As you can imagine, we are over the moon about CHERYL SCHAEFER’S visit this Sunday. The program is full; if you have signed up, please bring an assortment of needles (sizes 3-11) so that you can play with whatever yarn Cheryl brings! It ought to be a lot of fun!

Also, we know that some of you were waiting for the wonderful NASHUA #4 PATTERN BOOK, which blew out of here in about a week. We have 10 more in stock.

Mom Carin sent us this lovely photo. Guess who taught her to knit recently? MARIETTA, who was due at just about the same time. The blanket covering baby LEIA is made from one of our favorites, BLUE SKY ORGANIC COTTON, and we just couldn’t resist making a matching hat before sending the blocked blanket on to mom and dad JASON (who works with Lew)…….We imagine that Leia will be accompanying mom back to work at HITCHED, a fabulous bridal experience in Georgetown.

And maybe Carin will consider one of the fabulous HILARY TAYLOR KNITTING BAGS that can double as a baby bag! We sold out the first batch so quickly (less than a week) that Hilary had to bring more up to the shop. Check these out. Washable, zippered, pocketed….with matching accessory and project bags. Mother’s Day gifts, anyone?

OK, our patience had worn a bit thin and we are sure our voice reflected it when we spoke with the distributors of ROWAN on a daily basis last week. But we understood their frustration as well—the problem was in England and they were waiting for all the CASHSOFT as well. We are delighted to announce that we FINALLY have plenty of baby yellow and ivory CASHSOFT DK and two bags of CASHSOFT ARAN in the elusive DENIM colorway as well.

And we also have the ROWAN CALMER COLLECTION back in stock. These lovely patterns support a yarn we have gotten to know quite well, CALMER. How do we know this yarn so well? From working on a traveling leaf lace shell that does not permit markers. We can attest to the fact that this yarn preserves its shape, luster, texture, and memory even when ripped back four times!!!! A great washable yarn for the spring!

And also back in stock, more KNITTING and ACCESSORY BAGS from Hilary Taylor. Her order brought in last week is gone. We have more TOILE and NEON BRIGHT washable knitting totes. Come and get ‘em!

But Marietta was otherwise occupied this weekend. Presenting MAXIMILIAN, born Friday, March 23 in the afternoon. Mother, father, and baby are doing great!

We have three spots remaining for this week’s program. Join us as we venture through THREE AFGHAN PATTERNS, two lace and one created from big boxes. The best part? After you learn the stitch patterns, we will spend our time doing “knitting math” and you will discover how you can use ANY yarn for any one of these!!! Trust us, you will feel like a math genius after this session. You will know how much yarn to buy, how many stitches to cast on, etc. Won’t you feel empowered?

You should bring a skein or two of practice yarn, any gauge, and corresponding needles. If you have markers, bring those as well. And if you have purchased yarn (from us) for a blanket yet unmade, bring that and we will help you figure it all out!

Just call and let us know you would like to participate. The program is free, but we want to make sure everyone has a place to sit!

We just got the call from the wonderful JANIS, Marietta’s mom, who took time out to let us know that Baby Maximilian has arrived! 7 lbs/15 oz of pure baby beauty! Pictures will follow (Steve was under strict instructions to email us some) and we will keep you posted. But Mom MARIETTA, dad STEVE, and baby MAXIMILIAN are all doing well.

Lots of boxes today! We are fully stocked with the DENISE INTERCHANGEABLE NEEDLES (the pinks this time, and $5.00 from each set goes to Breast Cancer research!), and SKACEL NEEDLES (though some sizes were back ordered). In addition, we received a beautiful new rose color of ROWAN DAMASK (and we can attest to the fabulousness of this yarn!) and new pink color of ROWAN BAMBOO. And just in time for spring sock classes, Charlene Schurch’s new book MORE SENSATIONAL KNITTED SOCKS.

But the thing we are most excited about? We have been on the quest for a really great knitting bag for more than a year. Through one of our lovely customers Teresa, we hooked up with HILARY TAYLOR who makes gorgeous WASHABLE bags!!! Interior pockets, lovely fabrics (including TOILE and we are a sucker for TOILE), and generous sizing. So we bought three colors of bags, along with small accessory bags and medium size project bags. Come check them out! We will put a picture of them on the web tonight, but if you are near the store today, swing by!

Yes, we know that it is the first day of spring! The newsletter is ALMOST ready and will be in final form by the weekend. So if you haven’t signed up on the website to receive it in your email, please do so! Just go to the lower left side of this page, fill in your email address, and then follow the prompts. You will be taken to a second screen asking you to retype your email address. After doing that, you will receive an email from us confirming that you want to be on our list. This is to ensure that we don’t end up in your spam filter!

The newsletter is chock full of goodies including a free pattern for a reversible lace shawl, an announcement about Cheryl Schaefer’s impending visit here, and a listing of everything that is new at the shop since the last newsletter. Check it out for the latest WoolWinders news!

We were delighted to learn last week that EUNNY JANG was named the new editor of INTERWEAVE KNITS. In addition to being impossibly talented and young, Eunny is LOCAL and a frequent shopper at WoolWinders. Her website, www.eunnyknits.com, is one of our regulars. So when she came in yesterday, we couldn’t resist asking her to pose for a picture (after congratulating her, of course). We have never been subtle regarding fame and celebrities, just ask Michael Jordan……

As promised, photos of the new goodies at the shop! First up, the lovely ROWAN DAMASK, which seems to be disappearing off the shelves. We are working with this viscose/linen/acrylic blend and can vouch for its personality:

And our beautiful AFGHAN KITS from Wool in the Woods are always popular. Why? Because they are priced well ($109.99) and make up unbelievably quickly by holding three strands of yarn together on a size 17 needle. We find these to be “must haves” for beach or summer homes:

And we consider this a goodie! Check out Charessa in her MOSAIC HAT! We had a blast during the SUNDAY IN THE SALON and she did as well!

Erin Go Yarn! Come join us beginning TODAY for our annual ST. PATRICK’S DAY SALE!!! 15% off any green or orange yarn….even the least little thread of it counts! The sale will run through SUNDAY and as usual we have the Lawyer Lew rules: All sales final (no refunds/exchanges), current stock only, and may not be combined with any other discounts. If you are scoping out a really special bargain, we have SIX ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS afghan kits with these colorways included, and TWO WOOL IN THE WOODS ones!

And our SUNDAY IN THE SALON marches on. We will finish the MOSAIC HAT of two weeks ago, so if you are ready for the double pointed needles and I-cord binding, come join us. Aw heck, even if you missed the first one, come on out! We will teach you the easiest SLIP STITCH pattern we know, and you will get a really cute hat out of it! We have several spring shells and sweaters using this technique (it’s one of our favorites) so see if you enjoy it!

Two boxes of goodies greeted us after our days off. We are now stocked with the perfect spring celebration gift-an AFGHAN from WOOL IN THE WOODS. These hand-dyed beauties never stick around the shop long because they are quick and inexpensive to make! Hold three strands of yarn together on a SIZE 17 needle and voila! And all for $109.99.

And also in, a yarn so beautiful we now have to rethink our spring shell line-up. ROWAN DAMASK, a linen/viscose/acrylic blend in soft variegated tones is calling out to us for a DK project. Sorry no pictures today—we left our memory card home! But we promise, tomorrow.

Before we learned how to load pictures on the website, our friend JILL sent us this wonderful photo of her husband JOHN in his lovely MANOS sweater. And now, thanks to her help, we learned how to put the pictures up while we are at work!!! So we very proudly present JOHN in his MANOS SWEATER:

Don’t forget to set your clocks AHEAD one hour before you go to sleep tonight! If you don’t, you will be late for all our activities tomorrow: our morning class, our regular shopping hours (12-5), and our SUNDAY in the SALON which features the extremely popular, extremely easy REVERSIBLE CABLE SCARF! As always, the program runs from 2-4 PM and is free of charge, but we do ask that you call and sign up. Last time we held this program, we had 24 participants and some unhappy folks were sitting on the floor!

We finished our spring cleaning yesterday thanks to our fabulous staff (and spouses including LEW and STEVE who helped us dismantle shelves and schlep things around!) and now have a separate classroom in the back! Although small, the room is perfect for private and semi-private lessons which now can be held DURING STORE HOURS!! So if you have a hankering to learn knitting or crocheting, or want to encourage a child in these lovely crafts, just give us a call at 240.632.9276.

And what better gift to commemorate spring occasions (Mother’s Day, Graduation, Weddings) than the absolutely exquisite ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS afghan/sweater kits from COLINETTE. We received six yesterday and must admit that they add beauty and elegance to the shop. Come check them out:

Sometimes sheer talent just walks through your door. That’s what happened to us when Simone Merchant-Dest, a knitwear designer, approached us about designing a pattern line exclusively for WoolWinders.

She asked if there were any areas we felt were neglected in the pattern world, and our response was immediate: Designs for children beyond the toddler age. She rose to the occasion with style and finesse. Her line, TIME 4 STYLE, is targeted to boys and girls ages 8-14. Her first design? An adorable dress and matching bag, made from the incredibly wearable CASCADE SIERRA.

And now she is busy at work on a cardigan for boys made from ROWAN CASHSOFT. All of Simone’s designs will be created from machine washable, easy care yarns. She is, after all, the mother of three, and understands how important such things are! Stay tuned for more of her wonderful creations.

Truth be told, even we occasionally get bored knitting the same things. After all, how many sweaters can one human being own and wear? When our friends Sarah and John told us about their pregnancy, we viewed the wonderful news as an opportunity to re-energize our knitting and find something really unusual to create. We had more fun knitting this EDWARDIAN CARRYING CAPE for baby Nina out of the perfectly lovely ROWAN CASHSOFT DK. We can honestly say it reminded us of why we knit, and how much we love it. And doesn’t she look gorgeous?

Well, we hope you do! Because we are in it! Check out the front-page article in GAZETTE 2 “KNITTY GRITTY”! We spent a lovely couple of hours last week with Chris and her team of photographers and we can’t thank them enough for getting our story out there. They even included the little known fact that the shop is named after Lew who was, after all, our first woolwinder. So brave the elements today (really, it’s just an icky wet snow, not even sticking) and come see what the excitement is about.

Yesterday we took a road trip with Kim to Easton, MD, home of BLUE HERON YARNS. How great to be able to cash and carry our spring goodies!!! Check out the box we brought back, filled with spectacular COTTON RIBBON, RAYON/COTTON RIBBON, COTTON/RAYON SEED, and BULKY CHENILLE. Whether you want to make a tank, shrug, sweater, shawl, or even this Sunday’s REVERSIBLE CABLE SCARF, we have the yarn for you:

And of course we had to spread out all the yarns so we could tag and display them. Hurry in before the staff gets to this stock!

Blue Heron is known not only for its unique colorways, but its big yardage. Here’s a hint: bring a friend on Sunday and share a skein of the ribbons. You can each get a long cabled scarf!

At the request of several customers, we are going to repeat the very popular REVERSIBLE CABLE SCARF program on Sunday, March 11 from 2-4 PM. No cabling experience necessary—we will teach you the skills to make this fabulous spring accessory! We will offer the DOUBLE KNITTING program later in the year. Please call the store to sign up—the program is free of charge but we want to make sure everyone has a place to sit!

And now we are off to BLUE HERON YARNS in Easton, MD to pick out spring goodies. It was time for a road trip. Stay tuned, and of course will have pictures!!!!

Box 2 arrived yesterday with two of our favorite ROWAN spring yarns: ALL SEASONS COTTON and SUMMER TWEED

And a new yarn BAMBOO TAPE:

Which as you can see, Karina couldn't wait to knit! Her report? Fantastic. You can check out the patterns for this wonderful new yarn at the shop:

Scott, our original UPS Guy, paid us a visit yesterday toting an enormous box filled with spring goodies from ROWAN. Unfortunately, the box read "2 of 3" on the outside, so we are wondering where 1 and 3 are, but in the meantime we got some fabulous books including KASBAH devoted to one of our favorite spring yarns, SUMMER TWEED:

And we received books using BAMBOO TAPE, an ultra-yummy new yarn, two JAEGER pattern books, and one book filled with kids/moms patterns. Several colors of ALL SEASONS COTTON arrived as well. So hopefully we will get boxes 1 and 3 today, and of course will load pictures! We are feeling ever so confident now, since Lew was out of town and we figured out how to upload a picture from a website all by ourselves!!!!

Welcome to March, one of our favorite months of the year. Why? Because we get through it knowing that by the end the trees will be budding, the evenings will be lighter, and the weather warmer. And we love it because we get to prepare for a new season at WoolWinders. Toward that end, we have just finished the SPRING CLASS SCHEDULE! We have emailed it to our amazing webmistress Stacy, and we have copies of it at the store. So come on by! You know how quickly our classes fill, especially our Safaris and Socks!

And join us this SUNDAY for not ONE BUT TWO SUNDAYS IN THE SALON!!!! First up, from 12-2 PM, we will learn how to make a fabulous MOSAIC HAT using the slip stitch method of knitting. You will need three colors of worsted weight yarn, size 7 or 8 16" circular needles, and DPNS in the same size. Fair warning--this hat is completely addictive. You always have a bit of yarn left over and just can't resist making another. One of our customers made 30 and gave them to homeless shelters (Hi Pam, if you are reading this!!!)

Next, from 2-4 join the fabulously funny LYNNE as she teaches you how to knit in the ENTRELAC method by making a BOOK COVER! Now you can hide those racy or provocative titles while riding the metro! You will need one skein of SILK GARDEN or KUREYON yarn (or something like that) and size 8 needles.
As always, the programs are free of charge but we do ask that you call to sign up so we have enough seats. Just call 240.632.9276 and register! We look forward to seeing you.