You be the Judge!

Yarn Challenge Entries have arrived! The window looks amazing filled with these fresh spring colours!

18 kits were purchased and 15 returned in completed projects, it's never too late to be added to the ballots.

In order to select who is deserving of the First, Second and Third place prizes we ask everyone who comes into the shop to pick their favourite projects. A complicated math algorithm is applied and we tally the ballots to choose the most deserving project!

When you vote, only one vote per person you can enter a draw for a lovely BlueQ tote.

Voting ends Saturday at noon!

See you soon!

Socks!

We have them!

The shop is ever evolving, trying to expand the inventory to keep the shop fresh and fun!

We love sock yarn, and we know that sock yarn does not count in your stash.

When the shop opened 7 years ago we had a small selection of sock yarn!

The shop now stocks sock yarn from Regia, Jawoll, Opal, Malabrigo, Sweet Georgia, Fleece Artist, Diamond Select, Cascade Heritage and Briggs & Little! 

The problem is that although there are some that like knitting socks, not everyone does so there are a lot of feet that need socks from another source!  After a few requests for nice wool socks already knit we went looking!

First we found some beautiful wool socks made in Quebec. A machine washable wool, almost the same price as some of the sock yarn, but already knit and ready to wear!

After that came these fun socks by the BlueQ company. Some of them have naughty words on them, they are the most popular!

 Finally we found some squishy cotton socks produced by a small company in the United States!  Designed by a knitter, they are highly patterned and designed so that they don't match!

In January I travelled to the gift show and ordered all of them, they arrived this week!

I don't think you can have too many socks, well maybe I do right this moment!  I am sure you can help me with that?

You never know what you will find in the shop next! 

I can't wait to show you what is coming next week!

Taking time?

This past week things became clear to me.  I discovered that I cannot possibly continue the schedule I had created for myself.  Even though the shop is actually only open 35 - 38 hours per week. It doesn't count the time I spend working for the shop.

The staff (Helen and Mary) can only come at certain times and juggling all the tasks that need to get done in a day sometimes means they have to be done after the shop is closed or from home (like writing the blog on Sunday afternoon!)

This week things kind of fell apart as we tried to fit everything in and  then we face the fact that 'The Farmer' faces shoulder surgery soon!  

It took a couple of days to figure out and a few conversations with others and so this is the new plan:

1. We are 'suspending' the Wednesday evening Knit nights and clinics, but are staying open later on Thursday nights.  The sign will say 6 pm, but I can stay until 6:45. 

2. There will be a knitting clinic from 5 pm - 6 pm on Thursday's ($10.00 for the first 1/2 hour, $20 for the hour!).  The maximum we can accomadated is 3 students.

3. We may attempt a daytime knitting clinic as summer approaches!

This actually means that the shop is open more hours than before? 

Soper Creek Yarn is an important part of my life, I love the people I meet and the fact that I can be inspired and work with the materials I love.  I will work hard to keep this place a positive peaceful place where we can come and share our crafts!

We have gone from a small shop with basic supplies to a shop filled with all kinds of surprises!  As the inventory expands so does our knowledge!  

March will feature more felting ideas.  There is a demonstration day on March 5th for needle felting.  We have 2 workshops that day and they filled up very quickly.  Come and watch Rosemary demonstrate how easy it is to create items with a vey sharp needles and bits of wool!

Oh yes! For the next week the clearance sale continues, but it all gets put away on March 1st!  As the buckets get smaller so do the prices! 

See you soon!

Clever!

At our house we like Clever things!

By clever I mean designs that are slightly 'out of the box'.  Or having the ability to create a solution to a problem by looking at it from all sides.  It's a handy trait to have if you are a Farmer, Mechanic or operate large marchinery.  (How can I fix this with a pair of plyers, a roll of tape and a stick?).  

There are knitting designers that are good at basic designs with standard shaping and predictable outcomes.  A basic cabled scarf, a basic top down sweater with cables.  Then there are designers that bend the rules and create new shapes and new ways of looking at design, you know them. (Stephen West, Martina Behm...)

When I saw that Yarn Harlot was knitting this clever design by Brist Ivy I knew I had to begin right away.

It took a bit for the pattern to gel, but once I got going it was an easy pattern.  Interesting enough to keep you going, but too involved to be mindless.  It got set aside to do other things and I finally finished it this week!

It's squishy and soft.  The yarn taught me one thing, when you are working on something that is as soft as the Misti Alpaca Qolla I used, you have to treat it nicely.  No shoving it into random bags unprotected.  When I grafted the two ends together the beginning looked very fuzzy against the newly finished end.  I think after wearing it a few times with even out the halo.

We like soft yarns, but they need care. 

 

Next up!  Yarn Challenge project, I enter too!  (but you can't vote for mine, I am disqualified!)

 

See You Seen

Cabled out!

When Alana Dakos posted that she was creating a Knit a Long (KAL) I was interested as I had just completed the Doodler by Stephen West.  She offered the pattern through Ravelry's buy in store pattern program.  On a whim I posted that I would like to do it and would anyone like to join me, before I knew it there was a small group of us all inspired!

The first clue came out and we were well into the cables!  The designed promised a shawl with cables and lace!

The next clue gave us leaves and more cables!

The 3rd clue added lace to the leaves and the cables!

The final clue gave us a chance to relax and knit a lace border, only a few cables!

It was a big knit! I am happy with the result!

I am just cables out right now! 

The pattern is now called Four Seasons and is available on Ravelry, I am a bit disappointed that I can no longer purchase it for you.  At the moment we are not ordering paper copies of any patterns from the US, the dollar is just too unstable right now!

Yarn Challenge kits are all out and we still have a bit of a clearance sale going!

See you soon!

Yarn Challenge 2016

You have been asking and we have been deciding.  It's difficult to come up with a Challenge sometimes; looking back at some of the selections from previous years and wonder how can I make this year different:


2009: We used 100% wool dk/worsted, in 9 colours!

 2010: Featured Mission Falls 1824 (now discontinued)

:

 2011:  Cascade 220 was new to the shop the challenge was to use the 3 neutral and add one of the bright accents/

 

 2012:  Berroco introduced the Weekend line of Yarn, still one of our favourites!

 

 2013; It was time to go a bit finer and introduce the Cascade Superwash sport.

 

 

 

 2014:  The Olympics gave us the idea of using a Canadian Yarn in Red and white.  Briggs & Little gave the participants a chance to try some truly Canadian Yarn.

 

2015:  The Yarn of the Sheep!  We featured a yarn from Estelle Yarns.  In Sheep colours!

 

This year we are featuring a new yarn: Tradition from Diamond Select:

 

3 fresh colours to celebrate spring!

 

Kits are ready!  They are $6.00 this year and it gives you about 90 grams of yarn, 30 grams of each colour.  You can purchase more yarn in any of the colours given.  Completed entries can be returned anytime before March 4th!  We have only made up 18 kits and a few left yesterday!

 

Oh yes, there are prizes!

See you soon!

 

 

 

Knitting as a community?

Knitting is a solitary craft.  A person can choose to knit when and where ever they are, with in reason. It can also be a way to 'bond' with others without competing?  Runners, swimmers, bikers join forces but then it becomes a race or a competition.  Knitter's could compete but we join Knit a longs (KAL) . Sometimes we up the game and join a Mystery Knit a Long!

Hundreds and even thousands join in the fun, it's not a race, it's not a who can do the best job. We compare notes celebrate successes and commiserate with those who struggle. 

Last November I join the very popular Westknits Doodler Knit a long. It was a challenge and I enjoyed watching the results. 

Then Alana Dakos posted her Mystery Shawl Knit a long. I like her patterns and find her designs well written.  She had invited yarn shops to participate in her Knit a long by placing her pattern available for sale through the Ravelry in store pattern purchases. (Yarn shops can sell copies of the patterns available and pay for the patterns for their customers with Ravelry's help.  Customers get digital copies that can be stored in their libraries.)

A couple of weeks ago I posted the invitation to join me in this 4 week project.  There are several of us all working away at this Crescent Shawl with leaves and lace, that's all we know!

We have just one more clue to follow, it arrives on Friday.

Considering the amount of yarn I have used so far, we have only finished the first half of the project?

If you want to follow along there is a Ravelry group and forum with comments and questions and photos as we complete each section!

The Yarn industry has changed since I began working 30 something years ago.

I found this picture of a younger me winning a 'window display' competition.

Things have come along way in this industry, I really like where this is heading.  The creativity, the yarn and the way we communicate with each other is making this craft more accessible than ever!

 

See You Soon!