Super Chunky

New from Tahki for the fall-Montana. Montana is a soft and lofty 100% unprocessed wool roving in a jumbo 100g hank. Natural wool fibers from the different shades of the sheep's coat are blended into 5 heathered shades; low-impact dyes are used to create the other shades found in Nature. Right now we have three natural shades (natural, bark and charcoal) and cherry blossom.



The scarf requires 2 skeins and 1 skein for the hat-knit on 10mm needles.
Rhonda was in today and will be knitting this sweater from the new Montana booklet in pink. I think she will be back next Saturday with the finished sweater-Rhonda-am I asking too much?

We are now carrying Loop-d-Loop yarns and books by Teva Durham. This is one of her new yarns for fall 2008 called Tundra. I have taken the colour samples from the Tahki-Stacy Charles website. The strawberry and spruce are much nicer in person.



The capelet takes 5-7 balls and is knit on 15mm needles. Definitely something you can knit in a weekend.

Please take a look at Rhonda's blog. She just finished a fabulous cardigan in Noro's Yuzen. I really liked the yarn but now that it is done I really NEED something out of the yarn. It is a dk so the available patterns are endless. It is on Korey's to do list but until it is on the website you can see the shade cards here.

I haven't accomplished much knitting this week. I taught four nights which took a bit of knitting time away from me. I still might get my last two squares done by Sunday though.

How about Survivor? Marcus and then Charlie voted out. I really like Marcus but he was very arrogant thinking he ran the game. Charlie leaving was great because his alliance thought they were in control-think again!!

Have a good weekend-it is rainy here in Southern Ontario-the perfect weather to put on the fireplance and knit.

Rowan-spring 2009

• I finally finished square number 18. Here are squares 16, 17 and 18. Maybe over the weekend I will get the last two done. Beth asks every day when I will have it finished. She is very excited for it to hang in the house. It will hang in the store for a while first but I'm not telling her that right now.
  
  I ordered the spring Rowan this morning. The new magazine looks great. Unfortunately I couldn't keep any of the pictures so this is from memory. Also, I'm not supposed to talk about the new yarns and books until January so here is a small sample just to get you excited.
  
• 4ply Cotton, Damask and Bamboo Tape are discontinued.
  
• there are 2 new yarns
  
• Jaeger Siena will be relabeled as RYC Siena
  
• 3 new colours of RYC Cotton Jeans
  
• 2 new colours of RYC Natural Silk Aran
  
• new magazine from Martin Storey using these 2 yarns-great patterns for men, women and children
• a few favourites that have been a bit neglected (Calmer, All Seasons Cotton and Summer Tweed) are used in the new magazine
• there are 6 colours discontinued in Kidsilk Haze-that is the bad news but the good news is that 4 new colours have been added.
• the new magazine has a fabulous shawl in Kidsilk Haze

It's time to start packing up to go home. Have a good night and stay warm.

Clapotis

The pattern for Clapotis can be found in the fall 2004 edition of knitty.com. I have looked at the pattern many times and wasn't in love with it. On Ravelry you scroll through 692 pages (almost 8500 pictures) of the shawl. I didn't want to be a person to knit what everyone else was knitting so I haven't thought about the pattern. However, at the Knitter's Fair many people were walking around wearing a smaller version as a scarf knit in Noro Kureyon sock yarn. Loved it!!! I am now knitting it in Silk Garden Sock colour 84 on 4mm needles. Sorry-no pictures yet but here is Jane's in Silk Garden sock colour 245.

The original pattern uses Lorna's Laces Lion and Lamb. I ordered this in for two customers and the yarn is amazing-50% wool, 50% silk. We have eight colours on order for the store. In the store another yarn that would like great is the Malabrigio Silky Merino.

I'm off to teach week two of socks. The ladies will be turning the heel tonight. This always scares people until they do it and then they realize it really isn't that hard.

Romi

While browsing on Ravelry I kept seeing ads for Romi. I finally checked out her website and she makes beautiful shawl pins. The first shipment arrived just before the Knitter's Fair and we sold almost all of them at the Fair. The next shipment will be here next week. Romi (actually her real name is Rosemary) shipped the pins to mom and dad in Myrtle Beach because the shipping is much quicker when the parcel doesn't have to cross the border. They are leaving Myrtle Beach on Friday so I will have them sometime next weekend.
I have ordered most of the pins from her Elements Collection.

NEW

Namaste is continually adding new products to their amazing line.  This is the new Zuma bag available in charcoal, hollywood pink, lime, olive, peacock, saddle and turquoise.  Eggplant will be a limited edition colour available in the new year.

This is called the Cali Buddy Case-the essential accessory for you little stuff.  These will be arriving in time for Christmas-they should be here the first week of December.

We are excited that a shipment of Lantern Moon needles will be arriving in the store early next week. I haven't stocked these in the store because of the price but we are now getting them directly from the US and the price is considerably lower.

Knitting is currently on the back burner.  The website now shows how much of each yarn we have in stock.  I need to make sure that this is up to date so customers aren't ordering yarn we don't have.  This afternoon I pulled all the Silk Garden off the shelf and counted it.  The good thing about this chore is that the shelves get straightened up more often and look very neat.

Las Vegas

Don't forget that our knitting classes will be starting over the next two weeks. Socks start on Monday night and there is still room for a couple of people. Please call the store if you are interested.

In January we will be going to the TNNA show in San Diego. I go to the show twice a year to buy new stock for the store and luckily the January show is always in sunny California. This year we can't get a direct flight from Toronto to San Diego. I decided that we would fly to Vegas on Friday and stay the night. Saturday morning we will fly to San Diego and be there until Tuesday morning when we will fly back to Vegas. Then I am having a vacation and staying in Vegas until Saturday. The casinos are always sending emails about great room rates and I have been anxiously awaiting the emails about January. One came in last week and we could have stayed there but it wasn't my first choice. Yesterday afternoon the rates for Treasure Island came. Within an hour I had my rooms booked and was a happy camper. We can stay in Vegas for 3 nights for the same rate as our hotel in San Diego. You can tell that I am very excited. It has been a year since we were in Vegas and I am missing it greatly. Now the dollar just needs to get better before then.

I have finished another two squares on the afghan but don't have pictures yet. Just three squares to go.

I hope all my posts in the last week have kept my mom happy. There hasn't been any phone calls asking if the blog is broken.

Happy Halloween

How would you like a 100% cashmere shawl? These two patterns use the new Ecco Cashmere brought out by Plymouth Yarns in the US and Nova Yarns in Canada. The shawls take 3 skeins each. There are also two patterns for scarves that take one skein each. Only two colours are available. We didn't receive the off white but are hoping it arrives soon.


Just arrived-Addi Turbo circulars in 2.25mm and 2.75mm. For some reason Addi didn't make these sizes but now they see the light and realize they are crucial especially for the sock knitters.

Speaking of socks, Noro Kureyon sock yarn will be arriving at the beginning of the week in eight new colours.

How about Survivor last night? I have no problem with Dan being sent home but Ace was a shock. I would have sent Crystal home. She hasn't performed well in any challenges and she is lazy around camp.

I have no pumpkin pictures this year. Beth has been very busy with work and just hasn't had the time. She does have candy though so I doubt the kids will care about the lack of pumpkins. :)

Jane Ellison

We just received the new magazine from Jane Ellison called Queensland Collection Book 9. This is an amazing book of patterns for men-vest, sweaters, cardigans, scarves and hats. Here are a couple of pictures from the book.

Darn Pretty

I forgot something in yesterday's post. We received a shipment of Darn Pretty Needles. The Original Darn Pretty™ Needles, crafted in Vermont from Vermont wood products, offer exceptional strength and durability. Available in a wide range of colors and color combinations.

Darn Pretty™ Double Point Needles by Grafton Fibers are not just the prettiest needles available, they are also the strongest, smoothest wood needle on the market. Hand crafted from Vermont wood products that are dyed and laminated, creating a more stable product, the needles are a joy to use.

I haven't knit with these yet but I think I will now that the circulars have arrived. They are beautiful.

Kim Hargreaves

I have been busy all day but it feels like I haven't accomplished anything. I did however finish writing three newsletters, got seven packages to the post office, did two loads of laundry and went grocery shopping. In my running around I stopped by the store with lunch for Jane and taught somehow how to do short rows. While there a parcel arrived with Rowan magazines and yarns.

Kim has always been one of my favourite designers. She is now producing her own magazines using Rowan yarns. Thrown Together features fabulous designs for fall.



Nectar came out in the summer and we have copies back in stock.
Beatrix and Kim are from Thrown Together.

Both designs are knit in Felted Tweed.

I have been putting this off but now I must go and finish doing my GST return. It's something I hate doing but it is for the government and I don't want to be late with a payment to them. Bad things can happen to you if you are late.

More Log Cabin squares

The weather has turned cold which means it is incredibly busy in the store-no complaining from me. :) I didn't get any knitting done in the store on Friday or Saturday but did sit and knit Saturday night and Sunday. Here are squares 13, 14 and 15. I have put a link to the left under websites to visit called Log Cabin afghan that will take you to the pattern.

The fall knitting class schedule is up on the website now.

Jane is in the store today but I have many things on my to do list so I had better get going.

Fall is here

Wow, the weather has turned cold here. The great thing is that I can get my sweaters out and start wearing them.
I have been knitting like crazy on my squares. Here are squares 11 and 12.
I really want to get the afghan done for many reasons
1. The squares look great and I can't wait to see it finished
2. It is going to look amazing hanging on the wall in my living room
3. I want to start Landon from Jordana Paige

It is rearranging time in the store again. Dream in Color Classy is now at the front door. We have every colour in stock right now.

This is just the start. Berroco Jasper has a new home (sorry no pictures because it is dark out and the colours aren't showing up well). Now I need to find a new home for Tonalita because it used to live at the front door.

I think that the number of posts this week should keep my mom happy. :) Gotta run because my knitting class should be arriving any minute and I don't have the class room tidied. Can't wait to get home to watch Survivor.

New Jordana Paige Design

You might not know that Jordana Paige designs garments as well as knitting bags. This is her latest pattern-Landon. It is available today from her website. I will be ordering it and looking to knit it. The yarn will be a decision-Jo Sharp Aran Tweed, Berroco Pure Merino or Tahki Donegal Tweed. What do I use?

Christmas is coming-time to think of gifts

I spent today making up kits (8 done with 4 to go) in fabulous colours for this afghan. I combine hand dyed yarns from Fleece Artist with yarns that we have in the store including ribbons and eyelash. Wannietta designed the afghan for me-I handed her a bag of yarn and told her to get busy.

Ball winders are now in the store. This is the JUMBO ball winder. This can hold up to 500 gram skeins-perfect for large hand painted hanks and delicate yarns. We also have the regular ball winders as well.

Jane was busy yesterday unpacking a box from Dream in Color. We should have every colour of Classy in stock now.

It's an epidemic

Everyday we have people in the store needing to knit baby garments.  It seems like everyone is pregnant right now-must be something in the water.  :)  

Here are some pictures from Sublime's new magazine 612.  Sublime is a division of Sirdar meaning great yarns and patterns.  The yarn is called Baby Cashmere Silk Merino DK (a blend of 75% extra fine merino wool, 20% silk and 5% cashmere.  The colour range is great and we have them in the store.

Present for Beth

I did find a picture of the ninth square that isn't as fuzzy as the one in the last post.

On my way to the Ball's Falls Conservation Area last week the traffic was stop and go.  I was stopped in front of this house and couldn't resist taking a picture.  Mom, I am looking after Beth-look what I found for her.  :)

The blog is not broken

Mom called me from Myrtle Beach last night and asked if the blog was broken. I asked her why she would think that. Her response was 'You haven't posted in so long so I thought it might be broken.' Sorry mom-here are some pictures for you.

Square 9-I didn't realize the picture was blurry until I was posting it here-sorry-I don't have another one on the camera.

Square 10.

My Edie is almost done. I just need to block it and sew in the ends.


This is Jane wearing her new cardigan from Kim Hargreaves book Nectar. The pattern is called Favour and it is knit out of Rowan Denim.  The book should be back in the store this week (Jane sold all the copies last week while wearing the jacket) along with the next magazine from Kim called Thrown Together.

Did anyone watch The Amazing Race last night?  Beth and I would have kicked butt on that episode.  We have been to Gulf Harbour and Mount Eden.  Kelly and Christy missing the entrance to Mount Eden is understandable-it is almost impossible to find.  The Skytower was one of our homes while in NZ (the casino is there) and Bev stayed at the City Life Hotel so we visited it often as well.  It was unfortunate that the show didn't show the drive from Auckland to Kiwi 360 (we visited here as well).  It made it look like they were close together but they weren't-it is actually over 200 km and takes over 3 hours to get there.  New Zealand doesn't have major highways like we do-it is like driving country roads everywhere you go.

Okay, now that mom should be satisfied for tonight I am going to get back to work.

needleemporium.com upgrades

I posted yesterday that Korey and I had made some neat changes to the website. These have disappeared temporarily. Korey needed to change servers today. The site was running slow with our large database-hopefully this will make it run much quicker. With the change, all of my updates need to be uploaded again. This might be done today-otherwise keep checking back this week. Sorry about this but in the long run it will make the site much better. :)

I went the Balls Falls craft show this morning. It took forever to get to the Conservation Area. I guess everyone decided to go because the weather was so nice. By the time I got into the show I was so tired and irritated that I looked around quickly and then came home empty handed.

Here is square number 8. Football, baseball and The Amazing Race gave me lots of time to knit. Speaking of the Amazing Race-Mark and Bill comment that they are not a physical team so they will need to use their brains. I think that includes reading the clue properly. When will people learn? Read the clues before you start running around like a chicken with your head cut off. It only takes a couple of minutes and it could mean the difference between winning and going home.

I've gotta go. I'm playing poker and should be concentrating on my game (as well as knitting square 9)

More squares

I am totally addicted to my Log Cabin Afghan. Here are squares 6 and 7. Since it is Sunday afternoon I am sitting on the couch watching football. Square 8 is on the needles and will be done later today. I might even get square 9 started during The Amazing Race. I am not sure who I am rooting for yet-I think it might be the mother/son team.


I am speaking at the Kitchener-Waterloo Knitter's Guild this Tuesday night. It is always fun to go to their guild meetings-they are a huge guild with enthusiastic knitters.

Korey and I have been working on the website. We have a new section called Featured Patterns-this was called Kits and it wasn't easy to navigate this section but I think we have found something much easier now. Please let me know what you think. Take a look at Laura and the other pattern names that have a star in front of them. This also lets me show some of the designs from the new magazines.

My couch is calling. Have a good Thanksgiving. I might spend my holiday Monday at the Ball's Falls craft show. The weather forecast looks good and the crafts there are always great.

Another square done

Square number 5 is complete. I am having fun knitting the afghan. The squares are mindless knitting-a great project to keep in your purse.

The angels. Melo loves to lay on the couch and Roko decided to join him tonight.

Home Again

Life can now get back to normal. We arrived home from Gone Stitchin' late yesterday afternoon. Our time away was great. The weather was cool with touches of rain but we all had lots of warm sweaters to wear. The food was great as usual. Barry has taught at retreats all over the US and claims the food at Bayview is better than anywhere else he teaches. Fiona's and Barry's classes were phenomenal. Thursday night Beth hosted Family Feud. I can't say anything else about that because what happens at Bayview stays at Bayview, however, if you ever meet Barry, make sure to ask him about his wives. Friday morning we held our fashion show with over 50 garments that are new for fall. Friday afternoon the ladies had a class and then Friday night I gave a talk about tips and tricks for knitting. Saturday there were two more classes and then Saturday night the students showed off their knitting in the student fashion show. After Sunday mornings class everyone started their trips home.

I worked on my fall class schedule this afternoon as well as a newsletter. Hopefully both will be finalized tomorrow.

This was taken Thursday afternoon after a rain shower. The amazing rainbow didn't come out in any of my pictures. Just imagine it. :)
Beth told everyone that Saturday was her birthday. Betty Lou and Sue made her a present. Sue is holding a small gun that shoots confetti into the air. The resort is going to hate us because there is confetti everywhere on the carpet.
Sunday morning in class.
More Sunday morning class.
I did get a bit of knitting done. Two more squares on the Log Cabin blanket.

Now I am going to lay on the couch and watch baseball.