Thursday, January 03, 2008

Happy New Year.
2007 was an absolutely fantastic year for fiber folk. In case you haven’t already heard of Ravelry, run, don’t walk to your computer and join up (www.ravelry.com). While you are there, please add Woolbearer as one of your friends. We’d love to see all the projects everyone is working on.

Sunday, February 3rd is our annual SuperBowl Sunday Sale.

Last May, we moved to our new home at 90 High Street and now you can actually see all the yarn we have. Of course, since we have a much bigger space we had to get even more yarn. One of the newest additions is Karabella Yarns, with their Aurora 8, Aurora 4 and SuperCashmere Fine yarns. Come and touch – it’s so soft. We also have beautiful DK weight cashmere from South Africa.













We’ve expanded our Cascade 220 collection to almost 100 colors. We’ll be doing a KAL for the Great American Afghan using Cascade colors. See our website www.woolbearers.com for more info. We started carrying Cascade’s Lana Grande – 2 stitches to the inch of the soft yummy wool – knits up in no time. Kraemer is a new company for us. We have their Mauch Chunky and Sterling Silver sock yarn, some of which we are dyeing in mottled solids. Have you touched the Dream in Color Smooshy Sock Yarn? We also have their chunkier weight yarn called Fatty – beautiful colors. (see the Yarn Harlot for more pictures)

Have you seen the Modern Quilt Wrap from Folk Styles? Knit out of 9 colors of Rowan Kid Silk Haze -- it's like knitting a cloud.







Join the KAL online at Knit One, Crochet Too’s yahoo group, Knits, and knit the Painted Diamond bag made out of Paintbox, a beautiful self-striping wool yarn. We also have their new Babyboo yarn – it’s a bamboo/nylon combination and is a superwash yarn. Suzie is knitting a vest out of it and you can see a picture of it on the previous entry. Want to dye your own yarn? We have kits called Culinary Collection – includes a 450 yard skein of Douceur et Soie (silk and mohair) and enough dye to make a shawl or 2 scarves.

For all of you lace knitters we have something really special. Cherry Tree Hill was able to get some Orenburg Lace yarn and of course, we had to take some off their hands. One skein is enough to make a beautiful Orenburg Lace shawl or scarf.

LLamajama is a new addition. We have their 1855 wool handspun and naturally dyed merino (spun by a co-op of women in Ecuador), beautiful alpaca, and chunky weight natural colored wool. Great pattern support too!

Plymouth keeps coming out with new yarns. We recently brought in their Happy Feet sock yarn (who needs Koigu now) and Knitcol – a self striping superwash DK weight yarn. The Bristol Yarn Gallery from Plymouth has added some silk/cotton yarns to their collection – we should have it in the shop by March. We just got our new shawl pins from Plymouth too.

Artyarns has a new self-striping yarn – gorgeous colors – hope to have it in stock within a few weeks.

We dyed a lot of fleece that we get from a farm in Mt. Laurel and sent it out to be made into roving. Well, we just got the roving back -- it's gorgeous and spins like a dream.

And if that’s not enough fiber for you – Woolbearers is proud to announce that we will be the sole importers of Gotland fleece from England this year. We’ll keep you posted on the details.

We are really excited about our new class line up. We are starting a study of Elizabeth Zimmerman’s Knitting Workshop. The first project we’ll tackle is the Garter Stitch Baby Blanket. We are also beginning a “Getting Started” series. See demos of dyeing self-striping yarn, felting techniques, triangle loom weaving, etc. (see the website www.woolbearers.com for more details).

Have you seen the latest issue of Vogue Knitting? Woolbearers is mentioned in the CyberStitches column. We’ll have to thank our mailman, Greg for inspiring us to write that blog entry that was mentioned.

And yes, we will be doing another Yarn Tasting. Details to follow ...

Spinners take note – the Schacht Ladybug spinning wheel is on its way.

Remember – 1st Friday of the month is our meetup group at 6 pm; 1st Sunday of the month is the South Jersey Spinners and Handweavers Guild spin-in at 1 pm. Or stop in anytime for knitting, spinning, a cup of coffee and friendship.

Suzie & Myra

2 comments:

Jessica said...

Hi Ladies! I am so bummed that I won't be able to make rock day this year (dang work). :( I wish you both a very Happy New Year! I hope to get down to visit sometime soon. Life has gotten in the way lately. Hope all is well!

Andrea said...

Hi Myra & Suzie. Thanks for your kind words on my blog. We are both feeling much better. I'm dying to get into the store and check out all your new yarns. Also, there are some classes I have my eye on. (EZ seamless yoke sweater, finishing techniques, and possibly the fair isle hat so that I can finally learn some colorwork. I'll have to lug my giant self in one of these days while I'm on maternity leave, before the baby comes. Hope to see you soon.