Husbands, Daughters, Boyfriends and Dogs

Saturdays in the store are great because you get to see all the customers who work during the week and can't come in until Saturday, and many times they are accompanied by their lovers and family members who are willing to tolerate a side trip to a yarn shop if it means they can sit down for minute in a day of shopping.

We usually aren't too thrilled about dogs in the store, but this guy, Winston, came in his own pink and green suede carrying case, didn't say a peep, and was unusually observant as the other shoppers slowly walked the aisles and fondled yarn. He is smiling while showing his lower teeth. Very Cute! By the way, Winston came all the way from Piscataway to buy yarn with his mom.

Judith, a prolific sock knitter, lives far enough away that I don't get to see her too often, but it is always great when she comes in and occasionally she brings her husband. They are up in the right corner, Winston in the left...

Jessica spun the yarn for this luscious shawl and finished in the store while her great boyfriend sat and talked with us. Read more about the shawl by clicking on 'Jessica's Blog' in the links section along the right side of this blog.

Tina came in with her family today and here is a great picture of her with her daughter. Tina lives in my rural neighborhood and has battled the great water situation this past month along with all of my other neighbors. We are not having a drought in Springfield Township, if anyone asks. Just ask my sheep and their rotting hooves.

Podcasts

Finally, I got an IPod for my birthday. I've been wanting one, so that I could download all those neat knitting podcasts I've heard so much about. A great thing to listen to on my way to the shop in the morning. Now I can be as cool as my 13 and 16 year olds. The one podcast I've heard mentioned the most is Lime n' Violet. So, I was especially pleased when a customer, Sydney, came to the store yesterday and told us that Lime n' Violet mentioned Woolbearers on their latest podcast. Here's the URL http://limenviolet.libsyn.com/index.php?post_year=2007&post_month=05&post_day=16 . It's episode 36, entitled "Bellybutton Funk" and about 58 minutes into the podcast, Woolbearers is mentioned as a donor to Jessica's Sock-along. They looked at Woolbearers' website -- they made a big deal of .net vs. .com, but finally found it and said some complimentary things about our yarn. So --- thanks to Jessica we're getting noticed. An even nicer birthday present than the IPod.

Beauty Is As Beauty Does

A few years ago when Myra and I went to The National Needles Arts trade show in Columbus, Ohio, I took a business class called something like Making the Most of Your Customer Contact, or maybe not, but it was in that vein. The instructors gave some good advice to novice and experienced store owners alike. Both were beautifully dressed and coiffed. Toward the end of the class, one of the gals, someone from Michigan actually, made a rather strong statement about store owners' presentation. She felt it was appalling the way some store owners wore jeans and t-shirts, hair pulled back in a ponytail, no makeup.....unfortunately, all the ladies sitting at my table and one of the men had jeans on and my hair was pulled back into a ponytail.

Our store has always been a working store. Until we moved, I did almost all of the dyeing I needed to do for the store right there. We usually have some project to do that requires getting dirty. The store isn't static. Moving things around, stashing things away, and now that we are still getting settled, painting furniture, repackaging fibers, and hauling cardboard is a daily occurrence. I wear makeup because I don't want our customers to think I'm sick and then feel too uncomfortable in my presence to shop! But I can't see wearing an 'outfit' and then digging through an unwashed fleece that a new spinner brings in for us to ogle, or cleaning out the refridgerator.

Hopefully, no one has been offended by our casual dress. Gail Trautz found these absolutely fabulous rubber gloves and gave them to Myra for her birthday. Aren't they fun? So now Myra can dye her yarn while protecting her hands and still look fabulous, Darling! Maybe I'll look for some embroidered jeans like the ones we had in the 60's and 70's. Do they make them in women's sizes?

Feast For Your Eyes Things are shaping up at the new store. We are working pretty much from the outside perimeter in and front to back. Like the grocery store, the meat and potatoes are on the outside and real goodies are on the inside. It just sort of worked out that way. Most of the hand dyed yarn found it's way to the center of the floor, with the exception of the Alfresco, which is sort of a staple for many knitters, and that is hanging on the wall.

Cottons, linens, silks and blend start out the march down the left side of the store. Interspersed with the basics are some luscious things you couldn't even see in the old store, and hanging there as they are now, they look like jewels. The Punta Del Este linen and alpaca blend is one yarn that just calls out to me.

Superwash and washable wools are next, Mission Falls, Dale, Louet, Jo Sharpe (you can hardly call her meat and potatoes, but come on, it's just for fun!), Jamieson, and so many more I can't remember them all. Cascade and Lopi are across the isle.

That rainbow in the first picture is Rowan Cashsoft.

More Yarn Tasting Photos

Three Generations

Our customers who keep coming back with friends and family in tow are the backbone of the business. They read our newsletters and go to the websites regularly to see what is new, or what they have missed. If they get an itch for something fast to knit, they drive to us, rather than a closer big box store. Shevann is a regular customer. We see her during lunch some weekdays, and on the weekends. When her mother, Virginia, from Arizona, and daughter Kristin from Reading, PA came to visit, she brought them to Woolbearers.

When grandchildren are born, weddings planned, and sadly, loved ones die, we are often among the friends who get the news. I realized this weekend that many of my friends are those who came into my life via Woolbearers.

Our three year anniversary was on Saturday. We celebrated by continuing the monumental task of putting away a stash of yarn that I am still in awe of!

A Taste of Silk

Last Friday, we hosted a yarn tasting at The Robin's Nest in Mount Holly. The Nest is known in the area for their delicious desserts. All the gals who attended said they had a great time and also enjoyed knitting the little sample balls we wound of our silk yarns. Following is a letter that good friend and customer Doris Cote from Bergen County wrote to knit U about the yarn tasting. She was one of several people who drove over an hour from the north country to be with us.

Knitu -----
Hi,
I wanted to share with you a wonderful idea my not so local yarn store
had. I travel an hour and a half each way on the NJ Turnpike to go to
Woolbearers in Mount Holly. These gals arranged a bus trip to Stitches
East last Fall and just keep coming up with great ideas! They "invited"
their customers to a Yarn Tasting Friday night, at a great restaurant in
Mount Holly known for its over the top desserts. For $25, we got dessert
and a beverage and a lot of fun. They booked the upstairs room and each
place was set with a plastic martini glass. Each chair also had a bag
with a thank you gift. Mine was a handy purse sized chart where I can
list all my needles types and sizes. Great idea! In the glass was a
cello bag with many little balls of silk and silk blend new yarns for us
to sample. Each little ball had a tiny tag with the name and you got a
print out cheat sheet with all the info on each yarn. The work that went
into all those little balls must have been unreal.The cheat sheet was so
helpful.

There were about 43 ladies all prepared with needles ready and we knit
our samples, switched to the next ball and discovered which were our

favorites, talked, laughed and made new friends. It was a lot of fun.

Door prizes were skeins of some of their own hand dyed silk blend yarn.
( to dye for) I was surprised at what turned out to be my favorite
because knitting with it was such a pleasure. One poopy color was so
beautiful when put next to a midnight blue. I'd have never given it a
second thought on the shelf, so this opened the door to get out of the
same old, same old color choice rut. I know that there are many shop
owners who read this list and thought you might like to try your own
spin on this idea.
Doris, at the other end of the Turnpike

I also have to mention that Sabra, one of the talented women who work for Woolbearers, arranged the evening and put a heck of a lot of work into planning it. Many thanks to her and the customers who spent time rolling many little balls of yarn.

One Picture Speaks a Thousand Words

If you were wondering why there have been no posts for the past two weeks, this image should explain. Note the mountain of clear bags piled along the wall; how did that much yarn ever fit in 750 sq. feet? Truly, I had no idea we had that much. So now the task at hand is putting all of the beautiful stuff away. We are taking our time. It's the one job we have in front of us that allows sitting and pondering. Everything else is lifting and shoving. I feel like I was hit by a tank. So choose a bag, pull up a stool, and arrange colorful eye candy. It's therapeutic!

I'll post pictures of the Silk Yarn Tasting later.

The Wonderful Wallaby hooded sweater designed by Carol Anderson of Cottage Creations is a popular and classic pattern loved by Woolbearers customers. The class teaching the techniques for the sweater is always full. Some variations shown are without the hood. Myra knitted it in red Bingo Chin by Lana Grossa, which is super soft and washable, dark turquoise blue Cascade 220, and neutral stripes of washable Mission Falls merino. The are all beautiful! You can get the pattern and take the class at the store . The pattern covers sweaters from size 2 to 2XL.

Finis!! At last, the Lacy Top from Holiday Vogue 2006 is done. I had some difficulty sewing it together because the back was an inch wider than the front even after I blocked the pieces; obviously I had done something different. The top is shaped for someone with a waist, and that is interesting in itself as I don't have one anymore. It's very 'hour glassed'. The neckline was fun to do. You pick up stitches around the neck and do more yarnovers, so there is a lacy effect to it. The little wings are fun, too; you do one row of feather and fan and five of k1 p1 ribbing. As I have written before, I love working with the Jamieson so much, it is a real yarn. You don't have to pamper it, it just knits! So I am treating myself to yet another project, from Simply Shetland 3, The Santa Fe Wrap. It's also knitted of Spindrift, so will not be the quickest knit I have done, but once Myra showed me how to use two colors without having ends to weave in, I am enjoying the process. It's another modular project, but with shadow knitted pieces. I'll get some pictures up soon.

Puddle Jumpers

We are on a roll doing baby sweaters. They are a quick knit, use less yarn than an adult sweater, and are just all around cute! This little number knit by Myra of Classic Elite Sundance washable cotton microfiber is pictured on the cover of Puddle Jumpers. It's so cute and speaks for itself. The picot edge is beautiful.

The Bounced Check Jacket has another convert. This is knitter Ginny's first square.

The picture to the right shows the finished first square. The picture below shows the 12 green stitches for the second square picked up with one pink original stitch.

The picture to the right shows the square with 25 stitches, the one original from the pink square, 12 picked up along the left edge and 12 cast on with a cable cast on.

Last Sunday while the spinners spun and knitters in the store knitted, Gwen, Rina, Cate and I got together with Rina's Ultimate Sweater Machine and had a little demonstration of how easy it is to use. Although Rina's Machine was busted; looked like someone had previously tried to use it and returned it to the discount craft store, which promptly placed it back on the shelf for sale, Cate just happened to have her brand new, still in the box machine, so we pulled that out, set it up and away we went! It is just amazing how quickly it knits.

If there is enough interest, I'm sure we can convince Uyvonne Bigham to teach another beginners class. The machines used in the class are the Bond Knitting Machine, The Ultimate Sweater Machine, or the LK 150 (I think that is the number). If you have one of these machines and can't get it to work for you, it is usually just a simple adjustment needed and you can start knitting right away. I knit a baby sweater in less than eight hours, shown above, and that included finishing by hand. Uyvonne teaches you how to assemble the garment using the machine and also finishing on the machine. There is almost no hand work done in her class.

Please let me know if you would like to take a beginner's knitting machine class. We may be able to convert the upcoming intermediate class to a beginners. I took the class twice and each time, learned tons of useful information. I wish I had the time to use the machine more!

Uyvonne is a wonderful teacher. She is patient beyond belief. Trust me.

Sign up soon for a class with Uyvonne on the Bond and watch your stash disappear!

Suzie

You Need To Knit More if the two dolphins in the picture have more than one or two differences. Cate sent me this stress indicator. I'm definately getting out the needles when I am done with this post.

Woolbearers is Moving!!!!!!

Finally, we found a larger space.
Look for us at 90 High Street in the center of historic Mount Holly in early May.

We are right in the center of town.
Tons of free, public parking is right behind the store, with on street parking a few doors down the hill.
In the meantime, continue to visit us in Mill Race Village, on Church.

More Bounced Check This is the first jacket I did out of Dzined wool and hemp. The center detail shows the cool edge finish. You apply that after the jacket is finished. It reminds me of the triangles you do when you are beginning an entrelac piece.

Bounced Check Jacket
Support Group

Simply Knit is a book of fabulous sweater patterns. I first saw the book shortly after we opened Woolbearers and was immediately smitten with the Bounced Check Jacket. As a fairly new knitter of less than a year at that time, it was a challenge to contemplate and also nerve wracking to think I could use that much yarn on one project. I wanted to use a worsted weight, hand dyed yarn of hemp and wool by Dzined, so had to figure out dimensions because the pattern calls for dk weight Shetland wool by Jamieson. Anyway, the jacket was great fun to knit and very easy. I've wanted to do another one in the Jamieson ever since, and a few weeks ago the chance presented itself when several customers said they would like to knit the jacket but needed some support because it looks so complicated.

Then I got lucky when our faithful customer, Gwen said she wanted to do it, too and I knew I could count on her to offer technical support. She chose ten spring colors that include saffron, gold, a soft fuchsia, pink, violet, lavender and black. It is really striking. She is almost done with the jacket! See picture above.

I've only worked on the squares when I am in the group, so as you can see from the pictures on the left, I'm not getting too far. And the thing is, I really want to work on it! It is so relaxing, and once you start with the squares, you can knit them mindlessly. You pick up stitches along one selvedge and cast on the rest and just keep knitting them. The diagonal ridge is formed by decreasing two stitches in the center of the square. As the sweater progresses, I'll post pictures of mine and the others. Also, I hope to knit more of the great sweaters in the book!

Machine Love The object of my affection is a large and dusty carding machine that arrived in my barn this afternoon. My husband wrestled it into place with the previous owner, who drove from Utica to deliver it to us. After the store closed, Myra and I drove home as fast as we could to gaze upon it. I openly stroked it; she touched it when she thought no one was looking.

After dinner, I went back out to the barn, freezing as it was after dark, and spent an hour cleaning it and looking at it. I can imagine the colors we are going to blend in this new toy. I carded a king sized pillow case of California Red in about two minutes. I want it's area to be neat and clean. The barn was last swept out maybe last summer. So far, because of the new arrival, in one day, it was swept twice. Now I can't wait to clean the darn barn!

We have lots of dyed wool that I plan on carding tomorrow, rich magenta, a soft violet, terra cotta, Chinese red and sage green. How it will go together, only tomorrow will tell, but I bet I get up at sunrise with a smile on my face, raring to go!

Nickie Epstein's Trunk Show

If you get a chance, this show is a must see. The lace edged red sweater is shown, with the detail of the cuff. The fair isle jacket has a very interesting bottom edging and a great treatment around the collar. The felted shawl has a tiny bit of beading on the flowers. Modeled beautifully by our new gal, Tami. There 12 items in all and worth the trip.

Don't You Wish Your Girlfriend Was A Hot Knitter Like Me?

Ok, picture this. A moderately obese, middle-aged female in flannel pjs, hair in a scrunchy, sitting cross legged on the couch amidst four hog tied dogs and several overflowing knitting bags. On the TV comes a dozen (more or less) half naked, young and fit girls, singers, looking for the next Pussy Cat Dolls or Pussy Dolls Singers or something like that, gyrating and flagrating (great non word). Embarressed, I look around for the remote which is in the mess, hoping to change it before my husband of 38 years looks up from his magazine, but, alas, it is too late. He sees them, we make eye contact and have a good laugh. He's happy I am spending my life doing something that makes me so happy.

Thank god I am not a teenager any more. I never have to worry about getting a bikini wax. The last time I got stopped for a traffic violation, the policeman laughed and gave me a warning after I asked him to block the sun shining on my face so he wouldn't see my whiskers. I can pretty much do whatever I want as long as I don't hurt any one's feelings. Anything I want to knit, I can knit. Whatever yarn I want, my wonderful business partner will get for me. I meet interesting, talented women everyday who are excited about creating something beautiful. Women come into the store, sit to knit, and it is almost instant friendship. I spent an hour with Karen today and we shared stories from our heart while knitting small modular squares our of Shetland wool. It was pretty therapeutic.

So I have added yet another project, the Bounced Check Jacket from the Simply Knit book. I knit one the first year Woolbearers opened out of a wool and hemp blend, hand dyed by Dzined. It was a fun, easy and impressive project and I have always wanted to knit another one, but out of the Jamieson dk weight shetland the pattern called for. We have a huge selection of colors and that alone is inspiration for knitting. The first cube is filled with all the reds and roses, so I picked from that cube. I rarely knit with those colors, yet they really are my colors.

A new thing I am trying out is not so easy; I'm writing a pattern for an entrelac bag I designed on the needles. Didn't know it was hard to do this after the fact. But I am determined because the bag is so cute, (see picture) and I want to do another one. It's knit of our thick and thin, worsted weight space dyed yarn. Just two skeins, no color changes, easy as can be. The rose is hand dyed woolen rug hooking fabric, created by Pattiann Finch. We have a selection of wool and silk ribbon flowers, some with hooked centers by Pattiann for sale. They are great embellishments for sweaters and bags.

Nicky Epstein's trunk show got to Woolbearers a week early and will be in the store until March 18th. If you want to be inspired, please come in and take a look at the sweaters, shawls and scarves we have. There is one coat that is a little fun and different, but the rest of the show is gorgeous.

Ok, time to go. Asap I will post some information about painted warps, the latest project going on in the studio.

Woolbearers is closed on Monday, but we are still there in heart and mind, ordering, writing, catching up. I'm sitting on the couch in our den, Guns of Navarone on the tube, surrounded by four dogs watching me. I still have my pjs on and it's after noon. I'll get up after I write this and get ready for the day.

I haven't written much due to life getting in the way. But I have started and am close to finishing several projects that are really exciting to me. For some reason, I am really loving entrelac, so I am doing yet another bag (in Nashua Creative Focus Worsted), which will be the third. I'll post a picture of the second one when I get into work tomorrow. I think it is so cute, and those that know me know that I am usually nervous about anything I finish. It's done in one yarn that is space dyed. I love the effect. We are now carrying flower pins that are embellished with rug hooking and hand dyed silk ribbon, and I use one of the flowers on the bag. It's wonderful.

Then I started a pair of socks with entrelac cuffs. We dye our own line of fingering weight yarn in forty colors, and it just takes a few yards of yarn to do a row of squares, so we are going to package entrelac sock kits instead of our customers having to purchase whole skeins of solid color yarn for each color used. Look for the kits this fall! (Hopefully!)

I also am knitting a baby sweater our of Mission Falls cotton. It is just fabulous to work with. Mission Falls cotton is so soft and textural. Much of the sweater is done with seed stitch and the yarn enhances the stitch. Started a second one out of our own hand dyed cotton boucle yarn. It is gorgeous.

Vogue Knitting Holiday 2006 issue is becoming my favorite. I finished the woven scarf on the cover in Nashua Creative Focus Worsted, and started the lacy top of Jamieson DK weight shetland. Have the front done and if I could shut my mouth for five minutes instead of talking nonstop, the back would be done soon. I also started on the entrelac wrap sweater in our hand dyed Lanamira cashmere blend. (entrelac again). This will be the first thing I have done in the Lanamira besides a swatch, and I'm excited about working with it. It is so soft and wonderful!

There are a few more things in the knitting bag that are needing attention, a few that are close to being finished, and few that I think I might scrap, just because they have been in there so long that I forgot what I was doing with them. One is something out of my handspun yarn and I wonder what I was thinking....it has the hand of a porcupine and I was doing a shawl. Oh well, live and learn.

We are going to motivate now and go see my daughter in Deptford. The last time I went down there, her little blind dog bit me in the mouth which required reconstructive surgery, another reason I haven't written much. It looks pretty good! The surgery required a little pulling over of the skin on my left cheek, so those frown lines are gone. However, the one's on the right are still there, so I look a little like Bert Reynolds when I smile. I always liked him.

While Suzie is away I thought that I'd post our latest newsletter:

WOOLBEARERS WINTER 2007 NEWSLETTER

Wow – have you been to the store lately? There’s so much yarn you can hardly get down the aisles. We’ve really packed it in --- knowing that you want to have the most variety and highest quality yarns. If that isn’t incentive enough --- we will be having a sale on Super Bowl Sunday, February 4, 2007. If you can’t make it to the store, you can now shop online at www.woolbearers.net.
Yarns
For all you Uruguayan yarn fans – we are now carrying Malagbrigo yarns, Sheep Shop yarns and we are getting in a brand new Uruguayan yarn from a company called Punta del Este. We are getting their fingering weight yarn (wool with a touch of cashmere), a bulkier weight and a linen/alpaca blend – all space dyed in yummy colorways. From Classic Elite, we are getting Classic Silk, a cotton/silk blend and Sundance another cotton blend. Wool in the Woods is coming out with a handpainted cotton chenille blend in 6 different colorways. It will be great for baby blankets. Skacel has a silk blend called Urban Silk that we couldn’t resist in 5 colorways. We are getting Bamboo tape, Summer Tweed, and Handknit Cotton from Rowan along with a ton of new pattern books. We already have our Ecological Cotton in from Nashua. It is naturally dyed pima cotton on 6 different colorways – very soft and knits at 5 stitches to the inch. A pattern book to go with the yarn is forthcoming. We already have our Silk Shire, Royal Bamboo, and Linen Isle from Plymouth. Have you seen Plymouth’s answer to Noro Silk Garden – it’s a self striping yarn called Boku. We knit a small sample and it’s really nice yarn and it felts wonderfully! Brown Sheep’s Cotton Fleece just arrived in the store – there are so many colors to choose from. We also found a new yarn company while we were at Stitches. They are called JoJoland and we have their sock yarn – a cashmere/merino blend and their Entrelac Shawl Kits. We have tons of Woolbearers’ handpainted yarn. Our latest addition is our new sock yarn. The undyed yarn comes from Cestari farms in Virginia – it’s nice and lofty, even when knit on size 1’s.
Equipment
If you are a spinner or are thinking about it, you must come in and see our latest addition – the Victoria Wheel from Louet. It’s only 6 ½ pounds it folds up, has its own backpack and comes with a Lazy Kate. We are also getting in Aurora’s “Nifty Swifts”, table top swifts to help you wind your yarn. We carry all Schacht, Louet and Ashford products for spinning and weaving. Try out the new circular glass needles – they warm up in your hands.
Classes
We’ve got loads of classes. We are so lucky to have Uyvonne Bigham teach two Machine Knitting classes for us. We also have Nelda Davis coming for a spinning – fiber prep workshop. Other classes include the popular Rug Stomping class and Yarn goddess classes taught by Rosemary Dunaif. Susan Maruska is teaching a needlefelting class. We have sweater classes – Wallaby and Side to Side; lots of Entrelac classes, slip-stitch, cable, sock, spinning and weaving classes. Check the class list for more info.

We are having the Following Trunk Shows: “Noni Felted Bags” Jan. 24-31; Jordana Paige Knitting Bags Jan. 29-Feb 4; garments from Nicky Epstein’s “Edge” book series – March 13-19.
Remember – the first Friday of every month, is our knitting meet-up group meeting, starting at 6 pm. The South Jersey Handspinners are now meeting at Woolbearers the first Sunday afternoon of the month at 1 pm. Join our yahoo group “Twisted Woolbearers” for up-to-date information.
If you are receiving this by “snail mail” please send us your email address. We won’t be using snail mail anymore. Thanks.

Myra & Suzie