Yarns Apart

14 million, plus 2

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What’s the big news?  We’re moving to London!

So.  It’s out now.  I had to wait until DB told his boss that he’s quitting his job and moving to London before I could write about it here.  He thinks at least one of his colleagues reads this blog.  Hmmmm, I only know 6 people who read it, but I can’t really know, can I?

Anyway, we are moving because I have a new job and it’s in London.  It’s a great job, otherwise I wouldn’t put us both through this turmoil.  We’ve decided to sell our house.  DB is quitting his job.  It’s a lot to ask.  It better be a damned AMAZING job.

Also as a consequence I’m closing down Yarns Apart.  I have a big sale going on now, so if you are looking for some special yarn, go check it out now before it’s all gone.  The prices listed are the sale prices and include 19% Dutch VAT.  If you live outside the EU, the 19% will be taken off your shopping cart amount when you enter your ship to address.

Also as a consequence I probably won’t be posting here so often.  We are super busy getting our house ready to put on the market and just getting everything ready for this big event.  I start my new job in October but will commute for 3 months.  In January we need to be living in London.

I do have a few photos for you.  I quickly knit up this baby cardigan and hat.  My new boss just had a baby.  Well, his wife did.  No, this is not brown nosing.

The above photo is the most accurate for color.  The yarn is Pigeonroof Studios Sport weight in 80% merino, 10% cashmere and 10% nylon.  The pattern is Sunnyside Baby Sweater (the cable version).  The pattern calls for fingering weight yarn, but I had sport weight, so I made the smallest size and ended up with the middle size when finished.  I improvised the hat to match the cable and garter pattern of the sweater.  I think it is just adorable!

And what’s on my needles now?  I’m still working on the first part of a lace shawl, which is taking forever.  I’m still working on a second sock (of my own design).  And I’ve just cast on a brioche vest, of my own design, that will be fabulous!  I hope.  I promise to at least keep up the blog with knitting photos.  And running news.  And moving news.  And that’s all that’s happening in my life anyway!

FO for MadMay

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I finished my Elphaba sweater on time!  I participated in the Ravelry Madelinetosh Lovers group MadMay KAL for this sweater.  We had to cast on and finish within the month of May.  I finished mine on the 30th.  Whew!  I’ve never knit a sweater so fast.  And I’ve never loved the result so much.

This is knit with Madelinetosh Tosh Sock in color Ink.  It took three skeins (the finished sweater weighs 275 grams), knit on size 3mm needles.  The sweater was designed by the talented Mary Annarella.  She has a few other sweaters I would like to make.  This one is knit top down in one piece without any seams whatsoever.  I LOVE that.

I have to confess that this is the first sweater I’ve made using fingering weight (sock weight) yarn.  The resulting fabric is so soft and comfortable against your skin!  It feels like being a child again snuggled into your favorite baby blanket.  The Tosh Sock yarn has enough twist to make a solid feeling fabric but soft enough to flow around your body.  I see more of this type of sweater in my future wardrobe.

New Socks

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Here is a new sock pattern I’m working on.  This is the Spring version.  There is also a Summer version that is ankle length with a picot hem, and a Fall version which is knee length.  They are knit toe-up and the pattern will have a choice between right/left toes or standard symmetrical toes.  The pattern is 90% ready and soon I’ll be looking for test knitters.  I plan to put all 3 socks into one pattern at one price. I’m going to call the pattern “Seasonal Socks – Spring, Summer, Fall”

The socks above are made with Tosh Sock in color Lettuce Leaf.  They fit and feel great!

More photos and info coming soon!

Shawl Kits in the Shop

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Nancy Marchant has designed a beautiful lace shawl using brioche stitch (of course!).  Krista of Pigeonroof Studios has produced amazing hand dyed yarns in a heavy lace weight.  Put the two together and you get Under Dutch Skies brioche lace shawl kits!

Now available from Yarns Apart, kits are available in 5 color sets:  blue, green, gold, burgundy and turquoise.  You should have some experience knitting brioche (you can find information at Nancy’s site here) before starting this shawl.  It looks complicated, but is only a series of increases and decreases in two-color brioche.  The results are stunning!

Here are the colors available:

Breidag 2011

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This last Friday and Saturday, April 1-2, Yarns Apart participated in our first market!  This was the Breidag in Nieuwegein.  We set up Thursday night and were ready to open shop Friday morning.  It was so much fun!

There were 40 shops set up in the big meeting hall.  There were classes held all day long, both days.  There was a table set up for “Pattern Doctors”.  There were people meeting up everywhere, some for the first time, some old friends going way back.  Everyone was there because they love knitting and crochet.  It was much better than the Handwerkbeurs because it was so focused.

On Friday afternoon Nancy gave her Beginning Brioche class and I was her assistant.  There were 24 people in the class so having an assistant was almost a requirement!  It was so fun to help teach brioche knitting, which I have really fallen in love with.  Maybe we will do this again soon….

I don’t know yet where or when Yarns Apart will appear in person again, but I hope sooner rather than later.  The Breidag has given me so much energy and enthusiasm to continue to bring you the best yarns in the world!

Customers Know Best

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Madelinetosh DK

Today a customer ordered the above yarn.  It never occurred to me to put these colors together, but look how fabulous they are!  They are both Madelinetosh DK (100% superwash merino).  The darker color is Lepidoptra and the lighter color is Ms. Taylor.  Trust a customer to come up with this combination.  They know what they are doing.

New Madelinetosh Yarn is Here!

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Look what’s new in the shop!  The top left is Tosh Sock in colorway Field.  Top right is also sock yarn in color Shoreline.  Bottom left is sock yarn in color Celadon.  Lastly, bottom right, is DK weight in Mooreland.  All lovely!

I’ve also received replacement inventory for several colors, including Ink (in Lace, Sock and DK weights), Violin, and a few others.  Come on over to Yarns Apart and check it out!

Open House!

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Stephen shopping

On Saturday, 9 October, I had an Open House for Yarns Apart.  All my inventory was available for touching and squeezing and ooo-ing and aaahh-ing over.  The Open House was held in conjunction with EFN Knitting Movies, which started at 16.00.  The shop opened at 11:00 and by 12:00 the space was buzzing with happy knitters.

We held these twin events at Cassandra’s studio in Amsterdam.  This is her space for giving music lessons but it was just right for this knitting event too.  I brought coffee and cupcakes, fruit and cheese and crackers.  Cassandra brought beer and popcorn for the movie part.  It was such a sunny day that I thought people would be outside enjoying the weather, but people indeed came and stayed and knit and chatted and hung out.  Gezellig!

I know I’ve said it before, but our little knitting community is rich with talent.  We recently added to the talent pool when Stephen moved here and joined our Monday night Stitch ‘n Bitch.  Welcome Stephen (and happy shopping too 🙂 ).

I wish I had more photos of the day, but I forgot to bring my camera.  Honestly, considering the week I had at work, plus the all the stuff to do to get ready for the open house, I’m happy I didn’t forget my head!  The photo of Stephen above was taken by Jacki (thanks!).  I think Cassandra also has some photos which I hope she will put up on the EFN site.

I do have a couple of pieces of Yarns Apart news.  The first news is happy and sad.  Sadly, my latest order of yarn from Madelinetosh did not arrive in time for the Open House.  I got word from TNTPost today that it is in the country and will be delivered tomorrow.  Happily, I will have new yarn to show and sell!  There will certainly be a blog post about that shortly and the shop will be updated too.  Currently it is taking 3 months from ordering to delivery from Madelinetosh, two weeks of which is shipping time from Texas.

Secondly, I want to let you all know that I will have a booth at the Handwerkbeurs in Zwolle in February.  I won’t be having another Open House before then.  If you want to see yarn in person before ordering, I’m always happy to bring some to de Jaren in Amsterdam on Monday nights.  Just email me or post a comment here if you would like me to do that.

Finally, thanks to everyone who came to the Open House, and happy knitting to all!

YA Open House and EFN Knitting Movies

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I’ve been so busy lately that I completely forgot to post about the upcoming Yarns Apart Open House!  It’s tomorrow, 9 October, from 11.00 – 18.00, in Amsterdam.

From 11.00 until 16.00 I will have all the yummy yarn from Madelinetosh, Pigeonroof Studios, O-Wool and Supreme Possum available for your shopping and fondling pleasure (with discounts of course!).

From 16.00 – 18.00 EFN is sponsoring knitting movies for your viewing and educational pleasure.  These are DVDs from divas in the knitting world and are not to be missed.

There will be snacks, drinks and fun for everyone.  Come and join us!  (Click on the above image for more detailed info).

Yarns Apart Open House

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On July 24th I held an open house for Yarns Apart.  People could come and touch and feel and see the beautiful colors of the yarns in my shop.  What a great day it was!

DB brought all my inventory from the attic into the living room.  I organized and labeled all the bins.  There was a 15% (or more) discount on all inventory for that day.  I was expecting, at most, 12 people.  By the end of the day 18 people had come and gone and lots of my inventory went with them.  Not only did people shop, but they stayed and had home made muffins, drinks, cheese and snacks and hung out in the back garden to knit and talk.

We were very lucky with the weather!

One thing I’m glad we arranged was to have a computer available in the room for people to browse for patterns and ideas for projects.

It was really a fun day and I’m so glad I did it.  Thank you to everyone who came!  I plan to do the same in October.  Look out for dates to be posted here and on Ravelry.  Oh, and one of these days when I have a spare few minutes I’ll get Yarns Apart set up on Facebook so that I can post shop updates and photos there.

(Credit goes to Jacki for the first photo above.)