We unloaded, inventoried and got so excited over the Lorna's Laces Swirl Chunky and DK yarn shipment I mentioned in my earlier blog, but phew we are tired!At one point yesterday I had my pile of swirl up to a cash value of $300.00, but calmed down a bit and ended up under $100.00.It was hard though and even Amber is in on this one with about a $100.00 order sitting over her desk. Sandy was the most restrained at only one hank of the Chunky, but somehow I have a feeling she isn't done yet.We both cast on last night with the Chunky for a darling 'Icing Swirl Hat' from Ysolda's Whimsical Little Knits book and are both at about the same point.At any rate this tired little bean needs to get back to work, but I thought you would enjoy seeing the shop in such fantastic upheaval!As always, happy...

We received a HUGE shipment of Lorna's Laces Swirl yarn and when I say HUGE I mean it!! Lorna's is discontinuing the Swirl line and we are getting tons, dyed in a lot of their best colors too. It will be coming in DK and Chunky for your knitting pleasure, I can't wait! The shipment came via freight not UPS, so that tells you how much we got.Amanda sent us this picture of her on the yarn mountain during the drying process, wow! You can see all the racks with yarn on them too and gee Amanda what a rough job you have lounging around on all that amazingly soft yarn!! We include the quantities that are available on our sale yarns and you will note that right now it says 0, but soon there will be numbers under those colors and you will be able to add it to your cart for all your socks, scarves,...

Hi All,A couple of weeks ago, I was all about chunky yarn, but lately I'm obsessed with sock weight yarn. Not only is it squeezable and smooth, but sock yarn has awesome, even striping patterns that make simple pieces look fancy. I was putting away some yarn a week or two ago at the store, and came across a lone skein of Berroco Comfort Sock in #1818 ("English Garden").It was pretty and squeezable, and at only $7.50 for 447 yards I could not resist. I knew I would find something to do with it. I found a simple pattern for fingerless gloves knit on straight needles, and started it in my Comfort Sock. In addition, I'm making a short row scarf with one strand of Vintage Wool in #5175 ("Fennel") and one strand of Noro Kureyon sock in 220. If you haven't done it already, check out Jeanne's gorgeous...

Boy, are we getting some cool new stuff in the store! To start with none of us can stop petting, squishing and fondling the new Hand Maiden Casbah. Before I touched it I thought Malabrigo worsted and Misti Alpaca Chunky were the two softest yarns on the planet. Casbah beats them hands down. And the colors...! Intense but not over done. Oddly enough the colors I love best in the Hand Maiden Sea Silk are not the ones I love most in the Casbah. For the sea silk with it's gorgeous sheen I love the pewter, ebony, smoke and salt spray. Basically the earthy tones. But in the Casbah I am so attracted to the Ruby and Ocean, both are fairly pure jewel tones. If money were no object I would make a full length robe and afghan out of this stuff so I cuddle up in it all the time... it's that soft and luscious!...

We had rain yesterday and here in the desert it is a cause to celebrate. I took my dogs to their pen this morning and this is what I saw on my Iris leaves, WOW! Here it is October and my grass is green, the leaves are beautiful, red, yellow, rust and water drops on leaves, it can't get a lot better than that! Well of course there could be knitting all day and all of the above!! That is my idea of perfection, but it really doesn't take much to make me content. With all of that in mind we got a special box from Hand Maiden yarns yesterday and the contents drove me WILD....Casbah yarn from Hand Maiden yarns is the most amazing thing to hit my sock world yet. It is 81% Merino, 9% Cashmere, 10% Nylon, Machine Washable and the colors are fabulous! I can't wait to dig in to this one and make some...

Hi,I have a big problem: I keep on starting projects when I should be finishing the ones I have already started! My mind is working a million times faster than my hands, and I've become obsessed with searching for patterns online, which sucks up so much time. The fact that we are getting beautiful new yarn in nearly every day doesn't help.My favorite new yarn, which is actually a couple of weeks old now, is the Misti Alpaca Tonos Worsted. It comes in the most GORGEOUS colors, and has beautiful, subtle tonal variations - and of course it's super soft and smooth. My favorite colors are #01 Sweet lavender and #15 early Spring. The first time I saw the spring green I fell in love!!! I've never seen a sweeter, buttery-er green in my life!!!addthis_pub = 'laurazander';addthis_brand = 'Jimmy Beans...

As the holidays approach many of us are making gifts and I've noticed that many of our customers are planning hats and scarves. These are great gifts because they are often quick and easy and can put small amounts of luscious yarns to good use. One of the key things to remember when choosing yarns for hats and scarves is that very often they will be in contact with sensitive areas of skin like the throat and forehead. Sometimes a yarn that seems soft at first can become itchy or irritating once they absorb a little moisture. Because of this, I recommend holding a skein or ball of yarn to the throat for a minute or so to make sure it will stay soft and yummy and not become itchy. It's wise to use alpaca, silk, merino wool, synthetics or cotton for gift recipients who may be sensitive.We have...

I have been working on being in the moment as I go through my day and the same goes for my knitting. While I love to get those needles clicking fast I have also been taking the time to watch as I create each stitch that is critical to the next stitch. Each stitch is only able to stand up as long as it has it partner stitch and so on. Okay now I know this sounds very philosophical, but for me knitting is exactly that. It is my sanity, or insanity as the case may be. I started knitting because I couldn't paint (yes that's right I am also a watercolor painter) due to the illnesses of my father and my mother. Well in stepped knitting to keep my fingers and my mind calm, as I knit each stitch the soothing feel of the yarn gently working through my fingers gave me a sense of well being during...

Hi everyone,addthis_pub = 'laurazander';addthis_brand = 'Jimmy Beans Wool'; addthis_logo = 'http://www.jimmybeanswool.com/images/headerlogoSmall.gif';addthis_options = 'favorites, digg, delicious, email, google, myspace, facebook, reddit, newsvine, live, more';Knitting is a great way to procrastinate. As a full time graduate student I have loads of reading, research and studio work to do. When I want to be lazy, but not completely unproductive, I knit! I am currently OBSESSED with Ravelry. I can literally spend hours searching for wonderful free patterns, and checking out the cool things other knitters are doing.As a result, I am making progress on my scarf projects. Terry was very sweet to help me out with my short row multi-directional scarf, and now I'm half done. My rib sampler scarf...

How about using your plastic bread clips for small bobbins? I just had one of my regular customers come in with them on the tails of her work. She had small ones and the ones that are extra long for a heavier yarn she is working with. GREAT idea don't you think and the sad thing is I just picked one up off of the floor yesterday and pitched it in the trash. DARN! I will certainly be saving them from now on and helping keep them out of the land fills too!Happy Knitting!Jeanneaddthis_pub = 'laurazander';addthis_brand = 'Jimmy Beans Wool'; addthis_logo = 'http://www.jimmybeanswool.com/images/headerlogoSmall.gif';addthis_options = 'favorites, digg, delicious, email, google, myspace, facebook, reddit, newsvine, live, more...

Well I missed my turn posting a blog last week while I was travelling. As usual I was over optimistic about what I could accomplish and only managed to finish the first ball of yarn on my Ann Norling Short Row Multi-directional scarf I have mentioned before. I was only able to work one row on my Henley Perfected. And all the driving I did allowed me time to plan some items to go with my scarf. More about those another time.I had a nice trip and plenty of nice surprises this week at work with all the new stuff we're getting in the store. We now have some of the AslanTrends yarns in stock that are advertised in Vogue Holiday 2009. I just had a customer call over the weekend and ask about this yarn. Lo and behold it appeared in the shop just yesterday. So now we do have it! It looks like very...

Well, I had the BEST day yesterday because it started out with our littlest bean, Huck in my arms all morning. Laura called me the night before and sheepishly asked if I would take care of him in the morning, because we had one of our beans fall ill (she is doing better, so not to worry, get well soon, Shevawn) and she needed to work. Doug had been out of town for the weekend and wouldn't be back until 11:00.Hmmmm, what do you think I said? It took about 2 nano seconds to say, why yes I would be thrilled to hug, coo, feed and just be around that amazing little bean, Huck!! He is such a little angel and even when he decided he wanted to scream it was nice to be there for him. I bundled him up in our Blue Sky Alpacas Organic Cotton blanket and rocked him to sleep. Then Sandy made a bed for...

Hi,I am starting to realize that making Christmas gifts for my friends and family in beautiful fancy yarn is going to be pretty expensive, and I'm going to have to be smart about how I spend my money. Luckily I have a huge array of needles that I bought as a lot on ebay a while ago.I have 7 balls of really nice English cotton, that a family friend gave me years ago. It is pure white with little flecks of yellow green and blue in it. Even though I am not a fan of pure white, I could not part with it because it is so nice! I absolutely cannot knit something white - I NEED COLOR, so I've been thinking of dying it. I found a cool article here about hand dying yarn! I am so gonna try this!Also, Cascade 220 is super soft and beautiful and incredibly affordable. I think I will use this for my fingerless...

Today is the 1st and not just our Limited Edition Lorna's Laces yarn (Trick or Treat this month), but our quarterly rewards are available today. A lot of you have been checking in to see how much you will have to spend today and I can't wait to shop vicariously with you!I of course had to try out a new yarn last night and am soooooooooo in love with Mitsti Alpaca Tanos Chunky yarn!! I picked up 2 hanks of color 04 Aquarious for some fingerless mitts and am totally stoked to cast on something big. Anyway hope to talk to you soon, gotta run and get the day started for all you knitter's out there!Happy Knitting!Jeanneaddthis_pub = 'laurazander';addthis_brand = 'Jimmy Beans Wool'; addthis_logo = 'http://www.jimmybeanswool.com/images/headerlogoSmall.gif';addthis_options = 'favorites, digg, delicious,...