Noema

I'm excited about new patterns for Louisa Harding's Noema. These are available as leaflets.

A great description for Louisa's designs is timeless, accessible, and unabashedly romantic

75% cotton
20% acrylic
5% nylon

120m on a 50gram ball
20 stitches = 4" on 4mm needles

The bottom row are new colours for this season. We have a great selection from both rows in stock.

Noema was introduced last spring with a great pattern book.

See all the patterns...

We have the cowl from the front cover as a store sample. The yarn is soft and the cowl is light to wear.

Cathy stopped by with her newly finished Technicolor Cowl.

Lynn put it on for me to get pictures. The colours aren't quite as bright as the picture but they are just as pretty.

I really like these colours. I keep packing them up and taking them home but I don't want to copy Cathy so I keep bringing them back. I'm thinking that if I change one colour then I'm okay. It won't be a copy anymore :)

I'm texting with Cathy as I'm writing. Here is what she said

I love that yarn and pattern. I'm tempted to do another one. Help! 

Another text came through and she's stopping by tomorrow to get more yarn. :)

The fireplace is on. Grey's is on the TV and I'm going to knit and cry with April and Jackson.

Eco Baby Prints

We're still unpacking and rearranging. I'm not sure how we are fitting everything in. And there are some big shipments still to come. 8 HUGE boxes are coming from madelinetosh next week. We have 132 skeins of sock yarn coming from Zen Yarn Garden. It's a great time to be shopping for yarn!

A new pattern book and yarn from Debbie Bliss are in the store.

100% organic cotton
125m on a 50 gram ball
25 stitches = 4" on 3.25mm needles

A fun new yarn for babies and children. Eco Baby Prints will also work for any Debbie Bliss pattern that calls for Baby Cashmerino.

100% cotton. Organic cotton. And it's machine washable. But guess what - it isn't just for kids. The yarn is sports weight so there are many, many patterns for adults as well.

I did a quick search on Ravelry. I searched for sweaters, adult size, sports weight that are hot right now.

Here are some patterns for you to peruse... There are a lot of amazing patterns!

I'm excited about a new colour coming very soon from Zen Yarn Garden called Convergence.

The fifteenth offering in our new ART WALK Series features a painting by Jackson Pollock entitled "Convergence". From one medium to the next, artists express their use of colour. Inspired by Pollock, our dyer has successfully captured the excitement and complexity of the painting.

We're having a problem at home right now because the TV schedule has changed. We can't remember what night anything is on. Why can't they leave things alone??

Delphi

Instead of dwelling on the snow and cold, let's think about spring. Mr. Canpar brought in 3 huge boxes of pretty, summery yarn today.

A tape style ombre yarn, Delphi knits up quickly & is perfect for textured styles as well as easy knits.

50m on a 50gram ball
knits on 8mm needles

Don't forget about the Food Drive. There is just over a week for you to get your food and/or money into the store. This is from Jan Lukas who has been the driving force behind the Food Drive since the beginning.

Met with the Food Agencies that will benefit from our food drive
Neighbour to Neighbour, The Salvation Army Greater Hamilton, Food Share, St. Matthew’s House, Mission Services of Hamilton, Wesley Urban Ministries,  Good Shepherd Centre, Ancaster Community Services
... they have clearly told us what is needed:
Agencies say they need the staples such as soups, pasta, pasta, sauce, canned beans, salmon tuna peanut butter (but make them heathy choices like low sodium etc), dried rice, dried lentils, dried beans (especialy good for those on special diets), whole grain cereals, canned fruits and vegetables, baby formula and diapers, toiletries ... some of the folks only have a hot plate to warm up goods. Students can also use school snacks but can you please check the expiry dates - what you would eat those in the food banks would eat. CAN YOU STEP UP AND BRING IN THE FOOD NEEDED OR VOLUNTEER PLEASE ancastercommunityfooddrive@gmail.com or bring the food over to St John's Parish Hall on Feb 21st.

 Any help that you can give is amazing. Thanks to everyone for donating.

Ouch

Sorry to my poor mannequin. She became a pin cushion today.

Ley Lines stretched out. Now I'm excited. I think it looks awesome! And it's starting to look like the picture on the pattern.

There was a bit of a problem yesterday.

The ball on the top right was the first ball that I started to knit with. When in skeins, the colours looked similar. I realized that I might run out yesterday afternoon so I wound the bottom ball. It is totally different. I started working 2 rows of one ball then 2 rows of the second ball. Then it hit me. I'm going to run out of the original colour. I'd end up finishing the shawl with the bottom ball which is definitely more brown. I wound a third skein - top left. It is different again. Now I'm knitting one row of each colour, carrying the extra threads up the side. If you really look you can see where I started alternating balls but when the shawl is finished no one will know unless I point it out.

There are a few lessons to my sad tale

1. If you are knitting Ley Lines, you can carry the yarn up the side of your work and you won't see it. The first two stitches and last two stitches of every right side row are knit. Carrying the yarn up the side actually made my edge stitches neater and the floats are hidden on the back.

2. If you are working with yarns that have been kettle dyed (like Manos or Malabrigo), work with at least two, if not three balls at once. They might look close but when knit they could be very different.

Now it's time to get back to the shawl. I am so excited by how it looks on the mannequin that I want it finished. Like now. There are other yarns swimming in my head that will make a fabulous Ley Lines.

A day of knitting

When the day looks like this there are only a couple of things to do

The first is to bake cookies. When the crew comes to shovel the driveway I have treats. Trust me, our driveway is done first and the best.

Then the next thing to do is knit.

It's really late now and I did a lot of knitting today. My picture isn't very good because I was rushing so that I can post and get to bed. The shawl is going to need a good blocking when done so that the ribs stretch out. I'm going to pin it onto a mannequin tomorrow so that we (you and I) can get a better idea of what it is going to look like when finished.

The snow was pretty none existent here this afternoon but it's picked up now. I will need to do some cleaning of the truck in the morning. I better hit publish and get to bed. I have a feeling it will be an early morning.