So long; and thanks for all the fish.

Dear friends and loved ones;

It's been a long year since we made the decision to close the bricks and mortar shop and go online. That year has seen many new opportunities open up for the three of us. What I'm about to say will not affect the current fiber and sock clubs - those will still arrive as scheduled in your mailboxes and hot little hands - but starting tomorrow, June 22nd, we will begin the process of closing the online portion of Hanks Yarn and Fiber.

As I said, this will *not* affect your status in the current fiber and sock clubs; Sharon will continue to dye and mail the fiber clubs, and Lorena already has great plans for not only the final August installment of the sock club (you should all have hopefully received the June shipment by now) but also for more sock clubs in the future, as she will be folding her yarn dyeing activities into her current job at HaldeCraft.

Starting tomorrow, look for discounts to begin showing up on the Hanks Yarn and Fiber online shop until we close that out (after approximately July 15th, any remaining stock will be moved to Etsy). You may also contact us at the Hanks email address until then as well. We will no longer be using our Twitter feed (although, man, were there some great in-shop customer quotes on that or what?!) or updating our Facebook page.

Sharon will soon be taking on more duties at Peaceful Paths Domestic Abuse Shelter, where she has been working for the last year (you can also find them on Facebook). She looks forward to continuing to see people sometimes at the Sunday Stitch 'n' Bitch, or whenever there is an in-town Roller Derby meet. She will continue to dye and mail out the fiber club.

Ginger continues to work full-time at the University of Florida, and her fibery adventures can be followed over at Ewephoric Fibers, where she and Jane process some of the most beautiful fiber you will ever see and touch. You can also find them on Facebook. Ginger and Jane also look forward to the occasional Sunday SnB, and also fiber events like the upcoming Florida Fiber-in, in Orlando this coming September.

Lorena can be found where she has been for the last year, making soaps and ceramics - and now dyeing yarn - for HaldeCraft (which you can also find on Facebook). She will continue to dye and mail out the sock club, and should anyone wish to join the next sock club she will be posting information about that soon on the HaldeCraft Facebook page and her blog. She will also continue, after Hanks closes completely, to dye some of the most popular colorways in a variety of bases. She can't promise all the colorways, but previous customers looking to get another skein or two of an old Hanks colorway should definitely drop her a line -- she'll be happy to custom dye anything you need.

Ginger and Lorena encourage you to stick with them still on Ravelry, where they will shortly be changing the name of the Hanks group to reflect the two business they have started (Ewephoric Fibers and HaldeCraft). They will be sharing the group so that people interested in both of them do not have to go searching for information.

Please contact us should you have any questions, and don't forget us. We love all y'all, and Hanks couldn't have been what it was without you.

XOXOXOXO
-- Ginger, Lorena, and Sharon

Third Thursday Night Spinners

Third Thursday Night Spinners will NOT be meeting this month - Wild Iris had an event scheduled that evening, so we are going to take a month off. See you solitary spinners in March!

Meet-ups and Gatherings

Even though our shop is online, we love to hang in person - please join us any time!

Stitch ‘n’ Bitch is Sundays at 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


Third Thursday Evening Spinners is at 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

In addition, there is periodically a Knit-a-long that meets on Thursday nights (unless it's the third Thursday of the month) and various social gatherings seem to have sprung up other places during the week. You can keep an eye out on the Gainesville Fiber Enthusiasts group on Ravelry, people are pretty good about posting open social gatherings there!

Coming soon... Sequoia!

WiPs - St. Brigid

Back in... October through December, we were doing a KAL with anything you wanted to knit (or crochet) out of any colorway of our yarn that you wanted to use. I opted for our Worsted Weight yarn in "Irish Coffee," and I started in on the sweater that inspired me to learn cables all those years ago - St. Brigid by Alice Starmore.



When I had seen this pattern years ago, I thought it was out of my league - both technique-wise and literally, as the book it was in was out of print and only occasionally able to be found on eBay for something in the $200-$300 range. I don't know about y'all, but that's a little out of my price range.

However, in September, the publisher re-released the book and I was able to get it for about $20, which is MUCH more within what I'm willing to spend.

I find the pattern slow going; not because it is hard (it's actually deceptively easy)... but because every time I finish two rows I want to hold it up and look at it for about five minutes before I go to the next row. Heh. Who knows what I'm talking about?!

Have you ever done this pattern?

Have you ever used our Worsted Weight yarn? Or what about our colorway, Irish Coffee, in any weight?

On Christmas Knitting

Late, I know - I thought I had posted this a month ago but apparently I did not! Still, funny-sad, and true.

Cables and Twists

Long-time Silk Hankies may remember a class we offered in 2009, to teach the difference between cables and twisted stitches. We gave copies of the pattern in the class, and also as a free pattern if you bought the yarn with which we designed the pattern; but we never offered it just as a free pattern. After numerous requests I've finally gotten the pattern up and available as a free Ravelry download - please help yourselves to Cables and Twists!

Third Thursday Night Spinners

Please join us at Wild Iris Books for Third Thursday Spinners on January 20th, 2011 from 6-8 PM; bring your wheel or drop spindle and some fiber and sit with others to do some spinning! Please note the time change - previously we have met from 5-7 (since when we used to meet at Hanks, we closed at 7) but since Wild Iris is open until 9 we have pushed our meeting back an hour!



Wild Iris Books
802 West University Avenue
Gainesville, FL 32601
(352) 375-7477

Yarn cups

We are now happy to accept special orders on yarn cups! Please keep in mind that there's only one of me, and I only have one mold - so there is a 3-week minimum turnaround on each cup ordered to allow for pouring, drying, cleaning, kiln firing, glazing, and another kiln firing. So if you order a dozen cups, it will take a couple of months - it took me three months to get the dozen that we had at Fiber-In in September. I just want to be up front and honest about the timeline, so that nobody sends an email thinking they'll be able to get a set of three by Friday. Each one is made, cleaned, and painted by hand, and as we all know as crafters, that takes time. I appreciate your patience and trust that you'll be happy with a quality product.

Current colors that we can do match our solid-color yarn line: Pretty in Pink, Vodka and OJ, Irish Coffee, Raspberry Beret, Green Grass, and Red Appletini. As of yet I have not been able to find a glaze that matches Grey Gardens, but I'm still searching and hoping to have something by the end of January. Cups are $15 each, regardless of color.

If you are interested in ordering a yarn mug, drop us a line. Please make sure to tell us what color or colors you are interested in and how many of each you would like; for example, "I'd like one cup in Irish Coffee!" or "I'd like three cups, one in Pretty in Pink and two in Raspberry Beret!". If you do have a definite date by which you need it, please let us know. Like I said above, there is a minimum 3-week turnaround for us to make and ship the mug to you but sometimes miracles do happen and I have one or two unglazed on the shelf that I can turnaround quickly.

Thanks, y'all, and I hope your week is off to a great start!

Juniper Windows

After a year off to recover from that afghan, we're back into the free pattern business! Wait, is it "business" if it's free? WHATEVER! We're just happy to show you the first of six patterns we'll be releasing this year, Juniper Windows.





Juniper Windows is a fun hat with a cabled pattern I’ve wanted to try for a while; it reminds me of the 120-year-old windows of the house my husband’s family used to own in South Bend, on Juniper Street.

There are two versions of this pattern in one; for a long hat with i-cord, follow as written… and for a shorter (“normal sized”) hat simply take out the section with rows 26-61, throw a few more decreases at the top and cinch it shut rather than do the i-cord.



This pattern is charted only, and probably wouldn’t be great for a first-time hat or cable knitter, but the adventurous intermediate knitter should be able to handle it, and of course the advanced knitter should be able to whip one out.