Thank you Cathy

While I was away the Neat Freak struck again. The store looks amazing. Cathy spent Friday, Tuesday and Wednesday going through the shelves and pulling off oddballs for the tent sale. She also moved yarns around and straightened. Then she did the miraculous. She worked yesterday so I had time to put things away at the house. Cathy totally cleaned out the bathroom. If you haven't used it, you won't understand, but there are some of you out there who will when you come in the next time.

Beth and I were at the house yesterday at 8am. The builder let us in even though we hadn't closed yet. The TVs arrived before 9-they were the most expensive purchase so we were thankful when the truck pulled up. The lawyers office called at 9:15 and the deal was done. We owned a house. Before noon we had couches and beds. Kelsey's has an arrangement with our builder and they brought us free lunch. It was great!! Most of the day was spent putting things away and washing dishes. We slept there last night but I didn't get a good sleep. I think my mind was going over things I needed to do today and I was afraid of sleeping in and missing work.

The store was busy today-shocking for a long weekend but I'm not complaining. We are on our way to a barbecue and then home to entertain my parents friends. I think they are more excited about the house than we are.

Have a safe weekend!!!

Stitch N' Pitch

On Wednesday August 15th, the Toronto Blue Jays will be hosting a Stitch N' Pitch night. The game is against the LA Angels and should be a good game.

What is Stitch N' Pitch?
Stitch N' Pitch brings together two American traditions — Baseball and the NeedleArts. Come to a ball game and knit, crochet, embroider, cross-stitch and needlepoint. Sit among friends, family and colleagues and cheer on your favorite Baseball Team.

The tickets for the game are $20. The Blue Jays have a link on their website for buying tickets. Attendees will receive a Blue Jays knitting tote bag.

I am going to be on the planning committee for the game so I will let you know more details as they become available.

Home again

We arrived home about 11pm to a very hot apartment. Beth turned the air off before we left-it was a good idea at the time.

The trip was great. We didn't do a lot but were busy all the time. Beth came home with the same amount of money that she took and I lost a little bit. I didn't do much shopping-no shoes. I did buy cool Ipod portable speakers. These will be great for travelling.

Cathy worked in the store while I was gone. I can't wait to see how much rearranging she did. I am sure it looks great.

Tomorrow morning we are meeting with the lawyer to sign papers and bring him a large amount of money and then Friday is the big day.

Have a good weekend-it is a long one here in Canada.

Hello from Vegas

Just a quick update-thank you Beth for bringing your laptop along.

The weather is really, really hot. It is around 105-110 during the day. We are staying inside as much as possible.

The slot machines have treated us well but the table games haven't been very nice to me.

The World Series of Poker is going on now. These are small 2 and 3 day tournaments before the big one starts. We went over yesterday and watched some of the big boys play-Gus, Daniel,Doyle, etc.

We saw Love last night-amazing. We were in the second row-I could reach up and touch the performers. Tonight is the one year anniversary-Paul, Ringo and Yoko are going to be at the show.

The shopping has been limited-I have been good. Need to save money for the house.

I haven't accomplished much on my knitting. I have the ribbing done and 3 of the 9 repeats of the pattern.

Gotta run-Beth is waiting in the casino for me.

Thanks Wannietta

You Are: 80% Dog, 20% Cat

You and dogs definitely have a lot in common. You're both goofy, happy, and content with the small things in life. However, you're definitely not as needy as the average dog. You need your down time occasionally.

Are You More Cat or Dog?

Silk Garden

The new colours are here!!! The new pattern books will be arriving in August.

There are numerous patterns on knitty.com using Silk Garden including Askew in the latest issue. The pattern I really like is called Tilt.

Seven new colours of Kureyon came in as well. I will definitely have to pick up Lizard Ridge again.

I started the Dream in Color shrug this afternoon. I am done the ribbing (30 rows) and the first six rows of the pattern. I chose the colour Dusky Aurora.

I better go and start my packing!!

The Shrug wins

I have decided to knit the shrug-thanks Kristin and Sarah for the push.

For my fellow Hell's kitchen viewers-wouldn't you learn to make risotto before you went on the show? It is always on the menu and most of them can't make it. What about Aaron-how did he make it onto the show?

We received our order of Claudia's Hand Painted sock yarn today. I wasn't expecting it until September so it was a happy day. The colours in the box were

-Purple Midnight
-Oops!
-Teal Party
-Black Walnut
-Desert Dusk
-Ocean Depths
-Ingrid's Blues
-Circus Dancer

The post man brought two other parcels for me. One was from my knitter with a finished sweater and the other was more Noni purse handles.

Vegas Baby

I am so excited about Vegas. I haven't been there since January and my body is in withdrawal. We are going to see the latest Cirque du Soleil show-Love. Beth ordered the tickets months ago because they are almost impossible to get.

My packing will start on Wednesday night but I need to start thinking about my knitting.

I was going to take the new Berroco pattern but I think there is an error in it. I knit one square and there is no way that it was right. I knit another square adjusting the pattern and I think it looks better. I talked with the design team at Berroco and they are going over the pattern again.
This leaves me with two other options. This easy baby jacket called Pie. It is knit out of Berroco's Pure Merino. The other is a shrug from Dream in Color knit in their Classy wool. Both are easy to knit but I think the baby sweater is going to win. Not much thinking involved.

There isn't much house news to report. The fence is in-the dogs will be happy about this. They are paving the whole complex this week so it will look great when we move in. We can't get into the house until Thursday morning-our inspection-and then again when we move in (11 sleeps).

Tent Sale

I have booked the tent. The dates will be Wednesday August 15 and Thursday August 16. I haven't decided on the hours yet but we will probably open early on Wednesday for those who have to go to work and stay after 5:30.

There will be more yarn this year than ever-I have done a lot of cleaning out of the store. The yarn is good quality yarn but maybe the manufacturer has discontinued it or maybe I am sick of looking at it.

We will be offering 10% off if you pay cash for tent sale items.

More details to follow as the dates get closer-I have to get through the next 13 sleeps. You can tell that I spend time with my friend's children.

Am I Crazy?

There could be many different titles to this post

• Business Ethics
• False Advertising
• What the 'bleep'?

My mom is away at a conference until tomorrow so Beth and I took dad out for dinner tonight. After dinner Beth suggested going to The Brick to take another look at a couch. The Brick was having their Red Tag Sale and maybe it was on sale now. We found the couch and attached to the price tag was a sign that said Red Tag Sale. To me this means that the couch was on sale. WRONG!! We asked a salesman and he said that they put the tags on everything-not what is on sale. We told him that we thought this was wrong and he said it wasn't. We then asked for the manager and he told us that it wasn't false advertising. That's how it is done. Am I crazy? If there is a sale sign on something, doesn't this mean that it is on sale? I told him that I have a retail store and if I put a sale sign on something my customers expect it to be on sale. He then handed us another sign that said 'Some conditions apply' which makes it okay for them to put sale signs on everything. I will be making a phone call to the head office of The Brick on Monday!!

On a happier note, we had the air conditioning fixed in the store and our apartment today. I will be getting a much better sleep tonight. I have only six more sleeps until Las Vegas and fourteen more sleeps until we get the house.

I need a bigger store!!

Today was very busy in the store.

My friendly UPS man brought in four boxes. Three huge ones from Berroco and another from Dream in Color.

This is the new sock yarn from Dream in Color called Smooshy. It is very soft, machine-washable wool. We received all the colours in the 200 and 300 series.

Berroco's boxes included

• Peruvia
• Keltic
• Foliage
• Ultra Alpaca
• Pure Merino
• Memoirs

Now we just need the new pattern books.

Here is a current picture of my shawl with 16" complete.

Mom and dad returned home from Myrtle Beach on Tuesday night to find the air conditioning in their house not working. Beth and I took them out for dinner last night because their house was too hot to cook in. The first words out of my mom's mouth were 'when are you going to update your blog?' Seriously, she thinks that I have lots of time on my hands!!

If you are coming on the Gone Stitchin' Weekend, I emailed out information to you today. If I don't have your email address, it will go in the mail over the weekend.

I'm off to knitting class. My Wednesday night class finished last night and the Thursday class will meet tonight and then one more class in July.

Bargain Shopper

Okay, not a bargain shopper but I did get a great deal today on stemware. When Bev and I were in Columbus I picked out some amazing Mikasa glasses. She said to wait until we got home because I could get them here for just as cheap. WRONG-or so I thought. Beth and I went to The Bay to price them. They were $29.99 in the US and $49.99 at The Bay. That is a big difference. I decided to go to the Mikasa store in Woodbridge today. SALE!!! Buy one box and get the second for half price. The price there was $39.99 a box with the second for $20. Who could pass up a deal like that?

I also picked up our counter stools when I was in Toronto. It's a good thing we are moving in at the end of the month. Beth's warehouse is getting quite full of house items.

I had better add some knitting content to this. I sat and knit yesterday afternoon waiting for the Nascar race to start. I accomplished about 2" on the Kimono Jacket (the Dawn Shawl is in the store).

When I went into the store this morning, there was a present on the fax machine for me. Berroco sent me an advanced copy of Kori so that I can start a store sample. You knit 60 squares that are sewn together. This will make a good project to take with me to Vegas. Easy to carry on the plane and I can just take a couple of balls.

People regularly comment while in the store that knitting needles aren't allowed on an airplane. I have always carried them with me. I don't usually knit on the plane but I have them just in case. If you go to the website for the Transportation Security Administration, they have a page devoted to knitting on the airplane. Click to read.

I'm off to have my nails done. I want to get home in time for Hell's Kitchen. I missed it last week and don't want to miss it again.

House and puzzles

Beth and I went to the house yesterday. The granite counter top is amazing and the colour is perfect with our cupboards. I tried to show a close up of the colour but it didn't work-it is black with spots of rust. They were able to do the island in one piece-no seams. It weighs over 850 pounds. They had to take out the mirrored backsplash to put this in-our walls aren't going to stay looking like that.

When we were at the Knitter's Frolic, a customer came up to me and told me that she was mad at me. I didn't know what I did to Pat but she was upset. She decided to take a look at Jigzone and now can't stop doing puzzles. Here is a puzzle for you to look at.

Shawl pins and fall Berroco

I talked about glass shawl pins that I bought at the show. Here are a few from a company called Artistic Visions Design. I already have three of these in the store and more coming. They are hand made so each one is very distinct. Christine, the artist, is also making Sticks. These are very reasonably priced and will work great for a jacket or shawl.

Berroco has their collection for fall up on their website. Take a look-it is amazing. I have placed my order and most of it will be in the store next week. Unfortunately the magazines won't be here until the end of the month.

This is the front of Kori-I had a picture of the back earlier in the week. I am hoping to get an advanced copy of this so I can start knitting it for the store. It is never to early to get samples done for the Knitter's Fair and Gone Stitchin' Weekend. The new shade card for Keltic is now available. The vest is knit in 5876 and 5856

Shawl

Here is a picture of my Dawn Shawl that I took last week before I went away.

I just started my third ball today-approximately 15" complete.

Beth and I are almost done our house shopping. We need to get some wine glasses (neither of us drink wine but you can't entertain without them) and a toaster. The last major purchase is a couch for the loft but we are waiting until we move in. Nothing has 'grabbed' us so far. Beth stopped by the house today but she couldn't get in. When she looked through the front door she could see that the granite counter top is in. We are going to make a trip over tomorrow to check it out. I really hope we picked the right colour because it can't be changed now!!!

Noro and Jane Ellison

My sales rep emailed me pictures from the book Jane Ellison will be doing in Noro for fall 2007. Here is a sample-more to come later. This is called Sea Breeze. It is knit out of Silk Garden in colour 264. The shade card is from the US supplier. I am not sure that all these colours will be available in Canada this fall. Colours 255 and greater are the new colours and these will be in the store by the end of June.

Home Safely

I just returned home from Columbus. The drive home was uneventful but I am very tired. It could be the late nights out. It is always fun to see the new yarns and accessories at the show but seeing friends from around the world is always the best part of the trip.

Debbie Bliss was more than impressed with her box of 24 O'Henry bars!!

Before the trip I had already ordered the yarns that come from Canadian suppliers. At the show I take a look at finished garments from these yarns and then look at the yarns we can't get here. From the US we order Berroco and Nashua and I will be doing that over the next couple of weeks. The only yarn ordered at the show was more sock yarn from Claudia Hand Painted Yarns and many, many skeins of Bearfoot from Mountain Colors. There are four new colours coming and hopefully the chocolate bars I bribed them with will get the order here in August.

I did order new bags from Offhand Designs. These are the bags I order and they should be available sometime in August.

The main purchases at the show were shawl pins. There were some amazing ones and I ordered them all. These should be here in time for the Knitter's Fair. I am the most excited about the shawl pins from Moving Mud. The website doesn't do their products justice-they are amazing!!!

When I arrived home there was a newsletter from Berroco showing their new yarns and patterns for fall. They are all amazing and I will show more later in newsletters but here is one that caught my eye. It is called Kori and is knit out of Keltic. The shade card does not show the new colours for fall-these will be a surprise.