Four Boxes of Louet and the sale bin is full

We just got in four boxes of Louet yarns: Riverstone Bulky and Gems Fine/Sport. They are great yarns. The Riverstone is a champ at felting. It is a chunky. Patterns that use Brown Sheep Bulky, Manos, or any worsted weight held double would be right for Riverstone.

On it's own, Riverstone is very nice. I have to say that when we first got it I looked at the price and thought it would be horrible. But when I knit the swatch it was really nice. Soft, nice, springy.

The Gems feels like a new yarn. It is sooooooo soft. I havve always been a big fans of Gems because you can put it in the washer and the dryer (15 mins, tops).

Four boxes means things have to come off the shelf. The sale bin is full. Come clean it out people.

Kathy

Crochet a Chicago Reef

Come on Thursday, June 28th at 6:30 pm to meet Margaret Wertheim
of The Institute for Figuring, www.theiff.org, as she talks about her
project to crochet coral reefs in order to make people aware of the
threat global warming and pollution present to the existence of the Great Barrier Reef.

Visit www.arcadiaknitting.com for more info.

Our Sister Won a First Place and a Second Place at the County Fair!

Our sister Peg moved to San Diego in the winter. We miss her a lot. Even though Sharon & I have knit since high school, Peg just learned two years ago. She took to it like a duck to water. She didn't want to make a scarf as her first project, she wanted to make socks. And so she did. Her first sock was a little wonky but from there she was amazing. By the third pair of socks, she was designing her own.

She doesn't really follow patterns. She does a gauge swatch. She calls Sharon and talks about what kind of sweater she wants to make. Sharon tells her how many stitches to cast on and then we don't hear from Peg until it's time to make the collar.

She won a blue ribbon for a hat & sweater set for Zydeco, one of her Cabbage Patch dolls, and a second place for a pair of socks. When we get pictures, we will post.

What is funny about all this is how Sharon and I help people sort out the gravity of mistakes they have made in a project. How often we have said: "It doesn't ruin the integrity of the knitting. You have to know it's there to see it. Only rip it out if you are planning on entering it in the state fair."

Suddenly it's all crochet.

Sharon got food poisoning from the eggs in an undercooked pancake. It was a banana stuffed pancake and I think that fooled her.

After this instance, she has taken to crochet. In the past 18 hours she has made two hats and has two more started. Note, that she did sleep some of those 18 hours.

Since coming back from TNNA I have been obsessed with the Koigu scraps they gave me. I am crocheting as big of a shawl as I can with them.

What is it? Is it something about summer coming on? Is it just that is so quick?

Kathy

Worldwide Knit in Public Day, June 9th

We will be there!!

Noon to 4pm, Millenium Park, east of the face fountain art.

I know the secret password to nice bathrooms.

Kathy

We went to TNNA, I got Koigu and Sharon got food poisoning

Last weekend Sharon & I went to the TNNA trade show in Columbus, Ohio. It was a 2 1/2 mile walk to walk the entire floor. We probably covered 5 miles.

I came home really excited about the new fall lines. Sooo many good yarns and designs out there. Sharon & I have some very hard decisions to make. We did pick up some exciting things:

Sublime - an absolute hit in the UK
Noro
Koigu
Teva Durham's line from Tahki/Stacy Charles
Sock yarn designed by Kaffe Fassett
A great new handpaint yarn from Washington, D. C.

I was going to put in links to sites where you can see these great products but evidently they are all too new.

Yes, after 7 years in business, we have finally taken the plunge and ordered Koigu. It will be here in a year. Also, in the past we shied away from Noro but we came to decision that if you wanted it, we could suck it up. We were told that delivery is very spotty. So let's see what we get.

And on Monday, the last day, Sharon met a bad pancake. A very bad pancake.

Thanks,

Kathy