August Means Sweater Weather is Coming

I know. The temperatures are way too high to be thinking about sweaters - unless you knit or crochet - then you know how long it is going to take to make the sweater you are going to want to wear or give to someone else once the cooler weather arrives.

That's why the pop up store is filled with Berroco Vintage this week. A couple of weeks ago I was featuring Estelle Worsted and Cozy Alpaca which are the drapier worsted blends. I like to call the Vintage family of yarns the workhorses of the wool/acrylic blends I carry. They are perfect for the sweaters that you wear over other layers, or the blanket that you want to snuggle under on those cool fall and winter nights. I can just imagine the warmth of a toque, scarf and mitts made from one of the three different weights available.

To go along with the Vintage (dk, worsted and chunky), I also have some other blends that will play nicely with it. Melilla is a worsted silk/wool blend that resembles Noro Silk Garden. Baby Azteca will work nicely with the dk weight Vintage. And Lakeland and Drifter Chunky will play well with Vintage Chunky. I also have Viva, which is a light worsted self-striping Merino that would make lovely Faux Isle projects with either the dk or worsted versions of Vintage.

And, of course, you can't make sweaters without proper buttons. Gone (for now) are the cute Dress It Up buttons which were a real hit this past month in the pop up store. (Don't worry, you can still order them online and have them delivered to the market nearest you. Free shipping, YAY!) I'm sorry the buttons look a little haphazard in the photo. It was close to suppertime and it was sweltering in the rv. They will look a little more organized by the time they get to your market.

written by Lori, TCL owner, who is happy to be out of the heat, at least for the night anyway.

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. 

Does That Mean the Warehouse is Empty?

So if you read the previous blog, you would know that a LOT of product has already found its way into the popup store. Does that mean I'm ready to start hosting clandestine dance parties in the warehouse? Heck no. There's still way too much stuff in there!

If you visited the brick and mortar store at any time between February 14, 1994 and March 1, 2020, you will recall that I have always been so much more than a yarn store. However, much of that stock doesn't translate well into a mobile store. For reference, my store on 50th Street (not to be confused with Highway 12) was 2000 square feet. My RV is 209 square feet. That's just over 10% of the largest amount of floor space that my business has ever occupied.

Interesting fact - at 7ft, the ceiling height of the RV is half the height of the ceiling at that brick and mortar location and I made good use of that 14ft ceiling for display purposes. (Another interesting fact - 7ft is exactly the height of the ceiling in the basement of Nowco Home Hardware, the birthplace of The Crafty Lady.) For those of you doing the math, the RV has just over 5% of the (cubic) space I once had for all the products I sell. So what's still in the warehouse, you ask? Where do I start?

I still have beads and jewelry making supplies. What you see in this picture are the Mill Hill beads and Weave Got Maille kits. While I still have plenty of stock, I lost my Mill Hill supplier to retirement back in 2017 and the chainmaille kits come from the US, so I won't be restocking those anytime soon due to what is and is not considered essential. All of these are available through the online store.

What you don't see in this picture are the bead drawers (and the drawers holding the DMC Pearl Cotton and Kreinik threads) whose back sides are supporting this bead wall. Most of the beads in the drawers are not in the online store, and may never be, so they may show up occasionally as Special Deals in the mobile store. The Kreinik has gone the way of the Mill Hill beads so stock is first come, first serve. As for the Pearl Cotton, if I do not have the colour(s) you want in stock, they are also not considered essential so I cannot guarantee any kind of ETA if you choose to order them in.

This next picture appears to be a bit of everything thrown together, but there is method to the apparent madness. Most of what you see here is available at fabric stores so I assumed they would be slow sellers when I set up the warehouse. It's just me that needs to be able to find them so ...

The patches are actually going to be travelling with me for a week or two as a reminder that I am more than just a yarn store but the Unique buttons and Gutermann sewing threads won't quite work in the RV the same way. I still have sewing elastic - including bulk mask elastic - and a selection of hand sewing needles. The cross stitch supplies, however, did not make the cut when my suppliers chose to downsize, so I have very few fabrics, kits and accessories left.

Except DMC floss. I can still get floss. And it will be with me in the RV. You just won't see it.

I still have massive amounts of fasteners in the warehouse!

You are looking at a 4' x 8' wall of buttons,

snaps,

hooks and eyes,

shawl pins ...

I carried many of them with me last year in the popup store but I need all that space for my knitting needles and crochet hooks now.

I still have a selection of Dylon and Rit dyes (powder and liquid respectively) as well as sets of fabric pens and paints. The pompoms may make an appearance in the RV but, until then, you can see a portion of the colours available. What you may not be able to see are the white and black snap-on poms, but they're there.

In this photo, you can see all the knitting and crochet accessories that will be rotated in and out of the RV throughout the popup season. That's another 4' x 8' wall (plus the purse handles and loom sets hanging behind it) and remember - in the RV, I am working with 5% of my previous cubic space so I can only bring what I have room for.

Further down the wall - where you can't see them - are the tatting needles. They pair beautifully with the Pearl Cotton and other fine weight threads you couldn't see in the first picture. But they're there. Trust me ;)

I have never carried a lot of paper crafting supplies, but I have always had a number of quilling and parchcraft supplies. I still have a supplier for the quilling but since you are able to order direct from the Pergamano and Parchcraft Australia websites, once these tools are gone, they're gone for good.

Sorry. There still won't be enough room for dancing once they're gone. ;)

Not pictured are the clock motors and hands that I still get requests for. Since they come from the same supplier as the quilling, they will remain regular stock.

You made it all the way through to the end?   Good for you!

As a reward, here's a little hint to make shopping easier once I have my route set for the mobile season.

1. When ordering online, choose to pick up your purchase from the mobile store when it is in your area. 

2.  Didn't buy that yarn last week when it was in the popup store? Pay for it this week and pick it up   next week when I hand deliver it for you.

3. Need Tapestry yarn or embroidery floss? Depending on how many locations I have booked in one  day, you may be able to come back after hours to pick them up.

How's that for service?

written by Lori, TCL owner, who has finally decided to not fight with the blog program any more. You want the photos stacked vertically? I'll just 'talk' a lot more to fill up the space. Problem solved.