Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Our webstore will re-open soon!

Celebrate the birth of our new shop while celebrating the birth of our nation! Hanks Yarn and Fiber is happy announce the grand opening of our bright and shiny new webstore.

Things will take off like a Roman candle from Sunday, July  4th to Wednesday, July 7th, with 25% off everything in the shop! We’ll have the Hanks line of yarn, hand-dyed by Lorena, in lace, sock, sport, and worsted weights, along with our lovely goat’s milk based soap. We also welcome the return of Sock Bones in all sizes from teeny to tremendous. 

There will be free shipping on orders of more than $50, and contests as well: The first person to spend $100 (pre-tax) on Sunday will receive two skeins of organic worsted weight yarn dyed in the Hanks colorway of his or her choice; the first  person to spend $100 on Tuesday will receive a $50 gift certificate.  Stop on by www.hanksyarn.com over your long weekend and see what we have to offer!

Sunday, June 27, 2010

Sunday Photo

... with a nod to Douglas Adams

FO: Learning Log Cabin

Learning Log Cabin

Yarn: Aslan Trends Glaciar Del Cielo and South West Trading Company Vickie Howell Craft in a variety of colors
Needles: US #3, four circular needles
Pattern: A few months ago I decided I wanted to learn the log cabin technique, and to see at the same time how it would work by keeping all four sides "live" rather than binding off and picking up stitches. I didn't have a pattern, I just sort of... talked to other people who have done log cabin and just... went at it. It didn't turn out badly, but it wasn't the most fun thing I've ever knit. I would probably recommend following a pattern if someone were to want to jump into this - and even though cotton doesn't weave in very well, I would also recommend for those, like me, with a short attention span, a washcloth over an afghan.

Saturday, June 26, 2010

Sunday Stitch 'n' Bitch

Tomorrow, Sunday June 27th, will be the last Stitch 'n' Bitch at the shop.

Starting on Sunday, July 11th (we'll be taking a week off for July 4th), Stitch ‘n’ Bitch will be moving to Books-a-Million on NW 13th Street.

We hope to see you in the shop tomorrow. This will be our last day with doors open - don't forget that anything with a bar code will be 50% off, and anything else for sale will be priced as marked.

We hope that you'll stick with us online and in person on Sundays at Books-a-Million!

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Meet-Ups and Gatherings

We have some great news for meet-ups and gatherings!

Stitch ‘n’ Bitch will be moving to Books-a-Million on NW 13th Street!
Join this eclectic group of folks for a little crochet, knitting, and chatting about everything under the sun. Everyone is welcome!
Sundays | 2-4:30
Books-a-Million
2601 Northwest 13th Street
Gainesville, FL 32609
(352) 376-6623

Edited to add that SnB will not be starting in the new location until Sunday, July 11th, as the previous Sunday is July 4th (yay, picnics and fireworks!).

Third Thursday Evening Spinners will be moving to Wild Iris Books on University Avenue!
On the third Thursday of the month bring your wheel or drop spindle and some fiber and sit with us to do some spinning!
Third Thursday of the month | 5-7
Wild Iris Books
802 West University Avenue
Gainesville, FL 32601
(352) 375-7477

Sunday, June 20, 2010

FO: I want candy!

I want candy!

Yarn: Perhaps Today is a Good Day to Dye (Cash Sock) in "G-ma's Candy"
Needles: US #1, two circular needles
Pattern: generic toe-up with a short row heel, sort of made up as I went along.

Friday, June 18, 2010

Finished objects for sale

Oh yeah, and we have shop models for sale

We are selling some finished objects; priced as marked, no other discounts apply.

Third Thursday Spinners

We had an absolute blast last night - if you didn't come by, you seriously missed a party.

Third Thursday Spinners

1. Everybody in the front, 2. Everybody in the back, 3. Spinners, and a class, 4. Spinners, 5. Ginger on her Golding, 6. Me on the Golding, 7. Becca on the Golding, 8. Spin, Rachel! Spin!, 9. Sneaking a photo, 10. Spinning wheels, 11. Friendly faces, 12. Greg and Caitlin, 13. The Golding, 14. Greg on the Golding, 15. Caitlin on the Golding, 16. Sharon on the Golding, 17. Sharon on the Golding, 18. A room of happy, 19. Group shot, 20. Happy birthday, Caitlin!, 21. The fun begins, 22. Oh yeah, and we have shop models for sale, 23. The painted lady, 24. Happy wheels

We are working hard to line up a place to still have spinning on the third Thursday of the month; it may or may not be the same place we have Stitch 'n' Bitch on Sundays - please stick with us as we work on this, and keep checking back here because we will post when we find a place!

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Thursday Night Spinners

Don't forget that on the third Thursday of the month, from 5-7, you can bring your wheel or drop spindle and some fiber and sit with others to do some spinning! This gathering is great for spinners who work or go to school during the day and can't get to the morning gathering.

See you on June 17th?

It takes two, baby

Class: Intro to Knitting Continental Style

6/17/2010 (Thursday) | 6:00-8:00 | $25

Do you knit English style - holding your yarn in your right hand? This is also sometimes referred to as "throwing".

If you already know how to knit, and are interested in learning how to knit Continental style - holding your yarn in your left hand, also referred to as "picking" - then this workshop is for you!

Please read the following Class Policies, as some have changed:

PAYMENT: Classes do fill up early; so please reserve your space in the class by paying in advance. Payment is required within 7 days of signing up for the class or within one week before the class begins (whichever comes first).

CLASS SIZE AND MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS: All classes limited to five people. A minimum of 2 students is required for most classes to take place. If the minimum for a class is not reached, we will cancel the class and a full refund will be given.

IN BETWEEN CLASSES: Homework is required in most of our classes; we know that all of you have busy schedules but please be sure to allow time to finish the work needed for classes.

CANCELLATIONS/REFUNDS: When we publish our new class schedules, we have made an obligation to our teachers and we take that responsibility seriously. Please keep in mind our cancellation policy: If you miss the first class in a series you will be dropped from the remaining classes, receive a 75% refund on the class, and have the opportunity to purchase the class materials at retail price. You must contact Hanks within 48 hours after the missed class to receive your refund. If any other class in the session is missed without prior arrangement with the teacher, the student may set up a one-on-one makeup class with Sharon or Lorena at the regular price of $25 for two hours.

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

June sock club

How about a not-spoiler, sepia-toned, teaser photo of the June sock club?

Yarn in Sepia

The June sock club yarn is ready! If you’re in the area, please swing by and pick yours up any time - and if you’re not in the area, start looking in your mailbox by the weekend!

We'll be starting signups for the next sock club in a few months... if you've liked what you've seen so far, you won't want to miss next year!

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

The one where the fat lady cleared her throat as if to sing and we punched her in the face and stole her stupid Viking helmet.

Dear wonderful, supportive fiber enthusiasts; this is a hard post to write.

Hanks, as you know it, is going to be undergoing some pretty dramatic changes in the next month -- we're going to have to close the doors to the bricks-and-mortar portion of our store, and go to online shopping only.

- Starting on Wednesday, June 9th, everything in the shop (excluding items we'll be selling in the online shop, which we will squirrel away in order to sell online) will be 20% off. That pricing structure will run through the 14th.
- Starting on Wednesday, June 16, everything remaining in the shop will be 25% off. That pricing structure will run through the 21st.
- June 23rd - 30% off.
- June 24th - 35% off.
- June 25th - 40% off.
- June 26th - 45% off.
- Sunday, June 27th will be our last day with doors open, and everything in the shop will be 50% off.

Please don't wait hoping to pick something up at 50% off if you really want it - we can not hold items for anyone. Speaking of hold, if you have items on hold, please pick them up during the 20% off week; on the 16th everything in the office will be put on the sales floor.

-Non-barcoded items, such as the furniture, will be priced as marked.
-All sales are final.
-Returns on merchandise purchased before Wednesday, June 9th will be accepted until June 23rd. All other return policy requirements will be in effect. No returns will be accepted at all after June 23rd.
-We will maintain our regular hours throughout the sale: Wednesday through Monday, 10am-7pm.
-Discounts do not apply to phone, internet, or email orders unless you are using a gift certificate.
-Gift certificates will be honored for all merchandise and 'garage sale' items until closing. We plan to convert existing gift certificates into online gift certificates but we won't know how that will work until we get the new webstore in place.
-Any special orders that you've placed will be handled on a case by case basis. There will be no discount on these special orders other than the normal frequent customer discount that you may already be receiving.

A note about current Classes: As a matter of accident, classes on our current schedule run through the end of June. Anything that will get canceled will only get canceled because not enough people sign up. There won't be another schedule (unless maybe in the future we can find a place in which to hold classes) and for that we are deeply sorry. As an aside to teachers - we totally love you gals; you have absolutely rocked our worlds with your endless wells of talent and patience and creativity. Our classes have the great reputation they have because of you.

A note about Sunday Stitch 'n' Bitch - if anyone has any ideas about where it might be able to be held, speak up! So far the only idea we've come up with is at the new cafe being built in Book Gallery West across the parking lot from us (and we haven't even spoken to them about it, so no guarantee). From what I understand, libraries are out of the question as you can only reserve one room per month (unless you want to travel to different libraries, but that might get too confusing to keep the group together).

We *will* still be selling online (local delivery/pick-up is not out of the question), so keep your eye on the website to catch our big 4th of July sale! We'll be selling spinning fibers from Holly Birch Fibers and Ewephoric Fibers, Holly Birch Handspun, Haldesoap, Haldespun, and of course Perhaps Today is a Good Day to Dye -- in fact, there's REALLY good news about that because we'll be branching out almost immediately into sport and worsted weight yarns (special orders are welcome!) in addition to the sock and laceweights. We will continue having a sock club (so don't worry if you're expecting yarn in August - you'll still get it; and we have big plans for 2011 colorways!), and we're also going to be introducing a fiber club and a special surprise birthday club (more on the last two things later).

While some of the vendors we love do not sell to shops that are only online, there are some that do so we might not have many of them at first, but we do plan on building back up as much as we can. We hope that our fiber fiends, I mean, fiber FRIENDS, don't give up hope on us having access to those even if it does take a couple of months to get back into shape. And we hope to have tables at GLAM, Florida Fiber-In, and other reasonably local shows (SAFF, the Destin Spin-In). We will continue to be active on Ravelry, Facebook, and our blog (and hopefully with many of you in person) and we hope that you'll continue to comment on our posts, laugh at our jokes, and talk back to us on Twitter.

Monday, June 7, 2010

Class: Spin the Weight Yarn You Want

6/14/2010 (Monday) | 6:00-9:00 | $30
Students should bring their own wheel or drop spindle

Spinners must have some experience in spinning; while you don't have to be a graduate of one of our spinning classes, previous spinning experience on either a drop spindle or a wheel is required. Students should bring their own wheel or drop spindle - please call at least 48 hours in advance if you will need a wheel or spindle provided, so that we can reserve a wheel or spindle for you (there will be a small additional fee).

What you need to know how to do:
- have at least a rudimentary understanding of spinning

What we'll teach you how to do:
- techniques to improve your handspun
- how to plan your spinning to fit a specific weight yarn you are aiming for


PAYMENT: Classes do fill up early; so please reserve your space in the class by paying in advance. Payment is required within 7 days of signing up for the class or within one week before the class begins (whichever comes first).

CLASS SIZE AND MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS: All classes limited to five people. A minimum of 2 students is required for most classes to take place. If the minimum for a class is not reached, we will cancel the class and a full refund will be given.

IN BETWEEN CLASSES: Homework is required in most of our classes; we know that all of you have busy schedules but please be sure to allow time to finish the work needed for classes.

CANCELLATIONS/REFUNDS: When we publish our new class schedules, we have made an obligation to our teachers and we take that responsibility seriously. Please keep in mind our cancellation policy: If you miss the first class in a series you will be dropped from the remaining classes, receive a 75% refund on the class, and have the opportunity to purchase the class materials at retail price. You must contact Hanks within 48 hours after the missed class to receive your refund. If any other class in the session is missed without prior arrangement with the teacher, the student may set up a one-on-one makeup class with Sharon or Lorena at the regular price of $25 for two hours.

Sunday, June 6, 2010

Raspberry Beret


Six months ago in the sock club, this colorway was introduced in a sport-weight alpaca base; sadly we weren't able to get any of that base in time to debut the colorway for sale this month. Right now we have it in our Superwash Merino sock base - and I must warn you, this colorway is proving to be slightly persnickety. We can only guarantee a close color match for skeins dyed together in the same pot. One skein will make an average pair of socks (they are 400 yards) but if you are looking to make more than one pair of socks and you want them to match, we advise buying both skeins at the same time. We can't guarantee that the next batch will match 100%!

FO: Pink Coronet

Pink Coronet

Yarn: GGH Tara
Needles: US #7, double-pointed
Pattern: Coronet by Alexandra Virgiel

Saturday, June 5, 2010

Superwash Merino restock


Sorry about the trash can in the photo there... I guess I didn't plan that out too well.

For the last couple weeks I've been madly dyeing up Superwash Merino, and it is now done! June sock club is coming up soon... so expect a notice about that next week. Also, do you notice a new colorway in that pile? More info on that in a day or two!

Class: Toe Up Socks on Two Circular Needles

(See this pattern on Ravelry!)
6/12, 6/19, 6/26 (Saturdays) | 10:30-1:30 | $80

New to socks, or want to learn how to knit toe-up? Or want to learn the two-circular technique? This is the class for you!

During the three weeks of this class, a sock will be made using two circular needles, toe-up, with sport weight yarn.


Week one will be casting on, learning how to handle the circular needles, and knitting the toe (homework will include knitting the foot of the sock to the length you need).

Week two will be working the heel flap and turning the heel (homework will include knitting the leg to the length which you would like).

Week three will be continuing with your sock, the cuff, and binding off.


What you need to know how to do:
- cast on
- the knit stitch
- the purl stitch

What we'll teach you how to do:
- how to knit on circular needles
- basic sock construction
- how to knit socks

What materials are included:
- the pattern
- a skein of Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sport
- appropriate needles


Homework is required in this class, so be prepared to spend some time outside of class knitting!


Please read the following Class Policies, as some have changed:

PAYMENT: Classes do fill up early; so please reserve your space in the class by paying in advance. Payment is required within 7 days of signing up for the class or within one week before the class begins (whichever comes first).

CLASS SIZE AND MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS: All classes limited to five people. A minimum of 2 students is required for most classes to take place. If the minimum for a class is not reached, we will cancel the class and a full refund will be given.

IN BETWEEN CLASSES: Homework is required in most of our classes; we know that all of you have busy schedules but please be sure to allow time to finish the work needed for classes.

CANCELLATIONS/REFUNDS: When we publish our new class schedules, we have made an obligation to our teachers and we take that responsibility seriously. Please keep in mind our cancellation policy: If you miss the first class in a series you will be dropped from the remaining classes, receive a 75% refund on the class, and have the opportunity to purchase the class materials at retail price. You must contact Hanks within 48 hours after the missed class to receive your refund. If any other class in the session is missed without prior arrangement with the teacher, the student may set up a one-on-one makeup class with Sharon or Lorena at the regular price of $25 for two hours.

Thursday, June 3, 2010

Class: introduction to Spinning on a Drop Spindle

6/10, 6/24 (Thursdays) | 6:00-8:00 | $55
And please join us on 6/17 (5-7 PM) for Thursday Night Spinners (it’s free!)


Have you been curious about spinning, but are reluctant to jump in with both feet and get in front of a wheel? Consider the drop spindle! In one workshop you can learn the basics of spinning your own yarn on a drop spindle.

Pretty, pretty spindles


What you need to know how to do:
- nothing!

What we'll teach you how to do:
- spin with a drop spindle

What materials are included:
- drop spindle
- appropriate fiber for spinning

Please read the following Class Policies, as some have changed:

PAYMENT: Classes do fill up early; so please reserve your space in the class by paying in advance. Payment is required within 7 days of signing up for the class or within one week before the class begins (whichever comes first).

CLASS SIZE AND MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS: All classes limited to five people. A minimum of 2 students is required for most classes to take place. If the minimum for a class is not reached, we will cancel the class and a full refund will be given.

IN BETWEEN CLASSES: Homework is required in most of our classes; we know that all of you have busy schedules but please be sure to allow time to finish the work needed for classes.

CANCELLATIONS/REFUNDS: When we publish our new class schedules, we have made an obligation to our teachers and we take that responsibility seriously. Please keep in mind our cancellation policy: If you miss the first class in a series you will be dropped from the remaining classes, receive a 75% refund on the class, and have the opportunity to purchase the class materials at retail price. You must contact Hanks within 48 hours after the missed class to receive your refund. If any other class in the session is missed without prior arrangement with the teacher, the student may set up a one-on-one makeup class with Sharon or Lorena at the regular price of $25 for two hours.

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Class: Intermediate Lace Knitting - Clothilde

(See this pattern on Ravelry!)
6/9, 6/16, 6/23, 6/30 (Wednesdays) | 6:00-8:00 | $100

New to lace knitting and ready to get into a more intermediate-level project? This is the class for you!

What you need to know how to do:
- cast on
- the knit stitch
- the purl stitch
- increases and decreases

What we'll teach you how to do:
- how to strengthen your lace-knitting skills

What materials are included:
- the pattern
- one skein of Malabrigo Sock
- appropriate needles


PAYMENT: Classes do fill up early; so please reserve your space in the class by paying in advance. Payment is required within 7 days of signing up for the class or within one week before the class begins (whichever comes first).

CLASS SIZE AND MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS: All classes limited to five people. A minimum of 2 students is required for most classes to take place. If the minimum for a class is not reached, we will cancel the class and a full refund will be given.

IN BETWEEN CLASSES: Homework is required in most of our classes; we know that all of you have busy schedules but please be sure to allow time to finish the work needed for classes.

CANCELLATIONS/REFUNDS: When we publish our new class schedules, we have made an obligation to our teachers and we take that responsibility seriously. Please keep in mind our cancellation policy: If you miss the first class in a series you will be dropped from the remaining classes, receive a 75% refund on the class, and have the opportunity to purchase the class materials at retail price. You must contact Hanks within 48 hours after the missed class to receive your refund. If any other class in the session is missed without prior arrangement with the teacher, the student may set up a one-on-one makeup class with Sharon or Lorena at the regular price of $25 for two hours.