Friday Five: Five reasons that this didn't get posted during work hours

1. We were abducted by aliens, who wanted knitting lessons.
2. We locked the doors and were busy eating chocolate and drinking champagne all day.
3. We were busy and hardly had time to sit down to eat, let alone blog.
4. There was a massive polar ice melt, and Florida has sunken beneath the sea, so we are unable to get Internet access.
5. Some other reason that I, the reader, am going to make up and post about in the comments.

The Gator sock yarn has arrived!

Lookie what the postman brought us! First come, first served on this fun Gator sock yarn. We won't be able to hold this for you, so run to the shop right now and buy some! Big thanks to Lucy at Mind's Eye who dyed this up for us lickity split after we sold out of the first batch.

The Hanks Question of the Week

Many of us feel an intense pressure when crafting for pay, or under a deadline. Or maybe that's just me...? Has this ever happened to you? What was the situation? Did everything turn out fine? Or is crafting for pay/under a deadline something that you would, under no circumstances, consider doing?

On sale this week

Some random yarns that were in the $5 bin have joined Dark Horse Pixie in the $2 bin, and Fiesta Zuni has been marked down almost 50% to $10/ball.

Great Adirondack is still 25% off, and select Trendsetter yarns are still $4/ball.

A Question for the Crocheters

I know, I know, I rely on y'all a lot! It's mostly because I can barely crochet my way out of paper sack (I mean, really, you have seen this, right? Who in their right minds would have let me finish that?!). Obviously I trust your judgment better than I trust my own.

Could anyone recommend either some hot crochet books, or a pattern line, that you'd like to recommend we carry in the shop? Feel free to email us if you don't feel like commenting. We'd really appreciate your input.

Thanks, y'all!

Colinette and Lantern Moon

Our couch is getting quite the workout with modeling our new stock this week:

Here's some new Colinette Jitterbug:



And new Lantern Moon:

Friday Five: The Alphabet of Hanks (part one)

A is for Addi Lace Turbos, pretty with the shiny gold pointy tips and red connectors.

B is for Books, which we are now carrying, and can special order for our customers.

C is for Champagne, which is always in the fridge (and goes well with store meetings, along with chocolate.).

C is also for Classes, which are always fun as well as informative.

D is for Duran Duran, which makes Sharon and Lorena bop around the store like Old Wave Night Lunatics when the 80's mix is on the iPod.

The Hanks Question of the Week

Yarn crawls! Have you ever been on one? What's the best time you ever had on a yarn crawl?

Mentioning (mmmmmmmm)Malabrigo

We got some new colors of Malabrigo in; worsted and laceweight. Here are a couple of photos with which to tease you....

Class: Introduction to Needle Felting

Been nervous about learning how to stab wool repeatedly with sharp needles in order to shape anything from an animal to a vegetable? No need to be nervous any more! This two-week class will teach you the basics of needle felting. You too can make a small cat or dog out of wool using only your hands and sharp needles.

Saturday march 22 and 29, 2008
2 PM - 5 PM
$50 | Materials Included

Did we mention the needles are sharp?

Are you my mommy?

Dear mommy (or daddy);

I am your jacket. I am at the yarn shop. Please come get me, as I am not a crocheted or knitted garment and all the yarn is making fun of me. I am very lonely, and the sock yarn snickers at me after the gals close the shop.

I miss you.

And it's cold out, so you probably miss me too.

Please come get me.

Love,
The small gray jacket

Friday Five: Five knitting blogs we know you must be writing

We know that there must be at least five of our customers who have blogs, and we'd love to know about them (after all, you know about ours, right?). So if you're out there, and you're writing a blog (be it about spinning, crochet, knitting, making cupcakes, or just cute pictures of your cats) please let us know in the comments!

Class: Intro to Lace Knitting

March 15, 22, 29, and April 5, 2008
(Saturdays) 10:30 AM - 1:30 PM
$100 for all four classes | Materials Included

Welcome to Lace 101. We'll be learning several lace stitches from very simple to a little more challenging. Then we'll use these stitches in a sampler that can be enlarged into a scarf or shawl.

In addition the class will cover some of the unique intricacies of lace knitting, some of the history of the stitches, and how these can be used in different projects.

This class is ideal for a beginner with basic knitting skills, and for any knitter wishing to improve and enlarge their technique as well as learn new stitches.

Please bring pen and paper for the class.

The new Prism book has arrived!

Have you seen the new Prism pattern book, Spirited Spring? A couple of the patterns use Prism's new Tencel Tape yarn, and there's a skirt pattern (My personal favorite), jackets, vest, and tops a la Prism. We received copies of the new pattern book today, along with a selection of Stuff yarn. Don't forget that you can simply email us with your Prism special orders and we'll get you what you need as quickly as possible!

Class: Amigurumi Bunny

Is this not the cutest thing ever...?

If you already have some basic crochet skills (single crochet, increasing and decreasing), you can make one too!

Thursday March 6, 13, and 20, 2008
6 PM - 8 PM
$75 for all three classes | Materials included

The Hanks Question of the Week

Plastic bins... Shelves from Ikea... Bags hidden in the back of the closet so nobody else in the house makes fun of how much you have... How do you store your yarn/fiber stash?

Friday Five: Five silk blends we carry

Are you as into silk as we are? Then you might want to keep an eye out for these fine fibers next time you stop by (or are perusing our online shop).

Cherry Tree Hill Orenburg Lace – This is a handspun (on a drop spindle) yarn that is 80% Kidd Mohair and 20% Silk. As you can tell by the name, it’s a lace yarn; it comes in hanks of 600 yards, and the mohair gives it just the tiniest bit of ariness. Lovely!

Lorna’s Laces Lion and Lamb – This is a medium-weight, 50% Silk/50% Wool yarn. It comes in hanks of 205 yards, and knits up on a US size 8 needle (or crochets up with an “H”… is “crochet’s up” a real term, or did I just make that up…?!). We love, love, love this yarn. Are you familiar with the other Jenna Wilson pattern, Eris? Because I am so thinking that it would be luscious in Lion and Lamb…

Prism Indulgence – 68% Silk, 15% Wool, 12% Kid Mohair, and 5% Nylon… when you add “hand dyed” into the mix, it really just doesn’t get much better than that. We have a free pattern in the shop for a great open scarf that only takes one skein of this, which is perfect for the warm weather we seem to be being subjected to here in Florida (this week).

Tilli Tomas Voile de la Mer – 70% Silk, 30% Seacell (a natural Kelp fiber). This is a very fine yarn; 290 yards in a 50 gram ball, but you can use anything from a #5 to a #7 to work with it. We have to admit we haven’t actually worked anything up with it yet, other than a swatch… but that might be because we just carry it around and pet it all day long.

Twisted Sisters Petite Voodoo (for some reason this isn't showing up on our website, I'll add "fixing that" to my endless list... sorry!) – This is another 50% Silk/50% Wool yarn, but it looks *nothing* like the Lion and Lamb. It’s a much thinner yarn, half the weight of a skein of L&L but almost the same yardage. This would be perfect for lacy shawls when you want beauty and drape, or even a tank top if you really wanted to spoil yourself with softness.

Class: Crochet your first hat

Saturday February 9 and 16, 2008
2-5 PM
$50/materials included


While this class would be a little easier if you have some crochet experience, even a new crocheter will be able to get the hang of these simple increases easily. In the course of two weeks, you'll learn to crochet a hat similar to the one pictured above (you'd have to provide your own skeleton, though) by starting at the crown at the hat and increasing down.

We still have seats open in this class; call or come by the shop if you are interested in taking the class!

Tiger Bay Llamas = lovely local llamas!

Tell me this isn't luscious! Special to our store (which means that we won't be offering it on our website, this is something special that you have to come see in person to really fall in love with).



The llamas are raised close to us, near St. Augustine. How cool is that?! Anyone up for a day trip...?

Tiger Bay Llamas
2 oz/125 yards
100% Llama

The Hanks Question of the Week

Are you familiar with Knitting Scouts? This week we'd like to talk about the three "MacGuyver" badges. What's the craziest thing you've done that would get you one of these? For instance, I once explained to a friend how to pick up a dropped stitch using two pencils and a rubber band (hey, we were at work... and that was before I worked in a yarn shop)-- that got me a level one badge. And then there was the time we were having a martini party and used a long Size 0 DPN to spear the olives with -- scoring me a level two badge! How about you...?

The “MacGyver” Badge (Level One) - The recipient must demonstrate clever use of a non-knitting tool in a knitting-related scenario. For instance, recipient has used paper clips as stitch markers, or successfully whittled and then utilized bamboo skewers as dpns.


The “MacGyver” Badge (Level Two) - The recipient must demonstrate clever use of a knitting tool in a non-knitting-related scenario. For instance, recipient has used a strand of Regia Bamboo to slice cheese, or repaired a small appliance with a metal knitting needle.


The “MacGyver” Badge (Level Three) - The recipient must demonstrate clever use of a knitting tool in a non-knitting-related scenario working towards the Greater Good. For instance, recipient used a Clover yarn cutter, a 30” Addi Turbo circular needle, and a copy of Elizabeth Zimmerman’s Knitting Without Tears to foster world peace.

(badge text copyright Brenda Dayne and Cast-on, with her thanks to Zabet Stewart and the Science Scouts at Science Creative Quarterly)

Friday Five: Five knitting blogs we can't get enough of

We are busy as bees today, but still wanted to get out the Friday Five. Our cop-out, I mean, compromise between wanting to blog and not having time to blog is to... tell you about blogs we like to read! And while we bet you think this is going to be a post about The Yarn Harlot (whom we love) there are other knitting blogs out there, and here are five of them that we can't get enough of.

Hello Yarn

JenLa

Modeknit / Knitting Heretic

The Panopticon

Wendy Knits

To do justice to these excellent writers would take most of the rest of the day, so just trust us. Give them a try. You'll like what they have to say. Some are funny, some are educational, most have cute pictures of animals-- we read them all for different reasons, and hope we can addict you to them as well.

February is for Damejain

Continuing with "2008: A Year in Scarves", here is the February scarf, titled "February is for Damejain.” The pattern for will be available in the shop later today (tomorrow at the latest) and is available for download here.



Yarn: 2 1/2 skeins of Dark Horse Fantasy
Needles: Size 8 straights
Pattern: February is for Damejain