Christel Seyfarth

Jane stopped in early today with a scarf for me. Everyone has been asking where she is because she hasn't been in the store for a while. She has been traveling with her husband. They came home for a week or so and then back on the road. Life with a motor home. Can't blame her. Sounds like fun!!

The Linen Stitch scarf knit in one skein of Everlasting Sock from Dream in Color. The colours came out great and it really looks like it is woven.

Kate Atherley is coming to teach tomorrow so I spent a few minutes tidying the teaching room this afternoon. I found my Malthese Shawl.

 I would like to say that Kim offered to model for me but I kind of made her.

It hasn't been photographed on a human before. I love the colours. Now I want to get back to Myrtle Beach because there is another Christel Seyfarth kit in my closet there to knit.

There are two Christel Seyfarth kits on the way from the US. Actually three but one is for Kim. We are getting the Flora Shawl

and the Lily Shawl. I don't know which colour we are getting for Lily. I guess it will be a surprise next week.

These shawls are knit on circular needles in the round and when done cut open-known as steeking. It sounds terrifying but it isn't.

Here are a few blog posts to visit that talk about steeking and how easy it really is
Kate Davies-steeks 1
Kate Davies-steeks 2
Eunny Jang

I've steeked two cardigans and my shawl. None of them have unraveled. It really does work.

I received an email from madelinetosh yesterday. More yarn should be heading to us soon.

• vintage
• dk
• merino dk
• sock 
• merino light

There hasn't been any knitting so far today. Kim and I have the store to what I'm going to say is almost done. There are a few yarns still in baskets that need to be put away but I must say it does look good.

I bought the season of Chicago Hope today so there will be some heavy duty knitting tonight while we start the series. I think I have a couple of rows and then the armholes start. Can I finish the back this weekend??

DONE!!

Mom and dad are leaving early tomorrow morning for Vancouver and their Alaskan cruise leaves on Saturday morning.  Beth and I decided that they should go a day early and get some rest before the journey starts. Tonight we are having dinner with them-it is a family tradition to have dinner before anyone leaves on vacation.

It is done!!  Okay, there are a few ends still to finish but that can be done during Big Brother tonight.

Now that the bands are sewn down it should be blocked again but there is no way it can be dry for Saturday so that will be a job for next week.

The boxes are packed and I will finish loading the van tomorrow morning.  I still feel like something is missing-we'll see when we start unpacking tomorrow night.

Done and Blocking

At 2am I cast off the last stitch.  I just cut the last steek and took a quick picture before I started to block.

I added a drop of Soak to Phil and added cold water. OOPS!  We have a Brady situation happening.  Too many bubbles.  Do you remember on the Brady Bunch when Bobby (we think) was doing laundry and added too much detergent.  The bubbles went from the laundry room into the kitchen.

I am going to take the shawl out of its bath in a minute and put it on my styrofoam to lay out.  I really need a bigger piece and hope that dad can help me with that tomorrow.  There is one other small problem.  My blocking pins have gone missing.  I will have to stop by the store tomorrow when we are heading to golf to get a few packages.

I think that a nap might be in order this afternoon.  Good TV tonight-Nascar race and Big Brother.  I will get back to knitting Wild Saffron.  There were dreams that it would be finished for Saturday as well but that isn't realistic-the back isn't finished yet.

Six to go

You know that I am committed to finishing my shawl when I pass up an evening of bowling with the kids. I love to bowl!  When I was young we bowled 5 pin and then as teenagers we started 10 pin bowling.

I spent last night on the couch watching episodes of Criminal Minds.  Bev got me started on this during our trip to NY.  A&E shows episodes on Friday nights and Sunday afternoons.  I tape them and they are great for knitting.  It seems like there is a long time between commercials.  While watching the Y&R it seems like it is commercial, then two minutes to knit and then time to hit fast forward again.  You can't build up a rhythm.

There are six rows to go on my shawl.  I think that they should be done tonight and I can cut the small steek that was added so the border can be knit in the round.  Tomorrow I will be 'soak'ing my shawl and lying it out to dry.  The few ends that need to be sewn in will be done when it is almost dry. The cut stitches will be sewn inside the borders and then the borders will be tacked down.

Very Predictable

After I hit 'Publish Post' last night my dad called the store.  "Are you and your sister coming to dinner tonight?".  "Yes we are."  And his response "Good now I can have a beer."  He is so predictable.

I did not get much knitting done last night. Big Brother and then Master Chef.  I was paying too much attention to the TV.  It is amazing that I like watching Master Chef and almost anything on the Food Network.  I don't have time to cook and it really doesn't interest me.  It takes away from knitting time.

I am going to ignore the mess in the store today and knit.  I have to be blocking by Sunday if it is going to be dry for Saturday.

Presenting the last two Christel Seyfarth garments.

The Poppy Shawl.  I am currently jealous of this shawl.  The border is about 1/4 of my border-I would be done by now!!

Kimono style jacket called the Flower Coat.

I can't wait to see this on a real person.

I promised a picture of Lynda's other project.  Big problem.  It requires buttons.  I need to get some thread and a very fine needle to sew the buttons on that I chose.

Beth picked up a box at the post office for me before she headed to the golf course.  Yes, she and my father are taking the afternoon off.  Not so nice.

Back to the box-shawl pins from Romi.  There are an assortment of styles in silver, nickel and copper.  Just in time for the Knitters' Fair.

If I get back to my knitting then a few more rows will be done by the time I close the store.  Have a great night.  Who is going home on Big Brother?

Squiggle

My shawl is progressing nicely. The pattern is working out (thank goodness because I didn't want to start ripping back over 600 stitches).  I did the colours in the right order this time too.  I know that some of you are wondering-no the stitches that were cut are not unravelling.  My hand runs over the stitches as I am knitting and they are behaving themselves.

Yesterday we received many boxes of Sirdar yarns.  Todays yarn of choice is Squiggle Super Chunky.

Sorry, no numbers again and today this is going to prove a bit more difficult. For some reason Sirdar jumped when numbering the yarn.

Starting at the top left the numbers are
600, 602, 603, 606, 607, 608

We are seeing lots of bulky yarns for fall and Sirdar didn't disappoint us with their new yarns for fall 2010.

Squiggle is a fun yarn for your little girl.

All these patterns are available in Sirdar Book #387-Squiggly Knits and in leaflet form.

51% wool and 49% acrylic

9 stitches to 4" on 10mm needles

Did we have sweaters this cute when we were little?

All I remember is the matching granny square ponchos my mom made for Beth and I.  Sorry-very bad memory that I must get out of my head.

Squiggle Super Chunky can be used for any Sirdar pattern calling for Denim Ultra.

Cutting

Beth is going golfing this afternoon so I needed to cut before she left. Someone needed to take pictures for me!

She had many questions and I thought I would write them here because you might be thinking the same things she was.

Do you need super sharp scissors?  No I just used scissors that I bought at the dollar store.

Is it going to unravel?  No.  Knitting wants to unravel down, not side to side. Also, the yarn is Sheltand wool which has small fibres that like to grab onto other fibres.  The pattern suggested using a sewing machine and making two rows of stitching on either side of where you are going to cut.  I did not do this.  Instead I had 10 stitches for my steek instead of the 6 asked for in the pattern.

Do you have to be exactly on the right stitch when cutting?  You want to be as close to the middle as possible (I put on some markers to show the way) but if you are off one stitch it isn't the end of the world.

How do you pick up the stitches?  I am going to start at the top and pick up down to the bottom and back up the other side.  The pick up is going to be beside my increase stitches.

Here is the inside before I started.  I sometimes joined a new colour at the middle of the steek and then I didn't have to worry about working in the ends.

The scissors meeting the shawl.  I am standing at the island in our kitchen.  Not having to bend over made life much easier.

When I am cutting I am holding up the piece I am cutting to make sure that I don't cut through the other side of the shawl.  That would be a disaster.

Midway through the cutting.

Almost done.

This would look much better lying outside but it is raining right now.

Now I am going to start picking up the stitches for the border.

Onto the next event

The Tent Sale is done.  I need to say Thank You to a few people who were instrumental in helping put on the event.  Stephanie and Sally offered their services because they thought it would be fun.  I guess they enjoyed it because they asked if they could help next year.  Thank you to these ladies who gave up their precious time to help.  Then there is my great staff-Jane, Cathy and Sarah.  Jane was in the store holding down the fort.  Cathy came in all week to help sort through the yarn, get it out and then came every day to help at the sale.  Cathy (aka the Neat Freak) was constantly going through boxes and untangling messes.  She kept like yarns together and did a great job of it.  Sarah wasn't feeling well but sucked it up every day to come and work.  She also ran to the store a few times to help out when Jane was overwhelmed with many shoppers.  I like it when there are that many people in the store.  :)

Thank you ladies!!

Now I can get onto the next event-The Knitter's Fair.  I think my shawl will be finished in time.  I have four rows to knit and then my border is done.  This is good for me because I can cut tomorrow.  I know that I said that I would invite everyone to the store to see me do it but I can't wait until later in the week.  Once the steeks are cut I have to pick up over 700 stitches.  Then there are over 60 rows to knit on these stitches.  My shawl will then have a bath in Soak and be laid out to block.  It will take at least four days to dry. After writing this I am getting nervous that it might not be finished.

I finally got a chance to look at the new yarns from madelinetosh.  YUMMY!! These won't be put on the website yet so I am going to list them here.

Pashmina (double knitting weight with 329m on a skein)

madelinetosh pashmina is a 3-ply yarn made up of 75% superwash merino wool, 15% silk and 10% cashmere, a similar fiber blend to the infamous woven pashmina scarves.
this machine washable blend is hand-dyed in small dye lots and knits up to create a soft fabric with great drape.

In Pashmina we have
Lichen-2 skeins
Sugarplum-6 skeins
Hollyhock-6 skeins
Tart-6 skeins
Rosewood-6 skeins

Tosh Merino Light

tosh merino light is a 100% superwash merino wool, single-ply fingering weight yarn.
with a generous 440 yards per skein, one skein is more than enough yardage to complete a pair of socks and two skeins can complete a full-sized lace project.
each incredibly soft skein is hand-dyed in small dye lots. 

We have 4 skeins each of
Fig
Tart
Duchess
Calligraphy
Blue Gingham
Creme de Menthe
Geranium
Bloomsbury
Molly Ringwald
La Vie en Rose

And more Tosh Sock came in the box as well

Teddy Bear

Boxwood

Bloomsbury

Creme de Menthe

La Vie en Rose

Molly Ringwald

Well Water

I am moving upstairs now to knit and relax.  Have a great evening!!

Unexpected Evening

Last night I did something that I haven't done in a long time-went to see a movie.  Beth, Lynda and I talked about a movie on Friday night and Lynda suggested Silver City in Oakville.  They have VIP theatres. These are over 19 (meaning you can get a drink) with very comfy large leather seats.  Beth and I bought the tickets online and then you can reserve your seats.  Amazing.  And it wasn't much more than the regular price for seeing a movie.

I chose The Expendables.  It took absolutely no brain cells.  I could sit for two hours and not think about work or knitting or Tent Sale or Knitter's Fair or Knitting Camp.  Perfect.  Not a Chick Flick but was perfect for me.  I'm not sure I can recommend the movie but there were a few laughs and I didn't fall asleep.

I am going to continue working on Malthese this afternoon while watching golf.  A few more rows and the first part of the border is done.  After finishing the chart I do a purl row and then repeat the chart reversing the colours.

I am an idiot

So yesterday afternoon I am sitting in the store and working on my shawl. The first few rows of the border pattern were done and now I am into the main part of the pattern-starting at row 7.  The chart is a bit hard to read (how many stitches are in the thick black columns) so I wrote out the first row to make the set up easier.  After the first row is done then it is clear sailing.  I get to the middle of the row and I am perfect with the pattern.  Everything is lining up the way it should.  Then it hit me.  I used the colours in the wrong order.  Open boxes are pink.  My writing says start with 9 pink.  No, I started with 9 green.  There were a few choice words said as I was ripping out 250 stitches!!

Here is my border so far.  I don't even have to look at the chart now. Thank goodness since I obviously can't read a chart.

On Tuesday Jane and I did some straightening and I took a picture but never posted it.  Here is the Cascade 220, Tosh Vintage and Noro Kureyon neatly on the shelf.

This afternoon my Rowan Rep is coming in and bringing me some garments from the new Rowan books.  Happy Dance.  Can't wait to see them.

I'm on the border

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That was as far as my post got yesterday morning.  The store was crazy until the afternoon and then I gave myself time to knit.  I need to get my shawl done.  My repeats are all done and I have started the border.  Then to figure out the border repeat.  There are currently 525 stitches on my needle.  No wonder it takes so long to get through a row!!  Once everything was figured out I was good to go while watching Big Brother.  When I got to the 15th stitch on the second row of the chart I realized that I made a mistake on the first row.  The pattern was one main, one background around the row and I did two background at one point.  There was no way I was ripping out over 500 stitches.  I dropped these 15 stitches down and reversed the colour.  A bit dicey but it worked.

Big Brother was great last night.  I am so glad that Kathy did not back down and apologize to Rachel.  Not sure who I want to be sent home tonight. Rachel in the house with everyone ganging up on her will be great!!  She thinks that she has a chance but Matt has that special POV that he can use next week.

Back to the important things. A shipment just arrived from Crystal Palace with four new colours of Mini Mochi.  These tonal colours will work great for lace knitting.

The most recent Knitty has a great pattern called Coquille in Mini Mochi.

Jordana Paige took some more pictures of her soon to be released bag.  I LOVE this colour.

Everyone is asking about the inside of the bag so here are a couple of pictures for you.

I am going to sign off for a bit to watch the golf and get some knitting done-I want/need to get enough done to show a picture.

Here is the picture. Sorry that it isn't better but hopefully I will get a chunk done tonight.