A Few of my Favorite Things–Poems sock yarn

One of my current projects is a modular triangular shawl made with Poems sock yarn.  This lovely yarn is a wool/nylon blend, perfect for socks (but, also good for other things, like shawls).  It has a lovely feel to it so I’m enjoying working with it.  This shawl will really show off the color variegation to the yarn.  I’m using the Aurora Borealis colorway, which consists of dark blues, greens, and purples that gently blend into each other.

The Poems yarn is from Wisdom Yarns, part of Universal Yarns.  The Knitting Nest will also carry the 100% wool worsted weight version of this yarn, which looks like it will knit up wonderfully into something warm and cozy for this fall.  Both weights of this yarn are available in several different colorways, so I’m sure you can find one to love!

We open August 23rd.  Put it on your calendar and come join us and check out our beautiful yarns!

 

Yarn, yarn, and more yarn!!

Our yarn started arriving last week and we’re sooooo excited!!  Patrick and Christopher unpacked all the Universal Yarn that came yesterday – 4 very large boxes!  (I’m kind of bummed that we didn’t get the pattern books yet, but, they are for the new season, so they haven’t shipped yet.)  Christopher has been putting together wire cubes and pricing yarn.  At the end of the day today, he said, “After using the price gun all day today, it’s now more of a tool and not so much a really cool thing.”  Yep, it’s a tool.  And my boy got a lot of work done today.

I spent the day today finalizing our needles and notions orders.  After that, though, I decided which models I want to make for the shop.  And that involved yarn!!  Lots of yummy, luscious yarn!  Can you tell that yarn makes me happy?!

So, here are some pictures of our yarn (hopefully, starting in 27 days, to become our customers’ yarn) along with Patrick and Christopher working on getting it all into inventory and priced.  And, of course, a picture of Christopher with a price gun.  He priced me today at $5.00 – which is much better than yesterday, when I was $0.50!

 

And the Cascade Yarn comes on Thursday!!

A Nest

Why did we choose The Knitting Nest as the name of our yarn shop?  We could have called it a million different things – Martin’s Knitting And Crochet, Weyauwega Fibers, etc.  Even if we want to have alliteration, we could have used The Knitting Nook,  or The Knitting Niche (to name just a few).  The Yarn Barn or Martin’s Yarns would have given us something rhyming.  So, why The Knitting Nest?

According to Dictionary.com, one of the definitions of nest is “a cozy and secluded place”.  When people hear the name The Knitting Nest, we want them to think of a place where they can be comfortable working on their knitting or crochet.  We hope that people will think that it’s going to be a cozy place where they will feel welcome.

How did we come up with the name The Knitting Nest?  In large part, it was by making a long list of potential names and then crossing out what wouldn’t work.  The reason that The Knitting Nest even got on the list is because of my “nest” at home.  I have a rocking chair in the living room with my knitting supplies and laptop on my left side and my books and other necessities on the right.  When I’m in my “nest”, I feel sheltered and happy.  I even blogged about the parts of my “nest” here.

Patrick and I have been spending a good bit of time pondering how we are going to make our shop really BE The Knitting Nest.  The first thing is that Patrick and I are (we hope) naturally very welcoming and enjoy having people around.  We are also making a sitting area in the front of the shop for people to spend time working on a project or just visiting with friends.  Of course, we’re going to have classes, which are great ways for people to meet each other.  And, every Thursday night will be an “open crafting night”, when people can come to the shop and work on their current project in the company of others.

Selling yarn and supplies is, of course, the primary goal of the yarn shop, but we wanted our name to reflect our desire to develop and be part of the fiber arts community, so we are The Knitting Nest.  We are looking forward to meeting lots of crafters and to providing a space for the crafting community to develop friendships as we work together.

A Busy Day

This has been a very busy day for The Knitting Nest.  Every day brings us closer to our opening!

1. We got our Lavishea order this morning!  We got a display box and testers in each scent along with a complimentary “Man Bar”.  We’ve put the  box in our window so people can start to see some of our products.

2. Patrick and I ate breakfast this morning at the Pine Café, a little diner next door to the shop that is only open in the morning.  Not only did we get a yummy start to the day, but we met the owner and let her know about our shop.

3. The Knitting Nest joined the Chamber of Commerce today and Patrick went to the meeting at noon.  We’re becoming part of the community!

4. Patrick made a lot of good contacts at the Chamber meeting today, one of whom stopped by the shop to drop off information about his products and services.

5. Our order from Mango Moon arrived!!  We got Recycled Silk in worsted weight and DK weight as well as Bumble Bee in three colors.  They also sent me a sample of Pastiche, which I LOVE!!  (Maybe we’ll get some Pastiche the next time we order.)

6. A woman from another downtown business stopped in to say that her 8 and 10 year old daughters are learning to knit and are very excited about our opening.

7. Patrick signed us up to host the Chamber’s Business After 5 for the month of August.  We’ll have lots of community business folks through our shop that evening – more ways to get the word out about our little shop.

8. Patrick has the computer, cash register, and Square Up all set up.  We also got a price gun and labels.  It feels so official!

9. Patrick and I went to the Weyauwega Fiber Arts Circle meeting tonight and really had a great time.  Chris, the owner of the Coffee Klatsch was working on a beautiful glass mosaic tabletop.  (I realize that glass is not a fiber art, but we don’t discriminate, even based on craft!  Besides, we like Chris!)   Brandy, whom I had met online, but not in person, came for the first time tonight with her spinning wheel.

10. Brandy taught me and Patrick how to use our drop spindle!  We’ve had it for over a month but Patrick and our daughter couldn’t quite get the hang of it.  Brandy was good enough to show us how to spin the roving into yarn and to help us fix our mistakes.  By the end of the evening, Patrick and I had both made a respectable-looking section of  single-ply yarn!

Yep, it was a busy day.  And now, I’m going to relax for a while before bedtime.  And have happy dreams about beautiful yarn!

A Few Of My Favorite Things–Mango Moon Recycled Silk

 

When The Knitting Nest first opens, we’re going to be focusing on your basic “workhorse” yarns – partly because we want to be deep in good solid brands and lines, but also because we’re on a budget.  That doesn’t mean we won’t have a few “fun” yarns, though.  Here is one of my favorites.

One of the sales reps that we met last week represents Mango Moon yarns.  Mango Moon is a company that  works “with the Nepali Women's Empowerment Group and a spinners' co-op in Indonesia to bring you yarns that are colorful and fun, and that help improve the lives of the artisans who spin it.”    The Nepali Women’s Empowerment Group is a non-governmental organization that gives women leaving abusive situations safety, education, health care, and the chance for financial independence through knitting and spinning.

You’ll see lots of wonderful kinds of yarn on their website – and I can confirm that they feel as wonderful as they look!  Initially, we’ll be carrying Recycled Silk in worsted and DK weights.  I’m looking forward to getting this yarn in stock and using it for a poncho or shawl.  When you buy a skein of Mango Moon yarn, you not only get wonderful, recycled yarn, but you also are helping to provide a path to financial security for women halfway around the world.  Does it get any better than that?

After we open (August 23), please stop by The Knitting Nest to see this and other wonderful yarns (and notions and needles and more).

WIP–Works In Progress–July 19, 2011

 

While we’re waiting for our yarn and other stuff to arrive and while it’s about a zillion degrees outside, I’ve been working on a few knitting projects.  I’m about over the “Fair Isle sweater debacle of 2011”, but I’m not quite ready for more colorwork.  Besides, I need to make things for display in the shop.

This is a Mobius scarf that I made from some yarn from local sheep.  (No, we haven’t gotten our yarn back from the mill.  I bought this skein from the woman who owns the sheep a couple of months ago.)  The technique isn’t hard once you learn to do the cast-on and it’s really quite fun.  This one is probably going to be a model in the shop for a while, but I may confiscate it or knit another one for myself since my current scarf, while also a really cool Mobius, is made from a cotton blend yarn.  Up here in the Great White North, a wool scarf is definitely a good idea come wintertime!

The Mobius scarf is a circle with a half-twist in it.  Some people have called them Infinity scarves since there’s no end to it.  The rows of stitches are also longitudinal in the Mobius scarf instead of horizontal as in most other kinds of scarves.

When we were at camp, I was working on some bookmarks out of cotton crochet thread, and one of them used a stitch pattern that is a variation of brioche stitch.  A few days ago, I looked up how to do two-color brioche rib stitch.  It was a little tricky to learn and I had to rip it out a couple of times, but I’ve finally got the hang of it.  And it’s totally addicting!!  I like how the two sides are different colors.  I’m making this with Cascade 220 worsted weight wool in black and red, the colors of the local high school, so it will fit in nicely with our first window display.

My current project for decorating The Knitting Nest is a knitted and felted “nest” (aka bowl).  I came across a free Ravelry pattern that uses the Mobius technique for the rim of the bowl that I’ve modified to use with worsted weight yarn.  I’m using a bunch of leftover earth tone colors from different brands of yarn.  I hope that it ends up looking kind of irregular, like you’d expect a bird’s nest to look.  When it’s done, we’ll put some stuffed birds into it for a shop decoration.

The picture is of the rim of the bowl.  It is knit with the basic Mobius technique but instead of having 1/2 a twist, the pattern had me put in two more full twists (or 4 half-twists) for a total of five half twists.  Now I need to pick up stitches around the rim to knit the body of the bowl.  The twists are supposed to be equally spaced so that it looks like flower petals.  So far, I’ve done the picking up stitches twice and ripped it out both times.  Deep sigh.  I think this will look great when I’m done, but it may be a challenge until them.

I’m also working on a pair of socks for my daughter made from some KnitPicks wool.  And, I’m making a pair of socks using the “two at a time socks on one circular needle” for the shop using Heritage Paint sock yarn from Cascade.  Pictures of those projects to be posted later.

What are you working on?  Anything fun and exciting?  The Weyauwega Fiber Arts Circle meets Thursday night at 6pm for crafting at The Coffee Klatsch in Weyauwega.  You are welcome to come and bring whatever you are currently working on!!

 

A Few Of My Favorite Things – Lavishea

 

I'm starting a new feature on The Knitting Nest blog – A Few Of My Favorite Things – in which I will highlight some yarn, notion, or other product that I think is cool and you might like as well. When we open (Tuesday, August 23), you can find these items for sale at The Knitting Nest (131 East Main Street in Weyauwega).

Those of us who knit a lot know that our hands can get really dry, particularly those of us who live above the Mason-Dixon line. I keep a bottle of lotion with my knitting supplies to keep the dry skin at bay. The disadvantage to hand lotion is that I end up using it and then waving my hands around for several minutes until the lotion has dried enough that I can pick up my knitting (or go back to my laptop, whatever).

The yarn rep that we met last week showed us a wonderful product called Lavishea, a hand moisturizing lotion bar. You use it just like you would hand lotion, except that you rub the bar in your hands. It looks like soap, but you don’t add any water to it.  Your hands get the moisturizing, but there's no more waving around like a crazy person while you wait for the lotion to dry.  Lavishea is an all-natural product made with fair trade shea butter and soy, and natural scents. 

Lavishea bars come in lots of wonderful scents. My favorites are Lavender, White Lily and Amber, and Yarn Bar (almond). They have an unscented bar for those with sensitivities and a Man Bar with a masculine scent. The other scents are Lemongrass, Orange Pomander, Citrus Basil, Colorado Essence, Cucumber Melon, Ginger Blossom, Mountain Twilight, Pear Lotion, and Vanilla Passion.  At first, we’re going to carry Citrus Basil, Cucumber Melon, Lavender, and Yarn Bar.

Check out the Lavishea web site for more information about these wonderful bars. Then, after August 23^rd, you can stop in at The Knitting Nest to see what they’re all about!

 

Who Am I?

My question is really, “Who am I in The Knitting Nest?” Patrick is the business owner and is going to be responsible for the day-to-day financial workings, getting items priced and on the shelves, etc. While we have been doing most things jointly, there are at least two or three days each week when I'm completely useless for a good bit of the day because of migraines and then another day or two when the headache isn't bad, but I'm just worn out. I don't think I can really count myself as a business manager.  I will be doing lots of knitting of models, helping to teach classes, and various and sundry other things.

I think we should have interesting titles, kind of like how Starbucks employees are “barristas”, Disney employees are “Imagineers”, and Apple sales employees are “Evangelists”. Patrick is the owner, so we can call him “Boss”, “Chief Yarn Dude”, or “Head Honcho”. I wanted to be the “Yarn Goddess”, but after the fiasco with my Fair Isle sweater, I don't think I can equate myself with a deity yet.

Here are some ideas I've come up with for a job “title” for myself:

1. Knitting Aficionado. According to Dictionary.com, aficionado means “an ardent devotee”. That seems to fit, although it's not very inclusive.

2. Yarn Connoisseur. Hmmmmmm. Maybe.

3. Knitting Nest Accomplice. That makes me sound like a criminal. I think not.

4. Yarn and Social Media Maven. Getting closer.

5. Girl Friday. Umm, no.

6. Knitting Nest Gofer and Yarn and Social Media Artiste. Too long.

7. The Mom (my son’s contribution). Rather limited – I'm only “Mom” to two people.

I'm not so thrilled with any of these. What do you think? Maybe I should just be “Catherine” and let people try to figure it out from there?

So, When Are You Going To Open?

We finally have an answer to this very popular question! The Knitting Nest will be open for business starting on August 23^rd. Our hours of operation will be Tuesday – Friday, 10am-6pm and Saturday, 10am-3pm. We will be closed on Sunday and Monday.

We still have a to-do list about a mile and a half long!! It's good to have a deadline, though. We have our primary yarn orders already placed. We will be getting our fixtures (and some yarn, needles, and notions) in the next week or so. We are finalizing things with our website and art designer.

Patrick and I went to Sam's Club today and converted our membership to a business membership (that was pretty exciting!). We also purchased a cash register that we need to learn to use along with a printer, ink, and other less exciting items like toilet paper and trash cans.

For credit card transactions, we are going to be using Square Up. We've already received the little “square” that we swipe the cards through. At Sam's Club today, we bought an ipod for the “square” to hook into. Square Up is a credit card processing company that uses the “square” plugged into an ipod, ipad, or smart phone, hence the ipod purchase. So, another electronic device to learn to use.

It's going to be a very busy 39 days around here!!

Our First Order!!

Today, we placed our first orders for yarn!! This is so exciting – and rather nerve-wracking!!

We are purchasing most of our yarn from Cascade and Universal. We will have a variety of fibers available – wool, wool blends, cotton, cotton blends, acrylic, silk, etc. And we've got an array of yarn weights coming, from cotton thread to bulky yarn.

And, don't forget the raw wool that we took to the mill last weekend. The local wool will be available in DK and worsted weights. We aren't having it dyed, so we'll have natural white, gray heather, and dark gray.

We've ordered a few books and patterns and will be sorting out needles and notions next week.

Consider this just a taste of things to come! As the yarn arrives and we start setting up displays, I'm sure I'll have much more to say on this topic!!

Lessons For Knitting . . . and Life

I've been working on a Fair Isle sweater since February. It has been challenging and very educational. Unfortunately, I made a fatal error this week. To wash it before blocking, I decided to put it in our front-load washer on gentle cycle and cold water. It felted in the washer. I knew better than to do this. I should have washed it by hand, but, I tried to take a short-cut. Patrick helped me to stretch it as much as I dared when I blocked it. Nonetheless, it has shrunk from a size XL to a size S.

This isn't the only lesson that I've learned in the midst of doing this project. As upset as I am about felting the sweater after so much work, I can look back on the last six months and see lots of opportunities for me to become more educated about knitting – and life.

• Make a gauge swatch (which I almost always do) in the round if that's the pattern (which I rarely do) and block it (which I rarely do). I had gauge problems with both sleeves and even the body of the sweater because I wasn't serious about my swatching.

  • Life Lesson: Prepare as much as possible before starting a new project.

• Check gauge while knitting. I didn't realize how much my gauge changed when I was actually working on the sweater compared to the swatch. (Of course, doing my gauge swatch in the round would have also helped.)

  • Life Lesson: Monitor your progress as you continue your project.

• Modify the pattern to knit the sleeves in one big tube with steeks in between. I followed the pattern as it was written, which worked pretty well, but I saw that someone on Ravelry did the sleeves together with steeks separating them. This technique looks like it will be faster and mean less fiddling with the ends of the yarn.

  • Life Lesson: Learn from other people.

• Use a regular cast-on instead of a provisional cast-on at the beginning. I used a provisional cast-on for the body because I read on another blog that this allows flexibility in adding length after the rest of the sweater is done. In this case, though, the chances that I would want to increase the size of my ribbing was very small and the annoyance of dealing with the provisional cast-on at the end was significant.

• Life Lesson: Apply new techniques with discretion – just because something is new and different doesn't mean that it's better.

• Use the sewing machine to secure the steek before cutting.  The pattern called for making a crocheted line of duplicate stitches on each end of the steek to secure it before cutting.  This worked, but it took a long time, was rather fiddly, and was hard to ensure that I had gotten each row included. I had read about how to use the sewing machine to do this procedure, but I chose to use the crochet method just because I didn’t want to deal with taking out the sewing machine and because I’m not as comfortable sewing on the machine.

• Life Lesson: Take the time to learn to use the machines and techniques that will give the best result.

• Hand wash wool items in cold water. Do NOT use the washing machine, even with cold water.

  • Life Lesson: Do not take shortcuts; they rarely get you where you are going any sooner and often send you to the wrong place completely.

I hope that the sweater will fit my mom or someone else suitably small. I can always hang it up in the shop with the note: “Abandon all hope, ye who take shortcuts!”

I have enough yarn left that I can probably knit another sweater of this same pattern with only having to replenish one or two colors.  I think I’ll try again, starting with a proper gauge swatch.  This time I’ll learn from my mistakes and, hopefully, end up with a really amazing sweater.

So, what lessons have you learned from knitting or crocheting? Any other stories to share?

 

Note: No pictures this time.  I was too depressed to take any pictures when I blocked it.

Next time: Ordering Yarn!

Road Trip!!

On Saturday, Patrick and I took a road trip to take our wool to Blue Hills Alpacas and Fiber Mill in Bruce, WI. Like any good road trip, this one was full of good music and fast food. Unlike previous road trips (at least that I've been on), the van smelled like sheep because of all the wool; thankfully, we had air conditioning to keep the smell from getting too bad on the way there and to get rid of it on the way home. We spent a total of eight hours driving, so we had lots of time to talk about ideas for selling yarn among other topics.

Nancy, the owner of the mill, was more than happy to show us around the mill and explain the different steps in the process.

1. The wool has to be washed to remove debris and grease. (I don't have any pictures of this step, but she does it in a couple of large sinks – each washing requires a couple of hours.

2. The wool is then carded to get the fibers to line up. She showed us some hand cards that were used for manual carding of wool, a very long and tiring process.  Then she put some wool through the machine carder and showed us how it works.  There are lots of gears and pulleys and cylinders.

3. The carded wool is then fed into a pin drafter which further aligns the fibers to get them ready for spinning.

4. The last machine takes the wool and actually spins the yarn. The same machine will also ply the yarn, but it's a separate process than the spinning of the fiber.

We also got to see Nancy's sock knitting machines, her loom, and some rugs that she has made using Tunisian crochet techniques.

Patrick and I learned sooooo much while we were there. I am still just fascinated by the process and how the fleeces that we skirted a couple of weeks ago are going to become yarn in the next several weeks. And, it will end up for sale in our shop!

I’ll post when the yarn is finished and ready for sale in the shop so you can come see for yourself how it turns out!