Well, its Saturday morning and time to sit for a couple minutes with a cup of coffee and reflect on the past week. It has been hectic, that’s for sure. We have had big boxes of spring yarns delivered and they sure are yummy. Susan, who updates the products on the website, has been off with the flu though. And then, the weather has been so “iffy” that I wondered if I’d even be able to drive the two miles from the lake to the store, but I did and Penny, who lives further away, didn’t. Penny handles all of the packing and shipping of orders as well as works on displays of the new products. So, with school closed and my daughter, Haley, wanting to make some money to buy some electronics, we tackled the receiving and the shipping and didn’t do too bad. We even got some of my workload done. There were several late nights this week, but Tom popped in on his way home from work and helped too. Plus, the phone rang lots with people signing up for classes and wondering what would happen for Superbowl Sunday — we’ll be there regardless, Folks! My DH said, when I inquired about cancelling, “you grew up in Michigan, this isn’t new to you.” But the thumb is different kind of weather and since he grew up in northern Michigan, he thinks nothing of driving through the stuff. I remember as a young woman driving to visit my friends who went to MTU, a ten hour drive, and the snow was packed hard and crispy and several feet deep on the side of the road. It was fascinating because driving along, you could see cutaways containing lines of sand every 6-8 inches in between the snow where they had attempted to keep up. It was almost eerie like you were driving in a white tunnel with waves — but, I digress . . . . back to Knitting Today . . . . . most everything is on display now and Haley is going to machine knit a pair of socks out of one of the two new colorways of Noro Sock yarn that arrived [one still on backorder] which means we’ll have to relearn some skills that have passed through the memory banks. Tom is mulling over how to make felted footballs in team colors. I suggested he do some searches on Ravelry and he said “but then it wouldn’t be my own” and “I” want to do this. Hmmm — designer in the making? Do you guys realize how much wool he’ll go through making prototypes. He also wants to weave a Clint Eastwood poncho for which we now have a loom, so maybe it will happen — someday. Again, back to KT . . . Haley said the glass bowl of Bamboo from Tahki Stacy Charles looks like ice cream — that yarn is called Bali. And another great yarn we put out is Snuggly Baby Bamboo, which is actually a DK weight, not baby — and the colors aren’t really baby-ish either, but the pattern book is very nice with older children patterns as well as baby. I see the yarn knit up in a summer tank layered with a neat top. I’ll have to check my supply of Knitting Pure & Simple and Cabin Fever patterns — both of them have nicely shaped tops and fairly quick/easy to knit. And, another yarn we checked in is the Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino — talk about soft! Anything blending merino and cashmere must be wonderful and this is! Penny showed me a project she wanted to make about four months ago and I have had buying this yarn on my radar for a number of years. I like the simplicity of lines in Debbie Bliss’ patterns as well as the way she puts colors together. The colorway is sophisticated enough that adult patterns will look good in it also. We also received new colors of Tahki’s Cotton Classic — a staple to get us through the summer. I like the handbags knit in it with a little bit of glitz shown here and there [lined, of course, but I don’t feel that comfortable with the sewing machine, so maybe I can talk Penny into making the linings — I love her taste in fabrics]. Oh, speaking of glitz — last week or maybe the week before, we received some Louisa Harding ribbon (Sari) as well as another novelty (Glisten) that looks like it has little beads, but really doesn’t — Penny has some great ideas for combining those yarns into the other yarns for some scarves for accent. The Jordana Paige bags have been well received and I can’t wait for the white Bella bags to come in. And, we’ve restocked and expanded the Hiya Hiya needles. I’ll take a picture of the full display before they get emptied out again so you guys can see that I really do stock needles ;-). To protect your doublepoints the popular StitchKeepers by Rollie are back in stock and the seed stitchers a/k/a the Fix It! tool are in good supply. Now the coffee is gone and time to get ready for work . . . . have a great day, everyone!! We’ll edit with pictures later . . Lea-Ann
