It snowed today. It just goes to show that you never know what you’ll get in Colorado. Poor Joelene is flying her California self over here tomorrow and I think she’s going to be in for a sensory shock!

I’ve finally managed to take a couple photos of some things I finished for the store over the past month.

Cabled Fingerless Mittens out of Misti Alpaca. Oh is this Alpaca wonderful!!

Herringbone scarf out of Cascade Magnum.

And a little ruffled scarf (pdf) out of Misti Alpaca.

There’s lots more knitting going on and but everything is still in progress. More to come!

Tomorrow my friend Jill is going to be on the Rachael Ray show. She’ll be, of all things, swimming with sharks on the show. I’m not a big Rachael Ray fan, but you bet I’ll be watching. Yay Jill! I’m proud of you and I can’t wait to see the show.

The other day the kids were at the store with me and a customer asked Eden what she was going to be for Halloween. I told her that we don’t really celebrate Halloween to which Eden replied, “We don’t really like the devil.”

Last week was an extraordinarily bad week for me. It was terrible in ways that I can’t even say. I was really hoping that this week would be better, but I just cleaned up a gallon of dog crap and it wasn’t the solid kind. It was all over the carpet on the basement stairs. I honestly cannot think of a more disgusting smell. So I tried to use a clothes pin on my nose (really I did) and it was too painful, but with a series of nose pinches and breath holding I managed to get it cleaned up and the carpet pulled out.

See, I’m not sure what genius thought it was a good idea to go ahead and glue ugly green carpet to the cement stairs, but let me tell you, I cursed them the whole time I pried and pulled that carpet up. Wow, that was fun.

(And now begins the product review portion of this post)

A few weeks ago I was contacted by a marketing representative for the new Clorox Ultimate Care bleach. She asked if she could send me a sample of the product if I would honestly review it on my blog. I was mostly curious how she found me, so I agreed to review the bleach, although I never did find out how she found me.

The bleach seems good, it’s a little thicker than regular Clorox bleach and scented. I’ve used it on two loads of laundry now and I have to say that I’m not sure if it is any better than the original. It would probably be good if I ever needed to directly treat a stain because of the thickness. The problem is that it’s scented. Unless it comes in unscented, I don’t think I’ll ever buy it. Honor and I both have eczema, so we have to be really careful with scented laundry soaps.

But I have to say, the lightly scented bleach came in real handy today as I was scrubbing up dog poop. And now the back porch smells more like bleach than it does poop, and that’s really saying something.

Has anyone ever knit a sweater using the methods in the book The Sweater Workshop? The book is based on Elizabeth Zimmermans original percentage system. I’ve been sitting in on the class going on here at the store. I’m one (out of 6) balls into my sweater and I’m getting a little worried about the fit. So I’m wondering if I’m just being nervous because I’m straying from the comfortable top down sweater or if I should be concerned?

The other concerns I have about the system is that you cast on your target number (gauge x inches around) less 10% for the ribbing. After you complete the ribbing, you increase up to your target number. I’m not doing ribbing, I did a folded hem, but I’m worried about the others who are knitting it. I’m worried that it will balloon out at just the wrong place. The book doesn’t account for any other waist shaping, so I’m also adding that in for myself as well.

I plan to work a cable into my raglan shaping too. This has me feeling tenative because the one I’m looking at has yarn overs on either side of the cables. Hmmm… maybe I just need to knit up a test swatch to see how it will work out.

Thoughts?

Does God know everything?

Yep.

Why?

Because God it the boss.

I thought you were the boss?

I forgot to post photos of Honor’s birthday (cup) cake and him eating it. eeewww, fake earth worms…

Sunday Jim and I headed to Glenwood Springs to celebrate our seventh wedding anniversary. Glenwood is a lovely town, just off I-70, about an hour from Aspen. We walked around town scouting out the yarn store, soaked in the hot springs, rode a gondola up to the top of the mountains, ate some yummy food and enjoyed the offerings of the local brewery. Amidst all this, we dealt with a minor family emergency.

It never ceases to amaze me how we give our family the power to rip out our hearts and stomp them to pieces. I’m pretty jaded right now, and I don’t really know what to say or how much I should say. So, I guess I’ll just say, despite it all, I had a really great time with my husband and I am so thankful that he is my stability.

The following photos are titled “mauling the dog.” He really does live a rough dog life.

Just a quick update so say that Honor does have an ear infection. He’s had 4 doses now of his antibiotic and is already feeling much better. We even got some sleep last night. Thank you all for your well wishes for our health.

When things like this happen, I think about what it would be like to live 100 years ago or in a 3rd world country. Something that can be cleared up as easily as an ear infection could mean life or death. I always wonder, why am I so fortunate to be born in this century, in this country? I am very thankful for modern medicine, even if modern insurance companies are working to ensure no one can afford it.