It’s Monday, and you know what that means? More pretty things up on the website for you. This week we have re-stocks of some popular lines, new colors from others, and a new Shawl Kit to share with you. Just up:
Colinette Jitterbug– I know, I know – it has been a long time since we had a good re-stock of this popular yarn. We bought lots, so you have many gorgeous colors to choose from! Jitterbug is a fingering weight yarn with a great, squishy twist, making it perfect for socks, shawls and scarves. I made this Multnomah Shawl with 2 skeins and really enjoyed working with it. (Shown here in Gaugin.)
Manos del Uruguay Alegria – Oh, this is a pretty fingering weight. 75% Superwash Merino, 25% Polyamid (nylon), with 445 yards in the skein. Great for socks, shawls and scarves. Even though fingering weight yarn takes a little longer to knit up (than, say, worsted or bulky weight), the fine texture and drape that you get makes it so worth it. (Shown here in Butla.)
Fleece Artist Trail Socks – A full re-stock on their fingering weight yarn on the 80% Superwash Merino, 20% Nylon base. One of the things I love the most about Fleece Artist is their wonderful sense of color. You’ll find some old favorites and some new inspirations as well.
The Fibre Company Road to China Light – This sport weight yarn is 65% baby alpaca, 15% silk, 10% camel and 10% cashmere. Can you even imagine? It’s luscious. If you’re in the holiday gift-knitting mode, this is one of the yarns that people will unwrap and say, “Ohhhhh. Wow.” And isn’t that what you always want them to say when you have spent the time and money to knit them a gift? Try it for scarves, cowls, hats, mittens and shawls. (Shown here in Ruby.)
The Alpaca Yarn Company Passi Shawl Kits – A fun gradient shawl pattern that comes with 6 (90 yd) skeins of gradient-dyed colors to knit it up. You’ll find six different color of kits to choose from. The yarn is Paca Peds (65% Superwash Wool, 20% Alpaca, and 15% Nylon.) What fun!
Enjoy the new things, and the Elves will get your orders all packed up and shipped off as soon as possible!
As always, TNNA Market was a lot of fun! What is Market like? Lots of booths, lots of samples knit up, lots of pretty colors, lots of designers, lots of classes, and lots of walking. I go to connect with our vendors, check out the new things for you, learn some new things in classes, and place a lot of orders. 🙂
The days start early, especially if you’re taking advantage of the many classes that are offered. There are classes that pertain to business and classes that pertain to skills and techniques, and I usually try to fit in a mix of both types while I’m there. (That does take a certain amount of commitment. Classes start at 8 am. When my alarm goes off to get up at 6:30 am, that’s 4:30 am Colorado time. Have I mentioned that I am so not a morning person? So. Not.) I have seldom taken a class there that wasn’t worth the early morning wake-up call though, so that’s good.
One of the classes I took this year was with Sally Melville. She brought lots of samples and I really liked the cuff on this sweater. She did a few rows of garter stitch, then a few rows of ribbing, then a few more rows of garter stitch to end the sleeve. The garter stitch makes the sleeve edge roll slightly, giving it almost an i-cord look (but a lot quicker and easier). If I ever get better at actually finishing sweaters (and not just starting them), I’m going to do things like this on my cuffs. So much more fun looking than a plain rib, don’t you think?
Of course you want to know what I bought, right? Besides getting in quite a few re-orders and re-stocks while I was there, I also added some extra lines from some of our favorite companies, as well as some new lines. (And one really cool exclusive thing that we’ll have in about 60 days, but since it’s so far down the road, I can’t tell you about that yet. But it will be fun!) We put orders in for all of the new Malabrigo Roving, which is as beautiful as all of the colors that Malabrigo does on their yarn bases. And we also added in Sweet Georgia’s BFL Roving (again, done in her awesome color combinations.) We do have more of her Tough Love Sock and CashSilk Lace coming soon, from an order that we put in awhile back.
New yarns from Spud and Chloe, Blue Sky Alpacas, The Alpaca Yarn Company, Dream in Color, Fable Fibers, and Wonderland Yarns!
I spent a lot of time in The Fibre Company’s booth, because their yarn is just luscious. We already carry Tundra and Road to China light. I added in Canopy Worsted and Canopy Fingering while at Market. This yarn is 50% alpaca, 30% merino, and 20% tencel. It’s gorgeous and soft and I can see us all knitting quite a few projects out of it! I also ordered the new colors in Spud and Chloe and Blue Sky Alpacas, as well as new gradient color kits (with mini skeins, shown here at the top of the photo) from The Alpaca Yarn Company. They had a beautiful shawl done up in one of these gradient kits and I’m looking forward to making one soon.
There were new Chelsea Kits from Dream in Color that I ordered, as well as new Boy and Girl Tulip Sweater kits that will arrive soon. I added in a couple of brand new lines – 3 different yarn bases from Fable Fibers (a DK weight, an MCN fingering weight, and a big-skein – 600 yards, fingering weight. Shown here on the bottom left.). And the merino fingering weight base from Wonderland Yarns (put out by Frabjous Fibers, shown here on the bottom right). We may add in their MCN and Worsted weights as well, but thought we’d start with the fingering weight. There are a few more lines that I got samples from and am still contemplating for fall additions, so of course the shopping isn’t done yet. The yarn shopping is never done around here. I’m always finding more fun things for all of us. I love that part of my job!
That’s almost all the market news. You might have heard that we’re expanding our shop in Fort Collins. They’ve been making progress with the construction and this morning they knocked down the far wall! If you visit, you’ll see a big plastic sheet hanging across while they continue to finish out and blend together the spaces over the next five weeks. Now, with all that extra space we’re going to need a few more Loopy Elves, so we have some new positions opening up here at the shop (both full and part-time). If you or a friend are a local, enthusiastic quilter/sewist interesting in working at a growing company called The Loopy Ewe, please send a resume to jobs@theloopyewe.com – we’d love to talk with you more over the next couple of weeks. Actually, have I mentioned that the TNNA Market isn’t the only market I’ve had fun at recently? I was at Quilt Market last fall and then again this past May …
Well, I hope you’re as excited about some of these new things as I am. Stay tuned to the blog for more fun things (and additional details about our new space) as we get ready for our Seventh Loopy Anniversary in August!
Happy President’s Day! We had a nice day off today (since it’s a no-mail Monday), but we’re ready to get back in the shop tomorrow to play with the yarn get your orders packed up and shipped out. In tonight’s Monday Update we added in:
Lorna’s Laces – Christmas at Downton is back in stock in Solemate, Shepherd Sock, Sportmate and Pearl. (Fitting, considering the season finale of Downton Abbey was last night. Did you see it? Oh my.)
Lorna’s Laces– We’ve also re-stocked Shepherd Sock, Shepherd Sport and Worsted. We get orders from Lorna’s almost every week. We always have a big list of colors and bases on order with them and they add them to their weekly dye rotation and send us the colors as they come up on the dye schedule. That’s why it seems like you see Lorna’s Laces on the What’s New page two or three Mondays a month! In tonight’s Update, we have their new spring colors as well. (Daley, Harrison, Mason, Medill – shown above, Ogden, Washing, and Byrne).
Cascade – two bits of good news on Cascade. 1) We have re-stocked almost everything, so the shelves are full up! 2) The price has gone down on several of the Cascade bases, which is always a welcome (and rare) turn of events. We’ve lowered the price on 220, 220 Superwash, Superwash Sport, Ultra Pima, and Ultra Pima Fine. Now is a good time to stock up and get some sweater quantities.
Cascade – in addition to the re-stocks, we’ve also added in Ultra Pima Paints (their beautiful Pima cotton in multi-colors – these would make a cute summer sweater) and Cascade 220 Superwash Paints (fun for easy-care baby and kid clothes). Shown here in Ultra Pima Paints Blues Mix.
The Fibre Company – we’ve re-stocked Tundra (their beautiful bulky weight yarn, perfect for quick-to-knit cowls, scarves, sweaters and mittens) and Road to China Light (their luxurious Alpaca/Cashmere/Camel/Silk sportweight yarn, great for drapey scarves, cowls and shawls – shown here in Malachite).
Dream in Color February Dream Club – we put up the last of our skeins of the February color – a gorgeous hot pink in their DK Everlasting yarn base. Your yarn purchase includes a free pattern for the Trinity Scarf, but it would also make a really fun pair of happy socks. This is the last installment of this round of Dream Club. We hope they offer another round again this fall. We’ll be sure to keep you posted.
If you haven’t yet had a chance to enter our Spring Fling Contest on last Friday’s blog, be sure to throw your name in the hat (or, rather, your comment in the comment section). We’re giving away a spot for you and a friend, and I know you could use a fun knitting weekend getaway this spring, right? We’ll announce the randomly drawn winner at the end of the week!
It’s Monday, and you know what that means? More pretty things up on the website for you. This week we have re-stocks of some popular lines, new colors from others, and a new Shawl Kit to share with you. Just up:
Manos del Uruguay Alegria – Oh, this is a pretty fingering weight. 75% Superwash Merino, 25% Polyamid (nylon), with 445 yards in the skein. Great for socks, shawls and scarves. Even though fingering weight yarn takes a little longer to knit up (than, say, worsted or bulky weight), the fine texture and drape that you get makes it so worth it. (Shown here in Butla.)
The Fibre Company Road to China Light – This sport weight yarn is 65% baby alpaca, 15% silk, 10% camel and 10% cashmere. Can you even imagine? It’s luscious. If you’re in the holiday gift-knitting mode, this is one of the yarns that people will unwrap and say, “Ohhhhh. Wow.” And isn’t that what you always want them to say when you have spent the time and money to knit them a gift? Try it for scarves, cowls, hats, mittens and shawls. (Shown here in Ruby.)
