How Do You Take Your Coffee?

Thursday night is "Knit Night" every week at The Crafty Lady (that's not to exclude crocheters and embroiderers; we welcome you too!  We just like the alliteration of "Knit Night" 😉)

As I was saying, Thursday night is Knit Night at our shop.  For a modest fee of $5.00, yarn-crafters of all sizes, shapes, ages, genders and levels of experience are invited to join us for tea, coffee and conversation.  Officially the evening runs from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m., but folks have been known to arrive as early as 4:30 p.m., so no worries.

The snacks and beverages on hand for the evening are a source of weekly pondering for The Crafty Lady and the two of us on her staff.  Do we want sweet or savoury this week?  So-and-so can't have nuts; one regular prefers a particular flavoured cream for her coffee while another prefers plain cream.  How's our stock of crackers and cheese, tea and coffee?

When our guests arrive we try to make them comfortable and then the inquiries begin.  Do you want your drink now or after you've eaten your sandwich (some come straight from the office)?  Is it 'leaded' or 'unleaded' for you this week?

When the evening begins, I've already put in a full day at the shop, and I have a 1/2 hour drive home, so usually I don't stay very long, but when I do, I like my coffee dark-roasted and black.  Usually I'll choose a 'Paradiso Dark' (from Second Cup), or an 'Americano' or...a double-run 'Espresso Roast'.

Mmmmm....Espresso...rich, colourful, classy...and a little can go a long way -- just like this week's Super Special Sale Yarn offering!

Berroco 'Espresso'

150 grams = 135 metres (148 yards)

50% Cotton; 50% Acrylic

Regular Price: $28.00

Sale Price: $7.00

You only need one of these delicious skeins to make a fabulous decorative loopy cowl...  

A slouchy market bag

A swingin' party purse

Or a handsome crocheted collar

(add beads for a bit of 'bling'!)

Coffee, tea or yarn: it's all here for you at The Crafty Lady!

*Written by Margaret, happy TCL employee who not only likes her coffee black, but also her scotch -- neat!  😉

Moving from Main Street to "Main Street"

As Central Albertans, we tease Red Deer about not knowing which direction streets and avenues are supposed to run. If you hadn't noticed it before, they are the only city in Alberta that has avenues running north and south.

That being said, a pet peeve of mine is that
- even though The Crafty Lady is on Main Street (50th Street) in Lacombe, and
- because everybody and their dog calls Highway 12 (50th Avenue) "Main Street",
- everybody who reads my print advertising knows The Crafty Lady is on Main Street and
- still has trouble finding the store because it's apparently on a side road (?).

So I am going to make it easier for everyone.
This spring The Crafty Lady is moving from 5009-50th Street to 5006-50 Avenue.
- right beside the CIBC bank.
-directly across from the Flatiron building.

I know you will have questions.
Will we be closed for a short time while we move?
Will there be moving sales?!
All I can tell you is subscribe to this blog and/or like our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/craftyladylacombe/ if you would like to be kept up to date on our progress or any other related information.

In the meantime, just know we'll have plenty of space for sidewalk sales, a great view for the Celebrate Lacombe Days parade, and we'll still have room for our Knit Night couches so you'll be able to join us on Thursday evenings for a bit of coffee, treats and conversation!

Written by Lori, happy TCL owner who has a penchant for changing things up this time of year, just not usually THIS much!

Right Brain vs Left Brain

This past weekend Lacombe has been a very busy place!!!

For Left brain people (those who prefer facts, math and analytical/sequential thinking) Lacombe Trade Show was at the Gary Moe Sportsplex. 

For the Right Brain people (those who prefer music, arts, intuition, imaginative and creative thinking) the Encore Art Sale and Celebration was on at the Lacombe Memorial Centre. 

Those who are more balanced - probably took in both. 

Have you noticed the communities people gravitate to, travel to visit, or are held up as model communities seem to have a balance of both. 

People who live in Lacombe, and the area, are really lucky. I am not sure many people recognize just how lucky we are until we lose something - like the closing of The Main Gallery at the end of this week. This is going to have a huge impact for all levels of our community. 

We are a tourist destination for many people - the community of  Lacombe has developed sites like the Blacksmith Shop, the Michener House Museum, Cowpatti Theatre, Music in the Park, Ellis Bird Farm and the Murals. 

Lacombe offers the creative services and products people crave. We have 3 antique stores in Lacombe - that I know of - people come from all over to stroke and appreciate beautiful items people have created.

Art is one of the few constants since the beginning of time. It is the first thing terrorists destroy - therefore it must be important  (and threatening). We create during military outbreaks - think of  the poem "In Flanders Field", war photos and Michelangelo. 
All around our world - ancient cultures created art, music - intuitively recognizing a need for beauty. 

Peru's heritage and culture of textile artistry is rich and ancient. This week's 75% Off Sale pays tribute to the animals bred for generations in the Peruvian highlands. Without this history and tradition, we would not have this beautiful yarn.

Tuhu 

by Mirasol

50% Llama, 40% Merino, 10% Angora

Reg. $10.00

75% Off 

$2.50

Please Note: 

Due to the special quality of this yarn, we are limiting purchases to 10 skeins per customer.

Note: The Crafty Lady has noticed that the sale corner is looking depleted and is adding to it as you are reading this . . . 

Written by Anne, happy TCL employee who is probably a slightly off kilter thinker. Does this mean I am balanced? 

Butterfly Kisses

What's it like to be kissed by a butterfly?

I'm guessing it's light, airy, and a bit like being tickled by a light breeze.

For humans, the best we can do to produce this effect is to bat our eyelashes when we give a loved one a kiss.

It's a sweet and gentle gesture and -- I'm told -- works best between an adult and a beloved child.


In the interests of pushing Mother Nature to bring us Spring -- and with it, blossoms and butterflies! -- here at The Crafty Lady we're offering another spring-like yarn for our Super Special this week.

Butterfly

Super 10 Cotton

from EL. D. Mouzakis

125 grams = 228 metres (249 yards)

100% cotton

Machine wash, machine dry

Regular Price: $14.00

Sale Price: $3.50

Ravelry's resources show over 4,000 projects that can be -- and have been -- made with this yarn -- in knitting, crochet and weaving.  There are baby blankets, sweaters, caps, market bags, hot pads, face cloths...

You could even make...butterflies!

Photo: Hopeful Honey

Free pattern to knit HERE.

Free pattern to crochet HERE.

Butterfly Kisses...

Written by Margaret, happy TCL employee who can't wait to be able to knit outside on a sunny Spring afternoon, watching the butterflies go by.

Dear Mother Nature...

I don't know about you, but it seems to me that Winter has been allowed free reign for far too long in these parts.  There was more snow, blowing snow and drifting into the wee hours of this morning -- and we've been teased with above-zero temps and sunshine just enough to emphasize the Spring weather we're not getting -- at least not yet.

Easter was a week ago, and it was colder that day in much of this part of Canada than it was on Christmas morning.

Nurseries and hardware stores have their seed packs, starter kits and gardening supplies on display, front and centre, just waiting.

Grocery stores and florists are show-casing daffodils and tulips.

Friends on the Wet Coast (😉 ) are taunting The Rest of Canada, posting photos of sprouting blossoms on social media.

Here at The Crafty Lady we should be delighted.  Fall and Winter are busy seasons for us, because people have a hankering for yarn -- especially wool and wool blends -- to make cozy sweaters, hats, toques, mittens, scarves and socks for loved ones.  Crocheters are awash in toques and blankets that bring loving warmth.

But even avid yarn-crafters long for Spring, for cool, lacy tops, beach cover-ups, tank tops and decorative scarves on their needles and hooks, rather than all that toasty animal fibre.

So this week at the shop we're offering our own taste of Spring, with our Super Special sale of delicious Spring and Summer colours in this easy-care cotton blend:

100 grams = 245 metres (268 yards)

75% Acrylic

25% Peruvian Cotton

Regular Price: $8.50

Sale Price: $2.13

Note: to ensure the Spring Spirit is spread around,

there will be a limit of 10 skeins per customer!

See you in the garden!

Berroco featured pattern: Cibber
in Weekend DK

In the Company of Artisans

Photo credit:
Indigenous: Organic Fair Trade Fashion

Here at The Crafty Lady, I'd estimate that the three of us who spend our work-days guiding, teaching, serving, answering your questions and doing our best to ensure you have what you need for your chosen craft, have well over a century of combined experience in various skills: knitting, crochet, embroidery, paper arts, jewellry making, colour theory, sewing and quilting.

We are a company of artisans...and we welcome all who join us, who 'keep company' with us each day -- especially those who book a lesson to take up a new craft or to move their skill level up a notch, thus adding to the world-wide population of "makers".  😊

To be an artisan is to be someone "...who works in a skilled trade, especially one that involves making things by hand".  And despite the surprise of those who don't have such a practice, artisans are not a vanishing breed -- even in our highly technological Western culture.

There's something so very appealing about making with one's hands -- the rhythmic movement of the fingers, the sensation of touching fabric, fibre, clay, wire, beads, the vibrant colours of the materials -- not to mention the satisfaction of creating something unique that expresses one's singular voice, ideas, views of life and the world around us.

Add to that the slowing of time in order to revel in the creative process, and you have the perfect antidote to the stress and strife so prevalent in today's "Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World".

That's why this week, for our Super Special Sale, we're offering you a lovely opportunity to slow down, to dream a little, to take time to select colour and revel in quality, to join our company with

Berroco Artisan

50 grams = 112 metres (123 yards)

80% Merino Wool

20% Silk

Regular price: $18.50

Sale Price: $4.63

Please Note: 

Due to the special quality of this yarn,

we are limiting purchases to 10 skeins 

per customer.

P. S. Did you know that the City of Lacombe has an annual celebration of artisans -- and the art and fine craft they create?  Want to see more artisans at work, and share the beauty of their creations?  Want to see what young local students are making?  Want to enjoy locally-prepared food delights, wine, and craft beers?  

Then make time for the 19th Annual Lacombe Art Sale and Celebration of Creative Expression!

April 20 - 21

Lacombe Memorial Centre

For more details, click HERE.

*Written by Margaret, happy TCL employee whose life has been enriched by crafts.