Oklahoma City Stuff

Project 365 - Photo #26
Originally uploaded by Elabeth.

Last night I drove 3 hours and stayed in the world's cleanest hotel room. Seriously, you could bounce a quarter off those sheets and there wasn't even soap scum in the bathroom. Holiday Inn Express in Edmond, OK is great. They even had fresh fruit and coffee in the lobby at all hours.
I didn't come to OKC just for the fabulous hotels. No. I came for the rug hooking class I was in all day today. Hooking is tedious and you will stab your finger with the hook so many times you'll start to not feel it anymore. The things you can do with it are pretty freakin awesome though.
This is a sample the teacher brought to show us:

She also had some really great books and magazines showing rugs that looked like paintings they were so good.
If I ever finish the sampler thing I got at the class I'll show you a picture of it. I ordered a new hook from the teacher because my old hook I got in a kit a few months ago sucks much ass.
I'm pretty sleepy from all that driving and finger poke doing I did today so I'm going to bed now.

I'm A Scarf Knitter

Project 365 - Photo #16
Originally uploaded by Elabeth.

Those of you who have been following my Project 365 on Flickr have already seen this photo. It's the scarves from my coat closet that I forget to grab most of the time so they never see the light of day. I've never really thought of myself as a "scarf knitter", but I guess the evidence doesn't lie. haha
Lately I've just been working on things that aren't very fun to look at. Mostly a black stockinette top-down raglan which is past the shaping and into the looooong boring bodice part. Sometimes I work on socks, but they are boring stockinette too. I just don't have the attention span needed to work on the Summer In Kansas Shawl without losing my place, and really that is the only even slightly complicated thing I have in the UFO box right now.
I'm distracted. I've been working on a business plan for opening a yarn store. I know, probably every other knitter on the planet thinks about doing this from time to time, but I am pretty sure I can pull it off here. The main challenge will be drawing in new customers from the Hobby Lobby set.
See, there is NO LYS here. The closest one is about 50 miles away and people DO make the drive. I am not worried about getting those people to drop into my store since I plan to make sure my stock is almost completely different from the other store's and that the atmosphere in my store is more friendly/inviting. I'm hoping people will shop in both places because if they do, then maybe I can draw customers from that town as well.
But, like I said, I'm not too worried about getting those customers. It's the local craft store knitters I'm after. I want to convert them. I want to make sure I have nice things that come in at a price point they won't be afraid of...kind of gateway fibers to get them hooked and make them want to try better things.
So, what is your favorite cheaper but nice yarn? What was the first really nice yarn that you used back when you were a brand new knitter? What was the first yarn that made you buy it even though it cost maybe a little more than $5?
Oh, and if anyone knows where I can get market analysis data for fiber arts type stores in metro areas of around 120,000 or less please shoot me an email.

I Got New Tools

Project 365 - Photo #18
Originally uploaded by Elabeth.

This thing is not a toy. It's all business all the time.

OK, so it IS fun to spin the thing around and watch the little counter count the revolutions. It was even MORE fun to be done winding this yarn on there and know I had 46 yards without having to count the strands.

Handcrafted hardwood Will Taylor Skeinwinder from Carolina Homespun & Magnetic Proximity Counter from Chameleon Colorworks

New Hat & Stinky Weather

Project 365 - Photo #14
Originally uploaded by Elabeth.

This is a new hat I made for my friend Patti's kids. She has 5 of them, and this is hat #2 so you'll be seeing 3 more eventually. It is also today's photo for my project 365. I've been doing better than I figured I would be after two weeks. Especially since the weather has sucked ass here lately so I've had to find a lot of stuff inside the house to take pictures of.
Tonight we are expecting some freezing rain and possibly sleet/snow. We're getting off easy compared to the people just a few miles west of here where they've had icy crap for the past three days with power outages and all that jazz. I'm hoping for nothing but slick bridges and overpasses in the morning so I can make it to work with as little fuss as possible. We'll see.
Oh, the pattern for the hat can be found in the book One Skein Wonders: 101 Yarn Shop Favorites. I used Wool Ease because it is a hat for a kid, and we all know how good kids are at taking care of their stuff. Plus, I wanted to make washing it easy in case it gets nasty somehow.

I Guess Somebody Listened

I got the new Lion Brand catalog last night, and for once I didn't
toss it straight into the trash can. I'm glad I didn't, because it
brought the good news that they've started making Cotton Ease again.
YAY! The best part is that it isn't available only in colors so bright
they'll put your eyes out. There are several decent colors that don't
burn my retinas. This will make knitting for all the babies my friends
keep having much easier.
They also have a new "Organic Cotton" yarn that looks pretty nice, and
there were some patterns featured that I'd actually want to make and
wear. What the hell? I hope they continue down this road even though
I'll miss the crazy fun fur encrusted crap and the laughs it used to
bring me.

What's A Knitting Blog Without A Cat Picture?

Bungee Retouched - Project 365 - Day 5
Originally uploaded by Elabeth.

This was yesterday's Project 365 photo. I totally forgot to take any pictures all day. It was 11:30PM! What to do? I poked him in the belly and took his picture. He threatened me with is vampire fangs. haha

There hasn't been a lot of knitting or anything going on over here this week. I was constantly running all week from one appointment to another. We had doctor and dentist visits, plus the truck was in the shop most of the week with a wonky transmission. (Thank goodness that was covered under the warranty at least.)
My Mom's poor dog, Buster stopped eating and spent two days at the vet. Then, he had a seizure he didn't wake up from just when they were about to send him home. The vet said he had more wrong with him than the heartworms. There was some kind of neurological disorder causing the seizures. He had gone into a coma after the seizure so Mom decided to go ahead and have him put to sleep. He was such a sweet little dog. We'll miss him a lot.
Just when things started to slow down yesterday I started feeling not so good. I guess there will be some crafting taking place tonight because no way am I leaving the house. I don't feel sick really, just kinda tired and icky and antisocial. I think I'll just watch tv and work on stuff.