Sock Yarn club update

We have had many comments from people who missed the sign-ups for the sock club, so we have decided to offer it again. Through Monday, December 8th (or earlier, if the spots fill up), you can choose one of the two following options (Options 1 & 2 are already closed):

Option 3 (four spots available) -
$50 for in-store pickup/$65 with shipping
You will get three 400-yard skeins of hand-dyed sock yarn, one each during the months of December, April, and August.

Option 4 (four spots available) –
$80 for in-store pickup/$105 with shipping
You will get five 400-yard skeins of hand-dyed sock yarn, one each during the months of December, February, April, June, and August.

And now, the pinky swear: we promise to send you hand-dyed sock yarn and we promise to do our best to produce a quality product. We promise that the color for each month will not be for sale in our shop until six months after the month that we send it to you. We understand that the colors we choose to dye may not wind up being your particular favorite; we ask that just as we are not selling that color in a retail setting for six months, that you also do the same and promise not to sell anything you don’t like until after the six month mark.

This is what the October yarn, Purple Raven, looked like:


And this is how it knits up, in a feather & fan pattern:

Thanksgiving Week Hours

Next week–

We will be open on Wednesday, November 26th from 10-5, closed on Thursday and Friday, and will re-open for our normal business hours on Saturday, November 29, 2008.

In other words:
Sunday 11/23 - Open 10 AM - 7 PM
Monday 11/24 - Open 10 AM - 7 PM
Tuesday 11/25 - Closed as normal
Wednesday 11/26 - Open 10 AM - 5 PM
Thursday 11/27 - Closed! Gobble gobble!
Friday 11/28 - Closed! Gobble gobble!
Saturday 11/29 - Open 10 AM - 7 PM

The October Lace Class

Back in October we had an Introduction to Lace Knitting class. I have been remiss in posting about the fabulous pillow that Caitlin put together for this class:





Caitlin is getting married in February, and her schedule is pretty full until then. But we definitely have plans to ask her to teach this popular class again!

Uptown Art Hop

Next Friday, November the 21st, will be the first Uptown Art Hop.

The newly formed arts, shopping and entertainment district, UPTOWN AT 43RD STREET, proudly presents the UPTOWN ART HOP. The district includes art galleries, businesses and restaurants in Thornebrook Village, The Market Place and Millhopper Square.

Join us for our inaugural art hop Friday, November 21, 2008, from 6 to 9 PM.

Event attendees will be able to pick a map up from any of the participating businesses and “hop” from place to place enjoying an evening of shopping, refreshments, and artist demonstrations. Join us to see a sampling of some of the best art in Gainesville, ranging from one-of-a-kind locally made art, to gifts from the far corners of the earth. A rickshaw shuttle will allow event goers to easily travel the short distance between stops.

We would really love it if some of our regulars were available that night to swing by and hang out, showing what we all know– that knitting and crochet is pretty darn hip! We will be having a spinning class on one half of the store but would love to fill “the living room” up with great folks! To entice you more, we will be serving wine and nibbles, as will most everyone else in the plaza (I hear that Alternatives is going to have Sangria, yum!). We’ll be open that night until 9 PM, and would really love to have you swing by!

And if you do swing by, don't just visit us-- there are a ton of other shops and galleries open that night, all serving wine and showing off the great things that you can buy locally (many of which are also produced locally). Because if you're buying locally, you're investing in our community!

Do you think he wants some yarn?

We had a visitor out in front of the shop the other day--



... which has totally nothing whatsoever to do with yarn, but I thought it was pretty cool and wanted to share it. Thanks, Marie, for pointing him out when you stopped in!

New yarn: Malabrigo and Jade Sapphire

The new Malabrigo sock yarn is up on our website!

We also are working on Jade Sapphire; we have both the Lacey Lamb and the Silk Cashmere listed, but photos will take another 24-48 hours.

Thanks for your patience, and your excitement over our new lovelies!

Malabrigo Sock Yarn is on the shelf!

... but probably not for long!





We got in the following 17 colors:

Alcaucil
Archangel
Black
Chocolate Amargo
Cordovan
Cote D Azure
Impressionist Sky
Indiecita
Lettuce
Natural
Ochre
Solis
Stonechat
Terracota
Tiziano Red
Velvet Grape
Violeta Africa

And since it's going to take us a day or two to get it up on the website, we thought it faster to get photos up on Flickr so at least you could see the colors. You can check them out here.

Oh! You might want details-- 440 yards, 3.5 ounces, and while it doesn't say on the label we're eyeing it as needing about a US 1 (it's mighty skinny yarn). Our price is $19.00. Don't knit socks? This is going to be excellent for shawls!

We're open until 7:00 tonight! Just sayin'!

Discussion of the Month

While we've seen books and free online patterns for what I'm about to ask, and we've talked with people who have said they were thinking about doing this, we've never actually seen anyone crochet or knit for their pets. Cat toys, sure; but we've never actually seen someone crochet or knit, say, a dog sweater. Or a ferret sling.

Have you ever crafted for one of your pets? What yarn did you use? What pattern? Did the pet like it? How did it work out? Share your stories-- and if you have photos, send them to us and we'll post them!

Refilling the sale bins

We've added a couple of things to our $2 sale bin, and oodles of things to both our $5 sale bin and our $10 sale bin (everything from Cherry Tree Hill to Colinette to Prism!)! Go crazy! Have fun! And if you're in town, don't forget you can choose "in-store pick-up" as your shipping option-- we'll pull the yarn and have it for you next time you swing by!

Frequent Buyer Program

We've gotten a number of new customers over the last few months, and while we try to remember to tell everyone, we wanted to make sure that anyone we forgot to tell knows that we offer a discount to Frequent Shoppers.

From the page about it on our online shop:

Are you a regular shopper with Hanks Yarn and Fiber? Did you know that we offer a Frequent Buyer Program both in the store and online?

* Spend $500 and get a 10% discount on all future purchases!
* Spend $1000 and get a 15% discount on all future purchases!

How does it work? We enter you into our computer in the shop, or you fill out an online profile, and we track your purchases over time. When you've spent $500, you automagically start getting your discount-- and when you've spent $1000, your discount gets even better!
- You don't have to spend the $500 or $1000 all at one time; we track your purchases so no matter how long (or how soon) it takes, your discount will kick in.
- Sales in the shop and online both count towards your total.

Have any questions? Feel free to drop us a line using our Contact Page and we will get back with you as soon as possible.

Spring forward, Fall back!

Just in case you are a flake (like me) and always forget about this (like I do)... tonight is the time change! Set your clocks back one hour and enjoy that extra hour of sleep (I know I will)!