hi!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! wsa today?
THATS 1DERFUL! yea man ok tootles

-lily

Earnest

Jessamy and I saw the Importance of Being Earnest at the Ahmonson yesterday. I had seen the play one other time at the Mills College drama department (which, sadly, the administration killed... "Hmmm, we don't have enough money at our college, should we cut back on expenses, perhaps paying back the money the college spent on my Lexus? No, lets get rid of a department, preferably one of the staples of a liberal arts education." "What about the drama department? There isn't any tenured professers in the drama department, they all quit out of frustration and anger." "Brilliant! we have enough drama in our life anyway." That has been a dramatic reinactment of the sh*t that happened my senior year at Mills).

My favorite quote from the play:
"To lose one parent, Mr. Worthing, may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness."

All the acting was superb, particularly Robert Petkoff who played an adorable Algy (but only got 6th billing! the nerve). Petkoff reminded me a little of Eddie Izzard (one of the funniest people on the planet, and now "available" on iTunes).

In June the Ahmonson will be showing Black Rider, which I saw in San Francisco. It was written by someone who's name I should remember, and music my Tom Waits. Very cool. I buying my sister tickets for her birthday, I suggest you see it.

TNNA

Jessamy, and Frannie, and I just got back from The National NeedleArts Association trade show. We learned a lot, have a bunch of ideas about how to make our store better, and met a lot of great yarn manufacturers. Highlights of the show included a funny fashion show (not intentionally funny) and getting to say hi to all our wonderful reps.

The fashion show was sad but funny. The majority of the clothes looked prety bad, they obviously spent more time writing their "descriptions" (ads) of the garments than they did making the garments. The presenters were literally yelling at the models because they were leaving the stage too soon. The camera man also did a pretty sad job, and often was taking pictures (which were projected next to the stage) of the wrong garment.

We took a few business classes and some technical classes. I took Knitting Andean Style, Jessamy took tapestry beaded crochet, and Frannie took a button class.

We said hi to most of our reps, all of which were very nice. We also said hi to some of the people who run the yarn companies that we currently purchase from. The Fibre Company, Rio de la Plata, Louet, Sweater Kits, and Skacel were all great people and great companies.

We also have a list of yarns we want to carry, these include:
Southwest Trading Co.
Bag Smith
Misti Alpaca
Brown Sheep
Knit One, Crochet Too
ChiaoGoo Needles

That all for now.

Here's the sock I made for my mom's birthday. The lozenge pattern is from Nancy Bush's Knitting Vintage Socks.

And this is an arm warmer I started about two years ago. It will probably be another year until I finish the other one.

habag

Here's the pics of me with my habag (it can't make up it's mind whether it's a bag or a hat... identity crisis)

Felt!

So I made my first foray into felting this week.
Here's the before and after pictures:



Tomorrow I'll post pictures of me wearing my creation. I was really worried when I put it into the washing machine, kind of an "it's out of my hands now" worried, cuz I'm that sort of person... And it did turn out shorter than I wanted, despite the fact that I had prevously done a swatch, but oh well, I still think it's nice.
Angie came in last week and gave us felting swatches. The one on the left is Mohair, The one on the right is Suri Merino. We had read that Mohair often felted funky, but the Outback Mohair turned of well.

Happy New Year!

Happy Holidays!
Everyone here at That Yarn Store had a wonderful holiday season (despite relatives calling a certain someone effite).
The shop got into the Christmas season with a few homemade yarn-ball ornaments and this lovely little tree



We also had this not so unobtrusive window display. It was taken off
our window Friday, much to the delight of a certain family member.





I actually knitted only one Christmas present this year, a pair of
socks. Or rather I made only one sock because I wanted to make sure
that it fit my mother before I went to the trouble to make another one.
I did get a surprising number of people asking whether mom had more
than 3 limbs. When both socks are finished I'll post the pics (our
camera is up and running now, but we lost our Music to Knit to
pictures, boo).

Memory Error

I actually have had time to post the pictures, but unfortunately there was a memory card error. Now, normally when I make a comment like that I'm alluding the fact that it will take me several moments of contemplation to remember anything other than my name. And in Kindergarten I was actually marked down for my recollection of my name (we were to spell The, I automatically put an A on the end). But in this case, there actually was a memory card error, and I thought the pictures of Music to Knit to were lost, but this morning david was able to transfer the pictures onto the computer. The memory card is nolonger usable, but fortunately had another memory card lying around the house. Such is not the case for my brain, but such is life.

I've been so busy I've entirely forgotten we have a blog. Yay crappy memory.

We had our second Music to Knit to last night. The local Eagle Rock band REC played and a singer/songwriter Drew Gasparini. They were both really good. I had booked them both without first hearing their music (true to the That Yarn Store style).

I'll post pictures when I get home, or when I get the time I never have tiiiimmmeee.

Today is super busy. We've had a slow couple of weeks and we actually got to the point where we weren't sure of the fate of That Yarn Store, but today has made me optimistic about our little venture.

Playing today ...

Playing today at That Yarn Store is Agustin Lara, Nostalgia.

Word of the day 9/25/05

gor·mand·ize
v. gor·mand·ized, gor·mand·iz·ing, gor·mand·iz·es
v. intr.

To eat gluttonously; gorge.

Word of the day 11/19/05

paucity \PO-si-tee\, noun:
1. Fewness; smallness of number; scarcity.

Dancing hat

Here's the front and back of the teddy bear sweater.

And the karma hat. Jessamy's going to put bunny ears on
it soon.

I think every dancing hamster needs a hat, especially this
guy. He's danced to Kung Foo Fighter so many times an arm has fallen
off.

Accidental Yamaka

During my shrug class last week I was asked what I like to knit. Hats. Why? Because they are easy, fast, you can actually wear them, and I happened to be working on one at that second. After casting on and knitting a row or two I naturally put my project aside and decided to make a teddy bear sweater. Well, I "finished" the hat last night, and you can tell I had recently been bragging. Yup, I love to make hats so much I purposely don't use a pattern so that I end up making them an inch too short.

omphaloskeptic

One who obssesively stares at his or her navel.

word of the day 11/15

triskaidekaphobia: fear of the number 13

Word of the Day 11/10/05

comestible \kuh-MES-tuh-buhl\, adjective:
Suitable to be eaten; eatable; esculent -- noun: Something suitable to be eaten; -- usually in the plural.

Getting better all the time

Business has picked up in the last week. Especially weekdays, which have been as busy as weekends. We're thinking it might be the weather? What's really odd is that this past Saturday we didn't have any beginnging classes, something that hasn't happened in a while. And of course, now that I write that today has been very slow.

I decided to start a small short-sleeved shrug in a nice light blue with the Breeze to sell at the holiday fair one of our customers is organizing. Unfortunately I forgot to bring the needles. At home all I had was a size four and size eight and one size 7. If you ever start a yarn store with your family don't share your needles. Anyway, the eights would have been way to big, so I started on the fours. Four hours and six inches later I realized that it would take over 10 hours to make this small shrug.
Now we get to sell a nice blue purse.

avuncular
adj.

1. Of or having to do with an uncle.

Word of the day 11/04/05

acumen

quickness of perception or discernment.