needleemporium.com

The changes to the website are taking longer than expected but I have seen a preview and I think it will be great when done.

I have been working away on my throw. 33 of 93 squares done. I need to pick up the pace a bit but it should get done.

Last night we had a fun night at knitting class. Kris made a carrot cake (my favourite) and Kelley brought a tea pot, tea and even cut up some lemon. They even talked me into extending their lessons for another 4 weeks so that we can do it again.

The last of the new Rowan arrived today. Holiday is a loosely constructed chainette yarn in a cotton blend which knits on 10mm needles. The palette consists of beautiful muted shades including soft pinks, heathers and blues. The magazine for this yarn is called Tuscan Retreat.

My purchases and afghan update

Here are some of my shopping purchases from yesterday. (I forgot to list a purse.) I think that the boots are my favourite. These came from Brown's-Sherway and Yorkdale had them. There were at least 15 new styles of cowboy boots for the spring. Good news for me since I collect cowboy boots. The shoes and purse came from Town Shoes. The purse also came in yellow, bright pink and lime-it was tough to choose a colour.

I now have 23 squares done on the afghan and 24 is almost done. When you look at the colours in a pile there are some that stand out (I would have left them out) but when knit together they look great.

Busy Day

I spent all day in Toronto which meant no time for knitting.

My day started off visiting Romni Wools. I had to deliver yarn for Beth (Beth runs our distribution company called Old Mill Knitting).
After Romni I stopped at Sherway Gardens. Bought some clothes-nothing exciting.
Then off to Luv2Pak where I get supplies for make kits in the store. This is at Keele just south of the 407.
From there I went to one of my suppliers Diamond Yarns. Nothing like an hour wandering through a warehouse full of yarn.
Next stop - Creative Bag to get bags for the store.
The last stop was Yorkdale. Bought another pair of cowboy boots and a pair of sandals. Couldn't help myself.

I pulled out of Yordale at 5:45 and had to rush back to Hamilton so that I could have my nails done. Gotta love the 407!! I was driving 130 and people were flying by me. 275 km on the SUV today.

With the switch of companies hosting my website I have lost the list of people who have signed up for The Needle Emporium online newsletter. I have spent the last 2 hours starting a new list and writing a newsletter to email. There is a great company called Constant Contact and I am using them for the newsletter. The first one is done but I am going to proof read once more tomorrow before I send it out.

I now have 22 of 94 squares done on my afghan-pictures tomorrow. I might get one more done tonight while watching The Apprentice. It is unbelievable how some of these people got on the show-they know absolutely nothing about business.

Am I nuts?

My pattern for the Jane Slicer-Smith throw arrived yesterday. I am working on square 8 and I have 93 to get finished by April 21. Nothing like putting pressure on myself. The Knitters Frolic is on the 22nd and I want the throw done to display there. I am knitting in the ends as I go so when I am finished knitting there will be no finishing.

I should have rotated the throw before I took the picture. The 2 squares at the bottom will be the bottom left corner of the throw.

Mom and Dad are buying me a rocking chair in Myrtle Beach and bringing it home for the booth. It will hold 3 different throws all with purple shades-should look great.

Beth visited a yarn shop in Rochester, NY today. The owner said that she thinks the next trend will be throws and afghans. She believes that knitters don't want to pay $200 for a sweater but will pay that much for a throw to decorate the house.

Home again part 2

Blogger is now letting me upload pictures. This is my shrug so far. I really like the colour (and it matches suede boots that I have!!) I have made a few modifications to the pattern-I am doing the increases as sloping M1 instead of knit into the front and back of the stitch. Not sure if it will make a huge difference but I like it better.

I talked about my purple bear collection. Here are some pictures from my room in Myrtle Beach. The first picture is the top of my dresser. The other two pictures are 2 of my 3 windows (there are more bears in the third window).

Home again

We arrived home around noon today. The trip was great and we had lots of laughs with Mom, Dad, Aunt Rene and Uncle Bob. Golfed 4 out of the 5 days and came home with colour in my face. It's amazing how time in the sun always makes you feel better. We got out just in time-it rained all day there today!!

I wanted to work on the Jane Slicer-Smith throw while I was away but the pattern wasn't ready. Instead I started a new project. It is a shrug that I saw on Michelle's website. You can download the pattern and there are 3 different versions that you can choose from-I am doing the long back with fringes out of Lane Borgosesia Merino Otto in Lavender. I tried to upload pictures of mine but Blogger is being stubborn right now. I will try again tomorrow.

Knitter's Frolic, getting ready to travel and new yarns

I haven't written anything yet about the Knitter's Frolic. This is Saturday, April 22 in Toronto. I will have a booth there along with other vendors selling anything to do with knitting. There are great workshops being offered from instructors including Lily Chin and Maureen Mason-Jamieson.

Trying to get ready to go away tomorrow which means a late night of chores.

1. Getting the house clean because the cleaning ladies are coming on Friday. Don't want them to see the house a mess
2. The newsletter is at the printer. I have to print off mailing labels so that Jane can get the newsletter out while I am away. This is a job that I hate so the timing is perfect
3. Make a list for the ladies of other jobs to do in the store
4. Make price signs for the new yarns that arrived today.
5. Laundry and packing.
6. Shining my golf shoes.
   

Luckily it is a good tv night-American Idol, Amazing Race and Big Break.

The afghan is almost finished. If I get my chores done I will sit down and finish it tonight. I have big tassles to make for each corner so it won't be completely done until I get home. Still waiting for the throw pattern from Trendsetter. If it doesn't get here tomorrow I will have to pack something else to knit.

I mentioned new yarns arriving today. Hempathy from Elsebeth Lavold is a blend of cotton and hemp. Angelica is my favourite sweater from her new book.

I also unpacked new colours of Cotton Classic (Tahki) and the some spring yarns from Stacy Charles.

Not much knitting

I didn't get much knitting done over the weekend. Saturday night we babysat Melo's half brother Rex. They kept sitting on me while I was knitting so it was easier to put it away. The afghan is almost done-maybe tomorrow.

Wednesday afternoon Beth and I are flying to Myrtle Beach for 5 days of golfing. I am trying to decide what to take for knitting. I know that there won't be time but must take something just in case. If the pattern for Jane Slicer-Smith's afghan is ready I will be taking it. It uses Trendsetter Dune, Checkmate, Marrakech, and Merino Otto. Nothing like a project that uses 8 different colours-won't leave much room for clothes.

If women ruled the world

Saw this picture today and had to share it.

The afghan grows

My afghan is growing. You can't really tell by the picture but it now measures over 48" square. I have stopped adding to the width but will continue to make it a bit longer. I can already hear my mom, 'That will look great in the house in Myrtle Beach!' For some reason my digital camera doesn't photograph the purple well. It isn't as blue as it appears.

Alexis (a customer of mine) gave me a great beaded bookmark for Christmas. I suggested that she make some beaded stitch markers and here are the results. We are working together on getting her business going to sell them. Any suggestions would be appreciated. She first brought in greens and oranges and I told her we needed blues, purples and pinks-these are the colours that people like. You can guess what colours are selling (green and orange). I knit up a piece to show them off and they look great. I used Louisa Harding's new Nautical Cotton-a new worsted weight cotton and it was nice to knit with.

This picture is for Wannietta and my parents. Beth and I put a bookshelf in the bathroom to hold the boxes of Super 10 cotton. This would have been Wannietta and Kyle's job but the 3 hour drive is a bit much to tidy the store. You can actually get to the toilet now!

What to knit when you don't feel well

I am still suffering from headaches (the doctor now has me on Tylenol 3 because she can't see me until the end of the week). I want to knit but don't want to follow a pattern so I picked out some different yarns and started an afghan. Once the camera came out Melo jumped up beside the afghan on the couch and posed for pictures. The purple is exactly the same colour as the pillows on my couch.

I am using Naturally Mohair Plus, Trendsetter Liberty, Plymouth Athena and Crystal Palace Party Ribbon. I will post the pattern once done. Garter stitch every row-can't get much easier than that.

Just sitting down and watching the Academy Awards. Our friend Heidi Berger (who works for Trendsetter yarns) was complaining last week that she had to babysit this weekend because her brother (Howard Berger) was going to the Academy Awards. Well, not only was he going but he won an Oscar for Makeup (Chronicles of Narnia). Now I can say that I know someone whose brother won an Oscar!

www.needleemporium.com

After months of having nothing done on my website I have a new web guy. Talked with Korey yesterday and he has already done a few changes. We are changing the shopping cart to be more user friendly. The layout for the whole site is going to be different and it is going to be set up so that I can make some changes myself. This way the minute we get something in the store it can go up on the site. I am so excited!!! Hopefully the new cart will be going early in the week. Glad that this is happening after the Knitting Olympics-I am not sure that I would have finished the cardigan.
I am so happy with my cardigan-wore it yesterday and today and I might wear it again tomorrow.

Finished another project and my gold medal

I finished knitting the Vision Coat tonight while watching the Amazing Race. Some of those people are really annoying. How can you walk by the clue box continually for 1/2 hour? How does a 60 year old woman think she can put together a motor bike if she's never done it before?

Back to my Sirdar Aran-I'm not ready to sew together another project just yet-that would be way too much.

Here is my gold medal for finishing my Knitting Olympics project-very exciting.

I am on a role

Now that Zarah is done it is time to complete some of my other projects. I have picked up my Vision Coat from Sally Melville's Book 2: The Purl Stitch- using Trendsetter's Dune in colour 82 plum/rust with pastel golds. So far the back, both sleeves and one front are done. The other front is at the armhole shaping. Should get some knitting done tonight-The Apprentice starts and then The Amazing Race tomorrow night.

I am on a role. While watching movies on Saturday night I started my hedgehog. He got finished during closing ceremonies and yesterday's Nascar race. Here he is unfelted. I needed to stuff him with something so that he would sit on table so I grabbed the closest thing-4 balls of Rowan Kid Silk Haze-boy does he have a happy tummy. Before I can do the felting I need to buy some stuffing (you stuff him to dry so that he keeps his shape and then put in new stuffing when it is dry).

My mom couldn't get a comment posted on the blog so she sent me an email-

Congratulations, you have won the finishing trophy. I don't remember the last time you sewed in your own ends.
Your prize is a four-day trip for you and your sister to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, with lodging and golf privileges included. Hugs.

She can't wait for us to get to Myrtle Beach. We can keep dad busy and let her have a rest. He is a going concern-up at 7am and no sitting around for the rest of the day. It will be like a vacation for her.

Done

I am proud to say that Zarah is done. It has been a bit of a journey. I heard about the Knitting Olympics and decided to participate. My first project was going to be a sweater in Rowan Biggy Print. Beth told me that this wasn't a big enough challenge so I changed to Zarah. The pattern is from Elsebeth Lavold's book three The Embraceable You Collection. I didn't have the yarn that was called for so I used Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk. The yarn was great to work with. I received daily phone calls from my dad asking how much I had knit that day. In the past few days my mom even got in on the action. Mom and dad-IT IS DONE!! I even sewed in together, finished off all the ends and sewed on the buttons. This is big for me because usually Wannietta, Rhonda or Jane does that for me.
Now I can work on my Hedgehog (and have a drink). Got the front finished last night while watching a movie. I hope to be felting tonight.
Melo came with me to do the pictures. He got a new sheep to play with in the store-purple even. How cute!!

65 hours and counting

The countdown has begun.

Today wasn't very productive but knitting class was. I didn't answer any questions and just sat there sewing together. Not really but it sounds good. Both front bands are done, one sleeve is sewn in and one side seam is done. I should get the rest sewn together tomorrow. A really big snow storm tonight would be nice-that would give me lots of time to finish.

On the front one band looks wavy. It really isn't but I was trying to get a picture quickly and didn't lie it out flat. So far I am happy with how it looks but I am praying that the collar will sit properly.

Almost there

The fronts and back are joined and I have to cast off one front edge. This leaves one front edge, the collar and finishing. As you can see there are lots of ends to sew in-the yarn only has 65m on a ball.
This is my view when sitting and knitting in the store. You can see that the hockey game is on. Not sure that I want to go into this afternoon's game. What a kick in the butt for our hockey team!! They were awful. Thank goodness for the rest of our Olympic team. Great day. I woke up to news of a gold and the day just kept getting better until the hockey.
More good news today. Half of my order from Jordana Paige arrived. These are the most amazing knitting bags. I have ordered extras of the Messenger Bag (pink and black) and the Knitter's Satchel (purple) so that I can have one of each.

My parents are in currently in Myrtle Beach and Mom reads my blog to see what is going on here. Mom-please tell Dad that I am almost done.

Lots done today-unfortunately no knitting

I am sad to report that not a lot of knitting has been done. I am finished sleeve two and at the armhole shaping of the second front. Just got off the phone from my parents in Myrtle Beach. He did ask the dreaded question 'How much did you do today?' I think that I need to get call display and then not answer their calls until next week.

On a good note though
-Rowan arrived in the store today and some of it is on the shelf. The new colours look great and the new magazine is much better than the fall one.
-Louisa Harding yarns arrived today as well-this is tomorrows job. Louisa does two magazines- one for garments and the other for accessories. Her garment designs are great for casual and dressing up.

And on an even better note I think I have my website problems straightened out. The company who hosts my site also does the maintenance. This worked well until October when employees started to quit. Nothing has been done since then. I call and call and absolutely nothing gets done. I kept hoping that it would get better and they kept promising me that changes would be made but it didn't happen. I didn't receive an invoice until January and then they put the whole amount on my credit card. Visa has reversed these charges and I have paid them for the hosting but not for the work that isn't done. Now I am getting emails that my account is overdue. Unbelievable. Anyways-the good news. I finally found someone who could help me steal back my website and host it somewhere else. Hopefully this will be done in the next few days and the updates can be made. This will mean no time for knitting. Lots of new yarns to get up on the site along with the new Rowan pricing.

I have sat far too long in front of the computer today doing paperwork, etc so it is now nap time.

The race continues

I finally have a picture of my knitting so far. This is the start of the second sleeve. I finished the back and one front is now done to the armhole.

Getting up early every morning is going to kill me but I want to see the Olympics live-don't want to know the results before I see it happen. The past 2 days have been amazing!! There have been a couple of events that I watched 2 or 3 times-the men's figure skating was great. It has been fun watching them live on CBC and then watching again at night on NBC to see what the announcers have to say. I am glad that I have Monday off so that I can watch the women's hockey final without interruptions.

There isn't much new in my life to report. Mom and Dad are off to Myrtle Beach in the morning. Beth and I are flying down for a few days in March. It will be nice to get a couple of rounds of golf in.

Progress Report

I have been knitting my little fingers off. So far I have completed one sleeve and the back is done to the armholes. I am 10 balls in and I figure that the sweater will take around 25-26. Not bad on knitting time but the finishing is going to take a while so I have to pick up the pace. I haven't posted a picture because you can't see anything on the brown.
My big mistake was telling my dad what I was doing. He calls me daily for a progress report. Then I get comments like, 'Can't you knit any faster? or Shouldn't you be at home knitting rather than going out?'

Sirdar yarns arrived in the store yesterday which means I have to spend part of the morning rearranging more shelves. This really cuts into knitting time.

The cutest pattern arrived yesterday from Fiber Trends for a felted hedgehog. I would definitely be starting this except I can't because of my sweater. I think that I will knit one like the picture for my store and then a funky one that will be done in purple. I collect purple teddy bears and this will make a great addition to the collection. These bears live in my room in Myrtle Beach and so far the collection is up to 40.