Yarnware Blog

Drawstring bag pattern

2007-09-17T21:29:00.001-05:00

This bag is knit from the top down on an Addi Turbo size 7-16" circular needle. If you use the Addi Turbo needle, you don't have to switch to double pointed needles, because the needle is flexible enough to finish the bottom. Some of our customers freak out when we tell them they have to use DPNs.

Using Reynolds Saucy, cast on 70 stitches. Place Marker and join. Knit stockinette stitch in rounds for 3 inches. Every 9 or 10 rows, switch to the Adornaments yarn and knit around until the Adornament yarn runs out. Then switch back to the Saucy yarn.

Eyelet: K1 YO, K2Tog

Next Row: Knit 5 , Make eyelet. Repeat around (14 times)

Continue in stockinette stitch adding Adornaments every 9 or 10 rows. Knit for 9".

Begin Decreasing:
Decrease row 1: K1, K2 together - Repeat this row 3 times
Decrease row 2: K2, K2 together
Decrease row 3: K3, K2 together

Knit 1 row

Decrease row 4: k2tog, Repeat around. Repeat this row until you have 9 or fewer stitches.

Thread yarn in needle and and pull through remaining stitches. Weave in ends.

Using size 7 DPNs, Cast On 3 sts and I-cord 48" Long. Thread I cord through eyelets.

Handdyed afghan/shawl kits just in!

2007-08-27T21:32:00.001-05:00

It's been a while since my last post, but I have to break radio silence to tell you about this new JJs Hand dyed afghan/shawl kit.

My husband is begging me to make a blanket with this yarn. It is a combination of JJs Montage 8 Ply Wool, Mohair Boucle , and Brushed Mohair all wound up into one great skein. It really is the kind of yarn that makes you want to drop whatever you're working on and immediately get it onto your needles. I only have about 5 rows left before I finish the Sahara sweater, but I must admit, I am tempted! It takes one skein for a shawl measuring 25" x 65" or 2 skeins for a blanket.

Other Projects in the Store

Dianne just finished this cute little drawstring purse made with 1 ball of Reynolds Saucy and one package of the Adornaments. I will be posting the free pattern here shortly. This would be a great project or gift for a little girl, or you could use Halloween colors to make a treat bag.

Mirasol Project Yarn just in

The Mirasol Project is a new collection of yarn from Peru. Proceeds from the sale of this yarn are being returned to the village where is produced. The families of the Alpaca and llama sheperds in this area are extremely poor and the funds will be used to provide education, medical care and better nutrition to the children in the village. The best of the collection is Hacho - a hand-dyed DK weight Merino Wool.

New Fall Store Hours

During the summer we are closed on weekends, but yesterday we re-opened for the Fall. This fall we are open 7 days! Be sure to visit when you're in the neighborhood.

Just in... Supersocke 100 Holiday

2007-08-06T22:35:00.001-05:00

New Sock Yarn

We just received our latest shipment of new yarns: Supersocke 100 Holiday

It knits up in a bright random striped pattern. One ball makes a pair of generously sized socks.

I'm sure there are alot of knitters out there who can't wait to get it on their needles!

Sahara Sweater

I have just cast off the waist band of this sweater and tried it on for the first time. I think I must gained a few pounds since I started it. [sigh] . According to the pattern, the sweater is supposed to have 'negative ease' which means it's supposed to fit snugly. The pattern also says you are supposed to try it on as you go - but I couldn't quite maneuver the sweater over my shoulders while it was still on the circular needles. I just have to finish the neck border and the sleeves. Then I will have to find some very skinny pants to wear with it.

The little guy is finally crawling!

He loves that beach ball! Go get it! He is so happy that he can crawl now. His universe just expanded dramatically. Someone just said to me -- 'the easy days are over now'. I said 'when were the easy days?!?' He used to cry when I left the room. Now I can't even leave the room! My house isn't houseproofed enough to leave a crawling infant unattended for a few seconds. I'm going to have to work on that!

Berroco Jasper Just came in!

2007-07-16T22:50:00.000-05:00

Berroco Jasper has just come in. We have had alot of customers ask for it. The colors are amazing and it is so soft.

We have the Jasper patterns too!

Addi Lace Needles

2007-07-09T22:36:00.000-05:00

We now have the Addi Lace needles in stock. Actually we've had them for a while, but I just got a chance to put them on our website. I have never read so many glowing reviews about knitting needles. Here's another one. Try them!

New Fall patterns from Berroco

2007-07-01T23:21:00.001-05:00

New Fall Patterns
We just got 6 new pattern books from Berroco for Fall. I love the Nora Gaughan booklet. There are some really unusual silhouettes. When you take the time to hand knit a sweater, you want something that is different than what you can just pick up at the mall. I have just listed all 6 new pattern books on our website.

It almost makes me wish for cool weather again. Although I am enjoying the summer.

New bag handles

I'm not sure if many of you know, but we do have a section on the website just for bag handles.
I just added the Grayson bag handles to our website. They are the highest quality and will add a professional finish to your hand knit bags. You can sew the leather tabs directly onto the bag or have your shoemaker do it for you.

Updating Shopping Cart

I have been busy revamping our shopping cart. Some of our customers have requested some new features such as being able to register an account - so they don't have to enter their shipping information each time they order. I also plan to start accepting the new PayPal Express. Let me know if there are any features I can add for YOU.

Wedding
On a personal note, we celebrated my sister-in-laws wedding last weekend. It was at Oheka Castle. The weather was absolutely perfect. It was a fairy tale wedding. Stacie was one beautiful bride. And I have to mention how proud I am of my daughter Chelsea.

After months of flower girl boot camp - (We practiced walking down the aisle in movie theaters, on the beach, in synagogue, etc. ) She absolutely nailed it. She walked down a very long aisle (including stairs) all by herself without any hesitation at all and with a huge smile on her face.

Here she is in full flower girl gear.

We had a great time at the reception. The setting was romantic old world. The food was great, the band was so much fun, and we wish Stacie and Jordan a lifetime of happiness.

Happy Fathers Day!

2007-06-17T21:47:00.001-05:00

We had a nice time today - we went out for a ride on Grandpa's boat. We went to Ocean Beach , Fire Island. We had lunch and then went to Scoops for ice cream. The weather was beautiful. I wish I could share pictures , but we forgot the camera.

Some things that didn't sell...

Some of our products sell better in the store. Some sell better online. We sell of ton of Unger Utopia online, but rarely sell any in the store. You just never know. I bought alot of these Adornaments kits at the end of the whole scarves thing, and they just never sold. I thought they would be great for making scarves or hats. You can use a solid color to coordinate and just every so often throw in a shot of one of these other yarns to add some interest. It makes a really inexpensive way to try a bunch of different yarns. At the time we were also selling alot of yarn to scrappers. They would by a few balls of yarn, and then cut it into 3-yard lengths and take it swaps where they would trade it for other scrapbooking supplies. Now I'm not sure what to do with all of these Adornaments packages. If anyone has any suggestions... Let me know.

Our latest ad

2007-06-06T22:37:00.000-05:00

Here is a picture of our latest ad. We had alot of great entries to our ad contest. But I picked this one because she was local - so I could easily have her photographed. Also we have the pattern for the sweater she is wearing. I wanted to be prepared in case anyone came and wanted to knit the exact same sweater. Her sweater is knit with Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran. Isn't she beautiful! I guess I have a thing for bald babies.

I want to give a special honorable mention to this one:

His mom stayed up almost all night working on this sweater so she could get her picture in before the deadline. It is made with Debbie Bliss Pure Cashmere, and it was designed by his mom. Lucky kid! He is so cute!

Yarn Sale

2007-06-03T21:14:00.000-05:00

We have all the yarn in stock in our store on sale this week (until June 8th). It is 25% off. We are making room for the new Fall yarns. Come in and stock up!

Tnna

2007-06-02T21:57:00.000-05:00

The TNNA show in Columbus, Ohio is this weekend. This is where all the yarn wholesalers display their new fall yarns, and yarn shop owners go to see the new yarns and place their orders for fall.

People have been asking for Malabrigo yarn (I can never remember how it's spelled) , those square knitting needles and more sock yarn!

Anything you would be interested in?

May Madness!

2007-05-29T20:32:00.000-05:00

May Madness is in full swing at Yarnware. We are very busy packing orders. We have 10% off all yarns (including new ones) and an additional 10% off the already marked down sale and clearance yarns. The clearance yarns are below cost! They are going fast.

Last weekend we celebrated Chelsea's fourth birthday at Stonybrook day camp. I won a free birthday party for 25 kids! It was great. The camp staff was wonderful and the weather was great!

The parachute games were really fun.

The tire swing was not so fun for me. But most of my friends liked it!

The giant outside bouncy was super fun!

It was exhausting to have so much fun!

Mothers Day

2007-05-19T20:35:00.000-05:00

On Friday, I went to Chelsea's preschool to see a mothers day musical at her preschool. Look at that smile! She was so happy and proud to be performing for me. She was born to be on stage- I know she will win an Oscar one day.

They sang three songs: First they sang Pretty Mommy to the tune of "Pretty Woman" . As we were all wiping the tears from our eyes, they started the next song 'My Mom' sung to the tune of My Girl. The third song - they were sort of mumbling, and we couldn't really tell what it was. They sure looked cute though! There was a lot of love in the room.

We had a great mother's day. The store was only open from 11-2 on Sunday so we could spend time with our families. My cousin Eileen has a party every year. So we went down to Voorhees, NJ. The food was delicious as always and they have a great backyard and the kids had fun playing and running around.

I'm making progress on the Sahara sweater.

You knit this sweater from the shoulder down. What you are looking at is the neck hole. You start at the back of the neck with a provisional cast on (the pattern tells you to crochet the stitches on) and then knit until you get to the back armhole. Then you take out the provisional cast on, and knit the left and right shoulder. I had some trouble with the provisional cast on. Either I knit into the wrong spot on the crocheted stitch on the first row, or something was twisted, but it was not easy to take it out. I had to unravel every stitch, and cut it a few times. It took a few hours to take out sixty-something stitches and put them back on the needle. Kind of annoying. But I'm moving on.

New Yarns and May Madness coming soon!

2007-05-14T22:37:00.000-05:00

We are starting to get some new Fall yarns in already! So far we got the Berroco Peruvia, Pure Merino Nuance and Foliage colors. I haven't even had a chance to add them to our website yet. You'll probably hear more about the new yarns in the May Madness email. It's our biggest sale of the year. We mark all the yarns on our site down 10% and the sale yarns are an additional 10% off the already low price of 25% off. We are getting ready for the big sale now.

I'm up late to night upgrading our computer systems at the store. We have to upgrade our order processing software to handle the new postage rates.

It's been a busy week. My sister-in-law Stacie is getting married in June and we just celebrated her bridal shower last weekend at Payard in NYC.

Here is one of those 4-generation pictures. My daughter Chelsea (and future flower girl) is sitting on the lap of the bride to be. I'm in front and my mother-in-law (who has been quite pleasant lately) and her mother are behind me. We all had a very nice time. I thought of knitting some lingerie for Stacie, but that's another project that I never got around to.

Sleeping through the night

2007-04-25T22:12:00.000-05:00

Robby is over 6 months old now and he is finally sleeping through the night consistently. He was a very hungry boy until he was about 6 months old. He still is hungry all day long, but I guess he gets enough to eat during the day now that he is eating solids.

Here is a picture of one of his baby blankets.

I made it with Knit One Crochet Too PJs . I almost always put fringe on my baby blankets. Babies NEED fringe. It is comforting for them to squeeze it in their hands. Robby needs to squeeze something in his hand when he falls asleep. Some babies like to hold it and brush it against their cheeks. Some babies like to finger the ends of the fringe. Some babies like to suck on the fringe. Robby likes to squeeze the whole blanket and smoosh it into face. He rubs it into his face when he is tired and pulls it over his head.

Baby Blankets make the best baby gift. You don't have to worry about them not fitting. You can never have too many blankets. They can use them for years. My daughter Chelsea is still using her baby blanket at 4. My nephews at 4 and 6 still use their baby blankets.

If I were sure it wouldn't wake him, I would take a picture of him actually sleeping with his blanket.

Felted Bags

2007-04-19T20:58:00.000-05:00

I'm always amazed by the creativity of our customers. One of our customers sent me an email today with a link to her site: www.maddyandmedesigns.com These felted bags are beautiful, bright and fun. Check it out!

Rainy Day

2007-04-15T22:50:00.000-05:00

Check out this beautiful entrelac bag made by one of customers Kathleen. She made a bunch of these for a craft show in Maplewood. We had it for sale in our shop for a while, but no nibbles. She ended up giving it away. She may still have more if anyone is interesed in buying one. It's made with Brown Sheep Lambs Pride Worsted.

It was raining pretty hard today. I thought we wouldn't be busy today but I think we ended up getting more people than we do on a beautiful sunny spring day. Still all this news coverage of the big nor'easter is terrible for retail. It's just raining! You won't melt! I did have time today to update our class schedule for the store today. Please join us!

Happy Easter

2007-04-08T22:26:00.000-05:00

I finished my Ruffle bag today. I ended up doing the I-cord. It goes all the way around the bottom of the bag to help it keep its shape. One of our customers came in to the store with this bag, and I had to copy it. I put my own little twist on it with the i-cord.
If anyone is interested in the free pattern, let me know and I will put it online. I still need to put in a lining and one of those magnetic closures.

Big changes on our website over the weekend. We are now listing our stock levels for yarn on the website. I hope this will result in fewer surprises for our customers when they order something and then find out later that it wasn't in stock. I am excited about the change and I think it will improve our customers experience when placing their orders on line.

Happy Easter everyone!

Happy Passover

2007-04-02T21:51:00.000-05:00

The store has been pretty slow the last few days. We spent some time today straightening up and the shop looks really neat! Come check it out!

Last night I stayed up late making Chicken soup and a carrot casserole for Passover. My daughter and husband made the matzah balls. We went to a friends house for a seder tonight. The matzah balls were definitely sinkers, but everyone said they liked them. On the way over to their house, I managed to cast off the ruffle for the ruffle bag and it looks pretty nice. I just have to decide whether I want to make an i-cord handle or do something else.

Tomorrow we are going to my parents house for the second seder. I'm bringing my mom the carrot casserole, a desert and some Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece because she has decided to make that adorable tank top from knitty. I can't wait to see her in it!

Ruffle Bag

2007-03-24T21:49:00.000-05:00

A customer returned some Indiecita Baby Alpaca Grande yarn, so I thought I would try to make something with it. It was already frogged, so the yarn is a little fuzzy. This doesn't look like much. So far it is just a rectangle. I plan to pick up the stitches around the top and add a ruffle.

Do you ever return yarn to your LYS? I'm surprised how many returns we get. I find it is easier to sell the yarn if people know they can bring it back. You don't want to run out, but you don't want to have too much left over either. I draw the line at 60 days from time of purchase and the yarn must be in its original condition. What are the return policies at your yarn stores?

Recent projects in the store

2007-03-18T21:30:00.000-05:00

Janet works at the store on Sundays and she is expecting her first grandchild in April. She made this little sweater for him with Sirdar Tiny Tots yarn. I can't wait to see what buttons she picks out!

Leslie just finished this beautiful Noro Jacket made with Noro Kureyon. She is never quite satisfied with anything she makes, and this project is no exception. She thought the that the jacket would have an empire waist line where the vertical stripes meet the horizontal stripes.

On her the empire line falls a little higher on her chest than she thinks it should. I must admit though that this jacket fits me perfectly. Like many of her other projects, it is hanging in the shop for now.

Kathleen's Birthday

2007-03-15T22:55:00.000-05:00

I apologize for the long break between posts, but I've been very busy!

Tonight in our Thursday night knitting circle, we celebrated Kathleen's birthday. Kathleen is a regular on Thursday nights, and she is a fixture in our store. She comes in several times a week, and is one of our most prolific knitters. She has made several beautiful entrelac bags, baby blankets, scarves, sweaters and more. Kathleen is a true yarn-aholic. We got a chocolate birthday cake for her and here she is about to make a wish ( I bet she wished for more yarn!)

Yesterday we received some new Louisa Hardings in the store. The Glisten and Coquette is unpacked and on the shelves already. Kathleen bought Glisten in Silver for her birthday which I think is the best color.
Dianne started swatching the Coquette and it is beautiful. I'm thinking I might use the Glisten to make the Stitch Diva Sahara sweater.

Looks like it might be a snow day tomorrow. I hope everyone gets lots of quality knitting time while they are snowed in!

New Spring Yarns

2007-03-06T22:59:00.000-05:00

It's hard to think about Spring when it is 9 degrees outside. But we are getting some new yarns in the store that is a taste of what's to come. It's always exciting when we get new yarns in the store. We have already started knitting with the Debbie Bliss Pure Cotton. It is the softest pure cotton yarn I have felt. Holding a ball of yarn in your hand is like holding is like a cotton ball. We also received the Berroco Love It today. It's going to be a great all purpose yarn.

I'm thinking of making the Stitch Diva Sahara sweater for the spring. It looks like a fun project!

More later...

Oscar night

2007-02-25T22:04:00.000-05:00

We had alot of people come in to the store today to get projects to do while watching the Oscars. It's a perfect night for knitting - the snow is falling outside. My husband made a fire, and we are watching the show. Isn't Brad Pitt there? I haven't seen him yet. I wonder if he would appreciate it if I knit him a pair of socks or something?

Also one of our customers just finished this gorgeous baby sweater for her granddaughter made with Plymouth Dreambaby DK. She is a great knitter!

Speed Knitting

2007-02-17T21:38:00.000-05:00

I went to visit my good friend Debbie in Brooklyn today. We had a lovely lunch and our kids spent some quality time together.

Debbie's son Ethan goes to preschool with local knitter Kris Percival's son. She happened to be doing a book signing at Barnes and Noble for her book Speed Knitting. Debbie had a Phil&Teds Stroller which was totally new to me. We put Robby in this 'cocoon' that looked more like a body bag, and we laid him down in the back seat. He was bundled up a little more than the baby pictured below. We hit the snow-covered Brooklyn streets and walked over to the bookstore. Well I wasn't sure if Robby would like it, but he slept the whole time.

Kris spoke briefly about her obsession with knitting and how she came to love Speed Knitting. The projects in this book are done with bulky and super bulky yarns. Some are done with two bulky yarns held together. The projects can be done in a weekend. There are some great toddler patterns - a men's pullover done in Brown Sheep Burly Spun. An open work baby poncho done in Reynolds Blizzard, and a bag knit with Reynolds Lopi. It was a great day!

Good Knitting Weather

2007-02-14T23:07:00.000-05:00

We had our first big winter storm of the season today. It is on its way out... Lots of people got to stay home from work or school today and catch up on knitting! We had the store open today, and a few brave souls wandered in. One had a scarf wrapped around her neck made with Noro Silk Garden, and it was still on the needle! She needed help casting off. You don't want to be impaled by a needle if you slip and fall on the ice. Hopefully by tomorrow, our parking lot will be plowed!

Happy Valentines Day!

Pink Feather and Fan Afghan

2007-02-11T21:42:00.000-05:00

Leslie made this beautiful afghan for her granddaughters bed. It is done with a feather and fan pattern. All the yarns she used are different shades of pink. When she was almost finished, right before she was about to surprise her grandaughter with this gorgeous blanket, her granddaughter said her favorite color is now purple. It's impossible for a 4-year old to truly appreciate the work that goes into a project like this, but if she doesn't appreciate it, at least I hope she likes it -even though it's pink! The yarn in front is Artful Yarns Circus. She also used Trendsetter Dolcino, Trendsetter Delicious, Berroco Plush, Berroco Zen Colors, and Berroco Softy.

Bag with Bow

2007-02-09T22:43:00.000-05:00

Here is another beautiful bag from one of our customers. She made it with Brown Sheep Lambs Pride Bulky. The handle is from M& J Trimmings. She also lined it beautifully with a black quilted fabric - even put in a pocket for your cellphone! As you can see from the price tag, it's for sale! Let us know if you are interested!

Fringed Bag

2007-02-06T23:36:00.000-05:00

One of our customers made this fringed bag for her sister. She designed it based on a fringed bag her sister got in Italy many years ago. The body of the bag is knit in a checkerboard pattern with Berroco Suede yarn. The crocheted edge and fringe is a combination of Trendsetters Checkmate and Suede. The handle is from M&J trimmings. What a lucky sister!

Happy Superbowl!

2007-02-04T23:42:00.000-05:00

I went to a Superbowl party tonight and forgot to bring my knitting! Doh! I am working on the flouncy scarf using the Online Linie 194 Solo yarn

It's a new technique for me. I'm not even sure if there is a name for it. The yarn is a wide knitted tape. The ball band indicates a gauge of 1.5 sts / inch on size 19 needles, but to make this scarf , you use a much smaller needle, and you actually poke the needle through the yarn and pick up a few strands of the knitted tape, and you knit with those few strands rather than the whole yarn. It's hard to describe. You can find the free pattern here. I am always amazed by the creativity of people in this world. And I was wondering was the yarn created for this specific technique, or did someone create this technique while playing with the yarn.

New Yarnware Ad

2007-01-31T23:50:00.000-05:00

Our new Yarnware ad was printed today, and I'm really excited about it! It's a picture of my son Robby. He is wearing a sweater I knit for him. The photos came out so well, the studio is displaying it in their window!

Robby will be 4 months old tomorrow. He is wearing a sweater knit with Filatura Di Crosa Zara and the pattern is from Sirdar.

We are having a Yarnware ad contest. I would love to do an ad with one of our customers' children or grandchildren wearing a sweater knit with yarn from Yarnware.

If you are interested, email me a copy of your picture. The deadline is February 28th.

Shrug

2007-01-25T22:01:00.000-05:00

This is the shrug I knit for my daughter Chelsea.

It is made with Noro Iro and the fur trim is made with two strands of Plymouth Flash and one strand of GGH Apart held together.

Snoopy is wearing the shrug because Chelsea refused to try it on. She said "I don't like it and I WON'T try it on!" I thought if I put it on Snoopy that she would see how beautiful it was. I made a big fuss and told Snoopy how cute he looked and I tooked some pictures, but she still wouldn't try it on.

Hello World

2007-01-23T23:04:00.000-05:00

I started this blog because I thought it would be a great way to share what's happening in the store with our internet customers. We are inspired by the creativity of our customers every day and would love to share all the interesting things going on here with our customers online and the rest of the knitting community.

The store opened in May of 2005. Yarnware has been online since 2000.

We are excited to share our passion for knitting, our current knitting projects and news of

events from our West Orange, NJ store.