I want those boots

Progress is being made on the Linen Stitch Scarf that I am knitting in Malabrigo Rastita. Rastita has more yardage than tosh merino dk so this is going to be wider than the samples we have in the store.

Right now I am at about 7" wide and there is enough yarn to get it to at least 10".

When I was going through my pictures I found some that I forgot to share from Vegas.

Many of you know that I love Cirque du Soleil. After seeing the show I blogged that it was definitely worth seeing.

There is a gift shop just outside the theatre and some of the costumes from the show are on display.

The main character in the show wears these boots. The minute I saw them I gasped and said that I would love to have them. When I was taking this picture a couple came up who were older than me and definitely from the south of the US - I could tell from their accent. It was the husband who proclaimed that he wanted the boots. And he was serious!

Beth spoke with the police last night about the break ins. They told her that we have to lock our vehicles so they are being locked. If you don't lock it and it is stolen then the insurance company might not pay. My car has absolutely nothing in it and I am leaving the armrest open so our friends can see that there is nothing worth anything in the car. The next step is cleaning out the garage (I'm having a panic attack just thinking about this) and putting the vehicles in at night. Summer hours start April 1 and the store will be closed on Mondays. That will be my job since most of it is my 'stuff'.

Beth is having a knitting meltdown. She made a mistake on her Linen Stitch Scarf while I was at work. Now she wants to rip it out and restart changing the order of the colours (knit from the outside of one ball to make the colours show differently). She told me that she knows now why people have 2 projects on the go. She worked on her Inspira Cowl until I got home to fix things. She says that looks good!

It's a beautiful day so we are going for a drive. Not sure where but have to get out of the house.

Scarves, Shrugs & Shawls

My Edge is home with a new window. And really clean-thanks to Mohawk Ford for washing it. Thanks for everyones comments yesterday. I'm not as mad today.

Mr. UPS just brought a box in from Rowan with a new book. This is the North American cover of the book. When you look at the Rowan website it looks different. The patterns are all the same.

If you love to knit and want to find some great designs that help you to improve your skills, look no further! Sarah Hatton has created 22 fantastic projects where you can play to your hearts content with different stitches and a range of beautiful Rowan yarns to create a wardrobe of fantastic knits to accessorize with: scarves, stoles, shrugs, shawls and more.

Here are a few of the designs

Chevron Scarf

Knit this lacy chevron scarf from Knitted Scarves & Accessories. A design by Sarah Hatton using Felted Tweed DK, a beautiful blend of merino wool, alpaca and viscose, in clever colour combinations.

Looped Scarf

A design by Sarah Hatton using our luxurious yarn, Lima this scarf is worked in box stitch and joined to form a continuous loop.

I didn't get much time to flip through the book but Kim did. She said that there were many in the book that she liked.

Beth's Inspira Cowl is done. Blocked. Ends sewn in. Done. She is very proud of herself. There are comments thrown around like 'I'm really good at this.' I think we are making her into a knitter. She now has two projects on the go. Another Inspira Cowl that she took to Myrtle Beach and a Linen Stitch Scarf. I asked her if she knit in Myrtle Beach and she said 'not a lot but I knit on the plane coming home'. Who is this person?? She has had access to yarn for 25 years. Actually more than that because mom and I always had yarn at home.

The Lonely Tree Shawl is still lonely. I haven't picked it up in days. I planned to but the store has been busy. I'm not complaining. I would be more than happy to have it not finished for the Frolic. :)

At home there are three projects on the go. My Rowan All Seasons Chunky sweater and two Linen Stitch Scarves. One scarf is in tosh dk. I wanted it done for the Frolic but it doesn't look like we will have the colours so it is on the back shelf. The other one is in Malabrigo Rastita. I'm about half way done. I have to get that one done because Kim made kits for it today.

It's home time. Beth is making pizza and then I can knit. We watched more episodes of The Mentalist last night. I bought Season 5 and we are almost to the point where we will be caught up with what is on TV. I need to find another TV series. NCIS is on DVD in Myrtle Beach so I don't want to buy it here. Any suggestions? I need to be able to purchase it on iTunes.

Bad start to the day

I'm going to start the post with the good parts of today.

Mr. Canada Post brought in shawl pins this morning.

Single Circle Shawl Pin
I already have one in a shawl. Taking only one was very hard.

Oval Shawl Pin

Wavy Shawl Pin

Stick Pins

The rest of the shawl pins in the order are pictured in a blog post I did a few days ago.

My mom called me from Myrtle Beach that two large boxes arrived-they have the yarn bowls. And then more good news from Myrtle. We needed something on the dining room windows in our house. I didn't really want curtains. I really wanted California Shutters. After much debate I won (of course) and the shutters were installed this morning. Dad says they look great!

Here is the progress on Eos.

The pattern is very easy to follow. I photocopied it so that I could enlarge it. As I do a row I cross it out so I always know where I am in the pattern. On either side of the pattern is plain stocking stitch sections. I have markers on the needle so that I don't need to count these stitches. Saves lots of time.

My Lonely Tree Shawl is very lonely. I look at it but haven't picked it up for days. That is my plan for this afternoon. I need it done for the Knitter's Frolic.

I try to keep my blog upbeat but I need to vent this morning. I woke up early and went to take the garbage out. When I got outside there was glass all over the driveway. Someone had smashed out the drivers windows on both my Edge and Beth's pickup truck. We scrambled to get as much picked up as we could and then the vacuum cleaner came out. Beth had someone from dad's company pick her up and she got my dad's truck. We threw on clothes (I took about 2 seconds with my makeup) and we took the vehicles to Mohawk Ford to have the windows replaced. We might get them back tomorrow. Maybe Saturday. It was really cold on the Linc with no window-of course I forgot to throw on my winter coat. They got $4 out of Beth's truck and maybe $40 in change from mine. What a crappy way to start the day. We have decided that from now on we are going to leave the doors unlocked. Take what you want but don't break the windows!

Redressed

An email came in last night with some pretty Rowan pictures.

Rowan-please hurry and send the yarn. We want it now!!

Kim and I got our friends redressed. It is much brighter in the store now.

Down the hall
From left to right
-Sirdar pattern knit in Debbie Bliss Bella with a Blue Sky Alpacas scarf in Metalico
-Austin Hoodie knit in Loran's Laces Solemate with a Linen Stitch scarf knit in Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock
-Sirdar Americana DK
-Isis knit in Rowan All Seasons Chunky with the Bias Before and After Scarf knit in Classic Elite Silky Alpaca Lace

The sweater is called Flamingo from Classic Elite knit in Sanibel
The shawl is Derecho (pattern purchased on Ravelry) knit in tosh sock

When you are standing at the cash register and turn 180 degrees you will see this
-Churchmouse Easy Fold Poncho knit in Rowan Felted Tweed
-Color Affection knit in tosh merino light

Just inside the front door
Left-Wildflower Cardigan from Coastal Knits knit in tosh pashmina with the Sonoma Scarf knit in Freia Lace
Right-Wheelwright knit in tosh prairie

My All the Shades of Truth shawls.

It's a busy TV night which means lots of knitting. Survivor is getting frustrating. The fans are keeping people in their tribe who don't do any work and are voting out those who work and help in challenges. 

Last night we watched Idol. Thank goodness we had it taped. The two hour show took about 15 minutes to watch. I'm not sure it was the best night. The singing might have been good but very boring. I miss Adam. Hopefully the men do better tonight.

Is it Spring yet?

It is a beautiful day in Ancaster. The sun is shining and it almost feels like spring. We have new spring flags hanging out front.

Because of the weather I decided we needed to change the sweaters throughout the store. That means redressing the mannequins. I made a quick trip to Fortinos to buy some new Joe Fresh clothes. We have some summery colours now.

One friend is redressed in a bright lime/yellow colour. You can't miss her when you walk down the hall. Tomorrow more friends will have new outfits. 

Good news. The yarn bowls are on their way to South Carolina. Mom and dad will be bringing them home around March 16. Not too long of a wait now.

 There are 24 bowls coming in total.

 If we have any left I will be taking them to the Frolic with us.

Kim's working with me today and I mentioned the bowls. She said that they also make a good candle holder. Great idea but I have enough yarn that I need about 20 bowls. :) No room for candles.

I was a travel agent for part of the day. Rooms needed to be booked for TNNA in Columbus in June. Yes, March has just arrived but rooms can be tough to get at the group rate. I made the executive decision that we were going to try a new hotel this year. Literally a new hotel-it was just built. We have stayed at the Crown Plaza for over 10 years but this one is new and much closer so this year we are staying at the Hilton. Getting the reservation done took a while. I could get a room (at the group rate) for Friday, Saturday and Monday. Sunday was sold out. Not the hotel, just the group rate so they wanted double for that night. I don't think so. I was on the general booking number for The Hilton so I said 'no thank you' and then tried the actual hotel. After 20 minutes I got them talked into giving me the group rate for every night. I did feel very proud of myself. I was so pleasant on the phone it was hard to believe it was me.

Then I booked plane tickets for Myrtle Beach. Beth and I are running away in two weeks for the weekend. We need to work out some things with the carpenter for our sun room. And it will be nice to get away. I haven't seen the house since July. We are flying out of Niagara Falls, NY on a direct flight (goodie) but the flight times aren't great. We get into Myrtle around 3pm. No golf that day. And we leave at 10am on Monday morning. You have to take the good with the bad I guess.

After work Beth and I went to Costco because Beth's membership was about to run out. We bought a bed for the dogs.

Roko likes the bed. Melo not so much. He's sticking with this.

Pollika

Mr. Canada Post brought in a box from Pollika today. Lots of wooden shawl pins. Here is a sample.

We also received bundles of fleece.

6 different color combinations containing 7 Wonderwool colors for Wet or Needle Felting

These are two of the five bundles we have.

Beth made it home safely. It was really cold in Myrtle Beach so there was one round of golf and then they did chores. Here are a few pictures she emailed me once she got home. Data roaming in the US is a lot and it is free from our house in Ancaster. :)

This is the wall in our dining room. My dad is in his element when he has tools in his hands.

We bought these at One of a Kind (coming up again in a few weeks-I'm saving my pennies) but dad wanted one of us there before he hung them.

They ended up with one tree left over so now we need more houses to go on the side wall.

It's knitting/TV time. Grey's Anatomy. Celebrity Apprentice. I will put on a bandaid before I start tonight. No more accidents.

Rowan Magazine #54

The other day I put a link in for Anne's blog and the preview of Rowan Magazine #54. Anne had more Rowan videos on her blog last night. I sent her an email and she told me that there is a Rowan YouTube channel. I didn't know that. Here is the link. You can see all the books coming for fall. Sorry to those who didn't get to the link yet. The magazines aren't available for viewing anymore. I think we are going to have to wait until closer to the release date. There are a few Martin Storey sweaters that I want RIGHT NOW! My wish list is definitely going to be long. It looks like there will be three new yarns. I will be ordering the yarns and books sometime in April and we will have them in the store in August. As you know I'm not a patient person. I'm not sure I can wait. :)

I didn't knit a stitch last night. I went for a nap at 5:30 after work. I woke up and let the dogs out a few times but pretty much stayed in bed until 6:30 this morning. I think I might have been a bit tired. Now it's 7:45. My laundry is done. The dishwasher is unloaded and reloaded. That means I can pull out my knitting soon.

Soon because I want to get Beth's knitting Soaked.

And it's Soaking. The kitchen smells very nice-I used Yuzu Soak today.

The dogs are fed. I've been to the grocery store. Now I need to lay out Beth's knitting and then I'll be ready to knit.

I got a bit of knitting in today. There was some time playing with Roko. Then there was a nap. Yes, I needed a nap even after the sleep I had last night. Beth wasn't here so I had to make my own dinner. And then clean up the mess I made. It really cut into my knitting time.

Then there was a knitting emergency. When I knit I push on the needle with the first finger on my right hand (the one beside my thumb). If I knit a lot I can get a small hole in my finger. I didn't pay any attention and my finger was bleeding. Not good when knitting with white cotton. I looked at my sweater and there was blood. I had to rip back three rows. I thought about leaving it and trying to get it out in the wash but it would always bother me. A few bad words were said.

Here it is so far - nice and clean. 8 rows done. Lots left.

Beth's Knitting

For the girl who doesn't knit, Beth has done a great job on her projects. I'm going to block them for her tomorrow and then sew in the ends. She will pay dearly for this service. :) She already bought me golf balls this morning and she has a list of towels that I want as well. She still has tonight, tomorrow and Monday morning to shop so who knows what else I will come up with.

Pattern: Churchmouse Linen Stitch Scarf
Yarn: Classic Elite Liberty Prints - 2 balls each of 3 colours
Colours: 7821 Caribbean Tidepool, 7868 Sonic Lavender and 7865 Violet Glen
Needles: 7mm 80cm

Pattern: Inspira Cowl from Ravelry

Version: Steampunk

Yarn: Classic Elite Liberty Prints

1 ball of colour Rainbow Riot

2 balls of colour 7899 Cloudy Dawn

Needles: 5mm 60cm

We cast on 150 stitches but for her next one we cast on 138.

6:45 is way to early to start the day. :) I was up at that awful hour to make sure the dogs were fed and had lots of play time before I came to work. I hope they are sleeping now. I'm going to run home soon and let them out and then they will have the afternoon to sleep again. They are going to be active when I get home tonight. I hope they let me knit. I have the back cast on for Eos and want to get into the chart tonight. Hopefully I get enough done for some good pictures for tomorrow's post.

In for the night

I packed up a box for Lynda today with two projects.

Pattern: Windward (purchase on Ravelry)
Yarn: Dream in Color Everlasting Sock

Pattern: Love and Happiness (purchase on Ravelry)
Yarn: Lorna's Laces Haymarket

Kim came into work wearing a new shawl

Sorry Kim. Somehow I cut off your head.

Pattern: Blue Bird from the Classic Elite book Cascading Waters
Yarn: tosh merino light
Colour: cove - which we are out of right now and probably won't have until the Frolic but there are many great colours in the store.

It is beautiful and the merino light has amazing drape. Perfect for shawls!

Rowan fans-take a look at Anne's blog

Beth made it to Myrtle Beach. She doesn't really like to fly but she had no problems. Mom and dad met her at the airport and took her to our favourite deli for lunch. Then milk shakes that are SO GOOD from Chik-fil-A on the way home. Yes, I'm jealous. :) She did take knitting with her - another Inspira Cowl. There were a lot less stitches for me to cast on. Her Lantern Moon needles made it through security with no questions asked. It's me and the dogs tonight. An episode of The Mentalist with a bit of knitting and then bed. I'm tired tonight.