Paints !

It has been a long time, and the last 4 weeks were something I'd like to not repeat! Right after my last blog, hubby and I stripped and painted our master bedroom. After 20 years of numerous pets, we are now pet free and I felt we were long overdue for this face lift. We decided to go with a warm Tuscany-Victorian-Country Cabin look. Figure that one out! With warm red and taupe walls, one can decorate this to go with any of those looks. Yesterday the light fixture arrived, and maybe over the weekend we will get it installed.I have been knitting too! Although no great accomplishments. This hat below is a pattern that comes with the Yarn Store's Pkt 5. Packet 5 is my Cascade Catalog and Knitting Pure & Simple Catalog. I have 2 Packets and depending on a customers order, either one will be put into their purchases. The pattern is my Pastaza Skull Cap. It will soon be available as a "free pattern" with purchase of 1 hank of Pastaza Yarn. The one below is Pastaza Hand Dyed Paints in Forest. I knit it up the other night in 3-4 hours. That included visiting with hubby and other interruptions. It was a great mini vacation for me! I loved seeing the change in colors.I found out recently that Cascade added a bunch of new colors to the Pastaza line. I'm in the process of getting them all in. Yesterday I received some of them. At least 4 of them of pastels. I'm thinking I need to do another hat in one of the pastels. The shaping at the crown is really quite pretty and in a lighter color it will really show off.

One of my failed projects was a vest in Cascade 220 Hand Dyed Paints. Gheeshe!! I knew what my gauge should be, but after knitting up 2 hanks worth, it was all off. All I want is a vest to wear in the store, so I decided to try whiping it up on the LK150 knitting machine. After 2 failed attempts to make hand knit gauge, I did up a double size swatch and laid it down to rest,
and rest,
and rest,
and it is still resting!! I love the fabric, but have not been able to get back to it.



Ever heard of the Association of Knitwear Designers? It is a small, but established group of accomplished designers who work together to teach new designers the business end of of designing. This is no chat club, but a real hard working, very professional organization helping the individual designer understand the industry of design and promotion. Well "you know who" was just elected as Vice President! Oh yea, like I didn't have enough on my plate. Hubby says I am a glutton for punishment.

Sorry for the delay. Hope to talk to you all soon!

socks, slippers & slipper socks!

Avalon Fiber Arts is a new designer and Lynne has produced a line of slipper/sock patterns that use only 1 hank of Lorna's Laces Shepherd Worsted. I've never caught the "sock" fever, but sure wish I had because I do love hand made socks. If my feet are happy, so is my heart!! I do have great success with slippers though, and with my work days so long, slippers in worsted weight are instant gratification. I keep hoping that eventually I will catch the "sock" fever. I do know that I love working with 2 circulars. The pattern I selected from the Avalon line is called Twinners. The yarn is Shepherd Worsted in the color Whisper. I love lace and this is very easy. And one of these days I will learn how to do 2 socks at the same time on 2 circulars. Some of the girls in my Friday Group have moved on ahead with this technique and are delighted with it. They are using the book KNITTING CIRCLES AROUND SOCKS.

Other news on knitting world front is that Nora and Laura (Noni Bags) have announced their new Fall 2007 line. The selection is excellent with some very usable bags! I've already ordered all the patterns and am gathering up the new hardware these bags use. The girls announced the bags on their website just this week and pattern distribution is just hardly begun. Rest assured I'm scrambling to get the patterns in. Not even sure if the warehouse has them yet. And I'm driving my hardware distributor to drink daily asking about part #s and verifying that we are both talking about the same part! Feel free to email me if you have any questions. Hopefully later today I can at least post the Fall 2007 web page.

Talk to you soon!!!

NEW SILK YARN for the Yarn Store

Took months, but new stock has arrived. I brought in SILK PURSE 100% silk from Alchemy Yarns. I've been looking for a really nice silk and this is truly the nicest one. And it wears so well. I've had to budget, so brought in 10 of the most popular colors. I will be ordering more colors, but am hoping you will tell me what colors you want.

It is a light worsted weight yarn. Truly an ideal weight for the human form. Flattering to all.

It's raining this morning, but I already see blue sky. Typical fall weather on the Oregon coast. See you soon!

Happy Feet!

My slippers are done, and my toes are very happy!! Perfect dressing to wear in a yarn store!

I added 1" in length, thinking my long feet needed it. Wrong!! The pattern, Lorna's Laces Fulled Slipper, as it was written would have been perfect. As it was I ended up needing to open a 2nd hank of Glory and they are truly an inch too long. So even if my feet were even longer, I think the pattern is dead on! I did find 3 corrections to the pattern. Lorna's Laces is making those changes and sending me all new patterns to replace the patterns I currently have. If you understand stocks, the errors aren't bad. But it is a good pattern for a beginner, so I requested these changes. If you already have the pattern, I can send you those notes. If you've ordered the pattern from me, you will be getting a replacement.

In the store today, I am working alone on shipping. After all the shipping is out I'm spending the afternoon with my nieces in Coos Bay. After raising 6 children, who return each summer to keep us young, it gets really quiet over the winter. Not that it is winter, but all summer activities are over and the young ones are back into their school schedule.

Well, talk to you soon! duty calls!

My felted slipper is done

Just finished my first slipper. Didn't want to wait weeks to show you, so here it is.

These slippers are very generous in their size, so if you think you need to go up one size, you don't. Ask me how I know! I thought I should add 1" extra in length. Naw.....should've stay as the pattern instructed. They are just a little bit long. And it forced me to get a 2nd skein of Glory. I'll have to do another pair....mmmm..... charcoal?? oh NO!! Chocolate!!! Despite being a tad bit loose, I'll love wearing them! Here in the Yarn Store, it is ever so appropriate to wear knit, crochet or felted slippers!

You can see the pattern at http://www.yarn-store.com/ The pattern is shown in the colorway Black Purl, but mine is done in Navy.

Jackets, slippers and oh deer!

Has it really been 2 weeks? I was trying to make posting to my blog a Sunday routine.

These 2 children have been hanging around the house ever since our dog went to doggy heaven. Mom is usually closeby. This morning, as I was knitting and drinking coffee the one in front walked up to the front door and was looking in the window. The window is about 3.5 feet wide and 5 feet tall next to the door. He (she??) was looking right in the window at me. I sure wondered what was going thru his mind! This photo above was taken thru the glass door that is located at the corner of my desk, in the store. Sure would've loved to take a photo of him looking thru the front door tho!!

Last Saturday, the 8th, was a very relaxing day at my Fiber Arts Meeting. One of these times, I will remember to take the camera. It is nice to sit at the back of the room and let others run the show. Although, my mouth has a habit of opening up and offering up comments maybe a little too often.

Sunday...oh yea....Sunday the 9th was in the 90s here on the coast. And with our humidity it felt much hotter. But since we so rarely have days like this I was loving every minute of being able to wear my summer clothes and my muscles were really loving the relaxing feeling of the heat. That kind of heat and humidity reminds me of our cruizes and visits to the Carribean and that will always bring a sense of relaxation. But last Sunday, I set my LK150 knitting machine up in the living room, in front of the 2 large picture windows and worked on a little short sleeve jacket for my youngest niece for Christmas. She has a pale-blush complexion and soft red hair. Green is a super color for her. She's 7 years old. The yarn is Cascade Sierra. I have another to do for her sister, who has brunette hair and red is her best color. I was going to use the Chili Pepper color for her, which is a Quatro color in the Sierra line, except that I sold all the hanks on the shelf, so am now waiting to get another order in.

Friday afternoon in the store, which is our Open Table Meeting, continues with smaller groups. Knitters/Crocheters are still enjoying the last days of the summer. Smaller groups is good too, for I am able to sit and knit with them. Friday I worked on my Full Slipper (Lorna's Laces pattern) in Navy. Slippers are so much more comfortable than shoes, and knit/crocheted slippers in the store are totally doable! (PS: The pattern has you cast on and knit to the toe, slightly felt them, then pick up stitches and knit a cuff. I didn't want that ridge under the cuff. So I cast on with kitchen cotton, knit a few rows and changed to the slipper yarn. After slightly felting it, I shouldn't have any trouble picking those stitches back up and removing the cotton. OR!! I can cast on for the cuff, knit the cuff and graft it to the sock. The pattern doesn't do this, but how many knitters actually knit a pattern without changing it!)

Found out last weekend that I have 12,000 shopping cart scripts that are old on my web site. And they stopped working! So for 48hrs, no one was able to place an order. YIKES !! My shopping cart people were able to make a patch to make them work, but they told me I'd better get started replacing them all. So one by one, I'm working on the web pages. IF anyone has told you a webstore is easier than a brick-n-morter store, they have never done both! I have both. It is MUCH easier to open a new box of yarn, make a pretty sign, knit a fun swatch and arrange a new display, than it is to build and maintain a single web page just for that yarn! Oh well. Would I change my profession......uh duh NOPE!!

Back to work! Hope you have a great week!

Memorial weekend-quiet and calm!

This was the view from my deck Memorial Day weekend, Sunday morning. Just so beautiful. The day ended up in the 70s. Surely rates a top 10 for Oregon Coast weather. What you see is North Tenmile Lake......just a corner of it. It continues on like fingers. On the left is North Lake Campground. I think that campground has been there for more than 40 years.

Alot of company was on our property this weekend. but it was all relatives of my daughter-in-law and friends. They camped on the low part, next to the lake. They had a great time. John (husband) was in heaven running all the youngsters around the lake in the boat and laughing at the jokes that the young adults come up with. If that doesn't keep you young, nothing will!

Another great achievement this weekend is the completion of my zippered, hooded jacket. This pattern is the "sandy jacket" in Bonnie A Franz's book Double Exposure. This took about a year and a half to knit. Here is a picture of the version in Bonnie's book:

I took all of yesterday off and finished that sweater and took my nieces to the Harry Potter movie. (Wore my new sweater in that air conditioned theatre!!) Also worked on a Kid Seta scarf I'm hand knitting and a short sleeve jacket for one of my nieces on my LK150. I'll take pics of those later and post them here.
In the meantime, orders from the website are pilling up and I need to get started working.
It was a great weekend and if the fog lifts, today will be a great day too!

Felted & Fishing

Yesterday was a very warm day here, and as usually happens it is followed by a day of clouds and maybe even rain. Like Yarn Harlot I am also "quite bitter about having some of those precious days taken from me". Summer on the Oregon coast can be very cool and I enjoy the heat and long summer days.


As I promised, here is the picture of Beate's completed bag. It is Fiber Trends Gelato Bag, but she knit it deeper.
Came out really cute, didn't it.


Beate learned to knit in high school and she says she hadn't knit since then. But I don't believe her. She's probably been knitting in secret!! Her work is beautiful.


She started a 2nd bag, a larger tote bag in brown, cream, tan and red for her sister Claudia. She promised to send me a picture from Germany.




Also wanted to share the pictures of how my brother, Jim, utilized the Ashland Sky circular knitting needle storage bag.
From a large bulky fishing tool box to this small storage unit. He's thrilled and insisted I take pictures. He took many Ashland Sky brochures back to his fishing buddies in Seattle.


He tells me that in the bag is mostly trolling flashers such as the Cannonball Troller from Vance's Tackle Co, Ford Fenders and even some mylar Smile Blades from Max Lures.
He suggest not putting hooks into the bag, since the bag is mylar they could rip the bag.



Today is Friday and on Friday afternoons, here in the store, we have open house knitting/crochet/whatever from 1-3.
Sarah my helper and I hurry through the shipping on Fridays so that the class table is clear and chairs are all set out.

Ta ta for now!

Finished 1 project!

I cannot believe how time flies. Here it is the 20th and it has been 10 days since I posted.

This past weekend was full of family again. My husband's family was here. Well, part of it. And it is so big that even part of it is alot of people. His brother-in-law, Ernie Manders, is a Marshfield High School Inductee to the Marshfield High School Hall of Fame and there was quite a ceremony on Saturday night. We have 3 tables full of family and friends attending the ceremony. Ernie and Sandra, his wife, currently live in Pittsburgh.

I did take last Sunday afternoon off to do some knitting. This picture is me (left), my cousin Beate from Germany (center) and my Mom Gisela (right). I'm working on the hood of my zippered jacket from the book Double Exposure by Bonnie A Franz. The hood is now complete and waiting to be blocked before I assemble it and attach it to the jacket. All that remains is stitching in the zipper, which I find is a challenge. I either stitch it in too tight or too loose. Zippers don't stretch, but the knitware does. So I never am quite sure just how much to stretcht the knitwear. Beate is working on Fiber Trends Gelato bag in Cascade 220 pink with a strand of Lorna's Laces Glory. We felted it last night. I'll try to get a pic of it before she leaves. Mom is working on a baby blanket out of Cascade 220 Superwash using Oat Couture's Prairie Blanket pattern.

FINALLY completed John's neckdown henley. The yarn is Lorna's Laces Shepherd Worsted in my exclusive colorway "Camelot". Raglans are not the best armholes for most people and he's no exception. But raglans are very comfortable and he loves to watch movies in his "media" room and this will keep him warm in the winter. His old sweater was so bad, I could hardly stand for him to walk out of the house with it. This is much more exceptible.

Today will be a busy day. Shipping this morning, of course, and I have appointments to tend to in town this afternoon, and a final dinner at Mom's. My brother is leaving to go back home. And soon after Beate is on her way to visit friends in Virgina before she goes back to Germany.

a brief respite

A brief respite.....

my granddaughter left us on Thursday morning.

She turns 13 this year, and is very precious to me. As things turned out, I was her Mom's coach when she was born. It was quite an experience as both of my children were born ciscerian.

And what makes it doubly special is that her Mom is my step-daughter. So from the first breath Tyler took, she was special to me. She now has a brother Zane and a little sister, Nora. (Just love those names!)

Here is a picture of Tyler wakeboarding. We live on a lake, so summer activities are often water oriented. The other popular activities is 4-wheeling in the sandunes, watching movies in our new media room and just plaing partying!

This morning at 5:30 am, my baby sister, Sabrina, and her son went to the airport. Now the house is absolutely silent.

What I have not yet confessed is that our dog of 14 years finally decided enough is enough and stopped eating. On the 30th of August he left us for doggy heaven. It has been a bit tough, but with all the family about, the tears have been buffered. Please, a few moments of silence for loveable Muttley.

And onward....today is a fiber arts meeting. So after gathering up a knitting project I'm off to town. I'm looking forward to it. I have not worked on any of my projects since July 25th. In fact, with the exception of helping Tyler out of a knitting snafu, or casting and knitting a few rows to teach my sister to knit, I've not touched any needles except to ship out your orders.

I finished the sleeves of hubby's henley, but after trying it on, I have decided to clip and detach the ribbing at the hemline and add another inch. So that is my goal these days. So close to being done!

family reunion

Things are very active around here. Just returned from 5 days in Sunriver, Oregon, where my husband's family meets every year. After that our 6 children and their families come to Lakeside where they have fun and tease each other. This picture is my granddaughter Tyler (13) and grand son Zane (6). Tyler has been knitting she was 6. Across the table is Tina. Tina also has been knitting since she was 6. Her Mother taught her. I taught Tyler. Zane is just getting into it. I was teaching him a little, and Tyler has taught her too. He's still a little young to get too exited, but he really enjoyed being part of the group. As some of you may know, we live on the 2 floors above the store. Tina and Tyler spent 5 hours brousing the store last time, and beginning their projects. Talk about passionate!!

More later!!

rain in July!

We've had company for 3 weekends in a row. It has been great! The weekend before last it was my husband's sister and her husband. They've been living in Pittsburg, but have purchased a place here on the coast where they plan to retire. Both of them were raised here, so they are looking forward to coming home. Then last weekend 3 of our kids (son Steve, daughter Greta and son-in-law Todd) were here. Todd put a new roof on my Mom's place and installed my new storm door. Love it!

It has been raining for 3 days now. RAINING!! Our lawn is turning green again. This is nutsy weather for July!

The weekly shipment from Lorna's Laces arrived and Sarah quickly put it all away. The popular yarn these days appears to be the Lace Weight yarns of Helen's Lace and to a smaller degree Heaven. Heaven is my favorite, but I'm crazy about lace weight mohair anyway. Sock projects appear to have slowed down a tad. And judging by the size of the orders, knitters/crocheters are ordering their supply of Cascasde 220 for their projects destined to be gifts this coming holiday. Yes, July is probably a good month to think about your hand made gifts and getting all your yarns and supplies in order. (this is a picture of part of our Shepherd Worsted rack. everything in its place!!)

My needles have hardly been picked up this past week. The brown and gold jacket is done, but I think I want to remove some of the whip stitching on the zipper. The outside is flawless, but the inside has room for improvement. I think I will set the sewing machine to a large loose stitch and open up the feed dog so there is no pressure on the stitches and see if I can't get something nicer. Took it to my month Fiber Arts meeting and got lots of oohs when I took it out of the bag. The wow factor is always good!!! I want to do another with feather and fan for the sleeves and hood (again in Cascade Superwash 220). Couldn't help it but had to do a small feather and fan swatch. But I promise not to start it until the 2 jackets and husband's sweater is done. I'm so close, it is just plain silly.

Today is weekly cleaning day. Friday afternoons are busy with our weekly open house of knitters and crocheters who like to meet. And Saturday one of the local SW Coast groups has asked to meet here, so the next few days will be busy ones!

CSS & Men's Neck Down Henley

Another week has flown by and the winds persist here on the coast. They promised us warm weather yesterday, but it was never quite warm enough to sit outside for lunch. And the wind!!

Been spending most of my free time either working on hubby Neckdown Henly or reading about CSS (web design). Hubby's sweater was started probably a year ago. All that remains is about 1/2 of the arm. I had him try it on and I will have to add about an inch in length. Otherwise it looks quite well. Raglans aren't the best style for him, but this is an "around the house" sweater and I think he will enjoy the comfort of it. I am going to clip a row about 2 or 3 rows above the ribbing, pick up the stitches, knit an inch and then knit off on waste yarn. Then block it. Then graft it back to the ribbing. Should be flawless!! The yarn is Lorna's Laces Shepherd Worsted and the color is Camelot. One of my exclusive colors. He wears a lot of brown and creams.

2 big shipments will be arriving today to the store. Our weekly box from Lorna's Laces and Cascade Yarns. I'm really satisfied with my decision to cut back to only 2 yarn companies, but stock all the colors and as many yarns from those companies as possible. And it is a sinch to special order yarns when I am already getting so many shipments each month. Really, I mean, Cascade has all the basic, classic yarns, plus novelty yarns. And Lorna's Laces is all about quality and color! I love it!!

Summer Color

Summer is so much fun with family visiting. And when you live on the coast of Oregon, warm sunny days are a real treat. The visit by Kerry and Bill was great. Kerry has not been here for years, and this was Bill's first visit. We went to dinner, visited, watched family movies of Kerry's children and did a really nice boat tour of Tenmile Lake on Saturday afternoon. The weather was great.

Today, it is slightly sunny and slightly overcast. I have my fingers crossed that it will clear off and be really nice as the weather forecast is predicting.





My garden has never looked better, thanks to my Mom. She loves to garden and has an incredible style and knack for it. I have 3 garden areas, 2 of which Mom keeps in tip-top shape and the 3rd is in front of the Yarn Store and I manage.

On the knitting front, the zippers arrived for the jackets. I'm pretty pleased with them. Now I have to stitch them in. Have not been knitting too much. Still plugging away on the hood of my hand knit jacket. With the warm weather, I seem to have struck a lazy streak. (store garden by the entrance to my store. All in pots -------- >>>>>>>>>>)

Web work is nearly caught up and I'm thinking the site looks very dated. I look at other sites and I sure can tell I have minimal experience with sites. I'm unsure if I want to tackle learning CSS and a major remodel or not. I still get alot of comments on how easy it is to navigate the site, so I am really unsure.

You tell me! My site is www.yarn-store.com . Your feed back is what drives my decisions. You all have a great 4th of July!!

Can I call it finished?

I took alot of Sunday to work on my knitting. Finished all the knitting and trim work on the child's zippered jacket. It is so cute. Brown and gold and the school colors of North Bend (Oregon) High School. I've ordered a zipper in gold, and as soon as it comes in, I'll be stitching it in by hand.
Also finished and blocked the last sleeve to the adult version of this jacket. This version is being hand knit, whereas the Brown and Gold Child's version was done on my LK150.

I'm getting there!! The excitement I feel at finishing 2 projects at the same time is almost as great as starting new ones! Hubby's sweater fell to the side, again. With just barely half of a sleeve left, it is pretty bad. But it will be done by winter, as I will still be flying high at finishing up the zippered jackets.

The summer is just about in full swing around my home. This weekend my husband's neice and her husband are coming down from Portland, Or. Bill is an architect and Kerry a stay-at-home Mom for now. We plan on a very major bathroom/bedroom remodel and Bill is going to do some plans for us. The weekend after 2 of our sons, and our son-in-law will be here to put a new roof on my Mom's place (on our property, too.)

Activity in the store has shifted into summer mode. Sales are not as frantic thru the website, but are still very very good. Sarah and I are spending our spare time cleaning and organizing displays and catching up the web site (as if it could EVER be caught up, and my evenings have been blessedly and outright lazy. Last night I laid in the chair for hours reading "the Club Dumas". Caught the last half of the movie with Johnny Depp. I'm not necessarily a Depp fan, and in fact, Captain Jack is the only character I get excited about. But Depp doing Corso was quite captivating. So I had to go to the Library and check out the book. I'm getting summer tourists into the store. We have 2 RV parks in Lakeside. Both located on the lake. Also there are quite a few summer rentals on the lake, and homes that host family reunions and such. So I have summer regulars that come in. It is always nice to see them and their projects!

Paints and Zippers

The trip to Carlsbad was great. Did alot of knitting on the plane. From Portand to San Diego and back we were able to upgrade in to First Class. Knitting in First Class!!! Now you can hardly beat that! Took only 1 project down, the Double Exposure Jacket in Teal. Since I was working on the sleeves, most of the project was left at home. Oh, yea, I guess I did throw in an extra project into the suitcase, just in case. Since I didn't do so much while visiting, progress was slow. I've come to the conclusion that I am just not a fast knitter.

Finally found some zippers! So I ordered 4 colors and the color card. These zippers come in 600 colors (not all on the same zipper). So I've no reason to complain I can't find the right color. These are large tooth plastic zippers, separating zippers. Great for coats and bags. But actually those double-headed end-to-end zippers are better for bags, but they are harder to find.

New into the store is Cascade's Paints. Since I stock all the colors of Cascade 220 and Pastaza, I brought in all of the Paints for those 2 lines. These are hand dyed colors. Cherry Berry is my favorite. I love red. I'll have to do another coat. But the last 2 colors are very dark, yet sexy. I'd love to do a jacket for hubby out of one of them.

Well shipping for today was just picked up and my friend of 20 years is here checking out the zipper colors, so I'll sign off for a while!

another busy week at The Yarn Store

Meant to post last Sunday, but time is just slipping by. Didn't get much knitting done this week. A bit in the evening, but progress is slow. All 3 current projects are so close to the end. Received a big box from Cascade (as well as our weekly shipment from Lorna's Laces). Mostly the Cascade 220 Superwash. Sure like how this knits up. A nice basic, classic wool. All that is left is the hood for this children's zippered jacket. Probably won't get to it for 2 weeks. I should get the zippers in for it next week. Found some nice large-toothed plastic zippers, in a fairly good match. I expect them in next week.

Knitting Pure and Simple has 4 new patterns, and that has caused us to totally rearrange the patterns in the store. The rack that held them has no room, so Sarah is moving them all to a rattan folding basket. Seems like more and more patterns are moving to this arrangement. They do stay nice and clean this way.

Sarah is my partime help. She was/is my daughter's girlfriend from high school. She helps 4+ hours a day with shipping out, freight in and keeping the store very organized. Sarah crochets a little, but has never knit. With the new Potter Pattern book coming out, she's serious about learning to knit.

Flying down to Carlsbad (San Diego) this weekend with hubby. His daughter, husband and 3 grandchildren live down there. The oldest is big into soccer. In fact she is a certified rep. So we have alot of games to be watching. I'll be sure to bring the knitting!! Sarah will be pulling and boxing orders over the weekend. We fly back in Monday night, so there will be alot of freight going out on Tuesday. You all have a great weekend!!!

Knitting & Working: Memorial Day 2007

Memorial Day weather on the coast is never dependable, so we rarely have alot of company. But 2 of our sons came down from Vancouver, WA. The youngest, Cody, spent most of his time either fishing on Tenmile Lake (Lakeside, OR) or out in the sanddunes in his 4-wheel truck. Steve and his wife Cory, spent most of their time visiting with friends and with us. At least the evenings were just barely warm enough to BBQ.

Seems like the work "behind the scenes" in the store has been tremendous. I have a small pile of books and patterns to get on-line. The Noni Bag line has grown so large I'm working on breaking out each pattern to its own page, and to make matters more complex, I'm now stocking ALL the handles and hardware to make the bags. So many bits and pieces. And I'm unable to find ALL the stuff from one supplier. It takes alot of work to order from 3-4 different suppliers, not to mention the darn cost of shipping. Oh well. I decided it was a good thing to do, so I will just be quiet and get the work done!

Saturday I stole just enough time to machine knit one sleeve of my newest project. Garter Stitch on a knitting machine is not so easy. Each row has to be flipped. If you have to have purchased a garter bar when they were still in production, it makes it easier. It still would have taken me longer to hand knit, because luckily, I did not mess anything up while machine knitting. I'm doing this on my trusty LK150 mid-gauge. The most agreeable machine I've ever knit on. In the photo you see the back and one sleeve. They are photograhed on my EZ Large blocking board. The yarn is Cascade 220 Superwash. I don't stock it, but am considering doing it. Either way, I can order ANY color you need in that line. This is the first time I've used it, and for a Superwash wool it is pretty nice. This line must be 20+ years or older, so it is well established and extremely popular, so my yarn rep says.

The photo on the body form is the same jacket but for adults. This one is all hand knit. The pattern uses Cascade 220 (not superwash) and needs to be hand washed. The pattern comes

from the book Double Exposure by Bonnie A Franz. I like this book because most of the patterns are fairly classic and will never go out of style. If you have the book, go to page 88. The hem is garter stitch. The sleeves and hood is garter stitch. And I will hand stitch a zipper into it. The pattern is called Sandy Jacket. Perfect for coastal weather.

I'd like to get some feedback on the Cascade Superwash 220 line. Have you used it? Do you think you'd like to see me stock this line?

Today, we are slotting in a new computer. I run a dual system at my desk. One of the machines, while super fast, is just toooooo noisy. So I better try to catch up a few more chores before Cody comes up with the new machine.

Till we chat again!! Angelika

It's my first blog!!

Hello, welcome to my first blog!

I enjoy reading other knitters & crocheters' blogs, and really enjoy seeing their project done out of my favorite yarns.

Currently I am *still* knitting my hooded zippered jacket in Cascade 220 out of the book "Double Exposure" by Bonnie A Franz. I started this jacket last year, but with the demands of business, which can include starting and finishing other items, projects can last years! But I have only 1 sleeve left and the hood. I will get photos up.

Today, here on the Oregon coast it is very cool, rainy, drizzly, just what you'd expect on the Oregon coast. I have alot of web work to do. I'm trying to get all the Noni patterns and their accessories broken out on the web site. But, I think I will take a few hours off and go out to lunch with hubby. We had hoped to run our dog on the beach, but the weather is just soooo soggy.

Would love to hear from you all. Talk to you soon!!

Angelika's Yarn Store