As it is Thursday...

Another day, another post. And have we got a worthwhile project for all our loyal blog readers. If you've checked out the News & Events page recently, you'll know that we're helping knitnotwar with their 1,0o0 cranes project. At the moment, we have 700 cranes strung and floating in our side display window, if you'd like to see them.

(it was cold outside, so sue me)

Anyway, if you do the math... 1,000 - 700 = 300. Which means we are trying to gather 300 cranes for knitnotwar by May 1, 2009 - the tentatively schedule installation date. As I know for a fact* that we have 100 subscribers to this blog alone, if every single one of you knit just one crane, we'd have a third of our cranes done.

There's a free pattern online (it's also in the book Knitalong), if you're interested. We'll also be hosting two knitnotwar 1,0o0 Nights on February 4th and March 4th (6 - 8pm), for knitters to drop by and knit in cozy company. There will be a prize drawing on March 31st for everyone who donated a crane. I am told the Grand Prize is worth around $100, if that piques your interest...

And here we have a closeup of the cranes:

And here are some of the incumbent cranes:

Because I had a camera and sort of know how to use it. Please feel free to drop by the store and pick up a printed version of the pattern (and see the cranes in person). I'll also have a running count of the cranes donated on the blog's sidebar. Or, if you're outside the PDX area, do contact us about sending a crane or two in by mail. Thanks!

See you on Tuesday!

*Don't ask how. Ve haff means of finding things out.


ETA @ 4:57pm:
I have just found out that we will be rewarding participants with $0.50 in store credit for every crane they knit. Sooo, if you knit 30 cranes, you'll get $15 in store credit! It's my understanding that a single crane takes only 20y of worsted weight yarn - so they can be made with scraps really quickly. We'll find out how quickly fairly soon, I think.

The Post That Never Ends

Not exactly. But since the blog hasn't been updated in almost two weeks, this is going to be one of those super-mondo-huje posts to catch everyone up to date. A slightly crazy idea, yes, but it should work. Now, since there is so much to cover, we're going to do blurbs instead of biographies. But, if you want to see more pix from this post, see our flickr account.

First, we have Farrah's magnificent Seraphim Shawl:

Which she brought to the Sip'n'Stitch on the 15th. I'm afraid that the camera involved does not enjoy after-dark photography, so the image is rather blurry. Sorry, Farrah! But, for readers interested in her shawl, here it is in her ravelry notebook.

The very next day, Ellen of Seattle stopped by to show us two of her favorite FO's:

Her Litla Dimun lace shawl, and the back:

She decided to add a purple border to her project (love it!) in order to give the finished shawl a little more pop. The entire effect was quite stunning. Then, of course, she had to make us feel inadequate when she pulled out her Pheonix Mitts, based off of a pattern in Selbuvotter:

Made with Jamieson's of Shetland Spindrift.

At some point last week (I don't have a info sheet, sorry!), Bobbie dropped by to show off her adorable collection of baby hats:

All made for newborns at the maternity ward of her local hospital (no, we didn't get the name).

Rachel came in last Thursday with her finished 'Rob's Socks':

Made with happiest girl! sock yarn in 1970's Rec Room. Personally, I love the pooling and flashing. I couldn't find her info on ravelry, but maybe they will show up soon? She made up the pattern, and it looks like it would be fun to try...

On Friday, Liz forced poor Jessica to show off her Gretel hat:

About which I can find no information. It's red. That's about all I know.

Moving on to a project I do have information about... Joan's New Kauni Cardigan:

Yes, that is the Joan Schrouder. After we admired her cardigan for awhile, Lindsay finally inquired about the pattern. It turns out that Joan did design the pattern herself, but told us that she wouldn't be writing it up as it was too difficult to convert into multiple sizes. Sad. It looked fantastic and also resulted in a stampede to the Kauni wall by all who were present.

Right after Joan left with her cadre of Seattle-Portland Yarn Crawlers, Tami came by with the cutest little FO's ever. She used the yarn we provided at a "Sample It" to make a collection of teeny tiny mittens, sweaters, hats and socks/ stockings:

I hope she'll forgive me for cropping the picture. The camera was misbehaving again. There's also the Worsted Bambino Hat in the group, but methinks the teeny tiny mittens will the 'awww' contest. If you want specs on each of the individual projects, see Tami's ravelry notebook.

Then, finally, the last of the FO's - two hats. Which Liz and Lindsay modeled, albeit grudgingly. Here we have some silly hat-ness:

Liz has an Ana Bandana made with Silk Maiden in "Peridot" and Lindsay chose the Road To China/ Flurries hat, which is a sneak-peak of an upcoming pattern. But, before the camera was put away, we made a pile of staff WIPs:

One cashmere/silk Qiviut Smoke Ring, an Esperanza scarf and Linday's earwarmer that is currently just an i-cord (that statement should make sense in a week or two). There are several other WIPs around, but many are Top Secret at the moment. So, to distract you from considering the implications of all that, here's the latest issue of Vogue Knitting:

Now available in the store, and featuring a pattern and profile of our favoritest photographer/ blogger Jared. Grab one while you can.

And, whoosh, I think that's everything. Until, well, tomorrow (in which we shall attempt to resume our regular blogging schedule) stay warm!

Drowing in boxes

It's been a Big Shipments kind of week. The cardboard remnants of many a large shipping box still clutter unexpected areas of the store.

First, there was the gianormous box of Koigu KPPPM, KPM, and Kersti:

Which took two hours for Tessa and Jenni to count all the skeins.

But, luckily, expect to see some colors (like ___) that haven't been on the Sock Wall for awhile. I myself may just stock up. Especially since everyone* knows that sock yarn doesn't count.

Then, there were the Japanese books we've been waiting for since... too long to actually pinpoint.

3 titles are back in stock (from left to right): Scandinavian Mittens, Men's Knit and Clear & Simple Knitting Symbols.

After falling (rather hard) for several Japanese stitchionaries I've picked up along the way, the Clear & Simple Knitting Symbols is becoming mighty tempting as some of the charted symbols in my favorite patterns look like something out of a Klingon's copy of Shakespeare.

In non-stash-enhancement news, Fearless Leader and SB have left us to cavort at TNNA. Despite this, much continues as before. The Sheep Shop scarf is nearly done and... well, we're just busy, busy, busy. Maybe next week we'll have some customer projects, if customers might bring them in (hint, hint). Have a great weekend!

*Except my family and several of my coworkers.

New and returned to the store

Before we get to the News items of this post, I've been asked to share photos of Jared's lecture:

For more see here. Or here. On the subject of the lecture, well... it was awesome. Jared shared some of his newest designs (not available for sale yet!) which he had just photographed that morning. Honestly, one of the hats is reeaally tempting. Oh, and on the OMG-How-cool-is-that?! news list, I'm very excited to announce that we've worked out a deal with Jared to sell hard copies of his patterns. Probably by the end of the month patrons will be able to buy his patterns in the store. Very exciting, I think. Personally, I'm really looking foward to buying a copy of Girasole and picking out the matching yarn, all in one go.

Anyway, back to Thursday night. I also have a cool (or should I say 'kool'?) shot from after the afterparty.... Adam's Koolhaas:


Made with ShibuiKnits Merino Worsted in Wasabi (just so you can see how poor my photography and photo-correcting skills are). His specs are here. It was much admired.

Over the weekend (skipping Friday, Friday was a bit crazy - did you see the Newsletter?) We had The Long Awaited & Greatly Anticipated Return of Liz:

Which I couldn't really photo-document, as someone kept making faces at the camera or turning away (see above) just as I took a shot. Oy. But, rest assured, she is back and shouldn't be leaving for a while.

And, last but certainly not least, we have a new line of yarns! By the Sheep Shop Yarn Company, these are some quite lovely wool & wool-blend yarns that are kettle-dyed in much the same way as Manos del Uruguay, only in different colors and with a softer base yarn. You can also see the scarf I'm making for a Knit Purl pattern, modeled by Lindsay (who didn't squirm or make faces, it must be said):

So, that's everything that's happened since Thursday. Quite a lot, really. The Sheep Shop should (say that 3 times fast) be up on the web by the end of the week, if you're dying to try it. Until Thursday, knit or crochet happy!

About last night...

I've been asked ordered to tell all of our lovely Knit Purl blog readers about the dinner had with Jared last night:

From left to right: Sandy B., Kristin Spurkland, Jared Flood, Bing, Sara M. (moi), and Sandy Kay.

But I fear that were I to actually tell you what a truly excellent time we had... well, someone would take out a hit on half of us. Sooo... in all honestly, it was just awful. The food, the atmosphere, the company? Atrocious. You totally didn't want to be there.

Right.

Moving on to less volatile subjects (ha!), Jared's lecture is tonight and all the spots have sold out. I know for a fact that Lindsay just feels terrible having to tell people that, yes, there is a wait list but, no, we doubt anyone is going to cancel. But, hey, Jared's already agreed to come back and teach for us again this summer, so... maybe next time?

In news unrelated to Brooklyn or tweed, we just received a HUJE shipment of Habu. Wow. There're a whole bunch of Kusha Kusha scarf kits in this box that look really interesting. I might just have to try one. We also received some more Shippo Tail scarf kits (we've been back ordered for over three months), for those of you who have been fingering the shop sample and sighing tragically this past season.

Otherwise, have a great weekend!

Late Tuesday night...

I realised the blog hadn't been updated since last week.

My goodness, have we been busy. TNNA is coming up and we have to prepare for that, among other things like the Jared Flood workshops this week and Ruth Sorensen's visit next month. Of course, in the midst of all this excitement, we have daily excitements like "A"...

"A" is 8 years old and already a knitter, she and her mom dropped by to show off her first finished sock (the second one is already on the needles). The socks are being knit out of Cascade 220 Superwash using the Magic Loop method. And, as you may have noticed (like us), "A" is wearing A Good Stripe Dress from the Spring 2008 Interweave Knits that her mother knit for her... and I think I just found "A"s dress on ravelry. How adorable is the whole picture?

That's all I've got for now, aside from a couple of notices:

• HUGE shipment of Malabrigo arrived yesterday - a little of everything but Sock was included.
• If you still haven't picked up your Evening with Jared Flood ticket(s), now's the time - though we will be handing them out.
• A nice big box of Fleece Artist/ Handmaiden yarns and kits also arrived yesterday.
  

Have a great Wednesday!

end of week round-up

Let's pretend it's Thursday, eh? Yesterday was New Year's Day and I can't remember why I couldn't post on Tuesday, but it's been that kind of week.

First and foremost, the promised "Gina's socks" (modeled by Gina on Monday):

Made out of ShibuiKnits Sock in ManBlue. Knit on size 1.5 (2.5mm) Addi Turbo circs at a gauge of 8 sts & 12 rows per inch. The pattern was something I made up, but am rewriting because I like it so much.

Next, we have Trish and her awesome self-designed funky hat:

Made with ShibuiKnits Merino Worsted in "Spectrum". I'm afraid we didn't get any more details than that, sorry!

Then, let's see, we had a visit from da babies:

Which I had to share because of the gratuitous cuteness factor.

It should be mentioned that they came by with their daddy to pick up this year's OFB Food Drive donation box (to drop off at the OFB):

Which, I am told, weighed in at 90lbs. A fact I find rather disheartening as we collected over 130lbs last year during a food drive that lasted less than a week. Maybe we'll do better next time.

In less depressing news, we have the whatsit prototypes:

The Whatsit (once it is properly named) will be a Knit Purl pattern, which is worn like this:

(modeled by Darcy)

Cool, huh?

But I can't tell you too much about it yet, as the patterns aren't finished and it still doesn't have a name.

Moving on, to... sock club SPOILERS. Before proceeding, let it be know that you were warned.

The January 2009 kit is available for members to pick up in the store:

Out-of-town members' packages have already been shipped.

Whoo, what a week!

Regular blogging schedule should resume next Tuesday, I promise. It should also be mentioned that my New Year's resolution for the blog is to get more coworkers involved, so expect (or hope) to see posts from knitters other than myself here... eventually.