Sunday, January 10, 2010

WOOLBEARERS WINTER 2010 Newsletter

Happy New Year!
Where did the time go –-- I know we have been busy knitting, crocheting, spinning, weaving and felting.

We have lots of new yarns and new classes coming up in the New Year. Here’s a preview.

YARNS

Plymouth has come up with a new superwash worsted merino that knits at 5 stitches to the inch. Lots of great colors and pattern support. We are also getting a new yarn for the spring called Grass – it’s a cotton/hemp blend and is 5 to the inch. Bear Hugs is a great little kit for baby sweaters. One 200 gram ball of yarn similar to Plymouth’s Cotton Kisses, a pattern and 2 buttons make this great baby sweater for $13.99. Can’t beat that! New colors for Kudo and Baby Bunny and lots of new patterns.
Cascade has a new superwash in their 128 line, so now we finally have a good superwash chunky in solids – 3.5 stitches to the inch. I also ordered their new Eco Duo – an undyed 70% alpaca, 30% merino blend that knits at 4.5 stitches to the inch.
Manos del Uruguay has a new spring yarn called Serena – it’s an alpaca/cotton blend in those great Manos colors.
I couldn’t hold out any longer and am finally bringing in Cotton Classic from Tahki Stacy Charles. This is the workhorse cotton that comes in a gazillion colors. Can’t wait for it to come in. I’m also bringing in their baby cotton – Dolce Amore – it’s fingering weight and knits at about 7 stitches to the inch. One of their newer yarns is Sahara – a tape yarn of linen, bamboo and viscose. Of course, their pattern support is the best!
Berroco has a new yarn called Weekend that is the spring counterpart to Vintage Wool. It is 75% acrylic, 25% cotton, worsted weight and is very soft and easy to knit, machine washable – all that good stuff we like for kids. Lots of great colors and pattern support. I’m also bringing in Seduce, a rayon/ linen/ silk/ nylon blend – 5 stitches to the inch, a great spring yarn. For the little ones, there is Comfort DK, a nylon/acrylic blend in patterned colorways especially for baby. Thought I’d try out Lang’s Jawoll Magic Sock Yarn –need I say more?
Classic Elite as always has a great selection of pattern books and some lovely new yarns. From their Verde Collection comes Katydid, an organic cotton tape – worsted weight and from Jil Eaton comes a new yarn – Cottontail – a worsted weight machine washable cotton that comes in the same great kid colors as her Minnow Merino and is completely interchangeable with her wool yarn. New colors for Classic Elite’s Cotton Bamboo, Classic Silk, Sprout and Solstice, too.
Punta Yarns has a new hand dyed worsted weight cotton. I got a lot of space dyed colors – this yarn can be gently washed in the machine – great for baby blankets!
Skacel has a new, fun yarn called Sambia – it’s a tape of cotton and nylon, knits up quickly at 3.25 to the inch – a great scarf, shawl, quick project kind of yarn in great colorways. It’s hard to describe it, so you will have to come in and see it for yourself. For those of you who love the Zauerball colorways – I am getting the same colorways in a Lace weight yarn as well as more Zauerball and Zauerball Crazy sock yarn. Ambiente is a new superwash merino sport weight wool in lots of great colorways.
Knit One Crochet Too has a new Ty Dy cotton called Ty Dy Dots – great for babies and adults. I also brought in Tartalette – a cotton/nylon ribbon in pretty shimmery colors.
I got more Rayon Metallic yarn from Blue Heron – new colorways and I also have their Petit Beaded Cotton/Rayon in beautiful new colorways. Schaefer Yarns Susan was a big hit last spring, so I’m getting more colorways in that yarn.

New pattern lines from Bekah Knits, Cocoknits and Knitbot will be here soon. I know that I’ve had the Featherweight Cardigan from Knitbot in my Ravelry queue for a while.

CLASSES
We have some great classes coming up.
Knitting
Beginner class is doing the Learn to Knit Afghan by Barbara Walker – you don’t have to be a beginning knitter to do this wonderful afghan. 63 squares – each square you learn a different technique. Project night – bring a new or old project to work on – help will be provided. If you need an idea – several of us are going to work on EZ’s Ribwarmer to start. You can still join the Tech Square Afghan class – 12 squares with different sophisticated techniques. Twined Neckwarmer, Harlequin Vest, Entrelac Bag, Fair Isle Tam are all different techniques with fabulous results. And of course, our wonderful “Knit to Fit” class. Sign up early, because it always fills. Learn to knit Socks on Double points, on one long circular – Two at a time and learn about making the Perfect Heel. And of course, the schedule wouldn’t be complete without our Finishing Class.
Crochet
Beginning Crochet classes and Tapestry Crochet classes have been scheduled. Sharon Silverman is coming back to do an advanced technique class in Tunisian Crochet on March 13th.
Spinning, Weaving, Dyeing
Beginning Spinning classes are going strong. Nelda Davis will be here again to do a workshop on drafting in March. We have Beginning Weaving and Advanced Weaving (Overshot) classes as well as beginning and advanced Rigid Heddle Loom classes. More Sock Dyeing classes are scheduled and I’ll soon have an area for buying undyed sock yarn and dyes.
Check the websited
www.woolbearers.com for info on dates, costs, etc.

At the end of December, Woolbearers, thanks to all of our wonderful customers, donated 129 helmet liners to the Red Cross for the soldiers deploying from the Joint Base McGuire/Dix/Lakehurst. Thank you all so very much! We’ll be starting a new “campaign” for helmet liners. I’ll get more details to you soon.

Trunk Show – On February 26th for 2 weeks we’ll have Veronik Avery’s Trunk show. All the garments from her new St Denis collection featuring the Nordique line of yarn will be here.

The first Friday of every month, is our knitting meet-up group meeting, starting at 6 pm. Folks come to knit on Thursday afternoons, Sunday afternoons or come anytime. There’s always a pot of coffee brewing.

Myra
www.woolbearers.com
www.woolbearers.net
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Woolbearers
90 High Street
Mt. Holly, NJ 08060
609-914-0003

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