08.13.11
Posted in General Info, What's New at 9:52 pm by Sue
Well, no snails here (thank goodness), but we do have puppies and snips! These are the adorable Puppy Snips from HiyaHiya – they are so cute!
These tiny, pocket-sized snips are perfect for carrying in your knitting kit — they’re only 1 7/8″ when closed. To open the snips, just squeeze the puppy’s feet together and pull down, and out comes a tiny pair of scissors.
We’ve had Puppy Snips at our last couple of tradeshows, and we’ve had a ball showing people the tiny snips hidden inside the puppy.
These puppies look so cute hanging on your project bag handle! They come in assorted candy colors — they look like jelly beans or maybe gummy bears!
It’s been super hot in Texas this summer, and we’ve had no rain at all for weeks — but this afternoon, we finally got a good long thundershower.
It was so nice to hear the rumbling thunder and the sound of the rain hitting the ground. I stood at the window for a long time watching branches swaying and moving as raindrops hit the leaves – I even went outside just to smell the rain!
Summer rain taps at my window…
Sue
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07.07.10
Posted in General Info at 11:56 pm by Sue
Don’t you love it when you find a perfect marriage of yarn and pattern? I just finished up a new shawl, and I think it looks great! The yarn is Socos from Ester Bitran Hand-Dyes, and the pattern is Nicky, a free Berroco pattern (available at Berroco’s website or as a Ravelry download.) I made only minor changes to the pattern – I used a US size 13 needle and omitted the fringe, and used 3.5 skeins of Socos in color #305.
I think my favorite thing about this quick project is the contrast between the super-bulky, wooly Socos yarn and the open look of the dropped stitches – this was a fun and fast knit, and I can’t wait for things to cool off here in Texas so I can wear it.
Eager for cooler weather…
Sue
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09.25.09
Posted in General Info at 9:37 pm by Sue
I came across this photo a few days ago, and thought it was the neatest thing! After some research, I also found a bit of background on it – it seems that they had trouble getting a good shot, because it was hard for the sheep to balance with a full fleece on one side and none on the other, so it kept falling over!!
Don’t cha love that?
Baaaaaa (that’s “Bye” in sheep-talk),
Sue
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09.18.09
Posted in General Info, Yarns and knitting at 12:44 pm by Sue
Well, I’ve fallen head over heels for a new love. I was smitten the first time I laid eyes on it, and after I cast on, there was no turning back — it was like butta on the needles. My new love is Malabrigo Worsted yarn — what a wonderful yarn!
This is my first project with Malabrigo, and it’s immediately apparent why this yarn is so popular. It’s incredibly cushy and feels amazingly soft in your hands. I’m using the color Lettuce, a semi-solid with all the subtle variations of color that are characteristic of hand-dyed yarns. And I’m completely in love. Maybe even enough to challenge my well-known affection for Noro Silk Garden. (But don’t worry, Silk Garden – you’ll always be special to me!)
The neckwarmer pattern I’m using is a freebie on Ravelry called Crofter’s Cowl, and I plan to cheat – I’m going to keep knitting repeats until I like the length, instead of knitting it in two pieces and Kitchenering it together. Quicker, and I think it will be just as lovely. (Are you on Ravelry? Come join our Ravelry group “GreatYarnCompany”!)
You can see this neckwarmer and lots more next month at our booth at the International Quilt Festival in Houston, October 14-18, 2009. We made many new friends there last year, so don’t be shy, come visit us in our booth again this year!
I’ve just added several new yarns to our website, so hop on over and check out cotton blend Rowan Calmer, fun Regia Kaffe Fasset sock yarns, and a sweet fluffy baby yarn from On Line called Paloma Soft (Linie 252).
Knitting happy,
Sue
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03.27.09
Posted in General Info at 8:41 pm by Sue
It’s wonderful having a husband who can cook. We trade off on who’s got kitchen duty, and as I write this post, I can hear him working in the kitchen, frying fish and eggplant. Fried eggplant is one of my favorite things in the world! (Bet you can tell that I’m from New Orleans – we’re having two deep-fried foods in the same meal, and I’m not hyperventilating about it!)
Last night, I brought my Modern Quilt Wrap to work on at my weekly knitting group. It’s fairly easy, but does require counting rows to change colors at the right time.
When I got there, I was just about to change colors, so I cut the old color, joined the new color, and knitted five rows before realizing I left out two decreases. Ripped back and re-knitted the five rows with the decreases this time.
Then I realized that I changed colors too soon – should have worked more rows in the old color before changing colors. To some people, this wouldn’t matter, but I can be a tad obsessive about my knitting, so I ripped it back again.
Joined a new strand of the old color and knitted the missing row, then cut it again, added new color, and knitted the same five rows for the third time.
But something just didn’t look right. That’s when I realized that I should have added three more rows in the old color, not one.
Ripped back the five rows again, ripped back the newly-added single row of the old color, joined a new strand of the old color and knitted the three missing rows. Double-checked the pattern carefully, stitch count was correct, row count was correct, all is good.
Joined the new color, knitted the five rows for the fourth time, but who’s counting?
Then I looked even more closely at the pattern, and discovered that while I am knitting with color “I”, I should actually be using color “H”.
Yep, I joined the wrong color. FIVE times.
Now in theory, this shouldn’t matter – in a wrap of many colors, it wouldn’t be apparent if one color were out of place, but my slight obsessiveness kicked in again. So I ripped back one last time, joined the correct new color, and knitted the five rows for the sixth time.
Knit, frog, knit, rip, arrgh…
Sue
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03.22.09
Posted in General Info at 10:16 pm by Sue
As I’ve mentioned previously, my little kitty Coco is a bob-tail. She was born bob-tailed, and has a very short little tail, only about 2 inches long. It’s so cute when she’s annoyed and whips that little tail from side to side, only it’s this tiny little ball of fluff instead of a long tail! Although these photos are a bit grainy, I’m posting them because I finally managed to capture the motion of that little tail in a picture, and it’s too funny not to share!
Front view of mildly annoyed kitty: 
And rear view of increasingly irritated kitty, complete with tail movement: 
I started a new project today with Rowan Kidsilk Haze – I may well be the last knitter on earth to start the Modern Quilt Wrap). The Kidsilk Haze has such a lovely halo – I can tell already that this sheer and light-weight wrap is going to be much warmer than I expected.
The gold color I’m using is the now-discontinued Swish #578, the unavailability of which has frustrated many a knitter longing to knit the Modern Quilt Wrap in the colors shown in the pattern. (I stashed the yarns for this project some time back, and was lucky enough to get a ball of Swish before it became scarse.)
But I’ve got great news for anyone still searching for it! Rowan has introduced a new color, Ember #644, that’s VERY similar, and as I understand it, Ember is actually intended to be a replacement for Swish. I have photographed the two colors together, so you can see for yourself. They’re not identical – Ember is just a tad less intense, but I think it would work beautifully as a substitute for Swish.
If the Modern Quilt Wrap is still on your wish list, or if you’ve been postponing this project because you couldn’t find certain colors, you’ll be pleased to know that we’ve got all the Kidsilk Haze colors for this pattern in stock, including the new Ember color that replaces Swish!
Fanning the embers… (sorry, couldn’t resist the pun!)
Sue
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12.19.08
Posted in General Info at 1:44 pm by Sue
Snip, snip – I’m trimming down my To-Do List!! The holidays have really snuck up on me this year – it’s becoming increasingly clear that I’m just not going to get it all done… and Santa’s got to be realistic!
Only six days til Christmas, and we haven’t even put up our Christmas tree yet! I’m considering going tree-less, but it is SO nice to sit in the cozy glow of the Christmas tree lights, watching a crackling fire in the fireplace, with a mug of hot chocolate, or better yet, mulled wine. (Well, okay, our fire doesn’t actually crackle – we’ve got a gas fireplace with ceramic logs, but hey – it LOOKS really great!)
On the positive side, I got the last of our out-of-town packages mailed today, so I am getting SOME things accomplished!
I posted recently to my Ravelry group (if you’re on Ravelry, come join our GreatYarnCompany.com group) that I was keeping my gift knitting list pretty small this year – but even that short list probably won’t get finished in time. I’m not sure where all my time is going, but it sure isn’t knitting. This week, I think it’s going mostly to traffic jams and lines at cash registers, cha-ching.
How are you doing on your holiday knitting? Gonna get it all done? Or will you give your knitted gifts with the needles still in them, then immediately take them back so you can finish knitting them? I admit it, I’ve done that more than once! The last time, my sweet sister-in-law thought I expected her to make her own present – she was very relieved when I clarified who would be doing the knitting.
The new issue of Knitty is up – I’m in love with the Amused sweater, maybe in Cascade 220 or Mission Falls 1824 Wool. And check out Bijouterie – knitted earrings!
Taking a deep breath, with visions of sugarplums dancing in my head…
Sue
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07.26.08
Posted in General Info at 10:31 pm by Sue
I’ve been quietly working on my Wrap Me Up Shawl, and I’ve made enough progress to share some photos! This is such a great pattern. It’s a modular shawl pattern knitted in self-striping yarn, so each section looks totally different – think of a sampler done in related colors.
I’m using Noro Silk Garden in color 241 – nice mix of purples, greens, magenta, and a bit of rust (looks much better than that sounds!). The second photo is much closer to the actual yarn colors. I’ve just finished the first beaded section – the beads I chose are a bit iridescent, so they catch the light very nicely. I’m very pleased with the effect!
This modular knitting is very addictive!
Take care,
Sue
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07.06.08
Posted in General Info at 11:33 pm by Sue
It’s well after 11 PM, and I still can’t drag myself away from Ravelry! Are you on Ravelry yet? If you’re not, go here to sign up, and if you are, come join our new Great Yarn Company Ravelry group!
And while reading other people’s blogs (I know, it’s an addition… but at least it’s not as bad as my yarn addition), I came across a cool website that creates a painting just for you. Here’s mine – what’s really amazing is that it looks like it’s got a yarn ball in it, yet nothing in the questions I answered to create the painting had anything to do with hobbies!
Click here to create your own painting.
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07.05.08
Posted in General Info at 8:04 am by Sue
Just a quick post to let you know who our contest winners are! The winner of the random drawing from all who commented is Kimberly S., whose blog is bruisinraincloud.wordpress.com..
And the winner of the most mentions in comments is Darcy W., who blogs at darcyknottyknitter.blogspot.com. It was hard-fought, and there were several tough competitors 
, but Darcy won out, with 17 mentions!
Congratulations to both winners! I’ve emailed both to let them know how to collect their riches!
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Well, no snails here (thank goodness), but we do have puppies and snips! These are the adorable Puppy Snips from HiyaHiya – they are so cute! 
