After a lot of work, and quite a few problems, we finally have our online store up and running.
The link to it can be found at the yarnshop.ca website, or you can get to it directly from here.
It is not complete yet, we will be adding new items on a daily basis, so check back frequently.
It has been a very busy summer, I didn’t realize how much work it was to get the online store looking just right. And then to get it working with Canada Post, as well as Paypal took a lot of testing.
I have done a fair amount of knitting this summer, and actually managed to get a few things finished. Here are some pictures: 
This first one is done in a now discontinued yarn, Sirdar’s Just Bamboo, in 3 colours, white, grey and pink. It was a very nice knitted ribbon type yarn. This is my own pattern, I used Barbara Walker’s Knitting from the Top to design it. It is top down, raglan sleeves, and I used a pattern stitch from the Brioche Stitch book.
This is another top down, own design, again using Barbara Walker’s book. This was done in a hand dyed linen yarn, that I may bring in for the online store, if there is any request for it. It comes in solids as well.
This top uses the ‘set-in sleeve worked at the same time as the yoke’ method. It is quite interesting, if you look closely, you can see that the variegation continues across the sleeves. The yoke is knit in garter stitch, while the body part is done in a mock cable rib.
I love knitting from the top, and doing my own thing using this book, since you can make something to fit you, and by the time you cast off, finish the ends, you are done!! No sewing…a knitter’s dream.
Another ‘from the top’ sweater, though this time I used a freebie pattern from the internet. You can download it here.
I did make a couple of adjustments on this sweater, because the front and the back of this sweater is exactly the same, and that is just not me, I need the back neck to be higher than the front, or else it doesn’t sit nice. So I added some short rows above and below the yoke in the back to raise the back neck up some. I used Elsebeth Lavold’s Silky Tweed, which is a discontinued yarn, but I still have a bit of it left, and it will appear on the website in the near future, as soon as I come across the box that it is in, so that I can measure the skeins.
I know a lot of you are also cross stitchers, and you might be interested to know that I have gotten back into doing cross stitch. Of course, my sister having opened a needlework shop in Nanaimo doesn’t help any. It’s called The Stitcher’s Muse, and she has also been working hard on getting her online store up and running. If you are ever in Nanaimo she is located right in the old downtown area, in the Dorchester Hotel. She has been egging me on this summer by telling me about websites of interesting new-to-me designers. One that I could not resist was this one: Chatelaine Designs. I have made a couple of her freebies on this page, the ones I did were the tiny rose garden, and the springtime roses. They were fun to do, and inspired me to do one of the bigger ones. This is the one I started : Konstantinople Mandala. Here is a picture of how far I am:
This is just the very center of the design. It is the alternate center that has an ornamental pond instead of the bathing lady. I am just about to start the triangles around the center square. It uses a lot of silks, metallics, beads and special stitches. I am doing it on black linen, since that made the colours stand out the best. The very center will have a large square aquamarine Swarovski crystal on it.
There is another designer whose designs I’d like to get started on, it is called Heaven and Earth Designs. All her designs are based on art work of some fabulous artists, and all the designs are done on 25 count linen, over one, so very detailed. She has so many designs that I just can’t decide which one to start off with.
Now that the website is more or less up and running, I will have more time for weaving, spinning, dyeing and stitching, and you will see more pictures of the things I am doing. It won’t all be knitting, so if you have no interest in seeing any of the other things that occupy my life, please feel free to unsubscribe from the newsletter.
So go check out the new online store, and if you come across any errors or issues, please let me know, so that I can correct them.
