Great Crochet at Great Yarns

We have a Crocheter Extraordinaire at Great Yarns in Raleigh!

Deb has a design in this new Crocheted Shawls book.

This is the beautiful crochet shawl that Deb designed

in the book.

Deb can do anything that involves crochet.

And a whole lot of knitting too!

Deb is always cheerful and willing to help everyone with all

of their projects.

Many people have taken Crochet classes from Deb and have

"hooked" on it

Here is a beautiful crochet baby blanket that Deb just 

finished that is on display at Great Yarns!

THE WINNER IS...

Thank you all for participating in this little contest on our new blog!

I enjoyed hosting this event very much! 

But now, the suspense is making me feel a little queasy!

Prizes today are all wonderful sock yarns!

Some from Mary,

Some from Mary Ann

and some from my very own beautiful shelf!

I Had 78 hanks, skeins and balls of yarn on my shelf!

The nearest guess- without going over...

Our grand prize winner is - Michele D!!!

She gets this wonderful Three Waters Farm Superwash Merino in "Storm At Dusk" AND a Gift Certificate- good at all of our stores or the ONLINE STORE!

Mrs. D has been knitting her heart out for the Chapel Hill High Wrestling team's winning season, her husband is the coach! I hope she uses this prize as a treat for herself! I am so proud!

Three of you were also very close and your prizes are:

Nicole gets SHi BUi Sock- color 3001, they call it Pebble, it reminds me of the Carolina coast in winter... very pretty!

Mandy gets SRK On Your Toes- with aloe!  Shade ON223815-  a delightfully soft yarn in a very strapping colorway!

Lucinda gets Cascade Fixation in pretty pink and green, color #9904!

I can't believe it, but no one even tried to guess the amount of yarn by weight!

10 Pounds, by the way!

I thought about keeping those prizes to myself- I'm only sort of kidding!

But alas, there are two lovely ladies who had the next closest guesses:

M. Lagera with a long distance guess, gets Three Waters Farm Superwash Merino in Kaleidoscope! It doesn't count as cheating on a yarn diet if you win it!

and Cheryl gets SHi BUi Sock- color 323, a very vivid peacock!

 

and the winner of our employee contest, I am thrilled to announce is...

NICK in Greensboro! He will get  this colorful and exciting Opal in color #1435 and a surprise!

I can't wait to see all of the wonderful things that you knit with these yarns I love.

If you email me a picture of what you use them for, I  would be honored to post them on this blog and link to yours!

I will be sending you all an email, so you know it's you. Your prizes will be with me in the Carrboro shop on Sunday 1-4 pm. Come on by and say hello! If you are far away respond to my email with an address and I will ship your goodies!

Thank you all for playing, I had a blast! Just in case you were worried about me...

I get a prize too!

Regia Mozaik Color 

Shade 5560

Finished Projects

Here is lovely Rebecca modeling a newly finished store sample made in the new soft alpaca/cashmere blend King George.

This is a warm ribbed hat and scarf set made for a lucky daughter-in law!

Here is Rebecca modeling her own hooded and cabled sweater that she just completed out of the always favorite Cascade 220.

This is a finished sweater from the Fall Rowan made from wonderfully soft Kid Silk Haze and Wool Cotton.

Ann shows off her new sweater made in the now discontinued (sniff!) Rowan Cork. Notice the Rowan-like pose and gaze that you take on when you wear their products.

Patterned socks made out of Panda Cotton.

This is a beautiful baby blanket made by a customer for an as-yet-to-be -conceived grandbaby.

This cabled entrelac blanket is truly special.

This bag was made as a gift for a very lucky batman fan. The knitter graphed out the logo and designed the bag herself. How much fun!

I love seeing all the finished things people make. Please come by and show us what you have finished and we will take a picture and share them with everyone.

INSPIRED

I've been pondering knitting some copper wire into something for a while now. With two special Birthdays (actually one birthday, two special people) happening in a busy week, I needed something shiny and quick.

Reading Mary's Knitting Jewelry post got me to actually try it. 

I tell you it wasn't easy, I liked the thicker wire and I chose beads that had squared edges, so it took a bit of practice...

What fun results!

Here's what I came up with in just a short time-

and number two-

Amazing the things you think you'd never do.

Remember ladies and gentlemen that tomorrow is the last day to put in your guesses for the CONTEST!

I am so excited to start handing out prizes!!

KNITTING CIRCLES AROUND ME

I am surrounded by the coolest most inspiring people! 

That includes you who come into the shop, work with me, and read this blog.

I get encouragement and inspiration from you all.

There really is a huge amount of creativity right here around us.

I love to contribute to that, and I am learning to appreciate when the creative spoils come my way- without feeling too guilty!

Last year our good friend Mr. W. Lambe (of Guitar building fame) asked a wonderful and artistic woman to marry him, and I was instantly thinking about what to knit! It was an early summer wedding, so that automatically ruled out quite a few things. While roaming the shop one day looking for the ever elusive idea... I came upon this lovely lace weight in off -white... 800+ yards! 

Ah Ha! 

Beads! 

Random holes in it! 

I had the idea. 

This is what I did with it.

The name of the yarn is Lacey Lamb and as her name is Lacey, the future Mrs. Lambe, that was just too good to pass up! 

That's my hand, not hers, the credit for those two pictures goes to E.

The shawl came out great, she loved it. 

Then I whipped together a felted MoneyBag (another one of my sweetie's bright ideas) while they were on their honeymoon, and he and I filled it with all of our rolled change. 

That's what people really want when they get married, right?

MONEY!

So mission accomplished! I'm pretty sure they liked both of my creations, I got to enjoy the creative creating process, and not another thought about it.

Until tonight...

When Lacey gave me this-

My picture does not do this lovely painting justice, but that ball of yarn has got little eyes and a sly smile! I love him and he's my new friend! Did you see that at the bottom? "for Hannah"!!!

I  knitted things and she painted knitting things! 

I knit, she knits, we knit!

Let the World know you are a Knitter

We just got a new shipment of these car magnets . You can choose from slip, slip knit-which is left leaning, or K2tog- which is right leaning or K1P1 which s 1x1 rib

Only a knitter will know the code!

Color Explosion

Look at the Rainbow of color that came with the latest Lambs Pride Delivery!!!

Remember all these wonderful colors are not only available in our stores but you can also get them at our online store as well.

Knitting Jewelry

There is no end the the things you can knit! You can even use very thin wire and beads and make beautiful jewelry. This bracelet was hand knit with pearl beads and a mother of pearl clasp was added. It is one of my favorite bracelets that was made by a dear friend of mine.

If you don't want to knit your jewelry you can wear knitting inspired jewelry!  These charms are exactly the same- one silver - one gold. My husband gave me the gold one that I added to my charm bracelet a few years ago. The silver one was a surprise from my niece for Christmas this year. I love wearing them and get all kinds of comments about knitting from people who notice them. 

SOCKS! SOCKS! SOCKS!

People in NC must have some pretty warm and fancy feet! We have been seeing LOTS of socks getting made lately.

One lovely lady who works for us made these socks for Christmas for the girls in her family. Look at all of that wonderful work! Believe it or not, there is one more pair that she finished just in time!

We have lots of NEW sock yarn that has just arrived:

Koigu, Jitterbug and Shi Bui

Though by the time you see this the Koigu will probably be long gone...

Marks and Kattens Clown

Blissful Regia yarns:  Kaffe Fassett Collection, Galaxy and Silk Color!

The always delicious- Opal and Tofutsies!

And there is still more to come!

Finally, don't forget to check out the CONTEST on this very blog!

There might be a little sock yarn up for prizes!

It's a guessing game folks!

Hint: There is no hidden yarn!

You have until February 24th to submit your guesses!

Good luck and we'll see you at the shop!

Super Recycling Sunday

Most of the merchandise for Yarns etc and Great Yarns is delivered by my nice UPS man to my back porch in Chapel Hill. I can then unpack it and fondle it, sort it and fondle it, barcode it and fondle it and send it to the stores. The yarn is then further organized and fondled by all the wonderful helpers in each of the stores and put on the shelves. Then all of you wonderful and creative customers can have their turn at fondling the yarn and deciding what to create.

This is what is left.....

A huge pile of boxes, packaging and other debris. This is the part that is not so pretty and fun.I will get my family to help me break down these boxes and load them into the back of the truck and take them to the recycling station. Smaller boxes are saved for sending mail orders. The reusable packing like styrofoam peanuts are taken to a local shipping store and used again.

I actually don't mind doing all this because I know its the right thing for the environment and this business. I also know that I get new and beautiful yarns in those boxes and that makes me happy!

Last Thursday when I came home at 7:30  to 24 boxes on my back porch I was so excited. It was like Christmas for me! Now, I know what is in all those boxes, I ordered it. But I still had to get the box cutter out and go through every one of them-in the cold- in the dark. I have been getting boxes of yarn for 18 years and I am still excited when I see the Brown UPS truck roll up to my house. I am excited to be able to offer all of these wonderful fibers, textures and colors to all of you. 

So today, after my trip to the recycling center, I will enjoy playing with some of those new yarns that came in those boxes.

Happy Knitting!!