Monday, July 18, 2016

A Positive State of Being




At the time that I write this we haven't had our Sidewalk Sale yet.

At the time that you read this, we have.

So I'm going to say "A fun time was had by all and the sale was stupendous."

It's all about positive thinking.

Crafters are positive people. It's why they have SABLE (stash accumulation beyond life expectation). They just know that they're going to make 1000 shawls, socks for every day of the year, baby and wedding cross stitch pictures for every member of the family, Christmas stockings for everyone, all pictures neatly arranged in scrapbooks with full stories attached, a different costume for every Halloween for all the kids, charity projects, the ability to dress from head to toe in handmade items every day of the week, at least one quilt in every room plus table runners for every month, full layettes for every newborn and baby shower gifts all ready to go, and all the Heaven and Earth cross stitch designs about magical bookcases done and framed and proudly displayed by the library of books -  because crafters tend to be readers and they often have SABLE in books too.

Now that we've read about my life...

Occasionally - very occasionally we will have someone come in and say "I'm about to finish my project and I have nothing to do."

Which causes Lori and I to look at each other with open mouths of shock and awe.

We can't imagine that statement of being.

It's not as if we haven't started there. When I was a beginning crafter in my teens I bought yarn and needles for one sweater - yes I started life as a knitter on a sweater, so don't ever ask me if something is difficult - I don't know what that means. An inexpensive sweater since my drug supplier was Zellers. When I finished that one I went and bought yarn for another sweater. I made four sweaters that way. Then I saw an embroidery kit of birds on a barbed wire fence. I bought that and did it. Meanwhile I became interested in craft magazines and started buying Vogue Knitting and Better Homes and Gardens Needlework. It was soon over for me. A needlework piece in a magazine turned into a latch hook rug. There was the cross stitch pillow that I did in colors I had to fudge because Lewiscraft at that time didn't have all the DMC colors. I got married and had babies and soon there were baby blankets and booties and ugly sweaters for my husband and and and...

I gave up knitting for thirty years and instead concentrated on cross stitch and needlework. Which has it's own SABLE and now that I'm back to knitting...

I am still positive I can get it all done. I just have to find the magic potion for eternal life.

Tell me there's crafting in heaven.

So to add to your sable we have little projects. Projects that you can do in an evening. That's right, we're having a 1,2,3 sale. In other words, skeins of lonely yarns where there's only 1, 2, or 3 of them. There be magic in these yarns. You can create cowls and scarves and hats or a shawl of different textures or if you're really creative an out there sweater with all kinds of different yarns and textures.

Come take a look!

75% OFF SALE

ONE, TWO, THREE!

Come take a look at our 75% OFF table!

Posted by Anna Maria Junus (happy employee who is thinking of taking up magic to solve the sable problem)


Celebrate Lacombe Days / Christmas in July Sale and Why We're All Upside Down and Backwards

If you've been to the store lately you might have noticed that things have gone a little wonky.

You know how it is, you change one thing in your home and that means you have to change something else.

Or you start moving the furniture around in the living room and then you decide that the chair from the spare room would look lovely in the corner and then you need the little table in that other bedroom to put by the chair so you can have a lamp and a place to put a cup of tea, and the cabinet in the living room would be better in the dining room and before you know it the whole house is topsy turvy.

Several weeks ago, Lori and her mother built a badly needed office/storage room. You'll notice it when you first come in. Not only does it serve as intended, hiding a lot of things that customers don't need to see, but it also provided more wall space - those knitting needles have more room to stretch out and the button wall is right where you can see it when  you come in.

But the other result is that we can't see the till or very much of the store from the sitting area. We need to be able to do that so that customers aren't standing at the till waiting for us while we blissfully knit away. That means moving the sitting area to the middle of the store.

Added to that a lot of our yarns have been discontinued causing Lori to look for new distributors and new yarns. So she decided that while we were at it, we should just organize the yarn according to weight. The end result will be when you come into the store and you're looking for double knitting yarn, we can direct you to where all the dk yarn is.

Since I started working here I've had a nightmare that one little push on one of our yarn towers from a well meaning customer - or their child -  would cause the entire store to have a domino effect (if you've ever seen "The Mummy" you would understand what I mean). Of course this would happen on Lori's lunch hour and she would come back to me standing in the chaos. Which I guess would be funny to see happen if you didn't work here.

Lori is changing those walls of yarn to square, sturdy, holders on wheels. No more dominos!

Every morning that I come in, it's changed. Yarns that were over here, are now over there. I don't try to memorize where everything is, since it will change tomorrow.

One day (we're hoping by Lacombe Days) this will all be done and everything will be in it's rightful place.

In the meantime, we are still open, here to serve you. It's just that if you ask us where something is, we'll have to hunt for it together and call out Marco Polo to each other.

Okay the sale for this week is

NOTHING

Well, not really. It's just that we won't have our weekly sale. Instead we're having our annual Lacombe Days Sidewalk Sale. What that means is that instead of having one yarn on sale all week, we'll have a plethora of yarns to choose from at great discounts.

But I promise, next week it's business as usual.

Monday, July 11, 2016

The Many Meanings of Velvet Chenille

Velvet Chenille.

It sounds like either...

A. A 60's Motown group
B. A 70's Barry White song
C. An 80's Prince album
D. A beatnik back alley coffee house
E. The name of an exotic dancer
F. A drink with high alcohol content
G. A really decadent desert - probably with chocolate
H. Something you can get at Starbucks
I. A movie you won't let your kids watch
J. The name of a black cat
K. The decorating decor of a playboy from a 1960's Doris Day flick
L. The name of a Bond girl.
M. A book you read while hiding in a closet so no one knows.
N. A late night radio show.
O. Or the name of the deejay.
P. What you would name your Build a Bear.
Q. A 1920's speak easy.
R. The name of an evening gown, as in "I think the Velvet Chenille will look better."
S. The name of a bathrobe, as in "I think I'll slip into something more comfortable, like my Velvet Chenille."
T. The name of a revolution. "The Velvet Chenille Uprising".
U. The name of a girl born to hippy parents in the late 60's.
V. A flavor of hot chocolate.
W. A magazine devoted to the latest trends in music, movies and fashion.
X. The resurgence of painting on velvet - with a twist.
Y.  A painting technique to be used on the walls of your dining room or master bedroom.
Z. A yarn that we have on super-special sale this week.



75% Off

Ice Yarns Velvet Chenille
Bulky, 100% Microfibre



Regular Price: $6.00
Sale Price: $1.50

Posted by Anna Maria Junus (happy employee who remembers having a chenille bedspread that I picked apart)


Monday, July 4, 2016

Great Things Are Afoot!

Does it bother you that when you put your socks in the washer or dryer, there is a magic doorway somewhere nearby that you can't see, where single socks escape through, going off on adventures that you don't get to go on?


It does me. My socks have probably been places I have never been and never will go. Some other dimension that's way more fun than this one. And it's the adventurous one of the twins that go, the other one content to stay home, or too scared to venture out.

Of course this other secret dimension could just be the black hole where pens, gloves, scissors, stitch markers and plastic container lids, go to die. There are probably portals throughout my house not just in the laundry room.

Then of course there's Dr. Who, who apparently likes to steal half made sweaters as well as socks. And yes, I'm aware he's called "The Doctor" and not "Dr. Who" but if I said "The Doctor" you might think George Clooney or Patrick Dempsey and they can afford their own socks and half made sweaters. And if they're lurking in my house, then they should just come out and face me and deal with the consequences. (Big smile).

There's an episode on The Dick Van Dyke Show where the gang goes to an auction and Sally (played by Rose Marie) looks around and picks up a vase and says how she can turn it into a lamp. And then after she's said this about various vases, she picks up a lamp and talks about turning it into a vase.

We have this sock yarn that's like that. It's a scarf, that you can unravel and turn into socks. You can either unravel all of it and rewind it, or knit straight from the scarf. Or you can just leave it as a scarf. and use other yarn for your socks. Or you can buy two and keep one as a scarf and make matching socks with the other. And then you wear them together and someone will say "ooh, where did you get your matching scarf and sock set?" And you can say  you made it yourself because that's only half a lie which means you are telling the truth.

Why they did it that way has something to do with the dying process. Which I don't quite understand but you can ask Lori because she knows everything.

Honestly, I'm having trouble with this. I can see unraveling a sweater that no longer fits, because you love the yarn and want to remake it up again. I totally get that. It's something in my mind if I ever shrink and become a supermodel. It's one of the neat advantages of yarn.

I also understand not having yarn and not being able to afford yarn and unraveling something so you can use the yarn to knit something else. I get that.

I knew a woman who loved to take cast off clothes and recut them and turn them into something else. Not only was it a great way to recycle, and to make inexpensive clothing, but it was a creative use of her talents. I don't have that ability but I admire it.

However I still have trouble with the concept of buying a scarf to unravel and make socks. But just because I have trouble wrapping my head around unraveling a scarf to make socks, doesn't mean it shouldn't be done. The colors are pretty and the dying process will make lovely socks. So I say, go for it. Especially when the yarn is so inexpensive.

Yes people. It's sock yarn week! I know some of you were hoping we would do that sometime. Sure you can buy a bag of socks at Wal-mart for less than a cup of coffee, but what's the fun in that? Socks are wonderful portable projects - perfect for summer when you don't want that big afghan lying in your lap. The dog and the drooling toddler are hot enough. It's a great opportunity to do cables without real commitment, unless you choose a sock pattern so complicated you end up committed.. No one ever says "do these socks make me look fat?" No one has too many socks. And you can use sock yarn to make shawls.

I'm expecting that these sock yarns won't last long. Please note. Only these sock yarns are on sale. I just got a picture of women banging on the doors until we open them, running over each other to get to the sock yarns, and screaming at us because the sock yarn they picked up isn't 75% off. Oh, hold it. I'm not here first thing Monday morning. By the time I get to work, the carnage will be over.



75% OFF

Regia Creativ
75% superwash wool, 25% polyamide
100g (scarf you turn into socks)



Regular Price: $20.00
Sale Price: $5.00

Online Supersocke Jupiter
75% wool, 25% polyamide
100g/420m


Regular Price: $17.00
Sale Price: $4.25

Balade
75% wool, 25% polyamide
100g/420m


Regular Price: $12.00
Sale Price: $3.00

Universal Yarn Pace
75% superwash wool, 25% polyamide
50g/200m

Regular Price: $6.00
Sale Price: $1.50

Patons Kroy Socks
75% wool, 25% nylon
50g/152m/166yds


Regular Price: $7.80
Sale Price: $1.95

Online Linie 2 Supersocke Silk Color
55% superwash merino 20% seide 25% polyamid
50g/200m


Regular Price: $10.00
Sale Price: $2.50

Online Linie 2 Supersocke Silk
55% superwash merino 20% seide 25% polyamid
50g/200m



Regular Price: $9.50
Sale Price: $2.38

Diamond Luxury Footloose
90% superwash merino, 10% nylon
50g/175m




Regular Price: $7.00
Sale Price: $1.75


Posted by Anna Maria Junus (happy employee who will probably edit this line after she arrives to work following the carnage.)