Stitch Night!

Once a month, usually the second Monday night of the month, we open the door wide to welcome all stitchers in crochet and knit to sit around the table, using us what one is working on, show of finished projects and encourage you to continue on. Last night was no exception!

Pam had two of her knitted characters with her, a great Santa and a wizard who was was standing patiently watching over us when all of a sudden his hat would just pop off his head and drop to the table. This happened a couple of times. We deemed him magical!

Barbara showed off her gorgeous cowl made with Iron Horse Farm's hand dyed Merino/cashmere/nylon fingering weight yarn out of the 60 Quick Knits Project book by Cascade Yarns. Jessica was wearing one of her creations as well as another sweater completed in hand.

The sock yarn swap happened again on the floor for those knitting the miter sock blanket and the Beekeeper's quilt afghan.

Overall there was a lot of good cheer, great stitching and wonderful company. Til next month!

It's Thursday!

Another Thursday has passed. Thursday mornings are a great time in the store. It is a complimentary meet time for stitchers. Whether you crochet, knit, are a beginner or advance, it doesn't matter when all come together for the love of fiber.

We are all enablers! We ooh and ahh over everyone's projects. Someone usually has a great new pattern or book for us to wet our appetite and have to purchase for the store.

Our latest "craze" is Frog Tree's Origami pullover sweater made out of delicious sport alpaca. It is a beginner sweater of two rectangles of a K1, P2 ribbing! Mindless knitting. We have actually decided to make this our KAL starting January 20, Friday from one to five. We will continue this casual meeting of hands and needles (yes, crocheters, we have the crochet version also)until most sweaters are being worn by their creators. Stop in for the whole four hours or just a few.

The leaves of the table have been tucked back into their storage space, the stitchers have left for their lives outside the store and all are inspired and ready to tackle the world!

What should it be - Long or Short?

When looking at the list of projects one wants to create, the debate becomes does one pick a short or long project?

If you are a producer, whether it is a detailed project or not, you will finish it from beginning to end with little distractions. Then, if you are like me, I am a productionist who has many projects on the needles or hooks at the same time.

So again, long or short? For long the project will be an afghan designed by Lion Brand called the Slipped Stitch Afghan that will be made out of Brown Sheep's Lamb's Pride yarn. Mr. UPS should deliver the yarn in the colors wanted this week.

For the short, it will come out of the new Knit Noro Accessories book. We already carry the book and all the Noro yarn in this book. So for the moment, the short wins over the long.

2012 - New Year's resolution

As we head into 2012, many reflect on things that they should have, could have done, thus many of us make resoultions to only break them a few weeks or months later. Let's change that!

Our store in Natick embraced the holiday season with the shelves loaded with hand crafted items from favorite artisans and a few new ones in the local area. We have been well received by the community in Natick. We ahve been in the center of Natick over two years since moving from our small sotre on our farm. Knitters and crochet artisans are still finding us which s wonderful! New weavers and hand spinners are realizing those dreams of being a artisan of years ago by weaving and spinning beautiful yarns are right at their finger tips with workshops and classes we offer.

The decision was made to keep the store closed today to give everyone a much deserved break from the holiday hub bub... It was a busy day at the farm, dyeing our Merino, Cashmere, nylon fingering yarn as well as dyeing new roving colors. The fun part is coming up with different color combinations and that watching them appear as we hand paint or kettle dye.

The farm will be represented at the Farm Wool Days at Russell's Garden Center, http://www.russellsgardencenter.com/wayland_winter_mkt.html in Wayland, Saturday, January 21, 2012 10 am to 2 pm. We are excited about this venture! We have not done any shows in 4 years and this is so close for us to attend. We have to thank Peggy Mallet for insisting we needed to participate. We will have roving, yarn, both natural color and hand dyed, wool felting sample kits and more!

What is one of my New Year's resolutions? To write more on our blog!

When the cottons yarns are all here...

When the cotton and cotton blend yarns have all arrived, you know that spring is here! We received on Friday the Takhi Classic Cotton and Cotton Lite yarn in an array of beautiful colors old and new. It is a great yarn to work with for summer light apparel for babies and adults.



Another favorite yarn is Classic Elite's "Firefly" made out of linen and viscose. Great for a quick scarf or drapey light wrap.

Tomorrow is the last day to view the Winter Challenge projects that people made. We have woven, felted and knitted items on display. We can't thank all for taking the challenge! We hope you will stop by and look at them in our glass cubes.

Luxurious yarn

We see a lot of yarn come and go in the store but after Classic Elite released a new pattern in their weekly email newsletter called the Alpaca Sox Shawlette we knew we needed this yarn in the store. It is 60% Alpaca, 20% Merino wool and 20% Nylon. It works up on a size 2 needle or if making shawls or wraps with it a larger needle.

I will be taking a break from the store and the blog for a vacation to some place warm. Considering for the first day of Spring yesterday we were having snow showers and more predicted for tomorrow night and early Thursday, our time away is seeming better and better!

We would love for you to visit the store this next week and show the ladies who are working extra hard, what is on your hooks, looms or needles. We always love to see projects completed or in the works.

Put a Little Spring in your Step

Today was another nice day in Natick. The temperature was nice, the sun was out though the clouds did keep it from getting hot. The common was alive with families walking and playing with each other and man's best friend, dogs. We even had a visit from Morty! For those who do not know Morty, his Mom first met us when he was born premature and need to keep busy with her hands while he was still in the hospital.

Remember if you have forgotten your pattern or you have saved your ideas on Ravelry, we have a computer for you, the customer, to use. We invite you to use this! We follow the law, which means we are not to print or copy any patterns so we do not have a printer or scanner in the store. Our computer station was the second one in a New England yarn store almost two years ago! It is not just for knitters! If you crochet, weave, hand spin or just want to learn about Ravelry, just ask us. We will be glad to show you.


Our morning class met as an extra time as their 6 week class ended last week. Laura was wearing her beautiful finished KAL sweater. She has been getting compliments every where she visited prior to arriving at the store. Everyone was admiring it in the store. You can see her sweater in the previous post. Some participants will heading up to Marie's new Wednesday evening class that starts April 6 from 6:30 to 8:30. They know good weather is coming and soon gardening and trips to the Cape will fill their weekends. Marie's class will coincide with us staying open that night until 8 PM. We are hoping that those who can't make it in during our day hours will stop in on their way home from work or pop in after dinner to pick up an accessory, pattern, gift or more.