About the New Year's Day Sale...

Just one more reminder that we will be open for our Blowout New Year's Day Sale on Friday, January 1, 2010 - yes, 2010! - from 11am to 3pm only! Come with your money (plastic or real), your largest shopping bag and a generous portion of patience for the long lines of yarn-buyers! All in-stock, full-priced yarns and selected books will be 25% off. A few things to remember:

Doors will open promptly at 11am and close promptly at 3pm!
Needles, notions, fibers, bags and other miscellaneous items are not on sale.
Sale prices are on in-stock, full-priced yarns only.
All sales are FINAL: no returns or exchanges.
Tea service will not be available.
Stamp cards will not be stamped and full cards cannot be used.

Due to the New Year's Day holiday and the sale, the January Knit Nite will be held on Friday, January 8, 6-8pm. See you there.

Happy New Year, everyone! See you at the sale.

A blowout sale and a Cookie

Okay, people, we must now move (almost) past the Christmas knitting and mosey on to the 2010 celebration. You know what that means at VYT: the New Year's Day BLOWOUT SALE!!!! Yes, it's true - we will play that game we normally play on January 1; namely, how many people can we cram into the yarn shop in 4 hours? If you show up at VYT between the hours of 11am and 3pm on the first day of 2010, you can be one of those sardines. But being a sardine will be worth it when you can walk out of here with all the yarn and books you can carry at 25% off. Bring your patience and your big shopping bag and we will greet you with a smile and try to herd you all toward the cash register in an orderly fashion... Once again, that will be January 1, 2010, 11am to 3pm. Be there or be knitting with last year's yarn!

A Cookie, you say? Haven't we had enough cookies for one season? Well, yes, if we were talking about the crumbly, calorie-filled type. But! We're talking about the creative sock-knitting-designing-top-down-toe-up crazy good Cookie - Cookie A! We are so thrilled that Cookie A will be back with us once again this January. She'll be teaching two sessions of her toe-up socks with gussets class on Friday, January 29. Each session is already half-full, so to reserve your spot, call the shop ASAP with your credit card at the ready. Choose your session: 10am to 1pm or 2pm to 5pm. Cost for each is just $40 - a bargain for all the knowledge and fun you'll get.

In the meantime, there are still plenty of holiday shopping hours left at VYT: Tue-Fri we're open till 8pm!

Let the gift buying commence

Not that it hasn't already commenced, but you know it must continue for another couple of weeks at least. And then there will be the after-holidays gift card spending and the beginning of the year BLOWOUT SALE and... and... well, you get my drift!

All fiber people: share this blog with your significant other or your mother or your best friend!

We have some good gifts here at VYT! How about some loose teas and a Stump teapot? We have these fun little pots in several colors, along with our popular snowman serving trays and napkins. Or. Victoria’s sister brought us back from Bali some lovely embroidered silk knitting bags in several sizes, knitting needles with handcarved tops and bone shawl pins in lots of designs. Or add to your collection of Good-to-be-Girl project bags or handmade polymer clay stitch markers - good enough to eat mini donuts, French macaroons and Amy’s famous pink snowmen! Or. For those fiberholics on your list, get some Frabjous Fibers merino and a drop spindle - or check out the new Punta yarns in oh-so-yummy merino worsted or bulky weights.

If all else fails, gift cards are always a popular choice and we know all knitters love them! We look forward to helping you pick the perfect gift for the knitters and spinners in YOUR life!

How about some spinning?

If the holiday bustle has your head spinning, why not take a break from that kind of motion and relax by spinning some fiber at our monthly Spin-in? I had my wheel out today while teaching a friend to spin on her new wheel and it was sooooo relaxing! Join us Thursday, Dec 10 from 6-8pm and make some yarn!

Holiday Happenings

Okay, as of midnight tonight, it's December. DECEMBER! To us, December means knitting at warp-speed, celebrating with all of you as you come in to get supplies to frantically knit, decorating the shop (this year in shades of blue and silver, thanks to our lovely Amy of Good-to-be-Girl fame) and stopping once in a while to take a breath, gulp a cup of tea and reflect on how grateful we are for the joys of the past year. And speaking of Amy - she just dropped off a new supply of her mom's knitting bags in several sizes: snowmen, mittens and more designs to tempt you.

This week, there are a couple of opportunities to get together with all of your knitting pals and make some progress on those last-minute knitted gifts: Friday, Dec 4 is Knit Nite, 6-8pm. Join us for the music of the season by Ray Skjelbred and his dolceola (miniature piano). Ray is a well-known local musician and husband of our infamous VYT fan Elsa - hear Ray's music from 6-7. Treats will be provided by Dinners Ready and we'll get to know more of our neighbors from the Towne Center.

Saturday, Dec 5 is our Holiday Open House and we'll be in celebratory form all day with yummy goodies from Svedala Bakery, hot tea (of course), harp music by our friend Valerie Day from 10am-1pm and a holiday ornament Make & Take from 12-3, with Susan Dirk. If this day doesn't get you in the mood for the up-coming holidays, we don't know what will! So bring your smiles and show off your projects and join us for the fun!

Black Friday?

That's the traditional name for the day after Thanksgiving and all of its shopping madness. It won't be black or bleak at Village Yarn and Tea that day, though, because we have yarn in all kinds of colors and tea in all kinds of flavors to soothe the savage shopping beast. Come in and get some!

Just to make the day a little more special, join us in celebrating the launch of the newest book from Interweave Press by Mary Scott Huff: "The New Stranded Colorwork." We'll have a trunk show, book signing and reception. Mary is the aunt of one of our very favorite customers, Katy Scott - and Katy knitted one of the projects in the book! Way to go, Katy! Mary will be with us from 11am to 1pm on Friday, Nov 27.

We'll be closed on Thanksgiving Day and we wish you and yours a happy holiday filled with lovely memories, delicious food - and productive knitting, of course!

Mitten, mitten, who's got a mitten?

You will, if you sign up for Lisa Ellis's class on knitting twined mittens, coming up on Sunday, November 22 from 2-4pm. These mittens are made using an easy technique that gives you a firm, double-thick fabric that no wind and cold can possibly get through! You'll learn twining in stockinette and rib stitch, plus experience a thumb gusset and top of the mitten shaping. Lisa always has plenty of extra tips and tricks to share and her energy is definitely contagious. Reserve your spot by calling the shop ASAP - at $30, this jam-packed class is a steal!