Black Dog

no, seriously………has anyone out there developed a way of either adding more hours to a day or an additional day to the week (preferably weekend days?). This has GOT to be in progress at some company’s R&D labs, somewhere.

Thursdays are our day off (meaning Matt and I), yet the first thing he had to do–even before 12 noon–was head to the shop to troubleshoot a problem with our POS/register. He ended up being there for awhile, re-installing the POS (our assistant manager Kellie says she knows why it’s abbreviated P O S). After solving that crisis, he returned home, we chilled for a little bit, and then headed out for a few errands.

Our travels took us up to DeWitt, a small burg on the north end of Lansing, and to a delightful shop called Lavender and Peonies owned by Leanne R. While she’s been in our shop, we hadn’t had a chance to visit hers when she was open (we did drive by one day when she was closed, and pulled on the door….not to rob her, but that’s when we found her closed). Coincidentally, she had been in OUR store earlier that morning, and she and I had been chatting on Ravelry lately. Long story short–she has a really nice mix of yarns and fabrics (wait until you see what Matt purchased–he’ll blog about it shortly, I’m sure) and has a ton of yarns that we don’t stock, so it’s nice to find a source if we want to purchase any, but better yet, it’s nice to know what she carries so I can refer folks to her with confidence when they’re looking for said brands. Overall, it was a GREAT visit and we will be teaming up with her and Lindsay, who owns Yarn Garden in Charlotte, just southwest of Lansing. Despite what some may believe, we’re all about collaboration, cooperation, and everyone succeeding. CHEERS, ladies–here’s to kicking off a GREAT and LENGTHY relationship!

So let’s have a quick recap/catch up from the past few days…..Wednesday, as mentioned previously, was spent with a great sales rep. One of her main lines (and ours, too) is Classic Elite Yarns. We looked over everything and bought and bought and bought…and one of the things we decided to go into, full color palette, is Bazic, their superwash merino chunky weight (we call 4 sts/inch chunky, while 3-3.5/inch is bukly in these parts). Matt has been in love with Bazic for a couple years, but we’ve never jumped on it, until now. See why…

Amazing texture, uber-soft hand, and great colors (tho that picture is a little brighter than actuality–it’s really a deep toffee/dark roux color). Since we were picking up that yarn and we had a little bit on the shelves, I coincidentally had a pattern on the table that was perfect for it–Professor Cardigan by Black Purl. I motored through the welt (seed stitch–one of my faves) and into the body, making great progress in an afternoon

and am almost ready to do the armhole decreases. It feels AMAZING! Linda represents many yarn lines, each a little different than the other. One of them is a company we’ve not carried for about three years (but one that we’ve carried since the start of the shop, oddly) and we’re going to bring their yarns back for Fall 2008. I fell MADLY in love with this skein

when I met it in Chicago, at My Sister’s Knits, a charming shop in the Beverly Hills neighborhood on the south side (oddly, my aunt and uncle lived just a half block from the shop when I was a child and my entire family lived in Chicago–Matt and I drove by the house after leaving Carol’s shop). The owner is a dream, her sister Davia is hilarious (and witty and dry, like me!), and there’s dogs in the shop—oh, and TONS of pretty yarn, lots of which we don’t carry (see–I tell people all the time that we don’t carry EVERYTHING, and that we buy yarn at other shops, too!). I won’t say what that skein is, but suffice to say that one touch and you’ll be hooked–in amazingly-soft hand and beautiful colors. And that’s coming in AUGUST! If you’re ever in Chicago, make time to visit Carol’s store……and like her mantra….”come for yarn, leave with a friend”….we certainly did!

I also started another project yesterday, in the car on the way to Lavender and Peonies, out of one of the new yarns I mentioned on Wednesday on the “New Arrivals” blog on our main site. This is Invernal, an angora/merino blend from Aslan Trends

using a pattern from one of their books

and it’s coming along nicely. The angora has started to bloom and will really foof up when the project is finished and blocked. This is a great “idiot knitting” project for me to use while I’m multitasking (as is the Bazic cardi, too!). The yarn is really reasonable (like $15something for 295 yards of angora/merino, light worsted weight). We’ll have every color shortly, but for now I have this and a lovely rosemary shade.

I also worked a little (very little) on my new sock design, using Creatively Dyed Luxury–a blend of 80% superwash merino, 10% nylon, and 10% cashmere.

and it’s coming along nicely, with a full pattern repeat finished

I did swatch with a new yarn on Wednesday evening

It’s a 100% wool yarn from Feza called Island, and we brought in a couple bags of it for me to play around with. Matt is NOT a fan of the yarn, but I liked the knitted garment that was shown to us by the sales rep a few months ago. I did swatch with it

Tell me what you think (don’t pull any punches–speak openly, in my comments). It’s soft to the touch, but Matt thinks it looks cheap, like hobby store yarn. I like the splotchy look in the swatch.

I am madly in love with a publication, by the way

It’s no secret that I’m a big fan of tweed yarns (I like marled, too, but they’re NOT tweeds). This book has a history of tweed, how it’s prepared, and then launches into lots of beautiful designs using a variety of yarns from Tahki-Stacy Charles, another of our BIG-TIME favorite yarn distributors (also represented by a majorly-competent and nice sales rep). Again, I’m in a start-itis mode, with yarn wound and ready to be swatched for this

in a lovely peacock blue shade of Donegal Tweed (coincidentally, the yarn used for my very first sweater, back in the late 80s; it’s still in service, owned by my father). I loves me some Donegal Tweed, so this should be on the needles before the weekend is out. I’m so bad…….

Also going on the needles shortly (maybe before the holiday weekend ends) is this men’s garment

to be made with Guanaco, another Aslan Trends yarn in this shade

Guanaco is 60% alpaca and 40% merino and 170% delicious and soft. That may find it’s way onto the needles, too, unless I fall for something out of this

But that’s for another day……..I’m not sure what pattern calls out to me….yet.

By the way, don’t fool around with our store manager, Sabrina

See what happens if you don’t heed the “please knock” sign on her door? Not good…………..

With that, I’m outta here for the evening…with even more still yet to share with you. See you back here soon!

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