shallweknit.com

This is where we were in March.

Then we were here.

But now!  It’s happening, there are men in my shop!  Men with noisy nailers and scaffolding and oh my gosh – there are men in my shop!  Isn’t that a song – oh no that’s “It’s raining men”.

 In the last week or so, my ceiling has been all torn down, been insulated between the rafters (for soundproofing I’ve been told) and then…

Now to the untrained eye I’m sure this doesn’t look like much but this is a picture of a yarn shop just about to open.

What they had to do is pull down all the old ceiling, do the insulation thing (sound proofing part 1), drywall, tape and mud with special firecoded stuff, strap it for the soundproofing part 2 and then go through the drywall thing all over again.  So within the next day or so it will be all done.  Then we can go in and paint the ceiling and we can have the lights installed again.

We also just found out that the new windows should be in the beginning of next week.  If you’ve seen any pictures of the shop, I have a lot of large windows and they are the original single pane ones.  In the summer we get a lot of heat through and in the winter – well we don’t want to think about that!  So new windows is good!

After the windows are in we can put the final coat of paint on the floor and then shelving!!!!!!

It’s really all happening, did I mention there are men in my shop?

So this was our chariot for just over 4000 kms.  Tom had a business trip to Steinbach,  so I went with him and did some of the store computer work (and a bit of knitting and stuff).  It was a good trip, we took 1 1/2 days going out – a bit of a rush, but we went the US way, up and across the Upper Peninsula of Michigan so it was fairly easy riding.  And  we took 2 1/2 days on the return trip and came home all Canadian.  I had stopped at Rovings in Dugald on our way home and got some lovely rovings for spinning with for the shop and didn’t want to bother with Customs twice.  Even though it was bought in Canada and headed for a Canadian shop, you never know and I just didn’t want to go there.  So Canadian route it was.

I gave up counting the numbers of these beauties.  They are beautiful but not if they are on or close to the road.  When you are on a bike you have to watch for little debris on the road, so something this size – I don’t want to meet up close and personal.  And then there was this…

If you click on it you should see that it is warning that there are MOOSE CROSSINGS FOR 100 KM.  OK the deer are bad enough but these guys!  On the first day of our trip home we saw these signs but didn’t see any moose.  We got to our hotel that night and Tom says “AWWW, I wanted to see one”  What the heck am I travelling with?  And no one ever taught the deer to read cause we saw 3 on day 2 in the daytime!  I was holding on so tight that I forgot to take pictures.

This area was a totally bittersweet area.  It went on for kilometer after kilometer, there had been a forest fire that totally devastated the area a couple of years ago.  The hills you can see in the back of the picture were even all burnt.  BUT look at all the regrowth!  Even in the midst of the disaster life was coming back, isn’t this an amazing world we live in. 

OK, so now we are home again news about the shop shortly.

Now, get back to your knitting1

YEAHHHH!!!!  Computer work is temporarily on hold while my tech-guy rethinks the way we are doing some things.  So, while he is thinking I get to sit and knit and read and knit and watch movies, O dear it is a rough week!

So, first a couple of pics of the things I brought with me to work on and then an explanation for why I’m working on one of them

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This picture doesn’t show the true loveliness of this yarn, the colour is #175 – Moorland. The yarn is Rowan Tapestry and is 70% wool, 30%soy.  It has a lovely hand and the colours are truly lovely.  The only issue is that this was going to be the bike project and I have discovered that it has a very loose twist, so on the bike you have to be very careful not to split the stitches.  I’m hoping if I get a little length on the needles that that will give it some weight and help to hold it down and solve part of the splitting problem.

Now, this rats nest is really one of Cat Bordhi’s magical Moebius’.  I don’t have the book with me but it is The White Lacy Shoulder Wrap from “A Treasury of Magical Knitting”.  I knit it in Koigu and the colour is a mix of mossy greens and camels with a touch of smoky blue/grey.

I can’t block it till I get home, for some reason this hotel has no ironing board or iron in the room and this is one of the few times in my life that that has ever been an issue (but not enough of an issue that I am going to call and ask for one).   So I’ve just spread a bit of it out so you can see the lace. 

This lovely piece is being called my Harry Potter shawl.  Turns out that New Hamburg (where my shop is) is having a Harry Potter Festival with the release of the next book in July.  Here is the website if you want more info www.harrypotterfestival.ca .  Two years ago when the last book was released there were 3000 people in town for the event.  This year they are pulling out all the stops.  Should be a magical time!  All shops that are involved are renamed with a Harry Potterish name and as you can see from some of the pictures on their website people dress up and have a great time.  My first thought was “I need a new shawl” and then we went off into thinking of projects for the shop and maybe a booth at the park on Saturday.  Any ideas?

So, in my store stock I have been eyeing a skein of Fiddlesticks Country Silk and serendipitously the colour name is Raven’s Wing!  And I have had the pattern from Fiddlesticks – Lotus Blossom by Dorothy Siemens in my to-do pile for a while.  I don’t see the lotus blossoms but it does have a feathery look to me – and voila – my shawl for the festival!  If you have never knit one of Dorothy’s patterns you really should, they are well written, beautifully photographed and the fact that she is Canadian and almost local to boot – well what more do you need? How about a link to her site? www.fiddlesticksknitting.com

The other thing I am doing while waiting for the computer rethink thing to be done is that I’m reading the Harry Potter books and watching the movies.  I saw the first movie when it came out but that was the extent of my exposure to HP.  I need to come up with a name for the shop and for me as well as knowing colours and ideas for kits.  Now I’m off to knit and watch movie 1 The Philosopher’s Stone.  I am only watching the movies as I finish the books and I’m only partway through book 2.

so, back to your regular knitting now

OK, so what do 10 deer, 2 snapping turtles and a possum (or should that be an opossum?) have in common?  Betcha can’t guess.  They were all part of our amazing bike trip to Steinbach, Manitoba. 

Tom had a business trip out here and they are working on my shop this week (can we all say WAHOOOOO!!!) so I decided to join him.  It’s ironic that even though I’m not officially open yet, the computer is demanding I do year end.  I guess at some point last year we decided that year end at the end of May made sense.  But that was before the Gremlins got factored into this shop opening business.  Sooo, here I am, almost ready to open and the computer is making me enter all expenses and do reports and stuff I don’t even know about yet. 

Thus, the trip with Tom.  I’ve brought the laptop and am sitting in the hotel for most of the week entering stuff.  Then when I get totally flummoxed my computer guru will be here for the evenings to solve all my issues.  Isn’t this a great partnership!

So, it’s not wasn’t supposed to be the most exciting trip we’ve ever taken but I’m thinking that I may not be as distracted in Steinbach especially since we are on the motorcycle and I may have my license but I can’t drive Tom’s bike – it’s too big for me.

Anyways, lets go back a few days.  Saturday was World Wide Knit in Public Day.  And we did, we met at the little fountain park across from where my shop is and we sat and knit.  There were a few strange looks and a couple of people stopped to ask what we were doing.

 This is Rachel, she was the first to show up with her Mom – Jenn.  Rachel has been knitting since she was 5 and in this picture they are discussing an increase for her new project.  She is a major force, keep your eyes on this one. 

We had a nice little group, maybe a dozen or so, some came, some went, some stayed for the duration.  The afternoon got a little hot so we all (well almost all, we lost Jenn at this point unfortunately because she had lost a boyfriend who was wandering our lovely little town) so most of us waltzed down to my shady front yard.

We had a nice get together, and of course I forgot to take more pictures because we had some lovely people out but I remembered just before the end.

After we cleaned up from that Tom and I loaded up the bike and trailer and headed out.  We made it to Gaylord, Michigan before calling it a day.  It was a pretty relaxing day, (only 540 kms.) but Day 2!

Well, Day 2 is where the 10 deer, 2 snapping turtles and a possum all decided to show up along the way.  Some of the deer danced across the road, some just looked at us from the ditch – especially as Tom was laying on the horn to chase them away from the road.  I think some were giving Tom the look – “like what is your issue, I’m just standing here”.   The Possum just kind of lumbered across, we did a little scoot around him and all was fine.  The 2 turtles were large, maybe 12-15 inches across.  One was being shooed across the road by a family with sticks but I’m sad to say that I think the second one met a transport just after we went past. 

This is a picture of the road in front of us about an hour before Steinbach.  It doesn’t show the darkness of the horizon on our right.  But just about that time there was a major thunder and lightning flash beside us and I thought I had better put the camera away and hold on.  We raced for that patch of light and stayed just ahead of the storm.  We got a little wet but the storm was so close that we didn’t want to stop and take the time to put on the rain gear.  We were in the middle of nowhere, no shelter if the storm did catch up to us and the winds were getting strong.  We won’t say how fast we were going but that storm was moving!  There were a few fervent prayers being said as Tom drove and I held on.  We must have just missed it, as we drove into Steinbach there were large puddles all over the place.  There was some major thankful prayers said when we saw our hotel! I think part of the gratefulness for seeing the hotel might have had something to do with the 1460kms. covered that day as well.

Now, that threatening blue bin of stuff to be entered, more to tell you but I guess it will be later.

back to your knitting…

Have you checked the forecast lately?  The weather for World Wide Knit in Public Day is looking lovely.  Not too hot, not too cold, just perfect for sitting and knitting and chatting.  I’m hoping that you will all be able to join us this Saturday, June 9th. 

We will be meeting at the little park across from our shop.  There are a couple of benches there but it might be more comfy to bring your own chairs. 

Don’t forget to pass the word, it would be great to have a good turnout for it.  We will be having some draws for a couple of the things we got at the conference on the weekend. 

If you’re planning on coming, would you mind sending a quick note either in the comments or email, just so we can be prepared.  We will be providing drinks and fruit and this is obviously my first time so I don’t know what to expect.

Well, let me tell you a little story. 

Part 1 : Anyone who knows me, knows that I love Cat Bordhi’s books, have converted many to her moebius’ and her socks on two circulars.  This last winter I was thrilled to hear that she was going to be teaching at the Knitters Connection Conference in Columbus, Ohio right after I was going to be there for TNNA (big needlearts trade show).  So I worked out the schedule so that I would be able to do TNNA, stay an extra day and then take Cat’s Wednesday workshop and then hightail it home to my shop (which I optimistically thought would be open and being staffed by friends while I did all this).  Well, stuff happens, the shop isn’t open and it was suggested by Sally Melville that the whole weekend for TNNA is worthwhile and who would argue with Sally?  So I had to cancel Cat (can you read my sadness here) but went to TNNA for the whole shebang (details later).

Part 2 of this story : K and I went to TNNA and did the show and were randomly invited to a Cocktail Party hosted by Potter Craft Books to meet some of the authors.  It was in a lovely restaurant called Latitude 41 and the food and wine was amazing!!!  K and I are sitting chatting about all we had seen and what to go back and see the next day and so on when a couple of women walked by.  I leaned over and in my best inner 6 year old asked K to look and see if that was really CAT!  We decided it was (only judging from her picture in her books which I have memorized).  So I’m sitting there wondering how gauche it would be to drool all over her and then nature calls.

So, I’m going down the hall and trying to see the ladies around the corner when someone says behind me “Yes, the ladies is right there”.  I turn around and it is  Cat Bordhi – giving me directions to the washroom!  So after I wipe the drool off my chin, I introduce myself and go on about how much I enjoy her books and have taught her stuff and even have a Moebius on needles in my purse – the whole time we are chatting from the stalls in the bathroom.  How surreal is this?  So then we are washing our hands – I’m washing my hands with Cat Bordhi! – and saying again something about what a big fan I am and then there is this voice from another stall “I’m a big fan too”. 

It was just so funny, I went back out to the restaurant and sat down with K and giggled “I just met CAT BORDHI in the bathroom!”.  I do think K laughed at me for a while but I’m sorry, It was great meeting her. 

Tomorrow – details on TNNA – lovely stuff coming, can’t wait to get it in my hot little hands.

DON’T FORGET – this Saturday is World Wide Knit in Public Day.  We are hosting it at the little park next to the shop.  Tell your friends, tell your enemies, after a day of knitting together we will all be friends.  There will be prizes too!  All the info is in the May newsletter.

Checklist: -TNNA registration – got it

                                -Road trip with a friend – doing it

                                 -Hotel reservation – did it                

                           -Lots of Freebies – getting them

                                                  -Meeting KNITTING DESIGNERS – doing it!

                                                          -Invite to Cocktail Party with Authors – got it and going

                                -Having an amazing time - O YEAH!