Friday, August 14, 2009

MEET VERONIQUE

I have been very busy the last week and a half! I have added 14 yarn girls' designs to our Ravelry Store. These patterns are available to download for a fee (between $3.00 and $5.00) if you are on Ravelry - check it out and tell your friends to check it out. If you are not on Ravelry yet - get on it. It is a great resource for finding patterns to knit! I found it very overwhelming at first - but now I really think it is a great place to get exciting ideas. I have lot's more patterns to add and will add all the new items we design with the new yarns that come in. Last week, we got the mannequin that we ordered - her name is Veronique and aside from being rather broad shouldered, she is quite hot! So, we packed her and a bunch of sweaters up and headed to Riverside park for a photoshoot! You should have seen the wacky looks we got - toting this 6 foot bald lady around - prone - across our shopping cart. and on the way back - we separated her torso from her legs and stuffed her in the cart - people were stopping us on the street left and right - everybody had a comment! It was fun though - and the pictures look good. She wears our sweaters well. Getting Veronique ready for the photoshoot: Veronique in our Koigu/Superior wrap: And in the Alpalite cabled sweater: I have also been knitting up a storm. I knit 5 bracelets out of this great Lopi wool we got by Imperial Stock Ranch. Check out their website - they are a new company that we are doing business with this fall and I think they have a really interesting story. also we will be getting some roving from them later in the season that you can make some really cool scarves with - I am very excited. I am going to felt the bracelets next week and then we are going top make up kits - with different colors - to make 5 bracelets and you'll get the bag and the pattern. The yarn comes in awesome colors and is supposed to felt magnificently! I am also knitting up a sample in a new Teva Durham yarn - Granite that we are expecting shortly. And I worked on my Zara jacket for Zoe. Things have also been busy at home - we are redoing the kids' rooms since Zoe is going to go into a big girl bed when we get back from vacation. But I couldn't do things in a simple way - I decided that Max needed a new bed because his room is so small. I found this great bed at walmart that is a low loft bed - and has a desk, drawers, bookcase and mini closet built into it. Jeff drove out to Walmart the other night to pick it up (it came in 3 150lb boxes...we live in a 4th floor walk up...) - and last night we were up until 1:30 am putting it together. Actually - Jeff was putting it together - I just was there for the moral support and to hand him the proper screws. But it is done and Max can sleep on it tonight! Then on Thursday night we went out to Ikea to get Zoe a new dresser and bookcases - she is taking Max's old bed - we had it painted white. It was a very long nite at Ikea deciding what bookcases were right etc. We came home with 4 extremely heavy boxes. Jeff is obsessed and wants to put that stuff together tonight. We kind of need to at least do the dresser because all of Zoe's clothes are all over my bed because I gave Julie her dresser and the double bed that was in Zoe's room (as I write this Julie is now moving to New Jersey!). I am here for another week and then VACATION! I can't wait! Hopefully I'll blog once more before I leave and give an update on the new yarns that we've gotten!

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

New Fall Yarns & Ravelry Downloads

It is hot out there!! But that doesn't stop beautiful new wools from coming through the door on a daily basis. I have spent the past two weeks unpacking boxes and stocking shelves. The store is beginning to fill up and look enticing. We have gotten all of our fall Zara colors in. That's thirty-five scrumptious solid colors with which you can make baby blankets, adult throws (the zara garter stitch throw has been flying out of here), pillows, sweaters, skirts, hats and scarves! Zara is my absolute all time favorite and I think that this year it came in even softer than ever. It also washes wonderfully. I am currently working on a sweater jacket for Zoe - I am copying a sweater that I saw on the tv show Charlie & Lola. It has a charcoal bottom, small black line, and the rest is in dark brown. Then the front has srtiped pockets that are bright orange, pink and red. It's going to be adorable. We also got in Zara Chine - a tweedy zara that comes in fabulous color combinations; Zarina Print - a wonderful multi colored yarn that is slightly thinner than Zara; and Zarina Tweed - which has little flecks and looks very baby - perfect for baby sweaters and blankets. Zarina Print and Zarina Tweed: We received Koigu - half of our multis and most of our solids. People are having a ball picking out colors for the Koigu Wrap - it takes 7 colors, one ball of each. We received Punta del Este, Merisoft. It is a beautiful hand-dyed yarn that knits on a number 9 needle. It is super soft and the colors are to die for! We received Zara Plus in great colors. Here are some of the new ones: And Torino Bulky in a full range of colors. Start picking your colors for the Torino Dot Blanket now. Finally, we received Maxime Print for those of you who want to make a quick pair of socks. And quite a few colors of Karabella, Super Yak. And for those of you on Ravelry - we have begun to set up shop! We now have 5 of our favorite patterns available to download for a small fee. If you search Yarn Girls" they should come up. We have lots more on the way - just have to take pictures, and size patterns - so they will go up slowly but surely! Tell everyone you know to check it out. Foe those of you not on Ravelry yet - join - it's fun and then join our group The Yarn Co. And if not, we are still planning on putting up a Yarn Girls website with new designs available to download for a fee. Happy Knitting until next time!