Oh My Gosh

Can you believe that today is the last day of August?  Where has the summer gone?

Ms. Canada Post came today with two boxes. The first had the Christel Seyfath sample garments.  Amazing!

This is the Flower Power coat.

Seriously beautiful!!  I am very excited to have this for the Knitters' Fair and Camp.

There were three other garments in the box but I am going to spread out the pictures.  This makes sure that I have nice pictures all week.  :)

My shawl is coming along.  I just did the purl row (turn back row) of the border which means I am at the half way point.  32 more rows and I am done.

My parents are going on an Alaskan cruise in two weeks. They aren't excited.  :)  Beth and I are rolling our change so they can take some of it to use in the casino.  They are addicted to the Piggies slot machine  There is a rule in our house that you can't spend change on anything.  Go for a coffee-use at least a five dollar bill.  Grocery store-bills only. Dry cleaners, drug store, gas... All change collected is rolled and it is our 'food fund' for vacations. Unfortunately Beth is eager when she starts but then loses enthusiasm quickly.  She won't roll anything smaller than quarters.

Summer is ending

Today is my last Monday off before fall.  Okay, I will have next Monday off but that is a holiday so it doesn't count.  I can't run around doing errands next week-I guess I will have to golf.  :)  Today has been busy so far.  My poor computer is asking for a break.  Four newsletters - three for Beth and one for Camp - are done (I write Beth's newsletters because she doesn't have the patience to format them nicely) I am working on my blog post and then I will go back to another newsletter and updating the website.

Big night tonight.  Football Draft.  Beth and I are playing Fantasy Football again.  We have taken a few years off and realized that we missed it.  A friend is starting a new league and we jumped at the chance to join.

As many of you know I have a small Noro problem.  I can't get enough of it!!

We have six new colours of Noro Iro in stock.  Lots of purple which makes me very happy. The new Noro books for fall have not arrived yet but we are crossing our fingers that they will be here sometime this week.

Iro is a chunky weight yarn, 75% wool and 25% silk.  120m on a 100gram ball.

A few years ago I knit a great neckwarmer called Cherry Garcia. One skein of Iro, 8mm 40cm circular needle and a cable needle. Haven't tried cables? Here is a great way for you to learn them.

The pattern is from Hello Yarn and you can download it for free.

I wanted some other easy to knit, quick projects so I typed IRO into Ravelry.  A garment that grabbed my attention a few times was Liesl from Ysolda Teague.

Liesl is a round yoked cardigan worked from the neck down in a simple allover feather and fan lace pattern. Different effects can be achieved by using a variety of yarns in worsted to chunky weights and lots of options are given so that you can make Liesl your own by varying the neckline depth, body and sleeve lengths and cast off method. Fasten your finished cardigan with any number of buttons, a ribbon bow or perhaps a special pin.

Feather and Fan along with self striping yarn.  This can't be a bad thing. Why isn't this already hanging in my closet?

Ysolda is a young Scottish designer and her work is amazing.  You can purchase the pattern on Ravelry or on Ysolda's website.

Baby Crofter

I got home from work yesterday afternoon and had a short nap before picking up my knitting.  I got a bit engrossed (didn't go to bed until 2am) and made it to the quarter point of the border.

Many people came in the store yesterday asking me to stop previewing the fall yarns. It was too tempting for them and they had to get in the car and come see in person. Sorry but there will be more previews for the next week.  :)

There is an epidemic with babies right now.  Everyone is having them.

Sirdar always brings us great patterns and yarns for little ones.

This is Snuggly Baby Crofter DK. 100% acrylic-machine washable-very soft.

Everyone will be impressed with all the colours in your knitting-you don't have to let them know that the yarn does the work for you.

Who wouldn't want to put their child in this cardigan?

These patterns can be found in Sirdar Book 381-Baby Crofter 2.

These patterns are sized from newborn to seven years old.

Think about this sweater over a pair of Baby Gap Jeans.

There are three new shades for the fall.

Way too cute!

Squiggle

My shawl is progressing nicely. The pattern is working out (thank goodness because I didn't want to start ripping back over 600 stitches).  I did the colours in the right order this time too.  I know that some of you are wondering-no the stitches that were cut are not unravelling.  My hand runs over the stitches as I am knitting and they are behaving themselves.

Yesterday we received many boxes of Sirdar yarns.  Todays yarn of choice is Squiggle Super Chunky.

Sorry, no numbers again and today this is going to prove a bit more difficult. For some reason Sirdar jumped when numbering the yarn.

Starting at the top left the numbers are
600, 602, 603, 606, 607, 608

We are seeing lots of bulky yarns for fall and Sirdar didn't disappoint us with their new yarns for fall 2010.

Squiggle is a fun yarn for your little girl.

All these patterns are available in Sirdar Book #387-Squiggly Knits and in leaflet form.

51% wool and 49% acrylic

9 stitches to 4" on 10mm needles

Did we have sweaters this cute when we were little?

All I remember is the matching granny square ponchos my mom made for Beth and I.  Sorry-very bad memory that I must get out of my head.

Squiggle Super Chunky can be used for any Sirdar pattern calling for Denim Ultra.

Sweater in a weekend

I met Franklin at The Yarn Market News Conference when he spoke on blogging.  Take a look at 'Do Not Do This'.  You will be chuckling for the rest of the day.

I finally worked out the chart for my shawl and have it centered nicely.  I thought that there would be some knitting this afternoon but that isn't going to happen.  Mr. FedEx came with a box and then Mr. Canpar came with five boxes.

There are many, many bags of yarn from Sirdar...

...including a new yarn called Indie.

51% wool, 49% acrylic

8 stitches = 4" on 12mm needles

Can you say 'Sweater in a weekend?'

And the yarn does the fun colour changes for you.

In true Sirdar fashion there are many amazing leaflets as well as a magazine (#385).
-hats
-vests
-jackets
-scarves

Eight colours are available (numbered 150-157 starting at the top left). Okay, I should have numbered the pictures but I need to get this post done and start putting yarn away.  :)

How about Big Brother last night?  Matt really blew it.  That is what happens when you get cocky and think you are safe.  The quick eviction of Brendon was nice.  Unfortunately we are going to have to see him and Rachel together again in the jury house.

The yarn is howling from the other end of the store that it wants to be released from the plastic bags.  Gotta run.  Have a good Friday evening.

Classic Elite

Every day we are receiving new shipments and I am having fun trying to rearrange the store.  Our addition is a year old now-do you think I have waited long enough to ask for another one?  We need more room.  There are amazing yarns coming this fall and I wanted them all for the store.

We have three new books from Classic Elite.  This year Classic Elite is doing mini-magazines for each yarn with four to six designs in each book.

Melody-four designs using Fresco.

Fresco is 60% wool, 30% baby alpaca and 10% angora

Classic Elite publishes a newsletter that comes out every Wednesday afternoon.  The cowl (we have one knit up in the store) was from this issue.

Woodland is a brand new yarn for fall 2010. 65% wool and 35% Nettles.

What are Nettles?

We currently have three colours in stock but can order any from the amazing colour range.

3192 Celestial
3195 Violet
3197 Fern

And then there is Portland Tweed.  Prairie has four great designs including the cover sweater designed by Veronik Avery.

5079 Eggplant

Two new colours arrived with the book. I think you can guess which colour I would like a sweater out of!!

I am going to add a caption to this and pray that it doesn't mess everything up.

5025 Rosewater

So far so good so here goes another.

I started Dryad (by brooklyntweed) in Portland Tweed and love working with the yarn.  Something else that I need to get done for Camp!

Visitors

Tomorrow morning I have some of the 'upper management' from Rowan coming to visit.  That means the store has to be in tip top shape.  This morning I ran to Brantford (left home at 8am-much earlier than my normal start time) to buy more mannequins so that I can get more sweaters up on the walls.  The mannequins are dressed in brand new clothes and up on the walls showing off beautiful sweaters.

My next chore was to make up more kits for the Linen Stitch Scarf.  There are many colour combinations available in the store right now.

Unfortunately I still haven't knit on my shawl.  It sat on the front seat of my car all day.  Don't worry, I cracked the window a bit.

Mr. UPS came with some boxes of Rowan yarn and books-inside was Studio 20.

Rowan Studio Issue 20 by Grace Melville is a combination of the Spring/Summer 2010 denim on denim trend, and the modern safari trend. The yarns Denim and Pima Cotton DK are perfect for reflecting these key looks. Using pattern and textured stitch detail in the Denim and adding soft sculptural details in the Pima Cotton DK created a collection just right for this summer.

Also in the box was lots of Rowan Renew.  There will be a package going to Lynda very soon.  She is going to knit Winter Aconite for me in Lorry-a great combination of grey and brown.  Before anyone asks, yes I could knit this for myself but I have a few projects in the way right now. If Lynda does it then it will be ready for me to wear at Camp.

New Noni Patterns

I am going to start with happy things.  A parcel just arrived with new Noni patterns.

The Scoop.  Make it felted or unfelted.

Cascade 220 and Cascade 220 Heathers are the perfect yarn for these bags.  We have many, many colours in stock.

Yoga Bag and Everything Totes.

The totes look like they can hold a lot of yarn.  :)

The Cinch.  Another bag that you can make felted or not.

Cross Over Bags.  What a way to use up some yarn!!

My chore today is to start making kits for the Knitters' Frolic Fair. Wow.  I just wrote Frolic.  I know I like to get things done early but that show is in April.  :)

The day did not start well.  When I got to work I couldn't get my computer connected to the Internet.  I tried and tried. Restart the computer.  Unplug the modem. Restart the computer. Unplug the phone cord. Restart the computer. Empty my Cache. (That was a bad mistake because now all my passwords are gone-Ravelry, Twitter, Blogger-I have to try and remember them all).  I finally broke down and called my Internet provider.  There is something wrong with my modem. Please come to their office, downtown Hamilton, to get a new one.  The weird thing is that I can print wirelessly through that modem but she said it is the modem.  I waited a few minutes and called back.  No, the Internet was out in our area and should be back any minute.  It is working now but I am still mad at myself for trying to fix it myself.  I will be trying to remember passwords for the next few weeks.

Then the mail came and I got a letter from the Ministry of Transportation that my vehicle is not insured.  Seriously.  What is going on?  I called my broker and yes I have insurance.  Then I tried to get the Ministry of Transportation. That was an all afternoon job.  The lady on the line had no idea why I got the letter and said not to worry.  It's a little late for that!

It is 5:30 and time for me to head home.  I think a dinner out is in order and then some time on the couch knitting.  My poor shawl has been neglected for two days.  I will sit down and figure out the numbers.  Maybe Beth will help me.  :)

New Patterns

There was a mix of pleasure and business today.  Early this morning (okay early on a day off) I headed for Toronto.
Stop One-Luv2Pak.  Door prizes are starting to come for Camp.  Sometimes we combine prizes from two companies to make one really nice door prize.  I needed bags to make up pretty packages.
Stop Two-Diamond Yarns.  I needed to pick up some yarn and patterns.  The Sirdar yarns and patterns for fall just arrived in their warehouse.  We should have them in the store by the end of the week.
Stop Three-Creative Bag.  Clear shopping bags for the store
Stop Four-Yorkdale Place.  All I am going to say is that I am helping to get the economy going.

I forgot that there were four patterns in the last box from madelinetosh.

Tiny Tea Leaves is knit in Tosh Vintage. Children's sizes 2-12 years uses 2-4 skeins.

Creature Comforts Cardi

Five sizes

The pattern calls for 5-8 skeins of Tosh Vintage.

Six sizes are available for the Hay Cardigan.

3-4 skeins of Tosh Sock or Tosh Merino Light

One skein of Tosh Vintage will make the Poet Society Tam.

Since starting this post I have gotten up and watered flowers, fed the dogs, started working on Camp door prizes, emailed orders and did some updating on the website.  Talk about not being able to stick with one job!!

There is a bit of procrastination going on as well.  I should make my way upstairs to my shawl but I need to centre the graph this row and don't feel like working out the numbers.  I think it might stay in the basket (Phil) and I will work on Wild Saffron.

Cutting

Beth is going golfing this afternoon so I needed to cut before she left. Someone needed to take pictures for me!

She had many questions and I thought I would write them here because you might be thinking the same things she was.

Do you need super sharp scissors?  No I just used scissors that I bought at the dollar store.

Is it going to unravel?  No.  Knitting wants to unravel down, not side to side. Also, the yarn is Sheltand wool which has small fibres that like to grab onto other fibres.  The pattern suggested using a sewing machine and making two rows of stitching on either side of where you are going to cut.  I did not do this.  Instead I had 10 stitches for my steek instead of the 6 asked for in the pattern.

Do you have to be exactly on the right stitch when cutting?  You want to be as close to the middle as possible (I put on some markers to show the way) but if you are off one stitch it isn't the end of the world.

How do you pick up the stitches?  I am going to start at the top and pick up down to the bottom and back up the other side.  The pick up is going to be beside my increase stitches.

Here is the inside before I started.  I sometimes joined a new colour at the middle of the steek and then I didn't have to worry about working in the ends.

The scissors meeting the shawl.  I am standing at the island in our kitchen.  Not having to bend over made life much easier.

When I am cutting I am holding up the piece I am cutting to make sure that I don't cut through the other side of the shawl.  That would be a disaster.

Midway through the cutting.

Almost done.

This would look much better lying outside but it is raining right now.

Now I am going to start picking up the stitches for the border.