What Came First? The Sweet Peas or the Silk?

Sweet peas. The fragrance. The delicate whisper soft petals. How I love them! I was gazing at these dear ones and with little thought, I got up, went into my yarn room and began rummaging through my stash until I found this Art Yarns Royal Silk. Hah! Though I hadn't seen it in years, I knew I had this color! While scent and music rouse deep seated memories, for me, color is equally as powerful. I remember placing the order with excitement. I remember when it was delivered. I remember ripping open the box from Art Yarns and handling every skein before finding a home for them in the shop. And I remember selecting this bold color and the project I made with it. And now, my mind wanders to the crocheted flowers class Susan from Bonita Knitting is teaching at the Grove on May 15th. Oh, this color is so perfect. Wouldn't this silk make the most beautiful flowers? And here we are back at the sweet peas again. So I ask, which came first? The sweet peas or the silk?

Spring Blossoms!

You really don't know how much yarn you have until you do a floor move! On Monday, judipatuti and I rearranged all the yarn according to fiber content and color. Good lord. What a job! But, wow! Take a look at Spring blossoming in Yarns at the Grove! It was worth it!

On its way is hand-dyed Double Sea Silk from Fleece Artist and more Rayon Metallic from Blue Heron.
Can we ever get enough color? I think not.

Frog Tree Yarns Have Arrived!

We have received our first shipment of Frog Tree's 100% pima cotton and can't wait to start knitting with it. As the word "pima" suggests, it is soft and drapey, dyes well, and can be machine washed on delicate and machine dried. Each skein contains almost 130 yds and retails for on $5.50! Why so reasonable? Because Frog Tree Yarns is a non-profit company that was founded to support artisans in South American countries who are responsible for this high-quality cotton. The company is family run. It is located in East Dennis, Massachusetts (i.e., Cape Cod) and when you meet the owners, you want to visit them immediately. (That, and we used to summer at nearby Dennisport and I would love to go back and walk on Sea Street Beach again!) They are incredibly warm and welcoming people and we wanted to do business with them since we met them at the TNNA several years ago. Recently they hired Cia Buellmeister, one of the finest reps we've ever had, to represent them. Cia fits right into their family. And that's how we came to place this recent order. Gotta go knit a swatch up right now!

Liesl Knit Along this Saturday!

Here is Liesl at the center of attention on the display table at the Grove. The first day of the KAL is Saturday at 11:00. Yes, I am going to knit a second one! This time out of Euroflax in the color willow.
While I love Habu, nothing drapes as well as Euroflax. Nothing! Although you'd think I have plenty of time to knit at the shop, I don't get to do it very often. So I look forward to KAL's where I carve out the time to sit and knit with others...my favorite thing to do.
There are still 1 or 2 seats available if anyone else cares to join us. For details, just click on the newsletter link in the upper right hand corner of this page.

Easter Egg Blue

...or is it Robin's Egg Blue. Whatever! I am in love with Misti Alpaca's Pima Cotton & Silk! It makes the most heavenly fabric. BTW, 327 yds, 100 g skein, sells for under $10 making it just about the best deal in the store! I am inspired by SKIF designs these days and although I understand how difficult it is to do "simple" and make it look like something, I am fantasizing about knitting a 3/4 length sweater-shirt with an off-center front closure, longer tails in the back, and side slits. Seam the two rectangles that make up the front, from the bottom up to as high as you would a v-neck cardigan. Let the tops of the two rectangles flop over to make a primitive collar. Hmmm. Maybe use one or two very cool judipatuti buttons to secure them flat. Ah, so many ideas this Easter morning running through my knitter's mind and so little time!

Hope you are enjoying this day of rebirth! And I leave you now, with a picture of the screamin' Amaryllis in our front yard.