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Today through July 6th, enter coupon code july4th for 20% off your entire order .  No minimums to buy and all inventory is discounted.  We’re closing today through July 7th, so we’ll ship order next week.  Have a happy and healthy 4th of July holiday!

I recently found out my husband’s cousin is expecting her first baby.  I, like most yarn crafters, first thought "how great for them!" which was promptly followed by "YEAH A REASON TO KNIT A BLANKET!"  I haven’t knitted a blanket in a couple years.  I was on a kick for a while making the 6 Hour Throw as gifts for just about everyone (but it took me longer than 6 hours because I knit like a turtle when the pattern is super repetitive).  But a baby….a baby deserves a special, extra fancy, extra soft blanket.  I spent hours last night looking at patterns.  The mom to be is a bit more traditional than I, so the super cool modern deconstructed log cabin patterns won’t work.  But I do think a nice mitered square blanket will do the trick.  Yeah for gift knitting!  Oh yeah….yea for the new baby too.  I’m still not convinced which is more exciting.

So I’m knitting away last evening while watching So You Think You Can Dance.  I know, bad reality competition shows are dumb and all, but I get suckered in.  Anyway, my eyes and ears are suddenly assaulted with The Pussycat Dolls and their most virtuous ditty “When I Grow Up”.  I’ve seen these, um, ladies on magazines and such but I never really gave them much thought. I knew they dressed like Trampy McSluttersons but I figured it could be THAT bad, right?  WRONG.  So wrong my shawl had to pay the price.  I couldn’t stop staring at the TV - I simply could not believe this was really on regular television before 10:00 at night.

I am by no means a prude.  It takes a lot to make me squirm but I do take offense with I need to shower after watching a “music” group preform.  Seriously, I think I might have the Clap or something.  The Pleather!  The spray on tan gone horribly, horribly wrong!  Argh!  It was an assault on my eyes, ears and knitting.  I completely lost my place and pulled out a few stitches in the process.  I’ll get back on track I’m sure, but it wouldn’t have been an issue if not for those damn Pussycat Dolls.

I went to our local fancy grocery store and they are touting all kinds of local foods in the produce section.  I love to buy locally, but the farmers markets aren’t quite open yet so I was excited to see the store was labeling and carrying so much local food!

I spied a few quarts of local strawberries strategically placed next to the best damn shortbreads ever and thought it would be a nice dessert.  I looked around for the price and couldn’t find one so I asked someone.  She told me…are you ready for this…SIX DOLLARS.  SIX DOLLARS for a little over 1 pint of teeny tiny strawberries with stems galore.  But the time I would clean them up, I would probably have the equivilant of half a pint.  I’m pretty sure the shocked look on my face said it all.   “They are local, you know.”  Umm….shouldn’t that make them CHEAPER?  Gas certainly wasn’t an issue because they came from 10 miles away. I could buy organic strawberries from California for almost half that.  Unless those strawberries came with with a money back guarentee that I would be younger/thinner/smarter/funnier when I was finished eating them, no thank you.

I have a certain amount of guilt with purchasing the cheaper strawberries, but I’ll buy my share of tasty local food later in the summer from the farmer’s market rather than lining the stores pockets even more.

Am I missing something from these local berry delights?  I don’t know, but I’m 3 bucks richer right now and still have strawberries to boot.

There are two kinds of people in this world - pack rats and pragmatists. I am pragmatic to a fault when it comes to material good. I ask myself a few questions before I get rid of something. Do I use it? Do I love it? Will life go on if it is out of my house? If I answer “no” to one of those questions then it stays put. If I answer yes, then I have a whole other line of questioning I go through to decide the item’s fate.

This brings me to my current situation. It’s the Heritage Glen Yard Sale this Friday and Saturday (Quick plug to anyone in the area - Miamisburg Ohio near LexisNexis - check out Craigslist or Dayton Daily News for more info!!!). Pragmatists love garage sales. We can get rid of stuff AND make money. We don’t have tons to sell, obviously, because pragmatists get rid of items when they need to be gotten rid of but we have some clothes, some furniture, decorator stuff that looked good in our apartment 5 years ago but has since lived in boxes and some hideous wall sconces I cannot bare to look at anymore.

But there he is. Kung Fu Hamster. This adorable animatronic rodent that sings Kung Fu Fighting whilst wiggling and swinging a nun chuck. Holy Mother of God - I love that little hamster. But he is so unpractical. He wasn’t a gift, I bought him for myself. I shouldn’t keep the little guy…or should I?

I decide it’s time KF go to a new home. But a price? I think I paid roughly 12.50 for him about 10 years ago. Take into account inflation, demand, gas price…hmmmm….carry the 1, multiply by 2….and the final total is…$578.33. Yes that is a fair price for KF to leave my office for greener pastures. Oh who I am kidding? The going rate is probably DOUBLE that now. Perhaps I should contact Christie Auction House instead.

I can’t believe I’m struggling with getting rid of a glorified rat in novelty form! Who won the struggle? The inner pack rat or the pragmatist?

Ok, it’s been here for a while, but I haven’t had time to get it up online. But Granola Yarn now has DK sport weight Peace Fleece in 3 colors!! There’s Olive Roots (reminds me of a lighter version of Grass Roots from the worsted collection), Antarctica White (bright cream) and Father’s Gray (charcoal).

And right now through Monday June 2nd, they are on sale! Normally $8.25, now each 350 yd skein, right now it’s only $7.50 to welcome it to the Granola Yarn family of yarns!

To get an idea of what it looks like, here’s my Forest Canopy Shawl that I’m redoing in Antarctica White after an unfortunate series of events involving a lace weight disaster.

More shocking and alarming than the Janet Jackson wardrobe malfunction, my first lace shawl has been destroyed.  I needed to work back a few rows, got up to go to the bathroom not realizing the yarn was wrapped around my leg and the coffee table.  I tripped and when I looked back at the carnage, I see that first some unraveled and then the yarn broke.  It was a serious mess and fixing it just wasn’t an option.  Sadness.

Out of frustration, I decided to go ahead and start with the new Peace Fleece DK Sport weight I got in the other day (which will soon be up at Granola Yarn).  Believe it or not, I like the Forest Canopy Shawl better with a heavier weight yarn.  I don’t think the yarn would work for all lace patterns, but takes nicely with this one.  Once I get a bit further, I’ll post pics.

A moment of silence for the lost shawl and the many hours lost *softly single Boyz 2 Men’s “It’s So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday”*  *Sniff*

Every time I reorder Peace Fleece, I try to add a color or two.  Well, next week not only will I be adding a color, but I’ll be adding some of their sport weight yarn as well.  It’s on it’s way so hopefully by midweek I’ll have it up. Because I’m now officially a shawl/wrap addict, I can’t wait to snag some for myself!

Nothing like biting off more than you can chew! I’ve been really busy with writing (obviously not here), knitting, packing up order and we decided to redo the guest bath. We talk about moving almost daily now so it’s time to get the house in order in case that comes to be!

I’ll post pictures of the bath when it’s done because it’s probably my favorite room in the house we’ve done so far, especially on the tiny budget we gave ourselves. I painted the nasty oak vanity black, along with the medicine cabinet. We painted the bathroom in a light spa-like blue, replaced the vanity top with a white one, and changed the fixtures to shiny chrome. Next, tiling the floor with black and white tiles. It was a busy weekend and as always, what we thought would be a quick projects has turned into hours of hard labor. That’s home ownership for you! But we love doing it and it will look great once we’re through.

I had hoped to use some of the low VOC paint for the project, but because we needed high gloss to keep moisture away from the drywall, it wasn’t possible this time around. Maybe when we repaint the living room. I love all the eco-friendly home improvement products showing up everywhere these days!

One the yard front - I dyed some coffee yarn that was snatched up pretty quickly. It was a beautiful color and I’m going to dye more in the future. And I should be getting in more Peace Fleece very soon.

Oh! And the ducklings were born. And then they left within a day. And now - there’s ANOTHER nest! I guess Daisy told a friend it was a good place to have babies. Here is a pic of one of the ducklings. The brave one that popped out at the sound of my voice.

I’m only about 10% done.  I’ve never done any lace before but I’m LOVING this pattern.  I can handle it and I’m happy with the outcome so far.

And because a certain cat really really likes when the camera comes out, she thought she would try to look cute to steal my attention away from my shawl.  This is her “cute”.  Meh.  Comical, yes.  Cute?  Not so much.