Knitting With Granny LJ

Good morning.

My desk-work assignment is done for the morning — I got myself signed on to Pay Pal.  I am really patting myself on the back about that.  I may be able to enter the 21st century, after all.  

The cats are playing in the kitchen.  No, I did  not get another cat.  Karen did.  It turned out that the people who were going to take the last kitten in the litter decided against taking it, so Karen brought the kitten home.  Cat is a tabby striped cat.  Chip (Cat’s sister) is a black cat. The only color on her are  her eyes (yellow). 

I have been working on Joe’s birthday cap, diligently for  over a week.  I started out making a certain kind of cap, then decided to tweak it a bit.  That gave me double the knitting to do.  But, oh well…. It is all in the name of making a good cap.   Right?

Nope.  I made a bitter mess of the cap. 

Ever since I have been doing caps, I have discovered that they fall in to two basic categories:  Right and Not Right.  It was clear that Joe’s cap was definitely in the second category.  I studied it.  Would knit a few more rows.  Study it again.  And finally tossed it onto my work table’s pile of Works in Progress.  The far side of it.  Then I tucked NCIS into my video player and tried not to think about the cap with so many things going against it.  Cat decided it would make a good toy — the cap, the needles and the two colors of yarn I was using.  We had a short discussion about that.  I won. 

Yesterday, was mostly spent in doing desk work like bills, etc, working on a cap that looks like a  yellow sky with pale blue-gray clouds.  And watching NCIS.  And giving Cat loves. 

Occasionally, I would look at the birthday cap.  Groan and pay attention to Cat instead. 

This morning, I looked at it and groaned.  My thinking was a little more clear after my coffee, so I thought things through.  If I were making the cap for my other son, Ian, I would do a simple GC for him.  No frills.  No furbelows.  Nothing eccentric.  So why was I wanting to do an eccentric kind of a cap for Joe, who really would not want it either.

I had to admit to myself that it was a Not Right cap.  And would have still be a “Not Right” cap if I had pushed on and finished it.  Then it would have been relegated to languishing in his closet or beneath his underwear in his dresser. 

So, this morning, I am going to take out the Not Right cap and turn it into a stunning red watch cap. I have about 10 days left before his birthday.  So will get to work on it this morning. 

Happy knitting.  Granny LJ

Good morning.

Four weeks ago, I decided that I would spend a bit of time in the morning on my blog.  But it has mostly been  cleaning the spam off  the site.  You see, I have writer’s block.   This is the first time, however, that I have had writer’s block and knitter’s block. Until now. 

The way it used to be was that I would knit like crazy and eventually the writer’s block would clear up a bit.  And then it would be a matter of  having time to write — Karen and I were doing shows and markets as often as twice a week, a couple of weekends back to back.  Then I had no trouble trying to figure out what to add to the blog, but frequently did not write because I was too busy making caps to keep up with the markets.  My inventory was small and even selling a cap or two made a huge dent in  my bin of caps. 

Now Karen has what appears to be a job that will be stable.  Which I am very glad for.  But in order for her to get me to assorted markets would be a real complicated mess, and she would have been spending most of her job’s off-duty time driving me somewhere.  I have been trying to figure out how to market my caps without encroaching on her time and energy. 

So I have been working on two problems.  Making my older son’s birthday cap and trying to find other ways to sell my caps.  My niece, Emily, has a site on Etsy and I have been looking into getting one for myself. And am totally confused by it, so far.  I mean, all this signing onto the site is one of those things that young computer-age people have no problems with, while us old folks are pleased when the on-button of their computer actually turns the computer on.  Actually, my computer has no respect for me and tends to treat me like the computer, Hal.  At any rate,  I have finally figured out the kind of cap I want to make for my son, Joe.  About that same time I figured out I needed Pay Pal and did  not  want get on an Etsy site without a dedicated bank account.  So rather simultaneously, one  block was taken care of and the second was  put on ice until my check gets here. 

And I seem to be able to write on the blog again.  Whoopeee. 

Well, that is about all for today. I have a cap to cast on.  Happy knitting, Grannie LJ

Good Morning.

This is a hard day to look back on.  A lot of things were going on.

For one thing, I was moving into this apartment and had my truck’s radio tuned to the news of the Twin Towers and the Pentagon.  Little was said of the plane that went down in Pennsylvania. We had not a clue about much of anything except the facts of the events.  I am sure that I got the message the hijackers wanted me to get.  That we are not really safe in this country.

 My sense of security had not been so badly threatened  since the Cuban Missile Crisis when I was in college.  The Cuban Missile Crisis was a short lived crisis.  I had some college buddies go up into the Coast Range to camp out and wait for the atomic bombs to drop.  They came back down when the bombs did not drop and finished the term. 

After the Cuban Missile Crisis.  I tended to become rather ho-hum about world events.  I figured if the  Russians did not drop the bomb then, that probably everything could ultimately be talked out and eventually fixed.

Also that was about the year that the war in Vietnam started really making the news.  But I figured “we” would win.  After all we had won in Europe twice,  Japan, once and again in Korea. 

My sense of safety, living here in this country, was pretty strong.  After all, the guy who shot John Kennedy was a resident of this country.  I was in my last term of college when Robert Kennedy was assassinated. That was a bit scarey.  But what could you expect from a person whose first and last name was the same.  Rather like an echo, than a real name. 

With the rise in crime and issues like spousal abuse,  child abuse, murder and some of our country’s  less worthy after-dark activities,  I studied martial arts.  I had a sensei who had  been a cop and really hated the bad guys and taught martial arts as a self-defense skill.  He also taught a class in women’s self defense. I worked up to my black belt and started teaching self-defense classes. 

Then one day, I discovered I was yelling at my television set because of some stupid thing Geraldo had said to  his guest. 

Times being what they were — my son was launched — and I had very little to keep me in the Valley, any more.  I got a job in Newport and moved here to the coast. It was the best thing I had done for myself in many, many years. 

I moved around a bit before I found this place.  And I was in the process of moving here when I heard about the 9-11 atrocities.  I could not think.  I could not talk.  All I could do was pack boxes and drive to the new place and unload them, and all the time listening for some scrap of news other than how high the smoke of the Twin Towers had risen. 

Last year, I  bought a flag.  Not a very big one, but my first one.  Dad had always hung a flag.  I had thought that the concept was a little dated, but wouldn’t hurt.  My flag was not big like Dad’s.  It was little.  Designed to be hung out of a partially opened car window. 

This morning, I went out and  fastened it to a 4×4 on my front porch.  And I said to myself:  I am an American and proud of it.  And today, of all days,  there should be flags flying. 

Happy knitting.    Granny LJ

Good morning.

I have been knitting a lot lately. 

I have four projects going right now.   One is a cap with camouflage colors.  It is tentatively named Camo Cap.  And it is a very usual cap.  I did a deep brim — about three inches and the did three increases to make the body balloon.  So it should be keeping somebody’s ears warmed eventually. 

The second cap is a Noro cap.  I wanted a color-way a little bit less subdued than  most of my Noro yarn yields.  I sure got my wish.  This one is bright pink, bright green,  bright blue, bright purple, and bright yellow.  It did not look so violently bright when I bought the skeins.  It is tentatively named Bright. 

I know this:   If I were shopping for a cap, I would buy neither cap.  But at shows and markets I have often been amazed that the caps I like least are the ones that sell first.  I have to wonder if Sam Walton sat in his office and looked at potential merchandise and had the same problem; Wondering if he should stock an item and if any customer would want to  buy it. 

My last two caps  in process are pretty ordinary caps.  One is a pale gray guy cap (GC).  It is about ready to top off.  The other is one that I thought looked like a fall forest because of the colors in the skein.   But I have been a bit disappointed in this cap, too.  Made up, the colors do not look that enticing to me.  As noted above, though, I am sure that when it is finished and for sale, someone will come along and love the colors and the cap and buy it. 

There are several things that make me love capping, one is the knowledge  that I can really dislike a cap and customer comes along and thinks it is just right and buys it.  And oddly, when I see one of those ugly duckling caps walk away on the head of a happy buyer, I realized that it is a very fine looking cap and I am pleased that I made it. 

Well, that is about all from here for today.  Am laboring forth on the decision to sell on Etsy and have done a little research.  A niece of mine sells handmade purses on Etsy and had been giving lots of information on the site and to best use it.

Well, have a great day.  Happy knitting to you all.  Granny LJ

Good morning,

It has been a few days since I have been here.  But my excuse is a good one, I have been watching Cat Ballou get acquainted with her new home and learn that she is not going to be playing with any of my yarn.  She has learned that it is not a good thing to bite the feeding hand with her tiny, very sharp teeth.  The yarn issue seems to be a little harder.  I think I have laughed more in the last two weeks than I have for the last two years.

One thing I am not laughing about, though, is trying to find a way to market my caps.  Karen and I were, until this year, pretty much able to go to markets and shows together.  But her job situation does not allow that any more. 

I have been thinking of Etsy, since it  seems  work well for hand crafters.  I have spent a bunch of time looking over Etsy — looking at products as well as trying to figure how the site works.  Lots of hand made caps.  Both knitted and crocheted.  Getting to the pages that  show the artist’s work is not difficult.  Even someone as computer-illiterate as I am can get around on it. 

Where I start having difficulty  is getting to the signing up part, then there is the part where I have to make pictures of the caps to put on the site, so the potential customers can look at them and drool and buy. So there are  those two tasks that I have to learn to do before I can entice the heads of America to buy my caps. 

Unfortunately, I have hit the age where learning new things is not that easy anymore.  And technical things have never been  big in my skills supply box.  I cannot decide whether to learn the camera, first or get signed up on Etsy, first. 

Well, Cat Ballou just got up on my desk and is going to stage an attack on my hands.  So I guess I’ll go knit and ponder.  Sometimes knitting and pondering give me great ideas. Will keep you all posted as events work themselves out. 

Happy knitting.  Granny LJ

Good morning:

It has been over a year since I have written on my blog.  Karen and I got so busy with shows and markets that I really did not much ooomph left to keep on the blog.  This year started out fine.  Busy and with sales for both of us.  Then came the tsunami alert, in March.  Our duplex is about 200 yards from the beach and at the top of tall cliff.     I told Karen that I would wait things out here.  She assured me of the error of my decision in language that I will not repeat.  So we headed up out to the grade school evacuation site.  The new grade school is on the top of a tall hill, near the golf course.  So off we went with Red (loose on the seat being very quiet and alert ), Parker (in a crate and telling us that he hated every minute of being in there) and the neighbor’s cat (also in a crate and sounding more like a mountain lion than a sweet lap cat), me (trying not to laugh) and Karen (with a look on her face that made it very easy to not laugh).

We ended up sitting at the school  for more than half the day waiting for the tsunami wave that never came.  The wave apparently touched down in Northern California and Southern Oregon and then bounced off and skipped the Central Oregon  coast and touched down again at Astoria and Southern Washington. 

We missed the March market waiting for the tidal wave that was a no-show.  Don’t get me wrong, The folks who were in charge of everything were wonderful and capable.  If the tsunami had touched down here, we would have been we would have been very safe with folks well trained.

However, we did miss the March market.  And from then on — until recently — my life has been a bit like a Chinese water torture.  (Except for the visit from my sons and their families, and other family  members in July. )  One little thing after  another that needed looking after and all having very little to do with my cap making.  I won’t  bore you with details. 

On Sunday, Karen came home from her job with a huge box on her shoulder.  She is working at a grocery now and I thought she had stocked up on some super sale food product.  She said, “Here this is for you.” 

And set the box in my lap.  It did not contain assorted food items.  Just a little bit of cat kibble and a tiny kitten.  Karen said, again,  “This is for you.”  The kitten looked up at me a squeaked a tiny meow, and I was hooked. I practiced a couple of names with her and yesterday evening, as I was trying to knit, and she was rocketing around the living hunting and conquering assorted imagined monsters, I decided that her name had to be Cat Ballou. 

I think I have laughed more since Sunday than I have all year.  Right now she is in my lap purring and sleeping. 

At any rate, things  in my life are changing. Cat Ballou is just one of them.  I  will tell you  later of the route my knitting is going to be taking in the near future. Lots of changes. 

I wish you great knitting.   Have a good day.  Granny LJ

Good morning.

Several weeks ago, Karen and I were at a  gift shop in Yachats and I found a cotton cap that looked interesting.  It looks like a simple pattern.  Sort of lace pattern with what looks to be a yarn over between two stitches of knit stitch.  I grabbed the cap up, sure that I could figure out how it was made.  I spent yesterday working on it and all I have accomplished is a lot of yarn overs and no real pattern.  I plan to forge ahead, though.  Will work on it today.

Also of note, Nestucca Bay Yarns is going out of business.  Am sorry to see that shop depart the knitting world of Lincoln County. It was a well-run shop that did not tend toward the speciality yarns, only, and had a great inventory of the basic yarns.   They recently went to online sales only and in yesterday’s email, I got the notice of closure.  That leaves Yarn for All Seasons in South Beach (south of Newport) as the only yarn store in Lincoln County.  Yarn for All Seasons has a good inventory, though,  and you can order yarns through them, as well. 

I closed a bank  account, recently,  and found myself in the possession of a hunk of money.  So I put part of it into a savings account, kept part of it out for costs I expected for the family reunion.  And kept a hunk of it for yarn buying.  I have had two trips to Yarn for All Seasons  for yarn buying and am expecting one more in the near future,

It has been a cluttered spring and summer.  We had siding blow off the duplex, which of course,  brought almost 3 months worth of hammering and sawing and painting so the place looks livable again.  So I have not done the amount of knitting this summer that I normally do.  And my work table looks like the aftermath of a bomb explosion in a yarn store.  It is a good thing that clutter does not bother me too much. 

Well, it is time to go work on that lacy cap.  I just looked at the prototype again.  I think I have the answer to the mystery.  Will let you all know in my next episode. 

Happy knitting.  Granny LJ

Good morning.

It has been a while since I have written on my blog.  The cause of the silence has been a gaggle of things.  Such as:  a storm blew off some of the siding of the duplex that Karen and I share which  necessitated the repair, complete with two very nice young men and their loud tools and loud music;  a family reunion; long walks on the beach with Karen and the boys during my usual writing time (you get to be my age and you really aren’t  as flexible as you used to be). 

But I have been knitting.  It is a real sanity saver.  I have been mostly working on Noro caps.  Those are the ones I do with the big, floppy bodies that accomodate long hair and have a  double deep brim so it can be folded up double to  protect the ears.  Have four of them done and ready for finish work.  One Noro cap is on double points and one is ready for double points.  Am glad to have the siding done and glad to have the Noro caps ready for finish work.

I also have been able to  have, recently,  two yarn shopping junkets at Yarn for All Seasons.  Unfortunately, the yarn shop in Lincoln City, Nestucca Bay Yarns, has closed and gone to all online selling.  And that means that here in Lincoln County we have only one yarn shop left.  At any rate, had two very enjoyable and spendy trips to Yarn for All Seasons.  Every  body now tells me that I surely have enough yarn to last a lifetime.  But as far as I am concerned, that is still open for debate. 

Well, that is about all from here for today.  I have desk work to get done and then I get to grab up the knitting needles. 

Hope you all have a great day.  Happy knitting.  Granny LJ

Good morning.

The weather here on the Oregon Coast has not been very much like May or June. So Karen and I decided we would take advantage of the sunshine this morning and get the boys down on the beach for a good walkabout.  And we would have a look backward about the show.  There was another walker with his dog on the beach so we kept ours on leads and walked down by the surf while he and his played “chase the ball and bring it back”  up near the cliff.

On our walk we found a Styrofoam float that had been in the water for some time.  How did we know?  Well, the thing was covered in barnacles.  I thought maybe I’d bring it home, but then decided against it because it would probably smell pretty bad after a day or two.  Then I saw something  right on the edge of the surf that looked like something I needed to check out and carry  home.  And it was!   It was a Japanese glass float.  I wanted to jump up and down and shout hurray.  But I was a good kid, and stuck in the pocket of my jacket and smiled all the way home. 

Finding that float was almost as good as finding some dynamite yarn that needs to come home with me and become a cap.  I have not been yarn shopping in a couple of months.  It is very hard to not feel a bit whiney about it.l  But I got some fine yarns from Arlene at the show and have some more that I got from Kristy recently. 

The not-driving thing really puts a damper on my getting around about.  Especially getting out and about to yarn stores.  I love going in and feeling the yarns and imaging what kind of cap they will make. 

 But I do have to restyle my yarn buying.  There is a catalog that I get and it has some of the brands of yarn that I buy  on a regular basis.  And there is a place on-line that sells some more of my base yarns, so I will just order from them. 

Though it is not quite the same as walking into a store, touching the Alpaca yarn and getting one of those lightbulbs going off (you know, the cartoon type).  Just like I could go into one of the local gift shops and buy any number of glass floats. But finding the one today is more like touching the Alpaca yarn and knowing, really knowing, what a great cap it would make.

Have a great day.  Happy knitting.  Granny LJ

Good morning.

Well, the spring Crafts on the Coast show is done.  It was a good weekend.  Can’t say either Karen or I got rich.  But I did sell 4 caps and traded a 5th for a wonderful tote bag to carry my portable knitting things in.  I have been  using a tote with a Van Gogh iris painting for the outside decoration. But over the years of carrying it around, it has started toting not only my knitting tools, but also bottles of water, Diet Dew, boxes of Nature Valley Oats and Honey snack bars, the mail, my drinking straws, and who knows what else is in there.  I will, however, be switching all my knitting things  to the tote that I got on Saturday. 

The big question now is, “Will all the things I toted around in Van Gogh migrate to my new tote?”  I certainly hope not.  However, you can never tell.  Sometimes things take on a life of their own.  On the plus side, though, it is larger than the Van Gogh tote.  So, if I keep it to knitting things only, my yarn purchases can go into it along with tools and WIPs.  That leaves Van Gogh to see to the other items, beverages, straws, snacks and all my essential non-knitting items. 

All in all, the show was a good one. I sold caps and Karen did a lot of PR for her work.  Most of what she would have shown last weekend was still in Canyonway.  But she brought 3 really good originals to show and she worked on a piece showing her current project in progress. 

I got several caps worth of yarn from my friend Arlene who hand spins.  Originally I got enough for 3 caps, and after a sale on  Sunday, I went back and got enough so I could make 4 caps total out of her yarn. 

And it was good to see old friends who are regulars at Crafts on the Coast,  both vendors and customers.  

I have from now until October to knit like a nutso and get the caps ready for the Saturday market here in Waldport and for the November show in Yachats. 

I hope you have a great day.  The allergies that bloomed because of the goat-milk products across the room are  much better, so I am going to get a goodly amount of knitting done today. 

Have a great day.  Happy knitting.  Granny LJ