Gobble Gobble!

Amongst my favorite television shows of all time is WCRP in Cincinnati.  In case you don’t know, and if you don’t know I’m so sorry, WKRP is a 1970′s sitcom set at a local Cincinnati radio station.  At WKRP the office is brimming with characters of the colourful kind who get up to all types of hyjinks.  Hilarity ensues!
In a particular episode, Mr Carlson (the big boss at WKRP) plans a Thanksgiving promotion campaign for the radio station, the nature of which is kept secret till the big day. Les Nessman (WKRP’s news reporter) is live relaying the action.  A helicopter appears in the sky with a banner attached wishing folks a Happy Thanksgiving and then objects begin emerging from the chopper. As they hit the ground with a splat, Les Nessman and all bystanders are horrified to realize that they are turkeys!
Later – Mr Carlson says in his own defense “as God as my witness, I thought turkeys could fly!”.

Why am I telling you this?
See the yarn on the bottom of the pile which looks kinda like a turkey might? It is dyed in a colour called “as God as my witness, I thought turkeys could fly!”. So of course I had to get some for the store.  The beautiful red on top is called “Only the exact phrase I used was “Don’t”", the gorgeous blue beneath it is called “You punched the highlights out of her hair”.
Indigodragonfly takes colour inspiration from film and television and when it comes to naming these colours there are no limits on the word count. Thank goodness!

The green is called “Turtljagar: for when Frogschlager just won’t do”. The teal is called “Is the monkey okay? Did they hurt the monkey?”.  The yellow is called ” Tweety of Versailles”.  The multicoloured one is called ” Rock, Paper, Scissors, Lizard, Spock”

On top we got “And then Buffy staked Edward, The End”. On the left “A thin line between love and batteries”.  On the right, “Bright lights, big city, busy highway, slow unicorn”.
I don’t pretend to know where all these references come from, although I do recognize a few.  Regardless, I am so glad they are there.  It must be one of the best parts about making your own yarns – thinking up the colour names, and Indigodragonfly takes full advantage of this perk!

The yarn pictured here is all the sock-weight variety.  A tight spin of merino with a bit of nylon for strength and endurance.  It is $26 for 356m (390yds) and made right here in Ontari-ari-O!
Must be time to make some socks. Our Sock Class is beginning on Monday November 12.  See the description and details here, and register by calling us at 416 533 5648.

Craftily yours
Kristin

everything is coming up cashmere…

…and that is not a bad thing!
I am not upset that every box of yarn that has come through our door in the last week is laced with the good stuff.  Cashmere is the Platinum, the Cadillac, the Cary Grant of yarn fibres. In other words – it is the best!  For example try Casbah. A sock yarn with a hit of cashmere hand dyed by Handmaiden in a delicious blend of colours.  Tempting to just take them home and pet them and gaze at them lovingly.

And then there is Dream in Color  who has gone and  added cashmere to their”Smooshy” sock weight yarn.  As a result Smooshy is feeling a little extra smooshy – if you know what I mean.  They have also added an array of new hand dyed colours: Electric Mauve, Peacock Shadow, Twilight Lime, Wicked Royal. Dramatic names like these ones have spawn deep and highly saturated colours.

Also new at the Knit Cafe this week are patterns from Knitbot.  This wonderful designer is the lady who brought us the Wispy Cardigan pattern.  Who would of thought a lace weight cardigan would become so popular? We have several additional sweater patterns from her now.   Two of these are childrens patterns that span the size gap all the way from babyhood to teenagedom.

The Calligraphy Cardigan and the Effortless Cardigan

Wispy Cardi and the Contented Cardigan

Sock Yarn Sweater and Yoked Cardigan

Big thanks goes out today to Bobby.  His help was needed and very appreciated at the Kitchener Waterloo Knitting Fair on Saturday.  We couldn’t have done it without him.  What a guy! Hooray for Maurie too who let us park our big truck at her house.  I hope your tree stump is ok.

Craftily yours
Kristin

waving the flag

Big fat thanks to Jana for lending us her beautiful flag bunting for our window this month.  It is high on the gorgeous scale ! It was a communal effort – friends knit together a banner of love for Jana’s wedding.
We are so well decorated, with our window full of life and our shelves filling plump with yarn.  Here are some that have arrived just this week. 

Maxima by
Manos del Uruguay.
-Single Ply
-Hand spun
-Hand dyed
-Fair Trade
-Brilliant colours
-Soft as the dickens!
-Worsted weight 

Fleece Artist
Silver Merino Roving. 
- for Spinners
-and Felters
-and Thrum Mitten Makers
-dyed by hand
-soft  fleece
- delicious colours

Fleece Artist Trail Sock
-merino
-with nylon for strength
Handmaiden Silk Lace
-yum, yum!
Sea Silk
-silk and seacell (seaweed)
-also lace weight
-also amazing
-hand dyed in NS and BC

As I write this more boxes arrive.  To be continued…
Craftily yours
Kristin  

Comings and Goings

Is this old news now?
For sure it is good news, so all the better to repeat it.
We have Noro!
Noro Taiyo,  cotton, silk, wool, nylon
Noro Taiyo Sock  (same as above but sock weight)
Noro Kureyon, 100% wool
Noro Silk Garden, silk, mohair, wool
Noro Silk Garden Sock (same as above but sock weight)
The Taiyo is new to us.  I am especially excited to have a yarn to recommend to folks who are eager to get their needles into some Noro colour-ways but are put off by the wooliness.  Some might say darn right itchiness in the case of Kureyon (I would not- I love a wooly-wool)).  Did you know Kureyon means crayon in Japanese? A fitting name for yarn that captures the imagination much like a new box of crayolas might. All the other Noro varieties capture the same magic.
My first Noro project was my first sock project too, and I was hooked. A Noro addict and a sock addict too.  If it has been said once, then it has been said again, and it is about to be said once more now: knitting with Noro is like reading a good book you never want to put it down.  The anticipation of what will happen next is too much to bear.  What colour will it be?
Since the sock days though I have sadly not knit much with Noro. I rediscovered the joy of it all when I made my Confetti mittens. Whoever said one can never go back was not talking about Noro.  I was even more enraptured.

Also showing off Noro’s Style  are these knit works from Jared Flood. The first pic is the Mitered Mittens, a simple beauty of a pattern by the genius knitter Elizabeth Zimmerman. Made more beautiful thanks to Noro. You can find the Mitten-How-To in both “The Knitter’s Almanac”, and “Knitting Around”, books by EZ.  The second pic is Jared Flood’s Noro Striped Scarf, easy, effective, and a joy to knit!

Since December I have been diligent about blogging. Rain/shine-twice a week was my regiment.   I must now admit that my perfect attendance record has been shattered.  I missed my weekend post. Fortunately I have always found that perfection is over- rated. Perhaps you all will also forgive me for my truancy.
But really – can you blame me? The computer’s charms, they fade compared to the view from Bear Island.  Notice the yarn on the bench?  Though I may be a truant, I am no idler.

I was lucky that my vacation did not come earlier.  If it had I might have missed the visit of our old friend Sophia.  It was good to see her.  I had not done so since she moved back to the UK, some time ago. Now here I am back in the big smoke and she is now safe and sound on her own side of the pond where she is writing the nicest things about us.  I felt a little teary when I read her blog post but I concede that it is true.  The nicest people do come to the Knit Cafe- bar none!

Read all about it on Sophia’s blog aquarterto 

Nice to be back among the yarn.
Craftily yours
Kristin

Robot Overlord and the Turtle Rodeo

A new batch of Lorna’s Laces hand dyed Shepherd Sock Yarn all lined up and looking pretty pleased about it!In order of appearance , right to left: Amy’s Vintage Officer, Zombie BBQ, Turtle Rodeo, Robot Overlord, Edgewater.

Did you know that The Knit Cafe does mail order?  It’s true! So if you must have 3 skeins of Zombie BBQ to make a sweet as pie pullover, then call us up (416 533 5648) and we will oblige by sending it your way.  I am pleased that this photograph is pretty true to life and captures both the depth and subtlety of the colours in the yarn

I am also pleased to present this bit of eye candy.It  shows off two rag rug projects that are really smile-worthy! As I look forward to the Knit Cafe’s Rug Hooking Class on  May 19th I find myself locking lids with more and more rug pics.  This one shows a hand fabricated rug and poof in a glossy interior design shot.  So stylish!  This decor-dandy image was found here.