Merry Christmas!

December 25th marks the start of the season of Christmas for the Christian community, aka, the twelve days of Christmas. The Christmas season ends on January 5th and January 6th is when, according to Christian tradition, the wise men brought their gifts to the Christ Child.

Christmas is a time to not only celebrate the birth of the Saviour but also to celebrate the gifts that we have.

As I thought about my Christmas wish list several months ago, I realized that there weren't a lot of material things on it. While the stove is on the fritz, the computer monitor is dying, the toaster oven is acting up and I would really like a spinning wheel, all of those things are not absolute necessities. But, I did ask for a wheel!

I have my family and friends, the majority of whom are in good health. I have the roof over my head, enough to eat, and I am still gainfully employed. I have Christ, my Saviour.
Most important -- I know I am loved.

Celebrate what you have.

Veni, Vidi, Steek

I overcame my trepidations and steeked the steeks on the Scandinavian Star Vest (Ravelry).
For those of you unfamiliar with the term, steek is both a noun and a verb. A steek is the extra stitches that you cast on and knit and the process of cutting those extra stitches. Steeks are most commonly used in stranded (or multi color) knitting so that you can maintain the pattern. It also helps maintain the color variations with self striping yarn.

This vest has three 5 stitch steeks. 1 for the front and 2 for the armholes. The directions said to alternate the stitches in the steeks every row, creating a checkerboard effect. Were I to make this again, I would do vertical stripes, to make it easier to do the guideline and reinforcement lines. You put a guideline in a contrasting color down the middle of the steek (I used white), and reinforce the steek on either side, if desired. This being my first steek, I greatly desired to reinforce. I sewed 2 lines on either side of my guideline in yellow. After I sewed the reinforcement lines, I put the grocery ad in the vest (so I wouldn’t cut any floats) and then cut the steeks. In the below pictures, the first one is before I cut and you can see my guidelines. The second one is after the steeks were steeked.

I am using Berroco Ultra Alpaca and Noro Kureyon. I started the bottom with one skein, and then when I finished the first chart, I switched skeins for the body. I am on the fourth skein of the Noro and the third skein of the Berroco. I did the main part of the vest with 3 skeins that basically started and ended with the same color. I’ll be using the end of the third skein for the collar and am using the fourth skein for the hem band and the front bands.

While I really like this pattern, and there are other patterns in this book that I plan on making, I do have some issues, 3 in particular.

1. For most of the patterns, the only way to change the size is to change the gauge. While this is fine and dandy, there are no yarn recommendations for the looser gauges.


2. There are no diagrams of the patterns, showing the finished dimensions.


3. The arm holes seem huge. The pattern calls for 2 repeats (24 round repeats ) and 20 rounds for the armhole. This would put the size I made at an armhole depth of 10 ½ inches and this doesn’t include the stitches you put on a holder! The stitches on the holder was more than I would have thought was needed.

No SSS here!

SSS (Second Sock Syndrome for you muggles).

When we went to Cedar Lakes, I took the September socks, the Flyingdales sweater, an extra skein of sock yarn and a pair of mitts. After I finished the September socks, I started on the extra skein of sock yarn (Jingle Bell Rock in STR lightweight from Blue Moon).

I decided to do a swirl pattern. I got almost done with the foot, and realized that I didn't like how the swirl pattern was biasing. Frogged back to toe. Reknit foot plain, turned heel and started swirl pattern on cuff. Really liked it. Finished sock, wove in ends.

Realized that swirl pattern made cuff so tight that only a small child could get it on. Frogged to heel. Increased 4 stitches and decreased number of swirls to 4. Went a little bit, then increased another 4 stitches. Almost done. I had someone try it on. Sock was 2 rounds to short in the foot and the first part of the cuff was to tight.

At this point, I was so fed up with the sock, that I started the second one, cuff down.

Mortal was bored and had no knitting with her (no, I don't know what was wrong) and volunteered to frog the first one. She frogged the cuff and the heel and then was still bored, so then knit the two rounds and turned the heel.

The socks are 50% done. Normally, when one has a pair 50% complete, you have one whole sock. Not this pair! I have the foot and heel of one sock and the cuff of the second.

Old People Do Scenic?!

Mother and I went to a weeklong workshop on basket weaving at Cedar Lakes last week (more on that later). It started on Sunday and went until Friday. It's about a 7 hour drive from home so we planned to leave on Saturday. Then, Mother decided she wanted to go to Green Valley. I looked at the map and we decided that if we left EARLY (6amish) on Saturday, it would work, as Green Valley is somewhat on the way.

So, Mother, Mortal & I left Saturday and headed down 81 to Harrisonburg. We got to Green Valley around 10. By the time we had done the first room, Mother's books were to heavy for her to carry, so we paid and faithful sherpa (me) took them out to the car. By the end of the day there were four boxes of books in Dmitri. The small one was mine. The 3 large ones belonged to Mother. When we got to the hotel, we took 2 of the not full large boxes in to combine them so there would be room for 2 people in the car.

Sunday morning, we left for Ripley after church and breakfast, around 10am. I had looked at the map and planned to go south on 81 to 64 then west to 77. Mother disagreed, she had 33 on the mind. She looked at the atlas and saw that 33 runs from Harrisonburg to Ripley. The info we'd gotten from Cedar Lakes had specifically said not to take 33, because it would take so long. Since we had to be there between 4 & 5, Mother felt we had enough time to take 33, as "old people do scenic".

The road went up and down mountains with lots of turns. We saw snow and scattered houses. Any collection of more then a couple of houses was rated a town.

Well, at 1pm we stopped at the McDonald's (first one since Harrisonburg) in Elkins for a bathroom break and lunch. We were about 1/3 of the way to Ripley. The decision was made to stay on 33 until we got to 79 and then take 79 to 77. We got to Cedar Lakes around 4.

Mother may feel that "old people do scenic", but really, old people go on motorcoach tours with name tags and tourguides! :)

A string update

My Fireside sweater is done! I made the size medium but did large sleeves. I ended up with a couple of design elements. I haven't decided if I'm going to put button or buttons on it yet.

Since the Fireside is now done, I started on the Star Vest (Ravelry) from Folk Vests. I'm using Berroco Ultra Alpaca and Noro Kureyon. I really like how the stars look. You can't really tell in this picture. I am a little nervous about steeking though!

Mortal came up for Thanksgiving and helped me set the twist on my handspun. We soaked it in hot water in the sink and then took it upstairs to drip dry over the bathtub. I moved the shower rod back so it was completely over the tub and hung up the various skeins.

The long one on the right is Tussah and I didn't like spinning it. The 2 small dark ones are a dark green blend that was, with the exception of the small amount of fiber that came with the spindle, my first yarn. The coral/orange is the fiber that my mother bought in the Falklands. I have 1 skein of major thick/thin that is a single and the remaining three skeins are a two ply that is still a little thick/thin but is mainly worsted weight. So far, the fiends have not bothered the yarn.

On a plus note, the November sock club shipment came today!!! Before I left for a weeklong workshop! Yeah!! Of course, I need to finish (start) September....

What about you?

I just read The Memory Keeper's Daughter. It was very interesting. The main gist of the story is that the doctor's wife has twins and the girl is born with Down Syndrome. The nurse is told to take the girl to an institution and leave her there, but she can't do it. She takes the baby and raises her. The father tells his wife that the girl died.

I don't know. Which path would I take? The father or the nurse? Would I keep the child or throw it away? I think, that if that happens, that it isn't an issue, I would keep the child. What about you?

If you don't vote, don't complain

I hope people remembered to vote. I’m not putting much confidence in this, at least not in PA. Actually casting my ballot took longer than the wait – there was none. I didn’t even need any knitting to pass the time. I just wish the people that man, or would it be person?, the polls would get their act in gear.
The books are sorted alphabetically. A-L and M-Z. Last year there were two different lines that began in the lobby. This year, it was one line with two tables side by side, but you could skip ahead to the M-Z, you didn’t have to wait for the A-L’s to finish. Previously, it didn’t matter if the people in front were A-L, you still had to wait for them to finish before you could go to the M-Z.

I always vote. I may not be the most informed voter, but I always vote.

String Update

White Witch Mitten 1 is complete. This would be the right one. It is green. The left one will be red. I decided that the right one would be green because the song says “Starboard shines green and port is glowing red”. A couple of my coworkers have commented that the mittens aren’t going to match. They will match. They are Christmas mittens. They are supposed to be red and green.
I started my Fireside (Ravelry link). I’m using Cascade Eco in a yummy raspberry shade. I like my sweaters on the longer side, so I added two inches before the waist shaping. The charts are clearly written, but I still managed to miscross the bottom left cable of the big cable for the right front. When did I discover this you ask? When I was about to do the bust increases! I will deal. It is not a mistake, it is a design element.
Since certain people (and you know who you are) feel that I have too much yarn, I am working on some stash buster projects. A while ago I had gotten some black Caron simple soft shadow stripes with the intention of a sweater. Well, I decided that horizontal stripes would not be good, so I’m making a winter set with them. So far, I’m working on the hat. I’m holding two strands together and it looks neat.

Rhinebeck Procurement

Buttons!
“Walmart couldn’t afford my socks”
“I was a nice girl before I started all this knitting.”
“Armed with sharp pointy sticks…” I forget what the remainder says.

Mortal got one that says “Spinning because knitting isn’t weird enough.”

Socks!
The York & Lancaster Socks.
I saw these socks last year on the Tsarina’s blog, but since it was a Tsock Flock pattern, it was not publicly available until this year.






Shawl/scarf
Beautiful blue green merino and silk laceweight. I'm thinking maybe the Mystic Star (Ravelry link).







Varigated purple mohair.









Roving
A purple night type that has bunny in it.











A neat multi-colored one that dyer creates to use up dye.









This reddish/purple, white, green that people at work want and so do people in choir.








And, I procured a small niddy noddy.









I also saw some interesting books to procure later. The Enchanted Sole and The New Stranded Colorwork.

Rhinebeck!!

Mortal and I left Friday around noon for New York. We would have left earlier but the fiends went to the doctor Friday morning. They were so thrilled to go! Gil did major hissing and also made odd gurgling sounds.
We saw snow on the ground as we went north. The weather was supposed to be cold and wet. However, when we woke up on Saturday, it was sunny. It got cloudy, but stayed dry. Excellent. It was still cold though, but this is why God invented wool. We each had our hand knit socks, hats, hand coverings and sweaters. Mortal wore her Rhinebeck sweater and I wore my Nubby Cardigan – which I have finally put the buttons on!

I managed to finish the July socks, aka gloves Friday night, so I had them for Saturday. I also cast on a hat in the car on the way up – bulky weight alpaca yarn. I got about 1 ½ inches done in the car and I continued to work on it at Rhinebeck as I walked around.
Mortal went ecstatic over the angora bunnies as usual. She did buy some angora to spin.
There was a gorgeous tree. (Sorry, it's sideways!)

We went into the museum building this year and saw an old style camper.
We looked at bunnies and also got to pet a bunny that was being given a hair cut.

We also saw sheep.

These particular sheep remind me of Greyflake. Greyflake was the 4H market lamb I had one year.

We also saw alpacas.

We checked out the Sheep Incognito booth. "Global Warming really caught my eye!

Neither Mortal or I entered anything for judging, but we did check out the entered items.
We both thought this tam was gorgeous.

These mittens were rather interesting.

This shawl was really neat.

Mortal got a Turkish spindle and did some spinning on Sunday at my place. Gil was entranced.

I finished my Austen sweater.

Maybe a vacation?

Last week I took off from work. Sunday, after church, I went down to Mortal’s via Grandma’s. I spent some time with my grandmother and also enjoyed lunch with her and her sister. There was grapenut ice cream available for dessert. Yum. The lovely lady on my left is my grandmother and on my right is my great-aunt. My aunt also knits. She has made Christmas stockings for the entire family.
Shortly after I got to Mortal’s, we left again for the Sunday Knit Night at Panera’s. While there, I completed the cuff of July sock, aka glove number 2 and worked further on the Austen Sweater. It is the green sweater on the cover of Mother Daughter Knits.
Monday we emptied the stash room and taped. We taped the stash room and the hall space for the entire house: upstairs hall, stair landing, main floor hall, front door landing and ground floor hall. Then we went to get paint. We painted the front door wall and the window wall of the stair landing to match the living room, as the living room wall continues into those 2 spaces. We also painted the stash room. The stash room is the smallest bedroom. The previous owners had painted it a dark blue. Mortal has nothing against dark blue, but it does make the room seem a lot smaller. So, pale grey paint was procured to do a nifty technique over the blue. We painted with yarn. After putting paint on the rollers, we wrapped yarn around them and then applied to the walls. It is very cool looking. There are no two sections that look alike. There are places that look like clouds, aran cable, dna, etc.














Tuesday we painted the hall. That took basically the entire day. After the paint dried, Mortal decided that a second coat was necessary. She’s looking for volunteers.
Wednesday we were going to paint, but the duct guy called Tuesday and said he’d be over on Wednesday. So, we didn’t dress in paint clothes. When the duct guy didn’t come, Mortal called, and discovered that he had misspoke and that he was indeed coming on Thursday morning. Well, at that point, there wasn’t much point in changing to paint. The weather was also not paint conducive. So, after lunch we went to do the necessary errands and then went shopping at the outlets.
One of the errands was a stop at a hair salon that someone had recommended. They had a cancellation and a running late so they could fit us both in. We both got haircuts and donated what was cut off.
I had great luck at the outlets. I got 2 pairs of jeans on clearance for under $10 each and 4 tops for about $10 each. I also got some headbands for my new hairstyle. Then it was off to Wednesday Knit Night. I finished the one sleeve of the cardigan and started on the second. A productive evening.
Thursday, when the duct people came, we went to Borders. I read some knitting books and magazines and then checked out the clearance. I found a knitting book on 24 hour knits and a Moosewood.

The Weekend

It was an interesting weekend. Interesting in both the good and the bad.

• The bad:
  o Half of the people that came for dinner/theatre had issues – there were slips done incorrectly, payment was off and people were giving different names then the ones on the reservations. Now, this does happen on a regular basis, but it happened a lot more than usual on Friday.
  o It started to rain earlier than expected on Saturday. I had walked downtown, without an umbrella.
  o I got to the bookshop and realized that the list of books to procure was back at the house.
  o The yarn for the Scandinavian Star vest has still not come in.
  o I haven’t done the July socks.


• The good:
  o The weather has finally gotten cool!
  o I found some books for me at the bookshop.
  o I found a pattern for the rust/brown fallish yarn that has been calling my name, and procured the yarn.
  o 3 people told me that they could really tell that I’d lost a lot of weight.
  o The September sock kit came.

Enough with that, here’s some string.

I finished – and framed Fire Element. I just need to decide where to hang it. I even remembered to put my initials and the year on it.

Squirm tried on his kilt hose this morning. I have about two fingers left before toe decreases.

I have decided to adapt the July sock pattern to fingerless mitts. I’m not an anklet person.
Several people at work commented that I should make the socks and use them as the white elephant gift this year. They also made blatant hints for hand knits for themselves.

I have started the Austen jacket with the fallish yarn.

All I have left on Bettie’s Lace is to weave in the elastic and the ribbon.

And, just as an FYI, these pictures were taken inside, with artificial lighting.

Parental Details

Visa & Master Card are not everywhere you want to be, based on the email from the 'rents to wire more money as they can't use their credit cards in Mbeya. The TV lies!

I received a list of books to procure and sent to the 'rents for one of the teachers. I checked at the Bookery (the used bookstore run by the library). None of the books on their list were there. I did find some books for myself, though.

I have instructions to check other used book stores though.

I wonder, if I check their library and find some of the titles in question, will they notice?

The fiends received a postcard from the 'rents. I'm not really sure they appreciated it, but they did enjoy the treat that the postcard instructed them to be given.

Apples, Apples, Apples

One of the good things about fall is that it's apple time! Fresh apples in fall always taste better then the ones you get any other time of year.

Well, on the way back from Mortal's after her move, I stopped at Peter's Orchard on 94. And, the Honeycrisp apples are in! Honeycrisp is a new variety and they are a wonderful eating apple. Sweet and crisp! I don't like soft apples for eating. I bought a big box. I have made somewhat of a dent, but not a major one. There was a recipe in the Bon Appetit that just came for slow-baked honeycrisp apples. I'm not sure I want to waste any of my eating apples like that. Any thoughts?

I'm also getting hungry for applesauce. This may have something to do with the food mill that I got on sale at the kitchen store at the outlets. I actually went in looking (unsucessfully) for something different, but when have you ever known me to leave a kitchen store empty handed?

Hmm, or maybe apple crisp with vanilla ice cream..... Maybe I should get some from the local ice cream place before it closes.....

Celtic Festival

The Celtic Festival in Carlisle was this past Saturday. Mortal was up and we went. We took chairs and placed them where we could enjoy the music. We went roaming through the stands during a break. We didn’t go to the jewelry stands or many of the clan tents. There was this one vendor there selling skirt things. They are made from saris and look like double layer wrap skirts. The skirts come in 3 lengths and the lady there demonstrated several ways to wrap them into tops/dresses. We both procured. The one way she wrapped looked great on her but when she wrapped it that way on me, it accentuated my middle too much. But, on the plus side, she told me that I didn’t look like I needed to lose 25 pounds and that thin people were always saying they needed to lose weight. I thanked her for the compliment.
We spoke to the president of the Scottish Society and we also swung by the Scottish Society’s tent to say hello to people there. We picked up shortbread. Yum!
The most interesting thing happened in the afternoon. The artist we were listening to was taking a break between sets. An older gentleman came over and spoke to us about our knitting. He was very excited about two young ladies sitting and knitting while listening to music. He knew enough about knitting to know that Mortal knits English Style and I knit Continental. He asked if he could take our picture and we graciously obliged. Mortal then informed me that someone posted a video of her spinning on Utube.
We also procured Infamous Welsh Cookies. They look like little pancakes. We got pumpkin, blueberry & cherry hazelnut. Well, at some point that evening, gravity with or without assistance, took the bag to the floor. Somebeast, aided and abetted by his brother, dug into the bag and ripped open the sleeve with the pumpkin cookies along it’s entire length and nibbled on the cookies. Said beasts got in trouble and did not get the treat that Mortal had been planning to give them. My comment to said beasts was that if they had to get into the cookies, why couldn’t they have gotten into the blueberry ones? Of the kinds we bought, the pumpkin ones are our favorite and the blueberry are the least favorite.
The leg on the black kilt hose is done! It’s time to start the heel flap! Happy dance !!!! And, I finished Bettie’s Lace.

Never Forget

Take the time today to remember everyone who paid the ultimate sacrifice 8 years ago and remember those they left behind.

10 Things I have learned...

From Mortal's move.

1. Books get exponentially heavier as the day goes on.
   
2. Builders do not always consider the movement of furniture.
   
3. Carrying light boxes up two floors takes the same amount of energy as heavy boxes up 1 floor.
   
4. I should lift weights.
   
5. The number of boxes that can fit in a Honda Element.
   
6. Always get more boxes then you think you will need.
   
7. Cool & cloudy weather is best.
   
8. It’s best to paint before moving the furniture in.
   
9. Move the biggest stuff first.
   
10. Clearly label all items with the room they are to be placed in.
    

On a final note, the parents own more books then Mortal, Squirm & I combined.

Any ISP recommendations?

Well, I called my ISP about the flickering lights. I must have called at a very slow time b/c I wasn't on hold.

Well, after extensive testing, they determined that the DSL is working fine and that the problem must lie with the actual phone line, so they transferred me over to phone support. Fine and dandy.

So, the phone person asked me questions about what type of building I had, etc. She then said that I could test if the issue was inside the house by going out to the phone box by the electric meter. I would need a corded phone and a butter knife or screwdriver. Well, I have a screwdriver, but not a corded phone. Well, they will have someone check. If they check and things are good there, then the problem is inside my house and then they will charge mucho bucks. It's $50 for someone to come out and $25 for each 15 minute interval.

My phone line runs through the attic of the adjoining townhouse. The problem could be there and not in mine at all.

I'm debating if they tell me it's inside my house, to simply cancel all service and go with someone else for internet and just use my cell phone.

DSL update

So, I went to use the internet yesturday. It wasn't working. I tried the power button and the reset button. The lights came on. Then, when I tried to actually go to any sites, the lights went out.

The phone is also not working. Squirm called and it never rang on my end.

I think it is time for the "if you don't fix it right and soon, I'm cancelling."

Any thoughts on other internet options?


Squirm tried on the kilt hose. His ankles are thick. I had done 1 decrease set more then I should have. Frogged, he tried on again. Works with 3 decrease sets.

I started the second Bettie's Lace.

The fiends enjoyed yesturday. The weather was gorgeous, and the windows were open all day.

DSL and Tribulations

A while ago I decided to bite the bullet and upgrade from dial up internet, as it was getting slower and slower and not working well. You would think that since the number of people using dial-up is decreasing and the number of land lines is also decreasing, that dial up internet would be getting faster as there would be less demand on the phone lines. Does that make sense to anyone except me?

Well, I procured. The box came, I hooked everything up. Could not connect. Contacted Squirm. He fixed. Next problem came a couple of days later, lost internet/dsl lights on black box. Called company tech support. They said to stick a paper clip in the back and reset the box. Did that, worked. Internet worked for a while and then went kerflooey. Somedays there were lights and somedays there were not. Light status would also change from minute to minute. Emailed (at time internet working) company tech support.

Reply (1 week later)
I am sorry for your trouble connecting and I would be glad to assist you with this issue. I see some line issues that are causing interference that will slow down your connection and possibly even make it unstable. Please make sure that there is a filter on every device that is connected to your phone line except for the modem. That would include things like fax machines, cable TV boxes, and satellite receivers. Also, make sure that the phone cord that runs from the modem to the wall jack is no more than 10 feet long and goes directly to that jack and not through a splitter, filter, or surge protector. If all that checks out, power off the modem, plug in another telephone cord, and power the modem back on.

OK. Even I know that the phone cord length is a bunch of you-know-what. But I switched cords. The lights did not magically reappear. Then, I had a period of about 1 week when I had all four lights every time I looked at the machine. Then it went off again.

During this time, I also discovered that the DSL was making the phone go kerflooey as well. If the 4 lights were stable, the phone was fine. If the lights were not stable the phone was not fine. It did not always have a dial tone and if someone called it would ring and ring on their end, but not on mine. If I called out, it would ring and ring on my end, but not on the recipients end.

So, I had 4 lights on Tuesday, so I went on the company's website and pushed the link to chat with a service rep. I explained the problem and he asked a couple of questions and then told me that he couldn't fix the problem, I'd have to call. So I called. Not wanting to sit there with my cell phone clutched to my head, I put it on speaker. This fascinated the fiends.

Spoke to person who asked me questions, some duplicates. This person also pushed buttons to see if there was a problem with the line. Apparently there was not. I was then informed that my problem could not be solved at her level and she was passing me up to the next level of service. I finally got another person, who asked me some of the same questions and apparently did the same tests that the first person did. I don't know why they have to repeat the tests. Do they think the outcomes will change?

He couldn't solve it either. His solution was to send a tech out to dedicate the jack that the computer uses to just dsl and the other jacks to phone. Ok. When? Well, the person could come either Wednesday between 3 & 5 or Thursday between 9 & 11. I asked if there was anything later? No, 9-5 are the hours. So, I said Wednesday. I asked for a 45 minute notice. When asked for a contact number, I gave my cell. I also swung by Squirm's on the way home from my meeting and left him a note asking if he would be available to let the tech in. This happened to help with a request from the parents. Note -- if you want me to call people, give me the phone numbers!

Squirm was available, which turned out to be good as they called my home phone instead of my cell. Also, the tech was not told what he was to do. This is not good. I was also asked where my phone lines came into the house. I don't know. I told him that the TV connectors came into the attic. Apparently the phone line does as well. It is also apparently hot in the attic.

As of last night and this morning, I had four lights that appeared to be stable.

Just an update

The fiends turn 4 today. There is Whiskers Perfectly Fish in the pantry for their dinner. They got their toy coupons from Pet Smart and new toys were procured. Rose is getting a catnip banana and Gil is getting a hard plastic stick with a ball in the center. They, of course, have no concept of the passage of time and could probably care less. But they will enjoy the wet food and the toys.

The parental units were safely deposited at Dulles yesturday. As I have not received any phone calls from British Airways, all should be well. I helped Mother pack. Apparently I have inherited packing genes, but not from them. Hmmm. Packing would have taken less time if all items had been gathered up and if things hadn't needed to be repacked. I just hope that if/when the suitcases are opened by customs people, that the toothbrushes behave.

I lent Mother the brown everlasting bagstopper for her to use in Tanzania. She needs to return it when she gets back and then when I get the quilt, she will get it back.

Fire Element continues. I'm on the beading, which I am not overly fond of.
I'm on the foot of Rock'N Weave (Ravelry link) #2 and haven't started the July socks yet. I also need to do the 2nd Bettie's Lace before SSS kicks in. I have completed the cuff and the ribbing on the black kilt hose and am 1 inch down the leg.

The Yarn Garden is doing a KAL for the Fireside Sweater (Ravelry link) in September. I procurred the yarn for it on Friday. I'm going with Cascade Eco plus, in a raspberry shade. The fiends will have great fun watching me wind the yarn. There was this gorgeous fallish colored yarn, but it would have been too dark for the cables. I also ordered solid dark gray yarn for the Star Vest (Ravelry Link). I'll be using Noro for the second color.

Does not compute

Anyone who knows me will tell you that I really like to read. I also like to knit. I read recently a statement by someone who reads and knits at the same time. Error, error, does not compute, press F1 to continue. Obviously, I can't figure this out. I don't see how someone can read and knit at the same time. How do they turn the pages? Do they have a page turner?

I have started the black kilt hose. Squirm has tried on the cuff. There were no circulation restrictions. Hose will continue. Hopefully he will be available to try on the hose at other times.

Any takers?

I am endeavoring to reduce my weight. I am not loosing weight, I don't want to find it again. I am giving it away, free! Any takers?

I have been doing well, having managed to give away over half of the excess amount. What I don't understand, is why the last twenty-five pounds are so much harder then the first twenty-five?

They are out to get me

This is true.

We’ve been traveling around the state for work purposes and are using a minivan. I was sitting in the middle seat on the passenger side. The person behind me (who should have known better), kept yanking on the strap by the window. That strap happened to be my seat belt and it was cutting into my neck.
Yesterday, we were riding along and I had just put a cherry tomato into my mouth when the person in the front passenger seat said something in response to the driver. Well, I almost choked on the tomato. The person beside me was willing to do the Heimlich though.

My mother was up yesterday and I commented that Mortal had said the boys were welcome to come help her move, but that they probably wouldn't have fun. Well, it is true that the boys wouldn't enjoy the ride down or being cooped up. They have volunteered to play in Mortal's string room....
Mother said that the boys would like the stairs at Mortal's because there are 2 flights and they are open. I told said boys that they were not to do away with me just so they could go live with Mortal and play on her stairs. I got a look.

The governor has signed a stop gap budget to enable people to be paid. The full budget has not been passed yet. This is ridiculous!

ARRRRGGGGG!

This is driving me crazy. Be quiet, peanut gallery!

I have had about 2 full weeks with 4 lights on my internet box. Yesturday, I noticed that it was back down to 2. And, the phone is still malfunctioning. Sometimes I have dial tone, sometimes I don't. It doesn't always ring and when I use it (or try to), there is major static.

I'm up to the toe decreases on the first Rock & Weave sock (ravelry link). The ankle band is done for the second. The indented receipient has tried the sock on. The receipient will not be getting the socks until the quilt is done.

We did our budget last night at the church council meeting. Guess what -- we finished it! We didn't have any major issues!

Just an update

Well, I'm still trying to figure out the frame color for Magical Night. We're thinking pink. The problem with pink is that I will have to go to a frame shop to order the frame and it will cost more money.

I have not started the tomato socks yet. I have not even wound the yarn.

I am almost halfway done with Fire. I don't know why I started with the top half. This is making it harder. If I put the beads on, I won't be able to use the stand and I'll have to hold the frame. I've decided on the frame color -- brown.

There was a comment on the radio this morning about how it was to be about 90 today and how people believed that it wasn't hot until it got over 90. Sorry, 90 is plenty hot.

I had a communication class yesturday. The instructor had everyone give their name, why they were there and 1 true and 1 false statement about themselves. They rest of the group had to figure out which was true. They guessed mine wrong. I said "I have a degree in accounting and I spin."

On a plus, we are done with camp for the year.

There is still no budget and we begin work on the 2010 budget next month.

Some motivation please?

I haven't gotten either Magical Night or Carousel cleaned and framed yet. I'm waiting for an opinion on Magical Night -- for the frame color that is. I did buy some backer board. I wonder if I have enough dental floss....

Fire Element progresses. It would be progressing better if I hadn't run out of #4 braid in color 61. And I don't need that much. I hate having to order just one tiny spool of braid.

The budget does not progress. They were discussing it this week. Of course, they will take a break for the weekend. What's up with that?

I have finished the Fraggle socks. I decided to pattern both toes. I will get a picture up eventually. I'm having computer issues. I have received the July yarn and pattern. It has not been wound or started.

A rundown on my issues. I got high speed on my home computer. The little box is to have 4 lights. Well, sometimes I had four lights and sometimes not. This was intermittent. I notified the company via email at a point when I had 4 lights. Then, there was a time period of about 2 weeks when I did not have 4 lights. Then, I noticed on Monday morning, that I had 4 lights again. I can't figure this out.

The way things go...

I have finished stitching Magical Night. I chose not to add the moon, trees or sparklies. My fabric was already sparkly and I don't really like blending filament that much. I still need to frame it as well as wash and frame the Carousel.

I have started a new project, Fire Element -- from Enchanting Lair. It is progressing well.

The Fraggle (Ravelry link) socks continue. I am almost to the toe on sock #2. And, I received an email yesturday that the next shipment is on its way! Happy Dance!

My morning glories are not doing too well. Between the Japanese Beetles (grrh) and the idiot landscapers, the main group look like they are close to death. For some reason this year, the landscapers came through and mulched and then came back at a later date and trimmed the ugly shrubs. Well, when they came back and trimmed, they cut up my morning glories.

The budget does not progress.

We have a camp meeting tonight to go over the costs of camp. Fun.

It's that time of year,

when my grocery bill doubles or triples.

Why -- because I'm hitting the produce stands for fresh fruit and vegetables. Yummm.

My favorite summer fruits:
Strawberries
Black Raspberries
Blueberries
Cherries

My favorite summer veggies:
Tomatoes
Green beans
Tomatoes
Lettuce
Tomatoes

Do you get the impression I really like fresh tomatoes?

If I had MY druthers.....

The legislature and the gov would be locked in with no catering service if they hadn't come to an agreement by June 15. They've taken a holiday break?!

It has to be what Mama made.

I love strawberries. I also love strawberry shortcake.

To most people, the image that comes to mind when someone says strawberry shortcake is a sweetened biscuit with strawberries. Not me. Don't get me wrong, the biscuit kind is fine, but for real shortcake, it's gotta be sponge cake.

Not just any sponge cake -- Carla's Hot Milk Sponge Cake, from the More with Less cookbook. If you have the 25th anniversary edition, it's on page 282. Why you ask, because, that's what Mama always made!

This cake was always made in a cornbread pan and we would have big squares of shortcake with sliced strawberries fresh from the garden. The strawberries would be tossed with just enough sugar to bring out some juice. It was served in soup bowls and we'd pour on the milk.

Well, I realized the other night that it was nearing the end of the strawberry season and I hadn't had real shortcake yet, just the fake biscuit kind. So I "borrowed" 2 eggs (I only had beaters) and made the cake. I had strawberry shortcake last night and will have it tonight for dinner as well.

Camp is Over!!!!!!!!!!

If you can't tell, I'm glad that camp is over. We got poured on Saturday morning, but it cleared by lunch. Friday and Sunday were nice. As far as I can tell, the campers had fun. There was a sea of pink on Sunday (the camp shirts were pink this year).

Is camp over yet?

Camp starts tomorrow. Oh Joy.

I finally figured out a way to send out the unit confirmations without spending the entire day at it. It involved mail merge. I won't go into detail.

I have received 2 emails from parents that they didn't receive the information. However, it would greatly behoove people if they would write down the correct email address. I go by the email address on the registration form. If you write it down wrong, or put an email you don't regularly check, that is on your end, not mine. And don't tell me you don't know how I got the email, because you're the one that gave it to me.

I have also had several changes to the bus list. This is why there are blank spaces at the bottom of the form. We have also had several last minute additions to camp. This is a plus.

I have been volunteered by the parental unit to not only be the assistant unit leader for one day but to be one of the leaders for the overnight stay for that unit. This means, that instead of having 2 days to print out all the pictures, I will only have one night, Friday. And, I'm out of town tonight into tomorrow and don't know what time we're getting back on Thursday. Hmm, maybe I'll ride the bus up on Friday -- if I get up in time.

The fiends got a little confused this morning. They got 2 bowls of water and 3 bowls of food. Of course, they had to eat a little out of each bowl.

I have come to the conclusion that I don't really enjoy knitting with hemp. I have a brown Everlasting Bagstopper almost done (I need to attach handles). I bought more (hemp) yarn to make a second bag.
The May socks continue. I am on the gusset decreases for the second. I did the toe of the first patterned and I may be frogging the toe. I don't really like how the decreases feel against my foot. Oh well. I will be working on these today and tomorrow. One thing to say about road trips, more knitting time!
I have done some more work on the Magical Night cross stitch.

Kitchen experiments

Well the spinach pate turned out well. I still have some tofu left. I'll have to figure out something to do with it. I used a small corelle bowl as the trivet. It worked. I made the pinto pica something the other night. Good, but something seemed to be missing. The crockpot is now soacking for my next experiment. Between camp stuff and work, I didn't have enough time to make a dessert for the choir picnic. So I took Girl Scout cookies instead. The remaining ones came into work today. I made the vegan molasses cookies from Cookie Madness the other week for scouts. Very good, will definately make again.

We went to Raystown Lake for a meeting yesturday. There was some temporary misdirection on the way there. We did NOT get lost. The lunch served was hot dogs, bbq and baked beans with bacon. I had pretzels, cookies, and the peanut butter sandwich that I brought as a back up. The Boss made me go get it because Mommy M was all concerned because there wasn't a lot that I could eat. I think that she gets more worried about certain things then we do. And that is why we call her Mommy (sometimes). The one cookie had mini M&M's in it and the other one was oatmeal raisin. The oatmeal one had something in it that I didn't expect. I'm not sure what it was.

The landscape crew came around and mulched and, for once, I still have morning glories!!!! Whoo hoo! Happy dance!

I did not get much knitting done on yesturday's trip. I started the Everlasting Bagstopper. I have the Boye knitting needle set. Well, the cord that was not currently in use I thought was the right length. Well, it wasn't. It was too long to knit as a regular circular needle and too short to do magic loop. The May socks continue. I am halfway down the heel flap.

Eureka!

I've figured it out! And, I didn't have to resort to Google. Always a plus when the mental synapses work. It was Center Stage.

The May socks are progressing much better then the March socks did. I have one down and the ribbing done on the second one. I got 3 inches of cuff and the heel flap done in the car on Thursday when we went to Wilkes Barre. It's nice to have something to do in the car. I hate just sitting still and doing nothing.

The local strawberries are appearing. I had shortcake last night.

I still haven't figured out exactly what is wrong with my oven, but I think it may be speaking to Squirm's. I put the shortcakes in the oven last night and checked the temp on the thermometer. It was under what the oven said it should be, so I raised the temp accordingly. When next I checked, it was over. This is not good.

My internet was non operational yesturday. Of course there were things I needed to do.

I have located a 6 quart crock pot. Now all I need is a trivet for it and a loaf pan. I made vegetable curry this week. It turned out very well. The gray fiend was interested in what I was doing, so I told him that he didn't like curry. Mother said the cat was sensible.

The way things are

Well, I still haven't figured out where I've seen the actress who played Uhura. Squirm was no help at all. His suggestion was to look her up on some website. At somepoint I will figure it out.

Since it's moving into summer, I've been getting hungry for yogurt. I've been contemplating getting a yogurt maker. In part because of the high amount of sugar in yogurt but also because so many yogurts have geletin in them. So, I was reviewing the yogurt section to find non-geletin yogurts. I don't go with generic for the flavored yogurt. I found some, and this is weird. Breyers -- but, just the ones with the stir in crunchies. Not the regular, not the light, just with the stir ins. Hmm, odd. Rest assured, I will check the next time I buy yogurt, as I do not presume that the geletin will stay out. FYI, the cookies and creme is good.

The fiends did not have an entirely good weekend. There was thunder (they huddled on the stairs). And, their food bowls went into the dishwasher. At first this was exciting, Mom picked up the bowls -- WET FOOD! But, bowls did not come back down and Mom left kitchen. And, there were NO food bowls. When food bowls came back, it was kibble.

Things improve......

The March socks are finally done. I realized when on the heel flap for the second sock that I had done the toe incorrectly. I hadn't continued the purl ground. OH WELL. I was not frogging the entire completed sock, especially since it will not be noticed inside the shoe.

The yarn and pattern for the May socks has arrived. The yarn has been wound. The fiends were quite interested. Since the March socks are now done, I can work on the May socks. However, I hadn't wound the yarn, so I started on the Bettie's Lace Stockings. My mother doesn't care for them. She does like the March socks though. I will need to put the lace socks on hold until I get the 5" bamboo threes. The shawl did not get completed. It was too hot to work on it. It may need to hibernate for the summer. Maybe I'll pick up again on the Magical Night cross stitch.

The fiends say hello.

Being a government employee, I have today off. This of course will throw off the rest of the week, because I will be confused as to what day it is. As it is a nice day, and since I'm home, I opened the downstairs windows. The fiends enjoy the open windows.
The plants enjoyed yesturday's rain. This also means I don't have to water them today.

I tore out quite a few morning glories. They had reseeded themselves with a bit to much vigor.


Being Memorial Day, we had a parade. The Girl Scouts were marching in the parade. The marching went well.

My brother and I went to see Star Trek. I was a bit confused at first, but once I figured something out, I was good. I'm not going to say what it was. Go watch the movie yourself. The movie was quite good. The previews on the other hand were bad (with the exception of Night at the Museum). Squirm said this was in part because they were for sequels and I hadn't seen the first movie. Umm, no. They were bad -- the main theme seemed to be destroy as much of the planet as possible, with gigantic robots.

Live Long & Prosper.

Of Course

The March socks are finally somewhat cooperating. I won't say fully because the fit is just a little off what I really like. And they were frogged about 5-6 times. I am not taking a picture till the second one is done. Who knows why they are finally cooperating.

The current traveling project is. not. a. sock. GASP! It is actually a shawl. It is in a chunky blue Bernet that I forget the name off (and of course do not have the ball band for). I am working on a crocheted prayer shawl. The blessing is this coming Sunday. I may need prayer. The traveling sock is currently taking a hiatus in the overhead bin at work. I should work on it soon -- if only to free the needles. But, it doesn't have a due date -- think quilt completion.

The 1 kilt hose is done. FINALLY. My fingers are taking a break from kilt hose. Sorry Squirm. They're a Christmas present. Deal with it. The next time someone goes down or Mortal comes up, remind me to send the hose along with her. I started thinking about my next project. The wool finally came in for the sweater, but it is almost June. I don't do sweaters in the summer. And yes, before you remind me, I know the next sock shipment is coming soon. I'm thinking of Bettie's Lace Stockings (from Spring Interweave). Then I looked at the yarn and it only needs a little less then 400 yards for both socks. Then I looked in my yarn basket. Found appropriate yarn. New problem: my fat feet (thank you genetics). I have to increase the gauge. Which would normally not be a problem except that my LYS is relocating. They are closed until June. I need size 3 bamboo needles. Oh fudge.

I made chili on Saturday. I'm still missing something in the recipe. I am happy to report that the Fiber One Apple muffin mix is quite good. I used my silicone muffin top pans and baked them for about 15 minutes. I'm planning to make a spinach pate for the choir picnic in June. Yes, I realize that it will not be a true pate. Deal with it. I just need to find a 6 quart crockpot......

Hungry?

The Bible study spring dinner was this past Thursday at my house. The fiends were perturbed. They were incarcerated for the duration of the actual dinner (it was about 1 1/2 hours and they were in the bedroom, so don't feel to sorry for them. They also got tuna).

I made tuna salad, cheese puffs and truffles. There were other things brought, but that's what I made. I'm not fond of mayo, so I looked through some cookbooks for a dressing idea. I used the Cilantro Lime Pesto from Moosewood Daily Special. It contained cilantro (duh), scallions, dill, lime juice and olive oil. It was quite tasty. I think that when I make this again, I will either use less olive oil or use plain yogurt instead. The salad consisted of albacore tuna, toasted pine nuts, apple, grapes, onion and celery. It was very tasty.

The cheese puffs are not those poofy fake cheese powder covered things you find in the potato chip aisle. These were made with choux paste (what cream puffs and eclairs are made with) and I added garlic chives and cheddar cheese. Yum. They didn't turn out quite as I was expecting -- I think this has something to do with the fact that there is something wrong with the oven.

Truffles: white chocolate butterscotch, dark chocolate plain, milk chocolate mint and dark chocolate raspberry. Very tasty, much appreciated. I gave some to my mother for Mother's Day as well.

The basic truffle recipe:

• 6 oz chocolate (this is a little less then 2 Ghiradelli bars)
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 2 tablespoons flavor (I've used Schnapps, Godiva chocolate liquor, creme de menthe, Amaretto, Chambord)

1. melt chocolate and butter in a double boiler over simmering water. Do not let it boil and make sure the top part of your double boiler doesn't touch the water. Stir occasionally.
2. remove from heat.
3. add cream and flavoring agent. I usually have the cream and flavoring already mixed in a separate bowl that I pour the chocolate into. This way, I can start another batch without washing and completely drying the double boiler between batches.
4. If you are adding any texture items, coconut, nuts, etc, add them now.
5. Let cool. If you're going to put it in the fridge, keep an eye on it. You don't want it to get to hard. For white chocolate -- you will need to put it in the fridge.
6. Form into balls. If rolling truffles, roll them in finishing agent (cocoa, 10x, nuts, coconut). Place in fridge.
7. If dipping in chocolate put the truffles in the freezer for ~30 minutes right before dipping, melt chocolate in a double boiler over simmering water. Remove from heat. I usually set on a trivet so my potholders don't get soaked. Place truffles in chocolate, roll to cover, remove and place on wax paper.
8. Refridgerate
9. Eat and enjoy.

Each batch (6oz chocolate) will yield around 2 dozen truffles depending on size and how much chocolate you eat while making :)

I usually make 4 batches at a time, as heavy cream comes in a 1 cup container.

10 Things I have learned...

From Disaster Movies

1. Sticking with the main group is not always good.
2. Be resourceful.
3. Be prepared.
4. The government is not always right (but I already knew that).
5. NYC is not the best place to live (neither is LA).
6. The universe is a dangerous place and there are aliens that are out to get us.
7. There are things that cannot be prepared for.
8. Being able to swim is a good skill to have.
9. A well rounded education is necessary.
10. Always have a plan B.

And, on a final note, never travel on a ship named Titanic or Poseidon.

Tax Time = Panic Time

Taxes are due tomorrow -- Have you filed yours?

The brief panic moments for this year:

• Realized it was April & I hadn't filed yet
• Turbo Tax would not run on the available computer b/c I didn't have the most current Flash player. I think this is just dumb.
• Could not remember seeing the local form. solved, they changed the looks. It came in a regular envelope this year.
• Realizing you will be getting a refund after all, priceless.

Anyway, the taxes have been filed, check will be mailed to state today and local will be mailed today.

The refund will cover Gil's hospital bill. WhooHOO! An update on the food, wet food #2 was eaten as food of last resort. Dry food #2 & #3 were eaten. Wet food #3 was eaten. I even got purrs. The ladies at the vets' office thought it rather odd that the fiends were picky about the wet food and not picky at all about the dry. Oh well, it was known that the fiends are odd. Gil did not like receiving his twice daily pill. I did not like giving it to him. So, for the ease of all, we got pill pockets from the vet. They are soft cat treats that look like little brown buckets. You put the pill in the center then pinch the top. Gil likes them. Rose likes the fact that he is getting treats as well. The dosing is done in less then a minute with the treats instead of taking upwards of 5 minutes. On Saturday, I was in the kitchen putting the groceries away and Gil was sitting in front of the pantry giving his best imploring pauvre petite starving degeted neglected puddy eyes. Mother stopped by and saw him. She told him that his message (food bowl empty, food in pantry) had been received and understood, but that food would not be put into the bowl at this time. The poor fiend.

Rogue Roses has been restarted and frogged a second time. This is really depressing as I REALLY LIKE the pattern and the colorway. The kilt hose continue. Recipient will be trying them on tonight. The yarn for the second pair has arrived (Thraven from BMFA). We bought one extra skein as an insurance skein. As neither pair needs to be done until January 3, I think we're good.

Crazy Cat

Well, Gil has been released from durance vile. He seemed really happy to be home. He also looks and acts a lot better.
Rose on the other hand........Rose has been stressing and basically having separation anxiety since Gil went to the kitty hospital. Now that Gil is home, he is avoiding his brother.

We are currently taste testing cat food to prevent a recurrence of the issue that Gil had.
Wet food 1: no go, was not liked -- it was eaten as it was only option, but only as food of last resort.
Dry food 1: Gil ate some when given at breakfast. Don't know about Rose's opinion.

Wet food 2 will be tried tonight and dry food 2 tomorrow.

Oh, and Gil gets a little white pill twice a day for the next 2 weeks. He doesn't like it.

This is not going well

The March kit arrived. I love the pattern and the colorway! So, after winding the yarn, I started in. Well, normal needles I use for this weight made the picot hem WAY to big. Frogged, redid with smaller needles. Tried on, works fine. Continued my merry way down the cuff. Almost ready to turn heel and decided to see if I liked the length or if I wanted another repeat. Sock WOULD NOT GO ON. I could not get the ***** (insert word of your choice) thing over my ankle. The whole thing is frogged. No offense to the designer, but I will be doing a standard ribbed cuff.

Started the 1 white kilt hose. Tried picot hem on, it fit me, so I thought, no problem. Was almost completely through both repeats of the cuff when had the recipient try it on. Doesn't fit. Too small. So, frogged the entire thing. Recast on, increasing cuff size by 2 repeats. Had recipient try on picot hem. So far, so good. Will have recipient try on when small portion of cuff is done. Must also remember to give math calculations to Mortal so kilt hose match.

FYI, it's Tartan day. Google it if you poor Sassenachs don't know.

Rose is not adjusting well to his current status of only cat. He is not eating or drinking a lot and has been roaming around looking for Gil. He has been very needy and clingy this weekend. Fortunately, Gil will be coming home this afternoon.

Be kind to the animals

As Mortal said in her blog posting (http://raindrops-on.blogspot.com/2009/03/once-classic-always-classic.html), being kind to animals is very important and is one of the things that shows you care. This said, my being kind to animals currently is taking a big chunk of my money! Thank goodness for credit cards because I don't happen to have an extra house payment laying around -- unless of course I take money from a retirement account......(major fees as well as stupid, so we won't go there). Looks like major yarn and book diet is now in effect!

FYI -- Gil says he's worth it!

Waiting in anticipation

I got my confirmation email for the March shipment (BMFA Rockin' Sock Club www.rockinsockclub.com) on Tuesday. As of today, it has arrived in Carlisle. Hopefully it will be there when I get home. If it's not, there will be no joy in Mudville :)

On another note, the list of conspiring appliances continues to increase.
The cordless phone in the bedroom only holds a couple minutes of charge. I wonder if I can get just the battery pack or if I need to buy a whole new phone......
The alarm clock, on the other hand, has been added to the conspiracy list for the sole purpose that it is continuing to work well.

7 Signs of Spring

1. It is light out when I go to work and when I come home.
2. The furry fiends are shedding again.
3. There are green prongs popping up in my garden.
4. I saw a poor schmuck dressed up as a Rita's Italian Ice on Friday.
5. The quantity of For Sale signs on houses increases.
6. You need to layer more when getting dressed.
7. There's no scraping of the windshield.

Knitting update

Well, the Queen of Beads socks are finally finished. And before the next shipment! I like them. They are for me. One of the ladies in choir told me that these are her favorites. I wore them Sunday to show off.

I was on a roll the other day, so I wound yarn. I wound quite a bit of yarn. The furry fiends were quite interested. They sat and stared at the swift and the moving yarn.

The Fair Isle pillow proceeds. If you look really close in the above picture you can kinda see it hiding at the bottom of the picture. I probably would have been more done, but I reached a point where I had to tink multiple times per row, so I stopped.

And, then I decided I was going to work on something else and I ignored the pillow for a week. I worked on it some more this past weekend -- both at the shop during the class and at home. It is going better now. I think I have gotten the hang of it. The one pillow has black yarn and some really eye popping Noro. I love how the color changes in that one. I'm thinking that the Scandinavian Star vest from Folk Vests would be good with the color changes. Anyhoo, here is the current pillow. There is one repeat left. I'm a little worried because the first skein of white ended one round shy of the middle.

Gift of Fiber

My esteemed parental units recently returned (last month) from a cruise around South America, including Antarctica. As they know us (my sister & I), they brought back yarn. Well, when my mother found the yarn, it wasn't any that she had ever heard of (Vicuna) and was hopeful that it was good yarn as she paid about $25 for it. There are five skeins.

Well, she gave it to us this weekend and also (finally) looked it up on line. Retail price of Vicuna yarn in the US is $300 an ounce. She bought 15 ounces. Below is my share.

Any ideas as to what to do with $2200 yarn?