Lots and lots of knitters

Our day started very early yesterday. The DKC bus was arriving around 9. I was in the store at 8 to make sure that the store was in order. Everything had price tags. Floor was swept. Sweaters were hanging everywhere. Cathy, Sarah and Beth came about 8:30.

I'm not sure if Vic was lucky or not to be driving around 54 women :)

There wasn't any extra room in the store once they arrived. And they came to shop!!! We had it planned that I would do the cash because I know the price of the yarn off the top of my head and it would go much quicker. I have a wireless visa/debit machine for shows and we had it in the store so two customers could be processed at once. Unfortunately it decided that it was taking the day off yesterday. The line moved a bit slower than I would have liked but it didn't affect the ladies. They were happy to be chatting with other knitters and showing off what they were going to buy.

The ladies left the store just after 11 and were heading to lunch before visiting another yarn shop in the afternoon.

Thank you to everyone who visited. It was a great morning.

I sent Joan yarn last week and she brought my finished Waves of Leaves shawl (free pattern on Ravelry) with her. This is a smaller shawl which makes it great for wearing wrapped around the neck. 2 skeins of Merino Mia from Prism were used. Laura Bryant (owner of Prism) is one of the top yarn dyers in the US. Her colourways are amazing!!

Pictures from the past

We are going to have some visitors in the store tomorrow. The DKC (Downtown Knit Collective in Toronto) are coming on a bus trip. 54 knitters are arriving at 9am. Sarah, Cathy, Beth and I will be waiting with goodies. Cathy worked yesterday to help me get ready. The shelves are straightened. Model garments are hanging everywhere.

I needed to find a few patterns on my Mac this morning. While searching for the patterns I scrolled through my pictures. Here are a couple that I really like.

Roko as a puppy. He was so cute back then. He was so well behaved back then!! Roko loves sleep and can fall asleep anywhere-obviously-his head is in the water bowl.

Roko has recently discovered his voice. He doesn't bark but he likes to talk.

My Silk Garden Multi-Directional scarf. I love the colours. The scarf is hanging in the store but you might not recognize it because it is covered in shawl pins.

How about Survivor? Erik getting voted off was amazing. He was so arrogant at tribal council!! I hope that Russell playing his immunity idol will pay off. The previews show him in trouble next week but I don't buy it. The show will be very boring with him voted off.

I showed pictures of the new red bags from Namaste-Laguna and Zuma. They are here!! I don't need another bag but...

It's time to set off for work. Have a good day-it is bright and sunny in Ancaster today.

Spring Rowan

This morning I ordered Rowan for spring. I am not allowed to show any pictures (I would if I could-you know I love pictures) so please don't ask.

There is one new yarn called Revive DK in the Purelife family. 36% recycled silk, 36% recycled cotton and 28% recycled viscose. 8 colours are available. I really liked this yarn and ordered lots. There will be a magazine called Purelife Recycled.

Magazine 47 is using all of our favourite Rowan yarns-Cotton Glace, Handknit Cotton DK, Summer Tweed, Lenpur Linen (cover sweater), Milk Cotton (DK and 4ply), All Seasons Cotton and Kidsilk Haze. The section of designs by Kaffe Fassett are amazing. 6 pillows and 4 throws in Summer Tweed.

There are 3 more magazines as well-Crochet, Miniature Classics (baby) and Rowan Kids.

It is just after 8 and Beth is yelling. There is poker on TV and Survivor has started taping. Hurry Up!!

RUN to you nearest hardware store

UPS emailed me a notification yesterday that my latest parcel from Namaste is on it's way. The shipment includes the brand new red Zuma and Laguna bags.

We had a bit of trauma in our house last night. Beth and I went to dinner with our friends John and Lynda. We made John drive and that meant that the girls could have a drink. Yes, we were very loud at dinner. The conversations got very spirited. The taunting phone call to my mom from John and Lynda was quite funny-Jeter is going down!! When Beth and I walked into the house there was an awful noise 'the batteries are your smoke detector are low'. This was being repeated every 15 minutes. Melo who is afraid of everything couldn't care less but Roko was freaking out. Shaking, crying, more shaking and more crying. We looked in the drawer but there weren't any 9 volt batteries. Neither of us could go out (because we had a drink with dinner) so we had to live through the noise and crying for an hour. Around 10 (two hours after my drink) I figured I was okay to drive so I set off to Sobey's. Nope, they didn't have any 9 volt batteries. Maybe the gas station. Nope, not there either. I ended up driving to the variety store beside my store and luckily they had one-only one because I would have bought two. Roko was having a complete melt down when I got home. We got the battery changed and he shook and cried for another hour before he started to settle down. My advice to everyone (Beth did it today)-run to your nearest hardware store and have an extra 9 volt battery on hand jut in case. They are not easy to find when you need one!!!

Another finished project

Julie Ann came in for a visit today. She brought a finished garment to show me-KnitWhits Edie Spring Time Cardigan. It is knit from side to side in Kureyon and Kureyon sock. I love her colours!!

I received a bitter phone call from my mom last night. 'Why won't I knit her a bag like Ann made for her mom???' That was the start of her call. Then she was very upset because Derek Jeter was losing the ball game. My mom has been around baseball for years. Beth and I started playing at a young age and played through our teens. Every summer night and weekend were spent at the ball park. She knew the rules but I don't think she really liked the game. However, Derek Jeter plays for the Yankees and she has been glued to the TV during the playoffs. Heaven forbid you call her while he is up to bat. She then called me back later in the night to say she was going to bed because Jeter was losing. Not the Yankees but Jeter!! I am going to catch heck for this tonight but the truth is the truth.

What a gift!!!

Ann emailed me this picture and I had to share it. She made this amazing Noni bag for her mom-Merry Christmas Mom!! My mom better not get any ideas-I am not making one for you. Ann has been working on this for some time-the bag is huge and there is a lot of knitting and finishing involved but the finished product is to die for. Absolutely beautiful!!

I am currently sitting in the office upstairs. There are no lights in the office. Maybe I should buy some light bulbs. I needed to print some cheques and my printer can be very finicky so I need to bring the laptop upstairs. Writing cheques is quite an ordeal. While they are printing I am working on my Mac writing this. My Mac has a 24" screen which looks like a big screen TV after working on the laptop. The cheques are done now so I will be moving back downstairs.

I went to Toronto today. One of my suppliers was having an open house showing the new yarns for spring. I was going right by Yorkdale-the Expedition pulled in-I had no choice but to go shopping. The only thing I bought was a Christmas present-can't say anymore. The next stop was Creative Bags. We are almost out of bags for the store. $500 later-bags, wrapping paper, some store display stuff. My next stop was a shelving/retail display store. I bought a few 'feet' to display socks. Wanted to try them before I buy more. I also bought some Styrofoam heads. These will be useful for displaying hats and scarves.

Woolly Bully from Estelle Designs is a 50% Wool, 50% Acrylic blend. This is a free pattern available online. There is a new pattern coming next week for a hat and scarf. I saw them knit up today and it made me cross the warehouse and pick up bags of yarn.

These are some of the colours that are currently in the back of my truck.
Now I must sign off-I have three newsletters to write tonight!!

Going back to school

Mom and Dad are in Myrtle Beach right now. They are missing the beautiful fall colours so I am adding some pictures for them.

Yesterday I had a mom and her son (Sam) come into the store-Sam is going to knit a scarf for his dad. Sam is in grade 5 at Fessenden in Ancaster and while the teacher is reading to the class the students (male and female) are knitting. This almost makes me want to go back to school. I said almost!!

Kathleen has been a customer of the store for the past 22 years. Matthew was a baby when she started coming in. Matthew has now graduated from university, Kyle is in university and Jamie is in high school-boy do I feel old.

Kathleen started working on the Uptown/Downtown jacket about a month ago. Being a perfectionist she knit the cuffs of the sleeves three times and the colourful front has been knit twice.

She ran in today to show me the finished jacket. AMAZING!! The pin is the perfect colour and looks like it was made for the jacket.

I hope to knit during the baseball game tonight. Go Phillies!!!

A visit to the dentist

I had my wisdom teeth out when I was 20 but they were bothering me so I went to see the dentist. He made an appointment for me to come the next day at 2:15. I showed up at 3:15 (I am never late for a dentist appointment) and he was mad. I had to come back the next day but because I was late he made me stay and work for a while. My job-dying yarn. Did you know that the balls of self-patterning sock yarn aren't dyed with all those colours in the mill? No-they only come dyed in two colours. Off white and green or off white and red. Sometimes off white and blue. The other colours are all added by hand. That was my job at the dentists. I had to add in blue to a ball of off white and green. I just couldn't get the hang of it. I tried and tried. For over an hour I would add the blue and then wipe it off because it was in the wrong spot. While I was working one of the partners from the accounting firm S&B Partners walked in-this is where I did my university co-op placement. Then some of the other staff came over to greet me.

At this point I woke up from this amazingly stupid dream. I never did finish dying that ball of yarn.

I seriously think that it is time for me to go and talk with someone. Dying yarn at the dentist-where did this come from??

Do you receive Berroco's Knitbits newsletter that comes out every Friday. If not, sign up now!! Celsian will be featured in the November 13th newsletter.

Blackstone Tweed is a great new yarn for fall. Two different shades of brown are used in this unique stitch pattern. I am going to send this off to one of my knitters on Monday.

Willow

I have started getting kits together for The Artisan's Afghan (the amazing purple afghan we have hanging when you walk into the store). Three yarns in the kit are hand dyed by Fleece Artist. I then add four more yarns-eyelash, ribbon, fancy and chunky.

The Fleece Artist yarn has been sitting downstairs for a month and finally demanded that it come upstairs and be sold.

The pattern has been redone as well. I think that it will be much easier to follow now.

This vest is called Wimberry. The pattern is designed by Louisa Harding and can be found in her new magazine Little Cake.

Lynda just finished knitting this for the store and it is beautiful.

Willow (40% wool, 40% alpaca, 20% silk) is the yarn used to knit the vest. I am showing the original because my store sample does not have the ribbon at the waist.

Here is the shade card of available colours. The yarn is double knitting weight so you aren't limited to Louisa Harding's patterns to use this yarn.

Shopping

Beth and I took a day off today to go across the border shopping. Our day started at the outlet mall in Niagara Falls, NY. The first stop was the Coach store. I picked out a fabulous bag and Beth bought it for me as a birthday gift. My birthday is over a month away so it is put away and I can't have it until then. Then we went to the Ralph Lauren store. Beth bought 3 sweaters (yes, you did read that correctly). They are fine knits in stocking stitch at a very good price. There are also a few shirts for my dad-Christmas is coming. The bag from Old Navy has some garments for my store mannequins. Beth sat outside as I went into Brighton. I bought a new toiletries bag. The zippers have broken on mine and the new one is very pretty. Tommy Bahama-good prices-who could turn that down?? The last stop was a pair of new Oakley's for Beth. GET US OUT OF THE MALL!!!

Somehow we didn't end up on the highway home but in the parking lot at the Seneca Casino. The loss was minimal and we had many laughs. We like to play penny slots and if we are daring will move to nickel slots. The machine must have a bonus game-we are all about the entertainment.

Tomorrow night is the final class of Re-introduction to Knitting. I need to make notes for the students so it is time to sign off.

Sunny Sunday afternoon

The scarf trend continues. This is called The Dolores Park Cowl. 60 stitches on 9mm needles and knit every row. I used one skein of Malabrigo chunky. Very soft yarn and nice to work with.

We have 4 colours in the store and more colours are on the way this week.

It is a beautiful Sunday afternoon. The door is open and the dogs are playing outside.

I should be sitting and knitting-maybe once I am done my post. The store was crazy yesterday. Sarah offered to work so that I could get out of the store for a bit. I left for a total of 10 minutes to get lunch. Thanks to all who came in-we like it busy!!! The day sure flies by.

We were running short on needles so I just placed an order for more Addis and Lantern Moon needles. The Lantern Moon order will also have some sheep tape measures (a great Christmas gift) and more buttons.

Beth and I are taking a road trip tomorrow-we're going across the border shopping. Don't know what we are shopping for but when we see it we will know. :) Maybe shoes??

Tips and Tricks

I meant to do a post last night but 'things' got in the way. We went out for dinner and came home to catch up on some TV. Survivor, baseball, poker and CSI. I haven't started in on my 30 episodes of Y&R. I better start soon!!

Back in July I sent out a Tips and Tricks newsletter on the mattress stitch. If you didn't receive it you can download it now.
Tips and Tricks Newsletter-Mattress Stitch

There is a trend going on in the store right now-scarves. These are easy to knit and make a great fashion accessory. Okay, they are quick and easy for me to knit which makes me happy. I can try a new yarn and in a couple of nights a scarf is done.

This is called Rambling and the pattern can be found on the Spud & Chloe blog. I would like to credit for knitting this scarf but I can't-Ann did the knitting. The pattern calls for Spud & Chloe Sweater-our sample is knit a new yarn from Naturally called Karamea.

My Mochi Plus scarf is growing slowly. I keep setting it aside to try something else. Maybe this weekend.

Busy writing newsletters

The past few days have been busy writing newsletters. Monday night I wrote a Sock Yarn newsletter as well as a follow up newsletter after Camp. Tuesday was spent starting a newsletter for Shawl knitters that went out today. Thursday writing a general newsletter??

A new sock yarn arrived from Dream in Color on Monday. Okay, not a new yarn but new colours in Smooshy. Great colours!! I am thinking of having Rhonda knit a scarf in it for me-I know, I could knit my own but I have a different yarn set aside. The pattern calling my name is Ishbel on Ravelry-take a look. Rachel was in the store yesterday wearing it and it is beautiful.

'Latest Sock Newsletter' with pictures of the individual skeins.

I have talked about the knitting book Knit One Below in previous newsletters and blog posts. Wannietta taught a class at camp and the students started working on a scarf. The pattern is in the book or available free online (scroll down to Inside Outside Scarf). I would like to take credit for the scarf but Wannietta knit it. She suggested two contrasting yarns for the students first project-we used 2 balls of Vero and one skein of Cascade 220.

This is a simple scarf I knit at Camp in Bocciolo from Filatura di Crosa. Cast on 12 stitches with 12mm needles and knit every row.

This scarf was started at camp on 12mm needles with Naturally Aspire Super Chunky. Bev and I collaborated on the pattern. Okay, we went through some of Cookie's Japanese pattern books and picked out an easy lace stitch.

It is now finished (with the ends sewn in).

Mom and dad are off again tomorrow so we are squeezing in dinner between closing the store and knitting class. Dad calls tonight's class 'the regulars'. They will amuse themselves until I get here. After class I might get in a few episodes of Y&R. There are at least 3 weeks worth to watch and I better get caught up!!

Oops-I forgot someone

I made a big omission in yesterday's blog post. I thanked many companies for their donations to the retreat. I somehow forgot Classic Elite Yarns (note to self-check your blog posts before you hit publish). Betsy and her staff generously donated a skein of Montera and a great hat pattern for every goody bag. A big thank you to Classic Elite and I am very sorry for leaving out your name.

The new colours of Noro Iro arrived yesterday afternoon. We were busy unpacking the boxes from Camp and didn't get the Iro opened. The new colours are great.

Cherry Garcia is the name of this neck warmer. One skein of Iro and 8mm, 40cm circular needles. Are you afraid of cables? This is a great pattern to get you over the hurdle.

The pattern is a free download. Check out the Hello Yarn blog.

The yarn is already on the shelves. I took a picture of each colour because it shows the colours better than on the website.

This is colour 99-Orange, Pinks, Brown.

When I look at this I see orange/rust, brown, purple, hot pink, lime green and yellow.

Colour 96-Greens, Pink, Purple.

The picture doesn't do this colour justice. It is mostly green (bright, dark and a touch of lime) with rust. There is a small touch of purple and pink.

Colour 95-Blues, Greens, Bronze.

My iPhone doesn't like taking pictures of blue yarn. This is definitely blue with a touch of rust and green.

Colour 94-Browns, Greens, Grey.

The predominant colour of this is lime/yellow and olive green. There are touches of black, burgundy, brown, fuchsia and rust.

Colour 90-Rose, Yellow, Green, Purple.

The picture of this yarn is the truest of all the colours. This is actually a colour from the fall of 2008 that never arrived so I am going to call it a new colour for this fall.

Home from Camp

I thought that I would have more time to post from Camp but it didn't happen. We had an amazing time. There were lots of tears shed at the retreat-not bad tears but from laughter. Cookie, Fiona and Wannietta taught some great workshops.

I forgot one thing from Knitting Beat the Clock on Thursday night. The teams were given slices of processed cheese and had to 'make' socks. There was quite an assortment of 'socks' for us to judge. Some people tried to form their cheese into three dimensional socks. What a mess!!

Here are the winning socks. On the right is the sock that Cookie made. It says 'Needle Emporium' with a heart.

Saturday night we do a student fashion show. Door prizes are given out during the fashion show. We had great prizes from my wonderful suppliers.
-Rowan
-Old Mill Knitting
-Spud & Chloe
-Namaste
-Offhand Designs
-Naturally
-Filatura di Crosa
-Berroco
-Gemini Fibers
-Skacel Canada
-Diamond Yarns
-Dream in Color


Through out the weekend we give out 'knitting dollars'. Students earn these by being on time to class, wearing their name tags, singing at meals and anything else that we deem as fun.

Of course, the one song that everyone knows is Happy Birthday. Beth convinced the group that her birthday was during Camp. Funny, her birthday was during Camp last year and that was the first weekend in October.

Betty Lou and Sue remembered that Beth's birthday was last year and made a cake before Camp and brought it with them.

The drive home from Camp last night was uneventful. I was so tired when we got home that I laid on the couch watching football until it was time to watch The Amazing Race. It was great to see Lance and Keri go home.

This morning I was at the store bright and early (okay 10am but it felt very early in the morning) so that Jane and I could unload the truck. The store is almost back in order. I thought that I would be in the store until noon but suddenly it was 5:30 and time to go home.

If you take a look at The Needle Emporium page on Facebook you can see lots more pictures from the weekend.

The first baseball game just ended and thankfully the outcome was the one I wanted. Now there is another baseball game on along with a football game. I think that I will start working on a newsletter while I am watching.

Camp Update

It is Saturday morning and the ladies are all in class. They are working hard.

Thursday afternoon the students started to arrive. After dinner Beth was in charge of our fun night. The ladies participated in 'knitting beat the clock'. They were divided into three teams and competed against each other for prizes.

The first task was to wind a hank of lace weight yarn into a ball. Each team took a different approach. One team took each end and started rolling both. When they were out of yarn they wound the balls into one large ball. Another team had one person holding, one taking the yarn off the skein and the last rolling. The third team had one person hold the skein and another rolling. It took almost an hour to get the skein wound-it was Centolavaggi from Filatura di Crosa that has 1200m in a skein.



The next task got Beth into trouble with the ladies. We took 3 skeins of yarn and made a mess of them. The first team to get the yarn winded into a ball (without cutting the yarn) won.

Fiona, Cookie and Bev were the team captains and it was very important to each of them that they won. The trash talking was loud!! Before the retreat I had only met Cookie once and thought she was very quiet and reserved. WRONG!! She got into the game from the start.

Four team members were needed for the next game-'a tight knit group'. The first person cast on 10 stitches and pass the knitting up their top. The next person knit a row and passed it up their top. They went down the line and then had to repeat again going up their top.

Carole was concentrating very hard.

The final score was Team Cookie 23, Team Bev 13, Team Fiona 8. As I am writing this, Bev is making comments (or whining) that Cookie's team was cheating and that they were getting help from outsiders.

In honour of Cookie we asked everyone to bring a dozen cookies. The selection is amazing!!

Cathy made a special cookie for Cookie.

Cookie is in Canada

It is now 8pm and we have arrived at Bayview-Wildwood. There were no traffic incidents so the trip was good.

We are sitting in the bar having a drink-it has been a long day. Cookie and I are blogging while Beth plays Sudoku.

The truck was mostly packed yesterday but today I had to throw in the last few things. Every year we say that we are going to take less but it doesn't happen.

There was no way to park the truck at the airport so I continued circling while Beth went in to meet Cookie. They met only briefly at TNNA so I was glad when Beth sent me a text that said 'I have her'.

Cookie's only complaint so far is that it is cold out.

Did I mention that we are sitting in a bar? I forgot to say that there is Karaoke going on. Not good Karaoke!! If he had his teeth in it might sound better.

There were some friends waiting in our cabin for us.

We get to sleep in tomorrow morning-breakfast is between 8 and 10. Then we will set up the registration area. We can start setting up the main room after 1 so it should be a relaxing morning before the craziness starts.