Just Can't Get Enough

I made a promise to myself this fall that there would be no more sweaters for awhile. I don't know why this moratorium was even necessary, because I have a third Girsaole in the works and a ton of projects in the queue. But already it has been an utter failure, because last week I briskly and unequivocally cast on for a lacey mohair raglan, and wound a 1.5-pound cone of yarn for a new Owls cardigan.

Then, while I should have been working on finishing the sample for the new hat kits, or granny squares for an upcoming class, or a new braided cable scarf pattern, I instead impulsively grabbed some serious back-closet yarn (which has been lying dormant for about a year and a half, and which you can see below I'm planning on knitting directly from failed sleeves to new sweater) and ravenously printed out the pattern for Buttony.

I recalculated the number of cast on stitches because the yarn I'm using is 20 sts/4" as opposed to the bulky yarn the pattern calls for, and cast on without looking back.


Maybe this doesn't quite count as a sweater because I'm thinking of making it short-sleeved, but I have to admit, January evenings at home with a mug of tea and Netflix after a long day of work are no match for my self-imposed sweater rules.

Yarn Train Dinner Party

A couple weekends ago, the Seattle-to-Portland Yarn Train came to town! This annual spectacle now boasts over 125 participants making the day trip, but a sizeable portion of them also spend a full night in PDX.

This year, knowing that we've got a pretty small space at Yarnia, they asked us to host an after-hours dinner party!



So we kept the shop open for them for a few extra hours on Saturday night, catered a bunch of yummy food and drinks, and had 22 yarn train-ers mixing and matching and swatching and winding and choosing until late into the night!

All in all, a fantastic evening. (Yes, we do birthday parties!!)

Featured Yarn -- Fennel

Fennel

Light pink mohair runs alongside a white and brown tweed merino wool in this soft and sophisticated sock yarn

Also available in our online shop!

Tell us what you think!

This week, we have a big favor to ask from you: We want to hear your feedback about our shop -- what you like about it, and what we can do to make it better. Please help us out by participating in our online survey: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/S9RKPXD.

There's also a version for our online shop if you like to visit us there too: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/S9HXD2B.

We really take your input and suggestions to heart, and really appreciate you sharing your thoughts with us. Thanks!!
an

Anthropologie-Inspired Capelet

One of my favorites! The Anthropologie-Inspired Capelet (available on Ravelry) is a quick-and-dirty intro to top-down raglan sweaters, but with short sleeves and being only the length of a shrug, it uses minimal yardage (less than 200 in a worsted weight!)

Anthropologie-Inspired Capelet
150 yards of a black/grey/silver; wool blend

Simple yarn-overs at the raglan increases give this shrug a lacy design near the shoulders, and is held together at the top with a pin.

I've made about three different versions of this cardigan; this one here is a wool blend that uses a strand of springy boucle to give the yarn extra stretch. Mostly black, with a bit of dark grey, and a strand of silver metallic that could make this top either funky or fancy!

Featured Yarn -- Pistachio

Pistachio

A grassy green bamboo is spiced up with a variegated rayon that adds flecks of red, orange, purple, and yellow to this playful yarn

Also available in our online shop!

Breathe new life into your old stash

We often get customers coming in to the shop having found a steal of a bargain at an estate sale, or having visited Peru years ago and carted back pounds of laceweight alpaca yarn on cones, without any plan for it, but just because it was so cheap! But the problem is, unless you're a weaver or a spinner, these super amazing finds might not be of much use to you, thin as they are.

Unless you wind them together, to thicken them up into a knitting weight yarn. Combine your own coned yarn with itself, or add in some of our strands to bulk it up a little, or give it that extra depth of color that it's lacking. If your yarn is already coned, we charge only 1.5 cents per yard to wind it off as thick as you'd like; non-coned yarn is 3 cents per yard.

Hat kits are on their way

Sometimes there's no better project than a simple ribbed hat. We're currently working on a few grab-and-go hat kits that we'll have for sale soon here at the shop, but in the meantime I've been working on samples for our hat classes and am loving the simplicity of the K2P2 rib, the wonderful stretch of a nice sportweight wool yarn, and the gratifying disappearing of stitches as the crown quickly decreases.

Keep your eyes peeled for our hat kits (enough yarn to make a hat on one cone, + a pattern tucked inside!), coming soon!

Featured Yarn -- Esterel

Esterel

Teal bamboo, turquoise, and heathered blue merino wool mingle in this blend that offers a wonderful depth of color and softness to the final knitted fabric

Also available in our online shop!

Patterns For Sale!

Yes, after many requests from you all, we do finally have patterns for sale here in the shop! We've gotten some great submissions from some local folks after our announcement that we now accept patterns from designers on consignment, have supplemented this collection with some patterns from Stitch Cooperative, and have also been writing up patterns for many of our samples that we have here in the store.

The pattern that we get the most requests for is our Hoodie Gloves, and we are excited to announce that as of today it's now in print form and waiting to be knitted up in countless yarn combinations of your choosing.


This is my old standby project, my mass-produce-for-the-holidays project, and because I am a chronic loser of mittens I inevitably have to make at least one new pair for myself every year!

This pair knitted up in a wool/bamboo combination, with a single strand of peach-colored rayon woven throughout

Master a new knitting project in 2010

With the rush of holiday projects over, take some time to learn that new knitting skill that you've been wanting to try out! We offer 2-hour workshops on all of the following topics, for a mere $25/session (exceptions noted below):

* Beginner's Knitting
* Pattern Reading
* Crocheted Market Bag (a.k.a. Beginner's Crochet)
* Gloves for beginners
* Hats (a.k.a. Intro to circular and double-pointed needles)
* Intro to Cables
* Beginner's Fair Isle
* Introduction to Lace
* Toe-Up Socks (1 session; 3 hours total)
* Crocheted Granny Squares
* Dishcloths
* Seamless Top-Down Sweater (2 sessions; 4 hours total)

Sign up for the ones you're interested in on our online form, and we'll send you an email when a class is being scheduled with your indicated availability. Check out our Classes Page for more details about all these classes!

Featured Yarn -- Arum

Arum

Navy, teal, and burgundy combine to make this super soft and beautiful bamboo wool yarn

Also available in our online shop!