Christmas Gifts

I hope everyone had a good Christmas with their family and friends. We were blessed to have all 3 of our children and their spouses and the grandkids over on Christmas Day. It was fun being together. My kids outdid themselves this year. They got me so many nice presents. I never like them to spend their hard-earned money on me, but this year they surprised me with several things that I had wanted, but wouldn't get for myself. It was nice being pampered for a change.

I didn't get to knit all of the Christmas gifts that I wanted to do...but I did finished the felted slippers for each of my grandchildren. I immediately put them in the washing machine on Christmas morning so I could size them while all of the kids were there. They were so funny as I put these warm, wet slippers on their feet to check the shrinkage. They were like..."Grandmomma...um...they're wet!?!". It was a little hard to explain that, yes, they were wet right now, but that after they had shrunk enough we could let them dry and THEN they would have a pair of new slippers...just like Grandmomma has.


Here's a photo of them all lined up in a row. I guess you've probably noticed that the pair in the middle is 2 different sizes. No, it's not a mistake. One of my grandsons has 2 different sized feet. So, these slippers will truly be a custom fit just for him.


At the shop this week we had a store-wide sale...and boy did the shoppers come. It was fun seeing a lot of folks that I hadn't seen in a while. I was amazed that I remembered so many of their names. And just to think that this time last year I didn't know any of them. I'm thankful to have met such wonderful people...and I consider many of them good friends.

New yarns arrived this week at The Yarn Haven. The shipment from Malabrigo finally arrived. Whew, six weeks is a long time to wait on a yarn. The shelves were looking quite bare. But thanks to my Stocking assistant, Marilyn, all of the Malabrigo is now on the shelves and awaiting the Block of the Month Club to resume next week.

Two new companies have been added to our inventory: Kollage Yarns and Jojoland! From Kollage came the Corntastic yarn. It is made of 100% corn! Who would have ever thought that we would be knitting with corn! But it's soft and comes in some luscious colors for spring. They look just like a basket of Easter eggs on the shelf. I'm seeing an outfit for my granddaughter out of this yarn.

From Jojoland we received 3 new yarns. Harmony is a lace weight yarn made of 100% merino wool. Rhythm is a DK/light worsted yarn that is variegated and I'll be interested to see just how it knits up as each skein in the bag looked a little different depending on how it was rolled up. And last, but certainly, not least, we got Jojoland's 100% Cashmere. I can't wait to start a lace scarf out of this yarn. It is indeed very soft and yummy.

This weekend through next Wednesday, January 2 the shop will be closed for Inventory. We started working on it this afternoon and there sure are a lot of yarn skeins in here. We printed out over 100 pages of different yarns, accessories, books, etc to count. I kept asking my husband to remind me again of why we needed to count everything. Even though it's a lot of work, it's kind of like going down memory lane as I go from one yarn to the next. I keep thinging things like...oh yeah, I remembered I wanted to knit up a swatch of that yarn, or hmmm, I had forgotten how nice this one is...I simply must think of a project using this yarn.

So as you're sitting at home this weekend or lounging at home watching the UT game on New Year's Day...think of me as I count all of the wonderful yarns that I have selected for you to use in your knitting and crocheting addictions...umm hobbies. I'll be thinking of you as well! Blessings to you all and I hope you each have a wonderful New Year that will bring you much joy and excitement as you knit or crochet to your heart's desire.