Gosh, I can't believe it's been over a year since I've updated my blog.

I'm in pre Holiday Boutique knitting rush right now.  Every moment is spent on trying to create and knit up something new for the boutique. 

For those of you who aren't familiar, The Holiday Boutique is a United Way fund raiser.  This will be my 3rd year to participate.  It's a great way to support UW and make a little extra Christmas money and get Unwind's face out to the public.

This year, I've got some really cool hats, fingerless gloves, scarves galore, headbands, baby items, sweaters, cowls, dog sweaters, etc.

Okay, got to get back to my knitting!

Happy 4th of July

Tomorrow is firecracker day! I hope everyone stays safe and has a lot of fun. It's too hot to go camping, Grand Lake has blue green algea which sounds really nasty, so they've advised people to stay away. So I think you're better off to stay in the nice cool A/C and enjoy a movie and some knitting. I'll be open tomorrow, so if you feel like swinging by the shop, you can soak of some of my A/C.

Lots of things have been going on at the shop.

We've had fun with the classes the last few months. Everyone loves the Nook/Kindle Cozy covers and I think a lot of people will be getting them as Christmas gifts.

Last month the shop hosted a charity drive sponsored by the Claremore Toastmasters. One of my customers, Mike, who is a member of the Toastmasters wanted to do a project to get his next level in the organization. He thought a charity project would be fun and asked if I'd like to be involved. We began brain storming trying to figure out who we wanted to knit for. Janie, his wife started looking on line and found a group on Ravelry called Mitts of Steal. It is an organization that provides fingerless gloves for dialysis patients. I immediately thought of Freda, she's another customer who had just had surgery to have a port put in her arm so she could begin dialysis. It was like it was meant to be. After a few discussion with the sponsor and several others, we came up with Warm Hands from Warm Hearts. We contacted our local clinic, DaVita, and they were thrilled that we wanted to donate gloves to the patients. So it began...from June 1-15 we had a big push for fingerless gloves, knit or crocheted it didn't matter. Our goal was 100 pairs by the 15th. We were able to collect 113 pairs. The following Monday, Mike and I met at DaVita. There were 16 patients in the clinic at that time and Tina, the manager asked if we would like to give those patients their fingerless gloves. It was so nice to see the smiles on their faces as we showed them the gloves and asked them what color they would like. It really makes your heart feel good to help others.

The shop will continue to accept gloves until August 15th. At that time another charity drive will be announced. I plan on chosing a new charity each quarter to focus on.

I've been working on the coolest thing. Illusion scarves! Have you made one? There are tons of patterns on Ravelry. I just finished the OU (Oklahoma University) scarf. While I was working on it, a customer came in. I showed her the illusion and she said it would be much prettier in orange and black (OSU colors) I told her I had been trying to work up the OSU logo, but it just wasn't turning out quite right. I then told her I'd probably just knit in the work COWBOYS down the length of the scarf. She ordered 4 on the spot and didn't care what the cost would be. I think this will be a big hit at the Holiday Boutique. I'm going to have to work up a scarf for the local High School the Zebras, I've had requests for Arkansas Razorbacks and Texas Longhorns. It takes me about 4 days to finish a scarf, I wonder how many I can get designed and knit by November 4th?

Most of you who read my blog no that I love to write. I'm in the process of writing a sequel to The Best Seller (AJ Freeman Series) plus I've been writing a knitting story. Each time I publish a new newsletter, there is a new chapter. It's called A Knitting Diary. If you'd like to receive my newsletters send me a note and let me know. My email address is unwind.ayarnshop@att.net

It's time to get started with the holiday knitting...don't wait until September or October and then be knitting all day and all night. You might turn into a knitting zombie and we wouldn't want that now would we.

Keep knitting and crocheting!

The Best Seller Now on Nook and Kindle

For those of you who might be interested in reading my book, I'm providing easy links to take you to the sight.

For Nook Readers: The Best Seller



For Kindle Readers: The Best Seller

The purchase price for either of these downloads is $3.49.

If you like the book, please post a review on the Nook or Kindle site for me.

Thanks,
Teresa

It's been a long time

Wow, it's been a long time since I've posted anything.

A lot has been going on, let's see what I can remember!

The shop is going great, I love everything about it. My customer base is growning daily and I've got more ideas for the business than I can do by myself. I'd really like to be able to hire someone at least part-time, but I can't do that until I can pay myself. But if business keeps up that should be pretty soon.

I designed the cutest Spring Flower Headband and you can get the pattern on Ravelry. I'm writing this from home and don't have a picture of it on this computer to show off. I knit it using Cascade's Fixation Solid and the varigated colors. Check it out!

Classes are going really well. I'm going to have a class on Tuesday evening for the "Pucker up Slippers". I've been teaching so many people to knit that I'm pretty sure I'll be able to turn the entire town into knitters within a year or so.

Lots of new yarns are coming in and I'm going to be getting KnitPicks needle sets very soon. I'm really excited about that!

On the home front: Chelsea and Brennan are doing great in school. I don't know if I told you that Brennan started college in August and is working towards a nursing degree also. Chelsea should find out in May if she has been accepted into the nursing program at RSU. I'm praying and keeping my fingers crossed that she gets in for the fall semester. Hayden is growning like a weed. I can't believe he's 3 years old. He sparks a fire in my heart everytime he says, "Grandma, you're my best friend." I love him so much! It looks like we are going to be doing a little more remodeling soon. Chelsea wants a place to study that is more private, so we are building a wall in between their bedroom and the old nursery. We will be moving Hayden into the new room and turing his bedroom back into a guest room/office. Davy is working very hard at his job. He is going to be moving into a new house in a few months, that's really exciting for him.

My book, The Best Seller is now available on Kindle and Nook for $3.49. It still have a few typos that my proofreaders didn't catch. I guess that's what happens when you don't have a professional editor/publisher. But, hey, I've bought books from professional authors that still have typos.

I guess that's it for now, I'll try and do better with my posting in the future!

Bibs for Babes

Tonight we are doing a little charity work. Unwind, in conjunction with The Manger, will be hosting a knit night. We will be knitting bibs and burp cloths from the Mason-Dixon book. The Manger is a non-profit organization that provides some food and clothing for children and babies.

I'll take pictures tonight and post them later.

Summer knitting projects

Ooops, it's been over a month since my last post. Sorry about that.

First things first, on the weight loss journey, it's been 5 weeks and I've lost 13 lbs and 15.25 inches. That's pretty good for a month. I've got to stay focused and make sure I write down everything I eat. That's what usually gets me in trouble, I think, Okay, I've got this and then I start slacking on the little things like journally and the weight starts creeping back up.

Now for the real reason you're here. I've been doing a lot of thinking about quick and easy knits for the summer. I know it's hard to get motivated about knitting an afghan or sweater when it's 95+ degrees outside. But what about knitting up some cotton coasters for your patio table, or a wine cozy to dress up that bottle of wine that you take to your neighbors next bbq or dinner party, or a cute teddy bear for the kiddo. Here are a couple of pictures of some of the summer time projects I've been working on.
Don't forget if you're going on vacation, a long car ride or plane ride is the perfect time for knitting. Sure you could take a nap, but it's such a great opportunity to get that baby shower gift finished, or start on some of those Christmas presents instead of waiting until November to knit all your family member mittens.

I've been working on double knitting, it's alot of fun to see your projects become reversible items. Check out this coffee cozy. . Now I just need to figure out how to knit in letters that are correct on both sides instead of the reverse side being backwards. I have an idea in my head, but I just need to figure out how to make it work.

Just in case your wondering, the Great American Afghan KAL is coming along beautiful. The majority of the group are right on track working on squares 5 & 6 this month. I just finished #8, and there is one lady in the group who is now working on #14. It's been alot of fun seeing how others have changed the patterns or added different colors.

I'll try and post again before another month goes by.

Knitting & Eating Healthy

For those of you who were following my blog before I opened Unwind, you might remember that it focused on my weight loss journey. Back in 2002-03, I lost 50 lbs with Weight Watchers. My sister and a co-worker joined the journey with me, both reaching their goal weights and becoming lifetime members. I still had about 20 lbs to lose, they quit coming to the weekly meetings and I guess I felt abandoned, that I was left to finish the race on my own and eventually the weight came back. Well, 45 lbs of it. I've tried twice again to go back to WW meetings, but I just couldn't get in the grove. I guess my head wasn't on right or something.

For the last few weeks, I've been feeling that pull back to healthy eating, and healthy living. Just this past Friday, my sister (who has also gained her weight back plus a little) and her daughter, who has an 18 month old baby were in the shop talking about food, dieting, and back when we felt alot healthier. We made a pact that day that we were going to work the program together. We are going to have our unofficial WW meeting at Unwind on Friday mornings. We all left the shop that night and went straight to Wal-Mart to stock up on fruits, produce, lean meats, yogarts, etc. We all went home and weighed in and measured. We bought notebooks to write down all our foods and points. We've got all the WW materials from days gone by so we will go over them on a weekly basis. I signed up with Bootcamp Buddies again, it had been 8 years since I'd used my login id and back then I wasn't knakedknitter. But now I am, so if you are a bootcamp buddy and reading my blog, look me up. I need all the support I can get.

I won't monopolize my blog with writing my food journal entries here, but I will discuss how my week went and my weight loss.

Now on to knitting...I'm almost finished with the anu tunic that I'm making for my niece. Only a few more inches left on the armholes, then I'll start working on the little cap sleeves. Hoping to have it finished in few days. I'll post a pic of her wearing it. I love the yarn. If you haven't tried Berroco Weekend, you are really missing out. It is so soft and light. A cotton/acrylic blend perfect for spring and summer.

I'm into the 2nd lace pattern of the 2nd half of the Lacy Sampler Scarf. I can't wait until everyone in the classes finish theirs so I can take a picture of them all together. It is a gorgeous scarf and you can find the pattern by googling Lacy Sampler Scarf by Ginger Smith. It's a great pattern for a beginner lace project.

Today, we are having our 2nd meeting for the Great American Afghan. The plan was for everyone to have the first two squares completed and ready to talk about #3 and #4. Some of the knitters have blown past #1 and #2 and are finishing their 4th square. Others are still working on #1, but they are steady. I'm ready to start the 7th square, but will wait until my other two projects are finished. The book says #7 is supposed to be one of the harder squares to I need to be able to focus on this one.

I'm sure most of you have read the Debbie Macomber books on Blossom street. I just started reading them a few days ago. I was more interested in Maggie Sefton's book because of the mystery and murder and didn't think I'd like the Blossom Street books. Well, I have to give Debbie my apologies. When I started reading the first book, I thought, that sounds like me. No I haven't battled cancer twice and I have a great sister who is super supportive. But, I still felt like it was me. Love the book, can't put it down. When I first opened Unwind and the customers started dribbling in, there were several who said my shop reminded them of the shop on Blossom Street. They were right!

Have a great week knitting and making healthy choices for yourself and your family!