We’ll be celebrating this weekend with a big sale.  The majority of the sale items will be discounted 50% off and some gems even more deeply discounted.  We’ll also have lots of books and back issues of magazines on sale.  The sale will begin when doors open on Saturday August 1st at 10:00 AM and run through Friday August 7th.  Be sure to get there early so you get your pick of these awesome sale goodies.

It would be a great weekend to venture into Salem for the day.  This weekend is also the Salem Maritime Festival, which has lots of fun activities.  If you’re not from the North Shore make a day of it, come up to enjoy all that Salem has to offer, and pick up some great deals at Seed Stitch while you’re at it.

I’ll be there and I hope to see you there too!

We took Mazie to the new Trash Menagerie exhibit at the Peabody Essex Museum this weekend.  I have to say it might be one of my the favorite I’ve seen there, which is saying a lot since I LOVE the PEM!  It’s an amazing exhibit showcasing art pieces made entirely out of recycled trash.  It’s also an eye opening statement about just how much trash we produce in this world.

Open June 2009 to May 2010

You’ll have to go see it for yourself, but I thought all of you fiber enthusiasts would be interested to see this really neat piece done with scraps from old sweaters.

Small pieces of sweater patch work sewn on a wire frame

A close up look at how amazing this is

Then they had a great interactive exhibit where you could sew on your own recycled sweater patch to make a cow.

That's my white patch on the lower left hand side of the cow.

Definitely not to be missed exhibit!

As many of you who visit the store regularly know, Andrea Osbon is an amazing talent.  After begging for knitting lessons at the age of four, her neighbor finally agreed to teach her and she hasn’t stopped since.

Andrea loves texture and color and enjoys knitting everything from garments to bags and blankets. A former professional dancer and singer, she found a great deal of time to hone her craft, while on the road with performing groups. As a performer she spent so much time waiting for stage entrances, many cast members took up bridge or other habits, while Andrea found fulfillment in creating amazing sweaters and afghans. She certainly always had lots of gifts for family and friends by the end of a run.

Now, Andrea lives with her husband John and daughter Victoria in Beverly, and loves working with others helping them to realize their knitting goals.  You’ll seldom see her without a knitting project in hand.

Her precense in the store has inspired so many knitters and we’ll celebrate her success with a showing of her work over the years begining June 23rd and runnging through July 13th.  With so many amazing projects to choose from, we had a hard time choosing which ones to showcase, but I’m sure you won’t be disappointed.  A celebration will be held, this Thursday evening the 25th from 6-8 PM at Seed Stitch.

Well we’re just back from Ohio and feeling both a little tired and energized at the same time.  We spent almost 12 hours walking around a conference and trade show floor, but amazed by all the new products and colors available to us.

Picking up the program and getting tickets!

I was a bit overwhelmed when we first walked into the trade show floor.  There were over 270 yarn vendors alone not to mention, buttons, books, needles…and then there were all the other needle art vendors like cross stitch and quilting.  Simply mind boggling.

If it seems daunting, it was.

Outside the tradeshow floor, new products were showcased

Some highlights:

I met some amazing designers.  Finally had a chance to meet Louisa Harding who’s new yarns and books are simple beautiful and just what we’d want from her next.  Of course folks at SSFY already know how lovely she is from her last visit to Seed Stitch and we hope to have her again in the future.

Also spent some time with Debbie Bliss who was at the show with her daughter.  Debbie has a fabulous new yarn out called Fez, which is a combination of Merino and Camel.  The pattern support for it is wonderful.  We also had a chance to view the projects from her new Fall magazine due out in September.  Just wait!

Unfortunately due to our flight schedule we missed Jared Flood, but you are truly going to love his new book called Brooklyn done in partnership with Classic Elite.  Great designs for both men and women with many of them being unisex designs.  As well, there is this amazing hat pattern included in the book, who’s simple garter stitch design is kicked up a notch with an amazing decrease and construction technique.  I’ve never seen anything like it.

And of course, products, products, products…..

Next steps: First, spend a little dancing around the living room with Mazie as she spent the weekend with my mom while we ventured out to Columbus.  Once we’re done with our mother daughter dance party reunion, then I’ll focus my thoughts on which products we’ll bring in throughout the summer and fall.

This Friday Robbie and I will be traveling to Columbus OH to the Spring conference of The National Needle Arts Association (TNNA).  This is one of the big trade show events for needlework retailers of all kinds and as you can imagine has a HUGE array of manufacturers and distributors of yarn and knitting and crochet products.

It’s at this show where companies showcase their latest and greatest for the Fall season and it’s where we’ll be going to see what great new products we will be bringing to you in the coming months.

So with that in mind….We want to hear from you.  Please leave a comment here on the blog, letting me know if there is something specific you’d like us to consider.  Now I can’t guarantee that we’ll bring all the suggestions in, but I can guarantee that we’ll seek them out at TNNA and give all suggestions strong consideration.

• Do you want to see a specific brand of yarn in the store?
• Is there a type of product you’ve been seeking?
• Do you think we’re missing a specific type of supply?

Get the gist? We want to hear from you and can’t wait to share what we learn when we get back. Follow us on our trip to TNNA with twitter.

Here’s a little more in follow up to our last post regarding our recent trip to Westminster Fiber for the 30 Years of Rowan exhibit.

The show was a great look back at the depth and breadth of design at Rowan.  The exhibit was organized into sets of garment and accompanying images which were grouped time capsules.  Many of the finished garments were original from the year of its design and were coupled with the magazine of publication.  The biographies of the designers were scattered throughout, giving an unbelievable picture of Rowan’s influence on the crafts of knitting and crochet.

Kaffe Fasset’s influence on Rowan was obvious with his Long Leaf sweater (shown blow) at the entrance.  This design was from book 12 and is an amazing example of hand knit at its finest.  Easily taking hundreds of hours to knit with many rows having at least 30 color changes, this garment contains over 70,000 stitches!

We love Rowan at Seed Stitch and are one of the biggest Rowan sellers in the area.  You can see more images from the show on our Flickr page.

As you may know, we had a lovely reception to celebrate the wonderful work Victoria Berkwits did in founding Seed Stitch Fine Yarn and to celebrate the future of the store under Robbie and my watch.  We decided that we should literally pass a torch to mark the occasion.

Passing the Torch

Thank you all so much for coming to visit us.  I was able to meet a lot of customers and spend time thinking about this exciting new endeavor in our lives.  Our daughter Mazie had a blast with all of her friends that came to visit and they are all still talking about the party at the store.  She was just thrilled to be able to put on a party dress and serve raisins and “bubbly juice” aka sparkling water to her friends and guests of the party.