It's Here

It's here and looks great!!!

Patternfish

A friend of mine has started a new company that sells knitting patterns online, Patternfish. Currently there are almost 900 patterns in the data base. There are search criteria so that you can find a pattern easier, for instance, men's, v-neck with cables. You will find out of print patterns from Reynolds (old Norah Gaughan designs like this one), Naturally, Twilleys, Style Craft and Classic Elite as well as new patterns from Cabin Fever, Phoenix Bess (a 15 year old designer who has a book coming out next year), and a Sally Melville exclusive.

You can now browse for patterns in the comfort of your own home, download the patterns and then bring them yarn shopping.

If you are a pattern designer, please contact Patternfish about having your patterns on the site.

Della Q

My first shipment from Della Q just arrived.
This needle case will hold 12 circular needles. There is also a zippered pocket. Made out of 100% silk it measures 8.5" x 8.5" when tied.

For the last two years I have looked at these while at TNNA. I really liked them but didn't order because the numbering for the needles was in American sizing. They are now available with Metric sizing.



Four colours are available. Shown in Green Stripe. Also Available in Blue, Fuchsia and Yellow Stripe.

Revisiting an old friend

I know it has been a while since my last post. I stayed away from the computer last week and did some knitting. I worked on my shawl for part of the week and then picked up Lizard Ridge again (I had to try out the new colours of Kureyon).
This is 217-Earthtones W, Teal Yellow
This is 233-Deep Blue, Olive

Yesterday I went golfing. My body is very sorry today. It has been almost 2 years since I played-my game was awful but we had fun.

Some of you signed up to receive the emails about new sock and shawl yarns. The first went out on Friday when a shipment came in from Lorna's Laces. There are many new colours of Shepherd Socks and six colours of Helen's Laces. If you were having troubles signing up, please send me an email and I will add you to the list.

I have started pulling books off the shelves for the tent sale.
-select Rowan Magazines $20
-select Rowan smaller magazines (for individual yarns) $15
-Nashua magazines $8

Customers have been asking when the new yarns will be arriving.
I just talked with Berroco and their yarn and books should be here by the middle of July.
Rowan is supposed to be shipping on July 15 so we should have the magazines and yarns the following week.

Work in progress, new yarn, coming soon

I am going to start sending out two new newsletters for the store. The first will announce the arrival of sock yarn and the second shawl yarn and patterns. Those receiving these emails will have at least a 24 hour advance warning before the yarn is put in the store or I mention it on my blog. Just click on the 'Join The Needle Emporium Email Mailing List' to the left and enter your email address. You will receive an email asking you to confirm the areas that interest you.

I really wanted to start a new project but decided that I had to get some of my other projects finished. This is the Dawn shawl that I started quite some time ago. I am about 30% done.



Lorna's Laces is bringing out 4 new colourways for fall. This is Helen's Lace in the new colour Ashburn. The new colours should be here in about 6-8 weeks. I was given this skein so that I could get it knit up in time for the Knitter's Fair. I have the pattern picked out but I have to finish my Dawn shawl first.




Rowan Colourscapes is a new collection of chunky single-ply Shetland style wool. There are eight different colour variations available which were created by Kaffe Fassett.

Fall Rowan Preview

I am back in the store today. There will be lots for me to do. A shipment of the Noro arrived yesterday. The new colours of Kureyon and Silk Garden are here.

The trip to TNNA was great. Seeing old friends and meeting new people is always fun. And the yarn!!! Most of my ordering was done before the show. The show is a great place to see garments knit up and find accessories (bags and shawl pins) that we don't have here. I did damage in four booths

Namaste
-the new bag called Newport looks great.
-Peacock (the new seasonal colour) is a dark teal blue. The pictures on the Internet don't do the colour justice

Offhand Designs
-there are six new fabrics for fall which I have ordered in the different styles. These won't be in the store until September

Prism
The colours available from Prism are some of the best on the market. It is amazing to see a whole booth with these amazing yarns hanging-it really makes you want them all.
-Gossamer is a new lace weight mohair.
-new colours coming in Lace Wool
-new colours coming in Saki

Lorna's Laces
There are four new colours for fall. I ordered these in Shepherd Socks a couple of weeks ago so that I could be first in line. At the show I added these colours in Helen's Lace. You might see a trend happening here-lace and sock yarn. More and more customers are coming into the store looking at the lace yarns so I have decided to give you an amazing selection.

While reading some discussions on Ravelry I saw that pictures of Rowan 44 had been posted on the Internet. Since they are being shared by others, I figured that I would share them as well. Sorry that they aren't bigger but now you can drool until the magazine comes out. This is Rowans 30th anniversary issue and the designs are fabulous. They remind me of the designs from Rowan books 1-6 that made me fall in love with Rowan.

I have been told that the release date on the Rowan is July 15 so we should have it a few days after that.


















The four garments on the right of this picture are knit out of Kaffe Fassett's Colourscapes. This is a chunky, self-striping yarn. There will be a magazine with about 10 designs dedicated to this yarn. I loved the look of the yarn and the colours.

Heritage Days

We arrived home safely on Tuesday night. I will post on the weekend about some of the great yarns and accessories that were ordered at the show.

Heritage Days is this Saturday in Ancaster. Normally Wilson St is closed from Rousseaux (right by the store) to the other end of town from 10-11am. This year the road is closed from 10am-1pm. A parade runs through town but doesn't start until after the store. There will be a police officer at the corner of Rousseaux and Wilson but I don't know if they will let you down the road to the store. You might have to park at the corner and walk. Sorry for any inconvenience-the signs were posted while I was away and I just saw them yesterday.

Gotta run. I have errands to do but I wanted to let you know about Saturday.

Opal Sock Yarn

New colours of Opal sock yarn should be on the way to me as you are reading this. I tried to make the picture bigger but this is as big as I can get it.

Lace Cardi

I finished the cardigan at 5:20 this afternoon. All sewn together, all ends sewn in and I added a crochet edge. Sorry-no time for pictures. It is now in my suitcase ready for the trip.

We are leaving early in the morning. Hopefully the hockey game doesn't go into overtime again tonight-I need to get some sleep.

I will have lots to post about when I get home. Have a good weekend-enjoy the warm weather.

Tent Sale

You might want to make some notes before coming to the sale.

We will have back issues of some Rowan magazines available for great prices. Bring a list of the magazines you already have. Also, take a look at Rowan's website and see if there are any issues that interest you.

All Lantern Moon knitting needles will be 50% off.

Namaste

I just received an email from Namaste to announce their newest bag. It is called Newport (the middle bag). I will be seeing the actual bag this weekend. I knew about the bag because it has been advertised in a trade magazine but I didn't want to let the cat out of the bag too soon.

Peacock blue is the new seasonal colour (and will be available in all 3 bags). I hope to have these bags in the store in a couple of weeks.

My day has been crazy. Up at 8am for the workers (who didn't show up). I did some work here at home, did some running around and then went and helped Beth at the warehouse. I came home because the electrician was supposed to be here at 3 but now I find out he isn't coming either. Now it is off to Suds to have my truck washed and cleaned out inside and then to the nail salon. Unfortunately all workers are supposed to be here at 8am tomorrow.

I'm liking knitting lace

The time on this post is correct. It is 8am!! We are waiting for the drywallers to arrived and finish the ceiling in the basement. I can't wait for the renovations to be done so I can go back to sleeping in until 9.

I have been diligently knitting to try and get my cardigan done. We are off to Columbus, Ohio on Thursday for a trade show and really want to take it.

It does look longer on the mannequin than in the picture. I add two extra lace panels before the armholes and one after. Since the mannequin is smaller than me it hangs really long on her but it isn't that long on me.

Since taking this picture I have finished the first sleeve. The front and backs are knit and then joined with a 3-needle bind off. The sleeves are then picked up and worked down. The sewing will be a piece of cake.
Dad and Beth are putting down the sub floor in the basement.

My dad is a blur because he is moving so fast.

Tomorrow is dad's birthday. We are just going out to dinner with their friends-not another big party.

Almost done

This was written on Friday and then I forgot about it until I just opened up Blogger.

The basement is moving along. The drywall is done!! I picked out the paint colour this week. Not knowing what to pick I went to Benjamin Moore and asked for help. The first colour the lady suggested was Spiced Rum. This is the colour of the main room in our house. I might have snorted and then explained that we would like something different. We are going with a dark, earthy green. Yesterday morning Beth and I picked the colour for the felt of her pool table. We decided on a dark wine. We could have gotten a green close to the paint chip but when the colour is on the wall it could be totally different. Dad and Beth are spending today putting down the sub flooring. Painting starts on Tuesday and then the flooring.
I did not want carpet so we are having laminate. The colour is called Pecan.

It is now Tuesday morning. The painters were supposed to be at our house at 8am. Friends own the painting company and Mike called at 6:30 if he could come. Beth didn't answer her phone so Mike showed up at 7. It has been a long day already. My truck is having its check up this morning so I am without wheels. What a terrible feeling. I have no idea how I am getting back to the dealership tonight to get it-maybe my dad will take pity on me.

Did finished the sub floor yesterday. The painters will get the primer done and the first coat on today. The floor can then be put down, the pot lights put in and then the final coat. We might be done next week. Thanks goodness-8am is killing me. Now just picking out a bed, bedding and towels for the bathroom.

I finally picked up my knitting needles again last night and did a couple of rows. I really have to sit down and get going on my lace cardi. I just did the cast off for the armholes on the back. I only have a week to get it done so it is safe to say that it won't happen (but you never know). I am going to sign off now and get knitting.

It's Pink

The new Knitter's Satchel from Jordana Paige is pink. On Ravelry this morning, Jordana wrote that the new colour (and out of stock colours) would be available in a couple of weeks. I have already ordered the pink so I am guessing we should have them in about 3 weeks.
The lining is very pretty. Very girlie. :)

Cat Bordhi sock kits plus other great yarns

I spent this morning unpacking more yarn. It is always a happy day when the mail man and UPS lady arrive.

From Lorna's Laces
A new kit called Flying Carpet Socks by Cat Bordhi. The pictured socks are Lorna's Laces Gold Hill and Mountain Colors Wilderness. The 5 other available colours are

LL Mixed Berries & MC Winter Sky
LL Sassy Stripe & MC Sun River
LL Tahoe & MC Mountain Tango
LL Rainbow & MC Meadow
LL Iris Garden & MC Wildflower

We also received some skeins of Helen's Lace. This is lace weight yarn, 50% wool, 50% silk with 1250 yards on a skein. The colours in this box were Lakeview and Tahoe-more colours have been ordered. It is always a surprise opening a box from Lorna's Laces. We never know what colours are going to be there-kind of like Christmas.

In Shepherd Socks we received
Child's Play
Purple Iris
Mt Creek
Iris Garden
Uptown
Jay Pond

The box from Dream in Color was full of surprises as well-both good and bad. I thought the box was going to be full of Smooshy (the sock yarn) but there were only 2 colours-Flamingo Pie and Butter Peeps. The good news is that we received a lot of Baby-the lace weight yarn.
Spring Tickle
Deep Sea Flower
Petal Shower
Chinatown Apple
Dusky Aurora
Cocoa Kiss
Cloud Jungle
Flamingo Pie
Go Go Grassy
Lunar Zazzle
Pansy Golightly
Into the Mystic

I am going to turn the heat on and knit for a bit. It is cold here today. I can't wait to get home and turn the fireplace on.

Knitting Bags

A shipment of bags from Offhand Designs arrived yesterday afternoon. I was going to post about it then but 3 posts in one day would have been way too much.

This is one of the new fabrics for spring-Cosmo Bloom. It looks fabulous in the Zhivago Weekender as well as the Zelda Grand below.
I am currently carrying around a Zelda Grand bag. LOVE IT. I have the back and one front of my lace cardi in it along with extra balls of yarn. It doesn't look big but you can fit lots in it.
This is Hip to be Square. The colour was available in the fall but we didn't bring it in. I don't know why because the colours are great-browns and rusts. Because it is last seasons fabric, it might not be available for too much longer.

I just sent out a store newsletter and in it I talked about Jordana Paige's Knitters Satchel. There will be a new colour coming out on Friday. You can enter to win a free bag - hurry -it has to be done by Thursday night. Edited to add Sorry-I didn't read the fine print-you must be a US resident to win. I put in an entry and it took my address so I assumed Canadians could enter as well.

Pictures

Wow, two posts in one day. I should have saved this for tomorrow but the pictures were taken and I had time right now.

This is a picture my mom painted for my bedroom. I obviously don't get my art talents from my mom!! I almost failed art in grade 7. In grade 8 we had to keep a sketch book. Every week we had something new to draw-a glass, apple, light switch or something else around the house. My mom did mine for me. The art teacher wasn't very bright because she should have been able to tell that someone else was doing my work-I almost fail one year and get an A the next?
These are hanging in my bathroom. There are 4 pictures in total but I couldn't get them all in one picture.

I found these pictures at a craft show last Christmas. The artist, Karen, is from Burlington but doesn't have a gallery where you can shop. She did have a booth at the spring One of a Kind Show so I am assuming she will be there again this fall.

Here are some important dates if you are a Rowan fan. The fall Rowan magazine will be released on July 15. We should have it in the store soon after that. The next Rowan Studio magazine (#10) will be available in June along with Kim Hargreaves new magazine, Nectar.

My first dinner party

My mom turned 65 on Friday so Beth and I decided to throw her a dinner party on Sunday. Many of the guests were in awe that we actually cooked the food and didn't have it catered. The menu included
-lasagna (made Thursday night)
-ham
-pot roast
-scalloped potatoes
-roasted potatoes
-cauliflower
-carrots
-Caesar salad (brought by someone else)
-Oreo cheesecake (made Saturday night)
-Ice cream cake (brought by someone else)
-Cheesecake (brought by someone else)

Beth and I had many discussions about how much food to make. We thought that 15 people were going to show. NOT. We had 20. Luckily we did have enough food but there wasn't a lot left over.

It was an all week event for this. We were at the grocery store at least 4 times. Then we had to go to Pier 1 and buy some more furniture. We have great couches in the loft but there wasn't anywhere to put down a drink so we had to buy some end tables. Unfortunately the Ancaster store only had one so Beth had to go to Hamilton for the other. We also had many pictures to be hung so dad did that on Friday night and Saturday afternoon. There was also the trip out to buy more cutlery. We had enough for 8 but now have enough for 16. Napkins. Napkin rings. More serving dishes. All the little things you don't need for day to day life but all of a sudden need when feeding the masses. We are now set for the next event!!!

I forgot to mention picking out the flooring for the basement. Cathy worked on Thursday finishing the kitchen clean up (which looks amazing). I ran out to get us lunch and stopped at home to see how the drywall was going. Dad was there hanging doors and asked me to run and get coffee. When I returned to the house the flooring guy (my dad's friend Jim) showed up so my dad asked me to take Jim to Home Depot and see the flooring we picked out. I am just going to say that I spent over an hour and a half at Home Depot-the story is way too long and just makes me mad. We now have the flooring in our garage and it was on sale for half price so everyone is happy. It was just one of those things that I didn't need to deal with on that day.

Yarn is on its way
-more Shepherd sock yarn from Lorna's Laces. I have notification that it left the US so it will be here any day
-more Dream in Color smooshy. I just talked with UPS and it should be here tomorrow

I did get some knitting done on my lace cardi over the week. Both fronts are done and the back is almost to the armhole shaping. I'm going to stop writing now so that I can get back to the knitting.

More cleaning

Our basement is moving along. The drywall is being taped today. I can't wait to clean up all the dust. :)

I have been working on my Lace Cardi. Both fronts are done and I am 20 rows up the back. I haven't taken any more pictures because it looks just like the first piece.

It is my mom's birthday this weekend so Beth and I are hosting a dinner party on Sunday. It will be the first time someone has eaten at the dining room table. We plan to get them all drunk first and then they won't notice if the food isn't good.

I've gotta run. Cathy and I are cleaning out the kitchen today and tomorrow. It has become one of those rooms where you open the door and throw things in and quickly close the door before things fall on you. It will become my office and shipping room. Right now I haul everything home to ship-not fun.

I guess my mom hasn't been to my blog lately or she would have been bugging me to do more posts.

Cathy worked all day yesterday and made amazing progress in the store. It is looking fantastic!! We packed up many, many garbage bags of yarn for the tent sale. My garage is getting full-Beth isn't happy. Included in the bags are
-discontinued colours of Noro Silk Garden and Kureyon
-more Colinette

The Dream in Color Classy now resides in the front window. The colours show up great in the natural light-not great in the picture-sorry.
This is the Blue Sky Alpacas Skinny Cotton and Dyed Cotton along with Berroco's Bonsai. The skeins look great hanging.
The wall of chunky yarns has been tied. We have cleared out some of the discontinued yarns (think tent sale).
Cascade 220 and Cascade 220 Heathers. All colours are now on the shelf and there is a large colour range. I just finished putting these on the website as well and hopefully Korey will get the shade cards up soon.
I found this stand at Home Sense and the shawl pins look great on it.
The entrance way has been totally changed. We had baskets of Colinette yarns. These are all in my garage now and are waiting for the tent sale. All Colinette will be $10 at the sale.

We put the shawl yarns in the entrance.
Dawn, Fino and Prism Lace make up a great colour assortment.
Jane knit the Oakleaf Shawl in Dream in Color Baby. More colours should be here in about 4 weeks.

There are a couple of reasons for all the pictures.
1. I like blog posts with pictures.
2. It shows why I haven't been posting-too busy rearranging.
3. It will make my mom happy-it is Mother's Day this weekend.

A shipment of Shepherd Socks arrived yesterday. Beth picked it up at the post office for me and people were grabbing skeins out of my hands as I was unpacking it.

Silky Merino from Malabrigio is in the store. Three colours arrived today with patterns coming for fall. The suggested tension is 18 stitches to 4" making it great for garments and scarves. The sheen on the yarn is amazing.

On Monday I was in Toronto visiting some of my suppliers. They hold open houses for us to see the new yarns for the upcoming season. There are a couple of great yarns coming from Noro. Silk Garden Chunky-I don't think I need to say anything else except when is it going to arrive because I want it!! Silk Garden sock yarn. New colours in Kureyon and Silk Garden that will be in the store at the end of this month. Kureyon sock has new colours that will be here in August (fingers crossed). There will be at least four new books using Noro this fall.

It's almost home time and then I will be back later tonight for class. I am so tired. They are doing the drywall in the basement now. 8am and I don't agree with eachother. They will be doing the taping starting on Monday-luckily they don't start until 9am.

Have a good weekend and Happy Mother's Day.