Happy February!

A slightly belated Valentine's hug to all of our faithful customers. Thanks for your support throughout the year. You guys rock!

I keep figuring that with winter being here, things will settle down and we will have time to get to all the stuff that needs to be done (like catching up on the blog... organizing my office....) Somehow, it is just not working! January was a great month. The shop is looking great, Lisa and I had a couple of inspired days and re-arranged a ton of yarn in the front room. Spud and Chloe yarns found a new home and we added in the spring colors. We've re-arranged Ellyn Cooper yarns and found some wonderful ways to better highlight her beautiful colors.

A portion of the yarn store shuffle was inspired by a great expansion of new novelty yarns from Crystal Palace. If you are familiar with Crystal Palace they have been creating great texture fibers for a lot of years. We are super excited about the new yarns. Popcorn is a cool carry along with little popcorns of fluff. Fizz is Crystal Palace's short frizzy lash yarn. Little Flowers is a beautiful fiber with tiny flecks of metallic yarns mixed in with tiny tufts. Blippity is a neat yarn that looks like little tiles connected on a skinny runner. Squiggle is my personal favorite, it has long wiggly strands attached about every 3 inches on a thin carry-along yarn. Great colors, great texture and really great prices. Come check them out.

January also brought a chance for me to take a week off and go hang out on someone else's island for a little while. If you missed me while I was in Cedar Key, I hope you know that I'm sure I would have loved to see you. Lisa and Karen were the rock stars I expected. Thanks to all who helped out and wound yarn or answered phones or made sure the girls had lunch while I had a chance to kayak with my man and my mom and hang out on the deck of Black Dog Bar and Tables with my knuckleheads and have a much needed break.

Some sad news arrived in January- Mission Falls Yarns (1824 Wool, 136 Wool and 1824 Cotton) have all been discontinued. My understanding is the license rights for the mill have run out and what they have available is the end of it. I have ordered a good amount of favorites to keep us going a little longer, but know that if you love these yarns like I love these yarns, it is time to get them before they are gone. We still have sweater quantities of most at this time. Give us a call at the shop if you know you can't live with out something.

We are actively researching other yarn lines to find something that will be a good replacement. I'll keep you posted on what we find (but... you know it won't be tomorrow.....)

Happy Knitting,
jeanne

Holly Holidays, Batman.....

Well, it seems like just yesterday I was filling you guys in on all the pretties from Ellyn and now there are only 17 knitting days until Christmas!!! How the heck did that happen? To those who follow the blog and are not completely ill with me for such slack posting, I appreciate your loyalty!

So, big changes around the shop. Britt is safely in Bowling Green (read really cold) Ohio. Long drive, plenty of new to settle into and new job starts shortly. Thanks to all who were able to join us for the going away/ birthday party on the 21st. Britt had a blast and felt quite loved at the end of all the festivities. Thanksgiving week was busy and kept us all hopping and Britt and family headed north on the Sunday following.

Lisa is now officially here "full-time"...the translation there is she is now my new right hand man. We are getting along famously and lots of new people are learning her lovely qualities. I am a lucky and blessed business owner! If you have not yet been introduced to Lisa, she'll be the dark haired gal with the big smile. If animal intuition counts for anything she's a keeper- Purrl simply adores her, and that counts for a lot in my book.

December will likely be filled with your last minute knitting projects and hopefully some time to knit a bit for yourself. If you are still looking for a couple of quick projects, stop in and see us - Lisa's first Kniting Addiction design for a "Cabled Cup Cozy" has been a super hit.... We have one person who has knitted over a dozen!! It's a great gift idea and knits up in no time out of Mission Falls 1824 Wool. There is still time for "Fingereless Mitts" or even a quick hat. Lisa and I will be happy to help you get knitting.

And, on a final note, we have a great display of great gifts for knitters. If your sweetie is trying to come up with something fun, send him in and we'll do our best to help pick out the perfect project bag or that awesome circular needle case from Offhand Designs. We also offer gift certificates in any amount so you can pick just what thrills you.

Happy Knitting, and Happy Holidays-
Jeanne

Ellyn Cooper Trunk Show!!

Greeting from a slightly rainy, double rainbow day on the Outer Banks!!

The boxes started arriving the first of November for the Ellyn Cooper Trunk Show. We have everything unpacked and skeins are flying out the door. The yarns are just to die for! There are tons of new colors, tons of new fibers and lots of great samples. Some of the new colors include "Tomato Queen" and "Cool Rooster" both have been very popular.

If you are a fan of Ellyn's sock yarn we have Tinkerbell in several colors, Zohar's Socks (the one with the bit of bamboo... yummmmmy.....) in about 10 colors and even some Fine Merino. Ellyn sent a bunch of lace weight yarns for the lace knitters and some of her superfine kid mohair. If you have a chance to get here I think you will be hooked on some of the neat new stuff.

There are sweater quantities of lots of colors and fibers we don't usually carry. If you can't get in and think you might need an Ellyn Fix give us a call at the shop and we will do our best to increase your collection long distance.

We will be open Thanksgiving week: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday regular hours 10-6. Closed on Turkey Day and then open Friday and Saturday 10-6 both days.

The time is nearing for us to say good-bye and good luck to a favorite friend and my right hand-man for the past 5 years. Britt will be here at Knitting Addiction through Saturday, November 27. We are hosting a "Good Luck- Happy Birthday- We'll Miss You Party" here at the shop on Sunday, November 21 (Britt's actual birthday) from 2-4. If you can join us we'd love to have you. Snacks and beverages will be provided. Come give Britt a big hug and wish her well in the next phase of her life.


*** Look!!! I even managed to add photos!!!!***

Off on New Adventures....

Greetings on a lovely Saturday Morning. Fall is in the air, the evenings are finally getting cool and it might be time to start the holiday knitting.

Here at Knitting Addiction we are busy knitting new samples from Malabrigo WORSTED... the shipment arrived on Wednesday and skeins are running out the door! We ordered a lovely assortment of 20 colors, it is soft and delightful. Come check it out.

While you are at the shop take a minute to say hi to the "new girl" Lisa. You'll know her by the big smile and the cheery greetings. So on to the reason for a "new girl"- Britt has, after great thought and much, Much, MUCH deliberating, decided she is going to take a job at Willard and Kelsey, a solar glass manufacturing plant, in Ohio. (Translation: she's leaving us!) The job is a great opportunity and a chance to be there as a new and upcoming business starts to grow. Short term will have Britt here at the shop through November, and then she's off to Ohio. The new job will eventually take Britt to sunny Florida- we know she loves sunshine best, so we are wishing her all the very best.

I'd like to invite all who want to attend to a "Best of New Beginnings" party to send Britt off with flair. It will be here at Knitting Addiction, Sunday, November 21 from 2-4 (it's also Britt's birthday). Please come drop in, give Britt a big hug and wish her well on her new adventure. We will miss her like crazy, but most of us knew she was a gypsy at heart. We were lucky to have her here at Knitting Addiction for 5 great years.

Goodbye Earl!

Greetings from the slightly soggy Outer Banks!

Thanks to all who called and emailed to check in on us at Knitting Addiction. Most now know that the storm was a media circus brought to you by the Weather Channel and all the wind associated with the storm was from Jim Cantore's incessant yammering. Good grief- just hush already!

The storm brought lots of wind, lots of rain, some flooding in the usual places. I worked several hours with the fire department during the storm, which lead to KA being closed on Friday. If we missed you Friday, or late Thursday, we hope you came back to see us on Saturday or are planning to see us some time on Monday.

Best of a quiet Sunday to all.

Malabrigo Heaven!!

Greetings from my kitchen:) This post was supposed to happen every day since Tuesday, but things are pretty busy at the shop, so it had to wait for Saturday night at home.

GREAT NEWS!!!! The much anticipated Malabrigo order arrived and there is really great yarn here! We were lucky enough to get 6 different colors of Malabrigo sock and about 20 colors of Malabrigo Chunky. We are thrilled that so much of what we wanted was available.

If you love Malabrigo yarns like we do, come in and check them out or give us a call at the shop so we can get some of this beautiful yarn set aside for your "collection."

A word about "collections" - some of the fun of the summer is talking to lots of people from lots of different places and hearing their stories. A favorite from a recent visitor was the change in classifications for the large amount of yarn that many of us have accumulated over a period of knitting. The shop she frequents calls this large array of yarn a "collection" not a "stash." Logic being a "stash" of yarn would be naughty or wrong and "collections" of anything are treasured and and meant to be adored and enjoyed. We say "Amen" and come add to your collection!!

Summer Sale in progress!

Greetings from the beach! Summer clear out is in progress- Britt and I have been busy selling yarn and in the slow moments (ok- we stayed late... it really isn't slow at all).... rearranging the shop (you know that has to happen every couple of months...)

In the rearrange we decided a few well loved yarns needed to make space for some new stuff. If you loved Soleil Cotton, Balance, or SeaSong they are on sale. 20% off for skeins 1-9 and 10 skeins or more are 25% off on all. The bins are emptying quickly, so don't miss out if you loved any of those yarns.

On the new front! Silky Alpaca Lace from Classic Elite (70% baby alpaca 30% silk-460yards for $11.00) has been very popular. We are thrilled with the put-up and thrilled with the price. Several new colors arrived and have the lace knitters smiling. We also added colors in Princess, Classic Silk and Pebbles.

Blue Sky has added two new Dyed Cottons in multicolors. "Camo" and "Gunflint" (guess what the colors are????) are both very popular. We also added in Spud and Chloe Sweater in the newest color "Grape Jelly" and Fine in Shitake and Red Hot. Good additions to a line of yarn we really love.

Come catch the sale:)

Summer is here!

It may seem to the casual reader that I am completely clueless about the passage of time. However, if you know me at all you know I'm pretty meticulous about time. It doesn't typically escape me. I'm rarely late, I almost always know what day it is and can usually tell you within about 30 minutes what time it is. So the fact that another entire month has zipped past has me a little stunned. How the heck did we get to July 12 - just yesterday was only May!

Of course my only excuse for the clueless passage of time, is that we are keeping mighty busy around Knitting Addiction. It has been wonderful to meet all the new people who have found us in our new location. We are working hard to learn new faces and new project preferences. It has all been a really crazy roller coaster ride. I think Britt and I are finally getting closer to keeping the inventory cushion we like. This was the first week that I went to the store room to look for a particular yarn that needed to be restocked- and amazing- there it was on the shelf- just waiting to be tagged and put out for sale. I can't tell you how many times since the move that I looked in the back room and then grilled Britt about what happened to all the yarn. I'm sure we will still manage to run out of some of the fast movers, and I won't likely ever be able to keep in all the stock I'd like to have, but we are learning the new normal and that is really cool.


As promised a few pictures will grace this post!

New samples are still flying off needles. I finished a really cute little girl's shrug in Pebbles by Classic Elite. Pebbles is new to us this spring. It is a cotton/ acrylic blend- knits about 5 stitches to the inch (110 yards is $5.75), washes beautifully and has been super popular since it arrived. I had to knit the Knitting Pure and Simple "Little Girl's Shrug" out of it, because I was itching to get a chance to play with it myself! The shrug is adorable- only 2 balls for the size 4 and one really cute button. The pattern is written for up to a girl's size 10.


Also new and noteworthy is a cool line of acrylic buttons that we just went crazy on today. I'd checked out this person's buttons in Asheville and thought they were seriously cool- and low and behold- Gail Hughes walked in the door yesterday with a trunk full of samples and we were hooked. As you can see, they are really going to be the perfect accent for a whole bunch of cool projects.




Speaking of cool projects- I have to mention a really neat young lady who brought in her "portfolio" of knitting that has been completed in the past year. Alex was a new knitter last year, came to KA with grandma Sylvia and has really found her groove. We were thrilled to see the amazing fair isle work done in the clever hands of someone who has only been knitting a year. Even more impressive is how clever the knitter is- since she is only 12! Pictures to follow. I wish all my knitters were brave enough to tackle the kind of projects Alex has skillfully completed. Knit on girl!




And a final note for today, I've been thinking on it for a week, so time to write it down. The family at KA has had a sad loss in the past week. Judy Link, one of our first and favorite customers passed away last week at her home. We are all greatly saddened by Judy's passing. She has been a weekly fixture at Knitting Addiction for 6 years and many of us are feeling the empty space on the sofas. Judy was the kind of witty friend that kept us all on our toes. She was quick with a joke or clever side bar, equally quick to tell someone how pretty their knitting was and if you listened closely you could really hear the good stuff. Judy's passing has us all thinking about how important it is to let the ones you love know that you love them every day. I hope she has a little knitting on the other side to keep her hands busy. There will likely be plenty of cats to take care of and people to keep in order. Our thoughts and prayer are with Helen and Marc and Doc and the rest of the family as they try to figure out how to keep on going without such a force of nature in their lives. God bless-and godspeed.

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!