Category: The Shop

The Madness Caused a Malfunction – Sorry

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New Shop

As most of you probably know by now, we have moved premises.  As it wasn’t the first time I’ve done this you’d have thought I’d have known what the relocating would  consist of – yes and no is the easiest answer there.

In all honesty my previous moves have never included the sheer volume of yarn that we now stock and packs of yarn are quite big, especially when you have as much of it as we do.  Then there’s the little matter of dyelots and we won’t even mention split packs – nightmare!

Anyway, we’re in and we did open as planned on the 9th August, however to be frank the lights have been on but there’s no one at home.  I’ve been running on autopilot for the last fortnight and I only realised how bad it had got when I failed to notice something really important in a friends text message on Saturday evening.  Fortunately, I did spot it on Sunday when I re-read the text and rather red faced I explained my predicament and her being such a good friend was cool with it (phew).

So we’ll ease back into this gently, I have some great ideas to try and bring to the blog in the future including a run down on the latest magazines, a look at the books I love and possibly even the odd video, which will carry a warning ‘unmanicured hands’ my nails are far too small and grow upwards (I’m special I know).  In addition to that I still intend on trying to bring you some of my designs and keep you up-to-date on what’s happening in the shop and the greater woolly world.  I’d like to try and make this blog an interactive platform too, so if there’s anything knitted related you’d like included let me know and I’ll try my very best to accommodate you.

From the back corner

Looking through to the classroom

We’ve also decided to stock the odd bit of giftware and a few fat quarters, items that I hope will compliment the yarn goodies.  We intend to expand the haberdashery ranges too in the coming months and will be running a children’s knitting group and (hopefully a crochet group too.

Fat Quarters

We’ve already added to our giftware range since opening and have now taken delivery of some very unusual and pretty fairtrade gift items.  We’re aiming to ensure that most of the items we stock will be €15 or under with many under €5 so they can be picked up as and when you see them.

Hope to see you soon
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Happy Knitting!

Look Out For The Sign

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our Donations Are Off

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What a collection!

Wow didn’t we do well? So well in fact that this little lot completely filled 3 black bin liners.

In total there were:-

  • Hats – 110
  • Scarves/Cowls – 86
  • Gloves/Mitts – 39

All of you that gave your time, energy, skill, yarn and most importantly care should be so proud of yourselves.  When Deena from The Chernobyl Children’s Trust came to the shop to collect the garments she was honestly shocked to see how many items we had.

The organisers gave out as many woolly items to the visiting children as they could before they flew home and intend to send any that are left over later in the year.  There are 2 lorries traveling over to Belarus later this year hopefully,  full to the brim with everything the charity can collect in to help as many families as possible.

The charity are still keen on trying to get unwanted pairs of knitting needles in if possible.  I know we’ve already sent a good few over but if you have anymore please let me know.

A big thank you once again to everyone that contributed.

Happy Knitting.

Everybody Keeps Asking Me –

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Since we had our Stash Dash Day soooooo many people have expressed their dismay at missing it, or not being able to attend.  I thought I’d been fairly proactive with the advertising and had done my very best to let everyone know, but like anything new it takes a while for these things to filter through.

So just to keep you up-to-date………

The Stash Dash Days will take place twice a year: one event in March and one in September

That means that about in about 4-6 weeks, after we’ve moved into our new premises, the second Stash Day of 2012 will take place.  It will probably be on a Tuesday or Wednesday and we will be sticking to the ‘book your place’ method, although I think the time you have to shop will be increased to 20 minutes rather than 15 minutes.

How to Prepare

Most people got the hang of what we were suggesting before, but for those of you that were a little unsure here’s a little more help:-

Project Notebook

You can see from my notes the patterns that I have in my ‘to do list’. Next to each I’ve written the approximate amount of yarn I’m going to need to complete the project and the weight of yarn I need.  If I’m yarn shopping when I’m away (madness I know) I always have a rough idea of my go-to projects. I love knitting hats and baby garments although sometimes seeing what you can knit out of one ball/hank of yarn can be fun and it’s much easier with Ravelry.

The best bit of advice I can give any knitter buying yarn for a project, particularly if it’s in a sale, is to buy at least one ball extra.  If you don’t end up using using it in the garment you can always use it to make a tiny item, like a baby hat, and if you’re super organised you could knit a square(s) using your remaining yarn.  Collect these squares up and sew them together to make cushion covers or a blanket – great for those pesky tension squares too.

Get planning now while you have the time. The Stash Dash Days will become relatively seasonal with the lighter more summery yarns being cleared in September and the warmer ones in March.  However, there are bound to be exceptions when I decide to clear a range or two based on yarns I’ve ordered for the coming season.

As you can see from my notebook the In Leaf Cardigan is up there on the top of my list, I’m sure you’ll agree it’s lovely.

In Leaf Cardigan from Knitty.com

Happy Knitting!

x

A Really Hectic Week

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Stash for the Dash

It’s felt like I’ve been chasing my tail all week; my daily list of things to do hasn’t been completed once in the last week. Even writing this post hasn’t been simple.  I started it yesterday but my internet connection was so slow I gave up.

In addition to my usual manic weekly workload I’ve also had two other pressing items to get ready.

The first, and probably the least interesting, are the two assignments that I have had to complete for the course I’m currently taking.  It coincides with the voluntary work I do for the Citizen’s Information. To be fair to me, I thought I’d agreed to do a very different amount of work on the course than what it’s materialised into.  The sad thing is that given more time I could have made more of an effort; instead my assignments could be described as ‘half-hearted’ at best

The second, and much more interesting, is all the preparation for the ‘Stash Dash Day’. I didn’t realise there would be so much work involved.  I’ve been busy clearing out yarn that’s been put away all over the stock rooms – moving it, sorting it and then having a really tough time persuading myself that I don’t need to procure more yarn for my personal stash while I sort.

Super Chunky & Novelty

Today the hubby took all the yarn over to the shop, along with tables, sheets, tablecloths and lining paper to cover the shelves.  When I met him at the shop it soon became clear – to him that is, that the job in hand was a big one.  He set about covering up the shelves and setting up the tables and moving boxes, while I began the humungous job of trying to sort out the shop.

Double Knit

The first thing to go wrong – the lining paper ran out!!! Undeterred, hubby went and purchased the next best thing: you guessed, it bin bags, green ones!!  So the idea I had in my head of the shop looking somewhat OK while the mayhem of disorderly sale yarn is everywhere has been somewhat smashed.  My head is a lovely serene place that I hope to reside in one day.

Still, the shelves of stock yarn are completely covered so there can be no confusion over what is in the sale.

The second thing to go wrong was the sellotape ran out. I simply had too many packs of yarn to close up before the yarn decided to take over and engulf me.  At this point I was sitting in the middle of the floor surrounded by boxes and baskets full of yarn while trying to make up full packs to make it easier on Wednesday.

Aran & Chunky
Aran & Chunky

Local shop to the rescue and a rather speedy 3.5 hours later the shop is ready for it’s first ‘Stash Dash’.  I was quite shocked by the amount of yarn I had pulled out to clear and even more taken aback by how much stock I still have.

Looking over the yarns for the day I can safely say there’s a fantastic mix, with everything from lace weight to super chunky.  I’ll be posting up some of the yarns on Facebook just to try and keep you all updated.  For some reason there doesn’t seem to be a huge amount of aran weight, but I think that’s probably because everything we have in stock currently sells well. Apologies to all you aran lovers out there.

Laceweight, 4Ply & more Dk

If all that woolly work wasn’t enough for one day I also went to see Rico’s new yarn collection for the coming Autumn/Winter Season.  So many lovely new yarns and a few not so nice ones.  It was a job to curb my enthusiasm and I could feel myself drooling over some of the truly scrummy yarns.  Had I had a chance I can safely say some of the samples could have found their way into my handbag.

I have ordered quite a few as you might expect – oops!

If memory serves me right my order includes two new DKs – a great new baby one and a variegated lightweight one, one gorgeous super chunky, two completely different standard chunky yarns – one was kind of earthy, the other was glitzy, one furry aran and possibly an earthy one and lots and lots of lovely patterns.  Almost forgot to say I also ordered some new shades in 365 Aran: scarlet red, navy and chocolate brown.

Like I always say “it’s an illness”

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