Tag Archives: Beehive Wool Shop

The Yarn Overdose that is Known as Stitches

Posted on by

1

Oh boy. We did it. We gals in the Skein Lane Friday morning group went to Santa Clara to attend Stitches and we

Jan and Sheri, after one bloody mary

survived. Barely. It was wonderful! A few highlights – bloody marys in the hotel bar at noon; bloody marys in the hotel bar at 5; wine in our rooms, dinner at Piatti‘s and more yarn and fun than should be legal for adult women to have without a license. It was great. Here’s my very subjective recap of some of the great things I saw and bought.

Miss Purl

I have a lot of yarn. And I work in a yarn store. So I don’t necessarily go to Stitches to buy, buy, buy. I do go to get inspired. And I go to admire the creative minds of vendors and other knitters. That said, the first place I opened my wallet was a little tiny booth – a half of a booth – taken by “Miss Purl,” a young lady named Danielle Dowhaniuk who makes and sells stitch markers. Now, lots of people make and sell stitch markers. I could make and sell stitch markers. But what separated her from the pack was her packaging – each set came with a tin, coordinating decoupaged tin, many of them decorated with pretty washi and other handmade papers. Some also had pin-up girls from the 1940s on them. They were DARLING. And, you could buy just the tins, which I did – three of

I gave one away

them!

Another half-booth I was very impressed with was Feltz Etc, where designer Carol Galasso was featuring her spectacular knitted and felted bags. Now, again, you can’t swing a 32″ circular needle with a dead cat on the end at Stitches without hitting a felted bag. But these were different. For one thing, they did not look like a knitter raided the bottom of her stash for old bits of sparkly crap that may or may not match. These things had design. They had shape. They had thought behind them. And they were very reasonably priced. The bag I liked best was a heathered teal blue number that came with lining fabric, feet, buckles, etc and was only $50. Carol sells her completed bags and her kits on her Etsy store, which I have linked to above. Go and take a look. She’s also on Ravelry, and her name is FeltzEtc.

Janelle at Snicklefritz

Another place I stopped was Snicklefritz Yarns where designer Janelle Gunther hand dyes her yarns. Again, there is more hand-dyed sock yarn at Stitches than a whole league of knitters chould work through in their lifetimes. But to my eye, there was something special about Janelle’s. Plus I liked that she’s a local gal – she dyes in Pleasanton, Calif., – and she has a set of gnomes she travels with.  This guy in the picture has been to such hots spots as Utah and Norway, Janelle reported. Here’s a picture of the yarn I bought from her in colorway “Diesel Gnome.” It is a blend of merino, bamboo and nylon and is superwash, of couse. I love it. Janelle also has a blog and her Ravelry name is Nannyknits.

my Snicklefritz

Where to next? I must tell you about a wonderful experience I had at Stitches which reinforced my belief that knitters can save the world. Last year, I bought myself a rather expensive set of handmade wooden cocobolo needles from Asciano Fiberarts Tools. I utterly loved them – a size 5 lace-point set of circulars that felt like sex when you knit with them. I am not kidding. I made several things with them – and then broke the needle at the join. I can’t remember what I was trying to do with them at the time – manipulate a bobble? force a slipped stitch over something? But I remember I was really forcing it and when they snapped, I thought, Oh, Kimberly, why did you do that with a wooden needle? Now, Deborah Doyle, the brains and artistry behind Asciano,  guarantees her needles. But I really felt it was my fault they broke. So I wandered into her booth, picked up a pair of the demo needles and began knitting, trying to work out whether I wanted to buy another pair or wait til next year. While I was knitting, a customer came up and asked if I liked them. I said, yes, I liked them – they felt as good as sex. She bought a pair. Another person asked me the same question, similar answer and I think she bought a pair, too. Then Deborah told a customer she was helping to ask me if I liked them because I had said I owned a pair, right? I said, well, sort of right. I did own a pair but I broke them. And I told her I thought it was completely my fault. And do you know what she did? She asked me what size, what tips, and she gave me a new set of needles!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! People, this is how you run a small business. This is how you make customers for life. I hugged and kissed her, told her I’d blog about her and her fabulous needles, and now I want to tell you all that you should buy these needles. They are the only wooden needles I like (and I way more than like them) and I plan to buy myself a pair every year. AND her needles are made by a small family group in Mexico, so it’s a good thing to do! She also has spindles, crochet hooks and straight needles. Go and check out Asciano – and tell Deborah Kimberly and her size 5s say hello.

Who else did I buy from? OH! I loved the buttons – the kind you pin on, with a slogan, not the kind you use to close a sweater – offered by Laura Lundy of Slipped Stitch Studios. Here are some examples of her work:

“I knit because I am smarter than you.”

“Yes, I am a knitter, No, you may not touch me.”

“Yarn Ho.”

“Yes, I sniff yarn.”

I bought all of those! Laura has an Etsy store, too, so go and buy a couple of these and some cool project bags, which I also admired.

Jan and Sheri and I dropped into BagSmith‘s booth, where we admired their, ahem, bags. I was particularly taken with

Becca Smith of BagSmith!

a travel bag they had – not really for knitting, but you know how you can never find the right purse/travel bag? Well, they had one. I hope you can find it in their online store – it was called The Travellers Bag and sold for $35. It had two separate places for currency – one for your bucks and one for your Euros, or whatever. Wish I had this when I went to Italy. Jan and Sheri each bought another of their knitting bags, beautiful shoulder bags in metallic pink and purple. Lovely – and at $20 the steal of the show! BagSmith is very into big-needle knitting and crochet and we got a private Tunisian crochet demo. Which was very cool because Becca Smith, who is BagSmith, gave us the demo, just as she did on Knitting Daily TV – so we were in the presence of a knitting celebrity! HI BECCA!!!!

And I bought some lovely undyed silk from AffectionKnit, who came from Canada for the show. This was the day

AffectionKnit yarn

before the US-Canada hockey final, and I sad “GO CANADA” as I left as a way of expressing my joy in the Olympics. What can I say? I am an idiot. I plan to use this to make another version of the Lead or Follow scarf I purchased at the Beehive Wool Store when I was in Victoria, B.C. last year. Maybe I just had Canada on the brain. Anyway, Affectionknit had some lovely yarn and they were giving away a free pattern with a purchase of some. I got this really nice “Silky Twizzle Scarf” pattern, which I will use with a different yarn. Nice! Thanks, Canada!

Socks that Rock!

What else? I bought some Socks that Rock  from because, quite frankly, they do. I got a skein of lightweight in the colorway “Grimm’s Willow Wren.” I also ducked into Margit Sage’s Fiber Fiend booth, as I said I would in my previous post, and picked up that lovely Colette pattern. I also bought her Multnomah Falls pattern, which I can’t show you here because it will be mailed to me March 9. But you can go to Fiber Fiend’s online store and check it out – it is listed in the left column. I think it is interesting that I bought 3 patterns at the show and two of them were from Margit. She does good work.

Okay. That’s a long blog entry. I gotta go knit. I will blog later this week about the fun we had.

Victoria Victoriana

Posted on by

0

My Ma

My Ma

When we last left our intrepid sailors, they were making their way across downtown Victoria, B.C. from The Beehive Wool Shop (drool trailing from the corners of the their mouths after this most wonderful of yarn stores) and making their across a few blocks to the city’s other yarn store, Button & Needlework Boutique.

Though this store is tucked away in narrow (read: old and therefore historic) Trounce Alley, it would be both hard and a damn shame to miss. Hard because there is a big red button hanging above the store’s entrance and a damn shame because what the Beehive is to

Owner Michael

Owner Michael

yarn, this store is to all things needlework – crewel, goldwork, needlepoint, hardanger, and embroidery, etc. It was named one of the world’s best needlework shops in 2006 by Inspirations Magazine. It also has a respectable selection of yarns, including things I don’t see that often: Lanaknits, Shi Bui and Muench. But needlework is the real star here.

Inside the store, we were really taken with a wall of buttons, many of them handmade or handpainted or made from unusual things. We knitters

Wall O' Buttons

Wall O' Buttons

might be interested in the sheep buttons which I thought were a hoot and a half. Many of the buttons had a Victorian feel, in keeping with the framed and featured pieces of needlework, which were on display everywhere. This was just a lovely shop – I don’t know how else to describe it – and that pleasant sense was reflected by the store’s owner, a man named Michael, who greeted us when we moved to the register with our purchases (can’t tell you what I bought ’cause it’s a present for someone who reads this blog). Ellen was salivating over the store’s size – perhaps 50 percent more floor space than we have at K2Tog, and she really got jealous when Michael told her there was an upstairs and a full-length basement. We got none o’ that at our store. Sigh.

Pretty Redwork Sampler

Pretty Redwork Sampler

I took some pictures inside the store, but I have to say the ones on the store’s website, linked to above, are better. And they have an online catalogue. If you like needlework and knitting, this is the place. Don’t miss it when you visit Victoria.

And look – in one of the windows there was an embroidery picture of a cat that looked like our own K2Tog shop kitty, Bastet!

Bastet?

Bastet?

After we left that shop, we did a little souvenir shopping and then went in search of a Diet Coke for caffeine-starved moi. Only Diet Pepsi on the ship, and watered down at that. Then we all headed back to the ship for lunch. As the ship left Victoria that afternoon, we all convened in the London Room for our second afternoon of toe-up-sock knitting.

And it was going pretty well.

Back to Class

Back to Class

In addition to our socks, some folks brought other projects for show-and-tell. Lynn had this

Lynn's Sock

Lynn's Sock

beautiful blue sock. I wrote down what it was made from and what the pattern was somewhere, but am afraid I have misplaced it since the cruise. But trust me, it was stunning. Kathy brought a crocheted shawl her daughter,

Kathy's Shawl

Kathy's Shawl

Joyce, had made for her. It was stunning – wrought through with beads and very light. And Ellen showed off a jacket she is making for her daughter from the book Knitted Jackets. It was also beautiful – and nearly done, in a charcoal shade of Crystal Palace‘s Panda Silk.

Ellen's Jacket

Ellen's Jacket

And our socks were progressing.

Here’s mine:

Its a Foot!

Its a Foot!

and then, of course, it was off to the more important things of the vacation . . . . .

Cheers!

Cheers!

Knitting in Victoria, BC

Posted on by

2

The first full day of our cruise was – on reflection – my favorite, I think. I had never been to Victoria, B.C. and I was particularly excited at the prospect of visiting The Beehive Wool Shop, a famous and storied yarn store I have heard about or years from friends lucky enough to visit it. The Beehive is one of the oldest – if not the oldest – yarn store in North America. It has been in business for more than 100 years, and has only changed hands 4 times. On this day, which was bright, sunny and warm, my mom and Ellen (the owner of K2Tog and host of our knitting cruise) set out for the store.

Hello, Beehive!

Hello, Beehive!

Beehive window

Beehive window

The Beehive is on a corner in downtown Victoria, in a section of town that is a little seedy, but not dangerous. They have two large front windows in which they have very artfully arranged a selection of yarns and knitted items with a fall theme – the effect is very alluring and makes you want to knit something. Very nice.

But the inside of the store! This is one of those few yarn stores I have visited where my

Inside the Beehive

Inside the Beehive

heart beats faster when I walk in. Owner Valerie Huggett was there to greet us and very kindly offered us a 10 percent discount. So nice! My eye was drawn right away to a large table at the front that featured some beautifully made items that showcased various yarns and patterns. There were a number of fingerless gloves, the most remarkable of which was a pair designed by in Cheryl Oberle in entrelac. The shop offers them as a kit, and I was sorely tempted. Instead, I purchased the yarn and the pattern for a lace scarf displayed on the table – HeartStrings “Lead or Follow” lace scarf in Ella Rae Lace Merino in shades of sapphire blue. YUM!!!!

Fleece Artist

Fleece Artist

And I didn’t stop there. The Beehive offers a nice selection of Canadian yarn, including a huge section of Fleece Artist. I wanted all of them – but settled for a skein of Merino 2/6 in soft shades of pink, beige and green. I also bought a ball of Schoppel Wolle‘s Ambiente to make a self-patterning baby hat with ear flaps – a free pattern offered by the store with the purchase of the yarn. It was very cute and I thought it was a fine use of sock yarn. I’ll likely give it to friends who are expecting a baby boy in October. Mom got a couple of balls of Louisa Harding ribbon yarn in pale blue to make herself a scarf.

Friend Beehive staff!

Friend Beehive staff!

The three of us spent about an hour in the store, ooh-ing and aah-ing, getting ideas and inspiration. When we checked out, the store gave each of use a present – a bag containing locally-made soap from Laura-Victoria Hand Made Soaps, a hank of Berroco‘s NaturLin and a print out of a free Berroco pattern called “Pluie Soap Holder.” Now, how nice is that? My mom got one, too and so we can make these together. Mine is blue and hers is brown. I LOVE THIS SHOP. GO THERE.

Ellen and Mom at front table

Ellen and Mom at front table

Then we headed a few blocks away to the second fiber store in town, Button & Needlework Boutique. But I have to save that great store for another entry all its own!