Happy Birthday

Meet the Mezquita Shawl. (pattern purchased on Ravelry) What yarn? Serenity 20 or Serenity Silk Single or Serenity Glitter Sock from Zen Yarn Garden. This colourway is Mossy Oak and we have it coming in Serenity 20. Can't wait? Not your colour? Don't worry because we have many amazing colours in the store. One skein and 5mm needles is all you need.

Melo is 10 today. Wow does time fly by.

As a puppy he had to have something in his mouth at all times. We had a lot of toys in our house.

He's a little lighter in colour (and maybe a bit lazier) but still just as cute :)

They have started on our neighbour's house. That is good news. By the time we move the house will be framed and hopefully there will be a bit less dust.

Free Pattern and New Knitting App

A Simple Little Something (download the pattern for free on Ravelry) is knit in one skein of Mrs. Crosby Satchel. What a great way to try out this yarn. I promise you won't be disappointed. I have used it many times - it feels great in your hands and blocks out beautifully.

Amy Herzog has created a very cool app. I must admit that I haven't played with it yet but I do know knitters who have and they only say good things about it.

The Knitter’s Toolbox is exactly what the picture says – an app we’ve written that contains four super-useful, general-purpose knitting calculators:

• A buttonhole spacer
, which will space a number of buttons easily over a number of stitches;

• A multi-purpose gauge widget
, which will take any two of the following, and tell you what the third must be: row/stitch gauge, row/stitch count, and length;

• A shaping placer
, which will tell you how you must space your increases or decreases to get as smooth a line of shaping as possible while keeping the number of “even” rows the same;

• A pick-up calculator
, which will tell you not only the total number of stitches to pick up along a vertical edge, but what that translates into as a ratio.

All those calculations that no one wants to do but we need them in our knitting. I'm not sure what is more exciting - the buttonhole spacer or the pick-up calculator.

I have no new knitting to report. The last few days have been spent getting the taxes done. My personal return and my HST return are done.

There have been a few miles put on my car this week going to the new house to make sure that things are going ok. We've had a few issues. This is a totally new fireplace. Everything. The old stone was taken off and we started from scratch. It's looking good now. The mantel needs to be stained again and we are waiting for a trim kit for the actual fireplace - it's like a picture frame so you won't see the black.

For the past two days we've had three men on their hands and knees removing all the grout from the main floor. Every room is tile - long planks that look like hardwood. The grout was supposed to be grey and somehow we got a bad batch. They are redoing it tomorrow.

We're getting there.

Yummy Cables

Fiona Ellis has a new pattern. Wow! These are beautiful cables.

You can purchase the pattern for Russian Hill on Ravelry.

Reminiscent of the switchbacks on Lombard Street in San Francisco the cables on this cardigan zig zag back and forth. 

It also has a unique feature; the I-cord button loops are worked on both the left & right fronts so that it buttons from both sides.

The yarn? Sport weight.
-Mrs. Crosby Hat Box
-tosh sport
-tosh pashmina

I'm inspired to knit cables now.

SOLD, SOLD, SOLD

I'm back to my knitting. Clue #2 of Follow Your Arrow is done.

So far I am following the A stream. Clue 3 has been started since my pictures and I ended up doing A again.

We had some great news last week. Our townhouse finally sold. It's been a long haul. Getting up every morning and cleaning the house isn't something I wish on my worst enemy. Makeup and hair products away. Bed made with the 10 throw pillows (who thought that was a good idea). Wipe the granite counters and sink. Clean the hardwood. Make sure dirty laundry is in the hampers. The house shone for 6 months. Today not so much. Now we just have to get our new house in order. We've had possession for a month but there are issues. I'm not going to go into them all but we've had the fireplace redone. A wall knocked down and redone. Today we met with the builder about our tile floor. The house has been painted 3 times already and then need to paint it again. Everything will work out. Just not fast enough for me. We don't have to move right away so we are getting the new house in order before the moving truck comes.

Today was a shopping trip to Urban Barn. There was a sale on living room furniture. We bought a special chair for the loft. This is going to cause a fight!

For a snuggle or a snooze, this chair invites and delights, providing a nest-like retreat for one or two. No-sag springs and reinforcement provide extra support while three plump cushions and a toss pillow surround your private sanctuary.

The perfect chair to read or play on the iPad. In quiet. It will fit a human and a dog. Now you see where the fight begins. Which human and which dog?

Now I need to go finish my tax return. Nobody wants to keep the taxman waiting.

Yarn and Puppies

We had a great day at the Frolic. A room full of yarn and knitters. How can that be a bad day?

Thank you to the Frolic organizers and volunteers for a great day.

Thank you to dad and Beth for helping Friday night and then coming back yesterday afternoon to pack up.

Thank you to my crew - Lynn, Sarah and Wannietta. You won't see Wannietta in any pictures because she was also a Frolic volunteer and was working that job before the show opened. Once the crowds were let in we didn't have time for more pictures.

Dad, Beth, Lynn and I went on Friday night to set up the booth. Lynn stayed overnight and we headed out early to finish up in the morning. Unfortunately I didn't take into account the extra time needed because the DVP was closed. It was a bit of a rush to get ready. When Sarah arrived she asked about booth pictures. I handed her my phone and off she went.

Sarah Selfie.

Sarah and Lynn Selfie. They knit the cover sweater of the newest Interweave in Mrs. Crosby Carpet Bag. Now everyone is thinking about their Knitter's Fair sweater. We need to decide early so that Wannietta can get in on this.

We had some special visitors in the booth late Saturday afternoon. Missy has been working with Guide Dogs for years. She takes them for the first year of their life and they go everywhere. She's had dogs in my store. At the Creative Sewing and Needlework Festival. They go on vacation. To the bar. Wherever Missy goes, the dog goes. Right now she has two.

Beth told me to trade yarn for this guy. He is so cute. I want/need him.

Here is a link to the website about Guide Dogs. Rick Mercer did a segment on them and until then I didn't realize that Guide Dogs get no government funding. These dogs are a life saver for many people.

Today is all about rest. And knitting. I need to get back to my pashmina shawl. Tomorrow we unpack. I'm hoping that if I leave everything in the van that someone will magically unload it for me.

One more sleep

We're home from setting up the booth. It will look much better tomorrow after we get the garments hung and the booth 'fluffed'.

This is going to be a quick post because it's bed time. 5am is going to be here soon.

The Longest Day

The new Twist Collective is out and there is a great article on the Provisional Cast-On...

Unlike a standard cast-on, which is intended to permanently secure the stitches at their base, a provisional cast-on is temporary.

The patterns in this issue are amazing - shawls, sweaters and even a kids section. You can purchase them from Twist Collective or you can purchase the patterns on Ravelry (and then they will be in your Ravelry library)

I am in love with tosh pashmina. There hasn't been a lot of knitting time so I don't have pictures of my shawl but here are a few suggestions if you want to knit with the yarn.

Pattern: Rosa (free on Ravelry)
2-3 skeins of pashmina

Pattern: Shalimar (purchased on Ravelry)
3 skeins of pashmina

Lace and cables combine to create beautiful curves in this lace stole. A luxury blend of yarn makes this a truly opulent knit.

Today is the longest day. We are ready to pack the van and head to Toronto but it's too early to do that. The store is a mess. I'm set to go. Now I have to wait. And think. Did I pack everything I need? Samples? Kits? Patterns? Bags? Display items? Brochures? And the to do list starts to get long. But I'm working so I can't do running around. Then there is the biggest question. Will everything fit into the van? I can't wait until tomorrow when we get on the road.