Random?

This morning I took the The Girl to the train. It was lovely to have her home for the past 2 weeks. She decorated the house and helped a lot with the Christmas stuff. It had snowed overnight, I suggested that we leave a little early, then we were early enough to stop for some extra caffeine and a bit of breakfast for The Girl.

What happened next was the most 'random' thing. I have been meaning visit my friend J. There were opportunities to see her but I hesitated each time coming up with some sort of excuse and then feeling guilty. As I got out of the car in the parking lot of the train station there was J. Random? We had a moment to speak to each other, I said all I could say to her we hugged and parted.

When 'opportunities' like this happen, are they truly random? Or is it part of some great plan, I wonder?

It's New Year's Eve, the end of 2009, for our family a year filled with great opportunities and adventure, mostly good things; but for others this was a year filled with tragedy and sorrow. I think of them often.

Twenty Ten sounds like a whole new beginning; a chance to start again with a blank page.
I hope your twenty ten brings all good things!

Alright Everyone, get back to your knitting!

We watched 'The Goblet of Fire' last night. Those who are obsessed with the movie might recognise the line, those who are obsessed with knitting will be surprised by it.

Christmas is done, well the dinners, the guests and the chaos; now just the returns, completing gifts and the cleanup. We ended up having a Christmas dinner at our house, which worked out quite well. It just created a bit of strategic cleanup and menu planning. My family were terrific, they helped to organise the house and make the clutter go away. (Just don't look downstairs.)

This is the couch I found at the Salvation Army a couple of years ago. We have been trying to save up enough to purchase a new one for this area in our family room but every time we have just about enough money saved up for a new couch, something happens, usually involving a dental procedure. Since then its been known affectionately as my knitting nest. Yesterday, for the first time in about 2 years you could actually have 2 people sit on it. As you can see I have already slipped into my old habits, 24 hours later!

If you look carefully you can see 3 projects on the go!

Time to get back to a more normal schedule and look forward to new things for twenty ten, but you will excuse me as I take a few lazy days to catch up.

Hours are posted at the sidebar, Thursday I won't open until 11 ish and I am closing early.

I'll be home for Christmas...

It's Christmas Eve, I am here at the shop thinking about all the things left to do! Fortunately I have a very understanding family. Tomorrow we will sleep in and be together just the 4 of us.

This past week has been hectic to say the least. We were down to one vehicle, with 4 drivers, all who had stuff to do. We opted one night to borrow Nana's wheels which meant a 'quick' moonlight walk for my husband and I. He remarked at the frosty temperature and I reminded him that only a little while ago he would have thought this as a great night for skating on the pond with the kids!


Christmas shopping for me became virtually impossible in the fact that I was never alone, except when I was at the shop. I have sent the youngest out to get 'refreshments' from Archibald's . I think it is completely wrong that both children are of 'legal' age.



Tonight I will be wrapping gifts of yarn and needles. (You would think that after 30 years of working in retail in one form or another that I would get this right.) Working on projects after Christmas has always been my best knitting opportunity.


This is beginning of my true Christmas Season; it will continue until I take the tree down on January 6th. I will listen to Christmas music, light candles to bring back the sun and spend time with family and eat and drink a little.



Thank you to all my new friends who come and visit me.
To all of you who took the time to send cards and notes, thank-you.

Merry Christmas.


(Christmas and New Year's hours are posted in the sidebar.)

All I Want for Christmas!

Remember when the kids were seven and they were happy to sing about their two front teeth!

What do I want for Christmas! Every year my husband says that finding a Christmas gift for me is the hardest thing he has to do. Forget the crops, the chores, climbing up and down 60 foot silos, doing endless repairs to equipment, milking 40 cows twice a day and being able to help deliver calves at any time of day, yet gifts to me are the most difficult!

Maybe I am picky, or just that I don't require much. I'm not a consumer of goods, a few good clothes, some nice shoes, I like what I like?

This Christmas I will be just happy to be home with our family. It's been a long year with both kids away for big chunks of time.

This year I will be thinking of those families who have lost important people in their lives.
We know of 2 families who are preparing funerals, both tragic and unexpected, therefore I am feeling a bit melancholy.
December is a dark and dreary month, but starting today the daylight hours are becoming longer and spring and new life will be here soon.


Enjoy the time you have with family and friends.

What do I want for Christmas.....Peace, Love, Joy, Hope...and to be done the knitted gifts!

Oh Christmas Tree....

Today after much discussion we put up a Christmas Tree.

During the early years we were able to 'harvest' our own trees from the woodlot behind the house. We always had a Cedar tree which was a lovely tree for decorating. By the time we took it down on the 6th of January it was green and lush. As the years went by it was harder to find anything that was a decent shape or size, some years we meshed two trees together. One year I noticed about 6 days into the 'tree' season that some of the branches were drying up, when I commented on the problem both the girl and her dad smiled and said "we wondered how long it would take for you to notice!". Notice that they had drilled holes into the trunk of a skinny cedar and filled the holes with branches to make a very nice looking tree.

Today's 'discussion" wasn't about whether or to put up a tree or not, but more about where we were getting it. He wanted to hike into the woods to look for another Cedar. I wanted to go to Price's Country Market to look for a 'real' tree. He didn't need any extra work right now and 'the Girl" and I both worked at Price's for a few years. To me the choice was obvious.

The next hurdle was how to get it home. We are down to one vehicle under 10,000 pounds, the pick-up is in the body shop getting a new door, the wind decided to make it into a sail! We could take the tractor and trailer, the dump truck things, or find the trailer and hook it up to the car. I convinced him that if we took a blanket we could put the tree on the top of the SUV, it has roof racks! Off we headed to Price's, they had about 6 lovely specimens left so the choice was pretty easy. I was in paying for it and the other goodies when Mark volunteered to deliver the tree right to the house, how easy was that!

The Girl decorated it and it looks lovely. Now there is the 'everything' else on the list....

I haven't posted any Christmas hours, because I really haven't figured it out. I will keep you posted. I was hoping to be open a bit tomorrow but we have some stuff to do in the morning that may take up a big part of the day.

This looks like a busy week ahead, there is still time for a bit of knitting!

Westward Leading Still Proceeding...

The Olympic Flame came through Bowmanville today! We stepped outside to watch the procession come through town. First came the elephant, camels, reindeer and other assorted animals from the Bowmanville Zoo! (Only in Bowmanville can you see the Elephants out for a walk and people say: "oh look the elephants are out for a walk..like it happens all the time!)

Then came the torch and its entourage of people and vehiclesAnd then we went back inside, like wimps and watched the rest on the computer..I love high speed!

Only a few more days until....keep knitting!

City sidewalks, busy sidewalks, dressed in holiday style

The downtown is bustling with shoppers dashing around. Bowmanville has covered up the parking meters so there is free parking on the streets, but the ticket guy is still out there..no illegal parking or staying all day.


Today I received an email from the Baba Tree Basket wrangler. He went back to Ghana to get more baskets. He wrote that when he comes back to the community the prices that the other guys pay for baskets go way up because they know he will pay top dollar for these baskets. Weavers now will come to him first to see if he will buy their baskets.

I was tempted to order another bunch, but I still have a few of these lovely 'yarn holders'. Great gift with a triple purpose: Renewable resource, fair trade and great quality.

In the new year, that's only a couple of weeks away I think I will introduce a new way that we can help those in the world that could use some help. After reading yesterdays post from Seth and reading the page about dignity:

"Dignity is more important than wealth. It’s going to be a long, long time before we can make everyone on earth wealthy, but we can help people find dignity this year (right now if we choose to)."Jacqueline Novogratz is the founder of the Acumen Fund and author of "The Blue Sweater".

Just thinking aloud.

Hope you are getting things done!

Dashing Through..

the snow, the rain, the crowds...the knitting?

I am in the midst of completing a big pile of knitting. Mostly store samples and couple of gifts. We did a bit of shopping yesterday, and came home with not much. Too many decisions!

Its Monday and I am at the shop waiting for the parcel, and also to be open for those of you who like me just don't have enough hours.

I am here today till about 3ish.

If there is time I will get some pictures posted...the one hour scarf is really very nice, great gift as a scarf or as a project for a beginning knitter.

See you Soon.

I have been reading this blog, mostly about advertising, branding and business stuff. Today he has a link to a free book with some inspirational messages...its lovely. The page about Dignity is...well go read it yourself.

Baby It's Cold Outside!

Yesterday the wind was bitter. Customers who came into the shop had that same 'frozen' look on their faces as they opened the door.

Perfect weather to show off all that knitting that keeps you distracted!

I finished the Noro Scarf I started last week. (Does that mean I get to start something else?) I have been waiting all week for a parcel, a special order some regular stock and new yarn. I received a call from the shipper to enquire about my location. Turns out it's been shipped to Oshawa, they have to send it back to the distribution centre and re-send it to me, I may get it Monday, and we all know Mondays are for Laundry!! (This is not a new company, one of my regulars...not happy!!)

Time to get those last few gifts done and think about some big project in January.

I am currently trying to come up with another Yarn Challenge, any suggestions?

Keep Warm

See You soon.

A Few of my Favourite Things....

This phrase and the song that goes with it always reminds me of the couple who were like grandparents to us when we were growing up. This couple were the owners of the property we lived on and we looked after their 'Country' home. He was a bank executive and she followed him as they travelled around the world. A wonderful couple who were very generous and kind. At Christmas time they would invite us kids to come and help decorate the outdoor Christmas tree they had on the deck of the Cottage they used as a weekend retreat. As we decorated and visited with them the would put on the record of the Sound of Music. My sister said years later that she always thought that the Musical was a Christmas time play. The Christmas gifts to us were usually wrapped in brown paper and tied with a red satin ribbon! (Brown Paper packages tied up with string!)

A few of may favourite things came this week. A shipment of Buddy and Snap Cases from Namaste, Some new yarn from Sirdar called the One Hour Scarf it sells for $19.95 a ball and one ball makes a scarf! Great Gift...a new favourite thing for me! I have 5 colours!

I have been madly knitting all my UFO's and promised myself I wouldn't attempt to start anything new! (I am too embarrassed to tell you how many I have on the go right now!)

Musically I am listening to the new Blue Rodeo album, if you like them its a good one, another new favourite thing!

Winter, right now not a favourite thing.

Back to getting ready for the big day and trying to keep warm.

The Weather Outside is Frightful

so stay inside and get that knitting done!

The drive into the shop was a little tricky. My usual commute takes about 6 minutes, today it was about 20, many of you drive a lot more and I don't know how cope. On a day like today I remember why I loved working from home. This would be a good day to put on a roast and just stay put, but I am here at the shop.

First on the agenda is to shovel the walk, why did I not bring the 19 year old to work with me?! That done I have a bit of paperwork to do and tidy from yesterday.

Yesterday I learned all about shipping a parcel to the United States. The Mission Falls trunk show is off to another shop, it's up to me to repack it and send it on its way. Everything needs to be done just right. Fortunately Angela and Rick from James Publishing helped me with this and we spent quite a bit of the day sorting out all the paperwork. I was trying to juggle the big box and lock the front door so that I could get it up to them and who should walk by but a friend with a strong back! He carried it up the street for me..the joys of a small town.

Bowmanville has a very nice downtown. We have some great shops; Roses coffee and floral shop; The Potting Bench for the Gardener and Bird Lover on your list (Ellen says that the men come and browse at her shop while wives are in the yarn store!). Other great places to visit are: the Glass Slipper,(women's shoes, need I say more!) Cathy's Gold and way up the street the shop Gather with gifts, women's and children's clothing and a great selection of children's 'retro' toys. Behind Gather you will find The Quilter's Boutique (formerly Gould's Cards and Gifts) Rhonda is a full time quilter, with lovely fabrics, lots of flannel.

Come and visit Bowmanville, but maybe not today. Unless you love a challenge!

Apologies to my grade 10 English teacher for all the grammar errors!

Its beginning to look a lot...

like Christmas?

We have Christmas windows, but inside the shop you won't find much in the way of Christmas decorations. I have decided to make the shop a 'Christmas' free zone. Don't get me wrong I love Christmas, its the extreme everything Christmas all the time that bothers me. I wanted to create a quiet restful place for you to come and relax. There is some lovely quiet, sometimes Christmassy, music playing but you won't find any decorations just yarn...a lot of yarn.

Speaking of Yarn. When I was out on Monday at that big place full of great yarn I re-discovered Noro Silk Garden and because I am weak I am doing another Noro Striped scarf. This is number 3..but they are just too much fun, just pick out two different colours and watch it evolve.

Then there is the multi-directional scarf that also uses a variegated yarn and this years new favourite thing the Gnocchi and Snowball scarf madness. Lots to knit...great gifts too!

It came upon a midnight....

Tonight Bowmanville's Downtown will be filled with shoppers as we begin the Holiday Season with the BIA's annual Moonlight Magic event. Like other years there will be the Tree Lighting, a visit from Santa, Choirs and Horse Drawn Wagon rides along the main street.


Most of the stores will be open late tonight, until 11 pm., we are ready with some interesting new finds, and a few clearance specials.



Come and visit us tonight and start your Christmas shopping Downtown. Bowmanville has some wonderful independent shops owned by your neighbours. It will be a little chilly, but not as cold as last year!

You still have time to finish a bunch of these sweaters in miniture:

you can find these on at Berroco.


Only 21 more sleeps! Yikes!

Monday's...

Yesterday I found myself driving to the big city. Two important things to do, well one very important thing and one because it was on the way thing.



The first was a trip to the airport to pick up The Boy! He is home, well he is in Ontario. He wanted to visit someone important before coming home, so as a good mom I drove him there first. I feel better now, its been a long six months for everyone. ( But now that its done, it went fast...how did that happen.)



On the way I stopped into the big warehouse filled with my favorite things...and brought home another big bag!



This week I celebrate one year of being open!



More about that later!

Multi tasking:

Knitters are multi taskers, 'I can't just sit and watch TV, I have to do something!' is a phrase I hear a lot. I have to admit I am one of the worst for this. Perhaps I have a bit of ADD. Sometimes I am doing something and I wonder if there is any way I can knit while I am doing that! Driving, well stopped in traffic, waiting at the doctors, during committee meetings or perhaps this morning at the dentist.


Today my new dentist was a filling in a wisdom tooth of all places. At one point Dr. Howard says: 'The decay goes 4 feet below the gum line!". While I am lying there with things in my mouth I am wondering, while I am here what else could I be doing? So I wrote up my blog...in my head. At least it's distracting me. As they poke and prod I am thinking of things to write down. Dr. Howard keeps asking if I am okay and because of the 3 vials of freezing he's injected into my mouth I only feel pressure. Then he asks me to bite down and I do but he didn't remove his finger and I bite him! The whole process is pretty pain free and the staff are very patient with me.



That was my morning. Today I will just take things easy in the shop, finish the hat and scarf I started with some very nice yarn and drink very slowly.

What a week!

A lot of ups and downs this week, mostly good things...

#1: My friend Gwen went to the Royal to have some fun by entering in the drop spindle competition. She came home with this:

Second prize..the yarn she created was entered into the Auction and someone purchased her small skein. She gets to keep the ribbon and the bragging rights! Well done.

#2: Went searching for snowflakes for the window and found what I needed.

#3: The bad thing that turned out to be good. Involved the Boy his leg and a 'B train' trailer. A trip to the hospital where they are probably still shaking their heads in disbelief 'I can't believe its not broken!' The next day he was back driving a truck. Must have been all that Jersey milk growing up. (Soft ground, steel toed boots and lots of layers too!)

#4: Cheryl a daughter of a friend and proficient knitter just produced a lovely sock pattern. On Ravelry its called Pink Promise Sock..check it out

Only 34 sleeps till the big day!

Once upon a time

Once upon a time, 25 years ago, a young handsome farmer married the local shop girl. A quiet evening wedding on a warm November Day. For a few years they lived together in the little wooden house surrounded by trees. He milked the cows, planted the crops and harvested grain. She worked in the local yarn shop. Then came the Girl, followed by the Boy a few years later. He continued milking the cows, planting the crops and harvesting grain as she minded the children and worked part time. Children grew and there were Brownies and Guides, Cubs and Scouts; baseball, soccer and slow pitch; music lessons, 4-H, swimming lessons, choir, band and school plays.

For better or worse, richer and poorer in sickness and in health the family flourished. Children grew up and became independent (darn it!). So together the farmer and the shop girl created a new venture to add to the story. The Fairy Tale continues.

Happy Anniversary to us!

Done!

The shop is filled with unfinished objects, technically all the yarn is UFO's, but I do actually finish some of my projects.

A few of the ones that I managed to complete:

From my trip to Saskatchewan: Ruffles and Ridges Shawl and Regia Stretch Socks:

Shop samples:

Fake Isle hat made with Noro Silk Garden and Nashua Julia

Noro Striped Hat made with Noro Silk Garden and Perth










Cable Feather Cowl made with Mission Falls 136:









There a a few things left to finish more later.

A big box of samples from Mission Falls arrived at the shop yesterday. Come and see this lovely yarn knit up!

There is just too much Yarn!

The weekend was a busy one: 2 weddings to supervise, both were lovely and busy. At Trinity United church we take turns providing refreshments for after church 'fellowship', this time is was up to our group. To the Church again to set up and serve at this event, they let me duck out early. A quick trip into the big city to an open house at this:That's just one aisle of this huge warehouse filled with every yarn imaginable. Mohair's, alpaca, silk merino, felting yarn, nylon ribbons from all over the world. Then there is the discontinued stuff that is marked down at some enticing prices.....the choice was endless! My husband came with me, he would have much rather been in a combine harvesting soybeans on this perfect crop day. After much searching and debating we left with:

Now to find some room for this interesting mixture of things. We also stopped into Ikea to find more storage ideas for a more organised shop. (spent actually less than $50, I don't know how I managed that!)

Tomorrow is Remembrance day and I will be at the Cenotaph from 10:30 to 11:30.

Help!

Today, Tuesday, was the day that every back order arrived at the Shop.


Boxes from Westminster Fibers with the new Regia Hand paint sock yarn arrived. Berroco shipped a back order of Blackstone Tweed and Vintage Wool. Some new yarn from Classic Elite came in another carton. Then a package from a pattern supplier arrived. Diamond Yarn shipped a selection of Yarns from Sirdar. Yup ordered more Snowball! (I've got Red now). I also unpacked the order of notions and buttons I ordered last week!


To add to the chaos, I unloaded the car from a little side trip I took to Estelle Yarns and 'The Girl' sent a package of some hand painted gift cards and some lovely stitch markers. She said she was in a crafty mood, very pretty.


A quick phone call and recruits are coming to help me sort out this mess!

So if you haven't been into the shop since Saturday you will find a lot of new things!

Halloween

I thought since our pumpkin to 'trick or treater' ratio was 1/1 we would share this picture. I think I will cook him up and make pumpkin mush.

Now that Halloween has come and gone.....you know what's coming very quickly.

Just don't say I didn't remind you.

Ho Ho Ho.

What kind of 'brain' are you?

Over the years of watching my children develop and watching other people in general. I have come to the conclusion that each of our brains are differently wired. My husband and son 'share the same' brain. For them it's all about how stuff works and why? My daughter is all about colour and design and history (hence the history major).

Take looking at a pink blob hanging on the wall. Some will look at the thing and admire the pinkness, others look at it and think 'that looks just like a butterfly!' and others (like my husband and son) will wonder how the thing is hooked onto the wall.

Knitters are divided the same way, for some it's all about colour, others shape and size and others the techniques used.

Some can look at knitting, take a few minutes to look at the work and then duplicate the pattern stitch by stitch. Yet others need everything written down and work away at it row my row.

None of these brains are better than others they are just 'wired' differently. For some learning to knit takes what seems like an endless time and other can grasp the engineering very quickly. Yes I hate to remind you that some of our best knitting designers are really more mathematical geniuses , because knitting IS math!

Everyone has a skill, and how you embrace your skill is what makes this a great craft. No matter what skills you have everyone that wants to knit can! (Yes there are those that refuse to learn how to knit..imagine that!)

My brain? Some days in this 'change of life time' it's a bit fuzzy; but most of the time I fit into the 'how things work' category and sometimes it's just about the colour and the yarn.

Mostly it's all about the Yarn!

Oh yes..then there is the brain that asks Why? ...we won't go into that philosophical question!

Monday's are for road trips!

I know many of you are disappointed when you arrive at the shop on a Monday only to see "Closed...gone home to knit!". Some Mondays are great days for knitting, but not many. Most recently a Monday was for root canal and the filling that followed a week later. Some Mondays are for Laundry and vacuuming.

Today's Monday adventure took me to Port Perry with milk samples from some ailing cows. Then back home to finish the 'books' for the farm's quarterly GST report.

Speaking of all things dairy cow, did you know that a 'spoon full of sugar', well a pound of sugar a day, will help cows digest a hay crop ruined by rain? (That's a pound a day per cow until that lot of hay is used up! 50 cows times 50 days...man that's a lot of sugar!) If your milk is tasting a little sweeter in the next month, its from our 'sweet' jerseys. Kidding! The sugar will help them digest the hay, making them feel better and when cows are happy they make great milk. No expensive drugs, just a bit of sugar.

Back to the books, the laundry, the vacuuming.....no knitting until it's done!

This just in...

Every week new yarns and patterns are arriving. It's like Christmas (which is 2 months away) when I open the boxes. Sometimes things come and I have forgotten that I ordered it.

These aren't really new, one is a selection of Regia sock yarn done in bright colours intended for kids. I think they are great colours for adults as well. I have been waiting, I think very patiently for another sock yarn and they promised me that its coming next week. They have been holding the shipment because they are missing 2 pattern books.

I finished this top down baby sweater, made with Cabin Fever's Cotton Tweed. It only used 3 balls, but there is enough for another sweater if I add just another ball. Lovely cotton/acrylic blend that is machine washable. I had the hardest time finding the perfect buttons. (I have a great selection of buttons) I ended up with 4 slightly different buttons from my button box.

Working on a few things, but I have finished a few..more about them later.

Have a great weekend, hug your kids.

On the Lamb

My friend Ellen is the proud owner of the yarn shop 'On the Lamb' in Uxbridge. She is a lovely lady, full of life and sparkle. Early this past Sunday morning her son was the young man 'tragically' killed in Toronto. Christopher was a young man full of life and love.

For those of you who have been to her shop I thought you might like to know. Ellen encourages us to: 'go home and hug your kids, for they are only lent to you'.

Think of them at this time....it's just too sad.

Knit a Snowball!

We had a lovely week, despite the weather predictions. Bowmanville's Applefest was alive with shoppers and vendors this past Saturday.

The shop was busy with many new people visiting. Some of the regulars popped in the check out the new things that arrived during the week.



This week's new yarn, if you can call it that, was a new one from Sirdar.
Apparently this yarn was all the rage in Europe last year. One Ball makes a scarf, the only pattern available, creative people will figure out all sorts of ways of using this yarn.

It looks like a string of little pop poms, you knit in the skinny bits.

and you end up with this:
It's a very quick knit, so far Mary and I (mostly Mary) have knit 3 samples. There are 5 colours and only 5 of each. Its one of those things that I will only carry just for a little while,

One of my most constant visitors and knitters brought in this Baby Surprise Jacket made with Berroco Touche. My kind of thing, great colours for a new baby, (love babies...especially in non 'baby' colours)

Lucky Baby!

Reminder of the knitting Sessions, this weeks Circular knitting has yet to have enough interest to make it worth hosting. You will learn the 3 techniques needed to do any 'knitting around'. The completed project is a small baby hat. Last day to register is Thursday.

Next weeks 'fix your mistakes class' requires some homework, so if you are interested please contact the shop to get the information you need.

This week I am expecting a shipment from Briggs and Little, included is the yarn needed to make Thrummed Mitts!

See you soon!

Applefest!

This Saturday is Downtown Bowmanville's annual Applefest. The merchants of Downtown Bowmanville have been hosting this event for many years. It draws vendors and visitors from across the province. The main street is closed to vehicle traffic and tents filled with arts and artisans take over the street.

This is the first year that I will be participating as a shop owner. I have been a vendor at this event and as a member of the staff at the shop 'Gather' up the street. When the weather is nice its a great way to see some wonderful artists and local people doing what they do best. Today's weather forecast says that it will be a chilly but sunny day.

It's time to get out those hats, scarves and mitts. Or better yet come and visit and make some new ones! A new yarn has just arrived! A hint..its the weirdest stuff I have ever 'knitted'!

More about that later,

see you soon

Birthday's

Today is my MOM's birthday. She was born in the late 1930's in a small seaside town in the Netherlands. Which means that she was a young child during the invasion of Holland. She remembers bombings and death as part of everyday life during that time. Life for my Mom has not been very easy. Our family moved to Canada when I was little, (yup came over on the boat!) 3 kids under 4 and not much money. We moved quite a bit until we settled in this area in 1965.



Mom loves to knit! Knits all the time. When things were tough I remember her taking apart some of her lovely sweaters and making 'new' ones for us out of the yarn. She never had a stash of yarn, she used every bit. Mitts were multi coloured, doll clothes out of leftovers. For a few years she did some custom knitting for friends and neighbours. Today she knits prayer shawls and teddy bears; her hands are always busy.



So today is her birthday....Happy Birthday Mom!

Basket Case?

They have arrived..a new selection of Baba Tree Baskets . They actually came into my possession about 2 weeks ago, its taken a while to get them soaked, shaped and dried.

These fair trade (almost) baskets are the last of the shipment that arrived in Canada before the summer, and the next shipment comes again in May of next year. If you are thinking about giving one as a Gift sometime in the next few months, come soon.... Still working on a class schedule, any and all ideas will be carefully considered!

Happy knitting!

Yarn Crawl!

Quilter's do the Shop Hop thing and Knitter's love their Crawls!

Tomorrow, Saturday, Durham's 5 Yarn shops are ready featuring specials at each of their shops for this special event.


On The Lamb
53 Toronto St. N.
Uxbridge, ON
905-852-1944,


Never Enough Wool
16 Water Street
Port Perry ON
905-985-0030


Kniterary
229 Brock St. North,
Whitby, Ontario
(905)668-8368


Myrtle Station Wool &
Ferguson’s Knitting
9585 Baldwin St
Ashburn, Ontario

and of course


Soper Creek Yarn
80 King Street West
Bowmanville, Ontario
(905) 623-2336
http://www.sopercreekyarn.ca/

I have some great scarf yarn at an unbeatable price...$2.00 to $4.95 a ball!
Great way to start your Christmas knitting. (I know...but you will thank me later!)

While you are here downtown Bowmanville has some lovely shopping..great shoe place across the road, wonderful ladies and 'mom' clothes just up the street. Plus a Quilt store..for those fabric fanatics. It will be worth the trip!

See you soon.

Lessons and Workshops!

We had a meeting, my friend Gwen and I and we made some plans. (Gwen teaches knitting and is left handed!) We are going to offer 2 workshops, on Saturdays. (noon to 3 pm.)

October 24th we will do a workshop on 'knitting a round'. You will have the opportunity to learn the 3 main techniques of circular knitting, 4 needles, 2 circulars and magic loop. The shop will supply needles to use that day, but if you bring your own needles it would be helpful.

October 31st the workshop will be to help teach you how to fix your mistakes! Homework is required for this class, you will need to bring a swatch of knitting. (Instructions will be given when you register.)

These two workshops will be repeated again in November, cost of each is $30 (includes light refreshments!) sign up soon as space is limited. (We need 3 to fill the class and I run out of chairs after 6!)

Regular learn to knit sessions will be done on Wednesday mornings from 10:30 till noon and 'semi private' lessons can be arranged at almost any time, other than Saturdays! If we have enough requests for Saturday lessons we will arrange a class, minimum of 3 students.

I have been thinking about including a 'knit night' into the mix, once a month, every 2nd or 3rd Friday. ("Friday night knitting"...6 - 8:30..email me if you are interested!)

It redeems odd corners of disposable time,

Knitting, or crochet, is seen by others as a way of wasting time. Why make something when you can buy it cheaper? I knit because it uses up that bit of time when hands are idle: car rides, waiting rooms, watching television. Maybe knitters all have a bit of ADD pr OCD, so maybe knitting for some of us is the 'cure', for boredom?

I tend to watch a few favorite blogs one of them directed me to this page. It says a lot.

You are not wasting time, you are using all those bits that normally would be left empty!

New Things...and another favour!

The Yarn from my newest supplier has finally arrived. Some nice new stuff from Naturally and Classic Elite including Brooklyntweed's new book.


My friend Gwen has offered to teach a couple of classes on Saturday Mornings. (10:30 - 12 ish) the first session starts on September 26th, (Basic Beginners and because she is left handed she can teach those of you that are left handed how to knit!) ($30. for 3 sessions plus materials)

Tuesday (September 22nd) my husband has an appointment in Toronto... we are off to the big city for most of the day. The shop will open when we get back. Call ahead if you are heading this way, or wait until Wednesday.

It's a real juggle right now, the longer I can 'do it myself' the better for everyone.

When Bad things Happen!

Last week this came into the store, a customer's very first sweater for her first grandchild. The pieces were all knit ready to put together when they were accidentally involved in an altercation with a cigarette.
Can you help?
I really don't like messing with other people's knitting unless I know it would be easier to leave it and let me 'do it myself'. After some time I removed the bottom ribbing from the back and the knitter will have to re-knit the ribbing. Its not a perfect fix, but it will save the sweater. After finishing the bottom, we noticed another couple of 'melts' near the top. So back to ripping back a few rows. (If the sweater was made with wool, it would not have melted or caught on fire...more fuel for the 'put your babies in wool' theory!)

Monday's are for....

Root Canal! Enough said!

See you soon

My new favourite thing!

I have been working on the 'Ruffles and Ridges' shawl by Fiber Trends. Instructions read: ...loosely cast on 1095 stitches...yikes. (First tip, if you use long tail cast on, use 2 skeins to cast on the stitches, one for the tail, one for the cast on.)

I made my first one of these out of Marble Chunky, it required 2 of the big 200 gram balls. This version is made from Mirasol Chirapa, it will take 4 of the 50 gram skeins to finish the large version, which will actually be smaller than the previous small version. Lots more knitting but a better quality shawl for not much more money.

This aging brain, or midlife fuzzy brain, was just not handling the endless stitch counting until I broke open a package of these:



















Fortunately I have an amazing stock of all kinds of stitch markers right now. I kept ordering them from various suppliers only to have them back ordered again and again. Then they all came. I have every kind you can imagine. You can use all kinds of things to mark the stitches, thread, pins and the fancy jewellery ones. Just give in and use them, takes away a lot of the frustration!


Mark every 50 stitches and counting is way simpler...sometimes its the little things in life that make all the difference.

Thank-you!

Thank-you to everyone who made it possible for us to close the shop for a week! Julie the key and phone person, Rich the amazing floor guy and Corry the perfect Dog/House sitter.

Saskatchewan is known for its endless blue skies:
(yes the picture is sideways... :)

great big fields filled with great big equipment and acres of food!

my husbands example of a great picture,

I improved it....

the car we rented was a pleasant place to knit
it came with a yarn holder

wheat fields make the perfect background to pretty knitting:

We arrived home, tired and relaxed

and I came home to the shop to see this....perfect!