Don't Be Afraid!

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

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 :-)

New for your knitting pleasure

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

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!

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

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!