Boring weekend makes for a boring blog post

I came home from work yesterday and had a nap. It was a busy day with lots of customers (I like that) and lots of rearranging. I was trying to get the Rowan and Debbie Bliss yarns out on display. Rowan is done but not the Debbie Bliss. When I woke up I ate dinner (prepared by Beth which always makes it better) and then moved to the couch. Beth had rented the first season of Grey's Anatomy. We didn't watch at the beginning but everyone says the show is good so it was time to check it out. Very good show! We both knit and watched four episodes.

That is right-Beth was knitting as well. Her sweater is cast on, the ribbing is done and now she is in the pattern. There were a few minor issues getting going but everything is good now.

After church this morning I came home and put my scarf in the tub with Soak to soak. Here it is lying out to dry. This is the second set of towels and the scarf is still very damp. It might be done by the end of the week.

I worked a bit on the website and then continued knitting. The second front on my Debbie Bliss jacket is done and I am about to start the sleeve.

Overall it was a fairly boring weekend. Tomorrow, however, is going to be a very good day. Jane is back from her trip and will be in the store and I have a hair appointment!! This always makes me happy. Then I will continue with the website. There are lots of new patterns to get up on the Featured Pattern page.

Perfect Tension

I have now counted her stitches and it is exactly what the pattern calls for. She says "Aren't you going to update your blog post? Perfect tension."

Eight boxes of yarn and books

Today was crazy in the store. I was at work before 10 (we don't open until noon on Fridays) to make sure I caught the UPS driver with my Rowan. Sometimes he comes before we open and then I don't receive the shipment until Monday. I wanted the books and yarn today plus I didn't want Jane to have to deal with it all on Monday. The Rowan looks great. I really want to knit with Revive (the recycled yarn) but can't start anything new!!!!

As I was unpacking the Rowan when Mr Canpar came with two large boxes of Debbie Bliss yarns and books. The new Eco book and yarn is here.

I will be back in a minute. Beth is going to swatch her Olympic sweater but I need to cast on for her. She is standing beside me and breathing over my shoulder, reading what I am writing so I had better do it for her before I hit her.

Okay, I am back now. She is complaining that I am making her swatch. "I knit to tension. I shouldn't have to do this". How does she know that she knits to tension? She has only knit scarves before. Now we are having an argument because she claims she knit a sweater 20 years ago. She doesn't know what she did yesterday but she can remember 20 years ago "like it was yesterday". Now she says that if you want the real story you can read her blog. None of this made up stuff.

Okay, back to business.

Amalfi is another new yarn from Debbie. 70% Cotton, 15% Nylon, 10% Linen, 5% Silk in beautiful shades.





She has now knit 7 rows and wants me to check her tension. This is going to be a long night. Now she is reading over my shoulder telling me that I have spelling mistakes. Seriously. If you read that there was a murder in Ancaster on Friday night....

I am knitting away

Everything in my life is on hold right now so that I can get this jacket done. The first front is done and joined to the back (gotta love the three needle bind off). I quickly basted in the sleeve for the picture. The second front has been cast on and I am done the first twelve rows of moss stitch.

We received a surprise shipment of Noro yesterday. In Kureyon there are three colours from the past.

52-blue, purple and green

161-rust, brown, green and purple/pink

183-green, turquoise, grey and beige

Damn Noro. 52 will work great in my new Log Cabin Afghan. 161 and 183 are perfect for my Lizard Ridge. I am supposed to be finishing off other projects!!!

In Silk Garden we received a colour that I don't think I have seen before and I definitely want a sweater out of

248-beige, green, peach and purple.

How about the Y&R right now? I am thoroughly enjoying it. Even Beth is watching. Victor and Jack working together to get Tucker. Jill and Katherine fighting again-I am so happy about this because when they were friends it was very boring. Billy going after Adam with the help of many others. Great TV!!!

Olympic Knitting

Pearl from Lorna's Laces is 51% silk and 49% bamboo. How can that be bad? I just opened a box from Lorna's with three colours. From the top-Desert Flower, Hermosa and Midway.

Lorna's Laces was owned by Lorna at one time but now Beth owns it. Beth doesn't like to discontinue colours. Desert Flower is an older colour that I found on someones website and fell in love. The box also contained Desert Flower in Shepherd Sock and Helen's Lace.

This is a close up of the Lyerka scarf. One skein of Pearl.

The Olympics are going to be starting soon and I need to figure out what I am going to knit. I keep changing my mind but there are bigger problems at hand. Beth has decided that she is going to knit a sweater as well. Yes, you did read that right. You can follow along on her blog. It is my responsibility to find her a sweater to knit. She wants to use DK weight. 4mm needles. What is she thinking? She will be lucky to get the back done by the time the Olympics ends but I can't change her mind.

I'm going to Seattle

Yarn Market News is a publication for yarn shop owners. The articles have amazing ideas and I read every issue from cover to cover.

This March I will be going to Seattle for their third conference. I attended the last two in Chicago. It is two long days of speakers but well worth it.

My hotel is booked-no problem. Airplane tickets were a whole different animal. I have a lot of Aeroplan miles with Air Canada so I always try to use them when I fly. I also like to fly in Business. The seats are bigger, more leg room, on the plane first (and close to a bathroom), off the plane first and my luggage comes quickly. A normal business class ticket to the US is 40,000 miles. When I first started looking at flying to Seattle it was going to be 170,000 miles. Last week it was up to 340,000 miles. Beth and I can fly to NZ in first class for less miles than this. I decided that I would pass on the conference. Then in I changed my mind and really wanted to go. Yes, there are days when I have a real problem making a decision. I looked at the Aeroplan site yesterday and there was a flight I could take for 40,000 miles. I fly direct to Seattle. Good news. The fun comes in flying home. I fly to Calgary, sit for 4 hours and then fly the rest of the way home. Not the ideal situation but I still have lots of miles.

Absolutely no knitting was done yesterday. Accounting took over my evening. The good news is that my GST return is done and my year end is almost done. When I finish this post I am moving upstairs to watch Idol and knit. The first front might be finished tonight.

Many of you are waiting anxiously for the new Rowan. I am too. The books and yarn were shipped from the US on January 22. Fingers crossed the shipment will arrive this week. I will post here, on Twitter and on Facebook as soon as it arrives.

Productive Knitting Day

Yesterday was spent sitting on the couch knitting and watching football. I didn't even take time to change out of my pyjamas. The back of my jacket is done and I am at the armhole shaping on the first front.

My plan is to have this done before the Olympics start. The Olympics-that poses another problem. I will have to start something new for Ravelympics. The Yarn Harlot starting 'the Knitting Olympics' in 2006. You couldn't start your project until the opening ceremonies and it had to be finished by the closing ceremonies. Now we take part on Ravelry. You can join teams (I will be with Team Canada) and compete.

The football yesterday was great-the teams I wanted to win did. Now the problem will be the Super Bowl-who to root for. I like both teams but am leaning towards Indy.

Meet Chloe. I just had Madame Samm in buying yarn to make hair and we got talking about her dolls. Please check out her blog, Sew Dolls, who's next? There will be a drawing on Wednesday for Chloe.

Madame Samm had five dolls with her. They are absolutely beautiful. If you have a little girl and need a gift take a look at these.

Quick post before work

Morning all. I am going to try and get a quick post done before the store opens.

Here is the swatch of Noro Aya that I did yesterday.

If you don't get the Shawl Yarn email that I send out here is a link to the most recent. I previewed the new Noro Laceweight yarn called Sekku.

When I got home last night Beth informed me that there was no Internet. I played with the modem but no go. After a call to our Internet provider we discovered that the modem was fried. Unfortunately it was Friday night and we can't get a new one from them until Monday. I am at work early to get mail orders done so that they can go in the mail this afternoon. Normally I would do them when I got home from work today but no such luck as all the mailing labels are done online. I am going to try taking my store modem home tonight but who knows if that is going to work.

The plus side of this is that I got to knit last night. I did about 3" past the armhole shaping while watching the Barrett-Jackson auction. I can't stop watching. My car obsession comes from my grandfather. He used to buy a new car every year when I was young. As I got older he would drive a car for two years before trading it in.

Have a good afternoon-it looks like it will be a nice one here.

I'm Back

For the past few weeks I have been in a knitting rut. I think it might have coincided with my New Year's Resolution of not starting anything new. Anytime I looked at my current knitting I just turned up my nose and decided that I didn't feel like knitting that day.

Yesterday I took the back of my Debbie Bliss tweed jacket to work and finished a few rows. Last night while watching TV (Barrett-Jackson auction) I finished to the armholes. Look out-I am back!!!

Here is another one of my all day blog posts. I started this before I left for work this morning and it is now 6pm.

I took out some needles and swatched the new Aya from Noro. I think that the yarn is a double knitting weight-22 stitches to 4" on 4mm needles. Great news. You can use the Aya for any pattern calling for Silk Garden Lite or Chirimen.

New Noro

Today was busy with shipments. Canpar was first in the door with two huge boxes. The Debbie Bliss spring/summer magazine is here. I forgot to bring a magazine home so I will have to wait until tomorrow to talk about it. There was a few yarns that were special ordered for customers. Then the most important thing.

Spring Noro arrived. The pictures are of the new yarn called Aya. There are six colours in all but I only had time to scan four. Scanning shows the colours much better than taking a picture. See all the shades. Pictured here are 2, 4, 9 and 10.

50% Cotton, 35% Silk, 15% Wool. There are 135m on a 50gram ball. My supplier is calling this a worsted weight (20 stitches to 4" on a 4.5mm-5mm needle) but I think it might be closer to a double knitting (22 stitches =4" on 4mm needles). I will have to swatch this. Darn. :)

The spring Noro pattern book (not here yet) will have designs in this yarn.

Korey and I are working to get this on the website. It should be up in the next couple of days.

The Mr. FedEx arrived with a huge shipment of Cascade 220. I didn't count how many bags arrived but there had to be close to 30. There was five new colours of Lana Grossa sock yarn in the box as well.

Will Miss UPS come tomorrow and what will she bring??

I have some mail orders to get packed before I can watch Idol.

Log Cabin Afghan Take 2

It is 10:30 at night and all of a sudden it hit me that I haven't done a blog post today.

Here is the first square of my next Log Cabin Afghan that I finally finished today.

After writing this long post I am very tired so I am going to turn in for the night.

Year of the Tiger

This morning was spent opening two very large boxes from Namaste. The Monroe bag and The Wallet have arrived. I hustled and got them added to the website as well.

Here are my last pictures from Vegas.

The registration area at The Bellagio is a must see for anyone going to Vegas. These are blown glass flowers hanging from the ceiling. Absolutely beautiful. I go and see this every time I am in Vegas and never tire of looking at it.

Just past the registration area is the Conservatory. When we were in Vegas in December they were doing the Christmas display. That is gone and now they are working on the display for the Chinese New Year.

2010 is the Year of the Tiger.

Looking at the tiger reminds me of the Tournament of Roses parade. Every float is made up of natural material and so is the tiger.

There are amazing red flowers everywhere.

I took many, many pictures but had to scale back on how many I added here.

The pandas were amazing!! They were so life like.

I watched the last two episodes of the Y&R last night. Seriously great TV. The show has been so boring lately but it sure has me glued to the TV right now.

Athena

I consider Laura Bryant (Prism Yarns) to be one of the best dyers of yarn in North America. Her colour choices are amazing. One of the best times at TNNA is going through her booth and seeing the amazing colour combinations. Colours I would never put together but the finished product is amazing.

This is the Athena Wrap knit in Merino Mia-100% merino super wash sock yarn.

Athena is knit with 8 different colours, one skein each.

Is it starting to look familiar to you yet? There is an ad in the new Winter Vogue magazine showing the wrap but done in a different colourway.

Here are a few more pictures from my trip. This is the baggage claim area at the Long Beach Airport. There is a roof but no walls and there are only 3 baggage carousels. There are picnic tables for you to sit at while waiting for your luggage.

Looking out from our hotel at the Queen Mary. One day we might find time to see the Queen Mary up close.

This is Seaport Village-just across the street from our hotel. Little shops and restaurants in brightly painted buildings.

I haven't picked up knitting needles in over a week. There is no time while at the show to knit and I have been working since I have been home. Tonight is the night they are coming out again. I will be watching football tonight and tomorrow.

More new spring

Yes, two posts in one day. There is lots to talk about right now!!

Rowan was officially released today. In the new magazine there are designs by Kaffe Fassett for pillows and throws that are knit in Rowan Summer Tweed. All current colours are in stock and the new colours should be here in a week. The patterns are not in the book-they are available for free on Rowan's website. The pillows will look great on my couch. Jane are you reading this?

The new Debbie Bliss magazine is in Toronto and I should have it Monday afternoon. I can't give you any details about the contents of the magazine. My notes have gone missing and I can't find anything online. Once it arrives I will post about the yarns and patterns.

Kits coming

I borrowed this picture from the Lorna's Laces blog. Please meet Iris. I have a kit (in Revelation) and will try and get knitting her up right away. Amanda, from Lorna's Laces, wrote a great blog post about Iris-please read about her.

Kits have been ordered in Revelation-bright colours. If you would like a kit in a thinner yarn or a specific colour please let me know and I can order for you.

When I walked by the Prism booth I fell in love with the Christmas stockings that were knit with Stuff mixed with ribbons and beads. Kits have been ordered and I hope they get here soon. I know it is a long time until Christmas but I want more than one for my house (and we all know how long it takes me to finish anything).

Last night was spent catching up on the Y&R. The scenes with Katherine, Jill, Murphy, Esther and Jo-Jo were priceless. Beth was sleeping but I couldn't stop myself from laughing out many times.

Rowan 47

Did you know that Rowan has a group on Facebook? They posted yesterday that the images for Rowan 47 are now up on the Rowan website. I am taking it that if it is on the Rowan site then I can put it here as well.

I didn't spend much time in the Rowan booth at the show (the yarn was already ordered so I wanted to see goods from suppliers that don't visit me) but I did see this made up. Cheery is crocheted in Summer Tweed with knit borders.

This is Jaunty. I don't remember what this is made of but I am guessing Cotton Glace or Sienna.

I am told that the new Rowan should be leaving the US on January 18 so we should have it around January 25.


Quietness. We will have to wait until next week to find out what this is knit in.

Cathy worked like crazy last week straightening up the store. WOW!! I think she must have stayed all night to get all the work done.

A surprise was waiting for me when I got home-Rhonda finished my Debbie Bliss Cape Coat. This picture is from the book The Big Easy because I haven't had time to get a picture of mine yet. My cape is knit in Earth, colour 10. The tweed flecks are amazing.

Home again

Beth and I got in from the airport about an hour ago. We stopped at Tim's on the way home so that I could have a bagel and steeped tea. Boy did I miss the tea while I was away!! I then spent a bit of time playing with the dogs. Melo missed me while I was gone and Roko remembered when I got home that I have been missing for a week. Then a load of laundry went in and now I can sit down and write.

My trip started and ended in my favourite hotel-The Mirage.

These pictures were taken on Thursday afternoon. Did you know that the Mirage opened 20 years ago and it is still one of the best looking hotels on the strip?

After my post on Saturday morning I headed to the show.

The first stop was Namaste. Hi to Dawn and Kelly. Monroe, the wallet and the circular needle case were great. All have been ordered. The bag and wallet should be here next week. The circular needle case won't be arriving until the end of February.

Offhand Bags was right around the corner so I did my bag order with Larissa next. Wow!! Love the new fabrics.

Unfortunately I had to leave the show for meetings-I wanted to see everything. I did get back around 3 and the next stop was Lorna's Laces. 6 new colours but I didn't have any paper with me and didn't make any notes. Why would you I have these in my bag?? I had already ordered these in Shepherd Sock and Helen's Lace and the sock yarn is being shipped this week.

I made quick stops at Trendsetter, Tahki-Stacy Charles and Classic Elite before calling it a day.

The rest of my show shopping is going to be saved for tomorrow. It is now 10:20 and I need to think about bed. Okay, I am going to watch Idol for a bit and then off to bed.

Hello from sunny California

Good Morning from Long Beach. I am not going to tell you that at 8:33am it is already warm and sunny. No winter coats needed here.

Vegas was great. I didn't accomplish anything but was busy the whole time.

I checked out of my room at noon yesterday but didn't need to leave for the airport for another hour so I sat down in front of Beth's favourite slot machine. Thank you very much. I won $75 just before leaving. This is on a penny slot so that is a big win!!

The flight to Long Beach was uneventful. It takes about 45 minutes so the pilot doesn't even turn off the seat belt sign.

It is almost time to leave for a breakfast meeting. Then off to the show. I am typing on Bev's computer so no pictures until I get home.

Have a good day.

Namaste

In my newsletter that went out last night I showed pictures of Namaste's new products. After the newsletter was written I found some new pictures on Ravelry from Namaste. Here they are.

This is a new circular needle case. I can't wait to see this in person. It looks very interesting in the pictures!!!

Monroe in Lime. Looks hot. The decision as to what colour I want is going to be very hard.

The Peacock looks great as well. Those girls at Namaste like to cause problems!!!

This is the wallet in all colours. There aren't any interior pictures yet but I will post them as soon as Namaste gets them onto their site.

I'm at the airport

I am sitting at my gate with an hour and a half until my flight. Bev is already in California (she flew on Tuesday) and told me an airport horror story so I came to the gate early.

Beth and I were 20 minutes late leaving home. My fault but still had me upset. I don't like being late and I don't like the unknown.

There were at least 30 people in front of me at check in. I am flying business and normally you can walk right up to the counter. The line moved pretty quickly.

On to customs. Not a happy camper this morning. He couldn't understand going to Vegas for a night before going to the show.

How am I supposed to throw my suitcases on the conveyor belt without putting down my purse? There are definite pluses to bringing Beth along!!

Duty free, newspaper stand, Starbucks and then to the gate. Oh wait. This is where the nightmare starts. The line to my gate had a few people in it but the line going the other way had hundreds. I decided to go through instead of going to the lounge. I didn't want to get caught up in a long line. Bev almost missed her flight on Tuesday because of this and she got to the check point over an hour before her flight. They pat you down. Check your shoes. Go through everything in your bag. Turn on electronics. Go through pockets. It will be interesting to see how long this will go on for.

At least I am through and now I can relax.

Beth gave me a Sony book reader for Christmas so I am going to sign off and read.

Off to California

One more sleep and then off to Vegas. Sorry, I mean off to work. I am in Vegas until Friday afternoon and then off to Long Beach, California for TNNA. I'm not sure what the best part of TNNA is-seeing the new yarns and accessories or visiting with friends from around the world.

I have lots of work to do yet. There is a newsletter to go out. Laundry to be done. Mail orders to go to the post office.

I am still trying to find out the definition of 'small purse'. Air Canada says that we can't have any carry on luggage but are allowed a small purse. How big is that?

These great bears are knit out of Spud & Chloe Outer-the pattern is new and in the store. I hope that they bring the yarn out in purple so that I can have one knit for my purple room in Myrtle Beach.

Have a good week. I will try and post from Long Beach.

The cardigan didn't get finished

My Sunday was spent watching football and knitting and my hands were killing when I went to bed at 1 this morning. I still have 1/2 a front to finish on my cardigan. I thought it would get finished today but I was busy getting the store in order (I want Cathy to be able to find everything when she works this week and next) and the knitting didn't come out of the bag. Then I thought there would be time tonight. Not. I have been working on a newsletter, packing yarn to ship out and doing accounting. If there is time a new price list needs to be printed as well. I now realize that there is no way the cardigan will be finished. I need to go through my closet and adjust my packing.

I decided to redo the store. Not the whole store because that would take a long time but in the Worsted Weight room the display is now 'Spring Berroco'.

Seduce, Seduce Colors, Lumina and Bonsai. It looks great IMHO.

Bonsai and Lumina are back up on the website as well. The new colours of Seduce should be up next week-fingers crossed. We are waiting for the images from Berroco.

We totally forgot that the new season of The Bachelor was starting tonight. It will tape later from a West Coast channel. Should be interesting because Jake seems way too perfect.