Knitting socks for charity??

We are often the recipients of yarn stashes that have been displaced: many people just realize that sometimes there is a better home for some of their yarns than under the bed or at the back of their closet, so they bring them to us and we promise that they will be of service to someone.

Often there are included the ends of balls of 4 ply sock yarn and we've collected these over the past few months and now have a good assortment waiting to be made up into some pretty funky socks or gloves for those who need some warmth.

Do you love knitting socks and have a eye for the challenge of combining bits and pieces into some fun gifts for Christmas at the shelter? Let us know and we'll be glad to pass the bag on to you. You can even return the socks to us and we'll find good homes for them.

Kaffe Fassett in Perth, Ontario!!!

What an opportunity that Janie H. knits has given to all knitters in Eastern Ontario in organizing an evening with Kaffe Fassett at the Perth District Collegiate Institute on Thurs. Oct 16th at 7pm.

There are few people who have influenced me as much as Kaffe Fassett in giving me permission to just enjoy the colours that are out there to be put together. He encourages us to use our eyes and our taste to identify if we actually like the way that different colours, hues and textures work together.



The last time that I wrote about Kaffe Fassett in this blog, I searched high and low for a picture of a sweater I had made when I had first been seduced by his "go for it" attitude towards colour. It was a giant pullover knit during the winter Olympics of 1992, at a time when winter had gone on way too long and I was needing some colour in my life. Kaffe, in his PBS show that I had religiously video taped from our old television with terrible American reception, was so exhuberant about colours and trusting your instincts that I dragged out my stash and "went for it". I still haven't found the picture of me wearing the resulting sweater that measured about 58" across the chest and was as cozy as an afghan, but weighed as much as an elephant. It was not something that I wore much if I was in an introverted mood.

So here we are, 16 years later and there has been a lot of creative and learning water that has flowed under my knitting bridge since then, and I still am so glad to have had that early encouragement from a stranger from across the ocean who felt that it was his mission to give people an insight into what is possible if you just use your eyes and learn to educate then trust your taste.
For more information, or for tickets, email: info@janiehknits.com or phone 613-326-0626.

Phone-y sheep???

How odd that these sheep would be grazing on a ceramic tile floor. Yet, look closely to see the amazing detail of these art sheep, covered in old telephone cord, with faces of rotary dial phones. The world is full of people who see things so differently. How fun is that!

Click on the title of this post to link to the site that explains their origin and existence.

For those who are in the neighbourhood, just wanted to let you know that our luxurious cashmere laceweight yarn has just arrived. I occurred to me that aside from drooling over the exquisite softness of cashmere, I had no idea where it came from so I turned to my trusty Google friend and voila! To the right we have a picture of a cashmere goat. He does look a bit rough and ready for having such a luxurious coat.

Baby camel yarn is in too!

We also have just received a good quantity of the 2009 Knitting Page a Day calendars, so put your orders in early with Santa as these tend to disappear early in the season.

As Jan exclaimed yesterday when she was unpacking our most recent shipment of new yarns: "I love the fall!!!"

OOPS, I nearly forgot to point out the link to the right (Where it says: "View our archive".) which takes you to back copies of our ever popular monthly newsletter. Check it out. It's like having a virtual rack of back issues of a favourite magazine that you don't have to dust.

I LOVE NYC

So tell me, what is not to love about a city that offers cheesecake

that looks like this? (How ironic that my daughter picked up a packet of "equal" sugar substitute to hold above the cake for perspective.)

The last time that we went to NYC I was amazed at how friendly people were, but I assumed that was mainly because we were tourists and that all those we were encountering were being paid to be friendly to us. But this time we really spent most of our 4 day stay away from many of the tourist hot spots and I was equally awestruck by the courtesy (yes, even among the drivers), the interest and the genuiness of the people towards us. Even the custodians in Central Park picking up the odd scraps of debris (it's incredibly clean, really!) never missed saying hello or wishing me a good day. Kingston is a relatively friendly city and certainly not very scary, yet you would seldom make eye contact with a city park worker. My sister explained it in this way, which seems to make sense: New Yorkers - especially in Manhattan - love to meet people from away who enjoy their city; they are very proud of it.

On day 3, which happened to be a Monday, I went on a yarn store safari and arrived at the 1st store on my list on the East side of Central Park and was "gobsmacked", as they say on Coronation Street, to find the store closed. I couldn't believe it...This is Manhattan for heaven's sake, not the back of beyond. After having walked the 35 blocks to get there it took me a few minutes to summon my energy and courage to move on to the next store about 5 blocks away. There I met Carol from the Woolgatherings, who was a perfect hostess offering suggestions for accomodations for our next visit, good restaurants, what other yarn stores might be closed and therefore avoided on this Monday, and a firm opinion about every topic that we covered. It was wonderful.

After lunch at an Italian restaurant that Carol had suggested, and

a magnificent coffee from a neighbourhood coffee purveyor, I took the "crosstown" bus (see how I'm into the lingo) and got to the Yarn Co. and decided to take a picture of their sign to prove that they are actually closed on Mondays.

One of the great things about a big city however is that there is always some competition nearby, so I was eternally grateful to find Knitty City (http://www.knittycity.com/ ) open and wonderfully welcoming. BUT to make the visit even better, through the door right behind me came Meta, a yarn store owner from Massachussets, who was also in town on the same sort of mission as I was - to scope out what the Mecca of fashion yarn stores has to offer. When we introduced ourselves to Pearl, the owner of Knitty City, she suggested that we go for a coffee and talk shop. And here we are, at a cafe on Broadway, and I'm having the time of my life.

When the conversation turned to Anniversaries (Pearl's store had been open for 3 years and Meta had just had their 1st Anniversary sale), I shared with them our experience of our giant 5th anniversary extravaganza, which started on Sept. 11th, 2001!, and how the store was packed for the entire day with people following events on my little 12" television. I think that it was in watching their reaction and reflecting on how proud and generous New Yorkers are that I realized what it must have meant to be part of that experience, powerful as it was for the rest of us, if you were a local.

I can't wait to go back...but I guess I must.