Yarn Gallery Blog

Things have settled down here and we are all so glad.  Purl is happily eating away every few hours with minimal or no coughing (which could be permanent or could be because of the surgery).  This is such a vast improvement that I still can hardly believe it and still hover anxiously as she eats, listening for any signs of trouble.  So far, so very, very good.  Can I just say again how much I appreciate everyone’s comments, emails, calls and visits to see how she fared?  It is so wonderful to have that kind of support; it means everything during a time of such stress.

So now, back to normal – a little poorer in cash but a lot richer in friendship and peace of mind!

This is such a fun time of year for me.  Lovely sales reps travel many miles to show me beautiful yarn.  So far I have seen several that I must have – the store is going to be transformed in late summer and fall with many new things for you to fall in love with.  There’s only one problem, of course, and that’s saying no when I should.  For instance, I made a mental note that I simply do not need any more types of fingering or sport weight yarn.  We have at least two dozen choices already, many of which are fabulous, and that doesn’t even count sock yarn!  However, I have seen only two reps so far and have ordered at least a half dozen new fingering or sport weight yarns. Ridiculous!  And some may get cancelled if I find I have repeated myself too much, but how I love to knit with these weights of yarn.  It takes a while to make a sweater in them but it’s worth it for a sweater that is finely knit and light to wear.  And there are a multitude of beautiful shawl and scarf patterns available for these weights.  And I’m still looking for a certain color story (heathery, earthy, tonal) in a yarn that is sturdy yet soft and beautiful to knit and to wear.   I see at least one more lightweight yarn in our futures!  I believe I’ve found the perfect worsted weight, but I’m not committing myself until I see more lines – but they have a high bar to clear to beat Lang’s Yak, a 50/50 blend of yak and wool in the most gorgeous color range I’ve seen in years, plus it’s machine washable, which is unbelievable.

Okay, I’ll stop.  None of this means anything until you have the yarns in your hand and are overcome with love for color, touch, and perfection.

We re-knit our free Garter Stitch Baby Jacket pattern in two colors of Hikoo’s CoBaSi, a nice washable blend of cotton, bamboo and silk.  Fun to make either solid or in two colors, and soft and comfortable for baby this summer:

We saw some very good projects this week:

Brenda Makuch, who is rather new at knitting but absolutely in love with it, made this adorable baby set in Encore Tweed:

So cute!

Jane Gardner knitted this nice cardigan and Donna finished it for her.  (By the way, Donna is not accepting any more finishing work until after the 4th of July – she’s got to catch up!) (and possibly have a life!)

And Anne Nordhoy knit this unbelievably beautiful sweater from an assortment of beautiful yarns, using them to perfection for intarsia insets in gorgeous stitchwork.

What a work of art.  And then she casually said, “Oh, I made this last year from some linen I had.”  Look at this pretty thing::

Great knitter doesn’t even cover it, right?  Her finishing and blocking are spot on, too – she takes classes!!

Okay, that’s it.  Wish me luck in searching for the perfect yarns for us this fall…

Trish

I can hardly believe the change.   I expected some reluctance or something, seeing as how her throat was cut (to put it bluntly) but she’s hungry and can wolf down soft food like any normal puppy.  I’m so happy.  I want to feed her all day long, just so I can watch her swallow without all the gagging and choking.  She has a big bandage around her neck, which is now covered by the top of a handknit wool sock instead of a stretchy red bandage that seemed to irritate her and make her scratch at it.  Can’t recommend wool socks highly enough as a cover for a bandage, dogs seem quite comfortable in them.  Anyway, she’s to be kept quiet and no rough playing, running, or jumping for 10 days until the stitches come out. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha….

We’ll be at the store for a little while tomorrow (Saturday).  Today I’ll try to keep her quiet and let her just eat and sleep.

Pretty soon we’ll have a nice plump little puppy!

Her surgeon just called to tell me Purl had eaten breakfast and done very well, then she ate another breakfast!  She’s happy and active and ready to go.  So I’ll go get her this afternoon and see how things go, we may be able to visit the shop tomorrow for a bit.  Thanks again for all your concern and good wishes.  Come see her in a few days!

She’s still at the hospital but she came through surgery with flying colors and has eaten at least twice.  I’m very hopeful that I’ll get word this morning that she can come home.  I can’t wait to get my arms around that skinny little girl and I can’t wait to see her chow down like a normal puppy.  I’ll keep you posted and thanks to everyone who has commented or called, it means so much to me to know there are so many who care about Purl. Knitters who love animals?  How do you get better people than that???

…with Purl:

Today (Monday) we’re waiting for a phone call from Metropolitan Veterinary Hospital to confirm preliminary results from last week’s test.  Everyone agrees that what we thought she had is what she has, but it is all contingent on the official radiology report. If that comes through, tomorrow (Tuesday) we will go down for a consultation with her surgeon.  If that all goes well, she will have her operation on Wednesday.  Then nobody knows what to expect.  How quickly she will recover and whether everything will be good or maybe just better or maybe some complication will come to light, there is just no way to tell.  This condition is so rare that the hospital has had only one other case.  I’m very nervous about it and understand there are risks but there is no doubt in my mind that this is the right thing for her.  To witness her struggle to swallow is heart-wrenching and we have to try to make this better.

So we’re playing this week by ear until we have everything confirmed.  We should be open all normal hours, but we may not have the coverage we normally do.  If you need big help, you may not get it this week – be careful and concentrate!

Now for good news:  We got some beautiful yarn this last week.  We received some fresh colors of Baby Boo, some beautiful brights in Hempathy

and this gorgeous batch of Perfectly Posh Sport, a brand new yarn from Dream in Color.

Ever since it came in I’ve been dithering about what to make from it.   It would of course be perfect for a shawl, scarf, mitts, hat – one skein would make any one of those things and possibly two since it has a generous 320 yards of DK weight yarn – lusciously made from merino, cashmere, silk and baby mohair.  I saw a swatch from it that had blocked to 5 stitches per inch (a light worsted gauge) and it was very nice so I’m thinking about this interesting cardigan from Knitty.  For some reason, these old Knitty patterns are just right for some of our new yarns, and it’s lovely because they’re free!  So as I’m waiting for the vet to call, I’ll be swatching in that beautiful dark blue.

Sue Marshall and Virginia Griffith both finished their Inspira Cowls, and they are absolutely gorgeous.  Virginia’s is in jewel tones with a high note of darkly vibrant turquoise:

and Sue combined neutrals with a rich rose and coral multi.

Both turned out so well, it makes me want to start my third!

Karen Walter made this exuberantly bright shawl using up a rainbow shade of Kureyon Sock from her stash and a single amber skein of Canopy Fingering.  It’s just pure fun:

Janet’s felted tote class wound up this week.  You saw Heather’s bag last week and here are the rest, done by (from lower right) Brenda Makuch, Nancy Rambo, Becca Keller, and Patricia Walker.  They all made excellent bags – I love each one:

That’s it for this week – I know there’s more to say but I really can’t think of anything much today except my girl.  Keep her in your thoughts, and I’ll keep you posted.