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February 24, 2007

Boy, how do you like this wind???  My eyes feel like they're full of grit and by the looks of the air - I guess they are.

Had several classes last week, but as usual forgot to take many pictures. However, I did manage one of the Weekday Sock Club. Pam is an accomplished sock knitter but was in to visit hoping to recruit others to the Sock Club lol.  It was decided that we would combine the Sock Club and the beginning class and everyone would work on the pattern of their choice.  It was a great group and we had a good time visiting and learning new skills.

left to right: Jan, Renee, Pam, and Lena.

Everyone loves the J-Knits sock yarn. The color, Oklahoma, is sold out but we have more on the way plus many state colors that will be new to us.  Mountain Colors sent a shipment out last week so hopefully that will arrive early next week.  And talking about socks.....

Our very own, Kevin, has recently become addicted to socks. He recently took the toe-up sock class and last week learned short-row heels. Kevin has decided that he likes the garter-stitch heel.  Kevin was in today knitting and all of sudden we heard this blood curdling scream.  I looked over and this is what I saw:




What could be wrong????   These pictures will go up on our bulletin board (yep, the fridge) and I need captions. Surely there are creative people out there that can provide one. So.......a tote bag to the winner(s) that create the best captions.

Have a great weekend and don't blow away!


 

 

February 21, 2007

I did a little philosophical thinking on my way to work this morning. I noticed a woman's car was stalled at the intersection in the left-turn lane. Two men got out of their vehicles and pushed the woman's car through the intersection and into a parking lot.  Acts of kindness like this make an impression on me.  This in turn got me to thinking about getting older. Getting older does amazing things on how we look at life. On one hand, we're less tolerant of things. We've learned that life is short and tough. It's tough enough getting through the hard times that we have no choice but to endure; that we're not very tolerant of those who bring negativity into our lives.  We tend to learn, "Hey! I don't have to put up with that!"  Then there's the other hand that makes us see the beauty in simple things that we may have overlooked in our youth.  I don't wish to go through youth again. It's tough learning life's lessons. To discovering that we're not as smart as we thought we were and we've made the mistakes to prove it. lol  I've learned to relish simple things in life like drinking a cup of coffee and how very precious life can be.

And talk about bringing pleasure into lives - the Knit Whits met last Friday to do some knitting and crocheting:

And to survive life - we have to have some fun! That's what knitting/crocheting is all about. Surrounding ourselves with nice yarns that brings pleasure to our senses and seeing how we can manipulate string into something beautiful!

Kim came by and showed us a baby gift that she had knitted:

Knitted out of Plymouth's Heaven. We loved the way she gift-wrapped it!

Evon finished her moebius made out of Plymouth's Patches:

Eva came by and showed her latest felted purse:

We are now carrying Fiesta yarns! Such beautiful colors! The owners of Fiesta are such very nice people also! David and I enjoyed our visit with them at market.

We received another shipment of "Lace Style" and "25 Beautiful Socks". New books that have arrived:
Top Dog Knits by Jill Eaton.
Knit It! Felt It!  Plymouth's new felting book with over 60 designs. I really like one of the baskets.
Weekend Knitting.  Over 50 projects and ideas.

We have a new employee! Nancy has joined our staff and we are delighted to have her! Nancy will be filling in when the other employees or I need a day off. Nancy is a very interesting person! She is a retired Lt. Colonel and recently moved here from Costa Rica. I love hearing her stories. Of course, her nickname is "Colonel". lol   She should be able to handle David and keep the rest of us in line! lol Welcome, Nancy!
 

I better get ready to open the doors and teach socks this morning! Have a great day!

February 15, 2007

The shipments of new yarns keep rolling in:

J-Knits sock yarn! Different colorways are named after states or cities. There's another yarn company that does this with their ribbon. Get this - both companies use pink as Oklahoma's color:

I'm trying to figure this one out since the state's colors are officially green and white.  Anyone have a clue?

We also received all 15 colors of TOFUtsies:

TOFUtsies are 50% Superwash wool, 25% soysilk, 22.5% cotton, and 2.5% Chitin (fiber from shrimp and crab shells). They say the Chitin is naturally antibacterial. I'm trying to figure this one out since I have had the experience of having old shrimp and crab shells in the trash.  Also, with the name I would expect them to be made out of TOFU, but apparently it's suppose to stand for toe-foot-sies. The colors are great and it feels good. Of course I had to see if I could smell anything fishy. lol

We also are now carrying all three yarn lines from the new Vicki Howell collection. The line includes Craft: 65% organic cotton and 35% milk fiber. Rock: 40% Soysilk, 30% wool, and 30% hemp. Love: 70% bamboo, 30% silk. There's little pattern support at present but the company is taking submissions for patterns. If you are interested - let me know and I'll pass the info along.

Have a great day and if you're in the area this afternoon - come join the Black Sheep Social gathering!
 

 

 

February 14, 2007

Happy Valentine's Day!! Hope you have a great day! Today will be pretty normal for me - I don't like the hustle, bustle of a busy restaurant. I baked lasagna last night so I wouldn't have to cook tonight. I tried Katie's "Easy Beef and Spinach Lasagna" out of our cookbook. Even though the dish is for tonight, I couldn't help but sample some last night. It was good! I will definitely be making this over and over. I love the fact that I didn't have to do a bunch of layering. Give it a try!

Susan was busy yesterday checking in our new line of Manos Del Uruguay's Cotton Stria and their wool:

Kay - Susan says that the yarn definitely passed the "squeezed" test. lol  Susan was really fondly the cotton. I could see wheels turning in her head and I suspect she'll be making something out of it soon.

We received our shipment of Qiviut but still waiting on the patterns. We are carrying the following colors:

Qiviut is the Inuvialuit word for Down: the fine, inner, insulating blanket of the Canadian Artic Muskox. Qiviuk is considered the softest, warmest and most luxurious fiber in the world.

Erica dropped by with her felted purse:

Okay - get this. Erica was in our beginning class just this month. In fact, just finished the series that Sara taught last Saturday. Well, I was speechless when she showed it to me!

Eva and her husband modeled the hat and scarf that Eva knitted:

The hat is Jack's Cabled Hat pattern knitted out of Cascade 220 Superwash. Eva's scarf is the Easy Cable Scarf pattern knitted out of Plymouth's Baby Alpaca Grande. Evan and her husband are adopting a baby boy and she was excitedly looking at baby yarn. Congratulations!

I've been working on a sleeveless summer top using Schaefer's Hand Painted cotton yarn called "Laurel" in the Helen Hayes colorway using their Sampler Sweater pattern:

This has been a fast, fun knit. So far I would recommend this to an advanced beginner. The armhole didn't require much shaping and it's a great way to learn different stitches.

Enjoy the snow while it lasts and enjoy the day!

February 9, 2007

The Black Sheep had their gathering yesterday and the sheep even had their guard dog:

That's Nina's dog, Linen. Linen loves all the attention that she garnishes here. lol

New store arrivals:

We received the much awaited book, "Lacy Style", by Interweave:

Also, Opal yarn just released their new Rain Forest line and we received every colorway. Check out the colors on their website: /www.ptyarn.com/newrainforest.html

Also, we finally we received our new Qiviut yarn! So soft and beautiful!

Sorry this post is short but I've got a family emergency and need to get ready to leave town.

Have a great day!

February 6, 2007

Whew! What a great time we had Saturday night! We were jam-packed! I lost count at 36. There's always much laughter and of course, food.


That's Terri being her usual shy self. Yeah...right. lol  Terri and Beverly entertained us with their singing of Snowklahoma. There was murmuring afterwards that the talent agents would soon be after them. Of course, if I recall right - it was only Terri's and Bev's voices doing the murmuring. lol

Let it be known that if you're one to play jokes then you have to be sure to receive them because it's bound to happen.....and happen it did. First, Jan got up and presented me with several birthday presents. She spent much time and creativity on this. One of the presents was a mug that said, "The Queen's Mug". Even though I feel far from this; I showed it to David and said, "See this?? Queen. See?? The Queen. I want to make sure you see this. See?" He shrugged and said, "Sure, I see. You can be anything you want; just get back to work." Well, I guess it didn't hurt to try. lol  Jan also gave me a bottle wine. However, I guess she had to sample it somewhere along the way because there was only about an inch of wine in the bottle.  Now, wasn't that sweet of her to make sure it was drinkable??? Is it any wonder that she gets the Problem Child award for the month?

Hmmm...notice she's still acting possessive of that wine?

I don't have a picture of it but several went together and got me a great big bag of my favorite yarn. You know? The good old Rad Haut kind.  Thanks, guys, I'll make sure it finds a good home somewhere...

Anita won the prize for the contest last week and received a tote from Knitter's:

Carolyn won honorable mention for her wise crack about bags and therefore, received one:

You know one thing I like about getting older? You've experienced life more and realize what is important and therefore, you learn not to take the small stuff seriously and how some situations aren't worth putting up with and so you just laugh at the foolishness and go on....

Linda won third prize for her decadent chocolate cake. (and boy, do I mean chocolate!)

Tracy received second for her apple pie. Tracy offered me some to take home and I took a slice home to my son which he dearly loved!

Lou won first place for her rice casserole:

Don't think you have to cook/bake something to attend the Knit-In. You may call ahead and we can tell you what we may need that night such as paper goods, drinks, ice or something else. Also, store bought food is just fine.

Jennifer modeled Sherri's moebius that she started at the Fall Retreat. Okay...let me back up. Sherri came in last week with her moebius done. However, we quickly dubbed it the friendship moebius because it could have fit around 5 people. Somewhere between my explanation on how to count the stitches and Sherri's ear, the communication got mixed up. We ripped it out and she quickly knitted another one:

 

Mei has already knitted her second pair of socks. Second pair in one month??? Wow..

Marjie showed us her afghan that she knitted out of Plymouth's Jelli Beenz yarn for her soon-to-be grandchild. Marjie has kindly loaned it to the shop for display for the next couple of months:

Kathy came in Saturday and found some buffalo yarn that she just had to take home with her:

Well, I hope the blog goes through this time. I've had trouble for weeks that as soon as I got the blog written then I would lose internet connection even though I'm on cable. Well, I got a new modem yesterday and spent 45 minutes doing the blog this morning only to have the website host down when I went to publish. Now, why couldn't it have done that before I got on and did all of my work? lol

 

February 3, 2007

It's Knit-In day!! Thank goodness the weathermen were incorrect in their forecast of a lot of snow today. If you haven't attended a Knit-In before; try to come! You're in for a treat and I mean that literally. The food is always awesome! It's all that David has been talking about for the last several days. lol  The Knit-In is from 4pm-8pm. Bring a snack to share and get ready to have a fun time with likewise minds.

On Thursday morning, Melissa had her afghan club class:

They always have a lot of fun and a delight to be around.

Ellen bought a big hank of Cherry Tree's Oceania:

Ellen says she's going to make a scarf. Hmm...I hope she has enough yardage. lol  She added that she plans to make around 5 scarves. Boy, that was one big hank to wind! It was small so kept pulling the swift downward. Poor Susan was getting a little dizzy holding it in place. 

Devin dropped by for some help on a scarf and showed us one that she had finished with Schaefer's Miss Priss:

Beautiful scarf, Devin!

Jackie made a scarf out of the book, The Knitter's Bible Knitted Accessories, using Noro. I had my eye on this scarf also so I was excited to see it knitted:
I think this would make a great class. What do you think? If there's enough interest; we'll do it!

New shipments:
Bamboo is the hot new yarn for summer and we received 6 different colors of Plymouth's Royal Bamboo: (not all colors shown)

Also a new supply of buttons. I just love the whimsical little sheep and the frogs with eyes that move.

Now to the winner of the contest. I picked Anita's answer. Remember the quiz was for the most whimsical answer to the question, "Do you sell good yarn?". Anita's response was: "Sorry, Ma'am, but we can't be responsible for the behavior of our yarn." lol Love it! However, there was another response that really had me roaring with laughter but not everyone would get the joke. If you are a member of the guild then you will probably get it. Carolyn's response was: "Yes, not only do we have a lot of good yarn but we also have a lot of Bags."  Carolyn will receive an honorable mention gift for this one!

Hope to see you tonight!

February 1, 2007

It's snowing! It may be a hassle to drive in but you have to admit that snow is definitely pretty coming down.  Late yesterday afternoon, I was at an appt. and the place was playing a local radio station. The radio stations encouraged drivers to call and report road conditions. They went something like this: "I'm on 44 and it's veerrryy dangerous. It's an ice rink out here and wrecks are everywhere."  I kept thinking that if it's so dangerous then why are they making phone calls instead of paying attention to their driving? Furthermore, why were radio stations encouraging this? I just hope they at least had earpieces.

Anyone and everyone who has ever worked in retail knows that sometimes you get asked some pretty interesting questions. Sometimes it's really hard to keep your cool or not laugh at the question.  Some people will say they are going to ask a stupid question and it's a question about knitting. I never think it's a stupid question when you don't understand something. Every single knitter started off not knowing a thing. No..that's not what I'm talking about. We get asked two main questions here all the time. One is: "Do you sell yarn?" Okay...I can understand that somewhat even though yarn is in our name. But our all time favorite is: "Do you sell good yarn?"  I know what the person is getting at and what they're wanting to know. They're just not thinking about what they are actually asking because even if we were an acrylic-only place; I don't think we would answer that we only sell crappy yarn." We have had fun with making up various answers to that one. So, it's a snowy day, let's have some fun. To the person that comes up with the answer that makes me laugh the most:

You receive a free "Knitter's" tote from Knitting Universe.  E-mail me at mggourmet@coxinet.net or give the shop a call. I'll announce the winner on Saturday.

Great day for stitching!


 

January 31, 2007

We continue to get new stuff from market arriving! I love these baskets:

These arrived last Thursday and I put them out for sale on Saturday. I had some short round ones but they are already gone so I'm unable to show them. However, I've got more ordered and this company is pretty quick on delivery!

A laceweight merino wool from Lane Borgosesia:

Great feel. Great price. 1460 yards for $14. We have received 3 colors and have several on back-order.

New books from Interweave:
   

And something that would be great for retreats:

Seat cushions with pockets that fold up into a neat little carrying case!

Tuesdays are usually quieter here than other days so I started to become a little suspicious when the backroom started to look like this:




Then David brought out this:

David, Melissa, Sandy, Susan, and several customers had gone together to throw me a surprise birthday party!

Pat brought me lovely flowers:

and Claudia gave me a lovely plaque with the Irish blessing.  Several went together and got me a very generous gift certificate to a local kitchen/china store. Oh boy!!! I'm like a kid at Christmas!! I don't see how I deserve this but I'm sure going to enjoy it! In fact, maybe I can sneak out for a little bit today.....

I'm not good at composition (well, I guess that's no surprise to anyone!) so I find it very hard to put into words how much this touches me. I visit often with other retail owners and I'm always impressed with how fortunate I am with my customers. By and large, knitters/crocheters are a friendly group. When I started this store, I was hoping to find a way at my age (and with my poor memory lol) to have a career and still take care of an ill son. No way could I have ever dreamed that I would meet such a wonderful caring group of people that mean a lot to me. And what's wonderful - that group continues to grow! And what's even better - the friendships that have been formed among the customers! Yes, knitters/crocheters tend to be a caring group that takes care of one another. 

I hope everyone gets some stitching time today! I love this weather!!!


 

January 30, 2007

Saturday was a busy day here! I had the Schaefer Felted Circular Purse class:

The students learned to do short-rows using wraps and then picking up the wraps.

Clanci had a couple of her afghan club students:

Sara had beginning knitting class in the morning and the mittens class in the afternoon:


They were pretty good knitters so they probably could have jumped to part II of the mittens. Notice this group had some of the "Problem Children".

I had the moebius class in the afternoon:


This class is not for the faint-of-heart. lol  We had a group of knitters hanging out in the back:

Kevin was on call and since Baptist Hospital is close by; he cooled his heels here between calls. The moebius class decided that if Kevin attended the Knit-Ins; he would get the "Problem Child" award this month! I'm surprised he's not walking around with a knitting needle sticking out of his back! lol

We had some Show 'N Tell:
Amy dropped in for some more yarn and showed us her hat that she knitted in Karaoke:

She also knitted one in Plymouth's new Boku yarn:

Amy bought her sweater in a department store but the sleeves were too long and she wanted 3/4ths length. So...she ripped the sleeves back and then picked up the stitches and finished the edge. Way to go, Amy!

Karen attended the mitten class and brought her Noro afghan to show:


Absolutely gorgeous, Karen!

Marjie didn't want to model her Schaefer scarf and hat so Susan got volunteered for the job:

The scarf was made out of Schaefer's Ladder Stitch scarf kit. Marjie had enough left-over yarn to knit a hat! Miss Priss does have great yardage!

Debbie drove down from Perry to get some yarn and show us the first pair of socks that she knitted:

Debbie had so much fun knitting these that she has already started another pair:

Yep, you're addicted, Debbie!

This is the second time that I did the blog this morning! After I finished it the first time, I got knocked off the internet! Grr...

I have many new things to post and hope to get the pictures up in the next day or two!




 

January 24, 2007

New yarns are starting to arrive and I just had to sneak into my office and write about it! We are now carrying Cherry Tree Hill yarns! Of course I couldn't resist getting a lot of the sock yarn:

These are their "one-of-a-kind" colorways.  These are colorways that they have made using up dye at the end of the day.  By the looks of the pile, blue must be their best selling color.  We received 50 hanks and one hank does a pair of socks. Plus...you get this free pattern with purchase of the Supersock yarn.

Many of you may be familiar with the book, "Lavish Lace".

It was written by Cheryl Potter, owner of Cherry Tree Hill, and all of our copies are autographed by Cheryl.  We also have yarn kits available for each pattern in the book.  

Okay, if you were me at market - could you resist this yarn?

Cascade Silk by Cherry Tree Hill. This yarn is definitely eye candy. One of the patterns for this yarn is the lovely Autumn Grace shawl:

If you want a boucle for a large project and didn't want ends to weave in; then this yarn is for you:

It's 100% wool boucle with a strand of lurex glitter running throughout. 400grams/1440 yards and retails for $66.

As many of you know, Blue Heron rayon/metallic has been popular for making the clapotis. We received new spring colors:

Melissa is planning to do a shell and I would like one also. I finally came to the decision last week that I'm just going to have to give up on most of my winter projects and start on my spring/summer in order to get them displayed in time for all of you to see and have time left for you to get them done. So I've been knitting with cotton lately when I'd rather be knitting alpaca....well, I am still able to knit once-in-awhile on the alpaca throw which is now at the shop so I get a little bit of my fix. ;-)

Maybe some of your have heard various yarn shops complain about service from a certain company. So many of us were quite thrilled when Plymouth came out with Boku:

We have all six of their colors and it's great for felting.

Oops....I think Bulldog is needing some help so I better go!

January 22, 2007

Finally the kids are back in school! I'm sure there are a lot of moms dancing a jig this morning!

We cancelled all of our classes for Saturday, so naturally the bad weather never came. A lot of people have been in the store with the exclamation that they were tired of being cooped up at home. One thing about the weather - it has allowed for a lot of knit time and a chance to wear those warm knitted hats and gloves. If you're like most knitters though - everyone owns a knitted hat but you! I don't know why, but the majority of knitters knit for others. Is it because it's a knitted item out of love? Lessens our guilt on spending money on yarn? Both? I've asked myself that question without any clear answers. Sometimes it's because someone has asked me to knit them something. Sometimes it's for a special gift. Which I think is the answer most of the time. We all want the gift recipient to think our gift is special (well, unless we can't stand the person. lol)  People can shop for hours or days to find a perfect gift.  For a knitter/crocheter - the perfect gift is right at our fingertips. We can custom make a gift that can not be bought off the shelf. What better way to say, "You're Special"?

And talk about knitted gifts - Kevin has made tons of knitted items for recipients since he picked up needles about two years ago. Last Thursday during the Black Sheep gathering, he did his first kitchener toes on a pair of socks:

The yarn is "Lola" by Schaefer. Great job, Kevin!

Several people have asked about the Black Sheep. The group was started by a small group of women that had met in the store. They decided they wanted to meet and knit in the store and Thursday afternoon was the most convenient for them. The group only consisted of 3 or 4 at the time. (two have since moved and we miss them! Hi, Kelly and Pat!) Soon others started dropping in and joining in on the fun. One day, they (not I) decided to call it the Black Sheep gathering. The Black Sheep gathering is the equivalent of the Saturday Knit-In. It's open to anyone and everyone! It meets every Thursday afternoon from around 1pm to whenever. There aren't any set times and attendees come and go all afternoon. Food isn't required like at the Knit-In but it's certainly not discouraged! lol Come join us if you can!

Sherry was in the beginning class last month and she is already making hats! Here's her son, Gage, modeling the cutest little hat made out of Miss Priss by Schaefer:

Is he adorable or what?! Too bad Candi Jensen couldn't have met him. He looks like he belongs in one of her books!

Betty brought by her latest afghan that she is crocheting out of some of our alpaca yarn:

Can you believe she's done that much and still hasn't used a full cone of yarn? She loves the fact that she won't have many ends to weave in. I think the crochet bug has bitten her since she picked out yarn to do another one. Btw, Betty picked out a stitch pattern in a book and figured out her own afghan pattern. She's also had fun trying out different pattern stitches for her next afghan.

Marjie showed us her Schaefer scarf out from their scarf kit. I don't know if you can tell much from this picture but the scarf is made from two different colorways - usually one multi and one solid. It's a simple slip-stitch pattern that creates the slip stitch in one color on one side and the slip stitch in the other color on the other side. We're expecting a shipment of more kits this week.

Rosemary finished her black shawl and it's gorgeous. I'm always amazed at how fast Rosemary accomplishes things. This would have taken me a year!

And she did it in black!! Yep, she's young and with good eyes! lol Absolutely beautiful, Rosemary!

Ellen dropped in last Thursday evening and was wearing her Mountain Colors vest that she knitted:

It was very pretty and she did a wonderful job of knitting it! However, her dog, Sparkie, was soon stealing the show! He's a social animal all right - he was so excited to meet everyone!

Sandy's husband, Ron, drove her to work on Saturday and he was wearing his Miss Priss scarf and hat that Sandy had knitted:


It's my day off from the store and I'm really going to take it today. Believe it or not, I still have Christmas decorations up and a pile of chores to do here at home. Hope to get some knitting accomplished also!

Take care!

January 17, 2007

Well, I have tried several times to get the blog done but have been swamped with catch-up around here. Several have e-mailed me to ask how market went. However, I think things were more exciting around here than anything that happened in San Diego.

 At 3am on Friday, Jan. 12, I was cursing the person that decided to change our flight to San Diego from 9:30am to 6am.  However, it turned out that I did something smart for a change. I guess we had quite a storm here and the airport closed shortly after our flight. We had to de-ice in Denver but all the flights went smoothly. We arrived in San Diego around 10am and we were starved for lunch but it was still breakfast their time. Friday was going to be the only day that we would have time for any sight-seeing so we decided we would take the trolley down to Mexico and eat a good Mexican dinner down there.

We hopped on the trolley and got to ride through downtown stopping on what seemed every block. Finally we made it to Mexico and boy, was it cold!! We walked across the bridge into Mexico and we were freezing and starving. So where was the first place we stopped? Why...McDonald's. That's right. My first trip to Mexico and I eat at McDonald's. *sigh*  After eating, we did the touristy thing and shopped.

I was greatly disappointed. Prices were high and it was mainly junk and no....I didn't get a tattoo. I would have to be passed out from margaritas to subject myself to needles! We did manage to eat at a Mexican restaurant before we left. Again I was disappointed. We have better food right here. It was late when we made it back - getting back in the United States took about 3 hours. A big chunk of the weekend spent waiting in line.

The next morning, David and I had a fun time trying to figure out the trolley system. There were two tracks and you would think one would be for southbound and the other for the northbound. But no...

they can go around in circles. We were trying to find our way to the convention center and realized that our trolley was heading to Mexico. We got off at the next stop and asked some security guys which trolley to take. Turned out one of the guys was from Norman and we had to visit for awhile. The security guys pointed out a building across the street and told us to go there and take the blue line to the convention center. Easy enough. We hiked over and both sides of the tracks said "blue line" and "orange line". Which was which?  Soon we saw a trolley coming and it said, "blue line"; so we hopped on. We went around a corner and was right back where we were. We got off and tried to sneak past the security guys but they saw us and I thought they were going to roll on the ground laughing at us! Hmph! We just hiked the rest of way. lol  By Sunday, we finally figured the darn system out just in time to leave. lol

On to the market part....it was obvious that hand-paint yarn is the hot trend right now and boy, we've got plenty coming in. I'll be introducing them as they com in the door.  I will let you know that we are receiving buffalo yarn and this:

Qiviuk. This stuff is so soft and comes in different colors. Can't wait to knit with it.  Everyone thinks market is a lot of fun but let me tell you - it's work and boy, do your feet get sore! After awhile, it seems like one booth looks like another one. We attended a fashion show and David was disappointed that there weren't any knit bikinis modeled. Sorry, David...better luck next time....

I did bring back some hand-carved shawl pins. Jean came in the store yesterday and she kindly modeled them for me:

She decided the brown one was perfect for her shawl:

They retail for $9 each.

I had some Show 'n Tell before I left:

This is Mei's (pronounced May) sock. She took my beginning sock class. Okay...let me explain a little more. She took the first sock class. I went over getting your gauge and measuring your foot to get your number of cast-ons. The students casted-on for their cuffs. This was a Saturday. The next thing I knew...I get an e-mail from Mei with a picture of her finished sock!! Not only that...but she included a computer program where you input your gauge and foot measurement and it calculates everything else for you!! Mei is something else!

Martha, Barb, and Nancy were knitting with Miss Priss the other day. It just so happened that they were all using the same colorway but different size needles and patterns. It was interesting to see the different results:


Melissa and I had just the cutest and friendliest little customer the other day:

That's Bandi with her mommy, Sandra. Is she a doll or what?

If you're scheduled for a class this weekend - it may be rescheduled. I'm waiting to see what the weather guys say tomorrow but it's not looking good. It's also starting to look like the kids might not have a summer off this year! Perfect weather for knitting/crocheting though!

Be careful out there!

 

January 11, 2007

We received a Schaefer shipment on Tuesday!  People are gobbling it up and we're placing another order today. If you're wanting yarn for the Kathleen felted purse - hurry in for best selection. The Kathleen felted purse class has been a popular request so we are going to create a weekday class. Some of the people in the weekend class are shifting to the weekday class and this will open up some more spots on the weekend one. The class is two-part and starts on the 27th. A great and fun way to learn the importance of gauge and to learn how to do short-rows and I-cord bind-off.

The other night I clicked on the Discovery channel and saw a picture of a jet on fire with the caption "San Diego 1978". Why do I mention this? Because in the morning I'm flying to San Diego for the trade show this weekend. I guess it's good that I'm not superstitious...or am I??

I'm hoping to find a lot of goodies for the store and will be back to blogging after the weekend.

Have a great weekend!

January 8, 200

Saturday started off with a sock class:


We had a good time and everyone did very well.

Pam finished her toe-up sock and learned tubular bind-off for double rib:

Marinelle showed us her beautiful red shawl:



Before you think I was rude and cut her head off - she requested not to be in the pic and I respect that - I feel the same way about myself most times. But I'm very happy that we got a pic of the shawl because she did a wonderful job!

Liz showed us her clapotis that she finished over the holidays. This is the color that I've been wanting:

Gordon came in and modeled the scarf that Sharon made him. Gordon asked Susan to take his picture by his car:

Looks like all of that turquoise kind of overwhelmed the camera...everything seems to have a turquoise haze. lol  Sharon did a gorgeous job of knitting on the scarf.

And we had our monthly Knit-In:

We're not having food themes anymore but you would have thought the theme was "crock-pot" because we had several. Hmm...maybe there's an intentional pun there. lol  If you look really, really close between Rosemary and Anita (4th person on left), you will see the scarce Emily. She dropped by for a minute and I mean "a minute". We were saying she did a "drive-by" attendance. It was really good to see her!

More pics:

Marjie showed us her cute hat made out of wool and Party ribbon:

Marjie recently found out she is going to be a grandmother and boy, is she excited! I notice she's sitting right in front of the baby yarn!

Devon showed us her cute little kitten hat:

Devon is definitely a "hip" knitter! She is such a delight to hang around with. Turned out she and Sherri know each other from the hospital.

Carolyn did a shrug with Plymouth's Baby Alpaca Grande:

I just love this picture of Carolyn! She looks so cute in her shrug! btw, she's holding a gift certificate for second place for her Southwestern Chicken casserole.

Anita won third for her Chicken Chili soup (I believe that was the name):

Anita also showed us some of the talent things she does for the children's program at the library:


Kay won first prize for her potato dish:

There was so much food and it was all good. There's so much food that it's almost impossible to sample all of it!

Kay finished her scarf for the Red Scarf project and Anita agreed to model it:

Made out of Schaefer's Miss Priss yarn.

Well, it came time to give the "Problem Child" award and I had a whole room full of problem children! They ganged up on me and voted me as the Problem Child. I was busy trying to think of a snappy come-back and before I know it - I'm holding the award. Okay, guys....I'm keeping score! lol

Happy Knitting!

January 6, 2007

Many times I'm doing the blog in a rush and don't have time to proof-read. I meant to write that the Black Sheep had their last meeting for 2006. No fear - they are still active!

Debbie came by the other day with the hood she knitted for a relative. From stories I hear, many relatives received a knitted gift with the needles still attached! (been there, done that....still do)

The hood was made out of Plymouth's Rimini yarn.

Okay, I'm a lousy photographer but even I hit a new low with this pic:

Sorry, Betty. I hope you can bring the afghan back so I can get a better picture. Betty hadn't crocheted for awhile and decided she wanted to jump back into it with a huge afghan. And boy, she made this in record time! She's now contemplating her next afghan because she has decided to design her own! She's waiting for a book I have on order for her with different crochet stitch patterns.

If you only knew how happy this next picture makes me:

Kathy and I celebrated the finish of this sweater. It was from a pattern that she had purchased from out-of-state and whoever wrote it didn't know how to add. Worse - the pattern designer switched companies after this was written so we couldn't find an errata page. So...we had to recalculate and rewrite the pattern.  Here's the back of the sweater:

It's a beautiful sweater and looks great on Kathy!

The Sweater Club and I have been trying for about 3 months to get everyone together to take a pic of them with their baby sweaters. It seemed impossible so I took a picture of the ones that were at the meeting last week with their sweaters:

I wish you could see all the other ones - they were all so darling! This is a FiberTrends pattern that I have adapted so there are no seams - you know how I hate seaming. Left to right - Phyllis, Christy, and Juanita. Juanita loves the pattern so much that she has already made two and she stocked up on yarn at the sale to make several more. Good going, girls!

They're still working on their cable sweaters and Wendy has started a shawl:

It was a small turn-out but a lot of fun!

I always say that Maddy reminds me so much of myself. She gets so excited when coming to the yarn store that she can hardly sit still and knit! lol Here she's modeling a scarf and the first hat that she's started. Her Aunt Barb helped with the decreases but I think Maddy is ready to do the whole hat herself next time!


Here's Maddy taking a break from fondly the yarn and doing some knitting:

She went on a ski trip over the holidays and took her knitting with her!  I keep saying you may see her working in the store in a few years!

Don't forget - Knit-In tonight from 4-8pm! Bring a snack to share and get ready to have a good time. I've already been thinking about who to pass the "Problem Child" award to....

Hope to see you tonight!

January 2, 2007

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!  I hope everyone had a safe New Year's Eve and enjoyed the day off yesterday.

Last week, the Black Sheep had their last gathering:





We received our shipment of Mountain Colors!!

Melissa and Martha are busy picking out their favorite colors.  Look at that grin of Martha's! We received Barefoot and Mountain Goat. Hurry in, these are going fast and shipments are slow!

Alma dropped in to do some shopping and we happened to notice her n

ew socks. They're made out of Opal and the color is Zebra.

Great job, Alma! It wasn't that long ago that she was making her first pair!

Melissa came by to pick up her tote that she won:

While here, she showed a couple of projects that she finished:

This was made using Debbie Ware's Christmas Hat kit.  I would love to see the little one that got to wear this!

Melissa came in one day and said she saw the cutest little hat in a boutique and knew that she could duplicate it. Well, that she did!


I managed to finish one of my afghans and worked yesterday making samples for classes and working on a new pattern. I can't wait to get the new pattern done so I can start on my Wool Bamboo sweater! I've heard the sweater club making some remarks that they want to knit the sweater also so maybe I'll have some company!

Take care!

December 28, 2006

I hope everyone had a great Christmas. I didn't have any major catastrophes like I did on Thanksgiving. Just had one minor mishap when the trash compactor got jammed and blew the surge protector that also had the refrigerator plugged into which required the frig to be pulled out. Oh, and I had rushed out last week and finally bought my son a Christmas present which was an IPod since he said his old one was broken. However, around 9pm on the 23rd, he announced that he had fixed his old one.  So Christmas Eve was spent returning and buying something else. And talking about last minute shopping; I received an e-mail from Melissa telling me about the Christmas when her husband waited until the last minute to shop and the only thing he could find open was an auto parts store (at least that's his story). So she received an ice scraper, steering wheel cover, and windshield wipers for Christmas. Gee...I received an ice scraper a couple of years ago but didn't receive the steering wheel cover or wipers......  Well, Melissa, I think that story should receive a prize also!

Alma dropped by and received her tote bag for winner of the contest:

I usually stay pretty focused with my projects but lately I can't make up my mind and have started several. I'm doing an afghan out of Plymouth's Baby Alpaca Grande:

I've decided to make this an "at home" project but have also started one in cream color at the shop.


I've also started an afghan out of our alpaca:

Hmm..I hadn't noticed until this moment that I have the same color of rusty-red in both of them.

I've also started a sweater out of the alpaca:

I started this two days ago and just have about an inch of ribbing done.

I played around with some lace knitting and was having a devil-of-a-time seeing the stuff. I even tried the lighted needles (which really did help).  I've also been having trouble reading print so finally decided that my new glasses were going back. For $800, I should be able to see.

As if that wasn't enough, I've picked out my color of yarn to make this:

Terri Cummings called me one day and asked if I carried Classic Elite's Wool Bamboo? I said that I didn't have it in but had some on order. She said that she saw a picture of a sweater she was wanting to make. She brought the picture in and wouldn't you know - it was the same sweater that I had picked out. Of course, Terri has already started hers and will be done in no time. I can't wait to see it.

I use to think I wouldn't like so many different projects going but I actually don't mind. It's kind of fun to pick and choose which one to work on and also change around during the day if I want.

Well, guess I better get something else accomplished. I'm working on a booklet for my sock classes and hope to have it done by next week's class.

Have a great knitting/crocheting day and remember it's Black Sheep day at the shop this afternoon! Everyone welcomed!

December 23, 2006

Well, I was surprised that I didn't receive more entries than what I did. I was sure I was going to hear all sorts of stories. I must admit I've been surprised by the number of husbands coming in for gift certificates. I just gush over how thoughtful they are almost to the point that they're wanting to bolt out of here in embarrassment. However, Anita did share a story with me about a friend who received a bra from her husband. I bet she was thrilled with that one! lol 

Alma won the prize with her story of receiving a hamburger press from her aunt. It wasn't so much the gift itself, but the fact that the sister, Alma's mother, gave her the very same thing! I guess they thought Alma really loved hamburgers!

And speaking of Alma - she dropped in yesterday with her clapotis:

I just wish the picture would show just how pretty it really is. You can't see the metallic thread and the colors are darker than what is showing. Everyone was really admiring it.

Joan finished two of the afghans from the afghan club:

There's a lot of work there! What an heirloom she has created!

The shop will be closed Christmas Eve and Christmas and then back to normal hours on the 26th. To those who celebrate:
Merry Christmas!


 

December 22, 2006

The contest continues through today and I will announce the winner tomorrow.   mggourmet@coxinet.net

December 21, 2006

I can't believe that Christmas is 4 days away.  I do hope I'm able to suppress my laughter if another person comes in the store today asking for someone to knit stockings for their family by Christmas.  What are they thinking? Don't they realize that this is something that should have been started, at the latest, last summer? And don't they realize that we have our own knitting to do? That should have been started last summer? And that we didn't???? So yes, I'm at the last moment trying to pull off the impossible. What really gets me is - I knew that I wouldn't be able to get it done so I didn't work on it very much. But then the mood struck me this week......I wish my moods would get in sync with the calendar.

And talk about moods...I've been in the mood for a contest but couldn't think of any. Well, this morning my husband asked me what he bought me for Christmas. See, my husband is the worst gift-giver on this earth. If he buys me a gift - it's usually something that he's been wanting. Like the hand-cranked flashlight he bought me for my birthday. Just what every girl wants. So I buy my own present for him to give me, but I'm getting off track here. Anyhow, this made me wonder what bizarre gifts others have received? So..a free tote bag to the winner of the worst gift ever received.  e-mail me at mggourmet@coxinet.net  I hope to get a few chuckles this morning.

Marilynn is a fairly new knitter and just finished her first cabled project:

The scarf is for a friend of hers. One lucky friend.

Well, I better go and grab a few more minutes of knitting....

December 19,2006

My daughter and her family came up this past weekend for our Christmas celebration:

The poor grandkids had to decorate the tree for me while I ran out at the last moment and bought gifts. Where have the days gone where I use to have everything bought/made by Halloween? *sigh*  When I arrived home back home; the tree was decorated but I noticed my OSU ornament was broken and in the trash. Everyone said it was an accident but since I'm the only OSU fan and the rest are OU......I wonder.......

It was also my daughter's birthday on Saturday. I got to babysit the grandkids all day Saturday while she did her shopping. A person tends to forget how fatiguing taking care of little ones is. lol But it was good to see them since it had been so long. They drove my son a little crazy and my daughter just laughed since she's 11 years older than he and said it was pay back time for when she had to put up with him.

Caroline brought her Miss Priss scarf and showed us:

Everyone went crazy over her scarf and Liz, Sandy, and Barbara started one that very day!

Laura brought in her purse that she was designing for the Pursenlaties but unfortunately didn't finish on time:

It doesn't show in the picture but Laura used Star shaped beads around the top of the purse. Great job, Laura!

I had a private lesson with Teresa this made to graft the toe of her sock:


Congratulations on your first sock, Teresa! Teresa made her sock out of Cascade's Fixation.

New colors of Blue Heron rayon/metallic arrived yesterday. Also one new color of their Egyptian cotton called "Bluegrass".

Well, the countdown is on for Christmas and I'm sure there are many knitters out there remembering how they pledged last spring that they would start their Christmas knitting earlier this year......lol


 

December 14, 2006

I awoke this morning feeling a little stressed. Okay...really stressed. So many things to do; so little time. This worry; that worry. I needed to rush to the shop before it opened and get about 3 hours of work done in two.  Well, apparently a wreck happened somewhere on the Parkway because traffic was backed up for miles which meant people taking the side streets. Side streets were packed which meant taking 45 minutes to go one mile. It's a mess out there and I started to get more stressed thinking about how much further this was putting me behind. Then it dawned on me - at least I would get there. It made me snap out of my pity-party quickly.

Okay, Sweater Club members, keep all of that in mind when you're griping about doing buttonhole swatches tonight. lol I spent last night knitting up swatches to show for the class tonight:

The picture of the sweater they are doing just drives me crazy. I can not stand the upper band of a sweater not covering the underband. So tonight I will be discussing and showing ways to compensate for that. Remember girls, bring extra yarn, needles and the button you are going to use.

We received some scarf kits from Schaefer Yarns on Tuesday:

The scarf is made with two different Schaefer colors and a slip-stitch pattern is used. It looks like a lot of fun and there's one color combo that I would just love to do but we have a limited number of kits so guess I wait. Bummer.

We added the new Sock Blocker Keychains/pattern to our inventory. These would make a great stocking stuffer:

It's a miniature wooden sock blocker on a keychain and includes instructions for making miniature socks to put over the blocker. You could dress your keychain to match your socks. lol

Gayle dropped in on Tuesday with a load of muffins from Mimi's. She's been such a delight to have here and she's treating us?? I guess we didn't scare her too much. lol  She made a moebius for her mother who is pretty ill:

Gayle flew back out to Honolulu on Wednesday but will be back in April. Gayle is a crocheter but she's thinking about taking some knitting classes in April. We'll miss you, Gayle!

And on the subject of moebius - Liz finished another one!

I forgot if this one is for her or a gift. I hope it's for her. She's always making things for others.

Guess I better go. I've still got the instruction sheets to type up for tonight's class.

December 11, 2006

Had a busy weekend - it was great seeing everyone coming and going. Gayle from Honolulu has been visiting the store this week and she got to meet some of the regulars on Saturday. She is such a kind person and fun to be around.  Melissa has already committed Gayle into bringing macadamia nuts with her next time and made sure Gayle knew which days she works. lol 

Kim was in my Next-Step club last month. She thought she could only do garter or stockinette stitch.  I had a hard time convincing her that she was capable of doing more. Well..I was right:

Look at that! Moss stitch and cables! All she has left is weaving in the ends. She was in to buy more yarn to make another one! Great job, Kim! I knew you could do it!

Patricia dropped by and showed us her alpaca mittens and hat:

That's one thing I've really been wanting - some alpaca mittens or at least wrist warmers. Maybe after I get some store samples finished.

Patricia has also been busy making hats for gifts:

I kind of like that OSU one! lol

Well, I did receive my surprise on Friday:

Nancy Forrest has been busy helping me design a bag to store my needles. She has been instrumental in getting this accomplished. Susan got the task yesterday of organizing most of them:


The bag was designed where you could have needles on both sides or have needles on one side and the other side used for holding a knitting project. There are small pockets on both sides:



The project side has one large pocket for holding a pattern or in my case; I put my Denise needle set there:

The bags retail for $55.00.   We are also designing a smaller size and will have them before too long. I'm thinking that's the one I will use to store my double points.  It feels so great to have all my circulars in one bag. I've always had 4 different bags for storing them.  Nancy has her bag nice and neat with typed labels for each needle bag.  These make a great gift!

I guess I better get this posted and out the door for a doctor's appt this morning. Hope to see you later!


December 8, 2006

I've been forgetting to mention - we have a new location and new dates for the retreat! (at least I don't think I've mentioned it) We have an entire lodge all to ourselves at St. Crispin's! For more info - click on the link to the left. We're already half booked so don't wait too long!

I'm slowly getting around to posting about some new yarn from Peru. I was wanting to wait until I had something made up but that's taking me awhile. I'll introduce our new lace/fingering weight yarn:

100% alpaca. All colors but the black are natural colors. Cones are sold by the weight at 9 cents/gram. There is approx. 1 kilo per cone which is close to 5000 yards. Perfect for knitting/crocheting large lace projects.

In the next couple of days I'll introduce another yarn that was designed for weaving but of course, I had to knit with it. I just love the feel of alpaca.

Last night a few of the Knit-Wits and I went to a dinner at Mercy Health Center for hospice volunteers. 


This is Bill and Annie:

Bill is a crocheter and can really crank out those blankets! Annie graciously sews in labels which is the biggest chore of all.

And of course the founder, Cheryl, (left) and her first recruit, Joyce:

Joyce claims that Cheryl didn't invite her to join Knit-Wits - she just called and told her to be there. lol Joyce and Cheryl are also the ones that stepped in and rescued me from the tv camera last year. lol  They had a drawing for prizes after the dinner and when they called Bill, Randall (sorry can't remember Randall's official title but he's our contact person) called him a Knit-Wit. Then after Cheryl and Joyce won a prize and he called them Knit-Wits; someone made a remark and Randall quickly explained who we were. The director quickly chimed in that we had named ourselves. lol  On the serious side - I think everyone felt some emotion when Randall discussed what how patients react to receiving a blanket and what it means to them.

Many people have told me that they want me to blog more often. Well, my life is about exciting as watching mud dry. It's work, work and then some more work. So if you want to see more entries - bring those projects by for Show 'N Tell!

I'm hoping Kenny (UPS) delivers one of my surprises today....

December 6, 2006

Here's hoping that everyone survived the snow storm safely and got some stitching done. 

Saturday we had the Knit-In. As usual we had a lot of fun. It was a little quieter though without some of the troublemakers. lol However, the food as always was delicious. (of course, bribes with gift certificates seems to help. ;-) 

Carolyn won third place with her monkey bread.  Carolyn - I wish this recipe was in the cookbook, can you send it to me? I absolutely loved it.

Anita made sausage balls that were unique with fruit - a lot like dressing and won second.

You know they were good when they're devoured in no time. Hmm..I'm thinking we're going to need another cookbook next year. lol

Karen made chocolate truffles that were sinful and captured first place:

I'm sure glad that I don't judge. I would never be able to make up my mind. Some of the other dishes were turkey tetrazzini, raspberry cheesecake. amaretto chocolate/caramel pie, stew, cheeseball, layered Mexican dip, sugar cookies, pumpkin roll, etc.  It's a feast every month! I'm getting hungry just thinking about it again!

The trophy for Problem Child was passed on. Actually, everyone has been fairly well behaved lately. But I did award it to Anita for bringing in 3 knitting problems at once! lol The clapotis being the biggest headache. lol

Laura finished her very first stocking hat during the Knit-In. She was down to decreasing and was going to put it away for later when we encouraged her to go ahead and finish while she had us around for help.  However, she did it with very little help!

The hat is made out of Schaefer's Miss Priss yarn. Looks good, Laura!

And talking about Schaefer yarn - they have been getting a lot of good press lately. So yarn is getting harder to receive. Luckily I have a great rep that has a lot of yarn on hand. I did finish the Kathleen felted circular purse that will be a class in Jan. and Feb.:

I have the yarn in other colors but if you want this color - you will need to buy it early. I have several hanks on the way if you want to make an early purchase. It will be several weeks before it's available again. This class will be great for learning how to do short-rows and I-cord bind-off. I love how the I-cord is used to attach the front and back together.

And talk about I-cord bind-offs - Marjie modeled her latest moebius:

I always say the pics don't do justice because you can't see how pretty the yarn is. Here's a close-up:

Marjie used Cascade 220 Superwash and JCA Heavenly. The hat she is wearing is her 19th hat to do this season. She says #20, 21, & 22 are on the needles. She's even made a quilt! Makes me tired just thinking about it. lol

I've had a lovely couple coming in lately - Devin and Phillip. They took the sock class on Saturday and Phillip wore his hat that he recently finished:

Great job, Phillip!

Cookbooks sales are going great! The books are going to places all around the world! Marjie received a copy of the cookbook for being the winner of the contest for the title of the book. Thanks, Marjie, for the great name of "Knit 1, Cook 2".

Have a great day!

December 1, 2006

We're open! Coffeepot is on......