A Shop-Owners Impressions of the LYS Tour (North Puget Sound)

First off:

THANK YOU ALL, FOR TRAVELING AND VISITING US!

We truly were honored by seeing how many of you came to check out our little shop up here in Fairhaven and it was SO awesome to hear how much you liked the shop and the patterns we came up with for the tour!

This was our first time in the LYS Tour and we really did not know what to expect. We were told it is going to be intense. There will be lots of people. So we thought, ok, lets print 60 patterns….(I was still a bit skeptic, if we really needed that many…HA!)

These last 4 days were the most intense work days I had in a while! It was amazing how many knitters and crocheters came out and participated in the tour! We ended up giving out close to 500 patterns!!!!

The Patterns! I haven’t shown them to you, have I?

Well here they are:

When we first thought about participating in the LYS Tour this year, we thought we should have a pattern for knitters and crocheters. For a while, this is as far as we got. Then we settled on wanting lace shawl patterns. Ok again, for a while, we hovered there. Finally we thought, we should try and make a knitted and a crochet shawl as close to each other as possible. This way, if you are a crocheter and liked the knitting pattern, you will still be able to have it and visa versa! This way nobody will feel left out, or sad, or feel the “other” craft got something unobtainable for them. We do feel very strongly about embracing all kinds of fibre arts and artists and wanted to do our best to express that in our patterns.

So, said and done and there were the shawls not long after. It was such fun to pick out the yarn, design the shawls and knit/crochet them up, trying to imagine how people would like them and what kinds of colours they would choose to work up their sample!

We were done with the sample shawls quite a bit before the Tour started and it was SO hard to keep them a secret and not show them off to people! FINALLY the Tour date rolled around and we got to take the precious out. We decided to hang them on the wall in the shop, so they can be seen from all over easily and if you choose to make them out of yarn differently than the suggested one, you could glance over there and decide which one of the tons of yummy yarns and colours you would like to imagine it in.

We were open until 8 pm on Thursday and Friday and we had two sets of knitters that came in just under the wire on Friday, calling and letting us know they were close and asking if we could stay open just a wee bit longer.

We thought, well if it was us in the car, coming up from down south for several hours drive to check out a yarn shop, we would be super disappointed if we didn’t make it, so we stayed. Can’t disappoint a fellow fibre addict!

We were happy to do it and it turned out the ladies were super awesome and we were happy to get to know them.

I have to say, it was one of my favourite bits of the whole tour! The chatting with fellow fibre enthusiasts! Talking about (and in some cases fondling) the latest project on the needles, discussing what and why one yarn is preferred over the other, checking out favourites and regaling in tales of past projects and past years of the LYS Tour of the knitters/crocheters that came in our shop for the first time ever. This is not to forget our regular friends and neighbours that -of course- also hopped on by this weekend! YOU ROCK, but you already knew that!

Look! One of our new friends and I!

I am amazed at the amount of creativity and generosity and happy attitude of fibre folk. I was a bit sad, that I had to “work” that weekend and could not go on the tour myself, but it ended up not being “work” at all. Many of you told us you really liked the shop and the patterns and generally made us feel like a welcome stop on the tour! It was so wonderful! I can really not begin to tell you how great that made us feel! I do hope to see many of you back for a bit more chatting and knitting/crocheting together (or even showing off some of the other projects I have been hearing about, like quilting and weaving and embroidery!!!!). Maybe we can enjoy a spot of tea together and get to know each other a bit more. If we can’t make it, then I do hope to see you again next year and that you at least stay in contact via email! I DO WANT TO SEE THE THINGS YOU KNIT WITH THE YARN YOU GOT! EVERY SINGLE LAST ONE OF THEM!!!!

Another really fun and sweet gesture was that Meg, from NW Handspun and Andrea and her husband, from Apple yarns took time out of their own busy schedules, to come over to our shop and check on us! I guess they remembered their first time on the tour and how hectic it can get. Thanks guys! It was such a nice surprise to see you. The gesture was absolutely appreciated and made us feel such a part of the group!

In recap: Lots of laughter, lots of ooh-ing and aaah-ing, lots of stuff learned, lots of tips swapped, lots of new friends made and A WONDERFUL TIME was had by Callie and me at Mrs. Hudson’s Yarns and Teas in Fairhaven!  We hope you had a great time, too, and we are looking forward to welcoming you again!

Thank you, from Callie and me!

An update is in order, methinks.

Ok so. I will try and be a better blogger! One update a week? I think that should be in the realm of possibility!

A lot of things are happening! We are getting ready for the LYS Tour (the local yarn shop tour) here in the pacific Northwest coastal region! It’s a big deal and 24 shops are participating from way up in the north, all the way down to a bit south of Seattle!

If you are in the vicinity, do go and check it out! It is tons of fun!

Every shop came up with at least one free pattern (and some even with two). They are all one or two skein patterns and the yarn featured in the patterns is 10% off that 4 day weekend! (May 16-19) There are daily prize drawings (and every shop will give away the same prize, so visiting a few is going to up your chances of winning!) and on the total you can get entered in the grand prize drawing by visiting at least 8 of the 24 participating shops!  Here is the link to the official website for the tour. You can check out who is who on the tour and where we are!

Ok on the knitting front: I have been knitting up a storm and writing as well. I finished a pair of socks, a pair of slipper socks, three kerchiefs, and a shawl, alongside the patterns for all of these! O.O  Pictures of the socks , kerchiefs and slipper-socks will be uploaded to my flickr account shortly.

I have no idea how I got all this done and still kept my sanity!

Let’s start with the shawl! It is my happy at the moment! I spun the yarn for it myself.  I wanted a tight and clean look,  something soft, but  not fuzzy that could hold it’s own in square miles of stockinette stitch. I decided on  a beautiful gray-ish brown Merino roving, spun with a short draw (inchworm) technique, to about a Dk weight.

The shawl was knitted from the bottom up with short row shaping on the “wings”. It’s  a small one, with only 39.5 inches from bottom tip to the top of the wings. I wanted something simple, something for every day, something warm and comforting. I have been thinking about my interpretation for a Jane Eyre Shawl for a few years and now it materialized.
The shawl itself is rather plain, in all stockinette stitch, just as Jane appears to be. The center spine, as it’s only embellishment, does give a hint of Jane’s playful nature though. Just as we get glimpses of it in the book! I dare say, I think Jane would have approved of it!

Here are some pictures of it blocking:

 

Let me know what you think! I will make modeled shots after I pick it up on Wednesday. I got it done on Sunday and blocked it at the shop, but it was not dry by the time I went home, so it is still there.

I really love the shawl.

I do want to change the style of my blog a little, so I will put additional pictures on my flickr account. If you want to see more of the projects, please feel free to follow me there! I apologize for the inconvenience, but I do believe it will improve the overall look of the blog and make reading it more pleasant!

March!?

Time flies by when you are having fun! The shop is going to be one year old on March 31st! We are going through prep for the “birthday party”. At the same time, we are working feverishly on the shawls/patterns/photos for the LYS tour (Local Yarn Shop Tour) that will be happening in May (but the patterns have to be done by the 23rd of this month! Then I have a custom order to finish (knitting a dresser scarf and night table covers!) and a custom spinning order to finish, not to mention teaching classes in between!

Oh boy! I do know what I am tired of at night!

Pictures? Sure! Hang on.. The shawls can’t be shown until the yarn tour, but the rest I can put here for you all to see

A new shrug! Pretty and happy in orange!

 

 

A new hat! WOOT WOOT! I really love this hat!

I don’t think I have shown you the cable wrap yet! That got done as well and is getting tested now!

 

 

I made owls (the pattern is already available! )

 

I re-fahsioned a turtleneck into a tank-top:

 

 

I sewed 5 pillowcases (well I cut an pinned, my daughter sewed) and then crochet around the edge:

 

I made a headband inspired by the one in French girl knits:

 

I wrapped cardboard letters in yarn together with my daughter (these were for the shop window in February, I knitted little banners for this month and Callie embroidered ”happy birthday” on it, I will show you that one soon):

The dresser scarf won’t be shown until it is done as well and the spinning will be shown in a future post. It’s for a giveaway for the shops birthday and a custom order of sock yarn! (you didn’t think I had forgotten about you, did you, Alice?)

PHEW! All caught up! What do you think?

Nest up: another book review! So stay tuned!

Hearts.

For February! Callie and I were sitting at the shop and working along on our respective projects, talking about what we should do for next Months classes etc.  And as it usually happens, we came up with a new project. Well Callie asked: “How hard would it be to make the owl mittens with a heat?” I said: “Not very.” So off we went to check out yarn possibilities. We sat back down with some of Baby Alpaca/merino wool blends  and I worked away.  Of course they are not “just” the owl mittens with a heart. They turned out to be their own little entity….

Callie is testing the pattern right now and I have to make myself a pair of these babies as well. I fell in love with the softness and the colours.

The yarn and the pattern for these will be in our February yarn of the Month club kit, along with a bit of local sweets for V day!

What? It has been this long again?

Oh folks. I promise, I will try and be better! Now that I am getting in the swing of working full time again, it should be easier to nip off some time here and there to blog about it all….

 

Ok what have I been up to? Not much, to be honest. Mostly hanging out with my family when I’m not at the shop. That is all. I have been knitting like a fiend, though!

Here is proof! Pictures of the finished lace shawl (100% suri Alpaca there! oh so soft and I added beads!) It was done quite a while ago, but I was too lazy to take pictures.

 

 

The pattern is being tested and soon you will be able to get it! I will  let you know when exactly!

Then I made this sheep hat for my daughter! HAPPY SHEEP! I got a sheep notion pouch for Christmas and loved it so much, when I saw the black yarn DD picked out for her hat, it was clear what it had to be! She loves it!

SHEEEEEEP!

I also made a skirt. Right now I only have a blocking shot of it, but here it is:

 

LOVE the yarn I got to use in this one! It’s the Cascade Eco +. Soooo nice! I still have one skein here in forest green! I have no idea yet what it will be, but working on it!

and another hat and cowl set here:

Little cables hiding the decreases.

Brand new yarn! Cascade “Casablanca” . One skein made both hat an cowl!!!!

We are having lots of things planned for the new year! If you are in town, stop on by, I would LOVE to see you all in person!

Then there is the jacket! My daughter claimed it, so I will have to make myself another one (no, not the same…) I am doing the math for the pattern for the snowflake jacket right now, so that should be done soon-ish as well!

If you follow me on Facebook (there is a link in the sidebar!!! HINT HINT) then you have seen it already, but here it is for those of you that haven’t found me on FB yet:

 

 

The jacket was knitted in the round until the underarms. I steeked it! SUCH FUN! I have done it once before and definitely will do it again! I knitted the snowflakes right in, but you could do them in duplicate. (I’m just too lazy to do that). The yarn for this one was Cascade 128. SO NICE!

 

All caught up on everything. There are a few more projects on the needles right now, but more about that later. How are all of you? What have you been up to? TALK TO ME!!!!

Hey there, I’m back! :)

A while ago, I dropped my laptop to the floor and now it is broken. DH hooked me up with a temporary replacement for now, but the keyboard is coming off it an the D key is having problems (it’s either not typing at all or too many times in a row lol, so forgive me a few errors until I can actually fix or replace my beloved old lappy)

So. I am sure you were wondering what I have been up to. I have been teaching and designing like mad.

I have been hanging out at the shop (since one is loath to call it work, as it is so much FUN)

And I have been made a partner at the shop! WOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.. like how I sneaked that in on you?

Yep! Callie was crazy enough to take me on board! THANK YOU FOR THAT!!!!

Honestly, I still can’t quite believe it myself. It’s like a ream come true!

It’s such fun! We are currently working on a class in collaboration with the bead store down the street. If this is receive well, there will be follow ups for that! So the work is starting to pick up.

I am also still reviewing books an knitting of course and I will try to pick up my regular schedule for the blog again soon. (maybe minus a few things and plus a few others)

If you want to keep up with what we are up to, just sign up for the shop newsletter! Email Callie an I am sure she will be happy to put you on the list!

Ok for now I will leave you with a picture of the latest finished shawl:

100% bamboo yarn in lavender! It will go a traveling come next week! WOOT WOOT!

Re-fashion…

This pillow….

….used to be this jacket:

It got felted. Not by accident. I wanted it a bit fulled and then forgot it was in the washer! *rolls eyes*. Then it got banished to the back of the closet until I had the guts to cut it up.

Today was the day! I cut it up and made a pillow our of part of it. I still have a bunch of it left to make other things from (Thinking a coin purse, and a pin cushion). But that will be another story for another time.
I also made pie today! Strawberry, raspberry and blueberry pie! It’s delicious with a bit of vanilla ice cream and a drop of heavy cream poured over it. No recipe, just mixing the berries in a bowl with sugar and flour, then pouring them into the pie crust and baking it. Presto! Yummy pie!

 

Busy, busy bee!

I have been busy since Monday! I was at the shop yesterday afternoon. We had such fun decorating the shop window to celebrate the start of school! We have been knitting tiiiiny swatches!

Here is a little teaser, in order to see it all, you will have to come to the shop! It’s worth it! It’s sooo cute!

He is simply my favourite little guy!!!!

Not much interested in knitting, the ball is so much more fun!

Sock-monkey knitting socks!

And then today I was volunteering. Instead only half a day, it turned out to be a full day. So when I came home, I was super tired (I only went to bed at 2 am last night and had to be up and out to volunteer at 8 am again). In order not to mess up with my pattern writing or the big shawls and having to rip back, I decided to finish my bottle cover, that I started last week, when it was so hot. My metal bottle always condensates so badly when it is hot outside and you put something cold to drink in it. I don’t like that in my purse/knitting bag.. so a cover had to be made. The fridge cold liquid also always freezes my fingers! (I think they might just be extra delicate, as nobody else seems to mind…). I made a cover anyway and I think it came out cute. Here it is. No pattern, just cast on and go! I am thinking of adding a handle though….

And here is another shot of all the cat toys, before most of them got sold!

What’s this? A nother update so soon?

Yes! I’m on a roll! I figured why not?
I finished a new project that came up between all the other projects! (If you follow me on FB you already know about it though and it’s not new anymore)

So we were thinking in the shop about small patterns, that use small amounts of luxury yarns. We tossed a few ideas at each other and at the end a steampunk cuff was the winner rising from the dust of the think-tank.

We picked some yarn and off I went. The poor thing morphed a few times while on the needles but here is the end result! Freshly done, maybe two hours ago. I’m going to do this one in a slide show, as there are a lot of pictures.

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The pattern will soon be available at Mrs Hudson’s Yarns and Teas. Just email Callie, if you want it at: callie[at]mrshudsons[dot]com

Little update

I haven’t really updated a whole lot around here. My poor blog, slowly starving…
The reason is that I have been super busy. I know, I have been busy before, but I am honest to goodness SUPER BUSY right now! LONG POST!!!! Keep reading!

First off: Both my daughter and my youngest son had their birthdays in August! So I made two cakes! They were ordered this way! My daughter wanted anything else but “happy birthday” on her cake. Your wish is my command darling! Love you lots my wonderful daughter!

I ran out of icing so I spelled “know” as in no.. teheheh.. it was either this, or Happy St. Patrick’s day in purple icing….

My son wanted his favourite fake Schwarzwaelder Kirsch cake. One of my faves as well! SOOOOO GOOOOD! I have shared the recipe on my timeline on FB, but if there is interest I will make it a post on it’s own here on my blog, just let me know! For you as well my darling son: Happy birthday! I love you lots!

Mmmmmmmmmmmhhhh what’s better then chocolate cake, whipping cream and cherry pie filling?????

The shop and the classes are so much fun and do take up a whole lot of time, with travelling on the bus etc. There are the classes, that I have to write material for and come up with patterns for. It’s fun, but also a lot of work. There was the kids class, which needed a pattern that taught them how to knit, purl, decrease and seam IN THREE DAYS! So I made this finger puppet pattern:

Mr. Eggplant, as Alice calls him! Pattern available at Mrs. Hudson’s Yarns and Teas. (Email Callie to get it)

Then there was the fundraiser for the Humane Society. Of course we have to help for that! I came up with this:

Litte kitty toys and the little “mat” was made by one of the customers of the shop with some of the donated charity yarn. We loved it so much, it had to stay as the “bed” for the kitty toys!:)

And Callie found and printed this poster to go with them:

I LOVE THAT POSTER AND THE LOOK ON THE CAT’S FACE!

Little cat toys with cat nip inside! I think they are so stinkin’ cute!!! This is only a small amount left. We sold quite a bit and still have a few to finish! There is a pattern for this one as well. If you want it, please email callie at mrshudsons dot com . She can hook you up! 100% of the proceeds for the cat toy pattern will go to the humane society. If you want a finished toy, also email Callie, she will gladly hook you up!

Keep Reading!

Then there are two shawls I am working on. One of them is for a dear friend and I can’t wait to see what she thinks when she sees it! I LOVE IT LOUISE! It’s gorgeous! The fibre, the colour! Just perfect!

I love it! Bamboo in a “vintage lilac” colour.. So drapey, so yummy, so perfect for a shawl!

The other one is for the shop! I’m writing the pattern for it right now. (I will let you know when it is done)

green suri alpaca! Sooooooo soft!

My cardigan is.. well… it will be coming along soon. Right now it’s on the back burner.  Have I told you about my cardigan already? I think I did…. well here is how far it is at the moment:

at least the lace part is done hahahaha

I have made a cowl and matching fingerless mittens (well one so far, the second one is on the needles right now) I am not sure if I am going to keep it, or sell it, but it’s really really nice!)

It came about as a pattern for a knitting in the round class I am going to teach and then I decided to teach the class in a different way… well, at least I got a pretty cowl out of it…

Keep going! You are half way done!!!

I have been spinning! Some sock yarn (on my wheel) and some cat hair (on my spindle). My driveband on my wheel broke and I am still trying to get it replaced! Bah! I was on such a roll with the sock yarn too! It was such fun! Well I will get it done the minute I have the drive band here…..(no pics.. sorry)

Not bad for a one-project-girl! I have figured out if I work on each project for one hour a day, it will all get done eventually! Most days I don’t have that much time to knit though. There is the little question about a family and a household and sometimes cooking (although my WONDERFUL, DEAR, SWEET, ADORABLE and absolutely LOVABLE husband does a LOT of the cooking lately! I love him so much for being so incredibly supportive! I know he thinks I don’t notice, but honestly: I know darn well I could not do this without him in my corner! THANK YOU BABY!

I have a few more things to tell you, soon….. they are not quite done percolating yet Fun things!

I made jam! LOTS AND LOTS of JAM! Here is a bit of what I have left. I gave out a bunch and now I’m out of glasses. I still have to make apple pies to freeze, as there are a gazillion apples on the tree!

Blackberry, lavender, rose jam! I put it through a strainer, since I really despise seeds in my jam….

I also made peach preserve and an apple, vanilla plum/apricot one! The lids are made pretty by some cupcake liners I had in a drawer and never used (as I have reusable ones)

Other  then that, I spend my time with my family. My son got a telescope for his birthday and we have been looking at the moon and taking pictures of it through the telescope! It’s totally cool!
Here are a few: (click on the images to see them big! It makes a difference!)

The last blue Moon for the next 3 years! And I got a picture!!!!

Look how close you can get with the telescope!!!! (a bit shakey picture, but I think it comes across!)

I loved seeing all those craters for myself!

These pictures were taken just with a normal point and click camera, nothing special, or fancy about it… just through the telescope viewfinder. Amazing, huh? Well, to me it is!

Oh… and I felted a shawl of mine. Made out of handspun blue faced Leicester yarn….

Well *I* didn’t do it. I found it this way… it got felted under mysterious circumstances…..dun dun duuuuuuuun

and garden wise? My artichokes are blooming and they smell divine! The bees LOVE IT! I will try and keep an artichoke around every year from now on, just for the bees!

Now you are all up to speed! A few little things I didn’t mention, like working on the laptop to get all my patterns spruced up and looking nice again and working to get the kids signed up for a new homeschooling program (we are still waiting on the paperwork for that! Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr…. just send it already)

 Ok I’m out for now, got tons to do as you can see! Talk soon!

Have some fun! Let go! Life is too important to be taken seriously!

 

DONE! YOU MADE IT!!! YOU READ ALL THE WAY THROUGH THIS POST!