25 on the 25th

The internet is a great source for information, sometimes it's true?   The other day I was checking the weather and discovered that you could find a day and check to see its record breaking tempetures.  April 25, 1990 was a record breaking day as the tempetures reached 32degress Celscius.  I didn't really need to look up that particular date as I already knew that.  

Twenty Five years ago today not only was it the warmest April 25 it is the day that 'The Boy' was born. Being 9 months and 4 days pregnant you certainly remember those really warm days! 

Two big things happened that day not only was our second Child born, but this meant that 'The Farmer' had to stop planting peas on an absolutely perfect day to plant a crop.  'The Boy' was considerate enough to wait until after 5 pm to begin his entry and was born a few hours later giving his Dad enough rest to work the next day.

Today 'The Boy' is away from home and we will have to wait to celebrate with him next week.  

Happy Birthday Kid!

A Little Knitting

Imagine: It's Saturday and it was a busy week,  I need something new to knit. It has to be quick, with a yarn in the shop that's new or hasn't been featured.

 There's that little sweater pattern that became a tiny vest last summer?

(Zarina Print 100% Superwash Merino, 1 ball made the 6 months size. The pattern is Abernathy Cardigan)  (It' s an in store purchase pattern through Ravelry, we can arrange to purchase it for you?)

That would work, especially out of the new cotton from Wendy.  One ball would be enough to make another vest?
 

I couldn't wait until I got home to start so I cast on right away.  Planning to do the 6 months size I  knit the first few rows, then I quickly realized I totally messed up already as the number of stitches was off by 10! Fortunately the number was the correct amount for the newborn size. Instead of doing the vest version again I had enough yarn to do the cardigan as written.

It seemed appropriate that it was finished while watching 'Call the Midwife' .

It's tiny, the yarn knit nicely. I must admit it's not super soft, but would make a lovely summer cardigan for adults or children.

It's not often that I repeat making a pattern but this is such a nice easy design, suitable for anyone tiny!

Happy Knitting!

Coming up for May: 

Maplefest happens on May 2nd, that means the sale buckets will be refilled.  As usual we put them by Friday May 1st.    

See you Soon!

Color Addiction!

After making my yarn challenge project and looking at the yarn left from the full skeins I had used. I decided to take a chance and finally make Veera's Color Affection. Some have termed it Color Addiction or Color Affliction as you can't make just one? 

I started the week the Challenge entries were in the window and finished it about 15 days later.  I must admit I was pretty faithful to this project.  A couple of nights I spent too much time on this and the next day my hands hurt so much that knitting was no possible.  Fortunately for me the pain disappears with a little rest and Traumeel cream.  

While working with the colours and checking other projects for inspiration I decided that it needed something to break up the neutral tones.  I remembered a small ball of turquoise Alpaca Sox from a previous project.  One 'thin blue line' was all it needed. 

Not wanting to be stuck with a lot of leftover yarn I knit the brown edge until I thought I would have enough for the bind off.  It was close!  Just enough for another little project I have planned.

It's squishy and wooly and huge! It just barely fit on the 8 feet of blocking boards!

The nice thing about this pattern so many have made this and there were lots of good hints in many of the Ravelry projects.

My modifications: instead of doing the 'make one left and right' I did just a knit front and back increase. (Those others just confuse me) and I put a yarn over between the first two stitches at the beginning of every row, dropping that loop when I got back to it at the end of the row.  It gives enough ease so that the edge doesn't curl?

 

The Farmer and I are going to have a little holiday over the Easter Weekend.  The shop will be closed on Saturday April 4th. 

 

See you Soon!

And the winners!

Soper Creek Yarn Challenge 2015

 

These 3 entries won Gift Certificates to the shop.  Winners were determined by votes placed by customers, ballots were tallied by Mary and these are the ones that received the most votes.

 

After looking at the tally sheet, every project received many votes, these three however clearly won.  2nd and 3rd place were practically tied. First place won by many votes!

2nd place Nancy's Shawl:

3rd place Susan's felted cowl:

1st place: Kristy's crochet sheep. They are adorable!

Thanks again to Estelle Yarns for their support of this project and to all that participated. As one of the entrants said 'everyone really made the competition tough'!

It's great to watch everyone improve their skills with every project.  Creating beautiful projects requires patience and practice.  I am pleased to be involved with the process!

So what did I make? 

 The main project was this infinity scarf designed by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee the pattern is Oatmeal Stout.  I followed the pattern completely and loved how this turned out!

A smaller project to remind me of this event was this cute little sheep:

 'A sheep in sheep's clothing' 

I may make a few more to make a flock.

We do look forward to next year's event, it will take me that long to find the right yarn and colours to make it a challenge!

 

See You Soon!

Yarn Challenge 2015 part 2

More Yarn Challenge entries:

Rachel's rug hooked picture!

Frances made these cozy socks

Sarah made this lovely shrug!

Suzanne's felted hat!

Next up the winners!

Yarn Challenge 2015 part 1

Choosing just the right yarn for our annual Yarn Challenge is always a challenge on its own.  Sometimes the right yarn arrives into the shop and I know right away that it will work perfectly.

My rules for choosing a yarn are pretty simple:

1.It has to be something new to the shop.

2. It has to be something that any yarn craft can use.

3. It has to have colours that will challenge and inspire the participants.

This year I struggled as it is the Year of the Sheep (or Ram or Goat) so a wool fiber was an obvious choice.  There were a couple of contenders, but affordability was also a factor.  A call to Estelle Yarns to see if they could help us out was placed and they agreed to supply a small discount.  The packages were made and each contestant were able to purchase a kit at a very reasonable price. 15 kits were created and sold, 13 came back as finished projects.

Here is the first batch of finished objects.  The numbers on the tags are the entry numbers not how they finished in the ballot count.

Jennifer's two layer cowl, (sorry Jen I missed the bottom half!)

Susan S's Cowl/Hat/Hood and Fingerless Mitts:

Inca's Crochet Baby Sweater:

Arlene's Hat:

 

Shawna's Kangaroo Vest:

 

 

Amanda's Wolf/Fox Hat:

The entries did not supply the pattern source, some are designs they created!

More pictures tomorrow. 

If wasn't one thing it was another!

2014 was rough! Followers of this blog already know that.

2015 promises to be better?

This winter was tough, cold, snowy and personally challenging.  

I celebrated a birthday the other day a reminder of how old I really am.  Not that old but old enough to know my limits.  I think this discussion with myself began after  I gave 'The Farmer' a pedometer.  The first day he used it it logged 14,000 steps.  That was just an ordinary day, no special activities just what he does on an average day. The funny thing is he was a bit relieved at finding out this number as he was sure he was 'coming down' with something as he is always exhausted.  Days for him start at 6:30 am and he finishes about 7:00 pm with one last trip to the barn at 9 ish?  He does that for 20 days and then he gets a day off as the others pick up the extra work when he is off.  They all have this same schedule.

We have been trying to get away for a few days, even just overnight but when the weather has been this cold we can't be too far away.

So where is this all going?  I discovered that Easter Weekend is one of his scheduled Sunday's off! The shop is closed on Friday for Good Friday. If I close on the Saturday it will give us a 4 days to do something together!

So that's what we are doing! The shop is closed Saturday April 4th!

Wednesday April 1st is our regular Kntt'n Night and Thursday Night is Girls night out in Bowmanville.  Both evenings we will be open until 8 pm.  (The Ladies night goes much longer but I have found that not many come to see us past 8 pm.)  I am beginning to see the benefit in looking after myself, being exhausted all the time makes for a weary shop owner.

Adding 3 hours to those 2 nights is the same number of hours lost by closing on the Saturday!

I love Soper Creek Yarn and I would like to continue to be open for many years to come!  This is our 7th year and although there are no big projects this year we hope to offer a better selection of materials and learning oppotunities!

We have just finished up the Yarn Challenge and this week I will post the pictures of all the entries!

As you can see my obsession with this project continues! (Liberty Wool, mitered square blanket!)

See you Soon!