Sock Summit Celebration

A brief summary....

We arrived in Portland on Wednesday. After a nice lunch, we found our booth with our pallets waiting for us. We quickly got to work and went from this empty white cube with many yarn-filled boxes

to this


(Sorry for the quality of the photos. We were a little weary from our travels)

On Thursday, the marketplace was open for 2 hours for class participants only. It was a mad house. People were literally running to specific booths as witnessed by Mary Lou and Maura. Our booth was packed during this time as well thanks to a shout out from Meg Swanson. Arch-Shaped Stockings were the pattern darling of the weekend.

The 'blankie' received much attention during the show and many photo ops were had. Thank you again Shelly Kang. Your blankie made us a must see destination in the marketplace.


One of our favorite (and frequent) customers, Aunt Cricket,


stopped by to get a skein of Poppi's Worsted. Specifically the Ivan color as suggested by her niece Peggy, a Macalester student. Every fiber enthusiast needs an aunt like Cricket. Each month she sends Peggy a skein a yarn, a knitting gadget and a little something else. If you would like us to do something similar to the knitting niece or nephew in your life give us a call.

We had wonderful, helpful, neigbors all around us including Yarn Workshop, The Knitting Bee, Knit-a-Bit and Dye Dreams. The rest is somewhat of a blur but we did have a nice chat with Susanna Hansson as I noticed her staring at me from across the hall. I quickly realized that she was not staring at me but the vintage, real-deal Bohus I was wearing which is a wonderful story in and of itself and will be shared later.

All in all, the SS was very exciting (and exhausting) and we were so glad we could be a part of it. It was exhilarating to be among so much talent and enthusiasm all in the name of knitting. We salute Stephanie Pearl-McPhee and Tina Newton, the creators of this history making event. They organized this event on their own from start to finish and made it easy and seamless for all involved.

Just as we brought a little Minnesota to the Sock Summit, we are now bringing a little Sock Summit back to Minnesota. Join us tonight for a Meet and Greet with Chrissy Gardiner, one of Portland's sweethearts and author of Toe Up! There are just two spots available in Chrissy's Textured Color work class tomorrow morning. Chrissy has received rave reviews all over Ravelry for this class and her outstanding teaching skills. Call us today, 651-222-5793, if you want one of the two spots.



Also, we will be unveiling a selection of treasures we brought back including one of a kind sock yarn, hand-dyed yarn and a line of patterns from Anne Hanson of Knitspot.



These yarns and patterns will be available for purchase starting tonight during Knit Night and our Chrissy event. Due to limited quantities, don't wait too long to stop by.

The Promise Blanket 2009

The Promise Blanket is a charitable project that began last year. You may remember that together we created and auctioned off a blanket made of sock yarn squares. This year the project will have a few changes.

We will still be asking for the help of all of you to knit (or crochet) some squares - this year in worsted or DK weight. Instead of making one large blanket, we hope to make many smaller blankets to donate to KidsCan of Minnesota.

KidsCan of Minnesota is an organization created by families for families who have been touched by childhood cancer. KidsCan recognizes the unique needs of the entire family as they journey through and beyond pediatric cancer. Because of this they put together resource totes for these families. Please feel free to check out their website at www.kidscanmn.org.

How can you help? We would appreciate any of the following:

* A 7 inch square made of machine washable worsted or DK weight yarn.
* Donate any of your left over machine washable worsted or DK weight yarn to The Yarnery. We will be making that stash available to anyone who would like to knit squares for this project.
* Check out the KidsCan website at kidscanmn.org for a list of other items that can be donated for the resource totes and add one or two of those items with your square.
* Mention our project on your website, blog, store, class, etc.
* Drop off or mail your completed square to The Yarnery between August 10 and september 14, 2009.
* Join us at The Yarnery Sunday, September 20, 2009 from 6:30-8:00pm for an "old-fashioned" sewing bee to seam the blanket together.

Questions about the Promise Blanket can be emailed to Sarah at incaknits5@gmail.com
Thank you for your support and good will.

Sock Summit

We're here! We are at the Sock Summit in Portland, OR. and look who we brought with us


Many thanks to Marie Mayhew for our adorable Sock Summit mascots and Jean Christensen for accessorizing the bunny with not one but two pair of socks.

As promised, we have also brought Shelly Kang's mitered square sock yarn blanket. I can't even tell you how many oohs, aahs and looks of amazement we have witnessed as people come to view THE 'blankie'. Thanks Shelly for allowing us the opportunity to showcase your piece of art.

While we are away, I leave you with a few new fall books from Classic Elite which arrived today.

Also from Classic Elite is a new booklet from Jared Flood of the Brooklyn Tweed blog

And a new magazine from Veronik Avery featuring her new line of yarn St Denis Nordique.

Trust me folks, these are all worth the trip in.

New from Berroco

On our shelves, are two new yarns introduced by Berroco this season; Vintage Wool and Blackstone Tweed.

Vintage Wool is a worsted weight made of 50% acrylic, 40% wool and 10% nylon.


With the look of Cascade 220, the washability of Encore and knitting more like wool than acrylic, it's no wonder why it is quickly becoming one of our favorites in this arena. But if you want another opinion, read Clara Parkes recent review here.

We started by only stocking 18 of the 32 colors available.


But as we claim this yarn a keeper, you can look for additional colors to hit our shelves in the future.

Blackstone Tweed, another worsted weight yarn, has all the elements for an enjoyable knitting experience. Great fiber content of wool, mohair and angora. Quick knitting worsted weight.


Tweed. Great color choices.

Finally, a great pattern booklet to support it.



Of course, when talking about Berroco we can't fail to mention the new books by Norah Gaughan. One for the gals
and for the guys.