Ysolda Teague at WEBS!

Hi all,

I know, I know, it's been an absurdly long hiatus. But I am returning with a great announcement and much yarny goodness to follow.

This is an event I have been fortunate enough to organize and would love to see as many faces there as possible!

A moment of silence.

I’m not sure how to detail the series of events that has kept me quiet for the past few weeks. What began as pain flaring in Alyx’s teeth earlier in the week escalated quickly into a weekend of panicked pain. We spent 3 nights in the ER begging politely to be paid attention to, calling numerous offices trying to appeal to a human side of the medical community. I watched my partner pace and squirm and rock in excruciating pain, the thought of which still brings tears to my eyes. I slept maybe 2-3 hours per night, berating myself for leaving her alone. I searched myself over and over, not knowing who to call or what to do, not sure how to access the level of emergency.
All of this occurred simply because we had the great misfortune of spotty insurance and the audacity to need dental care on the weekend. Thankfully her mother was able to fly in so that I could return to work as her jaw infection slowly dissipated. Now, weeks later her jaw is merely stiff and we are still sleep deprived. Friday evening I fell into bed and slept a full 13 hours. I feel like a brand new person, having sleep walked for weeks.
I think we’re finally ready to bounce back.

please send help!

Finally, a knitting post! Although this may be akin to admitting I have a problem... which may also be why it's taken me so very long to post knitting progress.

Projects on the needles are falling by the wayside in my mad dash for store credit. I literally cannot say no to store credit projects, it’s a kind of sacrilege. I find myself stockpiling credit and yarn for personal projects, with no real time to knit them as I am madly knitting to amass more store credit. It’s an ugly cycle that I am not alone to find myself in.

I recently completed the Bison Shawlette from Luxury One Skein Wonders with Jade Sapphire’s Silk Cashmere in Caribbean Mist, the result of which is hanging in the store window. I had to crack into the second skein, regardless of the required yardage, so I have the majority of it left over staring at me, begging for a tiny shawl of my very own (maybe a bandwagon Ishbel?).





I’m currently spinning my wheels on the Essential Lace Tank from Lace Style. I love the look of this garment, but I have some beef with this pattern. Primarily, I really hate knitting in pieces and seaming lace. Secondly, I had a horrifyingly fiddly experience with the decrease section. Originally, my difficulty began with trying to sub the yarn, because the gauge is given as double stranded lace in pattern. I tried single stranding a linen/cotton dk yarn, as others had attempted, and the fit was terrible. I was supremely off gauge in the garment measurements despite the sts-per-inch gauge being right on. Ugh. I’m beginning again with Classic Elite’s Silky Alpaca Lace which I’m excited about, but it’s taking longer than hoped for…or the time allotted by the store in which to finish. Shhhh…



I’ve further dug myself into a yarn-hole by agreeing to knit garments for the Valley Yarns line, and our prolific designer Kirsten Hipsky. So, now I have a sweater for her thrown in my to-do pile...wow, just typing all of these out makes me realize how legitimate the stress of these projects is beginning to be!

The only store project I’ve actually been able to finish since I’ve taken all this on is the minuscule, although adorable, tomato for the store’s group project from Amigurumi Knits. (To be fair I did knit two, so that does count for something I suppose). I knit these in Valley Yarns Stockbridge and they were a very quick knit. I was pleasantly surprised, although I love the results much more than the process.



Although my other projects have languished I have to admit that I did crank out some birthday mitts for KT, which I worked on at Stitches South. I used the pattern Merletto Mitts and knit them with Dream in Color Smooshy in an acid yellow/pea green color (spring tickle) that seems to attract only KT. They look really sharp in this yarn, I’m actually very impressed with it and plan to use it again in the future. I altered the number of stitches on the stockinette side to 20 from 29 and used dpns rather than two circulars, which simply works better for me …and KT’s wee-baby-tiny hands.



Hopefully more progress will develop on this WIP debacle. More to update on that battleground later..

life away from laptop

It’s been a hectic couple of weeks, so that “windfall” of blogging has been trickling out a little slowly. I am now officially the new assistant manager at WEBS which has--so far-- been quite a whirlwind. My first order of business was to buy some shoes to fit my promotional running about, which has been handy.

Another reason for slow blogging has been my immense amount of computer troubles. My laptop has taken to shutting itself off, closing every program I open and racking up a couple hundred viruses. *Sigh* I succumbed to seeking a new computer and it should arrive by the end of the week. Hopefully this will solve my difficulties.

My other preoccupation has been my wee garden at the community garden plots. My friend and I signed up for the plot earlier in the spring and started tiny seedlings in preparation for the warmth. The weather has been unseasonably cool, which has kept me from planting until recently. It is the first garden I’ve tended since I was very young. My family has always had a garden, but since my teenage years our yard has not allowed for the space.

Our first round of transplants didn’t survive, I think the cold got to them. So I’m holding off on planting our tomatoes until later this week. Slowly, but surely, it is becoming more hospitable for tiny plants. And with that thought I'll end with a series of garden photos. I'm such a proud mama!

WEBS-phenomenon

Lately things have been crazy busy round the yarn store….

The kick-off to the busy season was my trip to Stitches South, which was a little slow but fun none-the-less. The most eventful news I have to report was the lovely lace yarn I stashed from the Sanguine Gryphon and the lovely Merletto mitts I was knitting while I was there (photo forthcoming).



Fuschia skein
name: Gaia lace
fiber content: 2 ply silk cashmere lace
color: view from the mountain

Black/blue/purple variegation
name: Sappho (of course)
fiber content: 2ply merino
color: brings back the sheep

The main source of wildness has been our 35th anniversary sale, which has spanned both April and May. However, it was really only preparation for the maddening weekend of the tent sale, which was last weekend. I have no photographic evidence of the lines or the mess or the free yarn scramble, but the WEBS blog is pretty good at all that.

In the aftermath of the sale I am sitting with my feet up considering the madness that is the yarn business and considering what a stress I’ve let my little hobby-turned-obsession become. What was once a reprieve and a fascination has become less than lighthearted. I fear that I have let my stash grow fangs and projects are piling up a little scarily.

Ultimately, I do not want to become a grocery cart lady. Meaning, I do not want to be the kind of shopper that compulsively buys yarn without intended purpose or time in which to use it. I want to leave my options open for further inspiration without burying it in stash yarn. Would it be so outlandish to use the yarn I have and only buy when I need more (yes). I may have to impose a yarn diet. Sigh.

Prepare yourself for a WIP intervention post. It’s time to air the dirty laundry…

I will finish with a couple of photos from Stitches South...we do have a good time on the road....

Backed Up Blogging

Okay, the busier it gets the more there is to blog about, the less time there is to blog at all. Therefore I am aggressively attempting to catch up on back-blogging. Expect to see multiple postings!...



A few Sundays ago I hosted a spinning/knitting brunch with some of the retail staff from WEBS. I would call it a wild success. My new and fairly spacious apartment was packed with ladies and amazing food and spinning wheels. I’m not sure there is a better Sunday afternoon that I could conceive of.





KT brought organic bacon and lemon poppy seed French toast. I made eggs and fried potatoes with a three seed sauce which I improvised from another recipe. Deb made homemade salsa. We had fresh bread from local bakeries, mimosas, coffee, homemade pastries galore. I tried to get a picture that gave a sense of the magnitude of food we had on our hands, but I fear it doesn’t give it justice.





Honestly, breakfast took the majority of the allotted time we originally allowed for the brunch. But we stayed late to get a good amount of fiber arts in. KT generously allowed me to use her wheel which was my first foray into spinning. (In the spirit of full disclosure I did host this brunch with the ulterior motive of learning to spin from my cohorts.) Most of my fellow colleagues learned to spin from one of our resident spinners a couple months ago and I have been dying to get in on it. The staff has spinning fever, half the girls have ordered wheels and I have yet to get the drop spindle going. They very patiently let me mangle some roving before getting down to business.

We hope to make this a regular event and I dare say that everyone had as much fun as I did. I snapped a couple of rudimentary photos while we were preparing food just for blogging’s sake. Now that I’m finally getting around to posting this, I think we’re due for another!

Stitches West Update

Okay, so I may need to blog about the Stitches trip in stages because it was so amazing and I have so much to tell. I had so much fun hanging out with coworkers and talking to people who are similarly intoxicated by the presence of yarn…albeit a large, large space full of yarn.

We stayed in an amazing Hilton (I don’t have a picture to convey how lovely it is, you’ll just have to trust me) in Santa Clara. It was a short walk across the street to the convention center.



There were booths of stores, companies, and knitting celebrities filling the space.



Most shops took up 1-2 booths, but WEBS took up (I believe) 10.



We had quite a presence, needless to say. It was strange to be somewhere where knitters had not yet heard of us. I was joking that it was like a social experiment, some sort of yarn related torture, to work in your booth only able to gaze out at the pretty things. But I jest, we were able to shop a little. We took lunch breaks and moments before the marketplace opened to browse. I literally shopped walking at a fast clip up and down the aisles, only pausing if a color or name drew me. However, it was quite effective to shop with an initial gut instinct.

For all the long hours we worked and as many engrossing customers as we had, we were very well cared for. Every evening we dined as a group at the most fantastic restaurants, laughing any stress of the day away and sharing some wine. What an amazing way to finish every evening.



I cannot seem to isolate my favorite moments of the trip. I had time to talk one on one with almost everyone who came along, I bonded with customers, I had time to talk to my fiancé every evening (despite the time difference) and I was able to score some beautiful yarn. I will have to post later with my loot, as I haven’t taken pics yet. I even enjoyed the traveling. Although it was long and the time difference was a struggle I had time to knit and listen to music, the flight into CA was so clear I was able to take pics of the grand canyon! It was breathtaking.

I was also able to meet up with an old friend from Smith who I haven’t seen in years. What serendipity that our conference was so close to where she lives?
I was really ready to be home, despite the cold wintry reception. We were so afraid our flight would be delayed because of the storm, but in the end we were lucky.

I’ll have to post some progress photos of my projects. My Mainland Cardi for class is mostly done (minus the sleeves) and my Garter Stitch Yoke Cardi is progressing nicely. Oh! And my Legwarmers for Gail’s upcoming book are done as well. More to come…

[I will end with photos of the booth breakdown to give you an idea of what a big job it was. What a great team we had!]



[We shipped 12 of those pallets to CA!]

Stitches West!!

So, I found out very recently that WEBS needed an extra body at Stitches and I quickly volunteered. The rest, as they say, is history. I can't believe I haven't posted about this yet! I'm super excited to be going on a multiple of levels. Not only do I feel supremely blessed to be sent there by my workplace without expense, I get to go with coworkers I enjoy and be in an atmosphere of knitting frenzy (hmmm, this is beginning to sound like a regular day at WEBS).

I'll be surrounded with and tempted by knitting wonder that I am not exposed to on an everyday basis. I've heard tales but cannot actually anticipate what will be there. And! I have never actually been to CA before. Although I'll be indoors the entire time working long hours and may not be able to sightsee I will physically have been there.

Also, I'll be able to visit an old college friend that I haven't seen in years. cordeliaknits lives pretty close to where the convention will be held and has graciously agreed to travel to see me (ahem, and some yarn). I will also have gross amounts of knitting time as traveling will take up 8+ hours each way and if I'm up in the evenings at all I'll be knitting.

My partner is a little anxious to be without me as we've never actually spent a night apart in the (almost) year we've been together. Sappy...adorable...you be the judge. It's never easy to be away from loved ones, but I positively have stars in my eyes...or yarn balls as the case may be.

I promise to report back about Stitches and whatever yarn-booty I come home with.

Lastly, I am adding pics of fxa's shawl since her camera is broken, and I did promise after all.

WEBS inventory

I’ve finally gotten around to taking some pics of my WEBS store projects this week, so this post may seem like a windfall after a long drought of non-posting. Some of these projects I finished quite some time ago and some very recently.

My most dramatic project to date and the most recent is the Soft Kid Bubble, from Boutique Knits.

Project: Soft Kid Bubble
Source: Boutique Knits by Laura Irwin
Yarn: Cascade Eco Alpaca in chocolate brown, 5 skeins (barely used the 5th skein).

This garment was a challenge to my skills as a knitter mainly because it was difficult to visualize with the pattern wording. At my skill level I could have benefited from a schematic or a description/summation of the construction at each section. However, the construction was interesting, the yarn was lusciously soft and the store is all abuzz about Boutique Knits. There are so many interesting patterns in this book, the customers and staff cannot get enough. In fact, it goes so fast that no one can get their hands on it in the store. Sidenote: I greatly benefited from the experience of my coworkers in the labor of this project. Thank you Ladies of WEBS!

Thanks to ZombieHunter who is featured here modeling it in the store.

My coworker, fxa and I began our projects at the exact same time (which was shamefully long ago) and we finished them on the exact same day. We bemoaned our projects, commiserated in our misery and rejoiced together as they came off the needles. Regretfully I did not catch a photo of her beautiful lace shawl and she has not posted it on Ravelry yet, so hopefully I can amend that in the near future. [edit: she has now posted on her blog]

Next project: Versatile Scarves

Designed by: Evelyn Clark

Source: Fiber Trends Pattern

Yarn: Araucania Ranco Solid

Project: Springtime in Philadelphia, Canopy

Designed By: Kate Gagnon

Source: Kelbourne Woolens

Yarn: Fibre Company Canopy Fingering in Chiclet Tree

I lovelovelove this yarn. It’s soft and springy and shows perfect stitch definition. I cannot recommend it enough. I can always sell a skein of this in the store with the free pattern. I very much enjoyed working this pattern and it gets constant attention in the store. In fact, I loved it so much I made another for myself!

Project: Vergara Vest

Designed by: Cornelia Tuttle Hamilton

Source: Malabrigo Book One

Yarn: Malabrigo Worsted, in Stonechat

My first WEBS project!

Project: Give a Hoot

Designed by: Jocelyn Tunney

Source: Kelbourne Woolens

Yarn: Valley Yarns Sheffield

I regret that I wasn’t able to use Canopy Worsted, for which this pattern was intended, but WEBS doesn’t carry it. However, I was very impressed that I eeked out with one ball of Sheffield. And I was surprised at how much I loved this yarn. It really blooms when washed and it’s so soft, with a nice variety of colors. The mitts were super quick and ultra cute, although if I make some for myself I may forgo the button eyeballs.

Project: Clapotis

Designed by: Kate Gilbert

Source: Knitty.com

Yarn: Valley Yarns Northfield, hand dyed by KangarooDyer

This sort of counts as a WEBS project since it was made for our resident dyer KangarooDyer. She wanted to have a piece for her table at the Fiber Twist that highlighted her hand dyed yarn, so I volunteered. KangarooDyer is hands down the most generous woman I’ve ever met and in exchange for my labor I received a large sum of hand dyed goodies!

Whew, I think that’s it!

wish me luck

So, clearly I haven't made the photo display I had envisioned of my projects from 2009. I thought it would be easy enough to whip something up, but my tech skills are sadly lacking it seems. Oh well, something else to work on in the new year. In the meantime I do have my knits on my project page on Ravelry.
I have not allowed myself to indulge in any projects until the dreaded store sweater is completed. I am working on the Soft Kid Bubble from Boutique Knits (for those of you who haven't heard me groan about this project). This has been the quintessential nightmare project. I picked it up right before the holidays so it was born in an atmosphere of stress and from there its adversarial powers have only grown in strength. I have had great difficulty deciphering this pattern, suffice it to say it is stretching my knitting muscles to capacity. I had partially taken this project on because I wanted to become more skilled, so in that respect I have no room to quibble. But, I can honestly say I had no idea what I was getting myself into. I will withhold pictures until it is finished and in all its glory. Maybe I'll even do a photo montage of my store knits (hopefully my meager skills can manage that)!
Another excuse for lack of pictures is my mid-winter move currently in process. My partner and I are moving across town. But as I'm sure you know, no move is a small move. We are a little ahead of schedule due to my partners' organizational tendencies so until the big day--Saturday--we'll be living amidst boxes (I had to open several boxes to find pasta noodles tonight).

welcome 2009!

I don't really believe in resolutions, but for the first time my head is filled with good intentions for the new year. I want to prioritize my health (like, go to the gym once in awhile), focus on my family's oral history project and pare down some of my stash (books as well as yarn).
I had a great heart-to-heart with my yarn stash and it has been decided that I can only buy for projects that I'm starting ASAP. Of course, I will not be so cruel as to keep myself from picking up pretty skeins from time to time with no purpose. However, there will be no scooping up of bags of yarn simply because they are on closeout. I work at WEBS, therefore this resolution is a big deal. So, so much yarn taunts me daily, I must be disciplined.
I recently learned that we are moving in a couple of weeks which necessitates paring down. My partner is a minimalist and I am a packrat, which lends itself to different interpretations to ownership and living space. I'm hoping a new place will be a new beginning.
That said, I am looking back at all my projects for this year, as so many knitters are and I do want to add a pictorial view of them. There are a few pictures missing, but it is a fairly comprehensive composite. Seeing the time line of projects really emphasizes how my skills have developed, particularly after my hiring at WEBS. What a difference it makes to be in a community of knitters!

I will put the pictorial in a second post, for fear of losing the text. As a neophyte blogger I am struggling with the posting pictures function, which has slowed my postings considerably. Any tips are welcome!