Wrapping It Up

We've come to the end of another year in the world of Lucky Penny. I knit a lot of stuff, including this little number, the Concentric Vest from Fall 2007 Interweave Knits. This was really fun to make, with short row cables. I used two different one of a kind colors of Briar Rose Sonoma. When I find my Jaeger Luxury Tweed, I'll finish the first one I started in September. In 2007, I finally finished my book, which is now three months away from release. Thanks to everyone that's pre-ordered! I'm so grateful, really.

We're wrapping up lots of items here. A residence and studio. We should be sleeping there at the end of the week. The bed comes Thursday, and I splurged on a new, leather sofa. The Man had an issue with me purchasing one. But our current sofa, with two sets of slipcovers, has gotten so shabby. There are holes in each set of slipcovers, and they have been stained by Man newspapers, and thrown up on numerous times over the years from pets. I could sew new ones, but I seriously don't have the time. I didn't want to pay movers to bring over that pathetic thing. So, it will go out to the alley. My new sofa is gorgeous. It will look smashing with my Amish oak coffee table. I can't wait to get it back. The Man thinks he can move most of my belongings over to the new place. I think he's mistaken about the big pieces, some have glass doors or shelves. I see that as a potential disaster. The great thing about the apartment is the size! We are doubling the amount of closets. I've assigned two for the Man, one for me, one for Lucky Penny, and two for the household. The little room in the back that I thought would be the studio will be the Man's room, to hide all his junk out of my sight! I'll have a guest/dressing room that will be off limits to the Man, and decorated girly. Since we don't have real dining room furniture, and the room is huge, we're going to re-purpose it as our living room. It was the Man's idea, which I think is brilliant. The room that for most people is the living room will now be Lucky Penny headquarters. More than double the space that I have now! With lots of windows and light.

While all this moving is happening, I am swinging into production mode for Lucky Penny. There's some exciting retail stuff happening, which I will tell you about in my first 2008 post! Happy New Year to everyone!

Left Behind by Elves

I had wanted to finish this before my mom left for Denver, but now she will have a little surprise when she gets home. I finished this during my Christmas holiday in Fontana. It's another Sunflower Tam from Knitting Nature, that brilliant book. This time I knit it in Louet Riverstone, which I think is a heavy worsted, and not a bulky weight, as stated on the label. I used size 6 and 7 needles, and got something that works on a normal sized adult head. That's the Man modeling for me. I haven't told him, but I noticed while we were away that the bald spot on the back of his head is now heart shaped. Isn't that cute? Unfortunately, under that spot is an egregious, twisted mind.

I love this hat pattern. You really have to pay close attention, as there is action on every round. I'll make it again for gifts and for myself.

The Non-Christmas

This is how you know your relationship has matured:
Me (on December 23): "Did you get me anything for Christmas? I didn't get anything for you. I couldn't think of anything."
the Man: "Not yet."
Me: "That's okay."
We were both orphaned this Christmas. My family in Denver, and his at a far away suburb (for him) that he didn't want to spend the day in. I was eager to escape from the anticipated chaos that was going to be my apartment, with all those unruly kids and second hand smoke. So, I convinced him to play house in Wisconsin. Up to Fontana for a quiet holiday. My mom's house is on top of a hill, and the driveway icy, so we had to park next door and climb up. The next day, the Man wanted to go out for coffee (and food), and I gave some thought to what might be open. It occured to me that we were in a resort town, so it was likely that people would be spending the holiday at the Abbey Resort, and they would need to be fed. I couldn't talk him into the champagne brunch, which looked incredible, so we ended up having omelets in the resort coffee shop/bar. It was a very low key holiday, and a great escape. I made dinner, not fancy, just familiar. Spaghetti with meat sauce that we had both nights. I worked on some projects, and finished a vest and a cardigan. Saving them for future posts so I have something to write about while I'm working on the Big Move.
Out of town, just us. This is how I want to spend every Christmas.

Piccolo likes the dining room chairs. They are easy to jump on for some effective begging. My naughty girl was the only one who got a present, a yellow squeaky duck. Some of her naughtier behaviours included taking a big pee on a very obvious part of the hallway carpet, and rubbing her bod all over my finished knits when I was photographing them to feed the blog and Ravelry. I get a big kick out of the latter antics.

Holiday Greetings

From the Lucky Penny household and studio, we wish all of our friends the happiest of holidays!

Fitty

I am. I hit a milestone today. I can't find a baby photo of myself in all this debris, or we coulda had some grins. All my friends tell me I don't look it. Sometimes, though, I feel it. Here are some discoveries:
1. Hair color is your friend. Don't skimp on it.
2. Same goes for skin care. I've ramped up my regimen a bit, and plan to stick to it. It helps to stay out of the sun, and away from smoke.
3. Have tweezers with you at all times. You never know when the light's just right, and you spot that chin hair that is huge, dark, and previously unnoticed.
So, moving forward. I should try put some effort towards taking care of the innards, which believe me, the Man harps at me about on a daily basis.

If you start to notice lapses in posting, or recycling of photos, that's because over the next few weeks, the Lucky Penny studio and household are moving! We found a huge place, that I think in the long run will be cheaper. I am thrilled to be getting out of this situation after three long months. I am excited to be getting a chance to let my artwork, textiles, and pottery again be displayed in my home. This place didn't have enough room, so a lot of it has been boxed these last five years. I can hang my lace curtains again! The best is, the living room is big enough that I can have my big oak coffee table that was made for me by the Amish about twenty years ago. It's been making the rounds of other family member's homes, and is now in Fontana after I didn't allow my sister to take it to Colorado. More new household amenities will be a grown up, queen size bed, with all the bedding that goes with (I love sheets!), and finally we'll upgrade our internet provider.

Another perk for the new place is that I will get to have my sewing machine out all the time. To celebrate, and for Happy Birthday/Merry Xmas to me, I enrolled in a quilt class at Quiltology next month, and purchased fabrics for a small quilt for the living room sofa. It's been about twenty years since I've quilted, and I'm really excited to do this. It will also be good to take the edge off moving stress.

Now, I'm off to Division Street for knitting and cake with my lovely friends!

Buried

We're buried in Chicago under a blanket of snow, and Piccolo is snoozing under a few blankets, one of alpaca, and the other a big sweater that I wear over many layers. I almost took it apart to make a more fitted sweater, but this one is working, and believe it or not, gets positive feedback.
The Man gave me an Ipod Nano for my birthday, and I'm having technical difficulties. The instruction manual PDF file is no help, either.
I'm hoping to move to a new, really large apartment next month. Looking at Craig's list every day really worked. So, if I get approved, I'm going to move in bits and pieces until the end of January. Hopefully in a few weeks we'll be sleeping there, in a brand new bigger bed, that will be the first order of business. There's a huge nesting vibe going on in the Lucky Penny household! Fingers crossed!

Take Two

I started the Concentric Vest by Teva Durham, in the fall 2007 Interweave Knits as part of a knitalong a few months ago. Then I lost some of the yarn that I was using for the project. Seeing Jackie's finished vest, I searched through my studio again, unsuccessful. So I decided to start another. I'm using two hanks of Briar Rose Sonoma, which I had intended to be another Rosebud vest. To be honest, I wasn't crazy about the colors, but I had the piece out today in daylight, and wow. Love it.

Making Me Kukka

There was no ice storm today. I drove around looking at properties for rent that I had found on Craig's list. Most ruled out because of parking concerns and placement of a unit in the building that would make it more prone to be noisy. Because we have noise here. I wore ear plugs to bed last night because of blasting TV above my living room and bed room. Do you know that emergency testing happens at 2 am on TV? That alarm had me jumping out of bed. The same blasting TV was on at 8 am today, so that makes me think that it was on all night. These people know that it's loud, and they told the landlady that they don't care. Nice. Neighborly.
There appears to be a disproportionate number of things being started versus projects finished on this blog. Here's another. It's from the Norah Gaughan book for Berroco, called Kukka. I don't understand knitwear nomenclature most of the time. The patterns calls for one row knit on a size 8 needle the following row knit on a 10, alternating every row. This seems kind of kukka to me. Especially when you use a circular needle, like I do for most projects except socks. So, I split the difference, and am knitting every row with a size 9.
Have I ever mentioned how much I love Martha Stewart? We collect some of the same things: McCoy pottery, Fiestaware, and Steiff animals. My life other than that is not even remotely like hers. I'm sure she never had to deal with an undesirable neighbor, except perhaps for that short time, you know what I mean. She wears some amazing sweaters on her show. She had this adorable short sleeved garter and eyelet knit jacket on over a long sleeved blouse tonight. In her remote, a grey cabled shawl collared beauty, probably a Michael Kors. She has two French Bulldogs, and dresses them in custom coats. My dream is to show her how to knit a custom sweater on her show. That would really put me over.

Preparations

We're thinking about the ice storm that going to start at around midnight tonight. The Man doesn't want me driving tomorrow, he's said. Okay by me! I worked on Sunday, and did a distance job today, so I'm in pretty good shape. It's not the best solution to my apartment situation, but if I work on Sunday, that's just more hours away from the unruly children stomping across the ceiling like a herd of buffalo, and screaming. More of the neighborly fun included construction using hammers from 1-2 am last night. The thing that sucks about this weather is that my search for a new home continues to be delayed.
I've been doing a lot of rubbernecking as I drive around Chicago, looking for little dogs. Chicago people really don't get it when it comes to dressing dogs for protection from cold. It's a little better this year, maybe 50%. But of those, the garments are too small, or lack that special flavor. Lots of customers select a really tiny sweater (and being tiny, less expensive) and ask if it would fit their ten pound dog. They are usually very surprised when I point out the size that fits Piccolo, which is the 16" length. Lots of them comment that their dogs have long hair, so don't need a wool sweater. Humans, being mammals, are covered in hair (and more of it as we get older, I'm sad to say), and most of us wouldn't think about going out in the cold without clothing. Lots of people with long hair on their heads also wear wool hats in the cold. It makes me kind of crazy when I see someone on the street all bundled up for the walk, and the little dog with no protection. I will give points to the cute guy I saw on Broadway who stuffed his little dog in his coat.
If I'm housebound tomorrow, I'm firing up the knitting machine for a real effort to replenish Lucky Penny stock.

The Best Knitting

Piccolo has a lot of sweaters, as you may imagine. There are ones that I made for her, and she wears sweaters that I made for Penny. For each of my dogs, I had a special color that was theirs, and I tried to use that color in each sweater. I never had one for Piccolo, nothing really spoke to me. In the last few weeks, it has occurred to me that more often I choose sweaters out of her wardrobe that are primarily red. I purchased this yarn at last month's DIY Trunk Show, from Kitty Grrlz. It's hand spun Navaho 3-ply. Even after an explanation, I still can't wrap my head around the Navaho technique. This yarn has so much life. The bands are knit with some Cormo (love Cormo!) that I purchased at the last Wisconsin Sheep and Wool, and the tips are the Lobster Pot that I love so much. I'm going to use some leftover cashmere and polwarth blend to knit another little cowl inside the collar, like I did on another sweater. Yes, I used a $40 hank of yarn to make my dog a sweater, but who deserves it more than my adorable little companion?

I collect yarns for the dog sweaters, and when someone looks at one at a show, I usually can tell them who made the yarn, and why I think it's so special for a sweater. It's just another layer of custom, and hand crafted. Sometimes, now down to the yarn.

A Month for Repair

The show madness is over, probably until next summer. I just have to work a few hours at the Evanston Art Center this week. They used one of my book photos for their poster, postcard, and in advertising, which is very exciting for me. This fall, I learned that taking the long vacation from dog sweaters that I did this year was not the best idea. I found myself short on inventory, and had to pull sweaters out of Streeterville for the last two shows. I need to make a few things for Lucky Penny every month to keep my stock up. I should first start with replacing for the items that have been sold. The other side of Lucky Penny is that at the same time my show schedule was ramped up, I have been working on some custom order for bigger dogs. This one is for a Bull Terrier. I'm using a discontinued Briar Rose wool, Beth Ann, which knits up at chunky. The bands are Malabrigo Chunky, color Rhodesian, and the tips are a wool that I purchased from Aisha Celia at the last Renegade. I thought a bigger dog could carry a chunky weight yarn, and of course, I could finish the sweater quicker, and save my hands.
I saw the house yesterday, and sadly, the only thing that I really liked about it was the idea of it, having my own space. I'm sorry for all involved that I won't be living there. I am determined to find a new place for us. The truth is, this place has been too small for us ever since the Man moved back in (I only lived here a few weeks when that happened). Up until October, there was no real urgency to look. For the last two months, things have gotten smaller. We don't use the back yard any more, it's become a big old ashtray. I don't use my work space for blocking in the basement. I get very little access to the laundry facilities, and I don't want to risk my wool things being exposed to second hand smoke. So the search continues.

Chicago Snow Advisory

Piccolo says--it's cold! Get sweaters on, everybody.