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.