January 18, 2008

Market Update part 2

Socks and lace still hold the focus of many knitters, and there were many choices available in these categories at market last week. Today I’ll tell you about the sock yarn I found, Monday we’ll detail the lace.

From Aurora Yarns, we’ll have 14 skeins of limited edition hand painted fingering weight merino. Every season the owner of Aurora gets out her dyes and has a color party. They’re up for grabs at TNNA on a first come, first served basis. I was a little late to the booth this year, but still managed to snag quite a few beautiful skeins just for you. They’ll retail for $21.00.

We’ve had Melody from Jojoland, International for a year now, and it continues to fly off the shelf. I reordered all your favorite colors of this self-striping superwash wool, and a few patterns too.

Eight new colors of Soxx Appeal from K1C2 will be winging their way to us in February — two variegated shades and six solids, including black. This yarn has been incredibly popular and has become a staple at Yarn Expressions. Go see the free sock pattern they’ve designed; it’s a beauty!

Lorna’s Laces has new multicolors for Spring. Huron, Edgewater and Pilsen are named for Chicago neighborhoods and will be coming South as Shepherd Sock (to find warmer weather we think) some time in March. Don’t forget our exclusive Auburn University Shepherd Sock — you’ll only find it at Yarn Expressions. We have a supply of it now, but it’s going fast.

We discovered Pagewood Farm last year in Columbus, and the yarn they sent us disappeared from our shelves almost immediately. (Click on “hand dyed yarn” and then “hand-dyed gallery” to see the wide range of colors they have to offer.) I placed a much larger order this time around, so we’ll have plenty of sock yarn for everyone. In addition to the traditional wool/nylon blend we’ll have a 3 ply merino (nice for brightly colored baby things as well as socks) and fingering weight Blue Faced Leicester. Though the BFL isn’t superwash, it’s one of my favorite wools, and will be lovely for many things other than socks. The merino/bamboo blend we had last year is coming back as well. Look for these yarns toward the end of February.

Dream in Color has been one of the great success stories at Yarn Expressions. We’ve carried it for just about a year now, and have trouble keeping up with the demand for Classy and Smooshy. They’ve introduced a new series of colors, and I ordered some in both weights. When our order arrives in March we’ll have a full re-stock of this incredibly soft and, ok, smooshy, sock yarn.

(I told you there was a lot of sock yarn!)

From our friends at Skacel comes Ecco Aquarell. I first came in contact with this sport weight merino during the class I took from Cat Bordhi on the first day of market. You can see a picture of the sample sock I made out of it over at Manning Knits. I enjoyed working with it so much that I ordered five different colors, which are on their way to us as I type.

Of course, if you have a ton of new sock yarn to work with, you should have at least a few new sock patterns too, right? Two new patterns from Fiber Trends were ordered — Lupine Lace Socks and Chain of Hearts Socks, both designed by Evelyn Clark. I also had a chance to meet Chrissy Gardiner, of Gardiner Yarn Works, and ordered a bunch of sock patterns (and other things) from her.

Chrissy is one of the numerous people who stopped me and said “Oh, I recognize you from Ravelry!” What was even funnier was the day I saw Ravelry creators Jess and Casey. Jess said “Look, it’s Meg from Yarn Expressions!” Casey said “Look, it’s Meg, Liz’s mom!” Elizabeth joined Ravelry the moment it was announced, and was a volunteer editor in those early days, which is why Casey made that connection.

One of the great joys of going to market is catching up with industry friends, old and new. I was all by myself on this particular trip, but had no chance to be lonely. On Friday I met up with friends Rob and Matt from Threadbear in Lansing, MI and we were the Three Musketeers for the rest of the weekend. See?

Have a good weekend, everyone, and stay warm, wherever you are! Next week, we’ll continue the market update, starting with lace.

Thoughts of Spring

I am home from market, refreshed and energized. Although this is considered the smaller of the two trade shows, I didn’t have any trouble coming up with some spectacular new yarn and toys for us all to play with in the coming months. I also had a great time reconnecting with people I only get to see once or twice a year. Like Karida.

Karida is the owner of Neighborhood Fibers, a small hand dye company that we discovered in Columbus last year. I was fortunate to be her first order then, and we arranged an early morning meeting this time, making my order numero uno once again.

Very soon we should be receiving more of her Studio Sock, several colors of Watershed, a new merino/seacell blend sock yarn, Maisonette, which is Karida’s take on lace yarn and roving. Two kinds of roving! We’ll be handling both Corriedale and a Merino/Silk blend in several of Karida’s gorgeous colors, named for Washington, D.C. neighborhoods. I can’t wait!

I also visited with Taiu of Koigu Wool Design, who says our order is in the dye room now, so we should have it by the end of the month. Another 30 shades of your favorite yarn to fill the empty spaces in our display.

I think my favorite find of the show was this.

It’s a gorgeous lace shrug, designed by Jackie Erickson-Schweitzer, for a collaborative effort between Mountain Colors and Lorna’s Laces called Mixed Media. This is a limited edition kit, using a skein of Lorna’s Helen’s Lace and Mountain Colors’ Wool Crepe in a lace-y slipped stitch design. Look — it even looks good on me!

I should note here that photography is strictly forbidden on the show floor. All of the photos seen here were taken before the show opened, by owners of the booths.

There’s much more to tell — come to Knit Night tonight and I’ll give you the complete rundown. I’ll also continue the story here tomorrow.

2 Comments

Filed Under: Market News

June 6, 2007

market report

I’m back! Market was a whirlwind of activity, as always. This year it was doubly enjoyable because I had the chance to share it with my daughter, Liz. You can read her account of the weekend at Manning Knits.

I took several classes during the weekend, but the highlight was meeting Lucy Neatby and learning double knit techniques from her. She’s an amazing designer and teacher. This sweater she’s holding is one of her fair isle designs — it would be a lifetime project for moi.

So what did she buy, you ask. Lots, and lots, and lots. So much that I have to tell you about it in more than one post. I’ll start with what’s coming in this month.

from Trendsetter, more Merino Sei, their dk weight merino wool, in colors to make Jane Slicer Smith’s new Mitered Drape Vest (so easy and so colorful!) and a jacket that’s edged in mitered squares.
from Schaefer Yarns, lots more Anne sock yarn, and their new bunny kit, which is absolutely adorable.
from Aurora Yarns, we’ve already received a shipment of Garnstudio Silke Tweed. I’ve loved this yarn for years, and decided to bring it back this year, only to learn that it won’t be available much longer. What we have on hand should last for a while (unless y’all get really greedy), in colors that will work well for sweaters, or for the Latifa Scarf from Knitty a few seasons ago.
from Cookie A, her collection of sock patterns. You can see them on the sidebar on her blog. These are patterns for adventurous sock knitters — I can’t wait to get my hands on them.
from Louet, refills of spinning fiber, both dyed and undyed, and almost a dozen shades of their Gems Sportweight wool. This stuff is so incredibly soft. I love working with it, and it’s machine washable, so it’ll be perfect for kids stuff as well as adult garments.
from the Yarn Place, a new laceweight cashmere blend. I only ordered a few colors, to see how it goes over, but I’m betting I’ll re-order before the summer is over.
from Kollage, I ordered two new yarns — Luscious, a stretchy cotton/nylon sock yarn, and Cornucopia, made from corn. Both should be here soon, Kollage is just down the road in Birmingham!
from Crystal Palace, more needles, new shades of Panda Cotton, new shades of Taos, and two new yarns — Kaya and Maizy.
from Colinette, more shades of Tao silk, the Arboretum book which has patterns combining Tao and Parisienne lace mohair, and Jitterbug, their very popular sock yarn.
lots and lots of books and patterns from our friends at Iknitiative, Up North Fiber Art Supply, Infiknit, and others. Lace is the thing for this warm season. We’ll have lots of new patterns and some old favorites on the shelves soon.

Come back tomorrow, when I’ll tell you about a special book signing we’re going to have in August.

San Diego Interrupted

When you last heard from me, before my laptop bit the dust, I was getting ready to go to the Retailers Luncheon, eat rubber chicken and be entertained by Kaffe Fassett.

Before lunch was served, we were treated to a visit from Kate Jacobs, author of the newly published novel The Friday Night Knitting Club. We also each received a hardbound copy of the book. There’s been a lot of buzz about this book in yarn shop owner circles, because Julia Roberts has optioned the movie rights, and word is that she’ll play the yarn shop owner, Georgia Walker.

Lunch was definitely not your typical banquet food, thank you San Diego Convention Center. And Kaffe Fassett most certainly did entertain us. No picture taking was allowed, so you’ll have to take my word for it that his slide show made an excellent dessert for a group of men and women who are lovers of yarn. As he was describing the photos, Kaffe told us about a show he put on last year in London, which was attended by the queen. When told the subject of the show, he says she declared “Knitting! I can do that!” and marched off.

From lunch I moved on to my next class — Concentrating on Color, with Brandon Mably. Concentrate on Color Those of you who know me know that I love looking at intarsia, but I’m not so much a fan of knitting it. It’s beautiful, but it just doesn’t click with me. My goal in taking this class was to focus on techniques outside my comfort zone. We started with fair isle squares, and moved on to more abstract shapes. Brandon had a stack of postcards he wanted us to use for color inspiration. Here he is, pinning up everyone’s work. No, I’m not telling which one is mine.

As I left class Friday evening, I looked out to see this beautiful sunset. This was the last lovely weather we’d see. The cold front hit that night.

1 Comment

Filed Under: Market News

January 12, 2007

Knitting Without Boundaries

Valentina Devine is one of my favorite teachers, so I was delighted to be able to take a class with her. I’ve had freeform knitting classes from her before, and this one picked up where the last one left off. The swatch in the picture (sorry for crummy cell phone photos today, folks — I left my camera memory card in the computer yesterday) uses her swirl technique, and can be put together with many others to create a garment, a wall hanging, a pillow… you get the drift.

Here Valentina is displaying a shawl that uses the other technique we learned, called irregular swatching. It was a blast and I plan to share the fun when I get home.

Today I’m off to the Retailers Luncheon, where eating so-so banquet food is the price we pay to hear Kaffe Fassett speak. Then it’s on to more color work classes, this time with Brandon Mably.

I promise to remember the camera this time.

Into the Wild Blue Yonder (almost)

I’m off to San Diego to go to market. Well, I will be if the fog ever clears so my flight can take off. I get to visit with my mother for a few days before the trade show starts, and then I get to take classes with some of my favorite teachers — Valentina Devine, Brandon Mably and Shannon Oakey.

It’s always exciting seeing this vast hall filled with yarn, and a bit overwhelming too. I learned early on that the only way to conquer the feeling of overwhelmedness (is that a word?) was to have a plan and a budget. So I come armed with statistics and wish lists and a budget and I usually do pretty well.

Speaking of wish lists, if there’s something you’d like to be able to find at Yarn Expressions, let me know. This is the perfect opportunity for me to look for it. I’ll try to post from San Diego, and maybe even share a few pictures.

See you when I get back!

4 Comments

Filed Under: Market News