You may have noticed that I’ve redesigned the site slightly. After much debate, I decided to open an Etsy store and brand my knitting as “OK.Knits” (Okanagan Knits). I’m excited about this prospect even if I haven’t sold anything yet, it gives me some direction with my knitting. Items will be added slowly over time, with a few in stock of each. I don’t expect it will ever be an enormous money maker, but I am excited about the prospect none the less. I also have a facebook page dedicated to it, and a twitter account. Exciting times, no?
On the knitting front, today I received my 9″ hiyahiya circular sharp needles and I cast on almost right away. The beginner knit-along group that I belong to had a pair of vanilla socks up for a KAL this month, and hey who doesn’t need a third part of hand knit socks, especially since I have some very lovely yarn to go along with them. These socks are being knit with KnitPicks Stroll Glimmer (black), and KnitPicks Felici (Rainbow). I’m doing the cuff, heel, and toe, in the black, and the rest of the sock in rainbow. Unfortunately I’ve already noticed an issue with the felici, there’s some weird red bleeding of dye in the lime green portion (so far) but since it’s spread throughout the yarn it’s not something I’m going to worry about quite yet.
Knitting with the hiyahiya needles is an absolute dream. They’re incredibly light, and the cord bends very easily. It doesn’t catch on anything and I haven’t had any issues with my hands cramping up or anything like that. I’m very glad I got them, and along with them I got a pair of free stitch markers, thank you ACME Fibres! I’m very glad to have found a store that prices things in Canadian dollars and since she ships in envelops the cost isn’t a huge amount. I haven’t purchased any yarn from them yet since I have quite a bit of my own to work through, but I’m looking forward to it in the future. I did also check out the sales at WEBS (yarn.com) but their shipping costs to Canada are through the roof. I loaded up my cart with some of their yarn that was on sale only to discover that shipping costs would be equal to the cost of the yarn itself – plus it’s in USD, and with our Canadian dollar sitting at lower than .71 cents to the USD, it’s just better if I shop local, and shop within Canada.
So, with that being said, if you have suggestions for knitting / yarn related pretties, especially in Canada, either in the BC area or online, don’t hesitate to let me know in comments! Remember I’m still new so I’m always looking for my new favourite yarn to play with and promote while I narrow down my likes / dislikes.