As Soon As Possible

Need a super quick project? I was going through my closet last night and came across my Auburn Wave (pattern purchased on Ravelry) knit in tosh ASAP on 15mm needles. I made a few easy adjustments to the pattern.

Work 20 garter stitch ridges
Work Eyelet pattern
Work 10 garter stitch ridges
Work the Eyelet pattern
Work 10 garter stitch ridges
Work the Lace Border until you run out of yarn.

My shawl took 2.5 balls. Talk about instant gratification. 

When we were putting away the Cocoknits Notions, I found 2 of the original Knitter's Keeps in Olive. These have been discontinued and are being replaced by the new Maker's Keep (arriving just in time for Christmas).

We have bad news about our Cocoknits order. The Colored Stitch Stoppers didn't arrive. The good news is that they double shipped the Neutral Stitch Stoppers so we have lots of them.

The Natural Mesh Bags are really nice. The fabric is very smooth - it almost feels waxed - and your yarn will not catch on it. It will easily hold a ball of sock yarn and a pair of socks.

A box of books arrived in Myrtle Beach in time for mom and dad to bring them home. 

I think the store is in order for Cathy and Lynn. I hope the store is in order for Cathy and Lynn :)

Now it's time to back and bed. It's going to be an early morning.

New tosh colours

I've been tracking 3 boxes that are on the way from madelinetosh. They should be in the store late Monday afternoon. Cathy and Lynn will unpack them on Tuesday and I will get the yarn on the website when I get home.

There will be 10 brand new colours in merino light.

We are also receiving skeins of vintage, dk and sock.

For some reason I was up early this morning and was in the store before 8:30. Emails are done. Mail orders are done. Bills have been paid. I've started my post and I'm updating the website.

More Manos Fino Mini Skein kits arrived today. Here are some great patterns that use a mini skein kit and a full skein of Fino.

The cowl is called the Trolley Tracks Cowl and the pattern is free on Ravelry.

The Fino Shadow Shawl is a free pattern on Ravelry.

The Fealdan Shawl is another free pattern on Ravelry. I'm packing up yarn for this and it's going to Lynda tomorrow. I'm going to use kit #3 (Clarissa) with a full skein of 437 Mother of Pearl.

The Fringed Violet Scarf (pattern free on Ravelry) is knit with just one Mini Skein Kit.

Someone asked me about our Christmas Hours. Wow - that's getting close.

Saturday December 23 10-4
Wednesday December 27 10-5:30
Thursday December 28 10-5:30
Friday December 29 10-5:30
Saturday December 30 10-4
Tuesday January 2 10-5:30

Christmas on a Monday is going to be fun. The store closed for three days in a row almost never happens. And then two more days for New Years.

Mom and dad should be home in about an hour. They don't have a key to their house (don't ask - long story) so Beth and I are meeting them to let them in. And I'll get my boxes. YAY!

Getting organized to go

I was looking for something last week and found a scarf that Beth knit but didn't block. Who are we kidding - I didn't block it :) It's been blocked and now it's hanging in the store. The scarf takes two balls of Zauberball Starke 6 - one ball each of two different colours.

Last night she finished a cowl. Lynn has sewn in the ends and is going to block it for Beth.

Pattern: Cara Cowl (purchased on Ravelry)

This slipped stitch polka dot pattern is a simple way to add a beautiful texture to Stockinette stitch. Knit in the round, the finishing couldn’t be more simple. Enjoy the color play as you watch this pattern unfold.

Yarn: Tosh merino - 1 skein each of cloud dweller and spectrum

The true colours of True Colors in day light.

Pom poms are a great addition to a knit hat. We have a limited supply of faux fur pom poms in the store. An order should be arriving on Thursday with more. I placed another large order today and received an email from the supplier that they have a limited amount in stock and then won't be receiving any more until the end of December. Don't be disappointed. Get them while we have them.

I just talked to my parents and they are leaving Myrtle Beach in the morning and will be home tomorrow night. I should have the Cocoknits accessories in the store some time on Thursday.

The new Lykke Interchangeable sets should be arriving in the US later this week or early next week. I'm predicting that we will see them in the store around December 13. This is just a guess and I hope that it will be sooner.

I went through my list of people who have preordered the kits. After they get theirs it looks like we will have 6 each of the Indigo and Umber kits available.

I always love visiting Trish. My hair is no longer grey and it is much shorter. I'm ready to go away on Friday. I even managed to knit a few rows at the salon. Now it's time to do some laundry so I have clothes for Vegas.

It looks like we are going to have nice weather.

Pom Poms

True Colors is growing. The further I get the more I like it. (I'm writing quickly so I can get a few more rows finished before bed.)

Great news. Mr. UPS dropped off my box of Cocoknits notions in Myrtle Beach today. Mom and dad should be coming home on Wednesday and the notions should be in the store on Thursday. Should is an important word in this sentence. Things can change my parents might not drive home until Thursday.

Pom Pom Makers arrived today. Large and X-Large. This tool will help you to make clean, tight pom poms.

Here is a YouTube video from Kristin Nicholas for making a Pom Pom Garland.

I'm very excited. The contract was signed today. Knitting Camp 2018 will be at Bayview-Wildwood Resort from September 19-23, 2018. Beth Casey will be back with us for yarn dying. Beth and I have been discussing some fun new ideas.

I'll have more information (including more instructors) in a few weeks but I wanted everyone to know the dates. 

One of a Kind

Another beautiful scarf by Svetlana Gordon. Her work is stunning.

Pattern: Water Lily (purchased on Ravelry)

I'm heading to One of a Kind after work tonight. Imagine what she could charge for her finished work at the show. I would have a price tag of at least $600 on a scarf like this.

I'm home and had fun at the show. Once I got there. It took an hour and half from the store. Construction. Accidents. The drive home was 50 minutes. I was disappointed the past few years at the show but this year I found lots of things that I liked. A few things came home. Two mugs to match mugs that I already own. A very cute leather purse. Much smaller than my other purses. And then the purple hippo.

I had all this written last night and then we had technical issues. My pictures weren't uploading from my camera to my computer. My email wasn't working on my phone or iPad so I couldn't email the picture to myself. I finally shut the computer down and knit. After much playing this morning (and maybe a few bad words) it finally worked.

This was the purple hippo that I saw first. He is huge. It was a good thing that Beth wasn't with me because he might have come home with us.

 

These are the smaller hippos. They are very cute!

My new purse. It was made by a young couple from Toronto. Their workmanship is very good. I love the colour and the textured leather.

Our hippo. Right now he lives at the front door.

Match & Move has been put away until Friday. I'm really happy with how the colours are working.

I worked on True Colors this afternoon. I knit 8 rows and then had to rip out 8 rows. I forgot 2 rows of the pattern. That's the problem with having the pattern memorized (or so I thought). I didn't look at the pattern and was merrily knitting along. Then things didn't line up. I learned my lesson. Glance at the chart just to make sure. The Grey Cup is about to start so I'm going back to it. And I want to get this posted while we still have WiFi. It's been going in and out all day. I need to call Bell but couldn't bring myself to do it today.

Socks

I was busy today ordering new yarn.

Coming from Fleece Artist.

 Festival Socks in the National Parks Collection colours.

This light fingering weight sock yarn has a nice tight twist for a durable sock. The silk adds warmth and a bit of sheen while the kid mohair increases the strength and give a subtle haze. Price $27

100g/400m.  32sts/4"  45% SW Merino, 25% Nylon, 15% Kid Mohair, 10% Silk

At this time we can only get 3 skeins of a colour and they should be arriving late next week.

I received an email from them last week that this was going to be available today at 1pm EST. I was logged into my account at 12:45 and waited patiently for 1:00. As many of you know, I'm not a patient person. The collection finally came online and I got it into my cart. It took a while for the transaction to happen - I think their website was a little overwhelmed. I waited patiently and knit. I had to have this yarn :) After 1/2 an hour it finally went through. The yarn has been shipped - that's why I needed to be patient and get it ordered at 1pm.

There is a new collection coming from Opal with 8 great colours. I'm hoping we'll have these in a few weeks.

You won't be disappointed with a pair of socks in Opal. Beth has many pairs and they are thrown in the washing machine with Tide and then in the dryer. She doesn't look after them and they look great.

425m / 465yards
75% wool / 25% polyamide

Everybody needs to collect “Energy” for the upcoming autumn and winter season. Prepare yourself with Power, Entschlossenheit (determination) and Dynamik for the cold days outside and enjoy your life with warm knitted clothes filled with Energy.

Freia Shawl Ball is on sale until Monday. Fletchling (pattern purchased on Ravelry) uses two colours - one ball each.

There wasn't much knitting today but I'm going to sit down now and do a few rows.  Two more rows and then I get to introduce the fourth colour. It's early to bed tonight. I'm in the store tomorrow and then running to Toronto for One of a Kind. I hope it's a good show this year.

Leather Closure

Wannietta knit a cardigan for Beth a long time ago. It was too small for Beth but now it fits. We were supposed to have a zipper sewn into it but that didn't happen. Beth wants to wear the cardigan tomorrow so we added The Latch Leather Closure from JUL. There are four up the front and it looks great. My pictures of the full cardigan don't look great so I'm going to ask you to take my word for it.

When we finally find the time to take the cardigan in for the zipper, we can unscrew the leather closures and use them for something else. Or if I decide that I want them for something else they are easy to remove.

Happy Thanksgiving to our friends south of the border. I hope you are enjoying your really long weekend. I enjoyed watching football this afternoon. And a bit of knitting. I've been working on Match & Move. The pattern is super, super easy. It is the same row over and over again until you reach a certain number of stitches. Then you repeat the same two rows until the shawl is finished. Perfect for planes, trains and automobiles. I'm going to work through this colour because I want to see how the fourth colour plays. Then it is going to be put away until our flight next Friday.

I made a few adjustments to the pattern

-I'm knitting on a 3.75mm needle. The pattern says 2.75mm-3mm but I think that the fabric is too tight on that size needle. I also want my shawl to be bigger

-I'm fading in the colours. I worked the first colour (A) until I was 8 rows less that the colour change. Then I did 2 rows of B, 2 rows A, 2 rows B, 2 rows A. Now the repeat will go 2 rows of B, 2 rows A, 2 rows B, 2 rows A, 32 rows of B, 2 rows of C, 2 rows B, 2 rows C, 2 rows B, 32 rows of C...

Now back to it for a few more rows before bed.

Effortless and Stylish

Mr. Canada Post dropped off a box from Lynda this morning. Veronika is here. And she is fabulous.

Pattern: Veronika (purchased on Ravelry)

This select pattern is included in the Indie Design Gift-A-Long! Come join us at http://www.ravelry.com/groups/indie-design-gift-a-long for all the inspiration, chat and cheer you’ll need to get your gifts finished this year. My gift to you is a 25% discount on this pattern when you use the coupon code “giftalong2017” from Nov 21, 2017 at 8:00 pm US EST to Nov 28, 2017 at 11:59pm US EST.

Size: 2nd
Yarn: 3 skeins of Eco + (there was almost 1/4 of a skein left over)
Buttons: These are JUL Pedestal Buttons.

JUL Screw-in Pedestal Button Styling Tacks take you way beyond what you expect of buttons. We like to think of them not only as a button substitute, but as unique mechanisms for styling in creative ways.  They are moveable and removeable, flexible, versatile, sleek, and stylish.

With a cozy, oversized shawl collar and textured ridge stitch body, Veronika will shine knit up in your favourite worsted weight wool. Whether paired with a tank, top or dress, Veronika is effortless and stylish. It’s sure to be a cardigan you’ll reach for over and over again. Knit in one piece, the unique construction of this roomy cardi makes it a quick and fun knit!

I can't wait to wear True Colors.

In case you didn't receive our latest newsletter, here is the link. The store is ready - signs are hung. Look for the pink signs that say Black Friday Sale. The website is ready. I've set up one page for all the sale yarns.

I have 15 minutes to get the rest of my tasks finished before Survivor starts. Yay. It's knitting time.