Mystery Stole 3, Nancys Lovely Sweater and What's New

Hi Everyone!

Lots going on and sorry for the delayed post....

Firstly - does everyone know the new Mystery Stole 3 is about to begin??? First clue is posting tomorrow and we are all excited about it! Kelly, a wonderful customer of ours who is an avid sock knitting machine cranker, came in looking for a 13/14 crochet hook on for adding the beads to the shawl. I immediately was interested in this technique as I have been prestringing the beads on my yarn for the beaded scarf from Janet's wonderful class a few weeks ago. The beads on the yarns make such a gorgeous fabric! Kelly mentioned that the Mystery Stole 3 from the Pinklemontwist.blogspot.com was about to begin. Cool I think! I will have to look into it! Then Carol, our weaving teacher, comes in that evening looking at the Lornas Laces Helens Lace to use for the Mystery Stole 3 - I am thinking okay that is two in one day - I am in! So Carol and I start to pick out our yarn and I sign up to the membership for the stole and find that 3300 other knitters have also signed up.... holy lacework batman!

I am using Helens Lace in Charcoal with some cool green hex beads and Carol is using Lornas Lace Helens Lace in Navy. Paolo came in for a few hours yesterday and after very little discussion about this took home some Helens Lace in Chocolate to start hers! Carin is due in any minute and if she isn't already signed up, I bet she does one too! (She's here, looking at yarn and beads - I think she may use the Pewter Helens Lace with the Turquoise beads but not definite yet on her choice - beads are rolling all over the table - it is another good day at Y&F! :)

So if you are working on the Mystery Stole 3 we want to share and help in the experience - so if you are looking to compare, seek hands on assistance, or simply want to work on your stole in a very fun atmosphere with fellow stolers (with air conditioning), come by! We are very excited and working on our swatches.

The first clue is being published tomorrow, Friday, June 29th, cast on day should be a blast! We are here 10 - 5 on Friday and 9-5 on Saturday and want to talk lace with you!

Other amazing things - Nancy finished her Goby sweater and although she felt it took her a long time, total time spent (including a few ripouts here and there) was just under 6 weeks. She looks beautiful in her yellow sweater! Tonia Barry taught a finishing class which Nancy used the techniques for assembling her pieces and Pat, another of our wonderful customers, sewed her zipper in and voila! Another wonderfully assemble garment! Nancy wore the sweater for the rest of the day and was thrilled - good thing for air conditioning!

And the last of my most exciting news is I met with Elaine Brody who is the rep for some very interesting yarn companies. We have the most gorgeous yarn sprinkling in over the next few months! For example, we will be showered with Dream in Color Yarns, Madeline Tosh, Jade Sapphire, Schaefer Yarns, Artyarns, and we are bringing in the Filature Di Crosa Superior yarn line! Woo hoo! We have also adding Posh Yarn as well as Grafton Fiber to our line up for Fall.

Hope to see you soon and we hope you are having a great summer!

Vivivan Hoxbro Rocks!

So what do you do when at 3:00 in the afternoon you find out that there is a designer that is lecturing at Harrisville Designs which is about 1 1/2 hours away that evening at 7:00? You call everyone you can think of and pray someone can go for the last minute road-trip! We called all the staff, but only Carin and I were able to make this trip - and what a joy it was.... Vivian Hoxbro is extremely talented and just as nice!

This is a picture of Vivian with Pat Cowley - owner of Harrisville Designs. Vivian lectured on her life and her road to find her creative path to become the awesome designer that she is today. Her designs are not only colorful, but very functional - for example, we tried on her garments (Yes! She had one of every colorway of every garment that is in her Domino and Shadow collection as well as her kits - and we all tried them on!) and every garment is designed to lay across your back and over your shoulders and fit just right - in other words, shawls were shaped at the neck to hug your neck and follow the line of your shoulders and arms so the shawls didn't slump or fall off as you wore them. Ah.... it was amazing! Carin and I both were "dressed" by Vivian - she was more than happy to come over to us and show us the different ways garments could be worn and at the end of the lecture - after we had said goodbye and thanked her and I think we were gushing (we felt like little kids and were simply awestruck - we returned one more time to ask her her opinion on what colorway we should use for the shawls we picked out to make. Vivian has a new shawl pattern coming out that both of us just love - Vivian picked the Periwinkle Blue for Carin and the Fern green for me to use for our shawls... Patterns are due out for this shawl in a couple of weeks and they are made using the Silk and Wool Blend at Harrisville Designs. I am going to have to get some of this yarn in soon... Possibly in time for The Knit and Crochet Show in Manchester! Wish I was there taking the class this weekend - Pam Allen, (author of Lace Style, Scarf Style and Wrap Style, formerly of Interweave Press and now with Classic Elite) is there taking the class - we met her this evening and she was extremely nice and kind enough to sign our books. And it was a pleasure, as always, to see the Harrisville Group, John, Pat and Rae, great job! We both thought it was a great night all around! Now onto all the wonderful pictures! If you double-click on the pictures they should enlarge to full screen size so you can view all the garments in their full glory! Have fun - we certainly did!

Saturday June 9 2007 is World Wide Knit In Public Day - Come Help Us Celebrate

Don't forget that tomorrow is Saturday, June 9, World Wide Knit In Public Day! Join us at Griffin Park in Windham, NH between the hours of 10-5 - we will be hopefully in a somewhat shady spot and will be the ones Knitting, Crocheting, Spinning or possibly even weaving! Bring your chair and refreshments - we will have coffee and donuts for the beginning of the event and look forward to seeing you! Not in the New Hampshire area, click here for a location near you! Join in the fun and let us know where you knit - send us pixs to post and have a great day! (In case of rain, we will meet at the shop and knit in the lobby at the Yarn and Fiber Company, Country Shoppes Mall, 58 Range Road, Windham, NH 03087. Can't be in the sun for long, then head straight to the shop and join in with the other knitters who prefer an indoor event - Just remember to have fun with us!

Knit Stitch, Purl Stitch, Happy Puppy Stitch

Is there anyplace better for a snooze? Stitch, our wonderful shop puppy, doesn't think so. Stitchie is with her favorite pal, Chocolate Bear, and surrounded with balls of Noro Silk Garden and Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool that threaten to just tumble out of their overstuffed cubbies in her dreams... oh, it isn't it a dream... she is at the shop! Even shop puppies get tired after a hard day of greeting customers and watching us get ready for the Granite State Knit-In.


What a great weekend! We packed on Friday and headed up to Loon Mountain Resort to spend the night and be ready to start unpacking the "car" for our first vending event at the Granite State Knit-In.

The event was wonderful! Great classes/workshops, great vendors - Grafton Fibers and Tree of Designs are two of new favorite vendors - and we were lucky to setup next to Sue from Lambs Ear in Gilford, NH - she is really nice and brought beautiful Great Adirondack yarns for the show. Her yarns were beautiful and it took all I had not to jump right into all the colors. We also had lots of colorful yarn - we brought Cherry Tree Hill Supersock, Jumbo Loop Mohair and our colorful collection of Prism Stuff yarns. We had lots of Poetry in Stitches kits and brought a variety of kits and patterns from our local designer Tonia Barry Original Designs, as well as variety of kits that we had assembled in our shop like Venezia from Interweave Knits, a Knitty.com Lizard Ridge Afghan yarn pack with the newest Noro Kureyon colors and about 30 other kits. Our table overflowed with stuff - as did the car when it was packed! But we had a blast!

The event was run by a wonderful group of ladies who are all spectacular! And, this show was attended by 153 wonderful women/men who knit up a storm from when they walked into the show until they were leaving! They knit through the workshops, through the lectures, through lunch, through the raffles, and I am sure almost all them worked on their knitting in the cars on the way home - those who didn't were driving :) It was an awesome event and we can't wait for next year! We hope to vend again and maybe teach a class :)