We had no idea how popular the cropped cardigan we knit out of COCOON would be—and of course the minute we hung it up in the shop we sold the last book. But we received 10 MORE TODAY, and we have some new colors of this fabulous yarn in stock:

We LOVE this sweater. It’s a fast knit on chunky yarn that somehow manages to remain lightweight and airy as well. And now that the cooler weather is here, we can’t wait to wear it!

Also in, lots of reorders of CASCADE, including ECO WOOL, SIERRA, 220 and 220 SUPERWASH.

Just a reminder: we are closed today for Yom Kippur. No class tonight. We wish everyone who observes an easy fast and a wonderful New Year.

Our SATURDAY KAL in October is really special. LISA TWOMEY, knitter extraordinaire, will be guiding us through the lovely BOTANICA CARDI which graced the cover of this past summer’s VOGUE KNITTING:

We have Lisa’s assurance that it is WAY easier than it looks. According to her:

” It uses a guage of 5 sts to the inch and makes two sizes, x-small/small (sz I made) and m/l which is 2” bigger. It is in the Spring/Summer issue of Vogue Knitting. I looked at all of our yarns at the shop, there are so many that will work - for absolute luxury, the Karabella Boise. I used Susan which has a guage of 6 sts/inch, but I knit it on a sz 6 needle. It worked perfectly. The Blue Sky alpaca or alpaca/silk would be great, as would the cascade pure alpaca or eco alpaca. Of course, grand opera would be nice and a bit fancier for evening. I think the felted tweed would be interesting and look great with jeans. There are too many to name, but we’ve got a lot of choices. For the small size, you need 900 yards, and for the larger size, you need 1050 yards. To outsize it, go to a yarn like the cascade
sierra or cascade 220 or superwash, and it would increase the size by 20% without having to customize the directions or change the yarn quantities. I made a sample of the circle in Sierra, and it used one skein. It would probably take no more than 2-3 skeins to make the band.”

Please bring the following to the knitalong:

For my size dpn in sz 5, 16” circular sz 5
For the larger size, dpn sz 7, and 16” circular sz 7
For everyone, 3×5 notecards (4 cards) to write the pattern for the outer band which is knit like a scarf and then sewn to the circle at the end.
Row counter
Markers which are ESSENTIAL
Vogue Knitting Spring/Summer 2009 - I recommend that they copy pattern to make notes

If you don’t have a copy of the magazine, please call the shop. I have emailed the designer for her advice so that we don’t run into copyright issues. I know that there is a copy of the magazine for sale through amazon, so if you wish, go through this link here:

Call the shop to register for this FREE program, which will run every Saturday in October from 2-4 PM.

Because we just finished knitting the cutest hat EVER—the WESLEY BERET from Fibre Company. The pattern is free with purchase of yarn and is a great way to learn easy color knitting the SLIP STITCH WAY. We used three colors of the luscious JULIA yarn (alpaca/wool blend) and can’t wait for the cold weather so we can wear this!!!

It’s also going to be a SUNDAY IN THE SALON in December; perfect for a quick last minute gift.

Thanks to all who gave such positive feeback to our Fall Newsletter. We really appreciate the kudos and suggestions for future issues.

Nothing garnered more interest than our upcoming MITTEN MADNESS week in early November. Although it is too early to sign up for any of the sessions (you can do so beginning October 25), we have selected our book of the week to jazz you up a bit:

If you haven’t knit mittens before, this is a wonderful beginner’s book. The patterns are easy, even the thumbs, and the book will prepare you for some of the more advanced designs we will feature in November. And how cute is it that it is mitten-shaped??? Simply click on the link to purchase this gem from our affiliate www.amazon.com.

As for this weekend, we will finish our STRICKWEAR KAL on Saturday and our KNIT LOAFERS on Sunday. The loafers were a huge hit. Fun, easy and fast. We have already had folks in getting materials for a second pair. If you missed last week, you can join in the fun this SUNDAY from 2-4 PM. Just call us and we will reserve a spot for you at the table. As always, the program is FREE OF CHARGE.

Please note we will be closed MONDAY in observance of the Yom Kippur Holiday.

Bring the following needles depending on what size you are going to make:

Women’s Small (6-8): 2 circs size 8
Women’s Medium (9-10): 2 circs size 9
Men’s Large (10-12): 2 circs size 10

The needles can be any length.

See you at 2. We are going to have a lot of fun. And it’s FREE!!!!!

Believe it or not, this will end up a normal size bag!!! How much fun is that? DAWN has worked on this beauty in her SAFARI class and we just couldn’t resist showing it off on the website. Want to join in the fun? We have lots of felting programs coming up this fall; just check our class schedule and program calendar. Intrigued by the FAIR ISLE pattern? Give us a call and we will set you up with PAIGE, our Fair Isle Queen!

We love Thursdays because we have been off for a few days and there is usually stuff waiting when we come in. Today was no exception. We received the gorgeous BLUE SKY COTTON in the creme colorway, as well as two sold out colors of the luscious ALPACA/SILK.

Next up, two GINORMOUS boxes from our friends at Westminster Fibers. We heard from several customers that they really wanted us to stock a 4 ply cotton for baby/kids stuff, so we now have 11 colors of the magnificent SIENA COTTON. This mercerized cotton will do WAY more than kids stuff; think fine knits for yourself as well. Lots of colors from muted to bold. We love this yarn.

At the other end of the spectrum, more colors of COCOON and MERINO GRANDE. It’s supposed to be a cold winter this year, but we aren’t waiting. Come check out the cropped cardigan we knit from COCOON. It feels like pure luxury. And the MERINO GRANDE ended a five year search for machine washable chunky yarn. Tough to find, but worth the wait!

And here’s hoping it IS cold this year, because we have SEVEN colors of ROWAN BIG WOOL. This is Kerry’s favorite yarn. Find out why!

Yeah, you might THINK it’s not last minute, but we can almost guarantee that you will be remiss in your holiday gift knitting/crocheting if you don’t start NOW!!! And this book will help. We love this one—Joelle is the genius behind PURL SOHO in New York and is one clever and creative woman. Check out the selections in this book, make a few, and you will be the most popular person at the holidays. Know someone who does yoga? We made the FELTED YOGA MAT last year for both ourself and a friend….what a hit!!!

Click on the amazon link to purchase this wonderful book. You will get a great price and help us as well.

And WoolWinders is here to help with your holiday crafting. We begin our “12 WEEKS OF CHRISHANUKWANZAA” with this week’s SUNDAY IN THE SALON, already described below. We focus on gift giving in our fall programs; you will notice that we try to make the projects quicker each week! So join us….and avoid that last minute rush in December to get things done.

Finally, our fall NEWSLETTER will be out this weekend. The ONLY way to get it is through your email, so sign up now. Just go to the bottom left of this home page and complete the information for our email list. We don’t do ANYTHING by snail mail anymore (we’d much rather spend our money on yarn!), so don’t miss out on all our schedules, announcements, events, and tips.

We are so excited about this weekend’s SUNDAY IN THE SALON that we are posting earlier than usual. Join us from 2-4 PM as KERRY leads a program on KNIT LOAFERS. That’s right. KNIT LOAFERS. These are simply fabulous. If you have basic knitting skills and a sense of adventure, you should be fine. And we are going to continue the program next weekend as well.

So here are the details. You will need to download the pattern from www.cocoknits.com. It’s really easy to do; the pdf format of the pattern will arrive in your email. We will have some extra copies at the shop for you, but we will ask you to reimburse us for the $6.00 cost to ensure that the creative designer gets paid for her work!

Second, you can use a variety of yarn for these. Trust us, Kerry has tried. Manos is great, as is a double strand of Cascade 220. These babies are NOT felted (don’t ask; we thought they were and our first attempt will be shown at the class!) and you want some density.

Finally, bring circular needles sizes 8, 9, and 10 depending on what size loafer you want to make.

Give us a call to sign up for this FREE program. 240.632.9276 will save a space at the table for you. These make GREAT holiday gifts, so come join us!

It sort of caught us by surprise given the Labor Day holiday, but here goes. Our BOOK OF THE WEEK, available through our lovely friends at www.amazon.com plays into KERRY’S current obsession and is well in advance of our MITTEN MADNESS program in November:

The patterns are adorable and include both knitting and crochet selections. So just click on the link to amazon and you will be taken directly to this lovely book.

As for this weekend, we continue our SATURDAY KAL with the Strickwear kits that had some folks in a bit of a tizzy last week, with many balls of yarn flying around! And on Sunday, we will be creating a lovely SHAWL from laceweight yarn. The great thing about this pattern is that you can stick it in a ziploc bag and carry it around with you EVERYWHERE! It’s a great alternative to socks, if you are not inclined to be a sock knitter. You will need about 600 yards of laceweight yarn and size 11 needles.

Finally, we were gone for a few days this week, and came back to lots of good stuff at the shop: Five new colors of MINI MOCHI, CRYSTAL PALACE NEEDLES, and the new INTERWEAVE WEEKEND KNITS!

We are blown away by the success of our LEARN TO KNIT/LEARN TO CROCHET classes which began last Saturday. We suspected the $10 price tag would lure newbies in….and we are thrilled at the opportunity to expose everyone to these wonderful crafts at a reasonable price. But please note, you MUST call ahead to register. The cornerstone of our instruction is the small class size (limit 5 participants). So here’s the deal. Just give us a call beginning a week ahead of the session, give us a credit card to hold your spot, and then show up. You can take as many classes as you want for just $10 EACH TIME. Best of all, you can sign up for the following week right away! We teach CROCHET on SATURDAYS from NOON-1 PM, and KNITTING from 12-1 on Sundays and 6:30=7:30 PM on MONDAYS.

Beginning TODAY at noon, we drastically change the way we teach KNITTING and CROCHET. You can learn either (or both) for just $10 a session. Take as many or as few as you need to feel confident that you can progress on your own! CROCHET will be held every SATURDAY from noon-1 PM; KNITTING on SUNDAY noon-1 PM and MONDAYS 6:30-7:30 PM (no class Labor Day). Just give us a call to sign up. We are limiting the groups to five participants and we do ask that you 1) give us a credit card to hold your spot, and 2) work with yarn purchased here. But where else can you learn these crafts for just $10!!!! How’s that for a stimulus package?

We are going to remember that we are in business and offer this up. We received ONE of the fabulous ADDI CLICK sets for the shop. We plan on getting more around the holidays, but one lucky person can buy it NOW!!! This set promises more than 500 combinations of needle sizes with 10 pairs of addi Turbo needle tips, 3 blue cords and 1 connector. Best of all? They are ADDI NEEDLES!!!!! So come check them out. What a great gift for yourself.

So you know what that means. Book of the week through our lovely pals at www.amazon.com and info about the upcoming weekend.

First, the book. We just received this at home and we are officially in love. FRENCH GIRL KNITS not only has gorgeous designs, but clever ones as well. Many go in different directions or have features that are just plain surprising. If you are an experienced knitter who is just getting a bit, well, bored with your projects, this is the book for you:

To order at a great price, simply follow the link. And while you are there, you can order ANYTHING from amazon at the same time (we just received leg weights for our exercise classes. Don’t ask.)

As for this weekend, it is the start of a new month, and we are treating it accordingly. On Saturday, we begin our LEARN TO CROCHET lessons from 12-1 PM for just $10 a session! That’s right. Just $10. If you are a quick learner, you may only need one. Or two. But no matter how many you need or want, each session is just $10. Every Saturday. How’s that for helping you save some money in these precarious times?

Our KAL will follow from 2-4 pm with everyone working on their own STRICKWEAR KIT. Please have your yarn wound beforehand; we simply don’t have the staff to do it for you. Note that you will always be working with THREE STRANDS OF YARN, so wind the skeins accordingly. If you have a winder, or want to use ours, you can wind each skein individually and use both a center and outer pull. If now, wind your two skeins, (or one if you are doing a scarft) into three. It will make your life much easier.

On Sunday, join us from 12-1 as our LEARN TO KNIT classes begin, again for just $10 a session. These are designed for absolute beginners. We will start with casting on and teach knitting, purling, and binding off. Later sessions will get into pattern reading and gauge. Please call to sign up; we want to limit each class to five participants.

On Sunday, our SALON will be buzzing with folks knitting SCARVES FOR THE HOMELESS. This is part of a wonderful event hosted by the owners of ORIGINAL PANCAKE HOUSE, who close their restaurants on Christmas Day to feed the homeless and give them gifts. This year, they are giving scarves. So they need lots. And we will help. We have a lot of patterns, and ask only that you use yarn purchased at WoolWinders. Give us a call to let us know you will be participating so we save some room. Our charity events always draw big crowds. Can’t come? Stop by the shop and pick up a pattern or two and some yarn.

Finally, we will be closed on Monday, Labor Day.

For those of you not on our email list (easy to join, just look on the lower left side of this home page) we are pleased to announce SCHAEFER DAY AT WOOLWINDERS. On Sunday, October 18, the shop will be closed for two activities: a five hour program led by Schaefer designer LAURA NELKIN on knitting with beads (check out her MIGRATIONS SCARF below. It’s a great way to learn beaded knitting) and then a SCHAEFER YARN PETTING ZOO from 5:30-7:30 featuring all sorts of yarns for sale and order. We are so excited about this. You can call the shop for more details—but please sign up on our email list so you can keep up with all the latest at WoolWinders, including receipt of our quarterly emails.