Vacation has started

Beth and I are sitting in the airport waiting for our plane to arrive. The journey this morning was easy. Not too many cars on the road. Small delay at border but not too bad. Check in was quick and nobody in the security line. Free Wi-Fi in the airport and no questions about knitting needles. Great start to vacation.

I have pictures of the terminal because people don't believe how small it is. Two gates. No place to buy a magazine. For some reason I can't email the picture from my phone to my iPad so I will show them tomorrow.

What knitting did I chose? I am making Hitchhiker again in Noro Taiyo sock yarn. Garter stitch and no counting. Perfect vacation knitting.

The TV, phone, Internet guy is supposed to be coming this afternoon so hopefully I will be posting again tomorrow. You never know. Maybe tonight.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Little Pocket

This morning I was on Facebook and found a picture on Rowan's page that I have borrowed to share with you. Rowan magazine 50 has arrived at the mill in England.

The magazine should be released in North America on July 15.  This means that we should have the magazine in the store around July 22.

Here is the cover garment from the magazine. I am sorry that it is small but the more I enlarge it the blurrier (is that a word?) it gets. We aren't supposed to show pictures of the magazine early but I found this on the Coats UK site. If they can show it then I think I can too. Lynda is knitting me the Hawthorne Cape in a denim blue shade of Rowan Felted Tweed Aran. There are lots of cables. Lots. I'm not sure what the difference between a cape and a poncho is. This has slits for your arms to stick out making it easier to drive in than a poncho. Is that the difference?


There is finally some knitting. I have the first keyhole done on Scalene. I am going to pick up the stitches from the holder and work 22 rows on these stitches with a double pointed needle. Then I will go back to my main needles, knit to the cast off stitches, knit the stitches from the double pointed needle and complete the row. Two keyholes done.

Now I need to decide what I am going to take away with me to knit. There are a few balls of Kureyon in the house if I want to make log cabin squares but I need something for the airport. Beth has issues with flying. She can't eat before getting on a plane. She also needs to be at the airport early. Very early. Our flight is at 9:30 and she will need to be there by 7:30. If we aren't there she starts to panic. This will leave me with time on my hands so there needs to be knitting in my bag. I can't take this project because it is almost done. I'm thinking a few skeins of sock yarn for a scarf.

Creekbed from Knitty.com has peeked my interest. I'm thinking of a combination of greens. Not a colour I normally wear but change is good. There are also four skeins of purple sitting in front of me. You know that I am always drawn to purple.


It is a few hours later and I have more knitting to report. Yes, I should be working but I really wanted to show how this was going. The second keyhole is done. It looks a bit like a pocket.

Yesterday a newsletter went out to those on our Shawl Yarn list. In the newsletter I said that Canada Post was on strike. It was brought to my attention that the workers were not on strike but were locked out by the Corporation. I am sorry that the information was wrong and meant no harm by it.

If the Internet gets hooked up in our house tomorrow like is planned then I will talk to you from Myrtle Beach.

Spud & Chloe

There was a list of To Dos yesterday and I got many of them done when an idea hit me. It is Beth's birthday next week (while we are in Myrtle Beach) and I suddenly knew what I had to get her for her birthday. She loves bubble bath from Lush so I googled Lush and there is a store at Square One. Off I went. There is a Crate and Barrel near Square One. This was my first stop. Unfortunately they had a sale going on. Ouch. Then into the mall. I always forget how big Square One is. I came home with a huge bag of Lush Bubble Bath for Beth.

The last thing on my list was having my nails done. The new OPI colours for spring are very opaque which means it took four coats of polish to get a deep colour that I like. This meant no knitting. I had to make sure that they dried properly so I didn't have marks in them.

Now that the postal strike is over my order of new Spud and Chloe is on its way.

In Sweater there are three new colours.

The School Colours Hoodie in Sweater.

You’ve got spirit; yes you do! Show it off in this top down raglan cardigan, with instructions for both the color-block and striped versions.

In Fine there are also three new colours.

A great pattern for little ones in Fine.

Gloves or mittens, babies or toddlers, striped or stranded, warm up all the little fingers in your family with this one handy pattern!

Susie's Hat Set in Fine. Think of the colour combinations that could be used for this.

Jazz up a basic slouchy hat and scarf set with an easy Fair Isle pattern in the Spud & Chloë Fine! The scarf is knit in the round for a simple grab and go accessory with no wrong side.

Surprise-there are three new colours in Outer.

My computer is running out of juice and my nails are dry. The combination means that it is knitting time.  :)

The best laid plans

I thought that I was going to sit and knit all day today. Didn't happen. It was a nice afternoon so I sat outside and read. I don't get to do that very often and it was very relaxing. There was a nap in there as well.

I took a close up of Scalene so that you can see the start of the keyhole shaping. I put stitches on a stitch holder and then cast on that number of stitches on the following row. After 22 rows the first keyhole is done. Then the stitches on the holder are knit for 22 rows. There will be holes going vertically and horizontally. Very easy to do. When I read through the pattern the first time it made absolutely no sense but when you get there it is so simple. Maybe I will get it done tonight.

There is a long to do list for tomorrow. The week before going away is always busy. I need to get the store in order for the ladies. Other chores include bank (one, two and three), dry cleaners, drug store, a quick trip to Limeridge Mall..... Now I have made myself tired again thinking about it. Time to knit!!

The kids are going to be sorry

Last night John, Lynda and the four girls came over. We have a lot of fun with the kids and like to have a game to play with them. Beth and her sick mind always comes up with something. It started out with us telling the girls that they will have to cook dinner for us one night. The kids decided that they didn't want to cook dinner but Miss B said that the kids should waitress. It turned into the kids doing chores all week. Every day a child is assigned to an adult and at the end of the day the child will be ranked on how well they did their chores. The next day we have a new kid. At the end of four days we will total their rankings to see who won. Yes there is a prize for everyone-we can't make them work for nothing.  :)


Namaste put some great pictures of the new Mini-Messenger bag on Facebook. I have been carrying Beth's all week and I'm not sure she will be getting it back. It is lighter than I thought it would be, even with my computer in it.

The bag is coming in Black, Eggplant, Lime, Peacock and Red. I know that I want Eggplant but I think there might be one or two more. I can't wait to see how I like it when I fly next week.

I did not get any knitting done last night. We were busy booking a car and finding other things to do with the kids. Of course there will be mini golf. And yes it will be some sort of competition. Myrtle Beach has an excellent aquarium so we will spend an afternoon there. There is a boardwalk on the waterfront in downtown Myrtle that we need to check out as well. I haven't been to the beach downtown in at least twenty years. I am sure there will be a few changes. Broadway at the Beach and ice cream at Ben and Jerry's is a must as well.

It is now 8pm. Dinner is finished-I made amazing hamburgers on the barbecue. It is TV and knitting time. I should get to the keyholes and have pictures tomorrow.

Finally some knitting to report

Did you watch Expedition Impossible last night? I think there are three teams who are far and away better than anyone else. I'm not going to mention these teams in case you haven't watched yet.

I did get some knitting done while watching.
Scalene is progressing-ball one is almost finished. The finished product is going to look a lot different then the pictures on the pattern but I wanted to see how it would look in a yarn that stripes. A bit of laziness went into my yarn choice as well. I didn't want to roll a skein into a ball and I wanted to use the largest size needles possible.
When I started I couldn't wrap my head around how the construction was going to work but now that I am almost at the keyhole shaping (30 rows to go) I get it. It looks a bit funny on the needles. I am increasing every other row at the left edge and on every row of the right edge. It will lie much better when it is off the needles.


Three brand new colours of Triana just arrived.

51 Wheat-shades of beige. In the original shade range there was a beige and cream blend as well as a brown and beige blend.  The shades in this colour are in between the two.


52 Purple and Lime
How can putting purple and lime together be wrong?


53 Purple and Mauve
Very subtle shading.

Tonight we are meeting with our friends John and Lynda (and the four kids) to talk about Myrtle Beach. Renting a car, golfing, fireworks on July 4... Six more sleeps until we go.

Scalene

I am writing this on Wednesday afternoon but five posts in one day is a bit much. I am still playing with the new program.

When I look at the last few posts the writing is still too close to the pictures. After a bit of playing between here and blogger I found what I think is the proper HTML coding to make everything better. Somedays I wish that I was born 10 years later than I was so that I could have studied web design in school. Way more exciting than accounting.  :)

I sent an email to Namaste this to let them know that I saw Beth's picture on Facebook and asked for a picture of their booth in Columbus to share. I showed you bits of their booth but here is the whole thing. Very colourful and very inviting. You definitely want one of everything. During show hours this is one of the busiest booths in the building.

Something has been bothering me while typing my many posts today. When I took typing in school (that is showing my age) we were taught that after a period you were to put two spaces before starting your next sentence. That was drilled into my head and to this day I still do it. When posting on Blogger sometimes this makes things look a little messy. The words on the left margin are in one space. I don't like that. Now I need to practice only one space after a sentence. Not the easiest to do.

There is absolutely no knitting to report. Not a stitch. Maybe tonight.

Beth and I are watching the new season of Master Chef. It is amazing how much nicer Gordon Ramsay is on Master Chef then on Hell's Kitchen. Last season I picked the winner on the first show. This time it is much harder. There are 4 or 5 who are way above everyone else with their cooking skills.

It is Thursday morning and I am back at work. There was no knitting last night. Paperwork got in the way.

Tonight there is a new show starting, Expedition Impossible, and we will definitely be watching. In the 90s and into early 2000 there was a race called The Eco Challenge. This was a 500km (300 mile) non stop race over many days that included running, mountain biking, and canoeing. The participants were some of the best shaped athletes I have ever seen. Mark Brunet (Survivor) created Eco-Challenge and he is toning it down a bit for the new TV show.

In my newsletter that went out this week I talked about Scalene-a fabulous scarf. I have decided what yarn I am going to use. The ball of Freia laceweight wool was an option but I'm think of sending it to Emma and I am going to use Liberty Print from Classic Elite.

There are two brand new colours for June and I am going to use the colour on the right-Red Rock Canyon.

Don't Tell Beth

When I went on Facebook this morning I saw a picture of my sister.  She sweet talked the ladies at Namaste into giving her a new Mini-Messenger bag. She proudly wore it around the show and they took her picture. The strap is a great length and very comfortable when over your shoulder.

Cross-body design for hands-free function, the Mini Messenger has a padded adjustable shoulder strap, quick access exterior pocket, and lots of individual pockets for ultra organization. This bag is perfect for an active, busy lifestyle.

It got me thinking about the bag and after she left for work I took it and loaded in my laptop and knitting.  A perfect fit.  The bag I was carrying back and forth was getting heavy.  It is time to really clean it out!!

I took my laptop out and pulled the bag open so that you can see all the great pockets in the bag.

The interior material is a faux microsuede (PET) which is made of recycled plastic bottles.

I am back to the original post from this morning.  It looks like the pictures are being added okay now. There are still a few things that are causing me a bit of grief but there is always a learning curve.

Trial #3

Okay, that picture was huge!!

Let's try again.  Now I have the picture sizing a bit better. Another new pattern that is coming from Spud & Chloe.

I have found the forum from the software producer and am doing a bit of reading.  I figured out how to move the words so that they aren't right against the edge of the picture.

When I was trying to finish my original post there was a problem getting more than one picture into the post.  Let's see what happens here.

I'm afraid how this is going to look when I hit Send to Blog.  If the pictures are overlapping I am sorry.

The last three posts have been really boring stuff.  I am going to add something interesting.  :)  When Beth and I were young we bowled on Saturday mornings. Back then it was 5 pin bowling.  We tried to explain this to our American friends last week at TNNA but they couldn't grasp the whole 5 pin, small ball thing. Bev finally brought out her iPhone and googled it so they could see how the pins were set up.  When Beth and I were in our late teens we started 10 pin bowling. Yes, we have our own balls and shoes. I will tell you that I was very good at it. I beat Beth almost all the time. I can brag about this because she always beats me on the golf course. We haven't been in a long time but looking at these pictures brings back good memories.

Trial post #2

My first post uploaded very easily.  Now I am working on getting the font the same between the two.

It looks like the font issue is better now.

The cool thing about this program is that I can write without being hooked up to the Internet.  This means that I can write a post while sitting on an airplane and then when I get somewhere with Internet connection the post can be published.

Now I just need to figure out adding in pictures.  Okay, adding in pictures is easy.  Figuring out what size to make the picture is the hard part.

This is a new pattern coming from Spud & Chloe.

The picture is looking huge while I am writing this but until I see it on the blog I won't know.

Blogger is broken

I sat down and wrote a blog post when I got to work this morning.  Unfortunately blogger won't let me add any pictures.  This is getting ridiculous.  I opened up the App store and found a program where I can write blog posts and then publish it to Blogger.  I tried editing the post that was written but it wasn't looking how I wanted it to so I decided to do a trial post to try and figure this program out.  There could be a few more posts after this one to see how everything works.

Opening a Yarn Shop

This morning I was going through one of the bags that came home from TNNA and found shawl pins.  I told you that I hate unpacking.  There are three new designs from Annie Adams.  These are pewter shawl pins that are great for jackets and coats.

I opened up this pin (called Tapestry) and put it on a new vest we have hanging in the store.  I haven't unpacked the yarn yet so I am going to save the vest for later this week.

Bamboo.

Crest.

Later this afternoon I am meeting with a lady who is thinking of owning a yarn shop.  This is always an interesting discussion.

Everyone knows the great things about having a store.
-Dealing with fantastic people
-Playing with fun colours
-Seeing the new yarns, patterns and accessories before anyone else
-Having a very large stash of yarn
-Knitters who will knit you garments when you don't have time

I also let them know the things that aren't so great about it.  Don't get me wrong, there are not many things bad about this job but I think that I should give them all the facts before they start.  There are many little details that they don't think about until a problem comes up.
-You don't get to knit all day just because you have a yarn shop
-Someone has to do the accounting-pay the bills, remit taxes to the government
-Dealing with the phone company, internet provider, landlord, insurance company...
-If you want a day off then you need good staff.  Thankfully my ladies are amazing and I have no worries when they work.  Actually, they do a better job than I do.

There are many more pros and cons of having your own yarn shop but it is time to end my post and get back to work!!  The yarn that arrived isn't going to put itself on the shelf but that would be a great trick.

As I am about to finish this Mr. UPS walked in with a box from Berroco. Norah Gaughan volume 9 is here.

Beautiful Day

It was a beautiful day in Ancaster and it was my day off.  That can only mean one thing.  I talked Beth into taking the afternoon off and we went golfing.  This is the tenth tee at Dundas.  It was a good warm up for our trip to Myrtle Beach at the end of next week.

Mom forwarded me an email that she received from Myrtle Beach.  This is from their neighbour's back yard.

From the main road into the golf course is about 5 miles. It is forest the whole way. Mom and dad have talked about seeing bears and we just laugh at them.  There really are bears!

It's like he is posing to have his picture taken.  Everyone has been asked to take down their bird feeders because the bears love bird food.

I hope they decide to visit somewhere else while we are there.

When will I learn?

Last night I finished another square for my Log Cabin afghan in colour 287.  This is one of the new colours for fall.

When I had the middle and first row around finished I looked at my ball of yarn and was sure that there wasn't enough to finish the square.  I have knit 26 squares (20 for the first afghan and 6 for the next one) and I am always concerned that I am going to run out.  Every time I make a comment that there isn't enough yarn and I have never in 26 squares run out.  When am I going to get it through my head that a ball of Kureyon will make a square??

This is the leftover.  There is lots of yarn left!!

It is time to head upstairs for the finish of the US Open.  Come on Rory!

Log Cabin Take Two

I wanted easy knitting to do while watching TV last night so I finished another square for my Log Cabin Blanket.  My Breezy cardigan is coming along but when you are knitting with thin yarn you need to pay more attention to what you are doing.

This is colour 258.

With the arrival of the new colours last week I have become very motivated to get this blanket done.  Okay, I really want to knit with the new colours and this is a good excuse.

Here are my squares so far.

The pattern is a free download on Ravelry.

If you are looking for an easy summer project I highly recommend the afghan.  You can throw one ball in your purse and you have mindless knitting while watching the kids play their summer sport or on the drive to the cottage.

Jane stopped in this morning to pick up yarn.  She is knitting me a super secret garment that I can't talk about yet.  I took a picture of the finished garment at TNNA and here is a small piece of it.

Hopefully Jane will share pictures as her knitting grows.

It is a beautiful day in Southern Ontario.  I hope it is this nice on Monday-maybe we can get in a round of golf.

Blue Sky Alpacas

I am trying very hard not to scream and throw a computer.  I wrote a whole post and then proceeded to erase the whole thing.  Blogger and I are not getting along lately!!

My temper tantrum is done so I am going to try again.

Crate and Barrel is one of my favourite stores.  A few weeks ago I was in Toronto visiting my suppliers and I decided to see what was new. They had great bedding and it was on sale.  I didn't buy it because I am not impulsive when I shop.  :)  It's a good thing I didn't buy it because when I was in Columbus last week we visited the Crate and Barrel there.  The bedding was an even better price.  I bought the duvet cover, pillow cases and shams.  They were out of the sheets but that is okay because I have sheets the perfect colour mauve.

Blue Sky Alpacas has some great patterns coming for fall and they are ready to be shipped.  Normally my shipments from them come by Canada Post so I have asked BSA to hold my order until next week so we can see what is going to happen.  I might have to bite the bullet and use UPS.

Trellis Scarf

4 skeins of Bulky
20mm needles

An easy to memorize lace pattern and long fringes create a luxuriously soft and warm scarf with fantastic drape.

Shawl Collar Vest

Skinny Cotton
4.5mm needles

This chic vest with its wide collar and interesting construction is a fun knit and a perfect layering piece.

Autumn Vest

Bulky
9mm needles

This simple and stylish ribbed vest is knit in one piece for minimal finishing.

It is round two of the golf and I am going to watch again this afternoon and get more knitting done.

Before I can mess this up I am going to hit Publish!!

All Day Post

I started unpacking my suitcase last night.  This is a chore that I really hate.  When getting ready to leave Columbus I threw everything into my suitcase. Maybe if I tried packing a bit better it wouldn't be so bad.

Here are a few more goodies from the show and a long awaited picture of my knitting.

I showed pictures of Berroco's Bar from the show.  This is the cocktail that we could order.

There are four mini balls of yarn for us to try.  What a great idea!!  It is very cute and I'm not sure that I want to open it up.

.

Lorna's Laces has a new sock yarn coming for fall.

Soulmate
55% superwash merino wool
15% nylon
30% outlast

100gram skein
388m (425 yds)

What is Outlast?  It is a climate regulating polyester fiber.  Read more...

There were sweaters, shawls and socks knit up in Columbus.  All felt great to the touch.

Ann likes to knit socks so I am going to have her knit a store sample.

New from KnitWhits-Freia in a laceweight.

70% wool
30% nylon

590m (645 yds) on a 75 gram ball.

From Tina at KnitWhits

To acheive the long color runs in our Flux and Ombré yarns we have developed our own dyeing process. Though labor intensive, the hands-on nature of the process allows us to ensure an even consistency in the yarn and colors over multiple dye lots. Our method also means that though our yarns will match very well from one dye lot to the next, no two balls of yarn will ever be the same. This is most apparent in our “Flux” range where the knitted fabric will have painterly variations that are made more dramatic as the stitch pattern simplifies. 

While I was away the new colours of Kureyon for fall arrived.  These are going to look hot in my log cabin afghan!!

I am working on the Breezy Cardigan from Hannah Fettig.  Here is Hannah's picture.

I am using Silky Alpaca Lace from Classic Elite.

The cardigan is worked from the top down so there are a lot of stitches on my needle.  This makes it difficult to get a picture.  When I get a bit more done it will sit on a mannequin for a better picture.

Somehow I have lost the charger for my camera so right now I am using my iPhone for pictures. The yellow is not yellow but lime green.

I have been working on this post all day and there have been a few complications.  I tried adding the quote from KnitWhits and erased two pictures and the description.  Blogger automatically saves every few minutes so if I mess up at the right time I can recover what I lost. Otherwise it is start again. I am going to hit Publish now before I erase anything else.  :)

Prizes

Being away for a few days is fun but opening the store in the morning is always a joy.

I did a double take on my way to work this morning.  On Rousseaux Street there is a huge open lot.  When I left work on Wednesday a house sat there.  It is amazing how many houses are being built in Ancaster right now.  Where are all the people coming from?

Namaste was running a draw at the show.  One entry with an order and another when you brought a copy of an email they sent out.  Two entries for me.  Unfortunately I am not lucky with draws.  Just as I was about to leave the show on Sunday I received a phone call asking me to come to their booth.  I WON!!  A bag full of great swag.  It is already downstairs in the Knitting Camp closet.  What a great start to our door prizes.

I have no knitting to report.  Maybe tonight during the hockey game I will be able to get a few rows done.  Going away for a few days has caused a bit of a back up in paper work.