Another great gift for your favorite fiber artist — amazing shawl kits from BeSweet and Art Yarns. These guys combined their amazing products to create a show stopper of a shawl.

Everything you need, save for the needles, is included. This is not a budget gift but it is one of the most beautiful. They retail for $75 and we have some amazing colors shown below.

We have limited stock available so please swing by or call the shop to see what we have in and make your purchase early so you don’t miss out. They are like a piece of jewelry.

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Never fear yarners…. I’m going on vacation but yarn is most definitely coming with me.  Robbie, Mazie and I will be headed to the west coast for some much needed R&R.

Ok so what am I bringing with me you ask?  I’m still plugging away on my sweater made out of Koigu Kersti from Knit Two Together.  Almost have the whole back done!  So excited about this little lovely knit reindeer that Sharon Brant of Rowan passed along to me last night at our amazing workshop (more to come on that soon).  This little guy is called Pete and is a free pattern from Rowan that I’ll post shortly. He’s made with one skein of Rowan Alpaca Cotton and one Rowan Felted Tweed.  Seriously is he the cutest?!

I’ve also got on skein of an Ella Rae Lace Merino (teal cake) that I’m thinking of as a future addition to the shop and will be hopefully casting on the Ysolda Teague Ishbel shawl.  Oh and one of our Socken Klecks (blue, white, and brown stripe), which is a knitted fabric that you unravel for a pair of socks.  Seems like a lot but you can never be caught on vacation without knitting right?

Oh yes and a lovely little tape measure from KA in my favorite color, hot lipstick pink!

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One of my favorite yarns I saw when I was in Columbus OH earlier this year at our yarn retailers meeting TNNA, was Kumara by Classic Elite.  I could not stop smoothing this yarn as I walked around the show and found myself coming back to it again and again as I poured through my samples upon returning to the shop.
It’s now on the shelves and I think will be a favorite for many of you too.

This yarn is 85% extra fine merino, 15% baby camel with an amazingly marshmellow-y handfeel and lovely bloom, but will also have fabulous stitch definition.  The 50g ball has 128 yards and knits at 4.5 stitches per inch on a U.S. size 9.

To celebrate this yarn, I thought I’d share with you a great quick project and wonderful gift idea that you can surely get done before the holiday season.

These hand warmers only take two balls and are a reasonable little piece of luxury.  If you’ve never knit with Camel fiber before it’s incredibly soft with a micron count as fine as some cashmere’s.  Seriously great yarn!

Download the free pattern here.

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If you’ve not seen the Know Knits Stitch Markers in the shop yet, make sure you check them out next time you’re at the register.  They are so cute.  I fell in love with mine and promptly wore them around for a week straight.

Wore them around you say? Why yes, they are beautiful sterling stitch markers that come on a great black rubber cord to be worn as a necklace.

These would make a great stocking stuffer or gift for a friend. Check them out.

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Rowan has come out with a new yarn this season and it’s absolutely scrumptious, Alpaca Cotton.  It’s a blend of 72% Alpaca and 28% Cotton, this yarn is soft and light, yet warm.  It knits at 16 stitches over 4 inches and each ball contains 148 yards.  You may have admired the beautiful store sample shawl in the shop.

There is a great pattern book, Winter Solstice, to accompany this yarn, but also wanted to share this fantastic free pattern made with Alpaca Cotton.

This is knit with two colors of Alpaca Cotton knit together at the same time.  It’s a beautiful garment.

You can download the free pattern here.

Purchase the yarn and book here.

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So you may remember when I first found this glow-in-the-dark yarn.  As a recap, it’s not necessarily a fine fiber, but it certainly is a MUST have fiber for any yarn store located in Salem MA.  So many customers are working with this product I think we’ll set the whole city a-glow soon.  Andrea whipped up this fantastic hat, pattern courtesy of Hello Yarn, with our glow-in-the-dark NightLights for her daughter Vika who was in need of a skateboarding hat.

If you’ve not yet checked out Hello Yarns patterns, you should.  She’s a great designer and this fantastic Skull pattern is a free download from her site.  This yarn would be great in the glow-in-the-dark Nightlights and either the Jill Eaton Minnow Merino or the Rowan Wool Cotton.

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Every issue at the beginning of the Debbie Bliss Magazine, Debbie give us little snip its of inspiration.  In the fall issue she showcased some vintage end papers from knitting books of the 20s, 30s, and 40s.  Well we got so excited.  Michele, one of our very own Seed Stitchers, has been collecting books from this era and Odhams Press Ltd. and had many of the same end papers featured in the magazine.  I can’t tell you how amazing it is to leaf through these old books and see the fashions, read the funny nuances of the text, laugh at some, and think “oh that one I could really make”.

My imagination is alive with the possibilities of how we might be able to leverage these end papers at Seed Stitch.

However the inspiration does stop there!  We loved these old patterns so much we’ve decided to create a vintage knit along from these oldies but goodies.  We are going to be working out the logisitcs of the knit along over the next few weeks and will chat with you all about it as Fall gets rolling.  Ooooohhhhh so exciting!

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Veronik Avery is a fantastic designer who has been inspired by classic fashion trends. She’s teamed up with Classic Elite to launch her first yarn line and it’s due into to Seed Stitch in a matter of days.  The new line is called Nordique by St. Denis and is 100% wool, knits at 24–28 sts/4 inches on a U.S. size 2.5 -6, making it a fingering to sport weight, with 150 yards per ball.  This yarn has a wonderful luster and hand-feel and I think it destined to become a classic.  Veronik was kind enough to give us a little insight into the product, her design inspiration, and what we might expect next.

How does it feel to launch your own yarn line?

Frightening and exciting at the same time – I have been working on this for over a year now and while I love having creative control over every aspect of the line, I’m also terrified about what kind of reception it will have.

I think we’re all becoming more and more conscious about where our products are manufactured. Can you talk about your decision to have your line produced in North America?

It just doesn’t make sense to me to have products manufactured abroad when we have the raw materials and the ability to do so right here. It’s also often difficult to know where exactly our products come from even when they are clearly labeled – for instance, it is perfectly legal to say that a product is produced in a particular country even if only the last step in manufacturing was completed there. It could have been spun in China from fleece imported from New Zealand, but the label will simply say ‘made in Italy as it was plied and balled there. Not to mention that a product with that much mileage should be more expensive – the fact that it isn’t adds another concern to the equation.

Can you give readers a little synopsis of the magazine to accompany your yarn?

The magazine’s goal is to inspire and educate as well as present patterns. I think many of us have heard references to being either a product knitter or a process knitter – well, I think many of us are a bit of both. So, while the yarn line is intended to be a real knitter’s material – durable, crisp yet soft enough to be worn next to the skin – the magazine aims to showcase what we love about this craft.

How have your designs evolved since you started designing?

That’s difficult to say because of the way that I work – I studied visual arts through my teenage years and for a while in university and that has had quite an impact on how I approach design. It isn’t so much an evolution, as each collection and each piece within that collection is treated as an unit rather than part of a whole. I don’t love one silhouette, technique or construction method above all others – it all boils down to what I’m doing at the moment.

What designers have inspired your work?

Pam Allen, Marc Jacobs, Stanley Kubrick , Claire McCardell, Janet Morton, Issey Miyake, Paul Smith, Sonya Rykiel, Meg Swansen, Vivienne Westwood, Frank Lloyd Wright, Elizabeth Zimmermann (to name a few).

What’s up next?

I’m working on the second issue right now and waiting for the spring yarn samples to arrive. I’m also working on fall of 2010 – since my yarn is spun to my specifications rather than picked from a selection, I have to determine what kind of fleece will be used and how it will be spun and that needs to happen far enough in advance so as to have samples in time to knit with.

QUICK FACTS:

On your iPod right now:
The The

Item from your yarn stash you’re dying to use:
CEY silky alpaca lace

If you were a yarn, which yarn would you be?
Nordique!

Favorite place to knit:
anywhere but in the sun.

Current project on the needles:
Many swatches for book 2!

The yarn and the magazine will be in the store within a matter of days and I can’t wait to get my hands on them. I’m looking for your feedback as well, but I’m guessing it will be positive.

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Thought we’d take a brief interlude in our color inspiration series to talk about this fantastic new sock yarn that I can’t seem to get enough of. It’s called Zauberball from Schoppel Wolle and brought to us by Skacel. Zauberball is a fantastic single ply sock yarn with a sweeping, graduated color change along the length of the garment when knit. Because it’s a single ply you may want to add some sock thread to the toe and heal when knitting it up in a pair of socks, just for a bit of added strength.  We also brought in Zauberball Crazy, which is a plied version of the sock yarn that knits up at the same gauge. It’s 75% wool and 25% nylon, superwash, and knits up at 6.75-8 stitches per on a U.S. size 1-3.
We came across this yarn when a customer brought in an AMAZING new magazine out of the UK called The Knitter. It’s a magazine geared toward the more experienced knitter and the patterns and inspiration are awesome. We should be getting our first shipment when issue 11 comes out, although I’m trying to get back issues. You’ll see one featured in the store, where we first saw the Zauberball worked up in a awe inspiring sock pattern.

It’s not just SSFYers that are “Crazy” about this yarn, folks on Ravelry are doing some amazing things with it as well. Thought I’d get your creative juices going with some ideas.

These socks are from Kelly AKA ShellularKellular on Ravelry Kelly knit this up with some left over Kroy from her stash, which totally adds to the dimension of this FO.

This bag was designed by Erin AKA putasockonit from Ravelry.  This pattern is scheduled to be published in an upcoming book coming out around February ‘09 from Storey Publishing called 101 One Skein Wonders for Sock Yarns.  It will be Erin’s first published pattern and it’s fantastic.  Can you imagine the possibilities of this pattern with say Koigu?

This classic pattern, Baby Surprise Jacket, by Elizabeth Zimmerman was knit by Badger AKA Koalacheeks on Ravelry in the Zauberball Reds colorway.

I’ve just started to cast on a pair with Zauberball Crazy myself and I can’t wait to each subsequent row to see how the colorway evolves.  What can you do with this yarn?

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You told us what you wanted and we listened.  When we purchased the store we heard lots of customers say they wanted an affordable, washable, dryable yarn line with good yardage for projects like kids sweaters and afghans.  It was one of the key things we scouted for when we were out at TNNA to see all that was out there in the yarn universe.  We decided that Kertzer’s DK Life (under the brand Stylecraft) and Accent Worsted would be a new introduction to Seed Stitch and we hope you’ll like it.

The Stylecraft DK Life from Kertzer knits up at 5.5 sts per in, contains 326 yards, is 75% acrylic and 25% wool, machine wash, cool tumble dry, and sells for $6.50.  Kertzer’s Accent Worsted knits up at 5 sts per in, contains 218 yards,  is 75% acrylic and 25% wool, machine wash, cool tumble dry, and sells for $5.50.  Now I know that some of you are saying oh that’s too much synthetic for me, but this yarn was chosen because we thought it had a great hand feel like yarn with a majority natural fiber content AND met all the other criteria we wanted like affordability, washability, and good yardage.

The Accent Worsted comes a beautiful array of heather-y colorways and we have a lovely Fall pallette in the store.  The DK Life has a wide range of colors from soft to bright.  Several colors we ordered were on back order by the manufacturer so stay tuned for even more colors in this yarn soon.  Please give us your feedback on this yarn either here or in the store.

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