Knit with Bex

I want to thank everyone who has made the effort to be in my life and provide support to me in the last few months. I realize there are several of you I have not responded to (phone,email, etc..) PLEASE don't take it personally, I have been in an emotional whirlwind and every token of thought has been appreciated.

On to brighter news!! Shella and I have been working through long hours and jumping umpteen hurdles to make it happen and now we are proud to announce: TRUE BLUE FIBER FRIENDS is open at 1206 E Business Loop 70 in Columbia. Our hours are Mon-Thurs 10-6, Fri 10-7 (Ravelry Happy Hour 4-6! BYOWhatever! we have coffee & tea), and Sat 10-5. We have lots of exciting plans for the near future and hope all our friends, far and near, will make it in to see us soon!

Contact info:

TRUE BLUE FIBER FRIENDS

1206 East Business Loop 70

Columbia, MO 65201

573-443-8233(TBFF)

www.truebluefiberfriends.com (under constuction)

Since I have been unemployed for a month, you'd think I would have lots of time on my hands to knit and blog and ravel and stay caught up with everything. NOT! I have to admit that I spend a lot of my free time on ravelry when I should be posting on my own blog....I know! I've only been on ravelry for 2 weeks and I've already been "friended" by 20 people. I have to respond or it's just plain rude, right?
I still get 3 or 4 phone calls or emails a day from students and customers wanting to know where I went and why. Soon, I will post more on this subject so I don't have to retell the info 4 times a day, but I still think I'm in a little bit of shock and I can't get myself to post on this topic. Don't take this to mean you can't call or email me. Please do! I never realized how much support I had out there until this happened and I do miss the daily social interaction with like minded folks (not to mention the estrogen fix....I'm out numbered at home 4 to 1!)
I have been knitting with 6 different groups in the last month (there's the fix!) This is really the only time I get to knit a little on personal projects because at home I have boys needing my time. I have also taken on several commission finishing and dye jobs, which I can only work on at home. These have been great to have...income. If anyone else local has a project for me, let me know.

My buddies Shella & Ana gave me Winnie the Pooh slippers for Yule and they have been the comic hit of our Holiday season. They're HUGE and little Maggie Mae (dog) and Kit Kat (kitten) think they are alive and have eaten my feet! Charlie, sitting on my lap (helping me type :) ,) is fascinated by the kitten pouncing and the doggie growling at Mommy's feet.
Mom helped me solve the sock delima by suggesting wrist warmers so everyone could see all of the colorwork. Now I only have to take them back to before the heel ( I was actually making these cuff down--suprise suprise) and figure out a cute bind off. I promised myself that I would finish this project before I start my swatches for the TKGA Master Knitters Program.
Anyone else out there working on that? I'm sure it will take me a little while to finish level 1 because I get totally bored with following exact instructions: "a pattern is just a good suggestion." Where have I heard that before?

Eric & Charlie are sleeping and the older boys are off with friends. I haven't heard the house this quite at 1 pm for months. Even the dogs and cats are laying about in any snippets of sunshine they can find. I made Eric dig out five of my stash tubs (before he took a nap) so I could try to find something to take to the White Elephant/ Stash Exchange I've been invited to. I was impressed with myself, actually (even with so much stash.) Every tub is organized with separate bags with future projects together with their patterns. I actually had a difficult time finding unplanned for skeins of yarn in them. I will probably never get around to all of the projects I have planned, but I hate to get rid of the yarn, just in case. It was actually a great refresher scan. Now I have a better idea what projects I want to do next...motivation is surfacing to finish the ones (ten) on needles! I've run into trouble on the socks I am working on for my mother. They are based on a wonderful pattern from Tongue River Farm (New Harmony Sock) in purple and fuschia hand-dyed mohair/wool from Weaving Southwest. Unfortunately, using the stitch #'s in the pattern, the socks are never going to fit over Mom's heels (even though she has tiny feet.) At first I thought I was just knitting the fairisle too tightly. But I really don't think this is the case. I use the Philosopher's Wool two handed technique, which tucks in floats and helps keep them from getting pulled too tight. I'm afraid I may have to start over and add another pattern repeat. This may be difficult since there are actually five separate colorwork patterns in each sock (and I'm almost done - that's the hard part!) I'll figure it out..pics soon. I'd better go take full advantage of this quiet and knit!

I hope everyone had a very merry Christmas. We, like many people these days, celebrate the Holidays in at least three locations every year. This makes for chaos at home with the two teen-agers and the baby (and the 2 dogs and 5 cats!) I had hoped to have knit gifts for everyone this year, but found myself unable to pick up needles for several weeks. Mom and my sister-in-law understand why their socks are late, luckily.
I have been trying to get around Columbia and knit with as many people as possible. I miss seeing so many knitters every day. The weather hasn't been cooperating (neither has my truck) and many of our local knitters meet on Tuesdays (two weeks of actual Holi-days.) I hope I get to catch up with a few more folks after the Holidays are over. It has really been nice to be able to just sit and chat and KNIT!

Hi, I'm Bex. For the past 4 years I have been developing and running one of the best yarn shops in the country. I no longer have any affiliation with that shop, so I suddenly have a lot of time on my hands and a lot of knitting friends who don't have anyone to go to with their questions. I hope this site will be fun and interactive for everyone. Those who know me personally will agree that I am adventerous in my persuit of knitting...always trying new techniques and figuring out how to make old techniques easier or more efficient. I have helped many a student or customer change a pattern or gauge or whatever to make their project more personal. My favorite designers are those who are as adventerous as I like to be, ie. EZ, Anna Zilboorg, Cat Bordhi, Norah Goghaun, Debbie New, Merike Saarniit... but I've often been heard saying "a pattern is just a good suggestion."

This web site is obviously still under construction and I am certainly no "techno geek" so please check back for pictures and projects coming soon. I am currently knitting on a "labarynth" sweater adapted from Debbie News' book Unexpected Knitting. I started it three years ago and have completed @20 projects since then. I think it's time to finish! You'll have to wait until after the holidays for details (pictures) of the other three projects I'm actively working on (gotta have one or two in the car and one in the diaper bag so I never get caught with time and no knitting!) My family will probably read this and I can't be giving anything away.