I Was Remiss

I left off one color of the new multis from Lorna's in my post yesterday. Here's a glimpse of the beauty of Latte, her new brown combination (that replaces the now-extinct Mocha).


Loverly stuff, and I'm typically not one for browns. In other news, a full bag of the Blackwatch is gone already in the sock weight, so we're about to start in on the second bag (still plenty available!). More's on order, but ya'll are QUICK!

There's been calls for me to post more often, calls for pictures of new yarns, and calls for other shots and descriptions. I am really, REALLY wanting to post more, but there's not been time. Daytime in the shop is totally dedicated to helping folks, as our foot traffic has remained phenomenal (THANK YOU!), so mornings and evenings (nee, nights!) have been spent packing boxes, along with this past week being spent with my mom, before she left. I'm nearly caught up on things, as I took THREE FULL TUBS of mail to the PO on Thursday (they forgot to come back to get it in the afternoon) and the carrier took away a tub and a stack of boxes yesterday, then Matt went to the PO around 7 last night with another tub of boxes for folks who were packed after the afternoon pickup and after we closed for the evening. Today and tomorrow "international order day" so we can take them to the post office in person on Monday (you have to HAND them packages for outside of the US), as well as filling domestic orders. Your patience has been amazing and I appreciate it!

In yarn-delivery-related news, it's been a great week, even if I haven't been ordering much of late (seriously--I nearly went a week without calling for more yarn...SHOCKING). We now have the entire color collection from Misti International in their Chunky Baby Alpaca, seen here


I had the natural (upper left) but it's on back order. Everything else is on the shelf just four feet from me, and it's VERY grope-able. Our fun neighbor Dana (of sweater-on-the-butt fame) doesn't wear scarves (a travesty in today's fashion climate, but good for her for not caving in) so she wanted something warm, but not scarf-like. She really liked the loopy cowl from "Stitch N Bitch", but it was knitted at a worsted gauge and this stuff is a bulky gauge. Enter the simple task of refiguring based on gauge! Sunday of last weekend she and I sat down with a calculator and the pattern, reworked it for this yarn, and before the evening was out she had a WARM AND WONDERFUL cowl/hoodie combination that she wears and loves! And oh, is it soft! (and my mother fell in love with it--with good reason) Just in case you've forgotten, retail on this stuff is $12.40 for a 100g hank of 109 yards, so the ThreadBear price is $11.16. YUM!

In other yarn news, we did get NINE boxes yesterday, and you'll see the bounty of our delivery here shortly. Let it be WIDELY known that spring/summer is arriving in full force, as we received (just to tease you, before the pictures)

Manos del Uruguay Cotton Stria--their new hand-dyed cotton yarn that's a FUN boucle-like crimp (plus patterns that are SMASHING)--full color line is here. Pictures will be part of my next entry--I PROMISE. And the pattern support that came with is dynamite! Judith Shangold has some really fab designs!

Katia Yarns from Spain--Idea Jeans, Spray, Alba, Sevilla, Jet, Venecia, Twist, Mississippi 3, and a great kids' pattern book (#29, the new one). I have to laugh, as one of their new yarns has a name that's fairly off-color across the pond; we ordered it, but it's not in The States yet.

Gedifra Yarns--awesome stuff from Germany, including Beauty Cotton, California, California Color (smashing!), Distrato (a wild combo of cotton blend and eyelash that stripes), and more. No links because there are none on the US distributor's site (the yarns are too new, and the main Gedifra site is all German-language pages, so I can't find it there---but the music is tres groovy).

More metal yarn swifts--y'all have been snapping these (and the ball winders) up of late. Good job!

With that, I'm gone for the day. Know that I'll be posting more often, and that you'll see more and more pictures of the goodies that we're getting, as well as some of my knitting progress (with mom here last week, I actually got to knit some while we taught her how to knit). I am leading the last installment of our sock-making class this afternoon, where we're learning to knit the toes and then do the kitchener stitch. This is one MOTIVATED group and I can't wait to see how many pairs (seriously) some of those in the class will have completed, minus the toes (they've been buying sock yarns like mad, getting multiple sets of needles, and just flying through their homework between class--I've *never* had such a motivated group of new sock knitters--it's rewarding!). I've been working on socks as well, as I took a commissioned request for three pairs of my world-famous (ha!) Broadripple socks, using the Cascade Fixation called for in the pattern. It's been like visiting an old friend and I'm enjoying the knitting. And I like the idea of a sock pattern, so I've been contemplating doing another, probably for the summer issue of Knitty (because the spring deadline is........NEXT WEEKEND!!!! aaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrgh! I have a column to write as a follow-up to last issue's missive on felting!!!!)

On with the day--time to go stack yarn, straighten things up, and finish moving some Koigu yarns around. Snow is gently falling here, so it's a good thing! Have a fantastic weekend!

Just Under The Wire

As promised, here they are.........



Up top is Uptown........a kicky combo of BRIGHT turquoise, fucshia, and purple. The lower one is Lakeview, which is a great combo of purples, blues, and greens. The other two



Daffodil on top, which is beautiful in green, yellow, and a lovely blue. But the one I lust for is Blackwatch--a very smart combination of indigo, green, and charcoal. I have a special affinity for this one, as I carried a blackwatch plaid Polo wallet all during my teaching and graduate school years. I loved that wallet and it was beautiful!

I have these, plus a solid that matches the green in Daffodil, in sport and sock weights. I also have the Blackwatch in Helen's Lace (which I think would work up SMASHINGLY beautiful). Sock is $7.88 a skein (two for a pair of socks) and sport is $7.43 (again, two for a pair, with plenty left over). Let me know iffin' you want some posted over to you!

More blog entries to follow, but for the rest of the evening, I'm packing boxes and enjoying the quiet of the house. Matt and I are alone now (Mom left this morning, after a GREAT visit). Thanks for waiting while I didn't post!

BRAND SPANKIN NEW

I'll post a picture shortly, but UPS just brought a box of BRAND NEW COLORS from Lorna's Laces--their new multis and solids. We have them all, in both sport and sock weight. The colors are awesome, and I'm in complete lust with Blackwatch and Daffodil, the others as well.

Look for a picture to be up before 5 p.m. EST. Shipping begins IMMEDIATELY.

A Quick Hit

Mom arrived Saturday around 4 p.m. EST, Lana & Josh arrived about 1 p.m. EST, Eva around 1:30 p.m., and this


was returned about 2 p.m. EST. That means a host of good things:

I get to see my mommy for the first time in a couple years....YEAH! She looks great and has lost a good bit of weight--now I'll gladly knit a sweater for her, if she wants one (not that I wouldn't before, but....it's easier now and my knitting time is scarce!).

We got to share a great Saturday with a fun couple of folks from Brazil (IN) and see Lana's knitting prowess--a vest from the new Wiseman vests book, a fab sweater for Josh out of Kureyon #90, and an amazing Beth Brown-Reinsel design (in stunning Cascade 220 Rainier Heather) that Sarah has lusted after for a long time

A guaranteed trip to our local pseudo-Mongolian barbecue place (because Eva adores their fu chao bread)

There's eight hanks of the elusive Black-and-Fucshia Rumba back up for adoption to a good home.

Beyond that, it was a great Saturday, despite my middle toe on the left foot being swelled up like a red lightbulb (tragic sofa leg-toe incident a few days ago while packing boxes for shipping---don't ask). Mom got a chance to baby me, Matt made several hot compresses of epsom salts water, and I got to knit for a little bit last night. Pix soon, I promise.

With that, I'm off to lumber around the house and pack more boxes for shipping. I stole Matt's fuzzy feet this morning and I'll probably wear them today instead of shoes (can't get a real shoe on my left foot comfortably, so yesterday I wore some hand-knit socks he made me a year ago). Be well, and lemme know if you want some of that mohair!