Lucy Neatby Trunkshow

We're getting ready for a visit from one of the funkiest knitters in North America to visit this weekend. Her trunkshow has arrived, the brightly-colored yarn and patterns are stocked and all we have to do is wait until Lucy arrives. Until then, here are some pictures of her extremely fun socks and Venus Rising Cardigan - all of the patterns of which are available for sale and her classes are still open for registration. Call or register online, if you'd like to snatch one of the last spots open!

Moving on with the show (thank you, Liz, for modeling on such short notice...)















I think my favorite are the Fiesta Feet (fourth photo from the top) and I might just have to get the pattern or take Lucy's Even Cooler Socks! class because she has a really cool technique I've never seen before on no-swatch sock knitting. Sounds interesting, huh?

Madrona wrap-up and a whole lotta yarn

The gang are finally back from Madrona (along with much of our inventory that we know several customers missed), and I have one last Madrona-y photo... the conference of Sandies

From left to right: Tacoma Sandy (who has requested that I not link to her blog or ravelry profile because she hasn't updated either in awhile, so you'll just have to trust us when we say she's a Knitter), Sandy Kay and Sandy B. That's a lot of Sandy-ness, isn't it?

Yesterday (as we unpacked the Madrona collection), Cindy came in with her very first hat:

Made with Lorna's Laces Shepherd Worsted and Debbie Bliss Donegal Luxury Tweed. The pattern is Anne Berk's Road to China Hat, though Cindy admitted that she shortened the brim so it wouldn't fold over. It was very cute and I wish that the photographer involved had gotten a modeled photograph. Oh, well.

Next we have Karen's Clara. Knit with Isager Alpaca 2 in color #19, this is quite possibly the cutest little baby dress I have ever seen:

I wish I'd known about it a couple years ago. Though, maybe Kandyce might wear one... hmm. Now, while on the subject of adorable little girls in fabulous handknits, we've had requests to share photos of Ayanna in the Children's Bolero (you may have received our e-card?). Well, here are some almost painfully cute outtakes:

Aaaawww. Plotz.

Doesn't Ayanna have the biggest eyes you've ever seen? Sooo cute. Now, because I know we'll get questions - the sample Ayanna is wearing was made with 2 skeins of ShibuiKnits Merino Worsted, in "Mulberry".

And while I know that nothing will seem impressive after the Ayanna photos, I feel it is my duty to inform our devoted readers on the InterWebs of the new sock yarns we just got it:

5 new colors of happiest girl! dyeworks sock and two entirely brand new sock yarn lines by Abstract Fiber that aren't even on the website yet: Super Sock and Mighty Sock. Super Sock is 100% Merino Superwash, whereas Mighty Sock is a 50/50 Superwash/ Tencel blend. They are both awesome and should prove wonderful to knit with and wear. All will be in the next Newsletter (it goes out this Friday, so look for it online then!).

Next time we have... 3 boxes of Malabrigo, new Oleana and the Lucy Neatby Trunkshow. It'll be a knitting extravaganza. Sort of. Check back on Thursday...

From the trenches

By means of an iPhone, an iTouch and the Knit Purl server, we bring you images of the booth at Madrona:

And even a "closeup":

How cool is that? The Festival just started this morning, and will go through Sunday. You can see Darcy and Sandy Kay above. There are also more Madrona photos here, in which you might spot slivers of Micah and Sandy B (who, it seems, were a little more elusive).

Next, Micah finally relinquished his photos from Ruth's workshops...

Oooh, pretty. Love the Fair Isle hats. And Ruth's beautiful colorwork shawl:

Simply gorgeous. We now can sell the pattern, if you (like me) couldn't take the workshop but just love the design. Anyway. Back to pictures from Ruth's classes:

Though, I'm afraid that since Micah took the photos, I can't really tell you much about them. Sorry. They're certainly pretty... He put together a photo collection, if you'd like to see more of Ruth's workshops. It should be mentioned, while we're discussing Ruth and Madrona, that (through this weekend) we'll be offering a kit for Ruth's Summer Shawl. The kit includes the recommended yarns, Kauni W-EG and Kauni RR7, as well as the pattern and free shipping. Drop by our booth or call us for details.

In less exciting, but still interesting, news - we have another crane (and a half). We've been trying to knit some of our own up for the collection and they're quite fun to make. This might be addicting. I don't have a photo... maybe next time.

And, on that note, it's time to go and set up for tonight's Sip 'n' Stitch - we hope we'll see you here!

Oops?

Last Thursday was a bit hectic, so no post... sorry about that. We're going to catch up quickly, though, you might want to hold onto your hats!

Let's start off with the cranes. We've received lots of positive feedback for our knitnotwar KAL and have already collected cranes for the installation. Here's one knit by Melissa:


We've been hearing that they're quite quick to knit up (Sandy Kay made one in half an hour with scraps of Shetland Spindrift), so here's hoping we'll make our 300 cranes goal by March 31st! (Now, I haven't been given a total of all the cranes we've collected, so the sidebar hasn't been updated yet - check back on Thursday.)

Next, Lynne came to visit us and brought the blanket she's knitting for her son:

The Ombre Alpaca Blanket from Last Minute Knitted Gifts. Knit up with 12 skeins of Joseph Galler Prime Alpaca and Peruvian Tweed, 6 colors in all that are held together to create a lovely gradation from cream to chocolate brown. Here's a close-up:

Aaaand... even closer:

(Liz had fun taking pictures of this one)

If you're interested in making your own, Lynne owned up to the fact that she's making her son's blanket larger than the pattern, so you'd probably only need one skein of each color. Possibly. There might be some math involved in confirming that...

Next, from Folk Shawls, Sheila brought in her finished Celtic Lattice Vest:

and back:

She made it for a friend who is a surveyor and travels the world (surveying, presumably). Sheila thought that the lovely Celtic knots resembled mapping terrain. I'd have to agree. The vest was lovely (sorry about the blurry photos), and made with Kauni W-EV and Hifa 2. Just gorgeous. Lucky friend, eh?

And, last but not least in the 'pretty photos' catagory, we have a giant heap o' Tanglewood handspun yarn:

(isn't that just yummy?)

Brought to us by the Ladies of Tanglewood Fibers themselves, as we will be representing them (and Abstract Fiber, Happiest Girl! Dyeworks, Ruth Sorensen, Handworks NW and Lantern Moon) at the Madrona Fiber Arts Festival this weekend. If you're in the area, please drop by and say 'hi'! I'm sure the ladies (and gentlemen) at the Knit Purl booths (#'s 38 & 39) will be glad to meet some of our blog readers.

Finally, I've been asked to mention the upcoming Loop 'N Hoop 2009 on Thursday, March 26th. We've been invited to bring 25 knitters to the Portland Trail Blazers vs. Phoenix Suns game. Tickets will be available for $25 each at the store. Included with each ticket is a goodie bag (put together by Portland LYSes) that will be available at the door. Please note that space is limited (5 seats have already been stolen by employees) and there will only be 200 seats total for knitters to reserve.

Until Thursday, keep warm and dry!

no longer down, and definitely not out

You may have noticed some interesting glitches in the website over the past week, but hopefully they have been rectified permanently. The site has been moved over to a new, more reliable, server that promises to be less flaky. So, if you sent us an email over the weekend (that bounced back) or tried to check the site for info on an upcoming class and saw this:

From the knitting community at knit purl

We very sorry if it caused you any inconvenience. But, the good news is that the site should be faster and more accessible than ever.

In other (more knitterly) news, we have just been positively overwhelmed (in a good way) by knitters at recent Sip'n'Stitch and "No Mean Feet!" nights. Last Thursday I took an extremely blurry shot of the group:

I think we ran out chairs, actually (which is always a wonderful phenomenon).

This is a very positive (and encouraging) trend all around, considering the state of the world/ economy.

But, moving on to everyone's favorite part of each post* - our customers' projects. First, we have Evon, who came in on Saturday with her first finished knitting project:

The Rasperry Liqour bag (#125) by Noni, knit with Cascade 220 in "Lavender". Did I mention that Evon is 8? She's also in the Beginning Knitting Class! The bag just looks perfect, she did an amazing job on it. It's awe-inspiring how many young knitters visit us with their FOs these days. Just fabulous.

Then, this afternoon, Haven dropped by to show up her in-progress Swallowtail Shawl:

Being knit with Catherine Lowe Merino 1 in "Smoke". I am told (since I didn't get to see it in person) that the shawl was bloody amazing in the Merino 1. And, ha!, I managed to find Haven's ravelry notebook and the shawl information. Just in case you're interested...

And that is everything pertinent at the moment. We have a super-gianormous Newsletter going out on Friday (look for it, there're going to be some interesting articles!), so that project is looming large in everyone's minds. Until next time, in which we will discuss Cool Socks, enjoy the sun while it's out!

*I think it is, anyway. It's the section we get the most feedback on...