Boxing Day

We're getting ready for Boxing Day and Boxing Week. If you don't receive our email newsletter, take a look - there are going to be some great deals... If you have read the newsletter, make sure you check out the yarns on the website again. We've added a yarn to the Noro page - Ayatori.

Opal Smile just arrived. The colours are great. Who wouldn't love a pair of socks in one of these? And it's on the website already...

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The shawl is growing. It's just over 2 weeks until we go. WOW. I haven't thought about what I'm taking. Clothes for the show. Clothes for the zoo. Clothes to golf. Then there is the small issue of a meeting that I have to get up and talk at. UGGG! I don't like talking to a group of people. And it's at 8am so I can't have a drink before hand to calm myself.

Ice

I hope everyone has had a safe day. The ice storm was something.

It looks pretty but talk about scary. I didn't walk outside at all today. We had to be very careful with the dogs going into the backyard. We thought about taking them out front but it was so icy that it didn't seem like it would have been any better.

There is a forest behind our complex and you could here the trees cracking. It sounded like gun shots all day.

We had power until 2 this afternoon. Then all of a sudden it was gone. Couldn't watch football so the next best thing was to nap. Beth went for a nap too. I woke her at 5:30 and the power was still out. What to do? I suggested she check my parents house. She was skeptical and went to prove me wrong. BINGO. They had power. She came back and we packed to move there for the night or nights. The hydro website said we might not have power until Tuesday evening. We packed a little too much. Knitting. Computer. Food. Clothes. Pillows. iPads.... She left with the dogs and most of the stuff and then was coming back for me. Just as she got everything unpacked the power came on here. She repacked and came home. Now she's out to see if the power is on in the store.

Beth just called. Wilson Street is black. No power. Trees everywhere. If you're heading out to see us in the morning, please call before you come. I'll head over in the morning and post updates on Facebook. If you don't have Facebook the updates show up on the right side of the blog under Tweets.

That was really dumb

I got to work this morning and pulled out my Color Play Mohair Wrap. There is a small problem with it. I repeated a colour. I'm into the E&E section and realized that E is the same colour as A. Wow. I don't know how I didn't realize it until today. I did D&E together and it didn't click that I was wrong. Do I rip out? Not on your life :) My shawl is going to be longer now. I'm adding in another colour to keep E and A as far from each other as possible-A is the colour that I start and end the shawl with. Seriously. Talk about not paying attention. Just merrily knitting along. The part that really upsets me is that if I was going to double up on a colour it wouldn't have been that one. :(

I called Beth from the store and told her my dilemma. The response wasn't what I thought I'd get. "You are supposed to be a knitting professional. That was really dumb!!" Thanks for the sisterly love.

Here is the shawl so far.

I'm happy with how it looks and I think when done no one will know that I messed up.

When I walked in the door from work Beth asked me to fix her knitting. She's knitting a cowl with cables and crossed a cable wrong. Karma!! She shouldn't have been mean to me.

Rowan Silkystones

I'm very excited about Rowan's new yarn Silkystones.

The garments from the Silkystones Collection are awesome. But if you aren't fond of them the yarn can be knit with many other patterns. It knits to a tension of 20 stitches to 4".

The suitcase/trunk/hat box saga continues. I still can't get the pictures from mom so we are waiting until she gets home. There is something set wrong on her iPad and it's hard to work through it when we are in different countries :) I know that they bought more today. They are having a lot of fun visiting the antique stores. I don't think that my dad has ever visited an antique store until this week. He's finding lots of interesting things. Nothing to buy (other than suitcases) but he's having fun looking.

New sample, new yarn and a father on a mission

Ms. Canada Post brought in three boxes this morning. The first was from Lynda.

She knit this great looking cardigan out of Naturally's Loyal Tweed. Loyal Tweed is 90% wool, 7% acrylic and 3% viscose. 22 stitches = 4" on a 4mm needle. Machine wash on gentle cycle. $6.99 a ball. The cardigan took 12 balls.

The second box was from Lorna's Laces. They make very pretty string. We received some Shepherd Sock, Shepherd Sport, Sportmate and Haymarket.

The last was from madelinetosh with three colours of tosh chunky...

...cathedral, whiskers and dr. zhivago's sky.

My parents are in Myrtle Beach right now and I mentioned to my dad that I needed old suitcases for our Knitters' Frolic booth. He is on a mission. He has visited quite a few antique shops in and around Myrtle Beach. He scopes out the shop and then takes mom back for approval. They have bought so many that they can't get them home in their Edge. They are coming home just after Christmas and then will go back to Myrtle later in January or February. They will drive his truck down to get them all home. Mom is trying to email me pictures but we are experiencing technical difficulties tonight and will try and fix them tomorrow when everyone is a bit more alert. I can't wait to see them. They are very excited about their finds. Suitcases. Trunks. Hat boxes. I had to ask (gently) that he stop because we think we might have enough now. :) Tomorrow morning, weather permitting, Beth and I are going to set up the booth to see exactly how many suitcases we need.

Rowan Magazine #55

An early Christmas present from me to you. Here is a small sampling of the garments from Rowan Magazine #55. The magazine should be in the store around the 24th of January.

There are three sections to the magazine

Legacy...is inspired by ancient, worn landscapes and patterning that can be found in rock formations.

Guido knit in 6 colours of Revive.

Fernando in Revive

Julieta in Revive.

Adella in Summer Tweed

Clarity...is inspired by the delicate beauty of historic lace and Irish crochet making.

Trinity knit in Kidsilk Haze.

Deva in Fine Lace.

Madonna in Fine Lace and Kidsilk Haze.

Essentials...the showcase of key shapes of the season but translated into simple easy to wear styles that will compliment the season's essential looks.

Surf in Cotton Glace

Promenade in Softknit Cotton

Driftwood knit in Glace

Over the next few days there will be more pictures coming from other magazines.

New Yarn

Bastion is a new yarn from Old Mill Knitting. 

Our first yarn under our private Old Mill Knitting label, Bastion is a bulky weight yarn that knits to a tension of 12 stitches on a 6mm needle.  The construction of the yarn is such that it has great loft making it a quick knit but very light.  Bastion comes in 17 colours including 4 of the ever popular neon shades.

70% acrylic
30% wool
50m on a 50gram ball

There are many, many hat patterns available. A hat will take 2-3 balls depending on how many colours you choose to use.

Want to add something really cool to your hat? We have fur (not real fur) pom poms. These are $4.99 each.

Jackie and Jill have been busy rearranging. The Cascade 220 is totally in order right now. They've counted it all and now I need to update the website. 

Haymarket has a new home in the aran/worsted room.

They've also gone through Liberty Wool and Rowan Handknit Cotton. I kept them busy today.

Every day I spend time on Ravelry looking at new patterns and the 'hot right now' patterns. If I see something that interests me or I think would interest other knitters I show it on Facebook. Keep checking out our Facebook page (liking us would be even better) to see what's interesting.

Opal Smile is being shipped to us tomorrow. I don't think it will make it here by the end of the week. Maybe Monday or Tuesday.

It was very late in the day when Ms. Canada Post arrived with the last box from madelinetosh. ASAP in nassau blue

and mala.

Now I'm rethinking my colour. There is something about mala that I really like. Or maybe use cathedral for one project and mala for something else.

We're watching the finale of Big Break. It really makes me want to golf. Beth and I are thinking about taking our clubs to San Diego. We have so many things planned for the trip. The zoo (everyone who goes to San Diego has to visit the zoo-it is one of the best in the world), Sea World, shopping and maybe golf. We might have to skip a day of the trade show :)

Just arrived and coming soon

We were busy unpacking boxes today. Okay, Kim and Lynn unpacked boxes. I went to the salon and had my hair done. It was very necessary. I considered waiting until the beginning of January, just before we head to the trade show in San Diego, but I would be close to totally grey by then.

Another box arrived from madelinetosh.

 ASAP. Above is alizarin and vishnu. Below is cathedral.

Flashdance.

Spectrum is back in stock too. We are still waiting for mala and nassau blue - fingers crossed that box will be coming tomorrow.

I'm thinking of using cathedral for Sentiment.

 Ms. Canada Post also brought in a box of Opal. More colours of Sweet & Spicy.

Here is the start of my spring Rowan preview. There are three new yarns for spring. We have ordered two of them-
Silkystones
52% silk
48% linen
100m per 50 gram ball
20 stitches = 4" on 4mm needles
6 colours that are awesome! I'm really excited about this yarn. It has a tweedy/marled look to it when knit or crocheted.

Pure Linen
100% linen
130m on a 50 gram skein
17 stitches = 4" on 4.5mm needles
8 colours are available. Very earthy tones. What you think of when someone mentions linen.

There will be a magazine for each new yarn.
Silkystones Collection - a collection of 12 designs by Marie Wallin
Pure Linen Collection - a collection of 12 designs by Lisa Richardson

The ending to Survivor last night wasn't a surprise. The winner was deserving. They played a very good game. I won't mention their name because some of you might have it taped to watch sometime this week. It was sad that The Mentalist wasn't on. I'm really enjoying the direction that the story line is taking. Tonight is a very light TV evening so the football game is on while I write. We lost last week at Fantasy Football so we are done. This week we had a fun match up and totally killed our opponent. Where was that team throughout the year? If they had played that well all year we could have won the whole thing. Such is life. We've started working on our strategy for next year. August will be here before we know it.