Big News

Hi everyone. We have a big announcement regarding our blog and web site. The new site will be fun, interactive and will go live no later than Monday and it might even happen on Saturday. I am putting the August calendar online now and adding a few items for sale.

We have decided to not put the entire store online; rather we are going to focus on a few items and sell kits of our most popular projects - The Beaded Scarf (April), Undulating Waves, Dragonfly Wings, and a new one that I designed but have not named yet. Malabrigo & Louisa Harding will be available online as well as select yarns from other lines. We have also created our own line of beautiful multi strand yarn - perfect for accents, wraps & scarves. We are calling it "Yummy" and is just the beginning of in house products.

The other exciting feature of the new site will be customer forums. You can talk to each other and to us. While I have not set up classes online yet, you can click on a class, see a picture of the project, a description and all the pertinent information. Just call us and we can sign you up over the phone.

We will now use this site to send out email blasts - short reminder emails to let you know something on the site has been updated. You will have to sign up to continue receiving our emails. We are not able to transfer from one system to another. The beauty of this is that you will no longer get long emails from us (many of which bounce back or are slow loading for folks on dial up connections), but you will always know what is going on. For us this means we now only have one site to update and manage. I am hoping this will increase our online effectiveness and presence.

For Ravelry members, we will post a note with the new web address when it is live as well as sending out one last traditional email.

Thanks for your patience and we want feedback from you.

We are busy working on shop samples for our fall classes. Look for information on an open house to announce the new stuff!

Congratulations!

The winner of our scarf contest is:

Aubergine Waves by Cathie Hyde-Barber.

A huge thank you to all who contributed: Debra Gibbons, Jessica Rodriquez, Cat Garza, Sherry Fox, Brenda Patterson, and Sony Hartley.

I will get working on the book - look for it by the middle of August. The book will include patterns for all the scarves as well as a scarf designed by Amy and Sheryl.

Scarf Contest

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Ok, it is time to vote for your favorite scarf! They are all on display at the store if you would rather vote in person.

To vote, send us an email at yarntopia@comcast.net and vote by number.

Silk, Beads...What More Do You Need?

Tilli Tomas' Plie Beaded Silk is a gorgeous yarn and with only one hank you can make this stunning accessory.

The pattern is free with the purchase of the yarn. We only have 3 hanks left, but more is on the way!

Also due in next week: Schaefer Yarn and Beaded Scarf Kits from Swallowtail Creations.

Have a great 4th and we'll see you next week.

Anne Slanting Lace Scarf

I love this project! I knit it in a week while waiting for my mom in surgery and then on a short road trip with my husband. I never got bored. The pattern is quite repetitive but the colors of this yarn are so yummy that I was constantly entertained.

We have 5 colorways of Anne in stock and the pattern is free with the purchase of the yarn.

Come touch, feel and make one for yourself!

Itching to Knit

Last night at our regular Thursday night stitching group I had the sudden, overwhelming need to knit. I wanted to feel the rhythmic movements as my hands work back and forth working beautiful yarn into something special. The last thing I need to do is buy more yarn so I delayed my gratification until I got home. That is where I went to my stash and found this gorgeous ball of Anne sock yarn from Schaefer Yarns. I also have a pattern for a lace scarf designed for this yarn. I had struck pay dirt!

This is what I worked on today and it is my ideal knitting project: gorgeous yarn and an interesting but not difficult pattern that is perfectly suited to the yarn.

Our order of yarn for Undulating Waves shipped today and I asked them to include 6 hanks of Anne just in case somebody else might consider this their ideal knitting project! The pattern is free with the yarn purchase. Mark your calendars - June 5th is when the Schaefer is due to arrive.

I also have another Schaefer project in my queque, so when I finish this I will cast on for that. If you like that one we will get the yarn for that as well. Can you tell I am on a Schaefer bandwagon? Our retreatees discovered Schaefer at The Tinsmith's Wife in Comfort. Here are three things for you to love about Schaefer:

1. GORGEOUS handpainted yarn.

2. Free patterns with yarn purchase.

3. Large quantities so that many projects can be made with only 1 hank/ball. This makes them great items to make as gifts or to give to a knitter as a gift. No quantity guesses!

Visit their site to see some of the great stuff they have to offer.

Newest Scarf To Throw

This is a beauty! I love this stitch pattern and it is paired perfectly with the Vermillion Malabrigo. This is the scarf for July and the classes are scheduled for Saturday the 18th from 10:00-11:30 and Tuesday evening the 21st from 6:30-8:00. Come by or give us a call to sign up.




Thanks to Sherry Fox, Minnie now has hair. This is a crochet adaptation of a knitty.com pattern. Now she will look good when we don't have a hat to model!