StitchCraft - new products

What's New?

Wed, 18 Aug 2010 16:23:27-0700

Well, we are loaded with bags, cases and pouches! Here's Frost with what's new...

From Namaste handbags, we have the Hip Holster. Put your ball of sock yarn inside, hang it over your shoulder and knit and walk at the same time! And, we have their lovely circular needle cases with an accordion-style organizing system (because we know you have more than 10 circular needles).

In addition, there are Spud and Chloe reversible totes, little Namaste notions pouches, Blue Sky Pretty "Cheep" project bags and a variety of other handbags.

Here are the covers of the latest Rowan Magazines and Fall Vogue Knitting.

If you're a quilter or sewist, you'll love Amy Butler's new yarns and knitwear patterns. The yarn has a beautiful hand and comes in her cheerful colors. Here's the stats on the yarn:

Belle Organic DK
50% organic wool, 50% organic cotton
50grams/131 yards

What's New In The Shop?

Wed, 04 Aug 2010 10:24:27-0700

Oh, this is going to be a long post! We are stocking up on new items for your fall knitting and crochet enjoyment. The holidays are coming sooner than you think, so you must get going on those projects so you don't get carpal tunnel in December!

First, we've got the infamous and limited edition of the Spud and Chloe project sacks. They're reversible and have the cute logo printed on them. Come and get one while the supply lasts.

We have new yarn!!! It's Cascade 128 Superwash. Sooooooo soft and squishy and in Cascades's most popular colors.

The Stats:
128 yards, 100g
100% merino wool
100% machine wash

We've got some new books too!!!

And, we decided the shop needed to be freshened up a bit. Here's the new arrangement.

Fall is coming....

Wed, 21 Jul 2010 11:26:13-0700

Blue Sky Alpacas and Spud and Chloe new for fall items are here!!!

We have new colors in Brushed Suri, Melange, Suri Merino, Worsted Cotton, Sweater, Outer and Fine. Here are some pics of the beautiful yarns.

And here are pictures of the new fall patterns from Blue Sky and Spud and Chloe:

Above left to right are: Pack O' Puppies, Flower Power Throw, Lucky Number Pullover, Uplander Pullover and Buck Hill Pullover.

Above left to right are: Brushed Suri Wrap, Peruvian Cabled Scarf, Brushed Suri Tunic, Olga's Mitts and Market Tote.

Gossamer Weaving, New Knitscene and Churchmouse Patterns

Fri, 16 Jul 2010 10:08:11-0700

Well, I warped the loom again this weekend and decided to make an ethereal shawl. I'm using Kid Silk Haze in Pearl and Heavenly. I'm so excited to get it finished. Did you know that weaving takes up less yarn than knitting or crochet? It's also rhythmical, and being a dancer, right up my alley. I'll post pictures when it's finished. It's done in plain weave and I'm beating it lightly so as to not crush the mohair halo. The first picture is right after I warped the loom.

There's a new Knitscene in the shop. It's the fall issue. I'm really loving some of the patterns in this one.

Our friends over on Bainbridge Island at Churchmouse Yarns and Teas have their own pattern line. These are great accessories. One of my favorites is the linen stitch scarf below.

New Stuff and Customer Creations

Thu, 24 Jun 2010 11:15:46-0700

Well, there's a new yarn in the shop. It's Brown Sheep Company's Lanaloft Bulky. If you love making those felted clogs for Christmas, I'll bet they'll look great in Lana Loft. It's 100% wool, 3 stitches per inch on US 10.5 needles, 7 oz, 160 yards. We have all the handpaint colors in stock. This would also make a great Juliet sweater. We're doing the Juliet sweater in knit-along fashion August/September. See the class schedule if you want to join the knit-along.

And we have more colors of the Brown Sheep Company's Lamb's Pride Worsted in semi-solid colorways. They all knit up pretty.

New sock yarn in the shop. It's Online Candy Color self-patterning yarns. They're beautiful!!!

There are some new shawl pins in the shop. They're all handmade of hard woods. There are diamond stick shawl pins and shaped pins.

Maya J. stopped in to show us her beautiful fingerless gloves. She designed them herself and they're called Twilight (not sure if there's a movie/book reference or not to the name). She made them in three layers...

We're Warped and Ready!!!

Wed, 02 Jun 2010 10:24:29-0700

Weaving is here!!!! We just started our first scarf project using Rowan Handknit cotton and Paigewood Farms Alyeska. Here's a picture of the work in progress.

We're weaving with a Schacht 20 inch Flip Rigid Heddle Loom. The looms come in 15 inch, 20 inch and 25 inch weaving widths. These looms are perfect for making towels, table runners, pillows, scarves, placemats, belts and more. The Flip is portable - it folds in half and is easy to take on a trip or a class. We have it on a stand in the shop, which can be purchased separately. All the looms we carry in the shop can use yarn right out of your stash. The looms are really simple to warp (the pink and green yarns that run vertically through your weaving).

If you do not want to invest in a larger loom, we carry the Cricket Loom. This has an 8 inch weaving width and is perfect for scarves and other small projects such as coasters and small handbags. The Cricket comes in a kit with everything you need to start weaving, including some yarn. The Cricket's are very small and portable.

Here are a couple of other projects that were woven by our instructor Linda G. If you are interested in taking a rigid heddle loom workshop with Linda, please call us at 360-993-2200. We're hoping to have a workshop date set for late summer. You have to purchase your own loom before the workshop begins. Our looms are set up in the shop so you can try your hand at weaving.

June Newsletter and Summer Class Schedule

Thu, 27 May 2010 10:34:09-0700

Please click here for the June Newsletter. Inside you'll find information on:

The Sale on our Anniversary Sale
Information about the upcoming Lizzie Kate trunk show
Weaving is here!!!
New products in the shop

Please click here for the Summer Class schedule. We have classes on:

Knitting with beads
Intarsia
Tunisian Crochet
Gauge
Fixing Knitting Mistakes
Fingerless Lace Gloves
Beginning Classes
Sweater Knitalong - The Juliet Sweater
Hairpin Lace

Books and Paigewood Farms Yarns

Mon, 24 May 2010 09:45:39-0700

We are re-stocked on Paigewood Farms Alyeska sock yarn and new in the shop is their Willow Creek Lace weight. It's 100% merino and at 675 yards, you could make a really nice rectangular or triangle shawl.

Here's what the latest shipment of books brought...

Knits men want is by far my favorite pattern book for men. It's written by a man and he's spot on when it comes to getting the point across. Tunisian lace stitches will be a nice compliment to our summer class (the class schedule will be delivered with the newsletter in a few days) on Beginning Tunisian crochet. Weaving made easy is a really great book for the beginner rigid heddle weaver. Our first shipment of Schacht looms are on their way. We will set one up in the shop so you can try one.

I really love Northern Knits. There are traditional, yet modern patterns in this book. Swedish, Norwegian and Icelandic and Shetland knitting is covered.

Mountain Colors and Customer Creations

Sun, 18 Apr 2010 14:25:51-0700

These socks were done in Zauberball Crazy by Bonnie B. The pattern is called Maizy Lace and is a free pattern here. I just love the gradations of color in this yarn; like watercolors.

This baby blanket in Cotton Blossom by Farmhouse Yarns was made by Kim B. It's a simple pinwheel blanket that starts in the center and increased evenly to give the pinwheel effect. Click here for a free pattern link.

Below are the sock yarns of Mountain Colors. We have both of their sock weight yarns. There's Barefoot, a soft blend of merino, mohair and nylon for durability. And their new sock yarn is Crazyfoot comprised of merino and nylon. Both of these yarns are machine washable. I'm going to knit a cover for my I-Pod Nano with the Crazy foot using this pattern. I just love their deep, rich colors.

Zauberball, The Next Generation and Lace Ball

Thu, 25 Mar 2010 09:59:28-0700

We just love the Zauberball yarns. Here's the latest - a sport weight ball called Starke 6. What fun socks to make!

And here is the new Lace Ball by Skacel. 800 yards of lacey goodness.

Ready for Spring Reading?

Fri, 19 Mar 2010 12:45:25-0700

We just got some AWESOME books in the shop. Here's the review:

Weaving Made Easy is a must have for beginning weavers that are using the Rigid Heddle Loom. This book provides great instruction with great photography. It's like taking a beginning weaving class. Alabama Studio Style is another great stitching book by Natalie Chanin. You can make everything in this beautiful book by hand. No sewing machine necessary. 60 Quick Knits is just what the title says, but it's all made out of one of our favorites - Cascade 220.

The lace book you've been waiting for The Haapsalu Shawl, a book filled with knitting history and information on the masters that knit the garments. There are a ton of charted Estonian lace patterns as well. Crochet in Color has some of the most interesting colorwork for crochet that I've seen. This isn't your grandmothers crochet poodle-toilet-paper-cover book. Itty-bitty toys is an AWESOME book of toys! She even has five reversible toy patterns in this book. If you liked Itty-bitty hats and Itty-bitty nursery you're gonna love Susan B. Anderson's new book.

Knitwear Design Workshop is a comprehensive guide to handknits by designer Shirley Paden. There's lots about math in here and a lot of detailed explanation on the design process. Embroidered Effects is the latest book out by Jenny Hart of Sublime Stitching. Not exactly new, but restocked, How to Crochet is a really great guide to beginning crochet. For those of you that like to teach yourself your needlework skills, this is a good place to start for crochet.

St. Patrick's Day Special and What's New

Sat, 13 Mar 2010 16:58:54-0700

On Wednesday, March 17th, all our solid green yarns and embroidery threads are 10% off. We're open St. Patrick's day from 10am - 6:30pm.

Right before the yarn crawl, this was the scene at the shop. Lots and lots of new arrivals. Below is a Manos del Uruguay order. We added many more colors. And, Manos has two fabulous throw books Shadows & Reflections and Geometry. You'll see one of the throws below come to life over the spring months. Two of our favorite throws are shown below.

One of our new favorites yarns in the shop is Mountain Meadow Wool. It's a soft-spun merino grown by sheep ranchers in Wyoming. You can trace each hank back to the sheep from which it came. 10% of all sales of this yarn goes back to the rancher. And, it's dyed in environmentally friendly dyes. It feels JUST LIKE hand spun. Even Carol, our old spinning instructor, couldn't tell it wasn't handspun. We have it in sport weight and in every color they make.

Customer Creations and New Items

Sun, 21 Feb 2010 12:02:23-0700

This stunning hat is the creation of Maya J. She designed the hat based on the colors she sees on her morning walks with her dog. I especially love the tassels representing lichen, pine cones and pine needles. Fair Isle is beautiful isn't it?

Next, a couple of hats by Kathy B. She calls them "hats for the family". They're done in Spud and Chloe sweater. I love the color combination.

And, there is a lot of new colors, patterns and new yarns from Blue Sky Alpaca and Spud and Chloe.

Above left, we're restocked with Blue Sky Bulky. Above left, new to the shop, Blue Sky Melange. Below left are new colors in Blue Sky Dyed Cotton and below right is Blue Sky Multi Cotton - a new yarn.

New colors came in Spud and Chloe Fine - how about a bright pair of socks for spring? And, new colors in Blue Sky Skinny Dyed Cotton.

These are the latest, special edition travel patterns from Blue Sky Alpacas. We received all the latest patterns for spring by Blue Sky and Spud and Chloe. So come on in and check them out.

Lastly, a new yarn by Knit One Crochet Too. It's Ty Dy Dots. It's just begging to become a baby sweater. It's 100% cotton and in ice cream colors.

Oh What A Week It's Been!

Sat, 06 Feb 2010 12:45:51-0700

So this was the scene at the shop this week...

What is that behind the counter? Yup, a sick child. First, child #2 got the virus and now, child #1. But, I am fortunate that I can bring my children to work and take care of them when they're sick.

My husband can work from home too, so he got the sick one on Tuesday, which was really nice because it was our Groundhog Day sale and we were very busy. To top it all off, I feel like I'm getting something too. Not good since I'm teaching at Madrona next week. Let's see if I can fend it off.

On a happier note; there are some new books in the shop. Nature's Wrapture is a nice little book dedicated to the garment called a wrap. Keep yourself warm on cool nights with some of these really nice patterns.

This book is GREAT! Knitting Brioche is really the first really technical book with beautiful patterns for this interesting stitch.

And yet another sock book. I especially like the patterns in this one.

Three Irish Girls is Here!!! And yarn on sale.

Sat, 23 Jan 2010 09:11:14-0700

Woo hoo! The wait was REALLY worth it. We opened the box on Thursday and our eyes instantly popped out of our skulls. Jilian and Melony were here and we just wanted to dive in the box and roll around like cats - but we didn't because that just wouldn't be appropriate. The pictures don't do it justice.

The semi solid colors are the BFL made especially for us to coordinate with the SeaSock and Wexford.

There are three yarn qualities. From left to right we have:

Westerly SeaSock
70% superwash merino, 30% seacell (natural seaweed fiber)
4.5 oz, 415 yards

Carys Blue Faced Leicester
100% Blue Faced Leicester (a lovely wool with a very soft touch and light halo)
3.5 oz, 230 yards

Wexford Merino Silk
60% silk, 40% merino
4oz, 240 yards

And...the following yarns are 20% off right now:

Nashua Ivy
Crystal Palace Cotton Chenille
TyDy Cotton
Cotton Blossom by Farmhouse Yarns
Pima Tencel
Rowan Tapestry