della Q
bags arrived yesterday!

Priscilla

A beautiful tote for your largest projects! Or fill it with some towels and head to the beach.
19"w x 8"w x 10"h 100% Silk.
Shown in Blue. Also Available in Green.

Nora

Soft leather straps make this bag easy on the shoulders, not to mention easy on the eyes! And with the enclosed top, you can fill it over the top!
17"w x 7"w x 10.5"h
Shown in Green. Also Available in Blue.

Isadora

Isadora-ble! Not only will your knitting recieve compliments, but now your project tote will too!
15"w x 9"w x 11"H 100% Silk.
Shown in Pink. Also available of Green.

Priscilla

Look! She stands up!
Ditch the paper shopping sacks and tote around your knitting in this stylish silk rendition! The perfect size for a small project, and you can even pack along lunch!
8"w x 4.5"w x 10.5"h 100% Silk.
Shown in Mauve. Also Available in Turquoise and Blue.

Well made and imported from Vietnam, della Q bags are manufactured in women owned manufacturing operations. A portion of the sales of the bags goes to support Vietnam Quilts, a Vietnam women's nonprofit organization.

Classic Elite's Summer books; we can't keep them in stock!!!

Something I have taken to doing lately is peaking into customers' bags, either their knitting bags or their Woolbearers shopping bag. It is amazing usually, to see the colors that emerge. This grouping is no exception. It 's Jane's bag and contains two of the most beautiful books we have ever seen; Make it Modern and Summer book 1. She also has Cotton Bam Boo, Four Seasons Cotton Wool, J-Knits Lace-i-licious, and Regia Kaffe Fassett sock yarn in her bag. The colors are so rich and yarns lustrous and soft, you just have to reach in and squeeze. This wonderful shawl from Make it Modern has buttons down both sides which close up to make arms; voila! a shrug! It is done with a provisional cast on and joined in the center back. (my next project....)

The books are published by Classic Elite and are so full of lovely wearable patterns for warmer weather, you just want to knit every one.

Myra is knitting this vest on the cover of Summer book 1 using Four Seasons Cotton Wool.

I also want to knit this little wrap from Summer Book 2 out of Classic Silk to hide my rear end. I don't care how wide it makes me look as long as it hides the hang....

Marci knit this cool vest of one of my favorite colors of Cascade 220. It's all rib knit!

Terry knit this wonderful zip up of Skacel Unikat. She bought it two skeins at a time to prevent sticker shock!

Terry is also knitting the Urban Aran Sweater; this is the back, of Cascade Ecological wool. She figures it will take 3 1/2 skeins. It is truly beautiful!

In a moment of OCD, I found a collection of Luxite needles on ebay, 350 pair, to be exact, for a song. Not really wanting to hide them away in my current organization frenzy, I dug up these colorful vases and am storing them this way. Bubble wrap or tissue paper in the bottoms should hopefully protect the points.

Gwen spun the yarn for the vest and then realized there may not be enough to finish the back, so she did a little experimentation and the wonderful, strippy back is the result. I'll have to remember that technique if I ever run out of yarn. The detail is the front fabric.

More rib warmer inspiration; Kristen is doing this one from her stash of leftover novelty yarns.
Surprise! it actually made me want to knit with eyelash yarn again! It is a fun, soft vest!

Jill's finished child sized rib warmer. Note the perfect turns! Amazing job, Jill!

I included this child's sweater Jill knit for another grandchild because of the story of the yarn. She used Woolbearers Alfresco; a soft, singles hand dyed that has a gold stripe of acrylic fiber through it that doesn't take the dye. It is one of our most popular yarns. As luck would have it, she ran out of yarn and we said we would try to match it. First Myra dyed some, to help me out as it has been a little cold to dye in the barn. The yarn was too dark. Then I broke down and dyed some in the house. The smell of urea was so strong I was sure that the dye must have gone bad. In the middle of the night, I remembered the label on the 'vinegar' bottle looking odd, so I got up and went to the kitchen; it was ammonia. My husband was trying to be helpful but bought ammonia for me instead of vinegar. (thanks be to heaven that I wasn't making a salad that day....). Anyway, the yarn was too light and I was afraid that the ammonia might have ruined the yarn in some way. I did eventully dye something for her that matched, and the ammonia yarn is being transformed into yet another ribwarmer by moi.

Judy's beautiful Wrap Me Up Shawl. She is using a variety of yarns in a variety of colorways! I remember seeing Paint Box, Rowan Tapestry, and Boku! It's a true work of art.
Wrap Me Up Shawl is going to be a class again; check out the class list on our website for dates and times.

Debra's Tapestry Wrap Me Up Shawl; she is using several different colorways of Rowan's Tapestry, a wonderful soy silk wool blend yarn. Its drape and feel are to die for.

Adult Surprise Sweater-Elizabeth Zimmerman's
one piece garter stitch design for adults.

Gwen's version, just beginning. She took a skein of Myra's Kona in a beachy colorway and picked complimentary yarns to go with it. It's going to be lovely!

Myra's version in Jo Sharp; so soft and beautiful, I can't wait to see it completed.
The Adult Surprise Jacket is a class starting in April. Check the website for times and dates.

Tapestry Works in Progress
The tapestry weavers continue to meet every Tuesday; if you get a chance, it's worth while to come and in a watch them weave. It's a slow, mesmerizing process, and they look so content and relaxed. (unless someone is ripping out....)

Joanne is weaving this piece from the photo of a baseball diamond. The subtle shading done with yarn color changes is amazing in it's duplication of the photo.

Mary wove this gorgeous tapestry as one of her first projects. Details below.

This is Marie's first tapestry weaving. It is a sampler woven to learn all the special techniques weavers use to weave shapes. She did a beautiful job?

Naomi is just starting this piece; note the bobbins wound with different colored yarn.

Woolbearers Spring Newsletter

My daffodils are peaking through – it must be spring. Here are some of the new things popping up at Woolbearers.

Yarn Tasting -- April 25th at 7 pm – Woolbearers is having another Yarn Tasting. It will be it at the Robin’s Nest Restaurant again. This time we will be sampling yarns that are “green” – organic cotton, bamboo, etc. It was loads of fun last year. Coffee/tea and desert (the deserts at Robin’s Nest are to die for) and all the yarn you can knit up ---- all for $30. We hope you can join us again. Just bring all sizes of knitting needles or crochet hooks. Come into the store and check out all the yarns you will be using. Details are on the website www.woolbearers.com or call or come in to sign up.

Knit-a-longs

Currently we are knitting the clapotis shawl/scarf,
along with 10 other gals who come into the shop on Friday afternoon. Take a look at our blog for all the beautiful clapotis everyone is knitting. Next, we’ll be doing a Moebius scarf KAL. Call us or come in to get more info.

Classes

Starting April 5 and running every other Saturday until the end of May we’ll be doing the Adult Surprise Jacket. This is the bigger version of the Baby Surprise Jacket you’ve probably seen all over the store. I’m almost finished and can’t wait to start another one. If you can’t make the Saturday class we’ll be doing it on Friday afternoons as well.

April 6th is the date for our Finishing Class with Anne Hulsizer. If you want to learn all the techniques for making your garments look professionally finished, this is the class for you.

Beaded Purse Class on April 12 with Uyvonne Bigham. We are so lucky to have Uyvonne come and teach for us. She has worked for Lily Chin and Plymouth and will be showing you all the techniques you need to make a beaded purse. All materials are included in the class. See the examples in the shop.

New Weaving Classes starting the week of May 5th on Wednesday evening and Sunday morning for 8 weeks.

Back by popular demand --- we’ll be doing two more session for making the Wrap Me Up Shawl. One session is starting on Thursday, April 17, the other on Saturday, April 26.

Woolbearers is a Sox Hot Spot. What’s that? Check out http://thinkoutsidethesox.com/SOX/About_the_Think_Outside_the_SOX_Contest.html for more info.
Suzie has been giving demonstrations in our “Getting Started Series”. We just had a triangle loom demo and the big triangle loom is all set up and ready to go. We have several triangle looms in stock. It’s a fun, easy way to make shawls, ponchos, table linens, etc. On April 13th we’ll be giving a demo on the Ashford Knitters Loom. We have 16” and 20” looms in stock.

NEW YARN

Where to begin?? Plymouth has done it again with their Bristol Gallery Collection. It includes worsted and fingering weight cotton /silk blend and a cotton/nylon boucle. Great pattern support. We also have Plymouth’s Royal Llama Linen, a llama/linen/silk blend that also has great patterns to go with it.

This season we brought in Punta del Este’s South American Cotton – a bulky space dyed cotton with free patterns online at http://www.puntadelesteyarns.com. We also have their linen/alpaca blend. We have a few free mini samples of their undyed yarn. Let us know if you are interested.

J. Knits is a new hand dyed company. We have their Superwash Sock Yarn and something called “Lacelicious” -- a laceweight alpaca of 1200 yards for $29! Beautiful colors. Mano has a new yarn – silk and merino in a DK weight. We’re having a hard time keeping it on the shelf. Makes a gorgeous clapotis shawl. Mission Falls just came out with new cotton colors and some of them are multis! We’re already on our second order.

Classic Elite’s new yarns include a cotton/bamboo blend and their patterns are even better, if that’s possible, now that Pam Allen is at the helm. Rowan’s new yarn is called Purelife. It’s organic cotton that is naturally dyed in beautiful soft pastel shades.

Nashua’s Creative Focus cotton is a new addition for us. It’s good basic worsted-weight cotton in lots of beautiful colors.
Socks, socks, socks. We have so much sock yarn – Trekking in wool and bamboo, Regia Bamboo and Silk, Step, Artyarns Handpaint Stripes, Dream in Color Smooshy, Soxx Appeal, Fixation, Sockina, Sockotta, Wildfoote, Kraemer Sterling (hand dyed by yours truly), and of course Woolbearers “Woolie Bears” sock yarn. Did we leave anything out? Come into the shop to see.

Attn: Spinners -- Woolbearers is the sole distributor for Gotland fleece from Whitehall Farm in the UK. Come into the shop to see this rare breed. We also have the new Schacht Ladybug wheel . It weighs only 12 pounds and spins just like the bigger Schacht wheels. Come in for a test drive. Also, keep on eye on our yahoo group and website for upcoming spin in dates.

Our next “Meetup” get together is Friday, April 4th at 6 pm. Everyone is welcome. As always, you can come and knit anytime. There’s always coffee/tea and great company.

Myra & Suzie

It was a busy weekend, as the following pictures show! Forgive the blurry photography!

Doris knit this great top from Spring 2007 Knit n' Style. She used a Farmhouse Yarn. Detail below. It's perfect for summer!

More Rib Warmers in process.....

Sorry about the blurry pictures in this section. This is Brynn's wonderful rib warmer knit of Manos. She knit an I cord trim around the arms and is going to do the same around the edges. She altered the size and got a great result. I'm knitting another one out of a heavier yarn and it's turning out well, too. The pattern is easily adjusted to fit from small children to adults, as shown below. Kristen made this cute little warmer for a niece.

Kathe is knitting her's of Cascade 128. It gave the vest a wonderful, crisp edge and a great feel.

Gwen's wonderful Einstein Coat of Jamieson's Shetland. Her color selection shows how you can individualize a pattern.

Her mobeius with the 'picot' edging.

Rebecca's baby blanket; she is out of our hand dyed yarn, but I think I came close trying to match. (I hope.)

Sasha in rare, nonspeaking moment, perfecting her provisional cast on.

Monica's Shawl Collar sweater from a Jo Sharp book, knit of Cascade 220. It's her second, and she just bought yarn, Cascade 220 tweed, for a third. It's a beautiful sweater.

More Clapotis Action!

This one is mine; I ran out of Giotto, and rather than have to buy more, Myra found a skein of Isis in the same colorway, Frangipani, and it looks pretty good. I am going to try my hand at dyeing something to match, because I think I am still going to be short.

Arlene's using Woolbearers cotton boucle in Gold Dust; you can see the two dye lots distinctly, but we all like it.

This is Anne's, knit of Manos silk wool. It's gorgeous.

This one's Joanna's of Lorna's Laces sock yarn. The distinct color changes makes it look like moving water. Lovely!

Close up of Gwen's. It has to be seen to be appreciated. The yarn is lustrous and the color changes give the piece so much movement. It is a work of art.

Gwen's, all 70" of it.

More Customer Projects

Crocheted of Colours for Me, this beautiful blanket will make some lucky baby a safe and warm nest!

Carol is one of the most prolific knitters I know; she broke her arm after falling down some stairs, and is still knitting! She said using four double points has been the most challenging!!! Get well and mend soon, Carol.

Mom and baby color coordinated; note the green and blue back pack, the matching pram, the shirt, and then, the yarn she is buying!!

Donna is a sock knitting maniac after taking the two socks on one circ class. Here she turning heels.

Mom and daughter spinning together! They are a teacher's dream team, because they were on their own within 30 minutes.