“Knit in the Park” items given to Ann Elmore House

For two years now local knitters celebrated the National “Knit in the Park” in Robert Ostler Park. Each year more than 20 knitters from all over the Island followed the invitation by the Needle & Arts Centre to enjoy the company and mostly sunny August days in the park, dedicating the jointly produced items to a charity.

Our Needle & Arts Centre donated yarn, needles and instructions, and 7-Eleven the refreshments. In the 2006 event the participants were knitting piles of squares for Afghans which were later crocheted together with love by Cindy Simpson. For 2007 different sock patterns were prepared for use by the participants.
Now, with all products finished and just timely for the cold days and Christmas, the knitters proudly presented their items to the Ann Elmore House, which is operated by the Campbell River and North Island Transition Society. In total: four warm Afghans, 13 pairs of colourful hand knitted socks for kids and moms, a kids sweater with touque, a scarf with touque and a scarf with hat. One of the Afghans was crocheted and donated by Leslie Skidmore.

The Campbell River and North Island Transition Society (CRNITS) is a non-profit registered society and registered Charitable Organization. The CRNITS was formed in 1985 for the purpose of providing service to women and children who are dealing with issues of abuse and violence. The Ann Elmore Transition House was opened in 1987 and has been sheltering women and children ever since. In 1997 services were expanded to include residential recovery from substance addiction. Various projects and programs have been added over the years.

Thanks all knitters who actively participated in this fun fundraiser and good cause!

In the photo you see standing from the left: Alison, Cindy, Janice, Valery Puetz (Ann Elmore House) and Inge; front row: Lois and Alison's Katie.

Warmth without Weight!

This is the slogan of Misti Alpaca, our latest yarn supplier. You have to touch it to believe the other slogan: "The softest yarn ever". Wow, this is 100% Peruvian Baby Alpaca at its best.

We are pleased to introduce a new line of yarns: Misti Alpaca Chunky and Misti Alpaca Handpaint Chunky. This chunky weight 100% Baby Alpaca offers next-to-the-skin softness and comes in generous 100 gram skeins. It will knit up quickly and beautifully into scarves and accessories, sweaters, and is soft enough for baby and children's items. The solid skeins sell for $16.95 and the hand painted skeins retail for $24.95. You may want to visit www.mistialpaca.com and learn more about these unique animals.

Our Misti Alpaca sales rep Miriam Leth-Espensen sent us two of her patterns: Simple Sideways West in Garter, and Sideways Stripes in Orchid Sweater. Alison is checking them out and we will be glad to give them to you soon.

Quickly done: Lace Insert Scarf

Alison brought this scarf in: it is one of those little projects which can be done in no time as a gift for a special someone. It also shows the sophistication of the "Carat" lace yarn by Marks & Kattens, see the shade card. Here is the pattern for the Lace Insert Scarf from only one ball of Carat!

Don't fear the Sock!

"Socks are one of the most popular projects among experienced knitters, yet they hold an aura of mystique among beginning knitters. Sure, socks require techniques not typically used in simple projects such as scarves and hats, but these techniques are as easy to learn as the basic knit and purl stitches." This was taken from an earlier issue of KnittingDaily. If you haven't signed up yet, go to http://www.knittingdaily.com/!

We don't fear the sock for several reasons. First, we have a selection of sock yarn a knitter can dream of. We don't brag to have the biggest selection, but I think we actually have...

Secondly, we have a lot of sock knitting expertise in our store which we like to share one on one in our Knit Cafe.

Now, as a special treat, we received Zitron's Trekking Hand Art (photo above) - a hand dyed yarn that raises sock knitting to an art form. Treat yourself (or the sock knitter in your life) to a skein or two of this luxurious yarn. A 100g ball retails for $20.95 and will make one pair of socks. It's beautiful for lace, baby and children's projects, too!

In Summer we had our Knit in the Park, as you remember. The project was to knit socks for our Women's Centre (correct: the Ann Elmore Transition House). Here they are, nicely decorating the Christmas tree in our store. In a couple of days, these socks and a couple of blankets will be handed over to warm the needy.

Recycled Silk Yarn from India is in!

As you might know by now, we started importing Surina knitting and crochet needles and accessories directly from India. The most amazing product which came with the last shipment was a bunch of skeins of beautiful Recycled Silk yarn in different hues.

The charm of recycled Sari silk is that it is unpredictable, making knitting with it just as rewarding as your finished product. Each Recycled Silk skein is handspun creating natural inconsistencies and a rather scrappy nature. The yardage varies from skein to skein as does the colorway, gauge, twist and texture. The weight is between 100g and 250g per skein.

Each skein is an adventure and you can expect to find little bits of India in it.

Find all our Surina products at www.needlenart.com/id65.html.