Holiday Projects

Each week from now until Christmas we will be featuring a yarn and project for $25 and under. The price of the featured yarn will be reduced by 10% for that week. New projects will be posted each Friday on our home page and here on the blog.

This week's special

Classic Elite Alpaca Sox
60% Alpaca, 20% Merino, 20% Nylon
Yarn Cost: $18.85 (after discount)
Project: Cabled Socks
Pattern Cost: $1.00

Ruby #18

Ruby #18 is a black tea from Taiwan, named after the tea garden from which the leaves are picked. This very special tea is a hybrid of the Camellia Sinensis Assamica from India and the wild Taiwanese variety growing near Sun Moon Lake. A chameleon of flavor, sometimes chocolatey, spicey, or sweet and caramely. It is always complex and wonderful. (I think it has a lovely honey aftertaste, myself.) Because it is so special, the price is $10/2 oz but worth every penny.

Surrounded by green mountains, Sun Moon Lake is the pearl of Central Taiwan.　Sun Moon Lake is the largest natural lake in Taiwan.　The Eastern part of the lake is round like the sun, while the Western part is shaped like a crescent moon - hence the name "Sun Moon Lake".

In the middle of the lake (between the "sun" and the "moon") is an island which has long been a sacred place for the Shao people. This island (Lalu) is off-limits to visitors. Only the Shao people can go there to worship their ancestors. When looking up information about this area I found lots of beautiful photographs and descriptions of trails that visitors may walk. What a lovely place to visit! (some day, some day)

New Flat Feet

We just got our shipment of the November Flat Feet colorway - lovely autumn-ish colors in the same fun designs you've seen before. Remember, these bi-monthly colorways will not be produced again for at least another year, so for those of you who are collecting them, get here quick!

What?! You don't know what Flat Feet is? Well, it's a new trend in sock yarn. "Flats" are knitted on a knitting machine and then handpainted in fun patterns and colors: paisleys, happy faces and other designs may be painted or stamped on them. Then you unravel the flat to knit your socks and see how the design translates into a pattern on your feet. We think it might be fun to knit a lacy scarf out of one and see how THAT turns out, too!

In addition to the special November colorway, we have others available as well. Come get yours this week and be sure to come back to show us your finished socks!

Polish Up Your Fiber Skills

We still have lots of great classes scheduled this fall to help you brighten up your knitting, felting and spinning skills! You'll feel good about yourself as you learn more about your beloved hobby. Here are just a few classes that still have space:

Sat. Oct 25, 10am-5pm: Rebecca's Top Down Sweater Class. Learn how to design, fit and knit your personalized sweater from the top down. The nice thing about these sweaters is that when you're finished knitting, there's no finishing. Sign up before Wed of this week to make sure this class is a "go."

Sat, Oct 25, Nov 1, 8; 1-3pm: Socks on Two Circular Needles. Holly is itching to teach you all how to knit socks on two circular needles from the cuff down. We think there's nothing cozier than handknit socks - and we have plenty of sock yarn to tempt you with.

Wed, Oct 29, 6-8pm: Drop Spinning 101. If you've never spun your own yarn, come learn with Joni! While drop spinning may be slower than spinning on a wheel, the up-side is that you can take your spindle everywhere with you!

Sun, Nov 2, 2-4pm: Needlefelted Pumpkins. This is a great class for kids and adults alike. Needlefelting is fast, easy and fun. Susan's class will teach you to make a festive pumpkin for your fall decorating pleasure. And before you and the kids take this class, think about joining Susan for Knitting with Kids on Sun, Nov 2, 9 and 16, 11am-12:30pm!

Mon, Nov 3, 6-8pm: Design a Wrap. Deb will teach you lots of tricks for designing simple fall and winter wraps that will be perfect to keep the chill off your arms and shoulders. These make quick and easy gifts, from the rustic look to party elegance.

Find more information and pricing on these classes and more in the Class section of our website, www.villageyarnandtea.com. We hope to field lots of class sign-up phone calls this week!

Wu Yi Shan Lapsang

Time to talk tea for a change! Last weekend was the first ever Northwest Tea Festival (put on by the PSTea and of which I am a founding member). To cap off the event, we had a 7-course tea dinner at Wild Ginger. Not only were the dishes made with tea but they served each course with tea. It was fabulous! One of the dishes served was a delicious pork dish and it was paired with a fresh Lapsang brought back just that week from China. Personally, I think Lapsang smells (and often tastes) like cigarettes so I've never enjoyed it. Man, was I ever surprised when they served this fresh Lapsang - I loved it! It was incredible!

Because this tea was so amazing, I bought a small amount for the shop. It's pricey but well worth it if you really like high quality tea. This tea is from THE original creators of this type of tea - very special. I urge you to try a cup next time you come in!

Here is a little history about this tea:

Lapsang souchong is a black tea originally from the Wu Yi region of the Chinese province of Fujian. It is sometimes referred to as smoked tea. Lapsang is distinctive from all other types of tea because lapsang leaves are traditionally smoke-dried over pinewood fires. (*Side note: my friend the Tea Geek told me that lapsang souchong is loosely translated to mean "of the original mountain place.)

The story goes that the tea was created during the Qing era when the passage of armies delayed the annual drying of the tea leaves in the Wu Yi hills. Eager to satisfy demand, the tea producers sped up the drying process by having their workers dry the tea leaves over fires made from local pines.

An Evening with Carol Rhoades

We thought it would be fun to host a little get together in honor of Carol's visit with us. Bring your wheel or other project and come and celebrate with us!

Tuesday, October 14th
6 - 8 pm
Refreshments provided

addi CLICK

Guess what! Soon to be released: the addi interchangeable needle kit, the addi Click. We should have stock of the Click later this month.

Here is a description sent to us from Skacel:

The addi Click system provides 10 different sizes of addi Turbo™ tips (US 4 – US 15), three different lengths of our new, extremely pliable blue cord (24”, 32” and 40”), and one connector piece which helps to either store stitches or combine your cords. The Click tips require no tools to change; simply insert the cord deep into the tip, twist and release. The tips will remain secure until you change them.

The kits will retail for around $150. We are limited to 10 kits so put your order in today!

Newish Old Favorites

Joni here, blogging from yarn-land, AKA, Village Yarn and Tea Shop. Every time I think the shop can't possibly hold one more ball of yarn, more arrives and somehow we manage to find a place for it! I've worked in the fiber industry for a while now and I've been happy to see some of my (not-too-old) favorites here to tempt me on a weekly basis. Balls of yarn do have voices, you know! What do you mean you've never heard them??

One of my most recent favorites is Malabrigo Worsted. We all know that merino wool is one of the softest, but the sheep this yarn was spun from must have gotten extra love and kisses, because it is so soft and squishy, you could just sleep on a pile of it and be perfectly happy. And it's cheap! And it has great yardage and luscious colors, kettle-dyed by a women's co-op in Uruguay.

Just today, we got another one of my favorites: Trendsetter Tonalita. Again with the softness and the gorgeous, self-striping colors. I knit one of my favorite pairs of handwarmers out of this yarn. Unfortunately they're lost in a pile of yarn somewhere in my house, but they are luscious from this wool/acrylic mix with the long color repeats. Get your brights and earth tones here.

I know most people think Dale of Norway yarns are just for knitting baby things, but I actually love Baby Ull for knitting fancy gloves and even lace. This yarn comes in tons of colors, is inexpensive, machine-washable and durable. It's great for some of the fine-gauge glove patterns on the market yet, and if you need help when you get to the fingers, just come in and ask me - I've knitted quite a few pair. Whether you're looking for classic colors, brights or pastels, this yarn will fit the bill.

Don't think that because these are the yarns I blogged about that I don't have more favorites - there are just too many to name, especially this time of year when the shop is so full. Come in and pick out a favorite of your own!

Anniversary Celebration

It's our 4th Anniversary!

We have lots of fun events planned in honor of our 4th year in business.

Thursday, October 9th, 6 - 9 pm
Spinning Night - we'll feature new hand-dyed fibers from Dragonfibers

Saturday, October 11th
10 - 1 pm: Klaus Kronenberg from Crown Mountain Farms will be here with lots of beautiful roving

1 - 4 pm: Joanne Ellis from Skacel will be doing demos of Art Felt

We will be serving special treats from Svedala Bakery all day long!

Sunday, October 12th
Spinning for Knitting Workshop with Carol Rhoades

Monday, October 13th
Spinning for Socks Worskhop with Carol Rhoades

Tuesday, October 14th
Meet-and-Greet with Carol Rhoades - bring your wheel!

Rowan, etc...

More stuff, more stuff. Today we got a big box of ROWAN: Felted Tweed, Kidsilk Aura, Shimmer, Kid Classic, Tapestry, the latest Rowan Magazine and various and sundry books and patterns. Yipee skippy!

I've been so busy with all the new stuff that I haven't had a minute to blog about other newbies as well:

• Alpaca Sox from Classic Elite
• Lana Grossa sock yarns Arizona, Tweed, Colortweed, Seta/Cashmere (very yummy) and new colors of Fantasy and Meeting
• Misti Alpaca Sock
• New Fleece Artist Sea Wool sock colors
• Silky Wool is back!
  
• Calm Wool by Elsebeth Lavold
• New colors in Marisol yarns Hacho, Sulka, Miski, and Qina - a new Baby Alpaca/Bamboo blend
• New colors in Baby Alpaca Grande
• Scarlet Fleece roving

There are more things coming in every day!

If you are coming to this Friday's Knit Nite Pajama Party you can see everything that's new AND have a great time. :-)