Azalea

The plan was to write a post last night but the afternoon/evening got away from me. I had a meeting, then chiropractor, then back to my parents to do laundry and pack up. I was tired by the time Beth got home and we moved everything back to our house. The dogs were very excited to see her.

We have new colours of Azalea from Louisa Harding.

100% Cotton
240 m on a 100gram ball
22 stitches = 4" on 4mm needles

$19.95 a ball.

Louisa Harding has a pattern book for the yarn plus there are designs available for purchase on Ravelry.

Marigold - purchase the pattern on Ravelry...

Thyme - purchase the pattern on Ravelry...

Another idea (which I've seen knit up and it is beautiful) is the Easy Fold Poncho from Churchmouse. 

I don't have a picture of the Azalea poncho but it hangs beautifully like this one. Perfect for summer evenings when you need something light to through on.

4 balls is more than enough to make the poncho.

Cathy and Lynn are busy counting and reorganizing the tosh merino light. We need room because a shipment is coming at the end of April with 100 skeins of One of a Kinds. These could be skeins where the colours didn't turn out exactly like they were supposed to. Maybe whiskey barrel that ended up with purple in it (one could only hope). Or they could be skeins where madelinetosh was trying new colours. We won't know what they look like until they arrive but I have a feeling that they will be awesome. If they arrive in time we will be bringing them to the Frolic.

Now it's back to the website. Lynn and Cathy are making their way through all the madelinetosh to make sure that our numbers are correct.

Crazy Scarf

Beth dropped by the store last week and saw the Zauberball Crazy. She had to knit with it. But it's sock yarn and she doesn't like thin needles. I came up with a scarf pattern for her. 3.5mm needles. Cast on 100 stitches. Join in the round. Knit 2 rows of one colour then 2 rows of the second colour. Keep going until you run out. It will be a double sided scarf which is okay with her. She doesn't have to purl and there isn't a wrong side.

No, the picture wasn't taken here. She flew to Myrtle Beach on Friday to spend some time with my parents.

The dogs and I have moved in to my parents while she is away. We have a small problem at our house - coyotes. Beth saw them walking in the field one Saturday morning. And you can hear them at night. Right now the fence around our yard is temporary. We are afraid that if the dogs hear the coyotes then they will try and find them. With two people it isn't bad but I don't want to have any problems by myself.

The move took a lot. Knitting. Sewing machine. Fabric. Clothes. Shoes. Dog food. Food for me because my parents have been away for a bit so there isn't anything in their house..... I'm not looking forward to pack and move back tomorrow. Going on a trip takes less work to get ready.

Two boxes came today from SweetGeorgia.

These are the four new colours of Tough Love Sock for spring. Celery, Passionfruit, Apricot and Lilac. They remind me of Easter Eggs. It was very hard but I didn't not take any of the Lilac home.

Some time was spent today on the website. The Gradient kits from Fiberstory are now available online. While I was doing this, I made a special section on the website for the mini skeins.

The dogs and I had a long nap after work. It seemed like a good idea at the time but I'm afraid we'll be up all night now. Oh well. Lots of knitting.

Rasta

I hope everyone had a Happy Easter. We had family dinner in Burlington and it was great.

New colours of Rasta arrived today. You might be thinking that it's the end of March and you don't need super bulky yarn but it was really cold out there today. And if you look at the long range forecast we could see snow on the weekend.

886 Diana

A lightly-fulled single-ply yarn of magnum proportions! Whip out a super-cozy accessory in just hours with this super-sized delight of a yarn. Our premium Uruguayan merino is just as soft as ever, and Rasta comes in a range of our unique “watercolor multi” colorways as well as a rainbow of semi-solid basics. Unbelievably squishy, this is the yarn to turn to when you want the ultimate in warmth (or the ultimate in speed!)

133 Reflecting Pool

 005 Aniversario

136 Sabiduria

035 Frank Ochre

849 Sombras

One skein will make a simple cowl. I love this yarn because you can make something really, really fast. There are times in the middle of a complicated or slow project that you want some instant gratification. Rasta is the perfect yarn for that.

This was sent to me today. Thanks Dalia. Words to live by :)

What we're working on

My ZickZack is growing. I want need to get it finished so that I can start another one.

Lynn has a new project. She has been raving about the pattern, the yarn and the needles.

Pattern: Mingus by Cookie A (purchased on Ravelry)
Yarn: tosh twist light in prairie fire
Needles: Knitters Pride Karbonz

These socks are worked in the round from the top down and feature lace and twisted stitches.

 These are Cookie's original socks.

I need to finish my post because it's time to do my Easter baking.

Good Friday

I hope everyone had a Good Friday. My afternoon has been spent quilting. My big decision for the day - do I keep quilting or knit tonight?

The Fiberstory order that arrived earlier this week included Gradient Kits. I forgot how nice the colours are.

This pattern is called the Crosshatch Cowl (a free pattern) from The Purl Bee.

Sarah (the creator of the kits) made the following modifications to the pattern to work with the gradient kits.

In order to use the gradient kit most effectively, I used the following modifications:
Cast on 372 sts with darkest color in gradient. (would obviously work starting with the lightest color, as well!
color 1: Work 5 rounds in pattern
colors 2-6: Work 6 rounds.
color 7: Work 5 rounds.
Bind off in pattern.
The cast on and bind off rows are counted as the 6th round for the lightest and darkest colors, making each band of color approximately 6 rows wide.

Sarah used an 8mm needle.

A few minutes of work (making signs for the shelves in the store because we moved yarn around) and then it's time to relax.

Tough Love Sock

My day in the store started later than normal this morning. We had quite a bit of freezing rain over night. The trees look beautiful but the roads didn't.

The crackling noise is very loud outside of the store right now.

A shipment is on the way from SweetGeorgia with lots of Tough Love Sock. There are four new spring colours coming. Right now the shipment is scheduled to arrive on Tuesday afternoon.

A perfect blend of warmth and strength to make a hardwearing sock yarn that can stand up to your affection and abuse. Tough Love Sock is our best-selling yarn and knits up beautifully into fine-gauge sweaters, small shawls, as well as socks! Spun from 80% superwash and super soft merino and 20% nylon, this 3-ply yarn is so versatile — knit it firmly for hard wearing socks, knit it loosely for drapey shawls, or knit it doubled for a great worsted weight substitute. Suggested gauge for sock knitting: US 0-1 (2-2.25mm) | 8 sts/1″

80% superwash merino wool, 20% nylon 425 yards / 388m

Here are some suggestions for Tough Love Sock

Finsbury

With delicate leaves of lace and texture, this infinity scarf is a gorgeous display of elegance and colour. Whether worn long for style or doubled up for warmth, you’ll love the lightweight feel and casual sophistication.

yarn: 1 skein SweetGeorgia Yarns Tough Love Sock

needles: Size 6 US / 4 mm needles, circular or straight

Purchase the pattern on Ravelry...

Prismatic

With lace sprinkled across the fabric like a prism of colour, these playful socks are the perfect small-project to knit. Hints of twisted stitches and a fun stitch pattern allow our Bulletproof Sock yarn to shine. 

yarn: 1 skein SweetGeorgia Yarns Tough Love Sock

needles: Size 1 US / 2.25 mm circular needles, 32″ / 80 cm for magic loop

Purchase the pattern on Ravelry...

Lagom

The colours from the Party of Five set gradually, and beautifully, create a gradient that is both rich and subtle. Textural stitches enhance the effect while promising a knit that is luscious in its squishy, lightweight comfort.  

yarn: 1 skein SweetGeorgia Yarns Tough Love Sock in Birch (MC) (425 yd / 385 m per 4 oz / 115 g skein; 80% Superwash Merino, 20% Nylon)
5 mini skeins SweetGeorgia Yarns Tough Love Sock in Swell (CC) (1 set of Party of Five, ~525 yd / 480 m per bag; 80% Superwash Merino, 20% Nylon)  

needles: Size 4 US / 3.5 mm circular needles, 24″ / 60 cm long

Purchase the pattern on Ravelry...

My post for the day is done early and now it's time to add to the website. The new shawl pins from JUL need to go up.

Billy is my new friend

We did more rearranging today. The front room has a new look. Billy is our new best friend. I'm going to head to Ikea next week to get Billy shelves for my sewing room.

Speaking of my sewing room, I started on my quilt after work. I don't really have a pattern. I'm using a free pattern from Amy Butler as a guide. I have a rather large collection of purple batiks. I think that there is enough to make the king size quilt that I want. In my head I see the quilt grading from very dark to very light. We'll see how this works.

The weather outside is not nice. A lot of freezing rain is coming down right now. I hope to be in the store at 10am but if it keeps up I might be a bit later.

Now it's time to watch Survivor and work on my knitting.

Rearranging again

We're doing more rearranging in the store so Beth went to IKEA this afternoon to pick up more shelving. We've fallen in love with Billy.

Lynn has been having fun playing with power tools.

I just finished a baby cardigan.
Pattern: In Threes (purchased on Ravelry)
Yarn: 2 balls of Sublime Evie
Size: 0-6 months

Evie is made for Sublime in Italy using the finest Mako cotton. They selected a palette of fresh, punchy shades and classic neutrals that work wonderfully on their own as well as in the most stunning colourwork pieces. The lightweight nature of Sublime Evie means that it is perfect for layering on those cooler Summer days.

94% cotton, 6% nylon
115m on a 50gram ball
18 stitches = 4" on 5mm needles

There is a pattern book for Evie as well...

The worsted room has a new look and there are more Billy book cases in Beth's truck to be put together. I think we're going to work on the front room tomorrow.

New colours of Mille Colori Baby arrived this afternoon. I'm a bit obsessed with the yarn right now. There are new colour combinations for ZickZack swimming in my head.

 150

151

153

Beth and I went out front about half and hour ago and there was orange flashing in an upstairs window of the house under construction across the street. The smoke detector was going off and boy was it loud. Beth had her cell and called 911. As she was talking with the officer we realized it wasn't a fire but the officer said that a truck needed to come out. The truck arrived with the lights flashing and the two firefighters went in. Not a fire but extremely high levels of carbon monoxide. The firefighter came over and said it was a good thing we called.

After all that excitement it's time to sit with a tea and knit. I'm going to watch the new show Criminal Minds Beyond Borders and see how it is.

Boomerang

I did a bit of blocking yesterday afternoon. The boomerang is finished and it is a great size for a scarf. If you want it bigger then you keep working pattern repeats.

Pattern: Crazy Magic Boomerang (purchased on Ravelry)
Yarn: 1 ball of Zauberball 100 - colour 1699

Pattern: 3 Color Cashmere Cowl from Joji (pattern purchased on Ravelry)
Yarn: One String Quintet kit from Lorna's Laces - I used Tuba

The box from Fiberstory finally arrived and the new colours of Fave sock are calling me.

A 100% SUPERWASH merino, springy 2 ply with a tight twist and the look of a cabled yarn.  

Perfect for a comfy pair of socks or any other project calling for a fingering weight yarn!

There are 366m (400yards) on a 100gram skein.

We have been in our house for almost a year so I decided it was time to set up my sewing room. I got out some fabric tonight and played with a quilt idea. The thought was right but my numbers were off. Tomorrow night I'll try again. 10pm isn't a good time to be thinking numbers and trying to add fractions and make it all work.