Garnstudio Yarn Finally In!

Well, I finally have my shipment of Garnstudio/Drops Yarn in, and boy did I have a hell of a time getting it. First the shipment seemed to be on its way from Norway, no problem. The Customs Broker called for some basic questions, and then said there should be no problem with me getting the yarn. Then 5 days later, all hell broke loose. First, the shipment was lost. Then part of the shipment was found. Then the other half was found. Then the delivery company tells me they don't have any drivers available to deliver it so I would have to go to the airport to pick it up myself. Needless to say, I was not a happy camper, but I was still excited to receive and inspect my inventory.

Once I got home from the airport, of course I couldn't wait to see what I was so willing to travel to the end of the earth to get (okay maybe not the end of the earth, but I was stuck on the 405 freeway at 4:45pm, for those of you in LA, you know it felt like I was traveling to the end of the earth). I was only able to pry open one box half way because I did not have my box cutter, and the Norwegians are very tape happy. I couldn't even use my car key to get those darn boxes open. Any hoo, I reached inside of the boxes of my world traveled yarn, and pulled out the first bag I could get. Cotton Viscose #27. This is the most gorgeous color I have ever seen. Not quite pink, not quite purple, but a beautiful in between with a silky sheen to boot. I was in heaven. I ran upstairs with my on bag anxious to get started working on a store sample, but then had the typical artist delima, I couldn't make up my mind what I wanted to make with it.

So after much back and forth, I decided to go with a broomstick lace design inspired by Stitch Diva Studios. I am not yet finished with it, but I will post it up as soon as I can.

Displays Finally Finished

Well, I finally finished an entire set of display cases for the shop, and I think that they are pretty nice if I do say so myself for a do-it-yourself with no experience type of thing. I didn't put 3 of these on wheels, but I should have and will do that later most definitely as it really make a difference when vacuming and mopping the floors. Now I only need about 6 more to be completely done. I even built in a peg board display with storage shelves underneath to be able to display nice hanks of yarn.

Broomstick Lace Crochet

Lately, along with the other millions of things I have been doing, and research with regard to my shop, I have also been working on some new crochet designs. For me, that means also researching techniques and scouring old bookstores for "vintage" books, which has uncovered a forgotten and super simple crochet technique: broomstick lace.
Broomstick lace is a crochet techniques that involves yarn, a crochet hook and a large dowel or knitting needle. After a foundation row of single crochet, a large loop is placed on the dowel or knitting needle and continued across. The work is never flipped in broomstick lace, it is worked back and forth as in Tunisian Crochet.
Broomstick lace is great for sweaters, shawls, scarves, hats everything. And once you get the hang of it, you will realize how quick it is. It provides a nice stretchy fabric with excellent drape which a lot of people don't expect with crochet. I prefer to use thin gauge like fingering weight or sock weight yarns for crochet, dk weight at the largest unless I am working on an afghan.
Above is a quick pictorial/tutorial.