The first installment of the sock club yarn is almost all done. Whoo hoo! I was a little worried since this time around I have more than twice the club members than the past two years and I’m getting ready to go on vacation in 2 weeks. Yikes! But it’s almost ready to go out the door and even earlier than I thought. Hopefully Friday or Saturday it will post. I already mailed the international ones since they take longer. I really like this colorway. I worked on it with one of the randomly chosen club members and it’s inspired by a painting by Winslow Homer. Here is a picture of it….

Not! Is it too late for April Fool’s? You should know better than me spoiling the colorway before all of you get it! I took a picture of the yarn because this marks the beginning of my vacation. In the almost 20 years T. and I have been together we have never taken a real vacation. In two weeks we leave to go to Italy for 11 days. I can’t wait. The kids will be staying here with a friend and are slowly getting used to the idea of how this all works. The past two days has been spent playing the “So what time is it there?” game. We have only ever been away for two nights so the girly is a wee bit scared. The boy could care less. They know they can call us or text us and that they will spoiled rotten by all of our friends.

Actually, have any good ideas about what to do for the kids while I’m gone so they don’t miss us too much? Someone told me to get them little presents to open up each day we are gone. Any other ideas? I’ll take them! Definitely a calendar to mark off the days, and I don’t know what else. I would love to have some input!

I just wanted to remind everyone that the shop will still be open while I am gone but nothing will be shipped from May 6th-May19th. The shop is completely stocked with everything right now. If you need/want anything I suggest getting it now! I wanted to remind you that I’m not taking any yarn orders until after June 1st. It will be the longest I will go without dyeing yarn in over 2 years. Kinda crazy.

So cheers my friends! Anyone have any favorite things to do in Rome? Favorite place to eat?? Gelato shops??? Must sees? We’ll be there for two days before we go to where we are staying for a week. But HOORAY! I’m going on a real, adult vacation!!!!

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You can do the work of two people, but you can’t be two people.

Instead, you have to inspire the next guy down the line and get him to inspire his people.
~Lee Iacocca

I really need to be two people right about now in my life! Do you feel that way as much as I do? It’s okay. I thrive on busy. However, as I get closer and closer to leaving for vacation I seem to get busier and busier. All good stuff though. The first installment of the sock club will be dyed over the next few weeks and mailed out the last few days of the month. I’ve already worked with the special club member who was chosen to work with me on the colorway and it’s a very pretty one. I will give you one little hint. It was inspired by a painting. Ha! How’s that for vague?

Speaking of vacation I want to let everyone know a few things. First of all I am not taking yarn orders again until June 1st. I need to dye the rest of the orders on my dye queue and get the sock club yarn dyed and then I’m off to Italy. I know June 1st seems like forever away but I promise it will be here before you know it. While I am gone, the shop will still remain open but no orders will ship from May 5th-19th. If you need your swag, get it soon! I still have some Pattern Tamers and just placed another order of them as well. The Haiku Bags are all back in stock as the new Karma Neutral Collection sold out almost instantly when I announced I got them in.

I totally thought I had all kinds of things to share. I guess not. *sigh* Oh! I am going to be knitting something soon. It’s a present for someone. But I think they read my blog so I can’t even talk about it. Darn. But how exciting is that? Me knitting! Don’t pass out. I know. And I started off the year with such a bang with those fingerless mitts. Okay my friends. Time to get some yarn ready to dye. It might be 79° today! I’m ready for the warm weather. Did you know that it snowed here last week? Look. So not kidding!

See?

Have a good week my friends!

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Can everyone wish my good buddy Stephen a Happy Birthday? Come on, let’s all sing to him. After you’re done singing to him you should go listen to his newish podcast- YKNIT - with WonderMike. Have you heard it? Have you seen them on Ravelry? (where they have a contest that ends tomorrow) Well what are you waiting for? I mean on their first podcast they hang out with Debbie Stoller.  Episode 4 is with Casey & Jess and their most recent Episode 5 is with another favorite knitStar of mine Mel of Cabezalana blog. Yeah, Stephen and Mike are just too cool for skool. I love them both and love having them hang out with me while I dye, even more. I promise you’ll really enjoy the podcast.

Happy Birthday Love!!

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This might be a duplicate to those who are customers of the shop

and get the Newsletter so just ignore it if it is!

Happy April! I’m starting off the month with a bang with a huge shop update. I’ve just received my 4th shipment of Pattern Tamers as I still can not keep them stocked. There are 5 different tamers in stock as I send this email. I am also excited to have the Stitch Savers in the shop as mentioned in the cool stuff section of this issue of knitty.com. Speaking of knitty.com and Amy Singer I am proud to present the new Soak Wash called Scentless.”Finally, a delicate wash that’s scent free! No scent for me!” says Amy Singer of knitty.com. “Try Soak Scentless if you have sensitive skin or allergies like I do.” All of the Soak products have been restocked too.

The other cool new swag is the new collection from Haiku Bags. I am one of the first to carry these new bags. Karma Neutral is inspired by sustainable business ethics that address the need to utilize renewable materials and continue to deepen the commitment to long-term relationships with producers, retailers and customers. The fabric utilized in the body of these bags is 50% jute which is considered a sustainable fabric due to its rapid growth rate and the fact that no pesticides or fertilizers are used in its production. The Leaves collection features the unique appliqué and top stitching details found only on a Haiku bag. I have had the Nori Grab Bag now for a little while and get compliments all of the time. If I sell right out of these I can take more orders on a pre-sale basis until I get the next order in. So don’t worry! Just email me and let me know.

Pshew! I think I got everything. If not you can always just click on the New Products link and that will show you what’s new in the shop.

Take care and have a great weekend!

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Sorry they are late friends. But they are worth it.

Simply click on the image you want, right click and save to your computer!

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Hang tight y’all. Cynthia just moved and didn’t have email until today so we will have them ASAP.

See if this will hold you over until then. I give you a fish kiss!

I dunno. Hopefully it made you smile?

Tomorrow! Calendars! Promise!

Don’t send the lynch mob after us!

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Well I haven’t really sinned but I need forgiveness. As of right now I have 2700 unread messages in Bloglines. Last week, the Sock Club completely kicked my arse and made me more behind with blog reading than I have been in a very long time. There is no way I can catch up so I am going to clean my Bloglines slate and start over. Would it make you feel better if I gave you some green yarn? A Guinness? Oh good! I’m glad. Here. Happy St. Scoutsswag Day!

So now it’s my turn to ask you what I’ve missed. Please please leave me a comment and let me know what’s up with you? I hate missing important things or even totally mundane things. Tell me what you’ve been up to. (whether you are on my bloglines or not!) I really want to know and this way I can see it all right here and won’t feel so badly that I can’t get to your blogs. Okay? Thank you.

ps - my new ring is from Pineapple Seed. Go look at their jewelry. It’s beautiful!

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Okay gang….please give us at least 24 hours to work through this. I might be letting in a lot more people than I thought due to the overwhelming response. As soon as we get that hammered out you will receive a Paypal invoice if you are in the club. You then have 24 hours to pay for your slot or yah lose it!

Good luck everyone. I think most of you will be pleasantly surprised.

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I wish I could thank each and every one of you who left a comment over the past few days. It meant so much to me to have all of you come here and give me the love I needed. So from the bottom of my heart I thank you and you and you. And you too.  To show you how much I love you, I am going to share some of Supergirl’s breakfast with you.

IHOP is doing a promotional thingy for Horton Hears a Who! And there are other lovely things on the menu like this you can get. Like a drink with Jello chunks in it. (BARF) I have to admit that this was pretty tasty.

So thank you again. Make sure and share with everyone okay? Oh come on. You know you want some. And see? I got my sense of humor back.

Also, tomorrow night the lottery starts!

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We have less than a week until the lottery goes up and Adam got the page ready for all of you to bookmark. Here is the page where you go to sign up to get in to the lottery. I am reposting the information to make sure it all makes sense. Please let me know if you have any questions at all. I really want to make sure it is very clear. Also? Let your friends know too. I really think this round will be fun with your collaboration with me. (each month one person will be chosen from the membership to help design a colorway for the club that will then become a gallery colorway!)

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