New Sirdar Yarns!

We have two new yarns. One thinks it's an animal, and the other one can't decide what it is.

Husky (65 m $7.00)

Top Row: Misty, Bluff
Bottom Row: Flecky, Waffle, Eskie

Waffle up close.

This is a super chunky (6) made up of 87% acrylic and 13% nylon. It's nice and soft. All the colours are spotted naturals. Three in the brown/tan range and two in the black/grey.

Although it's called Husky it reminds me more of kittens. Either way, a really nice yarn for cowls, scarves and hats or a big cuddly sweater. Let this be the yarn to bring out the animal in you. Or start you purring. It has purrsonality. Some might say it's purrfect. It certainly has purrsibilities. Okay, I'll stop.

Top: Paradiso, Fortuna
Middle: Florentine, Frencesca
Bottom: Lucia, Esther

Divine (150 m  $9.00)

Fortuna up close.

This is the yarn that is embracing its multiple personality disorder. It's 72% polyester and 28% acrylic. Ravelry says it's a DK (3). Sirdar says it's an Aran (4). It's thick and thin so I guess it's both. There's metallic running through its fluffy fibers and its colours are variegated.

This yarn looks like so much fun to knit up because each stitch is going to be different. It calls for a simple pattern - fancy stitches will get lost. Just let the yarn do all the work while you knit it watching TV, making dinner, learning a language or doing an aerobics class.

Esther up close.

Posted by Anna Maria Junus happy employee who can easily find projects for these yarns. Like I need more projects.

The Manos Hat

Is it just me or do her eyes look uneven? Like maybe she had a little too much fun on the town the previous night.

Okay, let's get past the eyes. Here's the Manos hat I made. It didn't take very long. It's made from Manos Wool Classica Naturals color number 704 Red.

The pictures make it look like there are shades of brown in it, but it's just a deeper burgundy.

Manos del Uruguay is a pure wool kettle dyed yarn. I would say it's a chunky yarn. One skein at 126 meters did the hat.

We have the yarn in several colors at $19.00.

I used a free pattern from the Manos site. It's the Affinity Hat.

Lori showed me a ribbed cast on that involved doing figure eights and which I probably can't replicate without some help and some chocolate.  The cables in the hat were done without a cable needle. That I can do again on my own although it can be a little tricky to not drop stitches.

But the most important thing, is that it was fun.

The hat looks better in person than in these pictures. Does that sound like bragging?

I guess the fact that I'm posting this is bragging.

Posted by Anna Maria Junus happy employee who knits hats for the store as part of her job.

We're Having a Sale! We're Having a Sale!

Thursday July 23-25 we are having a 50 percent off sale.

That's right. 50% off on select yarns and needlework fabrics throughout the store.

Happy Dance!

So come on in. Friday and Saturday we will also be hanging out on the sidewalk. Well, unless there's another crazy hail storm.

Great time to stock up!

Check your patterns and bring them in. We love it when you bring in your patterns. It makes it so much easier to find the right yarns for you.

I would tell you what yarns are on sale, but Lori likes to keep it a secret. I can tell you, that there is a LOT on sale.

And many of them will forever disappear into the great yarn heaven.

Oh, and we even have discounts at the till for non-sale items. So you win no matter what you choose!

Adventures with The Noro Scarf Part 1

We have some gorgeous Noro lace weight yarn that's been sitting on our shelves feeling neglected. It's been (drop my voice to a whisper so it doesn't hear) discontinued.

Noro Knittng Magazine Premier Issue

Kirameki is a rayon, nylon, wool and cashmere blend that comes in beautiful colors. Noro is famous for its long colorations and unusual pairings.

My scarf and the Kirameki that's giving
birth to it. Color # 164.

 I decided to make a scarf so everyone can see what this yarn looks like. By everyone, I mean the millions who come into the store and read this blog.

 You can't tell by looking at the skeins. The skeins in the same color all look different. If you look at this picture with the scarf and ball of yarn they don't look like they match at all. It's like fraternal twins who have different hair, eye and skin colors and different body builds. Think Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny Devito. That's right. Darny Schwarzenvito.

Scarf at turning point where we stop knitting drunk and
start knitting straight.

At one point after working this gorgeous purple the rust started taking over. Now I'm not a huge fan of rust and I'm thinking rust and purple? That just doesn't work! That's so wrong! As I knit this rust color I kept arguing with my scarf. "You can't turn rust, you're a gorgeous purple. It's wrong! Wrong! Wrong...oh wait." Hot Pink came along and suddenly Purple and Rusty were best buddies.

Diagonal Eyelet Scarf from
Noro Knitting Magazine Issue #

  It's like 1 and 1 equal 67. It doesn't make
  sense.



 This is the diagonal scarf. I picked a Noro  pattern from  the premier magazine of Noro.  Because I was using  Noro yarn. See,  we've got a theme going on  here.


 We have several copies of this particular magazine and several copies of the one that followed.

 The original pattern calls for Shiraito, a cashmere, angora and wool blend. The magazine says it's a fingering weight yarn, but it seems heavier than that. Like a generously sized woman who claims she weighs only 110 and wears a size 2. Shiraito, it's okay to be who you are. We like heavier yarns too. Embrace your ampleness. Artists love fuller bodies.

We do have Shiraito in stock. She's just hanging around waiting for someone to pick her up.

However I chose the lace weight. It's a scarf. You can use any yarn you want with a scarf pattern.

You can use any yarn you want with a
scarf pattern. Well almost. 

I also discovered that I wasn't crazy about the increase on the ends in this pattern, so I ripped it out - it takes me about three false starts to actually get going anyway - like a ten month pregnant woman getting off the couch.  Instead I used a slipped stitch and then an increase. Much nicer ends now!

I plan on keeping you all updated on this scarf. I know you will all be waiting breathlessly for the next installment.

Posted by Anna Maria Junus (happy employee who makes lace weight scarves for the store because somebody has to). 

New Red Heart Yarn

It's been awhile. It's called tortuary, or otherwise known as inventory, which is when you have to count 239,609,204 things, register them correctly in the computer, and then watch as everything ends up being wrong anyway.

But we survived it.

In the meantime, while we were counting things, more things came in. And yes, we had to count those too.

We have two new Red Heart yarns. We don't carry a lot of Red Heart so when we do bring it in we think it's exceptional and those other places like Mikey and Ceiling Mart are not carrying them.

Red Heart Stellar 

For you boucle lovers! It's super bulky (6), 99% acrylic and 1% metallic fiber. Machine wash cold on the gentle cycle and dry flat. 8 mm needles, 73 meters.

We have three colors and each ball comes with a free pattern that calls for two balls.

At $7.10 a ball you can make a scarf for under $15.00!


 The picture doesn't do the colors justice. You really have to come in and take a look.

Clockwise - Deep Space (that's the deep purple one), Universe (grey), and Celestial (pink). They all have just a hint of metallic running through them.

Red Heart Infinity

This is a chain yarn. Chunky weight (5), 69% acrylic, 11% wool, 10% polyester, 6% nylon, 4% metallic. Machine wash on gentle cycle, lay flat to dry. 8 mm needles, 118 m.

The balls come with a free pattern which uses 15 mm needles and only one ball. You can make a scarf for only $7.10 plus tax!

The colors are very pretty too. Back to front, left to right, Poppy (peach), Almond (beige), Oasis (blue), Thunder (grey), Denim (dark blue), Seafoam (aqua), Blossom (pink), Enchanted (purple). Of course again the pictures don't do them justice and these too have a hint of metallic in them.

Now we know that it's the height of summer and we've been having some record breaking temperatures and the last thing on your mind is winter scarves, but as crafters we know it's never too early to get ready for Christmas. So come on in and get your yarn and you'll be all ready for when cooler temperatures hit and your home from vacation and the garden is harvested. We would love to see you (plus we have fans going to keep you cool).

Posted by Anna Maria Junus (happy employee who is being tempted by some really pretty colors).