Behind that beautiful work of art is knitter Bonnie. She did this modular afghan of Woolbearers Wool and Mohair. It needs to be seen up close; each of the hexagons are completely different because of the way the hand dyed yarn worked up. It's really lovely.

Joan knit this clapotis of Cashsoft DK by Rowan. Instead of stockinette between the dropped stitches, there is a cable. It is really beautiful. NOw I want to make one.

Gwen is crocheting up a storm. I won't say how long it took her to finish this lovely cape; let's just say it wasn't on earth Friday.....

Amy knit socks for her dad of Skacel Teddy. They are so soft! Get well soon, Dad!

Leila is knitting the Pi shawl now, along with a few other wonderful projects.

Her beaded scarf, a Swallow Hill pattern, is beautiful. She says that aside from the bead stringing, the knitting goes quickly and is easy.

This is the reason my husband has never said anything about my growing wool problem. I might add that this is just one of four rooms he has filled with similar equipment.....

Happy Mother's Day!!!

My husband took this picture of Myra, her husband Ron, and moi at our table at the throwdown we went to Monday night. I have to get to work, but will post lots of new project pictures tonight or tomorrow. Have a wonderful day!

Best Knitting Store in South Jersey!!!

Here's our booth at the Best of party in Voorhees at The Mansion. It was a wonderful party! We met so many great people, saw some old customers, and had a fun evening with our husbands. And we felt so honored that our customers took the time to vote for us!

I'm at the stage of life where I will do almost anything to try to improve my appearance. Ali is our Mary Kay consultant and she kindly came and made over my make up, with an audience, I might add and answered questions patiently and graciously. It's a desperate woman who will submit to a public demonstration, but I got my make up done and gave our customers some free entertainment in the bargain... Oh, did you know that Godiva White Chocolate liquour is not a carb free food??? Damn! BTW, my husband did comment on how nice and smooth my skin looked! Gotta love that mineral make up.

Ali and her husband, shopping for wool!

Brynn's really great pillow cover out of Cotton Perles, colorway Solar Fire. The yarn is fun to dye and knit, but not the softest cotton we have, I think because of the unusual twist that makes the slubs in the yarn. This is a perfect use for it, along with outerwear.

The Mitered Quilt Wrap, knit by Brynn. I think this is destined to be a classic.

Dori, our favorite pilot, and her daughter, with yet another remarkable baby dress. She goes to Europe and knits between flights.....

Marila, with her Stitch n' Bitch face mask! In progress.

Andee, the gal who helps us make display changes around the store because of her design background, with Beth.

Jill's beautiful Elizabeth Zimmerman Square Baby Blanket. The adorable baby booties are from Helloyarn, and the sweater is a pattern she has done before. It makes a really special baby gift.

Kelly's rib warmer of wool boucle in Amber Lace colorway.

The tree square from the Great American Afghan, again Kelly's.

The mitered square jacket from Jameison Shetland Book 3 which we found out is sadly out of print. The designer is none other than Nadine Shapiro! I love her designs. The jacket was originally knit of Jameison shetland, but the colors were discontinued, so Kelly is using Lopi. She loves knitting this.

The Great Wall of Cascade. As I was leaving the store tonight, I had to get a shot of the wall of Cascade 220 yarns that are so beautifully displayed in rainbow color order. Last we heard there are 240 colors, I think we have over 100 now but we are aiming to have them all!

My Thursday Wrap Me Up Shawl class is well under way. Here are some pix:

This is Christine's wrap made out of Karaoke and black mohair for the accent. This is only the second class and she is already on the beaded block.

Ruby is also knitting her wrap out of Karaoke, the same colorway as Christine and Marylou(see Marylou's below) but each skein looks so different.

Lynn is making two at a time, one for her daughter and she liked it so much decided to do another one for herself.

Sandy has been working on this one for a while. Gorgeous color --especially the pink!

Here is a picture of Judy's Yarn Tasting sampler:

And last but certainly not least, here are Gwen's One Skein Projects, the legwarmers are made out of Adriafil Knitcol and the vest out of Rowan's Calmer

Run -- don't walk to Woolbearers. The new Interweave Knits Magazine just arrived. You wont' believe all great projects they have --- and we have lots of the yarn the patterns call for -- Classic Elite Cotton/Bamboo, Manos Wool, Euroflax, Rowan Summer Tweed et al.

Even though I just started two new projects -- this one is made with Rowan Calmer in a pattern from Rowan's Studio Nine --- what a great yarn. It's cotton and microfiber but it knits up just like wool -- so soft and stretchy.

This one is going to be a sweater for my husband -- after 20 years of marriage he never asked me to knit anything before now --- how could I refuse, especially when it's on size 15's. It's a basket weave pattern cardigan from the book Men in Knits.

The Euroflax pattern I want to start is this one -- so lacy and summery and a quick knit -- I think!

Another Yarn Tasting sample idea...

This is Gwen's great way of saving the samples she got from the Yarn Tasting. She has the labels coming off the back of the piece.

Be sure to send me a picture of your knitted yarn tasting samples!

More Yarn Tasting news....

Crocheted of samples from the Yarn tasting, Rina did this granny square during the party!!! If you click on the picture, it will enlarge and you will see the labels.

Once in a while I will find a book that inspires me so much that I want to knit everything in it. Folk Vests is one them, and while I have only knit two of the projects, I intend on doing more. Knitting Workshop is another, and we are working through that book in Woolbearers as a series of classes and knit -a- longs.

Yesterday, Beth, Gwen and Joanna were inspired to do that very thing with this great book, One Skein, but as a knit-a-long. They made up some rules, which includes having to do the projects in the order in which they appear in the book. I'll find out more about it and write later.

The first project are the leg warmers. They look like nifty little things in print, but I am wondering if one skein will cut it for my warrior calves. (A tad bigger than most women's due to my ancestors squatting in the fields.) I'm going to try to knit with the gals.
This great little gem arrived in the store last week.....there are so many ideas for great projects! We are mulling over one othem for a community project...more later.

Here are the pictures I promised of the yarn tasting Friday night. Unfortunately, my batteries wore out early, but several knitters promised they would send me the shots they took. That's Rina and Stephanie, above. Stephanie teaches crochet at Woolbearers.

Maureen.

Millie, Ruthie and Marna.

Kathy and Mary.

Barbara, Judy, Lisa and Alison.

Stephanie, Eva and Joanna.

Terry and Julie, both wearing something handknit by Terry. Wish you could see the detail of the black Euroflax tunic that Julie is wearing.

Yarn Tasting 2008 Go Green!!!!

It was just a coincidence that Woolbearers Yarn Tasting of Organic and Sustainable Fibers took place on the last day of Earth Week. We had a really nice evening spending time with our customers outside of the busyness of the store.

Even though the event was sold out, it felt like there was more space in the dining room at The Robin's Nest. Must have been the use of the second room this year.

We were so grateful to Plymouth Yarns, Southwest Trading Company, Vermont Wool Company, and Alison Weiss from Mary Kay Cosmetics for their generous door prizes.

I'll post pictures tonight, but wanted to get this out now. It was important to us to thank all of you for your continued support!!!

Einstein, thank god you're finished. It's a little hot in my house to knit with a couple of pounds of bulky wool yarn on my lap. The buttons still need to be sewed on; they are just laying there, and it needs mucho blocking. Nothing like a good blocking to hide any mistakes.
This is Beth's Lady Eleanor that she morphed into an afghan for her mother in law, who spent a month of hell in the ICU, but is home now and doing better. The colorway is called Women's Intuition....There was a cool story behind it but I forgot what it was!!!
Don't put towels in with your knitting to be felted, no matter who tells you to do it!!! These adorable mules, a Fiber Trend pattern, just need a simple shaving and they will be good as new.

Gwen's Adult Surprise of mostly Julia. Isn't it great! Love those beachy colors!

Gwen's shawl; Joanna did the same shawl out of green and gold yarns. (I blogged about it a few days ago.) Great way to use small amounts of 'dear' yarns.

Change of plans...

Here is a picture of some of the handspun yarn I spun and saved over a period of five years that didn't make it into the store to be sold. Most of it has some special meaning to me. The yarn was spun from rovings I dyed. There was even a small piece of yarn, the orangey, red and blue, that Myra's daughter dyed when she was helping me one day. I've wanted to use the yarn in some way, but wanted it to be special; the Adult Surprise Jacket seems the perfect use for small amounts of special yarn. It would be my first personal knitting in a long time.

I had some time a few nights ago, so I dug the yarns, some of them still on the spinning wheel bobbins, out of a china cabinet I used to store things like yarn and roving. To keep them safe.....

After taking the pictures, I sat down to start swatching and the first ball I picked up fell apart in my hands. It didn't take me long to figure out what had happened, and the sick feeling in my stomach got stronger as ball after ball of yarn was examined and ultimately thrown in the trash. I had been visited by a moth. Because of the amount of wool I have in the house, I spray and use moth bombs at least every three months, but the chemicals couldn't reach the handspun because I had placed it in the cabinet for safe keeping. By the way, there was also sachets made especially for moth repellent, in the cabinet. I'm certain now there is nothing better than good old fashioned poisonous sprays to kill the little mothers.

Gwen gave me the Knitter's Mag with the pattern for the Adult Surprise, and the sample in the issue shows a sweater knit of Aurora 8, which we have. I am debating whether or not to do it out of that yarn, but will think for a while. I really had my heart set on that darn handspun.

My husband is coming home tonight after being in Atlanta for a couple of days and I really can't wait to see him. As much as we get on each other's nerves, we really do love each other and these absences are wearing me down. Even the sheep miss him! When he drives up, they will great him with great baaaing, and the four dogs, (five, including me), will be waiting in the door.