Holey Moley its June!!!

Greetings from my new ipad- technology might actually find me some day!! It's been a while since I wrote, but most of you will understand knowing how busy the shop has been. We have a couple of really cool things in for a limited time, so I had to get to the keyboard and let you guys know.

FIrst and foremost is the arrival of the summer Blue Sky Alpaca Trunk Show! We are really thrilled with the selection of samples that arrived this week. If you have lusted over Dyed Cotton or Worsted Hand-Dyed yarns you are in for a treat. The Everyday Hoodie in Dyed Cotton is even better in real life than it is on the pattern picture. We love it! The Eyelet Cardigan is also sampled as are the Baby Kimono, Ribbed Tank and Hooded Baby Blanket. I am fascinated with the Hooded Baby Blanket. It looks like it is a really difficult pattern - tons of color work and all kinds of trouble to knit... and then I looked a little closer- TOO COOL. Each row is just a series of slipped stitches and knit stitches. The wrong side rows are simple purls in one color. I'm tempted to knit it just to play with the colors, and we all know I don't have any baby plans in my future. On other projects that have caught my eye in this group of samples are the Knit Chicken, and Girl's Sundress. I'm not sure I need a knit chicken- but it is incredibly cute.

In Worsted Hand-Dyed the Aran Pullover, Striped Hats and Two Button Hat and Mittens arrived. The are really wonderful. I just ordered more Dyed Cotton and a good selection of Worsted Hand-Dyed, so there is lots to pick from when you come in.

I'm off tomorrow morning for a quick family visit in western North Carolina. All the siblings, and families and mom will be there. It should be fun to see everyone. I am learning how to load pictures from my camera to the ipad- and then hopefully to the blog. There may just be hope for me yet. If you stop by the shop say "Hi" to Kathryn Dabbs who offered to come and help out while I'm out of town. She agreed to slave at the yarn store in exchange for a couple days at the beach. Very cool. I'm lucky to have such good friends.

Be good, happy knitting:)
me

Marvelous May

Greetings from my kitchen counter! It's been a while since I've blogged- time really flies when you are having fun running a great yarn store!

May has been a great month so far. We had a super visit with my mom over Mother's Day. It was wonderful to have her on the Outer Banks and wonderful to have a week with her at Knitting Addiction's new location. I think she was a little amazed at how much we have grown and how busy the shop is. The visit wasn't near long enough, but we did manage to sneak in some fun around all the work days. Fish tacos from Mama's and a great day at Coquina Beach with Britt and all the dogs made the weekend fun. Mom helped a ton around the shop, inside and out. She tagged yarn, stickered shopping bags and pulled the last of the evil weeds from the front flower beds. There is a little more mulch to put out and a couple more plants to settle in, but the flower beds are really looking great. (Thanks again, Mom!)

We are working hard and really getting excited about what the summer will bring. There has been a definite change of pace at the new location, so there are some challenges that come with the change in pace. We are analyzing the inventory, investigating what new things to add, including a couple really helpful people, and in general gearing up for a busy summer season.

Lots of cool stuff getting knitted and shown off around the shop. I am remiss in not having pictures of all of the following to show off on the blog, but I have to mention a couple really neat finished projects customers brought in to let us see. Dee started the recent stuffed critter craze, knitting the giraffe out of Itty Bitty Toys, by Susan Anderson. Then came the monkey. Then Kathryn saw the giraffe and had to get in on the fun. Another giraffe out of "Spud and Chloe", an amazingly cute lamb with "Heaven" fluff, the long puppy that can wrap up in an itty bitty blanket and plans for a fantastic purple sock yarn hippo. Britt and I are contemplating the projects we should knit out of "Itty Bitty Toys". The book rocks if you have small people to knit for and are bored with sweaters.

Newport Cotton by Ellyn Cooper has been a popular yarn for the spring. It has been knitted into several cute summer sweaters and I just finished the "Waves and Sunsets" wrap out of it. Newport is a really beautiful mercerized cotton, dyed in Ellyn's signature colors and wonderful to knit. The "Waves" wrap is a simple rectangle worked in version of feather and fan to really show off the amazing colors. It has been a huge hit since I finished it. The pattern is written and the sample is out and available to swish around your shoulders to try on. The drape and weight are amazing. It should be a great wardrobe addition to a sundress or simple summer outfit.



Several new and fun "not yarn" additions have been added to the inventory at Knitting Addiction. We have a fresh shipment of Circular Needle Clutches by "Offhand Designs". They are simply the best storage option I have ever used for circular knitting needles. I have the sleeves of mine labeled by size of needle and I typically have multiple sets of a size in a sleeve. Mine easily contains size 2- 13 needles with some sleeves to spare. It has been in use for nearly 5 years and still looks like new, even after a minor event with a certain black dog when she was a puppy. A bit of an investment at first, but well worth it to have your stock of circular needles in one easy location.

We also have a new double point needle storage option. Karen from "Karen's Kreations" has created a great double point roll that can easily keep a dozen sets of double point needles contained and organized. Great fabrics, accented with clever buttons and velcro to keep it folded and tidy make for a really nice addition to a well organized knitting bag. Karen has also created a great "Bucket Bag" that has tons of space for projects, clever pockets and a sturdy drawstring handle. Yippee for the grommet set!

We just added "Knitknotes" this week. If you have ever struggled with how to let the lucky recipient of a knitted gift know that you knitted it, Knitknotes might be for you. Cute cards with clever sayings like, "I made this. You better love it." come packaged 4 to a pack with matching envelopes for $4.50. There are several sayings to pick from and a great card with care instructions to let folks know to be gentle with your labor of love.

On cards and notes we also added in Gayle Adoline's clever hand-crafted cards. (If the name is not ringing a bell, that's Britt's mom, creator of all sorts of clever things- yarn ball wreathes anyone?) Gayle is sending us selections of cards created with knitters in mind. Cute birthday and greeting wishes, all handmade and all really cute. The selection will change with the week, so check them out when you come in.

The rain has taken a break and I'm ready to get out and get a short run in, so I'm going to end this one for now.

Happy Knitting!

Wow! April!

Ok, so it just seems like we fell off the planet...(being this close to the edge of the continent it certainly seems like it COULD happen). But, really, we are here and doing well. April has been an incredibly wonderful month.

The high spots: Blue Heron and Spud and Chloe trunk shows were a great success. If you scored some of the Blue Heron while it was here and love it, let us know and we will make sure there are other Blue Heron Trunk Shows in the future. It was wonderful to have a variety of different fibers and colors in the shop for a visit.

Spud and Chloe yarns will continue to be in stock in full force. The samples we had have gone back to Blue Sky, but we still have the patterns and yarns available. The blog on SpudandChloe.com is seriously fab. Worth a look there for more inspiration and cool free patterns from Susan Anderson. We think "Tuck" is fab- he's a knitted turtle that can tuck his little turtle parts into his shell. Very cool, very cute and very quick to knit.

New shop sample are flying off the needles. Britt finished the Scoop Neck Tee (Knitting Pure and Simple Pattern #283) out of Classic Elite "Summer Set" (she started before the move, so it's been in progress for a while...) Simply wonderful! The yarn is a beautiful, it's a blend of cotton, alpaca, polyester and lyocel. Easy pattern with some simple shaping to make it femine if desired.

Other recent items off needles include a host of baby hats in Jeannee DK. Jeannee is a new yarn for us. It is the replacement to Wildflower DK that we loved for ages, but has been discontinued. The upside of the Jeannee is it has a cool name (even if there is an extra "e") and it is a great cotton/ acrylic blend. Machine wash, tumble dry, easy care and great colors. Several people have started summer tees out of it and it is really wonderful. Great yardage and a great price 135 yards for $3.99.

We have had a great time with some new and revisited Mango Moon yarns. Bali Sky, a shop favorite recycled rayon, has been knitted into a new Summer Cotton Bag carried with a strand of Cotton Fleece to add some color and structure. We received a fab sample from Mango Moon in the last shipment and had to investigate the "Silk Ribbon". It is a silk blend, really lovely varigated colors with good yardage and price (75 yards for $12.50). I knitted a skein into a great little wristlet with an i-cord handle and it is super cute. Another great evening project that looks fab and is fun to knit.

We have finally found a spot for all the new Classic Elite to rest. If you haven't seen "Classic Silk" come in and take a look. It is really wonderful. Classic Silk is a beautiful blend of 50% cotton, 30% silk, and 20% nylon. The blend highlights what we love about silk yarns, hand and drape, and solves the problem of knitted items keeping their shape after wearing. I'm not sure what we are going to sample out of it, but there should be something fun in the works shortly.

The other new Classic Elite yarn is "Pebbles" a wonderful cotton/ acrylic blend. Great fiber! It has a really cool texture and washes beautifully, knits at about 5 to 5.5 stitches to the inch. It could be baby or kid yarn or grown up yarn for a really wonderful summer sweater. We have about a dozen great colors and at $5.75 for 110 yards it is not going to break the bank.

The space is settling in wonderfully. I've even had enough time to dig in the front flower beds and get some pretty stuff planted. The hawthorne is blooming a lovely pink, the Knockout Roses are setting buds, the bush daisies are settling into some good dirt and I'm nearly done digging out the end of the weeds. It's starting to look like somebody loves this place!

Inside has settled and we are busy getting the last of piddly chores finished. The basket of mystery items under the counter was finally purged this morning. Where do you put the odd electronic cables that have no purpose. I gave myself permission to toss them. Hopefully they are not important! Dave put handles on the kitchen drawers- such a deal- and hung the newly recharged fire extinguishers. Purrl is happy, Britt and I feel like we can finally breathe and every day brings new and wonderful people through the door. Life is truly good.

Yeah, but what about the YARN???

After much ado about the move, and the cat, and slatwall- FINALLY some news about the cool stuff at the shop!

Blue Heron! Wow- cool stuff. We are thrilled with the assortment of fibers Demien at Blue Heron put together for a trunk show. The yarns in this shipment are here for a limited time only, so if something sounds fab it might not last! New fibers for us include Beaded Wool, Beaded Wool Metallic, Egyptian Cotton, and Silky Rayon Twist (this is some really fab stuff- wonderful for a shawl or wrap in a simple feather and fan pattern). There is also a great additional assortment of Rayon Metallic in a host of new colors. Britt is drooling over "Soft Green"- who says you can only own one really great Rayon Metallic tee shirt. We also have a nice variety of Bulky Rayon Chenille, a fiber many love, so worth a look.

A new Blue Heron yarn that we are really excited about is Sock Plus. 420 yards of dk weight superwash, perfect for socks or lightweight garments ($27). I love it already and have stashed the first of what is likely to be many skeins. The color that I had to have is "jellyfish"- a mix of raspberry, greens, periwinkle and light pink. "Manta" could be the new theme color for Knitting Addiction, perfect in purples and teals.

There is a table brimming with Blue Heron, but it is here for a limited time. We have several colors in each fiber and enough to do something fun, so if you love these fibers, now is the time to get in and get your fill.



Another good reason to hop in is the Spud and Chloe trunk show. This one is really an extra bump of great samples. We have the "Tea Party Cardi", "Camp Hoodie" and "Wave" sweaters, along with some great leggings and sock patterns. We will continue to carry Spud and Chloe, but the extra samples are a fun temporary addition to what Britt and I have knitted. We went nuts over some of the new free patterns on
www.spudandchloe.com. If you love the yarn, the blog and freebies are a bonus.

Britt is thrilled, the best part of her day is new flooring in her office. Thanks again to Dave E. and Louie. They make it look so easy. A little more paint and we can officially call it "home".

Hope to see you here soon.

A word about slatwall

Forty more minutes until it is light enough outside to go ride, so a word about "slatwall."

Slatwall is a retail industry term for the display wall that has channels cut in it that hold a variety of hooks and shelves. We had it at the old location and it really fits our way of selling yarn, so we knew we needed it for the new location.

I researched all the online options, "get it cheaper, no skid fees, blah, blah, blah" and decided to stick with a company that I use for a lot of our fixture needs. Short conversation with said company and I have 20 pieces of 2 foot by 8 foot slatwall on order. We pick a date for "freight" delivery at the new location and Amex to the rescue, the deal is set.

On the designated delivery date, Britt and I decide I'll go paint at 400 S. Croatan and wait for the delivery truck and she'll keep things running at the old location. I get a call about 11:00 from Britt. The freight company has called and they will be in KDH in 30 minutes, oh and by the way the delivery weighs 800 pounds. Yep- gonna say that again, EIGHT HUNDRED POUNDS. Ok, no worries, we'll figure it out.

Moments later an 18 wheeler backs into the front parking lot and the little man hops out. I trot out in my typical painting garb, shorts and a ratty tee shirt (because I am officially the sloppiest painter ever according to many). A quick note that my painting ensemble, though well suited for much of the day's task, is not exactly appropriate clothing for the weather outside. This particular Wednesday was in the middle of the nasty Nor'easter we had in February. 40 degrees and blowing at 30 knots, ok, grab the ratty sweatshirt too.

The delivery guy eyes me and says, "Well, what are you going to do with it, it's 800 pounds." I optimistically offer, "Let's take a look." He opens the back of the truck and there it is, a 2.5 x 3 x 8.5 foot "package". Slatwall wrapped in cardboard, crated to wooden pallets, wrapped in plastic, and marked "FRAGILE". Short conversation about how fragile it really is, like if he drops the crate off the back of the semi will it really hurt the contents? I veto the drop it off the back option, further vetoed since when he tries to move the pallet with the pallet mover it won't even budge. Oh, and no lift gate option on this particular vehicle.

In the back of my head I hear Tim Gunn from Project Runway, "Make it work!" So my next idea is to cut open the packaging and move each piece of slatwall individually. Delivery guy eyes me again, cuts open the cardboard and looks at the contents. Yep, 2 x 8 sheets of slatwall, 40 pounds each, think plywood on steriods. Put on the work gloves, and ask the nice delivery guy to slid a piece of slatwall out of back of the truck (which is at chest height to me) and onto my shoulder. I then half walk, half sail the monster (did I mention the wind...) in to the shop and start a stack on the floor. One down, 19 more to go- and so it went, delivery guy slides huge slab of wood onto my shoulder, I wrestle it into the shop... and on and on and on. Midway through the stack I'm questioning my sanity and quietly praising myself for hours at the gym and on the road. 20 sheets and 40 minutes later and we are done, he offers me the cardboard and plastic from the shipment, gee, thanks. Oh and offers to help move it into the monster dumpster at the side of the building.

A few new bruises to show for the effort and quiet thanks that I didn't order the 4 x 8 size.

Daylight, and a date with my bike.- cheers

So what goes into moving a yarn store?????

Folks have asked what went into the move- here is a slightly abridged list:

* 58 "man hours" from my fabulous contractor and his crews
* another 15 hours from the painter we hired to deal with the ceilings (yikes!!)
* a 20 cubic foot dumpster filled to the brim, even after the dumpster divers helped themselves
* 13 gallons of white paint
* 8 gallons of purple paint - in three different colors
* 3 packages of plastic tarps
* 6 paint rollers, half a dozen paint brushes and the same number of trays
* 21 cases of laminate flooring
* 54 new lightbulbs
* 800 pounds of display wall (that's 20 sheets of 2 x8- unloaded piece by piece in the rain... my what a day!)
* a very well negotiated trade of sofas and chairs
* one new fab rug
* 2 gigantic rolls of movers plastic wrap
* countless hours painting by Britt, Karen, Kathryn, and me
* more trips to Home Depot than I've ever made in the rest of my life combined
* a 32 foot U-Haul truck for 2 days
* countless hours volunteered by really wonderful friends who just pitched in to move or pack or paint or clean
* 19 pizzas
* a lot of beer (the only real bonus of helping out....)
* many, many sleepless nights
* 2 giant bottles of ibuprofen
* a host of other little bits and pieces to many to list here
* 1 incredibly wonderful friend and employee who was willing to work untold hours to make this all happen
* 1 incredibly understanding spouse and best friend who encouraged me to make this big move and stood by my side with everything I needed from lifting labor to negotiating contracts, Dave was right there believing in the whole dream.

I am well and truly blessed that I am surrounded by wonderful people who gave their time and talents to help make this dream a reality. If you painted a wall, hauled out sheetrock, mopped a floor, lifted and toted stuff, bundled needles, wrapped a display of yarn, hung up samples, fluffed yarn back into place, brought food or drink, picked and pulled weeds, or smiled and offered encouragement I am deeply thankful. You are the kind of friends that people dream about having and I am a very, very lucky person.

Purrl gives 400 S. Croatan 4 paws up

It's official that Purrl, the spoiled grey cat, is happy in her new home. Before the move she took a short "holiday" at my house. If you have not recently attempted to stuff a normally docile, 10 pound cat into a travel crate it is on par with sumo wrestling. She didn't mind the moving car, lucky for me... have you heard about any of the previous cat travel stories??? And was fine hanging out in the guest bedroom here for a couple days, despite the best efforts of the rotten cat at my house to tease her through the bedroom door. Good grief that cat!

Wednesday of last week we revisited the sumo wrestling event and Purrl arrived safely at the new shop. She spent half a day hanging out in the store room but soon got bored with those 4 walls. Off to adventure about in 2600 square feet of new yarn store. Loves the new office, thinks she looks fab in the guest bathroom- the color compliments her eyes. And the best part of it all is the abundance of windows. She has a lookout spot at several and is quite impressed with the coming and going of folks at the KDH Post Office. Also incredibly thankful for all who brought her flowers and plants to snack on in the middle of the night.

She's been at the new location a little more than a week and today was proof that she loves it. Out and about early, wrestling the legs of the coffee table and having a romp with a couple of bouncy balls. Snoring under the afghan on her favorite chair and lounging on the work table. Not sure how long her new chatty, meet and greet personality will hold, but we are enjoying it!

Knitting Addiction's Big Move

We made it! With the help of a host of really incredible people we managed to move the entire shop in 3 days with no extra days closed. A bunch of people have asked how we managed, so here's the short form.

Purrl came home with me to my house on Thursday night (no sense having her be in the middle of the chaos to follow). She settled into my guest room and aside from some minor teasing from the rotten cat that lives at my house, she was really pretty happy.

Saturday, March 13 was business as usual until about 3:30 when a host of really fab folks showed up and started requesting assignments. We pulled all the samples from the walls, bundled knitting needles with rubberbands, wrapped all the yarn displays with mover's wrap and hit the ground running. Dave and another wonderful helper showed up at 4:30 with the moving truck (the biggest you can rent at U-Haul) and we started loading. The guys, my Dave, Dave Evans and Trey - both great fire guys- did the majority of the heavy lifting and loading. The rest of us hustled and packed smaller stuff. The truck was completely full by 6:30 and we had it unloaded into the new location by 7:30 Saturday night.

Some of the crew returned to the Southern Shores location to pack the rest of the shop into the truck (another completely full truck) and some of us stayed to start settling things into place.

Sunday morning everyone joined up at the new shop, 400 S. Croatan Highway, and unloaded. We were done with the truck by noon. The rest of Sunday and all day Monday were a pretty focused effort to get displays on the walls, yarn fluffed and straightened, computers up and running, phone lines transferred. I can't say thanks enough to all the wonderful people who gave up a Sunday or Monday to come and help us move. I was amazed by the outpouring of friendship.

Tuesday, March 16 we opened the doors at the new beautiful space at 10 o'clock and it was a really wonderful day. Tons of customers came in to see the new space and wish us well with flowers, champagne, cupcakes and beautiful plants.

The rest of the week was a whirlwind of selling yarn and late nights getting some of the details taken care of. Knitting Addiction was a field trip for the Corolla Purls on Wednesday, we had the first S & B on Thursday and really had a great week.

Finally joining this century

OK- 7 in the morning on a rainy day, can't go run, or bike, too lazy to go to the gym and I have to survive the dentist in a couple hours. So I decided I'd drag Knitting Addiction into the 21 Century and start a blog at the suggestion of a number of great customers. I'm hoping it will be a way for folks to keep up with what is going on at Knitting Addiction. Let me know if I stink at it. In a different lifetime I was actually a published writer...