A Visit from a Friend

Our friend Liana visited us from NYC.
She works at Stewart Tabori and Chang now, editing some of the finest books in our genre that are ever likely to be published.

She is doing great, and loves New York.
It was fun to see her again.

man sweaters, and zippers

Here is the finished sweater, modeled by Jaci's Dad. This is the sweater we saw the zipper going into.
How cute is Dad? Huh?
Bravo Jaci. This is a beautiful piece of knitting, and it fits him perfectly!

Kids Camp

All last week we had kids camp. We did some knitting, and then some crafting, and then some more knitting. We all had a BALL!

Cambridge Sweater

Here is Devon's husband Tim wearing her latest. What a GREAT job!
The Cambridge Sweater is from Interweave Press KNITS magazine (Summer 2006 Issue) It's a fantastic sweater with a rib pattern that adds shaping, but does not travel all the way down the sweater. We LOVE the show-and-tell.

Needle Felting

We have had so much fun needle felting lately.
Here is one of the ornaments Barbara made. She combined roving (for the pink middle part) and Manos (for the trim and the handle.)

There are more classes being offered, if you want some help getting started.

A Good Yarn

This is called the Magic Ball.



There are several different yarns tied together into one ball. Besides the beauty of the yarn, there is the story of it's creation.




This yarn is a product of these women in South Africa. An American woman who lived in South Africa for a period of time started this company as part of a jobs creation program. This yarn now helps to empower women in an area that is plagued by 75% unemployment.



Come on in and see this stuff for yourself. We'll give you the pattern for the scarf, and you can make them up as gifts this year.

A big Thank You

This year we ran the 'stash reduction program' in January. (You brought in your unused yarn, and we gave you a discount on new yarn.) It was fabulous. You all cleaned to the rafters! Yay! And we collected all manner of yarn, some beautiful, and some "craft" yarn.
We sorted and stored all the yarn here at the store, and have had the pleasure and the privilege to give it away to charities and worthy causes.

A woman came in one day, and explained that she was teaching kids to knit in an after school program. How WONDERFUL. We offered her a selection of yarn from the Stash Reduction Program. She just lit up. She was so gracious and happy for the gift. Fast forward a few weeks, and the same woman came back in to share a Thank You from her students. She gushed on and on in gratitude for what we had done for these kids.

And in turn, I am passing the giant "Thank You" on to you, our customers, who donated the yarn in the first place. You got yourselves cleaned out - AND - you made some kids and a teacher VERY happy. And, you started a whole new crop of knitters.

setting in a zipper

Jacqui made this exquisite sweater for her her father. It is a magnificent fisherman knit. She had a zipper set in, and was very dissapointed with the result. She took a huge step and decided to try to set in the zipper herself.
For extra courage, she came in to do it at the store. Zippers are not as scary as they may initially seem. And putting them in by hand is the way to go.
First, you line the two sides up with eachother. Then baste it in. Then sew it down more closely to the edge of the teeth. Then, if you have left a bit of a turn down, you can hem stitch it down, or run the edge on a sewing machine.
Jacqui did most of those steps in one evening. (so, it is nothing in comparison to the time you spent carefully knitting.)

Give it a shot! Pull up that sweater that you have been putting off.
If it's still daunting, come in and take a lesson. We'll take you through step by step.

This little beauty is a Rayon Metalic by Blue Heron yarns. Their colorways are stunning. This has a beautiful drape to it, and is dying to become a shawl or a Clapotis. Some of the metalic yarns tend to be over the top, or too 'novelty' in nature. This one is subtle and elegant.
If the Clapotis has been on your to-do list, but it seems to daunting, come on in and take a class. We're hosting a Clap-o-tea party in June.