Maggie is coming to The Yarn Gourmet!!

Maggie Jackson - the Maggie of MaggiKnits - will be at The Yarn Gourmet the weekend of August 27 - 29!  Maggie is not just a knitter who designs patterns - she is a fashion designer who knits.

The weekend will start with a fashion show on Friday evening and the workshops will be on Saturday and Sunday.  Maggie's classes are exclusive and timeless as the many designs that make Maggiknits an award winning business.  During these 4 to 6 hour workshops (showing the Maggiknits collection previewed in the Fashion Show) Maggie personally guides students through the various steps that make a Maggiknits design unique.  Many students will leave the class thinking "outside the box" with their knitting.  Maggie shows stitches taught by no other teacher in her own unique way.

Friday (August 27) will start with drinks and hors d'oevres at 6 PM, during which you can try on Maggie's garments, look through books, and pet the yarn.  The Fashion Show will start at 7 and last about 1 hour.  When I was at the trade show a woman passed me wearing the most gorgeous knitted garment I had ever seen.  I literally chased her down and asked whose pattern / yarn it was, and the answer was "Maggiknits".  Believe me when I tell you - the Fashion show is not to be missed!

On Saturday "Oh No - Not Another Scarf" will be the first workshop.  You will be doing rag, splits, tubes and ladder stitch, plus Maggie will show you some finishing techniques.   "Wearable Art" (erroneously listed as "Knot It and Knit It" in the original post) will be on Sunday, working with different weights of yarn, feathers, leather to create your own yarn and think outside the box in a lacy stitch, short tube, ruffle stitch, loop stitch, and more.  Each workshop will begin at 10:30 AM and will run 4 to 6 hours.  Lunch will be provided by the Yarn Gourmet, and catered by Thyme of Grace.

The fee for the Fashion Show is $10, non-refundable.  Maggie is known for her excellent workshops and fantastic sense of humor.  Each workshop costs $110; if you sign up for both workshops the price is $200.  There is an early registration discount of $10 per workshop if you register by August 10.  If you must cancel attending, 50% of the registration fees will be refunded.  There is a maximum of 20 students per class, first come, first served.

follow the bouncing email

Slowly but surely, kicking and screaming, I come into the 21st century.  I found out today how to tell which newsletter emails bounced back.  Once I got the list I checked the addresses against my Excel database, and sure enough, out of 15 bouncers I had the address wrong (typo) on 10 of them.  OK, I can fix that.  So some of you may have received the newsletter only today, and for this I apologize.  If you STILL haven't received your email newsletter, I probably cannot figure out what is wrong with the email address in my system.

How did I fix this problem, you may ask?  I went through over 300 Customer Information slips one at a time to find the names that matched the emails and check them.

Some of you who have only recently signed up to receive the newsletter will be getting July's newsletter soon, lest ye be left out.

2 hours later: OMG!!! I was just trying to find out if my printer would do enlargements.  I scrolled through the options and lo and behold!  it has a built in set of forms including GRAPH PAPER!  It will simply spit out graph paper on demand!  It's a Kodak ESP7250, FYI.

I'm off to chart some sweater modifications on my shiny new graph paper.  Knit Happy!       

New books

Greetings my fellow yarn junkies! Some customers last week were asking about books on Aran knitting, and one customer wanted one on Knitting with Ribbon.  I am pleased to say the books have arrived, as has Phoebe's Sweater. One Niebling pattern for doily borders has arrived; the other Niebling books are on back-order.

I also now have Elizabeth Zimmerman's books The Opinionated Knitter, Knitting Around, and Knitting Without Tears, plus the Knitter's Almanac.  The latter is going to be re-released later this year in an expanded edition.

I am slowly but surely establishing specific sections for types of books, such as lace, Aran, socks, etc.  I have reorganized teh circular needles AND placed labels above them by size, so the right needle will be easier to find.

Kristen brought in a "loaner" model of a hat with ear flaps made with Malabrigo Rasta in color Piedras - it is gorgeous!  The colors remind me a lot of Mountain Colors, which I will be ordering next week.

Unfortunately the rain does not seem to have done much to cool things off.  If it's too hot to knit at your home, remember you can come into the shop at any time, have a seat, and knit yourself silly. 

This will make you smile

Phoebe's Sweater, a picture book about the adventures of Phoebe the mouse, will arrive in the shop soon, likely this week.  The book appears to be the first in a series.  In this book, Phoebe's mother knits her a sweater; it includes directions to make Phoebe, a dress for Phoebe, and matching sweaters for Phoebe and her owner (sizes 2/4/6).  This is not only a great way to get young kids interested in knitting, it also brings the story to life for them.

The Great American Aran Afghan Knit Along is scheduled to start Saturday, August 21.  Please order all the yarn you want for this project soon, and make sure you order enough for the entire project to avoid dye lot issues. Recommended yarns:

• Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride Worsted (21 Skeins for entire project)
• Cascade 220 (18 skeins)
• Berroco Ultra Alpaca (19 skeins)

The class list and schedule have been finalized - I am only waiting for complete course descriptions and materials requirements from my instructors.  As soon as I have all that I will post it here, on Ravelry (if I figure out how) and on Facebook.  Of course, all the details will be in the next newsletter as well.

A short survey

I need some help deciding how many classes to ask Maggi of MaggiKnits to teach when she comes to the shop (tentatively scheduled for August).

How many of you are interested in attending a MaggiKnits workshop?  Each workshop will be about 5 hours long, and there will be a fashion show with munchies on the Friday night of the weekend she is here.

The Feza yarns have arrived!

Late yesterday afternoon the FedEx guy showed up with this HUGE, battered box full of Feza Yarns.  I had expected it to arrive somewhat later this summer, but I ain't complainin'.

First we have the "Alp Light", kind of a knock-off of Prism Cool Stuff, but at $28.00 for 312 yards, much more affordable.  I am still waiting for two back-ordered colors, a black and white, and a turquoise and brown.  The poncho is made with one skein of alp Light, and yes, it does all those color changes for you - all you have to do is knit.

Next we have "Fanatic", a gorgeous, self-striping chained yarn that has loooooong repeats so you get nice, wide stripes.  Two colors of Fanatic are still back-ordered.  At 230 yards for $16 it is only 7 cents per yard, and knits on size 10 needles.  The sweater shown takes 5 skeins.

"Cyprus Mohair" actually has no mohair in it at all - it is wool and acrylic, but has the soft feel and the light haze of mohair.  At 198 yards for $14 it si also 7 cents per yard and knits on size 10.5 needles. I am waiting for three back-ordered colors, but the ones I have are lush.

BLING!  Feza "Night" is a metallic that is very soft, not at all scratchy like some metallic yarns can be, would be perfect for a shrug or shawl for special evenings.  At 93 yards and only $6, it is 6 1/2 cents per yard and knits on size 8 needles. 

BLING! BLING!  Chanel is a very large flag type of yarn that is very soft, and comes in rich colors.  I am waiting for black and silver, which are back-ordered.  At 99 yards and $10 per ball it costs 10 cents per yard and knits on size 13 needles.  The Feza pattern book Dare to Dream has a glorious lacey wrap pattern for Chanel that takes only four skeins.

This is Fourth of July weekend.  I encourage everyone to remember what this day stands for, and to fly our flag.  I also encourage you to have a great and safe weekend.  Knit happy!

When you need a giggle...

...check out Franklin Habit's blog.  His most recent is absolutely hysterical, especially if you've had enough of Twilight.

Sorry I haven't updated the blog lately.  I've been up to my eyeballs in getting the newsletter ready and getting the fall class schedule done.  Still have quite a bit to do on the latter, but at least it is coming together.  My needle felting instructor had to cancel for this fall - anyone want to volunteer to teach needle felting?

Yesterday I ordered some Mochi Plus, a worsted weight version of the Mini Mochi sock yarn, and Mochi Chunky, a bulky version that won't be available for another 4 to 6 weeks.  Very. very rich colors, and soooooooooo soft. 

I also ordered some Himalaya Silk.  If you haven't worked with this yarn, it is like candy for knitters.  It is made of scraps of silk from sari factories, and is just lovely.  It can be used for a simple scarf, all the way to a unique sweater.  I love it.

This is going to be a short update, as I have to get me to the showers and head off to the shop.  Speaking of the shop, my Number One cat, Katmandu, is now a shop cat.  He is 18+, deaf and recently went blind from a stroke.  Otherwise OK, I am bringing him to the shop so I don't have to worry about him falling down the stairs at home, or being harassed by the other, younger cats.  Especially Dana the Destroyer, who is lobbying to be the next alpha feline by trying to stage a coup de cat.  Du pretty much stays in the office on his heated cat bed, so even if you are allergic to cats, there shouldn't be a problem.

Knit happy!