Fall Rowan is Here!

Our fall shipment of Rowan is here! We are excited to have back in stock some great customer favorites like Big Wool and Cashsoft Aran/DK as well as some new yarns like Cocoon and Felted Tweed. Coupled with the new Rowan Mag 42 we are excited to see what our customers will be making this fall.

We decided to dive right in and make the great Kid Classic knit, Bridges.

This is a great knit for an advanced beginner who knows how to increase and decrease. Kid Classic is an easy to work with yarn and comes in many great fall colors.

We also don't want to let go of summer too soon! From the Rowan Bamboo Tape Collection this is Akina by Marie Wallin (Same designer as the above Bridges V-neck vest!)



Bamboo tape is the true summer yarn and makes for a beautifully draping garment. The yarn comes in beautiful pastel colors.

Sheep Shop Arrives!

Our fall order of Sheep Shop 2 is here! We are so delighted to once again offer this great bulky weight yarn. We found it the perfect substitute for the fabulous Loop-D-Loop sweater, Leaf Lace.

The yarn, which is made and hand dyed in Uruguay, comes in multi and semi-solid colors that will surely inspire many fun fall projects.

Thank You for three great years!

Patricia's Yarns turned three on Saturday August 4th and we celebrated with a birthday sale & cookies. Thank you to all who came. We had a great time and hope you did too.



Yarn sale, home baked cookies & good friends makes for a good time.

EZ's Tomten Jacket

We love Elizabeth Zimmermann here at Patricia's Yarns. We love her philosophy on knitting, her great patterns and most of all her fabulous stories. We quickly fell in love with this jacket when brainstorming what to do with our Manos 113. We saw this jacket on the internet and knew we needed one of our own.

We bordered the jacket in Manos color W which we felt added a wonderful touch. We love Manos 113 because it allows so many options for the trim. We love the pattern because it's done with only knit stitches and has a very clever but simple style.


We knitted the pattern in the "kid" size which fits a 5 year old comfortably and a 3 year old loosely. Using just 5 skeins and 9 needles this jacket was knit up in a week and will be an heirloom to be passdown from generation to generation.

Customer FOs

The summer months have not slowed down our PY knitters! Our customers have been coming in showing us their beautiful FOs.

Yesterday Karen brought in her almost finished and absolutely adorable sweater for her miniature poodle. This is her first project as a new knitter and she did a beautiful job.


The pattern is from Puppyknits by Jill Eaton and she made it using cascade 220 superwash on size 8 needles. Can't wait to meet the puppy wearing her sweater!

Abbe came by with the sweater knit for her son Zack by his Grandmother too! It is the pattern Jersey Shore by Knitting at Knoon worked up in Louet Opal sport weight yarn. She is looking forward to getting two years of wear out of the sweater for her son and is very pleased with the pattern. So are we!

Below is a close up of the stitch pattern....


Nina brought in her original baby blanket design done with Dale of Norway Stork, doubled. A beautiful knitted piece with a crocheted border is sure to be a keepsake for her new born grandson.
We love all our customer knits at Patricia's Yarns! Keep them coming!

Kids Knitting Camp

This week has been a busy one at Patricia's Yarns as we host our first ever Kids Knitting Camp. The camp session will end tomorrow but I think these girls have been bitten by the knitting bug and their new hobby will continue for some time. The tell tale sign.... lists of future projects and barely the ability to prevent themselves from starting today.

The girls started by making their own knitting bags which they drew on and some covered in puffy paint. Knitting was the next task at hand and for some it was a review, for others a completely new experience but a very fun time for all.

Over the 5 days we made knitting bags, dyed yarn and learned many new knitting skills. The amount of skills learned varied but everyone learned something new each day. Below are photo's of the camp and the various stages of it.

Above: Balling yarn
Below: A scarf in the making

Above: Pulling wet dyed yarn out of its jar
Below: Balling dry dyed yarn by hand


Below: Making Gods Eyes

Here are the wonderful campers with their fearless camp leader!


We had a great time and we can't wait to do it again next year!

And twice on Sunday!

And you thought there was only going to be one post today... nope! Karen just brought in her Coco Loco baby cardigan. This cute little knit is in the Manos Cotton Stria colors Aqua 210 & Leaf 219. She added her own personal touch with the duo-tone instead of using the three colors suggested in the pattern. We think it's such a great color combination! All she has left is the collar and button band.

As we peer around the shop we also have another fabulous FO to share with you!

This wanna-cozy-up-on-the-couch blanket is designed by Mac&Me and we knitted it up with Blue Sky Cotton. We loved this pattern for it's simple construction and great stitch pattern.

A simple and satisfying knit that's sure to be a hit with any mommy to be! Now, really we're done for today... or are we....

Koigu's KPPPerfect and more

It's always fun when Ulrike brings in one of her finished projects.... she is a very accomplished knitter from Germany and this is her newest sweater.

She chose Koigu's KPPPM to knit this sweater which is just beautiful.

Next is "Bob" which is knit in Rowan's Handknit Cotton from the Rowan Babies Book. This is a classic book comprised of 35 patterns from birth to 5 years of age making it a great staple in ones knitting library.

Finally a Patricia's Yarns favorite Lillies Little sweater by Carol Anderson of Cottage Creations. This hooded sweater is knit in one piece starting at the hood. It is sized from birth to three years of age and is just one of the smartest designs. As no child model was available, Curious George was only too happy to help.


It is still a work in progress as the sleeves are on holders and the body still has a few inches to go but this is a quick knit and a great gift for any new baby.

It's been a lovely weekend - perfect temperature for knitting outside in the shade.
Enjoy the weather.

FO's, Friends & Flowers

It's been almost 2 months since my last post and in that time a few projects have been finished and new ones started. All I can say is that I believe life should be settling down for the foreseeable future so fingers crossed posts will be more regular.

Sunshine is a sweater that currently resides in the front window. It is knit out of summer tweed by Rowan and is from their book the Kasbah Collection. I really enjoyed working with the yarn and as a result the sweater came together quite quickly.


Another finished object is the felted laptop bag from Alterknits by Leigh Radford. Very quick and easy knit using Cascades Pastaza in three colors. I like that it holds my laptop tightly so that it is protected and doesn't bounce around at all.


And today we had one of our favorite visitors...


Thank you to my mother-in-law Ruth for bringing the shop beautiful flowers... and thank you to Heather for helping me plant them!! I am really pleased with our little patio....


The shop will be closed Sunday June 17th in honor of Fathers Day. We will be celebrating with our dads tomorrow. We hope all fathers have a great day!

An opportunity to help others...

Today one of our new knitters April, an alum of Virginia Tech, came in and told me about an opportunity we as knitters and crocheters have to help the VT tragedy victim's families. Mosaic Yarn Shop which is located in Blacksburg, VA is collecting 8"x8" squares to piece together into blankets. They are requesting soft yarn in Maroon, Burnt Orange, White or Black. (Machine wash is not necessary as the care instructions for the blankets will be hand wash)

You can view the Mosaic Yarn Shops request here.

If you would like to participate and donate square(s) Patricia's Yarns will have a basket to collect them. If you'd like to be included in the shipment please have your squares to the shop by Sunday May 20th. That gives us over 2 weeks... lets see how many squares we can do!!

they have arrived....

Some of you have been inquiring and now we can confirm... The Addi Lace Needles are here!! The obvious difference is the colors - you see gold needles with a red cable - the big benefit is the sharper tip conducive for manipulating lacework but not too pointy that you need bandages to protect your fingers.


They are the same hollow brass as traditional addis but are coated with a clear resin so they are gold in color and the cable is a transparent reddish color. We think they are quite attractive... take a look for yourself:


We have in size 1, 2 & 3 in the 24" length. More are on order and we hope they come soon!

Three Posts in One Day?

Yes! It has been a while, I know, but had to post this photo of Amy's youngest. The sweater pattern is from Ann Norling's Kid's Top-down Raglan for toddlers and Amy designed it herself to match the sweater worn by Joe from Blues Clues. She did a beautiful job and he is so cute in it!

Secret Vacation

Some of you may have noticed a change in shop hours last week. This is why...

My husband secretly planned a trip and took me me away... to Paris!

It was beautiful! And yes, I did get to bring my knitting! I brought a beautiful Rowan Summer Tweed Sweater from the "Kasbah Collection" that I am working on as a sample for the shop (to my size... wink, wink) as well as a Mother Bear which I am knitting below on the banks of the Seine.

Au revoir!

Settled in...

Patricia's Yarns has moved! We are happy to have finally settled in to our lovely new location, 107 Fourth Street.

The move began April 1st. Here is a shot of the former location before packing.... a cozy subterranean shop...

Some more photos of the move:

Margaux and Heather boxing up the yarn...




Has anyone seen Margaux?





Unpacking in the new space...

Success!

A special thank you to Margaux, Heather, & Becky for all of your much needed help!

We look forward to seeing you in our new home!

Lace Style & Mother Bear

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There are some new books at Patricia's Yarns this February. One of them is Interweave's new Lace Style. If you are familiar with their two other knitting must-haves: Scarf Style and Wrap Style then you'll know this book is chock full of great knitting patterns.

Two of the patterns we're particularly excited about are the Katharine Hepburn Cardigan and the Retro Shrug. We plan on making the Hepburn Cardigan with the Louet Gems Opal in a refreshing green. Gems Opal come so many beautiful colors that sure to make this cardigan a hit this spring. (not to mention it's Machine Washable!!)

We are also excited about the Retro Shrug and are planning on making that with the great Blue Sky Cotton. This luxurious soft cotton will make this shrug a great all year round knit.

Come on in and get to know this great soon-to-be-a-staple-in-your-knit-library book!

We're also excited to let you all know that our Mother Bear Project creations are in the hands of their deserving recipients! We want to thank again all those that came out to support this great project and hope we'll get to do this again soon!

The Time Out is Over!

If you haven't noticed we've been a little busy over at Patricia's Yarns. With new yarns, new books and new finished projects, 2007 has been a wonderfully busy year so far.

We've picked up a new line, Sheep Shop, at Patricia's Yarns. It's a luxurious two ply wool from Uruguay that we felt would compliment our Manos collection. We carry 8 lovely colors including a few varigated charmers.

We've also picked up Koigu Kersti in eight great colors. A heavier weight than the KPPPM, it is great for hats, socks, and scarves. Our KPPPM though has also been inspiring our customer with great knits. Our friend Amy knitted a scarf and hat for her daughter and used the left over to make one for her daughter's doll.


Amy also knitted herself a gorgeous scarf out of our Koigu KPPPM using double strands with the RYC Cashsoft DK. The pattern of the scarf is called Zig Zag Stripes from Scarf Style.


We also had lots of fun at our Superbowl Sale! Judy bought our Cascade Baby Alpaca, Rowan Big Wool & Biggy Print in shades of beige and browns to make a snuggly throw.


With all this there's still more... New Rowan summer yarns and Magazine 41 are in! Plus new pattern books like Favorite Knit Socks from Interweave and Couture Crochet will get your inspiration juices flowing!

A New Year and Trunk Show!

We are all so excited for 07 here at Patricia's Yarns. There's much that we've planned for knits this year... first of all is our new Jordana Paige Trunk Show! Come by to see all the bags in her collection including her color cards.

We hope you all had a wonderful holiday season and wish you a New Year filled with new Knits!

Warm Hands

The cold weather has arrived and knitted up just in time (one day!) are these super comfy mittens by Blue Sky Alpaca. We love this quick knit and the Blue Sky bulky alpaca is incredibly soft. With just two skeins you'll be able to brave the (finally here!) cold weather. Both the pattern and yarn is available from Blue Sky.

Remember, a crochet chain between the mittens will ensure that you'll never have a single cold hand!