Tuesday, February 28, 2017

Coming Soon

Today was spent getting the website ready for two shipments. 1500 skeins should be leaving Texas at the end of the week. We'll have fun unpacking all the tosh. There are new colours coming in merino light.
Abiquiu

Sandstorm
Popoki
Bronze Age

There will be 12 colours in all. We are low on existing colours as well and after next week the shelves will be full again.

Early next week a shipment will be leaving Ireland with new colours from Hedgehog.
Bubble
Daydream
Pesto
Juniper
Cheeky. There are 11 new colours in all.

It's going to be a fun week.

I made it to the fourth colour (on the left). To blend in the new colour you work 2 rows of the new colour, 2 rows of the old... 4 times. Then the old colour is cut.
Wannietta's Rainbow in the Gorge is growing and it looks awesome. I love the colour gradation.

Monday, February 27, 2017

Knitting Camp

The brochure for Camp is finished and you can view it here...

We are excited that Beth Casey (owner of Lorna's Laces) and Fiona Ellis will be joining us again this year.



Workshops for the Knitters Frolic go on sale Wednesday morning. Don't miss out.


Beth is on her way home. I called her as her plane was boarding to make sure that she got on. I was afraid she was going to stay for the week and get more golf in.
Dad and Lucy took her to the airport. What a pair. Can you imagine pulling up beside them at a stop light?

A newsletter just went out. We've had problems with newsletters not being delivered so I changed to MailChimp. It is a small learning curve but I think I'm getting it. If you don't receive the newsletter, you can sign up in the top right hand corner of the blog.

There wasn't much knitting for me today. Here is a scarf that Beth is working on. She didn't take it with her for fear of having it covered in dog hair and dog slobber.
It's her Crazy scarf in Rockshelter Sock. When I brought the yarn home she grabbed these two skeins right away. Now to get her knitting faster so we can hang it in the store.

Sunday, February 26, 2017

Fading

My Find Your Fade in Life in the Long Grass. I'm into the third colour.
I couldn't help myself. There is another one going in Rockshelter Sock. I thought that I was going to get more knit today but I was busy flipping between the golf and the Daytona 500.


An email came today about Stephen West's MKAL that is starting this week.
We will be holding 2 strands of yarn together to create beautiful marled sections!
Gather at least 800g of yarn to work with for your Mystery Shawl palette. I recommend combining colors you love and enhancing them with something extra special from your LYS.
Join the MKAL on Ravelry
I pulled out a pile of fingering weight yarn this afternoon. I have yarn from
-Lorna's Laces
-Mrs. Crosby
-madelinetosh
-Life in the Long Grass
-Hedgehog
-Prism
-Frabjous Fibers
-Malabrigo

There are still a few days before we start. I think I need a few more speckles. I'm going to take my pile to the store tomorrow to see what I can add.

Feed Me! This was at breakfast this morning. Beth said that she is very good and lies down while everyone is eating but she was coaxed into doing this for a good picture. That is one big head.

Saturday, February 25, 2017

More Rainbows

Wannietta sent a close up of her cardigan last night. It's looking good. I can't wait until we have the finished cardigans in the store.
Here is a close up of the twisted stitch patterning along the waist. You can see gradient quality of the greens here!! Frabjous is aces at this. 
I left the pic sideways as this is how the garment will be worn. 342 stitches per row makes for rather slow visible progress, but it's coming along!

There were new shades of Fortuna in the box from Classic Elite. This yarn is a great combination of linen, viscose and cotton.
Summery shades with a tone-on-tone dye effect. The same wonderful drape and fabulous fiber combination as self-striping Bella Lino.

Farrah (pattern purchased on Ravelry) is knit in Fortuna.
An A-line tunic worked in stockinette with handkerchief points at lower edge.
The Summer Poncho (pattern free on Ravelry) can be knit in Fortuna.

Outline is finished. All the ends are sewn in and it's blocked. I love Skinny Singles from Hedgehog Fibres. It blocks out beautifully.

Mom and dad (and Lucy) have been in Myrtle Beach for a week. Beth flew down for the weekend. I sent her this picture last night to let her know that the dogs were good.
This is what I got back.
Lucy is ready to head to the dog park. 



 Someone is very tired after the dog park.

Friday, February 24, 2017

Rainbows

I had my post almost finished when this picture came from Lynda. It needs to be the lead story tonight.
This is coming along quite nicely.  My plan is to finish second sleeve over the weekend and pick up and knit the front border and shawl color next week.
Rainbows in the Gorge in the Enchanted Woodland colourway.

I 'borrowed' this picture from Wannietta's blog.
I took a bit to get going on this piece. I was ultra aware of the gauge - I am normally quite tight in my rows, which would be problematic with this construction as the rows are counted and accuracy is crucial. Julie specifically said to go up a needle size, so I was worried about being too loose.
It is almost spot on, the stitch gauge is a twitchy bit loose, but the length is on target, so I'm not displeased.

We are still unpacking. Today it's a box from Classic Elite and there are two new yarns. The first is called Yuri.

A central leaf lace panel is flanked with stockinette stitch and bordered with more leaf lace to form a sculptural wavy edge.
Generously sized, this rectangular wrap is worked end to end in one piece.
The pattern for Ayame can be purchased on Ravelry...

See all the patterns for Yuri on Ravelry...

A year round yarn in a sock weight that does so much more than socks, Yuri is made from incredibly soft merino (21 micron) and comes in ten tonally dyed shades. The merino is spun and dyed in Peru and grown in Uruguay, where it is certified to be from woolgrowers that do not practice museling on their sheep. The tone-on-tone dye effect adds a subtle depth to the floral inspired colors.
 Hanako is another new yarn.
Cotton and linen combine for a classic summery yarn in a popular worsted weight. The long wearing linen fiber has a subtle sheen and adds body; Cotton adds stitch definition and softness. This yarn gets even softer the more it's worn and the light and vibrant palette is perfect for warm weather wear. The generous yardage per hank makes Hanako a good value.
50% cotton
50% linen
20 stitches = 4" on 4.5mm needles
200m (220 yards) on a skein

There are seven designs for Hanako - see them on Ravelry

Hanako is a true worsted weight yarn. Take a look at the sweaters in the search I did on Ravelry...  There are some great designs - choosing could be hard.

Thursday, February 23, 2017

New Colours

We thought we were unpacked and then Mr. Canpar brought more boxes today. We are stocked on shopping bags for the store and there was also a big box of Debbie Bliss yarn.

We have new colours of Rialto Luxury Sock from Debbie Bliss. Cathy (above) and Wannietta (to the left) made ZickZack (free pattern on Ravelry) with very different colour combinations. You need 2 balls - 1 of each colour.
A beautiful wool blend which comes in rainbow shades with a touch of tweed.
Yarn Weight: Sock Weight
Blend: 75% Wool 25% Polyamide
Meterage: 400m
Needles: 2.25mm (US) – 3mm (US)
Tension: 30–36 stitches and 40–48 rows to 10cm/4in) square
Meadowside (pattern purchased on Ravelry) is knit with 2 balls as well. One ball each of two different colours.


There was another big box filled with Zara from Filatura di Crosa. Who doesn't love to knit with 100% merino wool from Italy?
The Library Vest (pattern purchased on Ravelry) looks amazing in Zara. Our sample is the finished 43" size and it took 13 balls.

Our friends at Estelle Designs sent a great book and ball winder to go in the gift basket for the Food Drive. There is still another week to make a donation.
The next clue to the Ambah MKAL is out. It is taking a very different direction tonight. From Ambah
Your Hale-Bopp Shawl is going to take on a new direction now.

Don’t be alarmed if you use the rest of MC and CC1 in this clue, it is as it should be….

I’m looking forward to watching these grow.

There’s 2 weeks for Clue 3. Not quite as much knitting as clue two, but I wanted to make sure there was time for folks to catch up in time for Clue 4.
It's time to get knitting.