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"Once again, it's Christmas. How can I be completely blindsided by a holiday that happens on the same day each year is absolutely beyond me. You'd swear that they only announce the date for Christmas in November and I have maybe three weeks to cope with the news. Once again I am nowhere near ready ..."
Sound familiar? It sure does to me. I have several half pairs of socks waiting to be finished and one or two whole scarves I haven't even started yet. And to make it worse, many of them are for family from one end of Canada (Kamloops, BC) to the other (Kingston, NS) and should already be in the mail. I think it may be Chapters and Home Depot Gift Certificates again for some of my mail-away gifts. My kids are accustomed to receiving one sock with a promissory note the second will arrive ASAP.
If you find yourself in the same boat, we might be able to help. We have just received an order from Fleece Artist and Hand Maiden. If you still have some time for a small project, we have a large selection of thrum mitten kits .......
..... in a rainbow of colours. Fleece Artist never disappoints.
Several dozen new skeins of sock yarns - Casbah, Trail Socks, Somoko and a new Fleece Artist Sock yarn Nyoni. Nyoni is a machine washable blend of 65% merino, 20% kid, 10% nylon and 5% silk for $12. Yes $12, that is not a typo.
We have also received 4 ply Cashmere, Seawool and a Mulberry/Tussah Silk blend, all perfect for scarves.
If you don't think you have time to whip up even a small project, and the intended recipient is a knitter, they would probably be just as happy with a gorgeous skein of anything Fleece Artist or Hand Maiden. When it comes to hand painted yarns, nobody does it better. And last, but by no means least, if your loved ones need any suggestions for you, feel free to send them in, we would be pleased to help them pick out something for you. If the colour ends up not quite right, we are always happy to exchange unwound yarn.
We hope the next couple of weeks are not too hectic for you and that you have moments when you can slow down and thoroughly enjoy all the pleasures of the season. And if a little bit of knitting happens to be one of those pleasures, enjoy.
Beth
Some of our features included a lace collection from the designer line of "Queen Anne's Lace" including Zephyr and Country Silk which are the yarns used in her patterns
We had Rowan's Colourscape yarn made of 100% lambswool in all the new colours released this fall.
Here we are set up for the show to start and waiting for the nearly 2000 knitters to head through the door and be immersed in the knitting frenzy.
There are some terrific new Chunky weight yarns for warmth and quick fashionable knitting, which seems to be very popular this season. The collection includes the new yarn called "Sirdar Chunky Escape" - same great yarn as last year's Escape DK - only chunkier, with exciting new colours and patterns to highlight this wool rich blend.
Anne's "Poetic Shawls II - Summer's Day Shawl" (shown above) was inspired by Shakespeare's Sonnet 18 which begins: "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? Thou art more lovely....."
Designs for Queen Anne's Lace also derive their inspiration from nature with designs such as "Woodland Solace Scarf and Shawl" which attempt to catch the interplay of light and leaves - so magical in a forest.
Also as a bonus for customers, we are holding our Summer Clearance Sale until August 1st, with discounts on selected summer yarns (see our web site for details).
Of course we had to try the kits out for ourselves. It was no surprise that I chose the purples while Beth experimented with reds and greens and Gabriela the blues. My cat, Whisper, inspected the contents. The kit contains three skeins of soft fingering weight undyed yarn, three shades of dye, a "Soak" fine fibre wash packet, squirt bottle and a booklet of complete instructions and even a knitted sock pattern.
The kit even seems to have a really fascinating cat toy included in the packaging.
The first step is to completely saturate the yarn with water that has a small quantity of Soak solution added. The yarn happily sits in the bucket for at least an hour while you have the chance to work on another knitting project.
The skeins are placed side by side on a waterproof surface -a garbage bag on the kitchen table worked well for me.
The directions tell you how to mix the dyes and in what order to use them. They have helpful suggestions - but the spacing and width of the bands of dye is up to you. Above was my first dye application in Silver Birch. 
Here is dye number 2 in a deep red.
The final dyeing sequence fills in any white spaces. At this point I'm feeling a little worried that my technique might be a little "unusual". This was not what I expected from a one of a kind hand-painted yarn. I shouldn't have worried though - Louet has this process mistake proof.
You hang the skeins to dry and like magic you have created beautiful hand-painted yarn. The entire dyeing process takes only about an hour. The yarn was dry by the next day (it actually hung in the bathtub - I wasn't prepared to tempt the squirrels and birds) and ready for knitting.
And here is the finished yarn and a sock knit by Beth using one of the skeins of the beautifully soft fibre.
Beth and Gabriela also enjoyed the dyeing experience using different colour theme kits with great results.
