Knit Happens

Why not start this weekend off with some “glam”? Join us this Friday, October 31, for a booksigning with famed designer Stefanie Japel. Stefanie will be signing copies of her new book, Glam Knits: 25 Designs for Luxe Yarns. Ever wanted to tell Stefanie how great you think her designs are? (And they certainly are!) This is your chance to meet her and tell her!

We will be closing at 5pm on Friday to prepare for the booksigning – the doors will open at 6pm for those in the weekend retreat and at 7pm for the public booksigning.

Oh, by the way, have you signed up for the retreat yet? Why not? Spaces are still available. In addition to the 8 hours of teaching time from Stefanie, you will also get a goody bag full of notions to make designing your own sweater fun and easy, a free copy of Glam Knits and you get three delicious meals and an afternoon tea from Morrison House’s famous restaurant, The Grille.

Don’t forget that Friday is also Halloween, so get glammed up in your best retro outfits and join us for some fun with a great designer!

Thanks to all of you who braved the weather and showed up for the helmet liner knit-a-long. We will have pictures later, but our special guest, Major General Doug Stone impressed pretty much everyone with his knitting prowess. Not to be outdone his staff took up the needles and began knitting as well. We even recruited two unsuspecting Marines from the bar and got them started.

So, for all of you who supported this great cause, thank you so much. We plan to hold another one soon and I think it is safe to say that General Stone will join us again.

I also was to thank Buzz Bakery for their flexibility (we quickly grew to large for them and they helped us set up across the street at their sister restaurant Rustico) and their cupcakes.

Rustico for finding just the right space for a bunch of rowdy knitters.

Knit-a-Gogo for helping make this possible with their awesome marketing.

Stalwart Knit Happens employee Olga who put needles in the hands of Marines and had them knitting in minutes.

Holly at Knit Happens for having all the supplies ready and waiting for me.

All of you who came and supported the event

And of course, the General and his staff for being such good sports.

I think this just goes to show, there are few things more attractive than a man in uniform knitting!!

Stay tuned for future events, but in the meantime I hope you can make it down to the Marine Corps Museum on November 11th (Veterans Day) for their knit-a-long.

Please join us this Saturday as we partner with Knit-a-Gogo for an event to benefit our Marines. We will be at Buzz Bakery in Alexandria from 2-4pm, to knit helmet liners in an ongoing effort to get them to every Marine stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan.

As an added bonus, we will be joined by MajGen Douglas Stone, who has served multiple tours of duty in both Iraq and Pakistan and has just returned to the United States a couple months ago. MajGen Stone is delighted and excited to meet everyone – who knows? We might even be able to have him knit a helmet liner!

If you don’t have your materials yet, don’t worry – just stop in the shop and we’ll make sure you have everything you need. Can’t make it to the shop before Saturday? We’ve got you covered. Aimée will have extra supplies to purchase at Buzz (sorry, cash only).

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Driving from the shop: Drive north on the GW Parkway and bear right at the exit for E. Abingdon Dr/Bashford Ln/Slaters Ln. At the second stoplight, turn left onto Slaters Lane, crossing over the parkway. Continue over the train tracks, Buzz will be on your right.

Parking: There is parking available on the street as well as behind the restaurant in the shopping center.

Metro: Take the Yellow/Blue Line to Braddock Rd.

• Walking: Exit the station towards Madison St, taking that two blocks to Henry St (Rt 1). Turn right on Henry and walk until you get to the McDonalds, cross over to the other side, turning right onto Slaters Ln. Continue down the hill. Buzz is located at the intersection of Slaters Ln and Potomac Greens Dr.

• Bus: The #4 DASH bus towards Fairfax Street stops right in front of the restaurant. For more DASH bus information, please visit www.dashbus.com.

We hope to see you all there on Saturday, knitting and enjoying some of the yummy Buzz cupcakes and coffee!!

Who, you ask? Mother Nature, that’s who. She has finally decided that we need to see an actual Fall in the DC area, which makes me one happy camper! Now I can look at the fall yarns and new books and actually envision making some of the items… Did I mention that we have new books?

First up is in just in time for all the crisp weather: Boutique Knits by Laura Irwin. Laura Irwin has designed for boutiques in Portland, OR and is known for her felted hats and bags. In Boutique Knits she takes some of those ideas and has created a collection of gorgeous accessories that will make you stand out in a crowd. This is not a book for a wallflower – these knits will get you a ton of attention, and you can say “I knit this” whenever anyone asks “where did you get that gorgeous (fill in the accessory of your choice here)?”.

Also in, just in time for the holidays, is Franklin Habit’s new book, It Itches: A Stash of Knitting Cartoons. Many of you know Franklin from his blog, The Panopticon. (For those of you who might be following Dolores’ run for President under the Fibertarian party will be pleased to know that her campaign is growing like wildfire!) With It Itches, he has tackled such issues as expressing love through yarn and needles, ungrateful recipients and, of course, yarn stashes. The book is hilarious – Olga and I haven’t stopped laughing since we got it in yesterday – a perfect gift for any fiber-y person on your list… Maybe not all of your gifts need to be knitted/crocheted this year. I’m just sayin’. Or maybe you can gift a copy of It Itches with a couple skeins of Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock yarn in The Panopticon colorway. Just a suggestion. If anyone is looking for a gift for me, I certainly wouldn’t say no to that!

Images courtesy of Interweave Knits, Amazon.com and Lorna’s Laces

Okay, Mother Nature has really got to get her stuff together if we’re going to have Holiday magazines in the shop to inspire the Holiday Knitting.

Late last week we got the Vogue Knitting Holiday 2008 issue in and it definitely has some fun and interesting items to knit – both for Holiday Gifts and for Holiday Fun. Can’t you imagine making those bangles on the cover and wearing them to a holiday party? You’d be the talk of the room – and I guarantee you’d have people asking where they could buy them.

Today we received the Interweave Knits Holiday Gifts 2008 issue. In addition to all the smaller items you’d expect from a a holiday issue – there are definitely the armwarmer, hat and sock patterns you expect, all excellent, of course – there’s even a pattern for a cute top knit in silk to wear to another holiday party designed by local designer Laurie Gonyea!

It looks as if Mother Nature will be blessing us knitters with weather in the mid-60’s this weekend, so come on in and stock up on that Holiday Knitting – it looks like the weather will finally cooperate, and even if it doesn’t, we can crank up the A/C to get you to start thinking about the colder weather.

Photos courtesy of the Vogue Knitting and Interweave Knits websites

But we so aren’t! What better way to get a jump-start on our Fall warmth (and maybe reminding Mother Nature that it’s October and supposed to be FALL) by starting to knit those small projects – like hats – now?

Olga took this idea and ran with it! As most of you know, Olga is our resident Fashionista and has declared that berets are the “in” accessory this season… the slouchier the better, so she found this great free pattern from Classic Elite Yarns, A Slouch for All Seasons (it’s a .pdf file, so be patient for it to load) and knit it up immediately.

Using two skeins of the Lorna’s Laces Green Line DK yarn, you too can have this quick knit hat ready to wear this fall! If you haven’t gotten a chance to work with this yarn yet, this is a great opportunity. The Green Line is 100% Organic Merino wool, dyed using Lorna’s Laces traditional dyeing techniques. The result is beautifully dyed, wonderfully soft yarn that just about anyone can wear! (A lot of you know how sensitive I am to wool against my skin and I can wear the Green Line – even wearing the beret on a warm, sunny October afternoon.)

If the Green Line isn’t quite your cup of tea, we have a ton of substitutions in many different fiber combinations – just come in and we’ll get you on your way to having one fashionable chapeau in your wardrobe this Fall.

We’ve had a great response to our new class lists – so much so, that we’ve already sold out of two classes! If you were interested in our Entrelac Scarf class or in the Socks on Two Circulars class, but missed out due to the popularity of them, you are in luck!

Danielle has added an Entrelac Scarf class to the Knit-A-Gogo class schedule for November 18, December 2 and 9 at St. Elmo’s in Del Ray section of Alexandria. The scarf takes 3-4 balls of Noro Silk Garden and the shawl takes 7-8 balls. What a great way to use the Silk Garden – the striping repeats can be a little overwhelming in a sweater for some, however in entrelac it looks perfect.

We’ve also added a sock class to the Knit Happens class schedule. The Socks on Two Circulars class will replace the Independent Sock Study class scheduled for November 8, 15 and 22 from 10am-12pm at the shop. There’s nothing quite like a pair of handknit socks – to keep or to give (should you be that generous).

So, go and sign up already! Spots are going quickly and you won’t want to miss out…