Don’t like wool? Want cozy and soft? Love neutral colors? Do we have a yarn for you. Check out the BLUE SKY ORGANIC COTTON. We began carrying this yarn last year and can’t keep it in stock!!! But we have all the colors in the shop right now and plenty of patterns to match up with this heavy worsted beauty.

DOUBLE TROUBLE, the fabulous pattern book from TWISTED SISTERS, sold out within the first week of its arrival. So the lovely Terri has sent us more. Come check out these designs, which can be knit up in wool OR cotton, in case the fall weather never arrives!

We just heard from one of our lovely customers that the shop phone number in our email sent this morning is not only wrong, but disconnected! Oops. Spellcheck doesn’t catch reversed numbers. The shop’s number is 240.632.9276. AND we have the wrong date for the YARN TASTING. It is FRIDAY, OCTOBER 12. Only two spaces remain! Hopefully the rest of the day will be error-free.

Sometimes things just take precedence over yarn (gasp!). It’s our dad’s 82nd birthday today and so we are closing the shop at 6 PM. We will resume our late hours NEXT Thursday from 6-8 PM. And we appreciate everyone’s support in this. Many thanks.

As for this Sunday’s SUNDAY IN THE SALON, we are filled, which guarantees we will repeat the program! If you have signed up. you will need a 32” size 9 needle as well as the following choice of yarn: either 275 yards of DK weight yarn (pick one that has good drape) plus 137 yards if you want to bind off in a contrast color OR 2 skeins of KIDSILK HAZE/NIGHT/PARISENNE plus 1 skein for contrast. You will be holding these yarns double to reach the DK weight. The model is done in Kidsilk Haze.

New stuff in today-reorders of the popular and yummy CASHSOFT DK from Rowan as well as new colors of TAPESTRY and IVY. We love all these yarns and they serve different purposes. If you are looking for a soft yet washable wool blend, look no further than CASHSOFT. We regard this yarn as the perfect one for blankets, sweaters, hats, mittens…anything that benefits from being popped into the washer. TAPESTRY is a bit more sophisticated-we love the soy in the yarn that makes it soft and luxurious. Check out the SONNET model in the shop made from this yarn. If you knit side to side, the stripes run in a very flattering VERTICAL direction. And we have confessed to being a sparkly girl, and judging from the sales of IVY, many of you are as well. This worsted weight yarn has a metallic thread running through it yet retains a soft hand. Try it for a quick shawl.

Also in, two new books from INTERWEAVE: THE BEST OF INTERWEAVE KNITS and BAG STYLE. Ok, we are going to ogle the patterns now!

to those who wait! We have waited literally five years for FLO MEIT(on the right in pic) to work at the shop and yesterday was her first day! Flo, who used to live around the corner from the store, was one of our first customers five years ago, along with then baby Hannah and nearly six year old son Benjamin. Husband David, who sent her gorgeous welcoming flowers, is a frequent shopper as well. Now that Hannah has started kindergarten, Flo is able to work Thursdays and Fridays while the kids are in school. Yesterday she dove right in to help a customer:

and today she will start using our POS system. Join us in welcoming FLO to the shop. And don’t be surprised if she counts stitches in French. Flo hails from Belgium!

Debbie Bliss’ new book arrived today. The patterns are gorgeous! They are written for a variety of her yarns, and even if we don’t carry the specific yarn, we guarantee we have something at the gauge. We love her designs and think you will too:

Also in, a new color of NORO KOCHORON, the luxurious wool/silk blend with just a touch of angora. Enough to make this yarn yummy, not enough to shed. Perfect!

It was a very busy week at WoolWinders. We received TWISTED SISTERS yarns and patterns as well as our much-anticipated MOUNTAIN COLORS order:

Thanks to KARINA’S hard work, the bins look great! So we rewarded her with a party last night. OK, it wasn’t really about the bins. It was to thank her for being the heart and soul of WoolWinders over the past four years. She is off to Los Angeles next week to start college. We couldn’t just let her leave now, could we? After all, we have raised her from a pup! Many customers didn’t know that Karina started work here when she was just 14 years old!!! Her knowledge, patience, and maturity dazzled us then, and never let up. Karina, we love you and wish you the very best in California:

And folks, this is the last weekend of the TWISTED SISTERS TRUNK SHOW. Like Karina, the models will be shipped off to California next week. Come check out these amazing designs and yarn!

And we have it in stock. The colors you would expect from such an artist at a wonderful price—$8.99/50 gram balls:

This is just a sample. We have five different colorways in this soft and yummy washable wool blend.

If you have signed up for this week’s (and next) SUNDAY IN THE SALON featuring the afghan kit, please bring the accompanying pattern booklet with you. We will be reviewing all of the choices and “practicing” the more difficult ones so that you don’t learn them on your actual kit. You may want to read through the four choices: SIDEWAYS STRIPES, SCALLOPS, BLOCKS and DIAMONDS so that you can figure out which one you like. There is also an option to do the SCALLOP pattern in a shawl if you like. In addition to the kit, you will need 32” size 11 needles (we have them in bamboo) and large ring markers if you are doing the scallop pattern.

And the house has never looked better! Except for KOIGU, which arrives late fall, we have received all of our TNNA goodies. MOUNTAIN COLORS arrived yesterday and we took some great pictures of Karina lolling among all the skeins. Unfortunately, we deleted them by accident when we got home. So stay tuned for pictures of the yarn beautifully shelved-we will take those today and try to post them CORRECTLY tonight! In the mean time, we will show you some of their beautiful coloways off of their website:

How popular was MOUNTAIN COLORS last year? We were left with only four skeins by the June TNNA show, so we doubled our order this year. Check out the gorgeous colors of TWIZZLER, MOUNTAIN GOAT, BEARFOOT, HALF CREPE, MERINO RIBBON and WEAVERS WOOL that we have this year. We have tons of well-written patterns to support the yarn. And if you want something really fabulous, we bought four kits that have put together their yarns for sweaters and our favorite, GINGER’S VEST, shown below.

This was yarn worth waiting for! We came in early yesterday to sort, price, and arrange the yarns and patterns we received from TWISTED SISTERS. First we arranged it by wool (JAZZ) versus cotton (DAKTARI):

And then, thanks to the lovely PAIGE, had it put beautifully into shelves and bins:

The TRUNK SHOW will be at the shop through MONDAY, so make some time this weekend to check out this extraordinary line.

We can hardly wait! Four events will be taking place this week at WoolWinders. First, we are expecting TWISTED SISTERS yarns and patterns TOMORROW!!!! The trunk show has been generating a bit of buzz, particularly since KARINA has been changing our mannequin, KNITASHA’s outfit daily. So come check out the goods.

Second, a favorite from last year returns—MOUNTAIN COLORS!! We learned that they shipped from the West Coast last Friday and our order is TWICE AS LARGE as last season! We love their rich colors, yummy fibers, and beautiful designs.

Third, the newsletter should be out by the end of the week. It is chock full of new stock, new staff, new patterns, and new tips. Oh and the FALL 2007 CLASS SCHEDULE is there too. Our more than 30 classes are filling rapidly.

Finally, check out this week’s SUNDAY IN THE SALON. If you are been drooling over the ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS (or CHERYL SCHAEFER) KIT but were afraid to tackle the eight skeins, six pattern designs, or the winding of the yarn, come join us. You will receive 15% off any kit in the shop (existing stock only) and if you pick out the kit by WEDNESDAY, we will even roll the yarn for you. Then just bring the bag of yarn to the salon from 2-4 on SUNDAY and we will demonstrate all the pattern choices and teach you how to change yarns. The program continues next SUNDAY as well. Just give us a call to reserve your spot so that you have a place to sit!

We rarely do trunk shows at WoolWinders—quite frankly we would rather knit up the models ourselves, but we couldn’t resist the offer from our new favorite vendor TWISTED SISTERS. Check out the samples they have sent us! They are dramatic, flattering, and best of all a lot of fun to make. We will have the trunk show through September 18 and the pattern books and yarn will arrive at the shop TUESDAY (we have already cleared some “prime real estate” display space for it). So come whet your appetite this weekend and return next week to see the yarns and patterns. We fell in love with this line at TNNA and think you will feel the same:

We have spent the past two days sorting, pricing, rearranging and shelving a huge order from ROWAN. Lots of beautiful yarns, including new colors of TAPESTRY (a store favorite) and their wonderful new yarn KIDSILK AURA (perfect for people who love KIDSILK HAZE but don’t like the thinness of the strand). Beautiful pattern books from NASHUA and RYC. New sock yarn from REGIA. A gorgeous new book ROWAN STORY OF LITTLE KNITS that has already been scooped up by a staff member who shall remain anonymous!

Stay tuned for info about a TRUNK SHOW from TWISTED SISTERS (hint: the yarns and books will be here by early next week). We are just confirming that we actually ordered the stuff to make all the models they sent!

We apologize for the crossed messages about our upcoming LACE SHAWL program this SUNDAY from 2-4. The class is filled, (we will take names and phone numbers for a wait list) but there was some confusion about which shawl we would be teaching. We will be working on MICHELLE’S SHAWL from our new favorite shawl book WRAPPED IN COMFORT. It is a wonderful design and both fun and challenging to knit. We wouldn’t recommend this as a first lace project as the repeat shifts on the last row of the cycle so markers can’t be used. But if you have done lace and love the feeling of getting into the “lace counting” zone, you will LOVE this.

Participants should be prepared to purchase about 600-800 yards of fingering weight yarn—we have lots of beautiful offerings. All of our fingering weight yarn does need to be wound, so please purchase this ahead of time. Bring or buy size 8 32” circular needles.

We will see you SUNDAY from 2-4.

FLO sent us this lovely picture of her finished BOBBLE BAG made during the Noni Bag workshop this summer. Needless to say, we are looking forward to having Nora back here next year. And as an aside, we are also looking forward to welcoming FLO as an employee at the shop in two weeks!!! Stay tuned for other staff news!

We received two HUGE boxes from COLINETTE today containing yarn, patterns and kits that are new. How new? So new that their American distributor doesn’t even have them up on the website. So you will just have to come in and check out IONA, their heavy worsted offering that is an unbelievably soft blend of luxury silk, kid mohair, and wool. And of course the yarn is dyed in the vibrant colorways that mark COLINETTE. We are drooling over the pattern book for the yarn, again so new and precious that we only received ONE copy.

And to show that we love our crocheters (even though we can’t seem to master the technique), we have brand new PILLOW KITS from Colinette as well. As soon as we can reach MARIETTA, we will get one made up, but we saw these at the TNNA show and fell in love with them!

We returned from our vacation to all sorts of new yarns and patterns. And we know that before we get to those goodies, we have to answer the two questions on everyone’s minds about our trip:

1. What did you knit while you were away?
2. Did you find a yarn store?

1. We made a short sleeved cardigan out of PATRICIA ROBERTS DK COTTON. The pattern is one of our favorites from KIRSTEN COWAN and was a fun, easy, mock cable knit. Look for it to be hanging in the shop next week.

2. Yes, although we weren’t looking. We were on our way from Cape Town to the Cape of Good Hope when we spotted a small yarn shop called, interestingly enough, YARN SHOP, in Fish Hoek. Of course we had to stop in. For anyone going to South Africa in the near future, we can report that the shop was adorable, the staff kind and helpful, and we did not leave without purchasing a lovely hand-dyed bamboo yarn produced by a woman in Cape Town. We have her name and contact information.

And one more item before listing our new arrivals. We knew before we left for three weeks that we are blessed with a fabulous staff. How fabulous? We had not a moment of worry while we were halfway around the world. The store thrived, the classes and programs went on without a hitch, and even the blog was maintained. So thanks to KARINA, GAIL, RAISA, MARIETTA, JESSICA, ALISON, KATHY, and HEATHER. We hope we let you know often just how fabulous we think you are.

And now onto the goodies. Check out the new colors of SUBLIME DK and ARAN--this yarn flies off the shelves when it is in stock. We have a new color of NORO IRO along with a wonderful new book from JANE ELLISON, restocks of ADDI NATURA NEEDLES, new patterns from BLUE SKY ALPACA (including a wonderful ribbed sweater for men), the Fall issue of KNITTERS, and some new offerings from COLINETTE: tone on tone colors of JITTERBUG and CADENZA

We are in our “back to school” mode as evidenced by the more than 30 classes scheduled this fall at WoolWinders. Check them out by following the link on the left. Whether you are an absolute beginner, an advanced beginner ready to tackle pattern reading, a knitter ready for the challenge and fun of a SAFARI, or an advanced knitter eager to learn design, Fair Isle, or other more challenging techniques, we have the class for you! Classes are held weekday and weekend mornings and Monday-Wednesday evenings. Lots of times, lots of choices!

You can register by phone, email, or in person; we do ask for payment at time of registration. See you soon!

Just a reminder that the reversable cable SUNDAY IN THE SALON is filled, and for all of those who have signed up, the materials are: 300 yds of DK wight yarn, some stitch markers, a cable needle and of course knitting needles that compliment the yarn. For the rest, Have a wonderful holiday weekend!