Travel Knitting

I'm headed out on vacation tomorrow, and I have a couple of smaller projects to take with me. I am making two Minnowknits cardigans - one is Coco Loco and I'm using Berroco Love It in Walnut, Brownstone and Salamander. Cute NON traditional baby colors. Sometimes you just need to shake it up a bit and show people some different color combinations.

Then I'm making Krayon Krazy, a really cute little colorblocked sweater. This will be made out of Nashua Handknits Cilantro in Lime Sorbet, Aqua, Lupine and Soft Green. Mmmm, these colors remind me of the beach, and since that's where I'll be, I thought they were a perfect choice.

I've been wanting to try both yarns but just couldn't come up with the right patterns. Now I have, and I am actually looking forward to casting on for one of these tomorrow on my flight!


This weekend we sold out of almost all of our rug hooking kits - so we have ordered more and they are due in any day. Our 6/13 evening class is full, but we still have some openings in our 5/15 day class.


Our newest shop sample is the Clovelly Cowl Neck Sweater - it's so cute. It fits nicely and the sleeves have such a nice little flare at the cuff. This yarn was so popular last year (Rowan Natural Silk Aran) and they have added four great new colors. Pattern is in the Coast booklet.

This past week we received a fall 2007 color card for Baby Ull (Dale of Norway) and to our surprise (and horror!) SO MANY of our favorite colors have been discontinued! There are a few new colors for fall that are really pretty, and we will be ordering those, but for now we are getting rid of all of the ones that they've discontinued. Think baby sweaters, shawls, socks, hats, etc! This yarn is NOT in the shop, but it is 40% off on the website. As usual, you are welcome to order it online and then put "hold for pickup" in the comments section.


Another great fingering weight yarn that's on sale is Cherry Tree Hill Supersock SOLIDS. Not the ones we normally have in the shop - but 10 of their solid colors. Again, online only. Normally $20 for $14. Great deal. This yarn is perfect for socks, shawls, baby items and more.

Spring & Summer Hours

Just a note to all of our customers - from April 30th to August 31st - we will be operating on spring and summer hours. Don't worry, we're not changing them much! On weekdays, Monday through Friday, we will be open from 10am to 5pm. On Saturdays, we will be open normal hours - 9am - 5pm.
Spring and early summer classes have been posted. We have some really nice sweaters in the lineup for this session. My personal favorite is the May Shrug, done in Cashsoft DK (any sport/dk will do!) I'm not really a shrug person, but this one is just gorgeous. Really flattering, and so great with all the cables and the nice collar! I'll be wearing this one for sure once the weather warms up. It's from the Rowan book Mother & Baby and is shown as a maternity shrug. But hey, it works well for those of us who are without child, too! Yesterday Michele taught 6 people how to rug hook. This was before the class - everything waiting and ready...I always forget to take pictures while the class is in session, so I can't show you... but I can tell you that there was a lot of laughter coming from the class. Honestly, it was a class made up of a lot of our best customers, who all have great personalities, and senses of humor. So it sounds like they all had a lot of fun. You never know with classes - it can be a good mix, or a not so good mix - based on the people in the class and how their personalities mix. I think this was a good one!

I am going to pull together a few little baby sweaters to knit over the next month. I am going to make the Betony bolero out of Wool Cotton (from the Rowan Mother & Baby book) and a little textured cardigan out of Rowan Handknit Cotton (from the Nashua Handknits Bloom pattern book - another GREAT one.)I am also dying to knit with the Nashua Handknits Cilantro - the colors are amazing and I just love the feel and springyness of the yarn. But I can't settle on a pattern. I am going on vacation in 2 weeks, and need some little projects to keep me busy at night, when I am not on the beach! I'm not much of a beach knitter - but I do like knitting on planes, each morning while enjoying my coffee, and each evening after a nice hot day at the beach.

I have made more progress on fishies:
but not as much as I'd planned over the weekend. It was the "Great Room Cleanup" for Helen and Sophie. It took hours and let's just say the Salvation Army will be happy with us. They are packrats! It feels much better to have fewer "things". So instead of getting in some time to myself, I was sorting through "junk", cleaning, steam cleaning, etc.

At least I did manage to run both days which felt really good, and really awful (the sore part!) at the same time. No pain, no gain.