We will be on vacation from Wednesday, July 26 through Wednesday, August 2. The store will of course remain open, thanks to the BEST STAFF IN THE KNITTING WORLD. But the blogs will take a break. So just a reminder that we will have an exciting SUNDAY in the SALON on July 30. Lynne will present "ON THE OTHER HAND...." as a prelude to our future classes on color knitting. If you knit Continental, come learn English. If you knit with the yarn in your right hand and wrap your yarn, come learn the "picking" method of Continental. It will make you a STAR in Fair Isle or Intarsia knitting. And color is HUGE this fall! The program is free of charge, will run from 2-4, and yes, we did remind Lynne to have wine and snacks!

And what are we taking on vacation? We plan on returning with fabulous Debbie Bliss Cashmere hand warmers complete, as well as two sweaters we are about 2/3 of the way through. We thought we would exert the utmost disiplicine and NOT bring anything new, rather to return with things finished and then check out the projects we have queued up. So wish us luck.

And take care. We will see you next Thursday!

Nine lucky women were treated to a session with Beth Brown Reinsel yesterday to learn about the design and construction of a top down Aran cardigan. Beth was amazing. She brought humor, knowledge and passion to the six hour program and the results were astonishing. No more fear of charts! Quick shortcuts to picking up stitches! The bobble mysteries were solved! In short, we had a terrific day:

And you can see the finished result! Now if we only had a teddy bear small enough to wear it.....

And many thanks to Terri, who took these great pictures!

Doris Miller? Doris, your beautiful crocheted sweater is here and we cannot find your phone number! Please call us or come in before one of us claims this gorgeous thing for her own!!!

And by the way, Skacel Addis are back in stock, both in metal and wood.

Just two notes on this hot and sticky day when yes, we are still knitting, of course (but inside!). First. we are stocked with double pointed needles and ball winders from CRYSTAL PALACE. So get those small projects ready for vacations! We are personally taking a ziploc bag filled with DEBBIE BLISS CASHMERE and the CABLE HAND WARMER pattern from www.knitty.com on vacation with us next week. Perfect for a four hour plane trip.

Second, a reminder that the shop will be CLOSED SUNDAY. Beth Brown Reinsel will be giving a six hour class that day; if you have signed up and haven't received a materials list, please call the shop asap. And if you have some weekend shopping, head out on Saturday, when we are open from 11 AM-6 PM.

In a big way. We took yesterday off, a rare Thursday for us, and came in this morning to NINE boxes!!! And as we write this, we are staring at the empty bins just waiting for.....BLUE SKY ALPACA!! This gorgeous sport weight yarn comes in both 100% alpaca and an alpaca/silk blend, perfect for projects from scarves to wraps to sweaters. The loft of alpaca gives it its softness and warmth with very little weight. The result? Pure yumminess. How wonderful this this yarn? We have literally about eight skeins left from an enormous order last year. Give us today to check the stock in and shelve it; we promise it will be ready for purchase this weekend. If a lace jacket is in your future, ask about the WHITE LIES DESIGN pattern that would be beautiful in these yarns.

Also in, new afghan kits from COLINETTE and more MANOS DEL URUGUAY. Even during the hot and humid summer months, these are best sellers.

Javier our UPS guy has been noticeably absent this week, which leads us to believe that next week things will be Rocking and Rolling at WoolWinders! So we will take this opportunity to remind our wonderful customers of two things: first, the final knit along for the ArtYarns Diagonal Triangle Tank is Sunday from 2-4. Our participants have been having a ball, as have we. Once we figured out the rhythm of the tank we fell in love with the process!!! In fact we may, shhhhh, make one for our best friend.

And second, the shop will be closed on SUNDAY, JULY 23 for Beth Brown Reinsel's six hour TOP DOWN ARAN CLASS from 10 AM-4 PM. The class is filled; if you have signed up you will receive an email about materials on Monday, the 17th. So stay tuned.

A bit of CASHMERE should fall. And so we present the phenomenally gorgeous and well-priced DEBBIE BLISS PURE CASHMERE. How new is this yarn? Well, we have searched the internet to show you a picture and no one else seems to have it! It's not even on Debbie's Website! We loved this yarn so much that we ordered a bag of every color. From neutrals to jewel tones, we have them all. And a pattern book as well. So whether you want a scarf, hand warmers, hat, baby set, or yes, even a sweater, come and check out this cashmere. An incredibly reasonable $16.99 for 50 yds of WORSTED WEIGHT CASHMERE. PURE CASHMERE.

It's easy to see why Colinette Yarns are among our best sellers. We received partial shipment of our TNNA order today and could barely contain ourselves when we saw the GORGEOUS selections. We are fully stocked with many of their winter yarns: PRISM (a wrapped wool), SKYE (pure wool at worsted weight), TAGLIATELLI (a broad merino ribbon), and the immensely popular ISIS which makes an amazing one skein scarf! All in those amazing Colinette colorways.....We have already put aside the TAGLIATELLI we picked out at the show to knit a drop stitch cardigan. So, our dilemma. Do we start it now or take it with us on vacation in late July? Oh we are so bad at delayed gratification.

And still to come, their two new yarns TAO and PARISIENNE. Pure silk and kid silk mohair. We will keep you posted.

What could be better than a yarn made from SILK, KID MOHAIR, and SPARKLE? We don't know. But we bought this exquisite fiber from ARTYARNS at the TNNA Show. SILK RHAPSODY METALLIC just begs to be made into a dressy shawl or scarf. And just two skeins will do the shawl! Not bad for hand-dyed yarn at $41.99/260 yards. Do we have patterns? You betcha!

Buttons can add design and interest to any garment. And we are fully stocked with all sorts of cool buttons, thanks to our friends at DILL and ONE WORLD. Whether you want wood, pewter, shell, bone or the like, we have it. One tip: don't buy buttons until you are done with your project (but before you have put it together). The best way to purchase them is to push them through the buttonholes to see how they will look. Trust us on this one. Buttons can change whatever you have knit, and make it truly special!