Blog header, where art thou?

Ordinarily, I don’t visit my blog the way a reader might, but today I happened to do so and was more than a little bit surprised to see that my lovely quilty blog header was gone and all that was there was the NABLOMO participant badge.  Weird.  Don’t know where it went, but decided this was a good opportunity for a change of theme and a new header.

Not sure I’m crazy about the new theme, seeing all of the stuff in the sidebar in CAPS seems wrong.  But, I’ll try it.  And as I said, I don’t actually look at it that way much anyway…and most of you probably read my blog through a Reader anyway, so you might not notice it yourselves.

Speaking of Blog Readers, for the last little while I’ve been browsing through blogs via Google Reader, but haven’t really had time to actually COMMENT except for rare occasions.  I feel like I’m missing something in the whole blog-conversation and promise that y’all will actually see me comment on your blogs again as much as I can.  And maybe even actually RESPOND to comments made on my blog.  I do get them (and love it when I do, please Comment!  It makes me feel less self-conscious about blabbing…).

In other bloggy-news, my friend Carla is having a blog contest.  The deal is, you have to put a link to her blog on your blog in order to sign up.  Frankly, I think that  is WRONG, because it lessens MY chances of winning the prize, but oh well.  I’m game.

So, click the image, go see her really cool freeform crochet scarves, and consider signing up yourself!

I noticed this morning that I’m approaching 600 published posts, I htink it might be time for a blog contest of my own to celebrate!  Stay tuned, I’ll think of something….

Suzanne

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Much better

No wardrobe malfunctions today.   At least, none that I’ve noticed so far.  Oh, I did manage to stick on a skort that has no pockets, but I do know where my cell phone is, so it’s not that big a deal.  Ran right over to get my glasses adjusted and she took one look at me and laughed.  “You do have a problem,” she said.

Luckily, she was able to get them straightened out and tightened back up with no trouble.  Phew.

You can’t really see the stripes on the bag in this light, but I did get another stripe done while watching an episode of Lost plus a little bit of the Olympics last night.  (Go Team USA Swimming!  Woohoo!  Isn’t it funny?  I don’t really care about swimming any other time except the Olympics.  I love watching them fly through the water…)

Plus, I decided to see how hard the flowers that came with the pattern were.  Have got 3 petals almost done, the answer is that they are not hard at all!  At least…not yet…

See that metal ant in the background?  A friend gave that to me last Friday with a note that says “May the whole community catch the knitting and quilting BUG.”

Busy day so far today.  It’s weird, I’m at “work” but I still feel a bit like I’m playing.  Mostly, I feel grateful that the shop is actually open, and that even though there is a lot to do, it’s not the same pressure of a deadline.  I feel like I can breathe again.  That I can sit and watch an episode of Lost and not feel like I ought to be doing a million other things.  That has been part of the goal of opening the shop — separating my business from my home.  Going to WORK and then leaving and going HOME.  And being home and not having everything calling my name.

One of the things I did this morning was teach my sister-in-law how to knit.  She’s got her swatch of garter stitch going and will work on that for a day or two before she comes back for more information.

Back to work!  Or is it play?  It must be play, because I sure enjoy it.

Suzanne

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Fashion faux pas (times 2)

I have just discovered that I am wearing black underwear with white shorts.  Yes, I’ve been wearing this combination all day long, but it just occurred to me the last time I visited the little girl’s room just what it was I was wearing.  Sheesh.  Some people.    Talk about What Not To Wear.  Thankfully, the shorts are opaque enough that it isn’t too obvious, and I wasn’t seen by TOO many people.

And the second one?  Looking in the mirror this morning I discovered that my glasses are WAY wonky.  Like, embarrassingly so.  I’ve been futzing with them all day long to try to get them straight on my face, which means they are missing my right ear, but of course they don’t stay like that.

Such a lovely look.

Hopefully I can get them adjusted tomorrow.

I need to task someone with checking me over and making sure I’m dressed and accessorized such that I’m not an embarassment when I go out in public.

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A fast start, but can she maintain the pace?

Three hours of baseball (plus an hour waiting for baseball), 1 hour in the car, plus an hour of Olympic watching and I have:

One stripe was already done, I added four more stripes plus part of another.

SO really, since I needed to only get 1.25 done per day, I can now take a break for a couple of days, right?

On the way up to the baseball game, Mark told me he wants me to show him how to knit, so he can have something to do while he tries to stay awake watching TV at night.  He wants to make a hat.  If I can teach him, and stay married, I bet I could teach anybody to knit.

Have a great Monday!

Suzanne

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Knitting Olympics

I’m not doing this “officially” because I didn’t manage to get signed up at Ravelry, nor did I even decided to actually do it until late in the afternoon on the 8th, but nonetheless:  my “Knitting Olympics” event.  The idea?  I cast it on during the Opening Ceremonies, and I’m going to try to bind it off before the end of the Closing Ceremonies.

I took the picture outside because the sky looked weird, so I grabbed my knitting in order to get the knitting picture and a sky picture:

Turns out that was a big ole’ rainstorm.  Soaking rainstorm —  more than an inch of rain.   Sent the festival-goers scurrying for their cars.  APparently the policemen that had been patrolling the festival had been getting weather updates and had warned everyone that big rain was coming, so I don’t think people got too wet.

Back to the knitting project:

It’s a new felted bag, pattern is by Noni designs.

I’m making the middle size bag (shown in red), but in the colorway of the big bag.  The base is done, plus the first stripe of the bag body.  I figured out this moring that I have to knit about  1 and a quarter stripes everyday in order to get the bag done.  I want to eventually make a flower, too, but I’m not even going to try for that.

Wish me luck!  LOL

I posted a whole gob of pictures of the shop on the shop blog so you can take a virtual tour if you are interested in seeing what it looked like over the weekend.  I don’t want you to feel like I’m trying to sell to you here on this blog, as this is supposed to be more of my personal adventures in quilting and other fiber activities.  For that reason, I’ll try to limit what I say about the shop, and keep updates over on the shop blog.

Take a virtual tour of Knots & Bolts

Thanks for all of your support and best wishes.  I thought I was going to take today off, but couldn’t do it copmletely — today’s the day that MQX teacher proposals are due.  This afternoon, though, we are headed to a baseball game.  I wonder if I can get some knitting done while I’m there….

Suzanne

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We survived

Today was kind of slow, but we weren’t sure what to expect with the festival going on.  Turns out, not many really came our direction.  That’s OK, we had a good day yesterday, and I know there were lots of people that were just busy (working in booths) that couldn’t come, but will in the future.

The biggest excitement of the day was the parade.  Mom took some pictures and posted them on her blog:

Knots & Bolts on Parade

The car is my sister-in-laws.  We talked her children into carrying the sign, my boys rode in the car.  The kids were going to switch, but Lucy decided she could handle walking the whole way.

I’m wiped out.  I’ll share some pics of the shop on opening day tomorrow.  Unless I sleep all day, and then I’ll share them on Monday.

Plus, I have to share pictures of my Knitting Olympics entry.  I cast on a new projct while watching teh opening ceremonies last night.  Going to try to finish before the end of the closing ceremonies.

Yeah, I know.  I’m nuts.  But it’s a good kind of nuts.

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Here we go!

The shop:

http://www.knotsandbolts.com

The shop’s blog:

http://www.knotsandbolts.com/blog

Grand Opening Blog Coupon

8% off your order over $20.00

promo code: Blog080808

Orders might not ship until Monday or Tuesday. We’ve had lots of visitors today, a little quiet right now. I suspect tomorrow will be busier.

If you have any questions or problems with the shop site, please drop me a note, everything should be working, but there’s probably always SOMETHING. LOL

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Things I have forgotten to do

There will always be something else to order or look at or do….and I accept this.  However, at least one of the things I forgot to order is pretty funny.  Read on.

I mentioned the other day that I never remembered to order any pins.  I’m confident that no one is going to walk in and say “OMG, She doesn’t have pins.  I am never shopping here again.”

Well, if they do say that, I probably don’t need and or want them as a customer.

Anyhoo.

Last night.

Mark asked me “Do you have any thread to sell?”
OMG!!!!   THREAD!!!  My dear beloved Internet friends, I forgot to order THREAD!!!!!

I was going to order some Masterpiece thread directly from Superior Threads…and…I forgot.

Here’s hoping no one walks in and says “OMG, She doesn’t have any thread.  I am never shopping here again.”

I’ll just tell everybody it’s on order.  Don’t give away my secret, OK?

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Bring caffeine. And chocolate.

Y’all are invited to my Grand Opening, but if you could bring caffeine and/or chocolate with you, I’d much appreciate it.

It doesn’t even have to be fancy chocolate.  Plain M&Ms would do the trick.  And I take my caffeine in Pepsi or Coke format.  None of that coffee stuff.

Any minute now I’m going to invite you to the grand opening of the website, too, but I’ve…just…got….a few more things to do.  I was hampered today by the fact that the INTERNET WAS DOWN.  Seriously.  I thought I was going to cry.

Instead, I called my sister and screamed a bit.  And then I went shopping, which took longer than I expected, as I traipsed around still trying to find galvanized metal pails.  Hobby Lobby used to sell them.  Lowe’s has them in sizes bigger and smaller than what I want.  Actually, they did have the size I wanted, but it was $15 and had the ISU Cyclone logo on it.  Now, I’m a Cyclone, and we are huge fans, but…not really what I was looking for to have at the shop.

I ended up with something else to use a in-store shopping baskets.  I can’t believe I didn’t take pictures of them.  Sheesh.

So, back to the Grand Opening.  I thought I’d post an official invitation for anyone in Iowa that reads my blog and wants to come visit this weekend.  We’ll have lemonade and cookies!  Not to mention the fact that the Winding Stairs Festival is taking place, so there will be lots of yummy food tents (pork producers, beef producers, funnel cakes, several churches have food booths…)

Here are the details:

Knots & Bolts
549 2nd St
Traer, IA 50675
319-478-2049

You can’t miss us, look for the red and white checkerboard.  It rather stands out.

Grand Opening Hours:

Friday and Saturday 10AM to 5PM

Back to work –
Suzanne

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Staff

After my comment about needing t-shirts for my staff for opening weekend, I received a couple of suggestions that aprons would be better than t-shirts.  Theoretically, yes.  However.  When your staff consists of yourself, your mother, your husband and this guy and his brother:

A t-shirt is probably a better idea.

I might have gotten the word staff a little big….

After my post the other night, I got buys on CafePress and ordered these shirts.  I think they turned out pretty well.  They didn’t get the order 100% right (I wanted two women’s ladies v-necks in 2 different sizes, plus 1 XL men’s and the 2 smalls, I got 2 men’s XL, my ladies v-neck and the boys shirts.  thankfully, the extra XL will still work).

Making progress.  Got a few more things via UPS and FedEx today.  Some more notions and patterns.  Some more fabric:

(11 bolts of stuff from the Empress Woo collection by Robyn Pandolph, plus that one stray dogwood with the red background).  Nearly all of the fabric I’ve got in stock is closeouts, that I’ll be selling for $4.99/yard.  I’ve got some yummy stuff.  Some interesting stuff, too.  LOL

Every time I place an order wtih Checker I think “This will do it for now.”  And then 10 minutes later I think of something else I was planning on ordering that I forgot.  Oh well.  For now:  we’re done.  What’s here is what is here and so what if I never remembered to order any pins.

Back to work.

Have a great Tuesday.

Suzanne

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