Alan and I are back from Australia and have settled back into winter! My parents are coming to stay with us for about a month in May which is something to look forward to. I gave my Mum a gift certificate from Filati a couple of years ago so she is looking forward to visiting the store for the first time.
Again I have managed to get too many things on needles. I am knitting a sweater for a friend in Sydney, I did one for Paul and now have to do one for his partner Rod. Naturally I bought yarn in Adelaide and have already got the body of the jacket knitted, but have to work out how long to knit the sleeves. Likewise I am knitting a Debbie Bliss jacket in the cotton aran and have a problem with the length of the sleeves. I am going to take both projects to the store on Wednesday and get Janice and Alice to help me solve those problems. My Aussie friend Jane, here in California, needed help with a vest she had knitted for her husband so I am helping her with that project too.
My new great nephew Romeo is now two months old and absolutely gorgeous. While in Adelaide I knitted a lovely matching jacket, hat and bootees for him with some Cleckheaton baby yarn, and I also knitted him a Schaefer jacket knitted from the top down. I still have the yarn for about three more sweaters for him and a blanket or two so I want to get them done before the Australian winter.
The shop has continued to be busy which is wonderful. We had a great sale just after Christmas and decided to keep a lot of the ‘scarf yarn’ on sale as the ladies are certainly making scarves again. Wednesday nights have seen growth in the number of new knitters coming in for classes, and even Saturdays have been busy again keeping our Diane out of mischief. We have just a couple of workshops left including a felted bag, finishing, and beaded hat class going through to early March. Janice is thinking about having a couple of workshops during the summer months as a few ladies have requested classes at that time of year, especially the school teachers. It will be interesting to see how many ladies sign up once we get a programme together.
It has been very cold here the past three nights with temps down around 25F. We have been protecting the citrus trees we have and Alan has wrapped all the water pipes too. Hopefully tonight might be the last night with temps that cold, with a slight warming trend heading our way by Wednesday.
Hot chocolate time I think.
Sally