Fast and Furious and a little Freddie

There is all sorts of stuff happening and new products arriving faster than I can photograph them and get them up here. I'm going to get right to things.


First up, we are thrilled to introduce five brand spanking new colors from Fiesta Yarns. What makes these extra special? They are exclusive to WEBS! Woohoo! Here they are in Baby Boom, a personal fave:





The color names are (from left to right) - Chesapeake, PB&J, Autumn Lace,Sangria Swirl, and Mulberry Tree. These colors will also be available in other Fiesta yarns and stay tuned for more collaborations with Fiesta!

As I've blogged about many times, going to TNNA is a chance for me to search for cool new accessories and such. One of the items we picked up this year is The Fibersphere (I feel like there should be an echoing sound coming through your computer as I type that!)

It's actually a pretty cool little product. You can safe encase your working ball of yarn into the sphere, protecting it from pets, kids, the elements, etc. If you need/want to take the ball out of the sphere, all you have to do is unsnap it. No cutting of your working yarn. Pretty clever!

Plus, when you purchase this pink version, a portion of the proceeds are donated to Cancer Research. Cost is $20.00.

Blue Sky Alpacas also ventured into the project containment realm and introduced these adorable little project bags:

They are called "Pretty Cheep Project Bags" and are made from 100% cotton muslin, measure 12" square and are washable! Each bag has a red tag affixed to it for jotting notes about the project contained in the bag! At only $6.50, they are a "bahgain" (as we Bostonians say) and way cuter than a ziploc!

On this week's podcast, Steve & I have the pleasure of interviewing Michele Orne, author of the just released book "Inspired to Knit - Creating Exquisite Handknits" from Interweave Press.

We actually had the opportunity to meet Michele at TNNA and she is just lovely, as is her book. Rather than approach design from the purely technical standpoint, she delves into the inspirational side of design and how things in everyday life can invoke an idea or concept. Michele is a big proponent of Mood Boards and discusses how to compile and use them. To top off this lovely book, there are 21 stunning designs. Here are a few of my faves:

The Amber Beaded Cardigan:

This cardi actually started out as a shrug. You can see it in the sketch.

Michele decided to add the skirt on after and it created a completely different garment. I personally love it as is and love the shrug version as well. What is also interesting is that the beads are sewn on after the garment was completed.

The Seed-Stitch Poet Jacket appeals to me for it's beautiful lines and gentle shaping:

I also love the Tiny Twists Camisole:

Finally, this coat, the Winter Wonderland Coat took my breath away:

I could go on, but I'll stop here. You need to buy this book. The interview is on this week's podcast which is now up on iTunes and our website.

Last up, I didn't even realize this was in the store already, until I spied it on the shelf:

I took it and put it in my office so I can enjoy an entire year's worth of Yarn Harlot witicisms. I'm telling you all now - if you know of anyone who will want or love this as a gift, buy early, buy often. Do not email me three days before Christmas begging me to send you my copy - I adore you all and would do almost anything for you, but I'm not coughing up the calendar.

Finally, I leave you with Freddie, our unofficial store cat, who lives nearby and comes over to visit and get some love:

Freddie is one big lover-boy of a cat. He will not take no for an answer when he comes calling and if you try to ignore him or push him away, he'll do this:

He will interrupt any and all work until he gets what he wants. He's been known to sprawl right across a keyboard or worse, get in your lap and nuzzle his entire face into someone's neck. Again, not conducive to say answering customers' phone calls.

We love Freddie.

Kathy

NOTE: Due to a couple of technical difficulties, I was not able to publish this post on Thursday when I originally wrote it.

Back In Business. . . . Sort of. . . . .

The photography in today's post is brought to you by J1's digital camera. Last year's b'day present. Given it was his 8th b'day, it's not what would be considered a "high quality" camera. Hopefully the pictures won't be too terrible.

I had planned to not post any pictures until my camera was replaced. I did accomplish that yesterday, but in the meantime, I had to go to the store on Sunday. After gathering the few things I needed I decided to take a quick run through the store to see what was new and how the reorganization of product was coming along. Well, the store looks great AND - there is so much new product!!! It was truly a bit overwhelming. I grabbed a WEBS bag and as the boys were yelling "can we go home now" I ran around the shop, shoving yarn into the bag like I was a contestant on one of those grocery store challenges where you have only so many minutes to throw as much food as possible into your cart.

What I'm showing you below barely scratches the surface of "New":

First up, is the new Jill Eaton yarn from Classic Elite called Minnow Merino. It's 100% Extra Fine Merino Wool, dyed in palette of gorgeous brights. Each 50 gram hank has 77 yards and it knits at 4.5 sts on a #8. Minnow Merino retails for $7.95 and it's machine washable! Here's a sampling of four of the 19 colors we are carrying:

Next up, I grabbed this:

This is Rio de la Plata Merino Sock. Not only is this a new yarn for us, Rio de la Plata is a new vendor. Steve and I felt this sock yarn was unique and beautiful. It's machine washable, which to me is important in a sock yarn and has 437 yards for $20.50. We currently have 11 colors which represent a nice balance between fun brights and more sophisticated darks/jewel tones.

This next yarn is not new in the marketplace, but it is new for us. Inca Alpaca is one of Classic Elite's staples and it's a yarn we've never carried before. Why?? Who knows. It happens sometimes. We're happy to have it in now. The colors are stunning and the yarn feels incredible. It's worsted weight and is $8.50/hank for 109 yards. The pattern support for this yarn is amazing!

At this point in my sprint through the store, I was stopped dead in my tracks by this:

This, my friends is Jade Sapphire 2-ply Silk/Cashmere (can you hear the harps?). This fingering weight beauty has 400 fabulous yards and is 55% silk/45% cashmere. At $33.00/hank it's not cheap, but it is so worth every penny.

It has been well documented here and on our podcast that I love sparkle and glitz. There's no doubt that Artyarns is among the best in our industry at luxurious fibers and over the past couple of seasons, they've brought sparkly yarns to a whole new level. While visiting Iris and Elliot in NY a few weeks back, we were totally smitten with these two yarns:

Yes, even Steve was loving them (how could he not!). The yarn on the right is Silk Pearl. It is 100% silk and it is among the most beautiful of silks I have ever seen. The twist on this yarn makes it virtually pill-proof. Each hank has 170 yards for $40.00. It knits at 5 sts on a #6.

It's sparkly friend is Beaded Pearl and Sequins. Yes, Iris took the gorgeous silk and added beads and sequins. For those of you who love beaded projects but cringe at the thought of stringing along the beads, this yarn is perfect! Although it knits at the same gauge as Silk Pearl, each hank has only 80 yards for $56.00. Yes, it's a splurge, but a little goes a long way.

Next up was a yarn that Karen mentioned in her post last week. It was also suppose to be the feature of my July 4th post (which never materialized due to previously discussed camera issues). This yarn has been in the works, in one iteration or another for a very, very, very long time. Steve and I have been wanting to offer a "Made in the USA" product, but have really struggled to find the right product, the right mill to work with, etc. As Dorothy said "happiness is sometimes right in your own backyard" (or something like that). Anyways, here is our newest Valley Yarn - Hadley:

Hadley is not only spun and dyed right here in the US, but right here in New England by our long-time friends at JaggerSpun, makers of Zephyr. It's a blend of 50% silk/50% wool. It knits at 5 sts on a #5 or #6 needle and each ball has 109 yards. We are so pleased with this yarn. The colors are not done justice by this photograph at all. The colors are gorgeous, vibrant, sophisticated. The wool and the silk take the dye slightly differently which creates just a breathtaking tonal-ish affect. Being that this is a US-made product, the costs involved in creating it are much higher than if we sourced it elsewhere in the world, but we think it's worth it and we hope you do as well. Hadley retails at $8.99/ball and comes in 18 yummy colors.

Whew! So much yarn, so little time. There's more, plus new accessories. But those will come in the following days, with photographs from my new camera!

Kathy

Hanukkah Flambe

Happy Hanukkah to those of you who celebrate. We get to enjoy both holidays since Steve is Jewish and I am not. It's always great for us when there's time between the two. It gives us a chance to really focus on them individually and talk about why the meaning of each and the importantce and such. Despite our best efforts, when the two coincide, it becomes just a non-stop-present-fest which is not good.


Back in November, Jonathan and I were in Tarjay (a.k.a. Target) and he spotted a "Paint Your Own Menorah" kit. He was all excited and I was thrilled. Two kits were in the basket before my cutie-patootie could even give it a good "pleeeeaaaassseee, Mom?". The boys worked diligently on them and Jackson decided he would give his to his grandparents and we would keep Jonathan's for our family. So for the past three nights we've lit two menorahs. We lit the candles tonight, said the prayer, opened gifts and when Steve turned around, Jonathan's handpainted keepsake menorah WAS ON FIRE. Not toast-your -marshmellows fire but "hurry before the smoke detectors go off" kind of fire. This is the aftermath:



About a half hour later as the candles were dwindling to nothing it dawns on me "Art & Barbara have one of these too!" I call them and warn them of impending danger. All is well.

I will call Target tomorrow about this product. I no longer have the packaging, but obviously there is a problem. We still had a lovely celebration tonight:



Notice Jackson's pinky finger. Yes, that is a splint. He jammed his finger yesterday and despite his complaints, there was no swelling. We figured he was just being dramatic. Well, today it was swollen and uncomfortable and the very responsible folks at his school took him to the health center and the nurse examined him and put a splint on his "possibly broken" finger. He thinks he looks cool, I concede complete defeat on any mother-of-the-year awards (gently pounding head against wall for not being more on top of this).

In knitting news, I am working on two top secret projects, one of which will achieve it's deadline, one which I don't think will. Hey, it's not like the house is going to burn down. . . .


We've received in some new yarn, but I am sans pictures. Sorry. Steve has been empanelled in a jury and I've had to be me and Steve, which is not easy. This week's podcast I am alone again and well, I basically talk as if I've free-based a pot of espresso. Who knew I could go without breathing for 12 minutes! Sorry, I digress, on to the yarn.


First, we have carried Schaefer Anne for quite some time in the store, but never on the web. Well, we've changed that. Six of the twelve colors are in. Anne retails for $26.00/skein.


Anne's brand new baby sister Heather will also be on-line and in the store. Heather is a 55% merino/35% silk/15% nylon gorgeous sock yarn. We only have 3 colors in - the other 9 are coming. Cost is $29.00/skein.


We also just received in Happy Feet from Plymouth. A great sock yarn with a nice twist, Happy Feet has beautiful colors. Each hank is 50 gm, so you'll need 2 for a pair. Price - hold on folks - price is $6.99/skein!


I'll be posting some great gift ideas in the next post.


Also, if you listen to our podcast and have any suggestions for KAL's for 2008, please post them. We are planning the schedule and have some great ideas, but would love to hear what would tickle you! Is there a project you think would be great, a technique you want to learn about? Let us know - we can do whatever we want, whatever you want!


Happy Knitting!



Kathy

Wine, Yarn and Song!

Not necessarily in that order, but you'll get the idea.

This past weekend was busy as usual, but there were a few wonderful highlights. First off, on Saturday, the Grand Opening of Pioneer Valley Vineyard finally arrived.

I do love a nice wine, but the opening of this winery was extra special because it is owned and operated by our Linda B., our faboo Customer Service Manager. This is an endeavor that has been three long years in the works (much more if you include all of the planning and such) for her and her family and every bit of effort paid off. The vineyard is beautiful:

The winery and tasting room themselves are lovely and the wine, well the wine is awesome. Steve and I tasted all of the offerings and bought a bottle of each of our favorites:

Raspberry, Cranberry, Blueberry and a white grape called Cayuga. The Apple wine was good, but not quite us. I was actually quite surprised at had good these wines are since I tend to not ususally be a fan of fruity-tuity wines, but these won me over. Maybe we need to institute free-wine Fridays at WEBS, rather than free-lunch Fridays! Probably not, I don't think our mail order customers would appreciate us picking and packing their orders under the influence :)

My favorite picture from the event has to be this one though:

I love the role reversal of Linda running the register and WE"RE checking out :)

We kicked off the weekend with Parent's Day at the boys' school on Friday. We saw adorable performances

Ate special treats

and battled it out in the parents vs kids soccer game. The kids won, of course. Fun was had by all.

As I eluded to in my last post (at least I think I did), Gail Callahan, our own Kangaroo Dyer has created a limited edition "Pink" colorway in our Franklin Sock Yarn. With October being Breast Cancer Awareness Month and knowing so many people who have been touched in one way or another by this disease, we wanted to do something extra this year. The proceeds from the sale of this yarn will be donated to our The Cancer Connection, right in Northampton. If we sell out of this first batch, Gail is up for dyeing more, but when the month is over it will be gone until next year. The yarn is available on-line and in the store.

When Gail was in last week, she had her latest dyeing creating with her. She is a nut when it comes to playing with color and she particularly likes to practice by over-dyeing the not so pretty leftovers from some of our closeouts. This little treasure had to come home with me:

It's formally a skein of angora that was a not-so-great-purple. I am not usually a fan of angora, but I fell for the gorgeous colors, the sweet fluffiness of it all. It's a small little bit, but I think I can create a pair of wristlets for myself. Or I may just keep it as it is. All I know is it makes me smile everytime I spy it in the basket in my home office. If you want to score some of this for yourself or see some of Gail's other amazing yarns, be sure to visit her at the Franklin County Fiber Twist in Old Deerfield, MA on October 27 & 28.

Oh and don't forget. Stitches East is this week in Baltimore! We'll be in booths 313-317 & 412-416 at the Baltimore Convention Center. Kaffe Fassett will be signing books in our booth on Thursday night and on Friday, Teva Durham will be with us to showcase her new yarn line, Loop-D-Loop and sign her pattern books.

Tomorrow I'll finally post Pixie's darling Tilted Duster and I also want to give some love to a new sock yarn that came in during the avalanche and somehow didn't get shown any love here on the blog and it's one I do truly adore.

Kathy

Time Out

NOTE: The second of two previously started posts. This one from August 3rd. Gosh, what have I been doing??

I am not sure how it got to be Friday already, but it is. Not that I'm complaining, mind you. It has been a bit of a blur and my apologies for lack of a post.

We played hooky last Friday and spent the weekend at the Cape with friends. We had a great time and I ate my share of fried clams, lobster, steamers and such. Didn't quite squeeze in the lobster roll, but there's always next time. Needless to say, getting back in the groove was a tad bit difficult on Monday morning. Here's a couple of my favorite snapshots from the weekend.




If you have never been to Cape Cod, I highly recommend it. It's beautiful and each town along Route 6 which brings you all of the way out the "hook" to Provincetown has it's own personality and charm. Plus, there is nothing like the National Seashore. As you can tell from the pictures, our day at the beach wasn't the best, but the kids didn't care. The water temp was a chilly 59 degrees, but even with the overcast skies and the fog that rolled in and out, it was still a wonderful time and just great to be away.

Okay, back to the business of yarn. There was a lot of yarn arriving this week. At one point I think we had to send in rescuers to dig Sharlene, our receiver, out of the piles!

I'm going to run through some highlights and link to whatever I can - not sure where we are in getting things up on the web. I have some pictures, but I don't have everything.

Southwest Trading Yin and Yang are now in. Yin is a 60 wool/20 silk/20 bamboo blend that knits at 5 sts = 1" on a #6 and retails for $11.00. This yarns just feels luxurious and the colors are spot on. It's mate, Yang is a personal favorite. Those of you who know me know, I love sparkle. Steve is often skittish buying sparkly yarns, but this one was not up for debate. It has the same composition as Yin, but with a 100% silk wrap with sequins attached. It is luminous. At $15.00/skein, it is a tremendous value over other sequin yarns. I think a shawl or even fancy scarf would be great in this yarn. It's on my (never ending) list of yarns to work with.

K1C2 has introduced a handpainted version of it's Ambrosia yarn. Ambrosia is a 70 baby alpaca/20 silk/10 cashmere blend, which is beautiful in its own right. But owner Helene Rush has taken this yarn to a new level with the handpaints. Her palette is absolutely stunning and like no other that we've seen on the market. Subtle, sophisticated and blended beautifully, I am truly tickled by her colors. The handpaints retail for $14.00/hank for 137 yards with a recommended gauge of 6 sts = 1" on a #3. Shawls, scarves, luxurious socks, wristlets/handwarmers - this yarn is made to be used for luxurious gifts.

We have received in the new Teva Durham Loop-d-Loop collection as well. Consisting of three yarns and a dedicated pattern book, the entire collection completely reflects Teva's style and design sensibilities. Moss is an 85% extrafine merino/15% blend and is a classic, sophisticated yarn. It retails at $9.95 and is used throughout the pattern book. Shale is a bulky blend of 35% mohair/30% acrylic/20% nylon/15% viscose. I'm sure some of you are raising an eyebrow on the content, but don't let that fool you. The fuzzy mohair is bound by the acrylic so it won't split when working with it. Plus the binder has a sheen and slightly different color variation that truly makes the yarn intriguing. At $9.95 for 73 yards, it will be a fun and quick knit. Last, but not least is Fern. Now, I will say, done by anyone else, Steve and I would have probably passed on this yarn. It is VERY different. But knowing Teva, we knew she would design it into incredible things. Fern is a wide, lacey ribbon with a scalloped border. I know, again raising an eyebrow, but stay with me. It's born to make accessories - she has designed an adorable vintage clutch bag and this yarn is truly at it's best when blended with Shale and/or Moss. It knits at 3 sts = 1" on a #13 and retails for $8.95. The dedicated pattern book is $14.99.

So there are a ton more yarns - haven't dipped our toe in yet, but I will stop here for now.

I have received several messages asking me about various projects. My knitalong sock from the podcast is coming, I'm at the heel turn and just need some quiet time to get through it (and maybe a little expert supervision).

My "Not Just and Apron" from http://www.crochetme.com/ has been in a bit of a time out for the past few weeks. I was nearly half way done and starting the second set of darts when I discovered the garment had lost 4 stitches along the way! I was not pleased. Now, I know I can count to 88, so it had to be the garment itself - fooling around when I was looking. I talked to it and said I was not happy. It layed there on my lap without so much as an apology. Now, had I been able to recover the stitches by frogging a few rows, I would have forgiven it and moved on. But that was not meant to be. The garment was truly testing my will. I had to frog back to the first set of darts. That was pure insubordination. Crochet is not suppose to do this to me. Crochet is fun, crochet always works out, it never fails me or tests me the way knitting does. Crochet is my reward. I had been waiting for quite awhile to make this garment and this is the thanks I get. So, it's been in time out. I've frogged it and done a few rows, but there's a long way to go. I still don't trust it and now I am slowed because I am constantly counting. This is how knitting treats me, but I will not take it from crochet.

And if it thinks it's coming to Chicago with next week, well, it's in for a RUDE awakening.

Kathy

Banner Day

NOTE: This post was started on 7/31 and never finished. Rather than start a whole new post, I am going to finish off the two drafts I have and then get things current)

We have received in so much yarn the past few days, it is mind boggling.

Besides yarn, we have books, patterns and magahttp://yarn.com/webs/0/1/0/4-0-1203/zines flying in at warp speed.

Two highlights - the two things that garnered squeals and general giddieness amongst the staff more than anything else. It has been hard to be focused, to say the least. The Vogue 25th Anniversary Issue is awesome and I suggest you get on-line or stop in the store asap to pick yours up. We had an out of town (really, out of country) visitor today and even that person, who is not a knitter, was thrilled to score a copy. THAT's how hot this issue is.


We are very disappointed to announce that our event on Sunday, August 12th with Adina Klein, editor of Vogue Knitting has been cancelled. We will hopefully be able to host Adina at the store at another time.

Then, Rowan Magazine #42. It.is.spectacular. I am particularly fond of the Kaffe Fassett design on the cover. For any of you planning to attend Stitches East, Kaffe will be in our booth on Thursday evening starting at 7:00pm to sign books, etc. He is giving a talk earlier in the evening, check out the Stitches schedule for more info at http://www.knittinguniverse.com/.

More later.

Kathy

Guess What We're Getting!

Any guesses?

Did any of you catch Larry King last night? He was in Vegas celebrating the one year anniversary of Cirque do Soleil's "Love" - their Beatles production. I had to giggle at the coincidence, given my post title of yesterday.

Kathy

P.S. WEBS Staff - you cannot give away the answer and take away all of the fun.

I Am The Lizard, Goo, Goo, G'joob

The Valley Yarns catalog is off and on its way to all of you. I always get a bit nervous when a new catalog drops. What if nobody buys anything? I know, silly, but it's like planning a party in those last few minutes before guests are suppose to start arriving and you think "what if nobody comes?". I would love to hear your thoughts once you've had the chance to take a peek at it. I'll share more of my thoughts and behind the scenes stuff with you in the coming days.

We've added some great new models to the store that I thought I would share with you. First up is this gorgeous cardigan knit with Sheep Two from Sheep Shop Yarn Company. The picture doesn't do it justice - those dark colors are always a challenge to photograph! It really is darling and the pattern is a freebie on knitty.com!



While on the subject of knitty.com, our entire staff is in total love with Amy Singer's book No Sheep for You. It's been out for a couple of months now and we finally got a shop model knit up using a combination of Debbie Bliss Pure Silk DK and Artyarns Regal Silk.

Then late last week, Jaz brought in this lovely lingerie set she has been working on for us. It's knit using Ella Rae Silkience and is one of the new White Lies patterns we are carrying in the store (sorry - they are not available on the web per request from the designer). You can buy them directly at http://www.whiteliesdesigns.com/ and I hope you come back to us for the yarn! The pattern is #505 Alene Camisole and Boy Short:


I had also promised pictures of the new Shibui yarns that arrived. We never take in shipments that aren't nearly complete in terms of colors, but in this instance, we threw caution to the wind. That is how in love we are with this yarn.

We have 3 colors in the Baby Alpaca DK. It retails for $19.50/hank, has 255 yards and knits at 5 1/2 sts on a #6 needle.


Six colors of the Merino Kid came. It's 55% kid mohair/45% merino with 217 yards and knits at 5 sts on a #7 needle. It too retails for $19.50, but remember both of these yarns have terrific yardage.


Next is Silk Cloud with 60% kid mohair/40% silk. It is light and fluffy and yummy. And I don't particularly care for alpaca so if I'm singing it's praises, you have to trust it's nice stuff. It's got 330 yards and retails for $17.00. One skein will make a lovely swirl scarf. We have this knit up in the store for anyone who comes by.

Last, but just as great is Shibui Sock. Oh yes, wonderful, wonderful sock yarn. The colors, as with their other yarns are rich and vibrant and saturated and really well thought out. Each hank has 191 yards to 50 grams. It's superwash merino, of course and retails for $9.30/hank. Five colors arrived - a smattering of their more tonal solids and lively multis. What I love is besides just sock patterns, they have a too cute kids' sweater that we will have a shop model of shortly.


I have to say, this company has been nothing short of AWESOME to work with. Since the minute we met them at TNNA right on through, they have been just incredibly supportive. I really encourage all of you to check out their yarns.

We have also received in new colors in Blythe from Classic Elite. Blithe is a scrumptious 100% Baby Camel yarn. It is soft and squishy and not the least bit scratchy. It has 128 yards and retails for $15.00. This yarn has been around for a few seasons now, mostly in a tonal/natural palette of beiges and greys. Classic Elite has added these four rich hues for fall and we are in love, love, love. Dena is working on shawl that I cannot wait to see!


Then there's Swoon from Fiesta Yarns. And yes, the minute you touch this yarn and see the amazing colors that is exactly what you will do. This yarn has been on FIRE since it arrived and we're working hard to keep inventory on hand. It's 55% extrafine merino/45% silk. It retails at $35.00 for 225 yards and knits at 4 1/2 sts on a #8. This is only a sampling of the colors we brought in. We have another newbie coming from Fiesta in the coming weeks. Stay tuned!


Lastly, we are thrilled to introduce two yarns from Green Mountain Spinnery. They are located just about an hour from us and we've never stocked their yarns before. Why? Who knows, just one of those misses we sometimes make. Too much yarn, too little time. But no need to dwell on the past, we're happy to have them in the store and on the web. We're starting out with their Mountain Mohair, which is 70% wool/30% yearling mohair. The yarn is beautiful and their colors are amazing. It retails for $12.40/hank, has 140 yards and I would call it a heavy worsted weight.


We also have Sylvan Spirit, their wool/tencel blend that has a lovel, tweedy-ish sort of look that results from how the wool and tencel each take the dye. There are 180 yards, dk weight and retails at $11.25/hank.


Whew. . ..and this only catches us up through last week!

Plus, we've got an incredible line up of events and guest teachers over the coming months. This will all be on the website shortly, but I wanted to start getting the word out:

Sunday, July 15th at 1:00pm, Alison Hansel, author of Charmed Knits and The Blue Blog

This event will have all of the wizardry you'd expect from Harry Potter!

Sunday, August 13th at 1:00pm, Adina Klein, Editor-in-Chief of Vogue Knitting.
This will be a presentation of fall trends, a trunk show and book signing.

Saturday & Sunday, September 8th & 9th, Norah Bellows, Designer/Owner of Noni Patterns.
This two day workshop (with a one day option) is sure to be a sellout!

Wednesday, September 12th at 5:00pm Norah Gaughan, author and Berroco Design Director
Norah will present the fall collection, including her exclusive pattern book and will be giving a demonstration of her hexagon technique.

Mid-September-ish TBD Vickie Howell, author, designer and host of DIY"s Knitty Gritty
This is sure to be a magical night of knitting, yarn and Knitty Gritty craziness! We'll have a yarn tasting of her signature line of yarns from SWTC and much more!

Saturday, October 6th, Teva Durham, author & designer.
Teva will teach two workshops and will be introducing her new line of yarns distributed by Tahki Stacy Charles.

Sunday, October 14th from 12:00-4:00, our 4th Annual Knit for the Cure

Saturday, October 20th, WEBS Bus Trip to NY Sheep & Wool Festival, Rhinebeck, NY
Join us for this magical and fun trip to Rhinebeck. There'll be food and goodies all the way to Rhinebeck. The trip home will be prizes for who bought the most, the least, etc.

Oh and this list doesn't even include Maggie Radcliffe, Candace Eisner-Strick, Margaret Fisher, Susanna Hansson, Amy Barrie (rug hooker extraordinaire), Margaret Heathman.. . . . . .who are ALL COMING TO WEBS THIS FALL! As the kids would say "Come on Robin, to the Bat Cave, there's not a moment to lose!" I think that is very appropos to all of you knitters and WEBS!

Plus, we'll have trunk shows from Shibui, Classic Elite, Sheep Shop Yarn and Filatura di Crosa Baby.

AND! We'll be at Stitches Midwest (Chicago) in August, the Boston Knit Out on September 30th and Stitches East (Baltimore) in October.

AND - there may be a couple of surprise additions, so be sure to watch the website, listen to the podcast, read the blog, stop by the store. . . . .

I think I need a nap after this post.

Kathy

P.S. I didn't even share the MOST exciting item of the day. Today, the temperataure hit 98 degrees here. Right now, it's still 89 with 90 minutes to go until sunset. Melissa has decided that I must be a lizard. When she retires to Arizona or Florida, I will go with her and live on a rock, near a pond in her yard (translate deck and pool and cushy pool house). I will be very happy.

P.P.S. I know Melissa means this with the utmost affection. She is not insinuating I LOOK like a lizard, just have lizard like qualities in terms of my love of the heat. Gosh, it sounded so much more endearing coming from her. . . . . . . .