Extravayarnza

My dog Tosh has been very ill this weekend. Sunday I took her to supposedly the best vet clinic in town & often called one of the best in the Country (mainly because my vet is closed on Sundays). They did tests & through around big scary words like obstruction and cancer. Eventually they said they couldn't pin point the exact cause of her symptoms, gave her fluids, and some basic all purpose meds.
Fast forward to this afternoon. Tosh hasn't been able to eat or drink in 48 hours. I drive her down to my usual vet. He asks me 2 questions, takes her temperate, and tells me he knows exactly what's wrong. It's a bug that's been going around right now (which unfortunately also infects cats & humans) and he's seen 100s of cases lately.
Tosh now gets another shot, 2 new meds, and the best diet I've ever heard of for the next 2 days.
All the high end vanilla ice cream & cheddar cheese she can eat!

Sometimes the basic country vet just has a better beat on the bugs & flues of the common pet... I think I'll stick to him from now on!

Gosh, Life can be so full sometimes?

June is a busy month in the yarn world. The big TNNA trade show happens in Columbus, OH. Then Knit in Public Day. Plus we hosted Louisa Harding at the shop.
I did take a bunch of photos of WWKIP day. We just had an absolute blast!



You can click on any of those photos to see the whole set. I filled up my cameras memory card that day, so there are a whole lot of photos.

Tonight myself & Lynn are the guest speakers at Schuler Books in the Eastwood Towne Center. We've done this once before & had almost 70 knitters show up. I sure hope we get a good showing again. I love to see the employees scurrying around trying to find more chairs for all these crazy knitters (who knew there were so many!).

I'm also in the midst of planning a few events. Anyone in the Lansing who is looking for something to do on 4th of July (and who thinks nothing is better than celebrating with knitters) are invited to come to our 4th of July party at the shop.

Here’s the details:
Join us at Rae’s Yarn Boutique July 4th!
Knit-in All Day
Grill starts up at 5pm
Bring a dish to pass or a small donation towards the main dish
Remember your knitting & a folding chair.
We’ll head down to the riverfront for Fireworks in the evening!

I’m blocking off our couple of parking spots behind the store for the knit-in (plenty of room indoors too). Hopefully I’ll find one of those shade tents to borrow (any one have one they could lend us?). I’m providing BBQ chicken & hotdogs on the grill, please bring a side dish to pass.

I’m keeping a list of dishes. Please let me know what you plan to bring so we can have a nice variety on the 4th.

(should I also mention that this will be the first day of our 3 day summer clearance sale.)

(I could also use one or two volunteers to bring plates, utensils, etc…)

I have a list going on Ravelry of what people have told me they're bringing.

Okay,
One more big project to mention. I'm opening an online yarn shop. The goal is to open Sept 1st. Right now I'm in the beginning stages. I'm learning how to use Zen Cart. That totally feels like a college class. I'm actually going through the book page by page doing all the examples & setting up the test shop. I have never studied anything so carefully before!
There is defiantly a big learning curve there. Thank Goodness that I found a free template that looks just perfect. That will save some headaches & me having to find a programmer/designer.

The other thing I'm doing in tandem with learning Zen Cart is getting all the photographs ready. I have to photograph every single yarn in every single color. Then edit those photos into web viewable sizes while still keeping the color as close to true as possible. Here's a sample of how that's going...

1. grace08, 2. glisten17, 3. comfort9740, 4. comfort9722, 5. kangorapure06, 6. kangorapure07, 7. kimonoribbon06, 8. impression09, 9. kashmiraran16, 10. cadoro05, 11. purecashmere05, 12. puresilk08

I thought I should do a quick check in to say we made it back home safe & sound. The last day in Greenville was a blast. I'm so happy we decided to stay an extra day. We did one last short hike in Paris Mountain State Park.

Then went back downtown to the falls for a picnic and to see a bit of Shakespeare in the park. They did Pericles & I think it was quite alright. Plus we had a chance to check out the dog park there & I must say that although it's a little small they did a super nice job with it.
So now I'm home. I've already gone to the East Lansing Art Fair, to the dog park (twice), completely updated our store website, fixed the email & the internet at the shop, driven to the other side of town to do a bunch of errands, and even hung up the hooks & sweaters in the shop (which I had been avoiding doing since January). In short my vacation did just what it was supposed to & I feel completely refreshed & ready to face the world again.

I have been knitting a bunch over the last 2 weeks & check back in a day or two to read all about it~

Tuesday we went on a proper hike with Mum. We had water, snacks, sunscreen, maps, and all those sorts of things. Our goal was Raven Cliff Falls in Ceasars Head State Park. The weather was perfect & the full canopy shaded us from most of the sunlight.

On our way into the park we stopped at the visitors center & took in the view of Table Rock Mountain.

The trail we chose lead to a viewing platform and was about 4.5 miles round trip. Now, I walk that far most days in Lansing without too much ado. However Lansing is flat, very flat. This hike wasn't nearly as difficult as the one I had gone on the night before, but parts were still quite steep.

I ended up sleeping the whole way home & most of the evening... 2 days of mountain hiking is quite a lot for a flatlander!

Luckily this time I brought my camera. I've posted a few of my favorite shots from the day. More photos & captions can been seen on flickr by clicking any of the photos.

By the time I get photos all edited and uploaded I keep ended up sitting here past midnight wanted to get down every little thing that happened in the day & equally wanting to fall over in bed.

Mother's Day was all about family. We drove up to Flat Rock, NC to meet up with my Aunt & Uncle at the resort where my Mum & Stan were married this winter. I rarely get to see my Aunt Nancy & to see here twice in as many months was really wonderful. I know my mom loves living so close to her sister. The brunch we went to was quite nice and we had a very energetic server. I managed to forget my camera, but we drove up there with an amazing fog coating the mountains and it was quite an amazing site.

Later in the day I met a good chunk of Stan's family. Gosh people in these parts are friendly. I had the most delightful time & although it will take me a bit more time to learn names and so forth I feel really happy to have made to first meeting.

Monday was all about touring Greenville and shopping. We headed over to Downtown's Main Street and set about finding the Mice on Main.

We found 5 of 8 little mice sculptures. I love these sorts of projects. I need to get to Ann Arbor at some point to find the fairy doors.

For me the most important shop to go to on Main was Mast General Store. They have a neatest collection of outdoor cloths, shoes, hiking supplies, and old fashion candy and toys. I knew on this trip I wanted to find a good pair of hiking shoes. I ended up finding out that I walk really unusually (I'm 1 in 100. Apparently walking mainly on the outside back of your heel is weird...) and that I'm a little hard to fit in a shoe. Luckily I found a great sneaker style hiking boot from The North Face. They're grey & green and fit my feet really well. My heel completely slipped out of so many of the shoes. I really wanted lower boots since they're for summer and I'm usually in MI where it's flat and ankle support isn't as big of an issue. I really love the shoes I ended up with!
I also found a super cute purse there. Lots of pockets, zippers, and magnets. Plus it's purple.
After shopping we had lunch at a little outdoor restaurant right on the falls.
They we went across Liberty Bridge and explored Falls Park.



Later we explored Cleveland Park, went on a much too long adventure in finding a pet shop (mom's single Red Cloud needed some fishy friends), and finally went home for a break.
I barely had time to get the arch supports fitted into my new hiking shoes then it was back out the door with Stan and the dogs to head over to Paris Mountain State Park.
We planned on a shorter 2 mile fairly easy hike (since I had new shoes that hadn't been broken in yet and had spent most of the day walking). We got to the turn around point and decided to go a bit further. By the time we were done we had hiked 4 miles and had gained (and lost again) 700 feet in elevation (most of that over about a 1 mile section of steep difficult trail). It turns out we hiked the most difficult trail in the park.

I marked our route in red. It was beautiful. I think if I lived here I'd do that hike every week.
Now I'm back to mom's, sunburnt and tired, and I think I'll take some much earned rest.

Hi y'all!
We've all arrived in South Carolina and are having a positively pleasant time. I'll be back here in a day or two, but I wanted to let you know I've started a photo set on Flickr for the trip. Click on either of the photos below to go there & see what's been going on.

I hope you all had a lovely Mother's Day~

I'm preparing for a scary busy bit of time. I'm leaving tomorrow morning with my brother & my dogs to drive 12 hours to visit my mum. I've never been to South Carolina, so this should be a fun trip!
After I get back I get to breath for a couple of weeks (while waiting for Rachel to have her baby). Then it's off to TNNA and then a few days back to prepare for Louisa Harding to come to the shop!!!!

The very next day is WWKIP day and I'm co-hosting a Lansing/East Lansing event with Woven Art.

Yips!

The rest of the summer is no easier...

So, I'm packing/cleaning/preparing to leave my shop all by it's self for the first time (in the hands of totally awesome employees, but I'll be so far away...)

I managed to finish the knitting on a very cute little project. I'm knitting a couple of Louisa Harding patterns to celebrate her coming to the shop June 13th.
I used her new summer silk yarn, Mulberry...

and knit a lace purse from Knitting Little Luxuries

The knitting is now all finished, I just need to sew up the silk lining when I get back from Mom's.
I should be able to blog while I'm away, so hope to see you all soon!

This is a gratuitous (wow that word threw me for a loop on spelling) posting just to show off my new haircut. Considering that my previous cut was self inflicted I'm quite bubbly and froody (bonus points for knowing what froody is) about my new style.


It was done by an aveeda institute student & I think she did a great job! Now I just need to get it parted just so & styled just right tomorrow morning...

Last year when I went Trillium "hunting" I ended up with a handful of blurry photos and poison ivy. This year every single photo was in focus & I came through with nary a scratch. I thought I'd share a few here. I still need to crop a bit and decide which ones to print, but I'm so happy with the results I just need to share them.

This is a shot from Scott Woods & really needs to be seen at full size. I love how abundant the Trillium are here. They are so fragile and easily killed (picking the flower kills the whole plant!), but in central Michigan they just seem to carpet the forest floors in the spring.

This little group was in the dog park.

There's quite a few more of these on my Flickr page, just click either of the photos above to see them~

My hand has also healed enough for me to knit! Since Sunday night I've been working on finishing up a pattern that I've been meaning to write for years. I use this sock (or rather a version of it) to teach magic loop socks & I finally feel comfortable enough with the wording to write it as a pattern. As a shop owner I've always had trouble finding a leaflet pattern to carry in my shop with short row heels and/or toes. I hope this will fill what I see as a bit of a hole in basic sock patterns.

The pattern is being sent to test knitters tonight & I still have 3 more socks to knit before I can do the photo shoot. Hopefully if I can keep up my current pace the pattern will be available in a couple of weeks.

Knitting has slowed almost to a stand still here at Chez Extravayarnza due to an accident washing dishes where my fingertip made a good bid (but thankfully unsuccessful) at leaving my hand. Not bad enough for stitches, but since this was my right pointer finger it's quite necessary for knitting and in a great deal of pain at the moment.

So, I'm instead reveling in the joys of dog ownership in the spring. I do love the ease in taking walks with the pups in the spring/summer/fall. (I love walking in the winter too, but my winter boots need a rest).
Right now at the dog park (which has earned a bit of a reprieve) the ground is coated in wild Bleeding Hearts (aka squirrel corn), May Apples, and Trillium.
Trillium are my favorite Michigan wildflower. Last year I had to hike through a 1/4 mile of poison ivy to view their fleeting blooms. This year the North West corner of the park I visit almost daily is carpeted with them. I can't tell you how happy this makes me!
Soon the canopy will fill out and all we'll be able to see is green skies and brown ground. I try to really enjoy this early spring carpet of life in our forests.
We've enjoyed 7 days straight of 70 degree (20 C) plus weather.
The downside to all this warmth for those who own Shelties is that this is the big time of coat blowing. Robin has built up this thick fluffy undercoat from a long winter & has decided that it simply must go. I brushed out an entire grocery bag of fur off of him alone tonight & he looks about 6 inches less wide. I think there is still plenty more undercoat where that all came from too. Luckily he doesn't shed much on his own, it all sits there until I brush it out.

So, I suppose I'll close this out with some photos...