Thursday, December 04, 2008

The Malabrigo is here

I got 5 boxes of Malabrigo today. I got every colour of Malabrigo sock yarn except the colour 801 it is back ordered. I need to control myself not to cast on a pair of socks until I have all of this yarn inventoried. I want to knit my husband a pair of #800 for Christmas. I will have this yarn available on the web site by Sunday. If you want -need a particular colour you can email me shelmack@telus.net or phone the store 1-250-285-2751 to purchase before it gets on the web site.
The last order of Malabrigo sock yarn lasted only a few days when I was at Gibson's fibrefest.
Aside from the sock yarn I got in 10 colours of Malabrigo worsted weight 44, 80, 88, 137, 203, 204, 194, 148, 173, 83 and 10 colours of Malabrigo lace weight. 247, 204, 137, 229, 203, 181, 5, 21, 30, 44 .
What amazing yarn.

Wednesday, December 03, 2008

Christmas in the Cove - Dec 6


Christmas in the Cove will be a great event happening on Quadra Dec 6 10 -5. All of the stores are participating and will have good sales and happenings all day. Fun Knits will have 10% off everything in the store and a few sale bins with great savings. We will also have a visit by William a small Shetland sheep for the day. I met William last week and what a sweetheart he is. He loves to be pet under the chin. He is just sweet.
So come and have a fun day on Quadra and meet William.

Thursday, November 20, 2008

Our Spinning group


A little over a year ago a bunch of women on Quadra were all interested in learning spinning including me. We have a few very talented spinners on the island so with their help we started to learn. Now we have lots of spinners on Quadra. If you come into the store any Tuesday morning this is what you will see. We meet every Tuesday from 10 - Noon and spin, show our finished skeins of yarn and projects knit or wove with the yarn. It is a fun group and we all enjoy spinning a lot. I am usually busy with the store but sometimes I get to sit and spin with the group. Last Tuesday I did and it was nice.

Monday, November 10, 2008

Back from BC Creative Expo






We are back from the show and had a nice time down in Vancouver. It was nice to see all our kids. Time in the hectic city really makes me appreciate the nice quiet place I live. When we arrived in Campbell River last night there was no traffic and it was peaceful and wonderful. Then we got on the ferry to Quadra and it was even more peaceful on Quadra. I am not a city person at all. We stayed at a hotel near BC place Stadium and there were 3 hockey games in town so it was very busy and noisy.
The BC Creative Expo was disappointing. I didn't like it at Canada Place as much as in Abbotsford. Last year when they announced that the show would be at Canada Place I imagined it would be posh and nice not like a cold warehouse but it was a big noisy cold warehouse.
In spite of that we had fun and sold lots of yarn. This was my least busy show and the show where I had the most help.
Vyvyan from Quadra Island was there the first day and she spun all day at the booth and helped sell yarn, Kathy from Campbell River came and did the Make and take table with people. They made little end to end bookmarks like her end to end scarves she sells. This was quite popular. She actually taught several people to knit also. Megan came fro most of the time and helped out. She sold lots of her Toe Kozies and shopped lots also. She loves making cards so there was a lot of fun make and takes fr her to do. We had a lot of fun and it was nice to have company at the booth when it was quiet. Here are some pictures from the show.
This scarf was knit in freeform and it is fabulous. I am sorry I don't have the persons name but I know she is from Salt Spring Island. What a beautiful scarf. She wore other amazing knitting all weekend. Some people are so talented. I met lots of great people and had fun over all.
Here are a few pictures of my booth and the last pictures are to show you how amazing my husband is at organizing a load.
Here is our van already 1/2 full of stuff and then a picture of what needed to go in next. It all fit plus we had room for our luggage, the Ashford joy wheel and us.
Now I have to get busy and get the store loaded again.

Monday, November 03, 2008

Koigu yarn - BC Creative Expo




When I first opened my shop in 2005 I applied to Koigu to order yarn. The reply was that they had too many customers and I couldn't order from them. I was disappointed but managed without getting their yarn. This year I got an email and now they could provide Koigu yarn to the store.
Well it was worth the wait. What beautiful yarn. I am so inspired by this yarn I actually have 3 projects underway 2 scarves and 1 hat, haven't even started socks yet. I guess they will be next. I got in many colours of KPPPM, KPM and KFM. The KPPPM is the hand dyed multi colours merino yarn, KP is the hand dyed semi solid merino and KFM is the hand dyed multi coloured heavier weight felting merino. It is amazing yarn so soft and cushy. Wonderful to knit with.
I will be taking this yarn to BC creative Expo this week as well as - Noro Silk Garden and Kureyon sock yarn, new sock yarn from Diamond yarn - Foot Loose ( 90% merino superwash wool 10% nylon) and Fancy Free
(10% Nylon, 20% Alpaca, 70% Merino Superwash Wool), Arucania Ranco, Lorna's Laces, Cherry Tree Hill, a new sock yarn from Ancient Thread Farms that is dyed with natural products and many more sock yarns. Lots of undyed yarn and of course Kauni in multi colours and solids. I will also have a great selection of fibre. I will be doing a spinning demo on the stage Friday at 6pm. There was rumour that Breakfast Television will be at the show and they want me to do knitting and or spinning demo on TV. That isn't a sure thing yet but who knows I may get my 5 minutes of fame.

Kathy from Mad Katerpillar Scarves will also be at the booth with me. She is going to be working on the make and take table helping people make end - to end bookmarks using novelty yarns. She sells the wonderful Mad Katerpillar scarf kits that are so popular.
I have a few new free hat and scarf patterns.
So if you are in the Vancouver area Nov 7-8 drop by and say hi.
I also have Ravelry buttons to give out to Ravelry members (while quantities last) and that best for the last
I will have a huge bucket of sale sock yarn - $10 - 100 gr ball. Come early for the best selection as this won't last long.
See you there!!

Monday, October 27, 2008

A very Fibery week



Last weekend I went to the Spinning retreat at the Kingfisher resort. I had a wonderful time and spun and ate and slept all weekend. I met a lot of new spinners and it was great to be surrouned by spinners and fibre all weekend. I shared a room with Brenda and she remembered to bring a camera so here are her pictures of the retreat. I bought this nice basket at he retreat to hold my Philosopher's wool sweater while in progress. I am finished both sleeves and have started the body now. I had hoped to get it done by the time I go to BC Creative expo, but the that isn't going to happen unless I focus better on one project.
I am busy with my new weaving loom. Diane helped me get it entirely warped and I am making great progress on my first blanket. The warp is Ranco Sock yarn and the weft is some pink mohair I had in stash. I'll bet you can't guess who this blanket is for. (Meika of course). I hope to finish this little blanket today and then get a new warp on the loom for 2 blankets later this week.
Here is a picture of my nice view as I weave. We have had a beautiful fall here so far. Cold but sunny.

Friday, October 17, 2008

Weekend Bliss

This weekend I am going to a spinning retreat at the Kingfisher. Lucky me. I get to eat, sleep and spin only this weekend. I will probably knit too.
See you Monday

Wednesday, October 08, 2008

Winter Hours for Fun Knits

Starting Wed Oct 15th Fun Knits will be open different hours for the winter. Tuesday and Sat will remain the same 10 am - 5 pm, Wed, Thurs and Friday will be changed to open at 11 am and closed at 4:30 pm.
This is for several reasons but mostly because those are times when the store isn't busy. I have been watching the trends for the last few weeks.

Monday, October 06, 2008

What a great Retreat Weekend







We had a wonderful group of knitter's attend the Philosopher's Wool knitting retreat this weekend. Ann, Eugene and Susan did an amazing job teaching everything we needed to know to make a wonderful Philosopher's Wool sweater. The new designs are amazing and they will be shown soon on the Philosopher's Wool's new website, so watch for that.
Here is how the weekend went
Friday - people arrived and got settled in, then we had a great barbecue salmon and steak dinner. We met and introduced Ann, Eugene and Susan to all the knitters then we went to Fun Knits for a huge sale. We sold lots of yarn and sweater kits this weekend.
Sat - after a great breakfast we got to work on our sweaters. Everyone came with a cuff done and ready to start Fair Isle. I have been stumbling with the 2 handed technique for a while and it took me 2 minutes to see why. I was holding my yarn wrong in my right hand for it to easily flow.
I learned so much this weekend.
We worked on our sweaters all day, in the Afternoon Ann detail how to finish the sweaters and Sat evening we had a show and tell. This was amazing. Such talent. So many knitted items.
Sunday Susan showed us her finishing techniques, How to prepare and finish the sweater. A great way to pick up the button band etc..... By the way Susan has knit over 300 Philosopher's wool sweaters so she really knows this well. Most of the Philosopher Wool sweaters in the pictures are knit by Susan.
Here are some pictures of the weekend,
I am starting with what I knit this weekend because I think it is just great. I am going to love this sweater and I can't put it down so I hope to have a finished sweater to show you soon.
The next pictures are of Ann, Eugene and Susan teaching. Next pictures are from the show and tell.
Joan and Roger modelling Philosopher's wool sweaters and broke into impromptu dance. A very wild fun sweater knit by Leslie of Naniamo, Eugene's Nuclear sweater - great story attached to this sweater. Mary Tanti's winning socks (wish her luck).
Linda''s amazing socks - yes they match.
Roger's great hats
The Teddy's in their Fair Isle sweaters. Everyone got a Teddy bear and enough yarn to make sweaters for them.
The last pictures are Eugene and Gary ( Susan's husband) and Ann and Susan in the boat leaving the resort.
What a wonderful weekend and I can't thank Ann and Eugene and Susan and Gary enough for coming the Quadra and sharing their talent and warm kindness with us.

Wednesday, October 01, 2008

Huge Sale this weekend

Well I have been quite absent from my blog. I think this is the longest I haven''t blogged since I started this. Well I guess it because I am busier than I have ever been (anyone who knows me knows that is realllllllllly busy), we are short staffed at the group home again and that always makes it hard to find time to blog. I am also in the process of getting help for Fun Knits. This business got too big for me to handle without lots of help.
So the new people are Kate and Shanaya(bloggless). Kate is a knitter from Campbell River and Shanaya (will be a knitter again), she is definatley a fibre lover from Cortez Island. My Mom and Deb are still working at the store too. So between all of us from 3 different Islands we are going to whip this store into shape. There will be lots of great things coming for Fun Knits. So stay tuned!!!

Now about the sale. This weekend is our knitting retreat with Ann and Eugene Bourgeois from Philosopher's Wool. We are all ready and have a great group of people are coming this weekend for our Retreat. It should be a fun weekend.
We are also having a major sale at the store all day Sat. Oct 4 10 am - 5pm
Patons Decor and Classic Wool 40% off
Online, Regia and Oapl sock yarn 20% off
Everything in the store is 10% off
There will be lots of other yarns at clearance prices so you will just have to come and see what else is deeply reduced.

Tuesday, September 02, 2008

Back from a great weekend away






What a nice weekend. We left on Friday night and it was really rough, windy and late so we got a room for the night and decided to boat down to Nelson Island on Sat. Good decision as the wind calmed down a lot and there was only 5 foot waves instead of 8 - 10 foot wave. Big difference in a 24 foot boat. Once we arrive we unpacked had a nap and then I put together the new Joy wheel. I sat out on the front deck of the cabin in the sun and spun for a few hours. I actually didn't get any pictures of me spinning or the new wheel. The Ashford Joy is a wonderful wheel. It spins just like my Ashford Traditional (which I love) only it can fold this up and stick it in a bag and take it places without it falling apart. I will get some pictures of it later in the week. I love it. Anyone interested in trying it the wheel will be at the store (unless I am on holidays).
After a wonderful night of star gazing and sleeping we went out on the boat to a great pebble beach near our cottage. The place was a farm on Nelson Island for many years and is now open to people to come and enjoy. The first pictures are of pebble beach. I didn't get any pictures of the way to Nelson Island it was too rough. Then pictures of our boat at anchor while we played on the beach. Our daughter in law Lorna was at the Island for the weekend too and she came with us to the pebble beach. This picture is her all dressed in winter coat and scarf on the way home with my husband still in his bathing suit was funny . About 20 minutes earlier her and I were contemplating swimming out to the boat from shore. I am really glad we didn't. It cooled off quick.
We had a nice fire on the beach that night and then the next morning we headed for home. I drove the boat part way home as I would like to learn to handle it better. It was very calm for the trip home. We only saw 2 dolphins on the way home, usually we see lots more.
You can see how much knitting I got done, not much. It was a great weekend. Now I have to get back to work and ready for the retreat.
I also have a bunch of pictures of Gibson's Fiberfest that I will show tomorrow.

Friday, August 29, 2008

Last call for the Retreat

I feel like a bar tender calling Last call but it is just that. We have a few spaces left and would love to fill them. Give us a call if you have been wanting to attend but not sure. We can only book for 1 more week.
Call 250-285-2751 or register on the internet

I got back from Gibsons last weekend and have been too busy to blog. it was amazing. My weaving class with Jane Stafford was awesome. I learned so much. Plain weave is way more exciting than it sounds. Jane is a great teacher and certainly taught me a lot. I would highly recommend any of her courses.
Selling at Gibsons was amazing also. My daughter ran the booth for 2 days and I ran it on Saturday once my course was done. What fun this show was.
I am taking off this weekend for Nelson Island again for a few days of spinning/ knitting/sleeping/ swimming/ boating and real relaxing. I just got in a new Ashford Joy wheel as a demo wheel for the store so I am taking it and a bag of fleece away with me. Can't wait.

Saturday, August 16, 2008

Store hours for Aug 19 - 23

Once again I am going to be away and the store will be closed a few days next week.
Aug 19 - Open 10 am - 4:30pm
Aug 20 - closed
Aug 21- Open 10am - 4:30pm
Aug 22 - closed
Aug 23 - Open 1am - 5 pm

Getting ready to go to Gibson's



This summer is going so quickly. I can't believe it is nearly time for Gibson's Landing Fibre Arts Festival.
I have been working hard labeling yarn and getting everything ready. Tonight a friend was over and we braided a bag of fibre from Sweatermaker. It was fun and hard to resist sitting down and spinning 1 or 2 of these fleeces. They are so beautiful. My niece also helped braid the fibre and she was bitten by the spinning bug. I think she will be a future spinner. She got the feel of spinning pretty quickly and her 1st yarn was not too bad.
I also got in the Noro Silk Garden Sock yarn just in time for Gibson's. It is really nice and soft. It is thicker than the Noro Kureyon sock yarn. Of course I had to cast on a pair of socks. I think I will make a pair in every colour.
I will put this yarn on the internet when I come back from Gibson's

Monday, August 11, 2008

Back from Holidays






We had a great holiday. First we met all our kids at our property on Nelson Island. It was a great weekend. It is so nice to all get together and play. It was a beautiful weather weekend and we spent a lot of time in the ocean swimming. The first picture is all of the kids. The close ones are on the island in front of the property and the far ones are on the big rock on the main property.
The next picture is Meika and I swimming. She can swim really far and fast for a 3 year old. She is taking swimming lesson and she is quite brave in the water.
The 3rd picture is the little island at high tide
4th - Our friend in his boat - the water was an amazing colour. This is low tide
5th - a picture of my oldest son and his friend out sailing.
We really had a great time. I didn't get much knitting done except when we were travelling. It was a busy weekend. We got home late Monday and had to leave again early Tuesday to go to Deafblind camp in Burnaby.
We had a long day of travel on Tuesday as there were HUGE ferry line ups and I forgot to reserve the ferry. It was a hot day too so not too much fun.
We arrived late on Tuesday to camp and settled in. Wed my special needs son went sailing. Now this may sound like quite a normal camp activity but it was really special for us. This is the first time he has ever gone out with someone who didn't know him at all. We weren't allowed to go with him. It seemed so strange to watch him get lowered into the water and go out sailing. He loved it. What a neat program this is. It is to offer special needs people the opportunity to feel free.
1st picture the guys at camp
2nd 3rd and 4th picture Cam
5th picture Meika buried up to her neck at the beach while Cam was out sailing.
The next day we went to the Vancouver Aquarium but I ran out of battery on my camera. We got to see the newborn baby Beluga Whale and so much more. The kids had a great time. We had a big barbecue on Friday night and came home on Sat. the ferry line- ups weren't as bad so it was a better trip home.
Tomorrow the store will be open as usual and all week will be regular hours Tues - Sat 10am - 5pm.
The week of Aug 17- 24 I will be gone again. This time we are going to Gibson's Fibre fest. - more to come on that.

Thursday, July 31, 2008

I am going on holidays

I am going away on 2 different holidays over the next 10 days. The store will have a few days closed so here are the details.
Friday Aug.1 - closed
Sat. Aug 2 - Open - Deb will be working

Tues. Aug 5 - Open - Deb will be working
Wed. Aug. 6 - Open - Mom will be working
Thurs Aug 7 - closed
Friday Aug 8 - closed
Sat. Aug 9 - Open - Deb will be working

So hope nobody desperately needs yarn on Aug 1, 7 and 8.
I am going to my cottage for the long weekend with all of my kids and families. Hope we get good weather.
Then on Tuesday we are going to Deafblind Family camp in Burnaby. this is an annual event for us and we always have a great time.
See you when I get back

Friday, July 18, 2008

The reteat is changing locations


We are changing locations for the Fun Knits Knitting retreat this fall featuring Ann and Eugene Bourgeois of Philosopher's Wool. TsaKwaLuten didn't have enough room for all of us so we are moving the retreat to April Point Resort& Spa still on Quadra Island.
This place is as nice as it sounds. It is in a beautiful location and has great food.
There are a few more bonuses to moving the retreat. If you want to avoid the ferry cost you can park your car at Painter's Lodge in Campbell River and take the free water taxi to April Point. They also have Motor bikes, bicycles and Kayaks for rent.

You only have 1 week left to take advantage of the lower rate of $325. - the rate goes up to $350 after July 25th. We only have double rooms and private rooms left. Double rooms are $40. extra for the weekend and private rooms are $90. extra.
Book soon if you want to come as this retreat is filling up quickly. You can register online or phone the store at 250-285-2751 to register.

Sunday, July 13, 2008

Picnic fun and new weaving loom






The picnic was quite fun. We didn't get too many people out but everyone who came had a great time. They sat at the beach knitting and the kids swam, we ate tons of food, I was spinning and the kids really enjoyed watching that. Astor brought her collection of fun hats and some pattern for people to look at, By the way the hats and pattern will be on display in the store all week.
The youngest knitter to come was 6 years old. She was so cute.
The next news I have - I got a new weaving loom. It is big - I mean really big. It is a Woolhouse Gertrude and it is 5' wide. It takes up a good portion of our bedroom. It took 4 of us 4 hours to set it up last night. It is a really beautiful loom and I will love working on it. It feels so good and sturdy. I plan to make blankets - lots of blankets. Aside from having the yarn shop. I have a huge amount of stash yarn that I have collected over the years. I am going to weave blankets until my stash is gone. I have made a deal with myself that I will only weave from stash until it's all gone.
I am taking a course this summer with Jane Stafford on Perfectly Plain weave so with my little Louet table loom amd my new Woolhouse I should be all set to weave for years.