It's always fun to come in after a day off. We arrived to boxes from Dale of Norway, Rowan, and Interweave Press. So we have restocked colors of BABY ULL, HEILO, DENIM, and CASHSOFT DK. And brand new to the store FAVORITE SOCKS and COUTURE CROCHET from Interweave! We also have back in the very popular YARN REQUIREMENTS GUIDE., which answers the age old question "How much yarn do I need for that sweater/poncho/blanket/vest......"

Ah, February. The coldest, grayest, drabbest month of winter. So how does WoolWinders respond? By beginning our MONTH OF COLOR!!! That's right. The brighter the better! We begin our color series in the Salon this Sunday witha FAIR ISLE HEADBAND. Join the one and only Lynne, who has embraced color knitting with nothing short of a vengeance, as she guides you along the beauty of Fair Isle knitting. If you want to join us, please do the following:

Call to register. The program is free, but we only have room for 12 people.
Bring or be prepared to buy DPNs size 3 or two circular needles size 3.
Pick up two skeins of contrasting colors of SPORTWEIGHT yarn (ie. HEILO, BLUE SKY ALPACA, BABY CASHMERINO) before the class starts.

That's it!! Isn't your weekend looking brighter already?

Finally, today is the LAST DAY for the SHOW ME THE DISCOUNT promotion. Although the 100% coupon is gone (we will post a picture of the lovely winner when Lew returns from a business trip!), there are still some 40-50% off ones in the bag! Try your luck. Everyone is a winner. We had a blast with this game and we hope you did too! And we promise that next time we will make the coupons bigger!

Only FIVE MORE DAYS to save big on your purchases!!! We have had several very happy people in here over the last few days: one bought an ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS afghan kit and saved 50% (yes, that's right, 50%) on it; two very contented women saved 30% this morning on KOIGU. Everything in the store is on sale! So hurry out before the month's end to play SHOW ME THE DISCOUNT at WoolWinders!

And we have a brand new book the store: ROWAN STUDIO. Rowan Designers are producing lovely patterns using a variety of their yarns. Very high fashion, very fabulous. Check it out.

Finally, for those of you coming to knit the BREA BAG tomorrow, please bring circular needles size 9 if you have them. We are completely sold out of every brand and will get you on 10s tomorrow if we need to--

Design Source, the company that imports MANOS and STRIA into the country, is one of our FAVORITE vendors! Why? They ship quickly, they bill accurately, and their yarns and patterns are consistently among our best sellers, and have been since we opened the shop. We simply can't keep MANOS in stock!!! So now we have all the variegated and restocks of the solids. Let the felting begin! Or make that quick cardigan or jacket, perfect for the cold weather that has finally arrived!

Or, on the other hand, if you are chomping at the bit to start that spring knitting, check out the beautiful colors of 100% cottonSTRIA we have in stock and two new pattern books: COTTAGE COTTON COLLECTION and COTTON COLLETION 4. How good are these books? We have made something every year out of collections 1, 2 and 3!!!!

As for this Sunday's program BREA BAG, we have only two spots left!!! So please call if you want to make this lovely unfelted bag, perfect for any season. You will learn different stitch patterns, how to use markers, and cables. You will need 430 yards of worsted weight yarn (held double), size 9 needles (which we are completely out of, so please bring your own!!!) , markers, and a cable needle. See you at 2 PM!

still in the bag (so to speak!). Our drawing ends January 31, so come out, gather your purchases, and try your luck at our SHOW ME THE DISCOUNT promotion! Everyone wins at least 10% off, and lucky winners have also received 15, 20, 25,30, 40, and FIFTY percent off their purchase! One lucky person WILL draw the 100% off coupon! Honestly, doesn't that want to make you buy the new ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS KIT from Colinette???? Or the DEBBIE BLISS CASHMERE?????

In stock now, new and reordered colors of CASCADE SIERRA. We think this is a great yarn for inexpensive afghans, washable sweaters and the like. 80% PIMA COTTON and 20% MERINO WOOL; machine washable and dryable. Can you ask for anything more?

First, we received a brand new book SILK KNITS filled with designs using silk yarns. What do we love about this book? Elaine Eskesen takes the time to give a WONDERFUL explanation of the various silks and silk blends, and why you should or should not use them for certain designs! Check out this lovely item.

And our SUNDAYS IN THE SALON continue to pack the house. Yesterday's felted bag went on without any regard to the snow and ice. 12 people learned to pick up stitches, create an I-cord bind-off, and a strap. Want to join us? Next Sunday we will learn about the BREA BAG (check it out on www.berroco.com). This non-felted bag is filled with cables, fancy stitchwork, and a decrease that forms a flower! Please sign up in advance (we have room for 12) and roll your yarn if it needs to be wound, prior to the program! You will need 430 yards of worsted weight yarn (held double) and size 9 needles.

Finally, we hope you have had a chance to meet HEATHER who is now working here on Sundays. She has jumped into the fray with both feet and is here to help with both knitting and crochet needs! Her bio is on the staff page.

Whenever we go to Vegas we love the fact that the people who work the change booths always wish you "GOOD LUCK" before you gamble. In fact, if they forget, we remind them. So when Barbara stepped up to the cash stand to pick her discount coupon, we respected the fact that she asked us to say "GOOD LUCK!" And we did. And she pulled a 30% coupon out of the bag!!!!

And yes, the 100% off coupon is still in the bag. We checked. So gather your purchases and try your luck for another 13 days! You will win anything from 10-100% off your total purchase price!

Finally, we received two big boxes from DALE OF NORWAY today. Although a few colors of BABY ULL were backordered, we received about six others, along with restocks of the ultra-soft cotton STORK.

We filled our Sunday opening with the lovely HEATHER; you can come meet her this week! We were impressed by many qualities of hers: her obvious love of yarn and all things fiber, her energy, her enthusiasm, and most of all her unflappability last Sunday when we suggested she "stop by" to check things out. Little did she know she would be put to work winding yarn, ripping back cables, and the like. So thanks to others who called.

And we are now filled with CRYSTAL PALACE needles, winders, and swifts. Come and get 'em.

An early post for next week's SUNDAY IN THE SALON: My Little Companion. This is a very simple and cool felted bag that has an interesting I-cord bind off and strap. If you are planning to attend the program, please do the following

1. Call us and reserve a spot. We have room for 12.

3. Take a pattern, and start the bottom. You will simply knit 20 ridges (40 rows).

We will start the program by demonstrating how to pick up stitches to work in the round. We will also demonstrate the I cord bind off and strap! We are furiously working on our bag, so we may not have a complete one to show you!

We are looking for weekend staff help! The perks are great: hourly wage plus a generous employee discount. Working conditions? Well, if you shop here you know that this is a nice place! We are seeking someone with outstanding knitting/crocheting skills, good sense of humor, patience, and experience or interest in retail. The hours to start are SUNDAYS 12-5 with an opportunity to increase your hours as we go along. You shop here anyway, why not work here??????

If you are interested, please call Jacqui at 240.632.9276 and set up a time to discuss the job.

Ready to progress beyond scarves? Join us this Sunday from 2-4 PM as we make an incredibly cute shrug/vest (shrest?) that looks great on EVERYONE!!! No shaping required, you will learn how to change colors and work a double moss stitch. We did ours (which we are proudly wearing today if you want to check it out) in Manos, but we can recommend other yarns as well. This is a quick and easy knit--you will fee ever so accomplished and stylish.

We had a blast last week, but we were unhappy about having to turn some folks away because we got too crowded. So if you want to participate in this week's FREE program, just give us a call to sign up. 240.632.9276 or you can drop us an email at jacqui@woolwinders.com. Hope to see you!

And who knows? Your yarn may be free as well! The "SHOW ME THE DISCOUNT" promotion goes on and no one has won the 100% off coupon yet! Lots of happy 40 and 50 percenters yesterday. Join the fun!

Finally! So of course we receive our first SPRING yarn! We nearly sent it back, but it looked so yummy we decided to put it out on the shelves since some of our lovely customers knit in cotton year round. And what a cotton! NASHUA NATURAL FOCUS ECOLOGIE COTTON. 100% naturally dyed PIMA COTTON (that's the softest stuff, folks) in soft and muted tans, sages, ivories. Lovely. And a great gauge for lightweight blankets and garments--5 to the inch on a size 6 needle. Hmmmm. Think we have a perfect pattern in our "wish" notebook. So if you are off to the islands anytime soon, or need to knit something in 100% pima cotton, check this out. You will be so ahead of the knitting game!

We came in on our day off to teach and walked into some riches! First, we are restocked with the popular perpetual calendar 365 KNITTING STITCHES. Why do we love this so? Because with this, you are assured of ALWAYS having a fabulous scarf, afghan, or even sweater pattern. Just pick the stitch you like, some amazing yarn, and we will help you figure out how many stitches to cast on! Saves you a lot of money and time hunting down patterns!

Next, a gorgeous new book THE PLEASURES OF KNITTING. We are sure to sell this out as it is filled with lovely sweater designs that are feminine, lightweight, and comfortable. We plan on scoping this out THOROUGHLY. And also from our friends at Martingale, PURSENALITIES! We had this book in last season and it flew out of here. Get your felting yarns ready for these fun and funky designs!

And remember those wonderful WOOL IN THE WOODS AFGHAN KITS? You all scoop these up whenever they arrive. Hold three hand-dyed yarns together on a size 17 (yes, 17) needle and before you can blink an eye you have a work of art! Best of all? The pattern is easy (suitable for beginners) and the price is fabulous $109.99! Hurry in. These never last long.

2007 is off to an amazing start at WoolWinders: A Knitting Salon. Our first Sunday in the Salon program that featured REVERSIBLE CABLES brought EVERYONE out to the shop! How many people did we have? The big table, chair and couch were full.....

We even had to set up a "kid's table!" We had 24 folks in all!

And participants also came to "show and share." Check out mom and daughter Reet and Alex's fabulous elves that they knit for the holidays! And they were kind enough to give up their seats during the salon to two addendees who drove 45 minutes from Virginia!

And all the while, our SHOW ME THE DISCOUNT promotion was in full swing. Margaret and her husband bought her birthday presents here--21 skeins of yarn to do the fabulous afghan from Knitty. And guess what? She got a 40% discount!

Melissa stopped in to get her projects that will take her to India. And yep, she also got 40% off!

Here are other happy customers including Michaelene and Natasha who received 40 AND 50% off!

We are having the best time with this sale. It's given us a chance to see old friends and have fun with new ones. Virtually the entire store is on sale from 10-100% off! That's right. One lucky person will receive 100% off their total purchase. You do the math. It means it's free!

As for this coming SUNDAY IN THE SALON...we will be knitting a great cropped vest that looks terrific on everyone. It's a chance to learn how to change colors and do a double moss stitch pattern. This is an excellent project for beginners wanting to advance from scarves. While we loved the chaos of last week, we felt badly about turning some folks away for lack of space. So if you want to join us, give us a call at 240.632.9276 to register. The program is free of charge!

the thought that we only had two cable needles left two days before the SUNDAY IN THE SALON program. But fear not; our distributor had excellent timing and 24 cable needles arrived today! So we have plenty of yarn, needles, and the necessary accessory to knit the fabulous REVERSIBLE CABLE SCARF!

Thanks for all of your patience. The HUGE boxes of CASCADE and ROWAN yarns we were eagerly anticipating arrived today courtesy of JAVIER, the UPS GUY. So those of you waiting to make machine washable baby blankets, ponchos, sweaters and the like, head on out! We have scads of SIERRA, tons of 220 SUPERWASH, and copious quantities of CASHSOFT (DK and ARAN).

We've had a great response to our upcoming SUNDAY IN THE SALON program: REVERSIBLE CABLE SCARF. What will you need? About 300 yards of DK or worsted weight yarn and needles one size larger than the gauge of the yarn. And a cable needle, of course. We have gorgeous yarns here for your choosing; come a bit early so you can wind the yarn before the program starts, ok? See you around 2:00 PM.

We had so many winners of significant discounts yesterday that we checked the felted bag that serves as our "drawing bowl" to make sure we had indeed put the 10% discount tickets in there! Two folks won 50% off their purchases, including the lovely Natasha, who allowed us to take her picture--check for it on the blog tomorrow evening! And we had several 30% winners, one 40% winner, and a bunch of 15% ers! Of course we then started seeing our 10% discount winners, and guess what? They were really happy with their results! Everyone loves a discount. So remember, our SHOW ME THE DISCOUNT promotion runs through the entire month. Come on out and try your luck. Everyone wins something--this is even better than Vegas!

And we resume our SUNDAYS IN THE SALON this weekend with a REVERSIBLE CABLE SCARF. In addition to being a great way to learn the cabling technique on a small project, it provides an solution to the problem of cables on items that have a right and wrong side. You will never again be reluctant to cable on a scarf, shawl, or blanket again! The program runs from 2-4 PM and is free of charge. See you then!

Finally, we received our DENISE INTERCHANGEABLE NEEDLE KITS today. This is the perfect gift for the knitter in your life (especially if that person is you!). We swear by these.

get terrific discounts! Our "SHOW ME THE DISCOUNT" sale is off to a great start! We had one lucky customer who plunked down her goods totalling $200 and drew a 30% discount coupon! Woo hoo! And another who pulled one worth 50%! Best of all? Everyone is a winner. No one leaves the shop with less than 10% off their total purchase. So come join the fun. Who knows? You may walk out owing absolutely NOTHING! That's right. One customer will receive 100% off his/her total purchase. Er.....that means FREE!

What a way to kick off the New Year! WoolWinders is proud to present "SHOW ME THE DISCOUNT" for the month of January. Here's how it works. Come into the shop, gather up your purchases, and have one of our lovely staff associates total up your sales for payment. Then simple draw one of our discount coupons from the felted bag and you can win anything from 10-100% off your purchase. You read that right. One lucky person in January will receive their purchase FREE!!!! That would be free. Nada. Everyone else? Well, we have coupons at 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 40, and 50% off!! So everyone's a winner. A couple of rules apply, of course. Like all our sales, all purchases are FINAL SALE, no returns/refunds/exchanges. The sale price can't be combined with any other discount including the frequent buyer card. We can't discount classes or lessons. And the discount price applies to in-stock items--no special orders. Most importantly, we need to play fair. That is, you must be ready to pay for your purchases before you draw the coupon. No adding to or subtracting from your items once you draw the coupon, ok?

We think this will be a lot of fun. We'll keep you posted on our winners through the blog. So come on, AREN'T YOU FEELING LUCKY????????? After all, there is a "7" in this year!