Leaf through Knitting...

Leaf Bookmarks is a pretty, quick project to make out of any colorful yarn.  Here is a leaf pattern to adapt.  Mini Mochi or Noro would be good choices for this project....recently replenished at the shop.

Bunny Nuggets for Easter.  Story knit this bunch up.  Joanne at the shop is knitting some of these up for her grandchildren.  Most of the above bunnies were knit from katmandhu or brown sheep available at the shop.  The green grass is a handspun that was purchased at The Coventry Farmers Market fiber day.  The little carrot is story's own invention.  These are also a fun way to use up all of your scraps.  A warren of bunnies can be knit up in no time for your Easter gift giving.

Tools

There are many beautiful tools used in knitting & crochet 

source

Resource

Knitting History 101 on Knitty.

Bears & Gnomes

Sheila has joined the shop as part of the team...and we are thrilled about that!  She will be teaching classes beginning in January, so stay tuned for a class she'll be doing at the end of January.  If you can't wait to hear about it before the newsletter comes out...pop into the shop to find out what it is!  In the meantime here is one of her beautiful sweaters.  This sweater is called Babies & Bears Sweater for Grown-Ups.  This is one of the patterns by Carol Anderson of Cottage Creations.  She offers a unique variety of patterns, which we carry in the shop...that include an afghan, hats, sweaters and toys. The yarn  used for this project was Lambs Pride.  The booklets are fun to read through and have a unique style developed by a dedicated hand-knitter of a small cottage business.  We enjoy supporting small companies when we can.

Look who showed up at the shop....Mr. Gnome!  He doesn't have a name yet....any ideas?  Linda knit this gnome out of an old pattern she had from when her daughter was little.  She enjoys knitting toys of all sorts.   She used Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride to knit the body.  His face is knit out of Shetland Jamieson wool and he's stuffed with wool.  In the waldorf tradition of toymaking dolls and toys don't typically have faces so that the child can imbue the toy with his or her own imagination.

Inventory

So, what do you do at the beginning of every year if you have a knitting store?  You guessed it...Inventory!  We've been in the thick of inventory at the shop for 4 days and nights now.  Everyone is oohing and ahhing over all the beautiful yarns that have escaped our eyes.  The yarns are being carefully counted, added, tallied and organized....very neatly organized!  Right now every label is facing the right way, every stack of yarn in every color and dyelot has a perfect spot in the shop.  We'll still be adding numbers up all week long and doing last minute counts I'm sure.  But, we are open for business.  So, come on in and see our good work, straightened out yarn and of course all the pretty colors!  Who needs a candy shop when we have a fabulous local yarn store right here in Northeast CT.  We hope to see you all soon.  Stay tuned for the January newsletter with all the upcoming classes and information about the latest happenings at the shop.  Let the knitting of 2010 begin!

Brown  Sheep

Cascade 220