I am crocheting some coasters in No.30 crochet thread. I am also working on some filet crochet. It isn’t as if I haven’t enough unfinished knitting projects to work on but my hands suddenly wanted a hook and small thread and my eyes wanted lace. Gail Mathers gave me some old crochet magazines – you do know that I collect old patterns in any form, don’t you? – And one was called Magic Crochet. It is no longer published and was a magazine translated from the French. It is awe inspiring. I actually went onto Ebay to find more of them. I don’t do Ebay and I was considering asking Carolyn Bergman to do the ordering for me. But Gail Paull heard me moaning about getting Carolyn to do it for me and brought me the most magnificent birthday gift the next week. She culled her collection of crochet magazines and brought me a lovely addition to my collection which included a number of issues of Magic Crochet. I am in hookers heaven!

The collection lead me to the coasters and then to filet crochet. Then I started to think that the Yorkshire Terrier Club Of America holds a Roaming Specialty each year and they have raffles. And part of that is our Working Yorkies group who also hold raffles. A perfect place for putting in filet crochet pieces of Yorkies. So I contacted my friend and fellow Yorkie owner, Joanie Carl who does graphic work and asked her to collaborate with me to design some Yorkie filet crochet patterns that I can crochet up for the Working Yorkies and the YTCA.

Having just finished my hat for the International Free Form Crochet group’s 2011 book, I needed a new creative venture. One downside of having a yarn shop is that you need to make models as the pattern says so that people can reproduce them at home. If you get too creative, they are of no use to other knitters and crocheters. It stifles my head and hands. It is clear to me that I need to be working on some project that is all my own and doesn’t belong to the shop or I become cranky. The need to produce something that springs from my own creativity is very important. I encourage others to stretch out and see where you hands and head take you. Don’t just recreate what you have learned from others in a new gauge or yarn but let the yarn, your tools of choice, your imagination and the skills that you have learned take you to new places.

And this is great weather to do it in. It rather fits blizzard project time, the times that the weather allows us to snuggle in with a hot cup of and play. This is a real gift from our creator and not a time to despair that we can’t be out playing.

Have a great day, no matter what weather that you have and don’t bemoan those days that you can’t be out in the garden or at an agility trial but treasure them as days to create.

The shop is full with yarn, books and patterns and some great new ideas. Start that Holiday knitting now and avoid the winter rush! I am evaluating the magazines that I carry as well as books and patterns. The changes in how people receive their printed materials is causing me to take a close look at what printed materials I can afford to continue carrying. Your thoughts on this are welcome. I myself haven’t a Kindle or I-Pad but many of my customers do. I am seeing a decrease in magazine purchases and am finding customers are having their magazines delivered to their computes or cyberprint devises directly. Also many are getting their patterns directly on-line from resources like Patternfish . I have to decide then if it is better to use my merchandise dollar and shop shelf space on yarn and needles rather than on printed materials. I have to admit that I would like a Kindle for my birthday.

Speaking of my birthday, for the first time since 1998, I will not spend my birthday at TNNA. First of all, I decided that I rather spend my birthday at home with my family. I am getting older and I don’t know how many birthdays are ahead of me and I figure that the reps can come to me – after my birthday – and TNNA can get along without me. That added to the poor selection of education offerings the last couple of years – the good ones I have already taken more than once – and that my last couple of airplane flights have been very unpleasant AND the increase cost of going all added up to staying at home. So I will not be in Columbus this year.

We will be closed on June 11th – the day before my birthday. Bo and the Yorkies are taking me on a birthday trip to play Terrier games. We will be open on my birthday, June 12. Don’t be surprised to find a sign on the door this summer that says that we are open but may be in the backyard. Don’t worry the shop doorbell will ring so that we can hear it and know that you are here. It is just that I want to take advantage when I can of my yard and family. I am attending my 50th class reunion this year and am realizing that there are things that I need to take advantage of while I can. So rather than sit in the shop all day, I am taking advantage of having the shop and home so close together. I am seeing a difference in how the world does business and I think that it is time for me to change a bit too. But that doesn’t mean that you aren’t welcome any time the shop is open and I am always willing to help you with your project from start to finish, it just means that I will be using the time when you aren’t here differently – I MAY EVEN BE WEAVING! So stop on by, shop, stay for a cup of and a jolly good talk.

Along the way, I have finally put up details of Edie Eckman’s workshops for May 1 & 2. I have made arrangements to bring kits and books from Maggi Knits to the MN Knitter’s Guild’s YarnOver April 30th and I have some wonderful new roving from Cross Patch Creations to bring along too.

The Yorkie Girls are fine, Lilly has a new agility title. Both Emma and Lilly have some good agility runs under their paws from this winter. Winnie has had some nice and qualifying runs and Jossie is working on her stage fright.

Bo is looking at turkey hunting so we will have Thanksgiving and Christmas turkey to eat. The garden looks about ready to till and we have seeds waiting to be planted. We think Spring may be just around the corner.

I guess all is well but this winter better be an exception and not what the future looks at bringing us. We maybe gray headed and can’t do everything that we used to do but we are looking at many years ahead of us and this winter was not fun – so there!

Isn’t that the way the world works, you have a nice tidy schedule and something comes along and mixes it all up. I like tidy. I like to have everything lined up with me in control but it never seems to last. Maybe that is why knitting and weaving are so comfortable to me, they are controllable. And maybe that is why I find Free Form so exciting, I have no if any control over it. Well off I go to my almost controlled world and see what the day will bring.

This is a busy time in our world, our dog clubs and dog training school are having awards dinners. This year the Knife River Yorkie girls cashed in. Jossie got her Novice Rally title, Winnie got her TeaCup Agility Games 1 & Games 2 and her Standard Beginners titles. Lilly got her TeaCup Agility Games 3 and Standard Intermediate titles. And Emma got her TeaCup Agility Games 3 and Standard Intermediate titles, UK International Agility Beginning Agility title and The American Working Terrier’s Certificate of Gameness in Earth Dog. Of course next year may not bring many, if any, titles but this year was fun. Titles are nice to earn and give us a standard to judge our progress against. But in reality most dog sport titles are earned because you are out there performing more times. It is a time and money equation – more time and money spent = more titles. We simply don’t have the time nor the money to travel every weekend to trials. We mostly stay pretty close to home. But the girls are doing better and hopefully so am I.

There are knitters who like to earn titles too. And for some folks it is very important but for the vast majority the reward is accomplishing a finished product, learning a new technique in doing it AND if we are lucky a big thanks and a hug and a kiss from the person it was knit for.

Saying that I am looking at a personal reward award of a sort. The FreeStyle Crochet Yahoo Group that I am a member of has a yearly project where a theme is picked and people create a piece that illustrates the theme. Then there is a book published with all of the projects entered. This year I have decided that I will do a piece. The theme wouldn’t be announced until tomorrow but I have an idea and am waiting to get started. The piece can use a number of different techniques including knitting, weaving, tatting, bobbin lace etc in it. I am looking forward to getting started.

I did get in some minutes of knitting time in the waiting room. I am work on the Misti Mystery Scarf and it is doing much better on the Serendipity wooden straight needles. Needles type does make a difference on different projects and this one is much more pleasant to knit on needles with a sharp point. Don’t ever be afraid to try a different type of needle if you are having trouble with a project. Points, material style are all important. Don’t ever been a one needle for all things knitter or you will be handicapping yourself. There are time and places for almost all sorts of needles. The other needle that I like the sharp point of is the ones that Char makes for us – it’s just that I had the others in hand at the time. But experiment and try different needles for different projects. You will be surprised!

This is a fun one and there are some individual choices that push you a bit.

I am working on a Knit A Long (KAL in computer jargon) With Art Yarns and Iris Schreier. I have been doing these and it’s been fun. To be part of the group you have to post your project on Iris’ Ravelry page. I started my project last week and was zipping along but had put my project up yet when Jossie did her table climbing. I was so stressed that I turned to crewel for a stress relief and finally got back to my KAL. I needed to add it to my project page and couldn’t find the yarn label. I know the yarn, yardage etc but had to look up the color and I have no idea – until I find the label – the dye lot. Now this is unusual for me because over sixty years of knitting I have learned that it is a VERY smart move to keep labels. And it is something that I try to teach my customers. It is not unusual for someone to call and ask what yarn that they bought and I don’t know. Or I hear that, ‘I bought that nice yarn from you six years ago and now I have a new grandchild and I want to knit another sweater just like the one that I knit in that yarn’. Six years ago? The yarn may not exist any longer, the company may not exist any longer – I need to know more. What was the gauge? What needle size did you use? What was it made of? ‘I don’t know but you must remember it, it was so nice.’ I’m good but not that good, I need help to know what you used.

A notebook or knitting journal is a really good idea. There are computer programs where you can even put photos of the finished project. I have to admit that I barely keep a notebook. I don’t use my computer program that much, it takes up my knitting time to download all that stuff and I value my time too much to use it that way. But a notebook, I can lug around with me and jot don things. More often than not, the pattern is my notebook page for a project. I write on the patterns changes that I make, corrections for pattern mistakes, ideas for changing the pattern etc. And I save patterns. I also make photo copies – yes it is legal to copy the pattern from even a book FOR YOUR OWN USE – and if you can find one of my patterns without a coffee stain or a jelly spot, I will be very surprised. And I often staple the yarn label to my pattern when I file it. And I do have a sort of loose filing system. But save those labels if for no other reason to record your knitting history and you too can some day look back at a label and say, ‘Oh, I loved that yarn. Too bad the yarn doesn’t exist any more but neither does the fiber or the company.’

Along the lines of customers calling for information on past purchases is, ‘oh you don’t need my credit card number, you have it on file.’ No I don’t. It is illegal for me to keep your credit card information unless I have your written permission. And I wouldn’t even do it then. Congress passed a new law a couple of years ago saying that businesses can’t keep your credit information without permission and every business that processes credit cards must show that the know how to properly use, save and destroy information. I as do all business now pay a company not our credit card processors a monthly or yearly charge to make sure that we follow this law. It is another added expense to those of us who take credit cards and is a few hundred dollars a year for businesses our size. I must answer a yearly questionnaire saying how I take and save information, that I have trained my employees to handle credit card information, that I destroy that information properly Etc. So don’t be surprised when I tell you that I need your information. It is to safe guard you and me.

I have to run, I have yarn to shelf, have a great day.

The Crewel that I just finished is titled, Scottish Thistle.