Marin Fiber Arts

This Blog Has Moved

2009-02-19T17:41:00.001-08:00

I'm no longer updating this blog.

Please visit the new Marin Fiber Arts blog here. See you soon!

Warren

2008-07-30T16:07:00.000-07:00

Dear Fiber Friends,

After an unusually hot June, July turned out to be cooler than normal, which is actually quite good for the obsessive knitter. I've been spending the month testing out new yarns and planning our fall schedule. Where do I begin...

147 Knitting Days until Christmas

Michaelmas Mitts from Knitscene Fall 2008

Time to plan your gifts!
Do you plan on knitting or crocheting your gifts for the holidays? Now is the time
to start planning your holiday knitting schedule. Scarfs? Hats? Felted Bags? Sweaters? At this time of year it's ALL doable. The shop is loaded with yarns in all weights, fibers, and colors to make your gift making possible. Take, for example, the lovely Michaelmas Mitts by Cecily Glowik (pictured above), appearing in the current issue of Knitscene Magazine. I've just completed a sample worked up in Invernal, a luscious blend of angora, merino and nylon. Both the magazine and yarn are currently available - and the mitts are fun to make! Invernal sells for $17.50 and only one skein is required to make a pair of mitts.

Summer Knitting - the Market Bag

Are you in Holiday Denial mode? Still want a warm-weather project? We have just the thing - a quick-to-knit market bag that can hold all your farmers market purchases.

Worked up in a cotton or cotton blend, this 1-2 skein project is super easy and can be completed in a day or two. It requires large needles (size 13) and untilizes an attractive net stitch to create a simple bag (you choose one of three sizes). The pattern is free with purchase of yarn.

New Products in Stock Now

Vogue Knitting Fall 2008

The new Fall 2008 issue of Vogue Knitting just arrived and I must say I'm impressed. There is something for everyone in this issue - yep, garments for REAL people, not just talking sticks.

Also just in: a great collection of needle felted scarf kits from Pagewood Farm. Each kit contains a hand-dyed 50 inch felt scarf "blank" plus a bag of poofy stuff - wool & mohair fiber plus a little metallic bling. Armed with a needle felting tool (sold separately), you mindlessly punch the heck out of the scarf, laying bits of fluff here and there, creating an abstract work of art. Come in to check out the scarf-in-progress! Extremely easy to do, quick to make, and a bargain at $37.

Acquerello is the sock yarn. Whisper is the lace yarn. Frederikka is the hand dyer. After her visit a few weeks ago, Frederikka left a bunch of beautiful hand dyed yarn in her wake. I still have many shades of both the sock and lace weight yarn left for your consumption. Unlike many hand dyers, Frederikka's color sense is quite subtle and sophisticated... mysterious is the best way to describe her work.

As always, thanks for reading. Don't forget, when you're thinking of yarn locally, shop at Marin Fiber Arts first. When thinking of buying yarn online, turn to us yet again; our website at http://marinfiberarts.com/shop/catalog is continually updated with goodies, including yarns and colors not available in-store!

WWKIP Day Recap

2008-06-15T09:09:00.000-07:00

We had a great time yesterday knitting in public. The sun was shining, a band was rocking out in the distance (Italian Street Festival) and for those of us who needed it, shade was abundant thanks to scaffolding attached to the building.

It was the perfect day to sit outside and knit and to show the public that people everywhere knit!

Click on one of the photos to see the entire Flickr album!

Happy Knitting!

WWKIP, Mini Maiden, Moving News

2008-06-03T17:27:00.000-07:00

Greetings Fiber Friends!

The summer months may be quiet in the knitting universe but things are anything but quiet here at Marin Fiber Arts. Exciting yarn shipments, special events, and new about our upcoming move. Yes, we are moving.

Mini Maiden in the House!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Many of you covet the yarns produced by Canadian hand dyers Fleece Artist/Hand Maiden Yarns. Many of you also covent Mini Maiden, their wonderfully fine and lustrous blend of silk and wool, perfect for lace projects.
Our long-awaited shipment of Mini Maiden arrived today in 10 lucsious colors: nova scotia, periwinkle, capri, bronze, rose garden, lily pond, monarch, blackberry, vintage, and sangria. Fingering weight and approx. 500 m / 550 yards per 100 grams. Stop in or call to purchase yours today... it won't last long.

World Wide Knit in Public Day - June 14th
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
World Wide Knit In Public Day (or WWKIP) was started a few years ago as a way to 'spread the word' about our beloved craft. People are encouraged to literally knit in public - the park, your favorite cafe, on the bus, at the mall. Be proud of what you make and maybe you'll convert a new knitter!
We will be celebrating WWKIP on Saturday, June 14th in front of the store. It is partially shaded but I suggest bringing a hat/umbrella/sunscreen. Water will be provided. As an added bonus, mention WWKIP (that's the secret code) and get 20% off your in-stock yarn purchases for the entire day! The event kicks off at Noon on Saturday, June 14th.

Go to the WWKIP website

Class: Lace Edgings for Garments
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Renee wraps up her summer lace kntting series with a 1-session class on how to turn an OK garment into a fabulous one by adding a knitted lace edging. Learn how to make your garment sing! The class is on Saturday, June 14th (WWKIP Day!), from 10 am to Noon and is $30.
Please call to reserve your spot today... space is limited!

Details of Lace Edgings Class

MFA is Moving
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After much hunting around and soul-searching, I'm happy to report that I've found a terrific new space to house Marin Fiber Arts... and it's only a few feet away from the original location! If you turn right after leaving the front door, go up the stairs, turn right and continue going up the stairs, you will find our new location.
The big move is slated for the weekend of June 21st (Friday - Sunday). I am currently looking for able- bodied people to help with the move - either schlepping yarn or hauling furniture. We have a lot of shelving to move, so if anyone can bring along a strong husband/boyfriend/partner/son to help, all the better! Note: we will be CLOSED during the actual move. More details will follow.

Marin Fiber Arts' Spring Cleaning

2008-02-26T17:12:00.000-08:00

Greetings Fiber Friends!

Spring is around the corner and that means big changes are coming to Marin Fiber Arts.

As I mentioned in a previous post/email, we had planned on moving into a better space in a few months. Unfortunately the deal fell through, so we will be staying at our current location for the time being.

Instead of moving, we will be totally revamping the store - clearing out existing inventory, restocking with brand-new items, rearranging, and redecorating. Think of it as Spring Cleaning at Marin Fiber Arts.

The first step will be a huge Spring Cleaning SALE. All yarn in the store will be on sale at deeply discounted prices. See the bottom of this e-mail for a sampling of what's in store.

The sale will start tomorrow, Wednesday February 27th run for a week or two (yet to be determined). Once you all have emptied many of our shelves, we'll be closing for a week or two to restock and redecorate - think of it as a yarn store makeover. When we reopen we'll have a big grand reopening celebration.

Stay tuned for more details!

Lucy Neatby
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thank you to all attendees of Lucy Neatby's workshop last week. Much educational fun was had by all! Lucy is a sweetheart and won over the class with her charm and humor - not to mention her amazing color work examples! Let's all hope she returns next year!

In stock I have a selection of two of her hand-dyed sock yarns, Celestial Merino (100% merino) and Cat's Pajamas (Cashmere blend) - to dye for! I also have a large selection of Lucy's wonderful instructional DVDs - it's like taking a workshop in your own home at your own pace! Each DVD sells for $30. NOTE: these products are NOT included in the Spring Cleaning Sale mentioned above.

GARNSTUDIO
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Garnstudio closeouts I introduced a few weeks ago are selling very well, especially the Alpaca! I am expecting a HUGE shipment of drastically reduced Garnstudio yarns by the end of the week as part of the Spring Cleaning sale... make sure to check it out!

SPRING CLEANING SALE
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Here are some examples of the huge savings that start tomorrow, Weds, Feb. 26th:

50% off: all Aslan Trends, all Jo Sharp, all Cascade, Mission Falls 1824 wool, all Anny Blatt/Bouton d'Or, all Alchemy Yarns, GGH Bel Air, and much much more.

40% off: all Karabella Yarns, all cashmere, Rowan Felted Tweed, GGH Goa/Samoa/Bali.

30% off: RYC Cashsoft, all Lorna's Laces, all Fibre Company (including Road to China), Jade Sapphire silk/cashmere lace weight, and more.

20% off: All silk, Plymouth Encore, Rowan Calmer, GGH Tara, Plymouth Baby Alpaca Grande Paint, and more.

15% off: all books, all sock yarn, Fiesta Boomerang, and more.

Garnstudio Bag Sale: drastically reduced bags of high-quality Garnstudio yarns.

As always, thanks for your continued support.
Happy yarning!

Garnstudio Shipment

2008-02-13T21:44:00.000-08:00

Starting today, I will be posting every email newsletter I send out to my growing list. To sign up for the newsletter, go to my homepage at marinfiberarts.com and click on the mailing list link.

Greetings Fiber Friends!

I’m happy to announce that I have just accepted a special shipment of discounted yarns by Garnstudio, a Norwegian yarn company which makes a wide range of beautifully soft yarns in an inspiring color palette. The same yarn company produces the DROPS line of patterns.

The longtime distributor of Garnstudio in the U.S. has ceased distribution and is offering me their yarns at a significant discount; I am passing these savings on to you. As such these yarns are very hard to find in local yarn stores. Shipments will be arriving almost weekly - what follows is a list of what I currently have in stock. I am able to place special orders at the discounted price as well. Keep in mind that when the U.S. warehouse runs out there will be no more.

1. Garnstudio Alpaca (24 colors) - truly the cream of the crop. A sport weight 100% alpaca that feels like baby alpaca although the label says just “alpaca”. Touch this yarn and moan softly. Delicate pastels, vibrant primaries and amazingly subtle heathers are the highlights in this collection. Regularly $8 on sale for $6.40.

2. Garnstudio Eskimo (10 colors) - a super-soft 100% wool bulky single ply. Great for quick-knitting scarves & hats and really great for felting. Regularly $7.50 on sale for $5.20

3. Garnstudio Karisma (12 colors) - a lovely 100% superwash wool in light worsted weight (5 st/inch) - great for anything from sweaters to fingerless gloves. Regularly $6.5 on sale for $5.00 for 121 yards!

4. Garnstudio Cotton Viscose (14 colors) - a gorgeous blend of cotton and viscose - great for those with wool sensitivities and for warm-weather garments. This yarn truly looks and feels like silk! Sport weight. Regularly $8 on sale for $6.40

5. Puddel (4 colors) - a light and frothy mohair boucle, super soft and great for trims, edgings, and fun scarves. Regularly $9.95 on sale for $7.50

Check out the garnstudio website - http://garnstudio.com and click on the ‘english’ link along the bottom. Their website is loaded with hundreds upon hundreds of high-quality free patterns ready for immediate download!

Stop in soon to check out these new yarns. They are selling fast and won’t last long at these prices. Stock up now!

Lucy Neatby Comes to Marin Fiber Arts

2008-01-23T11:35:00.000-08:00

I’m thrilled to announce that renowned knitter, designer, and teacher Lucy Neatby will be teaching a color workshop on Tuesday, February 19th from 9am - 5pm at Marin Fiber Arts. Lucy hails from Nova Scotia, Canada and has made a name for herself by publishing books (Cool Socks, Warm Feet), DVDs, patterns, and teaching sold-out workshops at such events as Stitches and local yarn stores across the country. Lucy will be in town in conjunction with Stitches West and agreed to teach a workshop at my store.

Please click here to get details about this exciting workshop opportunity!

Thanks for reading,

Warren

Knitters For Critters

2007-11-19T12:34:00.000-08:00

Thursday night Knit Night regular Renee came up with a great idea last week - a fundraiser to support the organizations which are responding to the recent oil spill in San Francisco Bay.

Last Thursday's gathering took the idea and ran with it and as of this weekend the Knitters4Critters website is up and running!

Initially, K4C is taking on two fundraisers -- Sale of knitted ornaments (check out the sample above, knit by the fabulous Judy) and a raffle of super-fabulous yarn and yarn-related goodies. All the details are at the link above.

Warren and MFA are very generously supporting these efforts - Thank you!

Online Shopping!

2007-10-17T16:54:00.001-07:00

Yep, it's taken two whole years and a lot of work from some very fine volunteers. I'm happy to say that the Marin Fiber Arts online store is now open for business. Click here to take a browse. We will be constantly updating the site with more and more products... the selection online represents only a fraction of what's in the brick 'n mortar storefront. Check back often!

If you find any weirdness please let me know... pictures that don't match the descriptions, broken links, and the like. It will probably take a few weeks to iron out all the little kinks that I haven't been able to unearth on my own.

I want to send out a special thanks to the volunteers that made this site possible: Maya, Patricia, Angela, and Meredith. Umm, I hope I haven't forgotten anyone!

Link to online store: http://marinfiberarts.com/shop/catalog

MFA to Host Red Scarf Project Knit-In!

2007-09-10T13:25:00.000-07:00

Are you familiar with the fabulous Red Scarf Project?

I lifted this description from the website: "The Red Scarf Project, a project of the Orphan Foundation of America, or Orphan.org, collects red (and other unisex-colored) scarves to send in Valentine's Day care packages to college students who have aged out of foster care. These brave young people are going it on their own and trying to improve their lives and the community by attending college. The care packages are welcome tokens of encouragement to young people who otherwise receive little to no mail. "

The deadline has been moved up significantly this year - all scarves need to be received by the Orphan Foundation of America no later than October 15. Yikes! This means we need to get right on it!

Marin Fiber Arts is pleased to support the Red Scarf Project in several different ways:

We'll be hosting two different knit-in sessions at the store - one on Saturday, September 15 from noon to 2 pm and a second one on Sunday, Septmber 23, again from noon to 2 pm. Come to either or both - enjoy the company of other knitters, along with the SNACKS! which will be provided.

All red yarn purchased for Red Scarf Project scarves on those days will be discounted by 10%. (Feel free to use your stash yarn too!)

And finally, if you return your scarf to the store on or before October 10, MFA will package it up and pay the postage to have it delivered to the OFA.

We'd love to have you join us for this worthy cause. We'll have some completed scarves for you to admire, a variety of patterns you can choose from (in the event you don't already have a favorite go-to scarf pattern) and all kinds of fabulous red yarns to choose from.

Please check out the FAQs and other information at the Red Scarf Project site and call the store if you have any questions about the MFA knit-ins. Hope to see you there!

Pagewood Farm Sock Yarn Just Arrived

2007-07-18T10:44:00.000-07:00

We just received a small shipment of sock yarn (Merino/Nylon blend) from our favorite hand dyer, Robin at Pagewood Farm in southern California. Each skein is 4 oz/450 yds, plenty for a pair of socks. Her yarn always sells quickly... stop in soon for the best selection!

Cotton On Sale, Cash For Stash, Felting News

2007-07-10T15:47:00.000-07:00

Hot off the press - the 2007-2008 Knitter’s, Needlepointer’s, Crocheter’s, Weaver’s, and Spinner’s Travel Guide. If you like to travel you’ll find this hefty book indispensable; it lists thousands of shops across the U.S. and Canada. Detailed maps
are provided, helping you locate each store on your itinerary. Get your
copy now for only $15.95!

July Special - cotton yarns

Believe it or not, the arrival of July means that summer knitting is nearly at
an end! Very soon you’ll need to start working on your fall/winter and holiday projects in order to get everything done on time. There is still time, however, to squeeze in a little more summer knitting. In order to help things along, I’m putting all cotton and cotton-blend yarns on sale for 20% off from now until the end of July. This special includes *any* yarn that has cotton in the fiber content!

Think of it... Tahki’s Cotton Classic (100% cotton). GGH’s new Tara (stretchy cotton/nylon blend). Even SWTC’s Tofutsies sock yarn, which has cotton as a component. All 20% off until the end of July.

Cash for Stash

Last
year we ran a pilot program designed to collect unwanted yarns for charitable donations. It was a big hit so we’re running it again for the month of July. We call it Cash for Stash.

Here’s how it works: raid your stash and bring in all your unwanted yarn. Got some
beautiful extra fine merino in a color you just can’t stand? Got some bargain-basement acrylic that was cool when you first learned to knit but now find it to be icky-plasticky? Bring it all in. For each pound of yarn you turn in, you will receive a $5 merchandise credit. The credit must be spent during your visit, and cannot be combined with any other offer or discount. For example, you cannot use your Cash for Stash credit to take advantage of the cotton yarn special mentioned above. The limit for Cash for Stash is 5 pounds per visit. We will turn around and donate your unwanted stash to local worthwhile charities.

Remember: $5 credit for each pound of yarn you donate, 5 pounds maximum. Credit
must be spent when you drop off your donation. Program runs until July
31st, 2007.

INTERWEAVE FELT is here!

I just received shipment of Interweave’s new special magazine, Interweave Felt. Talk about cool felting projects! Take a listen to some of these articles: Felting or Fulling Your Knitting? Fat Baby Booties, The Lock Nest Hat, Weekend Getaway Satchel,
the list goes on. There are also multiple articles on wet felting and needle felting, so thisisn’t just aimed at knitters. Run in and pick up a copy before they’re all gone!

We also have a limited supply of Needle Felting Kits from Louet... for $28 you get everything you need: 2 needles, 6 oz of fiber, a sample bottle of Meadows Wool Wash, and instructions to make a cute felted pumpkin.

Wrapped In Comfort - Autographed Copies In Stock

The lovely and gracious Alison Hyde stopped by on June 30th for a book signing
to celebrate the release of her first book, Wrapped In Comfort, a collection of 12 beautiful half-circle and full-circle shawls plus four scarves. You can find projects for beginning to experienced knitters, the patterns feature leaves, clovers, flowers, and other classic lace motifs. We have a limited supply of autographed copies... at $24.95 this book won’t last long on the shelves.

Retreat and Yarn Swap Update
There’s still time to register for our 2nd Annual Retreat and Yarn Swap in San Anselmo... click here to view the details:

http://marinfiberarts.com/retreat_2007.html

Closed on July 4th, 2007

2007-07-03T10:26:00.001-07:00

We will be taking a much-needed rest on Wednesday, July 4th. We will be open during regular hours the rest of the week, however! Keep in mind the store in AIR CONDITIONED... it's gonna get hot this week! Join us any time for some cool air-conditioned knitting!

Looking for a Quick Gift Idea?

2007-07-02T19:58:00.000-07:00

We've got a new pattern available at the shop - haven't you always wanted to knit a wine cozy?!

These were made with Naturwolle black forest yarn - but you can substitute any bulky yarn that gives you 3 stitches to the inch. They knit up really fast (instant gratification!) and make a great hostess gift.

This is our first Marin Fiber Arts exclusive pattern - free when you purchase your yarn at MFA.

Hope to see you soon!

Book Signing This Saturday!

2007-06-26T10:10:00.000-07:00

The fabulous Alison Jeppson Hyde will be at MFA this Saturday, June 30 at 2 pm to sign copies of her new, hot off the presses, book:

Alison was at the shop earlier this year with a number of the shawls from the book and not only are the shawls gorgeous, Alison herself is warm and funny and lovely.

We've got lots of copies in stock, waiting to go home with you. And just in case you're dying to start a shawl right away, we've got all kinds of beautiful lace yarns in stock:

Fiddlesticks Zephyr (wool/silk - 630 yds - $14.50)
Karabella Lace Merino (100% merino fine - 255 yds - $8)
Conjoined Creations Pastimes (100% soy silk - 530 yds - $11.50)
Merino Oro & Cashwool (100% extra fine merino - 1450 yds - $16.50)
Karabella Lace Mohair (Superkid mohair/Polyamide - 540 yds - $16.50)
Euroflax Sport (100% Linen - 270 yds - $20.25)
Frog Tree Fingering Alpaca (100% alpaca - 215 yds - $6.25)
Kidsilk Haze (Superkid Mohair & Silk - 229 yds - $14.25)
Jade Sapphire Mongolian Cashmere 2 ply (100% cashmere - 400 yds - $32.50)

Hope to see you on Saturday - come early and stay late!

Mission Falls, Sock Special, new Programs

2007-06-10T13:31:00.000-07:00

Blue Terra Cotta from Claudia Hand Painted Yarns

Greetings Fiber Friends,

Summer is almost here and things are pretty quiet at your favorite local yarn store. In order to weather the slow season we've come up with some exciting programs and promotions to stimulate your creativity. On tap: two new arrivals (1824 Wool and Limited Edition Tofutsies), we have a vacation knitting special on sock yarns (25% off), and we're announcing two new programs: Marin Fiber Arts Patrons and a Yarn Discount Program. Read on....

NEW YARN

We recently made a special one-time purchase of Mission Falls 1824 Wool, a splendid superwash merino (read: machine wash & dry) that knits at 4.5 st/inch - a very versatile gauge! This yarn comes with great pattern support in the form of pattern booklets (for kids and adults). 1824 is an extremely popular wool - great to knit with, very forgiving, sturdy enough for kids wear, and very easy to care for. We are offering approximately 30 colors of this yarn at $6/ball (85 yds) and quantities are limited. This is a one-time special... once this yarn is gone it's gone!

We've also added a bunch of colors in RYC's Cashsoft Aran, Cashsoft DK, and Rowan's Cotton Glace. Sunshiny yellow, fashionable lime green, and subtle sage are just a few of the new colors for these perennial favorites.

VACATION KNITTING IS HERE!

The school year will be ending soon and vacation season is about to begin! Don't forget to plan for your vacation knitting: small projects easily stowable in your purse or under the airline seat. Socks and hats make great travelling projects and we have an excellent selection of hand-dyed and self-patterning sock yarns to tickle your fancy. We have well-known hand-dyed sock yarns from Mountain Colors, Claudia Hand Painted Yarns and Lorna's Laces as well as yarns from indie dyers Pagewood Farm, C*EYE*BER Fibers and Chasing Rainbows Dyeworks. In the self-patterning department we
stock yarn from Opal (including Hudertwasser and Rainforest II), Meilenweit/Mega Boots, Skacel/Trekking, Regia/Bamboo Color, Austerman Step, and SWTC's Tofutsies.

Opal's Hundertwasser

Don't want to make socks? We have Not Just Socks, Not Just More Socks, and Not Just Socks for Kids - three pattern books that open up the world of self-patterning sock yarns to items such as hats, gloves, dog sweaters, kids sweaters, adult vests, and more!

News Flash: we have just taken shipment of a new limited edition color of Tofutsies Sock Yarn (you know, the one with crab shells). We are one of a few select stores participating in SWTC's Tofutsies Sock Club. 6 colors will be released in the coming year, never to be repeated again. The first color is a stunner: red/magenta with candy-cane stripes of pink and black. Each ball comes with a free pattern especially designed for this colorway. We only have 10 balls in stock and they are sure to sell out quickly!

SOCK YARN SPECIAL

As a special incentive, all sock yarns will be discounted 25% off regular price until June 17th (a week from this Sunday). Bring in/mention this email to take advantage of this offer. You may also order by phone (415.459.4600) as we will ship anywhere in the U.S. Just mention this post for the special offer.

NEW PROGRAM: Marin Fiber Arts Yarn Discount Program

I haven't come up with a catchy name for this program yet, so bear with me. Basically we open an account in our computer system into which you deposit money for yarn. You can then purchase regularly priced yarn at a discount until your account is empty. The more you pre-spend the more you save:

1. Pre-spend $100 and get an extra 10% (or $10) in yarn
2. Pre-spend $200 and get an extra 15% (or $30) in yarn
3. Pre-spend $300 and get an extra 20% (or $60) in yarn
4. Pre-spend $400 and get an extra 25% (or $100) in yarn

For example: if you deposit $400 into your account today, you can take home $500 worth of yarn! There is no time limit in spending your dollars, and this applies only to regularly priced in-stock yarns.

I will be posting again in a day or two announcing more classes and special events for the summer, including a booksigning with lace shawl designer Alison Hyde on June 30th. Stay tuned!

Knit Night 6/7/07

2007-06-09T15:13:00.000-07:00

The hot topic of conversation last Thursday was "So You Think You Can Dance". With the exception of Angela and myself...

Patricia shows off her day glow sock pre knit night.

Adorable sample baby hat...

and matching sample sweater.

Sit back and relax...

Warren to the rescue!

Angela is working with some bright green cotton.

Lisa LOVES "So You Think You Can Dance"--literally.

Hi, Suzanne!

Emily is really concentrating.

Hi, Renee.

Angela also brought these antique knitting needles to show--lovely.

Good times were had by all. Hope to see everyone next week. If we're lucky, maybe the guy in the red jumpsuit will be performing in the square again ;-)

Knit Night 5/31/07

2007-06-02T18:34:00.000-07:00

It was a regular shawl-a-palooza and FO (finished object) fest at knit night last Thursday.

Patricia arrives early and is working on a gorgeous shawl.

Shawl detail.

Patricia also finished her clapotis (aka the clap) - love the colors!

Angela was here with her Icarus :-)

Judy poses by the fountain with her finished Icarus - not a mistake to be had

Judy's Icarus detail.

Judy spun this yarn herself - lovely!

Jo shows off her lovely pale blue shawl.

A lovely, spiraling scarf in pinks

Emily's working on a sock.

Renee is working on a sweater from "No Sheep for You"

Patricia wears one shawl whilst finishing another.

Hi, Leslie! Love the purple.

Hope to see everyone next week! And, don't forget that next Saturday is world wide knit in public day! Hope to see you in the courtyard in front of the store to knit up a storm :-)

WWKIP, Hand Felted Bag, Knitting 202

2007-05-25T10:48:00.000-07:00

Hi Folks,

Just a few quick updates on upcoming excitement...

Hand Felted Bag Workshop - learn how to create felted fabric from roving (ie. unspun hand-dyed wool) and fashion it into a fun & funky tote bag! No knitting or crocheting! At the end of the class you will have a finished bag that only needs to be dried. Space is limited and filling up fast!
Sunday, June 10th, 10 am - 4 pm; $120 (includes all materials)

Knitting 202 - if you've ever wanted to learn how to knit, assemble, and finish a sweater professionally, take this four-session class with master knitter Sheila Thall. It takes place every other Saturday morning starting June 9th, giving you plenty of time to complete each section of the class project - a simple kids sweater.
Saturdays June 9, 23, July 7, 21: 10 am - Noon; $75

Details on all our classes can be found here:

http://marinfiberarts.com/classes.php

World Wide Knit In Public Day (WWKIP) is fast approaching: Saturday, June 9th. We are hosting a WWKIP event out in the plaza in front of the store starting at Noon. Bring your knitting (or crocheting) projects, sun screen, a wide-brimmed hat, or other sun projection, and a bottle of water! It will most likely be sunny and warm during the afternoon. There will also be lots of activity: the annual Italian Street Painting Festival takes place a mere block away at the intersection of 5th and A streets. Extremely talented artists from around the country converge on San Rafael to create amazing works of art in the middle of the street using sidewalk chalk! There will be food vendors and live music throughout the weekend. More importantly, downtown will be filled with creative-minded people admiring other people's creativity. Let us show our community what a great past time knitting and crocheting can be!

Details on WWKIP can be found here:

http://wwkipday.com/?page_id=174

Knit Night 5/17/07

2007-05-18T21:41:00.000-07:00

Show and Tell - new scrumptious Alchemy yarns in amazing colors!

Smile, you're on knit night camera!

Suzanne seams up an adorable baby sweater.

Tabby models her toe-up sock.

Here's Tabby.

Yes, I really am taking your picture, Patricia :-)

Good times were had by all. Hope to see everyone again soon!

They Came, They Saw, They Shopped!

2007-05-03T16:00:00.000-07:00

MFA hosted the First Annual Sea Socks and Yarn Expedition Cruise on Tuesday this week. Some sixty knitters, led by our own beloved Queen, descended on the shop for four hours. It was a little wild, but in a good way. Everybody appeared to have a good time and a lot of sock yarn found new homes!

Thank you so much to all the knitters from all across the country who made it to San Rafael that day - it was wonderful to meet you all and to have you with us. We hope you'll visit us again!

Special thanks to Darlene Hayes, creator of Nature's Palette Yarns and Muench Yarns' Kirsten Muench. They brought yarn and patterns and samples and other goodies for all the Sea Sockers and spent the day sharing tips, new yarns and good cheer. Thanks, too, to Alison Hyde, whose book Wrapped in Comfort, is scheduled for release this summer. We got a chance to meet her, pre-order the book and see a number of her gorgeous shawls.

And of course a big shout out to the fabulous MFA regulars who spent the day helping out. There was NO WAY we could have handled the crowd (knitters are just so rowdy :-) without the excellent help of Elaine, Jo Ann, Marcia, Kimberley, Phoebe, Valerie, Judy, and of course the Queen. You all totally rock!

(There were people taking photos, but we haven't seen them yet. If it was you and you could email them to Warren - yarn (at) marinfiberarts (dot) com - we'd love to post them!)

New Patterns!

2007-04-23T11:40:00.000-07:00

MFA is carrying some new (to us) patterns from Second Nature Design. Looking for a quick and easy gift? Try these baby booties: This pair was knit in Bunny Hop from Crystal Palace, but the beauty of the pattern is that it's written with instructions for several different gauges, so you can use virtually any yarn. There are samples at the store knit up in Rowan's CashSoft Aran and Anny Blatt Super Angora, too. The booties are knit flat and then seamed up - so beginners aren't fiddling with DPNs on a small project. Seriously - you can complete a pair in an afternoon. Great for a last minute shower gift. Or use up those partial balls of yarn you've got and make a few pair to have on hand or to donate to LilyBugs, wonderful MFA customer Leslie's charity knitting group.

Also from Second Nature Designs, MFA has a great pattern for a beginner fair isle project - your choice of a hat or a bag:

and a cute little linen stitch purse:

Hope to see you soon!

Knit Night 4/12

2007-04-13T09:26:00.000-07:00

The Farmer's Market didn't scare everyone away this week. Thankfully the courtyard band was quiet enough for us to enjoy our knitting. No Rolling Stones cover this week. Though they did play Stevie Ray Vaughn. Should have seen that coming. I'm betting that next week it will be Fleetwood Mac. Does anyone want to put any money on that?

Warren and Sue have rearranged the store. Just by moving arround some bookcases and pushing back the sales counter they have magically made the store look bigger and more full of yarn. It looks great and feels like there's more space.

On to the knitters.

Tabby's working on a gorgeous shawl too, and she has the cutest stitch markers for sale. I bought a set. Support your local artist.

Patricia wove in the ends of her Boise Shawl so she could "get Tabby off her butt".
It's a beautiful shawl, but we were all amazed by the Claudia Handpainted Boucle Mohair shawl she was wearing.

What a nice coincidence that Warren just got some in for us to drool over. I couldn't help myself. I bought a skein to make the Manta Shawl from Yarn Play.

Lisa's working on a shawl made with Lorna's Laces Helen Lace. It's beautiful. And of course the colorway is Vera, which is what I think that Lisa will eventually name her first child. Either that or Lorna.

Judy and Renee were here, discussing social justice and Easter.

I was knitting with the Schaeffer Anne, that yummy superwash sock yarn with a hint of mohair. Check out the Go Bag in the background. Warren just got a bunch in. It's a very useful thing. It keeps my sock project from getting messed up in my purse. Snap one up before they're all gone.

Leslie is working on blanket with the Blue Sky dyed cotton. Love the stitch pattern even if she claims there's tons of mistakes!

Patricia's friend Barb was here, knitting with something handpainted. It looks sweet!

Warren as always happy to see us.

And the magic candle, in Warren's favorite color.

see you next week (if I'm not in LA)
Grenadine Girl

Don't Be Afraid!

2007-04-10T15:17:00.000-07:00

Yes, the San Rafael Thursday night farmers' market started back up last week. But parking wasn't terrible and the live band which provided the soundtrack for last week's Knit Night wasn't completely awful. (No Rolling Stones cover either - what's up with that?)

And in the category of good news: There were all kinds of foods available again, including a new vendor who was selling big old warm, tasty waffles, available with a variety of toppings - including chocolate/hazelnut and whipped cream. I won't mention any names, but SOMEbody might have had more than one.

Knit Night carries on - Thursdays from 7 pm to 9 or so pm.... Hope to see you there!

Knit Night 3/29

2007-04-01T10:53:00.000-07:00

The last quiet knit night until fall was itself a soothing, quiet affair.

Warren's linen shawl detail--can't wait to see once it's been washed and dried!

Patricia models the shawl.

And shows us her finished Swallow-charus or Ichatail ;-)

Detail of Patricia's FO.

Tabby sports her Boise wrap--she's trying to shame us all into finishing.

She's working on a lovely shawl--feather and fan.

Patricia shows her Boise progress--4 balls down, 2 to go.

Emily shows off her illusion scarf.

Love it! So cute.

Judy works on her Icarus.

Who's hiding behind that gorgeous blanket?

Hi, Liz. She says it is taking approximately 15 minutes per row, and it's totally worth it.

Happy knitting!

Knit Night 2/8 :-)

2007-03-11T17:31:00.000-07:00

New for your knitting pleasure

2007-02-24T14:14:00.000-08:00

As seen at the last knit night show-and-tell...

Some delicious merino in amazing tone on tone colors.

Fiesta!

The Clementine Shawlette from IK Spring '07 issue...

...is halfway done.

A luscious sample of two strands of hand-dyed yarn spun together.

Hand-painted sock yarn.

More hand-painted sock yarn goodness.

Fiesta, in lots of gorgeous colorways.

New book for vegan knitters :-)

New book of wearable lace patterns.

Knit Night 2/22

2007-02-24T13:44:00.000-08:00

We had a new visitor to knit night. Highly adorable and extremely well-behaved. Woof.

Renee, the sweater is beautiful, but nobody envies you having to weave in all of those ends. Great stash-busting sweater, though.

Look at the short, short foot of this sock ;-)

Liz works on sock #2. Love the orange!

Patricia frogs the evil bobblette rows of Swallowtail and still manages to smile.

Dogs make everything fun. Especially when they're all snuggly.

Sue was working hard on artfully arranging some delicious new yarns.

New Knitting Bags & Needle Holders!

2007-02-20T19:18:00.000-08:00

The fabulous new bags that we ordered from Namaste arrived last week. We've got bags available in each of these styles:

And some really cool needle binders in various colors. We also have extra "pages" for the binders - LOTS of storage room.

These bags are just beautiful - soft yet durable and available in really cool colors. Stop by to see what we have in stock - two of these found homes the first day we put them out! If you want to mix and match styles and colors, we can special order for you - just let us know.

SALE Yarn-O-The-Week

2007-02-13T14:27:00.000-08:00

Oh boys and girls - do we have some goodies for you this week! Oodles of new and fabulous sock yarns from Opal. We're really excited about their new line of sock yarn with colorways based on the work of the artist Hundertwasser. You can read about the artist here. But really, what you're interested in is the yarn itself, right? Check it out:

Look at what that clever Judy has done with colorway 1434. It's a popular colorway - yours truly has part of a sock completed in it, too. I'm loving it - this yarn is fabulous to work with and I'm endlessly entertained by the random color changes.

We've also added four of the colorways from the new Rainforest collection - Peacock, caterpillar, tucan, and frog.

Warren adds:
Both the Hundertwasser & Rainforest II collections are standard 4 ply sock/fingering weight yarns - 75% superwash wool/25% nylon. A 100g ball has 425 meters, knits up on size US 1 needles at 8 sts/inch, and are a blend of nylon & wool. Reports are that the Opal sock yarn wears like iron - very good for everyday use!

Also new to MFA this month is Opal six-ply in several new colors. Six-ply is great for both new and advanced sock knitters. Since it's heavier, you can use bigger needles and fewer stitches. Easy to see what you're doing and it knits up really quickly. I've already finished one sock for my red-happy son and have the second one underway. There's enough yardage in a single ball of six-ply to do two pairs of medium-sized women's socks or a single pair of socks for a pair of large feet. Or a pair of super-sized slipper socks. Knock yourself out!

To celebrate all this fibery goodness, from Friday, February 16 through Sunday February 18, all Opal Hundertwasser, Rainforest and Six-Ply will be on sale for 10% off regular prices. And as if that weren't enough, all other Opal yarns (and we've got quite a variety, including solids) will be discounted 15% off regular prices. Knit-nighters (Thursday at 7 pm) can get a headstart on the sale. Come on in and check it out - these yarns are even prettier in person.

Wondering what's going to be on sale next week? We don't know yet. We've got so many new and fabulous things coming in that we can't decide. Stay tuned!

Have We Got a Deal For You!

2007-02-08T13:04:00.000-08:00

This weekend Marin Fiber Arts is kicking off something new:

The Weekend Special. Each time we receive a fabulous shipment of new yarn, it will be highlighted for one weekend at a special introductory discount to encourage everyone to try something new.

This weekend, starting Friday February 9th and ending Sunday February 11th, Lorna's Laces Swirl DK will be on special at 15% off the regular price of$13/skein. In addition, all other yarn from Lorna's Laces will be 10% off for the weekend.

This amazing new yarn from hand-dyers extraordinaire Lorna's Laces is composed of a strand of silk twisted around a strand of superwash merino wool, creating a candy-cane effect on the skein. The two fibers absorb dye differently, creating a sparkling effect when knitted up. The yarn is super-soft and is great for hats, scarves, and sweaters.

We have many samples knitted up in the form of a trunk show, which will be on display for the next month or so. These samples include a v-neck vest designed byMelissa Leapman, a beautiful India-inspired beaded short-sleeved top and shawl, and an adorable one-piece baby sweater in two versions: knitted and crocheted! Patterns are available for all samples. You can read a review of Swirl DK at Knitters Review here: Swirl Review

Additionally, we have a new supply of the best-selling Shepherd Worsted in the following colors: Baltic Sea, Watercolor, Purple Iris, and Tahoe.

Remember, the Weekend Special (15% off Swirl DK, 10% off all other Lorna'sLaces yarns) runs this Friday February 9th through Sunday February 11th. If you can't wait that long, join us for a sneak preview during Knit Night tonight, February 8th at 7:00 pm. Knit Nighters will be able to take advantage of the introductory prices before everyone else.

See you soon!

Knit@Nite

2007-01-27T17:31:00.000-08:00

We had an amazing turnout for knit night last week, including several newbies and the return of some oldtimers who have been MIA.

Sue works on her lovely blue sweater

Patricia showcases her handknit socks--adorable

Angela wears a gorgeous hat of her own design

Allison puts the finishing touches on a baby blanket by knitting on a fabric border

Everyone hug Lisa, she had a tough week

Emily sews handles onto a cute knitted purse

Jen works feverishly on a baby blanket

Tiffany is making some lovely handwarmers

Liz is working on an amazing shawl made out of Boise

Judy

Concentrating hard

We had so many folks we were spread out all over the place

This is supposed to be an action shot--can you tell whose fingers are flying more furiously?

Emily holds up FO.

Again, welcome newbies and returning oldtimers alike. Hope to see you all next week. Happy knitting.

TNNA Update

2007-01-17T16:27:00.000-08:00

Hi folks,

Long time no blog. Sorry about that! In order to redeem myself, allow me to blab about my adventures last weekend at the National Needlework Association's trade show for yarn stores, held in sunny but chilly (argh) San Diego. My first time in San Diego and it's chilly. Go figure.

First off: TNNA is sharing the convention center with Mary Kay Cosmetics. Fortunately they were waaay on the other side of the building. Those perfectly-put-together women had me a little frightened. Too many diamonds - or maybe they were swarovsky crystals?

Secondly, the personality highlights. TNNA is always fun because you get to meet someone (usually multiple someones) cool or funny or bizarre. I was fortunate enough to meet Norah Gaughan, author of the amazing book Knitting Nature. I've been a fan of hers since the early 90s. Brilliant knitwear designer. She was lovely - and giggled a lot. I then stole a fleeting glimpse of knitting legend Kaffe Fasset, master of color and geometric patterning. He walked by the Fiesta Yarns booth while I was sitting down discussing my order. Obviously in a hurry, HE LOOKED AT ME. Can you stand it? Yay! I feel special. I of course spent lots of time sitting down with Kirstin Muench, owner of Muench Yarns and the superest duperest person in the yarn world. While discussing the new offerings from GGH (which her company distributes), the one and only Nicky Epstein (designer/author/teacher/speaker) interrupted our conversation briefly and politely. To apologize for the interruption (which was maybe 10 seconds long), NICKY EPSTEIN HUGGED ME. OMG. How can I stand it?? After recovering gracefully, I was later introduced to Vicky Howell, host of Knitty Gritty on the DIY channel. She was at the SWTC booth promoting her new yarns (um, her face is on the label. what gives?). She was very nice but had to run off to join her friends. Meanwhile, in the Interweave Press booth (the people at Interweave are SO NICE), I glimpsed Lily Chin. She looked at me - and then looked away. She probably could sense I was not a big crochet fan. So shoot me!

Thirdly, here's some scoop about what's coming for the store... boatloads of stuff from Muench/GGH, including a beautiful 100% silk plus a lofty, yummy cotton blend that feels like a Debbie Bliss-style cashmere blend but is not. Two hand-dyed yarns are coming from Fiesta... a new sock yarn made from alpaca and tencel, plus perennial favorite La Boheme (a mohair/rayon multi-strand yarn that's been around a long time). New for me from Claudia Handpainted Yarn comes their laceweight 100% silk... 1100 yards on a skein! Amazing stuff. Speaking of laceweight, you can expect a 2 ply cashmere/silk blend from Jade Sapphire and Zephyr from Fiddlesticks Knitting, a great silk and wool blend that's a favorite among lace knitters. I'm very excited about the lace-weight additions to my inventory. I'm also adding the popular sock yarn from Mountain Colors called Bearfoot, a bunch of fun little accessories from Lantern Moon including the coolest-ever dp sock needles, bags & totes from Timeless Totes and Namaste', and a beautiful selection of hemp yarn from Hemp For Knitting,

Last but not least is a small yarn company worth lusting over: the Fibre Company in Maine. They specialize in hand-dyed luxurious super-soft natural fiber blends that make you pee in your pants. The colors are mostly-solids (no multis) in extremely rich, subtle hues. Upon first examination the yarns may not look so special - but once you spend time with them, caress them, stare deeply in to their eyes, you will fall in love. It is inevitable. You will be assimilated. The yarns I'm bringing in are Terra, a blend of merino, baby alpaca and silk (kettle dyed) with the look of handspun, and the most ultimate yarn on the planet, Road to China. Get a load of its heritage: 65% baby alpaca, 10% cashmere, 10% camel, 10% soy, 5% yak. It is TDF (to die for).

More later...

ps: I almost forgot to mention... I brought back sample skeins of many of the yarns mentioned above! Pay us a visit at Knit Night tomorrow night (Thursday) for a first-hand glimpse!

Pre-Knit Night (Jan. 11) - A Belated Post

2007-01-15T19:06:00.000-08:00

Last Thurs. before knit night even began, I was fortunate enough to spend a little extra time knitting and chatting with Warren and Suzanne.

Warren holds up a gorgeous wrap he designed.

It's just nummy -- the textures and colors blend beautifully.

Suzanne bundles up to brave the cold, sporting a lovely handmade scarf.

Hope to see everyone this week bundled up in their handknit finery!

Knit Night Redux :-)

2007-01-05T20:15:00.000-08:00

I am happy to report that the first knit night of 2007 was a veritable knit-a-palooza. It could have been the wine shots, or the highly tasty cheese, but most likely it was because it was such a relief to get back to a wonderful group of friends, fibers, and more fibers.

Patricia snapped up this gorgeous sage laceweight merino. Lovely.

Gorgeous Boise FO--scarf and hat set. Simply beautiful.

Scarf detail.

Best...socks...ever!

Angela demonstrates knitting in cartoon style.

Lisa concentrates on her gorgeous red baby sweater.

Patricia shows us a bit of her gorgeous sweater from the Muench yarn trunk show.

Warren was swatching some gorgeous sock yarns.

This one had angora and felt like butter when swatched.

Inventory shenanigans?

We also had a new knitter swing by who hadn't picked up the sticks in 20 years! By the end of the evening she was happily knitting away.

Thanks, everyone, for a wonderful knitting start to the new year! See you next week.

Knit Night: A Review

2006-11-30T22:29:00.000-08:00

Thank you, Warren, for inviting me to contribute to your blog. This is a much appreciated honor.

I freely admit that I am often not at a loss for words, but tonight at Knit Night at Marin Fiber Arts, I was at a loss more than normal.

First, Judy showed off her new weaving project with was done with...(wait for it)....sock yarn. Austermann Step in color 08 (which in case you don't have the color number translation in front of you is a delicious combination of grey, off white, and rosey pinks -- Yes, I have my skein, why do you ask?). Warren has the resulting woven scarf in the shop for a limited time (I will remember my camera next week to take photos -- please forgive me for lack of photos).

Next, Renee showed off these socks -- well, in the interest of full disclosure there was a complete sock and about half of the second sock. It is a pattern from Cool Socks, Warm Feet and a tweed sock yarn (also in stock, Warren reminded me). The pattern has a rib that twists arou the foot and ankle (complete with a garter stitch heel). It made the self striping yarn appear to be entraloc without the extra ends to weave in. Yes, it took my breath away and I had to sit down before I fainted.

Our own, 'Kiwi' was working on an entraloc scarf and again -- I was speechless. Now, mind you watching her weave in the ends made me a little happy it wasn't me, because we ALL know that I'd be forced to felt it and clip lest I go nuts with the darning needle. However, for both Kiwi's and her gift receipt's sake, I'm not knitting this one -- so it will be both outstanding AND done in time. She has talent for such things.

I also witnessed our Vegan Knitter making a gift with baby alpaca yarn. She was, as always, was trying new skills with two mittens on two circs at the same time. I'm seriously impressed as she worked through how to keep the two balls straight, fought the floppy needles, and even came up with a quick reason for the two different types of needles on the fly. I think by the end, she was feeling rather confident with the skills. Hey, it is something I haven't tried yet.

Me? I was working on the never ending Christmas sock. I have a mere 12 days to finish sock one and get sock 2 done. Yes, I'm feeling the pressure. And yes, I'm over the grayness of it all.

And in case you've missed the e-mails, let's review the happenings of Marin Fiber Arts.

Jo Sharp Trunk Show. Awesome sweaters to see and 15% off Jo Sharp Yarns during the show!!!
Stash for Cash. Donate a pound of yarn, get $5 in credit for the store. See Warren for details.
Anniversary Sale. There is a sliding scale of savings. Spend a little, Save a Little. Spend Alot, Save alot.
Wall of Savings. There are even sale yarns!!
Bring a Friend. Introduce someone new to MFA and get a $25 class AND some Soak (which is the BEST wool wash I've ever tried.)

So, I promise in my future updates, I'll have some photos. So, what did I miss while I was K2P2ing on my grey sock??

First Knitting Retreat a Smashing Success

2006-11-07T17:25:00.000-08:00

I'd like to thank everyone who attended our first Knitting Retreat in San Anselmo - a great time was had by all! There was much food, drink, and of course playing with yarn!

One of our attendees, Meredith, has given me permission to post a link to her online album of pictures taken at the event. I've snagged a few of them to post here as well. Enjoy!

Hmm... maybe this is Hogwarts?

The Victorian house in which we stayed. Do we have to leave??

A sampling of the yarn provided by Unicorn/Lana Grossa... what a lineup!

Can you have yarn for breakfast? Certainly!

Sittin' on a Victorian porch knittin' with friends... paradise, anyone?

After walking the seminary's labyrinth, we paused for photo ops. Cheese!

Ok, these weren't knit with Lana Grossa yarn, but who cares when they're THIS cute!

As promised, here is a link to the full photo album:

Retreat Photo Gallery

Retreat Update

2006-09-08T10:11:00.000-07:00

A quick update on our retreat and spa scheduled for November 3-5, 2006: all single occupancy rooms are sold out; we still have double-occupancy rooms available as well as 'sleep-over' and daytime slots. The deadline to reserve is soon: September 15th, one week from today.

Here are some pictures of the lovely house at which we will be spending the weekend in early November...

I've arranged to have Sheila Sparapani from Butterfly Skin Studio provide a "Knitter's Spa" on Saturday afternoon. Sheila will offer a complementary class on handcare for the knitter (demonstrating and practicing hand exercises, giving out free samples of hand creams, etc). Additionally she will offer individual 15-minute nourishing hand treatments for a $15 charge which will include hydration, stretching, a parafin wax treatment, and an accupressure/massage. Attendees will be able to sign up for the individual treatments on Saturday morning.

Look here for detailed information about the retreat, including pricing.

Knitting Retreat & Yarn Spa

2006-09-05T19:44:00.000-07:00

Announcing the first Marin Fiber Arts Knitting Retreat and Yarn Spa... read all about it here!

Also, new fall yarns continue to roll in. Check out the latest from Rowan, RYC, Tahki/Stacy Charles, Karabella, and Cascade, with more to come! We are extremely busy stickering and shelving bag upon bag of soft, terrific yarns for your knitting pleasure. We've also put together the Great Wall of Sock Yarn, complete with offerings from Lana Grossa, Opal, Skacel (Trekking and Step), in addition to sock yarn from Claudia Hand Painted Yarn.

Wanted: Knitters & Teachers

2006-08-07T15:43:00.000-07:00

We are currently looking for experienced teachers to teach intermediate knitting classes (how to make your "first" sweater, etc) and also experienced knitters to make models (ie. store samples). We are about to be inundated with new fall yarns and we can't keep up with all the knitted we need to do! Items to be knitted include baby items and adult sweaters.

Please contact Warren at the store, either by email (yarn AT marinfiberarts DOT com) or call 415.459.4600.

New Fall Yarns: Tonalita & Yosemite

2006-08-01T10:46:00.000-07:00

Early response has been overwhelming to some new yarns that have come in during the past few weeks: Tonalita and Yosemite, both from Trendsetter yarns.

They are both composed of wool & acrylic, are extremely soft and lofty, and come in a wide range of beautiful multi colors. Tonalita actually stripes.

Tonalita is worsted weight and comes in 7 colorways:

The sweater was provided by Trendsetter, and is a super-simple asymmetrical cardigan. The pattern is available for purchase. Here is a closeup of the sweater - notice how the yarn naturally stripes:

Yosemite has a similar fiber composition but is a bulky thick & thin - I'm thinking it will make great scarves and hats as well as cozy sweaters.

We will be getting a cabled sweater out of Yosemite very soon.

Sockanon's First Sock

2006-07-31T15:27:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago (pardon for my tardiness in posting), Jen, one of our first Sockanon members, completed her very first sock out of Nature's Palette Fingering wool.

Here it is! Yay Jen!

Remember, all Sockanon members have a chance of getting their sock photos posted to the Marin Fiber Arts blog.

July Newsletter & Sale!

2006-07-15T15:31:00.000-07:00

Just thought I'd share a picture of our lovely Maya, Resident Bundle of Creative Energy, as she models our Goa summer tank.

I just sent out the July 2006 newsletter, but for those of you not on the mailing list, here it is.

ps: What mailing list you ask? Go here to subscribe: MFA mailing list

********

Greetings Fiber Friends,

Warm and sunny days are here, but that means things are kinda quiet at the ol’ yarn store. As you head out to the beach, Lake Tahoe or the picnic, consider taking along a small project to keep your hands busy. Baby hats and socks make great summer projects. We have a constant inflow of new sock yarn in the store, from Germany’s Opal sock yarn to the hand-dyed wonders of Schaefer Yarns and Claudia Handpaints (both of which are due in the store soon). And of course, don’t forget Shepherd Sock from Lorna’s Laces... new colorways of sock, worsted, and Lion & Lamb just arrived!

If you’re not yet a sock enthusiast, we teach sock knitting at our Tuesday evening workshops.

Midsummer SALE

Believe it or not, now is the perfect time to start on your holiday knitting. Is your gift list long? Get a head start now. To help you out we’re offering our huge Midsummer Sale - all in-stock yarns are discounted at least 30% off! Have you been waiting for-EVER to buy that cashmere to make your hubby a warm and cuddly scarf? Now’s the time! Mark your calendars because the sale is on for a very limited time... Friday through Sunday, July 28 - 30.

Sample bags of yarn have started to arrive. What are these? I’ve requested early shipment of single bags of most new yarns due this fall so we can play with them in advance of their arrival. Ask us about these latest arrivals... you’re more than welcome to sit down at the front table and knit up a swatch with these new yarns.

For example, recent arrivals include Grignasco’s 100% cashmere (yumm), Reynold’s Whiskey (a soft, lovely earthy tweed), Jo Sharp’s Alpaca SIlk Georgette (alpaca/merino/silk), Schulana’s Merino-Cotton, Garnstudio’s Silke-Tweed (silk/wool), and Ornaghi Filati’s Zingara. And yes, you can swatch with these yarns for FREE.

100 Colors of Cascade 220 - a dream come true?

Yes, it is a dream come true. I’m happy to unveil one of the largest selections of Cascade 220 in Marin County... a total of 138 colors! A shipment of 100 colors just arrived this week and we are feverishly applying price stickers and shelving the yarn.

Sockanon - allow us to enable your pleasure

Sockanon is the club for sock knitters. With a $35 annual membership fee you get a punch card (buy yarn for 10 pairs of socks & get a 20% discount shopping spree), admission to monthly sock meetings, free patterns and door prizes. For a $150 annual fee you also get mini-skeins of sock yarn as well
as full skeins of yarn - enough for 4-5 pairs of socks - throughout the year.

New Accessories

I’m happy to announce that I now carry a small but growing selection of terrific buttons and knitting-themed notecards. My favorite buttons are little sheep with feet that wiggle - too cute! Buttons range from $1 to $7.95 each and are located at the register in a great big bamboo bowl.

Tours and Retreats

I am in the early stages of planning a Yarn Retreat for mid to late October of this year. The price should be between $150-$200 per person for a two-night (Friday & Saturay) retreat in a lovely Victorian house located in San Anselmo. A large amount of free yarn will be provided for your swatching and knitting pleasures. Please call the store at 415-459-4600 for more information. Final details should be ironed out within the next two weeks.

One of our favorite Knit Nighters, Patricia, is a cruise planner, and she has organized a wonderful five night Sock Knitting cruise for all you sock enthusiasts. The dates are April 29 - May 4, 2007. The cruise embarks in L.A., stops in San Francisco and Victoria, B.C., and disembarks in Vancouver, B.C. There will be sock knitting workshops, classes, excursions, and a tote bag full of goodies for all attendees. Prices start at $475 per person. Contact: seasocks.blogspot.com, 888-286-9827, or pbabischkin@cruiseplanners.com.

That's all I have to share this month - as always, thanks for all of your
kind support.

Warren
Marin Fiber Arts
415.459.4600

More sock yarn just arrived...

2006-06-21T15:49:00.000-07:00

Another small shipment of Opal sock yarn came in. Included in the shipment is a snazzy handpainted colorway (#20) along with some Mosaic & Elements colorways, 4 solid colors, and a bag of miscellaneous self-patterned colorways - too many to list here.

The next big collection from Germany is due in the store next month... stay tuned for more info. As a reminder, join our new SockAnon club to get advanced notice and first chance at the new yarn as it comes in!

SockAnon

2006-06-20T15:21:00.000-07:00

People addicted to Sock Knitting need assistance. Sock addiction sneaks upon oneself suddenly and unexpectedly. As owner of Marin Fiber Arts (and suffering from the addiction myself), I feel the need to give back to those addicted to sock knitting. What better way to enable - I mean serve - the sock knitting community than to provide a fun, exciting, and social club filled with sock yarn, patterns, discounts, and an exclusive meeting place!

SockAnon is Marin Fiber Arts exclusive club for sock knitters. For the basic annual membership fee of $35 you get admission to SockAnon meetings (second Saturday of the month), discounts (20% discount after you buy yarn for 10 pairs of socks), free sock patterns, and early notification of sock yarn shipments.

For $150 you also get sample skeins of sock yarn (enough to swatch with) throughout the year as well as sock yarn (enough for a pair) at least four times per year.

Stop by the store to sign up or call 415.459.4600 for more information.

Allergy season...

2006-06-19T17:21:00.000-07:00

...has hit me _h_a_r_d_. I took Sunday off and let Maya guard the kingdom while I stayed home and got some rest.

Last weekend I had the pleasure of attending the National Needle Arts Market put on by the TNNA. It's where shop owners go to buy merchandise for their needlework stores. My good friend Grenadine Girl tagged along... we had much fun. You can read her humorous account of our madcap romp through the skywalks of Indianapolis here.

So what did I order? I promised myself not to buy too much yarn since I've done the bulk of my ordering already as the yarn reps have been visiting me during the past month. Nonetheless, I found lots and lots of goodies to tempt you with this fall.

A brief recap:

1. Lots of Lorna's Laces yarn in Shepherd worsted, Sock, and the new Swirl DK.
2. A new line of hand-dyed yarn from Conjoined Creations, two wacky but sweet ladies. Hand-dyed laceweight Soy Silk, anyone?
3. A lovely bulky thick-n-thin from Nature's Palette - I'm excited about this one!
4. Gobs of yarn from Karabella, including cashmere blends that will make you swoon.
5. Buttons and more buttons... cute, moderately-priced buttons from Muench as well as a new line of limited production ceramic buttons not yet available in the bay area.
6. Purse handles
7. A new line of wool wash available in three scents.
8. Two lines of knitting bags, from Namaste' and Susan Todd.
9. Several yarns from Aurora Yarns, a distributor of Scandinavian and Italian yarns located in Moss Beach, CA. The owner Frederikka is possibly the nicest person I've ever met!
10. Several yarns (including a beautiful chenille) from Fonty, a French company distributed in the US by Russi Sales. The Russis are possibly the nicest people I've ever met!
11. I had the pleasure of meeting Kirsten Muench, head honcho of Muench Yarns (who also distributes GGH yarns). Kirsten is possibly the nicest person I've ever met! GGH has some exciting yarns coming for fall but I haven't firmed up my order as of yet. Ran out of time!
12. Last but not least: we got to meet Australia's Jo Sharp! She is definitely the nicest person I've ever met.

Ok, so I met a lot of really-really nice people. Yay. I had lots of fun and even though people tell me I'm crazy, I can't wait for the winter trade show in San Diego so I can do this all over again. Go Yarn!

Warren

First Shipment of Opal Sock Yarn is here

2006-06-06T16:19:00.000-07:00

Just received my first shipment of Opal sock yarn. For those of you who following Opal, these are not new colors but rather previously available colorways. The next 'collection' is due out in July.

For pictures of the following colorways, go here.

Petticoat: 1297
6 ply: 1254
Handpaint: 17
Elements: 1072
Dreamcatcher: 1236
Masterpiece: 3701, 3704, 3706, 3708

They are all wool/nylon blend, fingering weight (except for the 6 ply which is sport weight). The colors are really really cool.

Check them out!

Sock Obsession

2006-06-06T10:02:00.000-07:00

Something strange and wonderful happened to me a few weeks ago.

I caught Sock Obsession.

I've been knitting socks for a long time - long before self-patterning sock yarn. It was fun. Occasionally I'd make a pair of socks - and usually mess up the sizing somehow. Some were too tight at the cuff, some were too loose. Never wore the socks I made. But they were fun to make.

Since opening the store last October, I've knitted a few socks to demonstrate yarns I carry, including a self-patterning Lana Grossa yarn. I taught myself the short row heel. They were fun to make - but not any funner than any other kind of knitting I do.

Then, one day a few weeks ago, I decided to teach myself how to knit socks with two circular needles. I chose a nifty skein of coral-colored Fortissima Socka (wool/cotton) yarn which I assumed had gradual color striping judging by the look of the ball.

To my amazement and delight, this yarn *did* self-pattern, and in a very cool way... it was hard to set down the sock and give my fingers a rest. In addition, knitting with two circulars was a revelation! I always liked working with 5 double points but I never *loved* working with them. I *love* working with two circulars - the process is so much more fluid.

I made the first sock in three days. I completed the second sock three days after that.

I am now on my third pair of socks... I'm trying every color of Sockotta I carry.

My first pair was knitted with Susan Bates circulars needles, knowing full well that the needle of choice for many sock knitters is the Addi Turbo. After completing the first coral Fortissima Socka sock, I felt Sock Obsession permeate my being, and I knew I had to carry Addi Turbos if I wanted to spread the Obsession. It's kinda like Invasion of the Body Snatchers, really. Once obsessed, I must spread the obsession to everyone I know and love.

I now carry Addi Turbos. I'm also excited to be an official Opal sock yarn dealer - my first shipment should arrive today. I've ordered plenty of sock yarn for the fall. And, last but not least, I am planning a Sock Knitters' club - members will get lots o' sock yarn and plenty of discounts. More details will follow later in June.

It's here: Lorna's

2006-06-02T15:56:00.000-07:00

Today I unpacked a small shipment of Lorna's Laces hand dyed goodness.

What I got:

1 bag (8 sk) of Shepherd Sock in Tahoe (already sold: 2)
1 bag (8 sk) of Shepherd Worsted in Rainbow
2 sk each of shepherd sock in the following colors:
daffodil
happy valley
watercolor
glenwood
manzanita (solid)
charcoal (solid)
sunshine (solid)
china blue (solid)

2 sk each of angel (angora/lambswool) in the following colors:
daffodil
cool
mineshaft
irving park
purple club
uptown
tuscany

This stuff sells out quickly, so hurry in if you see something you like.

Incoming: Lorna's

2006-05-30T16:36:00.000-07:00

The nice folks at Lorna's Laces were kind enough to heed my pleas ("haalp! I'm low on sock yarn!") and send me some goodies that were sitting on their shelf. I'm expecting a small shipment of yarn on Friday. Not sure what's in the box (UPS says it's a 7 pounder). I'm guess it's a mixed bag of sock yarn, a mixed bag of Shepherd Sport, maybe a bag of sock yarn in Tahoe, and who knows what else. Stop by the store this weekend to find out what I got!

Warren

ps: I also placed a sizeable order of Shepherd Sock, Shepherd Worsted and Angel, along with a small sampling of Grace (boucle), Shepherd Sport, and Fisherman). It should arrive in eight weeks. Oh the pain.

Did you say sale?

2006-05-25T23:21:00.000-07:00

In case you didn't receive the newsletter, let it be known that there's a sale goin' on at the store.

Print out a copy of the newsletter to receive 10% any non-sale yarn in the store.

Rowan Big Wool is 40% off (Rowan is discontinuing some colors) Check out some of the stuff I'm making. Big wool is super soft, 100% merino. It's bulky, but there are so many beatiful patterns to make. Take advantage of the sale!

Some Blue Sky yarns are discounted, as well as Cascade 220 SUPERWASH. Rose-Kim Knits just made a pair of socks with the cascade superwash. Warren has some very beautiful heathered colors on sale. There's much more on sale, you've got to get to the store to see it all.

See you there!

Grenadine Girl

Join The Knitting World Cup

2006-05-11T12:42:00.000-07:00

Hello again Everyone,

In case you forgot, tonight is knit night. Come on by this evening, even just to say hello. We're always happy to see new and familiar faces.

Also I'm organizing The Knitting World Cup, a knit-a-long that starts on June 9th and runs during the Soccer World Cup. Not only will we be checking out the hot international soccer players we'll be knitting for a cause. Participants are required to either knit something for a knit charity or knit a personal project that can be sold on ebay with all proceeds going to Oxfam.

I'm going to buy one of Warren's Knit-for-her-cure kits from GGH. Proceeds from the sale of these kits go to the Gynecological Cancer Foundation. Eventhough the organization no longer producers these bags, Warren carries a selection of the kits designed by celebrities and noted knitware designers.

See you tonight,

Grenadine Girl

New Contributor

2006-05-08T13:04:00.000-07:00

Hello All,

Grenadine Girl here. You may know me from my other blog The Crafty Girl is a Happy Girl. Anyhoo Warren has asked me to contribute from time to time with updates of stuff that's going on around the store and with fellow Marin Fiber Arts knitters and the like.

Considering that MFA is my second home, I think I'll have a lot to say about it. It's amazing how much the store has grown. Our first Knit night meetings were in Warren's living room!

Have you been in the store lately? Warren's sellable stash (aka W.S.S.) has been multiplying. He got in some variegated colors of Takhi Classic Cotton, some variegated colors of Cascade Sierra (the cotton/wool version of 220), and some lace weight yarn in the yummiest colors. There are also some new pattern books from Jo Sharp, Takhi and GGH.

If you haven't visited in a while, stop by on Thursday nights for the free knit night. The San Rafael Farmer's market makes parking a little difficult, but it's well worth the effort. Not only can you get the freshed local produce, flowers and international treats, but you can pet yarn.

Marin Fiber Arts is the Cheers of local yarn shops. It's the place where everyone knows your name and they're always glad you came.

Stop on by...

Grenadine Girl

Fruits of One's Labor

2006-05-05T22:38:00.000-07:00

I have been hard at work designing and knitting garments for the store. My first fully-completed garment is pictured below. It is made out of Bouton d'Or's New Bamboo, a wonderful new yarn for spring/summer that comes in an amazing range of vibrant colors. This bamboo yarn is unique in that it's a viscose, which results in a stronger yarn that is highly resistant to wear and pilling. Because it's 100% bamboo, the garment has an amazingly silky feel and drapes beautifully.

The garment is a cap sleeve round-neck summer top with lace detailing along the bottom edge and the raglan sleeve edges. It's knit almost entirely in the round with virtually no seams to sew. The pictured top is a Small and took 7.2 balls to knit on size 7 needles. A knitter with intermediate skills should have no problem knitting this top.

I am currently proofreading the pattern and hope to have it finished by early next week.

As I wrote previously, my spiffy new sign is up and happily announcing to the world that I am here. Here you go, a spiffy picture of the spiffy sign.

Pretty spiffy, huh?

PS: the sign isn't really pink, it's burgundy.

Six Month Anniversary!

2006-05-01T18:40:00.000-07:00

Yes, can you believe it? Marin Fiber Arts turned 6 months old on April 25th. It's been a fun ride so far, but not without a few bumps along the way, namely: the sign.

It took about 5 months to get a friggin' sign up, which went up about a month ago. The timeline goes something like this:

(NOTE: fictitious sign company names have been used to avoid public humiliation.)

The first company (The Disinterested Sign Company) was contacted back in early October and took forever to get us a quote for sign and installation. It seemed like once they found out how small the budget was, they lost interest.

They recommended a very small sign company (Joe Bob Signs) who again took a long time to ultimately lose interest and not return our calls.

We finally ended up with Slow Signs, who seemed willing to do the job. Several people (including the building management) recommended this company. But again, it took forever to get nowhere (seldom returning phone calls or emails, etc).

Then One Day in Late December, in the middle of a signage funk, a guy left his business card under my door - Local Psychotic Sign Guy. I called him up and he seemed VERY eager (I mean VERY eager) to make me a sign - at a good price. Cool. He needed the reference and was willing to do the job at a discounted price. We were in contact constantly. Once we firmed up a design, I had to get it approved by the City and the Landlord. That took about two weeks - smooth sailing. Meanwhile, Local Psychotic Sign Guy became increasingly vexed. 'Have you gotten approval yet? I want to get this done before we start work on The Big Job which will take all month.' Then Local Psychotic Sign Guy offered to provide the sign at half the quoted price if I developed a website for his small and growing sign company. Sure, trades are good! I worked up a small proposal and budgeted only $400 for my sign - what a deal! Yay. A week later, the guy tells me his boss changed his mind. He found someone else to do the website for free. In other words, he backed down on our verbal agreement. The sign will now cost me $750. Argh, there goes my budget! I was upset. On the other hand, I needed a sign. My response was OK but I'd have to hold off on the sign for a few weeks until I knew I had the extra cash. But I was fuming. A few days later I get a frantic phone call from Local Psychotic Sign Guy: "Can I come over and pick up the deposit NOW? I really need the cash!" Uhhhh, wassup with dat? Are you on the brink of bankruptcy? Need to pay off the drug dealer? Doesn't sound like a stable company, so I basically told him to go away.

What now? I decide to give Slow Signs a second chance. This time I marched into the darned place in person and said "Look. I need a sign NOW. Here is the design, exactly how I want it. Here is the city permit. Can you do it?" Astonishingly they said "Sure, no problem. We can have this up in a week. And it's only gonna cost $500." Uh, ok.

Yah riiight. It took about a week to simply MAKE the sign. A week(ish) later they come out to hang it, only to realize they need to rethink their plan. Not gonna work. Need to make a metal frame for the sign and mount the frame to the overhang. D'oh. Gonna take another week and another 500 bucks. Umm, have you _ever_ done this before? I'm beginning to hate sign people. But it will only take another week, they say. Two to three weeks later (groan), the installation guy comes to drill the holes in the overhang. He's up there on the ladder *trying* to drill holes into metal while the drill bit screeches and seizes up in the holes. Umm, have you _ever_ done this before? Are you really a professional sign installer? Doesn't look like it from my angle (a look of abject terror freezes his face as a drill bit flies out of the drill and hits the storefront window). Maya had to leave the building because the screeching sound of metal against metal made her small intestine seize up.

Magically, the next day, Friday, at 5:45 pm, the sign guy returns to install the sign! He wanted to get it done before he goes on vacation. Hurray, it's up in 15 minutes and it's beautiful! Now the world knows I'm at the back of the City Plaza in downtown San Rafael.

And there was much rejoicing.

Lorna's Laces Sale, New Bouton D'or, Interweave

2006-02-16T11:48:00.000-08:00

New things in the store this week...

Lorna's Laces Shepherd Bulky yarn is 25% off. Get it while it lasts!

Two new yarns in from Bouton D'or...

New Bamboo (a beautiful silky 100% bamboo) and Mango (50% Cotton, 50% Modal) in bright springy colors. Great for your summer tank top projects.

Also, the new Spring 2006 Interweave Knits is here! Better yet, the store is listed in the Yarn Shop Directory on page 124. Yaaay.

Sale on Rowan Yarns

2006-02-12T13:14:00.000-08:00

From now until April 30th, all Rowan "big" yarns are on sale for 25% off. The sale includes:

Rowan Big Wool
Rowan Biggie Print
Rowan Big Wool Tuft
Rowan Big Wool Fusion
Rowan Chunky Print

As always, all sales are final on discounted merchandise.

Start the new year with Class

2006-01-05T16:56:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year everyone!

We had a very good holiday season. Lots of little balls of yarn went home with new owners and undoubtedly were transformed into scarves, hats, mittens, and other small projects for gift giving.

Now that the holidays are over, it's time to think about yourself again. It's sweater weather and we have the goods to get you fitted out in style. We have "sweater quantities" of many, many great yarns, including Aspen, Davos, Jo Sharp Silk Road, Goddess, Cool Wool 2000, Baby Alpaca, Samoa, Solitaire, Trina, Paloma, the list goes on.

If you've never knitted a sweater before but want to try, you're in luck! We can teach you how.

Speaking of classes, I've just added a new class to the schedule:

Drop-In Knitting Workshop (4 sessions for $80 or $25 per session)
Tuesdays (Feb 7, 14, 21, 28), 7 pm - 9 pm
Bring your own project or start a new one! This unstructured class is for those who need professional help on whatever they are working on. All skill levels are welcome. Whether you need to learn the basics, tackle your first sweater, or learn a new stitch, you may sign up in advance for 4 sessions at a discounted rate of $80, or you can just drop in whenever you need help for $25/session.

New: Two from Crystal Palace

2005-12-15T09:56:00.000-08:00

We just put on the shelf two new (for us) yarns from Crystal Palace: Cotton Chenille and Party Ribbon. We love mixing ribbon with mohair for quick & elegant scarves & shawls, and Party is one of the most beautiful ribbons I've seen. We have it in solids and multis. The Cotton Chenille has been requested by several customers as the ideal "wash cloth" yarn. Yep, you too can knit a wash cloth! We have twelve colors in stock. Stop in and check them out!

Class Schedule Online

2005-12-14T21:37:00.000-08:00

I just posted the new class schedule for Jan/Feb 2006. The link to the class schedule is on the Marin Fiber Arts home page here. I hope I didn't make any typos with the dates. Please let me know if you spot anything that doesn't make sense.

Class Schedule Is Here

Sale Yarns

2005-12-12T16:13:00.000-08:00

We now have a 'sale table' near the rear of the store, filled with fun yarns ideal for making last-minute holiday gifts. Yarns such as Malizia, Flurry, Carioca, Fabulash, and others are discounted 20% off the regular price.

Yarn Spotlight: Linea Rossa

2005-12-08T10:02:00.000-08:00

Recently I had the opportunity to tour the warehouse of Unicorn Books & Crafts, a major distributor of knitting & craft books (which happens to be located a mere 15 miles from my home). Unicorn also happens to be the exclusive U.S. distributor of Lana Grossa yarns. Since I was not previously familiar with Lana Grossa, I was excited about the prospect of learning about a "new" yarn company.

Apparently Lana Grossa is a major German yarn company which has only been available in the U.S. for approximately three years. They offer a wide range of yarns running from basics to foo-foo novelties. Lana Grossa also publishes a large number of pattern books per year, including a Kids issue and a Men's issue.

Lana Grossa this fall introduced a new line of yarns called 'Linea Rossa'. It's a premium line of three luxury yarns consisting of all natural fibers. Extra-fine Merino wool is used as the base fiber, which they blend with silk, baby alpaca, and cashmere to yield three splendid yarns.

I have added each of these yarns to the inventory in beautiful shades such as chocolate brown, baby blue, natural, wine, hot pink, and a rich deep aqua. In upcoming posts I will be writing more about each yarn as I swatch them up.

You can read a little more about Linea Rossa here.

Things are going well...

2005-12-07T19:44:00.000-08:00

Just a quick note 'cuz I haven't posted in a long while. Things are going well. The Marin Independent Journal (the local newspaper) printed a great little article about the store several weeks ago, ostensibly to publicize the Knit For Her Cure event that we held on the Saturday of Thanksgiving weekend. The article ran on the front page (bottom) of the Home & Garden section. The phone started ringing at 9:50 am the day that the article ran. 'Where are you located? What are your hours? Etc." The previous trickle of new customers turned into a steady stream once the article ran, and it has yet to let up! Sure, we've had a slow day here and there (like last Thursday during our first big rain storm of the season), but in general sales are getting better and better as time goes on. Many, many people are very interested in classes; I am almost finished planning the class schedule for Jan/Feb. It will feature beginning knitting, crochet, socks, lace, finishing techniques, and a 'my first sweater (vest)' class taught by the lovely and talented Barbara B.

Tomorrow I'll try to take pictures of the store... quite a bit of yarn has come in during the past few weeks.

From here on in I plan on talking a lot about the yarns we have and the projects we are working on.

More to come...

We Have Grand Opened!

2005-11-14T16:47:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was a wonderful day... many, many people came out to support us at our Grand Opening Celebration. It was our best day so far for sales, and just as importantly, we received very positive feedback on the store.

Gail provided all the refreshments, including amazing homemade brownies. Meredith provided some of her felted bags as door prizes and store samples, while Joy provided moral support and was indispensable in helping customers (Joy moonlighted at another yarn store for a short time).

And of course there was Barbara B., my left arm and right leg, whirring about helping customers and ringing up sales. Yay team!

Without further delay, here are some pics...

Mmmm.

Barbara models her newly completed vest made out of Lorna's Laces Shepherd Worsted (hand dyed yarn). She is teaching a class on how to make this vest.

Gail

Joy

Intrepid Graphic Designer Meredith Snaps a Pic

Meredith winds yarn as Alan, Gail's boyfriend, looks on with interest. I think.

Kristine: "Hey, that looks like fun! Can I try?".
Meredith: "No, get your own winder. Someday this will all be MINE."

Finally here are some shots of the store. Nice, huh? I'm pleased.

Lots of Shoppers

Grand Opening & Classes

2005-11-05T19:49:00.000-08:00

Our Grand Opening celebration is on Sunday November 13th from 12 - 4 pm.

In preparation for the celebration, yesterday we received the trunk show from Muench/GGH. I was expecting perhaps half a dozen garments from the good folks up at Muench in Petaluma. Instead we got a bonanza. Kirsten Muench, the owner, called to inform me that her father, Mr. Muench, would be personally delivering TWENTY sweaters featuring GGH and Muench yarns! Yay!

The very sweet Mr. Muench hand-delivered two big boxes containing a treasure trove of goodies, including: a slinky sweater made out of Touch Me, several garments made out of Goa, Samoa, Aspen, and Davos (GGH's bread-and-butter yarns), two sweaters made out of heavenly Soft Kid, and an amazing dress made out of cuddly-soft Amelie. We now need to figure out how to display them all - and we haven't even gotten the trunk shows from Lorna's Laces and Blue Sky Alpacas yet! I hope they arrive in time for the Grand Opening.

Muench also generously provided us with door prizes in the form of yarn. I aim to whip up a handful of fabulous scarf kits to give away during the event.

We have also finalized our class schedule. I don't have it in front of me (I'm writing this from home), but (from memory) we are offering the following classes: Crash Course in Knitting (1 session), Crash Course in Crocheting (1 session), Beginner's Knitting (4 sessions), Holiday Scarves (1 session), My First Sweater (4 sessions - create a stylish yet simple vest in Lorna's Laces hand dyed Shepherd Worsted wool), and Kids Knitting (1 session for ages 8-12). The 4-session classes start in about two weeks. Space is available in all classes. Class size will be kept small to ensure individual attention.

For information about any of these events, call the store at 415.459.4600.

Knit Night is Tonight

2005-10-27T10:47:00.000-07:00

Everyone is invited to join in on our Knit Night every Thursday evening from 7 - 9 pm. There is no charge. Bring yourself and your project(s). Get to know other knitters, talk about knitterly stuff, or just show and tell. It's very relaxed, informal, and unstructured. You're also welcome to bring a snack or beverage. Poppycock and Sparkling Cider seem to be the refreshments of choice. Hope to see you here!

Day One: Yay!

2005-10-25T21:50:00.000-07:00

We survived "Day One - Open For Business" with flying colors. Literally, there was color flying all over the store. Colors of yarn, that is.

We opened on schedule at 10:00 am and I stuck around until about 7 pm - it was hard to leave! I guess I was running on adrenalin because I did not feel tired. i had to force myself to go home.

We had quite a few people stop in to say hello, and about five people actually bought yarn. It was a good day for an unadvertised soft opening day! Thank you to everyone who stopped in! Come back often! New things will be coming in steadily over the next weeks and months. Also, please let us know if you would like to see us carry something in particular. I want to know what YOU want. I've already gotten one vote for Koigu.

We worked dilligently all day long shelving yarn. Almost all the GGH is on the shelf and boy does it look pretty. Still need to find a place for Muench's Tessin and Touch Me.

Crystal Palace is starting to get stickered and shelved. Kid Merino, Kid Merino Print, and Musique are on the shelf (and looking gorgeous). Still working on Fizz, Fizz Stardust and Squiggle.

Got some new knitting needles in: Clover Bamboo Flex needles. Sort of a cross between Straight and Circular needles. I use them almost exclusively for 15 years. Never seen them in stores in California, but I got 'em. Check them out when you stop by! You might like 'em.

The new Rebecca Baby & Kids book, hot of the presses, arrived today. It's SUPER CUTE! I have most of the yarns featured in the book.

I'm also restocked on sock needles (5" double points, sizes 2 and 3).

Let's see, what else found a home today: Broadway and Portrait by Artful Yarns.

We don't have enough shelf space for all the yarn! Need to make another IKEA run I'm afraid. Sigh.

Oh! I forgot to post the store's new phone number! 415-459-4600. If you want to stop by in the evening but can't get to the store by 6 pm, just call the store and I'll stick around. Until we determine the official hours of operation, the store hours will be rather 'flexible.'

Too sleepy to type more... thanks again for a great opening day!

Open For Business: Tuesday, October 25th, 10 am

2005-10-24T13:51:00.000-07:00

Marin Fiber Arts will be open for business starting tomorrow, Tuesday, October 25th from 10:00 am - 6:00 pm.

Directions To Store:

Take 101 to Central San Rafael Exit. If heading north, turn Left onto 4th Street. If heading south, turn Right onto Fourth Street.

We are in the big courtyard that contains Cold Stone Creamery, on Fourth Street between Lootens & A Streets in downtown San Rafael. There is plentiful metered street parking and public parking lots. We do not yet have a sign on the building, but there's a sign in the window. We are in the back of the courtyard - not completely visible from Fourth Street. Look for the water fountain. Please stop by and say 'Hi'.

Please bear in mind that we are still setting up; we aim to be finished by Sunday November 13th, which is the day of our Grand Opening.

Most (but not all) yarn is on display.

The following brands will be immediately available:

Nature's Palette
Goddess Yarns (almost all yarns in most colors)
Jo Sharp (all 'Silk Road' yarns in all colors)
Blue Sky Alpacas (all yarns in many colors)
Frog Tree Alpacas (bulky & fingering in assorted colors)
Lorna's Laces (Lion & Lamb, Shepherd Worsted, Shepherd Bulky, Shepherd Sock, & Helen's Lace in 8 colorways)
Rowan (Big Wool, Big Wool Tuft, Big Wool Fusion, Chunky Print, Biggy Print)
Adrienne Vittadini (Trina and Paloma in many colors)
Cascade (220, Sierra, Indulgence, Pima Tencel, etc., plus many novelties)
Bollicini
Dive

Yarns partially on the shelf:
Muench/GGH (Aspen, Davos, Goa, Samoa, Bali, Soft Kid, Nevada, Savanna, Amelie, Esprit, Tajmahal, Tessin, Touch Me)

Yarns in the house but not on the shelf yet:
Crystal Palace (Kid Merino, Kid Merino Print, Fizz, Squiggle)
Artful Yarns (Palace, Broadway)

Tools:
Straight and Circular Needles by Clover (bamboo), Brittany (birch), Susan Bates, & Bryspun. Sock needles. Yet to be shelved: Crochet Hooks & miscellaneous notions (stich holders, markers, scissors, etc.)

Still on the way:
Lana Grossa Self Patterning Sock Yarns

Books & patterns: not stickered yet. I have _all_ Fiber Trends patterns, plus Oat Couture, Knitting Pure & Simple, Mari, Penny Straker, Lorna's Laces, Blue Sky Alpacas, Goddess, and Nature's Palette. Pattern Books by Jo Sharp, Rowan (chunky yarns only), Vittadini, & Rebecca (GGH).

I have yet to place my book order. I will have a modest selection at first.

I am on Sabbatical until Tuesday

2005-10-22T18:47:00.000-07:00

By the time 4 pm rolled around on Friday, my left eyelid was fused shut. It wouldn't open. My speech was starting to slur. Walking became shuffling. Getting up from a sitting position required herculean effort.

I. Was. Tired.

Therefore I am officially on sabbatical until Tuesday. No yarn store. No work. All I'm gonna do is sit, eat, cook, watch the sunrise and sunset, maybe hike a little, maybe knit a little. Read. Hang out at cafes and bookstores. Watch some TV. Chill.

See you all on Tuesday!

Final Peek (Part III)

2005-10-22T18:41:00.000-07:00

In our travels around Bay Area stores, Barbara and I stumbled upon a humble little metal bowl that is brilliant. It has a simple, pure, yet beautiful shape. It has become our symbol - our mascot, if you will.

Enjoy.

A Peek at the Final Week, Part II

2005-10-22T18:33:00.000-07:00

Barbara demonstrates Knitting As Yoga

Serenity

Cash Wrap

The back wall, separating the sales floor from the back room, is made of paper. Designed a high-end design firm out of Vancouver, B.C., this marvel is a portable, foldable wall that's 6.5 feet high and up to 20ish feet long. Eventually it will be lit from behind, making it glow with a soft light that will fill the back of the store.

A Peek at the Final Week, Part I

2005-10-22T18:25:00.000-07:00

Cascade

More Cascade

OK, I have a lot of Cascade

Unpacking Jo Sharp

Lorna's Laces

We Did It

2005-10-22T18:05:00.000-07:00

Barbara and I achieved our goal of being ready to open by end of day Friday. We will be open for business starting this coming Tuesday, October 25th, at about 10:00 am. We are nowhere near finished setting up, but we are 'set up' enough to do business. Most of the yarn is on the shelf; most of the needles are on the shelf. Cash register is up and running. Floor is swept. Furniture is in place.

What is not yet ready: patterns (not yet priced). Books (no inventory yet). Miscellaneous notions (stitch markers, row counters, etc. - not yet priced). Crystal Palace yarns (kid merino, kid merino print, fizz, & squiggle - not yet priced). Lana Grossa self-patterning sock yarn (no inventory yet). All of this will fall into place during the next few weeks.

As far as hours go, we will be in a transitional phase during the next few weeks until the grand opening, meaning we will be open 10 am - 6 pm Tuesday through Saturday, closed Sunday and Monday. In other words, hours will be a bit limited. During this time we will continue setting up and refining our procedures. This is called the 'soft opening'. I'm sure there will be kinks and glitches the first week or two. Once we have our Grand Opening (Sunday, November 13th), we will move into our standard hours which have yet to be finalized. Most likely we will be closed Mondays.

A huge thank-you to all the painters (Meredith, Joy, Barbara K, Sue, Angela, Carol & her husband Jerry (hope I got your name correct!), and Kristine. Thank you to Gail for schlepping with the SUV and assembling furniture. Thanks to the knit night folks (Sue & Carter, Adrienne and Angela) for stickering yarn. And of course an whopping thank-you to Barbara B. for being my right hand and left leg.

Next post: wads of pictures from the past week.

We Passed Final Inspection

2005-10-20T22:15:00.000-07:00

yay yay yay yay yay yay yay yay yay yay yay yay yay yay yay yay yay yay yay yay yay yay yay yay yay yay yay yay yay yay yay yay yay yay yay yay yay yay yay yay yay yay yay yay

"We did not pass inspection..."

2005-10-19T20:09:00.001-07:00

Those are words I have been dreading. Those are words I heard today. I was at IKEA with Barbara picking up various things for the store. While eating lunch, I got The Call from the property manager. The sidewalk outside the store passed with flying colors. The Inspector, however, found something else wrong that he apparently did not notice before. The concrete floor _inside_ the door is too low compared to the door threshold. It does not pass ADA requirements. Fortunately the property manager was on the ball. She got someone out within a couple of hours to trowel in some cement to create a 'ramp' leading from the threshold down to the floor. The 'ramp' is about 3 feet in length. Looks pretty good (except I'm gonna have to stain it eventually). The Inspector is coming back tomorrow morning to hopefully give the green light.

Barbara and I finished hanging the slatwall and finished assembling the cash wrap furniture. I began installing the POS hardware (computer, cash drawer, recpt printer, etc). I hope to have everything working tomorrow. Need to download a driver for the recpt printer.

Barbara continued shelving yarn. Mmmmmmmmm it looks goood. Still got a ways to go.

Did I mention that Barbara is fantastic? Somehow the universe knew exactly what kind of employee/right arm/left leg person I needed and delivered her to me on a silver platter. Thank you!

Cascade 220

2005-10-18T21:13:00.000-07:00

The Wall of 220

The sidewalk is DONE!

2005-10-18T20:53:00.000-07:00

News Flash!

The sidewalk fixin' was completed today, a day early! Here is a view of the guys fixin' the sidewalk:

The final inspection happens tomorrow. Cross your fingers!

Almost all yarn is on the shelf - much of it still in plastic bags. I put out all the Lorna's Laces earlier this evening, while Barbara worked doggedly on making the Cascade yarns pretty. We got color happening! Pictures will be up shortly.

I decided to organize the store according to yarn manufacturer - that way I can display (for example) all the Blue Sky Alpacas yarn, patterns, samples, and swatches together in one area of the store. I currently have areas set aside for: GGH/Muench, Goddess, Blue Sky Alpacas, Lorna's Laces, Rowan, Cascade, Hand Jive, Vittadini, Crystal Palace, and Jo Sharp. The Cascade area is large and divided by type: basics, 'novelty' basics, and then pure novelties (eyelash, ribbons, etc). Cascade 220 gets a whole shelf by itself. Hopefully people will find it easy to shop. If not, we can always change things around.

At this point I hope to be open for business on Tuesday of next week (a week from today), with the grand opening celebration on November 13th. I will make the dates official tomorrow after the final inspection.

We still have a lot to do: finish assembling the furniture for the cash wrap area, put together the POS system, finish hanging the slatwall (to display needles & tools), and of course finish shelving & pricing yarn. Oh yah, then we have to price the patterns. Tomorrow we hope to pay Unicorn Books & Crafts a visit to select a small starting book inventory and pick up some Lana Grossa self-patterning sock yarn. We also have to make a quick trip to IKEA for a few more tables and a shelf.

Whew. Almost there.

Me with Yarn

2005-10-18T20:48:00.000-07:00

Here I am posing with some Bollicini yarn...

...and here I am again posing with Nature's Palette by Hand Jive Knits, the First Yarn order I ever received and appropriately, the first yarn we put on the shelf. Me be silly.

Weekly roundup

2005-10-14T22:57:00.000-07:00

So, what happened this week? Lots of stickering. Continued working on the computer system. Bought a Mac Mini the other day - the last missing piece of the POS (Point Of Sale) system. I still don't have the wireless network up and running, but so far so good. I had some trouble getting barcodes to print with the new computer, but got that worked out. Whew. At least the inventory system is up and running on the new machine.

Phone system and DSL is all fine and dandy.

We started putting yarn on the shelves today! I will upload pictures later this weekend. Very exciting times.

Last night was the first Knit Night at the store! Yay. Angela, Sue, and Adrienne arrived promptly and we drank much wine and ate much Poppycock. We discovered that the lighting needs some work. Certain colors turn wretched in the existing lighting - a gold sock turned pukey green. Eeek! No worries, I think I'll have the problem licked once I implement my low-budget lighting scheme. Gonna work on that this weekend. I'll be spending LOTS of time at IKEA!

Received my Crystal Palace shipment. Yarns included: Kid Merino, Kid Merino Print, Squiggle, Fizz, Fizz Stardust, and Musique.

I got a little frustrated with one of the yarn companies (who shall remain nameless): I was trying to 'receive' a shipment into my inventory system but found it almost impossible to do because all they enclosed with the yarn was a packing list which did not list prices. Argh! So far, only one company has it down right: Muench. Here is what they do right:

1. Offer a wide range of both basic yarns and novelty yarns.
2. Many of their yarns come in a vast array of colors.
3. Very few of their yarns are scratchy - most are extremely soft.
4. Offer a yarn line (GGH) with great pattern support (Rebecca Magazine).
5. Price list is clear and easy to understand.
6. They ship quickly and backorders are filled in a timely fashion.
7. UPS notifications are emailed immediately after a shipment goes out - you KNOW when something is coming and can track it.
8. Customer service is prompt and very helpful.

In other words, I have no complaints about Muench. After today's annoyances with the packing slip, I decided to make a phone call to release my frustrations. Barbara who was sitting _right there_ thought I was going to complain to the Nameles Company about the missing prices. Instead (and to her delight) I called Muench to thank them for doing everything right.

Much to my surprise owner Kirsten Muench answered the phone! We had a wonnnnderful talk about everything. She promised to loan me sample garments for the grand opening, posters, and maybe even door prizes. She also promised to visit me - after all, their offices are fifteen minutes away in Petaluma.

This week I also received my order of Knit For Her Cure kits, which are provided by Muench Yarns. I am _so_ exited. The kits contain yarn and patterns for scarves, hats and blankets. They are beautiful!! I hope to have a Knit For Her Cure charity event sometime in November to benefit gynecological cancer research. You can read about Knit For Her Cure here. I'll write more about the event later and my plans firm up.

Respite

2005-10-14T22:51:00.000-07:00

Here are two pictures Barbara took of me taking a lunch break the other day. Notice the new rug on the floor - gotta love Crate & Barrel.

I'm pictured working on a sock using two strands of Crystal Palace Kid Merino. The pattern is free on their website. Check it out: sock pattern

Here is a view from the back of the store. Lots of yarn waiting to be stickered and lots of empty shelves.

Depth of Space

2005-10-14T22:46:00.000-07:00

Here is a picture Barbara (my new employee) took at the beginning of the week after much of the furniture assembly was complete.

Barbara's comment:

"gives a sense of the depth of the enterprising young man and his space."

"On a very positive note, today was Yarn Moving Day."

2005-10-12T20:59:00.000-07:00

On a very positive note, today was Yarn Moving Day. All the little balls of yarn in my living room hopped into boxes, settling in for the short ride down the freeway to their new home. My dear friend Gail provided the use of her SUV for transportation purposes. I believe it took three trips to move almost all yarn to the store. A few small boxes remain. I stayed behind at the ranch while Gail shuttled boxes back and forth in the Isuzu Trooper. Barbara stayed at the store to watch over things and help Gail unload. The task of packing up yarn and carrying boxes down the flight of stairs to my carport was up to me, and it was an extremely exhausting and strenuous task. Some of those yarn boxes were quite heavy; near the end _all_ of them felt heavy. The sun was quite hot as well, so I really worked up a sweat. It took us about two hours to get everything done. After the final unloading, Gail and I had a yummy buffet lunch at a terrific Indian restaurant down the street from the store - Lotus of India.

Tomorrow is the first Knit Night at the store. Anyone and everyone who is available from 7-9 pm tomorrow night is welcome to stop by and get a sneak peak at what's unfolding. And, if you look a little idle, be careful cuz I'll give you stickers to slap on yarn. Heh.

Location: 1026 Court Street (next to Barney's Gourmet Burgers in the courtyard), San Rafael.

"Let us pray."

2005-10-12T19:33:00.000-07:00

Phone guy came out and connected the wires/installed phone jack, giving me access to the phone line I paid so dearly for. The technician was _amazed_ that I had to pay for the wiring/conduit - he'd never heard of requiring a tenant to pay for basic phone wiring.

Unfortunately he did not connect the fax line - both jacks are hooked up to the phone line. The fax line is also the DSL line. arrrrrgh. someone is coming out tomorrow to fix the problem.

I was all ready to officially announce opening day (and the grand opening party) when I find out today that there is another delay. Sigh. The tiles on the ground in front of my doorway are at too steep an angle to comply with the American Disabilities Act. For literally weeks now contractors have been visiting the tiles in front of my door. They look at them. They discuss them. They argue about them. And then they scratch their heads and go away. This has been happening once a day for the last week or so. Apparently it is not an easy fix.

Today I find out that a date has been set for the repair (um, I've heard that line before). Monday. Completion expected next Wednesday. Final building inspection scheduled for next Thursday. Which means the earliest I can open for business is next Friday. Ok. I am now super smart about these things. I am realistically expecting to open the following week. Let's hope for Monday, October 24th, shall we? Let us pray.

"Why am I surrounded by lameness?!?"

2005-10-10T19:53:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the delay in new posts. I've been SOOO tired with all that's going on I haven't had the mental energy to compose witty entries (cough).

A lot has happened since the last post. Stained the floor. Majority of fixtures/furniture have been purchased and assembled. Some of the yarn has been transferred to the store. Here are a bunch of pictures from recent events.

The Floor
Here is the stained concrete floor. The color is called 'Terra Cotta'. Did it myself - two coats. Not bad, eh? Here's another shot:

The Floor Again
Here's a really cool shot of all the yarn (um, about 800 pounds by now) in my living room. Well, it won't be there for much longer!

The Yarn
Here's a moody shot of Angela, one of my faithful customers/Knit Night attendees. Been with me since the very beginning. Doesn't she look Angelic with that light shining behind her? Get it - Angela is Angelic? Cough.

Angela
Finally, here's a badly lit shot of the gang at the very last Knight Night in my Living Room (last Thursday). That's Angela and Sue with me in between. Sue has the honor of being 1) My first customer 2) my first repeat customer and 3) my first customer paying with plastic.

The Gang

Barbara (my new employee) and I were busy all last week assembling IKEA furniture after I hired a guy off of craigslist.org to deliver the many shelves and tables from the IKEA store in Emeryville to the space in San Rafael. My good friend Gail helped out one day last week by donating the services of her SUV to get additional stuff from IKEA and by assembling furniture. The furniture assembly continued today.

I've known all along that I would have to pay to get the phone line(s) installed in the space... phone is always the tenant's responsibility (as opposed to electricity). The phone guy (from SBC) came on Friday to install the phone line. After some discussion with the property manager, he left without doing much of anything. Turns out that I have to hire someone (and foot the bill) to install conduit for the phone wiring that goes from the junction box to my space. SBC does not install conduit. Um, why didn't someone tell me this WEEKS ago?! Why tell me on the day the phone guy comes out? I've discussed the phone situation with the property manager many times and NEVER did she mention anything about conduit. ARGH!

Today I called an electrician who had availability this afternoon. He came out about an hour after I first called and quoted me for the job. I'm soooo naive, still. I'm secretly hoping it's under $500. It's just some stupid pipe that has to be screwed to the wall, right? No. It's a 4-6 hour job. $1464. Ouchhhhhhh. Sigh sigh sigh. But he can do it right away. Ok. Let's do it and get it done. I can't let this hinder my opening. So now it's done.

Only one thing, though. The phone guy from SBC said that he tagged the lines at the box so that the electrician could connect the wires, install the jack, and I'd be ready to go. No additional visit from SBC needed. The electrician, however, could not figure out which wires were mine. No tags to be found. Doh! Why am I surrounded by lameness?!? So tomorrow I have to call the phone guy to come back and do what he said he'd do last week. Yes, I'm sure there will be another bill to pay.

I sure hope I sell some yarn after I open. I sure am spending a lot of money right now.

I stained the floor.

2005-09-30T23:56:00.000-07:00

This evening I stained the floor.

I couldn't wait any longer. Too many delays. Too much angst. Enough is enough! So the floor isn't spotless like it was before the construction workers got inside. I didn't care any more! I needed to make progress! I got there at 6 pm... no chance of an HVAC repair person stomping on wet stain. It took me an hour to apply the first coat. Tomorrow morning I will apply a second coat and we shall see what happens. Too tired to write more... tomorrow I will have pictures and more details on How To Stain a Concrete Floor.

The Yarn Store Gets Painted a Color

2005-09-29T23:27:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday, September 25th, eight hardy souls and myself painted a yarn store.

Here is our story...

Once there was an empty retail Space in downtown San Rafael, CA. It was empty and lonely for several years after it was built. No one wanted to lease the Space and make it happy.

Then came Warren with a dream: to open a fabulous yarn store that everyone would want to visit. Warren met the Space and immediately a friendship was formed. "Space, I'll make you happy! You'll never be lonely - you'll always be filled with happy fiber people!" The Space was excited.

Many people came and went over a period of six weeks - electricians, construction workers, HVAC repairmen... they all worked hard to fix the Space so it could be occupied.

When all the construction people were done (well, mostly done), Warren arrived on a Sunday morning with eight friends, 5 gallons of tinted primer and five gallons of Benjamin Moore paint in the color of 'Clamshell' (note: this is not Beige).

First the Space had to be prepped - all the corners had to be taped. This is what the Space looked like when we arrived on Sunday morning (Warren had taped the night before):

First Meredith and Joy arrived and with Warren began cutting-in and priming the walls.

After a couple of hours it was time to apply the paint. Other friends started arriving, some of whom had NEVER painted a room before. On such person was Kristine:

Kristine did a very good job (as did everyone else).

After the painting was finished, it was decided that one coat as enough. Those who were left sat down to eat some delicious Pizza (the flavor was called 'Peace in the Middle East' - hummus, veggies, and feta cheese). Here are Kristine, Sue, and Angela (left to right) smiling with full tummies. Sue and Angela are confessed yarn junkies - can you see it in their eyes?

After five hours of hard work, the Space was painted. Doesn't it look nice?

Space was very happy, and so was Warren.

The end... for now. G'nite!

Blue Sticky Tape

2005-09-24T16:30:00.000-07:00

Spent the morning prepping a little for the big painting party on Sunday. Used a lot of blue painter's tape, going up and down the ladder, taping the ceiling where it meets the walls.

Apparently no one worked at all on Friday: the space was exactly as I left it on Thursday. Sprinkler head still drips, two electrical outlets missing. I am honestly amazed at how the construction industry works (or should I say leisurely works). Apparently deadlines are meaningless. Glad I don't work in that industry... I would be constantly firing everyone.

As luck would have it, the contractors left behind a ladder, so I will happily use that for painting tomorrow.

Looks like my painting team will consist of 6 people plus myself - some in the morning only, some in the afternoon, and at least one all day. I will have two teams of people, each assigned one of long walls. One person will cut in while the other(s) follows behind with the roller. The primer is tinted to the color of the paint, so I just *might* be able to get by with one coat primer + 1 coat paint, plus a little touch up here and there. We'll see.

Yes, on Thursday...

2005-09-22T23:25:00.000-07:00

After spending the better part of Thursday stressed about delays, I called up the property manager and basically invited myself over to pick up the keys. She said 'sure!'

So I have the keys. The contractors have a few loose ends to tie up: a sprinkler head leaks, the electricians need to finish wiring two electrical outlets in the ceiling, and they need to install the EXIT signs. I'm told someone will also clean up the floor, because it's filthy-dirty from all the construction. I need a clean floor in order to stain & seal. I've been assured all this work will be completed by end-of-day Friday.

It feels pretty incredible to finally be standing in my space, all by myself, with the keys. I can come and go as I please. Yay. Now the hard work begins...

No, not on Thursday...

2005-09-21T23:37:00.000-07:00

My goodness. This has been an extreme lesson in patience. I am not getting the keys on Thursday. The contractors still have work to do. I'm now supposed to get keys on Friday. I hope I hope! I have a painting party planned for Sunday! If anyone wants to join in to help paint this Sunday, September 25th, please email me... use the contact page on my website here.

I get the keys on Thursday...

2005-09-19T16:59:00.000-07:00

Thursday September 22 will be a big day... the day I get the keys to the space for the store! This is very exciting.

I'm busy trying to coordinate helping hands for cleaning the floor and painting the walls. If anyone would like to help out and has time this week or during the weekend, please email me. So far Sunday is shaping up to be the big work day.

"I am now bald..."

2005-09-17T20:18:00.000-07:00

I've been spending the last day or so poking and prodding my POS (Point of Sale) system to work correctly. Yesterday I finally rec'd a cable that was missing from the POS bundle I purchased about two months ago (and finally started putting together last week). It's a cable that connects the bar code scanner to the computer. It's a cool little gun-like device that goes 'bleep!' when it reads a bar code. Hooked it up yesterday and it works. No fuss required.

Unfortunately, I could not get the scanner to read all the price labels I've been printing for the past several weeks! I've gotten as far as labeling most of the knitting needles and a tiny bit of the yarn. I spent all evening yesterday trying different settings, reading and re-reading the scanner's manual, tweaking, poking, and prodding, to no avail. The scanner can read bar codes printed on other things (like books and grocery items) but not the bar codes I print. Grr. After much hair-pulling (I am now bald), I determined that this scanner cannot read very small bar codes. I'm using price stickers that are 1" x 1" square. In order to fit, the POS software shrinks the bar code down quite a bit, and this scanner doesn't like it. If, however, I keep my item numbers to no longer than 6 characters, the scanner works just fine. But wouldn't you know, most of my item numbers are in the form of XXX-NNN (ie. SEVEN characters long). Ugh. So now as I print price labels, I must change the item number by removing the hyphen. It's not a lot of work but it's still annoying.

Today I put that all behind me and have been happily printing price stickers and stickering GGH yarn. I've also been TESTING each batch of stickers to make sure the scanner can read them. It's not a huge loss if the scanner cannot read a sticker; the item number can be manually entered into the computer. Manual entry will be necessary for ringing up the batch of knitting needles already stickered; I am NOT restickering those needles!

Nature's Palette Part Two

2005-09-15T21:50:00.000-07:00

At tonight's Knit Night, both people bought some Nature's Palette fingering weight yarn for socks. Both Sue and Angela showed up - there would have been more if it weren't for a terrible, terrible rush hour commute due to some sort of fire on the Bay Bridge. Apparently the the fire snarled traffic all over the Bay area. We still had a great time talking about our favorite subjects - yarn, knitting, yarn stores, patterns, etc.

You can read more about Nature's Palette in my previous blog posts here and here.

Hand Jive Knits - Nature's Palette

2005-09-14T22:13:00.000-07:00

There is a great review of Nature's Palette yarn on knittersreview.com. This is a fingering-weight yarn dyed using all natural dyes; the process creates amazing shades of color. The yarn is ideal for socks, gloves & shawls, but you can certainly double & triple it up for more substantial projects. Read the thorough review here. I will be stocking this yarn in all colors - in fact the yarn is currently in my living room.

Oh, by the way, for those of you thinking about obtaining yarn during one of the upcoming Knit nights... I am now able to accept credit cards! Yay. One more task done!

OMG - Opening day is getting near!!!!

2005-09-11T22:41:00.000-07:00

On Friday I received word that work is expected to be done on the space by the third week of September. Tentative date for me to take possession is September 19th!

If this holds true, I may very well be able to open by the first week of October!

WAHOO!

I meet with the property manager on Wednesday (haven't met her yet) to get further details.

Meanwhile, I am making progress on the webstore. I'm hoping to go live within another week. I'm currently in the process of getting the credit card authorization functionality operational. Concurrent to that is visual tweaking (finalizing a color scheme, etc), finishing the photography, and getting all the product descriptions uploaded.

For the website launch, I plan on offering the following yarns: GGH, Lorna's Laces, Jo Sharp, and Hand Jive Knits (fingering weight naturally dyed sock yarn). Maybe knitting needles. I will gradually add yarn lines as they are photographed. Such a time-consuming process!

Next week will be a busy one. And don't forget, knit knight on Thursday!

Another Great Knit Knight...

2005-09-10T21:25:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the tardy post. Last Thursday's knit knight was another success. Adrienne (the newbie), Angela and Sue spent the evening fondling yarn and talkin about knitting stuff. I helped Adrienne pick out some yarn for a hat (pattern snagged from knitty.com) using white and dark green Davos (from GGH) and some Brittany birch needles. She needs to look 'period' when she knits cuz she works at the Renaissance fair. Adrienne also fell in love with GGH's Esprit in a dusty blue color. Esprit is really cool... so soft and loveable. I'm working on something with it _right_now_ for the store. Actually I have several projects I need to photograph and upload here but I'm too tired to do it now.

Angela is working on another fabulous felted bag, this time in the correct size rather than the really large size she brought in last week.

Sue brought in something I find frustrating. A baby hat (work in progress) worked up in Lorna's Laces' Angel (angora/lambswool). She downloaded a free pattern from the Jimmy Beans Wool website for a really cute baby hat that takes one ball of Angel (50 yds). Problem is she ran out of yarn a little more than halfway through. I just so happened to have a skein of the same yarn, so I tried. Same thing - ran out of yarn. What gives? Moral of the story: never trust free patterns!! Or any pattern for that matter. Harumph.

BTW, for those of you reading this who live in the area... _anyone_ is free to join in on the fun every Thursday night from 7-9 pm at my place for knit knight. Email me for details if interested.

Goa Sweater

2005-09-05T09:53:00.000-07:00

It's about time I showed some recently finished knitting. Here we have a neck-down seamless raglan pullover made with GGH's Goa (50% cotton/50% microfiber acrylic). This represents my first time knitting a neck-down sweater and my first time knitting with Goa.

I want to design a class that helps scarf knitters transition to something a bit more complicated, namely a sweater. This type of sweater might be a good vehicle because a) there are no seams to sew and b) you try on the sweater as you go, so you know it's going to fit!

My first attempt came out quite well. My only problem was one of boredom. I intended this to be a stockinette stitch sweater; since I was learning a new technique, I didn't want a complicated stitch pattern. By the time I got past the armholes and the body & sleeves were on their separate needles, the sweater became a no-brainer and I got bored with stockinette. That's when I introduced two different stitch patterns: a cable and a slip-stitch rib. This type of sweater is traditionally designed with cables & such on the yoke (ie. upper half) and the lower half in stockinette. Mine is upside down. Oh well, I still like it - and it fits great!

The yarn is wonderful. GGH's Goa has quite a bit of elasticity (not as much as pure wool but much more than pure cotton), is next-to-the-skin soft and knits up quickly (3.5 st/inch). This yarn actually comes in three weights - 3.5 st/inch (Goa), 4.5 st/inch (Samoa), 5.5 st/inch (Bali) - and in a huge range of colors. I initially ordered only Goa because I was unsure of this yarn, having never seen it before. After making an entire sweater with it, I'm sold on the yarn and will be ordering it in all other weights. In addition to adult applications, these yarns work great as baby yarns because - get this - they're machine washable!

Happy Dance. Happy Dance.

2005-09-02T17:13:00.000-07:00

This just in! The permit was issued yesterday, and permission was given this morning to 'close the walls' with sheetrock. Jumping with joy! Hopefully things can speed ahead after the long holiday weekend. Have a great Labor Day weekend everyone!

"I'll take three of those..."

2005-09-01T21:07:00.000-07:00

Tonight was the very first (and very successful) Marin Stitch N Bitch hosted by Marin Fiber Arts - in it's temporary location, my living room. It was fun!

Angela, Nicky, Sue, and Linda arrived (almost at the same time), 7 pm. Upon arrival, Angela stole the show with her fab felted bag - a Nicki Epstein pattern from last year's fall Vogue (if memory serves). It has really cute knitted roses.

Sue I had met a few weeks earlier when she stopped by my home to purchase some skeins of Lorna's Laces Shepherd Worsted in Bittersweet for a scarf. Sue brought her scarf partially completed - beautiful and so soft! I love this yarn: a super-soft 100% wool, hand-dyed, and superwash to boot. The price is actually extremely reasonable when you factor all that in - $17 per 100g/225 yard skein. That's equivalent to a 50g skein for $8.50. Not bad for a hand-dyed superwash supersoft wool if you ask me. I'm seriously considering stocking a range of solid colors as well.

I enjoyed getting to know Nicky and Linda as well... everyone was actually super nice and excited to be here. Linda showed off her really cool curly-q fringe for a scarf and Nicky had a fabulous slubby cotton yarn made by Blue Heron.

I had fun showing off all my yarn, especially the Goddess Yarns, which very few people have seen in person. Up until now most bay area knitters could only see Goddess Yarns on their website. I will be stocking the full range when I open - I have most of the range in my living room as I type. Goddess makes an extensive range of basic, hard-working yarns in a wonderful, sophisticated color palette: merino wool, cotton, wool/cotton, wool/alpaca, 100% baby alpaca, etc.

Lion & Lamb 'Irving Park'
Two people ended up buying this evening: Linda went home with a little bit of Lorna's Laces Lion & Lamb (50% wool/50% silk) in 'Irving park' to make knitty.com's clapotis, and three skeins of GGH's Savanna went home with Nicki. Savanna is a wonderful & unusual heathery wool & alpaca blend that looks a little odd in the ball but knits up beautifully. Fortunately I had a large swatch demonstrating how the yarn looks with various stitch patterns; this yarn needs to be knitted up to appreciate its beauty. I was VERY happy to sell some of this yarn (for a scarf). I'm anxious to knit myself something with it.

Everyone left by 9pm after much talk about yarn, how we all started knitting (Nicky just learned this past 4th of July!), and most importantly, we critiqued other local yarn shops. I truly want my shop to be a place where knitters _enjoy_ shopping; unfortunately, most local knit shops miss this point entirely. I learned quite a bit about how knitters (other than myself) feel about the existing Marin shops. I will do my best to learn from other's mistakes and by listening close to my clientele.

"I'm still hoping I can open before October 1st."

2005-08-30T23:50:00.000-07:00

Stopped by the space today. Not much has changed since the weekend. Hmm, wonder if they've run into a snag. Or maybe I'm just impatient. I'm still hoping I can open before October 1st.

Here's a new photo for the webstore. This is Lorna's Laces Lion & Lamb (50% wool, 50% silk) in 'Watercolor' (one of my favorite colorways).
This is pretty-darned accurate colorwise. Luscious.

A very good friend of mine from Northern Michigan (Teri) is a watercolor artist (and a doll artist). I just today received a packet of her brand-new endeavor: professionally printed note cards containing reproductions of her original watercolor paintings. I'm gonna sell them in my shop as impulse items near the cash register. Not knitting themed (they are paintings of flower gardens), they nonetheless are beeeeautiful. Gotta support up-and-coming artists (especially if they're friends). Sometime soon I'll try to scan in one of the cards to post here.

Bookkeeping Blues plus some bitchin stitchin...

2005-08-28T20:19:00.000-07:00

I thought I had my inventory system under control. I've been using a piece of software called ShopKeeper, which does Point of Sale and Inventory Management. For the past several months I've been dutifully typing in every inventory item I've bought. Last week I realized that I had been doing part of it all wrong. Since then I've been slaving away at the computer fixing the problems. Luckily I don't have to re-type everything. I just need to add the missing pieces: creating purchase orders and converting them into vendor invoices. This process actually updates the quantities and prices correctly so that things show up on hand, on order, or back ordered correctly. Phew!

Tomorrow morning I'm meeting with a bookkeeper who is also a knitter. We're going to go over my books to make sure everything is in order before the doors of the store open.

On a brighter note, I've successfully connected with a sizeable group of active knitters up here in the North Bay. They have a yahoo discussion group and are organized into subgroups: one that meets in Napa and one in Santa Rosa. The Marin subgroup currently does not have a meeting place... well, they will once my store opens! As a prelude/preview, I've invited everyone over to my home this coming Thursday at 7 pm for a special Stitch'N Bitch session. I'm looking forward to meeting people who will hopefully become my future clientele; we'll be surrounded by boxes and piles of yarn... what fun!