Madrona Redux

What day is it? Where am I? Oh yeah, it's Friday, isn't it? Pardon me but my brain is still trying to recover from all the fun (and work) of Madrona. Our booth was very busy. The Kauni yarn was über-popular! There were lots of people walking around in Ruth's Kauni Cardigan. And I also saw lots and lots of Noro garments. I wish I could have taken a class or two - maybe next year. I'd like to learn how to spin better.

I managed not to get into too much trouble, purchase-wise. I bought a beautiful set of rosewood crochet hooks that only cost me an arm and a leg - and who need those, right? And I broke down and bought glass needles from Sheila & Michael Ernst. If you haven't seen their needles and buttons, you should. They are works of art.

For those of you who had a chance to come by for a visit but didn't get a chance to buy any of the lovely Fleece Artist kits or yarn we had at the booth - fear not! We brought it home with us and are ordering more. We'll also be getting some more Plucky Knitter hand dyes and another shipment of Kauni.

Madrona: Day 1

Sarah and Tracy of Plucky Knitter are having fun at there first ever fiber free-for-all. Sarah's from Michigan and is thrilled to be "playing with the big kids." Her beautiful yarns have been selling very well and she is hoping not to have ANY to take back on the plane!

We ended up bringing more stuff to fill our space - some Malibrigo and the sea wool socks - but the Kauni yarn has been the big hit, for sure. It's been fun watching all the Kauni sweaters go by. If I were Ruth, I'd be tickled pink to see so many people wearing my design!

Madrona: Pre-Day 1

Actually, let me start with the night before Pre-Day 1. We had a wonderful night with Ruth Sorensen when we took her out to dinner at Scott's. She is really sweet and looking forward to teaching and learning at Madrona. This is her first visit to the US and she wanted to have a typical American meal. She ordered Cowboy steak!

The next day we made our way - cars packed to the hilt - to the Hotel Murano in Tacoma. We unpacked what we thought was a lot of yarn, until we saw how much some of the other shops had brought. Holy smokes! Lots of cool stuff. Can't wait for opening day. So much yarn, so little time.

On our continuing quest to treat Ruth to Americana, we took her to an Irish Pub for dinner where she dined on roasted lamb and champ (a potato dish). Okay, so how is an Irish Pub American? It isn't, really, but they don't have them in Denmark so at least she got to experience a different culture. ;-)

Valentine's Day

Since most of us will be at Madrona, or out with our sweeties, or at Madrona with our sweeties, or at home stuffing our faces with chocolate wishing we had a sweetie.....well, you get the idea.....we will be closing the shop at 8:00 pm instead of 9:00 pm. We hope this doesn't cause anyone any grief. :-)

Did someone say Kauni?

Guest Blogger Ellen here - we just received another huge shipment of the Kauni EQ and ES colorways this morning. If you haven't already heard about the phenomenon of Kauni hitting the internet, this is one hot yarn! I also will be getting in another shipment soon - that order has the pink/gold/cream colorway, a few other colors, and about 5 different solid colors - red, blue, green, white and natural. If you look on Ruth Sorensen's blog, she just posted pictures of her hats which use the solid with the transitional yarn. So cute! I'm hoping that she'll let us sell these patterns when she comes to visit us in a few weeks.

I'm planning on finishing my Kauni sweater today - I have 3 rows of the last button band to knit, find some cool buttons and block. Voila! Ready for Madrona. If you are needing help or encouragement through this project, Elaine is teaching a class we call "Kauni Klub". She'll help you through the scary bits and help you figure out the pattern. They did meet once already, but you can either talk to her about catching up, or we will also offer this class again with our summer schedule of classes.

Speaking of classes, I will start putting together our next class list beginning February 1st. If you have a request for a type of class we haven't offered before, let me know! I will do my best to find something to fit your needs.

Last but not least we have new books in. Specifically a whole lot of the knitting/stitching mystery types. One I'm really looking forward to reading is "Three Bags Full" by Leonie Swann. It's about a flock of sheep investigating the murder of their shepherd. Besides the mysteries we have "Warm Fuzzies" , the Anticraft book and "Yarn Play". Lots of great fun!

The knit along seems to be going really well, most people seem to have the backs of their sweaters done or almost done, and some are now finishing up their fronts and one - cough- Victoria - cough - is done and on to other pursuits.

Happy knitting!

What!? A tea blog entry?

I know, I hardly EVER post anything about just tea but I want to change that. I guess we just don't get as much of a response about tea entries as yarn related entries.

What's new in the tea department:

I've just started ordering tea from Golden Moon Tea and the first two flavors have arrived - Coconut Pouchong and White Persian Melon. OMG - the coconut is to die for and can be used as a substitute for the water you use when making rice. Imagine some exotic dish with coconut infused rice on the side...... yummmm. And the melon smells like fresh cantaloupe and is great hot or on ice. I also have a new Darjeeling First Flush from Rishi that is light and lovely.

I love tea and I love talking about tea so if you ever want to learn more about it, just get me started!

New Namaste Bags

The über-sexy new knitting bags from Namaste just came in. And if you haven't seen there very cool new needle totes, we have those as well. I don't know HOW you can keep yourself from coming here every day! :-P