Eucalan - new "flavors" and packaging

Eucalan arrived today in all four "flavors" and sizes (16.9 oz. and the new 3.3oz that replaces the old 2.2 oz. bottle).

Flavors: original (eucalyptus)
lavender
grapefruit (new)
unscented (new)

This fiber wash is meant to be used as a wash; no need to rinse. And it is not just for your knitted garments. You can use it on virtually all your laundry.

Socks - New Sock Yarn!

Socks are hot! There are Sock Wars , Hot Sox design contests, articles in the New York Times and magazines. If you aren't already knitting socks, now is the time to learn.

In recent days we've received the following sock yarns:

Opal 's Newest line: Rendezvous. We have 2 skeins in each of 8 colors AND a sample sock so you can see exactly how it will knit up.

SouthWest Trade's Tofutise exclusive color for February is here in addition to the newest colorpak of 20 colors. We've seen some fun toddler sweaters made from doubled Tofutsie yarn (and why not double it for socks and knit on size 3-4 needles?)

Preemie Hats! 300 and more coming

Thank you all who knitted (and keep knitting). We have just about 300 hats.
I say keep knitting because this is a year round activity; think how many you can knit during the ball game tomorrow..... We're starting to fill the basket for the next delivery.

On Thursday evening Mary Rose and I divided them up for the 5 hospitals. We added a few extra, some blankets too. Thank you to whoever knit the matching booties - nice touch!

I am still looking for a volunteer to deliver hats to Manchester and Hartford NICU's. If you can help out, I'd appreciate it as I am here seven days a week. I'd like to deliver prior to Valentine's Day.

Thanks again, this is truly "one" the best parts of having a yarn shop.

Addi Lace Needles Sizes 7-9 are in!

I think the title says it all. Oh, but I also ordered the size 40in lace needles in size 1 & 2 for you sock lovers.

So we now carry the lace needles in: 24, 32, 47 inch lengths; sizes 1-9
and 40 in size 1& 2

Preemie Hats for Valentine's Day

Just after New Year's we sponsored a "preemie hat" weekend.

Our goal? 250 preemie hats so all preemies in five local hospitals would all have a Valentine's Day hat. Yesterday we counted 225 hats! Wow!

That means we only have 25 hats to go and we'll make our goal.

It's been a constant delight to have you come into the shop with more hats (some with matching booties) and beautiful blankets. It's quite a mountain of preemie items.

Berroco was generous and donated 40 skeins of Comfort Dk yarn in pink, red, blue and white and we distributed that yarn on the "preemie hat" weekend to our hat knitters. Thank you Berroco!

Please remember that we collect hats (blankets, sweaters, etc) all year round and it is a great way to use up leftover skeins of fingering or dk weight yarn.

What a generous use of your time and talent. Thank you to all who participated.

Happy New Year to you all

Here's a quick recap of our New Year's Holiday in Saranac Lake, New York. Relatives are arriving and food needs to be prepped so I'll be brief.

This is my son-in-law Matthew modeling his Christmas gift, knitted on size 2 needles and sock yarn. It's done, he's wearing it ~ yippee!

And here's our ski day at Whiteface Mountain - I hadn't skiied since the shop opened ( 2 seasons) so I was a bit nervous but it all came back. Well, mostly.....


That night we had a lovely dinner at a German lodge/restaurant Homyer's (?) Lodge on Lake Clear. Their beer list is 7 pages long. The food is awesome! Like being in the Alps!

We slept in this morning and went cross country skiing this afternoon (in the kid's back yard that backs onto a state forest). We skiied for 2 hours and only saw one or two others. Lots of deer tracks and other little animal tracks - they're very lucky have this out their back door.

We'll be back home on Wednesday. We hope you all had a lovely holiday and we look forward to a wonderful 2008. Laura & Terry

Sally Melville's Visit

This icy Monday morning I dropped Sally Melville off at the airport after the most perfect weekend. Sally taught 2 technical workshops and 2 non-technical classes. We certainly are blessed to have her visit us! She can easily take complex material or techniques and break them down into simple, understandable steps. No wonder she designed the Einstein Coat. Maybe they're related.

*
Saturday morning was First Choices - Basic Shapes. Students calculated the perfect length for their sweaters besides having some fun while learning from the master.

they're measuring the length of their heads!

*

*

After lunch we dug into Stripes that Are and Stripes that Aren't

Sunday morning was all about Finishing our projects.

*

*

And Sunday afternoon was dedicated to dealing with Emergency Measures.

All of us learned much more than we ever anticipated. We laughed, we learned, we said goodbye to this dear Canadian knitting wizard.