Showing posts with label crystal palace. Show all posts
Showing posts with label crystal palace. Show all posts

Jimmy's Journey, Day 15 of 15: Crystal Palace

by :
Welcome to Day 15 of Jimmy's Journey to 15!

Have you heard about Jimmy's Journey to 15?! It's our 15th anniversary this year, and we will be sharing the story of JBW, year-by-year, here on our blog! Join us on the journey as we celebrate 15 years in business and highlight 15 partners in the yarn industry! Each day we'll kick off the blog post with a short clip of Jimmy (a.k.a. Laura) recounting one year of our history, while telling the story of a vendor who came along for the ride!



In today's video, Jimmy chats about meeting Hugh Jackman, how her friendship was formed with Crystal Palace Yarns, and the trials and tribulations of the 2017 flood & subsequent move to our new location!

Year 15 - the Year of Crystal Palace!

As crystal is said to be the traditional 15th anniversary gift, we couldn't think of a better Featured Friend to end our Jimmy's Journey to 15 with than Crystal Palace! Check out the amazing sales (between 25-50% OFF!!!) that we are offering for the following items: Inca Clouds Self Striping, Panda Pearl, Panda Silk, and Mini Mochi!

*click images for links to sale items*






BONUS! To sweeten the pot, we'll also include a small free gift in every order placed during our 15 days of Jimmy’s Journey, as a token of our gratitude to all of our amazing customers out there! 

Wool Watcher Alert: Crystal Palace

Keep an eye on our Wool Watcher page today - it's full of Crystal Palace & you won't want to miss out on these tempting deals!

Project Log: Oldies, but goodies!

The Beans have long loved Crystal Palace! Take a peek back at some of our projects from over the years...

*click images for links to projects*




2016 - Year 15 in Review!

2016 was a very exciting year for Jimmy and the Beans! The year started with a bang, when we teamed up with the Eddie the Eagle team to promote the film - Jimmy (and a few other Beans) were even lucky enough to meet the film's stars, Hugh Jackman & Taron Egerton! This was also the year of Toshstrology, Jimmy's first appearance on HSN, and our first participation with the Spellbinders program!

The start of Jimmy's English Garden Felted Carpetbag.
This was also the year that our good friends at Crystal Palace Yarns announced that they would be retiring the yarn portion of their business (they will still continue the needle portion!). In Jimmy's own words, "I met Susan and Andy through our sales rep, Marge - who also happened to be the designer Ann Norling. Susan and Marge had known each other for years and years. It was in the middle of the scarf craze of the mid 2000s - and Andy and Susan had created some of the hottest yarns on the market. It didn't take long before I started visiting with them at shows - and eventually went to visit their warehouse in Richmond, CA! My favorite memory is touring their warehouse in Richmond...I had never been to a yarn warehouse before - and I couldn't get over how huge it was...and was in awe of all the yarn!!" Jimmy's favorite Crystal Palace pattern is the English Garden Felted Carpetbag.

Thank you for joining us on Day 15, the final day of Jimmy's Journey to 15! We've had so much fun traveling down memory lane, and bringing you along with us - we hope that you've enjoyed the journey as much as we have! We are so grateful for you, our customers (who have turned into wonderful friends), and hope that you will join us for the next 15 years!

XOXO,

Jimmy & the Beans
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Choosing the right needle size

by : Unknown
All I can say is WOW! Your response to the Downton Abby KAL is astounding!  We all, especially Kristen, are thrilled by how much interest there is from all of you!  I'm so looking forward to starting my mystery project too. I adore mysteries so this will be lots of fun!!!  Like many of you I don't have TV so I've watched season one of Downton Abbey online and will be purchasing season two this weekend so I can be ready to start watching season three next week!

With the KAL in mind, I thought today that I would talk a little about needles and needle sizing to help you get your gauge and be all set to start knitting on Sunday.

 I don't know how many of you know but US needle sizes can vary in actual metric size depending on the brand and country of the manufacturer.  Now that the knitting and crochet world has become so international, in a large part due to Ravelry.com, you can't always assume the pattern you are about to knit, lists needles in your country's size scale. The surest way to know if you are using the correct needle for a pattern is to look at what the metric size is of the needle called for in the pattern and compare it to the metric size of the needle you're intending to use.  A great example of this discrepancy can be seen in comparing US size 2 needles.

Addi Turbo US 2 needle measures 3.0 millimeters (mm) in diameter
Clover US 2 is 2.75 mm
Crystal Palace US 2 is 2.75 mm
Knitter's Pride US 2 is 2.75

So the question to answer by looking at your pattern is: do you need a 2.75 mm needle or a 3 mm needle?  If you need a 2.75mm and want an Addi needle you will need to buy the needle that they label as 2.75.  If you need a 3.0mm needle and want a brand other than Addi you will need to buy a US 2.5 (3mm).

Of course not all sizes are different, other sizes that can cause a problem are:
US 6 can be 4.0 mm or 4.25 mm especially if they are older needles. Most brands except Crystal Palace are now 4.0 mm
US 17 is usually 12.0 mm but in Clover needles a US 17 measures 12.75 mm
US 19 is usually 15.0 mm but in Crystal Palace needle a it measures 15.6 mm

And be aware that the needle gauges made by each of the companies reflects these size differences!

I understand from our IT people that they are working to improve the search engine for needles on our website to show both US & metric sizes.  In the meantime, here's a quick reference chart that I hope helps.

US Size Metric (mm) Addi US Size Clover Exceptions Crystal Palace Exceptions
000 1.5 0

00 1.75 0

0 2 0

1 2.25


1 1/2 2.5 1

2 2.75


2 1/2 3 2

3 3.25 3

4 3.5 4

5 3.75 5

6 4 6
        4.25mm
7 4.5 7

8 5 8

9 5.5 9

10 6 10

10.5 6.5 10.5


7 10.75

11 8 11

13 9 13

15 10 15

17 12 17      12.75 mm
19 15 19
       15.6 mm

20 36

50 25







If you usually get gauge and are having trouble, then double checking your needle size is a good first step in figuring out what may be going wrong.

Another good thing to pay attention to is how slippery your needle is and how tightly or loosely you normally knit.  I find that having tight knitters switch to slippery needles like the nickle plated Addi Turbos help them to loosen up.  Conversely, if someone habitually knits too loosely then switching to wooden or bamboo needles helps them to tighten up their stitches.

Don't be afraid to change you needles size up or down to get gauge, this is what you're supposed to do.  The pattern gauge is what you need to get and it doesn't matter what size needle you use to achieve it if you're using the correct weight of yarn.  It can matter if you are substituting yarns but that is another subject for another day.

For a thorough explanation of gauge please see the video I did with Diane Soucy!




How to Measure Your Gauge Correctly and the video Jeanne did How to Adjust Your Needle Size to Get Gauge .

I hope these suggestions help and if you still find you have questions or need help I will be happy to help, just drop an email to askTerry@jimmybeanswool.com.

And I'm John Bates (see Kristen's blog for the link to find out which Downton character you are)

Happy Mystery Knitting!
Terry





































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Fiber frenzy and thumb update

by : Freaky Knitter
 The saga of the kitchen remodel continues, but the exciting news it that my sweetie, Geoff does NOT need surgery!!! He saw one doctor who said the dreaded 'S' word, but the next (specialist) said no and put a cast on, phew!!! He doesn't like the cast and I have given him one of my Crystal Palace 8 straight needles to scratch his poor arm. I will be sterilizing (LOL) that needle once all is said and done, but think it is great that knitting needles have come to the rescue.


Part of Toni's stash yummy!

Warp yarns to dye for!
On the one stitch at a time front my Cocoknits Liesl is in it's last round of decreases before the bodice run and has truly kept me sane through this dusty, crazy remodel. I have added learning to tapestry weave into the mix and have to say WOOHOO!


Allison and I took 2 classes with a wonderful local weaver, Toni Lowden and I can't tell you how wonderful the experience was. Toni has the most amazing way of sharing her knowledge and I thoroughly enjoyed spending time in her studio. Thanks Toni!


Ali's show-n-tell WOW!



I have been fiddling with weaving for a while and Toni helped cement some wonderful techniques and helped with some amazing inspiration for moving forward in my lust to work up my stash one way or the other. Working at JBW's has afforded me the opportunity to amass a small yarn store of amazing yarns and weaving will help use it up. Of course the problem will be that once I have used something up I will have opened up one more storage space... hmmmm, what to buy next :)







Allison's sampler in progress, way to go Ali!


My little sampler, not bad if I do say so myself!




As always happy knitting, crocheting and weaving!


Jeanne


PS We have the GREATEST twice monthly email newsletters and if you aren't signed up you should check it out! Remember we NEVER share your information in anyway and you can unsubscribe if you like.
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Hi-Ho, Hi-Ho, it's off to Stitches we go!

by : MarinadeDesigns
Happy Friday! I hope all of you out there are staying warm and toasty this week! It's starting to feel a little bit more like winter, here in the high desert, with chilly winds blowing and a bit of snow falling this past week. I'm sure it's nothing compared to the huge storms that have recently been hitting the Midwest and East Coast...but it's chilly nonetheless!

Lately, we've been hard at work preparing for Stitches West which is this upcoming weekend (starting today, actually)! For this year at Stitches, we will be sponsored by Coats and Clark, one of our biggest yarn manufacturers. We will be carrying and showing off their beautiful yarns, some of which I'm sure you've heard of-from Rowan and Regia to Nashua and Red Heart (like Stitch Nation). If you are planning on being at Stitches this weekend, be sure to visit our booths to see what's been new and exciting here in the shop - booths' #1017, #1019, and #1021! Also, for the first time ever at Stitches, we will be offering an entire Wool Watcher sale section, as well as giving away a free WW tote or t-shirt with every $100 purchase. Come on by and and say hello! We'd love to meet you!


In other news, we've been hard at work these past few months making some great changes to our retail shop! For those of you who have only shopped online with us, we do have a retail store right here in Reno, NV (which is also where all of your yarn goodies ship from, as well). Although our retail shop can only hold about 1/5th of our entire inventory, we try our best to hand-pick a nice variety of yarns and colors to put on display for our local customers. We thought some of you might like to see what our lovely shop looks like post-reorganizing...

I give you--Jimmy Beans Wool-the Biggest Little Yarn Shop in the Biggest Little City!


(As you probably know, that's not really our slogan...I just thought it sounded fun since Reno is "the Biggest Little City in the World")!

Anyway, on with the shop! Here is our new Blue Sky Alpacas display... so lovely!:


Koigu or Malabrigo anyone? Yes please!:


The Madelinetosh section- it calls to me:


What yarn shop would be complete without a little Berroco or Cascade?:


These are only a few of the changes we've made! We also re-organized the books, added a superwash and baby yarns section, re-vamped the sock yarns, and included a full wall of Misti Alpacas yarn! Of course, we kept the classics and all-time favorites around (how could we not?), such as Rowan, Lorna's Laces, Crystal Palace, and all of the needles and notions that you could possibly handle!

Whew! It was a lot of work to "refurbish" everything but it looks great! Hopefully, all of our local customers are enjoying the changes, as well. To all of you non-locals out there, you're more than welcome to come and see the shop for yourself!

Happy knitting everyone and have a great weekend!

Kristen
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Great new projects!

by :
Hi all! I'm chiming in and saying hello. My name is Terry and I'm also one of the new JBW team members. I have been thoroughly enjoying getting to know the staff and all our regular retail customers as well as meeting all the internet customers who have been stopping by on their visits to Reno. You all are such great people and make everyday a pleasure. I don't think I've ever had such a fun job before! What could be better than talking about knitting, crochet, yarn and fibers all day long! Except maybe getting to touch all the pretty yarns all day and plan a gazillion projects. Thank you so much Laura, Jeanne and the rest of the staff for inviting me to join the team!

Speaking of a gazillion projects, I think I have about that many on my needles...ok well not exactly a gazillion... maybe a dozen. My newest project is an Ann Norling Short row Multi-directional Scarf using Crystal Palace Mini Mochi in color 107 Autumn Rainbow. I just started it this morning and it's going very quickly. I love this yarn! It's so soft and the colors are very vibrant. I've been itching to try out this yarn with this pattern since the yarn came in a few weeks ago and I'm not disappointed!


The pattern is super easy and so cool how it comes together with no fancy tricks. This is a great cruising project for travel or when you just need something uncomplicated and fast to knit and have it come out looking fabulous.

Best of all, we can put it all together for you in a kit!
Here's my progress so far.


I love how the color progresses in smooth gradations of color. I'm already thinking how lovely it will look in a top down lace shawl. I love knitting lace and hope to be working on more soon.

Did I mention that this is a sock yarn? It's 80% superwash merino and 20% nylon so not only will it look fantastic it will be easy to care for. Hmmm.... maybe I should make socks with it sometime too. More ideas...

The other new project I'm working on is a Henley Perfected by Connie Chang Chinchio from Interweave Knits Winter 2007. I'm using the recommended yarn, Blue Sky Alpacas - Alpaca & Silk in color 131 Kiwi. More about this in our up coming newsletter in the What's on our needles section.

I hear that scarf calling to me to come work on it some more and we all know how insistent some of our projects can be so I'll sign off for now.

Wishing you well on whatever you are working on!

Terry


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