It's About Time!

The pattern book from Michigan was sitting in the mailbox when I got home Thursday. Friday when I went for a doctor's appointment I started a Father Christmas stocking while sitting in the waitng room. I finished both Father Christmas stockings knit over the weekend and now I'm ready to embelish them. And, my penguin-design stocking is almost finished. Of course, I'm having a hard time moving my left elbow today, but that's just a side-effect of the trade. Hopefully, I can finish the penguin tonight and start the embelishing tomorrow evening. I'll be glad to get them in the mail. Then I can start knitting christmas gifts!!

The Slow Road

I'm still waiting for my pattern book to get here from a catalog store in Michigan. I ordered it on Nov. 18th and, aw, come on, it should be here by now! So-o-o, I called the company this morning and they said the package was shipped out via USMail on Nov. 19th. The nice lady suggested that if it doesn't appear today or tomorrow, to call them back on Monday. Gee!!!!

Getting Ready for ????

I've been trying to do about a zillion things at once lately. I finally got all the deck furniture put away and the flower beds around the deck covered for the winter. And I did it before it snowed!

As usual I said I wasn't going to take orders for Christmas this year and ended up with 2 (both for christmas stockings--a total of 4 stockings!) When I looked for the chart to do the stockings I found half of it in the plastic sleeve labeled 'christmas stockings'. I have no idea where the other half is. I even cleaned out my yarn closet (and I mean CLEANED OUT) without it appearing. Oh, well. I got out some graph paper and charted my own designs (a snowman and penguins). I thought they were pretty cute, but my customers wanted Father Christmas. So the Sunday before Thanksgiving (11-19) I ordered a booklet that featured Father Christmas stockings that I found in a catalog. I'm still waiting for it to arrive. I now think I could have driven to Michigan to the catalog store, stayed overnight somewhere along the way, purchased the book and driven home, again staying overnight someplace. I'd be exhausted and broke from buying gas for the car, but I'd have the damn book.

I decided to make a fair isle jumper and cropped vest for the this year's holiday fashion show in Cooperstown . The jumper is high-waisted wtih a simple solid green halter-type top and the bottom is cream with a fair isle pattern worked in green. The vest is cream with the pattern and edges in green. I used silver buttons that mimiced the pattern for both the vest and the shoulder straps of the jumper. It looks good (if I say so myself) and I thought the model (she's 2) can't ruin it waiting to go on. I'm pleased with myself for getting it done with plenty of time to spare--a first for me coz I'm usually sewing on buttons during the ride to Cooperstown that morning! So I'm ready for the fashion show and now the fashion show has been cancelled. Oh, well, I put the outfit in the shop last weekend and it's getting good comments but no one has discovered a real need to buy it. There's still 27 days til Christmas so it may sell.

I think I may be organized enough this year to do some knitting for holiday gift-giving this year. I say that every year, but maybe this year I will actually do some!

Another Season Ends

We closed camp for the season Sept. 8th. It was easy this year because I finally wised up and hired a plumber to turn off the water. (I figured it'll be cheaper that hiring him to fix the pipes when I screw up turning off the water myself.) We stuffed blankets and pillows in giant ziplock bags and spread clothes dryer sheets around. I put out a couple of small packages of d-con on top of and behind the refridgerator. I had a running battle with something on top of the refridgerator all season and I finally had had enough. (Every weekend there had been what my mother calls 'calling cards' on top of the refrid. I' d wash it with clorox wipes and we'd be good for the weekend but then the next Friday, they'd be back.) I wasn't feeling good so we didn't stall around, just did what had to be done and hit the road. We were on our way home by 11am. About 45 minutes later I noticed the windshield wipers were acting funny, slowing down, and nothing happened when I pushed on the gas. We coasted down the mountain and finally stopped about 15 miles north of Poland. Luckly, there was a house across the road that had cars in the driveway and garage. They were very nice people, letting me use their phone to call AAA. They helped me bring my mother and dog into their house. They even put their cat out so it wouldn't bother Teddi!! AAA sent a towtruck and I called our neighbors at camp to come pick us up. We made it home around 2:30 in the afternoon, $93 (for the tow truck)poorer. By Tuesday the car had a new altenator and new battery and I had a monetary goal for the craft shows!

This weekend is Pumpkin Fest in Cooperstown. There will be a weigh-in for pumpkins, gourds and watermelons, with the winner getting a nice check. ($1000+!!) Those monsters weigh-in over 500 lbs, with the winners over 1000! There will be a craft show, 'make-it take -it' crafts for kids and food. All in the parking lot of Doubleday Field. It happens right in front of our shop so we have an increase in customers that day. I'm ready for that with sweater sets and pumpkin hats! I did a very nice Aran set that I'm quite proud of. Of course that means it won't sell right away!!

Next weekend is Applefest at the Barringer Rd School in Ilion. I'm not ready for that and if Pumpkinfest is very good I'm going to be a no-show in Ilion. I hate doing that, but if I don't have a full table what can I do?

Time Keeps Flying By!

While I was at camp over Labor Day some friends and I went to the quilt store in Inlet. Now the drive around the mountains from Speculator to Inlet is long and uneventful. I worked on a baby sock to pass the time. (Since I'm usually the driver, being a passenger was a big treat for me!) We stopped in Indian Lake for gas and at Raquette Lake to buy bread. The store is near the dock for the SS Durant, the lake cruise that serves the most fantastic lunch. The bread...all kinds...was hot from the oven and HUGE! Each loaf had to be 12" long x 5" wide x 8" high. They smelled so good, too. Everyone got a loaf but me since that had been one of the few things I had brought to camp. The next stop after a detour to the bank/ATM was the quilt store! I limited myself to $50 and knew I wouldn't be getting much for that. I bought a booklet for a quilt called 'Turning Twenty' that requires 20 fat quarters. I know I have more that 20 pieces of fabric home on the shelf from our pre-knitting doll-making days so I didn't look for fabric for that. I fell in love with a fannel pre-print and the co-ordinating pieces to go with it and ended up buying enough for a quilt called 'Fatty Fatty 2x4'. (Just the top, not the backing, batting or binding.) The other 3 ladies spent like drunken quilters! I think Lynn-the driver, hit $200! We went to The Woods Inn in Inlet for lunch. It's an old old hotel that has been restored. In fact, that's were Chester Gillette was kept until the Herkimer County Sheriff could come to get him after he was captured for killing Grace Brown(American Tragedy). We also stopped at a bait shop on the way home that had a large PIES TODAY sign on the road. Two of my friends spent $14 each for a pie. (The crust was very flaky but the filling wasn't too thick.)

The fabric was all so beautiful and I was really tempted but when would I find the time to do all this sewing??? I'm still trying to build-up an inventory for that show while keeping the shop's shelves full. And that's continuing to be difficult since my baby sets keep selling! I'm not complaining, but maybe I did get in over my head by signing up for this show. I've only invested $30 so far but I'd hate to be a 'no-show'. I still have 4 weeks until the show so I'd better keep knitting!

The End of Summer

I can't believe summer is just about over. This is Labor Day Weekend!! I'm still knitting those baseball hats but I've done several baby sets, too. I decided to do a craft show in Ilion on Oct 6th. (It seemed like a very good idea when sales were down for July, now, with August sales brisk, I'm not so sure.) I'm trying to build up an inventory but I have to keep the shelves full in Cooperstown, too! I hope I haven't gotten in over my head. I suppose if I sell all I take to the show it won't be a bad thing. I'm going to make my sweater sets (baseball, blacksheep, train, apple tree and autumn tree) only in size 9 months, but I don't know if I want to take orders for larger sizes. Oh, well, knitting usually keeps me out of trouble!

Summer Knitting and Other Things

The weather in Speculator had been great last weekend and I was able to combine 2 of my favorite past times...knitting and boating. We spent a couple of hours cruising the lake on Saturday afternoon and again on Sunday. Everyone was going to head home early on Sunday but that ol'shinning sun changed all our minds and we went on the lake instead! (I took a 'baseball' hat to work on (straight st st) and actually did 5".) Saturday I had gone to a birthday party on the beach before we headed to the lake. Saturday evening we went to a concert at Camp of the Woods. They're very good and free! We've gone to several this summer and hope to make the last 3. We have a favorite singer (Chavelier Lovett) who's a sophomore at Hartt College in Conn. We all think he will be famous one day. He's a baritone with great stage presence. The other singers are good, too, but we all like him the best.

This week we're heading back to Speculator a day early. There is a very good craft show on Thursday that I haven't been abe to go to in several year that I'm going to this year. I like to see what's new in the craft market.

July sales in Cooperstown had been very slow but August started out strong (I equaled our July sales in the 1st 5 days of August!!!) so I'll have to try to do a baby set or two this weekend. Not to mention those damn baseball hats!! My mother says we look like gypsies with our knitting bags and the extra bags of yarn. It's hard to decide on Wednesday what you want to work on over the weekend but if I don't bring the yarn with me there is no place to get anything but Redheart up there!