A 'SWEET' POST

I must be craving sugar.  Right now I am all about the candy colours : )
Remember this 'creamsicle' shawl? Well I finished it and I just love it.  It goes with what's left of my red hair. It's greying fast these days.......

Then the same woman that dyed this yarn, came up with this 'licorice' colour way. I immediately thought of licorice allsorts candy.....

and had to have it in the shop!

Right away I wound a skein and cast on for a pair of fun socks.  I added in a bit of the leftover creamsicle yarn because I really wanted an orange heel

and just like that a heel is born  : )  My candy bag had no blue candies. Wha???

This next combo reminds me of summer sherbet.  I am using two stands of yarn for this shawl. A Malabrigo sock yarn and a silk haze yarn.

It's a real coral colour that my camera just can't capture. Even still, that colour! Delicious.

Enjoy your week end!
Carla

ON AND OFF THE NEEDLES

Every day, in between serving customers and putting out new stock, there is a bit of time to sneak in a few stitches. Samples really help to sell yarn when people can see and feel what it's like knitted up.

Hats are fast and cute so I made a couple out of the cotton/rayon blend.  It feels wonderful.

chocolate and aqua

lavender and green

Then this happened.  I couldn't resist this gorgeous skein any longer so started a summer shawl

It's called 'creamsicle'.  LOVE it. This yarn is hand dyed right here in town by Smith and Ewe.

and how cute is this?  I was gifted this entire bolt of cute sheep fabric. Ooh the possibilities.  I know one thing for sure is it will be the backing for my 'knitty' word quilt.  So fun

This past week hubby built a new display. I saw something similar on Pinterest, and showed him. He's amazing. I love the industrial pipe and there is so much more display space than the table I had before.  Good thing, because loads more is expected this week  : )

What are you working on ?

Happy stitching,
Carla

LATELY

I can't remember a time when I have felt so busy. Every day is 'hair straight back' !  It sure is fun though having my own little shop.

Word blocks have been arriving in the mail and I'm getting ideas as to how this quilt is going to look

Just a couple more words to come and I can start to assemble : )

I did actually carve out a few minutes to sew a bee block.

I had free reign with the setting of these half square triangles to go in Stephanie's quilt.

My daughter came to the shop and changed out the window display to a camping theme for May.  It even includes a campfire with a roasting 'marshmallow'.

the view from outside : )

even a stump and hiking boots complete with woolly socks!

I had a baby shower to attend a while back so I knit up this little hat to match a jacket I bought.

and I have been wanting to try knitting a little pixie hat.........so I did : )

I had a lovely Mother's day spent with family.  Always so fun.

Have a lovely week
Carla

METRO AREA MONTH 9

It's that time again!  Don't the days just fly by.

This month the greens are so bright and fun. I love these blocks

Lots of scrappy goodness going on here

That's it for today. I would like to get a picture of all the blocks together so far, but they are hanging at the shop.  It won't be long now and I will be assembling these blocks into a quilt. Can't wait!

Happy stitching,
Carla

EIGHT DAYS A WEEK

Actually I'm working 6 days a week, but I'm as busy as if it's eight!  I'm enjoying the process of filling the shop with inventory and chatting to all the lovely people who walk through the door.  Hubby is busy working in the back building an office-storage space.

Not a lot of sewing is happening, but I have been knitting up some baby hats. Always a fun way to showcase a certain yarn.

This little hat uses a 3 needle bind off while knitting an i-cord.  I needed three hands, but managed...

I made another slightly smaller one out of the leftovers.  I'm a firm believer that every baby needs a hat : )  The pattern is by A.Opie and is called Duality

These lovely fingerless gloves were knit by Carol.  She is an amazing knitter, and fast!!! There are a few samples around the shop made by her. It's a free pattern called Marg's mitts

I've been having fun changing out the window displays.  I have everything from gumboots and umbrellas, to needles and books.

Next month will be a camping theme!

This beautiful baby Merino needed to be a little hat too.  So soft

This is the very fun quilt the staff made for me when I left Katja's.  It's nice to have it  hanging in the shop as a  reminder of them.

Thank you to everyone who has popped in with well wishes.  For those of you who have purchased yarn, how are your projects coming?  I'd love to see

Enjoy your week,
Carla

FEELING CHATTY

The other day, a woman came into the shop and I sort of recognized her.  She looked a little surprised and said "is this YOUR shop?"   I told her it was, and she said "well you're the reason I'm knitting!"
Now it was my turn to look surprised.  She proceeded to tell me that several years ago one of her sons was heading to Guatemala on a missions trip and I donated a bunch of baby quilts and little knitted hats to match for the orphanage down there.  After seeing the impact it had on the people working there, she decided she needed to learn how to quilt.  She said with a laugh "well THAT didn't work, so I took up knitting".  Suddenly I felt like Mrs. McArthur    It was really nice to know that something I did and had totally forgot about had made an impact on someone else.  Quilting matters. Knitting matters.  But most of all, giving of our time and talent matters.

I got some happy mail yesterday!  These blocks arrived for my knitty quilt from Mary

I just love them.  Thank you Mary!

They tie in perfectly with my block and I just can't wait to get this quilt together  : )
I've got all kinds of words going through my head, but the wall in the shop where it will go is only so big.  Once again I will have to demonstrate some self control..............

Have a lovely week end,
Carla

METRO AREA MONTH 8

Happy April !  Hurray for warmer weather and all the 'happy' that spring brings : )  I hope you are enjoying sewing these blocks as much as I am.  Some are more challenging, but fun just the same.

Pinks and reds this month.  It turns out red is really hard to photograph.  It turns bright orange or some other weird colour, but you get the idea anyway

I'm zooming in for a close up here because I was really happy with my points on this block.  Pressing the seams open helped with all that bulk

Little 1" squares.  Love them

I am off to work again : )

Have a lovely week end
Carla