Off to Toronto

Anina and I are heading to Toronto tomorrow for another yarn show. We'll check out the new Fall products and designs and report back when we return.

Our special yarn this week is SWTC Amaizing at 40% off. This is a 'go green' yarn, 100% corn fiber, it knits to a 24 stitch gauge on 4.5mm needles. And best of all it's machine washable and dryable. As an added bonus this week we've dropped the price on some of our current specials like Rowan Ribbon Twist, Berroco Suede Deluxe and Berroco Jewel FX. Most of our specials are listed right here.

We continue to benefit from the stronger Canadian dollar and this week we've dropped the regular price of Rowan 4 ply Soft from $12.95 to $9.95 and Rowan Wool Cotton from $12.95 to $10.95. Remember, if you see two different prices on a particular yarn, you'll receive the lower price at checkout.

We're taking another blog break for a week or so while we're in TO. See you next week...

Suri Blue

Herman walked in the door today with a big box full of a gorgeous new yarn, Fleece Artist's Suri Blue. It's 50% Suri Alpaca, 50% Blue Faced Leicester Wool.


Elizabeth Freeman used this yarn to knit the stunning Laminaria Estonian Lace shawl that's featured in the current issue of Knitty. Be sure to have a look, this one's a beauty.

Enjoy.

What's with all the animals?

Did you see the incredible sock monkeys on the Yarn Harlot's blog last week? Unbelievable. There are knitting monkeys, rasta monkeys, yoga monkeys, cute monkeys, ugly monkeys, you should take a look.

Then Sigrid came in this week with an adorable knitted rabbit that she's named "Garcon Lapin":


GL is cute and cuddly as any bunny should be. Sorry but we don't have the pattern. He's one of a kind.

We do have patterns for the Knitting at Noon Prehistoric Pals and Safari Friends. There have been lots of these little critters knit up in the last while:

Ditto for the adorable Blue Sky Alpacas Baby Bobbi Bears:

And we can't forget the poodle wine cover that Jen knit for her friend, Tracy:


Now I've caught the animal knitting bug. I was reminded of the Knitty sock monkey hat when the Yarn Harlot recently wrote about knitting one for her nephew. I've always wanted to make that hat. So I picked up some Mission Falls yarn and started knitting:

This hat is destined for my favourite niece, who's a big monkey fan. I think she's gonna like it.

Drop Dead Gorgeous

Jana Dempsey, the Main Maiden over at Hand Maiden Fine Yarn, recently dropped by with her adorable little bambino, Etta Mae. We distracted EM with a Lantern Moon sheep tape measure while chatting with her mom. We asked Jana to surprise us with some delicious new yarn and as usual, she didn't disappoint. The boxes arrived today and look what we found inside:

We now have stunning new Bias Shawl kits and sumptuous Cashmere, Mini Maiden, Tussah Sea and Samira Silk yarns brightening up our Handmaiden wall. It's all Drop Dead Gorgeous...

Speaking of DDG, the glamour girl was in fine form at her party on Wednesday night:


We all had too much fun and stumbled home in the wee hours on Thursday morning. If we've been moving a little slower than usual the last couple of days, please accept our apologies...

Don't forget to join Astor Tsang for her free demo session tomorrow in Point Grey. Drop by any time between noon and 5 p.m. Astor will be demonstrating the woven knitting and crochet technique she used for her beautiful Colinette pillow. Have fun!

Too Busy To Write

Had four relaxing days at Whistler, then returned to the whirlwind of City life. Haven't had a spare minute to sit down and write.

Today's a big birthday for our friend and occasional staffer, Cathy McKenzie. Happy Birthday Cathy! To celebrate tonight we'll eat, drink, knit and be merry.

Our special yarn this week is Crystal Palace Iceland at 30% off. It's 100% super soft wool, with 100 metres to a 100g ball. This yarn felts beautifully and is a quick knit at about 12 stitches to 10cm on 8mm needles.

We've been busily placing lots of orders, we're trying to keep a constant stream of great new yarns, books and products coming our way. We recently received some wild new colours of SWTC Tofutsies. Also more of the popular Trendsetter Dune, the mohair yarn with a subtle metallic shimmer. Make a striking scarf with just one ball.

And we've stocked the Addi Turbo crochet hooks for the first time. The buzz we've heard is that these are the best hooks available. They have ergonomic handles for added comfort. The tips are perfectly shaped with the famous addi-turbo finish. And the handles are colour-coded according to size. Better give them a test-hook....

More New Stuff

We recently received the cutest new baby book, Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino III:

Yet another fantastic book in the Baby Cashmerino series, there are some adorable babies designs inside this cover. And we have lots of the lovely Baby Cashmerino yarn with which to knit them.

We have the new Louisa Harding yarn, Mulberry Silk, with a soft hand and a subtle shimmer. And the seductively soft Angora by Elspeth Lavold. We also have some great new colours of the wonderful Malabrigo Lace Baby Merino and Merino Worsted hanging on our walls.

And have you seen the stunning tapestry that's currently displayed in our Point Grey window? It's a beautiful piece of fiber art created by the talented Alice Philips. Alice recently participated in Artists in our Midst 2008, celebrating it's 16th year of bringing artists and the community closer together. Take a tour through artists' studios in Dunbar and Kerrisdale this weekend or in Kitsilano the following weekend.

Jill Edgar will be showing her art this weekend at 3230 West 23rd Avenue, 1 - 6 p.m. She'll have her beautiful Babette blanket on display:

We enjoy seeing Babette blankets knit with different colour combinations. You can create a unique blanket with your favourite palette. Thanks for the photo, Jill.

Destination Alchemy

There were many gasps of delight today as we opened a stack of new boxes full of exquisite Alchemy yarns. This basket is filled with Silken Straw, in an absolutely enchanting range of colours:

These beautiful silken skeins were lovingly hand-dyed by fiber artist and Alchemy co-owner, Gina Wilde.

We also unpacked some fabulous new shades of Haiku and Silk Purse. These three yarns are featured in the 20 stunning designs in Gina Wilde's new book, Destination Alchemy:


This book is already headed for a second printing, congrats Gina! Check out some of the amazing designs right here.

Gina and Austin Wilde are two of the sweetest people you'll ever meet. Gina has an infectious passion for fiber arts and design. And Austin charms us every time with his southern drawl and California dude charisma. Their personality trickles out of some of the stories on the Alchemy website. Be sure to read about the Alchemy animals. Check out the photo of Purl, the pig, with her friend Darla, the UPS driver. And don't miss the story of the Possibly Immaculate Conception of Clementine, the baby donkey. LOL.

Specials

Our special yarn this week is Diamond Luxury Alpaca Cashmere at 30% off. This is a beautifully soft yarn that's 60% baby alpaca, 30% merino wool and 10% cashmere. It knits up at 28 stitches to 10 cm on 3.25m needles. And it's only $4.17 per ball!

We also have lots of permanent price reductions on our shelves this week. We've dropped the price of three of the gorgeous Rowan Scottish Tweeds. The Aran and Chunky tweeds are now $16.95 per 100g ball and the DK tweed is $10.95. Also, Rowan Handknit Cotton is now $6.95, Kid Silk Haze is $14.95 and the luscious RYC Silk Wook DK has gone from $12.95 to $10.95. And we continue to see lower book prices, many are almost at par with the U.S. price. We re-stocked our Noro books this week and the prices have dropped by 10 - 15%. Now that's more like it!

We also have a couple of freebies for you this week. First up are free knitting lessons at our Edgemont store. Yes you heard right, free lessons! Now if you're reading this blog, chances are you already knit pretty well but you might know someone who'd like to learn. This is the deal.

1. Go to our Edgemont store:


It's easy to get there, just head north on Capilano Road in North Vancouver and turn right when you see the Edgemont Village sign.

2. Buy some needles and yarn.

3. Learn to knit a scarf.

Just to be clear, these are basic knitting lessons, nothing fancy. Students will learn how to knit a garter stitch scarf. Drop in any day and stay as long as you'd like, we're open Monday to Saturday, 10 - 5:30. Just remember, we may be both teaching and helping customers at the same time so please be patient. Feel free to drop off your kids for a lesson while you stroll through the Village. Last year we taught a few kids to knit and they were knitting all summer long. It's so rewarding to see brand new knitters develop a passion for the craft!

We've also scheduled a free demo session in Point Grey on Sunday, April 27, 12 noon - 5 p.m. Astor Tsang will show the technique used for the beautiful pillow she recently completed, one side is crochet the other is knit, take your pick!

That's all the bargains for this week. Enjoy.

Misti Alpaca

Misti Alpaca is a family company based in Peru. The family's been in the alpaca business for many generations. You can read the interesting history of this company right here.

We love the Misti Alpaca Hand Painted Chunky, it's TDF. Here are the luscious skeins hanging on our wall:


It's 100% baby alpaca, as soft as a yarn can be. And the colours are unbelievable. They really are. I just knit a scarf with this sumptuous yarn. Our friend Cathy gets credit for this scarf, when I saw hers I had to knit one right away. It's a captivating knit, one second I'd be knitting with olive green, then salmon, then rust, then chocolate, then kiwi, then teal and the list goes on and on. There are countless different colours and shades in just one skein.

Two skeins, colour CP 02, with 6mm needles. K1, P1 rib, we have the details.

Here's my little guy modelling the scarf:

Last week I started teaching Brodie's grade 3 class to knit. They're knitting scarves for Mothers Day. It's too much fun. We teach kids to knit with a little rhyme: "In through the front door, once around the back, out through the window and off jumps Jack". The rhyme helps them remember the four steps of the knit stitch. They often forget that Jack must jump off the needle and end a row with about 18 stitches instead of the 12 they started with. That's okay, their mothers will love those scarves regardless.

Our next project is a present for their teacher. It's top-secret of course but here's a hint:

I'll keep you posted...

New Books

We've just received the Rowan "Story Book of Little Knits", a charming book of 25 beautiful hand knit designs for girls and boys aged 3 to 10 years. The designs in this magical book are presented in the form of a story book, written by Marie Wallin. The story tells the tale of a children’s holiday at a country farm house at apple picking time. The designs are shown in chapters, with beautiful illustrations in each chapter. The book includes patterns for all of the sweaters worn by the children in the story. A very cute concept.

Similar to this concept is the Miss Bea's series of books, by Louisa Harding. There are six beautiful books in the series, including Miss Bea's Band, Miss Bea's Rainy Day and four others. The photographs and illustrations are superb. Each book tells a story and includes patterns for the sweaters worn by the children in the story.

If you're looking for a perfect sweater to knit for your guy, check out the fabulous new Rowan book, "Knitting For Him". There are some great designs in this book. You should also have a look at Debbie Stoller's "Son of Stitch and Bitch" which is loaded with fantastic, edgy designs for men.

We put in a big book order last week, we're re-stocking our most popular titles and adding some great new titles to the mix. To make room on the shelves, we've dropped dozens of books in our sale bins at 40% off. If you're a bookaholic, this is definitely the time to add to your collection...

First in the Door

We've been open almost 4 years now, amazingly. Time flies. We still remember our first customer - the Rowan lady. The day before we officially opened we were working one evening, trying to finish all the last-minute details. The front windows were totally covered with brown paper but we had the door open and a man poked his head in. "Is this a knitting store?", he asked incredulously. "My wife will LOVE this, are you open for customers?" Having just spent a small fortune on inventory, leasehold improvements, computers etc., we were not only open for customers, we were in fact desperate for customers. His wife arrived within half an hour and bought bunches of Rowan yarn. We've loved her ever since. Meet Ingrid, the Rowan lady and our very first customer:

She's wearing her most recent project, the beautiful Fleece Artist "Lady of the Lake" cardigan. The kit comes with a pattern, 250g curlylocks and 300g kid aran. It's a quick knit with two strands of yarn knit together on 6.5m needles. Valerie, who works in Edgemont two days a week, also knit a Lady of the Lake, in a beautiful shade of blue. It's currently on display in the Edgemont store window.

Accompanying Ingrid is the adorable Miss Millie in a cute little handknit hat, natch. Four year old Teddy usually comes along but he was at pre-school yesterday. Teddy first visited when he was three weeks old and Millie was probably even younger. Hopefully these kids will be knitters someday soon.

Ingrid's current project is the beautiful Babette blanket. She scooped up the Koigu the day it arrived and started hooking. Anina is also hooked on Babette, here is her progress as of week two:


Warning: this project has addictive qualities.

A customer recently commented that some mini Babettes knit in cotton would make beautiful placemats for summer patio tables. What a fantastic idea, thanks Jane!

Learn how to crochet a Babette blanket at our May 4 workshop, 1 - 4 p.m. Phone the store or email us for more information. This class is almost full so don't delay.

Our special yarn this week is Crystal Palace Waikiki at 40% off the regular price. Waikiki is 62% viscose and 38% cotton and knits at 5 - 6 st per inch on 4mm needles. Check out all of our yarn specials right here.

Happy knitting and hooking!

Brooches and Buttons

We have some beautiful new pewter brooches and buttons from Perl Grey:

We've also restocked lots of the popular Perl Grey Ring and Stick pins.

And we have a new selection of shawl pins from our talented local woodcrafter, Dale Ramsay. These are gorgeous pins in a great range of colours, shapes and sizes. Photos will follow soon.

These brooches, buttons and pins are the perfect finishing touch for so many different projects. It's hard to choose just one...

Lights, Camera, Action

Kim Werker was all set to shoot the Summer 2008 issue of Interweave Crochet in Vancouver one day last week. The photographers and models were booked, the garments were ready and everyone was scheduled to meet at the beach early one morning. And then it started to snow. Snow in Vancouver at the end of March? Unbelievable. Pretty much destroys your Summer photo plans. But Kim is unflappable. She called her LYS and we were happy to oblige. The team set up at Point Grey and shot away in the midst of a busy shopping day with a couple of classes adding spice to the mix. It was a lot of fun. Can't wait to see the new issue.

We unpacked more stuff this week. There's a new 100% Camel yarn that you're going to like. It's supersoft, with 230 metres to the ball for only $8.95. We have some new colours of Elspeth Lavold Silky Tweed and Silky Wool. And we opened a big box full of Lantern Moon bags, needles and accessories. Have you seen the cute little Notepad Holders with a yarn and needle motif on the cover? These are great knickknacks for any yarnoholic. We also have more of the popular Sheep Tape Measures. There's one black sheep in every bunch!

And we've ordered Sivia Harding's beautiful new RiverRock beaded scarf pattern. It will be in the stores early next week.

We're sad to report that our staffer and instructor, Nicholas Jacques, will be leaving us in a couple of weeks. He's moving to Chilliwack. Must be love. So we have an immediate opening for 2 - 3 days a week in our Edgemont store. Phone us if you're interested...

Show and Tell

We've seen some fantastic sweaters lately. Paul came in yesterday wearing his Mixology sweater from Son of Stitch and Bitch:

It's knit with a combination of BSA Alpaca Silk and Noro Silk Garden. What a great sweater and also a perfect fit!

Julia knit a beautiful sweater from the Debbie Bliss book Out of Town:


It's knit with Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran. Doesn't the colour suit her perfectly?

And Val has started a lovely garment with Sirdar Baby Bamboo:


A perfect colour combination. Baby Bamboo is an incredibly soft yarn that's 80% bamboo, 20% wool. There's a great colour range, with four punchy new colours for Spring.

We'd love to see what you're working on. Send us photos of your completed projects and we'll post them on the blog!

You Tube Knitting

Have you seen these videos on You Tube?

Ramen Knitting 101 Ramen noodles aren't just for eating...

The Last Knit This is a good one...

And you probably already know that You Tube has tons of instructional videos on various knitting and crochet topics.

Our Tuesday special this week is Grignasco Rapsodia at 40% off. It's a nice boucle yarn that's 55% wool and 45% dralon. And we recently added some new colours of some of our specials, including Debbie Bliss Merino Aran and Merino DK. There's a gorgeous new Merino Aran buttery-yellow shade. We also have some pretty new colours of Grignasco Karma. Check out all of our current specials right here.

We have more price reductions to report... Addi-turbo prices have dropped by almost 15%, we've re-priced many sizes from $20.95 to $17.95. We can't re-label our existing stock but we've changed the computer prices so you'll receive the lower price at checkout. And if you're uncertain about any of our prices, just ask us!

And thanks for all the positive feedback on the possible DB Whistler Retreat. We've started a list of names and we'll contact everyone on the list when we have more information.