Snuggly Sock Preview

I know!  Gorgeous work knit by the magical and intrepid Colleen, Wonder Assistant.  She always makes my patterns look good.  (That's Colleen's foot in the photo.  Unless you're looking at this on your phone, it's probably close to actual size.  Her feet are tiny!)

This is the Gift Knit Kit Club pattern for February, Snuggly Socks.  Sized for both men and women, it is made from the incomparable Mountain Colors Yarn, Crazyfoot.  It's a very cozy sock in colors that can only come from Mountain Colors.  I love the way they blend!  It's an easy knit, but due to the yarn and the pattern, looks harder than it is.  It will definitely elicit comments of, "I can't believe you made these!"  If you choose to give them away, be sure to make another pair for yourself.

More beautiful Mountain Colors yarn in
in my Elk Mittens pattern.

I'd like to shout out once again to the lovely ladies at Mountain Colors, led by founders Leslie Taylor and Diane McKay.  It is a nearly all female workforce, and every part of the process at Mountain Colors is done by hand.  (I know.  I've been there and seen it myself.)  The yarns are terrific quality, and the colors take my breath away.  Thanks for all you do.

Like last month's gloves, the yarn alone for the socks costs more than the club members are paying for the yarn and the pattern,  (In my LYS, $26 plus tax for the yarn vs. $26 no tax for the club) and it gets delivered right to your door.  How cool is that?

Wishing you could get the pattern for yourself?  All club patterns will be released for sale 90 days after the club members recieve their kits.  Just wishing you could have the yarn? (I'm only slightly offended.)  Call your LYS and see if they carry it, as the colorways are truly magical in person.  They are available on line (at somewhat discounted prices) through Paradise Fibers.  Seriously, though, check the LYS first.  No computer monitor can show you these colors like they really look.  And we need to support our local knitting communities.

In Other News...Fire

A LYS in Williamsville, NY (Just outside Buffalo) was severely damaged by fire a couple of weeks ago.  It was not my usual LYS hangout.  I didn't teach there.  But it made an impact on me nonetheless.  The rate of closings of LYSs across the country is still very high, and this represented the loss of another one.  Each loss damages the entire knitting community.

Have You Any Wool (HYAW), like so many other local shops, does more than sell yarn.  They teach classes.  They support charity knitting.  They host a knitting group for cancer survivors.  They give expert advice.  They help the local knitting community stay in touch with each other on a daily basis.  Linda Maslona, the shop's owner and operator, is the driving force behind everything the shop does.

Today I received an email saying that Have Ewe Any Wool will re-open across the street from their former location, and I sighed a sigh of relief.  I'm happy for Linda, and for all of her regular patrons who have suffered along with her.  I'm not changing my LYS from Karma Knitting, but I'm happy to know she's going to be back.  Re-opening is an obscene amount of physical work (and just imagine the paperwork!), and I'm delighted she's making the effort.

LYSs are the lifeblood of most local knitting communities.  Online outlets are fine for those who aren't blessed with a shop nearby, and for those in-a-pinch-times when you MUST have something the LYS doesn't carry.  But with the potential loss of HYAW reminded me again of how important it is to support our local businesses if we want them to continue to exist. 

Buy your needles, notions, yarns, patterns, and tools at your LYS whenever possible.  All of them.  They have a higher overhead cost than the online outlets, so they will have slightly higher retail costs.  For that tiny extra cost, you receive advice, info, camaraderie, the opportunity to touch a yarn before you commit to it, and the ability to compare two yarns side by side in reality.  (Ever have your computer tell you the yarn is one color only to have it arrive as a totally different color?)  And of course, there are the knitting groups and lessons that take place there.  You can't get that online.  The tiny extra cost to you is what keeps the doors open and the lights on.  What would happen to your knitting community if your LYS closed?

Thankful

As a knitter, there are many things I'm very thankful for:

Alpaca, mercerized cotton, and superwash wool!

All the knitters for hundreds of years who have figured out the details of this craft and have written them down for me to understand.  (I would never have thought of this on my own!)

My LYS community, who keep me sane (ish), inspired, and plied with baked goods and yarn.

Knitting bloggers and Ravelry, who help me feel less alone when I can't write a pattern I like, or when I have to frog hours of work.  It's nice to know the "big kids" have these problems, too.

MaryAnn, Colleen, and Cecile, for our close-knit friendships.  I'd love you even if you didn't knit, but the knitting is so cool!

My family, who have loyally worn my work, no matter how strange or ill-fitting it may be.  They have heard "I'm almost finished with my row - I'll be right there" a million times, and only rarely roll their eyes.

All of you who read this.  Thanks for your comments, contributions, and talks in virtual and real life.  It's been a real enhancement to my knitting experience to hear from you.  Thank you.

LYS Yarn and Patterns Giveaway

Super cool giveaway from Classic Elite, approximately a $20 value.  A guest post from Classic Elite.  PASS IT ON TO YOUR FRIENDS!  Use the share links at the bottom of this post.


Do you Love Your Shop?

Classic Elite wants to give back to those who risk it all to follow their dreams, open yarn shops and keep them open in these changing and challenging times. In fact, we have so much faith in those dreams that we want to give everyone a present.
Spend $40 or more on yarn or books between now and December 15th, send us a copy of your itemized receipt and we’ll send you a recent pattern book and three mini-skeins of Classic Elite Yarn, just for buying local.
It's our "thank you" to all the knitters and crocheters who recognize the value of supporting our local knitting communities.
Find out more about the Love Your Shop giveaway on our blog and view complete rules and details on our web site.

We're Not Sheep

There are so many stereotypes in the world, it shouldn't be surprising that there are stereotypes about knitters, too.  Spending so much time in the LYS and with other knitters, I've noticed quite a lot about us knitters as a group.  Interestingly enough, the one thing we all have in common is that we don't all have much in common!

Some of us are 8 and in elementary school, some of us are 30, and some of us are retired. (Why do people always picture Granny in a rocking chair?)  Some of us are men, some women.  We prefer to knit alone or in groups or in front of the TV.  We insist on washable fibers, or we couldn't care less as long as it's beautiful.  (It's like we're clones, right?)

Favorite fibers vary, although based on sales, natural fibers are more popular than synthetics.  Many people will knit gifts in a more expensive fiber than they use for themselves, while some look for something inexpensive but durable.  Customers often use a different fiber than called for in the pattern as long as they can match the gauge, but almost as often insist on the same fiber called for in the pattern.

Most of us have abandoned using the specific yarn (i.e. Kraemer Classic) called for in a pattern, while some of us are very precise about using the yarn called for.  Color choices tend to be all over the map, from folks who love a nice grey to the wild "Crazy Aunt Purl" colors so many of us think of when we remember hand knits from our childhoods.  It seems we rarely use the color specified in the pattern.

While blends rule with sock knitters, what exactly is blended varies from yarn to yarn and knitter to knitter.  Cashmere and nylon, cotton and spandex, wool and acrylic, and wool and polyamid will readily all show up in one sock knitter's list of favorites.

What's true about nearly all of us is that we're a pretty cool bunch.  Most of us are happy to meet other knitters of any age, race, nationality, or profession.  We share needles, tools, patterns, and of course, food and drink with knitters we know well and with total strangers.  We're like a crafty little AFL-CIO.  (I'm sure some political conservatives just cringed at the reference.)

We are not sheep.  We're a community.  I love it.

Where You Buy Your Yarn

The knitting ladies at Karma have been coming in for their visits, and their sit-and-knits.  In very large numbers, visitors have been coming in with yarns purchased somewhere else (usually online sources) and showing them off to the owner and the Knit Doctors.  They proceed to visit, drink coffee, knit awhile, and then leave without making any purchase of any kind.

Really?  I get that the economy is challenging all of us right now, and that no knitter will every buy all of their yarn from only one source. From time to time a fiber show, a vacation, or another shop will tempt us all.   I do not get people bringing in yarn purchased from competitors and expecting the staff of the Local Yarn Shop  (LYS) to be excited about their purchase.

In the national and local scenes, the LYS is threatened species.  None of us knit because we must. We knit because we love it.  It's a luxury hobby, whether you knit in acrylic or cashmere.  Since the economy is slow, fewer people have discretionary cash to spend on yarn.  Fewer yarn buyers mean fewer yarn  sales, which means LYS owners are making less money.  Sources indicate that the US has lost over 15% of its Local Yarn Shops in the last year!  Online sources have suffered as well, but to a much smaller extent. 

Our shop owner, MaryAnn, is perhaps the nicest woman on the earth.  She would never show her frustration or hurt feelings when people rub their purchases from elsewhere in her face.  I am not as nice, and am saying in plain terms "Knock it off!"  It's rude to show MaryAnn what you didn't buy from her.  Karma is a business, first and foremost.  The primary focus is to turn a small profit.  Every sale matters, no matter how small.

There are very, very few yarns that cannot be had through Karma, or a satifactory substitute is available.  Every possible price point is represented.  If the LYS is an important part of your knitting life, spend your money there.  Karma is a community shop, supported by the local knitting community.  When the locals stop buying, the shop will close.  It's karma at it's simplest.

Changes Afoot

A great day at the knit shop yesterday.  Most importantly, Paula gave me a loaf of her amazing Amish bread!  Very little will soothe the troubled soul or delight the happy like this bread.  Usually she just brings a loaf for the shop.  The world seems like a better place today with that bread in my tummy...

The LYS owner and I had a good visit yesterday and solidified some of the changes we want to make in the shop for the holiday season.  (We'll make the changes on Sunday and Monday, and re-open on Tuesday.)  It'll be a long couple of days of work, but it'll be worth it.  Furniture's moving, paint is changing, inventory is changing, hours are changing, staff is changing, and more.  Woo Hoo!  It's so cool when someone you love gets a makeover, even when it's a yarn shop.  :)