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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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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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!

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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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.....

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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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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