Halloween

Here is the new pumpkin. Beth is going to try and carve another one tonight.

I did get a bit of knitting done over the weekend. This is one half of the back for my Hip to be Square jacket. The other back is about 1/2 done. The sleeves should take no time so maybe next week.
I did it-signed up for Ravelry.

You signed up on October 2, 2007
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I just opened up a box of books. kaffe knits again was in the box. I have been waiting for this book and it didn't disappoint.

I also opened another box that came from Fleece Artist. There were many new colours of the soft socks/mitts kits in th box.

Roko and Melo

Melo loves to pose for pictures. These were taken while Beth was carving the pumpkin. You can see behind Melo that the yard is in rough shape. The two dogs run laps around the yard and then Roko decides he needs to dig to China. We are hoping to put artificial grass in the back yard. It feels and looks like grass but the dogs can't rip it up like they did the sod. It is supposed to be very easy for cleaning up after the dogs as well.

Roko's frisbee has seen better days but those things are expensive. It is fabric because we don't want him chewing plastic.

Roko decided he needed to put his head in the pumpkin. It is food!!

It has been the day of boxes.

1. Dream in Color-Smooshy sock yarn
2. Namaste-Vintage and Jetsetter bags
3. Brown Sheep-Lamb's Pride Bulky
4. Cabin Fever-Top Down for Toddlers books

Pumpkin Carving 101

We will be getting kids for Halloween this year so Beth decided that we will need a pumpkin-but not any pumpkin will do. This has become quite an undertaking. After looking on the internet at patterns Beth set off for Michaels. She came home with patterns (on a cd) and pumpkin carving tools. First you must cut the top out of the pumpkin-of course the good steak knives are what she used. Then there is a special scooper for cleaning out the inside of the pumpkin. You print out the pattern and tape it on the pumpkin. Then you use this little tool to make holes outlining the pattern. The special knife is now used to cut out your markings.

All this work was done as a practice run for the real thing. She wanted to make sure she could do a simple pattern before trying the hard one!!!

I do have some knitting to report (but no pictures). After knitting 'Hip to be Square' I decided I would like it as a vest. I got the fronts and backs knit and hated it. I am using the fronts and re knitting the backs to make a jacket. I am part way through back one.

Who stole my swift?

It has been a crazy week trying to get arrangements made for Gone Stitchin' 2008. I will be sending out an email tonight to those who were on the retreat this year. Somehow the resort booked the weekend we wanted for a wedding. We could change weekends or change resorts. I started phoning other facilities and the price would have drastically increased for next year. After many emails back and forth between Ancaster, Toronto and New Zealand (Bev is away again) we have decided to move the weekend to October 2-5, 2008. This means that Sally Melville won't be with us this year but will be back for 2009. I am working on another teacher to compliment Barry Klein and will keep you informed.

I have at least two swifts in my store and one upstairs in the apartment. When I sat down to wind yarn on Wednesday I couldn't find any of them. Since it makes life much easier I had to open up a new one and set it up. Winding yarn for the Tulip cardigan took longer than I thought. I was trying to wind into a ball and measure at the same time (thanks Rhonda for the little tool that measures out yarn) but that wasn't going fast enough for me. I then rolled into a ball and then into mini-balls that were the correct length. It still wasn't quick but the first four kits are done. I will try and get more done next week.

I have spent the last two hours working on the website. Korey has lots of updates and additions to do this weekend.

Boy did I feel bad for Aaron on Survivor last night. It was a good strategy to get him out of the game but did they have to make it so obvious that they were throwing the challenge?

Cathy strikes again

Cathy and I did some major cleaning today. When you walked in the door of the store, there were skeins and skeins of Colinette yarns hanging. It was starting to look very messy so changes needed to be made. Boy, did we make changes. The skeins of Colinette have been cleaned up and they are now in baskets. This is the new display at the door.


On Your Toes DK is a new sock yarn. It is 75% superwash wool and 25% nylon with aloe added for extra softness. There are 10 ragg shades-great for men and women.

Beginner knitting is starting tonight. This is always a fun class because there are many tricks to teach them.

Glass Blowing

On Saturday, Beth and I went on the Beyond the Valley Tour. Local artists open their studios for people to see their work. I read about it in the newspaper and then went on the website. I fell in love with the glass sculptures by Paull Rodrigue. We spent over two hours at his studio because he was putting on an amazing demonstration. I almost bought one of these amazing works but we thought better of it. If it is on the table and the dogs were to knock the table, it might break-glass does that sometimes. Instead he is going to make us an amazing bowl for the dining room table.

Paull teaches glass blowing at the Dundas Valley School of Arts and also does classes in his studio. You go for a weekend and learn three different techniques-how much fun would that be?

My Naturally jacket is coming along. The body stitches are cast on-the rows are taking much longer now. There is yellow wool attached to the cast on. I started with a provisional cast on because I am still deciding how to finish off the cuffs.

Dream in Color

It is hard to write the word 'color' without a 'u' in it.

The new yarn, Fatty, is on the way. I didn't order a lot because I wanted to see it first but I am getting ready to do another order before it even arrives.

A shipment of Smooshy is leaving the US tomorrow so we should have it next week as well.

Next week's job will be making up the kits for the tulip cardigan. All the colours have arrived-I just need to make skeins and divide them up.

The final piece of the puzzle

Our dining room table is finally in progress-we went to see it last night and it is fabulous. Mike is using Cherry for it and the whole table will be planked running lengthwise. The table will be 9" at the longest point and 6" at the widest point. It is being custom made because of the odd shape of the room-the table will follow the lines of the room. Click to see the floor plan of our house-we have the optional main floor. I forgot that the floor plans were downloadable until this morning when I went looking.

I did finish one of the two needle mittens on Saturday. Seamed and everything. Who would wear a mitten knit on two needles? I had my hand in the mitten for two minutes and the seam drove me nuts.

Not much knitting to report over the weekend. I just relaxed on the comfy couch.

Beth and I were supposed to go to Chicago in November with Bev and her daughter-in-law but Bev has business that weekend so we have cancelled that trip. Instead, Beth and I are going to Vegas for a week in December. Before Vegas became the 'in spot' to go, you could book your hotel and flight for four nights for under $500. Prices haven't looked like that in years but now with the amazing Canadian dollar I found a package for 5 nights staying at the Mirage for an amazing rate. We haven't stayed at the Mirage in years so we are very, very happy!!!

I got a few rows done on my Naturally slip stitch jacket yesterday. I am almost ready to cast on for the body. I'm going to pick it up again in one second after I hit Publish Post.

Happy Thanksgiving

The store has been very slow this morning-it could be because of the torrential rain storm that we had.

This is the start of my jacket using Naturally Tussock Chunky. I am knitting the sleeve and then will cast on stitches for the body. It is a very simple slip stitch pattern that looks great in the colours-of course they don't look correct on the computer-I am using three shades of brown. The shaping is still a bit up the air. As I get to the start of the body my mind will be made up.



I wanted something easy to work on it the store today so I started a pair of mittens in Nashua Snowbird. The yarn is nice to knit with and very soft to touch. I picked the boring beige colour because I have a new brown suede coat. They are being knit on two needles as the pattern calls for. I can already hear Wannietta and Rhonda-"Why didn't you knit them on four needles and then you wouldn't have to sew?" I want to have the finished product look exactly like they would if a customer knit them. Also, I don't mind doing the seam-it goes quickly with the mattress stitch.

Have a great weekend and don't each too much turkey!!!

Nashua

Snowbird is a new yarn from Nashua. It is 70% wool and 30% alpaca with 66m on a 50gram skein. It knits to a tension of 16 stitches=4" on 5.5mm needles. In the new magazine Cobblestone Streets there is a pattern for cabled hat and fingerless mitts as well as a pattern for two needle mittens done in Snowbird.

These are four new magazines from Nashua.

Some pretty pictures

In the newsletter I sent out last night, I showed a picture of the Hip to be Square jacket. I talked about other options for wearing the jacket and here is one.

My dad is responsible for the flags hanging off the front of the store. While in Myrtle Beach, mom and dad go flag shopping and are always on the lookout for something funky. This could be one of my all time favourites. I have people coming in wanting to buy the flags that are hanging and get quite angry when I tell them that they are just for decoration.



This is my dad. Dad is very involved with a group called "Carpenteros" who do work in Honduras. He has made 4 trips and will be going back this November. While there they do work for a community that is in need. Last week was a huge sports celebrity dinner that raised money for Honduras-none of the proceeds go towards travel. This year's celebrities were Tony Fernandez (former Toronto Blue Jay) and Marvis Frazier (a former boxes) whose dad was a very famous boxer Joe Frazier. In the auction my dad bought one of Joe's gloves.

Posting excuses

After feeling terrible for a couple of days I saw the on call doctor late Friday afternoon (my doctor closes at noon on Friday). I was diagnosed with pneumonia and pleurisy. Because of this I spent Saturday and Sunday on the couch watching tv and sleeping. There is absolutely no knitting to report-I can't even look at knitting needles without feeling tired.

I did manage to finish the fall class schedule complete. The first version had overlapping dates but that is now corrected. You can view the schedule on the website. I am also hoping to finish the latest newsletter asap.

It was time to get back in action yesterday so I was in Toronto. I had a meeting and while there I stopped by one of my suppliers and found some unexpected surprises.




The new Rowan Kid Silk Dream magazine is now in stock. Photographed by Peter Christian Christiansen and styled by Marie Wallin, ‘Kidsilk Dream’ features three of Rowan’s most successful yarns – Kidsilk Haze, Kidsilk Night & Kidsilk. The magazine features twelve pretty, easy to wear garments.