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Blog Archives January-March, 2006 Back to Current Blog March 30, 2006 Ever since I was a child, I would look at a piece of material, yarn or string, and marvel that with some manipulation, something out of nothing could be created. In fact, I still marvel at it and I love it when my customers are in awe that they have actually created something. Patt made her very first sweater and what a marvelous job she did! She's already busy creating another one.
Molly made a felted purse for Red Hat Society. I love the closure she added. And btw, Molly is now working part-time in the store. (Catch her on Tuesdays and some Saturdays.) Everyone just loves her English accent.
Christy brought a friend into the store and was wearing a scarf that she created. (Hopefully she'll bring in some of the other things she has made.) What a beautiful smile she has!
Well, Layla had to publish for me yesterday and I will try today. So if everything is all over the page - you'll know who goofed it up. Have a great day!
March 28, 2006 Well....my peabrain was fried by the time Layla got through showing me stuff that I was doing wrong and how to do it correctly. For those on dial-up service - you will be glad to hear that she showed me how to save pics for the web for faster downloading. I was taught how to publish the site by one web designer and now Layla wants me to do it another way. I thought, "Okay, no problem". Now, I'm thinking, "What did she show me?" I may have to publish this the old way and wait on my punishment... Some of you may notice that somewhere in the midst of all of this - my background has been lost....or maybe not. It's not on my edit page but we'll see what happens in the end when it's publish. The April and May calendar have been posted and I'm currently working on links for each class. We are reconsidering the "Tutu" purse class. Jennifer Lueb knitted a store sample and it's obviously not a two-hour class, plus it has some difficulty. We will have to make this a 3-part class or substitute an easier purse. We've enjoyed seeing some of the items our customers have made:
Charlotte is a beginner knitter and her first project was a Fiber Trend's felted purse. I love the colors she picked out!
Another Charlotte showed her creative side by creating her own design scarf. This includes the yarn that she and many others spent trying to untangle and wind in a ball. lol
Christy has already made another purse! I love how "Funny" striped diagonally.
Corrie is making quite an unique scarf by intermixing novelty yarns with stripes of Cascade. She is then planning to felt it. I haven't seen a felted scarf yet, so I'm anxious to see this one done.
Evon took a hat class and has been on the roll making felted hats. They look great, Evon!
Mary's sister was visiting from out of town and they took the felted Easter basket class together. (I think they enjoyed it. lol) I can't decide which one I like the best. They're all so great!
Don't forget about the Knit-In this Saturday night!
I'm still a little slow in learning this web stuff..saved these pics in the wrong place and finally found them:
Eva and her pretty red MG's Felted Purse. This was her first felting project and I think she's hooked! She bought more yarn for more purses!
Christy brought her version of the MG Felted Purse. Unfortunately the wonderful colors don't show up in the picture. It's beautiful brown and burgundies. She and her mother made some beautiful selections the other day for other purses. Can't wait to see them!
Christy is certainly a fast and talented knitter. The photographer did a lousy job of photographing though. Great job, Christy!
March 10, 2006 My daughter called this morning laughing - saying how I looked bragging about posting two days in a row.... But sometimes things happen and boy, has it been one of those weeks. It's a good thing that I had the Saturday night Knit-In to energize me for it. We ran out of chairs, but had tons of food, laughter and knitting/crocheting. What a great way to spend an evening! The only downside.....it's how long until the next one??? It seems so far away. However, some exciting and fun things have been happening. We are now carrying Louisa Harding's line of yarns and patterns. Louisa use to design for Rowan Yarns and she's very talented. Her patterns range from elegant to trendy and her yarns are just beautiful. We've been trying for two days to decide which pattern we want to knit first - we can't make up our minds - we love them all! I've seen a lot of pattern books in my days but I do believe hers are the prettiest. The photography is superb. I also like how she indexes her selections. We're busy knitting up some of the designs to showcase. Can't wait for you to see it. Some of the yarns are backordered and hopefully will be arriving soon. But, I'm already placing another order today. Love her stuff! And talking about beautiful items.....we had the pleasure of seeing some of your creations:
Jennifer Bass modeled her basketweave shell out of Provence cotton. She did a great job. I believe this was her first attempt at a garment and didn't she do great?? I wish you could see it up close, it looks really great!
Susan took the Entrelac Purse class and made a beautiful felted purse. Love it, Susan!
Brooke has been busy designing and knitting felted purses. She is a very talented woman that has sold many of her designs to boutiques. I just wish I had her creativity and sense of color!
Judy knitted a scarf out of Trendsetter's Segue. She only came in to show it and wasn't prepared to model. Even though it's not the outfit she plans to wear it with - I got people on my side to convince her to model. lol Looks great, Judy!
Jennifer Lueb made a sweet little knitted Easter dress for her niece. Unfortunately, the lacy border around the edge didn't show well. It is a pattern out of Minnow Knits, Too. What a lucky niece!
Christy did an adorable felted purse out of Cascade and Crystal Palace's Bubbles. The picture just doesn't show how really cute it is.
And last, but certainly not least:
Ursula, (in white) is a teacher of weaving at UCO. She and her students were here Wednesday afternoon buying supplies for their class. Ursula was here from 1-5 helping students as they came and went. I bet she was tired by the end. lol We enjoyed having everyone here! One of the students brought her dog with her and Annie wasn't a very good hostess. I hang my head in shame.... For those of you getting ready to take off for spring break...have fun!
March 03, 2006 Hey, Kay, I'm making an entry two days in a row!! But, alas, I forgot pictures of the class last night. However, I have pics of Debbie with her lovely baby sweater:
and Donna with her purse. I wonder how large it was before felting?? Great job, girls! New book arrivals yesterday: Confessions of a Knitting Heretic by Annie Modesitt. Annie is a very talented knitter but she self-published the book and the illustrations and photos are of very poor quality. In fact, so hazy and fuzzy that you can't even see where the needle is going. Pursenality Plus. The follow-up book to the original Pursenality book.
Don't forget - KNIT-IN TOMORROW! 4-8pm. Bring a snack to share and be prepared to have fun!
March 02, 2006
On Saturday, I was busy teaching the toe-up sock class to the following:
They were absolutely gorgeous! (picture just doesn't do them justice)
Imagine my total shock when I found out they were for me! I couldn't even
start to imagine who had sent them. Why, they were from Linda,
(wearing the scarf she knitted) and her husband, Jack. Jack thanked me for designing the Jack's Cabled Knit Hat for him. Why, you're welcomed, Jack! How about one next month? lol Actually, I'm the one who should be sending flowers to Linda. Linda, a neurologist, has been so supportive and kind to me plus giving medical advice concerning my son. I have truly met some wonderful people. Thank you, Linda and Jack! Clanci now has two afghan clubs going. If you're wanting to learn cables and Aran patterns - this is a great way! Clanci not only teaches the how to knit the pattern, but gives a history of the stitches. As usual, I forgot pictures until the last moment and managed to catch Polly, Alice, Kathy, and Linda as they were packing up. If you're in a class of mine - please remind me to get the camera! We're busy planning classes for April-August. Hopefully the April calendar will go online today. Have a great day!
February 25, 2006 Well....this website stuff still seems to have the upper hand on me. I think I have things looking a certain way and then I get home and check it on another computer and pictures are missing, text is not where it's suppose to be..etc. Every day is a new day..... I've been meaning to mention about needle sizing. Remember there are different sizings for different countries. It's best to check the mm sizing. There's not much difference on the larger sizes but there can be a significant difference on the smaller sizes. So..if there are different needle sizes - you will need different needle gauges. Make sure you are checking your needle size with the proper needle gauge. Clanci will be here today with her first group that she started plus a new series that she is beginning. Tubular cast-on and bind-off will be this morning and toe-up socks this afternoon. On a personal note: if the customer that I was helping with the shell yesterday reads this bog - please call.
Kevin came in with his new scarf. It's a tubular scarf that he did on double points. What a great job and I love the colors! Kevin is in the process of making another one, only this time using one long circular.
February 24, 2006 Three months ago, the only string David knew was fishing...but look at him now:
He came by to do some computer work and jumped right in to help Claudia look at color swatches from Rowan. I was surprised to hear him calling the various yarns by name - he's paid more attention than I thought. lol
New arrivals:
Received a new color kit from OnLine.
It was my lucky day - companion sets for old Denise needle sets. My plastic connectors had broken and they weren't the new locking systems. Now my old set is like new:
Companion sets (everything but the needle points) are now available and retail fro $20. My happy day!
The long awaited "The Happy Hooker" arrived yesterday! Also, we have a new crochet teacher - Morgan Harris. She has some cute ideas in store for all of you crochet fans. More info will be coming out in the next newsletter - slated for mid-March. Keep those needles/hooks clicking!
February 22, 2006
David bought a lap top to help me get more work done while I'm out of the
shop. He said I could keep up with the blog while I was in the hospital. He
meant when Karl was in the hospital but I envisioned lying in a hospital bed and
he comes in and throws the computer down and says, "Now get the blog The picture has too much of a glare on it but it's a cabled/rice stitch stocking hat. It is not gathered at the top like a lot of cabled hats but is decreased symmetrically. This took some figuring on my part since the rice stitch pattern takes an odd number of stitches and I wanted the decrease panel to have the cable centered. I should have the pattern written by the end of the day. Talk about pattern writing - finally got the cabled scarf pattern written and it was tested by Kristina and Kelly. Thanks, Girls! I appreciate it! If you're interested in being a pattern tester, please e-mail me and let me know. Also, do to increased demand, we are currently looking for a couple of teachers to help. You need to be an experienced knitter and have some special skill like intarsia, cables, Norwegian, etc. E-mail me at mggourmet@coxinet.net
New books have arrived: Another great book for kids is, Minnow Knits, Too by Jil Eaton. Many cute patterns to be knitted. Knitting Out of Africa by Marianne Isager. At quick glance, this seems to be a well written book. A good little help section with clear illustrations. Her pattern instructions seem to be written with the beginner in mind - much information. She also has written background information about each design. I'm pleased with this book. Inspired Cable Knits by Fiona Ellis. Not a bad book, but I was expecting more. I had a couple of pictures saved on a cd but then my drive went out. So these are late in getting posted:
Annie felt right at home.
Robbie and her beautiful shawl made with
Have a super day and hope to see you!
February 18, 2006
It's finally winter! I was gone from Saturday through Wednesday (son in hospital) and everyone did such a great job of running things in my absence that it could almost give a person a complex over not being needed. lol Thanks to all of my staff for their help. I'm so very fortunate to have such a great group. The Black Sheep met on Thursday and well...umm......how many people do you think it would take to wind a hank of novelty yarn??? Let's see....
Nancy came in with her felted purse, Corrie with her shawl, and Alice with her felted purse and hat. All projects were great looking! Keep those items coming in - I love seeing them and I know others do!
Have a great stitching day!
February 10, 2006 We've been having new arrivals daily in the store. New colors of Popcorn, Color Twist, Little Flowers, Splash, and many more. Everyone seems to really like Popcorn - fun new yarn from Crystal Palace. Wait until you see the cute little capelet that Jennifer P. made. I'll try to get pictures up next week. We have even more colors on the way. I recently ordered some buttons and buckles and was so thrilled when they arrived because they are absolutely beautiful:
David and I also brought back oyster shell pendants from Peru: Corrie came in and grafted the toe on her sock...her very first and what a great job she did!
Have a great weekend!
February 6, 2006 Busy and fun-packed weekend here. We had beginning knitting and sock classes on Saturday. We had a great time at the knit-in and Jan is now responsible for the 5 extra pounds I'm carrying (brownies). It was great seeing some new faces. What's better than an evening of friendship, food, and knitting/crocheting?
Sandy brought in several scarves she had knitted and her niece kindly modeled them:
Then Sandy's niece decorated her grandmother:
New items in the store from Peru: Great bags for carrying projects/lunch or both. Retails @$24.95 and comes in many colors. Well, it's time for my class this morning. Have fun today!
February 2, 2006 February? It's actually February already?? That means the enrollment date for the retreat is right around the corner. The deadline is Feb. 18. For more information, click on the link to the left. I'm still trying to decide which months to have the retreat. So far it's been March and October. If you have another idea on the months (or location), please let me know. I'm always open to suggestions. Yesterday I had a great group for the beginning knitting class. Which brings me to a subject that I do have opinions on.....continental or English? We teach all of our classes the continental way. But many just find it easier to do English or they have picked up needles in the past and were originally taught English. They find it frustrating to try another way. So they learn and then they may be sitting somewhere knitting and someone comes up to them and says they aren't knitting the best way. That continental is faster, they were taught wrong, etc. Yes, continental is faster but I say that knitting is not a race. It's a hobby and if you enjoy the way you do it then that is all that matters. Whether you knit continental or English - the results are the same. Just enjoy your hobby - remember it's your hobby to do with it what you want. Debbie came in with her cute little evening purse. It looks much nicer in person. I wish I had Debbie in the picture though.
Okay...this is not knitting related (maybe fiber?) But I couldn't resist getting a picture of Claudia's purse:
She said her chiropractor said that she needs to put eyes and a nose on it. lol I forgot what the fiber is but it is so soft to the touch. I'll end with another picture of beautiful Peru: Have a great day
January 31, 2006 I have sneaky employees and customers......they threw me a surprise birthday party! There were several that came in after this picture was shot, I wish we had thought of taking another one. Melissa baked a delicious German Chocolate cake (I'm having left-overs today. yum. yum.) I even had Katie's dog, Molly and Molly's dog, Sam, paying a visit. It was one of the best birthdays ever! Thank you so much to everyone for making my day so special. And I had a surprise gift from Kay waiting for me when I came in this morning. She drove all the way from Norman on Sunday. Sorry to have missed you, Kay! There were some great show-n-tells yesterday:
Keep bringing in those items! I love to see them and I know everyone else does, too! Have a great day!
January 30, 2006 You know what every knitter does when they visit a new place.....yep, they look up the LYSs. I'm no different.....
What a delight to meet these women who were gathered outside one of the shops crocheting. It reminded me so much of everyone gathering here - just goes to show how crocheting and knitting brings people together. These women were doing excellent work and were very accomplished. And did I say fast?? Boy, they had those hooks flying. I wish I could have visited with them more but time was short and it took awhile to have everything translated. Where was I? Why in Peru! While shopping in the knit shops, I noticed this:
That's yarn on the wagon. I think David was afraid that might be him when I was finished shopping. lol It was a wonderful trip and it went by way too fast. I'll tell more and show more photos later. Better get to work for now.
January 19, 2006 Okay...pics from the knitting guild as promised: okay...make that pic from the knitting guild. Even though I took several, only one turned out decent. The knitting guild is planning to move to a new location. I will miss having them here but hopefully the new location will be more centrally located for people. Emily modeled her newly finished sweater:
This was her very first sweater and she can wear it!
Layla brought in her first felted purse:
I had the monthly day-time sweater club yesterday. They started on their cashmere sweaters:
Jennifer P. had her cabled clutch purse class and I had a felted purse class, but I failed to take pictures. I always think of these things afterwards. Maybe the brain will get trained correctly one of these days. Yeah...I know, you're not holding your breath. lol Robbie Steward brought me a book titled, "Knit One, Kill Two". Now, that's an eye catcher of a title. I hadn't heard of this book, but then again, I don't get out much either. lol Thanks, Robbie, I'll be taking it on my trip to read. I am leaving this weekend for a yarn buying spree. I hope to bring back/order a lot of goodies for everyone. Stay tuned for further details. I will be out of the shop starting tomorrow through Jan. 25th. I will be back in on Jan. 26th. The shop is being left behind in good hands - just don't get too wild with the parties! (I hate to miss anything...) And talk about wild....the Black Sheep are due in this afternoon. Come be wild with them - the more the merrier! Take care and enjoy some knitting/crocheting!
January 16, 2006 Well...no pics today. PeaBrain forgot her camera this morning. I'll try to get them up tomorrow. I had a delightful day on Saturday teaching classes. I have to admit that sometimes a class will leave me drained, but not so on Saturday. I had two delightful groups. In the morning, we started off with socks. Everyone was working on the single circular method - some cuff-down, some toe-up. I had one student named Clueless (hey, that's the way she introduced herself, she told me she was clueless). I'm bad at names, but I'll probably remember that one. lol Anyhow, she didn't live up to her name and was a very good student. In the afternoon, I taught the two-handed Fair Isle Headband. Everyone did excellent and almost had the headbands done before they left. Overall, I just had fun. It was nice to sit back and do some teaching. Sunday the OKC Knit Guild met. There was a good turn-out and Susan Barrington taught how to do cables without a cable needle. I was out in front most of the time, but it seemed everyone had a good time learning. Kay has some great pictures up on her blog. The guild is planning to move to a more central location at Belle Isle Library. I will miss having them here. They have been a great group. It's almost 10, so I better go. I hope that snow makes it in.....
January 14, 2006 The other day I had just a few hours to get ready to catch my flight. I felt like the sweater that I'm presently knitting was too large to tote around and I looked around for something small. Socks? Perfect. But wait...the turbos are on them..some say you can't fly with those. I looked through my armoire of yarn and everything I thought about doing - the needle size would be at the shop. Then, aha! - my old Denise needle set from the 70s - that would do. So I crammed some yarn and the Denise set in a bag and off I went. As I sat casting on during the flight, the needles came apart. Darn. Wish I had one of those new sets. I pieced it back together and then, snap.....the plastic was so old and brittle that it broke. While at the hospital I kept trying to make do and finally gave up after breaking several sizes. When they said my son might be in another week, I knew in my heart that I would have to be looking up a knitting shop in the local area. Which made me think of the ultimate knitting needle which will be a subject for a later time.... Marjie and Liz got to join the Black Sheep on Thursday. (This rowdy group may have to move to the back of the shop before too long. lol) Liz left before I could get a pic but I got a shot of Marjie and the Encore blanket she's knitting: I got to meet some of the children: Ron and Sandy and their loved one. And..... Kay and Maggie. Oops...out of time and have a sock class. Have a great weekend!
January 12, 2006 The monthly Knit-In was held last weekend and unfortunately I could not make it. My son was in the hospital in Ft. Worth and David and his wife graciously gave me a ticket to fly down to be with him. Well, that turned out to be quite a little adventure in itself....for those who know me - nothing is ever simple with me. lol I did phone the shop and got to visit with some and get an update. I really missed seeing everyone. There were some new faces and hopefully I'll get to meet them soon. Emily graciously sent me some pics to share:
I heard there was much laughter, good food and an overall great time. New orders have started arriving. We got a huge shipment of books. The Crochet Answer Book is a great reference book. It doesn't have fancy pictures (good illustrations) but provides a wealth of information. Some new kids on the block: PuppyKnits, Classic Knits for Real Women; Hats Gloves Scarves; Knit and Crochet Ponchos, Wraps, Capes and Shrugs; So Simple Knits;Vogue Knitting Stitchionary, Crochet Scarves, So Simple Crochet, The Opionated Knitter, Simple Shetland, The Yarn Girrls Guide to Beyond the Basics, and two new kits for beginners. We have stocked up on several other titles for the knitter and crocheter. I haven't had time to review many of the books but look forward to the time I can sit and browse through them. Layla came by and downloaded the website's files for me on my computer so now I don't have an excuse for not posting and I'm sure that Emily, Kay, Susan, and Jennifer B. will make sure that I don't start slacking. lol I've got one last thing to do for the meeting with the accountant tomorrow and I'm finished! Can't wait.......
January 6, 2006 Hopefully this blog will get posted. We have been switching to a different host for our web page and we are not getting any replies from our former host for our passwords, etc.; so we are basically starting over. I'm having to do my pages and then send them to Layla to publish. Hopefully by next week, we'll have things worked out. We've been busy doing inventory around here. David was here Sunday morning at 4am doing inventory and the police shone a light in on him. lol (thanks Village Police for watching the store!). The Black Sheep had their meeting yesterday. They haven't decided on their official name so if they ever make a decision and it's something else I can easily change it. ;-) We celebrated Katie's birthday with a raspberry n'cream cake from the bakery "Raspberries N'Creme'. Charlotte asked what type of cake and I told her. Then she asked where it was from and I told her. She politely asked again where it was from and I told her. By the third time she was probably thinking I couldn't understand anything. By the fourth time, somebody else took pity on her and ruined my fun. lol Anyhow, anyhoo, here is Katie with the cake:
We had a couple of newcomers to the group - Charlotte and Emily. So glad you joined us! Sandy's cousin Barbara was in town visiting from Colorado. She and her husband were a delight to be around. When her husband came to pick her up, he commented that she didn't have much done on her scarf. I told him that she finished one but gave it away to a good looking guy that came by.
Charlotte kindly posed for a picture with her new scarf and felted purse:
Great job, Donna! And here's a scarf she made for Nancy:
I love seeing your creations! If you e-mail me a pic - I download to about 300 pixels. I'm going to have to ask Donna how she did the nice oval around the picture. Not that I would have time to do that.... Still finishing up with the dreaded tax stuff. I will be so glad when it's out the door to the accountant. Have a great day!
January 2, 2006 HAPPY NEW YEAR! I hope everyone had a great time seeing in the New Year. We spent a busy weekend doing inventory - put several things into clearance (should have done that for the sale - I'll know next year). I'm also busy getting new yarns on the shelves. There are more colors of Color Twist and a new yarn by Berroco called Touche`. I love the feel of Touche`. It's 50/50 of cotton and rayon. The rayon has given the yarn a nice shimmer and it feels so soft. I'm already dreaming of a spring top made out of this. It has 89 yards and retails for $4.50. On the home front, we have a foundation leak that is in the hot water line so you know what that means - no hot water. Besides that, my husband has decided that he can save money and do it himself. So he's renting a jack hammer and proceeding in making holes in the floor. I'm escaping to the shop...... Emily of https://www.hazelnutreflections.blogspot.com/ came by the shop and made a blog page for me. When things settle down some, she's going to help me with the sidebars, etc. I know absolutely nothing about this. Eventually I'll get switched over to it so people can leave comments. New pictures are going up on the gallery page today. I'm going to start doing something new. Instead of collecting several pictures and then loading them on the page - I'm going to feature the picture here and then put it on the gallery page. So if you're wanting a picture with the blog today - you can see Annie opening her present on Christmas. Yes, she opens it herself. Of course, the beef bone is a great motivator. lol
I guess I better get busy doing something productive around here.....like inputting inventory into the computer......I'd rather take a beating......
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