We’re loving the sunshine! The warm weather is even more welcome than usual after the long rainy winter we endured this year. It’s very hard to sit inside at the computer while that glorious sun shines. So blog posts may be sporadic as long as the sun stays around…

Anina had some lazy summer days in July at her family cottage in Quebec, knitting natch:

She knit a great little boy’s sweater with Sirdar Denim Chunky. Here’s her nephew modelling:

We’ve always liked this design; it’s not always easy to find a good boys sweater pattern. This one was recently discontinued so we’ll happily photocopy our store copy for you without charge.

Anina also knit a great hoodie for her son, Luc, with the wonderful Rowan Plaid yarn:

This is a free online pattern from Lion Brand yarn, #10520. You can see more of Anina’s completed projects on Ravelry. She’s “aahknit”.

Rowan Plaid is a great blend of wool, alpaca and acrylic with many fantastic colour combos. It’s a discontinued yarn that’s currently on sale at our stores for only $7.79. These are big 100g, 100 metre balls. Here’s a close-up:

Love it.

And better late than never, our special this week is Rowan Kidsilk Spray at 30% off. This one’s a sumptuous blend of 70% kid mohair and 30% silk. The beautiful variegated shades give an added depth to this lustrous yarn. It’s a close relative of Kidsilk Night that’s also on sale at 30% off. We’re almost sold out of KSN and can’t get more so if you want some, don’t delay.

Now back to the sun until further notice…

Meet local knitting designer, Cheryl Niamath:

She’s a fantastic designer whose first pattern, Fetching, was published in Summer Knitty 06. We have to admit, we were a bit surprised to see Cheryl in Knitty knowing that she’d knit her first scarf just two years earlier (bright green Garnstudios Eskimo, fyi). That’s right, other than a few early attempts at knitting with her granny, this girl hadn’t touched a set of needles before Summer, 04.

And now there are almost 7,000 ravelers who have posted Fetching photos. Unbelievable.

Cheryl’s become a prolific creative force and we’re loving her designs. Anina and Becky knit these adorable Sprout hats:

Becky knit the pale blue hat with Diamond Luxury Fine Merino Aran. Anina used Debbie Bliss Rialto Aran. A fast and fun project.

Cheryl’s excited about her new Fall designs. Her beautiful skirt pattern, ‘Inari’ is in Fall Knitscene. And her gorgeous wrap design, ‘False Modesty’ was published in the first issue of Knotions, another fabulous new e-zine. She’s even cracked Winter Interweave Knits with a fantastic mitten design. Very cool.

Kudos Cheryl! Your designs are incredibly inspiring. Keep up the excellent work.

She’s been knitting up a storm the last few weeks and photos have been promised. I’ve seen one item so far, it’s the fabulous Ski Beanie from Son of Stitch and Bitch. This is a great hat for men or women, my darling Tween has already asked for one. I’m predicting this will be one of our ‘must-knit’ items for Fall.

In addition to promising photos, Anina has promised martinis and a full show of her FO’s tonight. Can’t wait!

A gorgeous new line of yarn with a beautiful book of designs:

And we love the dog…

We have four scrumptious new Aslan Trends yarns, Del Sur, Ecolana, Guanaco and Invernal. Knock yourself out!

This week it’s Rowan Scottish Tweed 4 ply at 30% off the regular price. That’s only $4.87 for a beautiful 100% wool tweed. We have many gorgeous colours of this yarn on the shelves in both stores.

And we have some special little tidbits for Edgemont, there are a couple of colours of Rowan 4 ply soft on sale at 25% off. And we’ve added several sizes of addi turbo needles to the sale bin at 40% off. Sadly we can’t keep every single size in stock, we have to say good-bye to some of them.

Check out all of our yarn specials right here. Then pick up a great new project to knit at the beach. Isn’t this sunshine fabulous?

It’s always an exciting week when the new Fall Rowan books and yarn arrive. We’ll never forget our first Fall season. The Rowan lovers were excitedly hovering as we unpacked the new boxes. And they soon walked out with stacks of full bags in their arms. You know who you are…

Well it’s that time of year again. This week we received four new Rowan books, three new Rowan yarns for Fall and three brand-spanking new books from the Rowan Classic line.

There’s a new book to go with the Cocoon yarn that we gushed about earlier this week. It has sixteen fabulous designs by Marie Wallin and Sarah Hatton.

There’s also The Colourscape Chunky Collection with twelve beautiful designs by Sarah Hatton. This book showcases the stunning new Colourscape Chunky yarn with colours by Kaffe Fasset.

The British Sheep Breeds Collection features twelve easy to wear designs for the new Purelife British Sheepbreeds yarn.

And The Organic Wool Collection has twelve wonderful designs for, you guessed it, the new Purelife Organic Wool.

The three RYC books are Book 27 Winter Gifts, Book 28 Vintage and Book 29 Alpine. Gorgeous designs and photography as usual.

Be sure to phone or drop by this weekend if there’s anything you can’t live without. Some of it may not last long…

And if you have a chance, take a look at the new online knitting zine, the Twist Collective, with some fantastic designs. The first issue was published today. This one’s going on my favourites list.

Hope you have a wonderful weekend!!!

PS If you’re wondering about our holiday weekend hours, we’ll be open as usual on Saturday and Sunday in both stores. We’ll also be open in Point Grey on Monday from noon – 5 p.m. but we’ll be closed in Edgemont that day.

We have the beautiful new Twisted Stick pewter brooches from Perl Grey:

They come with one wooden stick – choose your favourite colour.

Hold a shawl together or embellish a sweater with a twist!

Our special yarn this week is Sirdar Denim Sport Aran at 30% off. A sister of the Denim Tweed DK that was our special last week. These are big 100g balls with 237m of machine washable yarn that will knit to an 18st gauge on 5mm needles.

There are also a few skeins of Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock yarn on sale at 25% off. We’re making room for a big new batch of LLSS that will arrive very soon.

And we’ve culled our leaflets again. There are some great designs by Alchemy, Blue Sky, Fiber Trends, Fiddlesticks, Noni, Pick Up Sticks, Sirdar and more on sale at 50% off.

Have a look at all of our current specials right here. There are loads of fantastic yarns at incredible prices.

Check out the beautiful new colours of Rowan Cocoon:

Have you touched this yarn? It’s one of the softest wools ever – 80% merino, 20% kid mohair. And the price has dropped this season to $16.95 for a 100g ball.

There are big boxes full of new stuff arriving every week, this is an exciting time of year! Stay tuned…

Look what arrived today…

It’s a special issue to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Rowan yarns.

There are three stories, Nostalgia, Renaissance and Elegance. Each has beautiful designs shown in stunning photographs.

A great way to kick off your Fall knitting…