are kind of cute aren’t they? I’ll try to keep updates coming but don’t want to disturb them too often since I don’t want to scare off their parents.

Can you believe how big Elijah looks here? He is almost 22 months already and all boy for sure.

He loves to climb and explore like all boys are born with an inclination for doing.

It never ceases to amaze me how they are all instinctively drawn to vehicles and machinery too, LOL!

Posted on April 27, 2012April 28, 2012 by yarnmama — 2 Comments

Stitches South 2012

Stitches South 2012 is in full swing this morning. In the last minutes before the market opened to the waiting throngs, I managed to get a few pictures to share with you.

Here is the new Classic Baby Cardigan with the buttons on now, which I applied in the hotel yesterday afternoon.

These are our new selection of Sock Keepers, just added to the website last week.

We have a large selection of Darning Eggs,

Shawl Pins

and Nostepinnes.

Here are our Yarn Swifts of course. I case you haven’t seen this style, they are versatile, portable, and easy to use. They do double duty as skein winder as well.

Here’s a view from the side aisle.

This is the “control panel” where I sit and do my thing. LOL!

Did you notice the knitting there? I am almost finished with the first Plain Jhayne fingerless mitt and love it!

Here’s where we have discontinued colors of yarn which we have marked down; along with lots of sample scarves on display.

Okay that’s it for now. I hope this post wasn’t too disorganized. I am writing it in my booth during the brief lulls. It’s been pretty busy so far and that is a good thing! See ya later!

Posted on April 20, 2012April 20, 2012 by yarnmama — Leave a comment

Rush Headlong Flight official lyric video

I just want to share this link for the lyric video to my favorite band’s newest single Headlong Flight which is on the Clockwork Angels album due to be released on June 12, 2012. I Can. Not. Wait. for this album!

Rush is a unique band and if you aren’t fan already maybe you will humor me and give this a listen. I think they are amazing. :-)

I’ll also have more yarnie related post later about Stitches South. Here’s a what I packed in my knitting bag and luggage to hold you over.

Posted on April 19, 2012April 19, 2012 by yarnmama — Leave a comment

Baby Sweater, done..Plain Jaynes on the needles

Well the yarn held out and with some to spare. I finished my Classic Baby Cardigan, all except for getting some buttons, yesterday afternoon. I even got it washed and blocked.

So, I cast on for my Plain Jaynes in Lilac. I am planning on doing the lace panels, but haven’t decided for sure which one. There are two versions, one will involve some twisted stitches. While I like the look of that, I don’t enjoy doing them so I may go with the simpler version that is only yarn overs next to a decrease. We’ll see when I get there.

Today was shopping and library day, so I took the opportunity to listen to my latest audiobook while carrying out my errands. I am currently reading/listening to another Stephen King book from the mid 90’s that I somehow missed. It’s Rose Madder which is a little different in that the main character is a woman. She suffered 14 years of abuse at the hands of her husband and the story is about what becomes of her when she escapes him. I won’t tell more since I don’t want to give away too much and I also don’t know where it will go myself yet. I am 58% through the book according to my Nook. It is very good and I don’t know why I haven’t read it before now.

Tomorrow is packing day for Stitches South in Atlanta. I may not get a chance to post until Wednesday or Thursday, but I will probably do at least a post or two from there, so see you in a few days!

Posted on April 16, 2012 by yarnmama — Leave a comment

Spring is definitely here

I found the perfect use for my Cestari Heather Collection since I decided I didn’t like how the Gemini was working up. Yes, that is past tense. I frogged it the other day. So, what is the new project you wonder? The new Cinnie cardigan by Bonne Marie Burns. I think the Cestari yarn will be a better fit for this sweater. I will need another skein, but that’s not a problem. I haven’t cast on for it yet, but I have the pattern and it’s in the queue.

I am finished with the body of the baby sweater and have started the first sleeve. I am a little doubtful of my yarn supply. I should have enough, but it will be close.

I am itching to cast on a little pair of fingerless mitts in some lace weight. Have you seen Anne Hanson’s new ones? I am trying to be “good” and finish the stuff I have going first but these would make for perfect booth knitting at Stitches South next weekend, yes? I just need to decide what color to use…hmm. Should I use a semi-solid or a hand paint? What would you choose?

If you clicked through, you may have noticed that all the new colors are now on the website.

You may also have seen a new section called Limited Editions. I have explained what this is in more detail on my recent Newsletter.

To summarize though, what you will occasionally find there are offerings from our dye pots that are not repeatable. If you are old enough to remember Bob Ross you will also recall that he said there are no mistakes with art, just "happy accidents". What he meant is that sometimes things don’t go as you planned but they are still pretty. Often we are experimenting to formulate new colors and have extras in color ways that aren’t quite what we were going for. Other times I make make mistakes when mixing formulas and they are slightly off from the color I was intending to mix. Anything like that can show up here. All the skeins are free from defect, but aren’t part of our regular repeatable palette. We mark them down a little to sweeten the deal. :-)

Oh, I almost forgot about something I was going to share with you until I was uploading the pictures from my SD card. You have probably noticed the large playhouse/tower in our backyard.

Jerry built that about 9 years ago, and it gets used quite a bit. It’s a great place to go read. Which is why I was surprised when we found this in it.

At first there was only one egg. I thought the bird had left that one and then thought “What was I thinking?” and abandoned the poor thing.

To my astonishment it returned and there were two, then three! I hope they will continue to attend their family despite our presence. We’ll keep you updated on the progress. Smile

Posted on April 13, 2012April 13, 2012 by yarnmama — 5 Comments

All loaded up for the road

We were back to work yesterday bright and early, and it’s a good thing we got it done when we did since it’s looking like rain today.

Believe it or not it is a full day’s work just to get all the new inventory properly packed and loaded into the trailer. It would be easy enough if we just simply stuck it in new totes and put them in there, but if we did it that way it would get immensely complicated to find everything and to set up our booth.

We devised a system which allows us to take out a minimum of totes to set up at shows and still have our whole line displayed. The remaining totes have all the rest of the inventory for restocking the booth, sorted by yarn type and color family. It is easier to find what we need this way, but it also means ALL the totes have to come out when we incorporate new stock.

Add to that, the new colors moving in to their respective totes and moving to separate totes all the discontinued colors that they are replacing…and yeah, it’s a big job.

My plan for today is to get all the computer related stuff done. That involves updating my inventory software with the new totals and adding new entries for the new colors. Then there is photo editing of those new color pictures and uploading them to the website while creating the new entries for them at the same time. After that is updating the website with the new inventory totals for the current yarn colors that we restocked. THEN comes all the promotional stuff so our customers know that we have new products. People like to hear about the new stuff, you know. We are all about the “new and shiny” aren’t we? LOL!

You know, I doubt many people who haven’t run a business, have a full understanding of the extent of work involved in it. I know I didn’t. But you know what else? Aside from raising my family, it is both the most demanding and most gratifying work I have ever done. I am darn proud of what we have accomplished thus far, and wouldn’t trade the last six and a half years of learning for anything. Smile

Before closing, I want to mention that I finished 11/22/63 yesterday and Wow! It was worth the read. Of course as a long time Stephen King fan I was not surprised in the least by this. He has a gift of storytelling that appeals to me in an unique way. I am not sure I can put my finger on it, but I think it’s in the characters. No matter whether they are likeable or not, you want to know more. You are right there while you are reading and even when you aren’t, they are in your mind. They seem somehow real. Anyway, give this one a read. You won’t regret it.

Posted on April 10, 2012April 10, 2012 by yarnmama — Leave a comment

Happy Easter!

It was a lovely day and we spent the afternoon outside taking a well earned holiday.

Kyla (above) has developed a tradition of creating a work of art to greet us in the kitchen on holiday mornings and this is Easter 2012’s masterpiece. The picture doesn’t even do it justice. It is magnificent. Thank you Kyla! Smile

This one lives for goodies and has been eagerly counting the days. Oh well, at least there are some Math skills learned in that, right? LOL!

My littlest one is more interested in his trucks and cars, but he did get a small basket this year.

I even have a small stash of my own, of which I partook while working on the baby cardigan and listening to 11/22/63. It is a very engrossing read and I am almost finished with it already!

All our best to you and yours!

Posted on April 8, 2012April 8, 2012 by yarnmama — Leave a comment

Fledglings

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They grow up so fast

Like this:

Plain Jhaynes and Robins

Like this:

Lots of new to share

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Stitches South 2012

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Rush Headlong Flight official lyric video

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Baby Sweater, done..Plain Jaynes on the needles

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Spring is definitely here

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All loaded up for the road

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Happy Easter!

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