Gratitude List

Greetings, Happy Fiberholics! I sure hope everyone had a great Christmas and are looking forward to the New Year. I know I certainly am as this has been a year of challenges, but this has just made me all the more grateful for what I do have.

And one of the things that I seem to have in abundance is great friends and customers. In this time of trying economic challenges, we are going into our 5th year and and ya'll are more supportive than ever. So there are several things that we are doing at the shop to thank you for this support. First is that we are offering 50% discounts on selected yarns while they last. We are calling this our "Yellow Tag" sale and it is an in-store special which means you have to drop by to see what is Yellow Tagged. We will be adding new items every few weeks so you never know what might appeal.

Another thing that we want to do is to showcase what awesome crafters you are. To this end, every time I post (which I hope will be more often- but you know!! I'm busy knitting!!!) I want to feature one of your finished projects. So whenever you finish something (and have time!), stop in so I can take a picture and show you off!

Our first incredible finished project is the Anne Ruanna (see mine below)

as knitted by Shirley. I cannot believe how quickly she finished it and what a fabulous job she did.

Doesn't she look Marvelous in it!?!

And to start the New Year off right, Thursday Jan 1, 2009 (doesn't seem possible, does it?) I will be open 11AM to 4PM for our 1st annual "No Football Tailgate Knit In". I'll offer some finger foods and will be working on a couple of new variations on the Ladder Shawl.

These are the finished ones in the shop.

These are the possible color choices
for the next version.

And this is a variation on the same theme called Ala Mode Scarf. It will be felted after the stitches are dropped. I can't wait to see how it turns out!

These are great stash busters and I will be offering tips on these projects with the purchase of the pattern. Hope you can join us!

And last, but certainly not least!, is I am very lucky to be married to a man who not only supports me and puts up with all of my projects taking over the house (silly man!- he thought when I opened the shop that everything would be down there!), but he does housework and enjoys being pet furniture.

Love and Happy New Year to all!

And We Have Bangles!!!

Another great gift giving idea this year is customized bangles. We had a hard time finding any here in town that were suitable and reasonable. So we decided to stock some! Even if you don't want to cover them, some of these are realy cute. This is one of the ideas Bonnie will present during this workshop on Wednesday November 19th from 1-4PM. This can be made in about an hour. And you thought you didn't have time to make your gifts!

Anniversary Sale and Gift Giving Ideas

Beginning November 1 we are celebrating the start of our sixth year in business. And we have you to thank for supporting us and allowing us to serve your fiber needs. So, our gift to you is our second annual Anniversary Sale. For the whole month of November all yarns in stock are 20% off. All back issues of magazines are 20% off. And every Sunday we will be putting 4-5 items on deeper discounts. You will have to come in and look for these in-store specials. They will not be advertised. All sales are final on the deep discount yarns and no other discounts apply but these purchases will count toward future Customer Appreciation Program discounts. We hope this will help in creating Christmas presents for those loved ones.

And to further help with Christmas gift giving we are offering several different workshops that we hope will inspire.

The first one on Wednesday November 12 from 1-4PM is a knitted sachet. Very quick, a great stash buster and can be adapted for any stitch pattern you choose. Bonnie made these from Sublime.
The second idea is beaded stitch markers. This will be taught by the very talented Danielle Martinez and the first one will be on Thursday November 13th from 11AM to 2PM. This will also be repeated on Saturday November 15th at the same time. If you don't want to learn to make them, just let us know and Danielle will be happy to complete a custom order for you. We will repeat this workshop again at the beginning of December.

And here is Angus practising his yoga. Can't have any repetitive motion injuries while we are trying to complete our Christmas gifts, now can we?

And We Love Others' Hand Dyed Too!

Since we were talking about hand dyeds, let me show you some pictures of some new arrivals.

This is Schaefer's Esperanza in potluck colors. What you see is what you get! We also have a limited amount of Sock The Vote from Schaefer.

This is a new batch of Indy Dyer Supersock Select from Cherry Tree Hill. Love her bright colors and use of purples, blues and greens (guess what my favorite colors are?).

And here are some more sock yarns from Cherry Tree Hill including indy dyers 2DI4 and a very limited sock yarn from a Scotish dyer. We only have 3 skeins of it left.

We seem to be somewhat fond of sock yarns as well!

Cool Weather Means Dyeing Returns!!

It is so nice to finally get a bit of cool weather and some rain. It is supposed to warm up again some by the weekend but hopefully it won't get too warm.

Cooler weather means the dyeing workshops return on Sunday afternoons. Here is a sample of some of the fune we have had in past workshops.

This is some Licorce Twist that Sally dyed in her first workshop .

Interesting how the twists take on different colors isn't it?

Joyce decided to dye her finger to match this fingerless glove. How much more coordinating can you get?

This is some Trekking I dyed that is being worked up in the Summer Ivy Socks.

Sorry for the blurry picture. I continue to be "mechanically" challenged.

And this is Tempest being worked out of some hand dyed Carrera and Trekking Pro Natura.

Our next dyeing workshop is on Sunday November 16th and we will have lots of new fibers from Henry's Attic to choose from. And you will even be able to get the sale price!!

Hope to see you there!

Oh My Gosh! Where did the time go?

Wow! I can't believe we are heading towards the end of October already! Time flies, whether you are having fun or not.

I'm so excited. I've been published! Cheryl Potter of Cherry Tree Hill has accepted my Rings of Supersock pattern for her pattern line. They are even kitting it and have several orders for the kit, despite the fact that it hasn't even hit the website yet! How gratifying is that?

Our sale on selected Karabella yarns, on the remaining Gedifra and on Opal sock yarns is continuing through the end of October. Watch for something special to begin on November 1.

This is the Swirly Shawl pattern done in New Magic, which is one of the sale yarns. It is a perfect gift, quick to knit and you don't need to worry about size.

We are going to offer classes on other great gift ideas every Wednesday in November. Stay tuned.

We have decided that we are going to explore a different technique every couple of weeks. These next 2 weeks it will be mitered patterns.

This Saturday and Sunday, October 25 & 26, I will be offering workshops on Chris Bylsma's Dancing Crayons pattern. Below are the 3 versions I have knit.

As you can see, it is an extremely versital pattern and is a great way to use up left over novelties. The workshop Saturday will be 1-4PM and Sunday from Noon-3PM. Call the shop if you have any questions.

The following weekend, November 1 & 2, I will be offering workshops on my Mitered Shrug pattern.

This is a spring version I am working on now using mostly silk yarns.

This is my winter version, which many of you have seen.

And this is the finished garment.

These workshops will be offered at the same times. Hope to see you there! The next technique we will explore will be cables. We'll keep you posted on the specifics.

And, Phoebe, our newest family member seems to be fitting in quite well.
I would say that she is fairly relaxed and comfortable, wouldn't you? Oh, to have the life of a dog (at least, one of our dogs!).

Last Yarn tasting of the Year

Here is the sample plate for our last Yarn Tasting of the year. We are offering cottons, linens, silks, bamboo and polymides from Karabella, Plymouth. GGH/Muench, Skacel, Twisted Sisters, Kollage and Colinette. One is even an aroma therapy yarn!

Due to the popularity last time, we are also offering 2 different scarf patterns you can make with your "sample plate". They are both drop stitch designs, which show off the various textures and fibers, one with a cable, one with a simple rib.













We hope you can join us for this last tasting of the year on Saturday August 16!


And, of course, no post is complete without at least one mention of the four footed friends. This is Precious, shop-cat-in-training, helping to clean out a drawer. I wonder if she knows how ridiculous she looks? I wonder if she cares?

Indie Dyer Has Arrived

We have just received some brand new hand dyed sock yarn. It is Super Sock by Indie Dyer who is actually the daughter of Cheryl Potter of Cherry Tree Hill.

The colors are deep and rich, the yarn has a tight twist and a lovely sheen and it is an assortment, so there are no two colors the same. I envision a lovely shaded wrap or shrug besides socks. So much to do and so little time!

As some of you know, we lost one of our precious dogs to cancer several months ago. Wednesday Rick went to the animal shelter and brought back a new baby.

She is a pit bull mix, 5 months old and not a speck of white on her. She has the sweetest face and the brindle markings make her look like she is always smiling. She loves to jump in our laps (hopefully she won't get much bigger!) and is very klutzy. Any ideas for names?

Upcoming Workshops

As a result of our last yarn tasting, one of our fantabulous customers came up with the idea of using the yarns from the tasting to make a pair of socks, which we called Orphan Moya Socks, after the customer who's name is Moya. These have now morphed into Orphan Moya Fingerless Mitts, which are shown below along with the socks and the cards of yarns that are available as a kit. We also do the Mitts as a workshop, the next one coming up on July 9th.

Our dyeing workshops continue to be very popular and we are finding numerous projects to make with these yarns. This is Carrera, a 50/50 merino silk fingering weight that I dyed last weekend.
I have started Shetland Shorty from knitty.com with it. It is much brighter than the pattern is done in, but I am really liking it. And I can't begin to describe the sheen this yarn has. Lovely! Our dyeing workshops this month will be on July 13th and July 27th.

I really zoomed through my Intarsia Christmas Stocking. There is just something very satisfying about working with your own hand dyed.
Here it is complete except for the heel, which was done as an "after thought" heel.

And here it is finished. What do you think? It will be offered as a workshop again on July 26th but the pattern will be available on July 5th for purchase.

And, of course, no post is complete without mentioning the furry friends in our lives. On any given day that you drop in you might be treated to one of Bonnie's adorable MiKis, such as Antoinette. Isn't she precious in her stylish coat?
Or you might meet Precious, shop-cat-in-training. She is deaf but it doesn't keep her from "feeling" when someone comes in and going to meet them, if she is so inclined. Looks like she is getting the hang of it, doesn't it?

Hope to see ya'll soon!

Some Ideas for Using Hand Dyed Yarns

I continue to be hooked on dyeing yarns but the problem remains of what to do with it when you are only doing 1 or 2 skeins at a time (in other words, non-professionally). I have begun to look at patterns with an eye to using some of my hand dyeds.

This is Tempest from Spring 08 Knitty.com using 2 skeins of hand dyed Trekking. I really like the contrast and it will be fun to create some beaded or polymer buttons to go with it. I think next I will dye some fingering for Shetland Shorty from Knitty Summer 08.

This weekend we are doing an Intarsia Christmas Stocking and I decided to use some of my hand dyed in this pattern.

The first color is Aracania Nature Wool in a kettle dyed red.

The contrast is my hand dyed Licorice Twist in shades of green (you know I can never do anything in all solid colors!).
And here is the beginning of the pattern. I'm really liking the way it is coming out and there will probably be enough of the Licorce Twist to do something else, maybe a hat.

I have some other dyeing pictures to post but I did want to show my first effort at dyeing 100% silk. This is a boucle from Henry's Attic and I was very pleased with the way it took the dyes.I think there is enough to make a lacy shrug so I will be looking for a pattern to use for this.

Can't wait to dye again now that I am finding some great uses for them! Would love to hear from others as to what they are using their hand dyeds for.

Entrelac Projects

OK, what are your thoughts about Entrelac? And who the hell ever thought it up? I design basic things but this is convoluted! Having said that, I do love the process once I get the rhythm going.

So, this is our Entrelac Messenger Bag that we do as a class every few months. The same process can be used for a scarf or wrap as Tiernie demonstrated beautifully using black & white cashmere from Jade Sapphire. Very Stunning! Anyway, this is a technique that is very fun to learn and we hope you will join us.

Scrumbled Purse Design

I have admired scrumbling ever since the 70's, when it was called freeform or crochet "doodling". Back then it was strictly crochet, never knit. Now days freeform, or scrumbling, is being done with both knit and crochet and is an excellent way to use up scraps of yarn. I have dabbled in it for a few years but have become more and more interested in it as my scrap collection has grown. So I decided to design and embellish a purse for the purpose of offering it in a workshop.

Here is the purse, before felting. It is knit from Skacel's Loft.

And here it is felted. Sorry the picture is blurry, my camera is not working too well (seems like something is always not working quite right!). And the flap is intentionally asymmetrical as it is what I will embellish with my scrumbled pieces.
These are the scraps that I chose to use for the scrumbled pieces.

And these are the first pieces that I have finished.
It will probably take about 8-9 pieces this size to cover the flap.

Our next scrumbling workshop is on May 18. Hope to see you there!