Happy New Year

Happy New Year to you and your family. I hope it was a productive knitting/crocheting year for you. Here are the projects that I finished during 2015.

The Doodler

Here are some of the finished projects from our latest Knit-A-Long. This Doodler was knit by Lorraine (yes, the same Lorraine as yesterday's amazing shawl).

These are totally my colours.

Here is Carolyn's Doodler. Another great colour combination. It has been fun seeing the finished shawls. Every one's colours are so different.

Dana was very, very busy during our latest KAL. She managed to knit three different shawls.

This is In Quiet (pattern purchased on Ravelry)

Focused (pattern purchased on Ravelry)

Ley Lines (pattern purchased on Ravelry)

If you knit a shawl for the KAL, we would love to share pictures on the blog. Don't forget there is only one more day to finish and post on Ravelry or send me pictures to be entered into the draw.

Wish this was mine

I love it when customers send me pictures to share. It makes my blog post for the day much easier.

Pattern: Quadratische Decke Shawl (purchased on Ravelry)

This shawl is absolutely beautiful. Lorraine knit it for a Christmas gift. Can you believe giving this away? If she wasn't going to keep it she should have brought it to me.

Here is a close up so you can see the many, many beads that are knit into the shawl.

Lorraine used 3 skeins of Mrs. Crosby Train Case (a fingering weight yarn) in African Grey.

55% Superwash Merino Wool
15% Nylon
30% Outlast® viscose
Approx. 425 yds / 100g

Outlast® technology is proactive, using phase change materials (PCM) to absorb excess heat from your skin when you are warm, and releasing that heat back to you when you need it most.

Shawls knit in Train Case drape beautifully. The yarn is also amazing for socks. The nylon is there for strength and the Outlast will make sure your feet don't get too hot.

Thanks for sharing Lorraine. It is beautiful.

Log Cabin Afghan

Big Delight is one of the yarns on sale this week. Regular $12.95 a ball on sale for $6.50.

10 balls will make the Log Cabin Afghan. You can mix and match colours or use the same colour for every square. A totally different look but both beautiful.

 This is Cathy's Log Cabin Afghan knit in Noro Kureyon. Big Delight will stripe like Noro but there aren't as many colours.

Here are the colours that we have 10 or more balls of.

Colour 12

Colour 3

Colour 6

Colour 8

Colour 10

We don't have full bags of these colours but they will mix well if you are using different colours.

Colour 1

Colour 2

Colour 7

Colour 9

Colour 13

Beth came by the store this afternoon with my mom's SUV and took my mustang and put it in my parent's garage. Thank goodness she did. At 4:45 it was clear out. At 5:15 it was full on snow storm. The wind was blowing the snow around and the visibility wasn't good. The back deck is covered in snow and it is sounding like freezing rain now. My work is finished for the day so it's knitting time.

Ready to work

We're back to work tomorrow morning. The store will open at 10am and there will be great deals on select yarns and kits.

I've extended the sale online until I get to work in the morning. Then these yarns (plus more) will be available in the store.
 

There has been a lot more knitting. I didn't finish the first balls of the ZickZack Scarf. But I'm close. I set the scarf aside to work on my Unicorn Stripes Cowl. I'm so close that I think I'll be able to block it later this week.

Beth loves the new table - now she can puzzle. Cathy gave her two puzzles for Christmas and both are done. Now she's going through the puzzle closet. We have a lot of puzzles.

I'm giving myself another hour of knitting and then it's bed time. I hope we are really, really busy in the store tomorrow. 

Lazy Day After

I hope that everyone had a Merry Christmas. The plan was to write last night but I was too tired. We were up early for church and then stopped at mom and dad's to do gifts. Then home to get the house ready. We had 17 for dinner - thanks Aunt Rene and Aunt Barb for cooking. The food was awesome.

Yes, Aunt Barb is wearing a hat, scarf and oven mitts. It isn't Christmas without a game. Most years everyone brings a gift (divided into men and women) and the first person takes a gift. The second can take from the pile or steal. We had fewer people coming this year so we decided to do something different. And if you've come to Camp, you know that Beth loves a new game.

Dad came home from work a few weeks ago and asked Beth to make 8-10 boxes that fit one into the next. Linda from his office needed them for her Christmas game. Beth decided we were going to do that. She cut down boxes so that we had 12 that fit. The smallest was a wrapped gift card. Then it went into a wrapped box. Into another wrapped box..... Everyone sat in a circle and we had dice. We didn't want them flying around the room so Beth put them into the lid of a puzzle box. If you rolled doubles you got to work on the present. But first you had to put on the hat, scarf and oven mitts. Then you could start getting the paper off. When the paper was off you had to get the box open (of course they were gently taped closed) and then start on the paper on the next box. The dice are still going around and the next player who rolls doubles jumps in. It happened quite a few times that you got on the hat, scarf and oven mitts and were about to go at the box when the next doubles were rolled. We had many, many laughs. Seriously funny game. I'm pretty sure we will be doing it next Christmas.

There has been lots of knitting today. I keep thinking that I'll be back at work tomorrow but I have another day off. I hope to be finished the first two balls before we open the store on Monday.

Christmas Eve

It is hard to believe the weather. December 24 and I'm not wearing socks. If I wanted to I could have the top down on the car. Unbelievable. I've been in Myrtle Beach for Christmas when it was much colder than this.

The tree is ready. We left a little room for the presents from Santa.

I've started to pull the serving dishes out for Christmas dinner. Aunt Rene and Aunt Barb are cooking. That guarantees a great meal.

The scarf is growing but there won't be many more rows tonight. It's almost bed time. Tomorrow is a busy day.

Late Night Knitting

I'm a bit tired today. After Cathy, Sarah and Lynn left last night I sat down to knit. You can't put the scarf down because you need to see what colour is coming next. And I'm pulling from the middle of the ball so I don't know until it reaches my needles.

I'm making a list and checking it twice for yarns that are going on sale. These yarns will be on sale in the store (sorry, not on the website) on the 28th when we reopen after Christmas.

You won't have a problem figuring out what yarns are on sale. We're making signs on bright lime paper. You can't miss them.

Debbie Bliss Roma and Roma Weave
70% Wool
30% Alpaca

$9 a ball

What can you make with Roma (and Roma Weave)? Take a look at this bulky shawl...

Sandpiper from Classic Elite Yarns

Each strand of Sandpiper has five space-dyed shades, giving it highlights and shadows that occur organically as the eight plies interact. These mingling colors add depth and interest, but their similar values mean Sandpiper still shows texture and lace beautifully! 

50gram
104m (114 yards)
4½-5 sts/inch on US 7-5 (4.5-3.75 mm) needles

Download the pattern for the Sandpiper Mesh Scarf (it takes 4 balls)...

$6.75 a ball

Patterns on Ravelry for Sandpiper...

Big Delight is on sale for $6.50 a ball.

The multi coloured print with long colour repetitions creates unique patterns and exciting colour combinations, which means that within one dye lot, lighter or darker varieties might appear. This is no fault or defect, but part of the yarn's character.

Content: 100% Wool
Tension: 16 - 19 stitches
Weight/length: 100 g = approx 190m
Recommended needle size: 5 mm
Knitting tension: 10 x 10 cm = 17 sts x 22 rows
Hand Wash, max 30°C / Dry Flat / Feltable

Here is an interesting scarf/shawl pattern for Big Delight on Ravelry...

And a cowl...

For more patterns, go to Ravelry and type Big Delight into patterns. There are 3 pages of great designs.

Louisa Harding Noema is on sale for $5 a ball.

A bit of TV and the shawl is growing.

ZickZack

MountainTop Chalet’s colorful cousin, Chateau is the same super-soft baby alpaca/bamboo blend with a chainette construction. It knits up quickly, which is perfect for last-minute holiday gifts. Any pattern written for Chalet will knit-up just as beautifully in Chateau.

Soft and squishy Chateau is an excellent yarn for a cowl. This one is worked in the round, and has four wedges of Reverse Stockinette stitch that are decreased to make the base wider than the top.

Nancy's Cowl - a free pattern from Classic Elite Yarns

 Of course I cast on the ZickZack Scarf today. Actually, I cast it on twice. I did it in the store and we were busy and I messed up the third row. The best thing to do was break the yarn and cast on again. I went up a needle size on the second go. 3mm seemed too small - I hope I made the right decision or I could be casting on again.

Cathy, Sarah and Lynn just left after our annual Christmas dinner. We had lots of laughs and ate way too much. Now it's time to do a few rows and then bed.