We have some great bargains in both stores this week. Here’s our sale list. There’s an excellent selection of yarn, books and magazines at 40 – 60% off the regular price.

A great time to pick up a new project to knit or crochet on cold winter days…

We also unpacked the latest Debbie Bliss books, Essential Baby and Essential Knits for Kids. Cute as ever….

From a few of the Urban Yarns gals:

Check out the Elf Disco Dance right here. Too funny….

Anina’s caught the felting bug. Look at the fantastic projects she’s recently completed:

The Woolly Gnome and Mushrooms:

A Marie Mayhew design. We have the pattern and a little kit with all the finishing tidbits.

And the cutest little family of snowbabies:

Another Marie Mayhew design.

Then she moved on from little creatures to little purses:

This one’s the Pick Up Sticks Coin Purse kit. With enough yarn for three little purses. Still time to grab one and knit three little stocking stuffers…

Drop by our Point Grey store and fondle the beautiful garments we received this week from Blue Sky Alpacas. The best of the bunch just might be the Girls Smocked Coat:

So cute and cozy, wish I had a little girl to knit for. This would be a very quick knit with the BSA Bulky on 10mm needles. Sized for girls from 18 months to 7 years of age.

Check out the lovely Rectangle Shawl:

It’s even nicer up close and personal, BSA Alpaca Silk gives this one a lovely drape and sheen. No trick to knitting this, if you’ve learned to knit and purl you can tackle this project.

When you drop by, be sure to say hello to Baby Bobbi Bear. Bobbi’s cute and cuddly and knit with Organic Cotton. He’d be the perfect gift for any young child on your list.

We have lots more BSA samples, like the Skinny Cardigan, the Kid’s Pullover and the Fingerless Gloves. We adore the BSA yarn, it’s one of our favourite lines. We have all the yarns and most of the patterns.

We also have some of the Blue Sky accessories that would make perfect stocking stuffers like the Pretty Cheep Project Bags, the 5 inch dp’s in tins and the Knitters Little Helper hand balm.

This week it’s Diamond 100% Camel at 40% off, only $5.37 per ball. This is a wonderful yarn with a whopping 230 metres per 50g ball. It’s a 28st gauge on 3mm needles and machine washable. There are four lovely neutral shades including ecru, two shades of taupe and milk chocolate. Perfect for many different projects…

Please take note of this schedule change if you live on the North Shore – we’ll be opening again on Mondays in Edgemont, starting December 29. Now you can visit us every day of the week!

And you should also take note of a special event we’ve scheduled for Thursday, January 22, in Point Grey. We’ll be hosting Kate Jacobs, author of the Friday Night Knitting Club and the recently published sequel, Knit Two:

Knit Two continues the tale of friendship and community centred around the fictional Walker and Daughter Yarn Shop in Manhattan. Sadly we don’t yet have the book in our stores but it will be here very soon.

There’s no charge for this event but space is limited. To reserve a spot, please send an email or telephone us at 604-228-1122. Should be a fun evening, hope you can join us!

Issue Twenty-Six, Winter 2008. Check it out right here.

I was amazed to see twenty-three names on our new staff list. Unbelievable! Almost everyone showed up for our staff Christmas party and we all had a wonderful time.

Anina took some great photos. From one end of the table:

To the other:

Kathleen kept the margheritas flowing:

Our computer guy dropped by and joined the Secret Santa game:

His present was the best, good thing we had a two steal limit or it would have been passed around all night. That’s Nancy (far left) who’s been helping out in Point Grey on Sundays. An avid knitter and famous author, quite the combo.

It was nice to see some of our talented new staff having a giggle together:

Kalin (far right) is one of four members of a very cool craft collective, Bare Maked. Alexa (2nd right) and Venus (2nd left) are master craftsters with their own blogs. Astor (far left) isn’t new but she’s definitely talented. If you need help with your knitting, Astor’s happy to help at Knitting Q & A most Sunday mornings.

Last but not least is Ellen (center) who definitely looks her best in the BSA Kitty Hat:

And talk about talented, Jessica keeps our Edgemont store hopping by day then creates beautiful art at night…

Valerie’s an excellent knitter and all-round interesting gal who works in Edgemont a couple of days a week:

Ask about her bees sometime. Yes, bees. If you’re really nice to her you might receive some delicious home-made honey.

Christa was on a tight deadline with a pair of socks:

Hope you finished them in time…

And check out these gorgeous gals:

We’re super fortunate to have such a talented, fun, inspirational and energetic bunch of people working with us every day. Thanks to all of you for helping to make Urban Yarns such a special place!

We have some luxurious Handmaiden hat kits just waiting to be knit up for holiday gifts. This one arrived yesterday:

A classic Cashmere Beret, ooh la la. This is 8 ply cashmere, knit with 5mm needles. It’s available only in black and will arrive in Edgemont tomorrow.

We also have the Devin’s Toque kit:

A great unisex toque, knit with 4 ply cashmere on 3.5mm needles. Anina and I have both knit many of these, it’s a perfect present for almost anyone.

And here’s a third option, the Cashmere Cloche:

This one has a simple repeat pattern for added knitting interest. It’s also 4 ply cashmere and knit on 3.5mm needles.

Three luxurious gift ideas and still time to knit one (or more?) before Christmas…

We’ve added a couple of new lessons to our Point Grey schedule.

Tomorrow night, Wednesday December 10, Alexa Ludeman will teach you how to knit a toque from 6:30 – 9:30 p.m. Hats are always very popular gifts, they’re quick to knit and pretty much everyone needs one.

I’m on a hat knitting binge right now, I’ve just started my ninth! I’m using Nick’s hat pattern:

With the addictive Mirasol Sulka yarn. It’s silky soft with a beautiful sheen and the colours are awesome.

If you’ve always wanted to knit someone a pair of socks for Christmas, it’s not too late. Jackie Blackmore will run a Sock Boot Camp on Wednesday, December 17 from 6:30 – 9:30 p.m. You’ll learn everything you need to know about knitting socks, then you’ll have a week to knit them. Easy peasy.

We’ve just finalized our new Winter Class Schedule. Drop by to pick up a schedule or check for updates on our website in a few days.

And our special yarn this week is Filatura di Crosa Love at 40% off, only $5.98 per ball. It’s a soft, fluffy yarn with wool and mohair in the mix.

We’ve also dropped the price on several current specials. Rowan Kidsilk Spray, Diamond Luxury Alpaca Cashmere and Sirdar Denim Tweed DK and Sport Aran have dropped to 40% off. RYC Cashcotton DK and SWTC Amaizing are now 50% off.

And we’ve culled our bookshelves to make room for all the new books that have been arriving lately. This morning we added more than twenty titles to our sale section at 40% off. It’s a great time to add to your home library….