kyarns

Prehistoric Education

2009-06-30T14:09:00.008-04:00

I've been working on a couple of fun new samples for the shop using our Noro Kureyon yarn. (We just got in some new colors, too!) Here are the different pieces of my first project: Not sure what this was going to be? Neither were my friends, when I was working on this last week. And explaining it to them was a bit of a challenge. I was with several people who use American Sign Language to communicate, and I'm still learning. I tried to finger spell "triceratops" and got some very strange and confused looks. At that point I switched to finger spelling "dinosaur" and I learned my favorite sign yet! Here's a hint of the sign, but come on by the shop and I can show it to you in motion:Our resident toy expert, Emily, helped me out on Saturday and sewed the pieces together. So here is our newest sample, a Triceratops named Pokey. We took him out for a walk today:He liked hanging out in the "dino forest" the best:

The pattern I'm using is the Knitting at Knoon Prehistoric Pals. It's such a great way to use some of the fun bright colors of Noro Kureyon. I can't wait to finish the Stegasaurus (to be named Spike)!

Special Project, Finally Unveiled

2009-06-28T14:52:00.006-04:00

A is for "Alex"!

Last month I got an email from a friend and former kyarns staff member in Florida. Many of you will remember Alex, who worked with us at the shop on Saturdays for about 2 years. Alex moved to Florida over a year ago and emailed me that she had just found out she has breast cancer and was planning a mastectomy, chemo and radiation for this summer. We were all devastated. We just felt awful, and wished she were closer so we could pitch in and do whatever she could possible need help with. But we're in Vermont, and she's in Florida, so that wasn't really going to be possible.

I had just spent several hours seaming one of our Plymouth Encore charity afghans, and I had also just finished a little baby sweater out of Berroco Pure Pima. I was feeling really good about the charity afghans, and was loving the Pure Pima and sad that the project was over. So the idea was born... I came in to work the next day and asked everyone on the kyarns team if they would help knit a square or two for a blanket for Alex. I thought it would be a nice reminder of all the well wishers that she has up here in Vermont, and she could also use it to cuddle up in whenever she was feeling yucky or in need of a little love. Not to mention - doing something like this for charity makes you feel good. But doing it for someone you actually know personally is an even better feeling. Everyone on the kyarns team was thrilled to help and so the ABC (Alex's Breast Cancer) Blanket was started.We figured out the finished size that we wanted (40" x 50") and determined that it would take about 20 skeins of Pure Pima. I picked 10 colors and grabbed 2 skeins of each. Then I contacted everybody on our team and gave them general instructions - pick a color, cast on 50-60 stitches and knit until the end of the skein, or until desired length. The great thing about this project is that no two pieces would be alike. People chose all different patterns - some they just liked, some they were sampling for a future project, and some that had special meaning.

I knew that piecing it together would be a bit of a challenge, but this wasn't a perfect quare thing we were aiming for. It was more of a chance for each of us to choose a design or pattern and just go with it. (I can't speak for everybody else, but I did choose my green cabled design -pictured at bottom in this next picture - because it reminded me of different sized "boobs" and that old commercial for the cross your heart bras... the ones with a tape measure... and after all, this was all about the boobs, you know?)

So everyone pitched in, got the squares knit and blocked, and I began the job of piecing it together. And it was an interesting job! 100% cotton is not as forgiving in seaming, so several seams were done over and over and over. And in the end, I longed to be seaming the charity blankets out of Encore. Boy are those simple compared to this one!

Going in to this, I knew the edges wouldn't line up properly - that was sort of the point - but I also had to make sure that the colors were evenly spread out. In the end, it worked out pretty well. I only had to knit 2 small rectangles to fill in a bit of space along two of the edges. I then used the leftover scraps of Pure Pima to do 3 rows of single crochet around the edges.

I washed it and dried it, and popped it in a box to send to Alex in Florida. We were all on pins and needles - having really enjoyed participating in this special project, but also anticipating Alex's reaction to it. She received it on Friday afternoon and was really touched. Here she is with it:

She's a few weeks post surgery, and hasn't started chemo yet. We're all thinking of her, and even though we can't be near her in person, at least we're there in spirit, with our blanket.

Special thanks to everyone who contributed to this blanket... Barb, Shawn, Michele, Emily, Polly, Suzie, Tom, India, Andrea, Marilyn and Kali. And special wishes that it brings Alex love and warmth whenever she needs it.

Oh yeah, I'm overdue for my mammogram this year. Don't worry - I'm calling tomorrow to make the appointment.

Norah's here!

2009-06-24T14:34:00.003-04:00

Well, okay, not in the flesh... but her pattern books are here! Fresh from the printers, with that newly printed smell even...

Yummy! This is the last of the boxes ready to ship for tomorrow morning. We had to do them in batches, and this was the third or fourth I think? Since we've shipped out all of our pre-orders, we are now in a bit of a quandry...

WHICH ONE SHOULD WE KNIT FIRST? :)))

Time for a little reorg?

2009-06-22T13:02:00.004-04:00

Don't worry - "reorg" doesn't refer to people here... it refers to "stuff." We are an organized bunch, but even the most organized folks can wake up one day and find that things have somehow gotten a bit out of control! Last week we started a major cleansing - first with all of the closets and then with the shipping room and the classroom. Then we moved to all warehouse areas and finally the shop. We are planning to change the front area of the shop just a bit. Rug hooking supplies will be moved upstairs to the classroom.

Don't worry hookers! Everything is still available, but you will need to ask one of us for assistance, and we'll take you upstairs. (Then you get the table to lay your rugs out on... it's all good!) We just really need more space for the wonderful yarns we have coming in each week. (And samples... I can't forget the samples!)

Because we are changing the front of the shop around, I went shopping for some display things this weekend. I was looking for a folding screen, and couldn't find anything that would work for us. I looked online, but the closest thing I could find to what I was looking for was close to $175, and that was before shipping. And, it wasn't REALLY what I wanted. So I went to Mason Brothers Architectural Salvage, just a stone's throw from the shop - and found some beautiful old shutters. I bought some hinges, and for less than $60, an hour of heavy scrubbing, and 15 minutes of drilling, viola! Just what I wanted, and I saved a lot in doing it myself. Gotta love those DIY projects. Can't wait to hang yarn all over this baby!

I found another great piece for the shop - this old wool winder was on sale for half price! Did they know I was coming? Perfect for the shop, and it still works.

And I got another great cabinet that will be perfect for holding yarn in the front of the shop. That one also took a lot of elbow grease in cleaning it up, but it was so worth it. I love re-using things - makes me feel good.

Late last week we were hit by all the great people who came to the Vermont Quilt Festival at the Champlain Valley Expo. We always forget exactly HOW busy we are when these folks are in town. Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday felt like our typical days in November and December. The shop was just mobbed with groups of people. We had so much fun helping them, but we were all a bit droopy at the end of each day!

We had some new Tilli Tomas yarns that they were grabbing right out of the box. They weren't even in our system yet (and still aren't!) so it was a bit of a feeding frenzy. We are getting another shipment from Tilli tomorrow and then I'm locking myself in the classroom and not coming out until these new yarns are online.

Camp prep

2009-06-15T11:08:00.006-04:00

Back from TNNA! What a great trip. I'll be posting about that soon! The weather in Columbus was just gorgeous. It's usually really hot and humid with thunderstorms and major downpours. This year was a treat with temps in the 70s, sun and a lovely breeze.

Back in Vermont, however, the weather forecast isn't looking quite as nice. Today is a bit damp and chilly so I'm thankful for our new Half-Crepe Triangular Shawl sample, knit with Mountain Colors Wool Crepe Halves. It keeps my shoulders warm and I can see it's going to be my go-to piece when the chill of the A/C starts to bother me this summer. (You should make one! Easy, quick, and the weight is perfect!)

So we've got our first ever Kyarns kids' knitting camp coming up in less than a month (still a few spots left!) We're putting together the daily schedule and buttoning up all the details for the week. We are so excited! It's really going to be a lot of fun for those lucky kids! (Why didn't they have this when I was a kid!?)

I'm putting together the master swatch notebook, and I'm about halfway through. I'm using the Berroco Vintage Wool because you know I love it! I picked some super bright colors - remember, we're dealing with kids, and these colors are WAY more appealing than they might be to you and I!We have kids of all different abilities coming to the camp, and as I've learned from the rec department after school knitting program I did with Suzie this past year, it's good to have lots of options for all the kids. We're focused on teaching them skills that they can use once they've left the camp, so the knitting time will really be swatching time. They'll learn how to read charts and how to read their knitting. (I know some grown ups who would benefit from this exercise!!) Kids who are beginner knitters can start at the beginning of the swatch book, and kids with experience can start in the middle, or beyond!

If you think about it, making a swatch 10 stitches wide by 10-12 rows high seems very basic. But pair it up with chart reading, and lots of casting on, binding off & weaving in ends, comparing it to other swatches to learn about gauge, and these kids will be really skilled at many techniques at the end of the week.

There are hands on non-knitting (but fiber related - of course!) activities each day. And here's an example of a felted flower that they will be making: Gorgeous! Shawn made this one, and now I want to do it!

The perfect sweater for Liz

2009-06-13T08:58:00.000-04:00

A couple of weeks ago, my daughter Liz asked me to knit her a sweater. Her thinking was "knitted sweaters are totally in fashion and she could get one (actually she asked for several) for free". Let's say the search for a pattern and the right color of yarn was a bigger job than the actual knitting was. I must say, her idea of a short sweater is not the same as mine!

She chose the Nolicare cardigan from Berroco Book 285: Linen Picnic. It's really cute and I was excited to knit it for her. Liz didn't like the feel of the Berroco Linen Jeans and thought the colors were a bit too mature for her (she's 14.) So we ended up with the Tahki Cotton Classic in white. (I'm glad this yarn is washable!)

I worked on my gauge swatch that weekend. Liz saw the swatch I knit and asked if her sweater would be ready the next day. Now I know I knit fast... but really! She was so eager to wear this sweater.

I knit the back until about half-way up the armhole. I held it up to her for size, and she wasn't happy with the length. I could tell by her tone that even though she said "It's okay mom," that wasn't at all what she meant. So I ripped out about 10" of knitting. The only benefits of her wanting it shorter was that the fronts took less time to knit.

I finished the sweater early enough so she could wear it to school before summer vacation. She was thrilled. She said she felt so pretty that day. Score one for mom!

Thunderstorms as usual

2009-06-12T09:14:00.000-04:00

Barb and I are waiting in BTV for our flight to Columbus, which is delayed. Every year we've had delays due to thunderstorms. LGA is having them now so we are just waiting patiently...

Barb is swatching away on her Lang Alpaca Superlight. She says it's very soft and not itchy like a mohair would be. I think it is gorgeous, but a yarn that thin would drive me crazy. Luckily she doesn't mind it. Maybe she'll be nice and knit me the sweater I want in it for the fall...

And then it was summer

2009-06-11T17:16:00.009-04:00

School was supposed to end tomorrow, so how is it that today was the first day of summer? Well, a little thing called H1N1 (also known as "Swine Flu") forced our school to close down a bit early this year. Kindergarten was closed on Monday, since there were 5 confirmed cases and others with flu-like symptoms. By Tuesday, there were 17 other students and 5 staff members with symptoms as well, so Tuesday at 5pm we received an emergency alert call (LOVE THOSE!) that told us Wednesday would be the last day of school.

Helen wasn't too phased, but Sophie was really upset. They are 4th graders, and in our school, 5th graders go to the middle school. So it was the end of their elementary school era, and when you think you can strut your stuff as a big 4th grader, and draw out the teary goodbyes for the rest of the week, but then get news that you only have one day to do it... it can be a shock. So yesterday they had their graduation ceremony and it was actually a bit sad for me. It was a big reminder of how quickly time passes. It's sad that my little girls are now big girls. Luckily they are still little at heart! It seems that just yesterday they were getting off the bus - their first bus ride home from kindergarten:

And then 1st grade:

And 2nd:

And 3rd:

And now on graduation day from 4th grade: Anyway, they had a pretty lazy day today for their first day of summer. And look who must be excited that they're home all day now! Maisy is usually not so tolerant of dressing up, but she looks very nice in her bonnet.

She even wore the Irish step dancing wig without putting up a fight. I never would have believed it, but with photographic evidence, it has to be true.

Speaking of graduations, my neice is graduating from high school tomorrow. My sister is crocheting her a "take to college" afghan out of.... Berocco Vintage Wool. She picked 14 colors and taught herself to "granny". There's been a little hand holding on my end, but now she's well on her way. The Vintage Wool is perfect for this project. It will be gorgeous, and it will be soft and warm, but be completely easy care for an 18 year old college freshman.

Unfortunately I am missing her graduation because Barb and I leave for Columbus for the TNNA Fall show tomorrow morning. We'll be checking out all sorts of new things for the shop. And my travel project is putting together swatches for our Kids Knitting Camp this summer. We still have a few openings for July, and I think, one for August, so sign up your kids!

And one last thing. WWKIP (World Wide Knit in Public) day is Saturday and our shop is opening late, at 11am, instead of the regular 9am. Shawn and Emily will be downtown in Burlington right by the Farmer's Market, knitting with the masses (we hope.) They'll be there at 9am and will stay for a bit until they have to come back and open the shop. Bring your knitting, a chair, and snacks if you get hungry, and knit with some like minded folks.

Where did our seaming help go!?

2009-06-10T07:32:00.001-04:00

We're still seaming the charity blankets... remember we have 5 blankets to put together, so that's a lot of seaming! A lot of people said they wanted to help, and maybe the first three dates we put out there for seaming didn't work for many of you, because we didn't have many people show up! So we are making it easier for you.

Come in to the shop, any time during open hours and sit down and seam for a bit. We will take 5 minutes to be sure you are seaming properly (heck, this sort of qualifies as a free lesson, doesn't it!?) and then you can sit and seam.

It's very theraputic, and it's all for a good cause. Please, please, please! We have just finished the first blanket, and it is truly beautiful. We are not on a deadline to finish these, but we really would like to get them done soon, as we have some other projects coming up. Here's the first twin sized blanket - isn't it beautiful!?

Thanks again to Kali for arranging the squares.

Options

2009-06-09T13:30:00.003-04:00

So many customers have come in to the shop and admired the Rocketry Baby Blanket and Cardigan set that Jill knit up as samples a while back.

The patterns for these two projects are really nice and because the Dream in Color Classy is a little pricey, we've been helping people find substitutions in colors that are similar, but less expensive. The Classy version takes 6 skeins of Classy, 1 each in 6 different colors. It's enough to make the blanket and sweater and costs $108.

An easy substitution is Berroco Comfort. This worsted weight yarn comes in wonderful bright colors and is quite soft and machine washable. If you choose to use the Comfort, you need to purchase 7 skeins (1 each in 5 different colors, and 2 of the sixth color.) At just $5.75 each, that comes to $40.25. Big savings!

If you like the colors we used in our shop model, you'd want to get the Berroco Comfort in Pimpernel, Dutch Teal, Purple, Seedling, Kidz Orange and Delft Blue.

We've also made up a few combos for customers wanting some different mixes, so you may also like:

~ Seedling, Adirondack, Primary Blue, Deft Blue, Navy Blue and Agean Sea OR

~ Seedling, Dutch Teal, Primary Blue, Purple, Pimpernel and Filbert OR

~ Teaberry, Rosebud, Turquoise, Cornflower, Agean Sea and Rasberry Sorbet

And in another attempt to save some money, did you know you can buy the PDF versions of these patterns for less $$$? We've just added a bunch of Tilli Tomas PDF patterns online too.

Asteroid scarf - finished!

2009-06-05T16:22:00.008-04:00

The other night I finished my scarf in the Tilli Tomas Asteroid. It's lovely - and by having it in my bag here at the shop, lots of customers have been able to see it. Needless to say, the yarn sells as soon as the scarf comes out of the bag! The pattern is free with purchase (ask for it if you order online!)

I'm not working this weekend, but the scarf will be here for any of you who want to see it. The yarn is technically online only, but we'll have it in the shop this weekend for anyone who wants to see it. It's gorgeous stuff... too bad it's going, going, gone! (ADDED: My scarf took one skein. Yardage varies on each skein because some beads weigh more. If I cut off two stitches I would have had some extra length.)

Directions: Cast on 14 stitches. Purl 1 row. Work in pattern to desired length of end of skein.

Pattern

Row 1: k1, *yo, sl 1 wyib, k1, psso; rep from *, end k1. Row 2: p1, *yo, sl 1 wyif, p1, psso; rep from *, end p1.

Finally some nice weather in Vermont! I have a lot of gardening/outside painting/fort building to do this weekend, so I plan to enjoy the time outside. I can't wait to relax on my deck in the lounge chair, and knit! Will try to finish my next project to show you all early next week.

Also, a few more yarns added to the sale page! I've been buying, buying, buying for fall, so there are some good deals right now. Check them out!

Loose ends

2009-06-02T16:43:00.003-04:00

I'm trying to finish up some projects I have laying around. I finally finished my Pure Pima swatch - isn't this the coolest cable? Hopefully in a couple of weeks I will be able to show you our top-secret Pure Pima project. It's a collective effort and we are all so eager to see it when it's finished!

I also have a cabled hat going in Mille Colori Big. This is a new yarn from Lang. It's brand new - not even on the website yet, maybe tomorrow? But many of you will remember Mille Colori - the worsted version of this that we did SO well with a couple of years ago. Here it is in a bulky. One skein will make a hat and mittens, I believe. So I just have to finish the hat, and then make the mittens!

And then I started a teacher end-of-year gift. This is with Tilli Tomas Asteroid, a gorgeous beaded silk. It's a two row pattern that's quite simple and the result is stunning! I think I already contributed for a class gift, but I couldn't resist with this one. And this yarn is on sale at a rock bottom price! I am also planning a hat with it, but I have to design it, and I'm a bit stumped with what I see in my mind, and how to actually achieve the exact result I want.

So I have these loose ends, and I want to finish them up. They are all relatively small projects, but it's the last two weeks of school, and there are so many school related activities that are filling my evenings!

Swatching away

2009-05-31T17:13:00.003-04:00

New Berroco fall 2009 yarns arrived late last week and so one by one, I've been swatching!

I've only swatched the Vintage Wool and Blackstone Tweed so far - last night my eyes were closed by 9pm so there wasn't any knitting for me! After hyperventilating with excitement about the Vintage Wool last week, I have to say my breathing is still a bit uneven! I swatched it, and it DID NOT disappoint! It is gorgeous in stockinette stitch and shows stitch detail beautifully. So smooth going through the fingers, and the finished swatches are lovely.

I'm not a fan of acrylic at all, but there are some yarns that have a lot of acrylic in them, that have a "good" acrylic feel. Like Plymouth Dreambaby DK, and all of the Berroco Comfort yarns, from Sock to Baby to DK to Worsted to Chunky. These yarns are wonderfully soft and washable, and so is Vintage Wool. Super soft, easy care, quality product. You'll see!

The Blackstone Tweed was also a treat to knit with! I knew I'd love this yarn, and I was right. It's a blend of wool, superkid mohair and angora rabbit hair. I'm not fond of mohair, but superkid doesn't bother me at all. I've always loved yarns like Kid Silk Haze, Douceur et Soie and Kid Seta (these are on sale BTW!) and so I knew this "ingredient" in Blackstone Tweed wouldn't be a problem at all! And the pattern booklet for this yarn is really great! There are quite a few sweaters in it (Nuss, Nonpareil & Napolean!) that I'm going to want this fall.

Speaking of patterns, the Berroco books are due in 2-3 weeks, and they are all online for you to see! We've started taking pre-orders, and we'll be shipping them out the day they arrive.

Yarn lusting, and some overuse of the word SO (we can't help it!)

2009-05-28T15:45:00.007-04:00

Sometimes when a new yarn comes out, we literally LUST after it. We pet the skeins, fondle them, caress them, squeeze them... okay, folks, it's not x-rated, it's just yarn we're talking about! But there are some yarns that are born winners. And one of them arrived today.

Brand new for fall 2009 is Berroco Vintage Wool: Vintage Wool is a blend of acrylic, wool and nylon in a worsted gauge. Check out the awesome colors here, and just know that when you actually feel a skein of this yarn, well, I can't be responsible for what you'll do!

This yarn will be giving both Cascade 220 and Plymouth Encore some stiff competition. HOW, you ask, is that possible, since Cascade 220 and Plymouth Encore don't even complete with each other? I'll explain...

If you glance at the shelf, this yarn looks just like Cascade 220. It's got beautiful solids and lovely heathers, and it comes in a hank. The yardage (217) is comparable to the 220.

And if you look at the specifics of the yarn, it compares to Encore. First off, it's machine washable. And it's reasonably priced at only $6 compared to $5.50 for Encore. If you do the math, the Vintage Wool and the Encore both come out to 2.76 cents per yard.

So for all those Encore knitters, here's a yarn that is the same price as Encore, but much softer and without that acrylic feel. The color palette is different, so you can experiment with gorgeous rich shades that you haven't seen in the Encore line. (The heathers are simply stunning!) If you have issues with wool, Vintage Wool only has 40% wool, so you'll most likely not have any issues with it.

And for all you Cascade knitters, here's a yarn that looks and knits like Cascade 220. But it's much softer, and it's machine washable, so you can make items for kids that LOOK handwashable, and not worry that they'll be accidentally felted by those folks who don't know better. And at 2.76 cents per yarn, it's less than the 3.16 cents per yard you'll pay for the Cascade.

We love the Plymouth Encore and the Cascade 220, but Vintage Wool is unique in that it competes with different yarns in different ways. It is SO soft, the colors are SO beautiful, the price is SO reasonable and there are SO many yards... SO what does all this mean? Well, let's just say it's a KEEPER. In a big way!

Berroco fall patterns are coming in June! Hopefully by the third week in June we will have all the new books. They are SO awesome! ...Sorry! :)

Are you rested and ready for summer?

2009-05-26T07:04:00.015-04:00

I hope you all had a nice long weekend! I enjoyed - and needed! - the three days off, and I guess summer is here, though our weather this week doesn't seem to agree.

I started my weekend with a surprise visitor on Saturday morning! I looked out the window and had a little friend staring in at me. We often have deer in our backyard, but this one was about 6 feet off the front of the house. We had a bit of a staredown through the window, until the deer got bored or hungry and wandered back into the woods.

I didn't work at the shop on Saturday, but I did come in with the girls and Marc to see the Essex Junction Memorial Day Parade. It's always a long one (pushing two hours!) and with the road closed for several hours, the shop is never too busy on Saturday of Memorial Day weekend! Once Emily and Shawn finished restocking and pulling orders, they came out on the front step to enjoy the parade. They seamed some charity afghan squares while they watched. I was in the shop waiting for the parade to start and just as it started, Helen came in to get me so I wouldn't miss the "disabled veterinarians" who were coming up the street. (We were a ways away from the announcers, so she didn't hear it properly!) It's always fun to see the unexpected in parades, like old cars that seem to have lost their get up and go. Luckily people watching jumped up and started pushing this one, so this guy made it up the hill with a bit of help.

One of my favorite groups was the bagpipers. What a beautiful sound they made!

And of course the Green Mountain Derby Dames were a highlight this year. They are Vermont's first and only all-female flat track roller derby league. They've been popping up all over recently - getting the word out about their team. Cool!Sunday was the Vermont City Marathon in Burlington, and while we didn't enter as a shop this year for the relay team, I did agree to run a leg on my friend's team several months ago. Then, I was so busy with the launch of the new website, that I didn't get to train as much as I should have. I only had to run 5.6 miles, but when you haven't been running at all, 5.6 miles can seem daunting - and it did! I was extremely nervous all weekend, but I managed to surprise myself and came in well ahead of my ETA. It was really fun, and I felt that nice kind of "sore" afterwards (and still today!) but it did POUR the entire time I was running, and I definitely could have done without that.

Marc and the girls were going to watch me finish my leg, but didn't make it in time. Between me finishing faster than expected, and Marc trying to find parking in the North End, they were still 6 blocks away when I finished and called them. I was glad that Marc thought to bring an old Gortex parka with him, because by that time I was drenched and freezing!

I started a new swatch last night! Yarn is Pure Pima and it's a stitch pattern from one of the Barbara Walker books. Oh how I love this cable pattern! I stayed up way too late last night knitting it, because it was so much fun. I'm going to have to design something around it now...

Time for a new website feature: let's talk about patterns! Our free pattern section will be expanding this summer, but the biggest thing to notice is that all free patterns have now been formatted so they look a heck of a lot nicer on the page! And if you'd like to print out a free pattern, just click the Printer Friendly icon and a Word file will open up for you to print.

Customers have been asking for months, "Can we buy PDF patterns?" and we're happy to announce that starting now, we do have some PDF patterns available for purchase. For those of you who don't know, PDF stands for Portable Document Format. It's a file format that captures all the elements of a printed document in an electronic image. When you purchase a PDF pattern on our website, once you submit your order, you will be able to download the pattern almost immediately. People like PDFs because they are fast, paperless, and usually less expensive than paper patterns. All copyright laws do apply to PDF patterns, so please bear that in mind!

At this moment, we have our own patterns and two Dream in Color patterns available as PDFs. BUT we are expanding the offering, so stay tuned! Not many of our vendors sell their patterns in PDF format, so we are identifying those who do. And we're hoping that the vendors who do not offer this format will reconsider, as it's a green thing to do!

The perfect cotton, and new feature of the day - Product Reviews!

2009-05-23T08:21:00.000-04:00

Are all of you subscribed to KnitBits? If not, you go here to sign up! It's Berroco's weekly e-newsletter that has great information as well as free patterns! Yesterday's issue took a closer look at Pure Pima, their dk weight cotton. It talked about the unique construction of Pure Pima - how it contains both mercerized and unmercerized cotton strands, resulting in the best of both worlds: nice luster, reduced pilling, soft feel and matte appearance. The colors of Pure Pima are all breathtaking, and they work beautifully together, as you can see in the KnitBits issue.

All of us here at the shop agree that Pure Pima is a winner! I just finished a baby sweater with it, and our kyarns team has joined forces in another top secret Pure Pima project. We can't show you for another 4 weeks or so, but I can tell you it involves 10 different colors of this beautiful yarn, and the end result is going to be simply beautiful, in more ways than one! So stay tuned...

If you're eager to try the yarn, but not sure what to knit, here are some great ideas, all from Norah Gaughan Volume #4. The Flower Child Sweater has been SO popular this season. It is easy to see why:The Woodstock sweater is tunic length and flatters many figures:

And the Love Camisole, though quite simple - has decorative shaping stitches at the neckline:And now, the "new website" feature of the day: PRODUCT REVIEWS!

Each product on our new website has product reviews enabled. Of course the site is brand new, so we need your help reviewing the products you have used - then your comments will be available for everybody to see.

Simply browse to a product you have used, and click on "Review this product" under the "add to cart" button. Fill out some basic information, rate the product on a scale of 1-5 (5 being the highest) and then submit your review. And your review will show up as soon as it has been approved!

Once a product has reviews, you can easily read them! You will see a star rating, and you can click on "Read review(s)" to see what others have to say about the product!

Now get out there are start reviewing!

New Website Features... here we go!

2009-05-22T07:15:00.001-04:00

So I won't overwhelm you with ALL of the new website features in one post. Rather, I'll highlight 2-3 at a time, so you can get used to them at a good pace.

Biggest change: SHIPPING RATES!

Our new shipping rates are SWEEEEEET! All US Orders over $75 are FREE, and under $75 - just $4.95.
Because $4.95 is so low (and postage rates did just go UP btw) we will decide how to ship your package. It may come 1st class, Priority Mail, UPS ground or Parcel Post.
If you want your package to come faster, you can choose a UPS expedited option. You will pay based on the rate of your order. We have a handy shipping calculator right in the cart that gives you an immediate shipping quote!

Locals - you can specify PICKUP as a shipping method! Finally!
International folks - NO MORE SURCHARGES! Your shipping is calculated by weight directly in the shopping cart so you'll know exactly what the charges are.

And now you can become a member of our site!

As a member, you can:

Set up multiple ship-to addresses
Set up reminders for special events, like your knitting friends' birthdays, upcoming knitting classes, etc.
View all the details of all of your past kyarns.com orders (of course this is new, so it's as of 5/19/09!)
Quickly reorder products you've purchased before from us
Create a wishlist and send it to all of your friends!
As a member, you will receive special promotional codes that non-members will NOT receive. These codes will be ONLY for you, they will not work for anyone who is not a member.

Check out your recently viewed products!

The last feature I will mention today (so many more to come!) is a cool little something in the left nav bar. If you scroll down you can see the last 5 products you were viewing. So it's pretty easy to go back and find things you may have skimmed over!

1-2-3, Completed!

2009-05-21T12:56:00.008-04:00

I am feeling a sense of accomplishment in several ways today. Isn't that how you should feel when something you've been working on has been completed? And I have several completions to mention...
First up, the adorable Jessica sweater in Berroco Pure Pima that I started in Florida on my spring vacation. I finished it last night and then sewed on the buttons this morning. This would be a sweet little gift for any little baby girl. The pattern is in the Nashua Handknits Sprout booklet.Excuse the strange colorations in the picture, I didn't need to block the entire sweater, so only certain parts are wet. By tomorrow it will be dry and in the shop.

Earlier this week, we added two new shop samples to the mix, featuring Berroco yarns. Barb knit the Amherst Sweater out of Berroco Cuzco in the color: Ginseng. This is a super popular pattern from Dolce Handknits. It's easy and quick, and customers have been raving about this pattern. Now they can see it knit up!

And Karen finished up the Nimbus Sweater, in Berroco Peruvia Quick. This is an ADORABLE little cropped sweater with a fun shawl neck. I love the color we chose - Bing Cherry - and folks, it's a FREE PATTERN on the Berroco website! It was featured in their KnitBits newsletter a while back, and it's SO good that we couldn't pass it up. Check out our sweater, and link directly to the free pattern from our site.

And finally, the best completion of ALL. If you've noticed that I've been a little quiet in the past few months, well, here's the reason. Three months ago we started the process of migrating our website to a new provider. This was a HUGE undertaking, and was the number one priority for me - day in and day out. My days were full of maxxing out spreadsheets, editing and resizing images, re-classifying data, creating skus, etc. Because of this switch, we had to install 3 brand new major softwares here at Kaleidoscope Yarns. With apologies to my staff (and myself!) for having to learn three new software systems, pretty much simultaneously... but hey! We all lived through it, and things are awesome!

Our new site started to launch on Tuesday of this week, and by that evening almost all of our customers in the US and abroad were seeing the new version. Check it out! You won't notice any major design changes - the folks we surveyed were actually thrilled with our design and didn't want that to change. But we do have a lot of nifty new features that I'll be posting about here and in our e-mail newsletters over the next week or so.

So, with this HUGE project now completed, I guess it's time to get back to regularly scheduled ~~programming~~ blog entries!

Seaming starts tonight, 5-7pm

2009-05-18T11:03:00.006-04:00

It rained (poured!) most of Saturday, and so even though I really needed - and wanted - to be out in the garden, and out in the woods helping to build a "fort" for the girls, I was forced inside. I made some serious progress de-cluttering my house... or at least the first floor of my house. (The girls' bedrooms could just put me over the edge, so I'm not ready to go there quite yet.)

I went through every shelf and every surface in the downstairs rooms and pared down. What took me the longest was the many knitting bags full of WIPs (I think there were 12, no lie.) Some projects were so old, that I just had to let them go. American Girl Doll sweaters that were half finished, uncompleted project ideas for the kids' after school knitting program, balls of yarn in every color and texture and weight, notepads full of chicken scratch (my own) that must have been important at one time. It was a mess. I am happy to say that where there was once a huge pile of knitting bags next to and behind my knitting chair, there is now only wood floor. I found a better home for everything, and at least for the moment, it is organized.

Because that didn't take me ALL day, I had some time to sit down, listen to the rain and knit. I pulled out my Pure Pima project, and made a lot of progress. The back had been done, but I finished the fronts and one sleeve, and then last night I got started on the second. When I started this sweater, the edge pattern made me a little crazy. I had a hard time with it, but I've since realized that it's actually got nothing to do with the difficulty of the pattern (it's quite easy.) I was watching a few episodes of Lost when I started this sweater and kept messing up. If you are a Lost fan, you know that watching Lost while working on something that requires concentration isn't that easy.

Tonight is our first group seaming event for the charity blankets - 5pm-7pm at the shop. Come on in!

Here's a shot of Joy - who knit 42 squares! She drove up from NH last two weekends ago to deliver them and they are beautiful. Thanks Joy, what an amazing donation!

And one of our good customers and friends, Kali, came in last week, took ALL of the squares to her house, and spent a huge amount of time arranging them into 5 blankets - 3 twins and 2 doubles. Now she didn't seam them (that's for all of us to do!) but she arranged them by color - so now we have GRIDS so we know where everything goes. Not only did she map things out on graph paper, but she labeled each and every square, so we have NO EXCUSES for getting confused. What a huge time committment this was, and we are all so appreciative Kali!

In the meantime, more squares have arrived! I think we have another 15-20, and i know more are going to be delivered in June. No worries! We can just make another one, right?

Did you know we hired a hedgehog? It's okay, she's crafty!

2009-05-07T13:35:00.008-04:00

I just wanted to showcase some talent here... Emily is the newest addition to the Kyarns Team. She has been working here at Kaleidoscope Yarns for several months on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. She does an incredible job of balancing work with married life, loads of school work, her own business and her alter ego - the Crafty Hedgehog! (Check out her etsy shop here!)

Emily brought in a box of creatures today to show us (up close and in person) a portion of her knitted goodies. She's participating in the Queen City Craft Bazaar in Burlington this Saturday, May 9th at Union Station from 10am-5pm. I couldn't - for the life of me - pick a favorite, although I do want to share some of them! There's just something so endearing about these creatures... some of them with just eyes, and BIG eyes at that. This is the White Bellied Bunny. Her version uses Manos del Uruguay Silk Blend and Berroco Plush for the tail. And this barn owl, aptly named "Yarn Owl" is great! Made out of one of my new favorites: Manos del Uruguay Wool Classica Natural yarn. And check out this little guy - the Happy Frog Prince Hybrid - made with the yummy Tilli Tomas Milan! And the Rainy Day Bird, who we've heard is going to someday get a pair of galoshes and an umbrella - all hand knit, of course! (Those legs have NO wire in them folks, they are just stuffed expertly!) Rainy Day Bird was hatched from Manos Silk Blend and Colinette Jitterbug. And here is Cat Ball. I love this little guy! I had no idea that he was made with Tilli Tomas Pure & Simple in the Tuxedo colorway. He's very soft, like a kitty should be! Prrrrrr. Prrrrrr.

And finally, the dissections! You may think these are a little wild, but these are a hot item in Emily's Etsy shop! Wouldn't this be a great gift for your kid's science teacher? It's that time of year...

If anyone's in need of a little giftie, head on over to her table at the craft show. Or if you want to try your own hand (& needles) at some of these cool projects, Emily sells her patterns! They're available on Ravelry (look up CraftyHedgehog and check out her patterns!) or on her Etsy shop.

Swing on by the craft show on Saturday to see these in person, it's a DON'T MISS!

Vintage Baby Knits book signing and trunk show

2009-05-04T11:20:00.006-04:00

Don't forget! This Saturday, Kristen Rengren will be at the shop from 12:30-2pm, signing copies of her new book Vintage Baby Knits! She's bringing a trunk show of garments from the book, so you can all ooh and aah over these precious little goodies in person.

The book is incredible. It has more than 40 heirloom patterns from the 1920's to 1950's. They are all gorgeous, but I have a few favorites! I love the Billie Beret - which is knit in Baby Ull. It would be fun to knit a beret for a baby, as opposed to a regular hat... it looks so cute on this little one!

Many of our customers have been knitting wool soakers for their babies. Using cloth diapers with hand-knitted wool soakers is an environmentally friendly solution to diapering! Kristen's book has some really cute patterns for soakers - in fact Shawn in going to make the Milo Soaker out of Malabrigo Worsted. Some people ask why you'd use Malabrigo for a soaker, because it's expensive... Our answer? It's not really that expensive! It's only $12 and it is SO soft. If you don't want to use Malabrigo, use Cascade 220, or better yet, Cascade ECO Wool... 100% wool in all natural colors, with no dyes and no chemicals. You'll have enough for a set of soakers!

Another one of my favorite patterns from the book is the Stella Pixie Hat. It's so sweet! I am going to start this tonight - I chose a skein of Dream in Color Smooshy in Blue Lagoon. That yarn has been screaming out to me for months now, but I just knew it wasn't saying "socks!" or "lace shawl!" Now I know, it was saying... "STELLA!" (It didn't sound anything like Marlon Brando, either!)

And I love the Cleo Kitty Slippers. Wish this pattern would have been around - oh - 10 years ago! Then Helen and Sophie would have each had a pair.

Hope to see you there... I mean here!?

We have some AMAZING customers (but we already knew that!)

2009-05-01T13:26:00.007-04:00

When I left for vacation we had about 40 blanket squares that had been brought in to the shop. Apparently, they have been POURING in since then. We extended the deadline to the end of April (yesterday) but people have still been calling and asking when the ABSOLUTE deadline in. The answer is... by mid May.

That's when we are going to schedule our seaming dates, so we really need squares to be in by then. We will most likely have to see if we can use the space in the Brownell Library, since our classroom just isn't going to be big enough. A lot of people want to help with the seaming, and we will be offering several dates & times so everyone who wants to help, can help.

Today we had a group of women from UVM come to deliver their squares. These women work in several different departments at UVM, and get together to knit in smaller groups at lunchtime, and on Wednesdays they meet in a larger group. They brought us 35 gorgeous blanket squares that were knitted by different members of their UVM knitting group. So a big thanks goes out to EVERYONE from the UVM knitting group! They all did a great job, and we were so appreciative!

When I took their lovely squares upstairs to add them in with the rest, I noticed that the 40 squares we'd HAD, had blossomed into more than 100 and when I added the UVM squares, we now have over 150 squares!

Folks, this is simply amazing! We are SO thrilled to have this many squares. It takes 42 squares to make a twin sized blanket, so that means we have enough for 3.5 blankets right now! We just want to let you ALL know that we are so thankful to have such generous and caring customers. You guys rock!

This is a portion of the squares:

And here's the box of the first 40:

We have emails and phone numbers and we will be contacting all of you in mid May once we've determined some times/dates for seaming. It will be fun to get together and meet other knitters, and all have a huge part in this project.

And we'll also be giving out some fun prizes at the end of May, too. Now that we see how MANY people have contributed time and effort to this project, I'm going to start addint to the pile of prizes. Oooooh, won't that be fun!?

Seeing fall already?

2009-04-30T07:50:00.002-04:00

I'm just back from vacation, and really, it's still early spring in my opinion. But I'm already seeing reps for fall! Yesterday I received a preview box from Berroco... full of pattern previews and new yarns. Ooooh laaaa laaaa is about all I can say. The patterns are super (as are the yarns!) and I'm not going to give anything away, because it really wouldn't be fair to tempt you like that! After all, it's months before this stuff will be available in the store.

But I will say that people of all ages, both male and female, will be VERY pleased with what's coming.

In the meantime, let's focus on spring and summer. If you're on our email list, you know that we just put three yarns on sale. (If you're not on our email list, you should be!) That's right, three of our favorite cotton yarns (one is a blend!) are 20% off now through Wednesday, May 6th at 5pm EST. They are:

These are sport/dk weight yarns, and we have some great patterns for spring. Come on in and get a new project started!

This sounds complicated...

2009-04-27T14:12:00.006-04:00

It happened again. I bought more sock yarn. We got a great new bamboo blend sock yarn in the shop - Lang Bambus. It is a self patterning yarn and one of the colors is reds, oranges, and yellows...so the Bambus went home with me and now I have two sock projects even though I do not normally knit socks...

But now I am knitting socks again...

In the past I've been frustrated by small double pointed sets of needles so I decided to teach myself knitting socks on two circular needles. Since I sometimes have trouble with second sock syndrome, I also decided to teach myself knitting two socks at a time...on two circular needles.

And as if that weren't enough to learn, I also decided to teach myself knitting socks from the toe up...two socks time...on two circular needles. (This way my socks will match and be the exact same length!)

Of course a bonus of the Bambus sock yarn is that reinforcement thread comes with it (in the exact same color and pattern as the yarn). It sounds like my sock problem may be getting out of control.

So far I've managed a seamless toe cast on. I've practiced this twice because at first the toes were much too pointy so I started over. Now they're more square, but I'm not going to frog again. When I look at my other socks they are not that pointy either so I think these will be fine. Now I just need to come to grips with the afterthought heel - I've never done that before either!

Sometimes shell collecting is more important!

2009-04-25T21:15:00.009-04:00

Sometimes you really need to shut down. And not only halfway, but completely. So that's what I've done for the past 10 days. Barb, Shawn, Michele, Polly and Emily are all handing things beautifully back at the shop. I am so lucky to have such a great staff - thank you guys so much!

So it's been a week full of sun, sand, surf and lots of other fun activities. Tomorrow is our travel day, and then it's back to reality.

Knitting? Hmmm. Not much. I have only done a bit on my Pure Pima sweater, as you can see here.

I've spent more time collecting shells. Can anyone identify these? (Lightning Whelk, Altantic Slipper Shell, Auger, Shark's Eye, Angulate Wentletrap, Common Bubble, Banded Tulip, Lace Murex, Top Shell....)