Geez, Louise, I've had a hard time finding my way back to my blog.  I'll try to write more regularly if I can remember how I got here.  I guess I should write down the path to get here on a piece of paper that doesn't disapear into the nethersphere.  

I finished the gray sweater--hurray! and have started the bluish gray, purple, pink, rotten apple (pumpkin would have been a better color name.  Why couldn't I think of that this time of year anyway?), red, and cream.  I added a multi color, left out the red and cream and I'm doing a half fisherman's rib or whole fisherman's rib, what do I know?  This is about the third design I've started and ripped, and I think I like this one.  My plan is to make it into a short jacket with a diagonal front zipper!  Kind of motorcycle jacket style.  I'm still on the back so I have time to change my mind many times over.  And then what?  Got to have an idea in the wings, yes?  I think I'll make an off white ruana or coat.  I just ordered a couple bags off white yarn for me to go with some white yarn I already have in the store. I'll have enough for you to make one, too.  The Berroco and Plymouth salesman came to my store today.  I bought something really cool.  I just can't remember what it was except that it comes in a big 300 or 400 yard hank and feels really good.  Everybody'll love it--I hope.

It's time to plan a trip to the yarn market in January.  It's being held in Long Beach January 6th through 8th--hardly enough time to look at everything, touch everything, compare prices and yardage, look at patterns, stop and gab a bit with people you only see twice a year, find all your notes or reading glasses that you left at a previous vendor's booth, stop for lunch--choices are a lousy salad, a greasy piece of pizza, or a rock hard hamburger.  Sometimes I just eat M&M's which the Noro yarn booth always has on hand.  I try to eat the peanut ones so I have some protein.  I can eat myself sick if I spend too much time there.  It's difficult to pick out yarn that other people want, especially chosing summer yarn in January.  Some people have said to just buy what I like.  Well, then everything in the store would be purple, gray, or green, or at this moment, off white.  I almost never have navy.  I have one lonely ball of dark navy right now and no one has asked for more.  Ya know what--If you can find it, you can have it.  Do you have any idea how many shades, or is it tones, that purple comes in?  It comes in a bluish purple, redish purple, just a little redder than redish purple, pinkish purple, grayed purple, bright purple, almost black purple, almost brown purple... and that's just purple.  Blues, reds, greens, even beiges come in all kinds of tones and shades.  And then there's multicolors.... And then there's gauge.... And then there's texture.... And then there's fiber....  And then there's price....  And even the decision as to which ball of basically the same yarn is a better price per yard.... And I can't possibly buy it all.    I don't buy a huge selection of sock yarn, but I always want to have some sock yarn in stock, so it has to be exceptional sock yarn.  Hmmm, should it be self striping or random or patterned.  Should it be wool or cotton?  With nylon or not?  What if I pick out 10 bags of this summer's supposedly (according to those who are trying to sell it to me) hottest yarn in different colors, each with 10 balls of, say, bamboo and cotton yarn and nobody likes it?  What a nightmare that is!  Or what if I pick out 8  bags of 10 balls each of  a beautiful yarn and everybody wants the colors I didn't buy?  Another nightmare.  Or what if I buy a bunch of exquisite silk and everybody wants washable linen?  What if I buy a bag of ten and a pattern calls for 11 balls?  If I buy 2 bags, what do I do with 9 left over balls when it takes 11 to make a sweater?  I LOVE THIS BUSINESS!  I love the decisions.  I love the textures and colors.  And I love having gotten to know lots of you.  I love getting new knitters addicted and I love the excitement of someone finishing their first garment.  LOVE IT!  

More later if I don't get lost in cyberspace.  Bev

OODLES FIRST BLOG

Welcome to my FIRST blog entry.  I'm kinda jazzed about being in touch with a bunch of knitters on a frequent basis.  Knitters are such nice people.

So...It's the week end after Thanksgiving.  What are you knitting? 

I just cleaned out my knitting bag--this knitting bag anyway. I found lots of yarn labels,  the name and number of a plumber and a rotten apple.  I did not find my stitch markers that I had hoped were in there, nor any money, which would have been a nice surprise.  I found a bunch of balls of yarn wound up for my next project.  Actually, it was yarn for my previous project before I changed my mind and decided I didn't want to make an intarsia sweater in red, purple, cream, and--wow, I can't even come up with a descriptive name of the last color of yarn--brownish orange--oh, I know--rotten apple brown.  I neither want to make the sweater nor use those colors anymore.  The challenge is to figure out what to make next--using that yarn or not using that yarn--that is the question.  I'm sure if I looked in other, older knittng bags I'd find lots of ideas I decided not to do.  Maybe I'd even find the little plastic envelope with my stitch markers.   Well, I still have one sleeve to knit and one sleeve to kind of redo (AKA rip) before I need to decide.  But isn't it nice to have at least two projects going?  Somethimes you just need to get away from a project for a while to be able to get back to it with a new perspective.  Can I live with that stupid little glitch, or should I rip it out?  Don't be too hasty.  Just pick up your other project and work on that for a while, sleep on the decision to rip or not to rip, and you'll have a clear answer in the morning--maybe.  Meanwhile, you still have something to knit on.  I'm an obsessive knitter.  Got to have something to knit at all times. 

How do you know if you're an obsessive knitter?  I suppose one clue is that you have more than two projects you're working on--not just started and sitting there waiting for inspiration.  Another clue is that when you pack for a trip out of town you start with which project to take with you.  Hmm, you can also tell if your dog understands 'wait till I finish this row'.  I suppose hiding yarn from a spouse would be another sign of knitting obsession.  If all your friends tell you 'thanks, but I really don't need another scarf' that could be another sign.  (If only some of your friends tell you that, you're not obsessed-yet.)  If you have knitted flower pot covers, I'd begin to worry. 

If you need an idea of something to knit right now, don't forget the scarves for the homeless collection going on now.  You can drop off scarves, hats, or mittens at Oodles.

That's it for now.  I've got to get back to my gray sweater that goes with nothing I own which doesn't matter because it's dressy and  I have nowhere to wear it anyway. 

Keep in touch.  Bev