I start school

My first week of school is finished.

So far I have:

Taught someone how to play the recorder

Downloaded 107 PDF files for one class

Tested my new exercise routine by hiking all over campus up hill and down without dying

Gotten my first parking ticket of the semester*

Gotten the organ teacher I wanted

Turned in my schedule so I can get practice time on the pipe organ


Archive shot of the Lively-Fulcher organ at the U

My knitting time is going to be seriously restricted. Not only do I actually have to practice, but I have homework. Yikes! I had almost forgotten about homework.

My first goal is to work on projects that are promised to people, such as Piper's other glove


"Miss Sophie's Hands," pattern by Julia Mueller; "Der Letzte Versuch" colowary in Wollmeise

and sweaters for Wee EE. Although the Baby Surprise is going to come out so big that I might not worry about it right away.

I wanted to have knit a sweater for each of the little girls by the time school started, but I am stumped on M1's. I have the most gorgeous red yarn, but she wants "rainbow." I did rainbow for her last year. She might accept pink and purple, but my pink and purple yarn are kind of saying "Modern Baby Blanket" for some reason. You know I don't knit blankets . . . the sweater might be safer.


The purple on the right is Cascade 220
The other three are from Steadfast Fibers in Bonners Ferry, ID
(no website that I can find)

Right now? I still don't have my piano sign-up sheet mailed out. I guess I'll think about teaching for a while.

Er, just a minute. If you are reading on Bloglines, you didn't notice that I had to reset my "I haven't bought yarn since" counter. A friend went to Pfaffenhoffen to visit the Wollmeise store, and made me an offer I couldn't refuse. And as long as I was having to reset the counter anyway, I ordered a skein of Eidos from Sanguine Gryphon. But I am going back to being responsible now.

*Who knew they were actually enforcing the 2-hour rule on parking next to the playground?

I figure out double knitting

Summer is over. School starts on Monday. Time to finish up the summer knitting.




Cheesehead (pattern not yet released) by Julia Mueller.
Wollmeise Buxkranzl and Hollerstaud'n

This is my first successful double knitting project. I really wanted to make a video of how it works because I was so excited. But I just couldn't stop knitting to make it. It was kind of addictive. I will let you know when the pattern is released. The instructions for the double knitting are in the pattern.

ETA: I forgot to show you the cute scalloped edge. I did a knit 1 row purple, purl 1 row purple, then knit 1 row green before ribbing in green for the alternate side of the cuff.





Cesare had his dental surgery on Wednesay. Four teeth had to be pulled. He seems to have recovered completely, though--I saw him eating hard cat food last night. The vet had suggested soft food for three days, and but I guess Che had his own schedule.

The big yarn sale netted enough to pay for Che's procedure with some over for tuition. It is on hold now. It is so time-consuming to photograph the yarns, and eBay is kind of expensive.

I am a little nervous about the upcoming semester. I have always been really excited about school starting, but after having had two semesters where I could not finish the classes and just dropped out, the old excitement isn't there.

School was always the thing that I was good at. Suddenly it doesn't feel that way. We will see if the new exercise program (step aerobics and light weights) and the light box--treatments for Seasonal Affective Disorder--make a difference.

I See Stars

Photo from Jim Harrington

Last night was the peak of the Perseids meteor shower. I decided to stay up and watch meteors. It was hazy, and there was light pollution, so only the big ones got through. I saw six shooting stars that trailed across a couple of degrees of arc. One left a trail hanging in the sky for a few seconds.

The best one I ever saw actually made a hissing sound, but that was several years ago.*

I was going to stay out longer, because you see more meteors after midnight. My late father-in-law once explained why. It has something to do with the part of the earth you are on turning towards what you are looking at (Perseids meteors radiate from the northeast sky). However, at about midnight Paul came out to get me. He couldn't sleep because Cesare was sitting in the window looking out at me and yowling at the top of his Siamese lungs.

I also spent some time yesterday looking for knitting stars.

Since I did not go to Sock Summit, I have been watching for blog reports by people who did go. The most star-studded blog report I've found was from Sheri at the Loopy Ewe. She seems to have met everyone.

Anne Hanson went to dinner with the stars.

Lots of articles, great interviews, and a podcast showed up on the Oregonian's website. They did a video of the Guinness World Record knitting event.

Knitting Daily interviewed Nancy Bush, my own personal sock hero. It was Nancy, when her shop "The Wooly West" was still a brick and mortar store, who introduced me to sock knitting.



My Bosnian socks (purchased a few years ago from the Sundance Catalog) met several knitting stars, thanks to JC Briar who took them to meet Cat Bordhi, Priscilla Gibson-Roberts, Anna Zilboorg, and Barbara Walker. I had sent them along to see if anyone can tell how they were constructed. Sadly, socks do not take photos of the people they meet. But when they get back in the mail, I will take photos of them and show you why they are interesting.

People who are promising more Real Soon Now: Stephanie. Gryphon. Knitnana. Lisa.

*No one believes I could hear a meteor, but I swear I heard it.

I find a scarf pattern I like

I was looking through blogs today and ran across this scarf:



I saw it on Crazy Aunt Purl, and the pattern is available for free on Freckles and Purls here.

So why am I so excited? Well, I have this yarn that I bought from Sanguine Gryphon earlier this summer.


Sanguine Gryphon Little Traveller in (from left):
Mogok, Rangoon, Mandalay, Arakan

The colorways are all done in honor of her dog, Burma, whom I had a chance to meet when I went to Gryphon's dyeing workshop. I love how the yarns look together, and thought that entrelac would be a fun way to focus each color and still have a coordinated effect.

And Little Traveller is a soft, squishable yarn. It feels good.

The only problem: I don't know how to do those side triangle thingies. And now I have a pattern with side triangles.

A friend offered to copy a pattern out of Scarf Style for me, but I have a rule against taking copied patterns. I told her I was sure I had the book so she wouldn't feel bad, but I looked and I don't. You never know, I could have forgotten I had it.


Aren't you glad I didn't say eBay?

I try a photo collage again

I spent another day uploading yarns. I am trying a different collage program. Today it is Smilebox.

Note: Smilebox opens a new window. You can get out of the slide show by closing the window.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

I also tried a different format for the yarns. They are all on auction rather than "Buy Now." I think if I decide to post any "sure thing" yarns, such as Wollmeise or Bugga, I will use Etsy. eBay seems awfully pricey. They take a 12% cut, whereas Etsy only takes 3.5%. But I think eBay has a wider audience.

See the yarns at my eBay store, Tan's Yarn Sale.

I hope tomorrow I will do something else. I am really tired of trying to sell yarn online. Buying it really is more fun.


*FSOT: For Sale or Trade

I crash my blog

Yesterday I spent all day uploading Scottish Campion to eBay and my Ravelry sell or trade pages. Then I tried to make a collage of the yarns I was selling. I tried the Dundoo site. When I put the collage on the post, it put the Dundoo logo all over everything. The whole layout was ruined.

So my advice is, don't use Dundoo. I am open for suggestions on a collage site that works.

While I was trying to fix my blog, I happened to check my email. Someone had already bought all the Scottish Campion. This is good. As soon as her payment clears (when the tracking number shows that it has been delivered), I will have enough money to pay for Che's dental work.

Yes, cat dental work. Who knew that cats have so many tooth problems? Fortunately we found a vet who has extra training in dentistry.

I should just get a job as a veterinary assistant. I am a slave to our pets. My routine:

Twice a day:

Change litter box

Give Che antibiotics for severe gingivitis

Rub solution on Che's gums for same (yes, in there with all those teeth)

Check or clean Trusty's ears

Give Trusty antibiotic for infected place on hock

Clean Trusty's neck and put on either cortisone or an antibiotic cream

Clean out and refill everyone's water bowls

Feed Trusty and check the cat's food

This is in addition to feeding and walking etc.

Oh well. That's why we have pets, to teach us a sense of responsibility.

In the meantime, I am not buying yarn. I am looking at it, though. Walking on the edge. The slippery slope.

These are some of the winners from the Dye for Glory contest that was held on Ravelry.


Georgia Peach by Three Irish Girls


Father Time by Three Irish Girls


Twilight from Becoming Art


Gypsy Love from Becoming Art


Estuary by Three Irish Girls


Weasley's Wizard Wheezes from Green Eyed Monsters

This one is not a prize winner, but I love it! I wonder why I love Halloween so much? Maybe I could dye this colorway for myself. It would be a lot easier to get than the Georgia Peach.


The Pumpkin King from Zen String

I upload yarn all day

I Sell Some Yarn

I have needed to destash for a while. There is so much yarn that there is no place to put more yarn. And now I have stopped buying yarn (if you are reading on bloglines, please click over to the actual blog and admire my ticker), it is time to winnow the pile.

I just started yesterday.

In an effort to see what works and what doesn't, I have some things on eBay at Tan's Yarn Sale.

Different ones are listed on Etsy.com (as supplies, since I didn't make this stuff) also called Tan's Yarn Sale.

I plan to put up more stuff as I have time. There will be some items by a certain Scottish lady whose name I dare not publish online, mostly Scottish Campion and a little Scottish Heather. Anyone in the Salt Lake area who wants to come over tomorrow (Wednesday Aug 5th) and have a look at these, I will knock off $1 since you are saving me all the photoing and data entry it will take to list these on Ravelry. I think the Scottish Campion will be $5.00 online and the Scottish Heather will be $7.50 online. I do not have sweater quantities of the Scottish Heather.

Let me know if you have any suggestions for either shop. I am way new to this!

Today I am trying free shipping on a couple of items.