And Let There Be Light

Excuse all the clutter on the floor and focus on the positive. I finally have adequate lighting in the bus!

If you've been following the progress on the mobile store, you will know that I have been struggling to find the best way to mount my lighting without wrecking the ceiling. My first two options didn't work (the two-sided tape refused to stick to the freshly cleaned surface and the anchor - singular - spun like a top when I tried that mounting method) so I spent this past weekend mulling it over yet again.

In the photo to the left you can see the strip lighting underneath the upper storage. It does quite a nice job of lighting up the yarn and keeps the colours fairly true. And because nothing beats natural light, if in doubt, it's a short walk to check colours under the sunlight coming through the front door.

You will also notice that the yarn on the back wall looks a little dark. A quick trip to the dollar store fixed that. You can see in the right photo that two battery powered LED trouble lights, hung strategically, brighten up that space beautifully!

So now that the lighting is all finished, I can concentrate on the finishing touches, like emptying and removing all the boxes, setting up the till area, etc.

If the weather cooperates, the mobile store takes its maiden voyage on March 12 to the Lacombe Farmer's Market Spring Market at the LMC (11am-4pm) and I have to have it presentable by then.

 written by Lori, excited TCL owner, who can't wait to get out on the road again and, more importantly, share my updated route with you - as soon as the market managers confirm my spaces.

New Yarns!

Book available by special order only

First - Happy Valentines Day everyone ❤️

Second - sorry about the ‘lack of blog’ last week. 

Third (and most important I think) - I’ve been receiving new yarns!

I spent most of 2021 apologizing to customers who were looking for macrame cords and braids because my suppliers were unable to get their stock from the manufacturers. Well, as of this past week my only apology will be for the one colour I couldn’t get. Other than that one, the store is fully stocked! Click the links for more information about each one.

Macrame Braid

Macrame Twist

While I do have stock of all but one colour, supply is limited and I have no control over availability of a second shipment, so get your orders in now. First come, first serve.

For those of you who don’t care about macrame but do like to keep your kitchen stocked with brightly coloured dishcloths, I now have all available colours of Sudz in stock!

   

written by Lori, TCL owner who is busy looking for space in the bus for the new yarns!

Hands Up If You Miss Petting The Yarn!

 The lighting update (promised from last week) is currently on hold but in the meantime, I have been busy with customers who miss petting the yarn. That means it is time to remind you all how you can continue to pet the yarn even though part of the year I am an online store only. This means you need to share this blog with all your yarnie friends!

I haven't solidified my entire route yet, but there are a couple of markets from last year's roster that are year-round markets that I will be returning to - Ponoka's Monday afternoon market and Wetaskiwin's Wednesday afternoon market - as soon as the weather is conducive to keeping the bus door open while parked outside.

I've told many market customers who had visited the mobile store last season that I really didn't care if they bought at the market. I still stand by that. I made it very clear that yarn is a tactile purchase. It is hard to purchase a yarn that you can't touch. Every customer that didn't purchase at the market was given a business card so that they could purchase (online when the wind blew colder and the days grew shorter) the yarn that spoke loudest to them when they petted it. You see, I know when most of you work with yarn. There are a significantly smaller number of us that knit year-round but even we need to pet the yarn when the opportunity arises.

So - I will update you on my full market schedule as soon as I have confirmed with the market managers but, until then, just remember that the majority of them run from May long weekend to Labour Day weekend, with a number of them extending the season if the weather permits.

written by Lori, TCL owner, who is eagerly awaiting my first yarn shipment of 2022!

This January Has Turned Out To Be Quite Balmy!

 Loving the temperatures coming this week!

I don't mind the forecast of snow for Monday because I need to practice up on the techniques I will be teaching on the next few Tuesdays. (see the blog from two weeks ago)

By Thursday, I should have all the puzzle pieces of the lighting collected. I'm a good blend of my parents, but one trait I am so grateful to have inherited from my Dad is to keep everything 'because I might just need it someday'. You'll see what I mean when I do the show and tell next week soon.

Part of my electrical system will also be arriving soon. Fingers crossed that it will arrive before next Sunday so that the lights will actually be on in the pictures.

I'm afraid that's all I have for this week - classes and easy electrical in LorigamiVan so get out and enjoy this weather. You can see what next week has in store for us.

written by Lori, happy TCL owner who can't wait to see the finished products - classes AND bus!

A Long Goodbye / A New Beginning

Yesterday marked the first day in a long farewell between me and my original mobile store.

Obviously I’ve been anticipating her being gone since I made the decision to sell her back in September but Sunday was the day the new (soon to be) owner had a cheque placed in my hand. Only the usual paperwork and the handoff of the keys and she-who-was-never-named gets to ride off into the sunset with her new owner leaving me to concentrate solely on her replacement, who shall be known as LorigamiVan.

God saw fit to give me (and Mom) a beautiful week to get the majority of the store work done in LorigamiVan and now I will have time to get the physical bus upgrades done. I know. Most people would have done it the other way around but the added electrical will run off of solar and at least one portable battery - none of which will affect the store area of the build. 

I say build but it’s really more of a no-build build. At this particular point in time, I could remove the store and replace the seats and seat belts and no one would ever know a yarn store had been there. That will change when I add the solar and lights. 

Enough preamble. Let’s see some before and after photos! Remember - the lights aren’t installed yet so the after pictures are darker than the finished store will be.

Photo 1: all the seats and seatbelts still intact.

Photo 2: seats and seatbelts removed. Floor covered with our favourite soft flooring and the second of three incarnations of display designs partially completed.

Photo 3: final top to bottom yarn display with the bus’ original lights (which only work when the motor is running). LED strip lighting will either run down the center of the ceiling or under the front edge of the overhead storage. Still working on that.

I’m also trying to decide if I’m going to leave her as a plain white bus and just hang my signs from her windows like I did with the rv or put some decal signage on her. Any helpful suggestion - pros and cons - are welcome so please comment. 👍

Written by Lori, happy TCL owner, who can’t wait to get LorigamiVan out on the road this spring!

Classes at Lacombe Performing Arts Centre (LPAC)

 They're finally happening!

Classes will be happening at LPAC starting January 25 so register now :)

The continuing deep freeze from over the Christmas / New Year break had me in a bit of a funk so I didn't get the blog out last week. I perked up a little bit when my classes were announced in the middle of last week and I perked up a lot more when I saw that I was going to have an entire week of temperatures hovering around zero(!) to work on the bus. 😃

For the classes, you will need to provide your vaccine status as well as wear a mask at all times. I choose to be extra cautious since I may be required to be within your (and everyone else's) 6 foot bubble in order to help with any issues that may arise when learning new techniques. I've missed teaching and I am looking forward to everyone enjoying the experience.

The first class (pictured above) is self explanatory - you're learning new basic skills.

The second class is an introduction into Entrelac without all the messy beginning, left-leaning and right-leaning triangles to get in the way.

The third and final class of the series teaches you to combine knitting and crochet in one project - bottom up or top down!

The best part about all these classes is that you can take what you learn and translate it into existing patterns. I can't tell you the last time I used the cast on technique I learned as a child nor can I tell you the last time I used a long tail cast on. What I can tell you is that MY long tail cast on was not "the stretchiest cast on you'll ever use". In fact, it was quite the opposite and since it was meant to cast on a sock, you can see why I chose to never use it again. You will learn what I use instead in classes one and three.

Now, go on, get registered!

Written by Lori, thankful TCL owner, who is looking forward to all the productivity in the next week thanks to the amazing weather!

One Pattern Down, How Many to Go?!

My Reversible Moebius Cowls pattern is finally up for sale in my online store and on Ravelry!

What took me so long?! I've been hyping it up for a month already.

It's partly because it's closer to Christmas and I have deadlines for things that needed to be worked on / finished. And partly because I've been perfecting the layout in the shuttlebus. I've also been designing  attempting to design other neckwear but they are not yet picture worthy.

What is picture worthy are a couple of projects that you may have seen me working on in the pop up store this past summer. These patterns will take a bit more time to compose because most people will want multiple sizes. As a retired math teacher, I know how much calculating goes into multi-sized patterns. Especially if you want an accurate fit. That's why I have so few of them.

For those of you who didn't see them this summer, these are the patterns I'm working on.

This top (above) takes two balls of Estelle's Rainbow Autumn (a long striping yarn) and makes use of a virtually invisible braided cast off. This size fits me and I could probably make two sizes bigger from those two balls. That being said, even a toddler size would require two balls if you want the garment to be symmetrical. For more defined stripes, one could also use Estelle's Magic Shawl.

To the right, you will see the first iteration of the crocheted version of my One Seam Sweater. If you haven't seen this knit pattern yet, I had to split it into two patterns because it runs from 3 months to adult 3X in size. The knit version uses a true chunky yarn (15sts = 4" or 10cm) and drapes beautifully. See Marble Chunky and Major.

Because of the nature of crochet (one strand of yarn wrapping around two upright strands), this size yarn is too bulky. The garment doesn't stand up on its own, but the fabric it creates isn't nearly as flexible so I had to downsize the yarn to a sport/dk weight just to achieve a desirable drape. So far I have not been impressed enough with the results from the yarns I have in stock to take a photo. I will update you with that progress when it happens.

Until then, I apologize for not having a blog for you last week. As I might have mentioned already, I've been busy. And since I don't see my project creations / shuttlebus renovating slowing down anytime soon, I am going to take a break from blogging for the remainder of the year and come back on the first Monday in 2022.

written by Lori, TCL owner, who wishes everyone a Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, etc and we'll reconnect in the new year.