COOOOOOOLD Outside!

My car won't start this morning. I drive an old Mercedes Benz diesel and it must live outside because our garage is stuffed with bar junk. When you own a business you no longer have a garage you can park in.
So, the kids MAY get a day off and I MAY get a day of knitting. If it gets warmer as the sun rises and I can get her started, they will go to school and I will go to work. Don't know which I'm hoping for.

I finished the Lane Cervinia sox last night. I have several colorways and I used the turquoise and blue varigated with a solid black for heels, toes and cuffs. Sadly I forgot to do the heel in the black but they still look great and feel wonderful. I washed them and hung to dry overnight so the yarn would bloom a bit and be fluffier on my feet. Now they feel just right.

I started on a new pair of dress-ish sox for Tom. Using black Lorna's and navy Berroco Ultra Alpaca. I hope they go fast. I have three other pair of sox in the form of yarn balls sitting on my couch waiting patiently.

Long Time, No See!

Okay so I'm sorry for ignoring you my sweet blog. Times being what they are, not enough time to do all the things I want, too much on my plate, I stopped stopping by. Our relationship was brief but I'm back now. Please forgive.

Now that the apologies are out of the way let's talk about me.
I started knitting again in November. I spend a few days a week at my tanning salon (as if I didn't have enough to do) and found that the slow season is perfect for taking up the needles again and getting ready for the cold of winter. I actually finally fnished the Principal Socks show in a post below, just in time for the holiday.

I also got a few new sox for me done and a pair for the DH as part of his Christmas gift. He claims he'd wear any color I knit for him so I'm thinking of a raspberry and purple stripe with black heels, toes and cuff ribbing. We'll see if he really will wear any color.
Hope they fit me. . .

I went through the sock drawer and tossed out all the store-bought-about-to-wear- out sox I found. Which means I need to knit something like 10 new pair for myself. I bought a couple skeins of Lorna's Laces worsted in Red Rover and some Charcoal for the compliment and will try the worsted for sox. Could be bad, but I was thinking of doing something really interesting and making the sole with the garter stitch out. So my feet would be standing on the knit stitch in case the thickness of the yarn would be a problem. I'll let ya know how it turns out. I love LL yarn. I swear it's the softest yarn on the planet with Mountian Colors a close second.

Oh, and Happy New Year!
2008 is going to be a great year!
(do you remember sitting in your living room on Eve 2000 thinking the world was going to explode? That was 8 years ago!!!!! )

Later, but not too much later-
Ginny

MY BIRTHDAY. . .

My 40th birthday was Nov 17. I expected my hubby to do something big, but not too big.
I was wrong.
MY day started with delivering my kids to school as I always do on school days. I got home and the DH had taken the day off to spend with me. We went to breakfast and I fell off my diet (low carb, gotta lose fat) BIG and HARD! It tasted great.
When we got home I actually got to take a nap! It felt so good to sleep in the middle of the day. Later that evening my 12 year old daughter had a voice recital. I got to hear her sing and find that she has some talent. Very lovely.
And lastly that night, the DH and I went and and had dinner at a fondue place. We STARTED with the chocolate dessert! We were going to end with chocolate, but by the time we ended we were both tired and full. I told everone not to wake me till noon. . .

BUT that wasn't the end!
The next day was Saturday. Since we own a bar and grill, we'd made plans to go watch the Ohio State/Michigan game at the bar. Little did I know what was to come! As the day wore on, I was ready to go home and Tom (DH) told me that we were not going home!! With the help of my 12 year old, he had packed a bag for me and we were going to stay in a hotel. In ESTES PARK!! IN THE STANLEY HOTEL!!!!! For Stephen King fans, this is the hotel that the remake of The Shining was made in. VERY NICE! He actually didn't tell me where we were going. I had to wait until we got closer and guess.

At the bar that night we had karaoke going. Tom rewrote the words to "You're 16" for me and sang it during karaoke. I felt so special!

In the morning on Sunday we went to breakfast again in Estes Park and walked around the shops. It was beautiful, clear and cool. Tom even waited for me while I shopped at The Stitchin' Den in Estes. I bought some sox yarn in black (100% baby alpaca) for sox for him ( a thanks for the weekend) and some green for me in alpaca/silk. And a couple more merino skeins. He even carried the bag to the car for me.

For my birthday, I bought myself some knitpicks needles in sock sizes and two sets of size 4 tips and 24" cables to try out the interchangables. Oh, and a KIPer bag in medium. Hopefully it will be here in a week or so. I'm so excited!

OTN:
Two toe up in Mountain Colors Mystic Lake (for me)

Two toe up in Mountain Colors in Alpine (for a friend)

Two toe up in Lion Brands Jaquard (blue and brown) for the DH

Two toe up in an unknown blend peach, baby sox for friends new baby girls.

Hope you are well,
Ginny

Principal Sox

I'm working on a pair of sox for my kids' principal. Mountain Colors yarn (yummy) in a green/blue/purple colorway called Alpine. As soon as I'm done with her sox (she's a size 10 so it could be a week or so) I'm going to make a pair for myself. I also got another MC yarn in Wildflower. Talk about nice!!! I just need to remember that they are hand wash only.
Wish the picture was brighter. . .

I've also got to make 4 sets of hats/mittens for the kids before the cold really sets in. It's been coming and going but in December it will come and stay for a longer visit. Gotta have warm heads and hands for that.

Stay warm. . .
Ginny

Adventures of a Yarn Snob and Bar Wench

Hey All,
Long time reader, first time poster. . .

I guess I think I have something to say.
I'm sure that this whole blog will be nothing but the rantings of someone with more to do than hours to do it in, this will be a place I can vent to like minded people.

I'm Ginny.
Nice to meet you.

My title says adventures of a yarn snob and a bar wench.
Please let me elaborate on that.

I'm a yarn snob. I won't use yarn with acrylic in it. I know there are some great yarns that have a bit of acrylic in them and they are very nice. I've knit before with them and even have a great pair of sox made with an acrylic/wool blend. They look great and wear well and make my feet sweat. So I don't use it.
I'm also a needle snob. Addi Turbos ONLY for me. Expensive so I end up saving for them (I buy them in pairs as I do toe up, two at a time, on two circs) but they are the best needles out there. I gave all my other needles to the schools my kids go to.

I'm a bar wench. I (and my husband) own a bar and grill outside Boulder, CO. It's not the greatest job in the world. It's really pretty hard. I'd sell it to the first person who wanted to buy it. Sometimes if you tune in here, my rant may not be on yarn or my lastest knitting project, but what a bad day I had at work. OK, it's not that bad. Some days I really enjoy my job. BUT like most others, some days the bar has me wanting to pull my hair out, spin it with wool, and knit sox out of it. I'm sure you understand. . .




Top picture is my first sox with a pattern in it. It's a basketweave that looks really cool in the Lorna's Laces Girly Stripe. I love the shoes, right from the 80's ( never throw things away) and they show my cool socks.

The green above are a pair that I did for my son. The green is Pine and the other is Camo both from Lorna's Laces. I caught him running around in the street with these on and no shoes!! I took them away for a month and gave them back. He wore them out about the same time he outgrew them.




Baby sox are my favorite way to use up the last bits of yarn after making something. I do these and keep them in a drawer for when someone has a new baby.


Well, all for now.