Tag Archives: Fickle Knitter

Brooke Sinnes of Sincere Sheep

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I first came across Brooke Sinnes and her beautiful yarn, Sincere Sheep, at the Interweave Knitting Lab in San Mateo last November. Her booth was crammed so full of people I could hardly get in. So I really just grabbed the first thing that caught my eye – a blue skein of her “Keen” yarn, a blue-faced liecester wool – paid for it and left. But I really liked what I was able to see.
THEN I started knitting with my “Keen,” making Michelle Miller‘s Flambe shawl. I nearly had a fit at how fantastically lovely this yarn was. It had a great hand feel, the stitch definition was superb, and I loved the intensity and variation of the color that came from her indigo dye. The shawl is an eye-popper and when I next saw Brooke, at Stitches in Feb., I snagged TWO skeins of “Keen” and another of “Agleam” in color way “Suerte.”
Brooke will be at K2Tog on Wed. May 2 from 6 to 8 p.m., with Kira Dulaney of Kira K Designs, to talk about her dying method using all natural dyes. We have a sample of her yarns in the store now to whet your appetite for more.

Brooke's yarn on display at K2Tog

 Kimberly- How long have you been knitting/crocheting? Who taught you, or how did you learn?
Brooke – I taught myself how to knit when I was about 10 years old (about 23 years ago).  We were living in Kansas City, MO at the time and I made one of my parents drive me out to the nearest Hobby Lobby’s so I could buy a pamphlet, yarn, and some needles.  It worked!  After that my dad put me in touch with a co-worker that knew how to knit and she was able to answer some lingering questions.  I also taught myself how to crochet during the same time period.

Brooke in her Stitches booth

K – What motivated you to start your business? How long ago was that?
B – I started Sincere Sheep in 2003 when, through a friend who is a vet in Sonoma, I found out that the price of wool was so miserable that sheep farmers were just composting their wool.  Because I live in the wine country the concept of ‘terroir’ was a familiar one and seemed a logical fit with wool and natural dyes.

Yummy Brooke Yarns

K – What do you most love about creating the things you eventually sell? What is most satisfying to you and why?
B – It’s hard to choose just one thing.  I love being able to support farmers.  I love working with color.  I love meeting my customers and seeing what they do with my yarns.  I love working with great designers and local yarn store owners.  Can you tell I really enjoy what I do?
K – What’s the single biggest challenge in running your business?
B – There’s never enough hours in the day to do all of the things I’d like to do!
K – Tell me about one item you sell that is most special to you, or that you are most proud of.
B – I really love my Cormo Sport yarn.  It’s a great mix of wonderful farmer, fiber, mill, and yarn. (You can read more about Cormo wool and the Sonoma sheep farm where Brooke gets the wool from here).
K – Brooke has a new Terroir Fiber Series (T.F.S) where she borrows the idea of “terroir,” or “sense of place” from the wineries in and around Sonoma and applies it to wool, creating a line of yarns that instill a sense of the farm and personalities of sheep from which they were made.
K –  Who most inspires you in what you do? Why?
B – The list is long but I’ll pick the other women and men that I meet in the industry.  I love the sense of collaboration and camaraderie that arises.  The excitement I feel after a conversation with Kira or Lorajean, for example, drives me to create and come up with new ideas.

Ballerina Shawl

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Ballerina!

I just finished another of Michelle Miller’s fine triangle shawls, this one called Ballerina. Michelle, of course, is the brains and beauty behind Fickle Knitter Designs. You can read more that I have written about Michelle and her work here.

Michelle designed this shawl earlier this year to debut at Stitches West. The night before, she showed it off – and offered the pattern for sale – at a trunk and talk show we held with her and Lorajean Kelly of Knitted Wit Yarns.

The shawl was designed with two skeins of Knitted Wit’s “Featherweight.” I made with with a single skein of Sincere Sheep‘s “Keen” in color way “Brocade.”

This was not a complicated pattern at all. You start at the top, at what will be the back of the neck, and spread outward and downward from there. Then you come back and add a knitted on border that is perpendicular to the main triangle. This is not a pick-up -and-knit border, ut one you knit and attach by knitting together the last stitch of the border with the last stitch of the row on the shawl. You go around the point in an easy-to-accomplash bit of short rows. And nice big needles – size 8!

Ballerina border

I loved this pattern – will make it again – and love this yarn. I am teaching this as a knit along at K2Tog later this summer. It’s a great project for those wanting to try triangles, try lace, or learn to read charts.

Ballerina body - detail

Introducing Michelle Miller of Fickle Knitter

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Michelle!

In my last post, I introduced you all to Lorajean Kelly of Knitted Wit. Today, I want you to meet Michelle Miller, the brains and talent behind Fickle Knitter Designs. Both Michelle and Lorajean will be giving a talk and doing a trunk show at K2Tog on Feb. 22 at 6 p.m. – the night before Stitches West, where both will be making their first appearance. This is your chance to come and hear these young yarn divas talk about their design process and small businesses AND GET FIRST PICK OF THE GOODIES – YARNS AND PATTERNS – THEY ARE TAKING TO STITCHES.

Ellen and I first met Michelle at TNNA last June. We were so impressed with her patterns – gorgeous lacy shawls, scarves and shawlettes made with one skein of luxury yarn. Her patterns are well-written and clearly explained with superb charts and written instructions. I have knit a couple – Jade Sapphire and Flambe – and been super-impressed with their clarity. I like that Michelle’s patterns only seem simple – they are easy to execute but look much more complex than they are. And they are damn pretty, too! And we were also impressed with Michelle – her background in physics gives her patterns a mathematical precision lots of other designers should envy. She has a pattern in Iris Schreier’s new book One + One and will debut a new shawlette pattern made with Knitted Wit yarn at our store on the 22nd. Michelle lives in Southern California.

I asked Michelle a few questions about her work . . . .

Kimberly: What motivated you to start your business? How long ago was that?

Michelle: I started Fickle Knitter Design in 2008 when I was staying at home with my daughter Maya. I was inspired to start my business because I wasn’t getting much adult interaction and chasing after an 18 month old all day wasn’t mentally stimulating. Right before I started my business I read an interview by Meg Swansen saying that if you’ve conquered knitting lace the next frontier is design. I took her on her word and began writing, editing, and selling my patterns for the first time. It was a big personal leap for me but I’m so glad I did it because being a small business owner has really changed my life for the better.

Michelle's creative space

Kimberly: What do you most love about creating the things you eventually sell? What is most satisfying to you and why?

Michelle: I like solving puzzles and designing, knitting, and writing is like solving one large, very complex puzzle! I’ve worked a lot of complicated problem sets over the years as a physicist and while working on unsolved physics problems I’ve found that writing a successful knitting pattern is just as rewarding. I love hearing positive feedback from knitters on my work and love to see what other people are knitting with my patterns.

Kimberly: Tell me about one item you sell that is most special to you, or that you are most proud of.

Michelle's First Book!

Michelle: Leaves, Fickle Knitter Design, Volume 1 is my very first book and I’m so proud of it. My family really came together to allow me the time and resources to complete my first body of work. I particularly enjoyed working with the photographer and graphic designer to make my dream a reality! The book has eight knitting projects all using 395 yards of yarn or less which is perfect for the busy 21st Century knitter. The book features patterns using lace weight, fingering weight, dk weight and aran weight yarns in a variety of styles with most patterns requiring only one skein of yarn. [Kimberly says - we have copies of the book and Michelle's patterns in stock, and she'll be bringing more to the trunk show on Feb 22]

Kimberly: How long have you been knitting? Who taught you, or how did you learn?

Michelle: I’ve been knitting since 2004 and I taught myself in graduate school as a way to cope with a family member fighting terminal cancer. Knitting has brought me such serenity in my life when chaos has tried to take over. Of course at times I feel frustrated, but that’s when it’s time to pull out a simple stockinette piece or hand spin some yarn to knit up. Knitting is my touchstone and my life wouldn’t be the same without it.

Kimberly: Who most inspires you in what you do? Why?

Michelle: I’m inspired by all of the women-owned businesses in the knitting industry. It’s a place for us to work in an area we love. I make a special point to seek out other knitting businesses who are women owned and based in the US or Canada when I can. I love my work and even though it can be difficult at times to be away from my family it refreshes and recharges my life. I’m a better person because of knitting.

Kitty in Fickle Knitter Designs

Knitted Wit’s Lorajean Kelly

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Some of you know that one of my new projects at K2Tog is to bring in new, young fiberistas to talk to our customers about what they do and how they do it. Our goal is to have one of these talks and shows each month, and we are kicking the whole project off this month, Feb. 22 at 6 p.m. with a dynamic duo, Lorajean Kelly of Knitted Wit and Michelle Miller of Fickle Knitter Designs. In this post, I want to introduce you to Lorajean, and we’ll tackle Michelle in another post all her own.

I came across Lorajean, who is from Portland, at last year’s Interweave Knits show in San Mateo. Hers was the first booth I entered, drawn in by its gorgeous colors and her charming self, standing there knitting away while she answered questions and guided people to her luscious goods. I purchased a skein of “Shine” in a gorgeous, shiny pewter and brought all my buddies in to buy, too. I am very excited to bring her and her goodies into the shop for the show, where she’ll talk about where her ideas for yarn colors come from and how she sets those ideas into motion and eventually gets them to our needles. She will be bringing lots of yarn to sell after her talk – we get first pick before she heads down to Stitches West right after her talk. In preparation for the show, I asked her a few questions about her process . . . .

Kimberly:What motivated you to start your business? How long ago was that?

Baby dyer!

Lorajean: I started Knitted Wit in early 2007. I had just learned how to spin and there weren’t many options for dyed fiber yet. I had done a little bit of natural dyeing with a friend so I got the gist of what to do. I thought I could dye fiber for myself and sell the extra to keep me in the fiber habit. I think I’ve always had an entrepreneurial bug and this was the perfect fit. I love all the aspects of the different jobs, I never get bored!

Kimberly: Where did the name “Knitted Wit” come from?

Lorajean: Knitted Wit is because I think I’m funny. I know. It’s a little silly. But I have a very silly sense of humor and love to laugh! My favorite joke? Do you have a hole in your sock? No. Then how did you get it on! Ha!

Kimberly: What do you most love about creating the things you eventually sell? What is most satisfying to you and why?

Lorajean: Such a great question! I really enjoy every step. I love winding yarn, a nice meditative task, but also finishing the job is satisfying. The physical labor of dyeing is very satisfying too. Drying, rewinding, labeling. All these tasks are great! I think because I’m home with my two boys (Eli, 3, Owen, 20 months) it feels amazing to get all these tasks done. I think it can be hard to stop with the tasks and tap in to the creativity, but I think that’s just where I am in this moment. It’s getting easier and easier as the boys are getting older, and the creativity is back!

Look at her colors!

Kimberly: Tell me about one item you sell that is most special to you, or that you are most proud of.

Lorajean: I am passionate about Feather Weight and Cypress Hollow Yarn. The Rambouillet wool is grown in Wyoming ( at Mountain Meadow Wool) and processed in Buffalo. The mill has a track back program that sends funds back to farmers based on sales. The yarn is beautiful, and full of life. Each yarn creates a beautiful fabric. I love working with the rustic, strong yarn.

Kimberly: How long have you been knitting? Who taught you, or how did you learn?

Lorajean: My mom taught me how to knit when I was a teenager, I’ve always been crafty. My mom sews and knits. My grandmother sewed, knit, and crocheted. It’s in the genes! I didn’t stick with knitting too long though. I was on a sloggy stripe scarf that was w-a-y too big for anything. But my tension was amazing! That’s what a sloggy scarf will teach you! Then in college a coworker re taught me and I was hooked. I knit a pair of mittens in a day! (This friend also taught me a little natural dyeing.)

Kimberly: Who most inspires you in what you do? Why?

Lorajean: I have to say it’s all the people in our industry and customers. We have such a great community! Like any business there are ups and downs, I know I can always find encouragement from my peers. And it doesn’t hurt that my 3 year old Eli complements every yarn I dye. Not even joking! That boy loves color!

Lorajean recently started a venture with Brooke Sinnes of Sincere Sheep, who we’ll be bringing in for a talk and show of her own in May. They have started a yarn club called “Among Friends.” Even more fun – Michelle Miller is going to design a pattern for the club! Check it out, it’s gonna be gooood. I’m signing up myself!

OKAY! So now you all know Lorajean and are gonna wanna come out and meet her in person, fondle her goods and get a jump on all those Stitches shoppers by coming to K2Tog on Feb 22 at 6 p.m.  SEE YOU THERE! And stay tuned for an intro to Michelle Miller.

TNNA Days 4 and 5 – Show Me The Money!

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I have been out of commission, at least in terms of blogging, for the last few days and I do apologize. I have been, as Bob Cratchitt would say, “making rather merry” with friends and family who are happy over a job opportunity that has come my way. More about that in a later post, when I have details and am at liberty to discuss. But let it suffice here to say that there has been champagne (small c) flowing and lots of backslapping going on. I haven’t been at the blog in the meantime.

SO! Back to the TNNA show. This is the fun post. This is the post where I get to tell you about the cool stuff Ellen and I got for the shop, and even cooler still, about some of the cool people behind that stuff. The fact that I came home inspired and super-excited about knitting has to do with these folks we met on the TNNA sales floor.

I can’t remember, at this remove, in what order we encountered these folks, so here they are, in no special order.

STITCH DIVA – Jennifer Hansenis the brains behind the radically cool and chic designs put out under this logo. She’s a local gal, started in

JH in Hairpin Lace Design

Fremont and now lives in the San Jose area. She works a lot in crochet, Tunisian crochet and hairpin lace and even does some knitting. I’ve had my eye on her since I first saw her at Stitches West maybe 6 years ago or more and I have always admired her sense of style and her great marketing. In my opinion, she is single-handedly revolutionizing the look of crochet – something it has desperately needed for 30 or more years – bringing it a very hip sensibility and updated profile. We saw her first at the Sample It night, where she was selling three books – her “Complete Works” of every pattern she has ever made (it’s more than an inch thick), her book of Tunisian crochet patterns, and her book of hairpin lace patterns. We plan to take a deep, long look at these and decide what to carry in the shop. They are all fabulous, especially this little red number pictured on the right, which is not yet available to us. We also hope to have her come up and teach a retreat or class. She is a hot number.

 

Jackie E-S with her designs

HEARTSTRINGS – I first encountered HeartStrings patterns when I was with Ellen on one of the K2Tog knitting cruises. We made a beeline from the ship to the Beehive Wool Shop in  Victoria, BC and just inside the door they had a table with a gorgeous tableau of samples knit up, including one of HeartString’s Lead or Follow Scarfdone in

HeartString's Angels & Fairies Scarf

a gorgeous Ella Rae lace. I bought it and started it on the ship. It remains one of the most challenging and satisfying pieces of lace I have ever knit. So I was thrilled to see HeartStrings designer Jackie Erickson-Schweitzer at TNNA and be able to fondle her luscious samples and buy some for K2Tog. She, too, had a booth at Sample It, which I bought (note to designers – almost everything we bought for K2Tog we bought after purchasing for ourselves at Sample It), and I took home 8 of her new designs and pored over them that night. I find her patterns to be original – they don’t look like anyone else’s – and very thorough and well done. I like her layout too – nothing is too crowded on the page. I brought her designs back to the shop and have already parceled them out among my co-workers so we’ll have some samples ready when the patterns arrive.

FICKLE KNITTER- Sometimes you meet someone who is just starting out in his or her chosen field and you get this feeling: this person could

Michelle Miller, the Fickle Knitter

be big. I felt that way when meeting Michelle Miller, the designer behind Fickle Knitter. Like Jennifer Hansen, we spotted her at the Sample It night where she was selling a

MM's Limestone 1 Skein Shawl

collection of her lace designs. But like most successful designers, Michelle has a niche – she specializes in designs that can be completed with one skein of luxury yarn. I think this is genius, and as a person who works in a yarn store, I love this idea because it helps me make the shopper realize she can giver herself permission to spend $50 or more for a single-skein project because it is gonna look fantastic. After nabbing a notebook full of Michelle’s patterns at Sample It, I went to her booth and found out more. First, she is a doll! A down-to-earth, happy-to-talk-to-you gal about the genesis of her designs and show you pics  and sketches of her process.  She lives in Orange County, Calif. and came to design after taking time off from her physics career (!!!!!) to have a baby, an adorable baby girl who models some of her pieces.  We had this great conversation about lace knitting, which may of you know is just my passion. Here’s the most telling thing she said: “I almost like making the numbers add up and work out more than I like the knitting.” That made me trust her designs immediately. So we bought a bunch.

ART YARNS- I’ve had my eye on Art Yarns for a long time. This company, owned by

Yummies at Art Yarns

Iris Schreier and her husband, makes luxury yarns, some of it more expensive than I would ever consider buying. But it is undeniable that they carry some fabulous chic and delicious yarns that I can’t keep my hands off. We decided to order, but to start small – we got Silk Rhapsody and Beaded Silk because they have the pattern support – much of it free – to help our customers make some spectacular one-skein wonders. Add to this the fact that Fickle Knitter designs with some of their yarns, and this seemed a natural.

Laura Nelkin- Designer Laura Nelkin did not have booth on the floor, but was there as a

Nelkin Necklace

teacher. At the meet-and-greet with the teachers, she had a display of some of her current and new patterns, including a really clever, simple and elegant garter stitch beaded necklace. She very kindly GAVE ONE to Ellen (we carry LN’s designs at the store) which she promptly knit up that night and I blocked the next night, and we are sooooo gonna carry these in the store and do a free class for those who buy these hot little kits. Nelkin, you go girl!

We bought some other cool stuff too – some great buttons, project bags and silk needle cases from Lantern Moon, including a project bag that benefits a clinic in Haiti, some special tools to pick up dropped stitches in garter stitch, some water bottles and notebooks from Knit Happy and a mess of new needles from Chaiogoo and Hiya Hiya. We bought a TON of notions, new and already instock, at Bryson.

I have a bunch of great memories from this trip, and some of them are captured in random pictures. This by far is my favorite: Ellen and I were walking past the Lion Brand Yarns booth and they had a couple of really bright animal hats out on their display table – racoon, pigs, fox, etc. I dared her. She didn’t hesitate:

Two little piggies

 

 

Cliff

And we also ran into Cliff, our “rep” for Kollage yarns and needles. He was standing by a poster featuring a model that looked an awful lot like him! He is a good sport.

I had the good fortune to take two marketing classes from Chris Bylsma, one of my favorite designers (Saturday Morning Jacket and Door County Cable Sweater) and they were just great!

She was joined in the classes by Kathy Morrow, owner of The Yarn Studio in Minturn, CO. They were an absolute hoot, and also really great teachers. I learned a lot from them that I’ll be trying out in the store (LOOK OUT!) Here’s a picture of Chris just because I love her . . .

Chris, in Door County Cable

I have a bit more to share, which I may or may not get to. Aren’t you all TIRED of TNNA yet???

 

TNNA Day Two – Sampling

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Rain

The first full day of the TNNA show, we woke up to some threatening skies and rain over Columbus. This didn’t bum us out too much, as we planned to spend most of the day indoors either in marketing classes. And we both spent parts of our childhood in Texas (me, just the teenage years, Ellen is a native) and remember how great it is to have a real, air-clearing thunder boomer storm. You miss that when you live in the Bay Area for a long time – the looming clouds, the far-off rumble that comes ever closer, and the thrill the flash of the lightning brings. So it was okay. Except Ellen had to walk to Starbucks in the rain, two blocks. Me, I had the nectar of the gods in the room’s refrigerator (heh heh heh).

So, appropriately fortified, we set off for the convention center and picked up our trade show directories – a listing of all the vendors present, descriptions of what they offer and a map of their location on the floor. For those of you who have attended Stitches, the book is very much in the same format. You use it and keep it to refer to throughout the year.

Ellen and I took the book and plotted our plan of attack. We wanted to visit needle, notions and patterns vendors for sure and we’d look at some yarn lines, too, tho we think we’re pretty well stocked on that at the store right now. But we’ll look. I particularly wanted to visit Dream in Color, Art Yarns, Mountain Colors and Ella Rae, all favorites of mine that we do not currently carry.

About then, our stomachs started to rumble. Off we went, across the street and over a block to this extra

North Market

cool Columbus place, The North Market. What a great place! Kind of a cross between the Emeryville Market and The Ferry Building’s market in San Francisco, this is an old brick building that has been a market of one kind or another since the early 1900s – or perhaps even earlier. Inside, there are stalls for fruits, veggies, handmade pasta, seafood, as well

Seafood!

stalls selling Polish, Italian, Thai, Vietnamese, Indian and deli foods. It was quite a place for a foodie! I was also surprised and happy to see stalls selling locally handmade cheese, organic and grass-fed meats and bison, too. Very cool! With a place like that, I could live here. If I had do. Which I don’t. Just sayin.’

I got a plate of red curry beef from the Thai stall and Ellen got something yummy, but I don’t remember what, and we plunked ourselves at a table upstairs on a gallery overlooking the stalls. Great people watching place. Also, they have free wi-fi, so after I finished my mediocre lunch (only so-so meal I had in Columbus) I pulled out the computer and plugged in and planned to write the first of these blog entries. BUT what did I get instead? The Windows “blue screen of death.” Over and over again. Sucked. Long story short is, no matter where I plugged in in Columbus, I could not stay connected for more than a minute or so. So I lugged all my computer stuff fer nuthin.’ Which I why you are reading these posts after the fact.

After lunch, we split up and I went to the first of three education sessions I signed up for. This one was called “Social Networking and the

Class Number One

Retailer” and was all about how retailers can reach more people via Facebook, Twitter, Ning, Flickr and the like. It was an okay session. The teacher really knew her stuff, but I am not sure it was the most useful way to package it. It wasn’t quite practical enough. You didn’t leave the session with a new skill (like how to set up a Facebook page) under your belt. It was good for me, because I already do the shop’s social networking – mostly via Facebook – but other people were disappointed, saying it was way over their heads. Personally, I think they need to get into the 2th century before they attempt the 21st. One or two were not even on EMAIL!!!!

After class, we hit the event I believe is called “Sample It.” Now, this was really fun! TNNA set up a ballroom with about 50 or more vendors inside, and each of those vendors was selling one thing they were featuring at the show – a yarn, a notion, a painted canvas (remember, this is needlework, too). The prices were wholesale, and the idea was that you buy it, take it to your room and try it, and come back the next day, when the show opens, and ORDER IT. THIS WAS A CRAZY FREE FOR ALL. But tons of fun, I have to say. Ellen and I went from table to table, elbowing our ways to the front in some cases, to get a gander at what was what. Ellen bought a lot of stuff, most of which we then purchased over the next few days for the shop. Here’s a couple things we liked:

HeartStrings FiberArts – Designer Jackie Erickson-Schweitzer sells the most well-written lace patterns that I have come across, and I do a lot of lace. She had a packet of 8 of her most recent designs for sale and this is the one and only thing I snatched up for myself.

ChiaoGoo Needles – they were offering a sampler pack of both double points and circulars. I just purchased a pair of their dpns a week ago and I really like them. Slightly different from Hiya Hiya needles, my absolute favorite, but very smooth and good.

Fickle Knitter Design – Designer Michelle Miller specializes in patterns for one-skein wonders, and we were both really impressed with her designs. Watch for more on her in a later post.

BagSmith – a local Ohio company there with the “Block n Roll,” a collapsible blocking mat that you can both pin and iron on directly!

Stitch Diva – Now, this is a biggie, so watch for more about designer Jennifer Larsen, in another post. We bought her complete pattern selection – one massive book and two smaller ones. For my money, she is one of the more innovative and creative designers of crochet around.

There was more, including an awesome wine glass that says “Knit 1, Sip 1″ that Ellen bought me as a gift (thank you!!!!). But I gotta get on with things here.

Hi, Gwen!

After the sale, we headed back into the hall for a reception of wine, cheese and some tasty bits, and a meet-and-greet of the weekend’s teacher/designers/authors. You would all recognize our own Gwen Bortner, this year’s retreat teacher, there with a broken leg, poor thing. Some of you might also know Laura Nelkin, whose patterns we have recently started carrying. Laura was wearing a really cool bead-knitted necklace that she offers as a kit and she gave one to Ellen. It is the fourth picture on the right on her website!

Now what about dinner? Off we marched into the nearby Columbus neighborhood known as Short North. We walked through a street festival where we saw possibly the most gorgeous transvestite either one of us had ever seen, wearing a tartan miniskirt with a black garter belt on the outside (you go, girl!) and a pair of legs that went on forever. In Columbus. Who knew? After dinner, we got caught in a torrential thunderstorm, running home with our sweaters over our heads, me screaming and both of us laughing all the way. It was a HOOT! We sheltered in a doorway with two gay guys and they told us – GUESS WHAT – that the Short North is the artsy, gay part of town. Explains the transvestite and the local coolness.

Back in the room, we

A real storm

dried off and knit, me on my Cookie A sock I want to teach in the fall, and Ellen to work up the necklace on her new ChaioGoo needles. We knit til midnight. Light out until another day – the first of the big shopping sprees!