Decorating

Beth and I are leaving for Myrtle Beach on Saturday night. Monday morning the painters are arriving to paint our house. My bedroom is just about ready. A full garbage bag and three boxes later it is almost livable. There were some good finds!! Lots of knitting needles. Yarn I forgot that I owned. Many books (including signed books from Martin Storey, Josh Bennett, Ysolda Teague and Jenny Watson). Some things (really good things) that will be door prizes for Camp. Golf gloves. This might not sound exciting but I need special gloves because of my nails and they aren't always easy to find. Then there was my shoe collection. Many ladies come in the store telling me they have enough yarn at home to open their own store. I might be able to do that with shoes. :)

Choosing colours wasn't easy. The main walls in our great room are spiced rum (pictured). The dining room colour and loft colour have to go with it.

The top left (Restoration Ivory) is going to be the powder room
The second from left looks blue but it is grey with a hint of purple. My bedroom will be the fifth down (Special Grey).
The third down beige will be the dining room and loft (Bona Fide Beige)
The far right grey-third down (Requisite Grey) will be my bathroom.

I took a run to Urban Barn today to buy a clock for Myrtle Beach. Every time we visited the store for mom and dad's furniture I looked at it. I finally got off the pot.

This is the Mayfair Clock.

There should be some knitting content so here is a sneak peak at Rowan Studio 28. This will be arriving in August.

I don't have much to pack for Myrtle Beach. I leave clothes there so that I can fly carry on. This time we are driving which means a lot of room. I have my yarn packed for the Stephen West Mystery KAL. This won't keep me busy for the whole trip so I need something else. Now the conundrum. I don't think that the Rowan will be here in time. Then there is that small thing coming up called the Olympics. I'll be working on an Olympic project so I don't really want to start something now and then something on July 27. What is on the needles that I want to take with me? Nothing. I want something new. I told you it was a conundrum.

The Home Run Derby starts soon. Go Joey Bats!!

Tent Sale

The dates are set for our Tent Sale.

Tuesday August 28 and Wednesday August 29.

When we first started the Tent Sale it was in a tent in our parking lot. The sale grew and we didn't have enough parking for everyone. We moved the sale down the street to St. John's church which worked great except for a few things. There is no air conditioning in the hall. There were a few years when that was a huge problem. The hall is also a long way from my storage unit so bringing the boxes over was very time consuming.

This year we are moving the sale to a bigger location. This one has air conditioning and lots of parking.

The Ancaster Fair Grounds.
630 Trinity Road

This is the corner of Trinity (Hwy 52) and Hwy 2 (Wilson St.). It is 2 minutes from the 403 coming from either direction .

The room won't be quite this big-they will divide it off but you can see that it is nice. High ceilings. Lots of light.

Watch future blog posts and our newsletters for more information with times and some of the yarns you will find on sale.

Unpacking and more unpacking

I have been unpacking many, many boxes today. This is going to be a very long post. :) There is lots to show.

Box 1-Namaste

The Pumpkin Spice Messenger Bags are here.

Box 2-Blue Sky Alpacas

New patterns. These patterns use one or two balls of Royal Petites.

And yarn-Royal Petites
100% Royal Alpaca

With the same exquisite color palette, twist, and hand as our full size hanks of Blue Sky Alpacas Royal, the petites are 100-yard balls geared towards smaller projects.

 1702 Spanish Leather

 1705 Antique Black

 1706 Petticoat

 1709 Primrose

 1710 Concord

1712 Azure

The other new yarn that came is called Metalico

Luxury as nature intended, Metalico utilizes naturally occurring shades of baby alpaca blended with mulberry silk, and creates an undyed shimmering palette from gleaming whites to silvery grays and flecked golds. Colorways provided by nature, shiny braids provided by Blue Sky Alpacas!

 1610 Opal

 1612 Platinum

1614 Flint

There are four patterns for Metalico-you can also use any pattern that calls for Alpaca Silk

Box 3-Della Q

We have Straight Needle Rolls in

-red
-brown
-seafoam
-purple
-ocean

This holds more straight needles than your grandmother has in her collection. With space for 60 sets of straight needles, you will be the envy of your knitting guild. It is tall enough to hold those extra long so called "14 inch needles" that are really 15 inches. Warning! You may feel the need to shop for any missing sizes to fill the empty pockets.

The Rosemary Bag was in the box as well.

-red
-brown
-seafoam
-purple
-ocean

this cute little bag looks great on the arm as you knit on the go. The closure serves as a perfect way to feed your yarn, tangle free! An outer pocket holds any notions

Box 4-Rowan

Kim Hargreaves Indigo is here.

Subtle textures and sleek contours mixed with a dash of low-key chic sums up the season’s understated look, whilst an array of deliciously vibrant shades hold the key to making these effortless pieces zing

Box 5, 6 and 7-Scarf yarns from Estelle

We have two brand new Frillseeker yarns. I'm going between writing and straightening. The writing is taking place in the front room (which is air conditioned) and the moving around is in the addition which doesn't have air. When I get too hot I sit down and write.

Box 8-Kauni

Ann finished another Cascade Vest for the store but I couldn't show you because we were out of the colours. They are here now.

My knitting

I finished my Kureyon Log Cabin square.

Here are all the squares I have done so far.

I have been sitting and writing for long enough and need to get back to putting yarn on the shelves.

Tomorrow there will be information about the Tent Sale.

Knitters' Fair

We received post cards in the mail today to hand out for the Knitters' Fair. It might seem early but you will want to get it marked on your calendar.

The KW Knitters' Guild website...

Saturday September 8, 2012

Bingemans, Kitchener, Ontario

9:30-4:30

$6 admission

Free Parking

This year there will be a featured speaker
Stephanie Pearl-McPhee (The Yarn Harlot)

I don't have any details on when she will be speaking but will forward the information when I find out.

We have three new colours of Blackstone Tweed from Berroco

 2661 Blue Heron

 2662 Fern

2663 Marsh

Unfortunately Norah Gaughan Volume 11 wasn't in the shipment but it has left Berroco and should be here next week.

Connate knit in Blackstone Tweed

Cabled panels adorn the neck and bottom edges of an alluring open jacket with three-quarter length sleeves.

Norah did it again. This is stunning!!

Beth and I just returned from dinner with our friend John and his three daughters. John just bought property and will be building a house so we went to see it. He has 47 acres with two barns-one small and one large. I have it all planned but John didn't seem as enthused about it as I was. The small barn (which isn't that small) would be an ice cream shop. The large barn (which is a huge barn-even bigger than huge) would be The Needle Emporium. It would be the most amazing yarn shop in the world. I'm going to dream about it all night.

Log Cabin Afghan

Happy Independence Day to our friends south of the border.

I made it part way through a square for my Log Cabin Afghan last night.

This is colour 319.

I totally forgot to mention something very important in my post yesterday. WILSON STREET IN ANCASTER IS OPEN AGAIN. Yes, I know that I'm not supposed to write in capital letters but it is very exciting. Customers won't get lost and I can get to the other side of town in half the time.

The next colour-311.

Jane stopped by today with her latest Elizabeth Bradley project. It just came back from being framed. Another beautiful job.

She also brought the cardigan she just finished.

Pattern: French Braid Cardigan from Tanis Fiber Arts
Yarn: madelinetosh merino in grenadine

Great detail

This flattering, easy, open front cardigan is just the thing. Featuring a clever, seamless construction and a classic braided cable, your new weekend favourite is here! Thrown on over jeans and a t-shirt or layered over a casual dress, this cardigan can work with any outfit. Insider tip: it looks smashing worn on a chilly evening over your comfiest pajama pants too!

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I am sitting on one of my nice new comfy counter stools and thought that I would share them with you. We got them at Applegate and James in Caledonia. This is a family run furniture store that was great to deal with. You pick out the colour of legs you want (ours are dark brown) and the fabric. Leather was also an option but we had leather before and wanted something different. They had about ten different styles of chairs and probably forty different fabric options. The chairs were delivered to mom and dads with their new furniture. Dad had them at his counter and almost didn't give them to us. They work in their house as well.

There are two options for me tonight-work or knit. Knitting is going to win.

It almost worked

Everything on the post worked except for the Noro cabled cardigan. The words under the cardigan should read

Click on the picture to download this free Debbie Bliss pattern knit in Silk Garden.

Here is the link in case clicking on the picture doesn't work for you.

I think it works

I think I have this figured out. I should have brought my keyboard with me.

This will make much nicer posts when I am away from my computer. I will be adding it to my phone as well. The app is called Blogger Plus if you blog and need something for your iPhone or iPad.

You don't have to be connected to the Internet to write-great for working while flying

Nick just brought in three boxes of Noro.

There are two new colours of Hitsuji, eight new Silk Garden and five new Kureyon. We also received three out of stock colours of Taiyo Sock.

The new colours of Silk Garden. Another great job from Noro. They are all beautiful!

Noro also brought back two discontinued colours.

269 - cream and beige
267 - browns and greys

359 is from the spring but I couldn't cut it from the picture. Okay. With some work I could have removed it but I'm playing with a new program and getting any picture added was work. I have it figured out now but I don't want to mess up what is already here.

I will show the Kureyon tomorrow. There are great new colours for the Log Cabin Afghan. I have one cast on and hope to have a square to show you tomorrow.

It's time to hit Publish and start my newsletter. Hopefully it will go out tomorrow. We are putting some Rowan yarns on sale for the next week at great prices. I need room for the new yarns coming.

Trial 2

Now I'm trying to add a picture.

New colours of Spud and Chloe Outer

Trial Post

I'm trying a new program for my iPad. I don't like how the other one adds pictures.

I think I might like this. We will see how things look when I hit 'publish'.

Painting and Rowan

Today was a 'do nothing' day for me. I sat outside this morning and read for a while. Then Beth and I took a road trip to the Rockton Berry Farm. (I was bored but didn't want to work.) We bought my dad an apple pie and then took it to them. Small problem. They didn't have ice cream so I had to run to the variety store. You can't have apple pie without ice cream. More reading and then dinner out with my parents and a few of their friends.

The first job that didn't get done was to clean up my bedroom. (That isn't a way to spent a day off so it was best to get out of the house.) There is yarn and shoes everywhere and I need it cleaned because our house is being painted in two weeks.

Beth and I need to pick our paint colours this week. There has been much discussion as well as a few disagreements.

I keep checking on design-seeds.com for new inspiration. I found this one today.

The main colour of the great room is called Spiced Rum (along the lines of the gold/brown colour). It is staying. All furniture was picked around that colour and we like how it all works together. The other walls are builders beige and I am sick of that colour. It will have to be neutral but maybe more of a grey beige??

My bedroom and bathroom are changing. Today I'm think grey. My bedding is purple but I don't think I want purple walls. If I go grey then I can change the bedding to something different (maybe teal?) and it will still work.

Here are a few more pictures from TNNA.
This is Fastnet. A Josh Bennett (yes, the Josh coming to Camp) design in Pure Wool Aran.

I will be knitting this for myself. I love it!! A Martin Storey design called Tiree.
Knit in Rowan Tweed (a new yarn) and Colourspun. There are only two colours in the sweater. The Colourspun changes colours which makes the sweater look like a lot more work than it is.

Orkney. A Marie Wallin design in Felted Tweed.

Brandon Mably designed Skye. A great vest in Colourspun.

I am so excited about this book. It should be arriving while I am in Myrtle Beach so Cathy will have fun putting it away and playing with the new yarns.

Happy Canada Day!!

I spent my day golfing in a little tournament with Beth and some of the ladies from her course. I wasn't on Beth's team-unfortunately because Beth's team won. They must have cheated. :) It was very hot on the course and I came home with a migraine. I'm going to write about a few things we received this week and then head to bed. A little nap and I will be feeling much better.

New colours of Bearfoot from Mountain Colors

From the left
-Blackbird
-Loganberry
-Big Sky
-Blooming Gale
-Evening Star
-Hollyhock

60% superwash wool
25% mohair
15% nylon

400 yards on a 100gram skein

From the Mountain Colors website

Our soft, strong, and washable yarn. Perfect for socks and great for other projects.

We have new bags too. These are from a company called Paper Thinks.

• 100% recycled leather

• shoulder bags with open top

• interior slide pocket which to store phone

• metal magnet closure

• cotton lining in colors

• 22 cm ( 8.5") drop length

• With its simple design,the tote bag is the quintessence of stylish minimalism.

• 26cm X 42cm X 16cm

With my shipment of bags came some information

Recycled Leather is produced in a similar way to Recycled Paper

It is made out of Leather Scraps from the wastage of other Leather manufacturing processes. These scraps are ground into a fine pulp, mixed with water and other binding ingredients, and then formed into sheets. The sheets are then mechanically processed for size, colour and texture.

Our Recycled Leather is made from 100% Leather Fibres with no paper, wood or other fillers. This helps to give it the aroma, look and feel of natural leather.

All our products are certified by SGS, have been awarded Green Mark Certification and are free from harmful chemicals. 

We have bags in Fuchsia, Tangerine Orange and Violet. There are iPad cases in these colours as well.