New Home for My Stash 2

The previously described home I am trying to buy is not going any better.

I went on vacation out in Montana, and while there I enjoyed visit to Mountain Colors.  Tons of magnificent yarn came home with me.  I've been sketching and designing, and it will be lovely distraction for the next couple of weeks.  (Post coming soon!)  I thought when I came back that there would be some progress on the house. 

Nope.  Instead, we're more aware of how far behind we are.  It could be months while the seller finishes sorting out her bankruptcy issues, and I can't do anything to advance the process.  A month ago I was hurrying to organize all the paperwork, insurance, contractor dates, etc.  Now that all of it is finished the waiting is maddening!  And all the contractor scheduling will have to be organized again.  The yarn will have to be in its cramped digs a little longer.

The good news is, lots of yarn and knitting time.  I'm in love!  Photos to follow in the next couple of days.

ICU is a Chilly Place

The Cleveland Clinic is as beautiful and efficient a hospital as you can imagine.  It has a plethora of high end technology, all of which generates a lot of heat.  They also tell us that germs like it warm.  For those reasons, they keep the temperatures in the ICU seriously chilly.  The nurses all dress in several layers, often including some sort of sweater, and yesterday the nurse for the next room was wearing a quilted (outerwear) jacket with her uniform.

As I sit, hour upon hour, next to Scott's bed, I get cold.  I'm knitting mittens for Mountain Colors right now, and the wool in my lap is not making me any warmer.  I have decided, though, that when I finish these mittens they are going on my hands.  (They'll get to Montana soon enough.)  I know it's August.  It's 80+ degrees outside.  But it's 63 in here.  I'm cold.

Unless I'm having a hot flash.  In my entire experience of the hot flashes, this is the one situation in which I'm truly grateful for them.  For 20-45 minutes at a time, I'm finally warm enough!  It makes wardrobe planning tricky, and I've become a big lover of scarves and shawls in this strange interlude of my life. 

Mountain Colors Yarn

It's Thursday, and I'm back at home now.  I spent the night in DC due to poor weather and subsequent flight cancellations.  Yuck...  I would love to visit DC when I've PLANNED to, but not as a beleaguered traveller in a monsoon. 



The Sign at the Highway

 I promised photos of Mountain Colors Yarn dyeworks, so here they are. 

This is the sign out front that made me jump for joy (thank heavens I was the passenger and not the driver!)

We (Lisa, the BFF, and I) went in and were greeted by Diana McKay herself.  Diana and her friend, Leslie Taylor, started the dyeworks 19 years ago in their kitchens, and have owned the company ever since.  They were just back from the big TNNA conference, and even so, Diana was very generous with her time and materials to help us understand the company and products better.

Copper Mountain Colorway in 4/8's Wool

There is a wide variety of yarns available, including everything from lace weight to bulky to novelty, and most yarns are available in most colorways.  Each and every colorway contains nine different colors, making them unique and distinctive.  Although they didn't say so, they don't appear to use any colors they can't see out of their windows overlooking the Bitterroot Valley.  The valley has a distinctly Northwest palette of stone, river, grasses, buffalo, cattle, wildflowers, snow, and sky.  You'll find all of these tones in their yarns.

The current dye kitchen

Diana gave us a full tour, and this is the dye kitchen.  She explained that when they started the company, they both had small children at home, and needed to have a "family first" focus.  They have maintained this policy to this day, and many of their employees work from home.  "Nobody has to miss a soccer game or school play because of their job," she explained.  "We have a very low employee turnover.  People are happy here."

I can see why.  The few employees we met were cheerful, polite, and working steadily but not anxiously, in spite of the obvious work of re-stocking and bookkeeping after TNNA. 

Here in Buffalo, there isn't nearly enough of this yarn available.   It offers a unique style of variegation, and a great opportunity to add a new layer to colorwork.  I mentioned to Diana that I'd like to encourage local LYSs to carry the full line, and she generously loaded me up with a variety of yarns in a rich array of colorways.  I purchased yarn for a few projects of my own, and later today I'll be talking to some shops and advocating for more.

Visit their website, Mountain Colors Yarn for more info and to see the beautiful yarns.  They also offer a wide array of patterns.  If you can't get the yarns locally, try Paradise Fibers.  They carry the whole line, including the new and delicious Jeannette, a cashmere and silk blend. 

Where People Knit

It's fascinating to me the places and times that people pull out their knitting.  I knit at home between chores, after dinner, or while helping the kids with their homework.  Other people knit at baby's naptime, or on their lunch hour, or waiting at the doctor's office.  Older women used to knit in the back pews of church when I was a kid.  WOW!  One of my friends knits at her daughter's swim practice.  It's 80+ degrees in there and humid, but she's happy with a lap full of wool.  I don't get it, but it works for her.

I read a story by a friend of mine about how she knits during dialysis, and she spends that time knitting for charity.  Spending her time thinking about people who are less fortunate makes those hours feel much more worthwhile.  She's a saint, no doubt about it.  I love that her hobby makes a time when she could easily feel sorry for herself into a gift of love.

There are also reports of musicians knitting between takes of music videos, and actors knitting on the set.  Not in their trailers, mind you, but right out in the open.  I wonder if  they say to the director, "Hold on.  I just have to finish this row..."

In Montana, one of my girlfriends can see cowboys on horseback hearding sheep and goats up the mountain's grazing flats outside her office.  She swears they knit in their down time during the summer.  Being a cowboy doesn't pay much at all.  I'm guessing being a cowboy is chilly work in the Cascade Mountains in the winter, and with those sheep in front of them all the time, I guess it makes sense.  It's the last thing I'd imagine in a cowboy's knapsack, though...

In the Andes, men are the principal knitters, and they tend to knit while walking.  They load up their burros, put their knitting stuff in pockets on the front of their sweaters, and knit for miles while they walk to and from market.  I don't think I could knit and walk without bumping into stuff or messing up the pattern, let alone manuever a burro over a mountain to and from market while knitting.  Yeesh!

Where do you knit?  Where are some interesting places you've seen people knitting?  Have you knit in a spot where people looked at you funny?  Where?