The Frolic

This weekend is the Downtown Knit Collective's 11th annual Knitter's Frolic. I missed it last year as I was in PEI. I'm volunteering tomorrow from 9 to 2. I'm working the workshop registration desk. I'll take my knitting to work on between classes. After I'm through I'll take a stroll through the market. It's getting bigger every year. Joan Kass really has organizing the Frolic down to a science. She does a fantastic job! This year it is two days for the first time. People are coming from Washington DC to attend. I mailed flyers to all the yarn stores in Ontario, Quebec, upstate New York, Pennsylvania and Michigan. I also printed name tags for all the vendors, teachers, volunteers and the executive.

Yesterday Jennifer and I unpacked a couple of skid from Lang. This shipment contained the new colours of Maxi Tosca, Tosca and Mille Colori that Chris ordered when he was in Cologne. It also contained West, which is a new quality. I think it will be the big winner this season.

We also got a Jo Sharp shipment and a Lana Grossa shipment. The Lana Grossa shipment contained their samples so I've spent this afternoon getting shade cards organized. They've sent lots of sample balls for our reps however the ball bands are blank. So, that means Monday I'll be sitting at my desk with a set of shade cards and the bags of yarn trying to figure out which is which. I then have to make up stickers to put on the ball bands for the reps so that they'll know which quality it is. Fun! Good thing I have a pretty good eye.

Mrs. King finished a hat and scarf out of our new Superfine Alpaca Paint. It looks really good but I think I'll adjust the pattern to make the scarf a bit longer.

I'm almost finished the neck warmer thingy that I'm doing out of it. Maybe I'll finish it at the Frolic. Got about 18" done on the Feather and Fan shawl and I gave that to Mrs. King to finish. She's really fast and I have a deadline on this project.

My sister and my niece are coming for a visit in June so I'm taking a week off. My god-daughter is getting married on the Saturday so they're going to come to that. I've known her mother since we were ten so it won't be a problem. Should be fun.

It's raining today which is good. The grass really needs it. It's so nice to see the flowers coming up and the trees out in bloom. I was going to buy a finch feeder for the back yard but the purple finches and yellow finches are using our regular feeder so I guess I won't have to after all.

Well, it's almost time to leave. Have a great weekend.

Happy knitting!

Susan

Doughnut Day

It's doughnut day at Estelle today. Every time someone has a birthday, Caroline buys doughnuts for the office. Today is my birthday! All I can say is I'm way too young to be 53.

The Fall 2008 samples are starting to trickle in from our suppliers. I've gone through the Lang samples and once again they have a really strong offering. King Cole also have a good programme this season. I still have to go through Lana Grossa and Madil. I don't think the Scheepjes or Dale samples have arrived yet. I'm updating the price list for the sales reps as I get information.

Once we have everything, we'll make up sets of samples for all our reps. They will be shipped to them in early May and then we'll all hit the road again.

Chris got back from Cologne earlier in the week. He brought back some interesting samples and had really good meetings with our suppliers.

It has been such a beautiful week it's too bad it is ending with such a miserable day. It has rained almost all day and been very windy. I had to take some samples of our new Superfine Alpaca to Mrs. King today to have her knit up some swatches to include with the rep samples. It was so windy I could feel my car being blown around.

I had a really nice dinner at my friend Joan's on Saturday night. She had invited our friend Cynthea also. We met in our first year of university, 35 years ago (now I feel old) and have been friends ever since. When we turned 40 we took a cruise to Bermuda and when we turned 50 we did a walking tour of Tuscany. I loved Italy and would love to go back. Maybe some day. Joan was have a knitting dilemma but I think she's OK now.

I'm working away on a lace shawl out of the new solid colour Arequipa. I chose the red because it is a really beautiful red. I'll hopefully have enough done after the weekend that it will look like a shawl and I can take a picture of it.

I'm getting my hair cut after work, not before it needs it. I can't believe how fast my hair grows. I have been going to the same stylist for 7 years and just let her do what she wants. I trust her.

Well I'd better go. Have a good weekend.

Happy Knitting!
Susan

Spring!

I didn't get a chance to update my blog last week. I was working in the warehouse most of the day. Brian, the fellow in the warehouse, was off that day so I was pulling orders.

I was on the road yesterday, up to Lakefield, Lindsay and Uxbridge. It was a beautiful day for a drive. I stopped in to see the ladies at Happenstance Yarns and Books. Lakefield is such a pretty town. Then I drove to Lindsay and dropped of some yarn at Kawartha Yarns. Naz moved earlier this year to a much better spot on the main street of Lindsay. She's getting lots of walk by traffic at this location.

After I left Naz I went for a stroll on the main street. I wandered into a nice clothing store and they carry my favourite brand of jeans. I tried on a pair of the new wide leg ones and bought them. I like to help the local economy:)

I filled up my car at the Loblaws in Lindsay. Gas was 2 cents a litre less there than at the other stations. Don't know how they do it but when gas is $1.119 every little bit helps.

My next stop was On The Lamb in Uxbridge. The store is in the back of the old tin mill on the main street. There is a really nice restaurant, a jeweller and a gallery in the building also. The mill has been completely refurbished.

I was home by 4 and went for my daily 3 km walk. It is so nice to be able to walk on the sidewalks again and not to have to wear boots. I was having to walk on the road most of the time because the sidewalks were too treacherous. It's raining/snowing at the moment but we're supposed to have a great weekend with the temperature up to 14 on Sunday.

Chris bought me a new toy earlier in the week - a new scanner! I've been scanning balls of yarn all week and setting up web pages for the new yarns we'll be introducing for Fall 08. We'll publish them after we start selling the Fall yarns. I'll be scanning more today. Chris is in Germany right now at the Cologne fair and left me a long list of things to do. I still have to scan the new Cascade yarns we'll be offering and the new solid colour Arequipa. The colours are really beautiful. I see something in lace for this yarn. Maybe I'll take a sample home on the weekend and play with it.

I've been working on a neck warmer out of our new Superfine Alpaca. It is really, really lovely to work with. I'll finish it off on the weekend, block it and have a picture of it next week. I think there will be a few iterations of this as I'm playing with buttonhole placement.

Well, I'd better get back to scanning yarn. Have a great weekend!

Happy Knitting!

Susan