Quick Note

For all of you who await this news: The new KNITTERS magazine has just arrived. It always sells out early so...get 'em while their hot.

COTTON & SUMMER YARN INVENTORY SALE

With our new counter system on this site, I've been able to watch how many have been coming to visit, and although I don't know who they are, I do know that many are from away...and can't come into the store to take advantage of the sales that we offer.

Never fear, you who are not lucky enough to be in the Kingston area. We do have a way for you to take part in our annual inventory sale. Just call the store during the sale period and we will be glad to let you know what we have in stock and take your order with your credit card. We will ship it off in the blink of an eye and it will be in your expectant hands before you know it.
(**See the end of this post for contact details.)

This week - until Sat. June 16th only, we have all of our summer yarns on special for 20% off.
Here are some of what we have:
From Estelle: 100% Aran Silk, Young Touch DK cotton, Mystic DK cotton/viscose,
From Diamond: Cantata DK crepe cotton
From Sirdar: Just Bamboo, Ocean, Surfer, Breeze, Denim Tweed DK, Denim Sport Aran, Denim Chunky
From Elsbeth Lavold: Hempathy DK hemp/cotton.
From Needful Yarns: Isis DK linen and viscose.
From Dale of Norway: Stork 4ply baby cotton.
From Basics: HP No 31 ( a weird name for a glorious DK crepe cotton).
From Mission Falls: 1824 cotton.
From James Brett: Kool Kotton.
From Cascade: Fixation cotton/spandex sock yarn.
2 other cotton blend self patterning sock yarns.
All of our Crochet cottons: Opera, Clea, Anne, Traditions,

** Contact Details
The store is open Monday to Saturday from 9:30am to 5:30pm, and on Thursday evenings, we are open until 8pm.
Phone: 613-384-3951,
fax 613-384-3137 (don't fax your credit card #, leave us your phone number and we'll call you back to get it.)

ANTICIPATION...

I remember when we were kids the Sears Christmas catalogue would come in the mail about the time of my brother's birthday, which was September 25th and it was so delightful to see the toys, the trees, the candy, the pictures of the (fake) snow when we had barely gone back to school.

I love it when we would go away with the kids for "spring" break with snow still to our knees, yet we could shop summer clothes in the stores.

Lately, I'm reminded of this slightly out of synch quality that delights us about the marketing world. That's what I am living now at the store. In early May many of our distributors in Toronto have open-houses to display what's coming up for fall. Then starting about now, the sales reps come around with their cases of samples that are set up for maximum drool effect.
But one of the great things about all this new "fall" stuff is that it will be actually coming to us relatively soon. In July there will be some new 6ply Jacquard (self patterning) sock yarn which is brand new for us. We've never carried this thicker sandal-sock weight of fancy sock yarn. It should be fun. Also in July, we're expecting new colours in some of our favourites: Country Style, Baby Snuggly, Super ball: YO YO. Early in August, there is an amazing selection of new yarns - both fancy and classic - from several suppliers to get us all revved up to get back into the knitting season. And I have new things coming regularly until October.

All of this selection can be a bit overwhelming but this year, I've decided that I will be vigilant, I will keep track of what is coming in, I will not order 3 versions of the same yarn from 3 different suppliers, I WILL BE ORGANIZED! Yeah, right.

KINGSTON KNITTING GET-TOGETHERS

Kingston Knitting Circle: meets each 3rd Tues of the month in the Community room at Chapters on Princess St (Near RONA) from 7-9pm. Everyone is welcome. Bring your knitting or your crochet and a friend.

Sleepless Goat: Knitting at the Goat on Princess St (near Tara Foods) each Wednesday from 7-9pm. Everyone is welcome.

Cranes for Peace

These are knitted/fulled (felted) cranes. There are 100 of them so far that have been collected for an art instillation for peace. The artists are looking for 1000 felted cranes, (although I believe that the deadline has passed for those who want to participate in the project.) The idea is to build a woolen version of the 1000 folded origami cranes for peace that came out of Japan after WWII. How wonderful to have that many people putting that many hours into focusing on peace. (Click on the link to find out more.)

I read about this project yesterday at work in KNIT.1 magazine and was intrigued. Later in the day when we were at the "Sleepless Goat", doing out bit to celebrate the: World Wide Knit In Public day, it occurred to me how much knitting, or indeed crafting in general, is a lot like the prayers invoked in the folding or felting of cranes. Whether in a group or by oneself, when we make things with our hands we are reminded to slow down, we think of the recipient, we think of how the exercise pleases our senses, we are thankful for our abilities, the materials, and in many cases, for the time to spend doing something that we enjoy so much.

Speaking of time, I notice that on many knitters' blogs, people have such a great selection of projects that they are working on. What a treat to see. But you may have noticed that that isn't the focus of this site. When I was doing an Entrepreneurship program before opening the store, they warned us that if you have a business based on your hobby, you no longer have a hobby. Unlike most of you, I knit because it's my job. Not that I mind my "job", in fact I love it. But it is a job nonetheless. I take it very seriously.

It's also my job to know about the world of knitting and knitters, to know what's coming that's interesting in that world,and what others are having fun with right now. It's my job to find teachers for new techniques and to introduce them to my customers. It's my job to keep the store stocked with lots of fun things, new things, enough things. But to be quite blunt about it, it's also my job to keep the store going for all you wonderful people who visit us and shop with us.
And now, by extension, I find that it's my job to stay in touch with all of you great crafters by bringing these things to you via this site. It's my job to report on all the fun that knitters everywhere are having, both here in Kingston and everywhere...how cool is that?
P.S. To help me in my "job", I'm always happy to plunder other people's research on the net (with their permission of course). If you find something that you think would be of interest to the knitters who come to this site...let me know. I'd be so grateful.

June 9th is knitting in public day.

How great to have a legitimate excuse to sit down after work this coming Saturday, with my green tea that a certain Barista has served me at The Sleepless Goat on Princess St, and do nothing but knit - in solidarity with other knitters who are doing the same thing around the continent. If anyone would like to join me, I plan to be there at 2:30pm on Sat.
I had the same feeling of sisterly kinship when I went for my first mammogram; but I believe that this will be a much more pleasant experience.
It got me thinking about knitting as the great multi-tasking activity. Although knitting a garment can be a pleasant and challenging experience that requires focus and skill, there is a lot of knitting that is, let's face it, just plain drone work if you are sitting there by yourself with nothing to distract you. Once you've got the pattern in your head, or if you have 4 inches of ribbing to do on a large man's fine knit sweater, or acres of stocking stitch with no shaping in sight, you need something to keep you from falling asleep.

Consequently, we spend relatively little time just sitting and knitting...we knit and watch/listen to TV, we knit at the hockey arena, we knit in waiting rooms, we knit while the kids are at their piano lessons. We knit on long drives (when we are the passenger), and we knit together when we go to Knit & Chat groups.

I've been to a few guild meetings (for knitting and other crafts) in my day and have enjoyed the stimulation of seeing the work that others have done. I've sat through my share of regular type meetings where agendas are important to keep you on track.

But my favourite of all my monthly commitments is getting together at Chapters' on the 3rd Tues. of the month (see coming events listing above) for the KINGSTON KNITTING CIRCLE "meeting" with a few women of all knitting skill levels, to natter and knit. It is truly a judgement free zone where everyone just seems to relax and let their hands and their eyes and their ears and their speech enjoy themselves. It's not exactly knitting in public, as we are in the back corner of the store, but it is knitting together...and I love it.

Spring Show & Share.

These are just a few of the wonderful and interesting projects that we had into the Spring Show & Share at the store a couple of weeks ago. On the left is Mary Jane's lined coat made of mohair in about 10 different colours. It really is eye catching and beautifully done.
Next we have a selection of scarves that Marion - the On-Line SOLO scarf fiend - has designed and made. I believe that she is responsible for at least 75% of the popularity of this interesting yarn/knitting concept in the city of Kingston.
Nicci brought in her gorgeous felted bag, which she artistically embellished with beads and wool, using the needle-felting techniques that she learned at our workshop with Andrea Graham last year. (By the way, Nicci, I've lost your email address in the transfer to gmail. Please get in touch.)
Finally Brandy's tatting is always a treat to see as the rest of us can barely distinguish the individual stitches, never mind imagining being able to do such lovely work.

I know that it takes courage for people to bring in their projects to the store. More courage for some than for others. Everyone is different. But we love to encourage people to let us share with our other customers the enjoyment that they get from working on (and finishing) a special project. I want to thank all of the 22 participants who brought in things for us to ogle, and hope that next fall, we will be able to entice even more of the knitters in the area to inspire us by their work and creativity.