So excited to participate in this project with the Mass Poetry Festival, which will be in Salem this weekend.

If you’re in the area, make sure to take advantage of this amazing event.

The Yarn Crawl this weekend was a huge success!

We hosted three local knitting artisans: Ana Campos, the Salem yarn dyer behind Toil & Trouble;  Newbury knitwear designer Leslie Scanlon of Mac and Me; and Knitink Yarn and Fiber dyer and spinner, Ady Bee.

Ana’s soft, subtly variegated yarns made the shop feel like spring.

And she can multi-task! Below, Ana (right) knits while showing a customer her wares.

Leslie showcased her clean, fun style in blankets, clothes and accessories for both babies and adults.

I think I’m going to have to knit these adorable baby booties (above) to compliment what will surely be my favorite hat this winter. It’s the fuzzy white one on the table below in front of Leslie (right).

Ady’s comic book inspired, homespun yarn was so freshly dyed, some of it was still damp!

Of course, she came decked out in her own knitting (above).

If you missed some of the fun, don’t worry! Check back here soon for an interview with Mac and Me’s Leslie as well as summer knitting suggestions, sculptural yarn and more.

As my mom would say, “Can you stand it?!!” No I can not stand how cute these crochet Quahogs (pronounced ‘ko-hog’ for all of you that are not from ’round here) turned out. They are another part that will go into our Seed Stitch Sound:community art project celebrating New England Marine life.

Quahogs anyone?

I didn’t use a pattern for these, just free from single and double crochets where I increased to make the shells and then via single crochet increases and decreases to make the Quahog bellies. I almost want to eat them!

To keep your creative juices going, I’ll be posting projects a they are created and patterns for you. Stay tuned!

Ok I’m super excited that I’ve finished the first of a school of “minnows” for our Seed Stitch Sound project.   The pics are not great so forgive me but I just had to share them.  Hopefully it will get you all as excited as I am to start crafting all sorts of New England Marine-y things for our community exhibit.

Crochet minnow

Knit minnow

We’re sooooo excited to announce we’ll be hosting a free concert for kids 2-7 at the shop with one of our very favorites, Debbie and Friends!!!!!!!!!!!!

Debbie is a big favorite around these parts and we’re so happy to share her music with all of our Salem friends. The concert will be held Sunday August 7th, starting 10:30 AM.  It will be a great opportunity share some fun music with your kids.

Be sure to tell all your friends.  We can’t wait!  If you plan on coming, it will be a free event, but please give us a call to let us know you might be coming so we can be sure to plan ahead for the kids!

We were so excited to come home to a package at the door.  Oooh what was it?!!!! I giant pile of buttons!

This is the first year we’re offering buttons to crawlers for purchase $1.00. Quantities are limited and will only be on sale during the crawl itself.

We were so excited to host Stephen West at Seed Stitch.  What an inspiration he is to so many knitters and he was even more charming and inspiring in person!

As usual, we had a great group of students for Stephen’s workshop where he walked through some of the basics of shawl making as well as some of his best tips and tricks.  Everyone learned something whether they were relatively new knitters or long time experts and EVERYONE walked away inspired.

Look at all these amazing pieces from Stephen

Stephen started by giving us an overview of his approach to shawl making — one of his signature shapes. Hear what he had to say:

Stephen West at Seed Stitch from Seed Stitch Fine Yarn on Vimeo.

Stephen was so inspired by a Boneyard Shawl that Michele had knit in the shop using Rowan Denim that he was inspired to make his own! And started a Summer Boneyard KAL on Ravelry. Here’s Stephen’s finished Denim Summer Boneyard!

Seriously great huh?

Stephen used 6 skeins of colorway 225, Nashville

How about casting on one of these babies this summer!

Thanks so much for joining us Stephen. We all had a blast!

Thanks so much to the folks that joined us for Amy Singer’s, of Knitty.com fame,  Plug and Play shawl workshop.  We had to much fun.  Amy is loads of fun and of course an amazing wealth of knowledge.  She walked us through the basics of how to become the designer of a shawl that we each love!

What a group!

We had such a fun group of folks join us at the class.  As I watched the group I could really see the student’s creativity come loose and their brains working hard to think about the possibilities and which option they might choose for their project.  And Oh the yarns! It was so cool to see the different yarn choices by folks for these shawls.  I can’t wait to see some finished projects.

Amy talked about many great tips around lace knitting.  Below she talks about the virtues of a lifeline.  If you haven’t used a life line before you may just want to start.

Amy Singer Talks about a “Life Line” at Seed Stitch from Seed Stitch Fine Yarn on Vimeo.

Hard at work

If you haven’t visited the Knitty.com website you really must.  It’s an amazing online publication with loads of amazing patterns and information.

Thanks again Amy!