Meeting Yumiko Alexander

Last Saturday at the Tucson Wool Festival I meet the most charming and delightful Yumiko Alexander. Yes that Yumiko Alexander the very lovely pattern designer. Her booth was right next to mine. When things did slow down we had a chance to sit and knit. Since we had very easy patterns we were working on we had time to talk.  I would love the free time to drive to Phoenix to have more time to chat but Eric does keep me very busy.

Yumiko was born in Japan and was a knitting designer there before moving with her husband to the United States. Her company is called Dan Doh translated into English it means warm earth which is also the title of her new book. Warm Earth is available from Universal Yarn at the following link: http://www.universalyarn.com/book_pages.php?book=10 . I am sure you could also persuade your local yarn shop into getting it for you also. I was lucky enough to snag a singed copy* and can not wait to knit the cover sweater. You may also find her patterns on Raverly http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/search#view=captioned_thumbs&designer=Yumiko%20Alexander&ravelry-designer=yes&page=1&sort=created. .

Yumiko also has a blog http://dandoh.blogspot.com/. I was already a fan of her blog when I meet her. She does not update it often but when she does it is worth while to read.

So despite very slow sales I had a great time and meet a new friend. Well it is time to make dinner and straighten the house. Have a great evening and enjoy your families.

*I purchased the book.

What Do Stay at Home Moms Do - Part 2

Today was filled with a couple of sessions on Wii.  A trip to the doctors for Eric for his annual physical. John and I are doing a good job at keeping him well. Can you believe his last visit to his PCP was 6 months ago, (you may insert a round of applause here). Dropping Eric off at school and wondering why drivers who do not need the ramp spaces take them any way? Yes I did park in the school bus zone, but really there was no where else to deploy the ramp. The High School security is usually cool with this when the blue spots are all gone.

While I was driving this morning a warning light went off on the dash board so there was an unscheduled trip to the dealership. Thank goodness it was a minor problem and there was no charge. Apparently when the weather takes a sudden turn to cold, the tires and sensors do not like it.

When I got home it was time to schedule next weeks appointments and order the feeding supplies that Eric will need over the holidays. Yes this did include over a half hour on hold with one company that I will never get back. Apparently everything gets moved up a week in November and December to accommodate the holidays.

A highlight of my day was a few minutes tweeting and then talking with Teri. I am just so lucky that she is my daughter. I did find a little time to knit and don't know quite what is going to be on the dinner table tonight. I am not one of those plan a week or month in advance people. I think some kind of sandwich with last nights left over chicken will be the plan.

Well have a good night and enjoy your families.

What Do Stay At Home Moms Do?

I wonder what most people think stay at home moms do all day? Today was just one of those days. With Eric in school I went to a class stopped for lunch and picked up some chicken for dinner. Just in case you are wondering what the chicken is for, check my past blog posts for a recipe called pina colada chicken, yummy. Served with brown rice.

Well when I got home mind you I was only gone for 3 hours there were 7 messages on the answering machine. 4 of them being for the same cell phone that was dropped in my driveway this morning. Did I mention that as soon as I got into the door the phone started ringing and the caller had said that I was remiss in returning the calls of this morning that I had not had time to even play back yet. Let it be known that if you drop your cell phone in my driveway I will go about my day as planned and will not wait around the house for your call. My free time during the day tends to be erratic so I do take advantage and get as much as possible done.

Since I stayed up past 11pm with Eric yes I did skip some chores and take a nap. In my opinion a nap of equal time of missed sleep at night just does not make up for sleep at night. I am still tired and foggy and I hope that Eric does go to sleep by 10 pm. tonight.  I know that I made a lot of progress on my new scarf for me with the yarn that Spazzyyarn had hand spun for me. A very yummy yarn.

Well my taller half is now home so it is time to put the finishing touches on dinner. Have a great evening and enjoy your families.

Tucson Wool Festival

I had a great time at the Tucson Wool Festival and meet a lot of great people, but I am way too tired to write much now more will be written in the days to come.

Have a great weekend and enjoy your families.

Getting Ready

Today was spent getting ready for the Tucson Wool Festival. Yes I did go to knitting today but spent the morning working with lovely hand spun yarn that Kathy Withers not only grew with the help of her lovely farm friends. She also processed, colored and spun the yarn herself, now how cool is that? If you would like some of Kathy's yummy yarn or finished items, here is a link to Kathy's Etsy shop. http://www.etsy.com/shop/uniquedesignsbykathy?page=1

I think various shows are just another way to get craft  people to clean up and organize their work spaces. I spent the afternoon organizing and packing what I will need for tomorrow. Some how between this wool festival and the last I misplaced the 96 quart box with all my bags and some of my display materials. How I did that, well those of you who know me well will know, but please explain it to me. I just know it has nothing to do with my motto "I will get it done promptly no matter how long it takes".  I know that I am not the most organized person in the world but..

I have a strong hunch that next week should really be the start of a fall cleaning spree. I promise to be very grumpy by next Friday if I get all the work that needs to be done finished. So please put up with me as I get this work done.

That lovely scarf that I knit this morning and of course the stitch markers I have been working on will be available for purchase tomorrow at the Tucson Wool Festival at 4010 West Palo Seco From 9 am to 3 pm. . There will be farm tours at 9 am and noon. If you have ever wondered what a sheep looks like after a hair cut this is the place to go. I hope to see you there.

Have a great evening and enjoy your families.

Crash and Nap

We everyone who knows me knew it had to happen soon. After a very busy week of getting a lot done I had more big plans for today. I was going to spend the whole day doing paper work, making stitch markers, knitting, frogging and cleaning.

My body was on the very tired side today, but I had plans so after getting Eric out the door this morning I thought I could slip in a 20 minute nap and get on with my day. Three and one half hours later still groggy and half asleep I decided to try to salvage what I could from the day.

With my hands being very stiff as of now I have only made a dozen sets of stitch markers. When my hands get stiff , they get very clumsy and I tend to drop everything which might be a good thing for the rest of my body. Everything that is dropped must be picked up, so a lot of bending was going on today.

I picked up one of my favorites for a very late lunch (starting to eat lunch at 2:30 pm is a very late lunch in my humble opinion) from
Samurai
3912 N. Oracle Road #100
293-1963
I had the Teri-Chicken Bento with very light sauce. Which is served with potato salad, fresh veggies, sunomono and rice. The meal was decorated with a very nice slice of apple that had been very nicely carved. Not bad for a quick lunch.

By the time I finished lunch it was time to get Eric off the bus. We sat and I talked to Eric about my day, while Eric held the yarn for my current knitting project.

I might have made a mistake by going for a walk outside tonight. The wind did really kick up a bunch of junk that is now hanging in the air. I hate sniffy noses.

Well it is time to get more done today. So enjoy your families and have a great evening.

Getting Ready

I have been busy getting ready for the Tucson Wool Festival at the Withers Ranch this Saturday. Just in case you need more information. the location is The Withers’ Ranch 4010 W Palo Seco. It is from 9 am to 3 pm. with farm tours at 9 am and noon. Even if you are not a fibre person this is a great learning experience for the family. There will be all kinds of fibre demonstrations. and a lot of one of a kind items for sale. There is no cost to come to the Tucson Wool Festival. There will be a charity raffle and various vendors.


 I have been making stitch markers like mad. I hope to have at least 1 more gallon zip lock bag filled with finished products by late Friday. I have also been knitting a few items to show case using wonderful hand spun wools and mohair. The great thing about buying a handmade item from hand spun yarn is that you can sometimes track the wool or mohair back to the ranch were the yarn is produced. In this case I will have a number of items ready that are totally local. Kathy Withers raised the animals, had them sheared, processed the fiber, dyed the fiber and spun the yarn. How lucky am I to be able to say that I actually got some of this fabulous yarn to knit with.

In case you can not make it to the Tucson Wool Festival I will include a link to Kathy's Etsy shop http://www.etsy.com/shop/uniquedesignsbykathy

Well I have to get back to the stitch markers. Have a great evening and enjoy your families.