Wholesale shopping therapy

Very antsy today. Had trouble settling in to getting any work done so I headed off to one of my suppliers' (actually where I was about to go yesterday when the Lollipop crisis emerged) to do some yarn shopping.

Diamond is the largest wholesale distributor here. They carry Noro and Debbie Bliss and Rowan and Colinette and Schachenmeyer (Regia) as well as others that I don't usually buy (Jaeger, Sirdar) or don't buy much of (Filatura di Crosa). Their shelves are packed with yarn and going there is both an exciting and dangerous adventure. Exciting because of all the pretty yarn and dangerous because of all the pretty yarn.

Picture Walmart (the superstore size - with poor lighting and no air conditioning) and then picture it full of yarn. DANGER Will Robinson!

I was tempted by:

Filatura di Crosa Porto Cervo Long Print - very pretty long striping cotton - but that would have been for me and I have too many things on the needles as it is

Colinette Banyan (Cotton and Acrylic(?)) in many lovely Colinettey colours made even prettier by the cotton-ny goodness but see above - still too many

Another Filatura di Crosa - Baby Kid Extra (lace weight mohair - they were all on the top shelf - about 12 feet up and there was no one available to climb the ladder and open all the boxes and show me the colours - the colour card I had didn't seem to match any of the colours on the shelf - so they are either new (and therefore exciting) or old and discontinued and possibly ugly - possibly,

Rowan Kid Silk Haze - they had a bag of Jelly (the best green) - but I wasn't really feeling the mohair in the heat of the warehouse

What I was looking for:

Noro Kureyon and Silk Garden in the new Fall 07 colours

Colinette Jitterbug in the new set of solid colours and re-stock some of my OOS (that's out of stock)

Regia solids and 1937 - a bright red combo for my Bird Foot Kit

Baby Cashmerino for my niece

Malabrigo Lace

What I got:

A few Noro Silk Garden (some are on eBay (user name is musthaveyarn) and some are still to be listed) in the new colours (yeah!)

A few Noro Kureyon (still in the bag - probably list them over the weekend) in the new colours (more yeah!)

Some Noro Cash Iroha - their nearly solid in wonderful colours (on eBay)

Colinette Jitterbug in Gauguin, Lapis and Popsicle (website is updated)

Regia (kits are updated)

Baby Cash for Linds (and Ainsley - now 3 - almost 4 months )

Bliss' s Cotton Angora ( on eBay - 3 colours)

What isn't in yet:

Malabrigo Lace - comes in close to a million colours so they are going to bring in an assortment. Not sure the price yet but they are 50g and 470yds per skein and should be in the 11 or 12.00 per skein range I think

Colinette Jitterbug in Vatican Pie, Salty Dog, Whirley Fig, Lobster Pinch, Morello Mash, Oyster Blush, Wasabi Squeeze, Vincent's Apron, Ginger Cinnabar, Elephant's Daydream - great names!

Missing my kitty

Here is our Lollipop with her brother Pumpkin - he is almost a year younger and still hanging in there although he has a few health issues now too

A more recent Pumpkin pic with 1 of his ears floppy due to surgery (now both are floppy as the other ear also needed surgery):

And evidence of the ears that got this little one named Bunny (he will be 2 next week and is enormous - and has grown into those ears):

Lollipop 1987 - 2007

This grand old lady has now joined my other feline friends in kitty heaven

She has been failing slowly for the last couple of years and hung on like a trooper but had what seems to have been a stroke this morning.

No more pain or confusion for our lovely lady.

Goodbye sweet girl. We will miss you.

This is amazing!

Susan at Estelle showed me this today while I was out there picking up the yarn for July's Sock of the Month.

Watch Simon Cowell's face change as soon as this man starts to sing.

Britain's Got Talent

Oh and no surprize here - he won the competition

Something else

Got a bit sidetracked and instead of DKC-ing and knitting socks I started this:


This being Knitting Pure and Simple's Top Down Tunic

In this:

Jo Sharp's Silkroad DK tweed in colour Boheme.

Shaping the neck and the "V" is simple and straightforward - knitted back and forth then joined at the base of the V and knit circularly. I have finished 1 ball of yarn and am about 4 inches into the sweater.

This is for a show sample - to show everyone how beautiful Jo Sharp's yarns are and how a very simple and straight forward pattern can look very different in different yarns.

I hope to knit another version of the same sweater - in a hand dyed yarn I think - possibly Fleece Artist's Blue Faced Leicester DK - perhaps in Ebony if I still have it when the time comes to start the next sample.

My friend Julia presented me with an amazing skein of mohair from Wagtail yarns. It is an extremely fine mohair singles yarn in the most amazing shade of colbalt blue. Must swatch and show you a picture.

Knitting Kneedles

My first shipment of HiyaHiya needles just arrived (in quick time - thanks Mary!) and I am delighted!

I bought a few samples to try out and a full set of 32inch steel circulars (they are coming out with Bamboo shortly and for the Fall - Ebony and Rosewood MUST HAVE EBONY! MUST HAVE ROSEWOOD too).

Samples are an 11 incher, a 12 incher and 2 steel and 1 bamboo set of dpns. The 11 incher is great - I switched the 12 inch Addi I had in a sock for the 11 and I am very happy to report that the knitting is just as easy (Summertime... and the knitting is easy).

So I ordered a few of the 11s and a set of the 24s. Should be here soon too.

I am finishing up my second sock in Piece of Beauty yarn - colour is Dark Matter. Gorgeous yarn and I see that Kirsty has added a few more lovelies to her shop too. Many colours are sold out - jump on any of her colours - you won't be disappointed.

Tonight is DKC (Downtown Knit Collective) so some simple sock knitting for the trek. Might just have to start something new like this or this or this

Knit (K)not

When my orchestra finishes for the year (May 25th) my thoughts turn toward the SUMMER OF CHAMBER MUSIC.

Music camps are fun. A bunch of people get together and play (and play and play and play and play... you get the drift, right?) and by about the middle of the week, hands are sore, eyes are tired and thoughts of the couch and a TV start to randomly enter while trying to negotiate something rythmically complex (Brahms for example) and there you are ....lost.

So rather than 1 week of craziness, how about 3 months of semi-craziness instead.

It started on Monday with 4 other like-minded semi-crazies and we played and played Piano Quintets and 2 viola quintets (there was some Beethoven, some Dvorak and some Brahms).

Then Tuesday was supposed to be Piano Trios but that got squished out by family commitments (the pianists, not mine)

Wednesday was a quartet and some Mozart - including one I don't remember ever playing before and Schubert's Death and the Maiden (the 1st 2 movements which are imho more interesting and fun than the last 2)

Tonight there is nothing so I can actually KNIT

So after several KNIT (K)NOT (K)NIGHTS, tonight is a KNIT (K)NIGHT! And even better, it is cool enough to get out the wool.

Now - will it be Kauni or Celtic???

Brought to you by the letter A and the colour Purple

Every year, I pick a different colour for the pots and hanging baskets for the front of my house. This year's colour is purple.

This is a pot of mixed perennials and annuals , a departure from my usual just annuals, that hides (tries to hide) my recycling/garbage/green bins:


Tansy, golden oregano, euphorbia, veronica, pansies, purple solanum, a spotted heuchera (seen in the next pic on the left) and a purple leaved geranium

The thought is that I will be able to carry over some of the perennials to next year and use them in the garden or as the basis of next year's version. We shall see..

This is Myles MothBall - a long haired white Turkish Angora (maybe) with blue eyes (no he isn't deaf) - very dog-like and very affectionate. He is huge and a really lovely rescued cat. We are very lucky to have found this guy. He's 2. He retrieves (never tires of it) and sprawls at the window looking out.


In case you thought I had forgotten/neglected Kauni - here it is to the armholes. I have decided to make it a V-neck and will soon be starting the steek for the V. I plan to knit the sleeves from the top down - will reverse the yarn to make some consistency although I am so much enjoying the colour combos that come out naturally.


More garden ornamentation. We are thrilled with this one and only Iris bloom - there were none last year and although the year before was abundant, my fear was that I had lost this one. The blue around the outside is actually a little more cobalty that the picture


Celtic Dreams after Friday's knitting - a little dark and details aren't visible but this is the shoulders and 1 repeat of the pattern for the back. Yarn is Jo Sharp Silkroad Aran Tweed in colour Ivy. A very dark green with lovely red and tan flecks.


And this is Celtic Dreams after Saturday's knitting session - back is done to the armholes, front is almost there. Again, a little hard to see detail - even with a fill-in flash.


Some detail - perhaps - with fill-in flash


Note the liberal use of small hair elastics as markers between patterns. Cheap and colourful!

This posting has been brought to you by the letters A and K (Aran and Kauni) and the colour purple.

Myles meows his greeting and asks why there are no pictures of fish.