Melissa Leapman

I’ll make this short and sweet!

Join us for KnitWildFest!2012 this year with Melissa Leapman as our guest designer.

The dates are March 30th to April 1st.

Read more about it here!

Wayne at the TSC booth

Some of you may have already met Wayne when he’s been in the shop from time to time. He did a cash and carry event not too long ago during our knit night. We’re trying to plan a trunk show for sometime in April or thereabouts, so if you haven’t met him, you might still get a chance! He’s wearing a scarf here made from one of the new yarns, Celeste, I ordered. I think of Wayne like a kindred spirit, so I’m kinda sorta feelin’ guilty for making this picture (makin’ him wear the scarf). There’s a story behind it; just too long to go into right now.

As a synopsis, here’s a selection of the new yarns and pattern books I ordered that day: Cotton Classic, Tempo, Rosa, and Celeste. And Ripple- not pictured…but one of my favorites (along with Rosa).

tahki stacy charles

one skein garment using celeste

To see and hear more, come to the anniversary party on February 5th from 3 to 7pm.

yeah, I know it’s Super Bowl Sunday, but we’re working on a way to “broadcast” it, so you won’t miss out.

Tangerine Tango

Solar Power

Soladite Blue

Cabaret

Starfish

Margarita

Sweet Lilac

Driftwood

Bellflower

Cockatoo

you can see them here at best on Pantone

and IF  any of YOU know how to do the conversion from pantone colors  to RGB, (?)

would you please, please, please write to me and let me know? It would help me so very much and…

I promise to do something nice for you in return!!!

Last year, I was able very easily to match up pantone colors to RGB colors, but something has happened either with pantone, RGB, or most likely, my own brain- and I haven’t been able to convert the colors most truly tonight for you.

sooooo…….

OK, onto the TRENDS:

most applicable and memorable for we knit peeps:

watch for lots and lots and did I say LOTS? of dropped stitch designs in knitting.

I honestly don’t think I can emphasize this enough. It was everywhere at the show in every form.

Then there’s lace, lots of lace, and still some fur…

but my very favorite- and I mean “swayed” in my seat every time I saw it…

I absolutely loved, loved, love!, the flower embellishments!

Flowers everywhere- flowers in the actual fiber pieces, then added on top, then lots of times layered on top of that!

not just embellishment- more total pure focus!

and I love it!

As usual, Trisha Malcom did a fantastic job presenting the spring colors and trends to watch for at TNNA  at the TIP’s session this weekend- all this info stems from her presentation!

new book Betsy Beads photo credits go to XRX,Inc

Big highlight for me is a new book that’s just come out: “Betsy Beads” from XRX,Inc. I think a lot of you will like it, too. It’s very well presented with loads of fun- and truly easy! – projects. Many projects can be made with what you have in your stash and while Wildflower has a good supply of the beads you will need already,  there’s a great resource section in the back of the book for those not near a shop.

There’s a great article in the current “Knitter’s” magazine entitled “Confessions of a left-brained knitter” that provides a wonderful introduction to Betsy Hershberg and her new book.  It’s  truly something to look forward to: both an inspiring and empowering story. Watch for a number of classes in support of this book in the weeks to come.

I used to read a LOT- then when kids came along 22(!) years ago and my business began to grow, I would listen to friends and loved ones talk about books they’d read with envy. Gradually over the past 5 or 6 years, I have once again come to a place  more open to creating time to read. My first breakthrough started when my friend, Beth, recommended and loaned me “The
Kite Runner” by Khaled Hosseini.  I hadn’t read a book  (with the exception of many, and I do mean “many” children’s books) in years- I don’t even want to guess how many years had gone by, although it’s easy for us both to do the math. I read that book in two days and was deeply affected by it.

That experience made me take a hard look at the obsessive side of my nature- and why I’d been unable to find time for reading.
Knitting by profession as well as pleasure (yes, obsessively!) had left little time to pick up a book and immerse myself into the pages. If it didn’t involve my knitting universe, directly or indirectly, I would start, but rarely finish, one after another.

Then a couple of years ago, it dawned on me that while my knitting expertise was in great shape, other parts of me needed some tender loving care and attention.  I wrote to a friend and asked for book recommendations. I was ready to start my list. My friend got me started with “Time Traveler’s Wife” and from there, one book led to another, and I can happily say I’ve always got a book in progress now- and I’m no longer reading only about knitting, or website design, or the latest in software updates…

Some of my favorites or most memorable in these most recent years are or have been:

“The Time Traveler’s Wife” by Audrey Niffenegger
“The Boy who Harnessed the Wind” by by William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer
“The End of Faith” by Sam Harris
“Into Thin Air” by Jon Krakauer
“Clean” by Alejandro Junger
“The Dove Keepers” by Alice Hoffman
Anything by MFK Fisher
“Mind of the Raven” by Bernd Heinrich
anything by Michael Pollan
“Anatomy of the Spirit” by Caroline Myss

What am I reading now?

Two books, actually: “The Power of NOW” by Eckhart Tolle and 1Q84 by Huraki Murakami.

For what it’s worth, I’ve tried to provide links that go first to an author’s page, but when that wasn’t possible I linked the author as well to wikipedia.
Recommendations, anyone?
What are “you” reading now?

Cheers, everyone!

To a wonder-filled 2012!

CHAZ

September 17, 1998 – July 16, 2011

yarn bombing at TNNA

If you haven’t been following the threads all over the web, here are some of my favorites:
street art video,  global graffiti, yarn bombing assorted, and  cincinnati

Have fun!

The color of the year remains the hot color of the fall fashion world:

Honeysuckle

Deep Teal comes in next followed by

Quarry Nougat Phlox Cedar Orchid Hush Coffee Liqueur Bamboo Emberglow

Style Trends

CAPES and Tartans along with some Fair-isles take center stage.

Fur and Shearling

Long cardigans, vertical stripes, big COWLS, knee socks and thigh-high stockings, slouchy berets

and looser fitting garments. And Crochet!

Anyone up for knitting a tartan skirt???

ha, ha, just kidding!

still more to come tomorrow…

tunisian crochet

Day two began with six 30 minute info-sessions called TIPS. I was so hooked (no pun intended- honestly, I don’t like puns…) on Tunisian crochet the day before that I sat through 2 of the 6 sessions from the Denise Interchangeable Needles peeps and learned even more. I’m hoping to pick their brains a bit beyond that before I leave. We already have their crochet set in the shop and it was designed with Tunisian in mind. If you have the knit set, no worries, we’ve got the crochet hooks to snap onto your knit cables. I’m tellin’ ya, die-hard knitters, you’re gonna like this! Funny thing about Tunisian Crochet; there are so many variations. I’m hoping to make one more stop at the show that I think you’ll enjoy even more and then I’ll rest on the Tunisian for a bit. Promise. Actually, I kinda think I’m saving the best for the last, but “the jury’s still out on that.”

Another interesting TIPS session I attended was Classic Elite’s presentation “We love our iPads” and we do, don’t we? I want to write a whole post on this so I’ll make this one brief. I did a previous post on i-phone apps and some of them carry over. The news to me was flipboard. I have been using pulse and loving it, so I’ll have to explore the differences then write an update with all that were mentioned. Can you tell by now I’m just having too much fun???

More tomorrow on the rest of the sessions. My favorite: Trisha Malcom from Vogue Knitting on Trends.

So I’m leaving a little (well, a lot, actually), out of this day, but  there will be more to come.

ummmm, plus I just realized I didn’t get my homework done for class first thing tomorrow.  Now “hate” is a pretty ugly word I try to avoid at all costs so let me just say I really “detest ” and try to avoid classes that require homework. Yet- here I am. With homework. Not done.