What's Our Mannequin Wearing?

Brrrrrr! It's been nippy this past week! Our mannequin is thrilled to set aside the summery knits in favor of a more fall-like wardrobe. Stripes are in, and she's definitely in fashion with her striped sweater jacket. She's also showing off a new bag we've just received, and a warm scarf.

Sweater: Striped Jacket (Plymouth Pattern #2351) knit in Plymouth Encore

Scarf: Mistaken Rib Scarf (free pattern) knit in Berroco Flicker Yarn

Shawl Pin (closing sweater): Horizontal Pin

Bag: Della Q Clea Bag, coming to the website soon!

Della Q Items: Back in Stock

We carried Della Q bags and needle cases a number of years ago and now we've got 4 our favorite new Della Q products back in the shop.

First up is "The Que". This is a great circular needle case that's available in two fun fabrics. We chose the cotton prints, because we think they're gorgeous and durable. 

The pockets that hold each needle are actually large enough to hold more than one set - which we all know is important, since who just has one of each size? Also, there's a great little flap on each pocket. This flap is actually sized perfectly to tuck into each pocket, holding the needles securely inside. If you've ever picked up your needle case and it was upside down, and all of your circulars spilled out all over the floor, you'll appreciate this tiny - yet super smart - detail.

We also carry two interchangeable kits (by Denise) in gorgeous Della Q silk cases. There's a knitting needle set and a crochet hook set, and these were both really popular gift items this winter. It's so smart that these two companies teamed up together with their incredible products!

Denise Crochet Hook Interchangeable Set in a Della Q case

And just last week we received some really fun Della Q project bags. These are perfect for small knitting or crochet projects, and make great gifts - they're under $10!

These bags come in assorted colors and you can choose from three funny sayings. SO much better than a plastic baggie for your project!

Just another manic Monday

I used to love that song by the Bangles... way back, we're talkin. And all Mondays at Kaleidoscope Yarns are pretty "manic" - as in frenzied. We got in a bunch of boxes from UPS and so were able to fill some backorders on Plymouth yarns, Tilli Tomas yarns and some Inox Pearl Gray knitting needles. And Mondays are always busy for us in shipping - people like to sit at home on Sundays and order yarn... at least that's always been true for us.

Today I got a phone call from an internet customer of ours who had just received one of our knitting kits - the cabled neck wrap, which uses the oh-so-soft Cascade Baby Alpaca Chunky yarn. The customer was confused with the cable directions. It turns out she had never cabled before, and was confused about how to do it. A cable is easy, once you've done it. But sometimes it's hard to understand many knitting directions without a bit of a visual aid. I tried to explain it several different ways, and realized that no matter how hard I tried, this poor customer needed a visual explanation. She didn't have a yarn shop near her, and I really wanted to help her. So I asked her to Google "how to knit a cable" and VOILA! There's a great little video that comes up as the number one search result. She watched the video and was thrilled that I had helped her. Well, okay, I didn't actually help her, since she couldn't understand my several explanations... but I did help her to realize that you can find great online help if you are in a pinch. So that counts!

We will actually be adding some video clips to the site in the next few months. I'm not sure how many we'll add, as it is our busy season now... but we're going to start with a few "how-to's". It should be fun.

Speaking of new things on the website, today I added the Ozark Handspun yarn,

the Ozark Handspun Opulent yarn (this has more mohair), and some great new Della Q knitting bags... the Molly Messenger Bag,the Isadora Tote Bag and the Chloe Tote Bag.