apple valley yarn company

i am at a new job! i love it so much! apple valley yarn company. back with the old crew from lily lane knits. it is such a blessing, the shop in bay city was not a perfect fit.

adam and i are looking at houses to buy. we just looked at a total fixer upper. the upstairs has minimal electric wired to it. a ceiling light or two and two plugs!

upside - i could have a couple of sheep or goats!

current projects:

tomten for taso, socks for taso, socks for abe, socks for my mom, socks for adam, sweater for me, sweater for a lil girl, hopefully that's it!

for the yarn shop, i am working on a baby sweater, the lace ripple scarf, and soon a rug from brown sheeps burly spun.

i am going to start a mochimochi land pattern and a little turtle knits fulled crown for taso's third birthday.

i booked a real live musician for taso's birthday. he is nutso over music. this is a fairly local children's environmental-type folky guy, Joe Reilly. check him out at spiritboy.org

check me out on ravelry "hamadryadmomma"

Boo Bear Buns

Hey knitters, I just entered a contest over at Boo Bear Buns in honor of the new fabrics they are debuting. slingsandsacks.blogspot.com

and it's February...

Two weeks ago I started my new job... at A Piece of Ewe. A local yarn store. This is my second job at a yarn store. So far, it is going pretty well, even the childcare fell right into place.
Lots of fun yarns and people to talk to about knitting. It feels so productive to help people with their knitting all day. It feels good to diagnose their issue and help them through it.

I am just about finished with a Wonderful Wallaby for Taso. I am using Nashua Creative Focus Worsted. It is a single-ply blend of 75% wool and 25% alpaca. I wouldn't pick it for a sweater again, but it will be fine this once. Abe actually has a sweater knit from the same yarn from my mother-in-law. There are a lot of rough and pokey guard hairs from the alpaca, takes away from how soft the yarn should be. This yarn seems to be more suited to fulling projects. I have seen Fiber Trends clogs and a fulled purse knit from the yarn and those look great!

I am stalled on a sweater for Abe because I am not enjoying the way the variegated Schaefer is working up.

I cleaned out my yarn closet to take pictures for my Stash on ravelry.com and found 5+ projects that are now in a bag waiting to be frogged. A skirt, the lace was fun to knit, but I have lost a ton of weight since I started it. A fulled CD box that I lost interest in. I don't even remember what else is in there now! Oh, a Pi shawl that I lost track of where I was and I want to use the yarn for a hat anyway.

the pilot cap from the previous post sold! finished another in bartlett's farm yarn last night and have one just about done (if i could just put on a podcast and start knitting!)
hopefully tomorrow i will be able to take some pictures, update the etsy, the blog, and maybe organize my hard drive as i prepare to welcome a new laptop!
the boys are doing great. taso is growing tall and his sentences longer. abe is crawling and pulling himself up on everything.
besides things for the shop, i am currently working on a knitting pure and simple tunic for abe and a tomten for taso.
i would really enjoy starting a pair of socks for adam soon, although in the time it may take me to knit him a pair of socks (size 13/14!!!) i could easily knit myself two. i have a gift cert. for a LYS, hoping some sock yarn for him pops out at me.
i am going to try to put an etsy mini on my blog now.

Just finished and blocked this merino LTK Pilot Cap. It is a trade for one of Adam's holiday-times gifts.

It is the infant size, but certainly won't fit Abe at almost 8 months. He, along with Taso and Adam, are hard to fit into the standard hat sizes, though. They all have large brains.
Taso said I should embroider something on it, but I think this hat is done.

Chullo

I finished a patterned chullo (pattern: EZs fast cap) . I needed merino to knit it late Tuesday evening, so I picked up some Paton's at Meijer's and went to work.
Finished, lanolized, and ready to be handed over to it's owner tomorow afternoon.
Also included, my Abe and I relaxing on the sofa.

Knit List

Knit list

Not a to-do list, more of a “what have you done” list…

Bold the things you have ever knit
Italics the ones you plan to do sometime
Leave the rest

Afghan
I-cord
Garter stitch
Knitting with metal wire
Shawl
Stockinette stitch
Socks: top-down
Socks: toe-up
Knitting with camel yarn
Mittens: Cuff-up
Mittens: Tip-down
Hat
Knitting with silk
Moebius band knitting
Participating in a KAL
Sweater
Drop stitch patterns
Knitting with recycled/secondhand yarn
Slip stitch patterns
Knitting with banana fibre yarn
Domino Knitting (modular knitting)
Twisted stitch patterns
Knitting with bamboo yarn
Two end knitting
Charity knitting
Knitting with soy yarn
Cardigan
Toy/doll clothing
Knitting with circular needles
Baby items
Knitting with your own handspun yarn
Slippers
Graffiti knitting
Continental knitting
Designing knitted garments
Cable stitch patterns (incl. Aran)
Lace patterns
Publish a knitting book
Scarf
Teaching a child to knit
American/English knitting (as opposed to continental)
Knitting to make money
Button holes
Knitting with alpaca
Fair Isle knitting
Norwegian knitting
Dyeing with plant colours
Knitting items for a wedding
Household items (dishcloths, washcloths, tea cosies…)
Knitting socks (or other small tubular items)
Knitting with someone else’s handspun yarn
Knitting with dpns
Holiday related knitting
Teaching a male how to knit
Bobbles
Knitting for a living
Knitting with cotton
Knitting smocking
Dying yarn
Knitting art
Knitting two socks on two circulars simultaneously
Fulling/felting
Knitting with wool
Textured knitting
Kitchener BO
Purses/bags
Knitting with beads
Swatching
Entrelac
Long Tail CO
Knitting and purling backwards
Machine knitting
Knitting with self patterning/self striping/variegating yarn
Stuffed Toys
Baby items
Knitting with cashmere
Darning
Jewelry
Knitting with synthetic yarn
Writing a pattern
Gloves
Intarsia
Knitting with linen
Knitting for preemies
Tubular CO
Freeform knitting
Short rows
Cuffs/fingerless mits/armwarmers
Pillows
Knitting a pattern from an online knitting magazine
Rug
Knitting on a loom
Thrummed knitting
Knitting a gift
Knitting for pets
Shrug/bolero/poncho
Knitting with dog/cat hair
Hair accessories
Knitting in public