Kimera Baby Leggings

Oh hell, will you look at that cute baby and those precious little leggings!  OUCH!!!  Kimera is a new Egyptian cotton yarn from Plymouth.  We got five different colors in this week and they look like boxes of intricately painted Easter eggs. Scrumptious.  I started the leggings pattern the day the yarn arrived and it is such a fun knit.  So fun, in fact, that I am not speeding through it.  I am taking my time and really enjoying making every stitch. When I make shop samples, I make the smallest size available.  In this case, I'm knitting size 0-3 months.  So these leggings will be off the needles in no time and available for viewing and fondling next week.

There Are Standards, Ya Know?

This has got to be the handiest, dandiest thing in the yarn world yet hardly anyone I know knows about it.  The Craft Yarn Council has a PDF that you can download which contains standard abbreviations, standards for yarn weights, body and head measurements, etc.!  So, you know I'm in love with that Eileen Fisher top I posted a couple of days ago.  To get the sizing correctly, I refer to the Yarn Council's standards ... the Women's section that has measurements for different size women and it even has a chart that defines how much ease a particular sweater style contains.  It's all so brilliant, I can't stand it!  So take a look at this chock-full-of-information PDF and expand your knitting horizons.

Eileen Fisher Style

Saturday, my girls and I had a lovely sushi lunch at Blue Smoke in Fashion Valley (YUM) followed by a brief trip to Bloomingdales.  There was an Eileen Fisher sale going on and this lovely, simple knit top was marked down from $200 something to $70 something. Such a simple design.  Knit sideways in a stretchy tape yarn, it is just a square with a neckline.  The two sides aren't sewn but tacked about 1" into the fabric.   It seems easy enough to knit but the design isn't the challenge. It's the fiber.  Geeze, Eileen Fisher has the most awesome fabrics and fibers. They're so beautiful they hurt.  So when time allows, I will be experimenting with the yarns my reps have given me and the new yarns I've recently ordered, looking for something similar.  What an awesome summer top this could be, paired with a cami and a long shirt that peeks out below the hem of the sweater.  That's SO Eileen Fisher and we LOVE her!!!

Why Walkabouts at the Grove Are the BEST!!!

For 12 years, The San Diego Mandolin Orchestra has delighted our customers with Christmas music during the December Walkabouts.  We love them.  It doesn't feel like Christmas until they play and once they do, their magic is infectious.  This year, we had a special visitor who increased the joy and folly of the evening (and no, it wasn't Santa). Leigh graciously captured him on video and posted his performance here. YOU MUST WATCH THIS! (Ya gotta love the 'hood!).

For Women Only

You may remember our spectacular San Diego Capelet designed for the 2013 San Diego Yarn Crawl.  Modeled by Judipatuti's gorgeous granddaughter, Blakely, it made waves!  Judy and I were a titch envious and so we decided it was time to make a woman's version for larger, more magnificent women (speaking for myself of course).  So we chose a new Kenzie/Luxe Mohair color combo of Boysenberry and Hot Pink which is dazzling.  Judy knit this beautiful sample, which is warmer and longer than the first.  Now I don't want to call this Grandma's version of Blakely's capelet, but it kind of is.  In a good way, though.  If Judy's damn cat*, Babies, hadn't gotten so close to the sample, I would have slept in it last night.  LOVE IT!!!

*Nothing personal against Babies but I'm highly allergic to cats.

WHAT THE NEW YEAR MAY BRING

Ah, blessed relief!  The retail holiday season has come to an end.  It is time to rest and welcome the new year.  My desk is heaped with "I'll figure out where that goes later" piles.  And one of them is this bag full of Spring yarns my Cascade and Berroco reps have given me to play with. Of course this is the "fun" pile on my desk and the one to get my immediate attention. Now, I don't want you to feel sorry for me, but it is a titch difficult to narrow things down.  When I was new to the business, I used to say - you can't have too much yarn.  And one of my yarn reps said to me,  "Oh, yes.  You can!"  After 12 years in the biz, I finally understand that.  But again, I'm not complaining.

So how do I do it?  The first cut I make, is to remove any yarn made of cold weather fibers.  I put them in a bag labeled "possible Fall".  And then I separate the rest of the yarn by gauge.  I look at my shelves and figure out where the holes are.  Do I need fine, sport weight, etc.? Is the hole in my inventory one I need to fill?  For example, my customers don't go for typical baby yarns.  So even though that's a gap, it can be filled with Blue Sky's organic cotton, Plymouth's Cleo, or Berroco's Comfort DK.  

If the gauge is the same as my existing stock, then I look at price points.  I look at the color palettes.  And then I knit with the new yarn.  Is the hand better than what I have? Are the colors better?  Are there more colors than my existing line?  Is it a better deal?  And then I make my selection bringing in at least 6 colors in any new yarn.  I don't go too deep initially.  I wait to see if the yarn appeals to my customers and if it does, then I can go hog wild.

Now this selection process is done in the quiet of my home office.  Rationally, thoughtfully, and carefully.  But really?  Who are we kidding?  Most of my selections are made by impulse when my reps visit me in my shop.  When I hold a yarn for the first time and yell, "I MUST HAVE!" I usually go with that. Sometimes it turns out that only I must have and I know I've made a mistake. It's all a gamble.

If you have any desire for a yarn I don't carry, now would be the time to tell me!  I will seriously consider bringing in whatever you want cuz we're all in this together. 

Meanwhile, I am heaping blessings upon you for the New Year!

La Vigilia...Enjoy!

Cannery Workers Tribute at Parque del Sol

Water Street, San Diego, CA

Whether you will be celebrating the Feast of Seven Fishes (an Italian Christmas Eve tradition) or not, have a lovely evening, an exciting Christmas morning, and a bountiful New Year.  May your baskets be full (of yarn) in 2015!