Saturday, June 30, 2012

knitrowan.com free pattern

I love it when I have lots of pictures to show in my post.

A free pattern from knitrowan.com
Knit this women's reverse stocking stitch cropped cardigan which is the members exclusive free pattern for June 2012.  A design by Sarah Hatton using the beautiful new yarn Summerspun, which is made up of 50% wool and 50% cotton, this simple cardigan has a round neck and raglan shaping which makes this pattern suitable for the knitter with little experience.
You have to sign up on Rowan's website to download their free patterns but it only takes a minute. They will send you newsletters once a month but you won't receive any other emails from Rowan.

Soakboxes arrived yesterday

Each Soakbox includes a new 3oz bottle of Soak and Handmaid luxury hand creme in like fragrances, stylishly matched to premium nail polish and custom hand-dyed yarn by Lorna's Laces, as well as a unique Fiona Ellis pattern for fingerless gloves.
 The kits are $50. We have all four colours in stock right now.
Jacqueline from Soak did an amazing job on the packaging. They look beautiful. What a great gift!!
Beth and I have been watching Top Chef. We went back and bought the seasons that we missed and are currently watching Top Chef Allstars. When it originally aired someone wrote, either on Twitter or Ravelry, that they saw Lily Chin on the show. I didn't remember this when we started watching. Last night we were watching and I saw her. I screamed 'There's Lily Chin.' Beth thought I was nuts. The chefs were serving at a party in New York and Lily was a guest. Later in the show she talked and then Beth agreed with me. Too bad she wasn't knitting while eating.

I just got off the phone with my dad. They stayed in the new house last night for the first time. He said that they had a great night sleep. Even Tui (their very temperamental Shar Pei) had a good night.

Now it's time to write a newsletter. There are a few yarns we are going to put on special to make room for the fall yarns that start arriving in a few weeks. I will also have information on the Tent Sale.

Friday, June 29, 2012

Spud and Chloe

I decided to pick up some old knitting last night. My cardigan was downstairs and I was upstairs. I took out the Hitchhiker scarf I am making in Noro Taiyo Sock.

This is a pattern that I purchased on Ravelry. It is easy to knit and great for traveling.

Box one of three from madelinetosh arrived today. We received

merino light

-vermillion
-victorian gothic
-thicket
-mansfield's garden party
-well water

sock

-baltic
-opaline
-grenadine
-heuchera
-creme de menthe
-bloomsbury
-flashdance
-onyx
-well water
-alizarin

This is as far as I got yesterday. I thought I was going to finish the post when I got home but it didn't work out that way. We went to my parents to help set things up. They are staying there tonight for the first time and have guests. We got the guest room made up and found some things they needed like pillows. When we left the house Beth and I went for a drive and didn't get home until it was too late to write-okay I was too tired to think.

We have some new Spud and Chloe patterns.

The Wendy Sweater NEW!#9218

Designed by Wendy Bernard
A brilliantly fast knit in Spud & Chloƫ Outer, this pullover with vented sleeves and a deep u-neckline is extremely flattering, even in a bulkier yarn. Knit in the round, from the top down with side shaping, this basic pullover will compliment many body types.

New colours of Outer

 7218 Fearless
 7221 Sugar Plum
 7220 Rhino
7219 Buoy

Porch Swing Cardi NEW! #9527

Designed by Elizabeth Trantham
This swingy cardigan, knit from the top down features a pretzel cable at the front edge, and an awesome standup collar. Who wouldn’t want a cardigan like this?
Knit in Spud and Chloe Sweater

New Colours of Sweater

 7526 Tiny Dancer
 7527 Billiard

7528 Life Jacket

My computer needs to be charged so I'm going to hit Publish, plug the computer in and do some straightening in the store. 

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Carpet Bags

One of the stops at TNNA was to see Megan at St. Clair Designs. We have three new Carpet Bags in the store.
Bev tried really hard to take the brown bag home with her but I fought her off. I think this might be the one I want.
These bags are sewn by Megan-not in a factory and her father makes the oak handles for her.

There were more goodies in my suitcase. Shawl pins from Jul.
Tendril Fermoire
French for closure, this pins work with knitted or woven fabrics. Handmade in white bronze with semi-precious stones.
We received a shipment yesterday with more Coat of Many Colors kits from Mountain Colors-this is the cover jacket of the knit Swirl! book.
I showed this from Columbus but here is a larger picture. The Clematis colour way. I like this one too!!

Tonight we are heading to the parents for the last minute 'to dos' in the house. Tomorrow night will be their first night sleeping there.

I have no personal knitting to report. I didn't take anything with me to Columbus because I knew there wouldn't be time. Last night I was way too tired. Maybe this weekend there will be some pictures from my needles.

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Home Again

We made it home today in record time. 6 hours and 45 minutes. I drove the whole way and wouldn't stop for Beth or Bev. :)

Betsy, Heather and Meg from Classic Elite yarns drove from Massachusetts to the show. On the way they played the license plate game trying to see how many states they could get. Meg has an app for her iPhone that kept track for them. I decided that we were going to play it on the way home to keep me amused during the drive. We didn't have an app so Beth wrote on a napkin. We ended up with
Nebraska, Michigan, California, Minnesota, Oregon, West Virginia, Louisiana, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Wyoming, Kansas, Wisconsin, Washington, Arizona, Vermont, Indiana, Ohio, Florida, Kentucky, Missouri, Delaware, Texas, Maine, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Tennessee, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Alabama, Mississippi, Virginia, Iowa, Maryland and New York. 35 States. Not bad. The ladies got 39 on their trip to the show but they had a 12 hour drive. We also got Quebec, Alberta, Manitoba, New Brunswick and Ontario. I would slow down as we passed someone so that I could see where the vehicle was from. If I couldn't get it then it was Bev's job. Beth was in the back and was totally useless at seeing the plates.

I'm a little tired (okay really tired) and I'm not sure why. We were in bed by 11 every night which is very strange for us. It could be waking before 7 every morning. There are lots of pictures and information to share over the next week.

Here are a few pictures for tonight. A couple are repeats but the pictures that I posted at the show came out small. I can't go back and adjust the post-it distorts the pictures.







Monday, June 25, 2012

Monday morning in Columbus

I'm downstairs getting my morning tea and thought I would show more pictures.


The Offhand Designs booth.


Beautiful bags as always.





We're going to say our goodbyes and then shopping. Hopefully we can go to The Cheesecake Factory for lunch.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Sunday, June 24, 2012

More Day Two from TNNA

We just got back from dinner and getting ready for bed. It's very tiring shopping all day.

Here are a few more pictures from today.


New colours of tosh.


Sorry about the spacing. I'm using my phone - the pictures are here and I'm too tired to transfer them to my iPad.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

TNNA Day Two

This is going to be short tonight. Sorry. Just got back from the show and heading to dinner.

It was another fun day at the show. Talked with Kate Atherley, Fiona Ellis, Erika Knight, Kate, Martin and Josh in the Rowan booth and the Soak girls.

Here are a few photos.








Tomorrow we are supposed to go to the show but I think we're going shopping. Nordstroms is waiting for us.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:N 3rd St,Columbus,United States

Saturday, June 23, 2012

Pollika

Pollika is a Canadian company that I buy shawl pins from.
I ordered many shapes and colours from this display.


They also sell fibre for felting. This amazing picture is hanging in their booth-it makes me want to felt


I wanted a picture from straight on-sorry for the heads in the way.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Lorna's Laces

There are new colours coming-I ordered Shepherd Sock and Lace in all the colours. We also have some Solemate and Shepherd Sport coming

The pink is not a new colour-it snuck into the picture.














- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

TNNA Day One

I know that pictures will work from my mini post. I've been trying to do the long post but the error keeps coming. Almost all the pictures are gone and we will try again.

I just got back from the show and am sitting in the lobby of the hotel. Beth is upstairs having a nap and it is hard to write in the dark.

I accomplished lots today. The first stop was madelinetosh to get the new colours ordered. I don't have pictures but will try tomorrow. There are 10 new colours - I should have made notes on the what the colours were - I'm going from memory. The booth was crazy and we had to line up to place our orders.

-rain water (denim blue)
-torchere (red)
-night bloom
-nassua blue (bluish green)
-spectrum (bright colours)
-steamer trunk
-steven loves tosh
-grey garden
-whiskers
-wilted rose (medium pink and brown)
-stargazing

Sorry for the spacing between pictures. I am using my iPad with a program I don't normally use.


Here is the Blue Sky Alpacas booth. Every show their booth is different. It's fun to walk in and see what they have done this time.

There were stops at lots of other booths as well and I have some presents from Sample It. I have a new Namaste bag in Eggplant. It hasn't been unwrapped yet but it will be my show bag tomorrow. I have two new colours of yarn from Freia. These are great.

I also visited with Kate Buller, Martin Storey and Josh Bennett in the Rowan booth. There is a new yarn coming for fall that we didn't know about until today. More details to come but I think you will like it.

Tonight Beth, Bev and I are having dinner with a friend from England. His stories are very entertaining (even if we have heard them before-sometimes we make him repeat an old one because they are so good) and we end up laughing so hard that others in the restaurant stare at us.

I'm going to sign off now to get ready. I could keep writing but this will become the longest post in history.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

TNNA Day One-Take Two

It was a great day at the show. I had a whole blog post done with lots of pictures but for some reason I keep getting an error that the pictures won't upload. I don't know if it is because I had so many of them so I'm trying again with just a few.


The Coat of Many Colors-Crocus Colourway that was hanging in the Mountain Colors booth.


If this works I will write some more short posts with the pictures.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Friday, June 22, 2012

Sock Yarn

It is Friday and we are in the car on the way to Columbus Ohio for TNNA. This is a trade show that I attend twice a year to purchase yarn, needles, books, bags and accessories for the store. There won't be time to post today (it is a 6.5 hour drive that will probably take us 7.5 hours to do-3 women in a car have to stop lots for the washroom) so I wrote this last night.

I picked up a box at the post office Tuesday night from Crystal Palace. We have new colours of Mini Mochi.

Very pretty!!

As I was surfing Ravelry yesterday I saw that Stephen West is doing another Mystery Shawl Knit-a-Long.

Here is the link to the Ravelry page


The price of the pattern is $4-mine has been purchased. The first clue will be coming on July 13. It is a leap of faith but I haven't met a Stephen West pattern that I don't like. I did his Earth and Sky KAL last and loved working with a deadline. You don't have to keep up with the group but I liked getting my knitting done so when the next clue came I was ready to go.

I started thinking about colours. Actually it didn't take long at all.
Lorna's Laces (sorry that I got the L upside down) Solemate in Kerfuffle. It is a very dark purple.
Noro Taiyo Sock. This has a small touch of the purple.
I can't find it right now but somewhere Stephen posted to think of Spectra and Daybreak when choosing colours.

I hope to post sometime on Saturday with pictures from the show.

Thursday, June 21, 2012

Offhand Designs

Tonight's post is going to be short. It's 10pm and I'm finally getting a chance to sit down and write. A lot of my day was spent and my parent's new house. The furniture came today and it looks awesome. They are very excited.

My clothes for the trip are in the dryer and then I can pack. I hope I didn't forget anything because there isn't time to do another load of laundry.

An email came from Larissa at Offhand Designs this morning with pictures of the new bags. I will get more at the show.

The new Marcella bag. This is the Sonoma fabric.

 Monterey
Tiburon
Mendocino

The Zhivago bag will be available in Mendocino, Monterey and Sonoma.
 I like the new clasp on the bag.

The dryer is done and it's time to pack. One more picture
Scottie in Sausalito. I wonder if Larissa will notice if it goes missing from her booth?? I love this fabric.