Graduation!

Lots of people are attending graduation ceremonies today and here in Vermont it's going to be a gorgeous day! The temperatures are going to be in the upper 70s, but in order to get a good seat, you may have to show up to the ceremony a bit early, when it's still a bit cooler. A little shawl is a perfect addition to any dress. Don't forget yours!

This one is the Be Sweet Capelette, and it looks perfect over any dress.

Another Sweetie Pie

Since we've brought the Be Sweet Bambino Taffy into the shop, the Sweetie Pie Hat has become a favorite of our customers. It's a great choice for a little shower gift - of course - but we've even got customers making it with no specific recipient in mind... just because it's so darn cute! 

The pattern is free on the label and it takes just one ball.

The pattern is pictured in the colorway Candy Sprinkles:

I knit one up for the shop in Salt Water Taffy:

And Shawn showed me this one last week knit up in Spearmint Gum:

It's hard to pick a favorite!

Customer Project - Double Baby Shower

contributed by Shawn

What do you do for a double baby shower?! Well you knit little baby hats of course :)

Leslie brought these two hats in to show us the other day.  We love the Be Sweet Bambino Taffy cotton-bamboo blend yarn. It is so soft and one skein enough to make the Sweetie Pie Hat pattern. 

Bonus! This hat pattern comes ON the yarn label and who doesn't love a free cute hat pattern? 

These two hats needed to fit newborn babies so Leslie decreased the size a bit by removing one heart motif repeat.  

Tada! Just right to take to the double baby shower!

A happy ending & some tips to beat the masses

Polly came in to work yesterday to find that her hat had dried. And guess what? It's really almost perfect! The only thing a little "off" is the cute I-cord tie at the top, and we think it just needs to be reattached a bit. Then nobody will know that her beautiful hat almost met its death in a cold and dirty snowbank last weekend in downtown Burlington. And we'll never tell... will we?

Here she is, all smiles, with it on yesterday. Notice the gorgeous scarf she has that coordinates with the hat. For the scarf, she used one Be Sweet Magic Ball and 2 skeins of Nashua Handknits Julia, each in a different color. She knit it lengthwise and it came out really well.

Yesterday we sold out of the Cascade 220 (the colors we are discontinuing) in a matter of hours. We picked 18 colors, and are replacing them with colors we haven't had before. These 18 colors were discounted by 30%, and so I sent an email to our bulk email list. Within just 3 hours, everything was gone.

Some folks were bummed that they weren't able to buy this yarn. By the time they opened the email (later in the day, or this morning) the yarn was long gone. I'm sorry - when we put something on sale, we have no idea how long it will last. We have a HUGE email list, and even though we had a HUGE number of the Cascade skeins on sale, the folks who ordered in the first several hours after the email went out, well, I guess they were yarn hungry. You can tell just by looking at the boxes that are going out today... they are all really large boxes, which means people really stocked up on this sale.

So if you missed out on this sale, or any other, here's a suggestion. I did put this yarn on sale the day before the email went out, and we actually sold quite a bit of it that day. I do normally put things on sale about 24-48 hours before I announce them to the masses. So it's a good idea to save our sale page in your favorites list, and check it often. That way, you can take advantage of a great buy, before it's all gone.

But you may be connected in other ways, and we are too. You can follow us on Twitter if you'd like (look - the Cascade 220 announcement!): or you can become a fan of Kyarns on Facebook:
where we post notes and send updates on special deals.

And, as a side note, the Cascade 220 colors that we still have in the shop (the ones we are keeping) are all 15% off through the weekend.

A run of bad luck with at least one happy ending

Well, this is my very first blog entry because I really haven't been working at the shop that long and besides, I haven't really had anything to write about especially UNTIL today.

My bad luck, which is what this story is about, actually all started just before Christmas when my husband and I were on our way to a dream vacation in Hawaii. In my sleep deprived stupor - en route to Chicago - I accidently left my knitting bag on the plane with not one, but TWO brand new knitting projects inside!

Upon our return, my one attempt to retrieve the bag was a total loss as the guy at the United Airlines Lost Article Department, I could really tell could have cared less.

Then more bad luck. This past Friday night we were headed into Burlington on a cold, snowy nights to see a play. I had my latest favorite hat with me - the Sara's Magic Ball Hat, made with Be Sweet Magic Ball and Nashua Handknits Julia. We parked in Burlington, and I hopped out of the truck. Somehow my hat must have popped out too.

I looked and looked this weekend at home, but to no avail. This morning I figured I'd give it one last try, so I went back to Burlington to the exact same parking place... and look what I found!My hat, dirty and snow and salt-covered, but still there. I'm thinking maybe my luck has turned and the knitting bag will be turning up any day now!

Here's the water in the first rinse: Look how much better it looks: And now it's drying...

Fall is here

Brrrrr - fall is in the air! Last night I went for a run and an hour later returned shivering, with teeth chattering. The temperatures drop quickly around here when the sun sets, and even after a 5 mile run I was freezing! I think the temperature had gone down about 15 degrees. After a hot shower I quickly cozied up in some flannels and pulled out my latest knitting project - the Rocketry baby blanket in Dream in Color Classy yarn. It's coming along nicely!I definitely think that doing it all in one piece is the way to go. When I get to the edging I will need a long needle - as I plan to do all four sides at once. I'm actually psyched! it will give me a chance to try out the new Addi Turbo Lace Knitting Needles. We recently added more sizes in the Addi Lace needles - we now go up to US size 9 in 60". I will use a 7 US in a 47". They've gotten such wonderful reviews, but I already own just about every Addi Turbo and a Denise Kit, so I couldn't justify buying one until now.

On Tuesday we received a shipment from Euro Yarns, a division of Knitting Fever, Inc. I ordered some awesome new yarns, and Michele, Kalen and I spent ALL day unpacking them, putting them out, getting them online, and re-merchandizing the shop. It was exhausting, but worth it. The shop looks great, and the yarns are really fantastic - I'm so glad I ordered them.

I got two fun novelty yarns from Louisa Harding. Customers always come in looking for those "special" yarns... and these two fit the bill. Glisten is a really cool thin ribbon that has a bit of bling! It almost looks like it has silvery droplets running down the center of the yarn. I'm going to come up with a cool scarf project that mixes Glisten with another yarn - perhaps Madil Kid Seta?

The second yarn is Louisa Harding Sari Ribbon yarn - a wide ribbon that comes in amazingly gorgeous variegated colors. It has a great glitzy metallic running down the center. This yarn can be worked alone, but I grabbed a ball of it along with a ball of the Be Sweet Mohair Boucle. I knit this simple, yet gorgeous, scarf in a matter of hours. It is really cool! Very pretty up close.Like it? Come on in and buy a skein of each and we'll give you the easy pattern. I'll have it online in the next couple of days. Didn't have time today because Kalen came up with 26 (!!) colorways our favorite hat kit - the Sara's Magic Ball hat. It took a while to get those photographed and edited today, but they're online and they look great. The hard part is deciding which one to make for myself.

Back to school

Today was the first day of school and I have to say, I'm so glad! It means that my life has a bit more of a routine now. I like knowing what days I leave early to meet the girls off the bus, and what days I can stay at work late, since they have after school care. The summer was fun, but different camps each week... that's probably not how I'll do it next year.

But wow! First day of FOURTH grade! Time has gone by so quickly. The girls were only 2 1/2 years old when I opened the shop. Now they're 9.

This past weekend was gorgeous here in Vermont. And it's about time! I think it was the most summery weekend we've had all summer. But we did have some colder temperatures last week, and that cold weather brought in a lot of folks looking for knitting projects. The most popular items last week were the Plymouth Happy Choices yarn, and the Be Sweet Magic Balls. The Happy Choices sock flats are a lot of fun! You unravel the pre-knitted "flat" and don't really know what your sock will look like until you get going. But look how cool!

And the Magic Balls, well they are truly my favorite. I took one home on Friday night to make a cute little hat for a shop sample. I started it Friday night, but didn't make much progress - because I had a 10k race on Saturday morning and I went to bed early. Unfortunately, I woke up at 5am to some very persistent and LOUD cats. Turns out my cats, who have never been outdoor cats, "catch" what they think are mice in my basement at night. But they're not really mice. The cats just think they are. They're some kind of rubbery Polly Pocket dolls and outfits that - of course - my children leave all over the place. The cats pick them up, carry them around like prey, and then deposit them on the top step, and meow for us to come and see their "kill." This is what I found Saturday morning.

It's okay. Given my fear of real mice, I'll take Polly Pockets any day.

Okay, so up at 5am I knit my Be Sweet hat while I had my coffee, and it totally took my mind off the race. Love how knitting does that! When I got to the race I saw several of our customers, and I did better than I expected, so it was all good. The woman behind me in the blue shirt is Amy - a customer of ours from Bakersfield. We had a great time chatting before and after the race. It was so fun to get to know her better!

After the race, I couldn't wait to work on the Be Sweet Hat. I finished it - and am all set to knit another one, but this time, FOR ME.

Poolside knitting

So my kids are taking swimming lessons at Maple Street Pool this week and next week. They're having a blast. I'm surviving it, but only barely. I seem to have overscheduled them this week and next week, and it is very tiring for all of us!

But the silver lining is that I get to sit and knit while they swim, so that can't be too bad! I crocheted my Be Sweet clutch together the other night - and now I just have to put in the lining. Well, not me exactly. One of our good customers BJ was in about a week ago with her lovely mother, and we were talking about this clutch. I said I'd love to make it but I couldn't sew and didn't have a machine for the lining. She said she'd love to make the lining for me, and I was thrilled! So I did the knitting and crocheting, and now I'll call her and tell her it's ready for her to work her magic. It's a really cute bag.

Then last night I sat and started a cute little garter stitch cardigan out of Love It Colors.

I don't know why more people don't try this yarn! It is one of my favorites. It's got such a neat effect with the colors. I'm making the sweater and booties. It's an Ann Norling Pattern.

It's all worked in one piece - starting at the lower back, it goes up and over the shoulders, and then down the front. Because of the long color repeats, I may choose to use two balls at a time when making the booties. Otherwise they might look a bit funky... or cool, I guess I won't know until I try. Anyway, I love mindless knitting, especially when I'm so tired at the end of the day, and I'm watching the kids' attempts to learn freestyle... it's the perfect project.

Summer Trends?

When you have a couple of days when every other person who comes into the shop ends up knitting the SAME things, is it a trend? Or is it just a spooky coincidence? This has certainly happened to us recently.

Last Friday and Saturday we almost completely sold out of our Piece of Vermont yarn. We made a Hydrangea shawl with one skein, and the yarn - which had already been selling well - just flew out the door. I didn't put it online, as I really bought it for that "something special" dyed in Vermont yarn that we could offer our summer customers. And it seems they loved it! I will be ordering more, but Jessie - who dyes this yarn - is on vacation for the 4th. The yarn is really gorgeous. It's a bamboo blend, and it's technically a sock yarn. But I think all of our customers bought it with some sort of lace shawl or scarf in mind. So now we have three skeins left. Want some? Call us.

And thanks to the sample, we've oversold the Hydrangea shawl pattern. It's due in any day though.Another popular item from the past week? Dreambaby blankets... and even an afghan. Lots of people are making cute little baby blankets out of Dreambaby DK. It doesn't hurt that we have several GREAT new colors of this yarn! One girl had already knit her child a blanket, and she loved it so much that she came back for a couple bags to make herself an afghan.

Of course - the Be Sweet has been a big trend this past week, too. People really love the novelty look of some of these yarns. Stay tuned - we have a couple more novelties due to arrive for fall.

And YAY! Our Namaste bags arrived on Friday. They are SWEET! I succumbed and bought one of the large bags. I probably don't need the extra space, because I was doing just fine with a smaller bag. With this one, I just keep filling it up of course. But the bag itself is lightweight, and so cool. They'll be online any day. We have the Cali clutch:

the Newport Bag:and the Laguna Bag:
Here's a little shot of Helen's big dance performance from Jazzercise camp last week. It was so cute, and hoorah for mom, for learning how to figure out this video thing. It's really not hard, but I do NOT have the time for new things right now. She's in pony tails in the front, and she's got quite a nice hip action, doesn't she?

Make way for Minnow Merino

The Be Sweet yarns are finally online, but our ravenous shop customers have pretty much decimated our stock in just one short week! I apologize - some of the images online are not showing up. I'm working on fixing that.

We have very low quantities in some colors, but there is a lot more on order and we'll just have to be patient. I can tell that it's going to be hard to keep this in stock, so if you want some, order it and if we don't have it, we'll put you in line for it. We should be getting another shipment of Magic Balls (and some new colors) in about 2 weeks.

Yesterday we got our shipment of Jil Eaton's Minnow Merino - WOW! This is washable superfine merino wool for kids - but don't just think kids - these colors may be bright and kid-like, but that's not going to stop me from using it for myself. We had several customers madly digging into the box as we unloaded it. (This has been a trend with our shipments recently...)

New Jil Eaton patterns are due in next week. Can't wait to start working on this yarn!

I'm finishing up a cute little bag made with one Knobby Ball and a Be Sweet pattern. I'll have a photo tomorrow.

Be Sweet scarf

Last Wednesday was my 14th wedding anniversary. Marc was involved in a big seminar all week, so we took a rain check on a night out, and went on Saturday, instead. We took the girls and went for a lovely meal at The Blue Paddle Bistro in South Hero. It was my second time there, and definitely NOT my last. I've mentioned it to more than 10 people in the past few days, and they've never heard of it.

So, I'm spreading the word. It's one of those great finds that, once you finally eat there, you can't imagine HOW you never knew of it's extistence before. If you are a local - give it a try on your next special night out. And if you're visiting the area, it's a nice place to put on your list of things to do.

Here's a shot of some amazing appetizers - some yummy tuna and some delicious crab cakes.

It was a delicious meal, as always, and the drive to and from South Hero couldn't have been any more gorgeous.

We got a nice family shot on the way back. What a beautiful spot we live in...

And now, may I present my Be Sweet scarf - 1 Magic Ball and 1 Ribbon Ball - knit lengthwise - 120 stitches on a size 11 needle.

LOVE it. What a fun knit - and that's an honest opinion from a non-mohair person. I really liked knitting with the mohair! It looks very boutique-y! These yarns should be online tomorrow, but our locals and quilt show visitors have already snapped up half of the first shipment. We're reordering today!

And magically, it appeared

That's the Be Sweet box we're talking about. It was delayed in MA last week, and I checked our incoming UPS log this morning, and it was no longer showing up in the system! We'd been tracking it all the way across the country, and POOF - it was gone. We were a bit concerned, but we waited until our UPS delivery came, and as I said, it MAGICALLY appeared.

And speaking of magic... these are the Magic Balls. They are incredible! Barb was unloading the box and a customer from Canada bought several Magic Balls, Boucle Mohairs and Ribbon Balls before she could even get them all unloaded! She was down for the big Quilt Show this week, and was excited to see the Be Sweet and Tilli Tomas yarns.

I started and finished my Janine Hat this weekend. SO cute. And really fun to knit. If you're tired of the same old same old hat knit in the round, try this one. It's in Jasper (one of my FAVORITE merinos) and was a really quick knit. I chose a new fun color of Jasper and I quite like it! Not like I can wear it for a while though. What I really need is to knit myself some sort of rain hat.I also finished a really pretty lace scarf - knit with the Tilli Tomas Milan. It's a gorgeous blend of merino, silk and cashmere, and can you believe I knit this out of just ONE skein? That's right. It's 6"x42" and I wouldn't want it any longer. At $16.50, that's a deal (or steal?) The pattern is being printed and will be ready within the week. Then it will be online as well.