Happy almost New Year everyone! Wow, first, I would like to say a huge THANK YOU to all of you who joined this Knit-A-Long (KAL for short). December was an especially exciting month this year because of this KAL. Back in early November, my co-worker Rachel and I were thinking about the December Lorna's Limited Edition color and what on earth we were going to do with it. We had this gorgeous color picked out but it needed a name. And soon. We had to send all of the info off to Lorna's to be dyed and it had to have a name. I kept looking at this gorgeous color with it's muted holiday hues and seeing Downton Abbey and late Edwardian fashion. I just couldn't get it out of my head. I mentioned it to Rachel and she agreed it was the perfect color for Downton. So, in that moment, "Christmas at...

Thank you to everyone who responded to my last blog questions! It seems that Knit/Crochet/other A-longs are a popular choice so we will begin planning more throughout the coming year. As we move forward into 2013 I will also be writing more instructional blogs and filming videos to go along with them. So now that we've finished (or nearly finished in my case) our holiday gifts it's time for some selfish knitting/crocheting/sewing!  Do you have some things planned? I'm still working on one Christmas gift, a couple of gifts for up coming birthdays, my Knit Red - A-line Hoodie and a very overdue pair of fingerless gloves for my younger son. Then I'll be all set to do my selfish knitting! (IF I don't get too side tracked with some sewing projects I'm working on and a couple of new ideas...

I hope that you have had some great family time in the last week, as I certainly have!! I ended up with 4 days in a row off and with the last months craziness around here it was GREAT!! I slept in everyday and had a hard time getting up this morning. I guess I was getting used to it...ahhh sleep, glorious sleep! Well now it's time to get back in the swing of things around here and boy am I ready to move forward!! There is so much I want learn this coming year, but I really want to concentrate on my sewing/quilting. I am having a hard time focusing on one project at a time and have discovered that unlike knitting, sewing requires a bit more focus and a neat sewing area. I am really happy with this fins and my hand sewing I knit Huck the Dead Fish Hat by Thelma Egberts for his...

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'; As I sit here today trying decide what to write that you would enjoy reading, it occurred to me to ask you!  After all this blog is for you! By nature I tend to be an introverted, sort of esoteric, rather nerdy thinker, the type that geeks out on contemplating using double knitting technique and 2 circular needles to knit 4 socks at a time. Ok, maybe a bit of an insane thinker!!! But you get the idea. What I might find interesting may just be too crazy for most people. LOL! In my Goodale cardigan So, going forward into the...

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'; I'm so excited that the drop spindles from Wool Tree Mill have finally arrived! In fact, I had to buy one first thing! These are lovely, light weight walnut spindles with hooks on both ends so you can use as either a top or bottom whorl.  I tend to like bottom whorl spindles while Alison, our yarn logistics expert, prefers top whorl spindles. They come in three sizes, small which weighs around 3/4 of an ounce, medium which weighs around 1.4 ounces and the large which weighs around 1.6 ounces. I bought the large one and it works...

We are gearing up for the release of the Sew Red book, our companion to Knit Red and another addition to our Stitch Red campaign. We are truly proud of this project and the fact that we have helped to raise awareness about the number one killer of women in the US, heart disease. The project has also raised some real $$ for the Heart Truth and will go to support awareness campaigns, as well as medical research. Kaity looks sew happy!! Sew (heehee pun intended), with all this gearing up we decided to give the charming 'Piece of My Heart Pincushion' a go here at the shop and boy have we been having fun! This darling design was created by Diane Lamphron and Michèle Filon and we will be offering kits once the book is released. Of course we couldn't wait to play so we had to make a...

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';   We are so happy that the flood passed us by!  We are also very glad that we took the precaution of moving all of the yarns up above the four foot level in both the warehouse and the retail shop!  We were all thrilled to be able to come back in on Monday morning and just put everything back away! Thank you to everyone for all you good thoughts, crossed needles and best wishes!  I think it all helped to move the storm south and shift to colder temperatures sooner than had been expected! Good things often come from...

A couple of months ago, we were asked to review a new scent from Eucalan created by Kristin Omdahl and then blog about it. Well, we love Kristin AND Eucalan so of course we said yes! It's a super scrumptious Jasmine scent and as we speak I am wearing my cowl (shown in the blocking video below) and I can still smell it's yumminess. I created two videos here. The first is a video review of Eucalan's Wool Wash and the second is an Instructional Video called "Blocking 102" in which I use the Eucalan wash in the Wrapture Scent. This is the follow-up video the "Blocking 101" so feel free to watch that one first for the basics! Eucalan Wrapture and Wool Wash Review: Blocking 102: We currently carry individual packets of Eucalan and will be receiving the Wrapture scent soon so stay tuned.... In...

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'; We are starting to spread our wings around here and when I ran across this fun decoration creation, so I just had to jump onto the craft wagon and see if I could recreate it with some pieces of my left over Layer Cake and I hope you will agree the results are fun! I began by choosing 2 slices of my cake and grabbed my trusty Steam A Seam 2 and went to work. The very 1st one I made is the same fabric, but in different colors and I love the way it gives flashes of each color as it spins about. The next set I did was more efficient, as I...

Everyone pitching in! Whew! It's been a whirlwind few days here at Jimmy Beans Wool and we have a lot to share! It all started last Friday with a little bit of rain.... We get by with a little help from our friends! Normally flooding isn't a common problem here in the high desert. We do have a lovely little river that runs right through town called the Truckee River. The Truckee is the only river that originates in Lake Tahoe, and it winds it's way down the mountains through Reno and then ends in Pyramid Lake. We are lucky to have such a wonderful, clean water source, and most of the time, it doesn't overflow... On Thursday, we heard rumor of a lot more rain coming our way and the possibility of flooding. We didn't think we would be in the flood zone, but by Friday, all of that...