Happy New Year’s Eve

I made it outside just before it got dark. The pink is coming - hopefully tomorrow. There should be lots of knitting time tonight. I was never a big New Year’s Eve party person so staying at home is okay in my world.

We received a new yarn this morning.

Kid Seta from Pro Lana. This is a mohair/silk blend, lace weight yarn. It can be combined with or used instead of Rowan Kidsilk Haze and Le Petit Silk & Mohair. I chose colours that were missing from the other companies.

Churchmouse Yarns sent out a newsletter today showing their Family Slippers (pattern free on their website.)

I remember my aunt knitting these by the dozen. 

A basket near the front door heaped with these Family Slippers makes for the warmest of welcomes. Our version of these nostalgic slippers evolved from several versions of the pattern found in every auntie’s knitting bag. We finessed the toe a little, but left the heel in its simplest form. Embellish your slippers with pompoms, tassels, or buttons—or try our split cuff for a preppy, Oxford shirt look!

The slippers are super easy to knit - all you need is 5mm needles and worsted weight yarn that you will double strand.  

They did a bunny version too. Download the pattern

It’s time for dinner (chicken wings) then dominoes and then knitting.

Have a good evening saying goodbye to 2020. I think we’re all ready for 2021.

Ambah O’Brien

This is Ambah O’Brien’s Melaleuca Shawl. It is one of the many patterns she debuted in 2020. Ambah wrote this in the newsletter she sent out today.

In the meantime, I am taking a few breaths and looking back over the 23 patterns I released over 2020 with a 20% off through midnight January 10 for my annual retrospective sale.
No code needed just add to your cart and you’ll see the discount when you checkout.

Find the 2020 bundle on Ravelry here and on Etsy here.

Combine classic stripes with lace for a relaxed shawl to enjoy year-round. Asymmetrical triangular shaping is easy to wear and so satisfying to knit. Choose boldly contrasting yarns or knit your Melaleuca up with a more subtle variegated yarn and solid colour combination as I did with mine. I loved knitting this as I moved to my new coastal home. The play of colours in this shawl echoes the dappling light in the lovely Melaleuca trees prevalent along the coast.

I have knit many of Ambah’s shawls and would highly recommend her patterns. The are well written and you will love the finished shawl.

A box went to Lynda today with some Kathmandu Aran. Lynda is going to knit another Honey Moss for me. I am in love with the shawl. This is #18 Seaweed.

We received two new colours today.

38 Rapini - a dark blue/green

02 Slate Grey

Here is the Honey Moss that Lynda has already knit for me. I know that the colours are similar but I’m okay with that. 

I made it into the fifth minikin on my Painting Waves Shawl. I will get pictures tomorrow in natural light. I would like to get a bit further into the ball to show the purple and pink that are coming.

Don’t forget that you have until noon tomorrow to take advantage of our Boxing Week promotion.

More gift cards were emailed out today and I hope to/should finish them tomorrow. 

Lots of Shawls

 It’s pretty shawl day at The Needle Emporium.

Diana dropped off her latest project today and was wearing a beautiful shawl. This is her Passeggiata knit with the Back to Basics minikin kit. This colourway wasn’t on my radar but I think it should be. Diana said she tried to plan out the colours but then decided to just wing in. The combination looks fabulous.

She has yarn in her hand to knit Only Good Vibes for me. We are using Hedgehog Alpaca Boucle and Skinny Singles in the colour Artichoke.

You can purchase the pattern for Only Good Vibes on Ravelry.

Photos © Melanie Berg

Diana knit Birds of a Feather for me. You can purchase the pattern on Andrea Mowry’s website. It is gorgeous. The colours are so bright and cheery. I love it over black. Imagine it over a jean jacket. Or a white summer dress. We used Soul Single and Soul Mohair from the Old Soul Fiber Co in the colour Pink Panther.

Now I want one in every colour!!!

It’s almost time for bed. More stupid dreams last night. I think I was worried about our Fantasy Football. I had reason to worry because it was very close but we ended up winning. This is what Yahoo said about us after the draft - they weren’t kind and ranked us last. We showed them. 

Who are the ladies with Wannietta?

My friend and I went out for pictures after work.

I was able to knit quite a bit yesterday. I will be starting the second skein of merino light and the fifth Minikin tonight. So far one ball blends into the next really well.

Shirley sent an email with two shawls that she just finished. The shawls are gorgeous! 

From Shirley 

Here are pictures of a couple of shawls I’ve completed.  Find Your Fade is knit from your kit in Rockshelter Sock.  For Only Good Vibes I used HHF Alpaca Boucle in Comeback with Tosh Merino Light in Star Scatter Solid.

There was enough of the Rockshelter left over to make a Free Your Fade shawl....it’s almost done.....lovely yarn to work with!

Thanks for sharing Shirley. Diana is coming by the store tomorrow with a shawl she knit for me. I think that Only Good Vibes could be her next project.

Mr. Canada Post’s truck is going to be full tomorrow. And these aren’t all of them. There is still time to take advantage of our Boxing Week special. If you made a purchase I will start sending gift cards tomorrow. I was going to start tonight but I was up at 6:30 to get to the store early. I would have been okay except for a silly dream. 

We were doing a knitting show and loading the truck to set up the morning of the show (we always set up the night before). Wannietta was going to set up the booth with two ladies that I didn’t know. I decided before loading the truck that we were going to change the kits that were going to be in the booth. Wannietta was going to make the new kits while they were driving to the show. I was fretting about getting set up in time. How much yarn do I send? What display pieces? Will everything fit into the truck? Who are the ladies with Wannietta? Then I remembered that I had been to the show the year before and it wasn’t a good show so we weren’t going to set up a booth. I woke up at this point of the dream. Then I couldn’t get back to sleep because I was still fretting. 

We added a new yarn to our Boxing Week Sale. Vintage Tweed from Primrose. This is a hand dyed dk weight yarn tweed yarn. I have knit with this and it is gorgeous.

We knit Joji’s Hipster (pattern purchased on Ravelry) with 3 skeins of Vintage DK.

Now a few rows of knitting while watching the start of the football game. Beth and I are in the finals of our Fantasy Football League. Right now we are winning but it’s close. 

Boxing Day

It’s always a good day when Stephen West releases a new pattern.

This graphic shawl is knit sideways from the small corner to the wide edge. I-cord edges frame the shape as you increase and decrease with slip stitches. The pattern repeat is easy to memorize once you start knitting and you can make it as big as you want. Three contrast colors are anchored by one main color as you paint with yarn.

This is from his Hiberknitalong2020 Collection. You can purchase the pattern on his website. When you purchase the pattern you will actually get two shawl patterns and a hat pattern.

Photos © Stephen West.

You need 4 skeins of fingering weight yarn to make this shawl.

I quickly read over the pattern. Stephen patterns are well written and easy to follow. For this you need to know how to knit, purl, slip stitches, make 1, ssk, knit 2 together and pick up stitches. 

This is the other shawl pattern that you get with your purchase.

This semi-circular shawl features four skeins of yarn, one skein of the main color with three accent colors. The top-down construction begins with garter stitch and slip stitch rays. You only work with one color at a time for an enjoyable and surprisingly simple process. Little slip stitch dots and bubbles frame the larger sections and a colorful honeycomb section fills the middle of the shawl. Finish the edge with a wavy border using all contrast colors and enjoy your new Westknits shawl!

Photos © Stephen West

I spent a few hours in the store today packing orders. If you placed a curbside pick up order before 12:30 today you should have received an email about picking up starting Monday at noon. We will get working on the rest of the pick up orders on Monday morning. I packed a lot of boxes and we will finish those Monday afternoon. Canada Post will be picking up again on Tuesday.

We missed Christmas with the family but I didn’t miss the Boxing Day clean up. Here are some pictures of Christmas past.

We didn’t put up the tree this year. It’s a day to put it up and decorate the house and then a day to put everything away. We will go all out next year.

He is the other reason for no tree this year. Those decorations would be a lot of fun to play with.