The Yarnarian Returns.

The big holidays are over, the company has gone home, and things are slowly settling down to our normal pace.

We had a wonderful Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur. There's nothing like family visiting on holidays. My sister came down for both holidays, and my niece and her boyfriend came for Yom Kippur. I felt as if I were cuddled in a warm blankie to have them and my dear Hubbo surround me in synagogue. The food was good. The fast went very well for everyone. We laughed and fooled around and were serious (OK, mostly on Yom Kippur), and it was great!

So. now it's back to normal, and I'm dyeing again, and showing new yarns on Etsy, and I'm into new projects. I feel as if I had a wonderful vacation, and am now delighted to be back to work.

I dyed the first shipment of the Magic Carpet Ride sotm yesterday, and added a few more skeins to play with. I find it fascinating that my eye wants different colorways now that the days are so much shorter, and the summer heat has finally ended. Autumn is my favorite time of year, and I want more grayed or muted colors, except of course, when it comes to the leafy colorways. Then, I go a bit crazy, but then nature goes crazy, so who am I to argue with nature?

This little batch of yarns is not in leaf mode; no oranges here. Sigh, but don't worry, I'll get to them as soon as those leaves change color.

Stormy Weather, Faded Green, Cinnabar, and Bronze:






I've been listing new yarns almost every day since I last posted, so there are lots of pretties listed. This is the time of year when I expect to sell tons of yarn, but instead I have a slow time. In the summer, when I thought I'd snooze with sales, nope, I was delightfully busy. Go figure. It's quite beyond me.

New Projects:

I started a pair of socks and a cowl. I dyed this yarn quite a while ago, and it didn't sell, but it intrigued me, and you know that that means that I had to play with it to see what it would do. This one is Grazing Moo, and the tricky part of the colorway is that very dark bit of gray.



When I work with a yarn like this, it takes me 3-4 tries to get it right. At first, I played with this gorgeous lace that I'm using for my cowl. Yech! So busy that you couldn't see the lace, and that deep gray made a mess. So, I played with other ideas, and ta da, finally did this mindless little rib pattern. And it works. The pictures don't do it justice; you should see it on my leg. It really pops. So, the lesson here is: if you have a dark contrasting color in your variegated colorway, use it in a type of ribbing. And then add a pattern in which a bit of the yarn is displaced, as in this fake little cable.




When it's stretched out on my leg, you see the cable and the gray adds to the charm. Trust me, it works.

And here's the cowl that I started. This is the original lace patter for the sock, and it was a disaster there. This pattern calls for a solid or almost solid, no wild yarns here. It is so easy to knit, and I'm quite in love with it. I can see me using it again and again. It's that pleasant to do.



I've never worn a cowl, but everyone seems to be knitting them, so I figured that I'd play with it. The pattern has work done on every round, and that's enough for me not to do a scarf or shawlette in it. I'm way too lazy a knitter to work that hard. But in a circular piece, it's just fun.

And now I'm off to get those sotm packages out. And bake some bread, and call the drugstore for the Mommie meds, and find a warm sunny place to work on my projects. Mmm, I do love retirement.

Scrabblequeen - I almost never have my kids except for Passover. For these holidays, I always have my sister, and often her daughter and boyfriend. I think we would feel very lonely if they were not with us. When my mom was younger, she would come and so would my MIL, but my MIL is not in great shape these days, and the Mommie is close to 96 and she just wants to stay in her residence. Going to synagogue would be just too much for her. So instead, my sister and I pop in to visit her during Rosh HaShanah, and bring her our holiday coffee cake.

KV - And to you and yours also. It was a most enjoyable time for all of us.