Tuesday, April 22, 2008

I love Kauni yarn






Ever since the shipment of Kauni came in last week. The colour EL has been haunting me to knit it. It is a wonderful background colour for EQ. It has royal blue to purple to black then back to royal blue. I am making a top down sweater for Meika. This is going to be a little sweater and skirt set for her and I am hoping to get it done for her birthday on June 14th. I think I will make it as I can't put this down. I was quite worried about when the EQ yarn turns to purple and would it look OK, would it have enough contrast etc. Well I am at the purple and I think it is OK. The EL is just starting to turn from black to blue. The next section of EQ will be red so that should look really good with the deep blue. I am thinking the sweater will be long enough when I get to the royal blue and orange again. This is so much fun to knit. I am not sure what to do about the sleeves. I think I will try and match them. They will never match the body as they are knit with much less stitches around so the colour will change differently but I think I will match the sleeves to each other and start at the right colours in the sequence. More to come on that.


As for the skirt I am still thinking about designs for that. I am making it a size 4 so it fits her a while. It isn't exactly a summer outfit after all. Let me know if you like it Megan!!


In other knitting I got the 1st prayer shawl done last week. Thanks to everyone at the retreat that worked on it and added their warm healing thoughs while they knit on it. The recipient was delighted with it. I made it really big and it is more like a blanket. She loves it and curls up in it all the time.


Thursday, April 17, 2008

Philosopher's Wool coming Oct 3-5

Ann and Eugene Bourgeois of Philosopher's Wool are great people that I have admired for some time. I have read their book and really enjoyed it and I love their sweaters. I even try the 2 handed Fair Isle now and then. Well then I had the opprotunity to meet Ann and Eugene at Madrona in Feb. I sat and talked at length with Eugene about knitting and business and lamb's and Quadra Island etc..... The entire time we chatted Eugene knit and it was like we were old friends. Ann was busy talking to my friend and selling yarn kits. I asked Eugene if they would ever consider coming to a Knitting retreat and teaching. He promptly told me they are retired and don't do retreats anymore. We talked some more and then he said is the retreat on your Island. Then we started to make plans. Ann loves to travel and teach but they have slowed down the schedule lately. She was very surprised when Eugene asked her if she wanted to go to Quadra Island and teach at a Knitting retreat. She loved the idea so after a few phone calls and some planning - Ann and Eugene are coming to teach at our Fall Retreat.

I am really looking forward to this. Go read about it and then sign up because this will fill quickly. The price for the entire weekend and workshops is $325 if you sign up before July 25th and $350 after. I also have about 20 spots for those who want to just hang out with us for the weekend and not learn 2 handed Fair Isle. Phone me for details 250-285-2751 -
This is our group banner on Ravelry come and join if you are a member.

Saturday, April 12, 2008

What a gift






Last year at the Spinning and Weaving retreat on Quadra Island I was a vendor and so was Jane Stafford. You may remember this blog entry , during the down time at the retreat for the vendors we sat around and I taught Jane to knit socks. Well she became a great sock knitter. She loves knitting them and yesterday she gave me a pair of socks to thank me for teaching her. Wow - I was impressed. They are creative fun socks a they match my Kauni sweater, I love them Thanks Jane - I will wear them to every show since I wear my Kauni to every show.
Speaking of Kauni I just got my shipment in with lots of EQ and 3 new colours EV, EL and EU. I LOVE the EL and am going to knit something with that for sure. I will have these posted on the website for sale on Tuesday.
Here are some pictures of my booth out at the Retreat this weekend.

Monday, April 07, 2008

Another Retreat is Over












Everyone had a great time. The retreat started on friday after everyone arrived we had a wonderful Salmon dinner. After dinner we met in the great room for introductions and a summary of the weekend. Then we all went to the store and shopped, It was fun. My husband make great snacks and stayed and played his guitar while people shopped. It was a nice evening.


Saturday was workshop day and was quite busy. I sat in on the spinning workshop and tried out a different wheel. I spun some white merino in lace weight. The new spinners all met with the usual frustration of spinning the wheel the wrong way and breaking the yarn etc - - - but they all learned lots and I saw a few skeins of handspun at the end of the day.


In the afternoon I took the dyeing workshop with Judy Maclean. We did 2 water bath dyes - one on bamboo merino and the other on merino nylon.


Then the most fun was to do a microwave hand painted skein. We were all give red, blue, yellow and none of the skeins looked the same. Lots of colour blending and shading going on.


This was really fun and exciting to see the finished results.


After a wonderful chicken dinner we watched Holli Yeoh' presentation. We had a mini fashion show of her garments on 5 cute kids. They really did a good job. Holli's presentation was wonderful and very inspiring. Everyone really enjoyed this.


Sunday morning after a massive breakfast we all waddles downstairs for the Show and tell. What talent. Amazing knitting, just amazing. After everyone had a good look at the garments we had lunch and said Good bye until Oct.


Yes we are having another Retreat in October. I will blog about this in greater detail soon but just make sure to mark Oct 3rd weekend off your calendar.

Friday, April 04, 2008

A Sale you don't want to miss

Here is the list of sale items in the store Sat - April 5 10am - 5pm

10% off everything in the store

25% off all Opal, Online and Regia sock yarn, all Paton's and Sirdar yarn and Emu Superwash DK

50% off Rowan Kid Soft, Colinette Banyan, Bravo Crazy Colour, Cherry Tree Hill Potluck Worsted and Mohair and Valeria de Roma Tona and Garbi

This should help make room for the new inventory coming in.
The retreat is this weekend so you won't hear from me until at least Sunday night. I have the camera packed so should get a few pictures.

Tuesday, April 01, 2008

Look what just arrived

Finally it is here

Fun Weekend


The Sewing and Craft show in Victoria was quite fun. We got down to Victoria on Wed. night and had a relaxing evening then Thursday we set up. Lately I have had 10X20 booths but this show is expensive so I got my usual 10X10 booth. I took enough yarn for a 10 X30 booth and somehow we crammed it all into the booth quite nicely. Raven helped us set up and sell yarn all weekend. She got some great pictures of the set up chaos. She was a great help right to the end. I actually got a picture of the booth this time. It is truly amazing how much yarn we got in this booth and could still move around. I prefer a big booth but this worked. There were times when the booth had about 10-15 shoppers in it too.
I also taught sock knitting at Victoria so with the help of Joan and Mary there are now 26 new sock knitters in the world. It was fun to teach with Joan and Mary we worked really well together and all of the students are now sock knitters. They each turned the heel and were well on their way to the toe before we left.
We pulled down the booth in record time again and went out for dinner. What a nice weekend. This week I will be getting ready for the Knitting Retreat coming this weekend at TsaKwaluten lodge. We still have room available if you have been thinking about coming and just not sure. You have until Thursday to register.
The classes are going to be great but you can just come and knit - enjoy the peaceful surroundings of Quadra Island. Sat night should be really good with Holli Yeoh of Bees Knees Knits. We are having a fashion show with little models for her sweaters and she will be talking about her inspirationand ideas. This should be inspiring.
Friday night we are having a huge blow out sale at the store for the Retreat participants. The sale will continue Sat but it may be picked over well by then.
For everone coming - See you all at the retreat.