We’re continually amazed at the incredible UY team of staffers. Both stores are bursting with inspiring projects created by these clever crafters.
Last week we were blown away by Valerie’s latest project. (Valerie is a supremely talented knitter, crocheter and quilter who cheerfully welcomes fellow crafters to our Edgemont store two days a week.) She recently entered an international quilting design contest sponsored by Linda Renshall Design Matters. Each entrant received two fat quarters of hand-dyed fabric, two skeins of hand-dyed thread and two reels of coordinating rayon machine thread. Then it was time to get creative! Look what Valerie produced:
This beautiful bag is even more stunning in person.
The competition was incredibly tough. Linda Renshaw writes: “The task of selecting our favourite entry was near impossible with our top choice changing several times. We spent a long time carefully looking at each entry to whittle it down to the top few. Picking just one proved too much and so we have also awarded two runners-up prizes.” And one of the runners-up prizes was awarded to Valerie! You can peruse all of the top entries right here. Congrats Valerie, it’s nice to see you receive formal recognition of your remarkable talent.
Be sure to take advantage of the expertise and creativity of our talented staff when you drop by one of our stores. While writing this post, we received the following amusing and well-timed email from Donna, reporting on her happy experiences in our Edgemont store:
“”Every time I am in the store Jessica is there and she is incredibly helpful. I am so impressed with her ability to inform, educate, enthuse and undo my mistakes with my knitting. I am a brand new knitter (I have taken the first two beginner classes with Sandra (another star!) and I know pretty much nothing about knitting.
Without a cheerleader such as Jessica, I would have thrown down the wool I had bought, burned the pattern and just forgot the whole knitting thing entirely. Instead, Jessica has offered help and has been so enthusiastic about the lovely wool and patterns in your store that I have spent enough money (2 new books, enough wool for 4 new projects and scads of supplies) to seriously worry my husband. Although, he went to the store and got me a gift certificate which was sold by Jessica! I think he is fishing for an Aran sweater.
Sandra is my second lifeline. I was so confused a few weeks ago and incredibly annoyed with my husband and son for interrupting me (a particularly brutal Star Wars fight between Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker) during a knitted lace sequence that if it was not for Sandra’s help, I would have given up! She was so supportive and easy to approach and again I left the lesson enthusiastic about knitting! Even with the frustration of learning something new and very outside of my abilities, she has been very informative and is constantly pushing the whole group to try harder and more complex things. When the techniques work, the euphoria is visible on each new knitters face!
The other lady who works there is also lovely (I cannot remember her name) and has dropped a few skeins to help me with my knitting questions as well!
All and all a great team!”
Why thanks Donna, we’re happy to hear you’re enjoying Urban Yarns and most of all that you’re so enthusiastic about your new craft! Be sure to send us photos of your finished projects, we’d love to see what you’ve been knitting…
