Sleepless in Altamont

Paul was in Maryland at a car race this past Thursday through Sunday and I barely slept all weekend! I kept hearing all kinds of noises. I even let Mandy sleep in the bedroom with me, which normally doesn't happen. My imagination runs away with me in these situations, especially since I love to read murder mysteries. All the scenarios I read about go through my head. One of the nights, I heard scritch-scratching above me and realized we needed to get the mouse traps out. Mandy made not one peep when all that noise was going on, making me realize she probably hears it all the time. Great.

The good news is that Paul won the race! Yay! He got a trophy. He has accumulated several (that's an understatement) over the years, so who knows where we will put it. But it was great because he has worked really hard for the past month to get his car ready. Here is his car:

Isn't it great? It's a station wagon! (1970 Buick SportWagon) With the luggage rack still on it!
For those who haven't heard me talk about it, Paul drag races. It scares the heck out of me, but it's also exciting and he loves it and he's good at it and there are worse hobbies to have.

Needless to say, I'm glad he got home safe and that I could finally get some sleep!

Here is what I did this weekend:

I made two! I got this great new pattern in, from the same woman that did the Constant Companion pattern. It's very cute! I made both from one skein each of purple and blue Cascade 220 and one skein of Taos. The Taos is variegated and what is used for the dots. It looks better in person and I will have it in the store for you to see.

The other big news this weekend - Joan is back! Yay! It was great to see her and her EIGHT Baby Surprise Jackets, one of which she has graciously allowed me to display (made with Lamb's Pride Bulky). She will be here for a few months before heading back south to Florida. I'm going to learn to crochet while she's here!

I met with a yarn rep today whom I hadn't met with before. I ordered some GREAT yarns from Art Yarns and Woodstock Knits. The Art Yarns, as the name implies, are hand dyed and somewhat luxurious (cashmere, mohair). I got a great cashmere sock yarn to try! The Woodstock Knits are great and come in kits - scarves, wraps and a market bag. Really nice patterns. More samples to knit! I'm also hoping to have some sort of a trunk show event with these yarns so you can see all the possibilites.

Finally, I have to share this YouTube link that a customer shared with me:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUOgqefnt_I
It is the Mason-Dixon ladies singing a song about knitting. Really funny! (thanks to Barbara for sending it to me!)

I'm going to try to post more often -- I've gotten into this once a week thing, which probably isn't much fun for you. I'm glad we figured out the commenting thing. It's much more fun that way!



Edited 10 minutes later... I forgot to show a picture of the cowl I made last week!:


It's sort of lost in this picture because I didn't get a chance to crop it, but you get the idea I think. I made it from Noro Silk Garden, which I hope will be coming into the shop very soon! It is very nice yarn, and gets much softer when it's washed.