Opal Sock Yarn Contest for Canadains

Opal Yarn distributor in Canada is having a draw Jan. 31, 2006 and the prize is Opal sock yarn. This contest is open only to Canadian residents. Sorry all non Canadians who read this blog.
1st prize is 3 balls mixed Opal
2nd prize is 2 balls Cotton Opal
3rd prize is 2 balls Opal 6ply
To enter simply send a picture of your favourite Opal socks and you information (name, phone#, email address) to
info@ladybugyarns.ca
or mail to: Iquitos Fine Fibes
Box 205
Wilcox , Sask S0G 5E0
The draw will be held Feb.1, 2006
Good Luck to all who enter.
Your picture will be posted under "Opal Sock Knitters" on the Ladybug website.

Quadra's Shy Guy Knitter

We have a very shy knitter on Quadra. He loves to knit and does a great job. He came in just before Christmas and bought yarn to make this sweater. Actually he was going to make a small sweater but changed his mind and went for a bigger one. This is knit with Opal 6ply and Patons Astra for the solid, no pattern he just started knitting. Yesterday he bought yarn to make his first Aran knit sweater. He has never knit cables before but loves them. I showed him the basics of cables and I'll bet he back in a week or 2 with sweater 2 done.

He is very shy that he is a male knitter. We wil help him get over that. He is teaching his wife to knit and she is making scarves. They make a great knitting team.

See how relaxing yarn can be

The first night of knitting class I always show different weights of yarn and different fibers so the beginners get an idea of what the names are (worsted, fingering etc)and the difference in the feel of the wools,acrylics and silk etc. Last night after I was done teaching and going to put the yarn away, Spot decided the yarn looked really cozy. This picture is blurry as my batteries died right after I took it but I thought it was cute and worth posting. Spot is a wild cat who we started feeding about 1 year ago. We couldn't even pet him at first and any noise would scare him but now he is quite relaxed at our house, even bold enough to sleep with yarn in the middle of the table.

I am still working on the twisted float shrug, I am 1/2 done 1 sleeve.

My friend Uli sent me an email this morning introducing her new son Jonathan. He is so sweet. Just a little peanut, hope she made him some tiny sweaters. Congratulations to Uli and family. Doesn't she look great for just delivering a baby.

Socks for me

This is the first time I have ever hand knit socks for myself, believe it or not. I have hand knit many socks but always gave them to someone else. They are so comfy and warm. I hope they wear well. The brown ones are Cherry Tree Hill colour Java and the ones on the needles are Opal 6ply. They are going to be really warm.

I also have the back done and one sleeve started on the Twisted Float shrug. Here is the back before I started the sleeeve, you can see where the sleeves go by my wool holding the sleeve stitches. I love the colours. This is made with Lorna's Laces Shepherd Worsted in Watercolour and Charcoal and the trim is Grace in Blackberry. You can't even imagine how soft this yarn is. I hope to get this done this week so I will show a finished picture soon.

Fun Knits 1st Birthday Party

We had a great 1st Birthday celebration for the Fun Knits Yarn Shop. We decorated the store with balloons and had a great cake. Mother nature smiled on us too and we had the first nice day we have had in at least a month. It was actually sunny out.

I am holding the cake and hoping it doesn't slde off the tray onto the floor in this picture.

I think all of the Quadra Knitters came into the store. It was the busiest day we have ever had and the most fun. We even had a few visitors from Campbell River. Here is a picture of a few Quada knitters This was taken just before we got into the cake. Notice Marnie is wearing her Mango moon sweater.


Here is a picture of Ming holding a birthday balloon. She has been the store mascot for a year now and she is always getting a new knit outfit to model. Since Meika was born she has competition, Meika is getting the better outfits but soon Ming will get Meika hand me downs as she outgrows them. She looks happy with her balloon. Notice she is wearing a pair of Opal Ladybug socks.


This is what the cake looked like after all the hungry knitters were done with it. It was a really good cake by all reports. I don't eat sugar so I didn't taste it but it sure smelled good all day.


It was a very fun day and we had lots of sales. Mom came over to help me at the store and I am sure glad she did.  Thanks to everyone  who came to the store and all the well wishers from a far, you made our first Birthday bash a great success.

Fun Knits Birthday Bash

On Saturday Jan. 14th we are having Fun Knits 1st birthday party. I guess it is actually and Anniversary party but Birthday sounds more fun. We are having an instore sale of 15% off all yarn. So for all the local customers this is a good day to stock up on yarn for the winter.
We are going to have a nice cake and lots of fun. Hope you can come.

It has been a great first year. Business has been great and I have met all kinds of wonderful knitters. I have learned a huge amount about running a business. I have a wonderful accountant. She makes sense of all my paper work. All I have to do is keep it and hand it to her, its a wonderful arrangement. I just handed her a pile tonight, a great feeling.
I have really enjoyed my first year at the store and know we will have many more. So come and help us celebrate if you can.
If you are far away and can't come, then wish us Happy Birthday in the comment section and where you are from. We will write a list of our well wishers for everyone to see and then you will be there in thought.
Thanks Everyone for a great first year.

I will be away for a few days

I have to go down to Vancouver today and will be back Tuesday. For anyone buying from eBay I will send you an invoice when I get back, I will also answer and questions when I get back.

Basket of Sweatermaker

In my last post I mentioned Megan and I went to Courtenay to visit Judy McLean and buy some more sweatermaker yarn. Well here is my basket full of sweatermaker bulky yarn. I love the array of colours so I thought I would share it with you. Megan and Meika went home yesterday and it is so quiet around here. I have been singing Ba ba black sheep to Meika and she loves it and the song is stuck in my head. It is am appropriate song for me to sing except we change it to 300 bags full instead of 3 bags full of wool. 

Here is a picture of Marnie wearing a sweater made with Sweatermaker yarn, looks great on her and holding her latest finished project. This is a baby sweater she made with Bravo Crazy colour. It is very cute. It is this Bernat pattern. I made this pattern with the Opal 6ply for Meika and it turned out perfect. 

Here is the close up. She made the buttons on Christmas eve out of Fimo. I think they look great. I love the colour. Great job Marnie.

Meet Dianna, she is our newest knitter. She lives in Northern California but lives part time on Quadra Island. She live 2 doors from the yarn shop and decided to learn to knit just before Christmas. She wanted to knit some scarves for presents. She learned that quickly and she is modelling her nearly finished scarf. She has finished several since she learned to knit. She also wants to knit socks, so we took a few minutes on Wed night and she learned how to purl and how to knit on double pointed needles. She went home yesterday so I hope she can find a knitter to help her with the heel.


I posted the Opal Dreamcatcher and the Opal Rainforest in the Fun Knits EBay Store so if you want it they are listed under Opal yarns. The Dreamcatcher colours are great. I can see a few pair of those in my future.

How cute is this

Megan and I made Meika a new outfit and she is trying it on . The hat and Toe Kozies are made with Sweatermaker yarn and trimmed with pink Baby Monkey and the scarf is made with Baby monkey. She hates the hat but loves the scarf. She is so quick getting the hat off we had to be very quick getting the picture.

I love bare baby pictures so Meika happily posed for a few.

We put clothes on her to take her out in her new outfit.

On the knitting front we made a trip to Courtenay today and bought some more Sweatermaker yarn for the store. I love her yarn. I love the way she spins the colours together. 

Also this week I am getting a new shipment of Opal Rainforest and the new Dreamcatcher. I have list the Rainforest Collection again as a buy it now item. I will list the Dreamcatcher later in the week.

Highlights of 2005

Well I sure had a great year. Looking back it was probably one of my best years. My special needs boy was very healthy ( I can say that now that the year is over and not jinx him). He learned to walk with help and made great progress. He was only in hospital twice ( a record I think) so lets hope 2006 is at least that good.

I had 2 huge highlights in my life this year. Jan. 15th I opened Fun Knits Yarn Shop. This has been very fun. I just finished doing inventory and I still think the store is fun so that is a good sign. Things I have learned in my first year of business.

Always do the paper work right away, I am a hopeless yarn addict ( worse than I originally thought), I am in good company. There are a lot of yarn addicts out there and they are all great people and last but not least there is always room in a 300 sq. foot store for more yarn. I don't have any yarn hanging from the ceiling yet.

Some of my favourite times at the store -getting in new yarn and  knitting outside on nice summer days with Mom and some friends, knitting inside on rainy days with more friends.

I want to thank my Mom and Dad for all of the help and hard work. From unpacking a zillion boxes to ticketing and stocking the shelves when we were getting ready to open, to counting the inventory with me a year later. My Mom works every Wed in the store and while my Mom does the store my Dad works in my yard, he loves to garden and he keeps my yard looking great. They are a huge help and thank you doesn't seem adequate.

I want to thank all my great customers both  in store and eBay - without you I wouldn't have a yarn store. I have made some great knitting friends this year.

The next highlight of my year was June 14th - the birth of my first Grandchild, Meika Layne Shaflik. Well words just can't describe how special she is. After 24 hours of hard labour Meika was born. I was there to hold her right away. It was very rough to see my daughter in labour but very worth being there. We stayed in Vancouver for a few days after she was born to help out and that was great. Since her birth I have had lots of time with her. Megan has come to visit lots and thanks to Instant messenger I see her nearly everyday when she isn't visiting. I have had a lot of fun knitting for Meika, this is my favourite sweater I made her. It is made with Noro Silk Garden out of one of the Noro books. It will fit her a while. I have lots of other knitting plans for her. I have a Baby Bravo sweater in the works that I need to finish soon so it isn't too small before I get it done.

Another higlight of this year was the exclusive colours that Lorna's Laces made for the store. I love both the colours. The Blue one is called Quadra Island  and the brown on is called Fun Knits. I love Lorna's Laces yarn. It is such amazing quality.

As for my knitting I have a lot of projects on the go as always. The most fun one right now is the Twisted Float Shrug that I am knitting for someone. It is really nice and I hope to get it done in a week or 2. I will post a finished picture. It isn't easy to photograph on the needles as it is so bunched up.

I have the Batik shawl 90% done and should get it done soon too. The Baby Bravo sweater is 1/2 done. I got a lot of knitting done but mostly for customers, Meika and lots of store samples.

My hopes for 2006 are to have a happy healthy New year for all my family and friends and lots of great knitting projects finished.

Had a wonderful Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas. All of the relatives came (not all at the same time). We went to church, we opened presents all day, had a wonderful turkey dinner and more goodies than I would ever admit to. It was wonderful. One of the best parts of the day is I held and played with Meika all day. She didn't want to get passed around too much. She was picky who held her. She came to me and her other Nana, Mom and Dad and my sister, she had a wonderful nap on the couch with my husband. Once the big crowd of relatives came in the evening she only want me or her Mom and Dad, so I got her all evening. She had a great bath in the kitchen sink with about 12 people all enjoying how cute she was, She got new rubber duckies and we all swear she said duck and bath. She splashed up the whole kitchen counter and the floor.
You should see the mess of my house today. It is totalled (except for the few square feet that came clean with Meiks's bath). The house looks like a very fun family of 30* decended on it. They are all sleeping and it is peaceful in here right now. I think I will go and knit. We can tackle the mess when they all get up.
I will post some pictures when I find the camera.
Merry Christmas to all who read this -1 day late.

Christmas Countdown

All of our presents are bought and some wrapped. That will be one of todays jobs. I have all 12 of the little hats done. I hope to get a picture of the children wearing them and when I do I will post it. I have only 2 scarves left to knit. This will be easy as they are on big needles. I saved the best scarf for the last. It is going to made with Colinette Isis and Giotto. I did that on purpose because I am really sick of knitting hats and scarves. If I have time I will make a few pair of socks on my machine tonight (but I doubt it)
I have done no baking, the tree is only half decorated. All of our visitors are arriving tomorrow (yikes when I put that into words it becomes a reality) I am not ready. For Christmas we are having my daughter, her husband and of course Meika. My son and his wife and Meika's other Grandma and Grandpa.
My Mom and Dad, sister, brother and his family will all come over Christmas day (Yes I have a large house) We decided that since it was Meika's first Christmas and no one wanted to miss that we would all get together. Then there is my husbands side of the family who will all come at some time during the day. They all live on Quadra, in total they are 14, plus 7 other guest visiting. So the total visitors we are expecting is 34. Do you think that sounds fun, Well I sure do.

We have lots of food, lots of gifts and lots of love to share, so who cares if there is no home baking or socks for everyone.

Yes I am still here

For anyone who reads this blog when I disappear for a few days I am either on holidays (not Likely) or in hospital with my special needs son. It was the latter. I took him in very early Friday morning and he was admitted. He had pneumonia. That isn't something he normally gets. He was quite sick. He had a few days of IV antibiotics and now we are home. He is a lot better and now we can get ready for Christmas.
I got a fair bit of knitting done in the hospital. I got 4 scarves knit and I am on hat #12. I haven't got any socks knit and I think I will just forget that. They can come after Christmas. Yesterday I had to catch up on my sleep (you don't get much while in Hospital) and today I have to clean my house and wrap presents. I would rather knit. I have the store this afternoon so maybe I can finish the hats tonight.
You would think I would get a lot of knitting done while I am at the store but I am lucky to get 2-3 rows knit ever. It is busy usually and I am glad for that.
I have 2 scarves left to knit but they will be quick.
Tomorrow we are going to Naniamo to last minute Christmas shop. I will get lots of knitting done on the trip too. I am looking forward to that.

Yes today is my Birthday

Thanks Brenda for the nice birthday greeting. I had a very nice birthday. I talked to all of my family, had happy birthday sang 5 times and my husband made me my favourite dinner and he made me a sugar free chocolate cake from scratch (now that is true love)

I had a great day at the store tonight. I had a few minutes of panic as I couldn't find my knitting anywhere. I put it down when a customer came in and when she left I couldn't find it anywhere. It is one of the Christmas hats for the kids. I have 6 done and need to do 6 more so it is my main knitting these days. So loosing one wasn't an option.. I laughed when I found it nicely nestled in with the scarf yarn in a big bin. See why it was hard to find.


Do you remember Deb, she is one of the beginner knitters   (actually I think she is closer to pro now), She started a few weeks ago and she has definately caught the knitting bug.She is wearing her first knit item, her chunky knit vest. She followed the pattern sort of and then added some of her own touches. She has also knit 4 scarves, 3 hats and has started another vest in Mango moon and Pash mohair. It is amazing. I put a close up of that below. It is so soft and the colours so rich. Good going Deb. I am sure we will see lts more of her knitting.

Mango Moon vest

I am knitting like crazy when I can keep track of my knitting. I also knit 2 more scarves this week as presents. So I have 6 hats to go, 3 more scarves, another slipper, 1 baby sweater and 12 pair of socks to knit before Christmas. What do you think my chance of pulling that off are. Off to knit

Busy Weekend

I did the same thing as Brenda. had a nice post written about our fun day and I lost it. I think we are jinxed. Anyways here I go again.
I had a really busy weekend, yesterday was our Fun Knits Christmas Craft Sale. It was great and we sold lots. We decorated the house and had the crafts all out but I didn't get a picture. Way too busy. In the store we had a yarn sale so the store was busy too. Brenda came over and in between busy times we sat and knit, chatting listening to Christmas music. The store has a very relaxed atmosphere, its little, cosy and full of great yarn. My Sister, Judy and my Mom ran the Craft sale and when it wasn't busy Judy came over and enjoyed all the novelty yarns. She loves making fancy scarves.
I have been working on a lot of projects. The Twisted Float Shrug is up past the armholes. It is a wonderful sweater and once it is done I will post a picture. It is all bunched up on the needles so I couldn't get a good picture. I love Lorna's Laces yarn. It is the nicest yarn to knit with. After Christmas I am going to design a sweater with Lorna's Laces worsted in the Quadra Island colour. I have a few ideas. First thing in the New Year I will order the yarn so if anyone wants anything ordered from Lorna's Laces, let me know by email shelmack@telus.net
I am working on lots of Christmas knitting. My machine knitting is on hold for a few days as I broke a part on my machine and had to order another one. I literally wore it out.
I have an order for 12 hats for a bunch of home schooled kids on Quadra. They are all matching made with Carioca in red with a green stripe.
They are very soft and nice. I will try and get a picture of the group of kids wearing them to post.

Very relaxed knitting

This morning was great. I woke up to snow and so I took the cat's lead and decided to relax for a while, watch the snow, TV, the fire and knit. So here is a glimpse at my relaxed knitting morning. I would have love to do this all day today but duty calls.

I am working on the Vogue Twisted float shrug. I tore it our and started it again today as I didn't like the look of my middle. This one looks better. It is really fun to knit and I LOVE knitting with Lorna's Laces. It is the nicest yarn. I have a lot more done since  took this picture.

Here is myrelaxed morning view. A good movie to knit to, a nice warm fire and the snow. Can hardly get better than that.

My comfy knitting couch. it was fun while it lasted but now I need to get some work done.

It was a nice Sunday morning. I have been really busy the last few weeks so this was a nice break.

 

 

Fun Knits Exclusive Lorna's Laces Colors

I am so excited to offer this new yarn

I have been working with Lorna's Laces for a while now to create a few original colors of sock yarn for the store. I got to pick the colors and with some coaching from Beth at Lorna's Laces this is the finished product. They did a spectacular job of creating the color to capture the yarns I wanted.

The first one is named Quadra Island

It is Blue, grey, cedar and purple. This color was inspired by this beautiful island, which is just east of Campbell River on Vancouver Island. I live on this island and love the scenery here so as a tribute to it we design this colorway of yarn with Lorna's Laces. The blue is for the ocean, grey the mountains, cedar for the forest, and purple for the distant mountains. Lorna's laces did a wonderful job of capturing the feel of Quadra Island with this colorway.

The second color is Fun Knits

It is Brown, brick, gold and beige. This color combination is so great. These socks look wam before they are even put on your feet. The colors for this yarn were inspired from the Fun Knits Yarn Shop. It has very warm earthy colors and is a very cozy warm yarn store. Lorna's Lace really captured the essence of the store in this sock yarn colorway.

Here are both the colors together with one sock knit from each color. I have since finished the pairs. I am really thrilled with both colors. The are great unisex colors, I actually don't have a favorite. I love them both. Please let me know what you think of them.

They are only available at my eBay store and at Fun Knits Yarn Shop on Quadra Island.

Here are some fun pictures of Megan and Meika's visit. The first one is Meika helping Grandpa get fire wood. Not sure who is having more fun but my guess would be Grandpa.

This picture I just finished bathing Meika and warming her up by the fire. I just love naked baby pictures. 

On the knitting scene. I have no pictures, too exciteed about the Lorna's laces yarn. I got 2 pair of socks done today (machine knit) the baby earflap hat nearly done, the Vogue shrug started, nice knitting with Lorna's laces shepherd worsted. It is wonderful yarn. The shrug is going to be spectacular. I will post a picture soon once I get it on a larger circular needle.

Quadra Island Craft Fair

Well we all made it through the Craft Fair. It was a lot of work but well worth it. This is a picture of our set up on the first night. Mom and I each had a table the first night. Mom's is the one with the white table cloth and mine and Megan's is the red and green one. Luckily we sold a lot the first night because we needed to condense all of this to 1 table for the next day.

This is a picture of the 4 generations of knitters. Since Meika isn't a knitter yet I let her hold my knitting. She thought that was a good deal and tried to eat the needles. We had a lot of fun.

This is day 2 of the craft fair. Mom and Dad, Megan and Meika.

Here is how much Meika liked Santa. She went stiff as a board and screamed. She hasn't figured out he is a good guy yet.



Santa and his elf both look very concerned. Meika is wearing her little Noro sweater I made her and Noro Iro Toe Kozies, Megan made her. It is a really cute outfit on her.

Sleeping peacefully after the Santa trauma all wrapped cozy in her Regia silk blanket Great Grandma made her.

It was a great weekend. The store was really busy yesterday. A lot of great projects will be strated this week on Quadra. I am starting the vogue jacket today and will post progress. I am also going to be knitting fingerless mitts in Noro Silk garden, 2 pair of socks, an earflap hat for a baby and a hooded jacket for a baby. These are all Craft fair orders.


The baby sweater and socks I will do on the machine so they will go quick. The rest is hand knitting. This is my idea of fun. 5 or 6 new projects starting all at once.

 

Yes I am still here

I have been very busy. Too busy to blog for sure. I have been knitting like mad getting ready for the Quadra Island Christmas Craft Fair, It is on this weekend Nov. 25 and 26th. Here is a list of what else I have been doing.

- Megan and Meika came to visit last week. Megan had mouth surgery and needed help with Meika, I gladly pitched in. Oh my gosh, I never knew being a Grandma would be this great!!! I will post pictures of Meika when I get more than 2 minutes to blog.
- My usual looking after my 2 special needs guys,

- Getting my son ready for the craft fair, He sells dog biscuits at the Craft fair.

- Teaching beginner knitting class on thursday evening

- Finishing a very fine knit sweater using the LLama and Angora yarn. It was really nice and its new owner has it tonight. I never even got a picture of it but it is very soft and fluffy

- Got in lots of new inventory for the store, so now I need to rearrange the store to fit it all in. For now it is my front hall.

- designed and knit Earflap hats for Baby and Mom out of Noro for the new book

- working at the store on Wed and Sat

- eBay is busy as usual, sending emails, packaging and shipping yarn

- I just got in my order from lorna's laces and I need to start this sweater for a customer. This will be a fun one to knit. She picked the colours shown.

- made 6 end to end scarves for the craft fair and a few pair of socks

- right now I need to go make a another load of dog biscuits for my son. He is asleep but I need to help out a bit so he can help package them tomorrow.

Well that is about it. I will take pictures of the craft fair. It should be fun. I am always glad when it comes and just as glad when it is over.

I will blog all about it on Sunday.

Store update

Saturday was a great day at the store. It wasn't busy like I expected but Brenda, Deb and Lisa Marie were in to knit. We had cookies and muffins. It was a real kntting party. Deb is a new knitter, I mean brand new. She just started knitting last week, she is a quick learner and had the back of her vest mostly done already. She has many more projects in mind.

Brenda is working on her Mosiac sock which she has since finished. She is multi-tasking in this picture, she is also reading. We had a lot of fun and I actually got some knitting done too. Lisa Marie is making a baby sweater with Ecoknits cotton,. It is really cute but I missed getting a picture of her and the sweater, maybe next week.