Single-handedly blogging...

No, I mean it. Eli's insistence on being held has left me more handicapped than last week's nail salon adventure. Shorter this week, btw, and painted 'Cha-Ching Cherry'... they leave me feeling just terribly cute. I think I'm gonna keep 'em. You gotta watch out for That Kelly. She is such a bad influence.

The AGA is restored to working order, with a new burner unit and thermostat, and a thorough cleaning inside and, well, the inside is really clean. The outside got the standard razor blade scraping of the bad bits, and some BonAmi and Mr. Clean's magic eraser. Passable for a magazine shoot; definitely not AGA showroom shiny. Good enough for Becher Haus, 'cuz we're just gonna mess it up again anyhow.

The new fabric shelves are fantabulous and lovely and perfect. Now, how do I go about asking for more of them? I'd have a photo of them both here, but I'm a lazy, forgetful lout who keeps forgetting the camera. Tomorrow, dearies... I'll have Melly take the photos herself, if all else fails. I had a whole fun post planned, but the heat of the day sucked it away, and the strangeness of this new lifestyle keeps weirding me out, and my kids were grouchy butts and meatloaf... I came home from work and built meatloaves. Ten tiny ones, and my butty kids ate eight of them, and took showers and now I just miss that man who is cute and lives here and who vacuumed the whole house today with the new Sego vacuum. Tomorrow I am going to relearn short-row heels, drag the spinning wheel into the shop, and start planning quilt kits, because I'm told it's the wave of the future. I'd had such high hopes for the fabric bits of Clementine's. Quilt kits really? As in, just gimme one of those and I'll make the exact carbon copy of the thing on the front ? Oh, dear. But if that's what it takes, alrighty then...

Amy Butler patterns due to arrive any day. If you have volunteered to sew, say, a skirt , then be alerted that in a day or two you'll have some deciding to do. Swatches will be on the blog... maybe we should have everyone vote on which ones should become what objects? hmmmm... so, lil' dude is asleep now. Have a fab evening, and yes, to all who've asked, I *do* mail order for yarn, fabric, etc. Call the shop and let me know your heart's desire. (store number is three one seven, seven three six, oh, oh,one, two) How's that for avoiding those sneaky robots? g'night. Cami

Unintentional Eli

I hadn't realized Eli was even in the room when I took this photo of the south wall of the shop yesterday, as he was being quiet. Stealthy quiet. The reason ? He was in possession of his brother's Playmobil guy and was racing him around the tops of fabric bolts with a hot wheels Jeep and a Batmobile. Drivin' it like he stole it.

So, what you can see of the shop isn't too detailed. I'm not showing the other wall till the 'ladies' get to the shop. Currently they are residing in the Crocker's garage, and it's just been waaay to muggy and hot... you might even say 'sultry' , to get their final coat of paint on. And the ladies musn't be 'tacky' when we put the fabric bolts on them.

The cutting table's progress was updated today as well. It seems all appendages are assembled and doing well, but again the Indiana humidity is stalling their otherwise4 (it had to happen sooner or later) rapid growth and development. I'd show you photos but, alas, I am too thick to find them, even when I move them to the "my pictures" folder. Bill/Boris has a *lot* of crap in there. Pretty cutting table photos have been swallowed, but when I can swipe them from my own camera, you'll be the4 first to know.

Today was a fine day at the shop, and I *finally* had some knitters come in. The past two days were deadly dull and lonesome. The heat here is making the prospect of hunting yarn and fabric seem pretty ridiculous, so to my customers and sit&knitters, thank you for coming. And Naomi found the mugs. I wanted them, and she hunted them down for me. So now there's tea, and as soon as I have the logistics of keeping cream for the4 coffee fresh, we'll be all set. Scones, Red... there'll be scones. And cookies. And petit pain au chocolat. And caramel-pecan stickies... oh, I do despise pms. It turns me into the most crazed kind of bakery whore. If I wasn't so tired and everyone else already in bed, I think I might start a batch of brioche dough this minute. Perhaps Tuesday, after the AGA repairman comes.
Back to Rosemary&Thyme. As you were, knitters. Cami

chair info for Jaye

Pembrook is the manufacturer, stock# is 1346, and the fabric I had them covered in is called "Galaxy", colorway of 'Marble'. Just another day here at the shop, where the most pressing decision is where to go get lunch from... later, knittas. Cami

As requested: the whore-y nails

What a shock to realize my hands don't have a 'slimming angle' to be viewed from. *sigh* Oh well. And as an aside, I came home tonight to a cold AGA... the 'keep filled' order we have with our propane company has, yet again, failed us. The AGA uses gallons of the stuff daily, but no matter what we do (and mind you, we pay this *amerigas* company almost four hundred monthly for the privilege of running out continually) they still can't seem to pull their heads out so they could see daylight. The cloud of funk from the dryer is ghastly. Evidently the 'bottom of the tank' brought forth a bit of carbon as it burned the last gasps of gas (which explains why the burner unit on the AGA won't light) and NOW, readers, I have soot covered clothing... fresh out of the dryer. My pink bra is gray... with grayer streaks. Wanna see?
I realize it's hard to appreciate how dingy and soot covered everything is... but this bra was pale pink. Now it's some weird brown/gray with STREAKS of soot! Gah! I am so having a temper tantrum at those nut-knobs tomorrow. And how to get the weird lighter-fluid smell out of my dryer? Grrrrr. Gotta go now... me and whore-y nails are exhausted and must rest if we are to get people on the rack tomorrow at Ameristupidgas Co. Cami

Where are the bums?

Okay, so today has been a bit of a disappointment. I've had exactly two sales (thanks, Kathies) and gotten two purchase orders submitted, including an interesting phone call to Amy Butler's studio. Could I be a bigger nerd? 'Cuz it was the highlight of my day. Sad, but true. Me and th4e (I am sooo leaving that new mutant 'e' in) whorish nails are having a great time sitting in the new chairs, knitting, listening to the boys flatten boxes in the back room, and clickety-clacking on these here laptop keys. Like I wasn't hampered enough with the cramped keyboard size... to have added talons to the mix is just plain nutty.



Too bad I didn't think to pack the camera, so you could see a slew of butt-less chairs, but that's okay. They'll keep for now. I could've also shown you the geeky sign I made from the sandwich board Bette brought over last week. She'd painted the inside panels on a crib head/foot boards with chalkboard paint... it's sitting right outside my door this very minute. Oddly enough, she called me from a knitting shop on Bainbridge Island just today and asked me what kind of STR I would like...



Sorry, I must've passed out again. Socks That Rock. Coming to me. In a super-secret colorway I haven't seen before. I'm not even going to look it up, because that would ruin the surprise. Okay, that's total bs. I'll be back in a sec...

Huh. There isn't any of that specific colorway listed... anywhere. We'll have to wait 'till it arrives back from WA with the traveler responsible for it's safe passage. Okay, I've got a wee bit o' straightening up to do, and we're out of here in just 38 minutes. Possibly this is the longest day ever. Good thing I was holed up in a yarn and fabric shop, and not, say, home... where I would've eaten my weight in those ice cream 'drumstick' things. Bill bought the good ones, with the chunk of chocolate in the tip of the cone. Later, crafty-mommas. Eli is about to launch himself off a stack of fabric bolts... Cami

Kelly is a bad influence...

...and I now have the fingernails of a Vietnamese whore. There, I said it. They are long, clicky, and painted exactly the same shade of red as licorice. Twizzlers, not those crappy RedVines. I'm handicapped beyond what I can comfortably bear... I can't even open a soda can, for Pete's sake, and forget about typing the letter 'e'... it now comes with a sidekick. They look like this... 'e4'. Kee4n, huh? What's even better, now my knitting comes with extra "flair". I simply brandish my new, store-bought talons (do the chickens have large talons?) at the yarn and it just does my bidding. I am Dragonlady, after all. Doesn't do to anger Dragonlady.

I just realized that my hands resemble what I always imagined 'Miss Piggy's' mitts would look like if she ever took off the elbow length gloves. Oh well, we only go 'round once in this life (forgive me if you're a Buddhist... or an Asian sex worker, for that matter), and I figured what the heck. They might be amusing. I hadn't thought ahead to grooming, contact lenses, and what I'd do in the event of a toilet emergency. Lucky for me my waist is the fattest part of me... those britches shuck right down when you're really in a hurry. Zippers. Who needs 'e4m?

The sewing machine is going to work with me tomorrow. I think my mother gave it some sort of complex, and it has been complaining bitterly ever since she left, moaning and pissing about being abandoned, and improperly loaded bobbins and the like. And there is the little matter of the sock monkey quilt which I'm obligated to finish, even though there is a delectable slew of fabrics screaming for my affections in the shop. I'm chalking it up to 'character development' and taking the torture like a girl. But when it's over and done with, I'm making a quilt with big honkin' pieces. No fussy at all.

Still haven't gotten all my purchase orders ready to fax tomorrow, so this will have to be good night to all you crafty persons of dubious taste in blog reading. Possibly tomorrow will bring some 'remote blogging' from Clementine's... stay tune4d

I need a wife!

Or a secretary. Or a darn good housekeeper. Possibly all three. Today promises to be a great day at the shop. How do I know, you ask? Well, the big advantage to weekends in the shop, is that the last three hours I'm open, the kids will Not. Be. There. Te-he. Yes, everyone has been kind about the fact that I have a shop 'with kids included', but when your (my) children go into full jack-ass mode because they suspect I will not allow anyone else to meet 'psycho-mom' and I'm really trying not to frighten anyone (or have child services called down upon my head) it gets a wee bit stressful. So, hell yeah, I'm looking forward to weekend afternoons. Today's project will be to take a quick inventory of patterns and such that shockingly already need to be reordered. I honestly had no idea the Frog Tree scarf would be so popular. There will also be kits available for the 'Dream in Color' baby sweaters, "Tulip" and "Rocketry". I need to get another order together for their yarns as well. Are you seeing where a wife/secretary/housekeeper would be a huge bonus right about now? I am slowly getting 'the hang' of the business, but I have never enjoyed struggling while there were onlookers. so this process is good and humbling. I'll add to this post later... now it's time to get "ready for work"...

in which Cami is forced to recycle her post...

Ah-ha. I've been able to get 'the patters' pic to post. This gave me absolute fits, not being able to show you photos of some wonderful new knitters I've met, who have an odd habit of "patting" the yarn as they knit it. This behavior goes beyond sniffing yarn, or squeezing it, or hoarding it in the freezer. It takes fiber-holism to a new level, and while I can empathize with the perpetrators,I would like to take this opportunity to point out why some knitters aren't getting very far on their beautiful lace scarves *coughErincough*... But seriously, if I had any qualms about being around strange people all day, I needn't have worried. I'm meeting the best kind of people in the shop... crafty, knitty, stitchin' chicks. And having the best time, even if you factor in the squirrley kids today. If you are local and don't already know, I'm open noon-five tomorrow (Sunday) and the shop will be kid-free after 2 p.m. Wa-hoo! I'll be the one in the glider chair, getting muh knitty on...

Blogger is still reporting 'error on page' when I try to post pics, so I'll show you later. It was just the odd "patting of the fleece" and a photo I took on the way into town today of our new 'neighbors'... the four horses of the apocalypse. They are adorable, and very interested in the passing of cars/trucks. I'm getting them some apple treats, and may possibly consider walking down the road to feed them personally (with their owners permission, a'course) Later, knittas. Cami

Thanks to some helpful advice, I was able to get at least one photo to post, though re-starting to post another isn't an option right now. I'm an ol' tired woman who needs some sleep. And I jsut realized I didn't get both 'paints' in the photo-op. Gah. Will try again after I buy apple treats. C

"how many customers does it take..."

to pay the rent? Four. How many patrons does it take to rescue a brand new shop keeper from the brink of despair? Yup. Four again. And they were lovely. Elizabeth, Kellie, Erin, and Barb, you guys totally made my day. That and the fact that I found a way to extort slave labor out of my mother. It seems boring her to tears in a knitting/patchwork shop one day, then providing her with both a sewing machine and pre-cut strips of Amy Butler's "Belle" fabrics the next was the winning combination. Gentle Reader, in the span of an afternoon I have an almost completed set of "coin" strips, which are to be set with solid strips of another of the "Belle" fabrics... it is going to be gorgeous I tell you, just oooh, so pretty. And fun. Definitely not stodgy. Not that I'm judging or anything.



Speaking of, has anyone carefully analyzed the tag results on Emily's blog? Hmmmm? Not to point any fingers, but can I just take a wee moment here to shout "GO TEAM!!!!"? and "Rapid Rag Relayers ROCK" and whomever is up next, keep those fingers warm and nimble, and don't poop out on us... we're doing great. I'd also like to cheer on Gaylen's team... she's a 'Happy Yarn Hag'... I'd like for them to come in second, so, "GO HAGS!" to those gals as well.



GMarie called me on opening day and I nearly fainted... how weird is it to hear someblogger's voice out of the blue, or rather, out of the phone... it was an unexpected treat and I was so flattered and grateful for the attention. You should know this about Gaylen Marie also... she has volunteered... of her own free will... to sew clothing samples for the shop. I'm getting together Amy Butler's patterns practically as I type this. Enjoy the vaycay, my lovely, crafty friend... you'll likely find yourself very busy sewing "future skirts" in the near future.



Is my policy a good one, or am I 'taking advantage' of the pool of stitchers by offering the make it and (in six months) take it approach? So far, (in my vast two days experience) having samples for the general public to fondle and snort has helped make the sale. The 'Frog Tree' scarf in particular. This again is why I'm keeping mum tied to the sewing machine. Tomorrow I'm putting the pieced top in the shop window, then mailing it off for machine quilting on Monday. She leaves on Saturday, so I'm feeling like I need to push,er,'utilize' her for all she's worth. She really likes sewing, or at least she did 'till today *snort* and I hope seeing the fabrics actually made up into a blanket will move the stuff along. I don't want to seem too pushy, but seriously, if you want to make a sample, send me an e-mail and volunteer your 'special skillz' and perhaps I'll be able to take you up on it. 'Cuz having the shop has so far meant far less time for fun and creating, and more time for anxiety and ulcer-growing.



Tomorrow is Bill's birthday. I'd had him take the day off, so we could go see a movie... yes, I had *totally* forgotten about having a *store*. There. That's my stupid confession for the week. I forgot about opening the shop. Could I be any more "duh"? It really is fun, I love meeting new knitters (no quilters yet... but I've been told they are coming... soon, and in packs), and once the freak-out newness of the daily operations wears off, I promise I'll be much more pleasant to be around. And Mel, your yarn should should go into the que for shipping tomorrow. I'll call with details, but it's coming straight to you... whew. Gotta go sneak up on my mother... she's being too quiet. Cami

Cake...

Not much to write about, so I'm posting two of yesterday's photos. Lilly is the squirrel in the green dress, with assorted siblings crowded about her. The cake is now gone. Contrary to how it may have looked, it was a supremely tasty chocolate layer cake, entirely from 'scratch', and the hands and mind of a twelve year old. Even the frostings... both of them.

Tomorrow is the first day of the shop being open. I may have an awful go of it, but Melly, good-natured and always up for a bit of fun, has graciously offered her services to 'Clementine' for the big day. I suspect she may want front row seats for my undoing, but I'll not turn away good help, especially when it's attached to a such a beaming personality. She's cute, too... never mind what you hear about girls with 'good personalities'... I'm bringing the coffee, Miss M... see you tomorrow! Cami

Post-party post, or, Happy Birthday, Lillian

This was supposed to be the 'Happy Birthday, Lilly' post, and I was all set to show you photos of the kids, the way cool Potter-esque cake Madeleine baked for her sister, and a rare photo of me and my mum... but blogger bites and not a single photo will post.

I have no blog fodder tonight anyway. I got two fake molars this morning. A 'permanent' porcelain on the bottom right, and it's 'temporary' matching upper. In another two weeks I go in for more torment and then will have a matched set of "glass teeth". Not quite as impressive as a glass eye, or a wooden leg, but there is a certain cache to having dumped so much yarn money into my mouth. At least if my remains are ever found in a ditch, the authorities will know I wasn't a hobo.

Other than my mother visiting (surprise - she came, and is staying for the opening on the 15th!) and Lilly turning eight (27 hours of v-bac labor put to good use), today was just a small breather before the excitement/trauma of getting the shop open and finding out a friend's family is having a heart sickening rough patch to go through. I know other people's problems are not mine, but she's one of us, and all afternoon I kept feeling like someone had tried to kick me in the stomach. If you are reading this, good woman, know that our best wishes are with you, and that I've already said about forty prayers for your family to come through this time of torment stronger and more steadfast than ever. Nothing is insurmountable, and you just have to keep getting through 'the next five minutes'... I can't fix things, but I can listen if you need an ear. Or a really big adult beverage. I can mix the hell out of some ice and tequila. (please tell me you cracked a smile, 'cuz I'd hate to have to bring up the pole-dancing in the back of the store...)

Anyway, muh knittas, something is up with craptastic-wonderblog-blogger, so I'm out for now. Go knit (or sew... see, I'm well-rounded) something fabulous, or at least useful. Come on back to find out how 'grand opening Wednesday' turns out. Btw, I met a 'someone' who knows fabric lines by name and designer... How cool do we think that is? I *know*... and she's crafty. Quite possibly we'll be inducting her into the fold... stay tuned... Cami

Photos fur (Bari) Elise

Yesterday, as I was getting back into Bigrrrl, after dropping off one of Hapless Laptop's useless appendages at the "UPS Store" (the UPC scanner was basically morgue-fodder... and how stupid is it to call a shipping center a 'store'?) I noticed a pretty moth on the pavement. I picked it up, thinking it was already dead. It was immobile, and I know they only have one good day in them after they come out of the chrysalis, so I didn't feel too guilty about picking him up. We do home school, after all. Imagine my surprise when the coolness of the car interior revived him a bit. He rode nicely on the console all the way home, occasionally wiping at his face with a foreleg, antennae twisting a bit. He came in and just sat, listing to one side as he began to fade. This morning Mothy was 'all gone', but left me with a pretty cool 'shell' for putting in a small shadow box.
Things have gotten away from us a bit here at Becher Haus, and with my mom coming to visit, I thought it best to tidy up laundry before going in to do 'shop stuff' today. The children aren't making themselves too useful, but the cat has been an enormous aide in fuzzing up the clean clothes...
And that's about all I've got. Need to gather everyone up, throw them into the Bigrrrl, get lunch handed to us through the car window, and spend some quality time with my new 'book keeper' lady. I'll have more for you later, maybe even photos of yarn. And fabric. Or any other bugs I come across. Later. Cami p.s. I can't find foreign punctuation on my computer, so if anyone's offended by my butchered German in today's post title, my apologies.

One Lucky Guitar

Today was a wee bit hectic, but the morning rolled into a nice afternoon, with some very nice friends, who came by the store and basically helped a knitta out. Redrhonda took home hapless laptop and is, as I write this post, re-organizing the entire inventory list. Yes, you read that right. Rhonda takes no prisoners when it comes to organization. As the band Cake said in their lyrics "she is fast, thorough, and sharp as a tack". Rhonda, you'll be needing a short skirt and a looooong.... jacket. (Sorry if I lost any of you with the song reference. We be Cake fans at Becher Haus.)

Miss Melly helped put out some inventory. She built three wire yarn barns. The inhospitable kind with the corner bits that have to clip together, only she cut the dead weight and merged all three into one giamongous, seven and a half foot long wall of yarn. It is impressive. More stunning still is how little actual swearing and cursing she required to git 'er done. She also did a fair amount of 'boutiqueing' for the shop, and helped find the sales counter. I love having handy friends.

When I got home there was a reminder of tomorrow's 'fashion show' for the "Matilda Jane" line of clothing for girls and their emaciated mothers. Now, as the mother of two gals who look adorable in matchy-matchy dresses (and because this particular brand of torturing them never gets old for me), I had decided I'd go check out what's new for fall. I went to the website hoping to catch a glimpse of what the 'flavor' was to be. You know when you see something spectacular, something so fresh and alive and wonderful that it just stuns you speechless (in my case, a good cuppla seconds) and right away you want to know how you can make it your own? Desire, craving, jealousy, all-out greed. The art on this website was stunning. Just simple photos, sepia, or faded, but all lovely. The colors somber, but strangely joyful. I had the sense of leaves crisply falling to the ground, of the smell of acorns and apples, the cool breeze wafting the scent of earth and tree bark to me. It was web design as 'art'. Not the craptastic templates you see everywhere, but a real study in who their client was. Who are THEY? They are 'One Lucky Guitar' and I read up a lil' bit about them, but as I read on, I came to the realization that I. Must. Have. Them. And I probably can't afford them. *sniff* Clementine has already weighed in on this matter, to point out that they didn't design a 'retail' site, and who the hell can't use the sepia function on their camera phone, and a whole lotta other unflattering things about geeks and artsy-types, and especially about the two combined... something or other about "cloning sheep to do web design"... I didn't stay for the rest of her rant. Shop stress is taking a toll on her, and she's vowed to stay in the gin bottle until I prove the credit card reader works. At least I know where to find her.

That's all for now, gentle reader. I'm off to watch the chirruns' eat their dinner, then it's a little knitting and movie time for moi.
p.s. The other half of redrhonda, a deliciously dark-haired man we'll call 'Scott' has graciously agreed to make Clementine a new cutting table for the shop. She actually insisted (from inside her bottle of Beefeater) that I be sure to thank him. She reminded me how much he dislikes 'non-Olympic' wood-working projects. We are both so very grateful for his consideration. Cami

My kingdom (or stash) for a brain

This is ridiculous. How in the sam-hell am I supposed to find the time to do all the required typing of data, when this notebook keyboard is just. all. wrong. Buttons seem squished together (they are, duh.) and I haven't mastered the no-mouse thing. And my backspace button, which I use all the time, seems to be sitting where I can't reach it. I'm not even going to 'share' with you how many times in this post already I've accidentally typed a series of 'equals' signs. Ugh. It's enough to make a crazy person, well, *nuts*.

On the upside, I got three complete accounts logged into the inventory, but I'm waiting for my Brown Sheep and Schaefer orders to arrive. I think there are a few accounts I'm going to keep vague, like the "artsy" yarns. If it's a one-of, or a handpainted grouping, what is the point of assigning it an item number? Or the huge order of yarns for fulling (it has become a peeve of mine... just today, I think, that no one uses the proper term for shrinking a knitted item.) I shall use it. Y'all just keep up, k? Anyway, all that Nature Spun worsted, seventy six colors in all, does *not* require meticulous record keeping. If the wall looks a bit wan on blue, I'll order some. It isn't that huge of a shop. I have all the fabric grouped by designer, rather than particular print. This will suffice until I have an e-store running at the same time. Which, without a geek... I have *no freekin' idea* what hole Megan the wonder-geek fell down, but I'll need a bit more assistance if she's going to get those socks ('Motherlode' from Lorna's Laces) on her piggies.

In other news, I'd like to inform all rag-taggers that the 'ball band' dishrag is taking forever. I'm soooo glad I opted for the hexagon-shaped one, even with the bobbles and eyelets. 'Cuz after the eyelet rounds, it gets twelve stitches smaller every other round. Keen, huh? I sure thought so. Brilliant design. Of course now I'm mired in the ball-band version, in a sky blue/lime green combination. You'll see it when I'm done. Right now, I'm remote blogging from the dining room table, trying to get used to this stinking laptop. It's the no mouse thing that's killing me. Tried to buy one at Target yesterday, while shopping for temporary yarn displays... do you know how hard it is to find 'Vista' compatible anything? It was like we'd entered a giant, time-sucking worm-hole... it even took an embarrassing amount of time to find a gig flash drive that would work. Annalea, I'd love to follow your advice, but there is seriously no extra cash bits, and the lady helping me with Quickbooks got a little panicky when I mentioned the swap-out to her. So many details, not enough brain cells.

Well, I think I'm starting to get the hang of this keyboard, now to spell-check and be done for the night. Tomorrow will find me in the shop, kid less, in the morning, then hopefully knitting with some of muh knittas later in the day. With a lovely, temporary wire-grid structure mucking up my rockin' yarn and fabric shop. Btw, my mother has declined an invite to come help (i.e. babysit her devil-spawn grandchildren for free) because she'd be "in the way"... y'all don't know the extent of my wrath. Just wait till she needs a nursing home. I might not be a very careful 'shopper', if you get my meaning... until tomorrow, when I hopefully will be better rested, less cranky, and possibly wearing underwear. Lazy, lazy girl... Cami

The Ladies have started to arrive...

I had to make an early morning (okay, it was nine-thirty) run into town to open the doors for the ladies to be carried in by burly furniture movers. Readers, meet the ladies...

Pretty, aren't they? They are for the knittas who will frequent the shop. More precisely, I would have to say they are for a certain tall redhead, and a Harley-mama... except I know two such knittas. I'll just change out the personalized lumbar pillows (in the design phase currently) when the other one is present. And I keep meaning to show off some of my swap-yarn... this one is called "Karma" and I just love it. Good call, Stephanie. A most excellent color combination, and one I can't wait to dig into. Behold...

Obviously, a person who got sleep on a routine basis could've taken a better photo, but I think I captured the color range pretty well. Palest blue, to bright turquoise, to brown, to green... a nice, Lilly Pulitzer kind of green. I don't like anything half-way, and most assuredly not wishy-washy colors. I love this colorway. Sadly, the other skein is unavailable for comment, but it is also beautiful; a cobalt blue, cocoa, and ginger colorway called "Cannon Beach". More lovely 'Yarn Pirate' yarn. I'd do a link, but I'm ready to fall over, just from the effort of breathing, it seems. But I can't sign off for the day till I show you this:

You know in the Bible, when you get to the boring histories of everybody (and so and so begat so and so, who begat so and so... for *ever*, until you long for another plague or a good whore story just to break up the monotony...) well, this is what Carrie 'begat' at my house... see the two balls of cotton on the left? Looking for all the world like they don't even like each other, let alone ever consider breeding. Ha. Do y'all see what happened in my house today? Seven balls of dishrag cotton. Seven. I'm going to be knitting 'warshrags' for quite a little while, with all the breeding of string going on here. I only ran into the store for a minute, en-route to the post office to mail off the rag-tag box. I never saw this coming. Gotta go do a bit of inventory inputting now. Type at y'all knittas later. Unless I get buried under a pile of cotton skeins. Apparently they breed like rabbits. Cami

All in a day's work

The brain-in-a-box never left the building, so not only did I send a cop on a goose-chase, I may possibly be senile, at the ripe old age of thirty... something. Old. Something old. Thank you to all who left condolences for my sanity. I'll miss it, too.

Today was the trial-run of sock 'camp', which is less like camp and more like me popping up and down and circling like a shark (or a hummingbird... I like me some sugar) to all the 'campers' attempting their first socks. Everybody left with a little something on needles. I didn't have a good chance to get any inventory logged in due to the last 'camper', the phone, and, finally, when I got home around sevenish, THIS was waiting for me... Poof.

There went the rest of my evening. It is now 2:39 a.m. (I don't care what time blogger says it is, I can see the time on my own damn clock, thank you...) It's late, or rather, early now, and this is the second day in a row I will have gone to bed closer to three a.m. Which wouldn't suck if I could sleep till eight... wow. That *never* happens. Man, I sure miss sleep... but I'm fully committed to the dish rag tag, so I'm still awake, 'cuz I just finished this little number (and Debra, blogless Debra in KY... you're "it")

Yes, in a fit of sleep-deprivation, I succumbed to running a little organdy ribbon (can't find my secret stash of grosgrain, which means the girls *did*) through the eyelets. OMG. I spent an evening knitting a dish rag... with lacy bits. Lord love a duck, I *am* nuttier than squirrel turds. Mailing this off in a few hours. Total time spent at my house... are you sitting down? If I leave for the P.O. at ten in the morning, this box will have been in my house less than twenty hours. It took me four to knit this thing, because I kept losing my place. Had husband put in a favorite flick of mine as he stumbled up to bed, so I knitted to Reese Witherspoon and Mark Ruffalo. Before that, husband watched 'Waterboy', which always gives me giggle-fits, hence the losing my place on the dishrag... and I haven't even posted photos of the pretties Stephanie sent me for our swap. The yarn is gorgeous, the chocolate mints nearly gone, and as soon as I get Bigrrrl washed, she'll have a cute sticker to sport. I have never stuck a sticker on a vehicle before... but Bigrrrl likes it, so she agreed to putting it on her rump... or, possibly, her rear... window. Saw a cool sticker on a car on the way home tonight. "Humankind. Be Both" Interesting, no? Oh, I forgot to mention the soap. Yummy soap, in the spicy kind of scent I prefer. And *so* shimmery. She is a 'potions' expert... I'm hoping she'll make some for the shop someday, too.

I have to go sleep now, or all my effort to knit quick will be for naught. I'll catch y'all later. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

A Big Dose of Stupid

I should start at the beginning, because I'm only going to tell this story on myself one time. Today the kidlets and I left the house in a flurry of activity, because we were hot-footin' it to get to town on time to meet my new 'book keeper', a woman who gave up her Sunday with her family to come show me the ropes of not only Quickbooks, but also Quickbooks point-of-sale, which, if you've been paying attention to the shrillness of my typing, you know how cooperative "Vista" has been. Yes it's so easy a child can do it, if said child were spawned by superior, Mensa-minds. I have watched friends new and old, near and dear be brought to the brink of madness trying to corral this evil operating, er, interruption system... so I brought in some professional help.

Anyway, it seemed I hadn't done the 'grunt work' of inputting all the inventory, and that is where we had to start. For nine hours and 48 minutes, we counted, labeled, and input countless items. My brain shorted out, then Patsy's went out, too. We packed up and left together, into the dark Indiana night. I knew I wanted to at least get the Louet input on my own, more as a test of mettle than anything else, so I packed up the laptop, BOTH halves of the power cord, and the two handbags, the cooler, and, I thought the file box... you know, the plastic brain where I keep all the invoices, account information, my business checks... just, as I mentioned, *everything*.

It was a long day, and a longer night, and suddenly I found myself in the throes of a panic attack. Bill had wanted to see what I'd 'learned' from my afternoon/evening with a professional Quickbooks Advisor. So, I thought I'd show off a little and put my inventory of lovely Canadian yarn into place... but where had I set the file box? Funny... I didn't even remember taking it out of the car. Hmmm... I also didn't remember putting it into the car. Oh, this was just craptastic. I tried to tell myself there was no way I'd forget a file box sitting next to the jeep. But it was dark. I was tired. It had to still be inside the building, right? I took a whole mg. of xanax and tried to go to bed.

Crushing chest pain. Heart racing till I feel faint, dizzy, and very nauseous. What to do? Then it dawned on me... call the Franklin police. Yep. Nothing like having to broadcast loud and clear what kind of an idiot is coming to town to hang out her knittin' an' quiltin' shingle. I called. When the dispatcher asked me for my name, I told her, then I spelled it out for her... S-t-u-p-i-d Becher. Seriously. She laughed. And less than ten minutes later, at 12:38 a.m., a nice sounding policeman called me back to say they found nary a trace of the file box. Not that it helps. I just can narrow it down tomorrow (sock camp at two p.m.... come if you're interested, to the shop, not clear out here) when I'm in town. Either I did in fact leave the box inside, or it was an easy mark for someone, out prowling around town ten-ish at night, in the burg.

Two things I know for an absolute certainty. Vista is possibly the damnedest o.s. ever, and I have waaaaay too much fiber goodness in my shop. And there is a whole lot more on order... and I'm running outta storage options. Time to call in more reinforcements... but first sleep. Then sock camp. (Four whole students. They's better just show up I tell ya.) Night all you knittas. Cami

Nothing to see here...

just fabric. This is what we spent Tuesday evening putting up, and there is about eighty bolts that are 'homeless', and awaiting shelves, or some such elevating thing as to get them off the floor and looking like pretty, saleable merchandise. Anyway, I know you're here to see something, so here's Amy, Heather, and a bit o' Kaffe:

Trust me, there's more. I could show you the yarn wall, but it really isn't quite ready. Melly has sweetened up her sweetie some more and he's building a different style of 'yarn house' to put on top of the flat yarn bins DestructoKenny made previously. Oh, alright. I'll give you a peek... or two, but this is VERY preliminary, and in no way reflects the effect I'm going for...


See there? That's a house full of 'Smooshy', with Opal living next door. Louet is there, too. more of that came today. I'm only missing two of the 46 colors now. Did you want to see the rest of the yarn wall? Fine. I'm sleepy, and haven't the will to argue...


Now, try to imagine a lovely, roomy, spacious 'condominium' of fiberlicious goodness arranged between those two dollhouses full of yarn. When it's done,I think the Lorna's Laces will move in, along with some of the Louet Gems, because there is more yarn coming. Oh, and the furniture should be here soon... oh, and I won the bid for the round mahogany coffee table, you know, for the knitters to use, for bevs, and gadget-holding, and cookie-resting. General flopping. Useful. And cheap. Thirty bucks. (And my silent bid was fifty... bargain!)

I leave you this evening with a sad little photo I took the other night when I got home from fake knit-night... Monday evening, when muh knittas came to paint and clean and do all sorts of heavy grunt jobs for Carpet Diem. This is what was waiting for me on the steps up to our bedrooms...

A 'neglected' little man, who passed out waiting for momma to come home. His father insists this happened just moments before I pulled in the drive... a likely story. Probably true. He has actually fallen asleep in weirder places before. At least he's wearing a diaper...

Carpet (yester)Diem

I have to admit that it isn't torture, but rather sheer laziness that prevents me from posting a photo of the dramatic changes the shop has undergone in the past twenty-four. I have packed the camera in the bag for tomorrow's foray into town... you shall not sit be forced to endure another photoless post. As for the carpet, I will say it is less blue than I expected, but then again, I chose it from a 3" sample square. The ocean of extruded plastic we call 'commercial carpet' was just bound to look... more. More gray, more boring, more commercial. To my fellow stitchers, muh knittas, and anyone else who crosses the threshold, I am so terribly sorry, but it was the least awful of the options.

Once the carpet was in (and please allow me to digress here a wee bit...if you are a carpet installer by trade, and thus paid by the job, rather than hourly, do consider firing your hired help if said 'help' runs his complaining mouth twenty times faster than he can move his ass. I am also tired, and waiting for you to finish, so I can take my tired children home, and load up two trucks, a seatless Suburban, and a trailer with stock which has to be hauled into town this same day...) we had loads of work to do, and it was after 11p when we got home last night. this morning Melly and Rhonda came back to help with set-up, and a local shop owner (Julie Wells, of the 'Imagination Station' toy store in Franklin) also kicked in her afternoon to get the software working. Apparently Vista is a monumental pain in the ass even when all the peripherals have the proper drivers, blah, blah, blah. It was a fiercely long day... again... but, and this makes me giggle every time I think about it... Melly (not me) painted the doll,er, yarn houses today. Rhonda got most of the point-of-sale stuff working, and had to leave before the root cause of the day's dilemma was discovered. It wasn't her, it was the darn Vista.



I can barely move my hands, and am desperate for my children to just. go.to.bed. Now. My head is going to explode, my fake tooth (the temporary covering the titanium post) has a sharp edge which is cutting up the side of my tongue. My nice soap came today, but all three bars smell of peppermint. A lot. So much for olive blossom and ginger/lemongrass/honey... alllll mint. Perhaps they'll air out a bit. Texture is delicious, though. Possibly the silkiest soap I've ever had my hands in. I'm going to go wash my tired dogs in actual peppermint soap and catalog shop when the kids are upstairs. Load of mail order catalogs came today. I'm really loving the pink and brown leopard print clogs in the Hanna Anderson catalog... yes, my resistance to frivolous purchasing is way down, but I remember how perfect those clogs are if you stand all day... which, apparently I do, now. You go knit something fab... then come taunt me with it, k? Cool. Miss all you... comment, comment, comment. Pretend I put those on your blog, and know I'll be back to real comments soon... I think. Cami