October Ewesletter

In this issue:

 

‡ October Events

‡ New books and stuff

‡ New yarns and fibers

‡ Classes

‡ Holiday schedule

 


Howdy all you fiber fans, and happy October!

 

The brisk weather and snow in the mountains have gotten us all thinking about our fiber projects, planning for the holidays and beyond, and boy-oh-boy do we have some fun fiber for you! But first, what about hand-knit Halloween costumes? We had one customer in this week whose son has chosen to be a hand-knit sock for Halloween, which just may be the most original costume ever. This young 9-year-old came in with his mom and picked out some Cascade Eco Wool, and she's going to make sure he's the best-looking sock in town. We did see this article in Smithsonian, about handknit superhero costumes! (Think Batman, Sweaterman, ??) http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/QA-Mark-Newport.html . It's a great article about the artist Mark Newport and his handknit creations.

 

Spin and Weave week!!

Although scheduled for the full week beginning October 5th, we're going to celebrate Spin and Weave week this year with a week-end full of fab fiber activities on Ocotber 10th and 11th! If you've ever thought you'd be interested in learning to spin or weave, or are a spinner or weaver and are interested in the different types of equipment we have at the shop, come and join us! On Saturday, October 10, we'll have Inkle, Rigid Heddle, and four-harness weaving, and spinning demonstrations throughout the day. At 11am, bring the young'uns for a story-time reading of A New Coat for Anna by Harriet Ziefert and Anita Lobel (those are the authors, not the reader!), and your kiddos will go home with a great coloring page and a sample of real sheep's wool! At 12:30 come see a spindle spinning demonstration, and at 2pm we'll do a card (tablet) weaving demo. On Sunday the 11th, Cheryl Keydel will bring two of her favorite young alpacas (yes, the real thing, fleece still attached!) to join us on the front porch. Additionally, we'll have spinning, Rigid Heddle weaving, and Turkish spindling demonstrations during the afternoon.

 

Since we've mentioned spinning, if you're thinking about purchasing a new wheel in October, Schacht Spindle Company has a great special to tempt you! If you order a Ladybug or Matchless wheel anytime this month, you'll get a complimentary copy of Maggie Casey's new video called "Start Spinning: The Video". Sure to be a riveting movie, it stars our local Colorado spinning expert and you'll learn how to spin all types of yarn!

 

And don't forget to check out our roving and fleece! We regularly carry Foxglove Fiber solid color roving, Harrisville carded fleece, and Louet's wonderful Northern Lights--a highly-variegated almost-pencil-sized roving that spins up with lovely colors. Then, we still have some incredible fleece roving from Jack the Ram—Sister Sheep's most notorious he-sheep, and a little bit of lambs-wool from Becky and Emma (though they won't be lambs by next year!).

 

Since we're celebrating the making of yarn and weaving of cloth first this time, let's talk about weaving! We've got another shipment of mill-ends in this week, and they have been arriving regularly to replenish our stash for your weaving pleasure. Most fun this week: Jean Scorgie joined us at the shop! Jean is the author and publisher of the weaving magazine "Weaver's Craft" and she helped us re-stock with the current issue (wow, turned drafts!!) and all back issues. Come on in and check them out--you can learn everything from log cabin to huck to rug weaving to mock damask. From beginner projects to advanced weaving techniques, Jean walks you through drafting, fiber and color choice, and tips for warping and weaving, to finishing and fulling, and the articles are just plain good reads, too! And, check out "Ask Tabby" on the back for answers and advice on some of the most personal of weaving problems.

 

We've gotten some new books in, too—the Best of Weaver's Overshot is Hot and Twill Thrills will keep your shuttle racing and your feet dancing on the treadles of your loom! For Rigid Heddlers, we've got Creative Weaving by Sarah Howard and Elisabeth Kendrick, which is full of great projects for your RH and easily translate-able if you'd like to your table or floor loom. We also have good basic reference books every weaver should have: Margerite Davidson's A Handweaver's Pattern Book and Anne Dixon's The Handweaver's Pattern Directory. Also Hands-On Rigid Heddle Weaving, by Betty Lynn Davenport; Learn to Weave by Debbie Chandler; and The Weaver's Companion, by Madelyn van der Hoogt. There's more, too--check out our weaving and spinning bookshelf!

 

Did you know that Facebook membership has in number of users exceeding the population of China? I'm not so sure that Weavolution and Ravelry will ever have that dubious distinction—but have you heard of the Weavolution? Weavolution.com is a networking site just for weavers. Started in June of this year, Weavolution is expanding in membership as well as with features and I'm sure will prove to be a great place to share projects, questions, techniques and information regarding weaving. You can join (and it's free) at www.weavolution.com, and every member makes this site a little better! And since we mentioned Ravelry, weaving has just gotten it's own project category on that site as well. While not providing a space for all project details, it's still a great place to check out fellow Raveler's weaving pictures of FOs and WIPs, both on and off the loom. Check it out at www.ravelry.com.

 

For those who are interested in weaving works of art woven of unusual fibers, check out this article that came out earlier this week (from npr.org) to read about and see a picture of an incredibly beautiful tapestry woven of spider silk.

 

Oh, and at Schacht next week they'll be announcing the winners of the I Made It on My Schacht contest! We're all a-twitter here at the shop, we know at LEAST one customer has made it as a finalist. Watch for the announcement!

 

Ok, now this website gets the award for the most helpful (and most COOL) website of the day: www.kuler.adobe.com. If you're an artist, printer, or web designer, you've probably already used Kuler, but we were just introduced to it today! For those of us who are a bit color challenged, or want to check our combinations, or have a photo that has a color scheme that appeals to us but we just can't find the right fiber color, this website is GREAT! It's an interactive colorwheel that allows you to play with colors, choose attributes of your color combinations (warm, cold, monochromatic, complementary, bright, muted, etc.) and put together a palette that will please you and make your weaving (or knitting!) creation more color-satisfactory. Go play!

 

NEW YARNS AND STUFF

 

Fall is such a fun time here at The Recycled Lamb, the boxes just keep coming in and there is so much more new yarn even than last month that we're struggling to find a place to put it! (Which means of course that the sidewalk sale has just gotten better 'cuz we needed to move those things out to make room!)

 

Araucania has come out with ANOTHER new yarn, the unfortunately unpronounceable "Panguipulli" — but the yarn more than makes up for it's sad nomenclature. 100% Merino, heavy worsted weight, Araucania has done it again with its famously gorgeous colorways. Deep and lovely, this marled and variegated fall yarn is so surprisingly soft you'll want to make sweaters, scarves, mittens, hats, hiking socks...oh the list goes on. Any garment, created with this yarn, when worn will be a sartorial coup. Jealously will abound. And many requests for more items knitted with it will come your way! Jenny Watson's Araucania book 3 has great patterns, too for this yarn as well as the Coliumo.

 

From Ella Rae we have two new lovely solid color yarns—the Extra-Fine Heathers and Latte. The Extra-Fine Heathers are, well, just that. Subtly heathered merino in a two-ply worsted in all the classic colors, this yarn will give your textured garments excellent stitch definition while remaining soft against your skin. No woolly scratchy-ness here! And Latte is a great new yarn, designed for the lactose intolerant? This soft, single-ply yarn is comprised of 30% milk fiber (just how DO they do that?), 30% baby alpaca, and 40% microfiber. It's a bulky yarn and has a lovely sheen--and it allows you to wear your calcium proudly!

 

Classic Elite brought us Lush and Aspen this week. Lush is just that—a lush and luscious 50-50 combination of wool and angora that shows us that cashmere isn't the only softie out there. With not too much "halo" this would be great for your lightweight but very warm sweaters, or accent pieces such as scarves, mittens, gloves or hats. Aspen is one of the new super-bulkies, a big guy with lots of personality but only 2 stitches per inch. Another quick knitter-upper!

 

Filatura del Crosa has some great new baby yarns that we've started carrying. Bubble, Bubble Paint, and Pom-Pom aren't your usual boring baby baubles, but full of color and texture and in true baby-yarn tradition are washable, easy to knit and look great on any young one. Try a blanket, or one of FDC's great patterns for a baby sweater.

Plymouth Yarns sent us a whole buncha new colors in Baby Alpaca Grande, both solids and hand dyes. This oh-so-soft-and-silky 100% alpaca bulky yarn has been a favorite for the last few years for making scarves and any garment to be worn directly against your skin.

 

We've got a wonderful selection of new colors from Elsabeth Lavold in her Silky Wool, Silky Flamme, and Baby Llama yarns. Her new books are out, too, and those of you that have been waiting oh-so-patiently the newest Viking Knits is here!

 

Lantern Moon has sent us some great knitting baskets, and fashionable silk bags for all manner of projects. Super-small for those socks and booties; mediums for hats mittens, scarfs, and even a beautiful large bag that you could carry a sweater project in. The silk colors are indescribable.

 

Lace knitters!! We finally have lace blocking wires for you. Sold in sets of many, these wires come in a plastic tube for easy storage and are about 3 feet or so long. Just insert into the edges of your lace, pin to your your blocking board, steam and let set. Even, straight edges on the most delicate of lace. And since we mentioned blocking board (we all have one, right? What's "blocking" you say?) we have a new product called the "Knitter's Block"! Puzzle-like pieces of cloth-covered foam can be assembled to block your long and narrow lace scarves, or your squarish sweaters, or whatever shape or shapes most meet your blocking needs. It comes with a steaming cloth, pins, and a great bag for storage when not in use.

 

NEW BOOKS

 

Our shelf of knitting books keeps growing and has reached the overflow stage! New this month: One MORE Skein by Leigh Radford, a sequel to One Skein, has 30 great one-skein gifts to knit. Knits for the Modern Baby by Lena Maikon is filled with great fashions for the infant-to-2 jet set. Knitted Socks East and West by Judy Sumner and Yoko Inoue, is filled with socks to knit inspired by Japanese stitch patterns. The cover pair with open toes is intruiging—kind of like fingerless gloves for the feet! For those of you who love Rowan Patterns, we've got Rowan's Greatest Knits: 30 Years of Knitted Patterns by Rowan. Need we say more? Inca Knits is the newest member on the shelf, another international sensation by Marianne Isager, inspired by South American textiles. Beautiful colors, great designs, you'll want this one on your shelf too!

 

Got a new family member or a young one that you'd like to knit for? Easy Kid Knits, by Claire Montgomerie is full of fun easy patterns for the well-loved children in your life. You'll find great sweaters and garments for the 3 to 10-year-old as well as accessories such as slippers and animal faces.

 

Our favorite this month is The New Stranded Colorwork by Mary Scott Huff. Fair-Isle revisted--lots of color, lots of fun, vibrant patterns to keep you color-happy from picking out yarn to wearing your sweater.

 

CLASSES

 

What fun we're all having this fall hosting and teaching knitting, weaving, spinning, felting, and crochet classes! We've got a couple of new ones scheduled you might like!

 

Beyond Beginning Knitting — another section of this popular class for those who've just "graduated" from Beginning Knitting! Starting Monday evening October 26th from 6-8, this 4-week session will help hone your beginning skills and you'll learn new ones, too! 4 sessions, skipping November 2nd. $60, $25 deposit to hold your spot!

 

Knit Fix-it — Got a mistake in your knitting you don't know how to fix? A dropped stitch, an off-set pattern? Let Genevieve show you how simple it is to find and correct those mistakes, whether to ravel, tink, or frog...or not! One evening, November 19th from 6-8pm. $35.00

 

As always, for these and all classes, check out our classes page HERE for descriptions, and call the shop at 303-234-9337 to reserve your spot.

 

Upcoming October AND November knitting, spinning, weaving, crochet and felting classes:

 

Beginning Knitting — 6 sessions starting Wednesday 10/7, 10-12noon

 

Learn Turkish handspindling — one session Wednesday 10/7 6-8pm

 

Inkle Weaving pick-up designs — 2 sessions starting Thursday 10/8 6-8:15pm

 

Beyond Beginning Tapestry Weaving — 4 sessions starting Monday 10/12 6-8:30pm

 

Lizard Ridge Techniques II — one session Tuesday 10/13 6-8pm

 

Famous Felted Clogs —3 sessions, two separate classes, one begins Tuesday 10/13 6-8pm, tne next begins Sunday 11/1 from 11-1, and meets 11/8 and 11/22.

 

Lace, the Final Frontier — 3 sessions begins Wednesday 10/14 6-8pm

 

Advanced Natural Dyeing — One Session Sunday 10/18 10-5pm (must have natural dyeing experience)

 

Beyond Beginning Knitting — 4 sessions begins Tuesday 10/20 6-8pm

 

Top-Down Pullover Sweater — 5 sessions begins Tuesday 10/20 6-8pm

 

Sock Knitting for the Newbie! — 4 sessions begins Wednesday 10/21 6-8pm

 

The Joy of Handspindling — 1 session, Thursday 10/22 6-8pm

 

Rainbows, Batts, and Boucles:Intermediate Spinning — 4 sessions begins Thursday 10/22 6-8pm

 

Knitting with beads — one session October 28 6-8pm

 

Gnit a Gnome (you HAVE to see him!) — 4 sessions starts Thursday 10/29 6-8pm

 

Cast-on, Bind-off workshop with Ann Budd — all day Saturday 10/31 9:30-4:30pm

 

Easy Lacy Crochet Scarf — 3 sessions beginning Monday 11/2

 

Beginning 4-harness weaving — 6 sessions beginning Monday 11/2

 

Needlefelted Jewelry, wet technique — one session Wednesday 11/4 6-8pm

 

Sweater Sizing and Fit — one session, Wednesday 11/4 6-8pm

 

The Joy of Handspindling II — one session, Saturday 11/7 10-12noon

 

Knit Finishing — one session Wednesday 11/11 6-8pm

 

Community Knitting and K*4*O*T and other items of interest

 

K*4*ourveryown*T — Well, the final count is in — 636 hats, you all did it!!! To keep the troops' noggins in the Army 3rd Squadron, 61st Cavalry Regiment warm and dry this winter while they are deployed in Afghanistan! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!! We're anxiously awaiting pictures and will post as soon as we have them.

 

Don't forget we have our on-going sidewalk sale, still some great cotton and discontinued yarns at 10-25% off, and as always our coupon for October will soon be posted on our website, www. recycledlamb.com. Just click on the word "coupon" on the left menu bar, print it out and bring it in for a great deal this month!

 

Community Knitting is going strong, we've just about got another batch of afghans to take to Family Tree (www.thefamilytree.org) Gemini House. We meet each Thursday from 12-1pm, just drop in and bring your lunch if you like! If you'd like to contribute but can't make the day and time, we are accepting knitted or crocheted rectangles 7"x9", at any time, and we assemble them into lovely afghans.

 

Remember The Recycled Lamb has a group on Ravelry — just log on at www.ravelry.com and search for The Recycled Lamb Yarn and Fiber Arts group. It's a great place to share your projects, meet (virtually) new friends and stay up to date on happenings at the shop.

 

HOLIDAY SCHEDULE

 

It seems a little early to post this but it isn't really! We'll be closed on Thanksgiving Day, Thursday November 25th. We'll close early on Thursday, December 24th Christmas Eve at 2pm and be closed on December 25th. Stay tuned for information on Inventory Day (remember what fun we had last year?), we should know what day that will be by the next Ewesletter. Remember we love help and yes you get the employee discount on all yarn you purchase that day!

 

Well, that's it for now! All of us look forward to seeing you soon. In the meantime, keep those needles clicking, shuttles flying, hooks a-crooking and wheels a-spinning and visit us often at The Recycled Lamb!