Stripes

A box arrived today with two new colours of Liberty Wool from Classic Elite.

7837 Rodeo

7838 Sunset Frost

It's the day of stripes.

Ms. Canada Post was here early this morning with a big box from Trendsetter Yarns. Introducing Phoenix Print.

66% Viscose

34% Cotton

91m (100yards) on a 50gram ball

What to make with Phoenix Print?? Here are some shawl suggestions. The yarn is a worsted weight so there are many sweater/cardigan options available too.

Carina Spencer has three patterns that would work great.

How about Zuzu's Petals?

All the style of a shawlette without the fuss of trying to keep it around your neck! This easy to wear cowl is designed to mimic the look of a shawl casually draped as a scarf.

We have patterns in the store or the pattern can be purchased on Ravelry...

Scalene

Scalene is an asymmetrically shaped, triangular scarf that features both horizontal and vertical keyholes for several styles of wear. This gender neutral design looks great on women and men of any age.

Patterns in the store or on Ravelry...

Faraway, So Close

Faraway, So Close is a simple shawl that uses repetition of various stitch patterns to achieve a more complex effect. It can be worked in two sizes from worsted to aran weight yarn, and features a modest ruffle and optional crochet edge in contrasting color.

We have copies or purchase on Ravelry...

Another scarf that I thought might look interesting is the Tower Mill Shawl by Laura Chow.

The Tower Mill Shawl is a versatile shawl or wide scarf, beginning with an innovative garter stitch border cast on and shaped with short rows for a subtle curve. Tower Mill also incorporates a fun lace and cable pattern reminiscent of windmill sails which flows into the clean ribbed edge.

Available on Ravelry or we have copies.

Autumn Blush by Joji.

The shawl is worked from tip to tip, sideways, in one piece, using short rows for shaping. I tried to keep the design with simple lines using textured stitch patterns that showcase beautifully the softness and sheen of this luxurious silk blend.

In the store or on Ravelry...

How about the Groovy Shawl?

Groovy will knit up as a shawl or large, deep scarf. The design is triangle shaped, has very deep ribs and notches on one side. Can be knit with 4mm needles and DK weight yarns. If you prefer a thicker shawl, use 5mm needles and aran weight yarns. You will need a minimum of 500 meters of yarn for a large scarf and closer to 900 meters for a large shawl. Using more yarn will result in a deeper, larger shawl. This design is quite flexible!

Purchase the pattern on Ravelry...

And then there is Clapotis. I think that I might send the yarn to Lynda for this. But that can change between now and tomorrow morning. :)

I was ready to hit Publish when Mr. Canpar came in with a box that has two new colours of Debbie Bliss Luxury Silk DK.

Geranium

Luxury Silk DK Print takes a good thing and gives it stripes! This sleek, luxurious DK yarn from Debbie Bliss is 100% silk and feels amazing on your skin. And Luxury Silk DK Print self-stripes in bright, deep color combinations, making it perfect for colorful and lightweight - but - drapey summer tops and accessories.

Lavender

There is a free pattern that uses 3 balls of the Luxury Silk DK. Download the patten...

Or you can use 3 balls to knit this Diagonal Striped Scarf. Download the pattern...

I'm getting ready to sit down and knit for a bit. Sleeve #1 is almost done. I'm shaping the top of it right now. I'll start on the front tomorrow. In my time calculations I forgot about blocking and the sweater drying. I'm going to get the front done and block the front and back so I can work on the second sleeve while they are drying. Then I can do the neck while the sleeve is drying. UGGGGGG. I'm starting to get anxious. I hope tosh vintage dries quickly.

Food Drive

Maybe you didn't want to/didn't have time/couldn't make a hat. We're going to try and help the community another way. The Ancaster Community Food Drive. This is the 22nd year for the event. So far they have collected over 1,203,000 pounds of food and over $63,5000. The food is distributed throughout Hamilton, Ancaster, Dundas and Flamborough. 

For every can/jar/box that is donated you will receive an entry into the draw.

The draw?? We are collecting awesome items from our suppliers and one lucky winner will take home a gift basket. 

Yarn and books have been donated by

-Classic Elite

-Lorna's Laces

-Freia Handpaint

-Rowan

-Regia

-Wendy/Peter Pan

-Lantern Moon

-Filatura di Crosa

-Misti Alpaca

-Plymouth Yarns

-Old Mill Knitting

-Estelle Designs
-Offhand Designs (Daisy bag on the right)

All food needs to be delivered to the store by Thursday, February 20, 2014.  

The draw will take place on Friday, February 21, 2014.

The draw is open to residents of Canada-the value of the goods and the price of shipping prohibits us from shipping outside of Canada. 

If you live out of town and would like to donate, please send me an email and we can arrange a cash donation. You will receive 5 entries for $10 or 10 entries for $20.

Westminster Fibers (the North American distributor of Rowan and Regia) donated 4 balls of Kidsilk Amore plus the booklet and 2 skeins of Fine Art and the pattern book.

They also donated 2 balls of Regia plus a ball of Regia 6ply (a bit thicker sock yarn). The Canadian distributor of Opal gave a ball of 6ply sock yarn as well.

Estelle Designs (the Canadian distributor of Cascade) gave kits of a new yarn from Cascade - 220 Superwash Aran. This yarn feels awesome.

Old Mill Knitting donated a variety of yarns...

...along with a bag of Zara - machine washable double knitting weight merino from Italy. Lantern Moon gave a large rice basket, tape measure and stitch markers.

Classic Elite gave three pattern books - Oceanside, Cathedral and Portraits.
Yarn from Freia Handpaint.
Lorna's Laces Solemate in St. Charles. It was really hard to give that one up. A skein of Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in Naperville

This kit is a regift but I don't think the winner will mind. I won the kit at TNNA and the first thought that popped into my head was the Food Drive Gift Basket.

The yarn is brand new from Plymouth Yarn. Cottonation. 100% cotton. Aran weight. Striping. Does it get any better? We don't have this in the store but I'm considering ordering some in. It's that nice.

I just totalled what we have so far and the retail value is over $900. My suppliers have been very generous and I hope all of you will be as well.

February 13

We just received two skeins of Serenity 20 from Zen Yarn Garden for the basket.

Sweet & Spicy

I knit like crazy yesterday. The back is done and I'm onto the first sleeve.

Ms. Canada Post brought in two boxes this morning. The first was full of Opal Sock yarn. All colours of Sweet & Spicy are back in stock.

The other box was from Offhand Designs. The Arya bags in new fabrics are here. This is the inside of my bag. Purple. It doesn't get any better!

The bag is already loaded with yarn. Beth is going to make another Inspira Cowl in Classic Elite Liberty. She is only allowed to knit on her Olympic project if we (Canada) win medals so she needs something else to work on just in case she uses up all her medal time.

I just got home from knitting class. The ladies are learning lots. Here is my sleeve so far. 64 rows done. 16 more rows and then the cap shaping.

Getting up so early is taking it's toll. I think I'm sleeping in until 8 tomorrow morning. I would like to see the Women's Ski Slopestyle but that's at 4am. I'll see the replay when I get to work.

Skiing

Yes, we were up at 2am to watch the skiing. The Canadian skiers could have done better but they could have done worse :)

Here is my sweater when I went back to bed at 8am. I made it to the armholes.

The goal is to get the back finished tonight.

Beth's cowl. There have been a few challenges. The pattern is not the best written pattern ever made. Actually, it is pretty bad and wrong. I spent about an hour on Friday night figuring it out. Got it fixed and the changes sent to Cathy and Lynn. Beth got through the first section and decided that she didn't like how the floats looked. We I ripped it back a few rows and she went at it again. Then she dropped her stitch marker off the needle which caused her pattern to be out by one stitch. I ripped out another row for her. She's back on track. Thank goodness because I don't have time to be working on her knitting and mine. With their challenge she can only knit when Canada wins a medal. She has 45 minutes in knitting time saved up for later tonight.

After looking at my handy dandy Sochi 2014 app from CBC on my iPad I have decided that tomorrow morning I will sleep in until 6am. Women's Alpine Skiing starts at 2am with the downhill section but I don't think I can do another 2am wake up call. I'll watch it at 6am with the Slalom portion. We also have Short Track Speed Skating starting at 4:45 with heats. The Men's 1500m Finals are at 7:05. The Speed Skating starts at 8am. It's going to be a busy morning with Curling, Hockey, Freestyle Skiing and Biathlon as well. By the time I get to work I should could have a sleeve cast on and the ribbing finished.

Sul

Ms. Canada Post left a box from Lynda yesterday.

Pattern: Sul from the Classic Elite Magazine Oceanside
Yarn: Classic Elite Bella Lino

An easy-to-knit cardigan with short fitted sleeves.    

Bella Lino is a lightweight yarn that creates an airy fabric with long, harmonious stripes. The palette of summery shades each have a linen-hued base. 

58% linen, 26% viscose, 16% cotton.
It's the summer of linen - we have lots in the store with more coming.

My Olympic sweater is growing. I was up at 3:30am to watch Slopestyles. Then back for a short nap and at work by 9:30. It's been busy in the store which is a good thing but there hasn't been any knitting. I think that I need to sleep after work though. Men's downhill comes on at 2am. I don't like to see events after I know the results. I want to see them live - it's a thing in our family. We were all up this morning to watch the snowboarding.

Have you noticed at the bottom of my posts there is an icon that says "Print Friendly"? If you want to print out a post (or something from a post) click on the button. It will get rid of headings and sidebars and the things you don't really need.

It's 10pm and I totally forgot to finish my post. My sweater is at 16". Lots of progress tonight (except for the time ripping out Beth's knitting - more on that tomorrow). Three more inches and I get to start the armholes. I'm off to bed. 2am is going to come quickly.

It's time to cast on

I figured it out last night. I'm making a sweater.

• Relaxed fit
• Style: pullover
• Length: Low-hip length
• Sleeves: Full-length sleeve
• Neck style: Crew neck

I'm wearing Bailey today. I knit this during the last Olympic challenge. I haven't missed an Olympics yet and have always finished. I hope I haven't jinxed myself.

Beth and Lynn came up with their own Olympic challenge. Cathy and Sarah joined in as well. I can't wait to see how their colourways play out. It looks like I'm going to be doing a provisional cast on tonight.

It's 5:15 and Beth just brought me a tea. Apparently Lucy Neatby taught Beth and Lynn how to provisional cast on this afternoon.

I sewed in the ends of the Cordwood Cowl this afternoon.

Pattern: Cordwood Cowl purchased on Ravelry
Yarn: 2 skeins of Masham Worsted from Lorna's Laces (we don't have stock yet but it should be coming soon)
Colour: St. Charles

I love this cowl and the yarn.

I'm home, had dinner and the Opening Ceremonies have begun. Beth hasn't seen them yet.

Here is my sweater so far.

The colours are coming out better than I thought they would. Now it's time to watch the athletes walk in.

What am I going to make?

The Opening Ceremonies are at 11 tomorrow. I think it might be time for me to pick my Olympic project. 

There are a few things that are set

yarn - tosh vintage double stranded (I've swatched and blocked already)

colour - whiskers

needles - 8mm

To decide when designing my CustomFit garment

-sweater or cardigan?

-fitted or not?

-long or short?

-can I talk Beth into winding skeins for me?

Beth called me this morning and asked if I knew that the Olympics were already on TV. What? I guess they started early. I had them on in the store but didn't really get to watch so they are on now. Slopestyle. What a cool event. 

I'm moving upstairs in a minute to watch more House of Cards and knit on my Bella Lino cardigan. 

Four skeins of tosh have been wound into balls. I couldn't talk Beth into doing it for me. When I knit with hand dyed yarns I knit two rows from one ball and two rows from another. Then back to the first and then the second. This alternates the skeins and helps if there are colour variations. There will always be some difference in hand dyed yarns but this helps. I'm double stranding so I don't want to be carrying around four balls. Easy solution (I think). I start with balls 1 and 2. When I'm half way through 1 I cut it and join in 3. I finish off 2 and half of 3. Then I join in 4 and work 3 and 4 until 3 is done. This should help with colour variation. We'll see if my theory works over the next few days.

Let the games begin!

Snow Day part 2

I'm not a good sit at home and relax kind of person. I've cleaned the kitchen, run the dishwasher, done a load of laundry and blocked my cowl.

 Here is the 11am shot. Just so you don't think I'm nuts. It is really coming down.

The dogs are loving it outside. Every few minutes they are at the back door wanting to go out. Unfortunately they are bringing in a lot of snow.

This is the 12:30 picture.

It's 5:30 and Beth just went out to clean off the truck.

I know that there are many places in North America that have seen a lot more snow than us this winter, and I'm not really complaining, but we've had our snow now and spring can come.

The only good thing about the day was that I accomplished a lot on my Bella Lino cardigan. Plus we found a new TV show on Netflix. House of Cards with Kevin Spacey. We're 5 episodes in and really enjoying it. Now it's time to get a few more episodes in before the finale of Top Chef.

Snow Day

I was up early (6am - I'm not sure why) and was ready to head to the store at 8:30. Beth suggested that I take a quick drive out of our survey to see how the roads were. They aren't good. Golf Links (a main road in Ancaster) hadn't been plowed in quite some time. I came home and called dad. He said that I was nuts to go to work. For now I agreed and am at home. If it gets better I will try and head over around noon. The weather channel is saying we could get 10-20cm more snow this afternoon. YUCK!!

This was the truck around 9:30 after having driven it and it being clean.

And just now. An hour later.

And the winner is....

Congratulations to Karen A (I will call you tomorrow if the store opens - more on that below - or on Thursday). You have won a Soakbox of your choice.

Thank you to everyone who donated hats. Another 50 are on their way to Mission Services.

An email just came from Offhand Designs - new Arya bags are on the way.

Audrey

Capacious carry-all with 3 compartments and endless pockets, pouches and tool slots. Room for all of your electronics, books and the central compartment pops open and stays open with a practical hex-frame closure for knitting or just seeing deep into the corners. Versatile handles offer short handles and a luxurious adjustable shoulder strap which extends to wear cross body for heavy lifting.

Byzantine

Dimensions:  13.5"H x 17"W x 6"D

Closure Style:  14” central compartment hex frame, gold magnetic closure front to back

Handle Length:  20" double straps, 45” detachable/adjustable shoulder strap

Handle Drop:  8.5”

Pockets:  Lining 9 pockets, 6 tool slots, 3 pouches and 1 zipper pocket

Textiles:  Shown here in a limited edition brocade

Hardware:  Solid brass hardware

Origin:  Handmade in Oakland, California

Notes:  Easily carries your project, I-Pad, small laptop, Nina, Switch, and Circular clutch

Hippodrome

I carry my Arya every day to work. Laptop. Wallet. Knitting. Computer and phone cords. Paperwork and ...... The bag is awesome and will hold lots of stuff. It's a great carry on bag if you fly a lot.

Ravenna

Theodora (this is the colour that I'm getting-there are 3 in the box)
These should be here in a week or so.

The weather channel is on right now (I'm turning into my father - he watches it all the time)  and it looks like we're getting snow tomorrow. And it could be lots of snow. If we get what they're calling for then the store might not open in the morning. I'll see what it looks like when I wake up. There will be posts on Facebook and Twitter (@NeedleEmporium).

Rosa

A new project has been started in the store. And it wasn't by me. :)

Cathy mentioned the pattern and Kim jumped all over it.

Rosa (free on Ravelry) knit in sport weight. Kim is using pashmina in grenadine.
Other option are tosh sport, Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sport, Lorna's Laces Sportmate and Classic Elite Fresco.

What a great project to knit during the Olympics. You can knit without having to pay attention to what you are knitting. No counting rows. No shaping. Perfect.

We have a basket started for food for the Food Drive. Thanks to those who came in today and got us going. Don't know what I'm talking about? Take a look here....

I'm still in the store because Nadine is teaching tonight. Teaching in the clean/tidied up/organized class room. Some of the ladies have been downstairs for workshops before and were amazed at the difference. While she's teaching I'm casting on the back of my Bella Lino cardigan. The front isn't quite done yet but I forgot the other front at home. I want to make sure they are the same number of rows before I cast off. I have learned the hard way (very hard way) to make sure the pieces are the same.  The class is going well. The ladies are working on different projects and are learning many, many different techniques. Casting on a new way that might be better than what they were doing, working on double pointed needles, knitting in the round for the first time, cables, reading a chart and provisional cast on. And this is only the first week.

Super Bowl Sunday

It's Super Bowl Sunday. Last year at this time I was in Long Beach, California for TNNA. I watched the game in our hotel bar. Not fun on my own but I did get to see all the commercials that we don't get to see here.

On Friday a shipment came in from Estelle Designs with a new baby yarn.

Baby Bunting. A super thick polyester chenille. It takes three balls for a baby blanket-there are two different patterns on the label. One is so easy. 3 balls. 9mm needles. Cast on. Knit every row. Easy as pie.

The football game is done and that was one of the worst games I have seen in a long time. A bad game and not very good commercials. The only upside was that I got a lot of knitting done. Here is the second front on my Bella Lino cardigan. I'm past the armholes.

I'm so bitter about the game that I'm finishing my post and then going to bed to sulk. Tomorrow is a new day and I will be much happier :)