Tuesday 4 December 2012

Look what's here......

A whole wall of Madtosh and the beginning of our Sweet Georgia order.....and the cutest little purses ever from Noni Designs! Lipstick&Change

Sunday 18 November 2012

Yarn tasting.....yum!

We held our second yarn tasting yesterday - see how pretty the classroom was before all the fun started!





The all the knitters arrived and fun was had by all.





Everyone got a little basket and a little cake of each yarn. We tried Sweet Georgia Tough Love Sock, Regia Merino Angora, Yarn Hollow Tor DK, Stonehedge Fiber Mills Shepherd Worsted, Habu Stainless Steel, Fine Merino and Shosenshi, Jojoland Cashmere 2 ply, Handmaiden Seasilk and Berocco Ultra Alpaca. It's hard to say what yarn everyone liked the most but we do have only 1 or 2 skeins of Sweet Georgia left.

There are a ton of boxes arriving this week and next -
Fleece Artist Thrum Mitten Kits
Fleece Artist Fiber
Handmaiden Sea Silk
Sweet Georgia worsted and DK
Madtosh - tons of it - 8 boxes!

The following week should see us unpacking Tor Worsted from Yarn Hollow and a re stock of Jojoland.

Stay tuned for our next yarn tasting in late December or early January.

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Friday 9 November 2012

Oh Happy Day!

Not much happening on a Friday night at my house. Just figured out over 500 skeins of Madtosh are on the way to us! Isn't that exciting?

Wednesday 7 November 2012

Madtosh is on the way!

Our next order of Madtosh is on the way and should be here by the end of next week! We are expecting Pashmina Worsted, Tosh Sock, Tosh Merino Light and Tosh Vintage. Yahoo! All in time for our next Yarn Tasting on November 17 - which by the way has only one spot left.

Sam finally got her thrum mitts. She's a happy camper with warm hands today!

Today is bring your child to work day! Emma joined me at the store today.
She's been sorting buttons, working at the cash, and now she's knitting


Wednesday 17 October 2012

More Excuses....

Ok so I've been blogging for awhile - one blog for Pick Up Sticks and now almost a year blogging for The Yarn Store but I've yet to hit any kind of regular posting. Urrr - I can make all the same excuses but the big one really has been the Creativ Festival - first we were busy getting ready and now we are busy unpacking. We had a great time and all of our new yarns and kits were very well received. Now is the time for all of you to hear all about it.

First some photographic evidence of our booth - we had many customers tell us it was the best yarn booth at the festival and we all thought so too!




Here is our booth just finished on Thursday night all ready for a very busy Friday morning.


Here's our display of Noni Felted Bags and kits - these are the most absolutely gorgeous designs - long gone are the days when you bought the pattern and had to go hunted for all the hardware. Every kit has absolutely everything you need to complete the purse. The samples have gone back to the supplier but you must come by and see the kits. We got in Stonehedge Fiber Mill Shepherd's Wool because it is a superior felting yarn - it's so pretty and soft - it would be great for a warm wool sweater too!


Here's the beginning order for the brand new spankin' Indie Dyer, Yarn Hollow from Michigan. We started with 35 colors of DK and are expecting 35 colors of Worsted. The Jul Topographie kits which feature Yarn Hollow Yarns and Jul closures arrived just in the knick of time and made in on the truck to go to the show




Here was the Carousel from the Crochet Crowd - so adorable and made with all yarns from the Yarn Store.

I've started a couple of new topics on Ravelry. What's New? And Classes. Both meant for quick,timely updates.

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Saturday 22 September 2012

The Blogger is Behind

I'm way behind on blogging - my head is swimming with ideas for our booth at the Creativ Festival which is like...3 weeks away. There is way more than 3 weeks worth of knitting to do but I'm sure it will get done.

We had a Yarn Tasting on Friday, September 14 - tons of fun was had by all.
You really should come the next time we do one!









Hey who are these girls? I've seen them before - are they Quilt Girls? Yessirree! Quilt Girls joining in on the Yarn Tasting fun! Thank you so much for coming out! Looks like you might have been having some fun!?!




We have the most adorable patterns in from Blue Sky Alpacas with these gorgeous little balls of Royal Alpaca - the patterns look like vintage seed packets. It's all so darn cute, I can hardly stand it. Each kit is packaged up in a pretty little bag! Everyone has been busy knitting the samples and so far we have quite an assortment of samples hanging on the clothesline. A re-stock of all the colors is on the way from Blue Sky Alpacas. Also in from Blue Sky is Alpaca Silk - a little bit of heaven in each hank! Not to mention the new Metallico - it makes me was to cry it's so gorgeous - we've almost sold out of our first order but rest assured tons more is on the way!




I whipped up these little monsters! So cute and so fun! There will be kits at the Creativ for these including pattern, yarn and safety eyes.




Both Julia and I have been busy teaching all week - today was the beginning of our Project Classes - Julia had her students working away on top down sweaters and I have my students working round and round on their Girasole blankets.


A big, big selection of Kauni came in - Julia is working on Stripe Study in cream and rainbow.




And Madi is working on this - there's over 8000 projects on Ravelry in this yarn so go have a look! Kauni Effektgarn is what you need to look for.......


Until next time knitters.



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Tuesday 11 September 2012

A recap of KW Knitter's Fair

Madi, Julia and I braved the pouring rain and got up extra early on Saturday morning so we could go to the Knitter's Fair that is put on every September by the Kitchener Waterloo Knitter's Guild - our own local guild - the York Region Knitter's Guild - put the trip together and we had 32 knitters make the trek to Kitchener.

Madi was a bit surprised when a bright yellow school bus pulled up - somehow, she thought we were going on a coach and even my husband thought I would not be too happy to be on a bumpy school bus but the site of knitters, the chatter of knitters, the giggles and laughs of knitters made completely fine for both of us.


Madi having fun, knitting on the bus!  Blurry image due to the bumpy ride!
On the way to the Fair, there were tons and tons of door prizes - Madi won, Julia won and so did I - in fact, I think everyone left with something!  We were at the fair for about 5 hours which was just the perfect amount of time to see everything and purchase everything we wanted.  Our main reason for attending was to do some market research and to see if there are any  new dyers that we should be carrying in the store.  And of course, we found some - some really exciting ones! All will be revealed in due time! 

On the way home from the Fair, there was a show and tell of all the purchases which was really fun!  They even had a prize for the Best Shopper and guess who won?  JULIA - here she is with her prize!

I've been busy knitting with my favorite yarn - Madtosh Merino Light - I love the way my Color Affection is coming along. 


There's so much new yarn here - it's hard for any of us to decide what to knit.  Jenn was in on Saturday and she snagged a new little bundle of Footprints from Blue Ridge Fibers.  Her pattern is Monkey from Cookie A.

Isn't it pretty?

Blue Sky Alpacas is here! RYN with the amazing Kauni Yarn is here!  Not in the shop yet but it is in the receiving area!  Yay!  Keep an eye out here for when it arrives in the store!

Thursday 6 September 2012

Oh my, oh my....

Things are so exciting at the Yarn Store I could almost - well, never mind - but it's very exciting.

Here's the wall of Madtosh - two weights in 39 colors each! Madtosh Merino Light and Madtosh DK - it's so gorgeous I don't even want to touch it - but Madi tells me sell it, so it's for sale. So hurry in - as with any Madtosh it won't last long and it might be a bit before we get more. We have all picked projects so we do have our own Madtosh tucked in our knitting bags.
Madi is knitting Groovy - two skeins of DK in Cousteau - easy, peasy but so wearable!
Julia is knitting a sample of Every Last Yard for her top down sweater class in Dahlia - 5 skeins of DK and me,
well, of course, we need a new Color Affection for the store and I choose Steam Age, Baltic and Dahlia.

My winder is set up on the kitchen table and as soon as I finish this post I'm winding it and casting on!
Oh and one last thing - if I can just blow my own horn for one minute - Madi offered me the position of Manager of the Yarn Store and I accepted with a big whooppeee! How lucky am I to be able to work in a store that I love surrounded by great people and fabulous yarns? Thank you so much Madi!
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Monday 20 August 2012

Wrap Up

Julia finished her Ravellenics Sweater - so cute!  Congratulations!

Shift of Focus - Malabrigo Arroyo
It looks so cute on her - you just want to give her a big hug!  Great job!

Another masterpiece arrived in the store from Jacqueline!

Allegra - Koigu Magazine First Issue



It takes almost 30 skeins of Koigu KPPPM
but now is the time to get it!  Koigu is still 50% off so it's a bargain!


Hey!  Guess what's in production?  Our Madtosh order - 46 colorsways of DK and Merino Light - are you lining up your patterns because we are!  Can't wait.....

Sunday 12 August 2012

Pooh!

I didn't finish my Ravellenics sweater for a couple of reasons - one was we lost a horse to colic which is sad but he was very old and it was really the kindest thing to do for him. The other was when I tried it on to put the sleeve stitches on a holder I found 2 mistakes in the raglan increases. So that meant tearing out about 5-6 inches to get back to where I needed to fix. Normally I might let something like this go but I really, really like this sweater so I want it to be perfect - or well, as perfect as can be.

Julia did finish and I promise pictures as soon as I have them. I'm sure it's gorgeous.

Speaking of yarn - did you hear that all the yarn except for HPKY and Prism is on sale 50% off. We don't want to count it for inventory so we decided to have another sale! Yay - now you can get some Arroyo for your next sweater!




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Tuesday 31 July 2012

Day Four


I've been dutifully following along with the Olympics and keeping up with my Ravellenics games. Heres my progress on Day 4




I love love love Malabrigo Arroyo. Vodka Lemonade has a 5.5 inch seed stitch collar which seemed to take forever but now I've done 14 raglan increase so I feel like I'm in good shape with 13 days of knitting left.




Julia is also working with Malabrigo Arroyo - the prettiest pink ever! She even picked out her buttons - she's got her sleeves off the needles and is now on to the body - soo cute!

My Olympic knitting may have suffered slightly because Clue 3 from the Westknits KAL came out and I just could help myself - I had to get it done.




I'm not really sure what I think of it so far except that I've loved knitting it so I guess that is a big bonus. I wonder what Clue 3 will be.....

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Thursday 26 July 2012

I'm Ready to go....

Here's my first skein wound up and my pattern all ready to go - I swatched last night so I have my needle size all picked out. Just to remind you - I'm doing Vodka Lemonade and using Malabrigo Arroyo in Prussian Blue.


Julia has also chosen Shift of Focus and Malabrigo Arroyo in the most gorgeous pink, English Rose.





Jenn has also jumped on to our Ravellenics team and will be competing in WIP Wrestling - a great choice because none of us have any lack of WIP's.

So who else is going to join us? I know there's lurkers out there reading my blog - so come one, join us! Please....so that the Quilt side of the store does not continue to think I have a few screws loose by competing in Ravellenics aka Knitting Olympics.


Now for Westknits KAL - I've decided (because Julia will not switch with me - which leads me to believe that she doesn't really like it as much as she professes too)to carry on and have faith that it will all work out in the end - even if I don't like it, it has been really fun to knit - in fact, we had a customer this week purchase yarn for it just because she wants to make it. The next clue comes out tomorrow morning to I'm hoping it's going to save my project. Afterall, Stephen did say you could use self striping - so fingers crossed.
Just a few more rows and Clue 2 will be done!

Monday 23 July 2012

Ravellenics Team Yarn Store!

Have you heard about the Knitting Games?  Yup to coincide with the Olympics, Ravelry is hosting a Ravellenics.  You must check it out, choose your project, choose a knitting sport, and then join our Team by tagging your work in progress, letting us know what you are doing and best of all, celebrating your success with us on August 13 here at the store for prizes and treats!

So first - check out Ravelry for all the info by going here

Figure out what your sport is here

Then tell us all about it, tag your pictures, etc here

I am competing in the Sweater Triathlon.  My project is Vodka Lemonade from Baby Cocktails

I'm knitting it in Malabrigo Arroyo in Prussian Blue.  I had started it previously but ripped it out to make a bigger size and so this is just the kick in the butt I need to get going on it. 


Julia hasn't completely decided on what the project is yet but it looks like she will be competing in the Sweater Triathlon too! 

I'm in a quandry over my Mystery Shawl KAL  - Clue 2 is out and I'm not sure I like what's happening to my self striping yarn with this clue. 

Julia assures me that it's very happy looking but I'm thinking I will never wear it. 


Now that's easy for her to say when hers is a lovely combination that is much more wearable. 

What to do?  What to do? 

Comments, anyone?

Saturday 21 July 2012

Last Day Attempt #2

Pushed the wrong button so the previous post that was almost complete, I might add, is now lost somewhere forever.

Today is our last day - time flies when you are having fun - or maybe it's just when you are on vacation. Our family has had a wonderful time here this week and the magic of the island has captured us all.

I've been knitting - Clue 2 of Westknits Mystery KAL is out this morning and earlier in the week, Clue 3 of Zen Butterfly Knits was released. And...I started a plain sock from my stash - it's always good to have something simple and mindless to work on.

We've done somthing different every day and I now offer photographic evidence for your viewing pleasure.

Tuesday 17 July 2012

Clue #1 and some pics

Since I'm on vacation and don't know much about what's going on at the store except that the 50% off has been extended for one more week on all commercial yarns - so get in there! - I thought I would show you my finished clue #1 for Westknits Mystery Shawl Knit A Long -



I used stash yarns but the same result could be achieved with Dye Hard Fiber Arts Self Striping sock matched with a semi solid fingering weight.

Today we visited Summerside PEI - very pretty!



Then on the way home from there - we did some snooping around in Park Corner, PEI where our house is and look at the sites we found.

















Now I'm off to start the Zen Butterfly Knits Mystery Shawl KAL - we have Serenity 20 in stock at the store so you can participate too! I'm three clues behind on this one so I better get going!

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Sunday 15 July 2012

(Westknits KAL Spoiler) First Day of Vacation

We are just enjoying our first morning in PEI - the home that my dad rented for us is absolutely amazing. It's the most beautiful home I've seen - it's a renovated farm house that is decorated beautifully. It's so comfortable - Greg and I have this cozy little room - reminds me of a bed and breakfast kind of room. This is the view from the balcony upstairs. We are staying in Park Corner, PEI not far from Cavendish - I love this island!


Today we are visiting Cows Creamery and going for a tour - this cow met us at the airport. That's Emma and my red headed nieces Tiana and Katy.

This is my favorite spot in the whole house - a window seat perfect for reading - can't wait to try it out.

This is the tv room - definitely not the focal point of the house - only room for 2 - which I love because we will most often have to find something else to do. See that knitting there - it's Westknits KAL - fun, fun!

This is how it looked when I boarded the plane and that little bit is how it looks now. I was ignoring all the comments about using German short rows instead of traditional wrap and turn but when I finally tried it I had to tear everything else out to redo all of them. Urrrr! It was one of those knitting moments when you know that if you don't rip and keep going it will bug you for the rest of the project.
We have lots of yarn for this KAL at the Yarn Store and especially now with all of the commercial yarns remaining on sale at 50% off. I'm using a self striping yarn in mine and we have some great choices in the store.
Here's what is still on sale until July 21!
Berocco
Katia
Rowan
SMC
Debbie Bliss
Diamond Yarns
Nova Yarns
Sublime
Sweater Kits
Online
Laines du Nord
Ella Rae
Lang
Jawoll
Classic Elite
Louisa Harding
Louet
Queensland Collection
and commercial balls of Sock Yarn
That means all the yarns that we have in stock by all of these companies - still lots of yarn! Yay!
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