We want to know you... (See below how you can help us.)

Yesterday I spent about 2 hours rearranging our wall of notions and needles in order to accomodate some new Rosewood ones that had just arrived.

In 1996 when I first opened the store, we carried 3 lengths of Aero Circular needles, sizes 3mm to 6.5mm, single point pairs and double pointed sets in the same sizes. Also a few bamboo needles of which we sold about a pair a week.

In addition to these, we now carry Clover Bamboo flex & circulars -3 lengths, Bryflex dp's, 10" and 14" pairs, a good selection of Addi Turbo circulars (regular and lace), Rosewood pairs as well as some Lantern moon and River John Canadian made pine needles. We carry some form of knitting needles in sizes 1.25mm to 25mm. Who would have believed that there would be such a demand for so many different products within a very specific segment of what we carry?

Sure, part of the reason is that our customer base has obviously grown over the years, but much more than that, I believe that it has to do with the internet where so many people can talk to each other about the products that they've tried and liked. They ask their cyberspace buddies for advice and it is given freely. Then they come to us looking for the products that have proven themselves in the market place.

One of the hardest aspects of retail is knowing what to buy so you can sell it. You always have to be listening and watching and hoping that the messages that you are getting from your customers is accurately read. Sometimes you have to go with what you like, what makes you feel good. Sometimes you have to let the outside forces tell you what's a good idea, even if you aren't quite sure of it yourself.

All that to say that we yarn store owners desperately need to hear from you: the knitters and customers of our shops.

At WOOL-TYME Kingston, we are presently running a Customer Survey and it's your last chance (before Canadian Thanksgiving weekend - Oct. 6th) for you to let your knitter's voice be heard and to let us in on your great ideas. You could also win a $100. gift certificate to the WOOL-TYME Kingston store.

If you have ever been in our store, please request that a survey be sent to you by emailing us at wooltymekingston at gmail dot com EVEN IF YOU HAVE NEVER BEEN TO OUR STORE and live somewhere in some other part of the universe but have been visiting this site, please request the survey too and just give us your comments about the sites and how we can better serve you as part of the knitting community. When you email the survey back to us we will read your comments carefully and submit your name for the draw.

Just think, $100. worth of yarn and knitting stuff for just a few minutes thought. Why wait? Do it now!

Could this be Carly Simon's new hit single: "Procrastina-a-ation?"

I sat down today to begin working on October's newsletter and decided that I would prefer to post here instead. Not a great idea but what the heck - especially as I'm looking at a box full of things that I've brought home from the store that I wanted to write about for the newsletter. But then I got distracted by the new "Knitter's Companion".

I've found that there are just some sources that are worth trusting in the knitting book business. Elsbeth Lavold is one, Jo Sharp is another, and anything by Interweave Publishing is definitely worth a good look. Their latest edition of the "Knitter's Companion" doesn't disapppoint.

What I love about this book is #1: it lies flat!!! Because of its spiral binding, you can actually follow the directions that it gives you while you are reading them, without the aid of every stapler, scissors, cordless phone and coffee cup within easy reach propped on each of the corners to keep the book open. I also prefer drawings to photos when illustrating a technique as they use different colours to show you what is going on.

I'm always amazed at how many people scoff at the idea of having a good "How To..." book for their knitting. (But then, maybe many of the ones who do use these great resources don't have to ask as many questions so I don't realize that they are being used...) Who among us would scoff at a good cooking technique book? I've been cooking all my life and have a good selection of favourite recipes but one of my most cherished books is the new Joy Of Cooking that I got last Christmas. It just has so much to offer in information. Yet when it comes to knitting, often we figure that the way our mom's taught us is good enough, even if we're not always 100% satisfied with the outcome. Well, this new edition of the Knitter's Companion is updated and full of great tidbits that just make so much sense to have at your fingertips (so you don't have to keep it in your head).

Another area of my procrastination is in the "tidy up" side of my life. I had been putting off the great triage of stuff that had accumulated in the back room of the store over the summer and last week I decided to tackle it. I got most of it done and out of the way but I did get waylayed by some fun projects that we had begun knitting for display at the store and felt that I just had to work on them. Funny, isn't it that knitting seems to be more fun than going through paid invoices, discarded ball bands and boxes of display clips. Anyway as a result, I'm hoping to have our own version of the Baby Yoda Sweater for display in the next few days. (See pattern by going to the link in the side bar.)

While not procrastinating and actually getting some clean up done last week, I got a bag of bits of 4 ply sock yarn together that people have donated. The best idea for this donation that I can think of is if anyone would like to take it home and make up some socks, mitts or other articles for a church bazaar, I'm sure that they would be a big hit. About half the bag is self striping and the other half are solid colours. It could be a charity sock knitter's dream; for me it's just more stuff that I'd like to find a good home for. Anyone interested in doing some fine charity knitting with it??? Just ask or call the store. 613-384-3951

Well, darn it all. It appears to be time to go put some supper on. I guess that I'll have to work on the newsletter some other day. (Don't be fooled. The newsletter is actually one of my favourite parts of this job. I guess it just wasn't the day for me to be inspired to tackle it.) See you soon.

It's Fall! Let the Fun Begin.

This may not be what everyone is saying at this time of the year but we sure are having fun at the WOOL-TYME Kingston store. I was slotting all of our fall classes and activities in my calendar today and realized that we have something going on almost every weekend from now until Christmas.
Next week is the first of our free DEMOs where you get to see what I've been up to all summer with the KOOL-AID Dyeing and get to try your hand at it too.

To help out, does anyone out there have an electric frying pan or 2 that we could borrow for the day (Sat. Sept. 15th) as the more sources of heat that we have to play with, the more fun we can have experimenting? Please call me at the store if you can help us out with one: 613-384-3951.

Everyone who comes to the demo will get to bring home a skein of wool that they have dyed to give them the confidence to try it at home. It's really easy and so much fun.

The BEGINNERS CLASS in Traditional Rug Hooking on Sept. 22nd is full but we are taking names for a class that will be scheduled in January. Please email me or call the store as soon as possible if you are interested in learning the fundamentals of this great craft.

We have just received a new luxury bulky alpaca yarn called Suri Prism. Go to http://www.diamondyarn.com/image.php?yarnID=1499&imgID=sww.diamondyarn.com/image.php?yarnID=1499&imgID=s to see the colour chart. It's a glorious yarn in amazing colours that isn't like any other alpaca on the market. Meanwhile, this is a picture of one of the garments that can be made with it. But although a picture may be worth 1 000 words, you can't run your fingers through it. Come in and check it out. The colours are glorious.

I'm Back at last!

I must apologize for being away from the desk for so long but I've not yet learned the ins and outs of laptops (which I did have access to during my holidays) and when I got home the PC was buried deep beneath a pile of stuff while the hardwood floors in 80% of my house were being sanded and finished. What a mess. Glad it's over and that I can get back to some blogging fun.

I was in Boston for almost a week and got to meet Aldrich Robinson (at right) who owns a knitting shop on Newbury St. which is a very posh address with a lovely store that fits right in with the people who are shopping for quality and beauty at such stores as Cartier's, Ralph Lauren and Chanel among others. It's a great shop and shows how hard Aldrich works to provide a good selection of yarns and to make her customers feel welcomed. This link has a great article about women in small businesses in the city . Very interesting. http://www.cweonline.org/content/view/49/49/
(By the way, Meg Ryan was filming a movie on Newbury St. while I was there but although I got to see a lot of technical guys running around with miles of cables I never got to see any real movie action.)


WOW! Can you ever tell that the weather is starting to cool down. We have been very busy at the store lately and it's great to see people who have been away at the cottage and hiding out in their a/c houses for the summer. The newsletter went out on the weekend and we are starting to see people who are intrigued by the Mirasol Project coming in and falling in love with one or more of their 4 wonderful yarns. JANE ELLISON, who in the past few years has produced some of the greatest designs for the ever popular self-striping NORO yarns from Japan, has lent her talents to this amazing program and has raised awareness and the bar for exquisite attention to detail and beautiful garments with a conscientious look towards alpaca shepherds and their families in Peru. Check out the site to learn more. www.janeellison.co.uk/Mirasol.htm

In my knitting world, I'm working on a pair of socks of our new worsted machine washable wool & nylon blend called PERFECT and love the feel and how quickly they knit up. Unfortunately I believe that although I'm having fun designing and knitting them, I may not get to wear them: as so often happens when I knit stuff for the store, it either stays in the store as a display model forever as we never get around to replacing it or else we sell it and I'm out my nice project. Oh well, that's the reality of retail. At least they are appreciated.

November activities

Saturday, Nov. 3rd:
Introduction to
NEEDLE FELTING
with Andrea Graham


Learn from the best: nationally recognized fibre artist and teacher Andrea Graham will share her techniques and inspiration. No experience necessary. Come and see our needle felting display at the store.
When: Sat. Nov 3rd 1-4pm.
Cost: Workshop $45.
Participants will require a felting needle and working foam, available at WOOL-TYME Kingston.

Saturday, Nov. 17th:
DROP SPINDLE
For beginners
with KIM PARKINSON

The simplest way to discover the wonder of spinning fibres is with a drop spindle.
Try your hand at it this age old craft .
When: Sat. Nov 17th 1-4pm
Cost: workshop $45. Includes a spindle to take home and a selection of fibres to work with.

Free Demos!

Saturday, Nov. 10th 1-4pm
SOCKS ON CIRCULARS You've heard about it but it seems too strange to imagine. Come and see how you can actually knit both socks at the same time, using 2 circular needles.

Saturday, Nov. 24th 1-4pm
THRUM: unspun fleece in your mitts, hats, slippers & socks.

Free Patterns for all available at the Demo.

Rug Hooking in Chatelaine Magazine

Well, we at WOOL-TYME Kingston always knew that we were right in with the latest trends, but this is the first time that we were firmly ahead of the pack. Chatelaine's August 2007 edition claims that the the artful rugs that can be easily created by hooking may lure knitters away from their traditional needles. Last spring, Rhonda Kellett gave the first rug hooking class at the WOOL-TYME Kingston store and introduced us all to the great world of burlap and wool.

Those of you who saw us at the Sheep Dog Trials on the weekend would have seen Rhonda hooking a beautiful rug using 4ply Briggs and Little yarn. This was to show that not all rug hooking needs to be done with cut fabric. The picture here shows the glorious grading of colours that can be achieved using fabric strips or yarn that you can get at the WOOL-TYME Kingston store.

Today I've just spent some time on the phone with different suppliers to assure our new "hooking" customers and our regular knitters and crocheters who are interested in taking Rhonda's class in September (click on the class info in the list of Coming Events at the top of this page) that we will have a good supply of hoops, hooks, backing fabric and yarns to create your own hooked masterpieces.

Rhonda, who is a wonderful designer in her own right, (come and see her glorious wall rug on display in the store) has agreed to provide us with pre-drawn designs on burlap that will be ready for those of us who are a little nervous about creating our own outlines.

On the cyberspace front: It's a good thing that I don't have a weak heart. THose of you who are familiar with blogs will recognize that each of our sites has a counter that keeps a running tab on how many people have visited the site today, in total and how many pages they have clicked to. I look at this tally every now and then and have been so pleased to see people from all over the world visiting the sites (both this one and our free pattern site.) The pattern site used to get under 10 visitors a day but it was nice to see that it was being used and our customers can download their own patterns instead of having to ask us to email them.
Well, on August 4th, it would appear that Knitting Pattern Central http://www.knittingpatterncentral.com/new_patterns.php listed our free patterns on their directory and the total visitors per day went into the hundreds with the latest tally being at 10, 766 as I write this. It reminded me of the story that Stephanie Pearl-McPhee tells of when she posted her "good idea" about knitting a special project during the Olympics and came back to her computer 3 hours later to over 1,000 comments. At least I don't have to respond to everyone who visits my site as Stephanie had promised to do.

Weekend at the Sheep Dog Trials

Well this is what the booth looked like at the Sheep Dog Trials. Thanks to Carolyn for the picture.

So nice to see so many of you there and to hear all the great feedback about the new newsletter format and the blogs. Your comments and ideas are always appreciated. Also, it's always so good to get out in the real world and see what other people find to be passionate about. It's easy to get caught up in our own little circle and forget that there are people out there who love sewing, pottery, photography, their animals and their music as much as the people that I see every day love their knitting.

Friday being a slower day, I was able to catch up with so many of the vendors (many of whom also happen to be customers) and just relax and listen to the excellent running commentary from the trials themselves. For instance, who knew that it was more difficult to run 4 or 5 sheep than it is to move 20? Or that some of the handlers were so taken by the quality of the protein rich dog food that Amanda Milliken was feeding her dogs, that they took to sprinkling it on their cereal in the moring?

Rhonda Kellett, our traditional rug hooking teacher, joined me on Saturday and Sunday and got quite an audience for her demonstrations of this great craft. We are proud to be bringing in a good selection of burlap, hooks and hoops as well as the wool yarn that will make life easier for the area "hookers". We distributed so many pamphlets for our fall schedule of classes that I had to print off some more on Saturday afternoon. It promises to be an exciting season coming up.

By the way, for those who were wondering what the sideways sweater looks like that I was working on all weekend, this is a picture of it.

I'm knitting it in Tosca which is a 50-50 blend of wool and acrylic and is a wonderful yarn to work with. The pattern is quite fun too. For those of you who have ever been to the regular classes at the store, you will know that I'm a great fan of laying out a grid of rows that need to be repeated in a pattern and just checking them off as you go along. This pattern lends itself very well to that method and I was able to knit for hours without having to do anything more mentally strenuous than making a check mark every so often.

This week it's back to the real world. I need to sort out the new yarns that are arriving at the store and organize my "stuff" for the accountant to deal with the year end issues. I can't tell you how often people say to me that it must be such a wonderful life, to have a business where I can knit all day. As any of you who are in business will understand, only a very tiny part of my job involves knitting and that's one of the reasons that I like to get out and have some time at venues like the Sheep Dog Trials, because I can have hours of knitting time without having to worry about dealing with ordering, scheduling, reconciling, counting, and bookkeeping. It's a real treat, and I'm glad that I still enjoy it so much. But there's no question that if I didn't enjoy the business building side of things too it would be a very frustrating life. I'm here to provide you, the crafting customers, with what you need to enjoy your knitting experience. The fact that I get fun out of it too is a bonus.