My Little Knitters

On Friday afternoons I go into Max's first grade class and teach the kids how to knit. I've been doing this since around November. I started out teaching all the kids in small groups. Everyone had to try it once or twice. As we continued, some kids really loved it and others no so much. So, the knitting became an optional activity during their "Friday Fun Time". Any child that has caught on and can more or less knit by themselves is always welcome to sit in the circle and knit for however long or short a time they want. Some sit the whole hour, others knit a row or a few rows and then move on to blocks or lego. Those who still need to be watched carefully can get my undivided attention for 10-15 minutes - and generally after that short time with one-on-one attention - they are set to join the group. The kids who knit with me weekly are amazing! They are perseverent, excited and proud of what they are doing. It is really fun. Some kids knit very methodically, rarely making a mistake. Others knit and talk and change positions like a jumping bean - and while their work may show it - it still looks wonderful. This past week was very exciting because three kids finished their projects. My son, Max, finished his scarf. Another little boy finished his scarf and a little girl finished a purse. Another little girl should be done with hers next week. The yarn that the kids are using was donated by TahkiStacyCharles - they have beautiful yarns. You can visit their website at www.tahkistacycharles.com And the great pictures were taken by Sinje who came with me to school to see the kids in action and is thinking about writing some sort of an article about the whole thing! She has a great blog www.knityoursocksoff.blogspot.com if you want to check it out. Finally - my sister says she just sent me pictures of her cakes - I will post them soon - wait to be amazed!!

Nothing to do with Knitting

So, my first week of being 40 has been a pretty good one. Max's play was very cute -it was about animals that try to escape from the zoo b/c there are bad guys who they think are going to get them. Max was a pirate - bad guy. He wore his pirate costume - with a pirate bandanna on his head which he kept pulling down over one eye. He thought that would make him look like he had a patch...but it did not do that. I found myself constantly motioning to pull it up - I'm sure he never saw me - but I sat in the audience and kept putting my hand on my eyeand moving it to my forehead. Anyone who did not know he was my kid probably thought I had some sort of a wierd tic. Afterwards, my birthday dinner at Spiga (on the UWS) was delicious. My mom gave me an i- phone for my birthday - which came in very handy on Friday. Let me tell you why. Jeff was throwing a party for me on Saturday night and he decided that we MUST get glasses and plates and silverware for the party that we could use again for future parties (the last big party we had at our house was when he turned 40 - three and a half years ago- so I have no idea why he had this bug up his butt - but he did). So he researched on the internet and found inexpensive items that we liked at CB2 - Crate and Barrel's less expensive alternative. We dropped the kid's off at school and drove down to soho to get the stuff. When we arrived I had to go to the bathroom like it was nobody's business. I was going to explode. So a moment after Jeff launched into his "I need this and I need that..." - I interupted and asked if I could use the ladies room. The snippy manager told me that they did not have a bathroom. Of course they have a bathroom. So, I explained to her that of course they did and that we were planning on purchasing quite a bit of stuff and that I really needed to go. She said "NO!" So of course I was fuming and began yelling at her and told Jeff I had no interest in purchasing anything there....by the way we were the only customers in the store and there were about 6 or 7 staff. Someone could have easily escorted me to the private bathroom and made sure that I did not trash the place and the cat would not have been let out of the bag that a super secret bathroom really did exist. Anyway - Jeff wasn't leaving after we shlepped all the way downtown and since we had no plan B. so - I stormed out of there and searched for a bathroom until I finally found a Starbucks. When I returned I stretched out on a couch they had and contacted CB2 customer service on my i-phone and vented - giving the nasty manager's name and all. It was great to be able to send the email right at the moment my ire was really up. I got an email back quite quickly saying someone would contact me shortly - but as of yet noone has. And since I have calmed down a bit - I have not yet persued it. But I plan to. We, here at The Yarn Co - allow patrons to use our facility - and yest - sometimes it is gross and yes - someone did try to flush our toilet with their foot and totally broke our toilet - but still we let people use it! Then Jeff had a lovely party for me on Saturday night. There were 18 people at our house and it was a lot of fun. My sister made an amazing cake - it had a ball of yarn and knitting needles on it. She is an amazing cake maker - not only did it look great - but it tasted delicious too. I've been eating the leftover cake for breakfast since Saturday. She is going to send some pictures of cakes she's made in the past - once I get them up - let me know if you'd like her to make a cake for you!

I'm 40.

Today I am 40. I feel as though I should be having a breakdown of some sort - but really it feels like any other day. Zoe still woke me up at 5:45am and demanded that we turn her light on as bright as we could so that she could play school with her dolls. When I asked if she had anything she wanted to tell me she said "I SAID TURN THE LIGHT ON!" - so much for a spontaneous happy birthday from a 2-year old. Max did come running into the room screaming "Happy Birthday" at 6:30am - and he sent me a birthday email from his new email account. But then I made breakfast as usual, force fed them as usual, screamed at Max to get on the potty and then screamed at him again to stop kicking the soccer ball and get dressed!!!! Then we trudged to school in the rainy snow and then I went to Pilates even though I didn't really feel like it--but I hear it is harder to keep my girlish figure upon turning 40, so I went. Now here I am at work - blogging. I should be blogging about yarn, but yarn is so much less interesting at this moment than moaning about my age. This evening's festivities will include going to Max's school to see him in his "create-a-play" performance - a performance starring kindergarteners and 1st graders in his class and also written by them - songs and all. I think Max is a pirate since he made me pack his pirate costume in his backpack. I thought he said the play was about a Zoo...maybe a pirate comes to visit the zoo??? I brought my video camera though so that I can record the moment. After that we are going out to dinner and Jeff is throwing me a small party on Saturday. He is also getting me an Apple laptop and my mom is getting me an i-phone - all so I can feel like I am only 25! Onto the world of knitting. I just started knitting Jeff a present for his birthday. I am making an absolutely beautiful cabled sweater for him in Filatura di Crosa, Aran Cashmere. The pattern is from Jane Ellison's men's book. I really love it. I am about 10 inches up the back - 142 stitches - should we take bets on whether I will still love it when I am on my last sleeve? My goal is to give it to him for his 44th birthday in July - but it could be a 45th birthday present too. My attention span is not what it once used to be - nor is the time I can devote to knitting on a daily basis. Funny thing is that I have been knitting it at night on the couch - right next to him and he has't once inquired what I am making. Maybe I'll knit the whole thing in front of him and it will still be a surprise. My other knitting project that I will begin shortly is going to be a dress for Zoe - I cut a dress out of a magazine that I am going to copy as a knit - it is an Yves Saint Laurent - Piet Mondrian...very geometric - I love it - I think it will work out nicely. Until next time....

New President, New Yarn!

I just want to say that yesterday was an amazing day. I did not get to see Obama's speech or his oath in real time - I was on a class trip to the Queen's Science Museum - but I had chills at noon when 25 first graders began clapping and cheering upon the announcement that Barak Obama had just been sworn in as our 44th President. Truly a wonderful moment in history -- I hope that Max remembers it! So, in honor of our new President and to help the economy along -- let me tell you about some of the yummy new yarns we have just gotten in so you can call us and order lots! Fifteen new Koigu multi colors are here. Our Koigu Wrap is lots of fun to make and with our new selection of colors - picking 7 different ones is no problem at all! It's definitely a favorite here at the Yarn Co.! I also just finished the sweater I've been working on out of Koigu Solid. I like to call it "The Dot" . Another great new yarn that we've just gotten is Crystal Palace Merino 5. It is a beautiful new 100% merino yarn in a wonderful array of multi colors. I can't decide what to make with it. Maybe a quick sweater for Zoe - because she doesn't have enough. But it's great for adult sweaters, hats, scarves and baby blankets! We are still waiting for Flame and Merino HP and in February we are going to start getting spring yarns --I'd be excited about that if my fingers were not frozen as I am sitting here typing. I can't imagine wearing a tee shirt or a tank top any time in the near future.

WE HAVE A BLOG????

We know that the number one rule in the world of blogging is that you MUST post regularly. We know that there is probably no one out there reading this blog because we have had terrible, horrible, lackadaisical posting practices. But we are going to try again and hope that those of you out there that found us once, find us again and that you find forgiveness in your hearts. We hope that you give us another chance and we promise to try to be good bloggers and post often and regularly. That said, we met with a lovely woman today who has her own blog. She came to interview us -- she is reviewing NYC yarn stores in February. http://www.knityoursocksoff.blogspot.com/ When she asked us about our blog, Julie and I looked at each other and fell silent....and then "our blog?...Oh yeah, our blog!" I suppose we should do a quick "catch up" since October. Our computer crashed again (the beginning of the end of the blogging), a new president was elected, the store got busier for the holiday season, we had a wonderful trunk show during the month of December --Prism Arts sent us so many beautiful hand dyed yarns in luscious fibers which our customers snatched up like kids in a candy store, and we have made it to a new year despite the crashing economy! I knit Zoe an awesome dress out of Sublime cashmere silk dk. http://www.theyarnco.com/brand_display/396 I will have to put the picture on - it is grey and black striped and really came out great! She has these adorable patent leather boots that look awesome with it - but she prefers her pink new balance sneakers -- for the high fashion 2-year old look. I made Max two ribbed hats that he looks great in - I used 3 balls of Torino bulky and made two hats. http://www.theyarnco.com/brand_display/396 Right now I am working on Koigu Solid http://www.theyarnco.com/brand_display/440 sweater as a sample for the store. It is lime green and has a big blue circle in the center. It's very cute - I am in the process of deciding if the sleeves should be stripped or solid. Now that it's January, we are kind of in a yarn store netherworld. Even though it is freezing outside and in real life we seem to be entering into the thick of winter, here at The Yarn Co. winter is on its way out and spring is just around the corner. Although we are restocking some Blue Sky Alpaca Bulky and Punta del Este, Flame. Today we completed our spring buying. Cottons, linens, silks, bamboos and more will begin arriving in early February. We will pick up where we left off soon!

The Yarn Girls Go Shopping

Julie and I went "shopping" on Madison and 5th Avenues on Monday. "Shopping" in this sense means going around to expensive stores (think Barney's, Henri Bendel, Bergdorff Goodman...) and not buying anything- (who has the $$ in this down economy for $300 hats?) - but instead, looking for pricey knits that our customers can make for less! Well, we suceeded. We found lots of cute hats, scarves and other knit accessories that were $200 or more - that can easily be knit up for somewhere in the fifty dollar range. Already I've knit up a cute Balaclava out of Teva Duraham's Tundra (that's me in my knock off - above- think how great this will be in December when it is zero degrees outside!), and a chunky striped beret out of Blue Sky Bulky. Julie is working on an adorable cap with a brim out of Blue Sky Alpaca Worsted and Mercedes is making a chic scarf in black and white out of Karabella La llama. In the next few weeks we will get all the projects up on our website and hopefully get out a newsletter giving you some great gift ideas for the holidays that although they are still two months away - will be upon us before we know it. And who can believe that election day is less than a week away! To help ease your jitters between now and late Tuesday night (hopefully) - we are having an Election Day Sale! All yarns in the store will be 10% off. It is a great time to begin making some holiday gifts - save some $$ on yarn and ease your anxiety by doing a little "knitting as stress relief."

Computer Trouble!

Have we had computer problems!!!! A virus took over our computer a few weeks ago. Finally after Julie spent many many hours trying to get the virus off our computer, we had to call a real tech person to come in and fix us up (he was here for 4 and a half hours!) Then when he left - for some reason our virus protection was not on and over the weekend we got 2 new viruses. Julie managed to eradicate those herself. And she had to install new memory so that the computer would move faster than a turtle! So that's why there have been no blogs. (excuses, excuses...) But - we are hopefully back up and running. Things here at the yarn co are great. We have gotten in pretty much all of our new yarns and they are just to die for. Yesterday we finally received our Bottega 100% Cashmere - Julie will put it on the site next week. It comes in 11 great colors and is a good buy for 100% cashmere - 125 yards at 4.5 sts to the inch for $45.00! If your pockets are not quite that deep in these trying economic times - we also have beautiful merino hp - I must make a sweater for Zoe out of this. And new Teva Durham yarn, Tundra- it is thick like Tahki Baby but super soft and much lighter feeling. We made a cool raglan sweater that is knit from the top down - not really my thing this top down knitting - especially for an adult sweater - who wants to carry their whole sweater around with them?? But it came out nice and is a little different. We also got a beautiful organic multi colored merino wool called Nimbus. We made an adorable baby sweater from it - it has a cool diagonal edge at the neck. We stole the patten from Sarah Gochberg - she brought her little sweater in for finishing and we thought it was such a nice detail! I taught Max how to knit last week. He totally got it - although he does not have the patience to sit and knit more than a few stitches at a time - all of the sudden after the third or fourth stitch his eyes begin darting around the room seeing the gazillion other things he could be doing. But he wanted me to teach him because I am going to go into his 1st grade class and give them knitting lessons. Should be interesting. But - it is part of the first grade cirriculum at Waldorf schools so I figured why not give it a try! Tahki very nicely donated 30 balls of multi colored Baby yarn for the kids to learn on. I'm excited to do it! And I'll keep you posted on how it goes.