What I did with December

Well gosh.  It seems like just last week I posted, and now here it is, three weeks later.  I haven't gone into hibernation...I promise. 

One of the coolest things I've done since I wrote last was knit the Feather 'n Fan Organic Wrap
by Jane Thornley.  Talk about fun!  I met Jane through her group on Ravelry and knew I was in hog heaven when I saw this design.  You can purchase it and download it from her website in just a couple of minutes...and then prepare to have a blast.
I raided my ample stash for yarns for my first one.  Actually, I plan to do the capelet version next, and I think it may be a stash project, also.   What's really cool about it is that there really isn't a wrong move to make while knitting it.  Turns out I mis-read her instructions, and was increasing at a horrendous rate when I shouldn't have been, so I started decreasing wildly and it all turned out just fine.  If you're on Ravelry, check out the Jane Thornley group and have a blast.

The clearance sale is on, and for those of you who haven't checked it out yet, just pop over to the Sale page of our website and you can download a list of what's still available.  We've been feeling like Santa's Elves, packing huge boxes and mailing these yarns off to all corners of the world (seriously...we had an order from Australia!). 

While the rest of the nation suffered tremendously from it, the snow storms that came through here

on December 8 & 11 left us with a fantastic amount of snow for the opening of ski season, just up the road.  I am, as many of you know, little better than a 6 year old when it comes to snow.  I stayed home and raced around with the camera like I'd never seen any before.  I'll share some of those with you here.

Then, when reality hit and I had to go back to work on the 12th, I took this photo while driving to work,

to show you my commute.  After years of spawning my way up or down Interstate 5 in SoCal, this morning drive is always a reminder of how fortunate I am.
The last photos were taken at sunset, as I was raiding our local pizza parlor for take out dinner.  Enjoy!  ---Martie

The week in review

Great news this week...our web store design is finished and I am compiling a list of what I want to offer there when we open it early this new year.  At the top of my list are spinning & felting fibers, hand spun and Malabrigo yarns. 

So...with this in mind, I'm now spending as much time as I can spare spinning new yarns. 

This week's haul included what may be one of my all time favorites, and I've named it Turquoise and Copper.  There are four skeins, and they are soft and squishy and begging me to keep them.  What to do?  Sell, keep...sell, keep...hmmmmm....I guess I have another month or so to decide!

When those four skeins came off the wheel, the next to be spun accidentally ended up being perfect companion yarns...I have named them Copper Curls.  I have tried to adjust the color to show you more accurately what they look like, and hope it gives you the same feel I had when I named them.  These are also in the stash for the new web store.  Boy...I just realized something...we'll have to have a grand opening when it goes live...and I should probably think up a contest to offer some of our treasures for prizes!

Yesterday Monte and I managed to inventory a lot of the yarn back stock we didn't bring over to the new shop.  Please read my page posting on this, about the big sale coming.  You won't want to miss out!

We came home last night, under a storm warning for a warm storm front that was supposed to bring us up to 10" of snow above 7,500 ft.  Our home is just around 7,800 feet, and here's a picture

of what I saw outside the kitchen window this morning.  I should name this photo "Bob's World", because he spends many hours each day, surveying the forest and watching for invader animals like birds, rabbits, squirrels, chipmunks, and the occasional coyote.  Oh...and last, but not least, a photo of Bob, watching his world.

I hope you all have a safe and fun weekend! ---Martie