September 2

Greetings! As we all know there are many gorgeous yarns on the market today. Our LYS's are filled with them and we have an abundance to choose from through online shops, Etsy and other various sites..... but every now and then a yarn comes along that stops you in your tracks.... and that happened to me when I laid eyes on this skein of Malabrigo Rasta! I knew NEFA was getting it in, Betsy had told me about it and I saw her fantastic scarf she did in a great shade of green. But this purple, fire red and orange skein took a hold of me and there was no letting go! I bought it in a heartbeat with a cowl in mind (though I would have bought it with nothing in mind) and couldn't cast on fast enough..... Each skein has 90 yards and with a super bulky I was limited, but decided on the 'Wham Bam Thank You Lamb' ( :D ) cowl that can be found as a free download on Ravelry. I modified the pattern to only 18 stitches and knit in garter for 17"..... on size 15 (egads) DPN's. All you do is fold it over and depending on the shape you want, sew the seam. I left enough of a tail for that..... and sewed a small amount compared to the patten, this gave a nice long 'flip over'. Not believing my luck I realized I might just have enough for some wrist warmers so I cast on only 13 sts and started in. Knowing I wanted to use up as much as I could, I unwound what I had wound, and started the second warmer from the other end (removing my DPN's from mitt #1). I went back and forth like this, switching the needles back and forth until the yarn was almost gone and I had just enough to bind off for each one. Even though I bound off very loosely, they were still a bit tight so I took them out and bound off again... and decided to roll over the top. These will be so warm and cozy come winter time, and I'm delighted with the cowl too!

This yarn comes in a variety of deeply saturated colors and each skein (even with the same dye lot) is one of a kind. Great fun :)
I had some acupuncture this week up in the Champlain Islands and stopped at a few antique shops... one I know and love and the other I found is a new shop is called 'Junk & Disorderly' (!) How could I not stop??? I had great luck with both shops..... buttons, of course.
The CSA starts tomorrow at Northeast Fiber Arts and I get to pick up the first installment! Lucky me.... I'm a local :) I'll share it with you all next week.

I'm been so busy trying to complete custom bags as well as some double sold bags that once again I'm teetering on the business running me as opposed to me running it.... I always feel bad letting someone know that they missed the bag but can only do so much. So thanks for your patience and understanding if this happens and please know I really try my best to take care of my customers the best that I can.
Too hot this week for any big projects (like the afghan) but I did work on the mittens a bit and of course the two sweater I showed you last week.

Two more bits of news... one sad and one joyous. Our cat Slim has been missing for over a week now. He turned 10 this month and we've never been as close and connected to an animal before. We're both so sad and miss him terribly... he was such a character and accepted/gave love so freely...... an amazing spirit we were lucky to know. We still hold out hope for his return though... and look at the windows and doors all the time.

And now to leave you on a happy note... my older son is engaged! So a heartfelt congratulation to Taylor & Hannah!!!! We're thrilled.. we love them both dearly and couldn't be happier.

So once again we find ourselves knitting through all the high and lows that life (ah sweet life) has to offer....
Knit on good women.... till next week,

Martha.