Knit 'n Style Feature

Hey, we've made it to the big time! Knit 'n Style's newest issue has a great article about Yarnmarket and we're really thrilled that our shoppers will be able to get to know us a little bit better -- and even see what a few of us look like. Michele, our do-everything marketing lady and staff photographer took all the shots...and you'll notice there are none of me. That's because Michele likes her job and wants to keep it. (There are no shots of Alex, either. He's sort of like Charlie on Charlie's angels. Well, in his dreams!)

Patsy was good enough to demonstrate how to take a ball of yarn from a shelf. Actually she's shopping in our showroom that is still being completed. We ran into a little bit of a challenge making all the yarns look neat and pretty on the shelves until Pat and Michele invented "Pat and Michele's Amazing Yarn Stacker." I'll write about it in another posting...with a photo of their invention.

Pat is shown answering the phones. You might recognize her from some of our pattern photos on the shopping site. Pat looks good in anything she wears, so she's become our corporate model...and in-house inventor. Josh is behind her, hiding, with his hat turned backwards. I don't know what it is with these young guys who think their head is facing the other way, but it seems to make them happy, so what the heck.

Alma is shown packing up an order for shipment. Alma's been with us since almost the beginning of Yarnmarket so you've probably collected her autograph in the past when she's signed your packing slip, "Thanks from Alma!" Hang onto that autograph. Some day it might be worth millions.

There's a nice shot of Lisa pulling customer orders. Lisa also sends out the orders for all the YarnMerchant and BargainYARNS purchases...so a lot of people around the world are collecting her autograph, too.

I love the shots of the warehouse and the bags of packages becase it gives you a great idea of what goes on here each day. We have seven warehouses with shelves stacked high with yarns. Those bins are wonderful...each one lined up precisely on the shelf, with a nice big label so the ladies can easily find one of the thousands of yarns we carry. Over six hundred brands, a gazillion colors. Do the math...it's a lot of stuff to find.
At this point, I'd like to express my personal appreciation to the guys who invented the alphabet. (Started by the Greeks and finished by the Phoenicians.) Special thanks to my Phavorite Phoenician, Ahmad Sinno, because I'm sure his ancestors were somehow involved. Without the alphabet we'd never find our yarn...and this blog would be written in binary code.

01010100 01101000 01100101 01101110 00100000 01101111 01101110 01101100 01111001 00100000 01001001 01010100 00100000 01100111 01110101 01111001 01110011 00100000 01100011 01101111 01110101 01101100 01100100 00100000 01110010 01100101 01100001 01100100 00100000 01110100 01101000 01101001 01110011 00101110 00001101 00001010

The ladies run through the warehouses each day, filling and packing orders, and then Tina and Brenda make sure hundreds of orders are ready to ship when MarlOn (our wonderful UPS guy) picks them up each night and sends them out all over the planet.

We'll try to get a shot of Marlon one of these days. He's one of those good looking UPS guys that we're all very happy to see at the end of a gruelling day. (Or even at the beginning of one.)

Knit 'n Style also ran a really cute photo of the kids knitting here at Yarnmarket. We sometimes have classes for them. There's Chloe (Michele's daughter), Katie and Maggie (who are Lori's girls) and one of Maggie's friends. They look so cute as they intently work on their knitting.

Be sure to get an issue of Knit 'n Style...not only for the great patterns you'll find in there. And check out the August issue for the scoop on Yarnmarket and the Yarnmartians.

Oh!!! One last thing: we mention Jill's award winning fudge in it. Jill currently owes us some peanut butter fudge. I'll try to get her to part with her recipe so I can share it with you.

Gosh! It's Josh with Knitting Needles

This is a picture of Jan and Josh. Doesn't Josh look happy?

I've been putting pressure on our young, handsome Yarnmarket guy. Lots of pressure. "Learn to knit or I'll tell your mother-in-law!" Well, Josh and I both know his mother-in-law and if I tell her that Josh needs to learn to knit, she'll make darned sure that he does. (Casey can get anything done. Right now she's working in Dubai and whatever it is she's doing, I'll bet she gets it done on time, on strategy, and on budget.)

Anyway, Jan and Josh drove up to Cleveland to attend the Knitting Daily TV shoot, and by the time Josh got out of the car 2 1/2 hours later, he was impassioned; he needed to learn to knit. I don't know what it was Jan said to him, but I'm pretty sure it went something like, "Learn to knit or I'll tell your mother-in-law!"

Jan teaches classes here at Yarnmarket, and she's really good at it. So it didn't take her long to have Josh proudly clicking away to create a suprise scarf for his unsuspecting wife, Shelly. He's using nice big knitting needles and a big Rowan yarn which is perfect for beginners.

Josh clicked away at the shoot, and when I saw him the next day back at the office, he was proudly displaying the fruits of his labors to the very surprised ladies. They were really impressed with his skill...and all swore an oath to not tell any of his friends if ever they should happen to meet them.

I'm very proud that Josh can knit. Next, we're going to teach him tatting...and if he doesn't learn, I'm going to tell his mother-in-law.

Yarnmarket's BIG TV DEBUT!!!

You know how your husband asks you to do things that you don't want to do and you have to come up with a good excuse to get out of it? Something like, "I have a headache," or "I'm too busy right now," or "The neighbors threatened to call the police if I ever did that again"?

Well, my husband came up with one heck of an idea that I couldn't get out of no matter how hard I tried. He decided that I should go on the new Knitting Daily TV show to tell people all about yarn.

Now, just to put it into perspective: I hate being photographed so much that I didn't even hire a photographer for my wedding. So you can imagine how I felt about being asked to appear in front of a gazillion people (okay...I exaggerate...half a gazillion people) to show them some of the wonderful yarns we have here at Yarnmarket.

To prepare, I read all sorts of great books like, The Knitter's Book of Yarn and No Sheep for You. I fondled all the yarns I'd be speaking about. I wrote scripts. I re-wrote them. I re-wrote them again. I studied and studied and studied...and mostly I studied things that nobody would ever want to know. Like that the vicuna is a sweet little animal that emits a high-pitched whistle when it's scared. (Sort of the like the primal scream I let out when I'm forced to appear on a TV set.)

Anyway, we worked with the very nice folks at Knitting Daily TV and last week a few of us YarnMartians headed up to Cleveland for the shoot. Alex and I had to rent an enormous SUV because we had boxes and boxes of yarn, each neatly marked with the episode the yarn was to appear on, plus lots of interesting props, and some very expensive samples that people were kind enough to lend to us for the shoot. These included a gorgeous Cherry Tree Hill Orenberg lace shawl, a Twinkle sweater, some scrumptious silk Artyarns tops, a beautiful felted Crystal Palace bag, a Vicuna sweater and shawl that were worth more than the car, and a lovely Qiviut scarf. (More about the word "lovely" later.)

Because I was so nervous about having the samples with us, I'd clearly marked the box they were in with, "DANGER! BIO-HAZARD! INFECTIOUS MATERIALS." I'd forgotten about that box, but Alex told me the warnings were effective. The young men at the studio who were helping him unload the car saw that box, and stepped back, looking alarmed.

Jaime, the producer of the show, greeted me first. She was a little surprised she said when she saw me because I wasn't as overweight as she thought I would be. That was the beginning of a lifelong friendship. I'd told her repeatedly throughout the time leading up to the shoot that I was trying to lose 15 pounds because TV cameras put that much weight on you. But after a few weeks, I decided it would be easier to just grow another 3 inches taller. I packed some Spanx in my suitcase to help contain the results of binge eating chocolate cookies and Steak 'n Shake Sippable Sundaes with hot fudge sauce, and I hoped the make-up artist could do something to create contours on my face. (She couldn't.)

I also packed up a lot of dark colored pants. I've learned throughout the years that dark colored pants and high heels are the best camouflage you can buy. Well, not as good as real camouflage pants, of course, but the best when you've got to be someplace nice and you don't want to look like a Soldier of Fortune. But it turned out that the studio was providing the best camouflage of all: a table. I got to sit behind a table so all you could see was my top half. That was a double blessing because it also meant I didn't have to change my pants for each episode. I'd had to bring a variety of outfits because we were shooting 11 episodes over two days and I was supposed to look different in each one.

The first episode I shot was with Liz Gipson. She's a terrific lady who made me feel comfortable despite my terror of being on the set. Next I got to work with Shay Pendray. I felt so honored to meet her! She's such a wonderful woman and was so supportive, assuring me she wouldn't let me say anything too goofy. Eunny Jang hosted a few segments, which was really great because I'd been to her breakfasts at TNNA shows but never actually had the chance to meet her. And Kim Werker, who's a real hoot and is almost as Canadian as I am...except she was born in the States and moved there, while I was born there and moved here.

Everyone at the shoot was really nice and they all did their best to make me feel comfortable while I sputtered maniacally because I was so nervous. Our friends from Webs were there and I got to see Kathy do a great job presenting her segments. (She's got some valuable info on the show about how to wash your woolens, so be sure to watch that part because it will save you money.)

Becca from Bagsmith was there to demonstrate her Extreme needles which are absolutely enormous and lots of fun to work with. (I'm going to buy some steel cable and knit myself a suspension bridge.)

The entire shoot took a week, but I was there for only a couple of days doing my segments. I'd like to say it was fun...but it was scary. And I was nervous. And I was worried that my false eyelashes would fall off while I was on camera and everyone would think I had a caterpiller stuck to my cheek. (My Mom told me I had to wear false eyelashes because all the newscasters wear them -- well, the women newscasters do and maybe Shepard Smith on FoxNews -- and she said that you can always tell when they don't wear their false eyelashes because they don't look right.)

By the end of the two days, I was exhausted, Alex was elated and the people at the studio were probably happy to see me go.

Be sure to watch for the Knitting Daily TV show when it airs in your area. It'll be on PBS. I'm on the first segment, "Getting Started" on almost all of the shows.


And, please remember...I studied and studied and studied the yarns. And I'm really sorry if I goofed up on something, but I swear that if they'd asked me something obscure and technical, like how big a micron is, I could have told them the answer!

Oh, yeah. I almost forgot. Alex said I said the word "lovely" too often. Maybe I'll have a "Count the Lovely's" contest when the shows begin to air. I figure that if this is the biggest criticism Alex had about my performance, I might not have done too badly.

Whew! I'm glad it's over!

What do to with those odds and ends

I've been thinking a lot about the yarn I have left over from all my projects. I couldn't figure out what to do with 10 yards of this or 5 yards of that and I hate to see it go to waste. So I've made a decision. I'm going to put it to good use while I perform a much-needed public service.

I'm going to knit underpants for all those Hollywood fashionistas who spend so much money on their Fendi bags and Gucci dresses that they can't afford to buy underpants.

Sure, they might be a little bit thick and warm...but I figure bulky weight, 100% merino underpants are better than no underpants at all.

Most of these over-exposed young ladies are anorexic anyway, so the bulk might at least give them some illusion of hips.

Be ALERT. The world needs more lerts!

Josh works hard to ensure that we've got oodles of bargains on BargainYARNS, so he was thrilled when we decided to tell everybody about it with a new monthly newsletter, BargainYARNS ALERT! He wasn't so thrilled when we said, "Okay...now go write it."

What he learned was that writing it is the easy part. The tough part is what Pat had to do: make the darned thing look good in every web browser imaginable.

Now, far be it from me to disparage the multi-millionaire geniuses at Microsoft, but I've got their new Vista program and...well, it's a Hoover. Nothing I see looks like what everyone else is seeing. Maybe there was some secret code I was supposed to type in during installation, but whatever the reason, Vista turns every newsletter I get into a literary Picasso. You can see the parts, and you know they're supposed to go together somehow, but you just can't figure out how.

Pat and Josh worked on that newsletter for days to try to get it to look nice in Vista, but no matter what they did it still looked like a dog's breakfast by the time it reached my computer. Finally, we had to call in the Big Guns: Andy. Andy is Geek Extraordinaire and if he can't figure out how to make something work, it's because Bill Gates has Andy-proofed the code.

Andy figured out what the problem was, and it turned out that it wasn't Bill's fault at all. It was Larry Schmidt's fault because he and his Gang o' Googlers were stripping out code for some reason. Nobody knows why...and if there were any real, live humans who worked at Google, we might call to ask them. (Okay. There are some real, live Googlers. Rachael and Rebecca help us with our Google ads. But I'm absolutely convinced they're the only human Googlers in the organization. Organics, Gmail, and everything else is run entirely by robots. Or gerbils. We've asked Rachael and Rebecca if there are any other people besides them at Google Headquarters, but they've been sworn to secrecy. We're sure we can hear the squeaks of thousands of gerbils in the background whenever we have a teleconference with them.)

Once Andy had found the real culprit, Josh and Pat finished the newsletter and off it went to thousands of people around the world. And do you know what? They liked it! They really liked it! A lot of them signed up to receive future Alerts! so they'll know what's new at BargainYARNS. (In case you didn't know, that's the Yarnmarket sale site.)

If you'd like to get the monthly lowdown on our low-priced yarns, books and other stuff, be sure to subscribe to Josh and Pat's new newsletter. After all their hard work, they'd really appreciate it.

Devra's Vest Revisited

In December of 2006, I made my very first garment for my friend, Devra. I didn't make a vest because I wanted to, but because Devra complained that all I ever gave her were scarves and now that she's got a whole bunch of scarves she'd like something else. A sweater. Well, I wasn't about to start on a real sweater with my very limited skills, so I asked Jan to find something easy for me. Jan found what was supposed to be a nice, simple vest. It turned out to be the vest that would never die.


The pattern -- which really was simple enough for any beginner -- came from RYC's Classic Beach collection. I made a small adjustment to it: I wanted their outside to be my inside. I figured Devra would prefer the smooth knitting on the outside rather than the nubbly texture the pattern suggested. Because she looks pretty in pastels, I chose Natural Silk Aran. This is a lovely yarn of viscose, silk and linen, and the colors are muted and feminine.


Anyway, this vest was to be Devra's Christmas present, and I worked feverishly to get it done on time. I took the vest to doctor's appointments. I took it to visit my Mom in Canada. I took it on business trips. I spent hours on that darned vest. Knitting and ripping. Knitting and ripping. But as I knitted and ripped, I didn't realize I'd made one small error: instead of the scoop neckline, I'd made the men's crew neckline. And, not only that, being a beginner I didn't know to cast off loosely enough for the neck to stretch, so it was a tight fit over the head. But I figured Devra had a nice, little head so it wouldn't be too much of a problem.


Well, Christmas came and I proudly delivered to Devra her beautiful striped silk aran vest. She loved it. Well, she said she loved it...because she's very nice. But I watched in dismay as she struggled to pull the darned thing over her head. She pulled and pulled and pulled...and I thought her ears might come flying off. But eventually she got it on and we all ooohed and aaaahed and said how lovely it was even though we knew that the neck was a real problem.


Devra gave me some of her absolutely incredible home-made caramels for Christmas and everyone was happy.


FAST FORWARD TO 2007-- This year I decided to make Devra the same vest in a different yarn, and with a neckline she could get over her head. She was so happy when she received it. And I was so happy that finally I'd made her something she'd actually be able to wear. Because Vest #2 turned out so well, I thought I'd better fix Vest #1.



A couple of weeks ago Devra returned the first vest to me and I set out on the daunting task of ripping and repairing to give it the right neckline. The vest went with me to Canada to visit my Mom (she's getting to know this vest very well) and I sat and ripped and ripped and ripped as I got caught up on all the family news: sister-in-law Donna is winning her courageous fight against breast cancer; cousin Pauline wants another Linda Lundstrom coat because the designer is going out of business and Pauline loves her parkas; brother John is making his own dill pickles). Once the deconstruction was completed, it was no mean feat to ensure I had all the right number of stitches and that I was picking up at the right spot. I don't know how many times I counted...over and over again to ensure that I wasn't about to screw up again.


Anyway, after a few evenings of working on it, I had re-created Devra's vest and I think it looks pretty good considering what it's been through.


Today I'm having lunch with Devra and will proudly present to her the new, improved old vest. Unless her head has grown to gargantuan proportions, she'll have no trouble getting the vest over it. I hope.


I think I've decided that my favorite thing about knitting is that you can do the same thing all over again and still feel a sense of accomplishment.


Next year, Devra's getting a sock.

Vicuna -- the rarest, finest, most expensive fiber -- is here!

It's here! It's here! And it's sitting on my desk! Brought to us by the wonderful folks at Jacques Cartier in Canada, we have the luxuriously soft and almost insanely expensive Vicuna. This is the yarn you dream about! It's the yarn you'd use to create a family heirloom, and then go right out and start a family just so you'll have someone to inherit your beautiful heirloom.

For only $299.85 per ball you can knit a shawl...or a scarf...or anything light and airy and so wonderfully warm you won't believe your thermometer.

The critters that give us this luxury live at the highest altitudes of the Andes Mountains. There are not very many of them left because they were nearly hunted to extinction. But thanks to conservation efforts, the numbers are improving, and they can now safely be used for yarn. Each animal produces only about 4 ounces of harvestable fiber, so it takes a lot of vicunas to make a sweater. One ball weighs 28.5 grams...which is about 1/4 of an entire vicuna.

Only one color is available and that's the natural cinnamon shade of the animal. The folks at Jacques Cartier don't dye it because the fiber is delicate and sensitive to chemicals, so it's best just left alone. (Hey! It just occured to me that Jacques Cartier is probably plain old "Jack Carter" in America. Boy, those French can make anything sound luxurious.)

If you really, really, really, really love somebody, you might want to make them something out of this gorgeous, unbelievably soft and wonderful Vicuna. It would have to be someone you love more than anyone else in the world. Someone like David Bowie. (Hey, Iman! Wouldn't your husband look nice in beautiful Vicuna sweater?)

I'd be happy to make my husband a scarf out of this Vicuna, but he assures me (in the interest of keeping his savings account) that he's really not worth it!