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March 31, 2010 Changes in CommunicationLike everyone, we’re struggling to find ways to conserve and economize in order to keep the budget balanced and the bills paid. As a result, I’ve decided to eliminate the toll-free number that’s been associated with Yarn Expressions. Most people e-mail us these days, or use their cell phones to call. We’re still just a click or a call away, I promise. Just click on the “contact us” button in the right hand panel of this web page and you’ll be able to e-mail us. If you want to hear a live voice, you may call us at (256) 881-0260. Filed Under: General March 29, 2010 Dear Mom
Dear Mom, It seems like a really long time since you were home. I miss you. Did you get lost? You should use your nose and you may be able to find your way home easier. I know you have to leave the pack sometimes so you can get more string for your store so that other humans will come to see you… The UPS man left a few boxes this week, but not many. I think he was scared of me so didn’t want to come in a lot. Aunt Val, Donna, Jill, and Bill took things out of the boxes and put them away. Some of the things were pointy sticks, and some were string that they wouldn’t let me play with. I had a lot of visitors this week. Some came to make socks or other things. Some visitors wanted help with their string and some wanted to take more string home. They were all nice, even the male humans that I was a little suspicious of. I must go eat something and watch out for the UPS MAN. Come home soon. Love, Peppie Filed Under: Community, Peppie March 25, 2010 Knit Two, Read ThreeOver the past week we’ve gotten in a great selection of both yarn and books. We’ve been able to restock some favorites as well as add some new yarn and books to our shelves. Think of it as some of the new Spring flora and fauna of Yarn Expressions.
We got a couple of new colors of the ShiBui sock yarn in, as well as a book new to us, ShiBui Baby. The book contains 9 patterns, designed by Celeste Warner, for babies up to 18 months. The garments are cute and the photos are cuter. And of course, there is a baby blanket pattern. You can make all the patterns with either ShiBui’s sock yarn or their Staccato sock yarn.
We’ve gotten in two cotton yarns from Knit One, Crochet Too that I think you’ll like: Ty-Dy (pictured above) and Ty-Dy Dots (pictured below). If you enjoyed Knit One, Crochet Too’s multi-colored wool yarn, you’ll enjoy these soft cotton versions.
We’ve also gotten in new patterns for both Ty-Dy yarns, including a collection of twelve scarves put together in a calendar form. The collection is entitled, as you may suspect, A Year in Scarves. If you aren’t quite done with your Winter knitting, or you are pro-actively knitting for next Winter, you should check out the latest book we’ve gotten in from Interweave Press, Northern Knitting. This beautiful book is a collection of designs inspired by traditional designs from Scandinavia, Iceland, and the Shetland Isles. Wallpapers If you enjoy the photos of the Ty-Dy yarns, you can make the following versions your desktop wallpaper.
Filed Under: What's New?, Books, Wallpaper March 22, 2010 Shawls and Scarves and BlanketsThe warmer weather was very short lived. Today, somehow, there’s snow! Very odd indeed. I thought today would be a good day to highlight what some of us who work at Yarn Expressions are knitting. Like many people who knit and crochet, we are all working on several projects at once. The following are just the highlights.
Pictured above is Donna working on the Athena Lacy Wrap designed by Laura Bryant. She is creating the wrap using 8 different colorways of Prism Yarn’s hand dyed Merino Mia. Donna says she is about half way done. The first half is lying on the table in front of her.
Val and Jill are both currently working on the Swirl Shawls they started recently. Val is using some beautiful Mini Mochi from Crystal Palace Yarns. Jill is using some of the Melody super wash wool from JoJoland, designers of the Swirl Shawl.
I am currently working on two projects, a Drop Stitch Scarf for my sister and a Jayne Hat for my brother in law. I’m not camera shy, I just didn’t get anyone to take a photo of me working on these projects. Last but not least you should take a look at the beautiful Ten Stitch Blanket Meg recently created for a friend using Noro’s Kureyon. Here’s hoping that everyone has a good week, relatively free of snow. Keep knitting, crocheting, and spinning. Come and see us at our Thursday night knit night. If you’d like to share what you are working on with us (or recently finished) please do! We’ll be sure to feature it in a future post. Filed Under: Show and Tell March 17, 2010 Rain, Rain, Go AwayI was quite happy last week when the gray skies had cleared and the sun brightly shone down upon us. Alas, that was a bit short lived. Temperatures certainly haven’t been freezing…much…but is has been rather gray. If you have a love of yarn and fiber, however, there is always something you can do indoors. I recently completed a scarf from Archangel Malabrigo Rasta, and am now knitting up a few birthday presents. Everyone else in the store has been working on multiple projects. So we’re at least productive during the inclement weather! Of course we’ve also been working hard to keep things going at the store. One project we recently completed was re-arranging our cotton yarns so that you will see them as you come in on the wall opposite the store entrance.
Something you’ll notice right away is the selection of 100% cotton yarn we’ve gotten from Universal Yarn. Pictured above is a selection of the Cotton Supreme Batik colorways we have on hand. This is a brand new yarn from Universal Yarn. We also have a wide selection of colors of their Cotton Supreme yarn. It comes in quite a gorgeous array of colors. And last but not least we’ve gotten in a selection of their Soleil Dot yarn. Soleil Dot is a fun yarn that has dots of color throughout a base off-white color. All the Universal Yarns are 100% cotton and 4-5 knit stitches to the inch. Of course we get all sorts of yarn, fiber, needles, books, etc in all the time. Come to knit night tomorrow evening to see everything we’ve got on hand. I hope you’ve had a good week! Be sure to enjoy the warm(er) weather this weekend. Filed Under: What's New? March 15, 2010 Knitwear Design Workshop by Shirley Paden-Bernstein
I hope you all enjoyed this review. Have a great week! ~Meg P.S. from Bill - Have something you’d like to say about anything you purchased at Yarn Expressions? Please let us know! We will try to include your review in a future post or newsletter. Filed Under: What's New?, Books, Reviews March 12, 2010 Comfortable Afghans and Misti AlpacaI’ve spoken several times about new yarn…and more yarn…and even more! Along with all the wonderful yarns we carry, we also have a lot of great books and patterns from which to choose. I really enjoy poring over the new books to see what other people are creating, get ideas for what I want to make, and learn new techniques.
We recently got a book that both customers and Yarn Expressions employees have found hard to resist: Comfort Knitting and Crochet: Afghans. The book features patterns for 50 of the most beautiful afghans I’ve seen. A balance of knitting and crochet patterns are included with designs ranging from the traditional to the modern. All patterns are created with Berroco’s Comfort yarn in mind. Comfort is a very soft, acrylic/nylon blend that is reasonably priced. Due to the popularity of this book we have just finished restocking all of the Comfort yarn we carry. We now have all of the worsted weight colors on hand (as of this writing) mentioned in the book.* You’ll see all the Comfort yarn on the center display when you come into the store.
I don’t think I could go for long without talking about new yarn. Spring is just around the metaphorical corner. As our cold weather changes to warm, so do many knitters/crocheters thoughts change from wool to cotton and lighter yarns. We are getting a lot of new cottons in, one of the most beautiful being the Misti Alpaca Cotton Pima. The Misti Alpaca Cotton Pima is a hand-painted, DK weight, cotton and silk blend yarn from Peru. I hope everyone has a great weekend. I hope to see you in the store soon. Come back here Monday for more information about books and yarn, including customer reviews! * PS from Meg — At this writing we only stock Comfort in worsted weight. The book has a few selections made in other weights of yarn and we can suggest substitutions for those items. Filed Under: What's New? March 9, 2010 You Spin Me Round, Round……like a spinning wheel, round, round.
Our March Spin-and-Knit-In was this past Sunday. The monthly meet has been a tradition for some time, but this was my first time attending. There were regulars who also attend our weekly knit night, as well as at least one other person new to the Spin-N-Knit. I really enjoyed seeing others working on yet another aspect of the fiber arts…spinning! I feel very fortunate that I can spend so much time in a wonderland of yarn. What makes it truly special are the times like Sunday when I can enjoy the camaraderie of others who enjoy all the fibery goodness. I have carded, combed, and spun a little fiber myself but never seriously pursued that part of the fiber arts. Everyone on Sunday really seemed quite good. They were all spinning some beautiful yarn. In the photo above our friend Bethany is spinning some fiber from the Hoobody Fiber Club offering for December, a blend of alpaca, silk, and merino in the colorway Meg named “Silver Bells”. I thought it looked as if Bethany was spinning ice and snow. Hoobody? If you haven’t yet heard of it Hoobody Fibers, and the Hoobody Fiber Club, are both exclusive to Yarn Expressions. Hoobody Fibers are hand dyed fibers and sock yarns created by Meg and sold only at Yarn Expressions. The Hoobody Fiber Club is available as a monthly subscription. Each month you’ll get four ounces of hand dyed beauty. You can choose to receive either spinning fiber or sock yarn, or both! Shipments are made monthly. Colorways are exclusive to the club for six months. While the number of subscriptions available are limited, we do still have a few spots available. Ravelry If you haven’t already joined Ravelry, the social networking website for all enthusiasts of the fiber arts, I would highly recommend that you do. There are many different ways you can utilize the site, the most powerful of which are as a means of sharing knowledge, patterns, resources (yarn swap!), and getting in touch with people of a like mind. According to Wikipedia, Ravelry had 600,000+ members worldwide as of January 2010. Yarn Expressions has its own group on Ravelry which acts as a sort of virtual knit-night-spin-day. If you decide to give Ravelry a try, be sure to look me up! I’ve discussed both the Spin-N-Knit-In and Ravelry together in one post because they are both part of the fiber/yarn community. It is very difficult to create art in a vacuum (and dusty!) without the interaction of others and the knowledge of artists who have practiced the same craft. Both the community that is part of Yarn Expressions as well as Ravelry (and this blog for that matter) afford a way for us to interact, share ideas, and gain much more enjoyment from our craft than a book or website alone could offer. If you’ve been reticent to come to a knit night, or cautious about joining an online community such as Ravelry, I encourage you to dip your metaphorical toe in the community water and see how it can be a benefit to you. Here’s hoping that the rest of your week is a good one. Filed Under: Spin 'n' Knit Sunday, Community March 5, 2010 New Yarn for Spinning, Knitting, and Spring!We are all anxiously awaiting Spring as the Winter days begin to wane and the weather begins to get a bit more agreeable. While we (im)patiently await the change of seasons, even more yarn has arrived that will give us the chance to prepare for warmer weather and create amazing things.
As you may have already heard, we just got in a limited amount of Koigu Braided Roving! The colors are beautiful. Hopefully the photo gives you a good idea of the color variations, but as always, seeing it in person is even better. It’s here just in time for our monthly spin and knit this Sunday. Come on down and spin some of this great roving!
Also new to Yarn Expressions is some extraordinary yarn from the Imperial Stock Ranch. The Imperial Stock Ranch, located in Oregon, has been sustainably producing yarn for over 135 years. We’ve received two varieties from them: Columbia, a worsted weight yarn, and Tracie, a fingering weight yarn. Both yarns are “mulespun”, a process that produces yarn that is soft and lofty. All the colors are earthy, including blacks, blues, browns, and white/cream. In the photo above you’ll see that Meg has already knitted some of this great yarn up to give you an example of how it will look. The shawl she’s created is the Gaenor pattern by Corrina Ferguson. You can see the shawl when you come in to take a look at this yarn. We also have a few patterns from the Imperial Stock Ranch that are great for their yarn.
As Spring approaches a knitter’s thoughts often turn to creating garments or items that will be great and perhaps help keep you cool in the warmer weather. We just got in the full color range of Jill Eaton’s Cotton Tail yarn. You may be familiar with Jill Eaton already from her Minnow Knits patterns. The Cotton Tail yarns are great for both kid and adult knits.
As I mentioned in the newsletter we just sent out, we’ve gotten a lot more of Prism’s Kiwi yarn. The colors include such names as “Cabernet” (seen on the far left) and “Tumbleweed” (far right). I should also mention that we received a wide variety of patterns from Unpatterns. I love these patterns because they give you the tools to design and/or make simple garments (socks, pullovers, hats) using any yarn, any gauge, and any size. They seem like great guides that will help you create your own design or adapt someone’s pattern to your specifications. We hope you’ll stop by the store soon to see all of the great new yarn and patterns we have available. See you soon! ~Bill Filed Under: What's New? March 1, 2010 March Spin and Knit This Sunday (March 7th)Part of the fun of working in a store like Yarn Expressions is that you meet a lot of great people, many whom knit, crochet, or spin. Some do all of that and more! We have a great community of people and are glad for all of them. While we may see them often, and often times knit with them while they are there, you may not get to meet them at all. That’s why we do our best to make sure to set aside time during the week and at least one weekend a month to relax, knit/spin/crochet, trade stories, and share triumphs and tribulations. The monthly Spin and Knit will be this Sunday, March 7th, from 1-4pm at Yarn Expressions. Bring your wheel, your needles, your hooks (crochet or pirate) and join us for what will hopefully be a nice somewhat Spring-ish afternoon. If you can’t make it on Sunday, perhaps you can come sometime on a Thursday? As many of you already know we have a Knit Night every Thursday from 4-7pm. The night also gives those who can’t get to the store during regular hours a chance to browse and shop. Come and join us! Filed Under: Spin 'n' Knit Sunday, General keep looking » |
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