My Knitting

Here is my Nightshift so far. The new Dream State is really nice to knit with. It is definitely plumper and squishier than the original Dream State.

The first clue has been released for Joji’s Open Up Mystery KAL. I just looked at projects on Ravelry - WOW. I think I need to cast this on. If you are interested - here is a link to the spoiler page on Ravelry.

Here is a link to the pattern on Ravelry.

CityKidz is getting ready for their Gift of Christmas program. I have talked about CityKidz before and it is a great organization.

We exist to increase resiliency and inspire BIG dreams for Canadian children living in low-income communities by providing inspirational experiences and nurturing personal relationships, one child at a time. 

If you live in the Hamilton area and have the means City Kidz is asking for donations.

The Gift of Christmas program is designed to ensure that every child feels remembered, celebrated, and valued during the holiday season. Through Christmas parties, personal gift selection, and hand-delivered gifts right to our kids’ doorsteps, children experience joy and belonging, while families receive practical support at a time when financial pressures can be especially challenging. 

To help us deliver hope and joy to thousands of Hamilton children, please consider donating to our toy drive. Please refer to the 2026 Hot Items list for this year’s most requested toys. To give our team enough time to sort, wrap, and prepare gifts for delivery, we kindly ask that toy drive donations be dropped off by December 1^st whenever possible.

 

To help our team receive and process donations efficiently, all toy drive drop-offs must be booked in advance. Please use thelink to Book a Drop-Off Time Here

2025 Gift of Christmas Highlights

• 3238 toys were delivered to over 1,000 registered CityKidz participants and their siblings
• 428 children and over 136 youth attended our Christmas parties

You can read more about CityKidz on their website.

As you can see they helped a lot of children and youth last year and the numbers this year are even higher. 

Now it’s time for Survivor and a bit more knitting.

Elves

Talking about gnomes got me thinking about Churchmouse Yarns Jolly Wee Elves.

You still have time to knit some Jolly Wee Elves for the holidays. The pattern is from Churchmouse (you can purchase it on their website). They suggest a fingering weight yarn or a DK weight yarn (like Rowan Felted Tweed).

The new Woolstok Tweed Light is a great choice for the elves. Le Petit Lambswool is another option.

These little handmade pals, created by Jennifer Evans, are perfect on the holiday mantelpiece, tree, or packages. But they’ll celebrate any season cheerfully! Originally designed for fingering-weight yarn, we love them just as much a bit bigger in DK-weight yarn. Once we started knitting them, we just couldn’t stop!

With elves, it's certainly true that the more you make, the merrier! They’ll naturally all turn out a little different, but you can make them even more various: Taller. Shorter. Plumper. Thinner. All green for St. Paddy’s day. All pink for your Valentine. All white for a snowman with a smart black hat and coal buttons. Once you’ve got the hang of it, the only limit is your imagination. Knit up a whole neighborhood of wee elves!

Today was spent running errands, doing housework and writing a newsletter. I will go over it again tomorrow and hopefully it will go out on Thursday.

I also worked on our hours for December. Extra hours have been added for the week before and after Christmas.I will be away the first week of December. Beth and Lynn will look after the store on November 28th and December 5th. 

My Nightshift is growing and I will take it to work tomorrow for pictures. 

Now it’s time for knitting and a movie.

Wee Three Gnomes

It’s almost Gnome time again.

Imagine Landscapes released the information for their holiday gnomes today and I have started making kits.

Join this sweet, simple fun mystery knitalong and knit three sweet gnomes this December! Use code “DecemberFun” to get 30% off until Nov 16. Plus, all previous December mystery gnomes are also 30% off with that same sale code! 

Badges to earn, parties to organize, homework to finish, and the days until Longest Gnight are racing past. Join Gnipper, Gnicely, and Gnudge as they each work to earn their final badge for Forest Troop 17. 

✨NOTE - You will be buying this as an eBook this time. It will not change your experience of the knitalong - it but allows me to better organize the files after the knitalong is over in compliance with Ravelry’s database rules. ebook direct link

OVERVIEW
You’ll get updates from Dec 1-21, but you won’t be told to knit every day. Some days, you’ll open the update to find a clue to knit. The other days will bring part of our charming story, special treats, or a recipe or two for traditional gnomish delights.

The Wee Three Gnomes are beginner-friendly gnomes. If you’ve never knit a gnome before, these are good ones to start with. Each one has a special little something that makes them stand out that might teach you something new, but I’ve focused on simple and fun. 

OPTIONS!
The three gnomes can either stand on their own or dangle from your bag strap, tree, wreath, or wherever you’d like a gnome to hang out. You’ll see these referred to as “Standing” or “Hanging” gnomes.

Also, the gnomes have been designed for both DK and fingering weight. The DK gnomes will be larger, of course. They’ll still be small, but perhaps not quite ‘ornament small’. I guess that’s a matter of taste (or tree size)! There will be no difference in how the gnomes are worked - the instructions are the same, just the finished size varies.

You can pre purchase the pattern on Ravelry. 

The email about the new MKAL came through while I was in the store packing boxes. I brought home many skeins of Emma’s PPS Smalls to make up colourways. I locked the store and then went back in because it dawned on me that tweedy gnomes would be amazing!

I started with Woolstok Tweed Light because it had the least colour combinations and was the quickest to add to the website. 

Here is a link to the kits.

I’ve started to put together kits with Emma’s PPS Smalls and adding them to the website.

We have a large order of PPS Smalls coming later in November. If the kit you want is out of stock please let me know and I will notify you when it is back in stock.

You can make your own kit as well. Here is a link to the website showing all our PPS Smalls.

Now it’s time to get serious about kit making. I wanted to make enough to get them on the website and show pictures here. Keep checking back because once I start putting together combinations I can’t stop.

New Accessories

Sometime over the next week or so we will be receiving our first order from Fox & Pine Stitches.

My name is Tara and I can’t leave home without my yarn. I am a wife and mama to two little ones. I was a teacher, turned stay at home mom, turned full time business owner.

Our knitting notions and tools, particular our well loved stitch stoppers, are carried in over 800 yarn shops worldwide. We are proud to offer a wide range of fun and useful notions for all your yarn related projects.

I live in the beautiful Prince Edward Island, Canada with my hubby, two kiddos and our two mini dachshunds.  When I am not chasing after them, I promise you’ll find me with yarn in my hands.

This is our first shipment and if all goes well we will be adding to our stock over the next few weeks. 

Once I have the shipping confirmation everything will be available online for preorder.

It’s the time of year where people are buying gifts and I’ve ordered in some yarny accessories.

Bag Charms - just to add some fun to your knitting bag.

Add these cute yarn themed accessories to the strap of your knitting tote bag, purse or notion ring.

These are the hottest must-have product for any knitter. These cute stitch stoppers go on the end of your knitting needles to prevent your stitches from coming undone when your project is set down. You will wonder what you did before you had these! They stay snug on your needles and won’t slide off until you pull them off yourself.

Fits knitting needle sizes US 2 (2 3/4mm) up to US 13 (9mm). 

Stitch Markers and Progress Keepers

Here is my Nightshift so far. I wanted to start and was too tired the other night to go downstairs so I wound my skeins by hand. 

Now a bit more knitting and then early to bed. Beth and dad are heading up north tomorrow morning to close up the cottage. I’m on dog duty.

Chunky Sleeveless Poncho

Churchmouse Yarns sent out a newsletter this week showcasing a chunky poncho. 

For this Chunky Seamless Poncho, we used the exuberantly self-striping Lang Cloud. This chunky-weight yarn is 90% merino extra fine virgin wool, with a 10% touch of strengthening nylon. Long washes of shifting color—from warm autumnal tones, to sunset pinks and oranges, to bright, happy rainbows—make for fun, gradient stripes in your knitted fabric. Let the yarn do the work!

You can purchase the pattern on Ravelry. 

We really stepped up the cuddle with the Chunky Seamless Poncho. At the same scale as our beloved Easy Folded Poncho, but with the clever, seamless construction of our Seamless Poncho, we’ve knit this Churchmouse Classic at a chunky gauge. Our pattern includes options for a ribbed edging, as well as a nice, squishy ribbed cowl if you’d like some extra warmth around your neck!

The Poncho is one size and was knit with 3 balls of Lang Cloud on 6.5mm needles. We have Lang Cloud in stock. The sample colour is out of stock and we hope to have it soon.

We have 2 new colours coming as well. These should be here in a week or so.

This is our Step by Step sweater (pattern free on Ravelry) knit out of Lang Cloud. Lynn loved wearing it. It is knit on a larger needle but the sweater isn’t heavy or bulky.

The Elegante Wrap kit from Blue Sky Fibers/Malabrigo has arrived in the store. 5 different colours. 5 different yarns.

Kits are available on the website and in the store.

Alex was in for a bit this afternoon and rearranged our Emma’s Practically Perfect Smalls. The display looks so much better now that the colours are in order.

I cast on the Nightshift last night with the new Dream State. The yarn is so soft and squishy. It feels like Plump. You will not be disappointed with it. I want to get a bit more knit before sharing pictures. Hopefully tomorrow.