This morning the lovely group of ladies who knit here on Saturdays proposed that we have a Knit-Along with this shawl and I thought it was a lovely idea!  Yarn in groups of three began springing up all over my desk and we were suddenly overwhelmed with choices!!  It’s a good thing the Opening Ceremony is not until the end of July because this is going to take some planning, choosing, pondering…..all those things that take a while!

So….after a few quick emails I have a very hard to get actual-yarn color sample ring coming in the mail from Pagewood Farm.  It will be much easier to pick your colors if they are right there in front of you.  It takes three skeins of sock yarn and I figured this would be our best choice for gorgeous colors!  They’re wonderful to work with and just heavenly for a small shop like mine.

I will start taking orders for yarn as soon as the ring gets here and will take orders for about 6 weeks – in the middle of June I will make sure everyone who wants to has placed an order (you don’t have to make this shawl – you can knit anything or just order sock yarn while it’s here to look at!) and then we’ll get the yarn all dyed up fresh and lovely for the Summer Olympics!

Mark your calendars now for the Cast On / Opening Ceremony – Friday Night – July 27th!

I will post a picture here once we get the color ring so you can come in and see it in person! 

We are going to start a new game at The Knitting Nest called Washrag Tag!

There will be two teams with ten members on each team.  The game will begin as soon as we have 20 people sign up for Round 1.  Each team will have a box that will contain a ball of cotton yarn and a Team Tool Kit.  In the tool kit will be a pattern booklet with 4 knitting patterns and 4 crochet patterns for a dishcloth (you can choose which pattern you want to make) a yarn needle for weaving in ends, a set of stitchmarkers and a team journal. 

The first member of each team will pick up their box, complete the washrag, add some goodies for the next person on their team and write a note in the journal about which pattern you used, etc.  They will then come to the store, buy a new skein of yarn for the box and before they leave the store the next member will be emailed that they have been “tagged”.

The members of the first team to complete “the race” will all get a coupon for 20% off their next purchase and one lucky member of the winning team will be chosen to win a gift basket!

Hurry in to sign up!!

OH! The dishcloths will all be donated to Saint Louise House!

National Crochet Month may be over but we are still collecting Granny Squares! 

Bring one in or come in and use the yarn in our basket of Cascade 220 and make one!

We have classes scheduled every day next week for kids – the learn to crochet class has actually expanded into TWO classes!

Monday and Tuesday are Friendship Bracelet classes – Beginning and Advanced – and they are $20 each or both classes for $30 – plus supplies (we’re using Cascade Luna) 10 am

Wednesday is the Learn to Knit class for $25 plus supplies – 12 noon

Thursday is the Learn to Crochet class for $25 plus supplies – 1 to 2:30

Friday is the class to Learn how to Weave a Potholder – $25 plus supplies – 1 pm – The supplies will be a Klutz book that includes the loom, the bag of loops and many other ideas to use for later.

Call the store at 512-291-8866 if you’d like to reserve a spot – you can always go next door for a manicure and a deep breath while your kids are here with us!!

March is National Crochet Month and we have certainly got a lot of crochet classes planned to celebrate!

We have a Basic Granny Square class planned to kick things off on Sunday the 4th.  If you’ve never made a granny square you need to learn.  It’s quick, it’s easy and there are millions of variations to play with. I have been participating in a group called “Granny a Day” on Ravelry since January 1st and at the rate I’m going Max will be able to cover the walls of his nursery with Granny Square blankets by the end of the year!

I am also having a special to get everyone involved in Granny Square Mania – The felted cranes on the north wall of the store need to go back to their creator in Portland and I would like to replace them with a curtain of Granny Squares MADE BY YOU!

Everytime someone brings in a Granny Square made of Cascade 220 for the wall they will save 15% on their yarn - all month long. We also have a big basket of Cascade 220 balls that you are welcome to come in and use here in the store.

So…… Come in, Sit Down, Relax! 

Make a Granny Square!!!

Choose a fortune cookie when you check out and you could save up to 25%!!

Starting today – January 27th – until the day of the big game – February 5th – we will have a special sale going on for anyone who brings in cans of soup for the Saint Louise House Food Pantry. 

If you bring in 3 cans of soup you will save 15% on all yarn – if you bring in 5 cans of soup you will save 20% on all yarn!  Simple as that!

“Six Months to Mastery” Classes now forming!

In February we are starting a new course titled “Six Months to Mastery” for both knitters and crocheters.  Each class will be on Saturday afternoon from 4 to 6 pm and they will be alternating each week between knitting and crocheting -

The first knitting class will be Feb. 11th – “Cast On – Cast Off” and will cover many of the different ways you can cast on and cast off and the uses for each.

The first crochet class will be Feb. 18th – “Textured Stitches” and will be about all the different textures you can make with crochet – like bobbles.

You can attend the entire six months of classes for a special price of $200, or you can buy a block of two classes for $50 – or you can come to one class for $30.

We will have a sign up book for each course in the shop and in the next few days I will have the complete list of classes here on the class information page along with examples of each class and more detailed info on each class.

2012 is going to be a great year!  I have all kinds of ideas for the store: lots of new classes, lots of new things we’re going to carry.  As always, I am open to suggestions and I’m always looking for new teachers, new classes and new ideas!  We’re going to expand our line of felting supplies so if you know anyone out there who’s good at needle felting and would like to teach – send them to me!

I am also in the process of expanding our crochet department – I recently got in some size 8 thread and that’s another area where I need some more suggestions! Colors? Projects?

I also recently joined a new group on Ravelry called “Grannyaday” – It’s all about Granny Squares!
It’s a very laid back group – you can set your own rules; you can make a new granny square every day, or you can start a big granny square blanket and add to it each day – it’s all up to you!

You can read all about it here: Hooked! A Crochet Addict’s Blog,

You can Join the Group on Ravelry and if you’re on Twitter you can post pictures and use the hashtag:#grannyaday!!

Meet our famous Amigurumi Queen – Allison Hoffman!

Martha and Allison

Allison has just appeared on The Martha Stewart Show to present Martha with her Mini-Martha doll and you can read about all of the famous people she has met and made  on her blog.

Allison will be teaching some classes here at The Knitting Nest in January – so come and meet her – see her awesome toys and sign up for an Amigurumi class – it’s fun and quick and you make make up your own toys!!

yum.

Oh, by the way – we’ll be having a smore’s party that night as well!!

Now that Thanksgiving is over and it’s finally beginning to feel like fall it’s time to get knitting on those gifts!  We have lots of gift ideas and kits set up in the store and a brand new batch of handmade project bags.

Cowls seem to be THE thing right now and we have a lot of examples and patterns floating around the shop – knitted AND crocheted of course!

I have also started a new page on the blog called “Special Deals” where I will be focusing on patterns and the yarn to go with it and having special little sales every couple of days up until Christmas.  I will be sending out special announcements on Twitter and Facebook so be sure you’re following us on Twitter:  @theknittingnest  and go LIKE our page on Facebook to make sure you keep up with all the daily specials!!

I will be collecting things to take to the Kid’s Christmas Store for Saint Louise House until the end of this week – if you have anything that would make a good present for a kid to give to his or her mom, please bring it in to the store and I will take them all at the end of the week. 

I need your Crockpot recipes!  If you have a really good recipe that doesn’t take too many ingredients – please pass it on to me.  I have had one customer bring me a $20 HEB gift card (Thanks Anita!) for our family to use for groceries and I’m hoping to get more.  I have also gotten gift cards from Thundercloud Subs and Amy’s Ice Creams.  I spent all of “cyber-Monday” trying to get a good deal on a 16″ Transformer bike – it didn’t happen.  If you know of anyone who works somewhere that can get me a deal – let me know.  Anyone out there with little boys who ride bikes want to make up a first aid kit with some cool transformer band-aids?  That would be an awesome donation – as well as a helmet!!   We also have stockings here in the store for them so if you see anything that would be a good stocking stuffer – please bring it in!

It may just be the kick in the pants you need to get started on your gift knitting!  Remember, fingerless mittens make a great gift for anyone who has a smart phone (You can’t even answer your phone without a finger!!) and anyone who has to walk a dog.  These are just beautiful – I love the twisted cables in the Manzanita pattern and already have them in my queue on Ravelry! 

We just MIGHT be having a mittens contest in January……..