2009 Holiday Gift Guide

It's that time of year to whip out the needles and get cracking on holiday knits! To help your efforts, we have put together a list of our favorite quick knitted projects - so you can get started & finish before the man in the red suit visits.

Project 1: February Baby Sweater - an Elizabeth Zimmerman classic can be knit with the lace pattern or without for a more gender neutral sweater


Project 2: Lychee Mittens by Kate Gagnon Osborn. Knit out of cozy Terra (a luxurious blend of baby alpaca, wool & silk). Makes a very nice, soft gift to keep hands warm as temperatures drop.

Project 3: Star Crossed Slouchy Beret by Natalie Larson. This is a great quick knit that can be made with one or two skeins. It's a great gift for your sister or friend.
Project 4: 5th Avenue Infinity Scarf by our own Margaux Pena! This is a fantastic and trendy knit. From the runways to the covers of Vogue, Infinity scarves are everywhere & this pattern, in particular, looks beautiful knit up & worn on any chilly day! Be the first to knit this pattern from one of the best up-and-coming knitwear designers!

Project 5: Grande Cabled hat. Knit this cute hat as the perfect stocking stuffer or gift to yourself. The perfect project to keep you warm through the cold winter months.

Margaux's 5th Avenue Infinity Scarf

They're everywhere - on Oprah, at Bloomingdales and at now at your Local Yarn Shop!

Margaux has posted a fantastic pattern and we're sharing it with you too!

What you need:
2 or 3 skeins of a worsted weight yarn (Madeline Tosh, Manos Classica, Malabrigo)
Size US 8 or US 9 40 inch circular needles.

The Pattern:
5th Avenue Infinity Scarf

CO 241
Making sure you're not twisting stitches place marker and join in round

1st Row: Knit all stitches
2nd Row: K2tog, YO, repeat to end of round to last stitch, K1
3rd Row: Knit all stitches
4th Row: K1, *YO, Slip 1, K1, Pass Slipped Stitch Over (PSSO)*, repeat * * to end.

Repeat these 4 rows until desired width.
Cast off all stitches.

Our shop notes:
Margaux made hers about 10 inches in width and approx 60 inches around. It easily wraps around 3x or twice for a long drape.

You can make this scarf shorter just changing how many stitches you cast on. We think this is going to be a real hit this winter and a perfect go-to for holiday knits!

Thanks for sharing the fantastic pattern, Margaux!

Manos Blanket

Wouldn't you love to cuddle up under this blanket on a rainy day? Well if you buy a raffle ticket you could win this gorgeous blanket! Stop by the shop with $5 per ticket to put your name in the drawing knowing all proceeds of the raffle go to the Hoboken Homeless Shelter.

Thank You Teva!

Thank you to Teva Durham, knitwear designer, writer of numerous knitting books, and Jersey City resident, for spending the day at Patricia's Yarns! Her beautiful new lines of yarn are for sale at the shop and many of our customers have been drawn to her gorgeous new designs - especially the Seed n Lace Pullover Sweater made of "Granite" yarn.

Meet the Designer: Teva Durham

We are thrilled to announce a meet and greet this Saturday, October 24th from Noon to 3om for knitwear designer, Teva Durham!


Teva is the author of several knit and crochet books and is the creative force behind her patterns and yarn line Loop-d-Loop for Tahki Stacey Charles, Inc. Her designs are always eye catching and dramatic and often use large yarns and needles.


Teva's designs have been featured in Vogue Knitting, Interweave Knits as well as shop favorites Scarf Style and Weekend Knitting books.

We hope that you will join us this Saturday to welcome Teva to Hoboken! See you then!

PY goes to Rheinbeck

For the first time (and what we hope will be of many), we took the trip to Rheinbeck, NY for the Sheep and Wool Festival!

We saw sheep...

and Alpacas...
and a TON of yarn!


What a fantastic time!

We left Hoboken at 9am and took a bus up to Rheinbeck enjoyed the sights and of course the wool and left full, happy, and tired.

Thank you to everyone who joined us: Leila, Chris, Jess, Pearl, Ashling, Karen, Michelle, Jamison, Devon, Stephanie, Jillian, Rita, Kevin, Mia and Margaux.

We look forward to doing this again next year!

Happy Fall

October has brought in crisp autumn temperatures while our fall shipments roll in with the leaves. We are very excited about new yarns this season.

Rowan has brought out a gorgeous new yarn called Lima which comes in 10 fabulous colors & is soft to the touch being made of baby alpaca & merino.

We have 2 new yarns from the Fibre Co., Terra & Canopy. They are blends of luxurious fibers in mouth watering colors.

First is Terra is a blend of baby alpaca, wool & silk which we have in 5 beautiful colors below:

The blend of fibers gives this yarn a very unique texture and the softness makes it perfect for any special handknit.

We got in 7 beautiful fall colors of Canopy in the worsted weight which is a soft blend of baby alpaca, merino & bamboo.

We are so excited to introduce Madeline Tosh to the shop! This luxurious yarn is a pleasure to knit with and we have an array of colors in the worsted weight line. We wish you could feel the softness through the photo, but we think it speaks for itself.


Last for this blogpost, but certainly not least we have brought back a customer favorite, Nimbus, which is an organic merino yarn. The new fall colors are great!

Come on in and touch these beautiful yarns which are only a few of what's in the shop! Hope to see you soon!

Patricia's Welcomes Stacy Charles!

We were thrilled to welcome Stacy Charles, owner of Takhi Stacy Charles, to our shop today! He came bearing gifts of great patterns and samples of our two new yarns Zara and Superior. Lots of our wonderful customers came by to give him a warm Hoboken welcome.

Welcome to Hoboken, Stacy! Thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to visit us across the Hudson. We loved having you and we hope you come back to visit us again soon!

Stacy Charles at Patricia's!

Meet Stacy Charles! Sunday September 13th will be our "Zara" & "Superior" Yarn Launch Party with Stacy Charles!

Come by and see (and feel!) the beautiful new lines of Tahki Stacy Charles yarns and be inspired by his gorgeous samples and trunk show. We will be celebrating all day with Stacy, nibbles & beverages. We look forward to seeing you tomorrow!

Late afternoon Delight!

Zara Has Arrived.

We're ready for the party, are you?

Remember, if you leave us a comment about what you're most excited to knit this fall you could win a few balls of this fabulous yarn!

Introducing: Takhi Stacy Charles

Every year I have the chance to bring something new to my customers. While I wish I could fill the shop to the brim of new yarns (which I'm sure Margaux would love), I am limited and therefore try to bring you the best quality and luxurious yarns out there! With that said, we couldn't be happier and more excited with new brands we are bringing to you this fall.

We are thrilled to announce the addition of Tahki Stacy Charles!

We will be hosting a Zara/Superior Launch Party here at the shop on Sunday, September 13 from Noon to 3pm. Come and join us for refreshments and meet our special guest, Mr. Stacy Charles himself!

Leading up to the party we are going to be posting our reasons why we love Zara (and Fall knitting) and of course there's something in it for you our wonderful customers! Leave a comment with why you want to knit with Zara or what you're most excited about this fall for a chance to win a few balls of this fabulous yarn!

New Zealand Part Two

New Zealand is a beautiful country.

We have spent many hours driving around the North Island sightseeing from the very north, Cape Reinga. In Maori culture it is known as the jumping off place for spirits to the underworld. The photo below is of the Tasman Sea meeting the Pacific Ocean. It was a very beautiful place to visit.

Our skiing was fantastic at Mt Ruapehu where we skiied Whakapapa Ski Area - it was absolutely amazing. Never before have I skied an active volcano which according to our Mountain Host, is due to erupt anytime. Fortunately for us it did not while we were on it but the skiing was so much fun.

The mountain was enormous with its highest point being 2300m. We skied most of it Thursday & Friday taking T-Bar lifts up to the most beautiful trails I have ever been on. We stayed at the Grand Chateau at the base of the mountain where we enjoyed sitting by a fireplace knitting & relaxing in the evenings.

Of course any trip would be incomplete if I didn't find a few yarn shops to visit... I am very excited about what I have found & cannot wait to start knitting a new sweater out of my new yarn just in time for fall.

New Zealand

Adam and I have made it to Auckland, New Zealand to visit with our friends Rob & Anna (you remember Anna, she was often in the shop knitting when she lived in Hoboken). Their place will be our home base and we will have a few excursions out to other parts of the North Island of New Zealand to Rotorua, Taupo, and down to Tongariro National Park where we will ski Ruapehu Mountain.

We have gone for a few walks today around Auckland and during the last one wound up in a very nice wine bar called Dida where we had a lovely Pinot Noir while enjoying each others company.

We look forward to dinner tonight at Chez Penney which was a common occurrence when they lived in Hoboken. I am sure we will do some knitting over nice New Zealand wine tonight.

More to come...

Celebrating 5 Years!

Patricia's Yarns is celebrating five years in business. I especially want to thank all of my customers and friends for their encouragement and support.

To help celebrate, Jennifer Roberts, the incredible pastry chef and owner of Sweet Element (oh yes, she is also a knitter) made us this amazing cake fashioned into a messenger bag of yarn. Yes, it is edible! No detail was left behind - note the number 5 in the top of the photo.

Below is a pic of Jennifer and me with the cake. I can't wait to taste it!

Did I mention you can celebrate too! We are having a sale! Save up to 40% off yarn! Stop by today, tomorrow, or Tuesday!

Dream Toys & BeepBeep

Anne is finishing up her horse from Dream Toys which is a favorite toy book of Patricia's Yarns.

Anne knitted her horse using Manos del Uruguay's silk blend in natural for the main part & coffee for the nose & feet and Kidsilk spray for the mane. She is really enjo9ying it & is currently workiing on the blanket for under the saddle.

The Beep Beep blanket is finished & is super cute.


It is knit out of Blue Sky Alpacas worsted hand dye yarn and is fantastic to work with. The pattern is relatively simple making a relatively quick knit cute for a boy or a girl!

Knit Road Trip: Philadelphia

Philadelphia: best known for cheesesteaks, Ben Franklin, Boys II Men and now... knitting!

Margaux, Riley & I took a day trip to Philly to visit our friend Craig, owner of the LYS Loop and the great fabric store, Spool, run by the fabulous Laura.

After lunch together, we explored Loop. While I have visited Craig before, Margaux was visiting this beautiful LYS for the first time.

As you can see Craig has a great eye for yarn, one reason why we love him (of many reasons, of course!) He had a Spud & Chloe trunk show which we loved seeing too. Patricia's Yarns also carries the Sweater and Outer weight of this great new line of yarn from Blue Sky Alpacas.

We stopped next door to visit Spool where Laura runs a fantastic fabric and sewing shop!


Seeing this adorable fabric and sewing shop got Margaux's creative juices flowing. Laura was wearing a cute handmade dress and there were so many beautiful samples as well.

Overall, we had a wonderful trip!


Oh and of course we brought home more Koigu! Patricia's Yarns LOVES Koigu!


Thank you Craig and Laura for being such gracious hosts. We hope to see you in Hoboken soon!

Twitter!

We have joined the twitter craze! Now we too will be tweeting about shop events & happenings. Check out the new twitter widget to your right as well as on the shop website.

New Arrivals

This week we were happy to receive new patterns from Mac & Me as well as new clutches from Persnickity Knits!

Leslie at Mac & Me has worked overtime creating new patterns that are beautiful in design and offer something for everyone.

The skirt pattern would fit tweens to adults!

She truly has outdone herself with this collection.

Persnickity Knits clutches are really great little knitting bags. We have two sizes available, Lulu which is the small brown one in front & Fifi which is a mid size clutch, the green one to the back.

They are well constructed with a soft green lining sure to hold up to years of use, great to toss into a bag to take your knitting everywhere with you!

Grimaldi's Knit Night = Huge Success

Last night we had a fantastic time at Grimaldi's knitting & enjoying the delicious pizza. Eighteen blocks were cast on & today one has been bound off so we are on our way to creating a beautiful blanket for the auction November 19th. Stay tuned as more details unfold about this exciting event!

Charity Knit Night is FULL!

We are looking forward to Monday July 13th with great anticipation as 20 knitters will take over Grimaldi's Pizza to begin knitting blocks for what will be a beautiful blanket.

The yarn is balled & ready to be knit into a Four Seasons Throw which will be auctioned off to benefit the Hoboken Homeless Shelter at the shop on Thursday November 19th. Knitters get your needles ready for a great event that will benefit our community!

Lovey Dovey Spud & Chloe Sweater

Spud & Chloe sweater weight is a dream to work with. I quickly knit this Lovey Dovey top over a quiet Fourth of July weekend and look forward to my next project with this yarn!

I am very pleased with this yarn. Spud & Chloe sweater comes in a great array of colors:

It is a 3 ply blend of wool and organic cotton which is a dream to work with. This is a work horse yarn - any finished project made with this yarn will be great to wear and will last a long time.

Bumble Up Scarf

Wow that was fast.

Pattern: Bumble Up Scarf (Ravelry Link)
Yarn: Spud & Chloe Outer in Soapstone & Flannel
Size 11 circs
1 fabu button!

I cannot tell you how much I wanted to make this scarf since I first saw the cute tease cards that Spud & Chloe sent to Patricia's. I love just the look of the honeycomb stitch, and its unbelievably SUPER easy. (I really mean it this time! Really!)

On top of it all it was superfast to knit up. I started this scarf yesterday afternoon at around 3pm, took it with me to happy hour and finished it this afternoon. The yarn is soft and shed only a little bit. I would so use this again for another scarf and maybe a matching hat.

Time to pump the AC in my apartment so I can wear this around for a while before I have to store it for the winter.

This weekend is a Spud & Chloe celebration at Patricia's Yarns! Come on by to test the yarn, view this gorgeous scarf and maybe take some yarn home for your own.

Happy Knitting!
Margaux

All good things must come to an end...

But this one doesn't really end because the fun is just beginning! We are so excited about this 2009 TNNA show. We are coming home to 'Jersey' shortly very excited about some new purchases. We have ordered more Koigu than ever, acquired 2 new yarn lines, spent a great time with friends while making new ones & are enjoying a pre-flight vino ready to return to Hoboken.

We look forward to showing you all our 'shwag' as well as sharing stories from the trip. Hope you have enjoyed reading our updates as much as we enjoyed doing them! See you Tuesday!

Sweet dreams,
Patricia & Margaux

Day Three

We are sitting in the Drury with our favorite sales rep (Rowan, Manos, Misti, Fibre Company), Antonia, thinking about the great day we had at the show. We are pooped from all the knit excitement!

Above isone of our signed books, Vintage Baby Knits, a note pad from Blue Sky, a skein of superior & our ring for ordering Mac & Me. It is so fun seeing friends!

It all started at Lorna's Laces. We beelined right over to our favorite yarn line to put in an order for the fall. A few color choices later and we were feeling mission accomplished and it was only 10:30am!

Our next stop was at the Fibre Company and we got to meet Kate and Courtney the distributors. You know them best as the distributors for our "crack" yarn, Road to China. Kate has some great designs that are showcased on their website and a popular pattern coming out in the Fall Knitscene. (Margaux's pretty excited about that one!)

We got to see so many great knit designers and industry influencers including Veronik Avery, Norah Gaughn, Kate Gilbert(Twist Collective), Teva Durham and Stacey Charles (Takhi Stacey Charles).

From our book distributor we got a few great books to show you including one that we believe was made with us in mind called Pints and Purls. How can you not love a pattern book that has drunken knits!? We also were particularly excited about the Vintage Baby knits book which Margaux can't stop looking at.

We also got to stop at the Mac & Me booth and see the great new designs by Leslie Scanlon. Patricia enjoyed the new Mac&Me patterns as well as Margaux modeling some of the garments - especially the bling we got for our new fall order!!

Another new yarn that we are excited to bring to you is Aslan Fibers. This great wool is soft and has a beautiful palette of colors.

Our last stop was at Blue Sky and their new line, Spud & Chloe! The new line is fantastic and we cannot wait to get it in for you to enjoy. It's such a great line that even Margaux forgot her inner monologue and exclaimed for joy as our order was being made. It caught the Blue Sky rep a little off guard but she said it was understandable ;).

We snapped a few photos from the Rowan booth,
The actual new magazine, number 46, which we will have to wait to receive along with the ball of Lima & an image from the Lima Collection.

The cover image from their new book the Lima Collection with a ball of it which we are very excited about.

Getting ready to head out for dinner with Beth & Michael from Lorna's, Antonia, Craig & Mark from Loop & the two of us! All in all a great knitting day! We cannot believe we have to leave tomorrow.