Knit Happens

It’s that time of year again…. When Summer starts to turn to Fall, thoughts of knitting start to assert themselves again, and of course, when Knit Happens has their End of Summer Sale!

This weekend only (Friday 8/22 through Sunday 8/24) we will have lots of our yarns marked from 25% to 75% off! We’re not going to completely spill the beans on what will be on sale, but you know that there will be plenty of gorgeous brands on sale – there might even be some Debbie Bliss, Rowan, Alchemy and Noro on sale…

Our shop hours for the weekend will not change. We will be open Friday and Saturday from 10:30am-7pm and on Sunday from 12-5pm.

Have you looked through the fabulousness that is Inspired to Knit and wondered how the garments looked in real life? Well, this is your chance to see some of those garments in person!

Interweave asked us if we wanted to be part of a trunk show that’s going around the country and, of course, we said yes! We will be the first store in the Mid-Atlantic region to show these gorgeous garments and we’ll have them on display until September 8.

Among the gorgeous garments in this trunk show are: the Indian Summer Cardigan, the Snowdrift Cardigan, the Vintage Lingerie Top and the top from the Wedding Ensemble. While that’s a lot to look at, there are 7 more garments from the book to see, too!

I will be looking at the yarn used in each of the garments and will try to come up with substitutions in the cases where we don’t carry the yarn – or just want a more affordable option. I am planning on getting this out on the floor (and in the window) by the end of the day today, so if you see a bunch of garments piled on the table, but don’t see me – just check under the garments!

Photo credit: Interweave Press

If you aren’t on the email newsletter list (and, if not, then why? Go sign up – scroll down and look to your right. I can wait… all done? Good!), you haven’t yet seen that our Fall class list is up!

We are so happy and proud to announce our new partnership with Knit-A-Gogo in offering our classes!

In case you haven’t been in the shop in the last couple days, I thought I’d tempt y’all with a picture of our latest shipment: 120 skeins of Fleece Artist. Yummy. I meant to take a picture of it all covering the side table, but got too involved in the naming and tagging.

As many of you know, Fleece Artist doesn’t tag their skeins with colorway names. Frequently, this is because they will include some one-offs in our shipment – and this one is no different! There are quite a few colorways that aren’t on their website, so stop in and take a look at them! (I was not working with 100% brain power while naming them, so those may not seem imaginative… sorry!)

I know that Mother Nature seems to be teasing us with the cool weather she gave us earlier this week – but remember, socks (and anything in fingering weight yarn) are a perfect project to knit when it’s hot out… I plan on taking a pair with me tonight when I’m out and about!

Back in February, we told y’all about the National Museum of the Marine Corps’ drive to have local (and non-local, of course) knitters knit helmet liners for our Marines in Iraq. When they asked us to be a sponsor of the project, of course we said yes and donated yarn to the cause. (There are quite a few of us who have ties to Marines/Sailors/Soldiers/Airmen over there.)

Well, we couldn’t have predicted how successful they’d be with this! This one month knitalong has morphed into a weekly knitalong on Saturdays. We almost immediately sold out of all the tan colorways in the Ella Rae Classic – and gave the distributor a run for their money too, since they couldn’t produce it quickly enough!

I am happy to say that we finally have the tans in stock again and helmet liners are always welcomed by the Museum from both near and far. Knit a helmet liner or two (or more!) and send it to the Museum or to us – we’ll make sure it gets to the right place. You don’t live in the area but want to knit the helmet liner, too? Just give us a call at the shop (703-836-0039) and we will ship out all the supplies you will need.

Help us do our part to support our service members!

Oh, the new yarns… they just don’t stop coming. Today’s beauty is from Scarlet Fleece yarns – their Silk & Ivory, to be precise. Aimée and I saw Kathy’s yarn outside the convention center at TNNA and, of course, I fell in love. The Silk & Ivory is a 50% Silk and 50% Merino blend sport weight yarn with 200 yds per skein! The hand and the sheen is to die for!

As you might be able to tell from the picture, Kathy is a local artist to us – she hails from Powhatan, VA, just 35 miles west of Richmond! (Why is it that Aimée and I have to travel out of the area to meet up with some fab local dyers?) Get to know Kathy a bit better by visiting her blog – she has such an eye for color and discusses her inspirations on there!

Not sure what to do with this loveliness? Well, Kathy thought of that. She generously included a free pattern for a one-skein scarf to make with the Silk & Ivory. It’s an easy, 4 row repeat that you can knit just about anywhere! (Trust me, I started this last night at home with my two very needy cats…. If I can knit with that distraction, you can too!) The stitch definition is fabulous and this scarf goes quickly… it’s knit on US9s – the Addi Lace needles are perfect for this… I’m just sayin’.

Have you noticed something different as you’ve been looking at the yarn lately? Not sure? Take a look at the picture. What about now? Something about the tags, right?

Yes, we changed our tags! Danielle and Kel did a bit of research and found smaller tags that work with our software and printer. They are now much smaller, obscuring less of the yarn label, leaving more of the information available to see! The tags themselves are a bit harder to see, we realize, but that was an easy compromise to make for us… the ability to see the label was a much higher priority.

Unfortunately, we won’t be going around and relabeling everything with the smaller stickers. We just can’t get the large ones completely off without hurting the label, so there will be a transitional period where you will see both labels for a short amount of time. Please bear with us! We’re just as excited to have everything labeled with the smaller stickers too! If you haven’t seen what a difference it makes, come on by the shop and look. It’s amazing. Truly.

Many of you have given us requests for yarn you’d like to see us carry – and you know we listen! For instance, you all clamored for us to bring in the Handmaiden Sea Silk, and after seeing its loveliness in person, we did. Same with Alchemy, Fleece Artist and Schaefer. So, when Aimée and I heard you talking about Dream In Color’s Smooshy sock yarn, we had to see what the fuss was about.

Oh. My. Goodness. That was all I could say in their booth at TNNA. Aimée and I started picking out colors immediately. While we were tempted to bring everything in – in every color – we decided to restrain ourselves (the shop wallet heaved a sigh of relief!) and bring in specific colors in their Smooshy.

No sooner did we open the box and sort the yarn onto the table today did customers start buying it! The colors are beyond gorgeous and the yarn is so soft… and, well, smooshy. (It’s not just a clever name!) A couple skeins just may be going home with me today. Now to find the perfect Cookie A pattern…

Tomorrow night is late night – so, come on by and check it out! I don’t see this staying on the shelves for very long.