Knitters....really?

If you aren't a follower of Yarn Harlot's blog, you should be. You should read the entries for the past week.

Knitters...really..yes really.

Important!

I have the worst boss, she won't let me have the morning off but I am taking it anyway!

My Son..who was supposed to leave for his big adventure on Mother's Day is leaving tomorrow (Friday) morning. The plane leaves about 9 so I should be back in time to open, but I am not counting on the Toronto traffic.

So for the first time in the 6 months I have been open I will open late! If you are coming to Bowmanville, visit me after you have had lunch.

See you soon!

Knitting!

I've been knitting! Imagine that!

In the past month I have finished a few things, no not the log cabin blanket!

Ruffles & Ridges by Fiber Trends made with Marble chunky in Berries (2 balls).

This past weekend I finished a February Baby Sweater by Elizabeth Zimmermann out of some yarn I have in my clearance display. (Filatua DiCrosa "Mama" 3 balls on sale for $4.95 each!)

Also finished a pair of socks from stash yarn, but I won't show you those...its a secret project!
Days are quiet in the shop and days are filled with plans for the fall.

Don't forget about the Left Handed Knitting in June!

A fun event is planned for June 20th..I will keep you posted.

I have the nicest customers!

Today I was given these, apparently they have been looking for a good home. They have found a great home here in my back room. I think they came from another store that did renovations.

My backroom looked like this before:

and after about 20 minutes of frantic sorting:

any one need any boxes!

Left Handed?

For all you lefties out there that want to knit, my friend and talented knitter Gwen has been convinced that she can teach you the basics of knitting. (She has actually enabled many to become addicted)

Lessons are Saturday mornings 10:30 till noon. Starting June 6th. If you are interested or know someone who would like to become one of us..contact the shop..email or telephone to reserve a seat. Lessons are $10.00 per session, requires 5mm needles.

Other lessons include:

• Beginners lessons, Wednesday mornings 10:30 till noon ($10.00 per session)
• Knitting clinics, (bring WIP or UFO and get back on track) $5.00 per session.
• Classes are limited to 4-5 students.

June 20th is WWKIP day for Soper Creek Yarn, it just happens to fall on the same day as Bowmanville's Fabulous Fifties Festival. More details to follow, (as soon as I figure out what I am doing!)

Lots to do, not enough time...but there is always a little time to knit!

Knitting Videos?

How much fun can it be to watch someone knitting....a lot. Lucy Neatby from Nova Scotia is famous for her wonderful knitting and her great videos. I currently have 13 titles in stock. With titles like: Intarsia Untangled and Finesse your Knitting, these videos are designed to improve and refresh your knitting skills.



At $29.00 each they pack a lot of information for a very reasonable price. If you aren't sure, we have come to an arrangement, that won't break any copyright rules (Lucy's videos, Lucy's rules). You can purchase the video for the full price and then if you return it within 5 days I will refund $24.57 +taxes, the remaining $5.00 is for 'rental' of the video. (After 5 days the video is yours to keep!) The best part is that each time the video is returned (in good condition) the price goes down $3.00 to the next customer. If you are the 5th person to take the video home you could purchase it for $15.00!



For those on high speed..you will enjoy this "The Last Knit"





It looks like the long weekend may be rainy...good day to snuggly up with a good video ;)

Dilemma!

I am an honest person. I have been known to collect money for charities, spend days counting change at my house and no one has ever questioned anything that I have done. I called the bank when I found some money in the bank machine, and then gave it to charity because they didn't know what to do with it either.

Last week, against my 'Shop rules', I took a return and gave the customer her money back. When I checked the balls of yarn for weight, one was significantly less than the other, 6 grams. That means that this ball is now about 8 metres short. I could just put it on the shelf and not say anything, but I can't do that.

So what to do. The customer will deny that she has shorted me, (but I am sure that since every other ball in this colour weighs over 100 grams that this one did as well.) Do I confront her, or just tell her next time she is not allowed any returns, (my store, my rules).



So hence the dilemma. So now every ball gets weighed, either during the return or after, and any one loosing my trust with not be able to return yarn under any circumstance. I know that 99.9% of my customers are honest kind and generous people...so bear with me.

It's taken over a week to write this up, but I wanted to let you know that I will make sure that every ball of yarn you purchase has been checked for weight, you won't have to worry about purchasing one that is 'short'






On to other things.

Some pretty knitting: Chevalier done with Creative Focus Superwash. Pattern says double the yarn, I did a single strand.





When my kids were little, I sold/ordered Avon products and for the past couple of years I was ordering stuff on line. (I really wasn't a very good rep but I liked their products and that way I could be sure of a good supply!) Yesterday I signed up again, so if you like their products and currently don't have access to a brochure..come and see me. Orders are every two weeks, and there's always something new.





When I told my husband what I did he said: How much more are you going to take on!

May 8th

Today would have been my Beppe's birthday. She would have been well over 100, she lived through quite a time! Born just before WW1 and being in her 40's with 6 children through WW2 in Holland. A lovely woman, who created many lovely things. Hardworking, not very much money, lots of family, outliving her husband by more than 30 years. I remember her sense of humour the most, we actually didn't spend much time together as I was very young when we moved to Canada. She visited us a couple of times. Her home was a townhouse with a tiny backyard. When she moved into a retirement complex I was chastised for sending her mail to the wrong address. They would call for her to come and pick up the letters I sent. It would mean that she would have to travel to another wing of the building, but she didn't like going there because that's where the 'old people' were, she was 86.




Today would also have been Mary's birthday. Mary was another Rickaby's staff member, Mary was an only child and looked after her parents through their senior years. When I worked in the yarn department in the store Mary would fill in during busy times. She would have been well into her later years by then. A beautiful knitter, she knit most of her wardrobe. Skirts, jackets, sweaters; the more complicated the pattern the more Mary liked it. She loved to do colour work. Needlepoint was another favorite craft, she recreated famous paintings and made needlework handbags.


One of Mary's passions were butterflies, if it had a butterfly on it, Mary loved it. The day a needlework canvas handbag with butterflies arrived was one of her best days.

A kind lady who lived a simple but lovely life, with many friends.

Two extraordinary women born on the same date, 2 very different lives!


On the Knitting front, I finished another shawl, (my new favorite thing!), still working on too many projects.

On sale this week, a few skeins of Northern Chunky, some lovely Filatura diCrosa yarns, and greatly reduced some leftover Needfull yarns!

See you soon!

It's been quite a week!

Sometimes when you think your world can't possibly get more 'full' one more thing gets added to the mix. On top of being here at the shop, we have had #1 child 'home' for a couple of days, (home being pick up from train, take to bus, pick up from bus and drop back on to the train) she did visit as much as she could considering she will be working all summer at really interesting job. Husband had been trying to get stuff ready to plant crops. #2 child is getting ready for his big adventure. For the past week we have been looking for a new vehicle, 12 year old 'tank' bit the dust 2 weeks ago. It took us a week to decide its future and we opted the new route. Last night we arrived at the dealership 20 minutes to closing and test drove a new vehicle and signed the paper less than an hour later. Pretty basic vehicle, nice bright visible colour, I couldn't believe how hard it was to find a 4 x 4 vehicle that wasn't 'pavement' gray or black. I hope I don't have to do that again for a while, 12 years would be good!

This past Saturday was the Downtown Bowmanville's Maplefest, the main street was closed to vehicle traffic, lots of fun. The shop was busy, and I had some things on sale...they are still on sale.

Otherwise not much new or interesting...just knitting and not much of that lately.

Next week things should be better......maybe.