Knittin' For Britain

Knots in my knitting?

2012-01-19T21:21:00.000-05:00

I have always, always, always avoided knots in my knitting. I was the queen of invisible joins, weaving in ends, spit joins, Russian joins. Heck I even taught a class on joining yarn invisibly. I hated knots in knitting!

But not anymore! Check out this youtube link for a wonderfully easy way to join yarn with two knots, trim the ends, and continue knitting. So easy and it works!

I tugged on my joined yarn, and it did not give way. I knitted it up and the knot was truly almost invisible.

You know that saying about "Never say never"? I guess it's true!

Seriously, dude, we're doing it wrong!

2012-01-12T08:43:00.000-05:00

I was checking out the latest pins on Pinterest, and came across this. A charming, hand knitted hat at the very low sale price of $150 CAD. ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS IS THE SALE PRICE!

I could knock one of these off every day, and make about $1000 a week after expenses!

I'm not sure why this gets my goat, but it does. I see some fabulous knitting and crocheting in my shop, and the crafter can't even recover the cost of the yarn when they try to sell the item. And, please understand this is not to say I object to this price. Eight skeins of good quality yarn to recreate the hat may cost in the region of $80, but you could make at least 6 hats from that yarn. Your knitting time from start to finish would be about 2.5 hours, so that adds another $30 to the total per hat based on minimum wage. So the total outlay for each of the 6 hats is $40.I am assuming you have the knitting needles, scissors and notions already on hand. So, could one sell it for $40. I doubt it. $20? Probably not. $10? Maybe, but you'd get the "I can get one at Walmart for $1.99" as they were pulling out their wallet.

How can we as hand knitters, crocheters, weavers, and spinners put an end to the undervaluing of our work? I have some ideas - the first one is for all of us to figure out the actual costs of materials and labour, add a bit for ourselves and price accordingly. Secondly, the use of better quality materials is critical. Cheap acrylic items are available everywhere. Creating with cheap acrylic only cheapens your work.

So often, I am asked if the samples in my shop are for sale. Sometimes they are and I price the item at the retail cost of the yarn. Nothing for the labour, just the yarn. And 9 times out of 10, the customers says it's too much - they can get one at Walmart or Zellers for less.

This hat is not even well knit - all the knit stitches are twisted. But it does have a cool label inside that states it is hand knit in Berlin, and made from virgin wool. Click on the photo to enlarge it, and a link to the website is here There are several hats similar to this one in style and price in the Sale section of the website.

I have to wonder if any of these hats are actually purchased by a real human being. But, if you did want to make yourself a knock off, here's the pattern. It looks like it is a loose, roving style yarn similar to Rowan Big Wool. Based on that, and the number of stitches I can count in the photos, you'd use a size 10 mm knitting needle (circular or double pointed) and cast on loosely (see yesterday's post) 48 stitches. Join in the round and knit in k1, p1 rib for 7 rounds changing colour (there are 8 in this hat) when and if you want to.If you want your stitches to be twisted as shown in the actual hat, knit into the back of the stitch every time. Purl 1 round. Resume ribbing until piece measures 30 cm. Begin decreasing for crown. Knit 2 together across the round - 24 stitches remain. Next 2 rounds, knit 2 together across the rounds, 6 stitches remain. Break yarn, and draw through the remaining stitches, secure well. Weave in ends. Done. No pompon, no nothing. And you've got yourself a $150 hat. Be sure to enclose a copy of the web page with the item description and price on it so the lucky recipient knows its value.

Wait, don't do that. They'll think you're crazy for spending the weeks grocery money on a hat!

Loosen up, will ya?

2012-01-11T10:24:00.000-05:00

One of the most common ~~yells~~ requests for help that I get is that the knitter has cast on too tightly and now the hat, sock, mitten or whatever will not stretch enough to put on. I really can't tell you how many tops of socks, cuffs of mittens and neckbands I have cut off, picked up the stitches and reknit for customers. Yes, I really do use scissors and cut off the first couple of rows, pick up the stitches, knit a few rounds, and then bind off loosely.

Here's my most recent repair project - lovely socks that need to be loosened up.

I have already cut off the cast on edge of one sock and am in the process of picking up the live stitches. Trust me when I say it's far easier to cast on loosely than it is to do this fiddly work. If the yarn was a little bit heavier, I could unpick the cast on edge (I did try this), but I had to resort to the scissors. The knitter couldn't even watch when I took out the shears and started to cut.

Now, I have to make sure all the stitches on the needle are from the same round, then I will knit a few rounds in knit 1, purl 1 ribbing. Then, I will incorporate my sooper sekrit method for loose bind offs. And it works every time. No learning a new way of casting on is required. You can use your usual bind off. Just make this teeny tiny change to the pattern, and ~~I'll~~ you'll never have to fix a tight cast on or bind off again. (Thank goodness!)

When I am about 2 or 3 rounds away from binding off, I knit a round like this: *Knit into the front and back of the first stitch, purl 1 and repeat this across the round. Then on the next two rounds I *knit 1, purl 2 across the round. Then I bind off in my preferred way. This method increases the number of stitches on the last couple of rounds by 33% and is barely visible. This sock was knit from the toe up and increased in the as discussed. I often use this method when I knit toe up socks to ensure the cuff isn't too tight.

When knitting socks from the cuff down, you can also use this method in reverse. Let's say your sock pattern calls for a cast on edge of 60 stitches. Cast on 90, and for the first two rounds do the *knit 1, purl 2 across the rounds. Then do a decrease round of *knit 1, purl 2 together across the round. Then continue in the knit 1, purl 1 rib. If your pattern calls for a knit 2, purl 2 rib and a cast on of 60 stitches you would cast on 75, and do a knit 2, purl 3 rib. Decrease one purl stitch each pattern repeat after a couple of rounds - knit 2, purl 1, purl2 together.

For a visual example, here is a sock with a knit 2, purl 1 ribbed cuff. When I was almost finished the cuff, I increased one stitch every repeat as follows - knit 1, knit front and back of next stitch, purl 1. The next two rounds were then k2, p2 ribbing. I bound off using the ordinary k2, pass second stitch over first stitch method.

See how the top of the cuff flares out? Here's a close up of the edge.

Now, here's how it looks on my sock form. No flared out edge now! Just a nice smooth edge to slip on your foot and up your leg.

You can see the K2 P1 ribbing here.

Trust me when I say, try it, you'll like it. And so will the lucky recipient of your lovingly hand knit socks.

Recipes - cooking and knitting

2012-01-10T11:17:00.001-05:00

Mr Knits and I have been so busy this past holiday season. As he would say, "We've had more company than you can shake a stick at!" But, it was fun! His son Dan and his wife, Kiwi moved back to Taiwan on Thursday, so we had a lot of visiting to do while they stayed at our house for a week. What fun we had! We taught Kiwi how to play euchre (she is a card shark, I'll have you know) and she taught me how to cook some Taiwanese dishes. My favourite, phonetically spelled "Fanstia Chow Dan" is so easy to make, but oh so tasty. Chop up a tomato, and pan fry it in a bit of butter until it's limp, whisk together some eggs (2 per person) and pour it over the tomato. Cook the egg until it is almost done, then drizzle some soy sauce and Thai chili sauce over the egg/tomato mixture, scramble slightly, and finish cooking - about another minute. Done! Fabuous! Must make some - now!

I did a bit of knitting while they were here, and I'll share this quick neckwarmer ~~recipe~~ pattern with you.

It's made from one skein of Teva Durham's River - a lovely blend of 90% cotton and 10% cashmere. the colours I have available are:

The neckwarmer is a very soft and stretchy bit of fabric, knit in a very uncomplicated pattern stitch which Dan said looks like chainmaille, so here goes...

With size 8 mm needles, loosely cast on 28 stitches, and knit one row. Now, begin the pattern stitch which is simply *knit 1, knit 1 in the row below. Repeat this row until you have about 3 feet of yarn left, and bind off. Sew the cast on edge to the bind of edge, weave in the two ends, and you're done.

close up of the stitch pattern

If you want to get fancy, you can provisionally cast on the 28 stitches, and then graft the two ends together. I choose not to be fancy, and you can hardly tell where the seam is. You can also use this as a super soft and warm headband if your ears are too cold. It looks great all sparkled up with a rhinestone brooch too. The best part? Right now, the yarn is on sale for only $5.49 per ball! Three balls would make a great inifinity loop scarf. You know, it's never to early to get started knitting for next Christmas. It's only 349 days away!

finished neckwarmer

We have Zippers!

2011-12-27T07:52:00.000-05:00

I forgot to tell you! And I can't believe I forgot, because I have been waiting since September for this zipper assortment to arrive!

These are the chunky nylon toothed zippers, in two lengths 7 inch closed end, and 22 inch separating, in 15 wonderful, bright, happy colours. The closed end zippers are great for knitted and sewn bags, neckline opening, etc. and the 22 inch separating are just the thing for cardigans and jackets.

I can't believe there are 2 shades of pink zippers. It's a selection
made in heaven for this pink lovin' knitter! And look at the orange
and lime green. I am smitten!

And the boring, but essential "repair" zippers - jeans (metal teeth), skirt, dress in a variety of sizes from 7 inch to 22 inch:

White, brown, beige, grey and black. boring, but necessary.

I may not have the selection you can get in the big city, but what I do have will probably look after all the common zipper needs, and at a great price!

Now you don't need to go hunting for the right zipper for your project - just come see me.

I love evrything Noro

2011-12-26T07:14:00.000-05:00

As a fan of Noro yarns, primarily for the colours, I was pleased to see the pin about Noro on Pinterest. On the Noro website there is a 27 page booklet "From Farm to Product" that is downloadable that explains all the steps in manufacturing Noro yarns - right to where the fibres are sourced. It is a 12 meg file, so be patient when downloading if you're out in the boonies like we are.

Yarns samples for colour combination selection

I was amazed to see how the fibres were mixed, readied for dyeing, and how they choose colour combinations (see photo above). I used to think that Noro yarns were on the expensive side, but once I saw how much human interaction takes place in the manufacture, I think the yarns are a bargain!

I hope you get a chance to download and look through the booklet. It has made me even more of a Noro girl than I was before.

I'm just heading out the door to celebrate Christmas with my sons and their families. And maybe, just maybe, do a bit of Boxing Day shopping.

Beer Mitten Update

2011-12-24T15:00:00.000-05:00

I have the pattern for the mitten written out and ~~will send a~~ have sent free pdf of it to the first three readers who would like to make it. Hopefully there aren't any mistakes in the pattern, but if there are please let me know. Once the pattern has been test knit, it will be available as a download for $3.00.

A gentleman who was in the shop this afternoon suggested the mitten had a dual purpose - you can also use it as a snowmobile mitten! I suppose it would also work on any motor vehicle that has hand controlled throttles (don't I sound like I am all knowing about such things?) I'm thinking it will be great for my rototiller in the spring.

I weighed the mitten and it used 63 grams of yarn - just under 100 yards of aran weight yarn.

So, be quick, be one of the first three and send me an email to nancy at logcabinyarns dot com and I will send you the pdf.

Merry Christmas!

And the answer is YES!

2011-12-23T14:36:00.000-05:00

And just in time - we got a bit of snow last night!

One half of a skein of Manos del Uruguay Wool Classica in colour 108, 4 hours of knitting (including about half an hour of frogging and reknitting) and it's done!

It has a nice long cuff to keep your wrist warm, holds a can of pop or water bottle snuggly, but with room for your fingers to move. Morgan and Steve have already given it their seal of approval too. Morgan said it would be great for ice fishing - if the lakes ever freeze, that is.

I don't suggest you hold your beverage like this, unless it is unopened, I only wanted to show you the bottom.

Here's the view from the top (by the way, do you have any idea how hard it is to photograph one handed?)

It's a nice, snug fit. And it seems to be a one size fits everyone except Andre the Giant. I have small hands and the men who have tried it on, say it fits them perfectly. Once the pattern is written and released I will publish the link here. The techniques used in the construction of this quick gift are magic loop knitting in the round, grafting, and knitting two together. That is it! Quick, simple, and very, very useful.

here's the money shot

So cheers to everyone! If I don't blog before holiday - have a safe and happy one.

Do you think I can make one by Sunday?

2011-12-22T15:07:00.000-05:00

Keeps your hands warm and your beer cold.

www.skuuzi.com

The mitten I mean, not the beer. I was up really early this morning, and was doing a bit of surfing when somehow I came across this beer mitten. It was really difficult not to burst out laughing at 5:00 am. You know the kind of laughter I mean. The delighted laughter of finding just the right gift to make someone else laugh. Most of the men in my life like to crack open a cold one once in a while, and this might just make a good little present for them.

I did a bit of reverse engineering, changed the yarn weight and have begun knitting with the left over Manos del Uruguay from the Bearded Hat. Although it is just a mitten with a tube, I am anticipating some ripping out as I attempt to perfect this novelty item and as such I am keeping very careful track my progress.

Let's hope I can find some quiet knitting time between customers today and tomorrow. I really want this to be under the tree on Sunday and there isn't a lot of time to knit and reknit.

Keep your fingers crossed for me, please!

Scratch that off my bucket list!

2011-12-21T22:04:00.000-05:00

Not that it was on my bucket list, but it's good to know that I can say I've experienced it. Kind of.

It all happened on Saturday. I got an email from a friend I hadn't heard from in a while, and all the email said was "Check out this link. I know you'll like it. Love "my friend's name". I was so happy to hear from her, I clicked on the link right away. Was I surprised to see the result? Yup!

It was porn. Honest to goodness porn. On my computer! I have never seen a porn flick (until now) and I'm pretty sure I don't need to see another one. I couldn't believe that people actually "do it" while someone else is filming them. Then they put it out on the interwebs for everyone to see. Of course, I had to watch the whole 3 minute clip. It actually got boring, and the music was quite cheesy.

But I learned something from the experience. No - not about "doing it", but to hover my cursor over the sender's name to check the email address to ensure it is the one that I know belongs to the sender. Before opening the email! In this case, it was my friend's name, and a Russian email address. I know better...I was just so happy to hear from her that I didn't check.

I don't know if you've noticed, but if you click on an advertisement, google remembers, so the next time you visit a website with advertising, similar ads come up for the last few products you've looked at. Mostly, I get to shoe and yarn ads. (That tells you something, doesn't it?)

Guess what I'm getting in the ads now. And it's not shoes and yarn.

Top Colours for Spring 2012

2011-12-16T14:55:00.001-05:00

I know winter hasn't even begun yet, as evidenced by our supreme lack of snow, but here's some help for planning your colours from next spring and summer:

I must admit I love these colours - all of them! A few years ago, I designed a child's jersey, and it used 5 of these same colours:

Coincidence? Or can I see the future?

I'm famous?

2011-12-15T14:07:00.000-05:00

At least that's what my daughter in law says...she was in the Mary Maxim shop in the Yonge Eglinton Centre and saw this:

Yup - that's my pattern (WFP.0002 Patchwork Drawstring Bag and Rubber Boot Socks) that is published by Westminster Fibers! Put up as a kit! For $18.99! Holy cow, the pattern is also in their catalogue as a kit - it's in the middle of the photo, and please note that they even spelled my name correctly!

The kits are also available here at Log Cabin for $16 - why pay $4 extra at MM?

This whole pattern publishing experience has been quite exciting, challenging and educational. What topped it all off for me was when I was told that this pattern - my first published one - is one of the best selling patterns at Westminster Fibers. Who'd have thunk it?

Bearded hat Update

2011-12-14T13:46:00.001-05:00

Mustache in place

Side view

And I just found out Mr Knits is growing his beard back! You know what they say about the best laid plans...

Christmas Knitting

2011-12-14T06:20:00.000-05:00

A few months ago, Mr Knits had a shaving accident (he thought the #3 guide was on the clippers, but the guide had fallen off leaving a bare strip of skin up the middle of his face. As a result, the beard he had worn for 40 years (!) was totally shaven off. I did post about this incident here. (OMG! It was June when it happened. Was it really that long ago?)

Well, he has grown the beard back, only to shave it off a few times since then and has decided to keep it off. But with winter here, he is complaining that his face is cold. I had seen several bearded toques over the past few years, and now it is apparent I need to make him one to keep him warm this season.

In browsing the various patterns out there, I found that there was some element I didn't like with each of them, so it was time to make my own pattern involving short rows, Emily Ocker cast on, lifted increases, and some striping.

First, the yarn choice was easy - it had to be soft, wooly and subdued. I choose Manos del Uruguay Wool Classica kettle dyed colour 108 a brown, grey and beige mix, and Cascade Soft Spun colour 2803 , a nice medium dark grey that exactly matched the grey in the Manos.

These two yarns are so lovely to work with - soft on the hands, slides smoothly on the needles, with no splitting problems whatsoever.

I started at the top with Emily Ocker's Cast on, casting on 8 stitches with 5 mm 60 cm circular needle and increased to 88 stitches. Then I knit plain for a few rounds, then 7 rounds of the grey (1 round knit, 1 purl,1 plain, 2 pattern, 1 plain, 1 purl), 6 rounds of Manos, another stripe pattern, 6 rounds plain, 10 rows of short rows in manos, then I changed to the grey and began moss stitch to emulate hair. After about 6 rounds, I did a 10 stitch one row buttonhole for the mouth and then continued in moss stitch creating the beard. Please note that I did not write down the numbers as I don't plan to ever make one of these again.) I just need to knit an appropriate mutton chop type mustache and I can call this done! What do you think?

How do you like the pink Christmas tree? I have 6 of them in the shop!

I have yet to "fix" the colour jog in the middle of the back

The mannequin's head is so tiny - it's even smaller than mine. I know the toque will fit the mister as I had him try it on the other day. I'm always having him try on things; he has no idea it's for him! And he said it was so soft - I think he's hoping it's for him. Won't he be surprised to find out it is?

A most pleasant and appreciated surprise!

2011-12-13T11:19:00.001-05:00

Mr Knits and I are frequently approached to provide donations for local and not so local benefits, clubs and charities. Most of the time, we do give something - be it money, guitars, knitted garments, gift certificates - you know, whatever we can within reason. It's not often though something is given back to us. Especially, something as wonderful as this!

We have a problem with our oil tank - it is situated right under the drip line of our metal roof, and if we have a good rain, water gets into the tank through the oil gauge. This water freezes, and causes our little oil fireplace to stop working. This is all technical stuff I don't understand, but the short story is - it gets really cold in Mr Knits' store when his little heater isn't working! No oil - no fire - no heat! Last year we covered the gauge with a mason jar, and that worked well. Until the jar blew off the tank in a wind storm and we didn't know it until the tank was compromised again with water.

We decided that before winter this year, we would hire our contractor and have a proper roof built over the tank to protect it from the elements. So, Steve (our contractor who did our fabulous bathroom renovation) and his son Morgan arrived one day last week and built us this shelter.

When it came time to settle up, Steve refused to take any payment whatsoever! Not even for the materials. This was so unexpected and so appreciated! We are overwhelmed with their generousity.

Thank you so very much Steve and Morgan!

Anchoring

2011-12-12T20:24:00.001-05:00

I have had a few requests in the past week to explain "anchoring" the yarn for the Phentex slipper pattern. Check the "Phentex Slipper Pattern is Here" tab, I have updated the page to hopefully explain how to anchor the yarn at the end of the row.

Send me an email or leave a comment if you still are having trouble with this technique.

What not to wear

2011-12-12T17:24:00.000-05:00

Once again, Pinterest has provided me with a little bit of a giggle. Here's why:

Can you imagine

the amount of time it took to knit and crochet the hat and scarf
the number of ends that need to be woven in
how much yarn and therefore how heavy this "outfit" must be
how annoying having all those crocheted ball swinging around on your head
how much nerve you would need to wear this in public or even to admit you made it?

My guess for the yarn amount is about 2100 grams or 21 100 gram balls of worsted weight yarn. Or about 5 pounds! The scarf seems to be knit/crocheted from two shades of green and probably used 600 grams of each colour and then the dangling fringe (look at the fringe handing down her back - it must be two feet long!) would take about 50 grams per colour and I can count 6 colours! So add another 300 grams. The hat probably used about 300 grams of each colour, plus the estimated 24 dangling balls.

My google fu is lacking in that I cannot find the original source for this photo, and a pattern (not that I really want the pattern; I'm just curious!) I shall not give up though...I will find it if it exists.

But, in all the googling I did find this sweet little Christmas themed hat and bootee set - just click on this link http://www.p2designs.com/pdfs/hattreeelfsox.pdf

I might just upsize this one for my grand daughter. She would look so cute in it!

Do you like this?

2011-12-09T06:45:00.000-05:00

I do, but Mr Knits does not. Of course, it's from Pinterest.com .

click on this to go to the artist's website

It's a chair made from an old leather suitcase. I just happen to have a really old leather suitcase from the early 1900s, and it's calling me to make it into a chair for our guest cabin (get the humour? Suitcase? Guest cabin?) I even have the fabric to do this. All I need are the chair legs, some plywood and a bit of foam and I'd be sitting pretty in my new chair. And save about $600 making it instead of buying it!

There are more examples on the Pinterest site - just put "suitcase chair" into the search box and be prepared to be amazed. If you have pets, you can make pet beds from old suitcases - search suitcase pet beds for examples.

And, if you don't have a Pinterest account, don't worry. You can still view all the great ideas on the site, you just can't save them to your own pin boards. But, if you have a Facebook or Twitter account, just login using it, and you're ready to Pinterest. (If you need an invitation to join, email me and I will send you one.)

Interrupted sleep

2011-12-08T11:08:00.000-05:00

Last night, or actually early this morning, Mr Knits and I were all snuggled in our warm bed with our two cats and two dogs. We were all fast asleep. It was lovely. Then at precisely 2:18 am there was this ringing noise. At first I couldn't figure out what it was! You see, we had to buy new telephones in the fall after the last big electrical storm blew up our last set of phones (a regular occurrence here in the country), and I didn't recognize the ring tone.

Usually a phone call in the wee hours is not good news, and this one was no exception. Our security alarm at the store had been activated - we had an intruder! Yikes! The police were on their way, and we would be contacted if anything was wrong. I stayed up for a little while - until 3:30 am, and then went back to sleep. Only to be awakened at 4:08 am by the phone ringing again. Another alarm had been tripped - this time in a different part of the store. Mr Knits got up, got dressed and came down to the store to investigate.

And what did he find?

Little Miss Purrl has now figured out how to open a door knob! She had escaped from her luxury suite in the back room, and was having fun all by herself in the shop!

Our darling little Purrly Grrl does not get along with Stinky or Ella, and that's why she's staying at the store. We tried keeping her overnight in the renovated washroom, but that was a disaster, so we fixed up the back room (used to be my office) with a double bed, dresser, night table, little carpet, feeding dishes, litter box, her mohair shawl lined basket - all the essentials for a wee kitty. But it seems she doesn't like to be sequestered. I suppose the next thing we need to get are those white plastic door knob thingies parents of small kids put on the doors so the little ones can't escape in the middle of the night.

Let's just see how long it takes for Purrl to figure out those safety knob things!

Busy? Me too!

2011-12-05T20:56:00.001-05:00

It's been quite the busy time for us. The holiday season tends to creep up on us every year and Mr Knits and I are often caught quite unprepared. Not this year! The Giftmas shopping has commenced in earnest.

As you most likely know, I am a bit of an eyeglass addict. I love new glasses, and now that they are so inexpensive online, I have a pair or twelve. Green ones, pink ones, blue ones...purple, black, brown. I don't think there is a colour I don't have. Now, I've been told by the optometrist I don't need to wear them anymore. I even have my new unrestricted driver's license! No big X in the wears eyeglasses for me! So what is a girl to do with all the unnecessary glasses?

How about this? And it's only $498!

click here for the link

Once again, Anthropologie never fails to make me giggle!

It is that really busy time of year for most of us, so this Wednesday, December 7th (my grand daughter's 10th birthday!) will be the last knitting afternoon until 2012. For those of you who ordered the children's travel bags - I have them waiting here for you.

Hope everyone has a wonderful holiday season. Feel free to drop in anytime for a good cuppa coffee or tea and a biscuit or two.

Anthropolgie, part 2

2011-11-24T06:46:00.000-05:00

I have become quite obsessed with the Anthopologie on line store now, and found this gem.

click on it to view it full size

Counting the number of stitches visible - about 80, and adding an additional 20 for those hidden, it seems that approximately 100 stitches were cast on, and knit 32 rounds using about a 15mm circular needle. There are 4 yarns used, all of them at least doubled, except for the green mohair. I worked out the gauge to be 5 stitches to 4 inches, and I'm not sure I would be able to knit that loosely, so if I were to copy this, I would use 15 mm needles, and cast on 160 stitches which would give a gauge of 8 stitches to 4 inches and knit about 40 rounds. As if gauge is much of an issue with a project so loosely knitted as this one!

Occasionally, there is a little short row embellishment just to give the loop a break from endless stripes. I like that! And, it's a good way to practice shadow wraps. Shadow wraps are my new favourite way to wrap and turn. This tutorial made it very easy for me to learn and master this technique. Just think how cute it would be to add a little metallic sparkle to these embellishments...or add buttons or beads, and truly make it your own masterpiece.

It would take an evening or two to whip this baby up using just your stash yarn and part balls. My best guess for yardage would be approximately 500 - 600 yards. If you are doubling your yarns, you need to double that amount. It would make a quick holiday or anytime gift, and you certainly could use up odds and ends in your stash. Be sure to show the lucky recipient the inspiration for their gift. They will be impressed I'm sure!

I have chosen 4 yarns - one super bulky thick and thin hand spun royal blue wool, 1 mango moon Lurex ribbon in the Neptune colorway (blues and greens), 1 skein of Cascade Soft Spun in Lime Green and 1 skein of Cascade Pastaza in Cream. They all look lovely together. Look for an update tomorrow. I'm a little excited to get this started!

What? $498 for a hand knit scarf?

2011-11-23T09:28:00.000-05:00

I was going to blog all about how I have too many knitting projects on the go, and how I am going to cull the herd. I stayed at the shop last night as we were expecting a winter storm (that barely happened by the way) so I decided the time was right to clear out what I lovingly call my messy office. That is an understatement. It should be called the hoarder's secret room or something. Just ask Lynn.

Anyway, I was taking a break from the sorting and tossing when I came across this link. Seriously folks, come help yourself to some of the ends of yarn I'm throwing out - yes, throwing out! - and create one of these so call masterpieces.

It's a 13 inches wide, 84 inches long garter stitch scarf! Here's the sooper sekrit pattern. Assuming a gauge of 18 stitches to 4 inches, cast on 52 stitches. Knit in garter stitch until you get tired of one colour. Attach another colour, knit in garter until you get tired of that colour. Join in another. Once you have reached 84 inches, bind off. Make sure you don't weave your ends in invisibly, the charm is in the obvious hand made construction.

See how charming the hand made look is?

Or not!

Click on the link to see some of the other items Anthropologie has on its online store. It might just make your day!

Special Event and Sale this Saturday

2011-11-17T14:24:00.000-05:00

With all the holiday knitting you have been doing, it's time for a little relaxation and fun for yourself. Come on in to the shop on Saturday, November 19th for a little hand and lip pampering, plus everything (and I mean everything) in the shop is 20% off. Yup, addi Turbos, Hiya Hiya Interchangeables, Tilli Tomas - all the great stuff at 20% off. At this special price, layaways and holds cannot be accepted.

The hand care specialist will be in the shop from 12 noon until 4 pm, so plan your day accordingly. Refreshments will be served - and I might even be able to make you a latte. Mmmm, I love lattes.

Have you ever done anything so silly

2011-11-13T14:43:00.000-05:00

That you didn't want anyone to know about it, yet it is just too funny/silly/ridiculous you can't keep it a secret? Well, I did something today that meets that criteria.

Here's the scenario:
I am doing laundry. The dark clothes are in the dryer, and I am a preparing to do a load of whites I want to bleach. The ritual is I first pour a cup of bleach directly into the washer, along with a capful of Resolve. Then I turn the washer on to let it fill and dilute the bleach. This plan dictates I add the clothes within a minute or so of starting the washer. Today, it ran for 14 minutes. And this is the result when I opened the door to put in the clothes

There was soap foam EVERYWHERE! About 1.5 feet deep - it came up to my knees! At first, I couldn't even see the handle on the washer door as the foam covered it. It just kept coming and coming. I slammed the door shut and stood there in disbelief. Of course I had to open the door of the washer again just to see what the heck was going on. More foam spewed out. I turned off the washer, shoved the load of whites in and shut the door and began to clean up the foam. I picked up armfuls of foam and threw it out the back door. That's when I thought I needed to take some photos on the off chance I wanted to share this little experience with the world. As a result iin the photo taking delay, there is just a little bit of the soap foam left to show, but you probably get the idea.

you can actually see the foam inside the washer right up to the top of the tub.
That's a lot of foam.

You can see how high it was in front of the washer (who I shall now call Madame Sudsy) by the foam still on the wall. The blob of foam was that high, about 2 feet wide and 3 feet long. Quick math tells me that it was about 9 cubic feet of foam.

Awesome. Simply awesome. It reminds me of the time when I was a teenage and poured a bottle of Lemon Fresh Joy into the fountain at Fairview Mall on a dare. I wish I had a photo of that. And yes, I won the dare.

Blame it on George!

2011-11-11T19:55:00.000-05:00

Last night, I was working on the Uptown Cowl, and things were going so well. That is, until Mr Knits and I turned on Oceans Eleven. I may have mentioned that I find George Clooney a wee bit attractive. Handsome even. George Clooney in a.tuxedo? Very distracting.

George Clooney is in the aforementioned movie, Oceans Eleven. In a tuxedo. And my concentration began to wander. The first repeat (10 rounds) of the cowl is fine. (We weren't watching Oceans Eleven yet.) The rest? That's when we put on the movie. Wonky as all get out! I didn't notice the errors until I was on round 25 (of 29). I was not ripping it out. I decided it would be a" freeform cable" cowl. Hereafter known as "Blame it on George!"

I did use the Double Needle cast on, and it does make a stretchy, even edge. If you don't look too closely from this angle you can't really see where the cables are wonky. Trust me - they are!

But in this photo, the cable on the left is one of only two that followed the pattern. The cable on the right should be exactly the same as the one on the left. You can see it isn't even close! The middle cable is about 90 ways wrong. Don't even look at it. Please.

Even Norma Jean is ashamed to be seen in the cowl.

Emma seems to like it though.

I did cast on a second cowl today, using Teva Durham's River, and so far so good. Round 14, not one mistake. Yet. Criminal Minds is on, and Shemar Moore and Matthew Gray Gubler - well they wrote the book on being hot. Oh yes they did!

New to me, anyway...

2011-11-10T20:19:00.000-05:00

At Heather's recommendation, I choose the yarn - Cascade Pastaza -

for the Uptown Cowl pattern from Canadian Living.

Last night, I cast on and knitted a few rows, but I didn't like the way it looked. Actually, neither did Ella or Stinky - they had a party with the yarn today, and when I came home it was tangled all over the living room. I will never learn to put my knitting away!

Part of the problem with my first attempt was I didn't like the way the cast on looked. After ripping out the 2 inches I had knit, I began googling for information on how old June Hemmons Hiatt is. (I'm worried she is so old, that she may not live long enough to finish the revision of The Principles of Knitting! I know - it's a morbid thought.) I didn't find that information but I found a link to a pdf for her Double Needle Cast on. If you have ever cast on a sock or hat, and the edge won't stretch enough to put it on, this is your new go to cast on. It is simply brilliant. If you can do the long tail cast on - you certainly can do this one.

I cast on again tonight (after I untangled and rewound the yarn) with this new to me cast on and yarn. If you would like to learn this cast on, I will be holding a mini class on it at Wednesday Afternoon Knitting this coming Wednesday. Be at the shop at 1:30pm, grab a coffee, and be ready to learn. Just bring two different sized needles such as a 5mm and a 2.5mm needle and some worsted yarn.

It's too dark to knit

2011-11-08T19:32:00.001-05:00

With the time change, it's pitch black when we leave the shop now. I now have to find another activity to keep me occupied for the 25 minute drive home. Thank goodness for the Speakout Wireless Unlimited Browsing for $10 a month plan.

Tonight I continued my "research" on RH negative blood. I am one of the 15% of the world's population with RH neg blood. And it seems that some people think this 15% of the world's population did not follow the evoluntionary path. Apparently we are the descendants from the ancient astronauts. I am not kidding. Here's the proof:

B L O O D O F T H E G O D S

Are you an Rh Negative blood type? If so you could be a decendent of the ancient astronauts themselves!

And now, go here and see the UFOs in ancient art. I'm sure that will convince you that this theory is beyond dispute.

Then there is another group who says the RH neg people are descendants from the Arch Angels.

But the very best articles list the RH neg traits. It all starts out well - I have hazel eyes, low blood pressure, low body temperature, red tint to my hair, low pulse rate., then it all goes to pot.

1. predominance of green or hazel eyes that change color like a chameleon, but also blue eyes

2. true red or reddish hair

3. low pulse rate

4. low blood pressure

5. keen sight or hearing

6. ESP

7. extra rib or vertabrae

8. UFO connections

9. love of space and science

10. a sense of not belonging to the human race

11. piercing eyes

12. para-normal occurrences

13. physic dreams

14. truth seekers

15. desire for higher wisdom

16. empathetic illnesses

17. deep compassion for fate of mankind

18. a sense of a 'mission' in life

19. physic abilities

20. unexplained scars on body

21. capability to disrupt electrical appliances

22. alien contacts

Poor Mr Knits has to listen to me tell him why I am the superior being since I descend from the ancient astronauts/angels/reptiles. It has been quite a bit of fun the past couple of days.

I suppose you did notice that "will power" was not one of the known traits of the RH neg person. I knew there was a reasonable explanation why I could resist all that yarn on Sunday!

Will Power

2011-11-07T22:30:00.000-05:00

I have none. Absolutely none. Look up the phrase "will power" in my dictionary, and it won't be there.

I made a vow to myself that I would stick to my yarn shopping list this weekend. You see, each November and May, two of the Canadian Yarn distributors have their spring (November) and fall (June) open houses where they show the yarn shop owners the new lines being introduced for the season. And, they often have wonderful specials on existing stock.

So, on Sunday, I ventured out early in order to arrive in the Toronto area by 10 am. Before getting out of the car, I once again affirmed this vow of yarn celibacy. I would not put anything into my cart that wasn't on my list. Not this time. I was going to conquer and overcome the allure of the new yarn fumes.

My will power lasted about 18 seconds after arriving at Estelle Designs. There, just inside the door was a ton of Cascade Yarns Pastaza - a lovely, soft llama/wool blend. Of course I took one of each colour. The only problem was that the Pastaza was not on the list. Nor was some Cascade Dip Dyed yarn. And the pretty sparkly stuff whose name I forget.. But it is really pretty! After filling two carts, I felt it was time to move on to the next distributor. It was only 10:45 and I had totally blown my "budget".

About 30 minutes later, I was wandering around in Diamond's warehouse, wondering how on earth I was going to get all this stuff home. I had already filled another cart! As Jimmy was writing up my order, I was still adding to it.

My haul includes some lovely sparkly velvety ribbon yarn, a cotton/cashmere blend, an angora cashmere blend, a merino cashmere blend (notice a trend here?) plus some silk and best of all, some of the new Malabrigo hand dyed tops. It's so new, it's not even on the Diamond Yarn website yet. Somehow, 3 sizes of the Chiaogoo lace circulars ended up in the cart too.

It's a very good thing there are open houses only twice a year. I have no idea where I am going to put all this new yarn.

Should I or shouldn't I?

2011-11-06T06:48:00.002-05:00

I have been wondering for about a week if I should write this post. I struggled, thinking I might offend some readers. That is truly not my intention, so if I do offend you, I really really apologize from the bottom of my heart. But this is just too funny to not share.

On Monday, I was texting my niece (who will probably kill me for posting this!), and we were talking about school and how much she dislikes the Careers class. I told her I hated Sex Ed when I was in school. We never talked about sex (which is what we wanted to talk about), only boring disgusting things like cancer and syphilis and how to communicate with my spouse. That was helpful as I was only 14 -15 and not married. And we watched the cheesiest educational films about girlie things that all the boys in the class snickered at, embarassing the girls.

My niece told me her Sex Ed class was fun - they made a candy vagina in one class. Actually a whole female reproductive system from about 10 different types of candy. I texted back to her " A candy vagina?" But my iphone changed it to "A Candy Cabinda?" Liv typed back "What?"

I thought I must have misspelled vagina, so I retyped it, pressed send, and of course, Autocorrect changed it to Cabinda again. Once again, Liv texted back"What?" I had to put a space between each letter of the word so I could tell her what I was trying to say.

Here are the screenshots of this part of the convo

We each had a virtual giggle, and went on to talking about other things. But, what I really want to know is.....

What the heck is a Cabinda?

To add some actual knitting content, did you know there is a pattern for a knitted Cabinda on Ravelry? Oops, autocorrect is at it again!

New Afghan

2011-11-05T15:03:00.000-04:00

One of the most popular items in the shop is a soft, squishy afghan knit by my friend Dizzy Bat, made from an assortment of yarns in the "Old Shale Pattern". Due to the afghan's popularity, I had begun packaging up the yarns and pattern and selling them in kit form. As I had no real idea how much yarn was used in the original, I put a kit together and sent it out to my knitter Marilyn. this is the finished kit in cream. It's so beautiful! And soft! Yarns include silk, alpaca, merino and more merino. There is even a yarn with itty bitty sequins in it.

Here's a closeup of the stitch pattern - one of the easiest, yet showiest lace patterns around.

It goes like this:
row 1: knit
row 2: purl
row 3: (k2tog three times, knit 6, knit 2 together 3 times) repeat to end of row.
row 4: knit

If you noticed, there is really only 1 pattern row, and it's row 3. The rest are basic knitting and purling rows. You can go a little crazy and change it up by adding in a row of knit and a row of purl in between rows 2 and 3. And you can refine it a little more by changing row 3 to read (SSK 3 times, knit 6, k2tog 3 times). Doing that makes the curves even curvier.

I love the different textures and thicknesses of the 6 yarns and how they all play on each other. Being a tassel lover (makes me wonder if I was a stripper in a former life) I have 10 more tassels to make and attach, and all will be done. I just couldn't wait to show you.

This kit is available in cream, autumn tones, reds, blues and greens. I think I need to do some dyeing and put together a pink kit. You all know how much I love pink!

Instant scarf - just add water!

2011-11-04T16:53:00.000-04:00

Okay, you wouldn't want to add water, but this scarf knits up so quickly. In about two hours you could be wearing it!

It all started early this morning when I was planning out my day. I have been making some yarn mixtures of 25 yards of the prettiest, most textural yarns I have in the shop. I bundle them up in 5 yard/5 yarn assortments to be used for embellishing by knitters, crocheters, weavers and scrapbookers. Some clever people just put random knots in them and wear them as necklaces.

4 of the embellishment samplers

Anyway, back to "the idea." It occurred to me that the yarns were so pretty together, I thought what eye catching scarves they would make. Then, I was checking out the latest fashion trends from the runways in regards to knitting - and there were huge scarves and cowls being shown this season. I mean so huge the gauge is probably 1 stitch to 2 inches. Yes, 1 stitch to 2 inches. These pieces were probably knit on baseball bats.

So, shortly after my sock class was over this morning, I grabbed the yarns from one of the assortments and cast on 8 stitches on 35mm needles. An hour later this is what I had:

about 60 inches long!

no where near as huge as the runway fashions, but still quite big

All garter stitch - 4 stitches and 6 rows to 4 inches in garter stitch. The yarns I used are all discontinued sadly, so go raid your stash (I still have a little stock left though). This scarf included Cafe from Naturally, Overture, Kitty, Baby Monkey from SR Kertzer and Painted Forest from Nashua Handknits. One skein of Kitty, 3 of Painted Forest and 2 each of the rest. I estimate 150 yards of 5 types of yarn is all that is needed. I have just added a second skein of Painted Forest and Baby Monkey, so I'm just past the half way point. The scarf is measuring 60 inches, plus the fringe.

If you can't find me in the shop - just holler for me. I'll be in the stock room stash diving.

Principles of Knitting - again!

2011-11-03T05:45:00.005-04:00

I think by now you all realize I am a wee bit obsessed with this book. I am so disappointed that the publication date has been pushed back to at the earliest February, and I'm starting to think this book will never be published again.

Recently, the first (and only) edition of this book was selling for $250 and up on ebay, amazon, abes books, etc. Imagine my surprise when I was googling for information on the publication date when I saw that Amazon.com had not one, but over 10 copies from different vendors selling for $44! Of course, I bought one! And today, I am driving to Watertown to pick it up. For some reason, Amazon.com wouldn't ship it to Canada, but it did have free shipping in the US, so it's all good.

As I type this, there are 3 copies on Amazon for just $33 - they have some condition problems, several in the $44 to $70 range which are in better shape. So this must might be the time to get one.

If you want to see the book up close and personal, come on in tomorrow. I'd be glad to share it with you.

Best made plans

2011-11-02T06:17:00.008-04:00

Often go awry. Don't they? I thought I would make the "Just Enough Ruffles" by Laura Chau using King Cole Twist - a yarn very similar to Marble DK, except it is a 26% wool/74% acrylic mix. I love this scarf pattern - it uses around 300 metres of yarn, is a very quick knit, and you end up with a really nice scarf.

See? Pretty, yes.

And it used just one skein! I love the little 4 row ruffle at the edge of the scarf, and the scarf just wraps and drapes so easily.

Or should I say almost one skein...I ran out of yarn on the bind off and had to start a new skein to finish. I was just over halfway through the bind off row when I ran out. I didn't want to pull out a row

Looks like a pair of mittens to match will be in the works soon.

Brand new carpet

2011-11-01T15:55:00.000-04:00

The carpeting is done. The rearranging of the shop - well, not so done, but it does look a lot better. Brighter, cleaner, and just plain prettier. Thankfully, the installer was able to bring a lighter shade of carpet than he used in Mr Knits' shop. (I simply hate the colour in there! And I chose it!)

Now the yarn colours simply pop!

view from the front door

front of shop - looking right

front of shop - looking left

the furnace is almost invisible!

Please come and visit soon. I'll make you a latte!

Tools?

2011-10-26T07:20:00.001-04:00

I had planned to post photos of my newly carpeted shop today. Alas, I have got everything back just perfectly, so the big reveal will have to wait. It does look fabulous though. In putting stuff away, I came across my little plastic container that I put stitch markers, cable needles, tapestry and darning needles in, and thought about where I bought it (Princess Auto!) and how much less it cost than one sold by a knitting notion supplier.

Sometimes, when you need a tool or notion for knitting, the knitting specific ones often cost so much more than a substitute.One that comes to mind are the "knitclips" The suggested retail for these is 6 clips for $6.95. A perfectly acceptable, easily acquired substitute are the butterfly hair clips you can get for a dollar. For 20 of them! I used these all the time to clip my knitted pieces together for seaming. You can also assemble your whole sweater and try it on using these clips. The difference - knitclips have one "tooth" and the hair clips have 3 to 5. The hair clips are also available in larger size for use with bulky knits, too.

a knit clip

Blocking wires, specifically packaged for knitting are outrageously priced. I feel so guilty for selling the 6 sets I brought in the first year I was open. I was shopping one day at Princess Auto and found stainless steel welding rods for $16.95 for 30 or so 36" long rods. In a pack of blocking wires (for $25.95) you get 8 36" rods, 4 18" rods, 2 flexible wires for sleeve cap/armhole shaping, some t-pins and a yard stick. So, do yourself and you budget a favour and get the rods from Princess Auto. If you need a yardstick - which you do need to block things properly - we have them here for $2.95. Split the rods between a knitter friend or two, and save yourself lots of money. You can make three or 4 blocking wire sets for less than the cost of one commercially prepared set.

As we had discovered last year, you can even get knitting notions at an outdoor store - worm wallets are great for storing you circular and double pointed needles. So are coupon wallets - they are smaller and often more attractive than the manly worm wallets.

My favourite free knitting tool is a bread or milk tag. These little tags have the best before date printed on them, and they can be used for winding up the tail of your cast on yarn (so you don't knit it by mistake) or you can use them for bobbins when knitting intarsia. It's amazing how much yarn this little babies can hold.

What's your favourite not-made-for-knitting knitting accessory?

Confusion

2011-10-25T10:39:00.001-04:00

I wrote this post in August 2010, and couldn't decide if I should publish it. I guess I made up my mind. Names have been changed to protect the innocent.

I know Northbrook's a small town, and we do get phone calls asking us if a certain person might be in the shop and if so, could we ask them to pick up some butter or whatever on the way home. I like that aspect of living here. But what happened Saturday morning was a little crazy and a little creepy.

On Saturday morning, I got to the shop early to get some paperwork done. All the lights were off, but I hadn't locked the door after I had entered the store. Around 9:30am, the door chime signalled someone was entering the music store and there I was in the yarn shop. So I quickly popped over to the music store, only to hear the chime for the yarn shop. So, I whipped over to the yarn shop. And you guessed it, no one was there, they were back in the music store. So, I hollered out, "Where are you?" and told them I'd be there is a second.

I met an impeccably groomed woman in the doorway of the music shop, and I quickly turned on the lights and apologized for not being in the shop when she entered and explained we don't open until 10:00 am. And all she said was, "You're not Madame X (the previous owner of the building)! And I agreed that I wasn't Madame X. Then she asked me if Madame X was still running the store and when would she be in, and I told her Madame X wasn't running the shop and therefore wouldn't be in that day. The woman was getting a bit agitated now. I told her we had purchased the building in December 2007. She told me she had just been up to the Madame X's house but she wasn't in. And she needed to see her. NOW.

Finally she asked me, quite forcefully, "Do you know where she is?" I have to admit all sorts of nasty retorts were just swirling around in my brain and I had to restrain from telling her I wasn't the Amazing Kreskin, and I had better things to do than watch people walk up and down the street or take role call of the 534 residents of our town.

I simply said that I didn't have a clue, and asked if there was anything else I could help her with. Apparently not. She turned, walked out the door, got in her car and peeled out of the parking lot, spraying gravel all over the place.

Guess that was the wrong answer!

Looks like it's been delayed - AGAIN!

2011-10-23T19:00:00.000-04:00

I was checking on some back orders online, and discovered much to my horror, that the release of The Principles of Knitting has been delayed again. This time the expected date is February 14, 2012 (my 60th birthday!)

To say I am disappointed is an understatement.

The video I have been looking for

2011-10-23T10:11:00.008-04:00

Scarves are a little extra line I carry in the shop - all kinds of scarves. Silk, cotton, pashmina, rayon, bamboo...and all are priced at $8.00. I don`t wear scarves very often as they seem a little too frou frou for me and I am very awkward at tying them, but I do envy the woman who can wear a scarf with panache. I know exactly two ways to fasten a scarf. Two!

I have googled for different methods of tying a scarf, but to no avail. Until today. Here`s a video that demonstrates 25 different ways to use a scarf to accessorize your outfit. Watch the whole clip (it`s only 4 and a half minutes long), and then you can click on particular scarves for a detailed tutorial on how to tie it.

It`s awesome.

I`m off to the shop right now to finish up the painting work that wasn`t done last winter. It won`t matter if I splatter paint on the carpet now. Better go. Mr Knits is waiting.

Do you ever get the feeling someone is watching you?

2011-10-22T18:35:00.000-04:00

Today, we (Lynn, George, Too Tall Ted, Mr Knits and myself) moved, covered, rearranged and dismantled everything in the yarn shop in anticipation of the new carpeting being installed on Monday. We had thought this task was going to take many many hours of work, but in actual fact after only 2.5 hours we were done. What a pleasant surprise that was.

What wasn't a pleasant surprise was the lack of painting that was done on the walls behind the yarn shelving. And to think we actually paid for this work! You can see the blue paint not quite touching the chair rail all around the room. He didn't even paint around the thermostat (at the right side of the doors). I think you can make the photo larger by clicking on it if you want to inspect his ~~lack of~~ workmanship. All of the unpainted areas were covered with the yarn shelves so this wasn't noticeable. Until now.

The shop looks so huge with the all the yarn moved to one end. This one:

And here, in the new lounge area:

At least we can still access the coffee, tea and espresso machines. I need my lattes!

The washroom is also packed with stuff - mostly mannequins.

It all is a very organized mess. I know where everything is (even though I may have objected to it being put there). I was surveying the chaos just before leaving for home tonight, and decided to use the facilites, and this was my view from the throne!

Five pairs of eyes watching me! A little disconcerting, to say the least. I have to wonder if the men placed the heads like that on purpose. Hmmm. I wonder.

And...I'm back!

2011-10-16T20:58:00.001-04:00

It certainly has been a busy two weeks here at Chez Knits. First, we had the music shop and gift shop area carpeted, so that meant everything from those two areas had to be moved - into the yarn shop and lesson room. What a mess! I still haven't got everything put back in place.

Then Thanksgiving came and went - great lunch with Mr Knit's mom, sister and brother in law, his son Cliff and his girl and my son Matty and my daughter in law Terri. That weekend was tons of fun!

Then Mr Knits mom finally got a place in a seniors' residence and we had to begin the moving and closing up of her little home. I feel so very sad for her - a lifetime of memories all have to be given away as very little can be taken with her. It just breaks my heart.

Today Lynn and I went to Kingston for a little shopping...we decided we were going to venture into the wild world of cake decorating and we absolutely needed the stuff today! We had a lovely breakfast at Cora's and then the shopping began. Sort of. Some stores were open at 10am, some at 11am and the rest at noon. So there was a lot of driving around but we were successful in getting to every shop we had planned to visit.

Recently there has been a lot of discussion on the blogosphere about Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Lattes and I was intrigued. Until today, I had never had one. That latte is just like drinking pumpkin pie! Yum. There are two problems with this. First, the closest Starbucks is 120 kilometres away, and secondly, $6 is just too much for a hot drink. What's a girl to do when the urge for a PSL strikes?

Enter Pinterest.com for a solution. This site has a gazillion links to recipes for Pumpkin Spice Syrup to be used in making the latte. So.... I made the syrup tonight. No time like the present.

Here's the recipe I used.

1/3 cup pumpkin puree (fresh or canned)

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/4 cups water

2 cinnamon sticks

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon cloves

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

Measure out the nutmeg, cloves and ground ginger and place the spices into a triangular coffee filter, fold down the top of the filter to secure the spices inside.

Combine the rest of the ingredients in a saucepan and whisk gently, then place the spice bag in the pot and bring to a boil. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally to keep syrup from burning for about 15 minutes. It should barely coat the back of a spoon. Remove from heat. Let it cool for a little while, and then remove the cinnamon sticks and spice bag. (If you don't use the spice bag, you will need to filter the mixture though cheesecloth.) Pour into a heat proof container.

The syrup might thicken a bit in the refrigerator, but don't worry, this is normal.

To make pumpkin spice latte, heat 2 tablespoons of syrup with 1 and a half cups of milk. Pour into a blender or whisk until frothy, for about ten seconds (to make it thick and prevent the pumpkin from settling on the bottom). Pour into cup and stir in 2 (or more) shots of espresso or about 1/2 cup of strong, hot coffee.

Then sit down, and savour your own special fall treat.

The best part? The savings! All the spices cost a grand total of 82 cents (at Bulk Barn), Lynn gave me the can of pumpkin and I had the sugar and vanilla on hand. A rough guesstimate of the cost of 2 cups of syrup or 16 lattes is less than $1.50, plus the milk & coffee. Awesome deal!

Amazing Website!

2011-09-30T11:38:00.000-04:00

Yesterday, I was introduced to the most amazing website, Pinterest. It's like a digital bulletin board of sorts....

The above is a screen shot I took just now. It changes constantly depending on what areas you choose. I chose photography, events, cooking and DIY. Be aware that one can spend a huge amount of time looking at all the wonderful ideas! If you want an invitation, send me an email at nancy @ logcabinyarns dot com and I'll send you the invitation right away.

If I get my act together tonight I will photograph everything I have been knitting this summer - it's amazing what I actually accomplished!

Boys don't make passes

2011-09-27T09:46:00.000-04:00

At girls who wear glasses...so the saying goes. Well, I guess the boys are going to be making passes at me now! I was at the optometrist for my ~~annual~~ ~~every other year,~~ long overdue eye check up and discovered as I get older my eyesight is improving. So much so, that I don't need glasses to drive anymore. I knew my eyesight was getting better - but to not have to wear glasses is so exciting!

I did still get a prescription and I will wear prescription sunglasses when driving, but there will no longer be the dreaded X on my driver's license.

It is a bittersweet victory though - I have more than 10 pairs of fashionable eyeglasses that no longer are needed. It seems a little ironic that after paying over $500 per pair of glasses for years, and just discovering a few years ago about the Clearly Contacts $38 per pair alternative, I don't need glasses anymore!

Life's funny like that, isn't it?

She is still not amused!

2011-09-23T19:15:00.000-04:00

Miss CrankyPants still does not appreciate her own sleeping chamber (also known as the Tinkletorium) and is demonstrating this by trashing the washroom every night. This is the before shot:

And this is the aftermath of Hurricane Purrl:

The beige towels were hung in two different areas, and she kindly piled them all together in one heap

I personally like how she dethroned and upended Barbie!

Mr Knits and I both agree she is quite the little cranky at right now. It's a good thing we really love her! I think I have the situation under control now - before I left work tonight I took everything she could move out of the washroom. I wonder what she'll get into tonight!

New Stuff...lots of new stuff

2011-09-22T16:19:00.000-04:00

Tomorrow at this time, I should be unboxing over 50 pounds of fat quarters for all you sewers, quilters and knitters. Fat quarters for the uninitiated are pieces of fabric that are 20 by 22 inches - or a quarter of a yard of 45" wide fabric. They are great for small sewing projects, lining knitted bags...or you could sew 20 of them together and make a quilt. It's just killing me to wait one more day. I keep looking at photos of the bundles I purchased, dreaming of which ones I will use first. All the fabrics are distributed by Westminster Fibers, and just some of the designers include Kaffee Fasset, Anne Maria Horner, Tina Givens, and Amy Butler.

Here's just a little sampling of the goodies arriving tomorrow:

I have finally gotten off my duff and ordered some knitting themed t-shirts...slightly irreverent, but fun. They are made from 100% cotton, and come in 4 sizes (s, m, l, and xl), and should be arriving within the next two weeks. Mugs and knitting bags will follow shortly.

I share needles

Knitting is the new sexy

Ribbed for her pleasure

Yes, I'm naughty...but that's what you like about me!

Is this irony?

2011-09-14T19:21:00.000-04:00

I went into Toronto to pick up some yarn orders on Monday, theoretically to save money on shipping. In actual practice, picking up orders generally end up costing me money. Going into the warehouses and see all the glorious yarns and colours is simply too much for my resolve to not bring home any more yarn than what was previously ordered. This trip was no exception!

As soon as I walked in the first warehouse, I spotted some beautiful colours of Cascade Yarns Venezia (70% merino, 30% silk).

And so I brought home 14 bags of it. Then I saw some yarn that looked suspiciously like Marble DK, but a little bit nicer and in different colourways.

It is Twist by King Cole, and has 26% wool, making it softer and bouncier than Marble DK, but the same easy care - machine wash and dry. To round out my impulse purchase, I also brought home 3 bags of Cascade Yarns Pacific, a merino and acrylic blend, also machine wash and dry.

This was all on top of the orders of Cascade Softspun I had placed last week! To say all this yarn filled my little car would be an understatement. I couldn't wait to get home and cast on the pink Venezia to make this beret

Merino and silk is my favourite blend of yarn, and pink is my favourite colour. I actually pulled a skein out of the bag so I could fondle it on the long drive home.

But, let's get to the irony part. Today, after a great knitting afternoon, I popped a roast and some baking potatoes into the oven at work so Mr Knits and I could have a nice meal together.(I am usually to tired to cook after we get home at night, so dinner is often something microwaved.)

Around 5:30 pm, I pulled the roast out of the oven and put the roasting pan on the counter and placed the roast onto a cutting board. And then I did the unthinkable! The pan was in the way, so I tried to pick it with my bare hand to move it. Holy cow! Pans just out of a 450 degree oven are really hot! I burned my left thumb, index and middle fingers. I managed to eat a bit of this delicious meal with one hand - the burnt one was in a bowl of ice and water.

So, while I had a great evening planned of knitting while watching the finale of Big Brother, the premiere of Survivor, South Pacific and Criminal Minds, I won't be able to knit. Most likely, not for a week. The blisters have already started to form, and it's not a pretty sight.

So, is it irony that I was so looking forward to a night of knitting and mindless television viewing and now can't knit, or just plain bad luck? Perhaps I have angered the knitting gods by having too many works in progress...that's a possibility too! Irony or not, it sure is frustrating!

But it could be worse. The power could go out, and then there would be no knitting, no tv or internet and I'll never know who won Big Brother or who went home on Survivor. That would be really bad!

A New Look, perhaps?

2011-09-10T07:08:00.028-04:00

Last evening, I was googling to find an illustration of a hawt female warrior who had knitting needles in her hair and a knitted chain mail vest. Alas, I couldn't find the source of that photo, but I did find something else. A hair style from the 1940s that I think I'll try out. It's called "Bundles for Britain" - after the war effort that "Knitting for Britain" was a part. The hairdo represents a ball of yarn, and is held in place by knitting needles, announcing to the world this woman was in fact "knittin' for Britain".

I love this style for so many reasons. First, it would capture my longish hair up, and keep it off my neck. Secondly, it looks very elegant (something I'm not, but would so like to be) and give me a reason to wear my pearls. Lastly, I'd always know where my needles are. Alas, I prefer not to work with straight needles - I love circulars so some modifications would need to be made.

This hair style is from a time when circular needles weren't readily available, and the circs they had were simply horrible - a twisted wire cable joining two needles. Certainly not as flexible as our circs are today. Now imagine this hair style with a few sets of circs woven through it...especially some with the coloured cables from Addi and Chiaogoo. A few pretty little stitch markers and perhaps a fancy yarn cutter or two would add some sparkle. (If I keep adding to the ornaments, a bag for my knitting notions would be totally unnecessary. And I probably wouldn't be able to hold up my head)

I'm not sure, but I think this style might just catch on again. Knitting is so fashionable now, isn't it.

Kitty Havoc!

2011-09-09T10:38:00.000-04:00

In an effort to integrate Ella the Wonder Kitty into our home, we have had to make some adjustments to the living arrangements of her two wicked stepsisters, Stinky and Purrl. Purrl is now sequestered into the new washroom at the store and Stinky is expected to try and get along with Ella.

Let me say that Purrl is not amused. Yesterday when I got into work, I found the wastebasket contents spread all over the bathroom floor. Today, the destruction was....well, just plain funny!

Little Miss Crankypants had knocked down and emptied two boxes of tissue from two different shelves, deposed Barbie from her throne, dragged a Serta Sheep from another shelf, and then added the contents of the waste basket and our last roll of Charmin to the mix. She carefully piled this all on top of her food dish.

What a little brat! At least she didn't fill the toilet with all this stuff as she usually does. That would be some mess to clean up. I can hardly wait to see what she will leave for me tomorrow!

The Knits Kitten Emporium

2011-09-07T09:36:00.001-04:00

Good news! The little kitten formerly known as Katy Kat, Diesel, Purrcy and Purrcilla has found a new home just up the highway from us. While Mr Knits and I toyed with the idea of keeping yet one more feline, Linda came into the store yesterday, and I asked her if she knew anyone who might be looking for a kitten - and she was! Her two beloved 18 year old cats had recently passed away and she was missing the spark that only a cat can bring into a home.

Last night she and her husband came and took the little one home. While, Mr Knits and I are happy she went (and yes, she is a she!) to a wonderful home, we miss the kitten so much! Ella, being the wonderful cat she is, adopted the kitten as her own, and is also missing her as well.

But, we are so happy in knowing that the kitten has found such a good home.

That being said, Mr Knits and I are permanently closing the Kitten Emporium! It's just too hard on us to give the little ones our love and then give them away. At least, we're closing until the next wee stray ends up at our door!

I get the joke....

2011-09-01T11:53:00.000-04:00

But it just isn't funny! I know people think the Knits household is comprised of two crazy cat people, but really!

Yesterday, I took Ella, formerly known as Kitty Mama, to the Kingston Napanee Spay Neuter clinic, to permanently close down the baby factory. When I picked her up, she was a little woozy and her throat must have been sore as she couldn't talk. Usually she is quite the talker, but all she could do was open her mouth, with no sound coming out. Around midnight, I thought her voice had come back as I could hear little tiny mews from the front porch. Being the selfish person I am, I decided to stay in bed, hoping she was okay and just lonely.

At 5 am, I just couldn't stand to hear her meow any longer, so I went out to check. Ella was fine, but the mewing didn't stop. There was a teeny tiny kitten out there in the dark! I called for it a few times, and after just a few seconds it ran into the front porch.

This little soul is about 8 weeks old and had been tossed from a car - evidenced by the abrasions on its face and ear. On her lower lip, there is even still some gravel inbedded!

we've named her (?) Katie-Kat for now - but it just might be a boy!

I suppose our reputation of saving kitties is getting around, but we really cannot keep another one. So, here I go again - if you know someone who needs a sweet, very cuddly little kitty, I know where you can find one!

Cat Litter For Dinner

2011-08-24T20:49:00.000-04:00

I know you are expecting to here from my Aunt. But instead for today you have me. Wait, let me back up a minute. I am Olivia, Nancy's niece, well, obviously if she is my aunt. But I have been up here since Sunday. And I am here till Sunday. That makes a week if you didn't know. I don't knit. I tried once but I kept messing up and my aunt always had to fix it. Instead of knitting I do makeup and hair. I even make youtube videos about it. I don't blog on sites like this. I use tumblr. That is where I do my rants. I am fifteen. And I am most definitely, without a doubt her favourite niece. I have an automatic in because my mother was her favourite sister in law, and her best friend. (But it also helps I'm cute, I like to think I am a pocketful of sunshine, but my uncle (Mr Knits) like my business teacher from last year likes to call me grumpy because it bothers me.)

When I saw "was" I don't mean they are not best friends anymore. My mom passed away five years ago. I am sure you knew that though the way my aunt blogs all the time. Otherwise I would like to think they would still be close. Maybe we all would be. Sometimes it upsets me because she has was more memories with my mom then I do. Ten years with her but only like five I can actually remember. But enough about that because I don't want to depress you all because I am trying to make you think I am a pocketful of sunshine. (which I definitely am) So ANYWAYS. I have been in the store this week and I am supposed to talk about what I have learned. But Really and honesty and truly. I learned that a lot of old people knit. And how to kinda work a cash register. I spent most the time there making a collage, or eating :), Although I did reorganize guitar strings, and put some yarn in a cubby. So Really I don't think you want me to go on about the detailed step by step process of putting yarn into the cubby hole so I am going to talk about something else. just because I can.

How well can you know someone from a blog? How well do you think you know my aunt? I bet you don't know her as well as you think. She stomps around like shes the queen and she takes lollipops from babies. She also feeds me CAT LITTER for dinner! I don't even think that is edible! It's clean litter though so I guess it could be worse. She also makes me sleep in a tent in their back yard. And IF I am allowed in the house they will turn the air conditioning up so high I can't even think because I am in the process of being turned into an ice cube. But she lets me wear normal people clothes. At least I look good while dying slowly right? Yeah that's what I thought.

Alright so maybe that isn't true.... Maybe I just was having fun story telling . Even though that was a pretty bad story. Maybe I should work on making it more believeable, just maybe. Really she is super sweet. She loves to cuddle. She loves cats and dogs and animals she has five all together even though I am pretty sure she is allergic. But hey what do I know? She also loves technology. She has like two laptops, an iPad and iPhone, a blackberry, some sort or other phone. I don't even want to know what else! She is also super smart, I have only seen her lose Buzz Trivia once. (Did you know trivia is one or the 3 words that rhyme with Olivia, The other two are places so they don't count. Bolivia and Libya) She also helps me answer the questions even though I tell her not to because that's cheating. But she does it anyways that's because she is super smart. Shes a real softie I promise you probably can't tell from all her rants she talks about doing but she really really is.

So what else can I bore you with? I am a pretty boring person. Although I do like to keep things interesting but that's hard to do over text unlesss you are really upset or mad about something. So I might as well go , Maybe I will be back maybe I won't who Knows! I guess you'll have to keep up with her blog to find out!

Boo!

2011-08-19T21:34:00.000-04:00

Did I scare you? I know it's been a month since I last posted, but, I've been really really busy, and by the time I get a free moment all I want to do is relax. In the past four weeks, the last two kittens went to their new homes, Ella (Kitty Momma) is starting to integrate into our household. There is still a lot of hissing and fighting, but even this is abating.

August brings inventory time at Log Cabin, and both Mr Knits and myself are occupied with counting every little thing in our shops. Every year I am amazed and astounded how many skeins of yarn are in the shop. Which is why I was flabbergasted at a customer's comment today. The dear lady purchased some yarn two years ago to make a sweater for her grand daughter, and she ran out. When I told her I had no more of the yarn, and it had been discontinued for more than a year, she informed me that I was not a very good yarn shop owner. Usually I let comments like that slide, but I was so shocked I asked her why. Apparently she thinks it is common practice for yarn shop owners to keep a skein from every bag of yarn ever stocked in the shop "just in case" a customer needs it.

Sounds like a nice thing to do, doesn't it? Except, with more than 1,000 different yarn dyelots in the shop, where the heck would I put it all? (It's kinda scary that I have that many different yarns! No wonder it takes so long to count!) I could open the Log Cabin Yarn Museum and put all this "just in case" yarn on display.

All whining aside, stay tuned for a post inventory sale announcement early next week - there will be yarn (really good yarn) on sale for as little as a dollar a ball.

Reprieve

2011-07-18T21:56:00.000-04:00

On Saturday, I had planned to leave the shop early in the afternoon to drop the kittens off at their new home. I loaded my suitcase, computers, iPad, the rainbow socks, Robbie's repaired guitar and the kitties into the car around 1:15pm. Just as I was coming back into the shop to kiss Mr Knits goodbye, a couple of customers came in. Then a couple more. And then some more. I buzzed Mr Knits and asked him to get the kittens out of the car as I thought I might be a little while...well, it was just a few minutes before 4pm when the last customer left.

It was too late to take the kittens with me, as they were going to Bowmanvillle and it's a two hour drive. I had to have them at Jim's by 5pm, so there just wasn't time to get there that day. I must say I wasn't at all disappointed that the kittens are staying at Chat-eau Knits for another week!

Since I had also planned to help Matty and Terri move this weekend, so I just had to go to Toronto. I also had promised Robbie I would return his guitar that Mr Knits repaired for him and bring along the rainbow socks he had designed for me to knit. He loves those socks!

In April, Robbie drew a picture of a sock with the colours he wanted. And we all know what Robbie wants, Robbie gets. The sock is a basic toe up sock pattern, knitted with 6 colours of Cascade Fixation on 3.5mm needles. Using Judy's Magic Cast on, I placed 20 stitches on the needles, and increased to 40. I changed colours every 10 rows. I began making the gusset when I changed to the green yarn, increasing 1 stitch from the edge every other round up to 60 stitches total.

Cascade Fixation is a lovely, soft, stretchy yarn. I figure with all the stretch in the yarn, the socks will wear out before Robbie outgrows them.

Here is the little musician putting on a concert for his mom, baby sister and me. I love this photo.

Then while we were preparing dinner, he was strumming in the backyard all by himself! Seriously, he only put the guitar down while we were eating!

And, here is a pic of happy little Nicole!

Fleece Navidad July 21st - July 23

2011-07-16T12:49:00.002-04:00

Please join me in celebrating "Fleece Navidad" Thursday July 21st, Friday July 22nd and Saturday July 23rd from 10 am until 5 pm.

Everything in the shop will be on sale.

I mean everything - even the new fall yarns!

Get a head start on your holiday knitting now at Boxing Day prices!

don't be left behind!

Here is just a hint of what is going to be on sale:

All Nashua Creative Focus yarns are half price!

Cascade Fixation is $3.00 per ball (reg. $5.00)

Scheepjeswol Donna is $3.00 (reg. $6.00)

Chiaogoo circular needles are all half price!

Katia Ondas - the ruffling scarf yarn is $9 per ball (reg. $12.95)

All Tilli Tomas yarns are half price! Yes, even Discolights!

Free Christmas Decoration for the first 10 customers each day!

The phone call I have been dreading finally came

2011-07-15T22:07:00.001-04:00

And the last two kittens are going to their new homes on Saturday. Gurl Grey, who is now named Sacha, was the first to leave on Monday morning. Bikini Boy (Felix) and Earl Grey (Toby) went to their new home together on Tuesday evening, leaving Big Patch and Little Patch all by themselves with Kitty Mama (whom I am thinking of naming Sofia).

She has been so attentive to these last two kittens, it's been a touching week. She never lets them out of her sight for fear of losing them I think. Hopefully she will gain some much needed weight in the next few weeks before her spaying now that she won't be feeding and caring for 5 rambunctious youngsters. Even after weeks of unlimited quantities of excellent food, she is just skin and bones. but such a transformation from the half bald, dull coated little kitty we brought home a month ago. Her coat is shiny and smooth and all the bald patches have grown back in.

It's pretty obvious to anyone who knows me that we are indeed keeping Kitty Mama. She is such a sweet, brave little kitty who doesn't deserve to ever suffer through one more day in the harsh outdoors. If I have my way (and you know I will!) she will live in the utmost of luxury along with our two kitties.

Speaking of the other girls....Purrl was being a total and absolute monster Wednesday! A group of ladies from London Ontario were in the shop, and they know and love Purrl. When they came in, all four of them gave her lots of attention, and then they began to shop for yarn. Purrl, however, was not impressed with the lack of attention. So, she jumped up onto the top of the yarn cabinets, and started pulling out and tossing pink Rowan Big Wool at the ladies. It actually was bouncing off their heads! That certainly got their attention - mine too - and while we picked up and put away the yarn we all had a good laugh.

And Purrl got the attention she was demanding. She is such a BRAT! Which is exactly why I love her.

ROAD TRIP!!!!!!!!!!

2011-07-14T16:12:00.001-04:00

Okay, today I discovered that Maggie Jackson, an Irish knitting designer who is from the same town as my dad, is going to be at The Yarn Cupboard in Syracuse NY on September 9 - 11th.

On the 9th, she is presenting a fashion show of over 40 garments, along with a talk about fit and drape. I am copying the description of this event directly from The Yarn Cupboard's website:

We will kick things off with hor’s d’oeuvres, followed by an exciting fashion show with models showing nearly 40 garments. Maggie will be explaining the designs, offering tips for different sizes and ages, including how designs can be worn in a variety of styles. Maggie will also use her 30 years of experience as a leader in fashion design to demonstrate which yarns suit which styles, complementing the drape and the hang. After the show you will have the opportunity to try on the outfits, with Maggie’s personal advice on your individual style and color and maybe even an Irish joke or two!

I really want to attend this event and with Syracuse being only a 3 hour drive, I plan to go. I shall be leaving for Syracuse early on the 9th (to allow for lots of shopping time) and then attend the fashion show event in the evening. Saturday the 10th is reserved for all day shopping, and then return home on Sunday.

I spoke to Susan Miller, the owner of the Yarn Cupboard, and reserved 4 fashion show tickets. If more than 4 people want to come, I can get more tickets. If you would like to join me on a two day yarn focussed shopping trip, let me know as soon as possible. I know of a few nice reasonably priced hotels we can stay in, but I am open to suggestions.

The Carousel Mall is nearby - here's an excerpt from the malletin.com website

About

Carousel Center is a 1.5 million square foot (140,000 m²), seven-story super-regional shopping and entertainment complex on the shore of Onondaga Lake in Syracuse, New York. It has eight anchor store slots - currently filled with Best Buy, Circuit City, Bon Ton, H&M, JC Penney, Macy's, Lord & Taylor, and Sports Authority. Other large stores include Borders, DSW Shoe Warehouse, Old Navy, and Against All Odds. In addition, there is a seventeen-screen Regal Entertainment movie complex, a Bally Total Fitness, and around 150 other retail stores. It opened on October 15, 1990.

If this sounds like fun to you, let me know as soon as possible, and we can get started on planning the shopping trip of the year!

Now that I've got it

2011-07-09T14:28:00.001-04:00

What do I do with it? For the past few weeks, I've been trying (desperately, I might add) to get an invitation to join Google + - an alternative to Facebook. I just had to have one!

Yesterday, I got my invitation from Terri and I joined. I added Terri and Matty to my "circle". I set up my profile....and now I don't have a clue what to do!

I'm not sure what Google + is supposed to do. I do understand it is a social networking site, and perhaps it will be ideal to use as a central meeting place for all my friends and customers. If so, be on the lookout for an invitation to join Google + and I'll add you to my circle.

Once I figure out what that is.

Class Announcements

2011-07-09T12:13:00.000-04:00

Don't faint! I know it's been a long time since I've held classes, but I have scheduled two classes in the next couple of weeks.

The first class is on Thursday, July 14th at 10:00 am and it's a Learn to Knit class. You will learn how to cast on, garter stitch and bind off all in a fun 2 hour class. Limited to 4 participants. Registration is required, and class cost is a bargain at $7.50. Materials are extra - you may need to purchase yarn and needles.

The second class is a technique class on Saturday morning, August 6h from 10:00 am until 11:30 am. You will learn many different cast on and bind off techniques. Bring worsted weight wool (no acrylic please) and appropriately sized needles. Cost of workshop is $10.

Yes, I am finally getting back into the teaching mode...the bathroom is done, and the shop is starting to return to some semblance of order. If there is a class you want to take, drop me a line, and I will schedule it in.

A Week in One Post

2011-07-08T22:18:00.001-04:00

I know, I haven't keep up with the blog. It has been such a great week though.

First, last Saturday, Mr Knits and I bought a bike! A Schwinn! I love it!

On Sunday, I figured out how to use a Nostepinne and made pretty yarn balls. Come into the shop and I'll show you how to do it too.

Then on Monday, I went to the States to pick up all my TNNA orders, and spent the next three days sorting them out. Pics to follow soon.

On Tuesday, I found my "lost" Lanesplitter skirt, and finished the knitting part of it. Actually I made it TOO big! So, tomorrow, I am going to have to rip back about 3 hours knitting, then do another two hours knitting to fix it.

On Wednesday, I show the Procrastiknitters how to use a nostepinne (actually a toilet paper roll) and they all "got it".

Thursday, I put together about 50 scarf kits.

And today, I just worked. Hard! I'm going to post this without any revisions or additions - my laptop is running out of batteries!

And that was my week - how was yours?

The worst thing about a blog is...

2011-07-02T16:27:00.001-04:00

That when you say something out loud, you can't take it back. Like the promises I made to finish the Lanesplitter skirt. I can't find it anywhere! It wasn't in the stash of works in progress behind the sofa, it's not here at the shop. I know it's somewhere, hiding in plain sight in a really pretty bag. I just can't find it! The frustrating part is I'm almost finished it - I have maybe one evening left of knitting, then it needs to be seamed and the waistband added - maybe 4 hours work total.

So, since I broke that promise, I have cast on not one but two of the Summertime scarves. One I need to rip out as the gauge is all wrong, the other is more than half finished. Tonight, I am gong to finish at least one of the scarves, and then try and figure out where the heck the skirt is.

Or maybe, I'll just cast on another project. I figure if I broke my promise to finish the skirt first, then it doesn't matter about the rest of the promises. Does it?

Happy Canada Day, eh!

2011-07-01T05:59:00.000-04:00

Mr Knits, aka David Crosby, and I will be in the shop today from 10 am until 2 pm, then we are going home to do our own celebrating.

Today, July 1st, marks the first "Free Cookie Friday" as decreed by Steve our contractor. It seems if one makes cookies on one Friday morning it is a tradition that must be followed...he's been in the past two Fridays looking for fresh cookies. So, being a person who aims to please, cookies will be ready by 10 am.

This is what our little Gurl Grey has to say about it:

A Shaving Accident!

2011-06-30T19:48:00.000-04:00

Just a few minutes ago, Mr Knits came out of the bathroom after having a shower and said, "I've had a shaving accident." Since I wasn't wearing my glasses, I didn't see any problem until he got about 5 feet closer to me. He had been trimming his beard and didn't realize the groomer guide thingy had fallen off the trimmer. His neck and chin are nekkid. Seriously, nekkid for the first time in 18 years.

I surreptitiously took a photo of him which of course I'm postng here. I'm counting on you all to keep that a secret, but if you do happen to come into the shop, please tell him how good he looks. He says he looks like David Crosby - I don't think so! What do you think?

from www. david-crosby.com

Okay, maybe he does look like David Crosby....

What knitting time?

2011-06-29T06:45:00.004-04:00

It's a long held belief that yarn shop owners just sit around and knit waiting for the next customer to come in. I even thought that when I opened my shop (7 years ago!) I could knit to my heart's content. I couldn't have been more wrong! There is always something to do - just one look at how messy my shop is and you know what I mean.

That being said, I haven't knit a single stitch since last Wednesday's meeting of the ProcrastiKnitters. Seriously - one whole week! Not even in the car to and from work. Not a single stitch! I plan to remedy this situation today though. I'm picking up that Lanesplitter skirt I started over a month ago, and I plan to finish it soon by remaining monogamous in my knitting relationship with it. Then, I plan to finish one last Summertime scarf - this one will be the fourth one I'll have knit. After that scarf is done, I am going back to the Flower Rug. Oh, yes I am!

This should prove to be quite a big promise though...I'm picking up several orders in Watertown on Thursday (tomorrow) - Cestari, Mango Moon, Hiya Hiya, Kollage just to name a few. The booty from TNNA has started rolling in. The Mango Moon yarn has me so excited - 9 different colourways of silky, shiny, sparkly ribbon yarn. The temptation to cast on just one more Summertime scarf might be just to much for me to resist. Here is just a sampling of the colours coming in:

Oh! I just can't wait!

Tinkletorium Times, vol 1, final edition

2011-06-28T11:36:00.000-04:00

The Tinkletorium is complete. All the plumbing hooked up, all the fixtures installed. Finished in less than a month.

You all have to come in sometime and check it out.

All the credit goes to Wendy Thompson of The Interior Zone for her great architecture work and to Steve Alcock and his crew for the construction. All I did was pick the paint colours and the flooring.

I would be remiss if I didn't thank Bob Mumby for the Tupperware Toilet too. As much as I hate outdoor plumbing, one can only "hold it" for so long.

I wonder what kind of trouble Mr. Knits and I can get into now that the yarn shop is painted & has a new roof, the parking lot is paved and the washroom is all pretty? New flooring? Hmmm. Stayed tuned for our next adventure.

Yarny Flash Mob!

2011-06-27T12:32:00.016-04:00

For some crazy reason, I really want to do this! But, I probably would end up on the floor laughing so hard, I wouldn't be able to! It does look like fun, though. This is part of the fun of Sock Summit 2011 in Portland Oregon - maybe one year, there will be a Sock Summit held closer to home.

This first video is the complete run through, the second video has the complete instructions, just in case you want to practice. Maybe this could be the start of the "20 Minute Workout for Yarnies".

My little Graduate

2011-06-27T11:20:00.002-04:00

All ready for Grade 1!

Poor little Miss Purrl

2011-06-26T20:27:00.000-04:00

Purrl, our charming little white cat, travels back and forth with us to the shop and home each day in a lovely new french blue travel cage. This cage is well padded with a hand knitted blanket in shades of blue and white and a thick nubby blue towel. She does travel so very well.

However, last evening, Mr Knits inquired about the satin blanket Purrl now had in her cage. I said, "what satin blanket?" and went to investigate. Yes there definitely was a silk and satin "blanket" in the bottom of her cage.

Apparently, I have been spending too much time with Kitty Mama and her babies. Miss Purrl had taken my silk embroidered jacket with the satin lining from the back of the chair where I had put it when I got home last night and dragged it into her cage (about 20 feet away). Please realize that while this jacket is not heavy, it is big...about two sizes too big for me, but I love it and wear it frequently. Our poor neglected kitty had dragged my jacket across the floor, up onto the raised hearth where we keep her cage, and put it neatly inside and curled up on it. Not a bit of fabric of the jacket was outside the cage. I guess Purrl felt this was the only way she could get close to me.

We knew Purrl and Stinky watched us cuddle the Kitty Mama and her babies, and we did hear their mournful meows, but we thought we were doing the right thing by socializing these kittens so they would get good homes. What we didn't know was just how jealous our own kitties were.

As a result, we are curtailing our time on the front porch and spending more time with our own four little girls.

What I really want to know is how the Octomom does it. We only have10 animals in our care; she has 14 kids! Maybe Nadya has some pointers she can share with me.

Kittehs!

2011-06-22T09:26:00.015-04:00

I had absolutely no idea how busy I would be looking after these 5 little kittens and their mom. Actually, I don't have that much work to do for them - feed, water, and empty the litter box about 6 times a day. Who knew those tiny critters could poop so much? The bulk of the time spent is cuddling them, and simply watching them play. They are just too cute!

One of them is a little black and white spotted guy who we call Bikini Bob - he has a little triangular patch on his lower belly and two appropriately placed spots on the upper chest, making it look like he's wearing a bikini. In the photo below, you can kind of make out, the white patches under his arms and the one on his belly. Trying to photograph a playing kitten is a difficult thing.

Bikini Bob is the cuddliest little guy. He crawls up my foot and pants leg and up my chest, settling on my neck. As soon as he sees me, he comes a-running. It'll be hard to see him go, but he's going to a good home with one of his brothers (we call him Earl).

The kitty mama is doing well, too. We call this the kitten tree - the babies are so big now, Mama can't nurse them all laying down, so she sits up and nurses all five at once with them spread out around her. It's so adorable. Notice WTF kittie is wondering what the camera noise is? Until I took a photo she was blissfully feeding with her brothers. I still think she doesn't approve of me.

Laughing at myself - again!

2011-06-17T15:46:00.000-04:00

TNNA was full of the the four Fs - fibre, fun, food and friends. This little story is about the fibres.

I walked the show floor, petting all the pretty goods, and finally decided I should purchase some of the mystical qiviut. I found the booth that was distributing it and chatted with the owner. She had a great minimum order deal, and I felt comfortable laying down my money for this much asked about yarn. I sat down, ready to order, and the owner handed me a price list. Hmmm, I thought, more expensive than I thought, but not that much more. I shrugged my shoulders, and began ordering. When I had finished choosing all the colours, Ms Qiviut tallied up what I owed, told me it would be 8 to 12 weeks before delivery and then handed me my copy of the order.

I freaked! What I had thought was a bit expensive pricing was actually the wholesale pricing. I thought it was the suggested list price! Most price lists at TNNA put both wholesale and retail on the price lists, and if only one price is on the list, it is usually Suggested List. I realize I should have clarified what the figure was, but assumed it was wholesale. Could you imagine knitting a pair of socks that the yarn cost over $100? It's not as if it was spun with unicorn hair and fairy dust, qiviut is muskox undercoat!

I apologized to the owner for my misunderstanding, and cancelled my order, and got out of that booth as quickly as I could, and avoided that aisle for the rest of the day. I was so embarrassed. Later that evening I shared the story with a group of knitters and designers - they all thought it was quite funny. I bet Ms Qiviut didn't.

It's really (almost) done!

2011-06-17T15:00:00.000-04:00

We can announce to the world we now have indoor plumbing!

A sight to behold! Just a few finishing touches, and then it will all be over. I am so very pleased with the final look - I hope you are!

Itty Bitty's Kitties

2011-06-16T19:02:00.000-04:00

Feeding time. The little girl is the grey one on the left. She
looks big, but actually weighs the least.

Mama Kitty and little girl. The baby always looks so startled!

One of the little boys attacking mama's tail. He eventually fell asleep
"killing" it.

Little girl. She is my favourite - can you tell? It's only because
she has the startled, worried look all the time. And she watches
my every move when I'm with the kittens. I don't know if she
approves of me.

I'm going to try and take photos of each of the kittens this evening. If successful, I'll add them here. Mr Knits and I haven't named any of the kittens, except for the little grey boy - we named him Earl (as in Earl Grey). Looking for suggestions - send them along if you'd like.

Tinkletorium Times, vol. 1, issue 8

2011-06-16T12:53:00.000-04:00

Steve, the contractor, has left the building - his work is done. The plumber is coming this afternoon to hook up the toilet and sink, and this reno will be complete!

Let me refresh your memory about how it used to look just a few weeks ago:

Notice the pink flat iron on the back of the toilet? Cool, huh?

The window is gone now, and I don't miss it at all.
And nothing says north of seven more than a kitchen sink in a bathroom.

This is my storage area...I do miss it.

Now the after shots, sans toilet and sink - all shots from the same angle in approximately the same spot in the room:

This is where the toilet was located - now it will be the sink area

This is where the old kitchen sink and window were - now it's the new toilet area

The shower will make rinsing yarn so much easier for everyone!

Looking out to the shop - this is where my storage used to be behind curtains

Not only is the job almost done, it was done under budget and in less time than estimated. How's that for impressive?

Kitten Update

2011-06-15T10:14:00.000-04:00

Last night, right after the shops closed, I toddled across the road to see the new little kitties and their mama. I had brought our travelling cage to work yesterday morning with the thought that I could put the babies and their bed in the cage, and Mama would get used to the cage in a few days, then we could scoop them all up in the cage and take them home where they would be safe. (boy, that was one long sentence!)

Well, the kittens were in the cage sleeping, and Mama came to see me. I picked her up and sort of pushed her into the cage and we took them home. Thankfully there was no howling from either the mom or the babies during the car ride. When we got home, we placed the cage on the screened in front porch and let them all out. Mama was a bit concerned about being confined - that lasted about an hour. Then she settled in, almost demanding us to pick her up and love her.

This morning, I went out to say good morning to her, and she was all curled up in one of our cushy chairs, happy as a clam. Her kittens were all sleeping in the cage. What a nice change from the tense little mama trying to keep her babies safe. She is so relaxed now! We can pick her up whenever we want (and even when we don't want to because she demands it).

I was speaking to one of my brothers last night and he is going to take the little grey girl kitten, so we are down to just two kittens who need a home - a little grey boy and a little black boy. This story that started out so badly last spring has ended up so wonderfully for one little cat. I'm pleased to have been a part of it.

Tinkletorium Times, vol. 1, issue 7

2011-06-15T09:39:00.003-04:00

It's getting very near the end of construction...our contractor told us the "construction" phase will most like be finished today, and the plumbing will be done tomorrow. It's all painted now, so the floor will be the next thing done, then the trim. All in all, this experience was a pretty good one.

~~Photos will be posted as soon as I find my camera charger. Seriously, I lost it again!~~ I found the charger for my camera this morning so I was able to take these two photos before Steve kicked me out of the bathroom so he could finish laying the floor. On the second shot, there is a strip of white and then a strip of blue - that blue is the actual colour of the walls, not the grey blue that they look.

The taupe wall is where the sink and toilet will be installed - tomorrow!

My First Tear Sheet!

2011-06-14T17:03:00.000-04:00

Now I can say "I'm published!"

Goodbye Columbus

2011-06-13T07:15:00.000-04:00

Waiting at airports leaves a lot to be desired. There is free wifi, so I can have a bit of fun surfing, and blogginng, but it's hot in here. I just want to open a window and get some fresh air.

I arrived here at CMH, otherwise known as Port Columbus around 3:40 am which is less than the two hours before my flight recommended by the airline, only to discover the airport doesn't open until 4:00am and security doesn't open until 4:20 am I could have had another hour's sleep! After my morning sexy time with the TSA agent (known as a pat down), I proceeded to the gate where I am blogging now. I just want to remind everyone that there is only one 5:35 in a day and that is AM. If you want to fly in the afternoon, it's 17:35. When making my reservations, I didn't notice the "am" after the 5:35 until a few weeks later when it was too late to change my flights.

TNNA was a great experience. I ordered lots of yarn, books, hiya hiya needles and picked up about twenty signed books. And, just to make my head swell biggest, two yarn company representatives sought me out to ask me to design for them! How cool is that?

Oh oh! The US Airways boarding personnel just announced that the flight is overbooked...I hope I don't get bumped. That would make getting up at 3:00 am even worse than it was! I really want to get home and see the new babies. And of course, all my friends and family too.

Looks like I didn't get bumped. Yay! Bye!

2011-06-12T07:31:00.000-04:00

This morning, as I was browsing through some of the books and magazines I picked up yesterday at the show, I saw an ad that at first made me a little sad. Someone had designed a pair of boot liners just like mine. And then it dawned on me - THEY WERE MINE! My designs! Right there in the new issue of Knit N Style!

I wish I could bring back eleventy hundred of these magazines! I'd give one to all of you. I am just about explode iM so excited. But,I have a class to go to this morning...strangely enough the class is called "Designing for print publication".

Gotta get going or I'll be late!

Meet the babies!

2011-06-10T21:48:00.002-04:00

Here they are! Itty Bitty had 5 little ones!

This one looks just like it's mama.

I'm really not sure how Miss Purrl will like the new kitties sleeping in her bed! Mr Knits took the bed over to the feeding area, and they hopped in and mama started nursing them right away.

All of the kittens are quite happy to be picked up and handled by Mr Knits, so they are not fearful of humans, which is really good as the mother just recently let us handle her.

There you go. Five new little lives...if you might want to adopt one, let me know. I can point you in the direction for a reasonably priced spaying or neutering clinic.

However, I did tell Mr Knits I wanted to keep them all!

Tinkletorium Times, vol. 1, issue 6

2011-06-10T07:46:00.000-04:00

Good news! The Tinkletorium passed the electrical inspection, so it's full steam ahead. Work is probably underway as I type this (from my comfy bed on the 8th floor of the Hyatt Regency Columbus). We may even have indoor plumbing by Tuesday! The blue Tupperware Toilet, while it is a necessity, has not been my idea of a good thing.

It looks like there is less than a week's work left on the Tinkletorium. Stay tuned for more updates.

Airport musings

2011-06-09T08:49:00.013-04:00

Yesterday brought such scary weather to our area and I think the power is still out at the shops. Hydro one estimates it won't be back on until the 11th. Mr knits is pacing up the generator as our much anticipated hydro inspection is today. If it cannot be done today,this will put the Tinkletorium redo on hold for another week!

On the way to Syracuse last night, I stopped in Watertown to stretch and maybe do some shopping. I discovered a new to me store that has great stuff, actually fabulous clothing! Of course, I had to buy a few things. Like 3 wrinkle resistant 100 per cent cotton shirts, two cotton summer cardigans, one pair of Evan Picone linen slacks ($2.99!)and a pair of dress jeans (that's an oxymoron if I ever heard one!) All of this totaled less than $100! Which meant that I didn't need to pack a suitcase as I took everything out of my case and put in all my new clothes, and left the clothing I had packed back in the car.

This morning, I made my way to the airport,and had the most delightful taxi driver. He was a charmer-he actually called me a young lady! It seems he needs to get his eyes checked.

Syracuse airport is quite small compared to Toronto. At security, I set off the metal alarms due to my knee replacement and had to have the dreaded pat down. Well, if I can only say one thing...she was thorough. I swear there were parts of my body she touched that Mr Knits has never touched! Like the bottom of my bare feet! Then after she finished this five minute pat down, she had to wipe her gloves with some special wipe and test it for explosives! They went through my luggage piece by piece. I can happily report knitting needles are allowed on airplanes now.

So now that I am through security,I am thankful there is free wifi at the airport, and I am also thankful that Mr. Knits did not listen to me when I told him all I wanted was the plain iPad. I would be lost without this 3G wifi unit. He knows me better than I do! How else could I be talking to you? I shall have limited access to wifi once I am in Columbus, but will actively seek out a Starbucks where I can get a cup of tea and update you all on the show.

Once again, please forgive any formatting and spelling errors, I still haven't got the hang of this virtual keyboard. But it does make for some funny errors.

The mess just keeps on growing!

2011-06-07T14:15:00.000-04:00

Who knew renovating could cause such a mess? We did move all that we could into the kitchen/lesson room, but with all the plumbing fixtures in there, it's full. Clearing a pathway through daily is all we seem to do. But, in actual fact, we are just moving junk from one place to another. That's never a good solution!

Mr Knits told me the other day I needed to move one of the yarn shelves from the front door area as it was blocking the breaker panel. I had no idea where he thought I could move it to, but it had to be done by Thursday of this week. Since I had a couple of days to think about it, I came up with a plan - a short term one, at best. So, the shelving unit is moved, but my store looks like a tornado just blew through.

There are about 25 hours before I leave for my trip to Columbus. I have about a week's worth of work to do before I go! I did get my bags packed yesterday, printed off my tickets and hotel confirmation, put my passport and US phone in my purse, so at least that's all taken care of.

Except my flat iron is missing - I think it's in that lesson room buried under some junk! I hope I find it soon.

World Wide Knit in Public week

2011-06-06T21:56:00.000-04:00

Join us at Log Cabin Yarns to Celebrate

World Wide Knit in Public Day

Saturday * 18 * June * 2011

Join us as we knit with hundreds of other knitters around the world on the same day!

Where: Log Cabin Yarns, 12 Peterson Road, Northbrook

When: Saturday, June 18 from 12 noon until 4:00 pm

Bring: Your Knitting, Crocheting, Spinning, beverage

and lunch.

Special: 25% off everything in yarn shop for Participants.

We will hold hourly draws for some of the yummy yarny treats brought back from TNNA. Winner must be in attendance to be eligible.

The Tinkletorium is supposed to be finished before then; but washroom facilities are available.

We will set up in the parking lot and on the front porch if the weather cooperates. If not, we'll meet inside. Bring whatever food you would like (to share, or not). A barbeque is available too. I will provide a couple of salads and some beverages. And maybe, just maybe, a cheesecake.

I hope you can come!

Getting Ready to go

2011-06-05T18:50:00.000-04:00

My flights have been confirmed, hotels booked, suitcase packed - well, not quite, but at least I know what I'm putting in it. This week is the week of my annual pilgrimage to Columbus for the summer TNNA show. You know, the place that's bigger than 4 football fields, just full of yarn, needles, and everything else one needs to knit or crochet with.

This will be my 7th time attending this show, and I never get tired of it. However, this year I'm doing it differently. I'm not driving to Ohio, I'm flying. I'm not staying in a budget hotel, I'm staying in the fancy pants hotel attached to the convention centre. For four whole nights! It sounds more like a vacation than a work thing, doesn't it.

Driving wasn't really an option for me this year. Some of you know I've been troubled with what I thought was simply a case of vertigo. It turns out that the bang on my head last December was a little more serious than I thought, and I have something called "post concussion syndrome". My doctor asked me, very nicely, to curtail my driving activities, so 11 hour driving marathons were out of the question. When I was waffling between going and not going to TNNA, I checked flight and hotel packages, and discovered there wasn't much difference in cost to fly. So, that's when I booked my trip.

This all means I will be out of the shop from Thursday morning, June 9th and will be back in the shop the following Tuesday June 14th. There is just one small detail I have yet to figure out...how to bring back all the samples, brochures, etc one picks up at a show. I was thinking of packing in a small suitcase, and then putting it inside a larger one to travel to the convention, and then I can pack all my show stuff into the larger suitcase for the trip home. You just have no idea how much stuff I collect at this convention!

I thought I owned a Yarn Shop!

2011-06-04T07:03:00.001-04:00

Last night, I was settling down for an evening of television and so I picked up the neglected bag of yarn and flowers for the rug I want to make.

I rifled through the bag, and there was no crochet hook in it. I dumped the bag out - made a huge mess, but still couldn't find the hook I was sure I had put in there. I looked in every drawer, knitting bag, shelf, the car, the truck...I even pulled out all the cushions on the couch. Now, our house isn't big - it's a one bedroom log cabin and I could not find a hook anywhere! The underpants gnomes must have come back!

There used to be at time when I had a case filled with all my hooks, and another with all my knitting needles. One has to be organized living out in the middle of nowhere. Now that I have such easy access to all this stuff at work, I haven't a clue where all my old stuff has been put. I do have an antique vase on the coffee table with a good selection of bamboo straight needles that I use in a pinch, but no similar display of crochet hooks.

I continued on with the search for a while, then gave up. I put back everything I had taken out, did a bit of cleaning, organizing and throwing out and quite a bit of griping. After all this searching, I was exhausted, so I plopped down on the couch, and had a Bailey's. It was the only thing to do!

The company that makes the Addi Turbo needles, has recently released a crochet hook set that uses the Click cords, and end stoppers making it a great set for anyone who crochets, tunisian or double end crochets.

The set retails for $59, and you can bet a few of them will be winging their way to Northbrook Monday morning. I vow I will never be without a crochet hook again!

Confession time

2011-06-03T10:03:00.000-04:00

Have you ever done something that you are very ashamed of? Do you hate it when someone (aka Mr Knits) reminds you of it every once in a while? I'm thinking if I confess my bad to all of you it will lighten my load. Probably not, but here goes....

In our town, we have some "challenged" people, who have a reputation for upsetting local customers with their odd and aggressive behavior. One particular couple- a brother and sister - have been banned from the bank, the grocery store and a few other shops unless their social worker is with them as they tend to scare people out of the stores. They come in here to use our phone and washroom, and I really don't like it. Mr Knits on the other hand is very compassionate and allows them to even warm up by the fire in the winter. We have to keep a can of air freshener by Mr Knits' cash register so we can fumigate the store after they leave though

One day this past winter, Mr Knits was out of the store on an errand, and I thought I saw the sister of this couple enter the shop. I asked my amazing co-op student to go out and "tell" Sis unless she had money to buy something she had to leave.

Ooops! It was a first time customer who had driven about 80 kilometers to visit our store! When I realized my mistake, I went out and apologized profusely, but the customer was still quite insulted and rightly so. Luckily, Mr Knits returned and smoothed out the situation, the customer purchased what she came for, and all was well.

Since this incident, I have not had the nerve to turn this disadvantaged couple from the store. I truly have learned my lesson.

Except for one thing. If you know who I'm talking about, wouldn't you be horrified to be mistaken for Sis?

Garage Sale Bonanza

2011-06-02T14:09:00.001-04:00

On the way home from work yesterday, Mr Knits and I stopped at a yard sale just down the road from our cabin. We found so many treasures, but my favourite find is this lovely tapestry and leather back pack made by Corinne Farber of Kingston. I looked at it a few times, and thought that I didn't need another bag, and as I fondled the soft supple leather and the thick tapestry fabric, I figured it was out of my price range. The bag's construction was incredible. I kept going back to look at it, and finally, on the third or fourth inspection, I unhooked it from the rack and asked for its price.

Front view

Slimming side view

back view, showing beautiful tapestry pattern

It was only $2! Of course, I had to have it. I had expected that it would be $50 or $60, and I was prepared to try and get it for $25, which is $5 more that I will spend on anything at a yard sale.

I did a little googling last night and didn't find much information on Corinne and her company, but I did find a bed and breakfast with her as contact person. I phoned her this morning and to hopefully get a little history of this bag. Corrine happily shared with me that it was part of a collection commissioned in 1991 by the city of Kingston as a gift to Princess Diana on the occasion of her visit with Princes Charles, William and Harry. It was never retailed, and Corinne doesn't even have one herself.

How this wonderful backpack ended up in the middle of nowhere at a yard sale is a mystery. It's safe with me now....imagine all the knitting I can store inside.

Blog Day Afternoon

2011-06-01T10:42:00.000-04:00

Every once in a while I check my blog stats to see how many wonderful readers are still reading my ramblings. Usually there are 100 or so of you intrepid souls, but yesterday when I checked the weeks totals I had to blink twice just to make sure the number was correct. It was a little over 500 readers at 8 in the morning!

The day's totals ended up over 1,000 hits - the biggest single day ever!

At first, I thought it was because I had used the work Naked in the title of the post from Sunday. Back in the fall, I had a whole bunch of blog traffic arrived at the blog because I used the words Free Sex (what was I thinking!) in the title. Or it could have been that someone must have posted a link to my blog, so I did a little digging and found that there is a knitting forum named www.knittingparadise.com and there was a link to my blog on it in the "Made In Canada" thread, more specifically to the Phentex Checkerboard Slipper (peashoe) pattern.

So, a hearty welcome to all the Knitting Paradisers out there; I joined this morning and I look forward to participating in your discussions.

On being naked....

2011-05-30T13:04:00.004-04:00

Last night, as I was slipping into a freshly made bed, I was thinking how nice it would be to sleep naked. How nice would that be? No t-shirt twisting up in my arm pits, no pajama pants bunching up. Just the feeling of crisp, clean sheets against my skin. Sounds lovely, but it's not going to happen here.

One of the supposed perks of living in the country is the privacy. Really? In the past 7 years, I think we have had more drop in "visitors" than we ever had living in the city. And they drop in at the most inopportune times. Like 6:30 am on the coldest day this past winter when their car overheated. Or at 10:30 pm on a hot summer Saturday night when their dog cut their leg. Or how about at 8:00 am on a frosty Monday morning when they were having a guitar pick emergency. Yup, their life was pretty much over if they didn't get to buy a few picks.

Our home is about 100 feet or more from the highway and we don't have a lot in the way of window coverings. We do have blinds, but they are seldom pulled down. If someone was driving by at 80 kilometres an hour caught sight of me changing in the bedroom, they wouldn't have any idea what they were looking at!

On that particular morning of the guitar pick emergency, I was relaxing on the couch - it was my day off after all - in my cozy mauve bathrobe, having just had a long, hot shower. My hair was all wrapped up in a thick mauve matching towel. Yes, I was in the Martha Stewart mode of matchy-matchy stuff. I was sipping a cup of Earl Grey tea, contemplating what to do next...paint my nails, give myself a facial, do a bit of knitting...I had the whole day ahead of me to decide. Then, BAM! I heard the door of our front porch open and slam, and saw a man peering through the living room window at me! Crap! I got up and pulled myself together the best I could, making sure no girlie bits were exposed and went to the front door. Of course, the dogs were totally freaking out at the intruder and I had to yell through the door, asking him what he wanted. Over the noise of the dogs (and you have never heard such barking until you hear my dogs bark), I told him we were closed. He told me that since I was home, I could open up the shop. He had driven a long way to get these picks!

You see, these were the days when we had the shop on our property, and this was one of the reasons we moved into town. Our store hours also happened to be posted on several signs Tuesday - Saturday 10 - 5. No mention of 8:00 am on a Monday. Anyway, I put some clothes on and went out and sold him 2 Dunlop picks for a grand total of $1.13. (My wet hair froze on the walk over to the shop!) Since my relaxing spa day had been shattered, I went back to the house, got dressed presentably, fed the cats, loaded the dogs in the car (still my hair was wet) and toddled off to Pickering, I just wanted to be alone. After a nice dinner with Mr Knits and a good sleep, I then returned to the shop early the next morning. At least I had some privacy at our home in Pickering. On a main street. With neighbours less than 30 feet away.

There really is no privacy in the country...and most of the time it's a good thing to quote Martha. I have more real friends than I have ever had, I know more people by name, and a 5 minute trip to the grocery store takes at least half an hour because one simply must catch up on all the gossip. Seriously, I wouldn't have it any other way.

Now that we live up here, I just have make sure I'm up and dressed by 6:00 am to greet any visitors that happen by and invite them in for a cup of tea. That's life in the country.

Tinkletorium Times, weekend edition, vol. 1, issue 5

2011-05-29T22:56:00.001-04:00

There is not much new to report other than the water heater is being installed on Tuesday, and, if everything goes well, the electrician can also inspect and pass the electrical work done previously. That means there won't be a 2 week delay after all!

Today, Mr Knits and I went into the shop and I tidied as best as I could the gift area. You can actually see the floor! It has always been a challenge to find a good out of the way, yet handy, place to keep my ball winder and swift. With all the shuffling and moving stuff, I have finally found a home for it...it's in the gift area, away from the main shopping areas so little ones won't be so tempted to crank on the wheel. A week ago, I found a greeting card display at a garage sale - for $5! It's the perfect size to display our little selection of mostly hand made cards (which we sell for $1.75 each, by the way). So as a bonus of the renoing of the bathroom, the gift area is looking better too.

On Tuesday, Lynn is driving me to Toronto as I need go have some tests done. But, we are going to do some shopping, of course. I am never too "under the weather" that I can't shop! We plan to go to Diamond yarns to pick up some pretty ribbon yarns (some pink for sure!)for the two needle scarf, and apparently there is an Ikea nearby. When we were in Ottawa, I saw some
lovely kitchen type dishes that I wanted to get for the house, but there was absolutely no room in the car, seeing as it was jammed full of the stuff we took to the vendor night at the Ottawa knitting guild's meeting. Mr Knits and I are using the china I bought from William Ashley's when my son Matt was only 3 months old...that would be over 30 years ago. I think it's time to retire them.

I decided to post from the iPad tonight, so if you find some funny words that don't make sense, then thank the ipad's autocorrect feature. I did my best to find them all!

Principles of Knitting

2011-05-28T10:32:00.000-04:00

Several years ago, I wanted to buy the book "The Principles of Knitting" by June Hemmons Hiatt, but it was out of print, and copies of it were selling for over $400. That was way out of my budget. I borrowed this book from the library so many times the librarian actually told be to photocopy it!

There has been speculation that it would be reprinted after a revision by the author. I think the first projected date was Sept. 2007, then 2009, 2010, and the the book dropped off the radar for a while.

I googled it this morning - and apparently it will be released around November 1, 2011.

I might be a bit sceptical about it actually coming out, but in any case I am ordering 10 copies of it for the shop.This book is going to be huge at 704 pages. You won't be toting it around in your knitting bag, but it will look mighty pretty sitting on your coffee table. The first edition had only 586 pages so it appears there is a lot of new information in it.

I feel this book is the best go to knitting reference book available. If it can be knit, it will be covered. Should you want to reserve a copy, drop me a line, or leave a comment on the blog. Waiting until November is going to be hard!

Actual Knitting Content

2011-05-28T06:30:00.002-04:00

Believe it or not, I do knit sometimes. And, even less often, I finish something. So it is with pleasure I am showing you a summer scarf I whipped up over the past couple of days. It is knit in a discontinued ribbon yarn - Sari by SRK, but there are many current substitutes available. I used 2 skeins or 190 metres of it.

The scarf measures approximately 80 inches long, not including the fringe. It is knit on two different sized needles - 6 mm and 15 mm.

With a little help from my friend, Dizzybat, I added beads to the fringes. I love the beads!

close up of the stitch pattern

Now, here's the "pattern". Before beginning work, wind off and reserve about 10 metres of yarn for the fringe. Cast on 25 stitches with the smaller needles. Knit 3 rows garter stitch. *Switch to large needle and knit one row. Switch back to the smaller needles and knit 2 rows.* Repeat from * to * until about 2 metres of yarn is left. With smaller needles knit 3 rows. bind off.

To make the fringe, I wound the yarn around a small box that was 4 inches by 4 inches by 1 inch. Then I snipped the yarn all the way through at one end of the box - this makes about a 10 inch strand. Hook the fringe into every other stitch at the cast on and bind off edges. I then threaded (I mean Dizzybat and I threaded) about 5 beads onto the fringes. I was a bit excited to show you the finished product, so you might notice that not all the fringes have their beads, but I'm sure you get the idea.

There are several colours of Sari still available in the shop. I will be putting some of them up in kits with one large needle and a properly written pattern.

Tinkletorium Times, vol.1, issue 4

2011-05-27T12:00:00.001-04:00

Just when the reno seemed to be going well, we have hit major glitch. Major is an understatement. It looked like we would have a functioning toilet, sink and shower today, but alas, that will not be the case. Apparently some of the work needs to be inspected by HydroOne, and the inspector can't come until June the 9th! That's 13 days away! So no sink, no toilet, and ~~who cares about~~ the shower until a few days after that at the earliest. The floor can't be put down as all the wiring must be exposed. The walls can't be drywalled either.

Just this morning as I was visiting the blue potty outside, and I was quietly rejoicing that this might be the last time I had to use it. What a disappointment! The contractor told us he thought he would have it finished in a week - but he didn't specify which week, I guess.

Here is a little glimpse of why I am so ~~disappointed~~ ~~frazzled~~ anxious. If you come into the shop and find me curled up in the fetal position, rocking back and forth, I think you will understand.

entrance to new bathroom

new shower

where the new toilet should be

mess - view from yarn shop towards the music shop

view from music shop - I just cleared the pathway

Can I interest you in one of my lovely scarves? Or perhaps, you'd like to see our great selection of greeting cards

I keep telling myself (and Mr Knits too) it will all be worth it in the end. Whenever that will be.

Tinkletorium Times, vol. 1, issue 3

2011-05-26T19:36:00.009-04:00

Today, it seemed like a lot of progress was made in the new Fradenburgh Tinkletorium. We now have insulation in the walls, the shower has been plumbed (and looks every so fancy with all its chrome hardware), the hot water tank has been installed and the electrical wiring is done. Oh, and the door frame has been roughed in too. It looks like we will actually have running water tomorrow. That will be too exciting. We did hook up a portable sink to our outside hose bib so we could wash our hands, but cold water gets a little old after one or two wash ups.

It has been very surprising to me how I have been able to make on the spot decisions on big ticket items for this reno, but I still can't figure out the paint colour - probably the less expensive part of this whole undertaking. The way I'm struggling over paint colours, you'd think I was planning a royal wedding for Prince Harry. Currently, I am leaning towards a pale robins egg blue and dark taupe.

Who knows what tomorrow might bring - hot pink and lime green, perhaps?

World's best butter tart

2011-05-25T13:43:00.001-04:00

Several times in my adulthood, my mom has given me her recipe for butter tarts. I usually scribble the ingredients down on a bit of paper, make the tarts and promptly lose the paper. While I was cleaning out the ~~junk~~ items in storage in the bathroom, I came across this bit of wrapping paper with the recipe on it. In order that I never ever ever lose this recipe again, I am posting it here so I can always find it. You just might enjoy it too.

My mom's pastry is always fabulous and I have never been able to replicate, so feel free use your favourite pastry recipe.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Lightly beat one egg, cream in 3 tablespoons of soft butter, 1 cup of brown sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla and 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Now, stir in 1/2 cup each of currants and walnuts (I use pecans).

Spoon a tablespoon, more or less, into each unbaked tart shell. Bake at 425 degrees for 8 minutes, then reduce the oven heat to 375 degrees and continue baking for another 20 minutes.

I think this makes 12 tarts, depending on the size of your tart shells. I have to double or triple this recipe as they get gobbled up so quickly!

Tinkletorium Times, vol. 1, issue 2

2011-05-25T09:49:00.000-04:00

Remember I said there were a few tiny glitches with the bathrooom reno? One of them was the shower unit was too large to come into the building. The size was marked on the architects drawings, but I read 3'0" as 30", and approved the plans without changes.

Ya, that didn't work out so well. The shower unit came, and we sent it back as being too large, then found out we couldn't send it back as it was custom made for us. So it was redelivered this morning (at 4:50am!) along with the water heater and some other plumbery type things.

Now we have to take the front door of the music shop out, as well as the first stud to get the danged thing in. This is in progress as I write.

Second glitch was I thought I could get an electric tankless water heater. Turns out they don't make them as large as I need. This makes me sad; I truly dislike those big tank water heaters. Ever since our water heater sort of exploded when I was 8 I have been fearful of them. So a 50 gallon water tank it is.

However, on the plus side, work is really moving along. All the room needs now is a floor, 4 walls, a door and a ceiling.

Of course, it also needs the sink, toilet and shower installed too. Did I mention the toilet has a self closing lid? I am over the moon excited about that! Small things amuse small minds I suppose.

I'm doing battle with colour swatches for paint choices. According to the barrier free guidelines, the walls must have contrasting colours applied, and the baseboards are to be another colour altogether. I must admit the colour scheme of pink and green keeps popping up. I shall do my very best to resist though. A turquoise and taupe scheme also is appealing to me, and would coordinate beautifully with the flooring. It's just sounds so boring. I just want this room to be perfect!

I have been having a giggle at the plumber's expense and I must share it with you. When I began this project, it was very difficult to get anyone to come in to give us a quote - so hard in fact I sent this letter to the local newspaper:

Work Wanted?

I overhear conversations in my shop frequently about the lack of work up here, and how the economy is so bad and so on. I used to be sympathetic, now I’m starting to think it’s just an excuse to not work. We are currently looking for a contractor to do some work at our store, and have called seven local contractors and left phone messages regarding the job’s requirements. Not one has returned my call. I am a firm believer in supporting the local economy, however, in this case, I have a deadline to meet and can’t wait for the local companies to call back. So I have begun contacting contractors in the Napanee area and after calling two contractors this morning, I already have two appointments set up.

If you are a renovation contractor in the Northbrook area, call me soon.

Nancy Fradenburgh,

After this was published, this particular gentleman called, and came in to take some measurements and get the specs of the job. I gave him my absolute last day deadline for a quote to which he assured me would be no problem. But when that day came, he called to say he needed at least another week. I couldn't grant that to him as my proposal had to go in that same day. He became all huffy and cranky and started yelling at me about wasting his time (wtf! he wasted mine!) and then slammed the phone down ending the conversation. I was a bit shocked to say the least and was somewhat glad I wouldn't be working with him after all. Or so I thought. Yesterday when I arrived here, there he was. So, instead of getting the whole project, he's just getting a couple of days work. How's that for karma?

Tinkletorium Times, vol. 1, issue 1

2011-05-24T15:33:00.001-04:00

Work is progressing nicely on the renovations. After the contractor found rotting sill plates and floor joists, I was a little bit concerned (okay, I was panicking) that the job would never get done. But, all that angst was for naught... 4 hours later, the sill plates and floor joists have been completely replaced.

The plumbing is being relocated, and tomorrow the shower unit and water heater will be delivered. At 5:00 AM! Guess who will be sleeping at the shop tonight? A shop with no indoor plumbing? Me! Thankfully, Bob Mumby came bearing a gift this morning...

A PortaPotty! Just the thing to add ambience to the front of the store. We feel quite privileged to have this little outdoor potty though. They seem to be a hot commodity in the summertime and are very scarce up in this neck of the woods.

We now have three doors at the front of the store, just like "Let's Make A Deal".

Makes me want to dress up in a crazy costume and say, "I want to take Door Number 3, Monty!"

Welcome to "Chat"eau Catenburgh

2011-05-24T07:32:00.000-04:00

Mr Knits and I are cat sitting for our son Matty and daughter in law Terri for a week or two. In residence at Chateau Caterburgh are Dude, Mo and Porkchop. Dude is a lovely, ultra friendly 14 year old Siamese, Porkchop is a tiny black girlie cat, and Mo is a portly tabby who weighs as much as Dude and Porchop combined.

When one adds up our 4 fur babies - Norma Jean and Emma Jane (dogs), Stinky and Purrl (our kitties), the three visitors - Dude, Prkchop and Mo, and the two homeless cats, Ascot and Itty Bitty with their unknown number of kittens (our guess is 8 kittens, 2 moms), we approximately 17 critters relying upon us to keep them safe. And we sure are keeping the pet food industry in business. To be honest, it is fun having all these pets; it's not as much work as I had thought it would be.

Speaking of the homeless kitties, the two moms are becoming even friendlier. Instead of hiding when we arrived at the shop Sunday night to drop off our purchases for the renovations, the two kitty moms came across the street to see us! That is definitely the first time any of the strays have sought us out. Previously, we have always gone across the street to see them. I think there is hope for the moms and their kittens to find safe warm homes by this fall.

At the risk of sounding preachy, I do wish pet owners would spay or neuter their cats and dogs. Even just neutering all the males would reduce the unwanted pet population. There are spay and neuter clinics in Newmarket and Ottawa that perform the operations at a reduced rate, too.

And with that, I must get to work and see what Contractor Steve is up to with the Tinkletorium.

It's Started!

2011-05-23T09:56:00.000-04:00

I just heard from my project manager - aka Mr Knits - that work has begun on the renovation of our tinkletorium. The walls have been torn down, only to show why the washroom has been so cold in the winter...there is absolutely no insulation in them at all!

Yesterday, when Mr Knits drove me to Belleville to meet up with Teri and Matty to pick up their three cats we will be caring for, we also stopped in at Lowe's to purchase the flooring and door for the new barrier free washroom. I haven't looked at sheet flooring in at least 20 years and I had no idea how much it had changed. It is nothing like the hard vinyl flooring I remember - it's so soft and pliable now. We picked out a nice slate looking pattern that will be nice to look at and care for.

But, after three consultation type phone calls, I'd better make this a short post and figure out where to get a water heater on short notice. Stay tuned for updates and photos.

Tale of Two Kitties...with apologies to Mr Dickens

2011-05-19T16:08:00.001-04:00

Last spring, a feral cat gave birth to 5 little kittens. They were born to a gray/beige splotchy mother, and were fed all spring and summer by the Isobel's bakery staff. But fall came, and the bakery closed for the winter. With no reliable food source, they were obviously hungry. The mice and chipmunks had begun to hunker down for the winter, severely cutting into the kitties' food source. Mr Knits began tending to this group of homeless kittens who now resided in our garage across the street from the shop. I was originally very much against this idea, and wanted to trap the little sweeties and take them to the Napanee animal shelter. Mr Knits would have none of that! He persevered in caring for them all by himself, but he actually got me to buy their food around Christmas time. I was beginning to soften in my harsh attitude. You see, I was concerned that if we kept feeding these cats, that by this spring we would have a colony of 40 or 50 cats depending on us. We'd be known as the crazy cat people of Northbrook!

The kittens and their mother were all afraid of us and would scatter whenever they saw us approaching. They stayed in the garage all winter, and sometimes it just broke our hearts to see them shivering in the cold. Mr Knits bought a heated water dish after seeing them drink the salty water from the road and a heated door mat for them to get warm on. At first we were feeding a group of about 7 assorted cats and kittens. We lost 2 to the highway, and one froze to death. We cried a little over that. So we were down to 4 in March. We had given them all names - Bruiser (a huge grey guy), Frankie (because she has blue eyes), Ascot (a big fluffy black kittty with a white spot on her throat) and finally Itty Bitty (the tiniest, homliest black/brown splotchy kitty I have ever seen). We spent many hours this winter watching all of them out playing in the snow. But they would never let us come near them despite our attempts to socialize them.

Gradually, two of them (Ascot and Itty Bitty) became less afraid of us and would wait near the food dish while we filled it. We could tell Ascot was pregnant and we wondered if Itty Bitty was too. As the warmer weather arrived, Bruiser and Frankie disappeared. I hope they are okay.

Now we are down to two of the original 5 kittens and their mother. Socializing them was becoming an obsession with us. We spent hours sitting on the chair by their food dish, just talking to them while they ate. They knew the sound of our cars and would come out and wait to be fed every morning too. About a month ago, we were able to actually pet Itty Bitty! She is quite affectionate. Ascot is still stand offish, but doesn't run away anymore when we approach. Last week, for the first time, I was able to pick her up and snuggle her for a few seconds. She was very pregnant! At this point, I can admit I was very much in love with her and concerned for the impending delivery.

On Sunday, when I arrived at the shop, she was waiting for me by her empty food dish. She was a mommy! Itty Bitty had delivered her kittens sometime between 5 pm on Saturday and 5 pm on Sunday, so I am declaring the 15th their birthday. I have no idea how many she delivered, and we are anxiously watching her activities so we can get our first glimpse of the babies.

the new mommy

Although I originally had decided to not have any interaction with these feral kitties, I am quite smitten with Itty Bitty. She is so very affectionate and talkative. The whole time we visit with her, she's meowing and purring to us, telling us all kinds of stories. Now our plan for her is once the kittens are about 4 weeks old and mobile, we are going to trap them and bring them up to our cabin and care for and socialize them. We shall find homes for the kittens, but I think we are going to keep Itty Bitty. We'll spay her and keep her in the guest cabin as I don't think Purrl and Stinky will like another intruder in the house. (Mr Knits and I are intruders enough for them)

Yeah, I know I said I didn't need another cat. I also said that when I took Purrl in. But this little black cat needs me. Honestly, she does. However, if there is someone out there who might like to adopt a loving, but quite homely little cat (and she is tiny) I would be willing to give her up.

Maybe.

mini rant

2011-05-15T14:10:00.000-04:00

Dear You-Know-Who-You-Are,

I have a theory...if you are clever enough to figure out all by yourself where the item you need is kept, then you are clever enough indeed to put it away with no help from me.

Seriously, dude, I am not your mother.

That is all.

Hugs and kisses
Knittin4britain

On being observed

2011-05-15T10:11:00.000-04:00

I am trying to get the house in some sort of order before taking off for the aforementioned road trip. So as I am clearing up the detritus from the past week (who knew two adults could make such a mess?), I have noted a few things.

First, the furbabies are watching my every move. I have to wonder if they are critiquing me, or just simply planning how to mess up that which I have put back in order, or are they just thinking "Dawg, I didn't know she could move that fast!" But whatever they're thinking, they are watching me intently. If I move from one room to another, they all follow me - first the dogs, then the cats. It isgetting a little bit creepy.

Secondly, I have discovered that Tide Liquid Laundry detergent makes better dishwasing liquid that the Palmolive liquid I have used for years. You see, I ran out of washing up liquid on Friday, and forgot to bring some home from work (I have 3 bottles of it there - don't ask why, please), and I really can't stand going to bed with dishes in the sink. As I was putting a load of laundry in, I thought I might just experiment and use the Tide to wash the dishes. The dishes are super squeaky clean, the glassware is sparkling and the sink itself looks like brand spanking new. Just a blob of it did the day's dishes. Mr Knits and I both think that the Tide has something in it that works better with the hard water we have and that's why it cleaned so well. No matter, I will always use Tide for my washing up from now on.

Thirdly, we cancelled our satellite tv service at the house about a month ago, and after the first day or two, I find I don't even miss it. (Could be because we do have service at the shop and I can watch the Y&R there!) However, tonight is the season finale of Survivor, so I may just be sleeping over at the shop tonight. Of course I have told Mr Knits I have a lot of things to get ready for tomorrow, and I can get an early start, etc. I think he bought it! Wouldn't you?