More water lilies?

I've posted photos from our backyard pond before, but I just can't resist... yesterday, we had a double bloom on our water lily, and DH got a great photo of it. Isn't this a beauty?

Sadly, these gorgeous 4-inch blooms only last for two days, then they're gone. Cutting them doesn't work very well, they close up at day's end and don't reopen.

So we have to enjoy them while they last!

We've had lots of much-needed rain this week, courtesy of Hurricane Dolly, which thankfully didn't come anywhere near my area. Our pond is home to quite a few frogs and toads, and they serenade us all through the night (and day). They've been especially noisy this week - apparently, they're really enjoying the wet weather!

While trimming the groundcover around the pond last week, DH found a small snake - he said it wasn't a bad kind, but still made me a little nervous - I may have to rethink my habit of walking barefooted in the backyard!

I'm glad to report that I've been getting in more knitting time lately. I have hooked up with several knitting friends, and we meet weekly to knit together. I am making good progress on my Wrap Me Up shawl (pattern from Knitting at Knoon) in Noro Silk Garden. Today, I picked out my beads for the shawl, can't wait to see how they look knitted in place. I'll post more project details on my Great Yarn Company shop blog tomorrow.

Take care, and stay out of the heat!

Bob-tails and Billionaires

Git' yer kitty pictures here. I mentioned way back when I started that my kitty Coco is bob-tailed, but never showed you how cute she is. Well, here ya go. First shot is when I woke her up with the camera flash, and she had a good stretch.



By the second shot, I could no longer hold her attention - the camera's flash isn't nearly as interesting as a full bowl of food. I know where I rank in her book - right after the kitty chow! And yes, it's a real tail - she was born bob-tailed, didn't lose it anywhere, and when she's annoyed, it goes around in little circles. Hilarious!

Today, I found a great meme on Fig and Plum, and I have to do it! If you use this for your blog, leave a comment here so I can read your answers!

1. What was I doing 10 years ago?
In 1998, I was working at a large financial services company, as a registered representative. That's Wall Street lingo for stockbroker, but really, we mostly did financial plans and sold shares in mutual funds. I learned lots of neat stuff, and placing stock and options trades was a blast. Really fun! However, the work's very competitive, stressful, and only the top sales people make the big bucks. I wasn't one of those, so eventually, I moved on to something a little less stressful.

2. What 5 things are on my to-do list for today?
1. post to blog (yep)
2. start Ravelry group (yep)
3. make chicken salad (nope, didn't get done)
4. return Nancy's call (nope, waited til too late)
5. work on Wrap me Up shawl (not yet, but soon)

3. Snacks I enjoy:
Mostly salty and/or crispy things - crackers & cheese, chips and salsa, nachos, roasted almonds (or any nuts, really), green or black olives. But you can always tempt me with chocolate.

4. Things I would do if I were a billionaire (in no particular order):
Buy a private plane, and several vacation homes in fabulous locations. Have more cats. Funnel lots of funds into certain areas of medical research. Contribute a lot more to charities, invest wisely, and of course, buy yarn.

5. Places I have lived:
Pretty short list. In chronological order, New Orleans, Metairie (a suburb of New Orleans), and New Orleans again. Then came Katrina, and now I live near Houston, Texas.

So there it is - feel free to copy this meme for your blog, and don't forget to comment here if you do!

I've got a new blog!

Just a short note to let you know I've started a Great Yarn Company blog - if you're looking for the latest news about what's going on at Great Yarn Company, that's the place to look! And if you comment at the new blog before midnight, July 4th, you'll automatically be entered in a random drawing for a $15 store credit - see details here!

Thanks for dropping in - although Great Yarn Company keeps me pretty busy, I'll still post here too, mostly for Eye Candy Fridays - see ya soon!

Back from the Big D!

We had a great time last weekend at the DFW Fiber Fest in Addison, TX, just outside Dallas. Lots of knitters and crocheters and a super lineup of teachers and classes.

This was our first year as a vendor, and I've gotta say, we had a ball!! And boy, were we ever busy!

Everyone was totally charmed by my sweet Mom - she's my best helper! There's even talk of getting her to be a model in next year's fashion show! (And big kudos to DH for all the lifting and toting he did, helping get everything set up. It's a big job!)

We met so many wonderful new knitting friends - and we're already looking forward to going back to see them again next year. Many thanks to the Board for all their hard work!

And can you believe it? There was a car COVERED in YARN!! How amazing is that? I think my favorite part is the license plate - I want that plate!

On the home front, we had a great Easter visit from my brother and his family, and in a few weeks, DH's sister and her hubby will be coming, so we're seeing lots of our out-of-town family members - that's a good thing.

Our extended family is full of happy news lately - we had a wedding, two college graduations, an engagement, the birth of a darling new baby grandson (not on St. Patrick's day, like I predicted), and just yesterday, we received word of another pending college graduation. Time moves so fast, doesn't it?

Lots of good things happening here - hope the same is true for you.

Eye Candy - long time no see!

Finally, some Eye Candy. Bet you thought I'd forgotten all about it, eh? This is Blue Heron Rayon Metallic - beautiful, isn't it? I love the little sparkly bits... and that chocolate one has copper bits instead of gold - very nice. More about this yarn below...

It's been really weird around here weather-wise - cold and dry, cold and wet, warm and dry, warm and wet, pretty much any combination you can think of - makes it hard to figure out how to dress each day. Guess I shouldn't complain, this is a lot better than the severe winter much of the country has endured this year. We've got it pretty good here in coastal Texas - the azaleas in my back yard are blooming again and everything's starting to green up already.

We're very excited - our second grandson is due this month - his big brother was born on St. Valentine's Day, so I told my daughter she needs to shoot for St. Patrick's Day with this one, to keep the pattern going - it's gonna be close, I think!

You'd think I'd be knitting lots of baby things, right? Wrong. I'm still working on the "eternal socks" - no, that's not the pattern name, that's what I've dubbed the socks I've been working on for ages for dear hubby. The only time I work on them is Monday nights with my knitting group (hi, Clackers!) - and I'm starting to be embarrassed to show up with the same project week after week. Although it is kinda nice that everyone seems so impressed that I'm knitting them two at a time. (It's not that hard. Really.) So I use that as my excuse for being so slow on this project - see, I'm really knitting two socks at once, so it takes twice as long. Yeah, that's the ticket.

So about that Blue Heron. It's one of the many new yarns I've just added to Great Yarn Company. (You knew I'd have to mention Great Yarn Company, right? When you own a yarn shop, you love knitting, and you have a knitting blog, it's only natural that all three topics sort of merge, wouldn't you agree?)

The few past weeks have been really great. I've been receiving box after box of gorgeous yarns and enjoying fondling them, er, taking photos of them, for the website. This is a HUGE box of Rowan Kidsilk Haze that arrived a couple of hours ago - it's incredibly beautiful - took all my willpower to not just jump into the box! I'll be petting, I mean, photographing it ASAP!

Most of our new yarns are already available at Great Yarn Company - Noro Kureyon and Silk Garden (and Kureyon Sock is on the way, yea!!), Mission Falls 1824 Wool and 1824 Cotton, Frog Tree Alpaca, the afore-mentioned Blue Heron, and lots more.

And last but not least, we've got great patterns from Y2 Knit, Heartstrings Fiber Arts, Cabin Fever, Knitting at Knoon, and Noni. These will be on our website very soon. Here's a sneak peak - aren't those stuffed animals too cute? Kinda makes my fingers itch for needles. Hmmm... I really should do some baby knitting...

So that's life these days at Chez Sue. It's all good. Knitting (or pretending to), playing with new yarns as they come in, looking forward to grandson #2, and enjoying the fact that we don't live in ice and snow territory. See ya soon!

So many yarns...

TNNA Long Beach was so much fun - this is the yarn industry's big semi-annual yarn buying market, and I do mean BIG. Hundreds of vendors, endless varieties of yarns and patterns -- it's totally amazing and quite overwhelming!

This was my second time at TNNA, and the thrill definitely has NOT worn off. I was so excited I could hardly sleep -- I had to keep reminding myself that this was a working trip. I was there to buy yarn for Great Yarn Company - and boy, did I ever buy yarn! I'm not sure how we're going to find space for all of it! New shipments are arriving weekly, so check our website often to see what's been added.

Just a quick teaser - pictured here is Mango Moon Recycled Silk - it's spun in Nepal from recycled silk saris - the colors just glow! It will be added to our website this week. Enjoy!

We've also ordered Noro Kureyon and Silk Garden, Malabrigo, Jojoland cashmere, Frog Tree alpaca, Claudia's handpainted sock yarn, Blue Heron, Lily Chin's new Chelsea sock yarn, and Mission Falls 1824 Wool and 1824 Cotton. We'll be adding these to Great Yarn Company as new shipments come in. Life's good, eh?

I also had the great pleasure of taking classes with the delightful Lily Chin, Mags Kandis (the creative mind behind Mission Falls designs and yarns), and the ever-inventive Cat Bordhi.

Great Yarn Company is open!!

That was quick! Great Yarn Company is open for business!! Woohoo!!

The word's out, and we're growing very quickly, so come see what we've got in store for you, and check back often -- we're adding new products daily!!

Cascade 220 and Fixation, Margaret Stove's Artisan Merino Lace, gorgeous yarns by Cherry Tree Hill, plus Supersock and Sockittome in Cherry Blossom, a new award-winning colorway - we're taking photos as fast as we can, and all of these should be up on the site within a day or so - I'm SO excited!

I'd blog a bit more tonight, but I'm totally worn out from photographing yarns and updating website pages... this is almost as much fun as knitting!! Come see what we're up to at Great Yarn Company!