Hair Cut Day

We have a new sample in the store. Meet Humulus (pattern purchased on Ravelry). We used Woolstok from Blue Sky Fibers and Dream State from Spincycle.

Humulus is worked seamlessly from the top down. First some Short Rows are worked back and forth to create a higher back neck and then the round- yoke is worked top down to sleeve separation. Some last short-rows are worked to finish the yoke shaping right beforesleeve stitches are placed on hold, then the body is worked in rounds down to the hem. Sleeves are worked top down to the cuffs last.

Yesterday I showed Rita's Chevron Shenanigans. Of course I played with colours this morning.

Rockshelter Sock
172
145
129
78
237

Hedgehog. Skinny Singles above and Sock below. I used the same colours
Pollen
Fool's Gold
Harvest
Raku
Ferrum

Rockshelter
22
122
195
26
210

Primrose Adelaide
Moonstone
Hayfever
Dirty Pool Toys
Burn Out
Spiced Curry

©Stephen West

Here are two of Stephen's versions.

©Stephen West

It's hair cut day for Roko. He is much happier when his hair is really short.

He was very tired when he came home. It was a long time standing but now he is so happy. He was running around playing with toys. Now it's snuggle time.

Happy Birthday Roko

Our baby boy turns 12 today.

He still looks like a puppy.

Bamboo Bloom arrived this morning. The colours are awesome!

One skein is all you need to make the Simple Rules Cowl.

7

We have new colours of Sirdar Snuggly Baby Crofter DK.

Sirdar Snuggly Baby Crofter Dk is a gorgeously soft yarn with an incredible Fair Isle colour effect that appears as you knit. Inspired by the gentlest colours of the Scotland Highlands, Snuggly Baby Crofter Dk is the same wonderfully soft blend of 55% nylon and 45% acrylic as Snuggly Dk, and is machine washable and easy care. This yarn will also knit to all Sirdar double knitting baby patterns.

The patterns are endless for this fun to knit baby/kids yarn.

We're busy getting ready for the Woodstock Fleece Festival. I'll share a few more show specials with you later this week. We also have a brand new product on the way. We will be the only store in Canada to have this. I was asked not to talk about it yet but as soon as I can I will. I'm very excited about it.

Great day to knit

Roko and I were up early this morning. He wanted out and I decided to start my day. They keep saying that we could lose power so I wanted to do as much as possible while we still have electricity. Tea has been made. Every 1/2 hour I reboil the water in the kettle just to make sure I have boiling water if we go dark. We've had breakfast. Devices are getting charged.

I worked on a newsletter. I think it is finished and Beth will proofread it tomorrow.

Don't forget about LYS Day on Saturday. Our hours for LYS Day will be 9am-4pm.

I have been working on the special LYS Day kit from Trendsetter. I was going to make the shawl using 2 kits but I think that one kit is more than big enough. I have 6 rows to go but I really need to get back to Fading Point. I'll finish this later.

Why did I have to get back to Fading Point? I was at the first colour transition. I'm past it and into the second colour. It's hard to see which is the point :)

Mr. Roko was loving the weather today. Thank goodness my winter coat has a hood because I spent time outside playing. 

I don't think Lucy likes the new couch.

Now it's time for dinner and a bit more knitting. There was a nap this afternoon so I'm ready for a few more hours - as long as I have light I'm good.

New Colours

Ms. UPS brought in two boxes from Mrs. Crosby and Lorna's Laces this morning. The new colours are awesome!

Carina's Afterglow is beautiful. We have it in Shepherd Sport for Cold Roses. We also have it in Solemate.

The new colours from Mrs. Crosby are really nice. What do I want to make??

Prance, Saunter, Traipse and Jaunt. Satchel is the base that I chose for my pictures. This is a single-ply, 100% wool fingering weight yarn.

I put together some colour combinations.

Saunter, African Grey, Wild Huckleberry

Jaunt, Hosta Blue, Great Tailed Grackle

 Jaunt, Creme Fraiche, Saunter

 Creme Fraiche, Prance, French Chambray

Creme Fraiche, Traipse, French Chambray

There were 3 kits for the Food Drive

So I stayed up later than I had planned last night because I had to see how the new colour was going to play.

I'm at the twisted rib. And not knit one through the back loop, purl one. This is knit through the back loop and purl through the back loop. It is so slow making it the one part of the shawl that I really dislike. It looks good but I can't do it quickly.

Someone had fun playing in the yard this morning.

Merino Mia Six Packs

I received an email today from Prism Yarns that they have new patterns for their Eccentric Chevron Wrap kit which are now called Merino Mix Six Packs. Laura Bryant (a master with colour) has combined 6 hand dyed skeins of Merino Mia (a heavy fingering/sport weight yarn) in the most amazing colour combinations.

Instant gratification in a cool collection of six related colors. Make any of our three styles with one pack!  

Mix your colors up or stack them in gradations; the choice is yours and the variations are endless. 

This was the original pattern in the yarn pack. We have two samples of the shawl knit up in the store. Lynda knit one and I knit the other. The yarn is a dream to work with.

I opened up some kits to show the amazing colour combinations that Laura puts together. I want the cowl and fingerless gloves. Picking the colour is going to be hard. I've narrowed it down to these.

Someone got his hair cut today. He looks like a puppy again. Roko has been pretty sad for the past two weeks. I think it was a combination of missing Melo and the fact that he had so much hair and some of it was matted. I know that I'm happy because the dog hair in our house was getting ridiculous.

Chart Trick

I'm enjoying Espe. The patten is very intuitive. After a few pattern repeats you can see where the lines are going and you know right away if you have made a mistake. The other great thing is that the wrong side rows are purled. You can relax on that row.

It is worked from charts that are easy to follow. Here is a little trick.

I write the number of knit stitches between the yarn over and decrease so I don't have to keep counting squares. I have them all over the chart. I couldn't photograph the whole chart because that would be giving away the pattern.

After I have marked up one chart with numbers I make many copies (10 to be exact because you repeat this chart 11 times). Then I can cross off as I do every row. The pattern is intuitive but I still mark off the rows. That way I know where I am if I put it away for a day or two.

We had to say goodbye to Melo this morning. He's been having a hard time walking and there were a few other health problems. He wouldn't take cheese or cookies from me before I left for work and we knew that it was time. There have been some tears but it was for the best.