Second Time Around - This Time in a Heat Wave!

Gathering Yarns is the featured yarn this week. Yes, I know it's sweltering out. Yes, I know the majority of their products are wool. I also know I only have two more opportunities in this Farmer's market season to showcase ALL my yarns for you before they are only available through the online store. Take advantage and strike while the iron is hot (as the air outside) so that you don't have to pay shipping this winter. Besides Gathering Yarns, there are also a few offerings from other yarn companies such as Zen Yarn Garden, Sweet Paprika, Fibra Natura, and Ancient Arts.

As you can see from the list to the right, I have everything from lace weight to bulky on the shelves this week. Fibers range from Flax to Bamboo to 16 micron Merino! I have worked with a few of the yarns and I'm sure I'll work with a few more if you leave them in my possession for too much longer. Help a girl out! I already have too many projects on the go! 😉

written by Lori, thankful TCL owner, who is happy to say she didn't die from heat stroke while rearranging the 'furniture' this weekend. Even the house electrical system didn't want to support the RV AC! The ice water and teeny tiny USB powered fan sufficed. YAY!

 

Drunken Mannequins?

It's finally here. The final round of yarns before the rotation starts over! That means not quite three full rotations during the market season. What that also means is that you only have two more times (at most) to come check out which yarns you want to be working with this winter.

In the top photo, nestled between the patterns and the 'baby' in the corner (hidden by the hanging demos) is the Magic Shawl demo that I've been working on for the last few weeks. It has been getting quite a lot of attention from customers as they watch it grow at the markets. You can find the free pattern here.

In the top right quarter of the photo, you will notice that I have my Dress It Up! buttons so, yes, last week's buttons made it through the earthquake of driving well enough to switch them out for new ones 😊. Because of that, you can expect to see different buttons every week from now on.

On the driver's side of the pop up store, you will see some of the kits that I had made up for the few markets that wouldn't let me sell retail. (Their 20% commercial was already full.) Their prices range between $14 and $53 (pre-GST). Someone was actually looking for kits a week or so ago so I thought I would try it out in the rotation.

You might just be able to make out, in the bottom left corner of the photo, the end of a wooden sock blocker. I know it would make so much more sense to have them when the bins are full of sock yarn - and they will be. I have three different sizes: 4.5", 8" and 9".

On the far right of the photo is a 50g version of a poncho yarn (Gala 200) I had in the brick and mortar store before I decided to transition to this 'business model'. The mannequin on the left is wearing a hat made from one ball. (The mannequins apparently had a party before I snapped this photo. They'll have to sober up by Tuesday 😉.)

I'm giving you a sneak peak at the prices in this last photo.

The upper three yarns in the right column are scarf style yarns, some of which I have used in a few of my patterns. Most of the rest of them are shawl yarns.

Above the prices, the felting tools are in their permanent (for now) home, just below the Canada flag patches that you might just want to grab considering Canada Day is just around the corner AND we may soon be travelling abroad again.

written by Lori, excited TCL owner, who is happy to see the light at the end of the COVID tunnel.

There’s Something About Routine

Some routines are easy and others not so much. Exercising daily is easy - until you skip a few days. Then it can be SO difficult to get back into the groove.

Having your weekend shift by one day can throw everything else off balance. I don’t know how shift workers with irregular shifts do it! Since the Red Deer markets started, it has been a struggle to get the blog done for Monday because Sunday has been feeling like Monday and Monday has been feeling like Sunday, especially since we haven’t been attending physical church for a few months now. Markets continue for another few months and blogging for Tuesday just makes more sense than trying to get the pop up store picture perfect in one day.

Speaking of - we are closing in on the final week(s) of our yarn rotation, so soon you will be seeing repeats of yarns that have been showcased already! Yay! This week is for hairy yarns - some of which are meant for trim and others which are meant to give an entire project a fun and funky look. 

To balance it out there is also Universal Major, a Marble Chunky copycat that I didn’t have room for last week.

I also decided to see whether or not buttons can withstand the earthquake of travelling from one destination to the next.

You can see from the photos that my mannequins have their own little corrals for travelling. So far they’ve worked beautifully. Keep your fingers crossed for me that I don’t have too much button cleanup to deal with once I get to the market each day.

Written by Lori, much calmer TCL owner, now that I’ve given myself an extra day to prep the blogs. 

Change in blogging publication day

 Good morning everyone! Since Farmer’s Market season has begun, it has been hard keeping up with Monday 9am blog posts. My weekends have shifted from Saturday-Sunday to Sunday-Monday, meaning I am knee deep in the yarn changeover in the RV and it is not picture worthy until later in the day on Monday. Because of that, going forward I will be posting Tuesday mornings at 9am. Hope that doesn’t mess with anybody’s plans. 😉

Written by Lori, frazzled TCL owner, who’s getting her life as well as her RV rearranged. 

There's Acrylic and Then There's Acrylic!

 This week in the pop up store we are featuring James C. Brett yarns from the UK.

On the left when you walk into the store, you will find all the Flutterby, a 100% polyester chenille yarn that works to the same gauge as Bernat Blanket but is so much softer and drapey. It is the best yarn (in my humble opinion) for baby blankets, and I have also used it in a simple kid's T-shirt pattern. 

To round out the colour choices, I have included Universal Bella Chenille which is basically the same yarn but comes in a smaller ball (120m vs 176m). Also on that side is the chunkier Flutterby Animal Prints which will appeal to those with a wilder side. 😉

On the right side you will find the acrylic yarn known as 'the wool lover's acrylic'. As a person who works with yarn, you know that it is difficult to buy yarn without touching it first. The 'hand' of a yarn can make all the difference to whether or not the finished product is loved to death or thrown in the corner or pushed to the back of a closet never to be seen again.

For those, like me, who have trouble working with non-Merino wool and only had the scratchy wool to choose from as a beginner knitter, acrylic was the go to yarn. To be fair, things have changed but, in the '70's, a lot of that yarn felt like plastic. Some still does. James C. Brett's line of Marble yarns, on the other hand, does not feel like plastic. It feels like a quality, non-itchy wool to those who prefer the natural fibres. Hence, it's nickname. 

That side has also been rounded out with some Marble wannabe's from other manufacturers and, while the colours are on par with the quality one would expect from JCB, you will notice, upon handling, that some of them are slightly more plastic-y than the Marble yarns.

You will also notice that a number of my patterns make use of these JCB yarns so check those out too while you're in the store this week.

written by Lori, tardy TCL owner, who neglected to realize it was Monday until after supper, so I apologize for the late blog entry. I'll try to not let it happen again.