Tuesday, March 23, 2010
And the blanket went for....
Max's school auction has come and gone once again. It was this past Saturday night and was lots of fun. The school raised a ton of money. Our beautiful blanket - which you can see below - went for a staggering $800!!! I was so excited - our project raised the most of any class project. (All the kids knit a square for the blanket and I sewed them together and crocheted around - to make an awesome 40x60 blanket). Bill Telepan once again put his services up for auction - dinner for 8 cooked by him at your house - including wine - he offered it up 3 times - and each one went for $12,000. Truly unbelievable. We ended up going home with some wine, a big Simpsons basket for our downstairs friend, and I won the raffle for lunch with Max's teacher (the second year in a row - is it rigged or am i just really lucky?) - oh - and I got a package that included a Bliss gift certificate a private yoga lesson and some antiaging cream. When I went to pick up my items they told me they couldn't find the antiaging cream and I though - no big deal - but when I went home I saw that its value was $158. I want my cream! I need to try a cream that costs that much money - maybe if I apply it religiously I will look like I did in high school again...I need to remember to see if they worked on locating this cream that must certainly have magical properties!
On the knitting front - I am trying to finish up a new skirt for Zoe - it has a cute lace bottom and is made out of Arucania, Lace Merino. I've already bought her several tee shirts to go with it. I also just finished a great sweater out of the S. Charles, Sari. What next? There are so many possibilities - I just can't decide.
Thursday, March 18, 2010
PHOTO BLOG
Never any time to sit and write - too busy knitting... lots of great new projects. Take a look.
Right below is the auction project my 2nd graders made - each kid knit a square...it better go for a lot of money!!!
Thursday, January 28, 2010
WHAT'S NEW...
Things have been busy here at The Yarn Co. We've been ordering lots of new and exciting spring yarns - which will begin arriving in February. We actually already got one of the new yarns - Tahki, Mia - which is a great nubby cotton that gets 3 stitches to the inch and is super soft. We are knitting a cute raglan pullover with it. We also just knit a great new baby blanket out of the Sirdar, Baby Bamboo. It is a 5x5 rib using the yarn held double and striping it in the colors of the rainbow.
It came out really great. We substituted pink for blue in the rainbow (we do know it's roygbiv, not roygpiv!) because we didn't have a good blue - but it works. Julie also knit a GREAT jacket out of the Wooly Merino yarn - the yarn is soft and fabulous to knit with and the jacket looks great on - I think I need to make one for Zoe for next fall. I finished Max's sweater out of the cashmere I pulled out of an old sweater. I did a 5x5 rib and it looks good on him. One of these days I really need to make him model his sweaters! I picked up Jeff's cabled Aran Cashmere sweater again and finished knitting the back. All those cables are slow going at this point in my life - but maybe I'll really finish it for his 45th birthday in July...or his 46th...I also want to make Zoe a skirt for the spring out of the Lace Merino. I think I will make it A-line with a lace pattern at the bottom and stockinette the rest of the way. So much to knit, so little time!
Also - if you have any pictures of items you made from here that you'd like to share - email them to us at yarnco@verizon.net! it's always fun to see things people have made.
Check out the great stuffed animal by Sam:
And the adorable torino polka dot blankets by Karen:
Also, as an aside...Leslie, who works at The Yarn Co. is making a sweater out of an old Bottega Cashmere and needs another ball or two - anyone knit with this and willing to part with their leftovers?
It came out really great. We substituted pink for blue in the rainbow (we do know it's roygbiv, not roygpiv!) because we didn't have a good blue - but it works. Julie also knit a GREAT jacket out of the Wooly Merino yarn - the yarn is soft and fabulous to knit with and the jacket looks great on - I think I need to make one for Zoe for next fall. I finished Max's sweater out of the cashmere I pulled out of an old sweater. I did a 5x5 rib and it looks good on him. One of these days I really need to make him model his sweaters! I picked up Jeff's cabled Aran Cashmere sweater again and finished knitting the back. All those cables are slow going at this point in my life - but maybe I'll really finish it for his 45th birthday in July...or his 46th...I also want to make Zoe a skirt for the spring out of the Lace Merino. I think I will make it A-line with a lace pattern at the bottom and stockinette the rest of the way. So much to knit, so little time!
Also - if you have any pictures of items you made from here that you'd like to share - email them to us at yarnco@verizon.net! it's always fun to see things people have made.
Check out the great stuffed animal by Sam:
And the adorable torino polka dot blankets by Karen:
Also, as an aside...Leslie, who works at The Yarn Co. is making a sweater out of an old Bottega Cashmere and needs another ball or two - anyone knit with this and willing to part with their leftovers?
Saturday, January 9, 2010
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Happy New Year! I cannot believe it is 2010! I am happy to have the holiday's behind me though - December is such a hectic month, between Channukah, Max's birthday, holiday parties, school functions and the store at it's busiest. Now that it is January I am hoping things will calm down a little. Although, I read this article in the NY Times recently that talked about how we are a nation of people who put off pleasure because we always think that we will be less busy in the future and will have more time to go spend that gift certificate or use those miles...but it never happens that way. We are always just as busy, life never really slows down. After reading the article I decided to try to do many things that i have been putting off and to do as many things that I enjoy as possible. So, I got industrious and CLEANED my disgusting bedroom. We had papers, clothes and everything under the sun all over the place. You could not see our desk, either of the chairs in our room,the mantel over the fireplace...it's been that way for 5 years or so. I became a machine. I filed, I folded, I threw out garbage bags full of stuff...And I now live in a beautiful room!
When Jeff comes home from work and tries to put his tie on a chair I swoop in and say "you are not going to put that THERE are you???" I then moved onto Max's room and to the living room and organized all the toys (I even organized the lego into similar sized pieces). It was very fulfilling! Next, I ripped out a cashmere sweater that I had made years ago. It was heavily cabled and very wide and short - basically unwearable. So I am now making a sweater for max out of it and I think I will be able to make one for myself too. I also knit Zoe a new hat to go with her new jacket, lengthened the cute shrug I'd made her over the summer and organized all of my yarn and needles. I also made my friend who just had a baby a blanket and went downtown to Purl fabric to get a backing for it. (I still have to sew it together).
I finished reading John Irving's new book - Last Night in Twisted River - which I LOVED. If you like John Irving (he is my all time favorite author) - it is classic John Irving at his best - although it took a little to get into it. And I have watched a bunch of movies - and added to my queue all of the movies that are out now that I know I won't get to and will forget about later--making use of my netflix account that usually sits dormant. I also baked Max a cake for his birthday and cupcakes for school. And then we had a dinner party for New Year'eve for which I cooked up a storm, hosting three other couples and their kids, two of whom slept over.
After all that, I was exhausted for 3 or 4 days. Then I had to go back to work and had lots of back office stuff to do, had to send all the Prism yarns back, and we did an inventory of ALL of our yarn. The benefit of that is the store looks terrific now. It is organized and neat. There are also lots of new Sale yarns in the back room --some excellent deals. Come in and check it out. Well, my burst of blogging energy is running out--I have to go and make some baseball cookies for Max's birthday party tomorrow. Maybe after tomorrow things will slow down and I will have more time - or maybe I'll have nothing left to do...ha ha ha.
When Jeff comes home from work and tries to put his tie on a chair I swoop in and say "you are not going to put that THERE are you???" I then moved onto Max's room and to the living room and organized all the toys (I even organized the lego into similar sized pieces). It was very fulfilling! Next, I ripped out a cashmere sweater that I had made years ago. It was heavily cabled and very wide and short - basically unwearable. So I am now making a sweater for max out of it and I think I will be able to make one for myself too. I also knit Zoe a new hat to go with her new jacket, lengthened the cute shrug I'd made her over the summer and organized all of my yarn and needles. I also made my friend who just had a baby a blanket and went downtown to Purl fabric to get a backing for it. (I still have to sew it together).
I finished reading John Irving's new book - Last Night in Twisted River - which I LOVED. If you like John Irving (he is my all time favorite author) - it is classic John Irving at his best - although it took a little to get into it. And I have watched a bunch of movies - and added to my queue all of the movies that are out now that I know I won't get to and will forget about later--making use of my netflix account that usually sits dormant. I also baked Max a cake for his birthday and cupcakes for school. And then we had a dinner party for New Year'eve for which I cooked up a storm, hosting three other couples and their kids, two of whom slept over.
After all that, I was exhausted for 3 or 4 days. Then I had to go back to work and had lots of back office stuff to do, had to send all the Prism yarns back, and we did an inventory of ALL of our yarn. The benefit of that is the store looks terrific now. It is organized and neat. There are also lots of new Sale yarns in the back room --some excellent deals. Come in and check it out. Well, my burst of blogging energy is running out--I have to go and make some baseball cookies for Max's birthday party tomorrow. Maybe after tomorrow things will slow down and I will have more time - or maybe I'll have nothing left to do...ha ha ha.
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
The holidays are almost here!
A great holiday scarf out of Berocco Lanalux
The holidays are fast approaching, it is supposed to be a high of 30 degrees on Friday and what were Julie and I doing this morning?...buying yarn for spring! It always feels so incongruous to look at silks, linens, cottons and rayons in the frigid weather when all you want is a nice thick wool or cashmere to knit up a scarf or hat that will keep you super warm. Nonetheless, we got some very nice stuff! We saw Stacy and Diane of TahkiStacyCharles. They had a more modern, hip new look with many of their pattern books and a few yarns that were really exciting. From their StacyCharles line they had two great yarns - the first SARI is a 100% raw silk that knits up on a large needle and comes in earthy colors. The next, SAHARA is a viscose, linen and bamboo blend that is a ribbon. They had a great sweater done in it that had these drop stitches and looked adorable on. The sweater had a great light feel and wonderful drape. they are sending it to us in a fantastic orange color in January. From their Tahki line we are getting a very cool, nubby thick and super soft cotton called MIA. It is a great transitional yarn that I think will make a great quick sweater! We are also getting a yarn called REPLAY. It is made out of 100% recycled cotton - a nice concept - and comes in great heathered colors. I really liked it because you don't usually see cottons in heather colors. We are also getting some great new colors in cotton classic - and of course millefili fine will return.
Stacy and Diane were also excited to see pictures of my 2nd graders knitting with the yarn they donated. And they loved our patterns using their yarns on our Ravelry pattern store!
Finally....as I said the holidays are fast approaching...I cannot believe Chanukah starts on Friday night (until moments ago I thought it was saturday night...) - luckily I am very prepared this year - I have everything wrapped and ready and torturing my children as all those wrapped presents are in a corner of my bedroom in plain sight. Every morning at 6:30am when Zoe wakes up - she comes in and demands that she be allowed to open a present NOW!!! We have to tickle her a lot until she forgets. Max has been really good about it though - he saw them - said I bet the ones in the soccer/baseball/football wrapping paper are mine. I said yep. and that was it. Is that a sign of maturity or that he is already bored with channukah? I hope the first because I got him some good stuff - if you are a 7 year old boy who loves
Well - if you are not as prepared as I am this year - always remember - you can knit a quick scarf or hat in no time, or we do gift certificates! Also - for those celebrating Christmas who have a little more time - we have great stocking stuffer ideas and lots more! Come in and check it out!!!
The holidays are fast approaching, it is supposed to be a high of 30 degrees on Friday and what were Julie and I doing this morning?...buying yarn for spring! It always feels so incongruous to look at silks, linens, cottons and rayons in the frigid weather when all you want is a nice thick wool or cashmere to knit up a scarf or hat that will keep you super warm. Nonetheless, we got some very nice stuff! We saw Stacy and Diane of TahkiStacyCharles. They had a more modern, hip new look with many of their pattern books and a few yarns that were really exciting. From their StacyCharles line they had two great yarns - the first SARI is a 100% raw silk that knits up on a large needle and comes in earthy colors. The next, SAHARA is a viscose, linen and bamboo blend that is a ribbon. They had a great sweater done in it that had these drop stitches and looked adorable on. The sweater had a great light feel and wonderful drape. they are sending it to us in a fantastic orange color in January. From their Tahki line we are getting a very cool, nubby thick and super soft cotton called MIA. It is a great transitional yarn that I think will make a great quick sweater! We are also getting a yarn called REPLAY. It is made out of 100% recycled cotton - a nice concept - and comes in great heathered colors. I really liked it because you don't usually see cottons in heather colors. We are also getting some great new colors in cotton classic - and of course millefili fine will return.
Stacy and Diane were also excited to see pictures of my 2nd graders knitting with the yarn they donated. And they loved our patterns using their yarns on our Ravelry pattern store!
Finally....as I said the holidays are fast approaching...I cannot believe Chanukah starts on Friday night (until moments ago I thought it was saturday night...) - luckily I am very prepared this year - I have everything wrapped and ready and torturing my children as all those wrapped presents are in a corner of my bedroom in plain sight. Every morning at 6:30am when Zoe wakes up - she comes in and demands that she be allowed to open a present NOW!!! We have to tickle her a lot until she forgets. Max has been really good about it though - he saw them - said I bet the ones in the soccer/baseball/football wrapping paper are mine. I said yep. and that was it. Is that a sign of maturity or that he is already bored with channukah? I hope the first because I got him some good stuff - if you are a 7 year old boy who loves
Well - if you are not as prepared as I am this year - always remember - you can knit a quick scarf or hat in no time, or we do gift certificates! Also - for those celebrating Christmas who have a little more time - we have great stocking stuffer ideas and lots more! Come in and check it out!!!
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
PRISM TRUNK SHOW
The beautiful and inspiring Prism Trunk Show is here at the Yarn Company for the entire month of December! They have really outdone themselves this year and sent us a dazzling array of beautiful fibers and hand-dyed colors. It is always so much fun unpacking it and the yarns always give the store a wonderful holiday feel. I took some pictures of some of the yarns they sent.
And to answer the question that often comes after I make an announcement like this..."What is a TRUNK SHOW??"
A TRUNK SHOW is when a company sends me lots and lots of beautiful yarn on consignment. Basically, I could never afford to carry all these beautiful hand-dyed yarns in these luxurious fibers in the quantity that we currently have in stock - but the beauty of the TRUNK SHOW is that I only pay for what I sell and send the rest back at the end of the month! It is a win win situation for everybody!
So be sure to come in and check it out - the yarns are truly exquisite!
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Second Graders Master Knitting
I have just come from Max's class - and am happy to report that I have 26 new knitters! After our fourth week of knitting in school - the entire class has grasped this new skill. It is great, everyone is very excited and I feel very satisfied. It is different from teaching knitting last year in Max's first grade class...first, the difference in motor skills is huge. I was surprised at how much easier the 2nd graders picked it up than the first graders. Also, this year instead of just a handful of kids knitting- the entire class is doing it. That's a lot of mistakes to fix, rows to help turn and balls up in the air. Luckily I have a helper this year. Nicole who is a customer at the store and the babysitter of one of the boys in the class and an excellent knitter - comes in and helps out too. Some of the kids have already completed a handwarmer, others are working on scarves and a few are working on a bag. Take a look:
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