Speak Out and Knit

Shoreline/LFP Parents, speak out about out-of-school programs for your 5-18 year-old children. Join a one time focus group to voice your opinions and help educate our community and legislators about your family's needs.

Refreshments and a $20 gift card to Village Yarn & Tea for all participants.

Where: Village Yarn & Tea
When: Thursday, April 17th 6:00 - 8:00 pm
or
Saturday, April 26th 10:00 - 12:00 noon

To sign up contact Beth Green
email: brosegreen @ yahoo.com
206 579-2626

Sox Hot Spot Contest

We are official participants in this new sock design contest. With 26 amateur categories and over $20,000 in prize money, you could win $6000 if you can Think Outside The SOX! For information about the contest categories and rules, visit thinkoutsidethesox.com

We decided to go with the yarns that Skacel is offering for the contest like Trekking XXL, Pro-Natura, and the Lana Grossa brands. There are even un-dyed skeins for you to play with! If you have any questions, let us know and we'll see if we can answer them for you.

Whatcha doin?

With the advent of Ravelry, it seems like everybody can look up what everybody else is working on at any time - as long as everybody bothers to post what they're working on. I have only 2 of the bigillian things that I'm working on posted at the moment, and one of them is finished! (BTW, that is the first thing I've completed in quite some time AND within a reasonable amount of time.) Anywho - we thought we would include our projects in progress in todays post just for fun.

Deb: 

• Crochet Me wrap in Noro Cash Iroha
• aMazing Crochet Baby Blanket (my design) in 3 colors of aMazing (corn) yarn
• Crocheted wrap in the new Misti Alpaca Hand Paint Lace
• Cotton Frappe deep V neck top
• FINISHED: Plucky Knitter Superwash Merino socks in Pumpkin Latte color
• and 3 pairs of socks promised to family members that need to get started some time this month

Ellen:

• Baby Cashmerino vest, socks and beret 
• Kauni leaf lace shawl (brown, gold, blue)
• Betsy hat (my design) in Lana Grande, 1 skein
• Louet Riverstone cable felted bag and accessory bag

Karla

• Seraphim Shawl from Knit Spot in ShiBui fingering weight (mulberry)

Kari

• Top down sweater using Lana Grande
• Baby set in Debbie Bliss Cashmerino
• Y2Knit Flirty tank top in Hempathy
• Four Seasons Afghan in Brown Sheep Bulky

Victoria

• Baby sweater from Debbie Bliss book
• Sweater in Sierra from Knitting Lingerie book
• Cashmere/Wool blend socks from Plucky Knitter

Let us know what YOU'RE working on. If you don't have a project, come on in and we'll help you find one. We have lots of new and exciting classes lined up for the spring, and new instructors to boot!

Fiberpalooza, Part 2

Did you happen to hear a very high-pitched squeal a few days back? If so, that was probably Victoria's response to the receipt of the Blue Sky Alpaca box. (That woman has been waiting and waiting for this order for EVER!) We have more colors than what is pictured of the organic cotton - it takes up the whole shelving unit. Pretty, pretty stuff.

So, this means that we have to sell all the yarn the USE to be in that shelving unit, and lots of other shelves and baskets around the shop, so we have room for all the new pretty, pretty stuff!. Great things are marked down from 25-40% and these great things need a new home. Look, here is a happy customer buying one of her favorite yarns at a great discount! Don't you want to be one of those happy customers, too? (I know - I'm such a transparent sales person but hey - it's a living!)

Fiberpalooza!

Get yourself a cup of tea, put on your fuzzy slippers, have paper and pencil handy (for your shopping list), and get comfy because this is going to be a LONG(ish) post.

We've got yarn! Get your yarn here! New yarn! Fresh yarn! Yarn of all shapes and sizes! Cotton yarn! Alpaca yarn! Sparkley yarn! Bamboo yarn! Soy yarn! Yarn that makes your mouth say "yummmmm!"

Seriously people - we have lots of YARN! Here is a taste of some of the new things we have:

• Louisa Harding Cinnabar (cotton/linen blend) and Jasmine (cotton/bamboo blend) - both with a little Tinkerbell thrown in. (That's Ellen's term for sparkle.) Great for skirts and there is a skirt class on the new class schedule - hint, hint, hint....
  
• Debbie Bliss Prima (cotton/bamboo blend)
• Noro Matsuri (cotton/wool blend) Love it! Want to marry it!
  
• Rowan All Seasons Cotton
• Nashua April (cotton), June (acrylic), and Cilantro (cotton/poly blend) What, no May?
  
• Trekking Hand Art (hand-dyed superwash sock) Delicious!
  
• Sublime Soya Cotton
• Misti Alpaca Hand Paint Lace - Holy moley, this stuff is TDF!!!! My love affair with Noro may have to expand to a menage with this stuff. Yowzer!
• Marisol T'ika (pima cotton)
• Sirdar Surfer (fabric ribbon) I was so-so on this purchase until it arrived and now I think it's awesome, dude. We even have a sample to look at already! (see photo below)
  
• New colors of Hempathy and Baby Bamboo
• Lots and lots of new single patterns and books to go with all the YARN!!
• Did I mention that we have a lot of YARN?!
  

AND, because we have so much new YARN, that means that lots of super-wonderful, yarn-of-a-certain-age will be sold at a reduced price to make room for said new YARN. So, get in here and bring the big bag because you know you'll want a little of both. :-)

Goodies

Goodie number one: Yarn Keeper Bracelets

When we were at Madrona, Victoria and I saw someone walking around knitting with their yarn hanging from their arm on a bracelet thingy. Victoria came back to the shop and did some great detective work and found out where we could buy them! We have two types - one with a row counter and one without. Very handy! (Or is that "wristy.")

Goodie number two: New Tea Flavors

If you have stopped by the shop in the past few weeks you may have sampled a new tea from Golden Moon called Coconut Pouchong. I don't care if you don't like coconut, this stuff is amazing!! We liked it so much we decided to try some other teas from Golden Moon (GM) and they are pretty darn good as well. Here is a list of all our new teas:

• Coconut Pouchong (GM) - Winner of Tea World Expo's 2007 Best Tea Award
• White Ginger (GM) - White tea leaves and Yin Zhen buds blended with freshly dried ginger root
• White Persian Melon (GM) - White tea with the essence of fresh summer melon (great iced)
• French Breakfast (GM) - An estate tea from the high mountain region of Ceylon with a honey, Merlot aftertaste - perfect with a sweet afternoon pastry.
• Kalahari - A fruity blend of fully fermented Rooibos
  

Our next blog: "New Spring Yarns" or "Fiberpalooza" or "Why Ellen Smashed the Label Maker!"