Newsletter 2009 July

Finished Objects

Here's a selection of objects finished with yarn from our shop.

Lily using a swatch as a pillow	Mystic Light
Ming’s This Way Up Scarf, the first object she ever knit after taking the beginner’s class! Made from Lorna’s Laces Shepard Sport, Baltic Sea colorway.	Minty Milkshake Socks	Knotted Openwork Scarf
	Lacy Summer Socks in Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in "Rainbow" - a great One-Skein project!	Vintage Clock Socks in Lorna's Laces sock in Douglas Fir

Could we feature your finished object? Drop us a line if we can use your photos!

Upcoming Shop Events & News

2009: The Year of the Afghan
The July square! As you know already, while we will be using yarn from our shop to make each square, the patterns will be written for any worsted weight yarn that gets approximately 4.5 stitches/inch on a US 8. So feel free to substitute anything you have in your stash! At the end of the year you will have twelve squares (more, if you do some of them twice) and while the squares will be interesting enough to keep even advanced knitters interested, it would also be a good project for the new or intermediate knitter who is interested in learning some new skills throughout the year. The squares are designed to get increasingly more challenging and exciting as the year goes on. We now have a FAQ page for the squares as well - you can find that here.

If you liked May, you'll love July! Think of it as the next step to cables; those that travel! While it may sound complicated, it really is a pattern that anyone familiar with casting on, the knit stitch, the purl stitch, and binding off can do. It is a charted design, rather than written out, but don't let that scare you. Charts are a lot easier than they look, as long as you don't try to read them like a book-- the right side rows are read right to left (as if you were looking at front of the knitted piece) and the left side rows are read left to right (as if you were going backwards across the front of the knitted piece). The every-fabulous Knitty.com has an article here that we recommend you look over. There is also a shorter article on About.com (here) that is pretty informative.

The July pattern is available here, and you can check it out on Ravelry here.

Do you think you might need help with some of the squares? While the patterns will always be free, we will be offering some workshops that for a fee will give you three hours of class time and instruction, a set of needles, and appropriate yarn for the project. July's workshop is Saturday, July 11th, from 2-5 PM. You can sign up in advance at the shop or by calling us at 352-338-7222; the price of the workshop is $30 and includes materials, or $15 if you provide your own yarn and needles.

2009/2010 Sock Club

Interested in the sock club? It's almost time for Round Two - spots will be available after this round's final club colorway release in August! As before, there will be three options for the sock club (which begins in October of 2009):

Option 1 –
$100 for in-store pickup/$130 with shipping
You will get six 400-yard skeins of hand-dyed sock yarn, one each during the months of October, December, February, April, June, and August.

Option 2 –
$50 for in-store pickup/$65 with shipping
You will get three 400-yard skeins of hand-dyed sock yarn, one each during the months of October, February, and June.

Option 3 -
$50 for in-store pickup/$65 with shipping
You will get three 400-yard skeins of hand-dyed sock yarn, one each during the months of December, April, and August.

And now, the pinky swear: we promise to send you hand-dyed sock yarn and we promise to do our best to produce a quality product. We promise that the color for each month will not be for sale in our shop until six months after the month that we send it to you. We understand that the colors we choose to dye may not wind up being your particular favorite; we ask that just as we are not selling that color in a retail setting for six months, that you also do the same and promise not to sell anything you don’t like until after the six month mark.

Lorna's Laces Knit-Along

Many of you saw quite a number of us knitting the Lacy Summer Socks (mine are pictured above, in the Rainbow colorway) over the month of June. Lorna's Laces has started a Knit-along - if you're on Ravelry, here is the group forum. The July pattern is Air Raid socks (Ravelry link; pattern link) and we encourage you to knit along! Don't worry if you're not a sock knitter, either; they have plans later in the year for a tank top in Shepherd Sport, among other things.

Speaking of Lorna's Laces, the new colors are in the shop! We have them in Shepherd Sock at the moment, and are expecting it in worsted as well - and feel free to let us know if there's anything else you'd like to see us get. We should have these available online (if there's any left, that is - they're going pretty quickly in the shop) by the end of the day on Monday.

The 3/50 Project

You may have noticed a new button on the sidebar, for the 3/50 Project. It's about pledging to spend $50 a month in three locally owned businesses. Not $50 each - $50 total. Which is a skein of sock yarn from us, a slice of pizza, garlic rolls, and a drink next door at Leo's, and a bag of coffee and some incense from Alternative's just down the sidewalk from us.

The idea behind the 3/50 project is to commit to spending $50 every month in locally owned businesses, total. Maybe that means rethinking where you spend; choosing to pick up that new book or bird-feeder in a locally owned business instead of the big box where you’ve been shopping. Maybe it means eating out once a month at a locally owned restaurant. Maybe it means spending a little more in person, locally, rather than getting it cheaper (and impersonally) online.

Did you know that if half the employed population in the United States spent $50 a month in locally owned/independent businesses, that would produce more than $40 billion?

Did you know that for every $100 spent in locally owned/independent stores, $68 returns to the community? If you spend that in a chain or big box store, only $43 returns. If you spend it online nothing returns to the community.

Are there three independently owned business that you'd miss if they had to close? Stop in. Say hello. Buy something - even something small and inexpensive. Your purchases are what keeps those businesses around.

Spinning Wheels

June saw us become a vendor for Kromski spinning wheels, which is very exciting! We now carry Kromski, Ashford, and Louet wheels. While we have about ten or so wheels in the shop, many of them are out right now for classes. But we are happy to special order anything you might be looking for!

Upcoming Classes

Classes do fill up early; so please reserve your space in the class by paying in advance as it is unlikely we will be able to accommodate walk-ins. Payment is required within 7 days of signing up for the class or within one week before the class begins (whichever comes first). All classes limited to five people unless otherwise stated. A minimum of 2 students is required for most classes to take place. If the minimum for a class is not reached, we will cancel or reschedule the class and a full refund will be given. Individual classes/lessons available by request (prices may vary). Homework is required in most of our classes; we know that all of you have busy schedules but please be sure to allow time to finish the work needed for classes.

All materials are provided unless otherwise indicated.

Knitting Entrelac Socks
June 27, July 18 and 25 (Saturday) | 2:00-5:00 | $60
Yarn and pattern provided | Needles not provided

Intro to Cables and Twisted Stitches
July 2 and 9 (Thursday) | 6:00-8:00 |$50

Intro to Knitting Hats
July 6, 13, and 20 (Monday) | 6:00-8:00 | $80

Intro to Lace Knitting
July 8, 15, 22, and 29 (Wednesday) | 6:00-8:00 | $110

Intro to Knitting
July 11, 18, 25, and August 1 (Saturday) | 10:30-1:30 | $100

2009 Afghan: The July Square
July 11 (Saturday)| 2:00-5:00 | $15 (no materials)/$30 (materials provided)

Knitting vs. Crochet: An Introduction to Both
July 16 and 23 (Thursday) | 6:00-8:00 | $55

Spinning Workshop – Drafting
July 17 (Friday) | 6:00-8:00 | $30
Students should bring their own wheel or drop spindle

Intro to Needlefelting
July 27 and August 3 (Monday) | 6:00-8:00 | $65

Crocheted Flowers
July 30 and August 6 (Thursday) | 6:00-8:00 | $85

Introduction to Spinning
July 31, August 7, 14, and 21 (Friday) | 6:00-8:00 | $125

Care to see what's on the schedule for August and September?


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