It’s been a while…

It’s been a while since I’ve written a post, and a lot has happened since I last wrote. First up, I had the opportunity to have a photoshoot with a professional photographer. This has been a dream of mine, to have my knits professionally photographed, but I am not yet profitable enough to afford it. A local photographer was looking to build their portfolio and was searching for small businesses who needed some photos done. It was so much fun, I cannot wait to work with the photographer again. They captured the essence of Avonlea Knits so well. I am in love with the pictures I received.

Prymachenko Shawl

In the summer, of 2025, I discovered a new print-on-demand hub that would allow me to work in CAD, instead of in USD. This is a big deal because I wasn't promoting the merch aspect of my business due to the confusion I was experiencing trying to work in USD and convert to CAD. After doing some research into the company, and asking another business owner who was promoting it their experience, I decided to switch. This was no small feat, with over 100 items between the Avonlea Mercantile and Avonlea School shop pages there was a lot of work to do. I managed to get everything transferred over and only experienced one small hiccup, that was fixed with the help of customer support. Now everything is back up and running, I have lots of new graphics that will be released every other month, alternating between Avonlea Mercantile, and Avonlea Schoolhouse.

In 2025, I splurged and purchased my very first yarn Advent calendar. It was Anne of Green Gables themed, of course. It had to be pre-ordered in the spring and I bought it without any plan of what I would do with 24 mini skeins of yarn and 1 full skein. At the end of the summer a design idea came through. When the Advent calendar arrived I carefully opened the entire thing, in one sitting, taking photos of every skein of yarn, in order, then winding them up into cakes, and laying them out, ready to knit. The pattern is a simple lace design with small flowers, knit as a rectangle, on the bias. It turned out very well, letting the colours of the yarn shine through. Having been my first Advent design, I had trouble, in the beginning, deciding how big to make each section, knowing I had 24 sections to knit, and not wanting to make the wrap too big. In the end, I only used about half of each of the mini skeins, and was able to make another project with the leftovers. Anne’s Advent Wrap 2025 is an easy lace knit, and if you don’t have an Advent, it would be great as a stash buster, especially for all those little leftover balls of yarn from other projects.

Anne’s Advent Wrap 2025

Now that things have been settled with changing print-on-demand hubs, and I’ve got everything back up and running I have been getting some other things sorted, business wise. In early January 2026, I was asked if I would knit 3 Wrapped in Love Shawls. It was an ask I could not say no to. The shawls will be going to some children who have experienced a great loss. For this I chose to knit the shawls in Diamond Luxury Traditional Sock yarn, it comes in solid colours, and is soft (the yarn had to be soft). This is what I have been working on, and am currently knitting the second shawl (pictures to come).

Avonlea Knits Business Cards

With this commissioned work, it was suggested to me that I have business cards made up and tags to attach to my knitting. Both items have been on my mind to get for quite a while, but the nudge of a friend’s suggestion was just what I needed to check those off the list. I created a business card that was simple, with the necessary information on it, and kept it modern with a QR code. As for tags for my knitting, I had seen some leather tags at a fibre festival a few years ago, and had a business card with a hand-written note on the back that said, Custom Leather Tags. I contacted the small business, and worked with them to create some beautiful leather tags to attach to my designs. At the moment I have been slowly attaching them to everything I have designed and then I am attaching them to the Wrapped in Love Shawls that are going out.

Leather Tags to attach to my knits

All in all things here at Avonlea Knits are going very well. I am podcasting every 2 weeks on YouTube, posting new graphics on merch every other month, and continuing to design new knitting patterns. The website has been updated, with a little refresh, and over time I will be adding the photos from the photoshoot to my design postings here and on Ravelry.