Summer Lull (and the end thereof)
Sometimes at this point in the year, when customers come in to find they are the only ones in the store, (besides me and the boys) they ask in a hushed and concerned voice “How is your business?” or “Is the economy hurting you?” The concern is real – there are many yarn stores that have closed over the past year and I hear of more every month, not just in this area but across the country. But the market shakeout started well before the economy crashed and Yarn Gallery is doing fine. It’s been a tricky year, but not because our business has declined – it just wasn’t able to grow as much as I had planned for – a case of woman proposes and Wall Street disposes. Anyway, this summer has been typical – knitting and crocheting and yarn buying all slow down when we all get busy with yardwork, vacations, visitors and other summer activities… and I look forward to it every year! It gives me time to play in the store and just let things roll along for awhile. I often hit a knitting lull at this time of year, just like many of you do. The spring models are done and the fall yarns are yet to arrive and I can just piddle around with this or that. La de dah…
And then! Along about now, things get exciting. A huge box of something gorgeous comes in and it simply propels one into knitting mode again. This past week, Fleece Artist and Handmaiden came in – we got 2 new yarns: Margaree, a mohair, wool & silk blend which I had to immediately take home. There are 400+ yards on a skein, and one worked up beautifully into our Simple Lace Stole. I see it as a warm and vibrant layer over a dark winter coat – it’s lacy enough to scrunch up like a scarf around your neck as well, and works up quickly on a 10.5 needle.
The other new yarn is called River, a blend of alpaca, wool and silk. I picked more subdued colors for this yarn, which would be wonderful for a next-to-the-skin garment:
and here is one of our very favorite yarns ever, Mini Maiden from Handmaiden, a wool/silk blend that is soft and just glows from within. The colorway below is a lovely neutral but the yarn is stunning in full color, too. There are 545 yards to a skein, sport to fingering weight, so there are myriad projects that can be completed with one skein.
What shall we do with it???
This week we also got a few gorgeous bags from Atenti – you’ve probably seen their ads in knitting magazines – I couldn’t resist just a couple!
And these wonderful Hermosa bags from Namaste:
Love them, and I think you will too. They’re big, with a million pockets, good straps, they stand up on their own, and they’re certainly handsome enough to carry anywhere. Namaste is finally offering black bags (they’re from California and it just took a while) and the eggplant is beautiful.
Not to gloat or anything, but I have 94 pounds – 94!!! – of great stuff coming from Berroco this week. The UPS man is going to hate me. New yarn – totally worth it.
Okay, so you know I’ll be a raving maniac for a while, with new yarns for fall coming in pretty much constantly for a couple months. I’ll try to control it, and so on to some neat customer projects:
Lynne Nagle’s Diagonal Crocheted Scarf Class finished up this week and here are a couple of examples from Nancy Pawling (blue) and Cheryl Haas (red). They worked with Noro’s Silk Garden, and both scarves are beautiful!
I love the colorplay with this design.
Lynda Slovitsky crocheted this wonderful summer scarf in Royal Bamboo. You see scarves everywhere this summer – ever wonder how people can wear scarves in the heat? This scarf is as soft and smooth as water, cool to the touch because of the bamboo, and a lovely accent piece. Lynda bought yarn to make 2 more, by popular demand.
I told you about Merino Spray last week – that wonderful extrafine merino that I got at such a good price? I made this little cardy out of it and just wait till you feel how light it is and how well it drapes.
I know it’s a little hard to make out, but it’s quite plain with seed stitch borders and I did just 2 buttonholes at the top (but didn’t have buttons here when I took the picture, hence the pin.)
And, just because I wanted to do something small in between big projects, this little headband, named Quant, is entrelac and I’m making it out of leftover sock yarn. (Would be prettier in a different yarn, I think.) 
The original pattern was in Knitty in worsted weight. This lighter version is available free from Spinoff Magazine here. You have to sign up for something but it’s free, and a neat way to try entrelac and see if you like it. This is probably as big a project as I want to do in it, but many people absolutely love it.
Don’t forget, we’ll be closed this coming weekend for the 4th, open again Wednesday the 8th. We were going to be closed all week (changed my mind) and Janet made other plans, so she won’t be having her sock class Friday morning.
Enjoy the holiday! See you soon…
Trish
