December 23, 2007

I made it!

Ode to surviving xmas in retail:

‘Twas two days before xmas and all through Park Slope
There was great rejoicing, and no one did mope

The alarm clock was silent, no beep did we hear
“I slept till 10:30!” I said with a cheer

There’s knitting to do and movies to see
Chinese Restaurants are where we will be

I’ve earned three days off, I’ve worked like a dog
It’s time now to celebrate and write in my blog

I was thinking of spinning and fiber and yarn
when all of a sudden an idea started to dawn

My gifts are abundant, my life is quite rich
So here in my blog is my holiday wish

Don’t take life for granted
Hug your loved ones quite tight

Be thankful for your stash and to all a good night

Okay you guys, I’m sorry you haven’t heard from me in a while, but I’ve been up to my &%$#@ in yarn. Things at The Point have been hopping. Tons of last minute shoppers, but I made it. The days have been LONG and hard, but there were some nice holiday surprises. I never expected to get gifts from my regulars, but I got a cake, some candy, cookies, a lavender sachet hand made by the fabulous Barbara Kerr, and a bottle of wine from one of my favorite regulars.
The shop is open today and tomorrow, but these are my days off.

The best gift I got this season?? An Assistant Manager. The shop is going strong, and it’s time to add some management back up. So all you regulars, come by after the New Year and welcome Kim. I’m really excited about her. She is the rare combination of a knitter with retail management AND food service experience. She’s going to make life and the shop great!

The last week has been full of holiday parties as well (hence me not posting last week). First there was David’s theatre company Brave New World Holiday party. Then the Sit n’ Knit holiday party. That was great! Here’s the little beret I knocked off from left over alpaca, for the holiday gift exchange:

Here I am modeling it before I say goodbye:

the party was great. 50 knitters, free food, free liquor, knitting gifts raffle, holiday gift exchange . . . what could be bad. I don’t know what the restaurant was expecting when this party was booked, but they weren’t expecting us. They weren’t expecting 50 or so rowdy, drinking knitters.

Here are some party pics:

The fabulous Anne-Marie

Liquor and knitting!

Liquor IN knitting (that’s a martini washcloth)

Holiday gift exchange – drawing names

Happy gift receivers!

Winner of my hand knit beret

A knitter’s (knitted) bowl of chocolate

The fabulous Ana Gonzolas (fellow Point employee)

After knocking out my little hand knit beret for the party, it was back to the endless K2 P2 rib of the Pin Up Queen. After I finished the back I decided the ribbing would be to tight around my sizable hips, so when I did the front I cast on more stitches and reduced every 4 rows to get back to the original amount. I will knit a little insert for the sides of the back and mattress stitch them on.

The short row shaping for the front came out pretty well. Now I just have the sleeves. The construction of the front would also make a pretty nice sleeveless tank. Maybe this summer I’ll play around with that.

I also finally finished winding the Manos Silk for the Vogue magazine “Life Aquatic” cardigan. From this photo you can’t tell how subtly fabulous the colors are:

NOT counting old stash projects, I have in my cue:

– David’s vest (my design) Alpaca from Rhinebeck
– Clapotis (Knitty.com) Silk Nylon from Rhinebeck
– Mr Green Jeans (Knitty.com) Merino hand dyed from Rhinebeck
– Gatsby Girl Pullover (Interweave magazine) Sublime extra fine merino wool dk
– Life Aquatic (Vogue magazine) Manos Silk
– Pullover (Fitted Knits) Art Yarns Superwash Merino
– ???? for my own handspun