shallweknit.com

Oh Dear! With a title like that am I going to get all kinds of bizarre spam? Anyways, look at this sock yarn – how cool is this? It is double wound onto the spool so you get 2 identically dyed socks. It even shows you how to unwind it from a pencil hanger over a door knob. This is just fun AND its soft!

And don’t forget – last day for Stitch & Pitch tickets!

Today is the last day to order tickets in order to have them for pick up at the shop prior to the game. If you’ve never been to Stitch & Pitch – it is a lot of fun. And this year Stephanie Pearl McPhee will be throwing out the first pitch. I’m going and I’m not even a ball fan but it is a lot of fun to sit with all the knitters and do a bit of watching, a bit of knitting and a lot of laughing. More info here
So call the shop at 519-662-3636 or email me quickly.

I just need her to actually do something – like paperwork or cleaning. To be honest – we don’t let her sit on the counter but she was asking for some attention and it was too hot to cuddle. Counter has been wiped.

Today we have Carolyn as our guest blogger. This is an excerpt she has sent us from her blog.
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The Lenpur Linen yarn is pretty interesting. It is 75% Lenpur and 25% Linen.
Linen we are pretty familiar with. Beautiful, durable…a luxurious fiber that keeps you cool in warm weather. It is a vegetable fiber, from flax, a bast fiber taken from the stalk of the plant. It is easily dyed and softens but doesn’t loose colour when washed. Yes, it does wrinkle but it presses easily. Like cotton, it has poor elasticity and does not spring back readily.
Lenpur…is also a plant fiber. It comes from white fir wood. Yup, it is a cultivated wood fiber! It is surprisingly soft to the touch. Garments made of Lenpur are thermoregulatory, anti-odor and absorbent. Another perfect fiber for warm weather.
So what does this mean to the knitter? Well, this blend is perfect for spring and summer knits. The drape is wonderful, perfect for shrugs, shawls, scarves, wraps, summer shells, whatever! It knits ups really nicely. Although there is no elasticity, I didn’t have a problems with my wrists or elbows like I sometimes do after knitting with cotton. The look of the fabric is much more luxurious than cotton. I sometimes avoid cotton because of that dishcloth look…you don’t need to worry about that with Rowan’s Lenpur Linen. The colours are nice deep hues and don’t look faded.
The washing instructions are pretty specific:
Dry clean or hand wash in soapflakes; do not soak; cool rinse; do not wring; short spin; do not leave wet; reshape and dry flat away from sunlight; use a damp pressing cloth.
Ok, sounds like it is high maintenance. Well, I gave it a quick bath in eucalan, rolled it in a towel to get rid of most of the water and then reshaped it on my blocking board. I pinned it here and there to the measurements. Once dried it looked great. It softened up and actually looked freshly pressed…not crunchy. I did press out the fold line (it was folded in half on the blocking board) before photographing.

My only complaint is it sheds these little hair like fibers on you while you are knitting with it. I tend to wear white, so it was really visible on me. I’ll let you know, now that it has been washed, if it does it with wear.
So, would I use this yarn again? Yes! Without hesitation.

It’s late but I think I’ve finally got most of the kits ready for our Front Porch knitting promotion. With this hot, muggy weather, what could be better than a pretty bit of knitting on the front porch. We’ve all pondered and have made some picks of what we think would be good porch knitting. Some of the items were knit by us and some were knit by others but still fit the bill of porch knitting.
This week from Thursday to Saturday we will be featuring these kits at 20% off the regular price. There is a little bit of everything – from fairly simple to more intricate. From basic yarns to luxury. This list is not everything but will give you an idea of what we have.

First up is Katherine Matthews – we have been privileged to have her designs in the shop and also to call her a friend. Katherine has caused a bit of a stir lately with her Amalia. We have put together kits for the 2 sizes in Koigu KPM as well as some in Koigu Mori. You really have to see these to appreciate them. We are also offering another kit by Katherine – Takenoko is a shawl that uses Noro Sekku perfectly. And then there are the Lornas Laces Pearl kits. The Pearl is a gorgeous Bamboo & Silk yarn that comes with 2 patterns but Katherine had to do it better and she did. So the Pearl kit includes all 4 different patterns.

Then we have Janelle – another one of our honourary staff. I’m sure a lot of you have met her in the shop or taken one of her classes. Well she has been a little distracted lately with all kinds of designs swirling around in her head. One of the kits is called Gridwork using Sojabama – a yarn out of Soy and Bamboo. Janelle used a stitch from a stitch dictionary and totally finessed it. We are even doing a class with this pattern. The other kit is called Amplification. She used 2 different yarns that blended really well. Both of the yarns are a cotton and linen blend. Gorgeous Janelle – thats all I can say.

One of the joys of this shop is the people that have come into my life. Sue is always one of the first people to offer to help or to listen or just to be there. I love it when a customer turns into a friend. Sue’s pick for Front Porch knitting is a pattern by Joey’s House – the Sock Monster. This is a great pattern that uses Koigu or bits of sock yarn – and we now know where all our stray socks have gone. They are taken by the Sock Monster. We are hoping that Sue’s monster – Eig – comes to visit us this weekend. He is adorable.

Now onto staff picks for Porch Knitting. Cari has just finished a very, pretty little Flower Basket shawl out of Misti Alpaca Cotton and Silk. This is a gorgeous hand-painted yarn that is soft and silky. Cari has done the small version out of one skein but we have done the kits with enough yarn to do the full size shawl – picking the colours was the hardest part.

If you’ve been up to our booth at the St. Jacobs market there is a good chance that you’ve met Beth. She is our resident crochet guru and is always coming up with different ways to use yarns. We have an adorable teeny basket on the shop counter that Beth did out of a few scraps of Koigu, and then there are the little creatures – really cute. Beth has designed a scarf using Zauberball sock yarn after finding a stitch in a stitch dictionary. We have been asked about the pattern ever since she did it. And perfect timing – we got in a new shipment of Zauberball sock today.

Lynne – well, she’s been knitting up a storm to finish an adorable baby sweater. She chose South Pacific as her yarn of choice. This is a lovely soft cotton DK with a very touchable hand. This is one of those patterns that you will do over and over.

And then there’s me. I’ve got a couple of things on the needles that were going to be my picks but the patterns haven’t come in yet – so I’ve decided to pull rank. My Porch Knitting pick is the Strickwear kits. I love what the designer Candace Eisner Strick does with her merging colours kits. They are truly beautiful as you will see by the 2 samples we have done in the shop.

So come on out to the shop and lets see if we can find you something for lazy summer days of Porch knitting. Friday night we are hoping to have a Front Porch knit & chat but right now the weather forecast is not cooperating. We will still be having knit & chat this Friday but it may have to be inside. IF the weather makes us go inside then we will be trying for next week instead. Keep an eye on our website for info.

Have you been on Ravelry and seen this picture? If you haven’t – stop right now and go look, the pattern is called Amalia. And if you aren’t on Ravelry – well why not? It is a free membership and an amazing knitting resource. Ravelry.com – go – NOW!