New Socks

I have needed new socks for a while, so today I made a pair for myself with the Lorna's laces Watercolour. They turned out nice.

I love the colour. I like the way the colours blend. I think watercolour is a great name for this colour yarn.


Here is my rack of Lorna's Laces yarn. It got a place of honour in the store today.
I put 2 skeins of each colour on the top rack. these are the colours left to right.
Sand Ridge, Flame, Lucky Stripe, Liberty, Fresh Stripe, Pin Stripe, River, Water colour, Vera, Purple Iris, Rainbow, Motherlode, Desert Flower.


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Venting

Warning - Don't read this if you are not in the mood for the rantings of an angry eBay seller.
I have been publically humiliated. I often wondered how I would react if I got a neutral or Heaven forbid Negative rating on my eBay. Well today I checked and I have received a Neutral rating from a customer. I am so insulted I cried(and if any of you know me that takes a lot)I am tough. The comment stated "slow shipping". I mailed this item the day the person paid for it. What more can I do. They paid for it April 6th and it was mailed April 6th. (Item purchased March 31)and I assume they got it yesterday, April 15th. Maybe the customer didn't realize I ship from Canada and it has to go through customs.
Anyways I am insulted. I work really hard to mail items as soon as they are paid for. I have stayed up very late sometimes to get this accomplished. I have got up at 5Am to make sure my mailing is ready as I leave on the 9 am ferry everyday.
Maybe people don't realize how important the rating is to a seller on eBay. I feel like I have a huge black mark against me now, I have some wonderful customers and many are repeat customers. I hope this doesn't affect my business.
On a happier note:
I have decided to knit the Lorna's laces Watercolour socks for myself and I am going to do that right now so I can wear them to the store today. Maybe that will cheer me up. I will post a picture of them when they are done.

Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock Yarn Arrived

I finally got it. I got my box of Lorna's Lace Shepherd Sock Yarn. WOW!!!! is it ever nice. I already have one skein wound and on the knitting machine. when i am done writing this I am going to knit all night. I want to knit a pair of socks in each colour. I got 13 colours. Here is my order

The first thing I am going to make is a baby hat and some baby socks with the Rainbow colour.
The colours I got are
Watercolour
Vera
River
Sand Ridge
Rainbow
Purple Iris
Motherlode
Flames
Desert Flower
Liberty
Fresh Stripe
Lucky Stripe
Pin stripe.
Sorry Brenda they forgot to send the Sherbet that I phoned and asked for.
The store should be fun tomorrow a lot of people have been waiting for this yarn to come in.
Here are the hat and socks I made with the Rainbow Lorna's Laces. I have enough yarn left from the one skein to make a pair of newborn socks too. Guess who this set is for.

The Lorna's lace yarn will cost $10.95 Canadian a skein. It retails in the US for $9.00 so I am glad I can sell it for a bit less. The Canadian equivalent is $11.25 today.
I have shown great restraint tonight by only knitting 1 skein of yarn. I really want a pair of socks from this yarn but can't decide which colour I like best. Maybe tomorrow I will decide. I think I like the watercolur or purple iris.

Well I'm back

I have had a very busy week and now I finally have some time to blog. Thanks for your post Uli and Brenda you made me feel missed. Sometimes I wonder if anyone bothers to read this blog.
I had such a nice week with my daughter. Here is a picture of Megan at her baby shower. Doesn't she look great she is certainly glowing.

I have been really knitting a lot. Don't have many pictures but so far last week I knit this baby sweater
several pair of baby socks and matching hat out of Brazil 5001.
I knit this sweater out of Opal 6py 1126
Here it is minus the buttons.


I am making a matching pair of socks next. I got the sweater and socks out of 1 ball of yarn. Great yardage.
Another item to show. My mom finished her knit along sweater 2 weeks ago and I just got around to posting about it. It is beautiful.

I haven't got much done on my sweater. I am far too busy knitting baby items and items for the Noro pattern book. I think this baby will have enough sweaters for now. The baby is expected in June. Not exactly sweater weather but it is so fun knitting all these little sweaters. Once the baby is born and we know whether its a boy or girl then I will go really crazy with the knitting.
Latter same day

Here is the sweater and socks finished on Ming

It turned out quite small but it sure is cute. can't wait to start posting pictures of our Grandbaby.

The absent Blogger is back

I have had such a busy week I haven't had any time to blog or think. Last Friday we picked up my daughter in Naniamo and she came home for a visit. She is my great little daughter who is going to make us Grandparents in June. So we have been really busy shopping and having fun with her. I will post some pictures tomorrow.
This week we have had 2 dinner parties, a birthday party for my 17 year old son and a Baby Shower for my daughter. Busy, busy, busy.
Tomorrow I should hve time to post some pictures of my knitting this week and about the store.
Had a great day today at the store. Quite busy and as always fun.

Great New yarns

I got in some great new yarns and they are driving me crazy. I have so many projects
on the go now but I want to knit with the new yarns. So instead I am venting in this blog. I am at the store and it is quiet now so all of the yarns are haunting me. Here is what I got in today so you will see why I am being tortured.
Country Silk I got it in Earth, Opal, Hydranga, Loden, Marine and Wine. It is amazing yarn. I got 2 shawl patterns too. Easy Mesh Triangle and the Lotus Blossom Shawl. The Lotus blossom shawl out of the Marine Country Silk is what I really want to knit.
Hemp Yarn in all the colours. It is really nice. Much nicer than I thought
Ecoknits Cotton in all the colours but olive is back ordered. It is so nice. I will definately make a top for myself out of it.
I got in the Sari Silk to try but I don't like it as much as Mango Moon. So I won't carry it.
I also got in some more Sirdar Yoyo.
Anyways I feel better for venting. I am going to knit a hat with the Hemp yarn as I need to show the customers what it is like knit up. Great excuse right.
Will post a picture when done.

Cotton Sale went great

The cotton sale went great yesterday. We were really busy all day and I met lots of new people. There were plenty of tourists on the island for the holiday weekend and lots of knitters. I'm glad they found the store.
Our visitor from farthest away yesterday was from Spain. She was freezing and bought a large cable shawl I had for sale. Here is her picture with her friends.


Carol was in the store picking up some Regia cotton sock yarn and she brought in the most beautiful sweater. This was knit with all good quality wools blended together It is a real work of art -



Brenda came to the store yesterday. We had a lot of fun. She brought in her Clapotis. It is beautiful . I am glad I saw this in person because the pictures don't do this shawl justice. (even the one I took) I think I will make this sometime. She made it out of Super 10 cotton in a jade colour. Really turned out nice. Looks great on and is so soft.


A lady in the store at the time wanted to buy Brenda's shawl from her. It was kind of funny.
I also got a picture of Ming wearing the baby outfit I made for my new Grandbaby if it is a girl. It is knit with Opal Uni and hand dyed yarn held together.

Ming used to have socks but they got bought right off her feet the other day. I can't keep enough baby socks in stock. - Note to myself - Must knit faster. My new grandbaby will need socks too.
Last for the day
Mom finished the knitalong sweater, knit out of Super 10 cotton. It is amazing. Much nicer than the picture looks. Brenda saw it and she is inspired to knit it too. She is making hers in pale yellow cotton.
Mine is still half way up the back. Too many knitting distractions, but now I want to get it finished.
Here is the picture of the first finished knit along sweater. My mom is great at finishing sweaters. I wish I inherieted that trait. I am great at starting them.

I rearranged the store

Well I have had a really busy week. I got 2 huge boxes of yarn in during the week. I had to take some heavy winter yarns out of the store to make room for all the summer yarns. Wow I will never get used to getting bags and bags of yarn. I always get inspired to knit something. So this time the Alessandra Gemma in white and the FFF Jolliet Multi in the colour 8068 were the victims of my knitting addiction.
I knit this scarf

with Gemma and Jolliet



I also got in Sari Cotton


Patagonia a chunky weight cotton. I only got 2 colours of the 5 I ordered. It is beautiful yarn and I got some great patterns to go with it. I also got a bit of Cotton Tie dye. I think I will get more of that it is really nice.


Here is all my fancy yarns I got in

And the best for the last Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool

I can imagine a sweater out of this yarn in my future. It is beautiful.
Here is my last picture for the day. My garden. Spring has really sprung here. If you look close you can see the store behind my garden. That is how close the store is to my house. The dark area just behind that telephone pole.

Tomorrow is my first Spring sale. All the cotton in the store will be 10% off including the New Regia Cotton Sock yarn. This should be fun.

Baby Sweaters

Carol - one of our frequent customers at Fun Knits was in on Saturday and brought in the cutest sweater and hat to show us. It is made from Mission Falls Cotton The pattern is from Mission Falls - Wee Knits Too
Here it is. Carol was too shy to pose with it. Isn't it cute.

I spent the day at the store playing with Opal and deciding which colours match. I got in the Bees Knees
(go to Current Opal Collections then to Children's Sweater patterns) patterns for the store.
I also made up this Easter Opal basket for the window.

Then I started a baby sweater for my new grandchild (due in June) I made this using 2 strands of Opal held together as the pattern called for worsted weight yarn. The tension turned out perfect and I had plenty of yarn for the sweater, hat and a few pair of baby socks. This is the yarn I used Uni Turquoise and the Magic 1051
Well here it is

Here is the pattern. I had to adapt it a bit. I added stitches to the sleeves as they looked too tight. The hat is just knit in the round on 4mm needles, cast on 60 st. and knit. If you want the pattern for it email at shelmack@telus.net . This outfit will fit a newborn. I just need to make the socks and or bootees and it will be done.
I have started another outfit the same in Uni pink and hand dyed yarn and will post it when done.

Regia Cotton Socks matched great

I finished sock 2 and now I am going to try and get a baby pair out of the left over.
The heels and toes matched up good. That is important to me. I know some knitters don't care and some don't match the yarn on purpose but I like to get a perfect match.
Here are the perfect matched pair.

Now I want to make another colour. I think I will make # 4079 This colour looks like a warm sunset. Perfect summer socks.
Back to knitting.

The baby socks are so cute. I am keeping these for my new Grandbaby due in June.

Not much left of that ball of yarn

Regia Cotton is a hit

The new Regia cotton is definately a hit. I sold some yesterday in the store and got more on hold for someone. I put it on eBay today and have a bid already plus lots of interest and questions. I still haven't got around to making the socks I got as far as threading the machine.

I am making a pair with this colour
I spent have spent the last few days knitting a poncho with Noro Silk Garden. I hope they will want this pattern for the new book. It is great. Takes 6 balls of yarn. I am making it one colour on one side and another complimentary colour on the other side so depending on your mood your can wear it either way. So far I like it. When it is done I will show a picture. Should be done soon , it is knitting up quickly. It is knit all in one piece, I hate finishing.
Well anyways I better get at packaging up some parcels to mail tomorrow. Had a good auction end today.

Later same day:
I decided to knit a sock tonight so here it is


Wow is this nice yarn. I usually sell the socks I make but I am keeping this pair. They are so nice. They are really soft and have a good body to the yarn. Tomorrow we will find out how well the yarn matches up. I am too tired to make its mate tonight.

Look what I got today

I went to the mail today and the Regia Cotton Tip and Top Yarn has arrived. It is so new I can't even link to the Diamond yarn site as they don't have it on yet.
It is wonderfully soft and I have to start a pair of sock tonight. I think this is the nicest cotton sock yarn I have ever felt and the colours are amazing. I hope my pictures can do it justice.
Here is the order all over my couch


Here is the close up of the colour samples.

I will be putting this yarn on eBay tomorrow.

I am going to make a pair of socks tonight on my knitting machine so I will post them when done. Now the tough part to decide what colour to knit first!!!
I am always excited to get new yarn in.

Machine Knitters Love yarn

Today was a great day. I opened the store at 10:00am so all the knitters from camp could come and check out the store. Well come they did. All of them. Here is a couple of pictures.

Our store is only 350 sq ft. Hard to beleive it held this many people. We kept the door open so there was enough air in there for all of us.



It was great fun and I must admit my best sales in one day ever. They all loved the store.
One down part of the day, the computer at the store crashed (luckily after all the ladies from camp were done buying). I think it got a virus or something. I will be taking it to the shop on Monday. It just started saying files were missing and pictures were missing. I went to check Norton and it was empty. All my files were empty. I couldn't even turn it off. Luckily I backed up all the store inventory and info. But all my sales records from today are gone. Maybe we burned out the computer ringing in so many purchases in one hour. By 11:30 they were all gone and Mom and i just sat there and said "Wow that was busy."
My sister ran the store today from noon on so I could go back to camp. She had to write receipts the old fashioned way and use a calculator. Embarassing for our high tech store.
I learned so much today. I got the back of a sweater done with lots of help so know I hope I can remember everything to finish the rest of it. I will post a picture of the sweater when (if) finished.
Got no hand knitting done this weekend but lots of machine knitting. The camp is over tomorrow but I am finished tonight. I have to look after the boys tomorrow. I am exhausted so I don't mind. There is only so much information my brain can take in.

Machine Knitters Retreat

I am sure learning a lot at the Machine Knitters retreat. I am learning I have a lot to learn about machine knitting. It is way more complex than hand knitting but it is certainly much faster. I have met a lot of great people and some very talented knitters. Tomorrow we are going to open the store 2 hours early for the machine knitters. Should be a lot of fun. There are 30 knitters at the camp and my store is 300 sq. feet. I will try and get some pictures. I will let you know how it goes tomorrow night.

Yarn reps visited today

Today was fun at the store. Gary and Stephanie the yarn reps for Diamond and Nova Yarns came.


You can't imagine how much fun it is to look at all the new yarns. I ordered lots of new yarn, Here are some of the new yarns to come into the store and maybe on the eBay store.
Alessandra Gemma
Elizabeth Lavold Silky Wool in colours 11,12,14, 16,001 and 010. I am getting some great Elizabeth Lavold pattern books too.
FFF Karnak in colours 3008,3004, 3032 and 3034
Isis colours 815,814,825,818
Jolliet Multi colours 8083, 8061 and 8068
And I got lots of great cotton yarns and some Supersocks in solid colour and colours.
Too much to list. Now I need a bigger store.
I didn't get much knitting done today. I got the baby vest done in Noro Silk Garden done. It is so cute. It is for the new pattern book.
I also worked on the Silk Garden Spiral socks, hope to get them finished tomorrow.

My Knit along top grew a few inches today too.
I am going to be really busy for the next few days. I am going to Machine Knitters Retreat here on Quadra Island. It starts tomorrow night. So now I have to go pack up my machine and get ready.
I got in the Opal Rodeo today but probably won't get it on the eBay store until next week. I am just way too busy. Sorry for the delay but believe me it is worth the wait.
The Rodeo is wonderful. I wish I could knit a pair of socks in each colour.

Done a few inches on the Knit along top

Here are the pictures of how much I have done on the Knit along top It is really nice to knit. I am enjoying knitting with cotton for a change.

Here is a close up shot. It is a really pretty pattern


I like the colour a lot.
I need to put that aside for a few days and work on my Noro projects. So back to wool. Can't complain Noro is amazing wool and fun to knit with.

Marnie the Star of the day

Marnie came into the store today to show me her newly finished Mango Moon Klaralund sweater. She did a wonderful job on the sweater and in record time. WOW!! it is gorgeous. I had to run home and get the camera. See for yourself.
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In the background is Ming our store doll she is dress in her new Sirdar YoYo sweater and her Mango Moon hat. I just couldn't crop her out of the picture she is too cute.
As always it was a great day in the store. My sister Judy was over today and learning how to run the store. She is going to take over next Saturday. She did a great job and anyone who comes in the store next week can meet her. Judy loves knitting scarves and she enjoyed all the possibilities of combining the yarns all day. She showed great restraint and only went home with 3 balls of yarn.
My Mom and I are going to Machine Knitters camp next weekend. I am lucky I don't have to leave home for camp it is right on Quadra Island at Camp Homewood. I went last year too and learned so much. This year I hope to learn lots too.
We have new yarn coming in next week. Opal Rodeo will be here early in the week. Watch for it on my EBay auction On my Knit along top I got about 3" knit. I will show a picture tomorrow. It is really nice.

I started the Knit along

Well I finally got the little carioca baby vest off the needles so I can start the knit along top. Here is a picture of the baby vest. It is nearly done. Just needs the armholes done and sewn up.It turned out really nice. That yarn is so soft. Hopefully I will finish it tomorrow.
I wanted to use my new addi turbo needles to knit the cotton top. I knit a swatch and my tension is fine on 4mm needles. I am knitting the top with Estelle Royal 100% mecerized cotton in sky blue.
I finally got the top cast on and then it was time to close the store and go home.

Today was a great day in the store. Lots of customers were in. Karen's daughter is having a baby in June also so we have a lot in common. She is very busily makimg baby sweaters too.

Here is a picture of her cute hooded sweater made with Opal Sweater yarn. That is the most popular colour and I can't keep it in stock. hope to get more soon.

A Fun Day at the Store

Yesterday was such a fun day at the store. Brenda and a friend came over. They seemed to enjoy themselves. We sure enjoyed their visit. Brenda brought over her Garter Stitch Jacket back from Fleece Artist, wow is it soft. I tried to get their yarns in the store but they are so back ordered I can't get any until the fall. Mom and I were both in the store yesterday and we were both busy all day. Lots of customers were in. Marnie a Quadra knitter was in and she is nearly finished her Mango Moon sweater. I will post a picture of her wearing it when she is done. It looks great. I finished the hooded sweater with the Sirdar Yoyo on Friday and I sold while I was waiting for the ferry on Friday. I didn't even get a picture of it. I had enough yarn left over to make a baby sweater.
I needed to have something to show just how nice this yarn is. I love it. Sold some yesterday at the store.
I worked on my Noro Silk Garden socks for the new pattern book. I am keeping these socks once they are done getting their picture taken for the book. They are so warm and nice, I got 1 sock out of 1 ball of yarn. I hope to finish the second one today. Then I have to get back to baby sweater knitting for my new Grandbaby due in June. I am knitting a pink and a blue outfit just in case. I can always sell the outfit the baby won't need.
Today is really foggy here. A perfect day to nestle in and knit.

Great News

A few of my patterns have been selected to go in a new Noro Pattern book. I am really excited about this. My Noro Transitions sweater , my Noro Hat patterns and a a couple of sock patterns and a baby vest. I was really excited about this. The book is coming out later this year. They also want me to design a few items using alpalca for a different book coming out in 2006. This should be fun.
The store was great yesterday. So much fun you can't call it work. I have a lot of interest for the knit along so I figure we will start March 1. The top is a fairly easy lace pattern. My Mom is working on it now and she said once you get past the first few rows the pattern makes sense. I haven't tried it yet but I am going to do the Knit along. I am going to make it in Super 10 but I haven't decided the colour yet.
I have had a lot of interest in the Sock Yarn Afghan contest too so get your squares in. Mine is lonely. They are easy to make. Done in one good movie.

Sock Yarn Afghan Contest

This should be fun.
I am going to start a contest and the prize is an afghan. To enter the contest you must make a square for the afghan. The squares must be made with sock yarn. Great for using up leftovers. Here is what the finishedsquare looks like. The pattern is simple I will write it here and I will post on the yahoo forum. I will put it on my web site soon too.

Square measured 7 1/2" Knit on 5 dp 2.75mm needles
I used 13 grams of Opal Brazil 5003

Cast on 12 stitches - 3 on each of the 4 needles
Round 1: Knit one round plain
Round 2: - Knit1 (K1) yarn over (yo) K1 on the first needle, repeat on the next 3 needles
Round 3: and every alternate round Knit
Round 4: K2 YO K1 YO K2 repeat this on all four needles
Round 6: K3 YO K1 YO K3 repeat this on all four needles

Keeping this pattern you will have 1 more stitch on each needle before and after the YO K1 YO.
until 19 stitches are before and after the increase. Work this round
Now you have 20 stitches between the K1 stitch
Knit last round - Cast off loosely. Block your square. Hopefully it measures 71/2" but if it doesn't don't worry. You don't need to sew in the ends. Attach your name, address and email to the square and mail it to:

Fun Knits
Box 521
Quathiaski Cove, B.C.
V0P 1N0

You can enter as many squares as you want. The more you enter the more chance you have of winning.

Spring Knit Along Information

I have just started a group for Fun Knits knitter on Yahoo.
Join up if you are interested. Our Spring Knit-Along will be fun.

Yesterday I got a box full of yarn for the store. I got some Plymouth Stone Cotton in colours 207 Natural, 202 Sky Blue Tweed, 211 Lilac Tweed, 257 Adobe Tweed, 252 Grey Tweed, 288 Maple Tweed, 289 Indigo Tweed.
The 288 is my favourite.
I also got Sirdar Yoyo. I am putting this yarn on eBay later today. It will also be available in the store. I don't expect this yarn to last long. Is it ever nice. I am making hooded sweater for a 12 year old out of the purple right now. I love this stuff. It feels like a cosy light weight terry material when knit up. The colour flows into the next shade very slowly and looks great. I have the sweater nearly done (all but the hood) and I still have enough for a hat and scarf set left. 880 meters in one ball of yarn. Quite impressive.
I also got in 2 colours of Noro Transitions in colours 2 and 6. These are available at my eBay store
Also this week on auction I will have Regia Silk sock yarn, Bernat matrix, Online Flair and Kertzer Sari and Ranee. The last 3 are great for making spring scarves with.

I am still here

HI
I am still here for anyone who reads this. I just got a new computer last week and it is taking a while to find all my old sites. I have been really busy with the store. Saturday was good day as all days in the store are. The sun was shining and it was wonderful. I got all the hand dyed yarn labelled and in the store. I will post pictures tonight. I got all my Super 10 cotton out too. That is such nice yarn I am thinking of making a top out of it. I found a nice sleeveless top pattern at Estelle

Is anyone interested in a knit along!!!

Mango Moon is a good seller

The store was really fun yesterday. Very busy most of the day. The Mango Moon was the big seller today. I had 24 skeins and am now down to 8 so if you want any come on Wednesday. I took a before and after picture. It also shows our Valentine window display.


In the window you can also see my bucket of Sari and Ranee, I spent all day looking at that and just had to start a scarf. Such nice colours.
This scarf is knit on the diagonal with Sari, Ranee and Estelle Shimmer. Very fun to knit.

And finally here is my neglected baby vest back that I hope to get done by Wed. made with the Carioca

Mango moon hat and scarf

Here are some pictures of the Mango Moon. I crocheted a scarf using the Mango Moon silk and the pash mohair in red colour. It really is a nice soft lace weight mohair. The hat is made using just the silk. I only used 1 skein of yarn for the hat and scarf. I ran out of yarn before the end of the hat so I used some Noro Kujaku for the top of the hat. It looks OK.



I got a shipment of yarn today. It is really nice stuff. I got Super 10 in 12 colours. The colours are fabulous and this yarn is so nice. I have to make something with it. I also got some great ribbon yarn from SRK Collection Sari
and I got Ranee
I got colours 06, 12, 603 and 80 in both yarns. They are wonderful. I can't wait to knit a sample scarf for the store.
I also got my magazines in today. I am going to carry Interweave, Knits, Knitters, Spin Off and Handwoven. It was fun unpacking all of that.
I fixed up the store front window in red and white for valentines day. I will get a picture tomorrow. As usual I forgot the camera at home.

The Mango Moon arrived

I went to get the mail today and there was the parcel from Mango Moon. WOW is it ever nice. So far today I have made a crochet scarf and a hat. It will be on sale in the store on Sat.
The store was very busy yesterday. Lots of sock knitters where in. I think the word is getting around that we have a great selection of sock yarn. It was a fun day.
Tomorrow I will show pictures of the Mango Moon Silk and the Pashmohair. My batteries died on my camera so I have to recharge them overnight.