Knitting Daily Second Season

Well, it's over. Ahhh... I can breath again.

On Sunday, Jan and I drove up to Cleveland to shoot another nine episodes of Knitting Daily TV. This time, I appeared in four episodes and Jan (thank goodness) appeared in five. This was a good deal less stressful than the previous season when I had to prepare for eleven segments of "Getting Started." This is the TV series developed by Interweave Press and Shay Pendrith. We're corporate sponsors of the program. Neat, eh?

Now, if you've never done anything like this, you'd likely be surprised at how much preparation it takes. Not only do you have to plan all the dozens and dozens of yarns you're going to present, you have to learn everything you can about them (and stuff that you'd never imagine -- like that nylon was developed by DuPont in America in 1935 and was originally used for toothbrush bristles and then during WWII was used for parachutes and stockings). And you've got to pull together several wardrobe changes, get a manicure because they'll be doing close-ups of your hands, and figure out how to hide the wrinkles, circles and bags you normally can't see because your vision isn't as good as it was forty or fifty years ago.

Oh, yeah...and you have to lose twenty pounds.

Last time I went on the show, someone told me that the camera doesn't really put 15 pounds on you. They said that the problem is caused by the curvature of the TV screen, and with the new flat screens I wouldn't look like Porky Pig. Living in the joy of suspended disbelief, I bulked up on cookies and ice cream and all those other wonderful reasons for living, and went to the shoot not worried at all that I'd look the size of a planet. When the CDs of the shows arrived and I saw that all 15 pounds were on my face, I committed to losing 20 pounds before this shoot.

Okay. I lost eight or nine. But it helped. A bit.

Jan and I had a great time with Eunny, Kim, Liz and Shay. Shay brought her homemade cookies and I was so delighted with my weight loss that I celebrated by feasting on, oh maybe a dozen or so of her deliciously fattening delicacies.

I screwed up a couple of times but won't tell you where I did it because I'm hoping it will be edited out. (Let's just say that my mind went completely blank when it was supposed to remember the word "alpaca.") Jan was a real trooper and did her demonstrations on camera a few times so they could capture everything she was showing. (She gave me a great mnemonic device for the Kitchener stitch...but I forget what it is.)

Jamie, Kathy, Marilyn and Annie were all wonderful to work with on the production. They're all such lovely ladies, and they're all so knowledgeable that I'm humbled in their presence.

Thanks to all our friends at Knitting Daily TV for giving us this great opportunity. Thanks to Alex for forcing me to take on this "stretch" exercise. And a million thanks to Jan for taking on a huge chunk of the work this time around.

Now we're off to Texworld in Paris to see the new yarn fashions. And then we're meeting with the wonderful folks at Anny Blatt/Bouton D'Or. Our good friend, Jean-Christophe, has arranged for several meetings in Paris, Avignon and Nice. I'll be sure to post pictures of their mills.


Oh! I almost forgot! If you want to see the yarns I presented on the episodes currently airing, go to Knitting Daily or to Yarnmarket.

How do you get down off a buffalo?

You don't! You get down off a duck!

Remember that old joke? My Mom used to tell it to my brothers and me and we'd really laugh. Well, Yarnmarket is delighted to announce that we've got All-American Buffalo down. It's by Buffalo Gold and it's fabulously soft and warm. It's dyed and spun by Judith MacKenzie McCuin, who's famous for her artistry.

We've got lots of delicious colors, and a couple of different weights.

This is a Yarnmarket exclusive that you won't find anywhere else. No joking!

New Bargains at BargainYARNS

Josh has just sent out his monthly newsletter filled with great discounts at BargainYARNS. If you’d like to subscribe, go to BargainYARNS. You'll receive this alert each month so you'll know what's new and wonderful at BargainYARNS.

It’s that time of year again when we start getting ready for cooler weather. And with Autumn just around the corner we’ll to try to help you out with your fall and winter knitting. We’re featuring a variety of cool weather yarns from companies like Cherry Tree Hill, Crystal Palace and Stacy Charles. As always you can browse our incredible selection of Imperfect books and find a variety of inexpensive needles and accessories to keep your current and future projects moving forward. As we continue to add more yarns to our BargainYARNS inventory, keep in mind that many of our new yarns are discontinued, making their quantities very limited. Be sure to get the yardage you need while it’s still around.

Cherry Tree Hill Discounts
“Cameo Solid”
$3.85
Exceptional merino blend yarn from Crystal Palace combines beautiful stitch definition with incredible drape in a variety of colors.
SAVE 42%

Bargain Of The Week
“Ingenua” Yarn
$8.29
Katia combines the softness of mohair, the resilience of nylon and the durability of wool in an incredible yarn on sale this week only.
SAVE 30%

Featured Yarns
“Cotton Boucle” Yarn
$13.85
A 100% cotton yarn dyed in the exceptional colorways of Cherry Tree Hill in generous yardage for a great price.
SAVE 30%

“Meringue Solid”
$3.85
Merino wool, acrylic and elastic nylon combine in this Crystal Palace yarn to create beautiful and durable yarn.
SAVE 42%

“Luxor” Yarn
$6.89
The combination of textures and colors in this heavy-worsted weight yarn from the Stacy Charles Collezione make it a must have.
SAVE 30%

Red Heart Yarn
$2.85
Get “Soft Baby” yarn for an incredible price with its usual generous yardage, soft hand and excellent wash performance.
SAVE 31%

“Glitter Thick & Thin” Yarn
$24.85
The beautiful colorways of Cherry Tree Hill in this hand-dyed thick and thin yarn in large quantities at incredible discount pricing.
SAVE 30%

Moda Dea Yarn
$3.85
“Cartwheel” is a 100% wool worsted weight yarn, perfect for felted purses and a large variety of cool weather knitting projects for an amazing price.
SAVE 44%

Featured Books and Accessories

Imperfect Books
50% Off
Get exceptional savings on a wide variety of well known knitting and crochet books with minor damage or imperfections.
Save 50%

Sassy Daisy Bag
$27.85
Find great discounts on the beautiful bags of Della Q, including this 100% silk handbag with magnetic closure.
SAVE 30%

Up the Back & Down the Front
$6.97
This book provides an in depth description of how to quickly knit sweaters without shoulder seams.
SAVE 28%

Current Yarnmarket Favorites

“Indie Supersock Select”
$23.85
A Yarnmarket exclusive from Cherry Tree Hill, this hand dyed yarn is only availablein small quantities in unique colors.
“Aurora 8” Yarn
$8.85
Karabella’s superwash merino wool with rich texture and quality Italian craftsmanship in a vast array of vibrant colors.
“Panda Silk DK Solid” Yarn
$8.25
An eco-friendly fiber blend from Crystal Palace, with incredible softness, strength, warmth and sheen in beautiful colors.

Yarnmarket.com, BargainYARNS.com, and Yarndex.com are subsidiaries of Yarnmarket, LLC. Yarnmarket is an online yarn retailer with over 600 quality brands from 50 leading manufacturers, plus patterns, books and accessories. BargainYARNS provides discounts on fashionable yarns and accessories. Yarndex is a free online yarn directory offering detailed information about more than 4,000 yarns from leading manufacturers.

Bargain of the Week - Karabella Barbados

If you subscribe to the BargainYARNS newsletter you know that each week we remove one of our popular items from Yarnmarket and place it on BargainYarns at a discount. Josh takes great pains to find something interesting to offer our knitters, and then he puts the word out through Ravelry. But if you're not a Raveler, how will you ever know?

Maybe you want to check out BargainYARNS once a week because it's always changing, and everything's always 20 to 50% off. It's sort of the Tuesday Morning of the yarn world.

This week (Sept 1-8) Josh is featuring Barbados from Karabella, with beautiful eyelash texture and a fabulous array of colors. This yarn works wonderfully well alone as a component for fluffy fashions – accessories, ponchos and vests, scarves, sweaters and tops. You name it. Check it out because you can now get Barbados now for only $10.39. That’s 30% off the regular Yarnmarket price.

Jared's New Pussycat

If you've ever searched for Yarnmarket or any of our yarns on Google, you've appreciated the work of Jared, our Search Engine Optimization Guy. Jared's really sweet and smart and hard-working. I love Jared. But if he ever does anything wrong and screws up our Google words, I'm going to tell his Grandma.

I first met Jared when he was about eight years old and played in the forest in my backyard with his cousin(who's equally cute and available) Chris. Chris and all his pals went away to college and I forgot that they grew up...until one day about a year ago when Jared appeared at a party next door, sitting all alone and looking like that last thing he'd want is for some middle-aged lady to annoy him.

"Hmmm," I thought to myself, "Look at that cute young guy sitting there all alone. I think I'll go over an annoy him."

Now, if you've read my posts you know that:
a. I'm old
b. I have no memory
c. I'm doing cartwheels on the fine line between eccentric and certifiable.

I plopped myself down next to the handsome, lonely young guy and said, "Hi. Who are you?"

Now, the last time I asked what handsome young man I'd been talking to at a party next door, the hostess, Carol, exclaimed, "Deb, I don't believe you. That was Andy Groom. You've known him since he was a boy!" Andy married Janna, Jared's big sister.

(If you're from Ohio, you know who Andy Groom is. But my memory is so bad that I can watch a kid grow up, cheer him as he becomes a star on the Ohio State football team, hold his hand in a prayer circle before we eat and then say, "Who was that?")
This is a picture of Andy with some other guy. Andy's the one on the right. I'll have to ask Carol who the other guy is.

Anyway, back to Jared, Andy Groom's brother-in-law and Chris' cousin. Jared grew up, graduated college and became a Search Engine Optimization Geek. When we needed a part-time Geek, we hired him...and he's been working for us for about a year now.

Jared recently announced that he'd become the father of a brand new pussycat. (Note to Jared: A study conducted a few years ago asked women what they found sexy in a man. One of the the top responses was, "He owns a cat.") Jared got his new pussycat just a few weeks ago, and I can tell by these photos that he's already spoiling him...or her. I forgot to ask.

This is odd because I ask Jared all sorts of things. He should have learned a long time ago that he should never end his e-mails to me with the words, "If you have any other questions, please let me know." There's no end to the questions I have -- about life, the universe, and what would happen if humans were magnetic -- and poor little Jared has learned that sometimes you just don't want to know what other people are wondering about.

Anyway, I thought you'd enjoy these shots of Jared's new pussycat. I'd give you a shot of Jared but I don't have one and he's really, really shy so I won't ask for one.

You know, if I were single and 30 years younger, I'll bet any money that Jared would have a restraining order against me.

Congrats on being a new father, Jared!

September Newsletter

Jan has released another one of her terrific newsletters. This one's got a lot of great information about autumn fashions and new yarns -- and lots about the big chunky knit designs that are going to be very popular this winter. If you don't receive the newsletter, be sure to subscribe to it the next time you go onto the site.

Alex and I love to guess which of Jan's items will get the most click-throughs. When I spoke to him a few minutes ago he asked, "Which one do you think is getting the most attention?" Duh! I know what I'd click first -- the story with the photo of the pussycat! Sure enough, that's the one. Our readers are also really enthusiastic about the gorgeous Tundra Capelet.

Jan also mentions in her newsletter the Cherry Tree Hill Supersock and Supersock Limited Edition yarns. These are doing really well, especially the Impressionist Collection colors. I made the sock in the newsletter (the color is Paris Rain) and the yarn was wonderful to work with.

Be sure to get your copy of the newsletter and bulletins each month. They're great for keeping on top of all the new yarns that the YarnMartian yarn buyers have bought.

Open Letter to Bob Sherman, CEO, Serta Mattress Company

Dear Mr. Sherman,

Yarnmarket prides itself in our commitment to the happiness of knitters and critters throughout the world. Because of our commitment, we are growing deeply concerned about the future of the Serta sheep. With the current economic situation, elections in both the U.S. and Canada, the price of gasoline, and the heart-breaking tragedy of Jennifer Anniston's love life, we are all under excruciating, unrelenting stress. But the comfort and quality of the Serta mattress (and perhaps the introduction of Simply Sleep by Tylenol), has made restful sleep now possible, while it has rendered your poor little sheep redundant. It's only a matter of time before they get their pink slips and all those little sheep are put out to pasture, so to speak.

What ever will become of them?

Rather than have the Serta Sheep join the growing ranks of the unemployed, we'd like to present you with an offer: Yarnmarket will provide jobs to the Serta sheep. We'll love them and feed them and give them nice names -- rather than those cold numbers that will only remind them of their lost positions. And then once a year we'll shave off their woolly little clothes so they can frolic comfortably in the warm Ohio meadows.

Imagine how happy they'll be! Nude sheep grazing in the fields, content in the knowledge that their clothes are going to make somebody cosy warm each winter. Perhaps they'll become a soft baby blanket for a newborn in Alaska. Or a knit pant suit for a Senator in New York. Their coats could become a hand-made scarf for a new President to wear to a swearing in ceremony. Or even a set of golf club covers or a pretty, felted gun strap for the M-16 of the newly elected Vice-President...whomever it may be.

The Serta sheep might even end up becoming part of the Afghans for Afghans charity that sends warm blankets to those people in Afghanistan. Wouldn't that be nice?

When you really think about it, there's no end to the goodness that could come from the Serta Sheep's fleeces.

If you, and the Ontario Teachers Association that owns you (and who I hold responsible for any grammatical errors in this post), would be kind enough to send the Serta sheep our way, we promise we'll take excellent care of them...even if we do remove their clothes on occasion.

Best regards,
Deborah