Not that I don't knit in any kind of weather, buuuut, we've been having quite a nice steady snowfall here in Canmore. We've had about 15-20 centimetres (6 - 8 inches) and it's still coming down. This is great for the ski hills and actually, great for my knitting too.

On beautiful, sunny days I always feel that I should be outside doing something to take advantage of good weather, but on snowy or rainy days it just seems right to tuck in for some solid, guilt-free knitting.

So what's on the needles? Well after finishing my sweater I wanted to delve into something completely different...and so I am knitting a rug. Well a bunch of squares that I'll sew together and then felt the whole thing and hope that it turns into a small throw rug.



I've always wanted to knit a rug; so inspired by the cover of "The Knitted Rug" by Donna Druhan and by the colours we have in stock from Deluxe Chunky Tones by Universal Yarns, I am blissfully knitting away.

The rug in the book was done in a bulky weight cotton, but I am choosing to use wool and, as I mentioned earlier, plan to felt it. And while the rug is made up of a bunch of squares, they're not just any old squares! These are mitred by doing a double decrease in the middle of the row. So you start off by casting on the longest edge and decrease in the middle of the row until you have just one stitch left. Each row gets shorter and shorter to knit as you go along and you end up with a nifty little square.

Each square knits up pretty fast, so you can watch an hour of television and complete a square...or in my case, complete a couple of rows in between unpacking boxes of new stock.

So we shall see how this experiment works out! I'll keep you posted.

...well, quite well, actually. It's finished and I love it! I wore it to work this week and I'm loving the short sleeve bit: it's like wearing a vest, but a bit warmer, but still cool enough to wear indoors and even outside on a coolish day.





In an earlier post I admitted that I was a "start-a-holic" of sorts and kinda weak on finishing because, hey, there's just so much neat stuff to knit and I want to do it all.

But this time I told anyone who would listen that I was determined to be disciplined and stick to the project. And what happened was kind of interesting...people would ask "how's that sweater coming along?" each time they visited the store. Knowing that someone would ask (especially you, Val, if you're reading this!) motivated me to keep going so that I would have some progress to report.

I might just try that again on the next big project; it is a bit having a personal trainer, or even better a "knitting coach," to keep you on track and accountable. You should try it too...I highly recommend it!

In three short days, we're totally sold out of Namaste's Zuma Eggplant bags and we're planning on re-ordering this colour (as well as the Lime colour) and some other Namaste bags that we're sold out of. So if you'd like us to special order a bag with your name on it, call or email the shop and let us know!

We're adding a couple of new classes to our Saturday schedule. If you are a new knitter or a knitter returning to knitting after a layoff and want to pick up the needles again, consider the "Beginner Plus" class. This class is designed to take you further with your knitting by working on a project like a hat, mittens or a baby blanket. You'll learn the basics of pattern reading and all sorts of tips and tricks while working on a great project.

We're also offering another Entrelac knitting class entitled the "EntreSac" Beaded Bag class. This funky little bag will teach you the entrelac technique plus a little beading for the handle and bit about felting for good measure. Once you're done, you too can be the proud owner of a bag like the one in the photo!

The Beginner Plus runs on three Saturday afternoons in March (7, 14, 21) from 1:30 PM - 3:30 PM and the EntreSac class runs three mornings in April (4, 18, 25) from 10:30 AM - 12:30 PM. Each costs $50 plus GST and materials. You can register by either calling the shop or dropping by in person. Hope to see you there!

I'd really planned on having my sweater done by now...but I had to do a little frogging on the back (eek!) and then the rest of life got in the way! "Life" involved unpacking a backorder of Malabrigo Worsted (yay) and stocking our latest order of bags from Namaste.


In additon to restocking the popular Laguna bags, we've now got the new Zuma bags in many of Namaste's fantastic colourways including "Eggplant" (shown above). For those of you on Ravelry, this was the colour chosen by Ravelers as this season's limited edition colour.

Also in the works are a couple more classes. One will be a "Beginner Plus" class for advanced beginners looking to move beyond scarf knitting, or for those returning to knitting after a bit of a layoff. This class will be scheduled for three Saturdays in March. The other class will be a beaded Entrelac Bag, which is a follow-up to our popular Entrelac scarf class. It will be scheduled for three Saturdays in April. More details will follow shortly!

In the meantime, it's back to my sweater. It's been blocked, and the shoulder seams done in a nifty three-needle bind-off. And now it's time to pick up the stitches on the sleeves and add the ribbing!