Hello from Vegas

It’s been a very long day. I was up before 5am for my 9:30 flight. I was able to knit a few rows in the terminal before we boarded.

We were on the plane and ready to go when the pilot came on and told us that the plane had a flat tire. That was a problem. It took over an hour to change it. The flight was going well until we were just outside of Vegas. The pilot came on again. We had to circle for a while because there was a plane with a problem on the runway. 45 minutes later we were able to land.

I accomplished quite a bit on the plane. The third colour has been added.

I arrived at the hotel two hours after I should have been there. No time for a nap. Pizza at California Pizza Kitchen, check into my room and then off to the arena to get a ticket for the hockey game. That wasn’t easy - the game was sold out.

Vegas lost but it was a really good game. 

I’m getting ready for bed but wanted to do a quick post. It’s 11:15 Vegas time which is 2:15 Ancaster time. I’ve been up for almost 24 hours. Ouch. But it was worth it. I had a great day.

Match & Move

It's finished and ready for me to wear on the plane in the morning. Alex did a great job blocking it and sewing in all my ends.

Pattern: Match & Move (purchased on Ravelry)
Yarn: Adelaide from Primrose

I used 2 skeins of 2 skeins of Witching Hour, and one skein each of Thrash and Forbidden Forest. I added an extra pattern repeat to make it bigger - and it's huge!

Now I need to finish packing. Then I need to get two rows knit on Kimba. Then I can break off the main colour and only have one skein on the plane.

I hope to blog tomorrow night from Vegas but right now I'm planning on going to the hockey game so you might not hear from me until Friday.

Pippu

Ambah O'Brien has a new shawl pattern. It actually came out a few weeks ago and I missed it.

Pattern: Pippu (purchased on Ravelry)
Yarn: A fingering weight and a lace weight yarn

Drape your shoulders with gentle ripples and lace reminiscent of a Zen garden, its walkways trimmed with mosses. Inspired by a recent trip to Japan, this bias-knit shawl is perfect for the softest yarns in your favorite soothing colors. The gorgeous yarn used in the sample was naturally dyed using avocado pips, so I named it Pippu, the Japanese word for pip. Start with easy stripes, alternating a fingering weight with a single strand of lace weight yarn. A simple, straight-forward lace section is then worked with the lace weight doubled, giving the asymmetrical triangle a floaty finish.

I have some exciting news. Our next shipment from Hedgehog should be arriving mid-February and we have Kidsilk Lace coming. 12 colours in this shipment and more in the next shipment.

Boombox

70% Kid Mohair, 30% Silk lace weight yarn. Glowing pure silk core wrapped in soft fuzzy mohair halo, the ultimate lace yarn. Use as carry-along yarn to add fuzziness to everything from scarves to sweaters or held double for extra fuzzy accessories. 

Artifact

Juniper

Going away spurs me to get things organized in the store. The price book has been updated. We've walked through the store to make sure all yarns and samples have labels. We might have missed something but I think we did a good job. A newsletter has been sent. Here is the link to it.

I also need to organize things at home. I had a dentist appointment this morning - just a cleaning - nothing bad. Tonight I visited Trish to have my hair done. Both my parents were grey in their early 20s. They passed it along to Beth and I. Laundry. There has been a bit of accounting and when I'm finished with my post I'm going to knit a few rows.

Coming in March

Get your projects finished because there are new patterns coming in March from Joji Locatelli and Veera Välimäki. You can read more about Interpretations 5 here.

There will be a new colour from Hedgehog Fibres featured in the book and we should have it by the end of February. Meet Anemone. What a great colour for spring!

We will have Anemone in Skinny Singles and Sock.

I made it to the next colour on Kimba. One more row of C2 (the cream), 2 rows of C1, 2 rows of C2, 2 rows of C1 and then C2 for 14 rows until I get to bring in C3. 

Ancaster Community Services posted this on Facebook last week. Today Beth sent dad to the grocery store. We've been keeping him busy running errands. A buggy full of food and a bill of $130. He did good. Dad has been the one to do the grocery shopping since we were young. He has no clue how much things cost though. He buys by brand and it doesn't matter if it's on sale or not. Today he walked the aisles looking at all the things on sale. It opened a whole new world to him.

Beth has been cleaning out my mom's office. There aren't a lot of pictures of us as kids but here are a few. We were very lucky that my parents took us away every year.

Beth has been busy baking muffins while I'm writing. They are out of the oven and it's time for some TV.

Great Price

We have a new fingering weight yarn in the store that will work great for socks, mittens, shawls, sweaters, cardigans and vests.

Araucania Huasco Heathers
100grams
415m/457 yards
80% superwash merino wool
20% nylon

$22 a skein - you can't beat the price.

There are eight colours in the range that will show off a lace or cabled pattern beautifully.

I started this post yesterday and then the day got away from me. After work Beth and I went to spend some time with dad. It was after 11pm when we got home and I was exhausted.

Kimba is growing. A day of watching football and golf (and no work) helps.

I love it so far. One more row and I get to bring in the next colour. I considered knitting before writing but then I was afraid that there might not be a post today.

Now the go to sleep or knit debate is happening. :)

Find Your Fade

Alex just dropped off my Find Your Fade. It's blocked and all the ends are sewn in. Blocking makes all the difference. It is huge and beautiful.

I wanted to hang it on the fence for pictures but I wore the wrong boots today. I need to climb through a snow bank and I wore my good boots - not the snow boots.

My glasses are the perfect match.

This could be my next Find Your Fade. The yarn is Silk Traveler and is 70% superwash merino and 30% silk.

I'm home now after a fun evening out with my roommate from university. It's time to put my feet up and knit a few more rows on Kimba. Now that I've finished two shawls this month I'm feeling the need to finish a few more. I'm going to pull out Starting Point tomorrow night and get it finished.

No Seams

Diana has a new project. She normally does shawls for me but I really want this sweater hanging in the store. I asked her if she was okay with a sweater. She hesitated because she isn't in love with seaming. No worries.

Body and sleeves are worked in the round from lower edge to underarms, then joined to work the yoke in the round. Round begins on left side of body. On yoke, round begins on left side of body back where body joins sleeve. The garment is shaped at the waist and the body is made longer on the back side than the front side before the yoke is knitted.

Pattern: Oraefi (purchased on Ravelry)

Yarn: Cascade 220 Heathers (4002) for the body and Cascade 220 (8901) for the yoke

The grey and white is striking but you can see that from the pattern. We're going to show you how awesome it will look with some colour.

You can make the sweater in any aran weight yarn. Woolstok. Cascade 220 Superwash Aran. Tosh Vintage. Tosh Merino.

I just cast off Match & Move and I love it. I'll get pictures tomorrow on a mannequin. Now it's bed time and dreaming about working on Kimba.

Butterfly

Diana dropped by last night with a shawl that she knit for the store. Oh my goodness. It is beautiful.

Pattern: Butterfly / Papillon (purchased on Ravelry)
Yarn: 2 skeins Uneek Fingering (colour 3010) and 1 skein Hedgehog Sock (graphite)

The colours in the Uneek Fingering are amazing.

Each skein is a work of art - a truly unique self-striping hand dyed merino collection of vibrant colors.

There are so many colour combinations for the shawl. We can do bright or muted or somewhere in between.

I spent time at home this morning working on accounting. It's time to finish our year end. This has been bothering me for the past week. Really bothering me. I was able to finish a huge chunk of it today so I'm feeling much better.

So good that I added a night onto my stay in Vegas. I was coming home on Monday but this morning I changed it to Tuesday.

Beth and dad had a good rood trip yesterday. Beth sent me this picture. Dad was still in his meeting so Beth and Lucy were hanging out in the truck.

Now it's time to get back to my knitting. Barrett-Jackson is on - the auto auction from Scottsdale, Arizona. Some of the cars are amazing! The Amazing Race is taped as well. I have less than 20 rows to go on Match & Move. That will be two projects finished this month.

The Best Banana Bread Ever?!

This is Beth - I've hijacked Julie's blog tonight.

Cathy has been making banana bread for dad and he continuously teases her that she better keep making them because she needs more practice.   However yesterday she delivered two loaves that might just be the best banana bread ever made.  Julie, Dad and I can't stop eating it and sadly there is only a small piece left for tomorrow.  Here's hoping that there are more very old bananas at Cathy's house that need to be used up!

Driving Miss Lucy

It was another late night last night. I cast on the 232 stitches and then couldn't stop. The first section is made up of short rows to grow the semi circle. The rows are taking a long time but as I get going they will become shorter and shorter.

We should see a new Opal sock yarn next week. Happy colours for a dreary winter day.

Don't forget that Opal only produces a series of colours once. When they are sold out we can not reorder them.

There is also a new series called Elegant. Four colours are coming from this collection - the denims and the greys. Not everyone wants bold socks.

Lucy is very comfortable in the front seat of the truck. Dad and Beth are going to visit a job site in Bowmanville tomorrow and taking Lucy along for the ride. I wonder if it will be Beth or Lucy who rides in the back.

Cast Off and Cast On

I cast off Find Your Fade this afternoon during the first football game. What a game. When it was over we grabbed dinner and headed over to see dad. It was way too cold to try and do outside pictures. I threw it on the rail in the loft.

Beth was lying on the love seat until Lucy decided she needed to be on it too. We need to get dad bigger couches.

I wound my first skein of Skinny Singles (the colour is Raku) for Kimba. Now to try and get 232 stitches cast on before bed.