Monday, October 31, 2005

Happy Halloween!

BOO!!!

These are my Halloween costume for this year! Thom made the beads for me last year after he'd only been making beads for a month. I always get compliments on them but unfortunately I can only wear them during October. Cute, huh?

I spoke too soon yesterday about the socks that I'm knitting for my daughter. I found I'd miscounted the stitches for the heel flap on one of them and had to frog it back. I've gotten past the heel turn on both socks now though so it should be easy sailing from here. Oops, better not push my luck this time. Forget I said that.

I'm trying not to start anything new until I assess what unfinished things I've got going around here and what is on the priority list before the holidays start in earnest. I've given up giving gifts for Christmas (except for the small children) a few years ago. It's not because I'm cheap or mean — it just makes me crazy! I have too many people on my list for starters. I can't possibly make gifts for everyone. Plus buying things that people neither need nor want just for them to buy me things that I don't need or want either is just stupid consumerism. We are so pressured by the media that we must buy stuff or we and our loved ones won't be happy. I can't be guilted into it anymore. If they absolutely must buy something, they can buy something nice for themselves and think of me while they're doing it! At least then they'd get something they really want. As the older generation is passing on, our immediate family is starting to focus more on Winter Solstice with no cultural or religious expectations attached to it. It's just a time to get together, eat, drink, light candles and celebrate the return of the sun which is a true, scientific event. No faith necessary which suits us non-religious types perfectly. I'm hoping we can eventually substitute Winter Solstice for Christmas entirely. But it's sure an uphill battle fighting the pressure of the social majority!

The kitchen is coming along slowly. I can't decide how to dye the curtains: plain or tie-dyed, gold, red, green or what? Meanwhile they're just sitting down on my dye-stove waiting for me to figure it out. More than half the cupboard doors are on now. And the quarter round is nailed on, holes filled and touched up with paint. Thom did that yesterday. He's finally back at work today after taking more than a week off so it's quiet around here. It was nice having him home even after the stress of mom's funeral subsided. Now it's back to what passes as normal in Damselfly's pond.

Sunday, October 30, 2005

Well That’s Over

The workshop actually went ok yesterday. We found an error in my pattern which was probably inevitable! I wrote the original version after I made the bag, which means that I had to recount what I had already done. Counting rows and stitches is hard in variegated yarns. We also had some difficulty getting the 6º beads onto the yarn which was actually slightly thinner than the original where I used E beads. I know we could have used smaller needles for a better gauge too. Most of them were loose knitters. Sigh! Oh well. I’m really not enjoying teaching right now. I feel like I spend all my time preparing for workshops and don’t get enough out of them to make it worthwhile. I find it too draining rather than invigorating which I feel it should be. And I don’t make enough money for how long it takes me to prepare. Though I do like what my students can often come up with afterwards. Sometimes they come back to me with fabulous pieces inspired by whatever workshop they took with me. It’s great to see that excitement.

I’m going to try to cut down on teaching for the next while until (or unless!) I feel like doing it again. I’m sure my boss at the wool shop will understand. I can’t get out of the spinning class starting this Wednesday though. Nothing like having to work on your birthday, eh? Plus I’m feeling a bit grumpy that I didn’t have time to create a Dios de los Muertos doll like I wanted this year. Oh well, I’ve got my little “altar” for mom. I’ll have to remember to light the candles and put out some chocolate for her on Tuesday.

Back to craft stuff, I still haven’t finished the bracelet I showed a pic of back on Oct 19th. It’s only about an inch longer now. I did make these earrings but I’m not sure how much I like them. They kind of hang a bit off, but maybe that’s because I made them while I was sitting beside mom’s bed on her last day. Tension problems! Lastly, I’m up to the heel turn on my daughter’s socks. Had to take out a bit of one of the heel flaps when I found a mistake. That’s what I get for reading email and knitting at the same time — in the dark. Hopefully once I pass the heel turn I can zip along faster and get these done soon. I want to start on another pair for my granddaughter.

Wednesday, October 26, 2005

Sorry About That

Has it been a whole week since I posted last? A lot has happened in the meanwhile. My adopted mom died last Thursday and we had her service yesterday at the graveside. It was sad for me but it was definitely more stressful than sad because of difficult family dynamics. Mom was 93 so it wasn't as if it was a surprise or anything.

Note: After sleeping on it, I edited out the rest of this because it was way too personal for Blogland. Guess I'm lucky that I don't have a lot of regular readers as some bloggers do! It's not that I mind good friends knowing the details of my life, but I have to be somewhat careful. It's not like this is a totally anonymous forum, eh?

So while I'm recuperating from emotional trauma, I have to get ready for a workshop on Saturday. I'm teaching "A Wild Beaded Bag" knitted in hand-dyed wool yarn and featuring 4 different ways to incorporate beads into the knitting. This is my original one here. I spent this morning fine-tuning the instruction sheets and this afternoon dyeing the skeins. They won't look anything like the original I'm afraid but that's ok. I have a full class of 10 and only 3 hours of class to get the concepts across. Challenging! And my brain is not really in gear yet either.

Tomorrow I have to count beads and decide on which eyelash/novelty accent yarn goes with each kit. Wish me luck. At least I slept better last night. Hopefully tonight is better still. I have work to do!

Wednesday, October 19, 2005

Where Did the Sun Go?

It's raining again today but I took my granddaughter out for a walk in the nice fall sunshine yesterday. We went to my LYS and got some more natural Quebecoise 2 skeins plus some fun novelty hairy stuff called Chili (100% polyamide) in 4 different colourways. These are for my beaded knitted bag class at the end of the month. I still have to dye-paint the wool and make up the kits. (I’ll post pics when they’re ready.) I have no idea how many students I've got yet. Guess I should find out.

After the yarn stash enhancement, we went to the playground in the little park near my house. There were lots of kids playing (teachers are on an illegal strike) and there was another little girl the same size. Though they don't really play together at one year old — they eyed each other and then went off to do their own thing. The other little one was already walking but Kiera wants me to walk her around everywhere. She's almost walking by herself but feels like she needs the extra security of my hands. The little slide was a big hit! She got a grin on her face in anticipation as I sat her on the top and giggled her way down to the bottom. Cute! Granny and child had a fun afternoon together. No pics because my hands were full of little girl.



I got this slim book during my vacation shopping frenzy. It's one of the "Design Originals" books which are inexpensive and basic, yet often have some intriguing techniques in them. This twisted beaded knitted bracelet that I've started is the first pattern. It's hard to see in the photo but the beads (8º) are threaded 2 blue/2 brown silver-lined on Kreinik #8 (fine) braid in copper colour. The needles are size 0000 (1.25 mm) and you can see my homemade twisted wire needle that I use to thread the beads. The pattern is so simple: CO 3, knit the first row, then turn, sl 1, place a bead, k1, place a bead, k1 and repeat the last row until it's big enough to go around your wrist. Stitch ends together as invisibly as possible. The twist happens all by itself, though you should snug up the stitches fairly tightly as you go. Not too tight though or you won't be able to get your needle through it. Simple, huh? The book has several other variations on this too, including making a large bead by knitting a beaded piece with beads only on one side and using it to cover an oval wooden bead. There's another interesting bracelet made from two bracelets with 8º on one side of the twist and cubes on the other and fastened with clasps. You can wear them individually or twist them together for a thicker bracelet. There's also a really nice but easy-to-make tassel pattern that includes a lobster-claw clasp to attach it to anything you like.

I think they should have left out the clothing patterns though. The poncho, hat, and wristwarmers are not very imaginative and the beads are not used to advantage. For example, what looks like bead stripes in the centre photo on the cover is actually a novelty yarn and the beads are scattered in the plain sections in between. They're the same colour as the yarn and blend in so well I had to look carefully at an enlarged photo to see them! So what's the point?

I will be demonstrating this type of beaded knitting at my guild meeting tomorrow evening but I don't really have enough samples yet. Better get to work on it or I'll be winging it as I go.


Darling Daughter should be happy that I've gotten this far on her socks. I haven't had a lot of time to work on them. I think this Confetti yarn looks quite different from the usual with the wide stripes and blue-and-white spots. Hope she likes them!

Monday, October 17, 2005

Rain Rain Go Away

Seems like the rains have set in in earnest — though it's not very cold. Just wet! We actually have 3 seasons: the Cold Wet season, the Slightly-Warmer Wet season, and the Warm Dry season. Note there is no Hot season. Though we do have a few days a year that could be described as "hot" there's not enough of them to be considered a "season". And any of the other seasons could happen at any time of the year. Keeps you on your toes deciding whether to bring an umbrella or sunglasses and whether to wear shorts or a raincoat. Actually all of them together is often a good idea.

The other day I promised to post the pictures of my handwoven fabric that I used to cover the biographical book I made for my weavers' guild's 70th birthday. This shows both sides which are quite different. The first one is the one I chose to be on the outside of the book. The structure is deflected double weave and since I used so many colours (orange, red, brown, purple, and green) it was a lot of shuttle-shifting to weave it. I left loops on the selvedges because I was planning to full it quite a bit and figured I could cut them off later. I still have about 4 yards left so I can make something to wear eventually. I've only had the fabric for about 5 years so far waiting to decide what it wants to be when it grows up!



And here's Thom's lovely fall socks in all their glory. Hmmm...I'm seeing a colour theme here. The yarn (Meilenweit Mega Boots Stretch) doesn't have a repeat that I could find so the socks are kissing cousins and not twins. Luckily he doesn't mind. If I make him another pair of socks in future (assuming he actually wears these) I'd make the leg at least an inch longer. Silly me made them the usual length that I make mine forgetting that his legs are somewhat longer and he would like them to come up higher.

Lastly, I'll show off my tiny stash from Saturday's Fraser Valley Bead Show. It was so much fun, especially for Thom who found all his kindred beadmakers there! He spent more than I did for once too. The top two are wired drops made with paper beads by Carolyn Dawn Good. They each came with a fortune paper like a fortune cookie! The lovely roses are by Tamara Garland. They're only 3/4" long and quite lovely. And lastly, I keep trying to remember to wear a watch. Ever since my beaded one died I haven't clicked on a watch that I liked. This watch face is a lovely metallic purple with silver and I got it from my good buddy Ania of Turtle Beads. Now to finish it with some kind of bracelet so I can wear it. It will have to have orange and black as well as purple and silver in it I think.


On the kitchen front, it's getting back together slowly. I have about half the cupboard doors now though they need a bit of touch-up with the paint and their handles on. We priced the granite counter that Thom has his heart set on for the gap between the old counter and the stove, but it's really hard to justify the cost. We'll have to go back to the store when we're not so tired and re-assess. Got the oak legs for it though plus the quarter-round for the edges of the floor. One little baby step at a time. At least I can cook again and I have a fridge!

Friday, October 14, 2005

It's Here!

But nothing else is. I still have my fridge out on the deck in the rain (covered of course) and the stove is in the hallway. Everything else is spread all over the house! It feels like it did when we were painting — a big mess. Oh well. At least I can get things back now and they will stay.

Here is the old floor. I loved this linoleum even though it's probably almost as old as I am. I love the colours and the pattern but of course there's nothing remotely like it available. Yeah, it's not very trendy at all. Not quiet and neutral like so much of the interior design these days. Taupe, pearl, mushroom, and beige are just so not me. I'm a colour girl! So I got some very expensive but hopefully very durable Armstrong vinyl flooring. It does brighten things up, don't you think?

I love the pattern of leaf skeletons in dark red and green. I'm very fond of leaves which is why fall is my favourite season. I'm so enjoying the leaves outside right now and it'll be great to have them in my kitchen on a permanent basis. It was really smart to pay a professional to install the floor. It took him 5 hours and he did a great job.


I can't move anything big in until Thom gets home so I've been amusing myself by lining the shelves in the nook and putting the things back in them. It's interesting trying to assess what needs to get chucked and what I still need. Waffle iron that I haven't used for 3 years? Canning pot that I might need for pickles sometime? Maybe. Regular pasta that I no longer eat because it's too high in carbs? Honey? I don't even like honey. Molasses? Need that for Christmas baking. Or will I even do that anymore? Questions, questions. This is a much harder job than it should be.

On the craft front, I finished Thom's Fall socks. Picture to come soon. I've just started daughter's socks. She was pretty pouty over the fact that I made her dad's socks first since her birthday is before her dad's (by a week!). She was ok that I already knit her sis-in-law's birthday socks because her birthday really is first in the sequence. These ones are Confetti and they do look quite different. Fairly wide stripes of dark grey and cool blue that are almost the same value, then a thin white stripe, then white and light warm blue spots, a wide stripe of light grey, and lastly the thin white stripe and white and blue spots again. I'll take a picture when there's enough sock to see.

I'm still adding a page or two to the guild bio book that I mentioned. They're trickling in very slowly but it has to be ready by Sunday afternoon for the birthday party. Anybody who isn't in by tonight is SOL. Blogger's image file transfer is a bit flaky, so I'm nervous to try adding the pics of my handwoven fabric right now. It's coming eventually. (Gee, I'm big on promises, aren't I?)

Wednesday, October 12, 2005

It's Coming!

My new flooring is coming tomorrow. Yay! I'm so glad that I'll be getting my kitchen back to some kind of normal some day soon. However, the floor thing is stressing both of us out bigtime. We have to get everything off the kitchen floor, including the honking great fridge that took 2 delivery guys an hour to get in the back door. Thom has come up with some wheeled thingies that hopefully will help get it back out through that door without scraping up anything. Luckily I haven't painted the back door yet since it has to come off along with the fridge doors. And since I can't help much (or my physio will have something to say about it) we've bribed dear daughter's boyfriend into helping. Flying Wedge pizza seems to be an acceptable medium of exchange for exercising his muscles. They even have a low-carb crust version for us. Yum.

Meanwhile I've been somewhat occupied with finishing up a binder for my weavers' guild's 70th birthday exhibition at Place des Arts in Coquitlam, BC. The exhibit is listed on the website under Current Exhibitions and my "Beads & Knitting: A Wild Little Bag" workshop is listed under Learn More. Which reminds me — I still have to get organized for that too. It's on October 29th so that doesn't give me much time. The binder is covered with my handwoven fabric and holds bios and pics of most of the folks who's pieces are included in the exhibit. It took me about 2 full days to produce this thing! Not including weaving the fabric of course. (Which I would show you but Blogger is being a Bugger again and not letting me post pictures. Later.) The big birthday party is on this Sunday so I'm all ready to celebrate! I've been a member of the GVWSG for 20 years. Time flies...

I'm still up to the toe of the second of Thom's socks. A picture will be coming as soon as I finish them. I gave my DIL her socks on Thanksgiving and she was pleased. DD pouted that I haven't started hers yet, but I couldn't help it if her dad's sock yarn was too hard to resist! Her socks are next on the list. That will be 3 pairs of socks in a row that weren't for me — a record!

I know I promised more Oregon, but it's just not happening today.

Friday, October 07, 2005

More Beady Stuff

Meet Lady O:


Remember way back in a post in July where I showed you what she looked like "undressed" except for her face and breasts? (Sorry, I'm not going to spend time finding it for you to link it here.) Anyway, this is what she looks like now. Her name is Lady O for Oregon, natch! I managed to finish her on the last evening before we came home from our vacation. To get a better idea of scale, she's about 3-1/4" tall, not including her hair (halo? crown?) The face is one I made from polymer clay using a commercial mold and her breasts are a broken lampwork bead by my husband. Colours are the surf, sand, sea, sky, agate, sun through the fog, and just-turning leaves of our holiday on the coast. Her hood (wimple?) is peyote-stitched and I also used couching, backstitch, lane/lazy stitch and stacked stitch. I think she turned out pretty well, though I like the back better for some reason. I got better at stitching as I went along so the beads are more even and neat and the design is a little more coherent. Nowhere near perfect though, but that's ok. I ended up using a tiny quilting needle, often pulling it through with bent-nosed pliers. My beading needles seemed too long to get in tight places and I wasn't able to find a fine curved needle anywhere. The quilting needle actually became quite comfortable to work with but I guess it helps that I have very small hands!

I couldn't believe how time-consuming the stitching was. She's so small but it still took me two weeks worth of late afternoons. Several hours later I'd have maybe a square inch done max, but I think the results are worth it. I want to do another one now, but I'm not sure I'll have time. I've been pondering Dia de los Muertos images — kind of appropriate since my birthday is All Souls Day. Maybe I need to figure out how to make a skull face. Is there such a thing as a pleasant-looking (but not too cute) skull? Help, Tim Burton! I'm not much of a sculptor.

I got a comment from Elizabeth from Australia on yesterday's blog entry. Hi Elizabeth! Another reader — wow! You commented on my DIL's socks. I hope you realize they aren't real fairisle but are commercially printed with dyes to look what I consider somewhere halfway between fairisle and ikat. All I have to do is knit plain! This type of yarn has sparked a real boom in sock knitting and the exciting part is you are never really sure what the different brands and patterns will look like until you knit them up. This guarantees that knitters won't be able to resist trying every different colourway/brand they can find! The Confetti that I use most often is made in Italy but distributed from Quebec (at least in NA) and it's very reasonably priced for sock yarn and fairly easily available here in Canada compared to some of the other brands.

Oh and as far as wearing wool socks in warm climates goes, I don't have a problem wearing them in summer when walking distances in my boots. Wool absorbs sweat without feeling too wet and can even insulate against heat (think Berbers in the desert in their wool caftans). Of course the hottest day in Vancouver's summer is probably a cool day in winter for you tropical types!

More Oregon next post.

Thursday, October 06, 2005

The Continuing Story

Yup, this is the kind of weather we had while we were in Oregon. Can you say "perfect" or pretty darn close to it. Of course what you can't see here is the wind that's so strong you can practically lean on it! It wasn't very cold, but it made my ears ache so I stuffed my old wool beret over my head. This is looking south from the top of Cape Blanco and it's always windy up there.

And this is our klutzy young eagle. He/she was being harassed by crows and tried to land on a branch right near our campsite. The bark slipped off and he crashed through the branches to the ground less than 20 feet from where we were sitting. When we went to investigate he flew to another tree further away where he sat for about 15 minutes regaining his composure — and allowing Thom to take several great pictures.

Did I get carried away with beads or what?


But aren't they beautiful? The vials of Japanese seed beads are from Beads & Beyond. They have a colour-arranged sectional bin of seed beads in various sizes that is just irresistable. As usual, I indulged in some of those lovely matte gilt-lined Matsunos which I adore. Plus I spent quite awhile counting and packaging tiny pressed glass leaves from their wall of little bins. Oh happy times! Down the road a ways, the new improved and even more humungous Shipwreck was just too much for me. While trying to be somewhat reasonable, I started coveting pressed glass leaves in large bags and when I went to pay they insisted that to get the best price, I needed even more of them! Yikes! I now have a lifetime supply for several beaders. Greedy ones even. They had so many pretty beads, what can I say? I also got a number of large hanks of 6º and 8º seed beads for knitting with. And some unakite carved leaves (another item that I had to get 2 strands of...aw, darn) and a big huge bag of Indian pressed glass beads (only $14.35!) which are great for classes and embellishing. Not in the picture are several cones of nylon cord, fine and heavy, and 2 cones of Gudebrod silk that I got at Wynwoods Gallery for macrame, knitting, and crochet. Gotta get 'em when I see 'em, ya know! Now I need to come up with a project that uses several thousand leaves...

Wednesday, October 05, 2005

More Holiday Stuff

Ooohhh, I want to go back there...now...


Looky! We have pictures today! I don't know what gives here but sometimes dear Blogger just isn't cooperating and sometimes it works just fine. Oh well. For my buddy Mel who asked: yes, the pics always come in at the top of your blog editing window. You just have to drag the darn things to where you want them to be. Works better than Hello from Picasa though, even if you can't see thumbnails of the images you're sending. Assuming Blogger decides that today the picture insert feature is actually working!

Back to the pictures. Today I'm concentrating on the knitting I got done mostly while we were driving but also, as you can see, while sitting on the beach. I also knit while reading if I could get the darn book to stay open. You should have seen all the various things I used for weights: my teacup, more books, the camera, anything. I couldn't read my fantasy pocketbooks that way at all and knit at the same time since they refuse to stay open and you can't weight the page without covering up the type. I think somebody needs to invent a book holder that makes it easy to insert any size book and easy to turn the pages with one hand (the one not holding the knitting at the time). Now I know why knitters and other crafty people are big on books on tape.

Below is the pair of socks I knit for my lovely daughter-in-law's birthday prezzie. The in-progress sock is sitting on the lush seaweed that grows on the rocks at the south end of the beach at Cape Lookout. Yes, I removed the poor thing before the tide came in! The finished pair is sitting on one of the interestingly sculptured shore pines in the Nehalem state park campsite.

The next pair of socks is for Thom (even though I'm supposed to be doing my daughter's promised pair) because I really needed to try knitting up the Meilenweit Mega Boot Stretch yarn that I got at the Wool Company in Bandon. Of course I had to see what it looks and knits like! Since it comes in one big ball and the repeats are very long (half a sock!) there's very little chance of making two socks that match so I'm not worrying about it. Thom says he's okay with fraternal twins. As usual, the recommended needle size and gauge for this yarn is way too big so I'm using my Susan Bates Silvalume sock needles in the 2mm size. Did I mention that I got another package of these needles at a Jo-Ann's fabric and craft store in Lincoln City? I've found I need 2 sets of needles for because I like to knit socks by alternating a little on this one and a little on that one to avoid SSS and to make them match more closely.

Thom's unfinished sock is hanging from the rack on the back of our trusty 1989 Volkswagen Westphalia, Fraulein Blau. (That's "Mrs. Blue" in case your German is rusty. We've had her since she was a brand new baby van. She's our home-sweet-home on the road and transporter for things that are too big for Velvet, the MINI Cooper.) We were in the campsite at Nehalem there. Notice I resisted hanging the poor sock off the Deception Pass Bridge (between Whidbey and Fidalgo Islands in northern Washington State) on the way home, though the thought did cross my mind! It was really windy and pretty damp though not actually raining at the time so I was afraid I'd lose the sock over the side. Actually I was afraid I'd lose me over the side.

This yarn is interesting to work with. It's a bit splitty because it's quite loosely spun so I have to watch a bit more carefully than with regular sock yarn. It also tends to knit up a tiny bit narrower than you expect because of the stretchy Elite' in it. I'm getting about 9 st per inch. But of course it stretches easily to fit nicely on your foot and still feels nice and soft. I'm currently up to the heel turn on sock number 2 so the durability hasn't been tested yet — even though Thom wore the first sock the minute it was off the needles and went for a walk for about an hour with it on! Guess he likes handknit socks now. Maybe it's just this yarn? He's not having my second ball with the brown instead of black in it. That one is mine!

I actually have a couple of blog readers and they actually missed me while I was gone! That's so sweet. Hi Melanie! Hi Susan! Next installment will feature the beads. I actually shocked myself at how many I got.

Tuesday, October 04, 2005

I'm Baaaack!

Wow! That was such a perfect holiday! The Oregon Coast is so relaxing. It was the best combination of sunshine, fog, sand, walking, shopping, reading, knitting, beading, eating, drinking...OK. Perhaps my spouse and I have an odd idea of what makes a holiday perfect. The above description sounds pretty normal but if I add details you'll see what I mean. The sunshine was only warm, not hot, and included a lot of rather cool wind as well. The sand was either hard and great for walking miles on or it was so soft you sank in up to your ankles every step. It also might be blown into your face, boots, ears, and down your neck. The fog was eerie. We walked on the hard sand at the edge of the waves in a cocoon highlighted by a barely-seen sun, prompting us to have some concern about finding the way back to camp since we couldn't see anything around us. It was like the rest of the world didn't exist — until a pair of riders on horses popped out of the mist. We also saw lots of wildlife: whales, seals, brown pelicans, 5 kinds of butterflies (on one single trail), and a very klutzy young eagle who fell off a branch almost right at our feet.

The shopping was such a big treat too. I went just a little nuts with the sheer volume of choices. It didn't help that two of the shops were the biggest of their kind! We started the first day out as we were heading through Washington State by stopping at 2 bead stores: Beads & Beyond (no website) in Bellevue and Shipwreck in Lacey (near Olympia). Why 2 stores you might ask? They carry different things of course. Even the amazingly huge warehouse that is Shipwreck doesn't have everything, not by a longshot. I even hit one more bead store on the way home: Wynwoods Gallery in Port Townsend, WA. It's tiny but very well-stocked with hard-to-find items. We also had a great time in Powell's Books in Portland, OR. This huge store (over time it took over a whole block of old shops) has a map available for newbies and all sections are colour-coded so you can find what you want. The craft section is really extensive. Not to leave yarns out of the mix, we stopped at the Wool Company in Bandon, OR, where I succumbed to 3 big balls of Meilenweit sock yarn, 1 print in deep colours and 2 different Mega Boots Stretch. The latter yarn is quite different having 1 strand of gradually varying fall colours, 2 slightly finer strands of one colour (one had black and one brown), and one tiny strand of Elite' (a stretchy thread not unlike fuzzy nylon). Another yarn shop I checked out is Diva Yarns conveniently located right in the same building as Wynwoods in Port Townsend. I found the really long cord for my Denise needle set there. Now I can knit Cat Bordhi's moebius scarves. Last but not least and especially for Thom, we went to Frantz Glass in Shelton, WA. This is a big supplier for lampworkers and the tables were turned on Thom as he tried to get what he wanted/needed without going too nuts! I'm afraid I wasn't too sympathetic after Shipwreck. Tee-hee.

There's more, but I'll post more later. For some reason I can't include any pictures at the moment, and I definitely have pictures!