Patterns, patterns everywhere. Have you noticed the proliferation of on-line knitting and crocheting pattern magazines? We all know http://www.knitty.com/. This is certainly the most- read pattern magazine for knitters and sometimes crocheters and ah, yes, spinners too! We’ve all done our share of Clapotis and Branching Out, to name a few of the most popular patterns. When every new issue comes out, it seems to take longer to get connected to Knitty; I imagine their servers are just overloaded with anxious knitters. (Speaking of which, my “Hey, Teach” is done -- hooray!)

There are a few others out there that I thought I would mention. One of Woolbearer’s customers, Jody Pirrello, has started her own knitting magazine – http://www.knotions.com/, Great book reviews, patterns and lots of useful information. Check it out. Another e-zine that I love is http://www.twistcollective.com/. Kate Gilbert is the Creative Director of this e-zine, so you know it’s gotta be good.

As a shop owner it’s hard to figure out just which patterns to buy. We always get the major knitting magazines and those usually sell quite well. But with the proliferation of pattern writers out there, it’s hard to choose. This year at TNNA, we came upon a great pattern company called Chic Knits. I’m going to knit up the Cece cardigan – it’s top down and has a little eyelet pattern at the yoke. I think it will knit up quickly and hope a few of you will join me. Of course, this means we must reorder the pattern once again. There are quite a few other great Chic Knits patterns. There’s also a Chic Knits group on Ravelry. Take a look.

Another gal we just bought patterns from is SheKnits for Knitters. Sharon Dreifuss is the brains behind the Dumpling Bags, and I’ve been eyeing her patterns for quite a while, ever since Suzanne brought her Carrie Lynn bag in for display. So, we bought a bunch of her other patterns – all felted bags – a few are quite close to the dumpling bag in size. Come in and see for yourself. Sharon also has a really nice podcast which you can find at http://she-knits.mypodcast.com/

Those Zephyr gals have the cutest patterns. We just go in the “Juliet” pattern. Looks like a quick knit with bulky yarn (think Lamb’s Pride Bulky).

Please remember that October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. One of our customers, Marian Schenke, has knitted and felted the cutest bags and is donating all the proceeds to Breast Cancer Research. So, if you would like to participate in helping out a worthy cause, come in and buy one of her bags that are pictured here.

I just wanted to mention that we are having difficulties with our web host for our woolbearers.com site. The folks at Yahoo webhosting tell me (now that I have finally had a chance to speak with them after being on hold for many hours) that they are working on the problem and it may take a few more days to fix. The wonders of technology!