So much knitting....so little time

I went skiing at Stratton mountain in Vermont last week. It was great - snowed 9 inches one night! There is nothing better than sitting in an outdoor hot tub with the snow coming down... Max went to ski school. He is really becoming a great skiier - he can ski black diamonds! I put Zoe on skis one morning. It was probably the worst $25 I've ever spent - but it was fun (for me). I dragged her around for a few minutes and then made her walk in the skis. She cried a little, laughed a little and then informed me that now it was time for a treat! I couldn't disagree - we went and got sour gummies which she then proceeded to eat while plopped down in the snow. It was pretty cute. I thought I'd get a lot of knitting done while away - it seems I always think that and it is never the case. I did knit in the car on the way up to Vermont. I worked on Jeff's sweater a little - I am almost done with the back. Then I worked on my little girls' swing cardigan out of the Nashua handknits, Creative Focus Silk. It is a great 100% raw silk yarn with great drape. I love the little cardigan - it really came out adorable. It only takes 3 balls for a size one. Zoe told me she wants me to make her one. I think I will. I just started a cardigan for her out of Sublime Organic Cotton. It has cables and bobbles - it will be adorable when I am done. When I got back to work on Saturday - I walked in to a transformed store! Despite the freezing temperatures outside - it is definitely spring here at The Yarn Co. You should definitely check out our site, www.theyarnco.com to see all the new yarns we've gotten in. There is an unbelieveable yarn called Ella Rae Bamboo Silk. It is so soft and luscious and comes in a wide array of beautiful colors. Berroco, Seduce just came in - and it comes in some great multi colors now too. Those will be up on our site soon. I need more time to knit! All this yarn, so many ideas and so many other things to do too....aaargghhhh!

My Little Knitters

On Friday afternoons I go into Max's first grade class and teach the kids how to knit. I've been doing this since around November. I started out teaching all the kids in small groups. Everyone had to try it once or twice. As we continued, some kids really loved it and others no so much. So, the knitting became an optional activity during their "Friday Fun Time". Any child that has caught on and can more or less knit by themselves is always welcome to sit in the circle and knit for however long or short a time they want. Some sit the whole hour, others knit a row or a few rows and then move on to blocks or lego. Those who still need to be watched carefully can get my undivided attention for 10-15 minutes - and generally after that short time with one-on-one attention - they are set to join the group. The kids who knit with me weekly are amazing! They are perseverent, excited and proud of what they are doing. It is really fun. Some kids knit very methodically, rarely making a mistake. Others knit and talk and change positions like a jumping bean - and while their work may show it - it still looks wonderful. This past week was very exciting because three kids finished their projects. My son, Max, finished his scarf. Another little boy finished his scarf and a little girl finished a purse. Another little girl should be done with hers next week. The yarn that the kids are using was donated by TahkiStacyCharles - they have beautiful yarns. You can visit their website at www.tahkistacycharles.com And the great pictures were taken by Sinje who came with me to school to see the kids in action and is thinking about writing some sort of an article about the whole thing! She has a great blog www.knityoursocksoff.blogspot.com if you want to check it out. Finally - my sister says she just sent me pictures of her cakes - I will post them soon - wait to be amazed!!

Nothing to do with Knitting

So, my first week of being 40 has been a pretty good one. Max's play was very cute -it was about animals that try to escape from the zoo b/c there are bad guys who they think are going to get them. Max was a pirate - bad guy. He wore his pirate costume - with a pirate bandanna on his head which he kept pulling down over one eye. He thought that would make him look like he had a patch...but it did not do that. I found myself constantly motioning to pull it up - I'm sure he never saw me - but I sat in the audience and kept putting my hand on my eyeand moving it to my forehead. Anyone who did not know he was my kid probably thought I had some sort of a wierd tic. Afterwards, my birthday dinner at Spiga (on the UWS) was delicious. My mom gave me an i- phone for my birthday - which came in very handy on Friday. Let me tell you why. Jeff was throwing a party for me on Saturday night and he decided that we MUST get glasses and plates and silverware for the party that we could use again for future parties (the last big party we had at our house was when he turned 40 - three and a half years ago- so I have no idea why he had this bug up his butt - but he did). So he researched on the internet and found inexpensive items that we liked at CB2 - Crate and Barrel's less expensive alternative. We dropped the kid's off at school and drove down to soho to get the stuff. When we arrived I had to go to the bathroom like it was nobody's business. I was going to explode. So a moment after Jeff launched into his "I need this and I need that..." - I interupted and asked if I could use the ladies room. The snippy manager told me that they did not have a bathroom. Of course they have a bathroom. So, I explained to her that of course they did and that we were planning on purchasing quite a bit of stuff and that I really needed to go. She said "NO!" So of course I was fuming and began yelling at her and told Jeff I had no interest in purchasing anything there....by the way we were the only customers in the store and there were about 6 or 7 staff. Someone could have easily escorted me to the private bathroom and made sure that I did not trash the place and the cat would not have been let out of the bag that a super secret bathroom really did exist. Anyway - Jeff wasn't leaving after we shlepped all the way downtown and since we had no plan B. so - I stormed out of there and searched for a bathroom until I finally found a Starbucks. When I returned I stretched out on a couch they had and contacted CB2 customer service on my i-phone and vented - giving the nasty manager's name and all. It was great to be able to send the email right at the moment my ire was really up. I got an email back quite quickly saying someone would contact me shortly - but as of yet noone has. And since I have calmed down a bit - I have not yet persued it. But I plan to. We, here at The Yarn Co - allow patrons to use our facility - and yest - sometimes it is gross and yes - someone did try to flush our toilet with their foot and totally broke our toilet - but still we let people use it! Then Jeff had a lovely party for me on Saturday night. There were 18 people at our house and it was a lot of fun. My sister made an amazing cake - it had a ball of yarn and knitting needles on it. She is an amazing cake maker - not only did it look great - but it tasted delicious too. I've been eating the leftover cake for breakfast since Saturday. She is going to send some pictures of cakes she's made in the past - once I get them up - let me know if you'd like her to make a cake for you!