The things we do for yarn.

To most knitters there's nothing more glamorous than working at a knitting store (except, perhaps, owning a knitting store) and, most of the time, LYS employees will agree.

Most of the time. Last Friday, however, all I heard from my coworkers were complaints as we did a quick photoshoot for the weekend's eCard.

You may remember it?

And, really, what a bunch of whiners. It couldn't have been more than five minutes (ten on the outside) that we were, ah, posing...

(From left to right: Me, Jaia, Marjorie, Lindsay, and Sandy Kay)

... against a brick wall, and they started kvetching about how cold it was or that their fingers were going numb or how their shoulders had frozen in place. Sheesh. Consider the importance of the project, my coworkers! If we don't stop to illuminate the world about exciting new mitten and wristlet patterns, who will? It is our duty, nay, privilege, to model shop samples in strange and interesting ways!

Let this be a lesson to current/ future/ hopeful LYS employees - working at a knitting shop isn't all knitting cashmere.

Anyway. Thought I'd share the latest behind-the-scenes look at Knit Purl.

Moving on. We have some fantastic new accessories in. My favorite are the Classic Shawl Pins, distributed by Lantern Moon. Sleek and simple, these polished metal pretties are just what I want in a shawl pin:



Well made, beautiful and modest enough not to detract from the shawl it's pinning closed. Since I mostly wear handknit shawls (or would like to), I'd rather the shawl be the focus and not the pin. But, if you're into the bling (and there's nothing wrong with that!), Lantern Moon has also released these Textured Metal Shawl Pins:




Which, I have to say, are quite lovely. They make me think of Moroccan jewelry - with all the granulation in different sizes and concentric circles. It's very pretty and quite attractive and would probably work really well with a sweeping shawl or cloak. Can't you just imagine it?

Both shawl pins were designed by Jim Knopf, who seems to have an awesome collection of buttons and other accents across the pond, in Germany. Interestingly enough, knopf means "button" in German. Isn't that a fun fact?

We're still waiting on some of his newest button collections and some more shawl pins - all distributed by Lantern Moon. Be sure to watch the website for updates.

And, last but certainly not least, we just received several copies of the eagerly anticipated book, Itty-Bitty Toys:

Written by Susan B. Anderson, the same author of Itty-Bitty Nursery and Itty-Bitty Hats, this collection is so much more than you'd expect. With toys that range from traditional Sock Monkeys and Teddy Bears, there are also Koalas and a Giraffe and a ducky family!

I grabbed some sample photos from Susan's ravelry journal, just so you can see how unbelievably cute this book is:

Koala Mama & Baby	Mama Duck & Ducklings
Giraffe	Christmas Set

Sweet, right? We just love it. I think my favorite is the Mama Duck & Ducklings, followed closely by the Giraffe. Check out the book on ravelry, it's too cute to resist! Be sure to look at least one of the reversibles - toys that can change from one animal into another! Like the Lion & Elephant. If you saw them in a toy box, you'd never guess they were handknit, would you?

And I think that's quite enough awesomeness to share this week. Check back next week for a book full of wool, the joys of shipping out a Sock Club installment (don't worry, I'll get photos!), and proof of my incurable Start-itis (you may want to read this from a distance, it may just be contagious).

Until then, enjoy the liquid sunshine out there!

We love colors.

All of them. A lot. Which is why we've set up our newest display:

And just might be planning some wicked Fair Isle treats over the next few weeks. Oh, yes, indeedy. Along those lines, Alice Starmore's Book of Fair Isle Knitting is BACK IN STOCK!


Get your copy while we still have them. I know I (and several other staff members) have. This is THE reference to have on the art of Fair Isle. Really, honestly, and truly. It has pages and pages of detailed diagrams, pictures and instructions on everything from technique to designing your own sweater. If you're a knitting tech-phile, this is the book for you.

Anyway, that's what I think.

Moving on... Frances kindly brought in her newly finished Girasole:

No, it hasn't been blocked. But it's still gorgeous! In fact, I had a hard time taking a photo that didn't have someone or another's hand on it, petting. The finished "cloth" is just sublime - due entirely to the high quality of Catherine Lowe's Silk Mohair 1. And Frances has promised to bring it in after she blocked it, so keep an eye out for that!

Lastly, we sent out the very first Sock Club 2010 packages this afternoon! Excitement abounds. We can't wait to see (and hear) your reactions, o loyal Sock Club members, so please let us know what you think. Until next time, blogfans, start planning those Fair Isle projects...

A dose of silliness never hurt anyone.

'Specially not around here. But before we get to that, here's something serious-ish to balance the large quantity of silly coming your way. Last week we received several copies of the coveted books Kunst stricken:

Which translates literally into "knit art". Cool, huh? The books include patterns from the turn of the century for a variety of lace accessories. And because we're too curious for our own good, we couldn't help but open one - the charts are unbelievable.

And that's enough seriousness. Today we had a visit from Mortaine, the creator of the comic book series Handknit Heroes*:

Of course, we can't release her secret identity (hence the blurry photo). But she gave us a sneak preview of the mask kit that will soon be available as well as the details of their mask contest, in case any of our loyal readers might want to enter.

Of course, as soon as the mask came out, everyone had to try it on. First Jenni:

But, really, it was Sandy B. who had the most fun with the mask:

And here she's off to fight crime in very knitterly fashion:

... with a little help from a stepstool.

You know you wish you'd been here. Until next time, evildoers beware!

*Issue #2 is available in the store and will be online in a day or so.

Such a lot.

I'd apologize for the tardiness of this post, but it was rather unavoidable. The past week has been a bit of a rollercoaster ride for the store what with a series of enormous shipments, some slight technical difficulties and a long-awaited visit from Catherine Lowe. But, before we get to all of that, we have a Boy-O-Boy cardigan knit by Elizabeth:

The pattern is from 101 Designer One-Skein Wonders and is here on ravelry. Elizabeth used ShibuiKnits Merino Worsted in "Wasabi" for her project, though I have no information on how much she used or who the finished cardigan might be for (blame Sandy Kay, not me).

Next, we have another knitnotwar1,0o0 Crane Count and a little blurb from the creator. First, the update: 12 more cranes! Which brings our total up to 129 cranes and puts us at 43% towards our goal (and, yes, you can see all this information on the sidebar, but I wanted to mention it anyway). A couple of weeks ago, I emailed Seann about the origins of the name "knitnotwar 1,0o0" because we've received many an email with that question in some form or another. Here's Seann's reply:

It's a silly reason why it is 1,0o0 and not just 1,000...when I first started the project a dear friend of mine and I were talking and she thought that the project sounded very serious while knitting is generally so fun and relaxing. I certainly didn't want folks to only regard it as a super serious project (it really is fun to knit the cranes and the spirit of it is supposed to be happy and hopeful!) I started adding a "o" in the title to just visually trip up the weight of it so it was a bit more lighthearted looking. I don't know if it did the trick, but my friend noticed and it made her happy!

So there you go. It makes sense, considering the bittersweet aspects of the story of Sadako Sasaki and the new connotations attached to origami cranes after the second World War.

Now, moving on to more lighthearted topics, we have some new products that are so very awesome I can't but mention them.

Firstly, we have three new patterns:

• Skif June/ September/ February
• Skif Buttonback/ Swing
• CoCoKnits Pleated Ballet Flats

The new Skif patterns in particular are super exciting for a Skif freak like me. Sandy Kay and I are already talking about resurrecting the Skif KAL for this summer. How's about it, our devoted readers - yay or nay? We could meet monthly and have a yarn sampling party and who-know's-what else. Just a thought.

Second, we have a (small) library's worth of new books. Most of which are from Japan; our favorites include: Favorite Aran Knits (the cables in here are fabulous), Easy Knit & Crochet (check out those legwarmes on the cover!) and several new Amigurumi/ toy books.

Then, of course (you'll have seen this in the most recent Newsletter), we have Cookie A's highly coveted Sock Innovation.


Can I just say how much I love this book? I already have my own copy and am planning to knit at least half the patterns within. And, since we have "No Mean Feet!" tonight, maybe discussion of a store KAL isn't out of order. Anyone interested?

And, maybe, that's everything for today's belated post. Check back tomorrow (we should have some post-worthy stuff then), for a really cool FO Wendy just finished for a friend. Hint, it involves some amazing Fair Isle creativity.

Oops?

Last Thursday was a bit hectic, so no post... sorry about that. We're going to catch up quickly, though, you might want to hold onto your hats!

Let's start off with the cranes. We've received lots of positive feedback for our knitnotwar KAL and have already collected cranes for the installation. Here's one knit by Melissa:


We've been hearing that they're quite quick to knit up (Sandy Kay made one in half an hour with scraps of Shetland Spindrift), so here's hoping we'll make our 300 cranes goal by March 31st! (Now, I haven't been given a total of all the cranes we've collected, so the sidebar hasn't been updated yet - check back on Thursday.)

Next, Lynne came to visit us and brought the blanket she's knitting for her son:

The Ombre Alpaca Blanket from Last Minute Knitted Gifts. Knit up with 12 skeins of Joseph Galler Prime Alpaca and Peruvian Tweed, 6 colors in all that are held together to create a lovely gradation from cream to chocolate brown. Here's a close-up:

Aaaand... even closer:

(Liz had fun taking pictures of this one)

If you're interested in making your own, Lynne owned up to the fact that she's making her son's blanket larger than the pattern, so you'd probably only need one skein of each color. Possibly. There might be some math involved in confirming that...

Next, from Folk Shawls, Sheila brought in her finished Celtic Lattice Vest:

and back:

She made it for a friend who is a surveyor and travels the world (surveying, presumably). Sheila thought that the lovely Celtic knots resembled mapping terrain. I'd have to agree. The vest was lovely (sorry about the blurry photos), and made with Kauni W-EV and Hifa 2. Just gorgeous. Lucky friend, eh?

And, last but not least in the 'pretty photos' catagory, we have a giant heap o' Tanglewood handspun yarn:

(isn't that just yummy?)

Brought to us by the Ladies of Tanglewood Fibers themselves, as we will be representing them (and Abstract Fiber, Happiest Girl! Dyeworks, Ruth Sorensen, Handworks NW and Lantern Moon) at the Madrona Fiber Arts Festival this weekend. If you're in the area, please drop by and say 'hi'! I'm sure the ladies (and gentlemen) at the Knit Purl booths (#'s 38 & 39) will be glad to meet some of our blog readers.

Finally, I've been asked to mention the upcoming Loop 'N Hoop 2009 on Thursday, March 26th. We've been invited to bring 25 knitters to the Portland Trail Blazers vs. Phoenix Suns game. Tickets will be available for $25 each at the store. Included with each ticket is a goodie bag (put together by Portland LYSes) that will be available at the door. Please note that space is limited (5 seats have already been stolen by employees) and there will only be 200 seats total for knitters to reserve.

Until Thursday, keep warm and dry!

As it is Thursday...

Another day, another post. And have we got a worthwhile project for all our loyal blog readers. If you've checked out the News & Events page recently, you'll know that we're helping knitnotwar with their 1,0o0 cranes project. At the moment, we have 700 cranes strung and floating in our side display window, if you'd like to see them.

(it was cold outside, so sue me)

Anyway, if you do the math... 1,000 - 700 = 300. Which means we are trying to gather 300 cranes for knitnotwar by May 1, 2009 - the tentatively schedule installation date. As I know for a fact* that we have 100 subscribers to this blog alone, if every single one of you knit just one crane, we'd have a third of our cranes done.

There's a free pattern online (it's also in the book Knitalong), if you're interested. We'll also be hosting two knitnotwar 1,0o0 Nights on February 4th and March 4th (6 - 8pm), for knitters to drop by and knit in cozy company. There will be a prize drawing on March 31st for everyone who donated a crane. I am told the Grand Prize is worth around $100, if that piques your interest...

And here we have a closeup of the cranes:

And here are some of the incumbent cranes:

Because I had a camera and sort of know how to use it. Please feel free to drop by the store and pick up a printed version of the pattern (and see the cranes in person). I'll also have a running count of the cranes donated on the blog's sidebar. Or, if you're outside the PDX area, do contact us about sending a crane or two in by mail. Thanks!

See you on Tuesday!

*Don't ask how. Ve haff means of finding things out.


ETA @ 4:57pm:
I have just found out that we will be rewarding participants with $0.50 in store credit for every crane they knit. Sooo, if you knit 30 cranes, you'll get $15 in store credit! It's my understanding that a single crane takes only 20y of worsted weight yarn - so they can be made with scraps really quickly. We'll find out how quickly fairly soon, I think.

Drowing in boxes

It's been a Big Shipments kind of week. The cardboard remnants of many a large shipping box still clutter unexpected areas of the store.

First, there was the gianormous box of Koigu KPPPM, KPM, and Kersti:

Which took two hours for Tessa and Jenni to count all the skeins.

But, luckily, expect to see some colors (like ___) that haven't been on the Sock Wall for awhile. I myself may just stock up. Especially since everyone* knows that sock yarn doesn't count.

Then, there were the Japanese books we've been waiting for since... too long to actually pinpoint.

3 titles are back in stock (from left to right): Scandinavian Mittens, Men's Knit and Clear & Simple Knitting Symbols.

After falling (rather hard) for several Japanese stitchionaries I've picked up along the way, the Clear & Simple Knitting Symbols is becoming mighty tempting as some of the charted symbols in my favorite patterns look like something out of a Klingon's copy of Shakespeare.

In non-stash-enhancement news, Fearless Leader and SB have left us to cavort at TNNA. Despite this, much continues as before. The Sheep Shop scarf is nearly done and... well, we're just busy, busy, busy. Maybe next week we'll have some customer projects, if customers might bring them in (hint, hint). Have a great weekend!

*Except my family and several of my coworkers.

just a rainbow of projects

Or, more accurately, rainbow-colored projects.

To begin with, I apologize for the blurry quality of the following photos. I was trying out the smaller store camera, with less luck than expected.

On the right, I just wanted to let all y'all in Blogland know that we do have the NEW AlterKNITS Felt in stock and we also have the cool Wool Mix bags by Leigh Radford (the book's author & Portland local) available, too for your felting pleasure.

If you want an opinion about this book - we think it's fantastic. There are some amazing projects and techniques in here, so it's definitely worth browsing through and would even make a great coffee-table book.

Next... lessee, we have a very cool scarf being knit by Joanne that I wanted to show off:

Using a ball of the Kauni W-EQ Effektgarn and the traditional Feather & Fan Shetland lace pattern. It's just lovely, and very sqooshy to... well, sqoosh. We were all delighting in the color changes at the last Sip 'N Stitch I sat in on.

And, finally*, we just got in the 2008 Judy's Colors trunk show. OMG, these are amazing kits. Long-time customers might remember the fantastic Christmas stocking kits we had for sale last year. Well, this year's collection is just as imaginative and even more colorful:

We had a lot of fun hanging them up, too. Can you tell?

That's everything I've got for now. But, if you're in town, drop by to see the new yarns that will be showing up in the Newsletter and on the New Wall. I'm afraid I couldn't get decent pictures of them this time around, but they will show up on the blog... eventually.

*I apologize for the brevity of this post - we've got a lot happening this week! Look for the next Newsletter in your mailbox this Friday, for more information.

A Rock Star and the News

Where to begin... there is just so much news on the yarnfront... Mind you it's not good news. Tragic news is the best word to describe it actually. The best way to take the sting out a bit is to sandwich the news between some happy news.

Happy news: we have a rockstar in our midst and her name is Esther Hynes. Since Esther lives in California we do not have a current photo of her. I imagine she looks like this. Here is a picture of her with her sister.

As you know, rockin' is a tough job. You're traveling to the next gig, eating food on the road, and you need to make sure you look hot for the next show. You just wore the black lacy outfit at the last show and you'd like to bring out something colorful for that very special groupie you've had your eye on. Something like this:









The "Butterfly Poncho" from Knits from a Painter's Palette. It can be worn in two different ways making the costume changes between sets easy.

















You would really like to wear the "Kimono Jacket" that Maie Landra designed in the Vogue Anniverary issue, but you've been knitting for one year and you are only 25% done:


It uses a crazy amount of Koigu, but the color change keeps you entertained and the blues and greens really makes the color of your eyes pop. Perhaps you can finish on the way to your next gig in Portland. Yeah, 'cuz you're a Barracuda.

------------------


Now for somber news: in May the Malabrigo factory had a fire.

(Told you the news was tragic.) We will take the sharp inhalation of breath as a response similar to our own. We are sick. Pit-of-the-stomach-stabbing-pain sick.

The good news is the mill is still running, but because they are in Uruguay and have to deal with Uruguian bureaucracy, they haven't even been given the okay (as yet) to return to rebuild the warehouse, or start dyeing again.



The delay means any Malibrigo yarn available in the store right now is all we can get. All of it. I want Lace Baby in "Amoroso" for my next SKIF project, but it's not gonna happen. We would love to get more to you but we can't. Because they can't. Because of Uraguian beaurocracy, the space-time continuum, and the Ides of March. No more.

At least, no more for awhile. The rumor mill has the first Lace Baby being available sometime in April 2009. So there you go.

------------------

Now even more somber news (anyone need a therapist yet?): In keeping with the theme of rumors, or fires, or Pit-of-the-stomach-stabbing-pain we are loathe to announce...

You might need to sit down for this...

Our good buddy Lars (good ol' Lars), of Unicorn Book Publishing, told us the news...

We are loathe to announce: the warehouse fire that destroyed the master copies of Poetry in Stitches.

Yeah that's gonna sting for a bit. Try some aloe or some antibiotic ointment.


Can you even believe it? It seems getting a copy of this book is like trying to kill a windmill. So, the first editions that those smart knitters have (The Blogger is not one of them) is like gold, wrapped in platinum and coated in diamonds.


Eventually there will be more. For everyone who signed up on our list (all those names we painstakingly recorded) do not worry. We plan on making big announcements when we hear more about the return of the book. Just keep us updated on your shipping address if we are to mail your copy to you.

------------------

After all that gut-wrenching pain, I leave you with a bit-o-pretty:

Zena.
Isn't she just divine?












I sprinkled some Catherine Lowe Alpaca in the mix and now I must have more. See the pretty plum color (as opposed to the chocolate or blueberry color)?


Knitting it in was akin to heaven.


My yarn diet is collapsing in a big way.

Another Noro sock

That manages to make mine look rather simple and plain (but that's okay):

My socks are happy with their simplicity, I'm sure. Shown above is Sarah, one of our Sock Knitters Night regulars, showing off her latest finished sock - knit with Noro Kureyon Sock S185. She plugged in a very pretty stitch pattern, courtesy of Barbara Walker, and tried out one of Cat Bordhi's mind-blowing heels and toes from New Pathways for Sock Knitters.

Seriously, if you want to challenge yourself and destroy any preconceptions you had about sock knitting, check out this book. Ms Bordhi must be some sort of super genius, or something.

What were the rest of us knitting? you ask. We-ell, I'm afraid we were mostly the vanilla or ribbed sock knitters last night. Maybe I should bring in Pomatomus or Firestarter next time...

Badgering Works!

It always seemed a shame to me as a child that few people appreciated my "feisty" temperament. As a matter of principle, I corrected adults who tried to win my favor and thought it charming to shorten my name to a familiar nickname. Gentle but firm I would look them squarely in the eye and reply, "Please don't call me that. That is not my name. That's my brother's name and my father's name." Most adults would just stare at me like I spit on the baby, but a few told me my feisty attitude would take me places.

Occasionally, it has.

As a child I explained to Santa if I was to become a ballerina/princess/astronomer, I would need a telescope to start the scientific end of my future career. I got one.
As a sixteen year old, I dressed in my best skirt and blouse and walked inside Trump Tower in New York city to ya know, check the place out. It was nice.
New to Los Angeles, as an adult I landed a dream job in jewelry by calmly explaining (unannounced) to the owner why he would be making a mistake if he didn't hire me. He hired me.

Recently, I discovered women and men who share the same love of geeky order, who don't think me (too) weird for organizing yarn by color, who understand my need for the pretty. They appreciate salty personalities and my insistence that if you just badger someone a bit they will come around to your way of thinking. My co-workers, turned friends, believe badgering works because they are feisty too.

In the world of yarn, Recent evidence that badgering works includes the long awaited reprinting of Solveig Hisdal's stunning Poetry In Stitches book. Several calls to Norway using words like "pretty, pretty, please" and "c'mon you know you wanna" by Fearless Leader and staff produced a rumor that is 95% sure to come true.
Yeah I know, ninety-five percent sure? We believe they will reprint it because badgering them to include copies of the pattern in their kits has proved successful. (Norwegians are so totally unprepared for our brand of systematic haranguing.) Their kits are fabulous, the yarn superb, and the book incredible. They have a product that Americans are blessed to get : old-world, timeless knitwear. We committed to 50 copies of the reprinted Poetry In Stitches so if you want a copy that won't cost you your first born on Ebay, pre-order one here. We have the yarn too, but you can always just get the kit you want to knit because they now include the pattern. That is, until they get the new copies of the book out...



Badgering Malabrigo proved successful as well. They are incredibly busy running a farm and yarn company. As we've encountered in the past, if you call them up (you call Florida and then they patch you through) sometimes you catch them during "lambing season" and your order for all your anxious customers just has to wait. Which is fair. I think anyone, man or beast giving birth has the right to say "Uh, sorry I can't give you any wool right now. I'm a little busy having a baby sheep." People of course wouldn't say that. Just substitute wool for spreadsheet and omit the sheep part. Makes more sense now, doesn't it?

While hounding the very sweet Malabrigo-tonians we discovered our automatic ordering system didn't jive well with their system. They only send out their orders after it is complete and we were sending them orders near weekly. They could never fulfill all the orders at once so they kept holding the yarn from going out.
So we learned something new and they sent us our yarn, all eight-thousand dollars worth.




We have new colors as well:

That's hot, huh?
The shipment is so pretty it begs for rolling around in... homina.

So, the moral of this story is: always make a pest of yourself for yarn.
Perhaps that's a bit obnoxious. How about: The squeaky wheel gets the grease.
Yeah, too trite. Take your pick of one of these quotes then:

Seize opportunity by the beard, for it is bald behind. -Bulgarian Proverb

Victory belongs to the most persevering. -Napoleon Bonaparte (1769 - 1821)

By perseverance the snail reached the ark. -Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834 - 1892)

Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work. -Thomas A. Edison (1847 - 1931)

Nothing in the world can take the place of Persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan 'Press On' has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race. -Calvin Coolidge (1872 - 1933)