We are stuffed to the rafters with our new Fleece Artist and Handmaiden shipments! One of our most popular kits has been re-stocked in some beautiful colours. The Devin’s Toque is a great gift to give knit up into the hat, or just given as a skein with some circular needles. This is the warmest hat you’ll wear made from 100% cashmere. Here are a few of the colour choices:

For another soft and cuddly yarn, try out the Peter Rabbit. Check out Kalin’s crocheted scarf that she made from this pattern. It just shows how different a pattern can look in different types of yarns.

The Bias Shawls always seem to be the first to go when we receive the boxes. This time we received them in blackberry, paris, caicos, periwinkle, hemlock, and cedar.

We also re-stocked our collection of Lace Silk, Casbah sock, Mini Maiden, Swiss Mountain Silk, 2 Ply Cashmere, Lady Godiva, Olann, Big Merino, and many other yarns and kits.

The Harvest Jacket kit makes a beautiful, warm jacket, made from nine gorgeous skeins of big merino. We brought in five lovely colours to chose from; earth, twilight, morgana, caicos, and red fox. No photo’s as of yet, so come in and take a look!

Jan’s favourite is the Northern Nights Blanket Kit. She knit the one below which Jessica is nicely wrapped up in… what a lovely photo! She says that her two daughters fight over this favourite blanket all the time! We’ve re-stocked these blankets in labrador, blackberry, ireland, boreal, mahogany, hemlock, and burgundy.

We know you’ll love all the products that we’ve brought in from Fleece Artist and Handmaiden… we certainly do!

For this week’s special we’re putting the all of our Sirdar Denim permanently on sale at 50% off! This includes Denim Tweed Dk, Denim Sport Aran, Denim Chunky, and Denim Ultra.

Another Month gone by, another Urban Yarns draw! Congratulations to Shirley in Point Grey, and Patrice in Edgemont who both won a $50 Urban Yarns Gift Certificate. Feel free to pick them up anytime!

From Interweave Knits Accessories, Kalin made these cute mittens with only 1 ball of Debbie Bliss Donegal Luxury Tweed. We all love one skein projects, so why not try out your first pair of mittens with this great pattern.

With the Grand Plan Mitten Chart on page 116, you can chose what weight of yarn , and which size of mitten you would like to make. Kalin used the Hiya Hiya 9″ circulars in a 4mm for her mittens and the chart for a 5 stitch gauge.

You can basically make these mitts out of any yarn you can think of. Kalin said she has also used Elsebeth Lavold’s Angora, although she did advise that mitts in that yarn are probably best for more colder climates than ours at the moment!

We have this featured yarn on sale at the moment for a great deal at 25% off! Hurry up and get it now, during our “Go Canada” sale!

All around Vancouver there is excitement in the air (and a little annoyance at the traffic) surrounding the olympics. I love the idea that nations will be coming together to compete in the world of sport and I am happy that Vancouver will be showcased to the world. I love this city. Of course, one of the first things I considered was what knitwear I would be sporting around town during this busy and exciting time.

All of the posters and flags around town have the pretty blues and greens that are the colours of the games. I knit up this fair isle headband with the games in mind. It has the blues and greens, snowflakes, maple leaves, and some pretty swirls (no connection, I just like them). It’s a small project so it knit’s up quick, you can be wearing one to the opening ceremonies! To knit up this little number you will need:

1 ball (less than 100 yards) of washable wool in DK weight (I used Debbie Bliss Rialto DK)

1 Gourmet Sock 2010 Mini Ball (sock yarn is held doubled)

1 Canadian 2010 Headband pattern

3.25mm 16″ circular needles

The pattern and yarn will be available in a kit and should arrive in North Vancouver this week.

We also recently received some of Sweetgeorgia’s new colourway for the games and I just had to knit some up. A good friend of mine just had a beautiful baby boy and I decided I would knit up the 5 Hour Baby Boy Sweater. This sweater is knit from the top down which I really like.

There are some great advantages to knitting a sweater from the top down: you can try them on as you go (or try them on someone else as the case may be) so you can make sure everything is fitting  the way you want it. You can also maximize your yarn usage by knitting the sleeves shortly after they have been separated out (this will make total sense once you have tried a top down sweater I promise). This means that once you have finished the sleeves you can just keep going on the body until it measures the length you want or until you run out of yarn. The only disadvantage to top down I can see is that they can sometimes lack structure. No seams to keep everything in.

For the 5 Hour Baby Boy Sweater I knew I would be cutting it close for yarn with just one skein so I made sure to knit the sleeves ASAP. Instead of knitting the sleeves flat and sewing them up, I decided to knit them in the round.  I only needed one skein of the Sweetgeorgia worsted weight for this sweater (although I really used every last drop)! To knit one of your own you will need:

1 skein Sweetgeorgia Superwash Worsted (200 yards)

6mm needles, straight or circular (double points too if you are knitting the sleeves in the round)

5 Hour Baby Boy Sweater Pattern

This pattern turned out quite charming in the olympic colourway but of course you could knit it up in any of the worsted weight, I might knit up a few more!

Fresh out of the box today: Sweet Georgia’s Tough Love Sock. Absolutely gorgeous, vibrant colours… you won’t be able to resist! This yarn is made from superwash wool mixed with Nylon, which is great for socks since it’s machine washable.

We also received more colours in Superwash Worsted, and Cashsilk Lace (super yummy yarn!). Tough Love sock is available now in Point Grey and will arrive in Edgemont next week.

Don’t forget that our “Go Canada” sale will run through until Sunday January 31st, so drop by one of our stores to find some amazing deals!

In celebration of the Olympics and Canada’s athletes, we will be holding a sale starting tomorrow, January 22nd at 10am. Come by to find amazing deals on lines such as Rowan, RYC, Debbie Bliss, Sirdar, Sublime, Noro, Mission Falls, Namaste, and Fleece Artist! Our “Go Canada” Sale will end on January 31st, so be sure to get in soon and get the best deals before they go!

We will be open regular hours throughout the sale, but on the Friday’s when we are open until 9pm, there will be no Stitch and Bitch. Stitch and Bitch will start again on February 5th. Our winder will not be available for use during the sale, but please feel free to come by and wind your yarn after the sale.

Urban Yarns will not close during the Olympics, and neither of our locations will be affected with traffic or road closures. All local transit buses will be running to both stores.

The Sweet Georgia limited edition colour-way is now in! Show your 2010 Olympic spirit by knitting in Tough Love Sock, Cashsilk Lace, Superwash Worsted, and Superwash Sport.

We’re expecting another big order from Felicia very soon, so check back for updates! This yarn is available now in Point Grey and will arrive in Edgemont on Thursday.

Be sure to check out Thursday’s blog post… you won’t want to miss it!

Well it looks like gray is the “in” colour this year. Finally… a colour most of us can wear! And if you’re into bright colours, remember that you can always add bursts of colour in your accessories!

Take a look on page 68, to find a fabulous tutorial on short-row shaping. If you’ve never done short-row shaping, give it a try! It creates the most gorgeous curves,  ruffles, and movement  in your garments.

Vogue Knitting International: Winter 2009/10 is available at both of our stores!

We’re happy to say that we’ve re-stocked our Lorna’s Laces! Seven beautifully dyed colour-ways of Shepherd Sock to chose from:

Lorna’s Laces also sent us some great Pearl Kits. With one of these kits, you have the option to make the Ouroboros Cowl, or the Lyerka Scarf. Each kit includes 1 skein of Pearl, made from silk and bamboo, plus both patterns.