The surprise yarn arrived

My favourite yarn has arrived.
My yarn tree in the store needed new decorations so I bought some Colinette Giotto and Isis for it.
It looks fabulous. This pictures doesn't do it justice at all

The colours are great and sadly one of the skiens of yarn was a little messy so I had to buy it, then I had to but its partner to make a store sample(My new excuse to buy yarn).
I have at least 3 scarves on needles right now(all store samples)

but reason didn't prevail and I started a colinette shawl. The colours are amazing together.
I am knitting it 2 rows Giotto and 2 rows Isis. It is growing very quickly.
The store was fun today. I totally rearranged the store. I got a big new revolving rack that hold an amazing amount of yarn so I filled it up. I forgot to get a picture of it in my Colinette excitement.
Yesterday I also got a sample of some Llama sock yarn from a friend. She is sending me some for in the store. The colours are rich and natural and the yarn is very soft. It is blended with merino wool and the bottom white on the swatch is blended with Angora. It is amazing yarn and the socks it makes are super nice. I am going to make myself a pair of Angora llama socks once it comes. I can't wait.They need to be knit with reinforcing yarn for the heels and toes.

Off to knit more on the shawl.

Back from camp

We are back from camp and it will take at least a week to unpack. It is amazing the amount of stuff you need to take when you have a child with special needs. Its a good thing we have a big van. Anyways we had a good time. There was a lot going on for all of us and it was great to see some old friends and meet some new families. We also got to see Megan and Meika. Here is a picture of them in their Harley shirts
She is growing up so quickly and she is so much fun to play with.
We were able to visit with all our kids but for some reason only got pictures of Meika.
I got a bit of knitting done while I was away. I am knitting a sweater for a customer using ecoknits cotton. I will post the picture when it is done.
Yesterday was very busy at the store. Gary and Stephanie the Reps. from Diamond and Nova yarns came to see us with all their suitcases full of yarn.
Wow that is fun. Talk about getting yarn overload.
I ordered lots of yarn and new patterns for the store.
One thing I am excited about is the new sock yarns. Regia has a new line of yarn called the Canadian Fashion series
Sorry the colour samples are so little but it is the only one I can find.
The other sock yarn I ordered was the Online Sierra I have been waiting for this yarn to reappear. It is really nice so I am glad I can order it again. I also ordered the Online Caribbean Collection
These colours are great and I can't wait to knit some of these socks.
I also orderd lots of scarf yarn,. pictures to follow.
The new Noro Silver thaw

I ordered all the colours and enough to make a sweater for myself out of #3 colour. I love this yarn. It is sooooooooooo soft.
I also ordered a few other yarns from Schachenmayr, Rosato in colours 52, 35, 33, 72, 01 and 52. This is very soft yarn and would make a lovely substitute for angora.
Sportic in a few colours,
52, 53, 31, 33, 70, 71,12, 10.
This yarn is very nice bulky yarn and should be fun to make up some patterns for.
I also got a new Baby yarn - Baby Bravo Soft in great bright colours.
Now I need a bigger store or more creative shelf packing methods. Any ideas are welcome.
Did I mention I ordered lots of pattern too.
Now I can't wait for it all to come.
I also ordered one surprise that I will post a picture of when it comes.

Pictures

Here are the pictures I promised.
First is Meika wearing her Opal Rainforest Tiger hat. I used the pattern on my web site to make it.

Meika is now 2 months old and weighs over 12lbs. She is one healthy happy girl. We are going to Vancouver to Family camp later today so I get to see her again. Can't wait to hold her and play with her.
Here are the pictures of the shawl kits and shawls i purchased on the trip.
Sweatermaker Large Shawl is made of 3 yarns all hand dyed and hand spun- 100% Wool, Silk and wool 50-50% and loopy mohair.

Sweatermaker Small Shawl is made of 3 yarns all hand dyed and hand spun- Mohair, Silk and wool 50-50% and loopy mohair.

Here are the kits. Her colours are amazing

I also bought a load of her hand dyed, hand spun pure wool. It is so soft. I knit a hat as a sample and will show that next time. My camera was full so missed that picture. The yarn and the colours are amazing.
Here are my bags of alpaca I came home with

These were heaping bags but I sold some before I got this picture. One of the neat features of this yarn besides the quality and softness is that each skein has a tag that says who's yarn is in the batch. The picture I have isn't too clear but it shows tha Alpaca's picture and their name.


I will be back on Friday. Anyone needing help or questions answered I will have access to a computer so will be able to contact you. If you haven't paid for the yarn from last weeks auction it will be sent next Monday. If you have paid it will be in today's mail and you will be notified.
Better go and get packing.

What a week

My husband and I went on a mini holiday this week. We left Tuesday morning and came back Friday night. That doesn't sound like a big deal to most people but when you work in the field we are in this is a big deal. It is quite complex to get a break from home when you look after special needs people. The week went great. I call it a week as it sounds better than a few days. We decided to go to Victoria and stop at all the yarn stores on Vancouver Island along way. First we went to Uptown Yarns in Courtenay. It is a nice store with lots of great yarn. I got lots of ideas from their store. I was interested in the Sweatermaker brand of yarn hand spun and dyed by a local fiber artist so I got her name from them.
Then we drove to Victoria. We didn't stop at the Naniamo stores as I have been there before. The next day we went to Beehive Yarn store. Well they have every yarn I have ever heard of and plenty I have never heard of before. It was there I was able to make a comparison between Fleece Artist, Handmaiden and Sweatermaker yarn. I was impressed at the quality of the 3 yarns and the Sweatermaker was as nice as the previous yarns so I vowed to get in touch with the supplier.
I arranged to meet her on our trip home.
The next day we went to Salt Spring Island and saw the store there. Then we went to the St' Marys Alpaca farm and bought some fabulous alpaca for the store. This is wonderful yarn. Sadly to say I am very allergic to alpaca and spent the rest of the day itchy and watery. I actually had to get medication to settle it down. What a shame as I love alpaca. Mom is knitting some samples for the store with it as I think it would kill me to knit with it.
We spent the rest of the day just being tourists.
Our last day was the busiest. We went to Sideny and saw 2 yarn stores. They were both great and I got many more ideas for my store. On the way home we stopped at the Loom in Duncan. It is loaded with yarn. The next stop was Courtenay again and a visit with the Sweatermaker yarn owner. What fun that was. I love her yarn and came home with a Van full of it. I will post pictures tomorrow. I m too tired tonight.
This trip was wonderful. My husband and I had a great time and he is the best. When he got bored with the yarn store he just amused himself somewhere else. He works with leather and he always managed to find a leather store near a yarn store so that was convenient.
When we went on this trip I really wanted to see how my new store compared to other stores and I came home feeling really good about the Fun Knits Yarn Shop. I got great ideas to use and a few new lines of yarn for the store. A very succesful trip plus we went out for dinner every night, went to the IMAX theatre and to the show one night. I actually got to sleep late a few mornings (a real treat).
I will post pitures tomorrow of the new yarn and also Meika in the Opal Tiger hat.

Going on a mini holiday

I am going on a holiday for a few days. My husband and I have a few days off so we are going to Victoria. I plan to go look at the big yarns shops down there and get some ideas for the store. I also plan to not plan and just go with whatever happens. I really need a break and this will be a perfect mini holiday. I will bring some knitting as we will have lots of time in the car. Mom is going to run the store on Wed. and I will be back on Friday to take care of the eBay auction and be here for the market and store on Sat.
The next week we are going to a Family camp in Burnaby for a week. We take the kids every year and it is great. It is a camp for families with deafblind children. That makes it sound bleak but it is really great fun. It is neat to be with families that have the same challenges and share stories and fun.
So I probably won't blog too much in the next few weeks.

NO pictures today

I was so busy yesterday I didn't have time to get any pictures. The store was just hopping busy and I was running around all day. The Wed. afternoon knitters came and had a good time knitting. Carol is working on socks, Ginny was busy making tension swatches for a Noro sweater, Carie was working on her hooded sweater for a new grandson and Marnie was so excited because she just bought a new house that she forgot to bring any knitting. We remedied that quickly and I got her some of my leftovers for her to knit an end to end scarf. Mom and I both had knitting with us but didn't knit a stitch.
The funny part of the day was last evening a couple of young girls rode up on their bikes. Shelby a 13 year old knitter has been working on a Boa scarf. She is doing very well but had dropped a stitch. When she pulled it out of the bag the yarn was so hopelessly tangled I couldn't beleive it.
We found the stitch and fixed that, then started to work on this tangle.
What a mess. We found the other end of the yarn and started to untangle it. She went home with it half untangle and the rest was for her and her friend to finish. I'll bet they are still working on it. I really enjoy the kids that knit. Shelby's friend wants to learn to knit too so hopefully she will start soon. I figure anyone who declares they want to learn to knit while in a mess like that Boa tangle must be sincere. Today I need to knit sock, I have 4 orders and am out of adult socks for the market again.

A good reason for not blogging

I have a good reason for not blogging all week. Look who came to visit.
Megan and Meika. My 2 pretty girls.


Meika is now 7 weeks old and she is so much fun. She is starting to smile and get playful so I have got nothing done this week except play with Meika.
Here is a picture of her smiling. She is so cute. She is a really good baby and sleeps about 5 - 6 hours at night now. She is mostly happy but when she fusses wow can she scream.

Now down to business. I have got no real knitting done this week. The little Opal Batik and 6 ply sweater just needs a front and then it is done. I got a few scarves done as store samples (good excuse to play with new yarn).

The store has been really busy, Wednesday was great fun. A lot of local knitters were in and I got some pictures of what a few of them are knitting.
Ginny is new to sock knitting and this is her first sock finished and the second well on it way to done. Good going Ginny

Carol is working on a hood sweater for her grandchild. She is working on the front. The basket in the picture was hand made by her friend. Carol uses it as her knitting basket. It is really nice.

As we sat at the table knitting Marnie was working on a scarf with Baby Monkey and Austerman Spot. She finished her scarf as we sat and chat so I took a picture of her and the scarf with the ends not sewn in yet.

Yesterday at the store was pretty slow. The weather is great and I think everyone was at the beach swimming. The market was very busy for the morning but slowed down in the afternoon.
We are going to the beach later, my neice Jessie is still here so we will take her for a swim.