YOU could be the mega-super-ultra lucky winner of 20 balls of Lana Grossa's deliciously luxurious merino and silk blend, Alta Moda Seta, in the stunning shade of Light Green! To enter, just follow these three simple steps:
1) Log onto Facebook and "Like" Muench Yarns (if you haven't already).
2) Let them know what your favorite Lana Grossa yarn is by leaving a comment on their wall.
3) Keep your fingers crossed and pray to the yarn gods that you will be the mega-super-ultra lucky winner!

The color of your next sweater?

All individuals who leave a comment will be entered in the contest and the winner will be chosen by a random number generator. Please leave only one comment per person. The deadline for submitting a comment is March 1st at noon Pacific Time. So after you finish reading this blog post, go and proclaim your love for your favorite Lana Grossa yarn!

If you're wondering why you should "Like" the Muench Yarns Facebook Page when you are entering a drawing for Lana Grossa, well, there is a perfectly logical explanation! Muench Yarns is the exclusive distributor of Lana Grossa products in the United States-as well as bringing us GGH and their namesake line, Muench Yarns. Responsible for bringing these fantastic fibers to our doorstep all the way from Germany, Muench is located a state over from us in sunny California! We are very excited that they gave us the opportunity to be a part of their giveaway!

And now for some awesome LG facts! Lana Grossa is the largest distributor of hand knitted yarns in Europe. The demand for their top shelf yarns and unparalleled pattern support is so high that they are building a new facility to process their products, ensuring that everyone can continue to enjoy their fabulous fibers anywhere and everywhere! Known for their extensive collections of high fashion yarns-not to mention over 500 trendy designs in pattern support every year-Lana Grossa's motto is "Always something special". Needless to say, they definitely go above and beyond to bringing quality yarns and innovative designs to the fiber arts community world-wide.

Alta Moda: so soft and cozy!

For those of you who are not familiar with Lana Grossa's Alta Moda line, it is comprised of three sumptuous yarns: Alta Moda Alpaca, Alta Moda Cashmere, and Alta Moda Seta. All of these yarns feature a unique woven texture that reduces weight and bulk while maintaining a thicker gauge that works up quickly. The result is a warm, chunky fabric with great drape that is not too bulky or cumbersome, as is sometimes the case with heavier weight yarns. The braided construction of the Alta Moda line also produces an evenly textured fabric and provides superb stitch definition. I have had the pleasure of knitting up a shawlette with two balls of the Alta Moda Alpaca that resulted in a sweet neck-warmer I've been wearing all winter. Stay tuned as Lana Grossa is expanding their Alta Moda offerings this spring and we are eagerly anticipating more of this exceptional yarn within the next month or so!

Don't forget to let Muench know which is your most beloved Lana Grossa yarn for your chance to win 20 balls of the indescribably soft Alta Moda Seta!

Happy knitting and crocheting :)
Leanne

It's the holidays and while we are always thinking of how lucky we are around here this is the time of year that it's foremost in our minds. We will be moving into another great year here at JBW, but looking back we have so many to thank for the wonderful year it has been...of course you (our fantastic customers) are always at the top of the list, but our vendors/distributors have been incredible to work with over the last year!!

Lorna's Laces you all ROCK!!! For those of you who may not know Laura and Lorna got going side by side and Laura would go to Lorna's house and buy the yarns for the shop out of her garage...now how cool is that? We are now into our fourth year of the wildly popular limited edition yarn (exclusive to us) from Lorna's and don't see an end in sight on that one, as you all continue to be super excited to see what's new every month!! You can join our LLE fan club on Facebook and for those of you who don't use FB you can still be a member via email. December's color is flying out the door, so check out Sandy Claus by our very own Sandy!


If you haven't heard yet we have a fantastic kit from Rowan yarns featured in Real Simple magazine and it uses the super yummy Lima yarn!! The Make No Mistake Scarf is a free pattern on our site and includes a crocheted version, so what's not to love? Thanks Rowan for such great yarns and for being so amazing to work with!!

How about our amazing friends at Muench yarns? We have had so much fun with them over the last year and certainly long before that, but our relationship just gets stronger everyday, as they are just great to work with!! We carry a bunch of Muench's yarns and one of my personal favorites it the Tessin!! It is super nice to work with and I want to do a bath robe out or it, or the Big Baby...gee whiz it is so hard to decide! So you know what I will do of course? BOTH!

Lana Grossa has become one of our best sellers and it is because they make fantastic yarns and are amazing to work with!! Laura got to go to Germany this year to visit with them and she enjoyed the adventure immensely!! We carry so much of Lana Grossa's yarn that I can't pick just one favorite, but if forced to, I would have to choose the Baby Kid! I have been using a lot of mohair lately and am just in love with this yarn sooooooo soft!!

I can't talk about all of our amazing companies without a huge nod to Blue Sky Alpacas!! Their yarns are absolutely amazing and the people that make up the company are some of the best you will ever meet! Blue Sky Alpacas yarns are so amazing that again I CAN'T pick a favorite...please please don't make me! I have every one of their yarns in my stash except the Worsted Hand Dyes and that will be going into my stash shortly! I want to make my honey a throw out of it and just haven't decided on the right color, but am leaning towards Putty!

We also work closely with Addi/Skacel and if you have never used one of their products then I suggest taking a look! I have so many of the Addi needles in my arsenal and am completely in love with their circular lace needles! The people who make up this company are so neat to know and work with and we are so grateful to have them as one of our main product lines. We also carry yarns from Skacel and they distribute the Schulana line of yarns and patterns which have made a HUGE hit here in the shop!!

I love the fair trade companies and what they do to help people work and get paid a fair wage, so I LOVE Lantern Moon! I have a little bit of most of their products and one of my favorite knitting bags, my Molly is by them. We carry a whole bunch of their products and I am in love with every single one! Lantern Moon is a company who you can feel good about patronizing and I can't wait to see what they come up with next! Thanks Lantern Moon for doing such a great job and for being so neat!

Namaste is another of our fabulous companies and I have 2 of their bags and also the needle binder. I have had to restrain myself from getting more of the bags and accessories, but am sure I will fall again soon! The products are phenomenal and the people can't be beat!

We have just started carrying the Madeline Tosh yarns and patterns! WOW is all I can say!! Not only have they been flying out the door, but they are truly AMAZING!!! The company is so accommodating and friendly to deal with that we just can't say enough about them! Sandy just finished the Poet Society Beret out of Terrarium in the Vintage and Sara just cast on the Owlings hand warmers out of Logwood in the DK weight!

We carry lots and lots of Trendsetter yarns and they are so much fun to work with; both the yarns and the company! Their Blossom yarn is another yarn I would love to make a robe with, as it is super yummy!! Of course I have worked with lots of these yarns including the Cha Cha which we now carry in the prints too and have always enjoyed myself. The people at Trendsetter are so nice and you couldn't ask for a nicer group...thanks Trendsetter!

Thank you to all of you, our customers and to our wonderful vendors!! You all mean more to us than you know and I hope you will take a second to breathe during this always busy holiday season! As for me I will be knitting which is my form of meditation...so, as always happy knitting and crocheting!

Jeanne

It is hard to believe that the holiday travel season is beginning, but it is and how do we manage our fiber arts with all the rules and regulations around flying? I get this question frequently around the shop and I have heard some sad stories too, so the first thing I do when I am about to fly is check the TSA's website for the most current dos and don't list!

One of our European travelers recently shared a great tip to make sure you can snip your yarn on the plane and she carries her dental floss with her in her knitting bag. Then she can use the little floss cutter for her yarn and is well within the allowed items list...BRILLIANT!

I also love the Knit Kit which meets all TSA rules and regulations for flight and has all the little what nots that we need for our projects!

Of course with the Holiday's barreling down on us, phew, there is the what to make in a hurry list!! I don't know about you, but about June I start to think okay this is the year that I present the most fabulous hand made gifts ever and of course now it's a little more than a week before Thanksgiving and I got nothing!

Sheesh is all I have to say...now it's not completely true that I have nothing, but I have been gaily knitting along on all my favorite projects with a small idea of who will get what...NOT! Okay, okay I have done a traveling woman shawl in Kidsilk Haze for a certain someone who reads the blog, so shhhh!

I think it's time to get down to business and get some stuff made, so I am going to work up some of Kristen's Neckie's as gifts!

Wow I am already feeling better now that I made a decision! I will grab some Big Wool today and get those moving along, yay! I particularly love Wallace the dog in the Neckie and would make it for the dogs in my life too!

I think the Big Baby would be perfect for those and I am sure my Sierra would love her very own! I am also going to turn to my Last Minute Knitted Gifts for some quick gift ideas.

Of course I can do some of our very own free projects too!

Since next week I will have 4 days off for the holiday I think I can make a good dent in my gift knitting! Now I won't be flying next week, but I hope some of my ideas help you on several different levels to ease any holiday stress that you may be having. I know that I have helped myself to see a bit clearer about my holiday knitting, so thanks for listening!

As always happy knitting and crocheting!

Jeanne

Wow you all had such amazing suggestions for our name Grab Bag Friday's that it was very hard to choose!! Thanks for submitting your ideas to us and I hope you had fun coming up with those great names!

Barbara's name "Add Splash to Your Stash Friday" came in first and she will be getting her very own grab bag to add splash to her stash soon! CONGRATULATIONS Barbara and thanks again to all of you for your great ideas!!

As always happy knitting and crocheting!

Jeanne

We have a Wool Watcher ALERT for you all!! Tomorrow (Thursday) we will be featuring some of the new Trendsetter Vigna and you will want to take a peek for sure!!

Then we have 'Funky Fiber Friday' coming up (if you have a better name please let us know) which will be featuring our new Muench grab bags which include yarns from GGH, Lana Grossa and Muench!! These great designer yarns are a 'Grab Bag' but I can tell you that they are lovely and deserve full yarn honors!! They range from small to large which means anywhere from 500-1000 yards of beautiful yarns to perk up your stash. I was lucky enough to take the pictures and so have touched what we currently have on the site and can tell you they are yummy!!!

I think these great yarns would make the most amazing diagonal scarf, shawl, or well what ever you want to make! They are so cool!

As always happy knitting and crocheting! Jeanne

Amber come home!! I have mentioned here and there that Amber has been at Muench Yarns helping out and having fun! Now I know it's not a traveling sweater, but a traveling Amber is a good substitute don't you think?

She will be blogging about all of it, but I thought I might put in my 2 cents worth. She has been merciless in her teasing the last week and has been telling me how soft something is, or amazing colors, or I am bringing you a Llama, sheesh what a stinker! I know she won't bring me a Llama, but I was so excited that my dog would have a new playmate :)

So one of the new yarns she is gaga about is the Seta Nova which has Mulberry silk in it and I have touched Mulberry silk and yum, yum, yum!! I can't wait to see this and cast on, oh yeah didn't I just blog about too many WIP's in my life, but you can see how it happens cant' you?

Ok so back on track here and to the right is a swatch of color No. 9 and I want to know that stitch pattern, anyone?? At any rate she should be back in the shop on Monday and will hopefully have a detailed blog for you soon!

As always happy knitting and crocheting! Jeanne

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 fair isle socks with the yardage (325mm) approximately 355 yards, I think I will get 2 pairs with alternating colors.

Of course that is not counting all the amazing sock books that are out there, like Cat Bordhi's Personal Footprints (which I am currently knitting my first footprint from) and Wendy Johnson's Sock's From the Toe Up , or Cookie A. Sock Innovation, or The Twisted Sisters Sock Workbook, and so on, and so on....well you get the idea. This list is a big one and then of course there are individual patterns for socks too and I guess what I am getting at is that I have gotten my sock groove back on and am knitting socks again! WAHOO! I had some hand issues and couldn't go much smaller than a US 4 needle for a while, so I am stoked!!


There are also a couple of news type things going on around here, HAPPY BIRTHDAY Amber!! We have a surprise later for you, hee, hee!!

AND Laura is leaving for Munich on Friday with Kristen of Muench yarns and will be going to see where Lana Grossa yarns are made. She will also get to attend a special event put on by Lana Grossa that I am sure she will have lots to tell about all of that! I think it will be good for her to get away and she says that Germany is a favorite of hers, so have fun Laura!!

As always happy knitting!

Jeanne :)