Just a note to let everyone know we are open today, Saturday and Sunday regular hours; closed Monday for Labor Day. We wish everyone a safe and happy holiday weekend!

One of the reasons our staff is well regarded is that each has passions and strengths. It is well known, for example, that we would rather put our head through a meat grinder than do such things as steeking and stranding. Fortunately, we don’t teach those classes!!! PAIGE, however, does, and her passion for COLOR KNITTING is second to none at WoolWinders. She did an about face today when JAVIER, the UPS Guy, brought in a box from SIMPLY SHETLAND. Seriously. She was out the door and turned around. Her excitement at the arrival of our first five colors of JAMIESON SHETLAND SPINDRIFT was palpable. We sincerely believe that she now feels that she can TRULY teach FAIR ISLE KNITTING the way it was meant to be taught—with small gauge pure wool from the appropriate sources.

More yarn is due in, but this will get all you color knitters started. The lovely JAMIESON SHETLAND SPINDRIFT has arrived in five colors.

Labor Day Weekend is upon us—difficult as that is to believe. Our FALL CLASS SCHEDULE is done; we have copies at the shop and have sent the e-copy to our lovely webmistress STACY. We have included SEPTEMBER classes on the schedule. In the interest of time, we give you below a description of a NEW CLASS that starts next week—BEGINNING FAIR ISLE SAFARI. A group email will go out tonight with pictures, but we didn’t want to wait until Lew got home from driving his youngest to college today! We are SO excited about this class!!!! It will meet WEDNESDAY MORNINGS 9:30 -11:30. If you have EVER wanted to explore the world of color knitting, this is the way to do it! Four sessions, $95.00. If you want to see a picture of the lovely PAIGE wearing the FAIR ISLE HAT class participants will knit in four weeks, just click on the link below.

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“Explore the world of color knitting in our Fair Isle Safari! This beginner’s class will cover such traditional Fair Isle techniques as corrugated ribbing, chart reading, stranding, weaving, decreasing, and working an invisible jog all while knitting a soft and snug hat in the round. Participants will need 1 skein each of 4 compatible colors of DK weight yarn, 1 size US 2 16” circular needle, 1 size US 3 16” circular needle, and a set of 5 US 3double-pointed needles. To make the exact model on display for this class use this yarn: 1 skein Rowan Wool Cotton in Cream; 1 skein Rowan Wool Cotton in Brown; 1 skein Simply Shetland Silk Lambswool in Ardvreck (#034-orange); and 1 skein Simply Shetland Silk Lambswool in Kildrummy (#019-green).”

And as for this weekend, we will be wrapping up the SATURDAY BABY OWL KAL—if you have been participating and haven’t gotten the matching HAT pattern, let us know. And SUNDAY we will open up the SALON at 2 for a FINISH-ALONG from this summer’s programs! So bring your hats, scarves, and everything else you may have started, relax with a glass of wine and some snacks, and finish those projects!!!! Just give us a call to let us know you will be here either day—we want to make sure we save a place at the table for you. Both programs run from 2-4 and are free of charge.

Our ARTYARNS order has arrived! Come check out the beautiful SILK RHAPSODY GLITTER that graces the shop. This lovely SILK/MOHAIR blend has just a thread of glitter (some silver, some gold) running through it, for the ultimate in dressy fashion. We have shawl and scarf patterns galore that work with this yarn—a store favorite:

We promised to blog about our first BLOCKING experience with HERSHEY’ S CLEANERS today. We are DELIGHTED to report total satisfaction. They did a beautiful job with our THREE BUTTON WRAP made from the JOSEPH GALLER ALPACA and charged a very reasonable fee of $5.00!!! So go with confidence to this lovely cleaners on Frederick Road in Gaithersburg right next to the Touchless Car Wash. A beautifully blocked garment, a clean car….what more could you ask??

KIM HARGREAVES is one of our favorite designers, and we missed her terribly when she left ROWAN to go out on her own. She has partnered with their US distributor, our pals at WESTMINSTER FIBERS, so that we yanks can get her gorgeous designs. Check out her HEARTFELT, which we sold so quickly we barely had time to blink. It’s back in stock:

We’re going to post a bit early this week because we are off to Florida for a few days at the end of the week to hang with mom. Join us SUNDAY, AUGUST 24 in the Salon for the lovely SCHAEFER UNDULATING SCARF. We made ours from SUSAN, but you can use any lightweight yarn, including KOIGU, JITTERBUG, TILLI TOMAS LACE etc. We made the unbeaded version, which is what we will be teaching on Sunday; there is a lovely sample at the shop. Please, though, remember that the free programs in the Salon are NOT substitutes for basic knitting instruction. You should have the skills to knit, purl, cast on, bind off, increase and decrease to participate in the programs. Don’t worry, though, if you haven’t done lace. We’ll get you through that.

As always, the program is free of charge; just call to reserve a spot.

We have been on a quest to find someplace that blocks hand knit garments ever since our favorite cleaners changed management. And we found it!!!! HERSHEY’S CLEANERS, on Frederick Road, will do all blocking for you, including blocking to measurements. They do the blocking for St. John Knits, so they have got to be good! When you bring your things in, tell them WoolWinders sent you. Exact address is 106 N. Frederick Road in Gaithersburg. As an added bonus, they are right next door to a great touchless car wash. Two errands done at once!

Last night’s SWATCH-A-THON was a huge success (despite the storm), thanks to the efforts of twelve wonderful folks who came out and helped us knit up all our new yarns. By the end of today we should have them all displayed around the shop—STEPHANIE was kind enough to take some home to get them a warm bath but promised to have them back early today. We’ve walked around the shop this morning and feel certain that we now have models or swatches of virtually EVERY YARN IN THE SHOP. So now when you want to see how something works up, we can show you with confidence! Thanks again to everyone who came last night. You rock!!!!

Join us this weekend as our KAL progresses—everyone’s BABY OWL is looking adorable. And we even have a matching hat pattern to give you c/o KATHY Y, KATHY C, and MARIETTA who worked it out! And on Sunday we are featuring the popular MULTI-DIRECTIONAL SCARF. Learn modular knitting in the easiest way possible using ANY YARN YOU LIKE FROM THE SHOP. ANY GAUGE, ANY YARN!!!!!! And we’ll even show you how to turn it into a shawl. As always, both programs run from 2-4 PM and are free of charge. Just give us a call so we save you a seat!

And the uber-gorgeous ROWAN 44 is back in the house! These flew out of here last time so if you want one put aside, give us a call. We will hold your copy with a credit card, or even mail it out to you!

One of the most popular yarns at WoolWinders is JOSEPH GALLER PERUVIAN TWEED. And for good reason. This modestly priced DK weight alpaca is produced in huge hanks, dyed with natural dyes (think creme, brown, black), and can be held double to create a beautiful chunky weight garment. We are using it to knit the model for the THREE BUTTON WRAP. It’s now back in stock but won’t last long!

Also in stock, thanks to a visit from our UPS guy:

Three new NASHUA books using many of their yarns including the lovely new GEOLOGIE
New color of REGIA sock yarn
A beautiful tan tweed colorway of FELTED TWEED

All are checked in and ready for purchase!