All I can say about SHERRY BROWN’S stunning lace afghan is, “You go, Girl!” Sherry is a Tuesday afternoon safari group member and used CASCADE SIERRA QUATTRO yarn to knit this beautiful cotton blend afghan for her daughter, RACHEL. And what foresight on Sherry’s part: Rachel is graduating from college this spring, just in time to receive this very special afghan as a graduation present from mom! Nothing is quite as meaningful as a handknitted or handcrocheted gift. Year after year it’s recipient will remember you cared enough about him or her to make something special for them with your own hands. And what a cool pattern! You, too, can make a sampler afghan using any mix of patterns you like be they a bunch of lace squares, color-knitted squares, crocheted squares, cable squares, or any combination of all of the above! I particularly like these type of projects for over the summer months because they are portable, not hot on your lap, and are ready to give or use when the weather turns cooler! What are you waiting for? We have a huge array of colors, fibers, and ideas for you to choose from. In fact, why not work on an afghan as a safari group project or, better yet, create your own afghan knit-along group this summer at Woolwinders, your neighborhood yarn shop!

If you make one pretty knitted shawl this summer, the BROOKLYN TWEED JUNEBERRY SHAWL pictured here is the one to make! Knitted by our own talented EVELYN LORENZINI using SCHAEFER LAUREL yarn, this shawl is just a joy to knit and to wear. Not only does it look wonderful in solids or handpainted yarns alike, the pattern offers just the right amount of challenge to make it interesting without being too difficult. And it’s knitted in a worsted weight so you’ll have it in time to wear to a relaxing summer evening out to dine, to a concert, or to all those graduations and weddings that keep popping up this time of year! Stop in and see this stunning shawl, all our other Brooklyn Tweed patterns, and the many, many yarn options to chosoe from at Woolwinders, your neighborhood yarn shop!

Happy Mother’s Day from all of us at Woolwinders Yarn Shop! Remember, we are closed today and will re-open per our regular schedule on Tuesday, May 15th. Keep knitting and crocheting everyone!

Paige, Flo, Liz, Evelyn, Brenda, Karen D., Linda, Kim, Karen S., Jessica, Karen M., Kathy, and Marina.

And now dear knitters, it is time for Knitting Lesson 102: Perseverance pays off! As you can plainly see, Thursday afternoon safari class member PATT HOOPER suffered her share of frogging as we all do but stuck with her project and look at the stellar results! She has completed a just beautifully knit cardigan called LAUREL made with MADELINETOSH TOSH DK yarn. Judging by how wonderful she looks in her finished cardigan I’d say her efforts were well worth it:) Great job, Patt! Never give up on your knitting friends—YOU CAN DO IT!
*REMINDER: Woolwinders will be CLOSED on SUNDAY, MAY 13TH for MOTHER’S DAY!

Today dear knitters, I am going to share with you the first lesson of knitting: always wear your glasses! I have a very hectic weekend ahead of me. I say to myself, it’s a nice day, both my sons are home from school at the same time and are happily doing something together so I am going to treat myself to an hour of knitting on the deck in the sunshine. So picture it if you will. There I am, happily knitting away on my favorite type of project, a fair isle mitten to be used as a model for a class I will be teaching in the fall, when I think, gee, this is going to be a loose mitten. I continue knitting to the sound of birds singing. Amidst all my relaxed happy thoughts I think again, gee, I am going to have to tell people to knit down a needle size or three when they make these mittens! And yet, I blissfully continue to knit. Get the picture yet? I finish a motif repeat and try the mitten on and think, I am going to have to eliminate one of the motif repeats. Finally, I check the pattern and all my happy thoughts fly away with the singing birds as I realize that I had mistaken a size 4 needle for a size 8 needle! The moral of the story, dear knitters, it happens to the best of us. We ALL make mistakes for one reason or another, at one time or another. It’s OKAY—it’s all a part of being a knitter. Not the best part…lol…but still a part of it. You learn from your mistakes and move on. For me? I won’t try to do color knitting again without my glasses! Knit on, friends!

We’ve THREE FUN FELTING CLASSES this June at Woolwinders and you won’t want to miss out on any of them! First up, it’s a fresh and funky new felted CROCHET NECKLACE designed and taught by KAREN MORIN on SATURDAY, JUNE 2 from 12-2 PM. Learn her secret of interlocking rings whlle making the necklace your own by experimenting with different gauges or different yarns: try beaded yarn for adding a little bling, variegated or handpainted yarn or even a Fair Isle design on a ring or two for color! Next, it’s FELTED NONI FLOWERS from the new NONI FLOWER BOOK with FLO MEIT on SUNDAYS, JUNE 3 and 10 from 10-12 PM. Flo is working her way through every flower in the book and they are just so artistic and beautiful you’ll want to adorn everything from afghans, to sweaters, to bags with them! And speaking of bags, you definitely don’t want to miss out on our NONI FELTED BAGS CLASS with EVELYN LORENZINI on SATURDAYS, JUNE 9 and 16 from 12-2 PM. We’ll have the option of 3 bag kits available for you (including the hardware!!) which you can choose to KNIT OR CROCHET! If you’ve ever wanted to try your hand at felting, it just doesn’t get any better than this! Sign up for just one or all three this June at Woolwinders, your neighborhood yarn shop!
*SPECIAL OFFER: Register for BOTH the Noni Felted Flowers Class AND the Noni Felted Bag Class and receive a 15% discount on the cost of the total of the two classes! If you already receive a safari class discount, this means an extra 5% off!