Once again, we’ve won “Best Yarn Shop” in the News of Orange County’s Reader’s Choice Awards. We’re so proud to have eight years’ worth of “Best Yarn Shop” awards hanging in our window!
Thanks so much to all who voted, and to everyone who supports the shop!
A recent special order brought seven new colors in Prism Tencel Tape.
Tencel Tape is a knitted tape made of 100% Tencel, a plant fiber derived from tree bark. Like all plant fibers, Tencel lacks elasticity, though the knitted construction gives some elasticity to this slinky variegated yarn.
Because it knits up at about 5 stitches per inch, Tencel Tape can be found in the worsted weight section here at the shop, with a little swatch showing the resulting fabric. Lustrous and cool to the touch, it’s perfect for spring and summer garments and accessories with plenty of drape.
Come by the shop to check out our new selection of Tencel Tape, and come during July to shop our Annual Inventory Sale. See you there!
Here is a book for every knitter: Judith Durant’s Increase Decrease.
Increase Decrease is a compendium of ways to add and subtract stitches in knitting, a technique that is essential in shaping sleeve caps, thumb and heel gussets, the crowns of hats, and so much more.
Though increasing and decreasing are probably the first thing one learns after mastering knitting and purling, you’ll be surprised at how very many ways there are to do it. In Increase Decrease, Judith Durant shows you how and tells you why.
Increase Decrease comes from Storey Publishing, the wonderful people who brought us Leslie Ann Bestor’s popular Cast On Bind Off. These are both excellent reference books, essential for a thoughtful knitter’s resource library. They are also both notably spiral-bound, allowing the book to lie flat in your lap as you grapple with a new technique, needles in hand.
Come by the shop to stock your own knitter’s resource library, and come during July to do it at a 15% discount! See you there.
Just a reminder–all sales are final on discounted items; there can be no exchanges, returns, or special orders. Thanks!
The latest issue of Knitscene is here!
The Fall 2015 issue is packed with cozy garments and accessories, and flipping through it, I saw lots of familiar yarns. The clever “Tourlaville Shawl” is knit in Schoppel-Wolle Zauberball, working stripes from two balls of the same self-striping colorway to great effect.
Mari Chiba’s “Canted Pullover” is knit in Swans Island Organic Washable DK, a deliciously soft superwash wool.
I was particularly struck by Leah B. Thibault’s “Cormac Sweater,” an openwork pullover ideal for autumn layering, and knit in none other than Shibui Maai.
Look to this issue for lots of sweater inspiration, and a brioche tutorial, as well.
Come by the shop to pick up a copy of Knitscene and peruse the latest magazines and books!
Habu’s bamboo lace weight yarn arrived at the shop this week, just in time for summer stitching and weaving. XS-45 20/3 Bamboo may not be a romantic name, but the yarn itself is lovely, a lace weight 100% bamboo with elegant drape and lustre.
A Ravelry search reveals that this yarn is often used held together with other yarns to make unique fiber blends or thicker fabric. Just as often, it’s used on its own in delicate lace shawls, like Elizabeth Freeman’s “Laminaria” and “Aeolian Shawl,” or Evelyn A. Clark’s “Swallowtail Shawl;” free patterns, all, by the way.
Take a peek at this new Habu yarn next time you’re at the shop, and remember to come by during July for our Annual Inventory Sale! In the meantime, enjoy the holiday weekend; we’ll be closed July 4th and 5th, reopening at our regular business hours on Tuesday, July 7th. See you then!
As many of you know, July is our annual inventory sale month. From the 1st to the 31st, everything in the shop is discounted by 15%, with the exception of classes and yarns that have already been discounted. If you’ve had your eye on a special skein, or have been planning a big project or two, now is the time to take the leap!
Pick up a Zoom Loom or Cricket Loom, stock up on your favorite needles and hooks, treat yourself to a special book or two, or snag the makings of a Shibui sweater at the sale price. Have you tried Vivacious 4ply, challenged yourself to a fair isle hat, or succumbed to the appeal of an Acadia poncho? Give yourself permission, it’s on sale.
Whatever it is you’ve been wanting, come by the shop during the month of July to get 15% off your purchase! We’ll be closed on July 4th and 5th for the holiday, but otherwise open at our regular business hours.
Just a reminder–all sales are final on discounted items; there can be no exchanges, returns, or special orders. Thanks!
We always place a big Isager order at TNNA, and this year our main cause was restocking Alpaca 2 and Tweed. While we were there, we learned that some old favorite patterns for Isager yarns had been rescued from their out-of-print status and rereleased as single patterns.
When it was published back in 2009, Grace Anna Farrow’s booklet The Fine Line was a big hit here at the shop, and we were disappointed when printing stopped. All the shawls in this unique collection call for Isager’s lace weight Spinni (sometimes called Wool 1), making inspiring use of the Isager color palette in stripes, chevrons, color blocks, and waves. Three of those patterns are back on our shelves: “Shale,” “Volt,” and “Dawn.”
We’ve seen several “Volt” shawls come and go, and I’ve managed to capture two in past show-and-tell posts. Here’s Natalie’s “Volt,” knit in Spinni.
Nancy knit her “Volt” in Isager Alpaca 2, a thicker yarn with more drape, due to the alpaca content.
Both of these yarn choices are absolutely beautiful and right for the pattern, and they’re not the only ones–imagine “Volt” in Isager Alpaca 1 or Tvinni, Shibui Cima or Staccato, Fibre Company Meadow or Baa Ram Ewe Titus, to name a few!
Helga Isager’s “Camomille” has been another popular pattern, from her now out-of-print Amimono 2010 booklet. Knit with Isager Tvinni and Alpaca 1, this striped shawl stole many a heart when it visited the shop during a trunk show in 2012.
Margie knit this version of “Camomille,” substituting Malabrigo Finito for Isager Tvinni.
We’re so happy that these four shawl patterns are available again, and living in our Isager pattern binder! Come by the shop to flip through that binder, where perhaps you’ll find your next project. See you there!
UPDATE: As of 4/22/2016, we are totally sold out of Araucania Ranco and Queensland Bebe Cotsoy!
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Two more discontinued yarns have moved to the Sale Trunk here at the shop: Araucania Ranco and Queensland Bebe Cotsoy. Lovely yarns, both, but since they’re no longer manufactured, we’re offering them now at a deep discount of about 30% off their original price!
Araucania Ranco is a fingering weight yarn from Chile, hand-dyed in variegated and semi-solid colorways.
It’s composed of 75% wool and 25% nylon, and though that nylon makes it nice and sturdy for socks, it’s still a hand-wash-only yarn, as the wool is not superwash. Also consider Ranco for shawls and scarves, mitts and lightweight hats. In some colors, we may even have sweater quantities.
Queensland Bebe Cotsoy is a worsted weight blend of cotton and soy.
Soft, smooth, and machine-washable, Bebe Cotsoy is ideal for baby sweaters and blankets.
Though we’re sad to see good yarns go, we love sharing them with you at a discounted price. Come by to pick up some Ranco and Bebe Cotsoy at a great price before they disappear!
A reminder: all sales are final on discounted yarn. There can be no returns or exchanges, nor special orders–the discount applies only to what we currently have in stock. Thanks!
Malabrigo is a small yarn company out of Uruguay that is well known for its soft merino yarns, and their vivid, hand-dyed colorways.
We stock many of their yarns here at the shop, and their popularity means we order and reorder from Malabrigo with some frequency. Our most recent Malabrigo order was a particularly large one, filling cubbies of Mechita, Arroyo, Rios, Mecha, and Rasta.
Mechita is Malabrigo’s newest yarn, a single-ply superwash merino wool in fingering weight. Consider pairing a semi-solid shade with a wildly variegated one in a stripe or slip-stitch pattern.
Arroyo is a sport weight superwash merino, sturdy and smooth because of its tightly-plied nature. It’s ideal for baby and children’s things, and a nice weight for adult sweaters, too.
Rios is the worsted weight version of Arroyo, all the same qualities at about 5 stitches per inch on a US 7 or 8. This is a popular yarn for all kinds of projects, from cowls and hats to sweaters, blankets, slipper socks, and beyond.
Mecha is a bulky weight single-ply superwash merino, useful for quick, cozy stitching. We tried to pick colors that we hadn’t seen in this yarn before, and the results range from subdued to bright as can be.
For seriously quick projects, look to Rasta, a slightly felted single-ply merino calling for size US 13 – 15 needles. We more than doubled our inventory of Rasta with this order, adding loads of new colors, and filling two cubbies with the stuff.
We’re always happy to fill our shelves with Malabrigo yarns. These new colors and quantities are already going fast, though, due to that particular Malabrigo combination of beauty, softness, easy-care, and good value. If you’re hoping to put your hands on specific colorways, feel free to call ahead and check that we still have them in your desired quantity. See you at the shop!
The Early Fall 2015 issue of Vogue Knitting has arrived here at the shop, right in the middle of a heat wave that makes “Early Fall” seem particularly far away.
This issue has plenty of patterns to fuel your cold-weather knitting fantasies: cabled cowls and mitts, classic colorwork, textured sweaters, and a collection of cardigans from independent knitwear designers, the likes of Veera Välimäki and Amy Christoffers.
Amy Christoffers’ design is a cardigan knit in Berroco Maya, a cotton and alpaca blend chainette yarn, lightweight enough to pull on in chilly air-conditioning during the warmer months.
There’s some good reading material in this issue, too. Meg Swansen’s column shows how to do a continuous border on a cardigan, and another article offers tips for faster knitting.
Come by the shop to pick up a copy of Vogue Knitting, and enjoy our air-conditioning while you plan your next project!