Today’s goodies from our lovely Javier, the UPS Guy? Reorders of the BLUE SKY ALPACA ORGANIC COTTON and ALPACA/SILK. We looked at the bins and found them nearly empty. So come and get these wonderful yarns. The cotton is great for children’s sweaters and blankets and the alpaca/silk is the ultimate shawl yarn. We have plenty of patterns, ideas, and opinions!

Our lovely friends at FAIRMOUNT FIBERS sent us reorders of MANOS DEL URUGUAY today. Come check out our 25 bins of this amazing yarn. From the day WoolWinders opened its doors it has been our best selling yarn. And we are fully stocked in anticipation (sshh) of our FELTING FRENZY which will define our SUNDAYS IN THE SALON beginning in January!

We are gearing up for our extremely popular FELTED BOWL program this weekend. We have had tremendous sign up and so we are having TWO sessions: SATURDAY and SUNDAY from 2-4 PM. Please, please, please call or email us (jacqui@woolwinders.com) if you have signed up and let us know WHICH session you will be attending. We have room for 12 at each program, and hate turning people away when we are out of chairs!

Materials will be one skein of MANOS yarn (or 220 held double) and size 11 dpns (or 2 circs). If you have your needles, please bring them. We don’t routinely stock the larger size of dpns!

We came in today to an enormous box from CASCADE YARNS and a small flat box from XRX. Within? Reorders of the popular 220 SUPERWASH, ICELAND, and the yummiest winter yarn EVER, BABY ALPACE CHUNKY. And the WINTERS KNITTER as well—filled with lovely designs including several for the men in your life!

The weekend after Thanksgiving is always one of our favorites. There is just a buzz of activity at the shop between customers who avoid mall shopping at all costs, classes, and kids who just want to check out the yarn! First up, we enjoyed FLO’S friends MAURA and AVI who brought kids along on Friday; daughter NATALYA has become quite the knitter, and Maura’s son JAKE was extremely proud of his mom’s first hat for him made from the wonderfully washable ROWAN VIGNETTE:

On Saturday, MARIETTA just had to plunk the snowman hat onto MAX, our favorite weekend employee/model:

And is there anything more exciting than watching new knitters? SABRA and CAROLINE finished ABSOLUTE BEGINNERS with their baby hats ready for display:

We still have lots going on at the shop. Don’t forget that this is the LAST week of the NORO sale: all books and yarn is 30% off. We have odds and ends left—if you want to make a quick hat, scarf, pair of mittens….check out the gorgeous colors of NIJI, SILK GARDEN, SILVER THAW, IRO and KOCHORON. And the books are wonderful; all NORO knits at standard worsted or chunky gauges, so the patterns can be used for a variety of yarns.

Finally, the WINTER CLASS SCHEDULE will be at the shop TODAY. We have sent it off to our lovely webmistress STACY, who promises ot have it up on the site by FRIDAY. Get a jump on the schedule by coming into the shop-our classes are small and fill quickly. Look for the WINTER SUNDAYS IN THE SALON schedule by the end of the week as well.

And really FINALLY--we are spending our days off this week working on the WINTER NEWSLETTER. Just a reminder—we only send this out by email (so we can spend our money on yarn for you!). Just go to the lower left corner of the home page to get on our mailing list—it is a three step process to ensure privacy and anti-spam, so follow all the prompts.

The SUNDAY IN THE SALON for the FELTED BOWL has proven to be immensely popular. So we are going to run it twice over that weekend: SATURDAY, DECEMBER 1 from 2-4 as well as SUNDAY, DECEMBER 2 from 2-4. If you have signed up or are on the waitlist, please call and let us know which day you prefer. Just give us a call at the shop: 240.632.9276. We would really appreciate the ability to accomodate everyone who wants to take this program!!!!

That’s right-it is the final week of NORO-EMBER. Take 30% off all remaining NORO YARN and PATTERN BOOKS. And if you love the look of NORO but haven’t the time to knit, come check out our reasonably priced NORO SAMPLES!!! We have HATS, SCARVES, BAGS,and SWEATERS!!!

Customers likeJennifer, who show such enthusiasm with each project. Doesn’t she look beautiful in the picture below? The sweater is the SONNET pattern from www.knitty.com and the yarn is ROWAN TAPESTRY. We are hoping that she wears it to her Thanksgiving dinner. Thanks for giving us such a smile, Jennifer! And thanks to LIANA who forwarded the picture on to us.

First off, our holiday hours. We are closing at 3:00 today and will reopen on Friday at 11 AM. We sincerely wish all of our wonderful customers a happy and healthy holiday.

And the SUNDAY IN THE SALON this weekend, CABLED HANDWARMERS, is filled. However, if you want to come, give us a call around noon on Sunday. We sometimes have cancellations. And on that note, if you have signed up and can’t come, please call us and let us know so we can accomodate others. We really appreciate it.

The handwarmers, shown below, are adorable. The skills we will be teaching will be working on dpns and cabling. You will need 100 yards of worsted weight yarn 9 (with not a smidge to spare) and size 6 DPNS. Thanks to our lovely friends at CRYSTAL PALACE, we have plenty in stock.

18 colors have at least (another 17 are on the way!!!) Anyone who has ever worked with KOIGU knows that the yarn is well worth the five month wait to spin, dye and ship it from Canada! Let the knitting begin. And we have some wonderful patterns to go with this yarn. Socks, Shawls, Sweaters, Hats, Kids’ Stuff—-everything is better with KOIGU!

If it is the Saturday before Thanksgiving, it must be time for the annual WOOLWINDERS HOLIDAY PARTY! The staff and spouses show up in their finest outfits, which this year included hand knit tops (of course) and a kilt, thanks to Jessica’s husband Mark! Daughter Alison, new to the staff, rounded out the family atmosphere, as did Baby Max (our Saturday staff person!), who was invited as well. We all felt quite festive at the NORMANDIE FARM INN, which gave us our own room and lovely service, food, and wine. We feel quite lucky to celebrate the holidays with people who, in addition to working hard at the shop, are good friends as well. So HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO ALL from the WoolWinders staff!

Don’t forget our THANKSGIVING SALE is in full swing. In addition to the NORO, all yarn with any hint of pumpkin or cranberry is on sale!

We found a unique vendor at last summer’s TNNA show: MOVING MUD. A young couple (and their adorable baby SCOUT) comprise the company; they spend their time in the Vermont countryside creating amazing GLASS CLOSURES, SCARF PINS and SHAWL PINS. Is it any wonderful that one of our lovely customers said about MOVING MUD “I want to be them.”

Come see this unique collection of SHAWL PINS in various shapes and SCARF (or BELT) BUCKLES. You will never see anything like them!

That’s right! From now through WEDNESDAY all NORO patterns and YARNS are 25% off (30* if you buy a full bag of yarn!). We barely have sweater quantities left (some IRO and KOCHORON as well as NIJI) but we do have great colors for such things as hats, felted clogs and bags etc. Here is one of our favorite bags made from NORO KUREYON:

The pattern is free with a purchase of yarn!

And Javier brought us other wonders as well, the two new WINTER pattern books from ROWAN (OK, there are new to us!): PURE WOOL FAMILY COLLECTION and KIDSILK DREAM:

So many possibilities, now that winter weather has finally arrived!

We don’t get much new stuff this time of year (although the KOIGU should be here next week—YAY!!!), but we did get some goodies from CASCADE. We love the new book GREAT AMERICAN AFGHAN from Knitters. Filled with great designers’ selections for Afghan squares, there are endless possibilities. Whether you are called by FAIR ISLE, ARAN, INTARSIA or the like, check out these wonderful designs made from CASCADE 220 SUPERWASH:

Also in, reorders of FITTED KNITS and CABLES UNTANGLED, two excellent books for sweater knitters. And we are restocked with Cascade 220 in the ever popular BLACK. Finally, we have a couple of new patterns from NORA BELLOWS, the genius behind NONI BAGS. Her fall collection is just outstanding!

The amazingly lightweight/sharp edged ADDI LACE NEEDLES are back in stock. We like these so much that we use them for many projects in addition to lace. The points are sharp, the cord is secure, and the join is seamless. We recommend these for ALL lace projects—we have found nothing better for working with thin yarn!

And an additional note for all ADDI needles—the prices are going up with our next order. So come and get ‘em now!

When you work in a yarn shop, your friends generally want to learn to knit. We have all experienced this, and recently FLO taught two good friends the wonderful craft on a “GIRLS’ BEACH WEEKEND.’ MOIRA finished her scarf last week and we convinced her to email a picture. Doesn’t her daughter BECCA look beautiful in it? Every stitch is just perfect!

We love SUNDAYS at the shop because there is always a lot of action going on. First up, our friend JEN stopped by to show us her fabulous SERAPHIM shawl made from SCHAEFER ANNE. Don’t worry, we have already ordered the pattern and are planning a SUNDAY IN THE SALON for this project. Jen terms it a “great beginner lace shawl.”

Next, everyone got down to business, with HEATHER leading the way:

It was Heather’s first teaching gig at the shop and you can see by the looks of concentration on ANNE and DEIRDRE’S faces that she did beautifully:

The end result? Everyone produced a lovely CHRISTMAS ORNAMENT. For some, it was a first foray into FAIR ISLE KNITTING:Many thanks to PAIGE, who designed the pattern and knit the model. If you would like to make a few of these (they go really quickly!), we have the pattern at the shop free with a purchase of yarn.

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And our NORO-EMBER sale continues. We have sweater quantities left in just a few colors of IRO, KOCHORON, and NIJI. Lots of hats, socks, clogs etc. can be made from KUREYON, SILK GARDEN, SILVER THAW and SILK MOUNTAIN. Through Thursday—20% off. Beginning FRIDAY, 25% off, with an additional 5% to those buying a whole bag.And we have lots of pattern books to inspire!

The perfect sweater for the cold snap? This lovely ribbed number made from NORO KOCHORON. And as of today, all NORO books and yarns are 20% OFF!!! *We have some beautiful colors of this yarn that has just a touch of angora to give it luxury and yumminess (but not enough to shed all over you).

*BUY A FULL BAG OF ANY NORO YARN AND RECEIVE 25% OFF!

My! Haven’t we been busy lately???? Check out the projects completed below. First up, GAIL did the EASY CHUNKY HAT in last Sunday’s Salon:

And Stephanie finished hers too! Everyone made great progress on this great hat—a perfect way to learn to knit in the round, and have a warm hat for chilly morning walks:

And then DEBBIE stopped by to model her completed SONNET made from MANOS. This is a wonderful first sweater project. In fact, stay tuned for information regarding a NEW program in the SALON beginning in JANUARY, 2008. (Hint, can you say “knitalong”?)

And finally, shy CHRIS would only let us photograph her completed GLOVE, another Sunday project:

Now do you know why we LOVE this time of year????

Waiting for us when we came in to teach tonight, the new INTERWEAVE KNITS. All we can say is “BRAVO.”

Also in, reorders of the BLUE SKY ORGANIC COTTON in creme. We just can’t keep it in stock! The ultimate soft cotton.

before we opened the shop was from three lovely women who owned a shop in Chicago. They said, “PUT THINGS ON SALE WHEN YOU CAN’T STAND TO LOOK AT THEM ANYMORE.” Well, we have been doing extensive inventory over the past few weeks, and found some things we just, quite frankly, want to get rid of! So if you are the type of person who loves a good bargain, come check out the books and single patterns we have for either $1.00 or $2.00. You saw that correctly. We have offerings from SIRDAR, TAHKI/STACY CHARLES, BERROCO, CLASSIC ELITE, DROPS, DALE OF NORWAY, and so many more. Single patterns, all $1.00. And books/leaflets are $2.00. Come on in, grab some Halloween Candy, and peruse some fabulous designs at rock-bottom prices!

Please note: anyone scheduled for a class or lesson SUNDAY morning, be aware of TWO THINGS. First, the annual Rockville Race is scheduled for that morning and the streets will be closed until around 10:10-10:15, so you will not be able to enter the community to park until then. We will begin morning activities at 10:30 (or thereabouts, giving everyone a chance to park and relax). To add to the confusion, the time change also occurs this weekend. Please remember to TURN YOUR CLOCKS BACK ONE HOUR before you go to bed on Saturday night!

So we will see you Sunday, hopefully at the correct time!

Which is why we are naming November “NORO-EMBER.” Here’s how the sale works, as we are trying to appeal to those who can’t abide delayed gratification as well as those who like rock-bottom deals:

November 1-7: All NORO yarns, books, and patterns are 15% off
November 8-14: All NORO is 20% off
November 15-22: 25% off (get the picture????)
November 23-30: All NORO is 30% off

And if you buy entire bags of the yarn you get an additional 5% discount. As with all promotions, Lew the Lawyer has rules: All sales are final, no refunds/exchanges. Sale is on existing stock only, no special orders. And the sale price can’t be combined with any other discount including the frequent buyer card or birthday discount.

What yarns are included? Select from: SILK GARDEN DK, KUREYON, AURORA, CASH IROHA, SILK GARDEN, NIJI, KOCHORON, SILVER SHAW, SILK MOUNTAIN, and IRO. And if you want, we will throw in a fabulous free pattern that makes a sweater that stripes VERTICALLY! Books include designs by DEBBIE BLISS, JANE ELLISON, and CORNELIA TUTTLE HAMILTON.