A December to Remember

I know that I have been really quiet. I have been SO busy with the phenomenon that is Violet's Pink Ribbon and all that it entails. The tally is now at 310, which includes yarn and units of fiber. Of course, this happened during the nightmare time when my yarn supplier was battling to get the yarn that I use for Sock!. It is like a bad joke, this thing with my yarn. I told the guy that I felt like the contractor in The Money Pit, telling people "Two Weeks" which was more like "any day now, they have assured me", which has turned out to be, in reality, sometime after the 7th of January. The pain has been lessened by those of you that have discovered
Sock! Merino  and Super Sport, which certainly helped to pull things through the holiday season. I can only be philosphical and be thankful for all of the help with Violet's plight. I have given her $1240. This has been a huge undertaking for me, here working on my own but it has taught me that by giving of myself, I am rewarded ten fold, which has been manifested in many ways. Now, I just need to get my favorite yarn back. Oh yeah and I am EXTRA thankful that it is no longer dipping into the 30's during the day out in the old Dye-raj. Yowza...that was one character building week, I'll tell you.

The day that I came up with the pink ribbon colorway, I took some time out to have an R&D day. I had been asked by a dear friend to come up with something for the birthday of another dear friend, to help remind her of her home town of Onalaska, Washington. She sent a picture to me and the day that I took time to be an artist again, instead of just a hack dyer, I created this one-off colorway for dear Barb and her benefactors. No, it won't go into rotation because this colorway takes so many colors and is not something for mass consumption because it was created as an impressionist watercolor on yarn.

 

Yeah, I am happy to retrieve the photo out of the camera and to see the yarn again.

We had a lovely time on Schnickle Eve and Schnicklemas, which was our family Christmas on the 17th. His Nibs had two sets of grandparents as well as an auntie doting on him and when the day of his birthday  got to the noon hour, the hordes of friends and relations came in to scare the pants of the little guy for his big day with the candle and the cake. Holy Cannoli, this kid raked it in but of course was pretty much ready for it to be over, before it began. By the end of the day, after both sets of grandparents and his auntie had all gone home, little Schnickle got to have the fun of investigating the wonderful gifts that he, Mommy and Daddy had gotten on this all-in-one holiday, at least for the Souza side of the clan. I love this shot of him talking to his lion and the Parcheesi game.

Last but not least, the parting shot of him in his new vehicle and the big gift from us...his beloved red wagon...the little kid version of the old standard American Flyer, this one complete with little seats, seat belts and sippy cup holders. :o) The kids were all taking turns riding with him as his dad wheeled them around the court. Now little Schnickle and mama can wheel down to get the mail and he has been known to grin and wave at passing cars. I am glad that he has his dude cap and is not afraid to wear it.

Happy Anniversary to Sheila and Michael who bowled me over with the most wonderful gifts. You will see them tomorrow.

Comments

[Barb]

Lisa, The yarn you made with the inspiration of my home town is just stunningly beautiful. Thank you! I will be putting more photos of it on my blog in the next couple days. Your art work is amazing. I've started pouring over faroese shawl patterns. I'm so excited to start one with this beautiful yarn.

[Laurie]

Great Schnickel shots (say that fast five times). Glad it was a good holiday for you.

[elizabeth]

I missed you:-) It sounds like you had a wonderful schnickle filled holiday!!!! Happy holidays to the Souza family may this new year bring much health and hapiness.

[Melissa]

My little one has that wagon. It's awesome. Glad to hear that things are going well and the holiday was so awesome. The special dye job is amazing!

[AlisonH]

He is SO cute. And you should have seen my face fall as I read that you wouldn't be producing more of that yarn, but there are always others. The good thing about writing my book was the excuse it gave me to buy lots of Lisa yarn. Even better, the publisher talks about the sequel. Hey!

And thank you again for all those Miss Violet skeins you put out there for us and for her. Mine turned out just so gorgeous and perfect.

[Lisa S]

NO! I will be producing more Sock! as soon as the darned shipment gets here. Not to worry. From now on, my stockpile will be a lot bigger and I can't let him selling the promised last 75 pounds earmarked for me to someone else, which is what led to this fiasco. Of course, there are a lot of dyers out there who probably are not paying any attention to the knot problem, producing skeins with those knots. I hope that this new shipment is knot free so that Rod does not have to babysit the skeining machine. One thing, though...I will have some lovely grab bags of short skeins for creative sock knitting, at Stitches West!

[vanessa]

i swear schnitzle gets cuter with every photo!

[AlisonH]

I meant in that colorway. Didn't mean to give you a scare like that, lol!

[Jen]

Barb absolutely loved her yarn and thank you again for creating that for us. It will be treasured for a long time. Schnickle is getting so extremely adorable - what a proud Grandma you must be! Hugs to you and Rod, and Happy New Year!

[Mimi]

I stop by your blog now and again.Have finally been moved to comment by the beautiful Washington State colored yarn. I lived on the Pacific Northwest coast for a couple of years. You captured the colors and the feeling perfectly. Gorgeous. You are truly talented.