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Thursday, August 23, 2007
As promised, a couple of shadecards for two new-to-the-shop-this-fall yarns. First up, 8 gorgeous shades of “Alpaca”, a super-soft 100% alpaca yarn that works the range from fingering to light DK weight. All the shades are wonderfully earthy, and the yarn just begs to be man-handled (yes, it’s definitely a “touchy-feely” yarn). Try baby garments, socks, shawls, or a sweater for yourself! (I’ve started a fun little two-color yoked cardigan that’s knit from side-to-side.) GARNSTUDIO “ALPACA” Fingering to Light DK Weight 100% Alpaca Tension: 23 sts and 30 rows = 4” on 2.5-3.5 mm needles 50g / 180 metres $7.50/skein 
Try using this to knit JA 30 Sugar Snow Scarf and Stole (scroll to bottom of page)! For quick knitting, I’ve also brought in 6 shades (so far) of “Eskimo”, a lofty bulky yarn that is almost as soft as the “Alpaca”. Knit on 7-9 mm needles, you’ll be ready for the next project in a flash! Hats, mitts, jackets…this is perfect “outerwear” yarn. GARNSTUDIO “ESKIMO” AND “ESKIMO MIX” Bulky Weight 100% Wool Tension: 10-11 sts on 8-9 mm needles = 4” 50 g / 50 metres Solid Shades: $5.99/skein “Mix” Shades: $6.49/skein 
Perfect for JA 5 Thor and Olaf (halfway down the page). I’ve got pattern back-up for both yarns in the form of printed booklets from Garnstudio, or visit their website, www.garnstudio.com to download patterns for free! You’ll be able to easily see what patterns work for these two yarns and exactly how much you’ll need, so ordering from me is a cinch! Give me a call toll-free (in North America) at 1-866-690-WOOL to order, or send me an email. All prices listed are in Canadian dollars, and I’d be happy to give you a shipping estimate for your order...just let me know where you live. Oh, just to let you know, I will be closed all day this Saturday, reopening regular hours (10 am to 5 pm Pacific Daylight Time) on Tuesday. These shadecards will be posted soon to my yarn page, along with Misti Alpaca’s laceweight…I’ve had this yarn for over a year, but just haven’t shown it on the site, and it’s definitely time. Off for cappuccino and to await your calls! |
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Tuesday, August 21, 2007 Just a quick little post to prove I’m still alive and that I’m now the proud owner of a PAIR (not just a single) of Breeze: 
(Yes, there are still two singles kicking around…the turquoise one and the purple one from the Knitty photo…) New lovely yarn has arrived and I have begun to knit a cutesy little baby sweater to hang up in the shop, but I’m a little on the lazy side at the moment to get the shadecards all made up and posted. Soon… Friday, August 10, 2007 The 25th Anniversary issue of Vogue Knitting (Fall 2007) is on the newsstands, and with it is my design I worked up for the Tahki Stacy Charles Special Advertising Section “True Blue”. You can find it right after the TEN front covers of VK. Open up the fold out and you’ll see my little “Tee Party” top, the pattern for which is available as a FREE download from the Tahki Stacy Charles website. Enjoy! I hope you’ll get a chance to work it up in the “Zara” that I used for the prototype…it’s absolutely beautiful! 
 Wednesday, August 8, 2007 Let’s see, in 24 hours I made...sour cherry/blueberry/brandy jam, raspberry jam, strawberry jam, froze a bag of strawberries, soaked raspberries in red wine for syrup, soaked raspberries in brandy for liqueur, soaked raspberries in vinegar for…vinegar, made two trays of raspberry leather, dried two trays of raspberries (which TOOK 24 hours), froze 16 cups of raspberries, made a raspberry custard pie (heaven), washed (and washed and washed) and blanched (and blanched and blanched) and froze (and froze and froze and froze) two huge garbage bags’ worth of swiss chard…is that it? Seems like more (and an eternity…). Can you tell we went and raided my dad’s garden? Came back with 6 flats of raspberries, 1 of strawberries, a few sour cherries, the above-mentioned swiss chard, enough mustard greens for dinner, 5 heads of lettuce, a couple of zucchini, 4 cucumbers, a mess o’ tomatoes (which are DIVINE), 3 heads of broccoli…gotta love the fruits of someone else’s labour! (Well, I definitely put my share in in the processing.) Needless to say, I didn’t get too much knitting done. BUT on the trip to my dad’s, I started a match to the green Breeze sock in the photo. With everyone and their dog cranking off pairs of these anklets all over the place this summer, I hardly think it’s fair that I don’t have a finished pair! So I made it about halfway thru the heel flap, and it’s now my new portable knitting project for car rides n’ such. Maybe I’ll have a pair of anklets before the summer’s done? Got some goodies for the shop: Finally managed to wrangle some copies of both the kids and adult versions of the (felted) “Alpine Boot” from Fiber Trends! I have LOTS of eyelash in stock if you’re interested in some for the cuff. 
Also brought back the “Sheep Tote”, also from Fiber Trends, with its cute little sheep needle felted on the sides. 
Instructions for the needle felted embellishment are included in the pattern. I sell the felting needles both separately (different gauges) and in the Fiber Trends Needle Felting Kit (includes 4 needles, foam, and instructions), and I also carry the little packages of roving in either a multicolor or natural shades assortment. Ta Da! Ilga Leja’s gorgeous “Queen of the Waves” shawl! 
The model shown is knit in Lucy Neatby’s Celestial Merino in Skye colorway…it takes 5 of the Mottled Solid or 3 of the variegated for the shorter version or 6 of the Mottled Solid and 3 of the variegated for the longer option. Beautiful. And hot off the press (just out in June of this year) is Cabin Fever’s new top-down book for adults…cardigans. The book offers basic cardigan pattern instructions to knit from the top down in both DK and aran yarn weights, with 3 different neck styles (square, crew, or V), both short sleeve and long sleeve. The best part about this is that you have a “template”, so to speak, with which to experiment and work up your own design! In addition, there are several variations on the basic patterns, some with colorwork, others with texture, to give you an idea of what you can do with the basic instructions (detailed instructions for the variations are included). Tons of helpful tips and techniques to knit your own successful sweater with NO SEWING…when you’re done, you’re done; not even an armhole to graft! (Well, maybe buttons to sew on.) 
Give me a call toll-free at 1-866-690-WOOL or email me to order or request more info! Saturday, August 4, 2007 Heeeey, I finished something! I finished the second blue sock (finished the first one a month and a half ago on holidays)…here they are: 
Not too exciting, but one Christmas present down. Actually, I LOVE working with the Austermann STEP yarn…pretty much most other regular sock yarns feel kinda like sandpaper once you’ve been pampered with the aloe vera and jojoba oils of this yarn. Good, mindless knitting for movies. We watched a good one this week, Louis Malle’s “Au Revoir Les Enfants”. Yes, it was subtitled. I firmly believe I could be fluent in French if I were immersed for a month or two, but since I’m not (immersed, that is), I only putter away…and if you don’t need to use it, poof, what little you had is gone. I’m working on two leaflets at once right now…this will make both of them take a little longer to get done, but I have good reasons for my madness. All will be revealed in the fullness of time. I can say, though, that every project I seem to be working on right now is on double points, which, combined with the soggy, cool weather, is really aggravating my first knuckle on both index fingers. Oy. Time for mindless knitting on circulars or something. Maybe a hat? We’ll see. Seems like U.S. subscribers to Interweave Knits have already started getting their Fall 2007 issues in the mail, so orders are starting to trickle in for the Wink Felted Elf Slippers pattern from the ad I placed in the magazine. In case anyone is wondering, if you are just buying a single leaflet, the postage in Canada is two stamps’ worth, and in the States (just confirming this amount today), it’s about $1.70. Parcels are a different story…just let me know your city and zip/postal code and I can give you a postage estimate if you’re interested in kits, etc. Or, feel free to walk in to your favorite local yarn shop and ask them to start carrying my patterns, if they don’t already. Carol at Infiknit in Toronto (1-800-408-1522) distributes my leaflets wholesale, and you don’t pay any postage if you buy from your yarn shop! I have some fabulous new handmade birch knitting needles coming in from a very friendly woodworking business in New Brunswick. I just love to support Canadian (and handmade) ventures! The prices are very good and I hope to have them in a week or two. They’re even making 3.0 mm sock needles especially for me, as this size wasn’t part of their regular offering…can you believe it? That’s part of the boon of doing business with people and not just big corporations! Stay tuned for more info on these…feel free to email if you have any questions or are interested in advance ordering. These will make great Christmas presents! Back to the grind…we have a new freezer coming which we are going to be filling very soon with all sorts of local grass-fed beef and organic turkeys and such…as well as goodies from my dad’s garden and local farmers. (If you are in my neck of the woods and know of any local food sources, let me know…we’re doing our darndest to eat locally this year!) Anyway, I’m sure the rest of my weekend will be spent putting up food, so I’d better knit while I can!
Au revoir! |
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THE WOOLLEN EARTH, PO Box 2530, Vanderhoof BC V0J 3A0 Canada Phone: (250) 690-7777 1-866-690-9665(WOOL) Email: |