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February is finally over and sadly with it goes the end of sock month.  It’s been a lot of fun to see all the socks that everyone is knitting.  I can’t get over the amount of sock yarn that I go through.  I even had a lady call from Seattle yesterday looking for a particular yarn!  She had seen it on Ravelry posted by one of my regular customers and fell in love with the colours. 

The big sock has moved on too.  I think it has gone to visit Georgia.  We will miss it, and all the comments from people as they saw it and talked about it and knit a bit on it.

So, what now you ask?  Well let me tell you.  We have decided to have a theme a month.  Something to get excited about, something different every month.  So here is the schedule, details will be posted as we get closer to some of them.

March is Felting month and with that Cascade 220 & Galway will be 15% off for the month.  If you haven’t tried felting you are missing a lot of fun.

April is Debbie Bliss month.                                         

May is Quilts & Throws to honour our Mennonite Relief sale the end of May and all their lovely quilts.

June is Lace!  What would be lovelier on those lazy, hazy days of summer than sitting in the cooling shade and working on a gossamer piece of lace.

July – are you ready? – is going to be Rowan month!

August – we’re going to have fun here.  It is Elizabeth Zimmerman month because it is her birthday in August.  2008 is also the 50th anniversary of EZ starting Schoolhouse Press.  This will be the month of the Baby Surprise Jacket Contest.

September – hats & mitts to get ready for that cold stuff coming.

October – ??

November – ??

December – ??

January – our 2nd Annual Sale

We still have some planning to do but this is the first bit of info.  If you have any ideas – please pass them on. 

 more and more and more boxes – anyone want to build a fort?  Maybe Molly and I will hide in here till all that nasty snow is gone.

More orders came in today, we got in Needful – and Estelle – and Tahki – lots of sock stuff!  And books are winging their way here.  Claudia handpaints will be here Monday or Tuesday!  Guess what we’re building this weekend?  Shelves – more shelves!

 Rowan has just come in!  It is a lovely issue and it brought some other lovely things with it.  We have Calmer and Damask in – bestill my heart – as well as some lovely Nashua summer yarns.  But the books – oh my!

 Oh the pretty things you can do..

Do you guys read Mason-Dixon’s blog?  I love their book, can’t wait for the next one, I just enjoy their off-beat sense of humour – you name it.  So when they announced a Teeny Project Runway – basically designing an outfit for a stuffed animal (NOT a bear) up to 24″ to promote all of its loveliness – well I just had to get onboard. 

So, meet Molly.  Molly was a gift from friends who went to Portugal for their daughter’s wedding.  She is just a very happy little sheep who has taken up residence in the shop but she is not real happy with the weather here in her new country (but then I can’t say I really am either and I was born here).  So she patiently waits in her red bikini with her sunscreen for the nice weather when she can bask in the sun.  But poor Molly is very fair and has a tendency to burn but she loves the sun anyways.

Have I told you lately how much I love my job?  I love going to the shop every day, I love meeting people, helping people, getting people excited about knitting and yarns and knitting books and….oh you know – all of it!

BUT, have I told you lately how much I love my job?  I emailed Schoolhouse Press to make sure that with our Elizabeth Zimmerman month in August that I wasn’t messing with any copyright issues or anything like that.  I also wanted to know if I would be able to get in the Baby Surprise Jacket leaflets for the shop and the contest.  Well, I got an email back and yes I can get the patterns and they are on there way and the person sending the email said that there was a note at the bottom from – you ready? – MEG!!!

She said it was very sweet what we were doing and she wants pictures of what everyone comes up with – so get your needles ready, cause these are going to be seen by Meg Swansen!  And then she said that it was great timing because 2008 is the 50th anniversary of Elizabeth starting Schoolhouse Press.  How cool is that?

Have I told you how much I love my job? 

 I really wish I had met her.  I love her books and the way that she looks at knitting, family, life – you name it.  She is famous for getting knitters out of the rut of doing things the way they have always been done, to think for ourselves and not just blindly follow a pattern.  She was way ahead of her time and opened the doors for a lot of the knitters and designers that are out there now.

Some of her designs are famous – the Pi Shawl (yes I’m still working on it, kind of got put on hold to work on socks for the class) and her Baby Surprise Jacket are I think the most well-known ones.  If you don’t have her books – you should!

So I have decided that with my idea of having a theme-a-month that August will be Elizabeth Zimmerman month.  August is her birthday month so I thought that would be appropriate.

So for the month of August we will be celebrating all things EZ!  Now you’re thinking that August is a long ways away and looking out the window at the snow it definitely seems it.  But we are also going to have a BABY SURPRISE JACKET CONTEST!!!  So I’m giving you all fair warning.  Anyone who wants to enter and display their creations have to have them done and in the shop by August 1.  There will be a first prize as well as honorable mention.

I’m not sure what else will be happening in August but Baby Surprise will be fun!

 In my usual way, I am declaring February to be “SOCK MONTH”.  The fact that it is already a week in to the month has nothing to do with it.  Anyways, what better thing to celebrate in February than the sock!  So for the month of February we will be honouring the lowly sock.

I’ve already told you the Guiness Record breaking Sock is visiting again.  So tying in with that will be sock stuff all month.  I’m hoping to post different sock triva and ideas all month – feel free to send me your interesting sock trivia.  AND we are going to have a multi sock purchase sale.  What does this mean you ask?  Well let me tell you.  If you buy one ball (or 2 50gm balls) you will get your Frequent Shopper Card stamped as usual.  But if you buy enough for 2 pairs than you will save 20%.  Buy enough for 3 pairs or more and you will save 30%.  WOW!

AND I want show & tell!  Bring me your hand knit socks to take pictures of for the bulletin board, and if you remember what they were knit out of then we can share that info with everyone too.

You know that saying about good news and bad news?  The good news is that I live 1 1/2 blocks from the shop so the commute is lovely.  The bad news is I live 1 1/2 blocks from the shop so can’t take snow days.  Boy this morning did I ever want to stay in my flannels and hibernate.  But it wasn’t actually that cold out, just the threat of what it might yet be.

So, I’m here, actually had a few brave souls venture in and have had a few phone calls about Knit & Chat tonight.  I’ll be here and I’ve told people if the roads are clear then they are welcome but don’t take any chances. 

I think I will spend the day working on the sample sock for our toe up sock class next week.  I’m also working on the next newsletter and classes for the end of February and for March.  Should be done in the next few days.

OK, to the sock…