The LYS owner's lament: My single sock!

Despite the fact that I haven't been able to upload much to my Ravelry space, it isn't for lack of trying. But when I see all the beautiful things that people are working on (and completing), I'm a bit embarassed to show my little swatch of glorious Luxury Bamboo Cotton that I finished last week. Or this lovely (single) sock for instance, which I made over the weekend to show off this great pattern repeat from our latest Lana Grossa sock yarn called PRIMO, which I will be bringing with me to the Cataraqui Guild of Needlecraft Arts show this weekend at St Margaret's church. There are diehard sock knitters who will try anything that has nice colours, but most knitters want to know that they will like what those colours are going to do in their socks.

So many of the knitting projects that I work on are either jobs that need to be finished for people who got stuck at a tricky place, or they are tests for patterns that I'm designing for the store, which by virtue of the types of free patterns that we put up on our website ( www.wtkpatterns.blogspot.com) are essentially quick, easy and a good gateway for beginners who want to try something a bit different. Consequently, I seldom get to try out other people's patterns, much as might admire them. (This however does make me an eager appreciator of whatever other people do accomplish.)

The other thing that I seldom get to do is to learn new techniques, but in reading the SON OF STITCH N BITCH book earlier this spring, I found 2 great techniques that I've been coveting for a long time and am determined that I will learn over the summer. The first is the reversible cables where the fabric shows a nice set of cables on both sides. The second is the 2 layers/2 colours of knitting that I think could be an answer for so many people who want to make scarves with team logos on them. I will investigate further and report back.

The reason that I'm committing myself to learning these new techniques is that I have really decided that I love teaching and am going to be doing more of it throughout next year. With the success of our Sock-In-A-Day class that we have now run 4 times (and sells out each time), I'm encouraged to offer other knitting skills that can be learned in an intensive class and applied to a whole new range of knitting projects by the participants.

It seems odd to be thinking about the fall as we are basking in the warmth of this glorious early spring weather, but such is the way of the retail world. And I'm glad to be part of it so that we can bring new and exciting things to our customers with each new season. I'll keep you posted!