Sorry Jane

Jane is working today and has received 5 boxes of yarn and books to unpack.

2 boxes came in from Nashua this morning. There are 5 new magazines including one for babies and one for children plus lots of yarn. Unfortunately Nashua's website doesn't have the patterns on it yet.

Then 3 boxes came in from the Rowan supplier. I ran downstairs and quickly opened the box with the magazines. 2 from RYC-Coast and Nature and 2 from Rowan-Kasbah Collection and Bamboo Tape Collection. The new yarns arrived from Rowan and RYC as well. Jane is unpacking the boxes and stacking the yarns for me to put away tomorrow. I am dreading finding room for it all but that is tomorrow's problem.

I am supposed to be doing my taxes this afternoon but that isn't going to happen. The lazy boy is calling my name and I'm going to sink in and go through the books.

A brainstorm hit

Yesterday afternoon it suddenly hit me. If I pin my cardigan on a mannequin, you will be able to see it better. The cast on edge is under the arm and I am working towards the neck. Two pieces are knit and sewn together up the back to join. I accomplished more today but didn't get a picture. Unfortunately, the number of stitches increases every row by 2 so it is taking longer to get a row knit.

This box arrived from Jordana Paige yesterday. She asked me to fill out a survey about how I market her bags in the store. For doing this, she sent me a Knitter's Satchel. I have decided to have a draw for a customer to win the bag. The draw will run from now until the end of March. For every purchase over $100, in the store or online, you will receive one entry into the draw.

I unpacked more yarn again today. The spring Louisa Harding has arrived. This sweater can be found in her Swallowtail magazine. Her designs are always different than what we are seeing from other companies. They are classic but modern and can be worn dressy or casual.

Gotta run, my chef has dinner ready.

I've been tardy on my posting

Here is some of my latest knitting. I started the Asymmetrical jacket from Trendsetter. The yarn came today and I couldn't resist. You cast on and work from the armhole towards the middle of the back/front and then do another piece the same. It is hard to show in a picture but I have been a bad blogger and wanted to add some colour to my post.

This is a close up of how the yarns are striping.

I also started the second front of my Kimono Jacket. The squares on this front are 1/2 the size of the other front.

Back to Sunday. First the Daytona 500-great finish!! Jeff Gordon did crash at the end, he wasn't hurt and I was happy.

Then the start of Amazing Race All Stars. I think that it is Rob and Amber's race to lose. How can some of these people be doing this for the second time and still mess it up?

Then Apprentice. It is tough to pick a winner. There are some strong people in the game.

Monday was very uneventful. I had the day off which means running around. I met with my financial advisor to do my RSPs.

Tuesday I worked and my Lattice Bag class started. The ladies got started on the bottom of their bags. They all picked very different colours so the finished bags will be interesting to see. I am going to felt my bag over the weekend.

Today I worked. Got some knitting done and am getting ready to teach class. I got a surprise in the mail today. Berroco has added new colours to the Ultra Alpaca range-heather colours. I ordered some of them and hope to have them in 3 weeks. The shade card isn't on their site yet hopefully soon.

The remaining Rowan magazines that haven't arrived yet should be in the store by the weekend-I am holding my fingers. These are the magazines for Bamboo Tape, Summer Tweed and the RYC magazines. The new yarns as well as new colours of the existing yarns should be in the box as well.

The new yarns and magazines from Nashua left the US today so they might be here by the weekend as well.

Crochet Class

My message yesterday morning was great. Okay, it hurt at the time but it loosened up my shoulders.

People have asked and asked and I finally gave in and taught crochet today. I have been crocheting since I was 3 so it comes very naturally to me. Not to some in my class. A few had a hard time holding the hook-much different than knitting needles. For the people who didn't know how to knit, they got along fine. Then there was Lisa, she picked it up right away. I had her start her scarf and while the others were still practicing, she learned more stitches and made a granny square. They are making the crocheted scarf that I showed a couple of days ago. I think they will enjoy working with the self-striping yarn. It always makes you want to do just a bit more so you can see what colour will come next.

Tomorrow is the big day-Daytona 500!!! I will be sitting on my couch, knitting and cheering for Jeff Gordon to crash. I don't want him to get hurt-just out of the race.

Friday morning

I really didn't want to get out of bed this morning but had to-getting a massage this morning!! Now that the store is opening at noon on Fridays I can do a lot of things that I couldn't do before.

With the store being closed on Tuesday and Wednesday I got quite a bit of knitting done. One front is almost complete on the Kimono Jacket. I need to hurry up and finish it because a new Trendsetter pattern will be arriving next week that I really, really need. It uses Dune and Tonalita. My problem will be deciding the colour.

Gotta run now-the spa calls.

I've been tagged

Yes, I am bored. The snow slowed some after 10am but it is coming hard now. I talked with people this afternoon from Toronto and they didn't have any snow.

I did knit some this afternoon. I forgot to mention that the yarn is dyed in a certain way that I have to knit 2 rows from one ball and then 2 rows from another. This doesn't bother me but there isn't any finishing on the edges of the jacket. When done I am going to have to add something to cover up the ugly edges.

Nadine tagged me but it has taken me a bit to come up with a response. I had to come up with 6 weird things about me.

1. I don't eat anything that comes out of the ocean.
2. When leaving the house I am always paranoid that the door isn't closed. I have been known to turn around and go back home to check.
3. I can tell the difference in bottled water. Sounds strange but there are some I like and others I don't.
4. If I find a pair of shoes that look good and are comfortable, I will buy them in every colour available.
5. I can listen to 3 conversations at once and not miss anything. This really ticks off my Thursday night class.
6. I have to go to the bathroom twice before getting into bed.

OK, here are the next 6 to be tagged…Wannietta, Samantha, Rhonda, Cynthia, Kristin and Steph.


THE RULES: Each player of this game starts with the ‘6 weird things about you.’ People who get tagged need to write a blog of their own 6 weird things as well as state this rule clearly. In the end, you need to choose 6 people to be tagged and list their names. Don’t forget to leave a comment that says ‘you are tagged’ in their comments and tell them to read your blog.”

Snowy day in southern Ontario

We are being hit with a snow storm so I am upstairs working instead of sitting in the store doing nothing. There is probably 5" on the ground already and this is just lake effect snow. The temperature is -15 - ouch. The storm is supposed to start after lunch. Melo and Roko are having a great time playing in the snow.

Here is my crocheted scarf so far. Notice that I have a metal hook now. It makes all the difference in the world. The crochet goes much quicker than with a plastic hootk.

This past Saturday I taught a mother/daughter beginner class. Two of the mothers already knew how to knit so they just continued on what they were doing. The kids were great. There were 4 who ranged in age from 10-12 plus one mother. Unfortunately the mother was having a hard time picking up the knitting but her daughter got it right away.

I am totally bored with all my knitting-this means starting something new. This is the Kimono coat by Jane Slicer-Smith. I am using the new Merino Otto Shadow from Trendsetter. After knitting with thick yarn on big needles I am enjoying being on 5.5mm with smooth yarn. This yarn is amazing. Bev has a jacket knit out of it that has travelled around the world. There isn't a pill on it-it looks just as good as the day she finished it.

It's Finished

The knitting is complete on my Lattice Bag. I have it stuffed with 3 bags of yarn to keep it standing up. Customers can't believe how big it is.

I will be felting this next week. Tuesday night I am starting a class teaching the Lattice Bag so I want them to see the finished bag before I felt it.

I swear it is going to be a full moon tonight!! I dealt with so many weird problems today it is unbelievable. Here is the big one. Last year when we opened the new company, Revenue Canada closed the GST account for The Needle Emporium. I didn't know this until just before Christmas. I pay my GST quarterly and make the payments online. I didn't realize that I wasn't receiving remittance forms. I needed a form for December and called to find out where it was. They told me that my account was closed. I told them that I had been making payments all year. They said, yes you did but your account is closed-we will reopen it and you have to resubmit your forms. The forms came but I hadn't done it yet. I received a call from them today. I might be penalized for not remitting the forms. I told them they had the money but it didn't matter. WTF? You close my account for no reason, I pay you the money I owe you but now I might be penalized. I faxed the forms in today and hopefully this is the end of it.

Super Bowl Sunday

Yes, it really is 2am. I am having problems sleeping so why lay in bed and do nothing? I also had a lay down earlier so that could contribute to it.


As you would guess, today is an exciting day in my house. Hopefully we have an exciting game and the Colts win.

Here is the progress on my Lattice Bag. I have about 20 rows to go. The store has been incredibly busy (I am not complaining) which cuts down on knitting time. It is incredible how many people have come in the store who saw us on tv. I would never have guessed that many people watch CH Morning Live. People I know stop me in the grocery store or at Tim Horton's to tell me that they saw it.

Here is the start of my crocheted scarf. I am using Tonalita from Trendsetter. It isn't going quick enough for me-my crochet hook is plastic and is killing me. I need to make a trip to Michael's to get a metal one!!

If you are interested in our class schedule, Korey has it on the website now.