I grew up on the Eastern Plains in the Panhandle of Texas. Rain wasn’t in our vocabulary. Nobody owned raincoats, umbrellas or puddle boots. You couldn’t even buy them anywhere. One of my most vivid childhood longings was for a pair of fancy puddleboots. I moved to Maine on purpose to get drenched regularly. One of the first things I did after moving here was buy a pair of turquoise polka dot puddle boots and I wear them proudly. Needless to say I do not mind the rain. That is, I didn’t mind the rain until today.  This morning, something slipped out of the groove and it has become apparent I really need some sunshine. Especially with a three-day outdoor holiday weekend coming up. Someone out there reading this send us some sun…We’re not feeling picky – even an hour would do.

It is difficult to be big project minded in the pouring down rain and I must confess that my knitting energy has been focused on socks. And truthfully I haven’t had a whole lot of knitting energy this week. I found myself going to bed at 8:30 every night and actually falling asleep. (I generally put my daughter to bed and then stay up to knit in the peace and quiet. This is my happy time.) I did manage to turn the heel on my Kureyon Sock and I started picking up for the gussets.

As far as the shrug goes, I have a big case of Knitter’s Block. How many of you have had this? After I had the “big screw up”, I picked it up this week and proceeded to screw up again. I caught it sooner this time but still had the whole frogging thing to do and had nothing to show for it when I went to bed. So now the shrug is in my project bag and I keep glancing at it; wishing it was finished, wishing I could work on it without screwing it up, wishing, wishing, wishing but no knitting. This is how projects end up buried in UFO piles, sometimes never to resurface. First one mistake, then another. Next comes Knitters Block. Soon after, a new and more fabulous project rears its beautiful head, is put On The Needles and before you know it a new UFO has joined the ranks. I am hereby publicly announcing that I will not let this happen to The Shrug. (I am hoping that a Public Proclamation will lead to accountability and soon I will be sporting my beautiful lace shrug.)

My attention in the shop this week has been on books. We have gotten a lot of new books over the past couple of months and I need shelf space. So I have been pulling off some older slowwwwww selling titles to make some room. None of these books is likely to sell on its own for full price so I made up some Knitting Book Grab Bags. They each have at least 4 books and cost $19.95. With what single patterns cost these days, even if you only find 4 patterns you like then the bag has paid for itself. And who doesn’t love the surprise inherent in a Grab Bag? Now I have more room on the shelves for newer titles, some of which you are gonna love!

My newest, most favoritest book is the new Knitted Gifts by Ann Budd. There are so many wonderful projects in here, I could happily spend the next six months just working out of this book. I haven’t loved this many projects in one title since the book One Skein by Leigh Radford. In Knitted Gifts there is an amazing hobby horse, which you may have seen on Knitting Daily. It is a worsted weight sock that you knit and felt and turn upside down into a horses head. There are fantastic felted oven mitts, a felted yarn basket with partitions to hold yarn and sundry items for beside your knitting chair, a wonderful hat which can double as a neck cowl, an amazing cashmere man scarf; it just goes on and on. We got an advance copy and are expecting more around the 20th of the month. The one we had already sold and I can’t wait for more to come. The other new book I can’t stop fixating on is booties, blankets and bears by Debbie Bliss. My “baby” is 5 years old and as far as I know, no more are coming. I don’t generally look too hard at baby books. I am glad I looked at this one though because I have found my new favorite “forever” project. (”Forever” because it is 59″ of stockinette stitch. It may well take me forever to finish. Don’t we all have at least one “forever” project that languishes between all the other WIP’s; it doesn’t really count as a UFO because you pull it out periodically and work a little bit and imagine it being finished and plan on actually finishing it?) This bird pillow is one of the cutest things I’ve seen in a while, the hobby horse running a close second, and I have to have one to move around from room to room in the house!!! I am going to use Halcyon’s Exclusive Cotton Chenille in bright yellow for the body and red for the beak and feet so it will be a chicken!! I’m thrilled and frankly it is all I can think about. I have not purchased the yarn yet – I would like to finish The Shrug and some socks first. But the sooner it is “On the Needles” the closer I am to the finish line.

Next week look for an installment of “On the Hook” where I will talk with Annalee about her newest exciting project on her crochet hook. Here is a sneak peek:

Stay tuned, thanks for reading!

I do not have a Shrug update for you…  I picked it up Sunday night to finish it and after an hour of Happy Knitting I didn’t have enough stitches at the end of a row. I decided to pay some attention to my knitting and noticed that EVERY ROW I had accomplished was wrong. Yes, I said WRONG. So I spent the next 45 minutes unhappily frogging back to where I had started. By then I was too tired (and unhappy) to embark on what I was sure would be further mistakes. Hence, no update and no new shrug. Maybe next week…..

Barbara is still going big guns on her Summer Open Cardigan (sorry I have no pics) and Lori has gotten one of  her own ‘On The Needles’. She is using Misti Cotton and this is what she has to say: “Using the Misti Cotton for the Knitting Pure & Simple Summer Open Cardigan is purely a pleasure!  Already I can see that the Misti Cotton will be the perfect weight for a summer sweater.  The cotton/silk blend paired with the larger needle creates a lovely drape.” We will eagerly await her progress. Mine has been hibernating in lieu of other projects. I am having a Lupin-Kureyon sock war: who will win my affections this week? I had quite a few takers on the remaining Harry Potter Sock Yarn. Draco is almost sold out (how can that be?), a few more Ron left the building and I went from 24 skeins down to 16 of Lupin. You all rose to the occasion in support of our favorite werewolf in spite of (or because of?) the yellow and orange. Any more takers??

Misti Alpaca Worsted

Misti Alpaca Lace

Malabrigo Angora

Softspun

Debbie Bliss Donegal Tweed

Elsbeth Lavold Silky Flamme

That’s all for this week. Hope you find some treasures.

Last fall, we picked up the Harry Potter sock yarn from Opal (in case you didn’t already know this). The release of the yarn was supposed to coincide with the release of the movie “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince”. Harry Potter Fans were already on the look-out and snapped up a bunch of the yarn. Opal creates sock yarn in colorway collections – limited editions. When they sell out, they don’t make anymore (again, in case you didn’t already know this). What we have left is all we will ever have. Anyway, the movie release was postponed and the rest of the yarn has been slowly trickling out the door. All of it that is except for the Lupin colorway. There are almost 2 dozen balls of this color still in the store. Granted, the bulk of the sock is going to be yellow and orange stripes. I know from Yarn Store Experience that yellow and orange are not big sellers. But in the case of Lupin, I think it is important to ask you to look past mere issues with color. As I knit through one entire repeat of the colorway, I found myself coming up with my own symbolism to help explain the yarn: (frankly, I had to just so I could make it through the 3.75″ of yellow and orange!!!) There is an almost two inch stretch of blue and gray which can easily be correlated to a wolf (with blue eyes?). Even I have a hard time explaining the pink bit, but as I am a pink lover, I didn’t mind it.

Now, harder to put into words is the “werewolfie” or “werewolfish” yellow and orange bits. I have taken a poll of my colleagues and walk-in customers and everyone describes this portion as very “werewolfish”. What comes to mind for me is the full moon, bright flashes of light, and the gnashing of teeth during the transformation. All in all, not a color I would normally gravitate toward. But in the interest of supporting the character of Lupin, I will knit slightly ghastly bits of yellow and orange. Let’s face it: On Lupin’s first Harry Potter appearance he saved Harry from the dementors; he was best mates with Harry’s Dad; he gave the Marauder’s Map back to Harry for future use; Lupin was so great that Tonks fell in love with him despite the full moon business; and last but certainly not least, Albus Dumbledore trusted Lupin enough to hire him as a teacher. Rise to the occasion Harry Potter fans – look past color and and get a ball of the Lupin colorway (if you haven’t already) before it is all gone (if only) and wear them proudly to the movie release next month. Or wear the Harry Potter socks you’ve already finished and take Lupin “On The Needles” to your local cinema for happy movie knitting. We also happen to have a dozen or so of the Ron color and the Draco color. At the risk of offending someone, I think the only balls of Draco we have sold are to people who have no knowledge of Harry Potter and simply liked the colorway – very denimy bluejeans. And in all conscience I cannot even ask anyone to buy Draco. (I didn’t.) Does the label EVIL VILLAIN come to mind?  Don’t know why we still have Ron left – maybe everyone thought the colorway that was a combination color for Ron and Harry sufficed. The Ron is a lovely fallish rust color so while you are ordering a ball of Lupin you may as well get Ron too!!

As for the other On the Needles projects: I do not have a progress update on the shrug or the Block Island Blend vest because there is no progress. Last weekend I was in my tiny laundry room looking for something (what was I looking for?) and I had a momentary stab of dismay at the quantity of UFO’s (unfinished objects)  in there. This brief feeling coupled with the fact that I am constantly teased at work for knitting so much with pink urged me to grab the closest bag of UFO’s and finish something. The bag I speak of contained three different projects – all blue, thank you very much. First I pulled out the babushka which I made out of Noro’s Chirimen and finished that up. Then I pulled out a sweater I had started for my daughter Meredith out of the Debbie Bliss Rialto Aran. I finished the back, the hood and the first sleeve. I only have one sleeve to go which will only take a minute. She absolutely loves the smooshiness of this yarn ( so do I, which is why I chose it; that and it is machine washable).

The babushka pattern is in a book called Knitting To Share. It is a lovely book with a “to die for” Aran sweater in it. The book and the Noro Chirimen came into the store around the same time and in my own need for immediate gratification, I decided they were a perfect couple. Also, I felt I might be in need of a cotton/silk head scarf this summer for help with bad humidity hair days. (Did I mention that I really just wanted a good excuse to knit with the new Noro?) What’s not to love about a lightweight cotton/silk self-striping yarn???? Meredith’s sweater is the Knitting Pure and Simple  Children’s Tunic. I started knitting it for her because she needed a new sweater and she wasn’t very thrilled with it back in March. She never is very thrilled with my knitting (she is at saturation point) and abhors trying things on and being measured. But now she happens to be in love with the silly thing and on Wednesday night when I finished the first sleeve, she sat on the floor watching TV with it on – Addi Turbos hanging from the unfinished sleeve. Go figure.

My goal over the weekend is to finish Meredith’s sweater (so she won’t have to wear it with needles in it) and the Misti Cotton shrug, with a little Lupin squeezed in. Then I will get back to the wrap vest.

Thanks again for tuning in. Don’t be shy to send me comments/suggestions/questions. I would love to hear from you. Happy Knitting!

At Christmas last year I switched sock knitting methods. I left behind my double point needles and embraced  one sock at a time on 2 Addi Turbo circulars and haven’t looked back since. The knitting is so much faster and pleasingly pleasant that my Second Sock Syndrome is almost completely cured.  In fact, I will now boldly proclaim my Second Sock Syndrome a brand, a label, an issue of my past and rename myself Second Sock Sally!! I do feel the pangs of my beautiful collection of double point sock needles as they languish alone in jars and needle holders (the television commercial where the mop is trying to woo the woman to give up her new Swifter comes to mind). But languish they will as completed socks continue to fly off of my 2 circular Addi Turbos.

As it happens, I also acquired a new summer dress around the same time. It is rather fancy, for me anyway, and the bodice straps are a little more revealing than I am used to. Luckily, I work in a yarn shop and immediately began the search for a fabulous shrug pattern that would cover up the bits I wanted to hide. I found this to be surprisingly hard but finally hit upon a pattern in the book Lace Style – the Little Silk Shrug by Pam Allen. I love the simplicity of it; the scantiness not so much. The shrug is a simple lace rectangle with a couple of inches sewn together under the arms. I decided to enlarge the width of the rectangle and make it a little longer (again to cover up the bits I want to hide) and here is my progress so far. I am using the Misti Cotton which is a pima cotton and silk blend. I love this cotton. The silk (17%) adds a little something special – a little sheen and it almost has a halo. It will feel so good on my shoulders this summer that I am considering buying a few tank tops to wear with it. I love cotton garments in general and do enjoy knitting with cotton despite its lack of elasticity and bounce. I am thinking of this color as vibrant watermelon (color #16) making it perfect for a quick summer project.

We recently expanded our selection of Addi Lace Needles from sizes 1-4 to sizes 1-9 and I picked up size 8 lace tips for this shrug. Addi Lace tips are a dream, or should I say half of a dream? The coating on the needles is a bit stickier than the traditional Addi coating and that slows it down a bit – in theory a good idea for lace knitting. In practice (at least for me) it is a little too slow and I would dearly love a combo – fast needles with a wondrously tapered tip. Until the day when the Needle Manufacturers deign to give us everything we are looking for in ONE needle, I will keep switching back and forth between needle types to suit my purposes. Like we all do all the time because we have to – more on this later.

Here also is an update of the Wrap Vest in Block Island Blend. Since this vest is done side-to-side, picture taking is a challenge so I pinned it to our in-store mannequin, Stella. Poor Stella. She has her own deficiencies (out of respect for her, I will not enumerate them here) so the piece still isn’t being shown to best advantage but at least the progress is noticeable. I valiantly knit about 10 inches over the weekend and have completed the left side armhole and am now facing the next 10 inch expanse across the back to the right armhole. A veritable Knitter’s Waste Land of back and forth ribbing on a size 5 needle…………

I will, however reluctantly, charge headlong  toward the goal – a beautiful flowing pink summer vest – with the newfound support of my readers. (Plus, I have the shrug on size 8’s to switch to when I need a break.) While I am on the subject of Block Island Blend, I would like to throw a shout out to a colleague of mine here at Halcyon, Beth Hood. This spring she knit her fingers to the bone designing a Christening Gown with the lovely Block Island Blend. You may have seen it in an advertisement in Interweave Knits. Here is what she has to say about this fiber: “Buds of beautiful texture form a beautiful fabric knit from Block Island Blend. The ply suggests a delicate tweed or highlights to the color. I love knitting with Block Island Blend and seeing the texture pattern emerge. In the case of the Christening Gown, the texture of the fiber gives one the sense of a true heirloom.” You will be hearing more from Beth and seeing much more of her work as this blog takes shape.

Thanks for tuning in – Happy Knitting!

Here at Halcyon Yarn we have quite a group of talented knitters and crafters. We also have an amazing local community of walk-in customers who get to see our store samples and our latest crazes anytime they stop by Halcyon to shop. But I’ve been thinking about  our vast internet community of wonderful customers who never get to see our many works in progress (which are always in great supply!). So I have decided to add a section to our website called ‘On the Needles at Halcyon’ for all the knitters in cyberspace who are missing out on our instore energy and ideas. I hope it will be a steady stream of inspiration as well as a taste of what we do at our wonderful store  for those of you who haven’t been able to visit. (Yet!) The plan is to update this section every Friday and keep you all apprised of the current pattern, technique, and fiber we are crazy for.

By the way, my name is Gwynn and I have worked here at Halcyon Yarn for a little over three years. I have been an avid knitter since I was pregnant with my now 5 year-old daughter. She is a very active child and I work to support us. So to make time to knit, I simply neglect housework.  Here is what I am currently neglecting housework for:

In our newsletter of May 12 we highlighted 2 new Pure and Simple patterns, the Girl’s One Button Cardigan and the Summer Open Cardigan. I Love Pure and Simple top down patterns for their simplicity and LACK of finish work. Perfect summer projects. Anyway, Deb knit up the Girl’s One Button Cardigan super quick for a shop sample out of the King Tut Egyptian cotton. I wanted the store to get this ready for summer viewing for a number of reasons: easy and quick, lightweight for summer to early fall wearing, machine washable fiber – but most of all, King Tut is going away. You heard me right – GOING AWAY! And no, it wasn’t our decision. The supplier is no longer manufacturing the yarn (for inexplicable reasons unknown to mankind) and it will no longer be available. Presently we still have a good stock in most of the colors but the thing is, once it is gone, IT IS GONE. See a perfect hue in your favorite color? Buy it up and get your thinking cap on.  We knit up the King Tut Waist Coat last summer and it just happens to be a free pattern. Need a baby blanket? I can’t count the number of perfect colors King Tut comes in for babies. Need a quick shower gift (bridal or baby)? Get a skein, knit up a couple of face cloths, wrap them with a bar of handmade soap and it’s done!! The possibilities are endless but the supply of King Tut is not. (I forgot to mention that my daughter’s King Tut Girl’s One Button Cardigan is going to be purple.)

Back to  Pure and Simple patterns with the Summer Open Cardigan – Barbara and I snapped up Malabrigo Merino Worsted in our last big shipment to make this sweater. (The dyelots in this batch were extraordinary! and we still have lots on the shelves.) The pattern calls for  worsted weight yarn knit in a bulky gauge and I knew Malabrigo would be perfect because the single ply is so loosely spun that it blooms to fill in, even on Barbara’s size 11 needles. (Malabrigo on size 11! Quick and luxurious!) I am also considering the Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk for another one. It is a very heavy worsted that also blooms nicely. You might be thinking Wool? For a summer sweater? Remember – we live up here in the Northern climes with many a chilly evening accompanied by a sea breeze. A loosely knit, buttersoft merino is just the ticket. And not like we really need one, but we are always looking for an excuse to knit with Malabrigo. Hope you enjoy looking at these colors as much as I do. Knitter’s Note: Barbara is getting the 3.5 stitches per inch gauge on size 11 and I am getting 3.75 on size 10.5. Barbara’s is the baby blue and mine is blue/green.

The last (but not least) WIP (work in progress) I want to throw at you today is my wonderful and amazing Block Island Blend version of Linda’s Wrap Vest from the cover of the 2009 summer issue of Interweave Knits. Block Island Blend is an exclusive Halcyon Signature Yarn with a unique fiber blend: 35% hemp, 35%cotton and 30% rayon. I have been looking for the perfect project for it for a long time and have finally found it with this vest. This is a very special fiber Halcyon designed and I couldn’t love it more. I asked Halcyon for a few words on why she designed this yarn in the first place:

“I created Block Island Blend to fill a niche for a slubby, washable yarn that would be great for knitting or weaving . The fine cotton slub ply provides texture variation while two additional plies (rayon and hemp) give crisp body and a color loving glow. All cotton would have the texture but not the body I was looking for so I added the hemp ply for body and durability; plus I like the renewability of the fiber source and the hemp appeals to my aging hippy tendencies. The addition of rayon in the blend provides the lush depth of color that gives the blend a multi-tonal look. Using silk would have been too expensive. I love the strength and hand in weaving (weft or warp of course) and for knitters it is a fun alternative to all cotton because it has some bounce as well as crunch.
Overall it is one of my favorite of my Halcyon Signature Yarns because it is so versatile.”

Many kudos to Halcyon. In my opinion, Block Island Blend is a beautiful and understated yarn which is too often overlooked among the myriad of choices in our store. Block Island Blend has not garnered the attention it deserves  and I am SO happy to have finally found a project I am in love with to knit it up in. Look at all these wonderful hues and get this – for sizes 34.5″ to 43″ you only need ONE large cone of yarn. In case you couldn’t already tell, I am big on listing pros and cons. So here are my Block Island Blend version of Linda’s Wrap Vest Pros: Beautifully draping lightweight fiber, summer vest elegance, Halcyon Exclusive Luxury Yarn, side to side construction, one large cone=one sweater=$49.95. Not too bad for a little piece of heaven. My only con is the column full of short rows in the directions. I am not a big fan of short rows and can get intimidated. But I am willing to put trepidation aside and embark because the yarn coupled with the vest pattern is a perfect union for me.  Here is an informal invitation for you to jump on board with me. Fall in love with the fiber and talk me down from short row anxiety. Knitting Note: The pattern calls for needles size 5 and 6 and I found that size 4 and 5 are working better with the Block Island Blend for me. I am knitting with color 206.

Thanks for tuning in and check back for more…..Happy Knitting!

Unfortunately, sometimes the discontinued yarns are out of our control, and are in the hands of the distributors, yarn companies and or countries that carry and supply portions of our inventory.  We do switch some items out, change colors, fiber and texture choices so there is a fresh and new selection with every season. We also like to give our Halcyon Yarn customers a heads up when these changes occur so over the next few weeks we’ll be sending updates to you as we once again clean house as well as pass the savings and selection on to you.

Here are the yarns that are discontinued as well as on sale.  Have fun!

10/2 Pearl Tencel

Rio de la Plata Superwash Merino Sock Yarn

Debbie Bliss Baby Alpaca Silk

Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Chunky

Sublime Extra Fine Merino DK

Wick

Fleece

Signature Yarns in Botanica, Victorian 2-Ply, Victorian Boucle’, and Victorian Brushed Mohair,  are still available, if you haven’t picked any up check out what your missing and order before it’s all gone.