Today we’re writing to introduce an exciting new addition to our website, Live Chat! This feature is available from any page you visit on our website. You can click the Live Chat Available button at the top right of the page, above the shopping cart, or you can click the floating blue Live Chat button on the left side of your screen. If we’re not available to chat, the Live Chat button above the shopping cart will be greyed out.

When you open a chat window, you can ask your initial question. Questions like, “I’d like to check the status of my order.”, or, “I’m looking for a worsted weight wool to make a sweater.” We’ll see your message pop up on our screen and we can chat back and forth from there.

Live Chat is a great way to get in touch with us quickly and easily. We can help save you time by guiding you through your purchase. Generally, there is one customer service representative answering all your Live Chat questions, so Live Chat is best suited for simpler, less involved inquiries. We can help you select the perfect yarn for you next project, check on the status of your order, pick out the perfect gift and more. If you’re looking for something more involved like pattern support, we would better be able to help you over the phone.

So the next time you’re on our site, try sending us a chat! We’d love to hear from you.

Grace and Kristin: WEBS Live Chat Represenatives

Every once in a while one of our wonderful customers will show up with a completed project, and today Carol L. came into the store with a fabulous finished Wedding Chuppah that was six months in the making. When we held it up she received a well deserved round of applause from our admiring staff and customers.

Carol took this project on to give to her son and soon to be daughter-in-law for their upcoming wedding which will take place in October. How did she do it and what did she use for yarn? She chose Juniper Moon Farm Findley, which is made up of merino and silk and has a generous yardage of 798!  Carol ended up using almost 8 of these to create her masterpiece. For her pattern inspiration, she adapted patterns from the Victorian Lace Today book along with using charts from one of Barbara Walker’s incredible Treasury of Knitting Patterns.

In discussing Carol’s journey with her she said that when she was working on it she kept thinking of her grandmother and the knitted lace wedding gown that her grandmother made, and chuckling about the fact that when Carol asked her what pattern she used, her grandmother’s response was “Pattern, what pattern? You start at the neck; increase at the bust; decrease at the waist; knit as far down as you want; and you are done!” Very true, nicely put!

You all know how much I love lace projects after our last Dream in Color giveaway, so what a treat it was to see this project.

Thanks for sharing Carol.

- Karen

Hi Everyone

Well, the exciting news just seems to keep on coming our way as of late! We are excited to share the latest with all of you!

Steve & I submitted a 2 minute video to the National Retail Federation’s contest titled “This Is Retail“. We’ve been notified that we are a top 20 finalist which is very exciting! Over the next three weeks there will be a series of voting opportunities that can result in us advancing to the next round. When its all said and done the top three voted videos will attend the NRF’s national conference in Washington, DC in May. The top retailer will win $25,000, 2nd place is $15,000 and 3rd is $10,000. Needless to say, we’d love to be in the top 3 but first we have to get past this first round of voting.

Here’s how the voting works:

• Starting April 3rd at 12:01am through 11:59pm on April 8th, we will be paired against one other video. We won’t know who it is until voting begins at 12:01am on 4/3. We will go head to head in the voting and the top vote-getter will move onto the top 10.
• Round 2 (4/9–4/15) is structured the same way – each of the top 10 videos will be paired against one other video and the top vote-getter in each pairing will move on to the next round (top 5).
• Round 3 (4/17–4/22) is down to the top 5. There are no match ups at this level – just general voting and the top three will go to DC.
• Each individual can vote up to 10 times per day and voters must be over the age of 13.
• All of the details and the other 19 finalists can be found on the National Retail Federation’s website.
• Voting happens at retailmeansjobs.com/vote.
• You can log in with a Google, Yahoo or Facebook account to vote.

Kathy

Our new 2nd home! Easthampton here we come!

As we begin celebrating our 38th Anniversary, we are excited to share some BIG news with all of you!

Back in 2007, we renovated our current building in Northampton so we could be as efficient as possible. Our current location houses the store, our shipping group and all of our staff (and a little bit of yarn too). We were told we’d get 5 more years of growth in the newly designed space and the contractors we worked with were right. Although Kathy & I had hoped to stretch it out a bit longer, we began to realize a little more than a year ago that it was unlikely.

For several months (OK 14 months to be exact) Kathy and I have been debating what to do as WEBS continued to grow and we started running out of space. We needed to hire more people but there was no place to put a new desk. Our pickers started tripping over each other and it got harder to get orders out the door in the building we’ve called home since 1991. Simply put, we’ve done all we can do to our home in Northampton and its just not working for us anymore.  It was time to find a new space.

As usually happens in our relationship, Kathy was sold on the idea first and it took a while to convince me – sound familiar to anyone who knows the WEBS history? We’re pretty risk averse folks so the idea of buying a buidling for our shipping operations was not one that we took on lightly!  Beside the financial implication, we were also both very concerned how it would affect the culture of our organization – and how it would affect Kathy & I.  We share an office and although not joined at the hip, we do work closely together.  A separate location for the e-commerce portion of our business would mean Kathy would spend most of her day in the Northampton location while I would be at the “other” building.  This all weighed on us for many months but finally the perfect building and situation came along.

And here we are! Today we signed the papers to purchase our new warehouse in Easthampton, just six miles from the store. Our shipping and customer service folks will be moving over and the store will remain in Northampton. THE STORE WILL REMAIN IN NORTHAMPTON. IT IS NOT MOVING. We’re not really yelling, just emphasizing!

Assuming all goes well, we hope to be shipping out of our new warehouse by the middle of June. We are really excited (and a bit nervous too) about the change. It is the biggest thing we’ve done since my parents moved the store from the old Victorian house on Kellogg Avenue in Amherst to an old telephone company building in Northampton on a street named Service Center Road.

We know some of you will be disappointed that this isn’t a new store location or even a warehouse location further west, but I hope you can all be happy for us.  As always, our goal is to simply make shopping with us the best it can be and both Kathy & I feel that this will of course benefit those of you who shop on-line with us but also our local shoppers in the store.  I’m sure we’ll have some glitches along the way and we hope you’ll be understanding.

We’ll share more of the move progress over the next couple of months. It will be an exciting time for all of us. Here we go!

Steve and Kathy

Inspired by the recent “Sh*t People Say” videos, we thought it would be fun to do one for knitters too.

Pin It

After putting our Sh*t Knitters Say video up on YouTube this past Friday, we’ve had a lot of questions asking what Emma is wearing or knitting in the video. Below you’ll find a bunch of handy links to all of the sweaters, hats, and mittens making an appearance in the video.

Winged Knits Idlewood sweater by Cecily Glowik MacDonald in Malabrigo Rios, Glazed Carrot
Persephone Cable Fingerless Mitts by SmarieK in Plymouth Yarn Happy Feet (multi) and Reynolds Soft Sea Wool (edges)

Madelinetosh Tea Leaves Cardigan by Melissa LaBarre in Madelinetosh Tosh DK, Tart
Ida’s Kitchen hat by Kirsten Kapur in Madelinetosh Tosh Sport, various colors

Valley Yarns Loire Cardigan by Kirsten Hipsky in Valley Yarns Northampton Bulky, Gold Heather
Scalene shawl by Carina Spencer in Plucky Knitter Primo Fingering (green) and Plucky Knitter Superwash Merino (grey)

Valley Yarns Little Whiskers Hat by Kirsten Hipsky in Valley Yarns Greenwich, 04 Crimson & 15 Silver

Bella’s Mittens by Marielle Henault in Berroco Vintage Chunky, Fennel

Paulie cardigan by Isabell Kraemer in Plucky Knitter Primo Fingering, Bourbon & Headboard

Shetland Trader Vaila pullover by Gudrun Johnston in Madelinetosh 80/10/10 Worsted, Flashdance

Did we miss anything? Let us know in the comments if there’s anything else you saw in the video that you’ve got to know what it is.

Happy Knitting!

-Dena

I dread to bring up the inevitable. “It’s barely Halloween,” I hear people say. But then again, the seasoned knitter starts when the weather is warm. Customers vow each year to start in January, and I wonder, does anyone ever really do this? I’ve been trying to sidestep the hand crafted gift giving because it quickly spirals into fantasy regarding what can be done in a certain period of time.

I wonder sometimes if all this work is worth it. It’s doubtful that my brother will ever wear the cabled scarf I spent countless hours making him. My father will likely lose the hat I made, so I can make the same blaze orange hunting hat year after year. My mother will just add to the pile of special knits that are too nice to wear. Thankfully my sister wears the stitches out of everything I knit for her, but she’s always easy to give to.  Family knitting is truly selfless knitting.

Despite my misgivings, as time approaches my thoughts return to gift knitting. It’s almost impossible to resist the handmade gift. What better way to show love? Or strike envy into the hearts of non-knitters at our skill? (Or so I imagine).  So my next challenge is to come up with a good “assembly line” gift. One I can plug out in a relatively short period of time and just keep running full speed until I’m done.

One year I made miniature stocking ornaments, which were well received. The new book 55 Christmas Balls to Knit, by Arne and Carlos, has me considering this again. There’s more to this book than you might imagine with ample opportunity to mix and match themes. I could make a strangely large amount with the new Cascade 220 Fingering or Rowan Fine Tweed!

Felted slippers are another good contender. Although I’m leaning towards knitted slippers like Prairie Boots by Cocoknits to give my washing machine a rest. Northampton Bulky, anyone?

I can also see making a variety of hats, each to fit the style of the recipient. With the brand spanking new Weekend Hats this is bound to be a hit. This book is the newest volume edited by Melissa Labarre and Cecily Macdonald.

So many lovely publications this fall my head is spinning with ideas! What are your plans for holiday crafting?

Cara

Occasionally–ok, often– a project comes along from our fellow employees that deserve a little praise. This week a couple of things have passed around the store for fondling.

Theresa in customer service has been knitting a pair of mittens that has elicited a multitude of gasps…and a mad dash to our Ravelry queues.

Fiddle Head Mittens by Adrian Bazilia (a.k.a. Hello Yarn)

Main Color: Berroco Ultra Alpaca Fine Color# 1207

Contrasting Color: Noro Silk Garden Sock , Miscellaneous discontinued color, although any would be lovely

Lining: Rowan Kidsilk Haze Color # 597

A few of us kept this at our desk for prolonged periods while we warmed one hand (the 2^nd is yet to be knit). The lining is achingly soft and the colorwork is mesmerizing.

Debby, an associate in the store, has many talents under her belt: knitter, weaver and now needle felter! It may be a new hobby for her, but you’d never know it. Look at this intricate doll she just whipped up. I’m impressed! (You may not be able to tell in the photo but her hair is actually braided). This doll is made from our Harrisville Dyed Fleece and modeled after the Gnome Girl in Wool Pets by Laurie Sharp

Awesome job ladies!

Cara

Some of you who have been shopping yarn.com in the past week have already discovered that we’ve added a new In-Store Pickup shipping option. Now you can place an order online and we’ll have it waiting for you to pickup in the store. When you get to the shipping tab during online checkout, you’ll see In-Store Pickup as the last shipping method listed. If you select that option, you’ll notice the estimated shipping will drop to $0.00.

Here are a few guidelines to be aware of if you’re choosing the In-Store Pickup option:

• Please allow 24-36 hours from the time you place the order to be completed and ready for pickup. Orders placed on Friday, Saturday and Sunday will be processed on Monday. When your order is processed and ready to pick up, you will receive a confirmation email.
• If you call to make a change to your order, it may delay when your order is ready for pickup.
• As with all orders placed online, your order will be charged when it is filled. A complete invoice will accompany your purchase.
• Occasionally we will be unable to fill your order with a single dyelot. We will contact you if we have a mixed lot and inform you of the options for completing your order.
• If an item is backordered, we will pick and charge what we have in stock and contact you when the backordered items arrive. If the item is sold out, we will pick the rest of the order and contact you for substitutions.
• If you want to do more shopping when you come in to pickup your order, we will add any discounts to your in-store purchase that may apply.

We hope that you enjoy having this as another option when shopping at WEBS. Leave any questions you may have in the comments.

Happy Shopping!

Dena

Some of you may have noticed that we’ve recently upgraded our product review system on our website to PowerReviews. In the past, customers could give a product a star rating and write a review. But with PowerReviews, customers can now provide more information with their reviews. Plus there are some nice features that allow customers to get a quick summary of all the reviews of a product to help them with their shopping decisions.

Here are some PowerReviews highlights to look for while shopping on our website.

Product Browse Star Ratings

When you’re browsing through our categories, you’ll find the average star rating for each product. If you see a product with 0.0 star ratings, no reviews have been written yet for that product.

Facebook Like Button

If you like a product and want to share that with your friends and family on Facebook, click the Facebook Like button to spread the word. A link will appear in your Facebook newsfeed saying that you like it.

Review Snapshot

Some products will have a Review Snapshot which will summarize the Pros, Cons, Best Uses, and other information of the reviews written for that product. This is a great way to see quickly what others are saying about the product. As more and more reviews are written in PowerReviews, you’ll see more of these Review Snapshots showing up for our products.

Review Faceoff

When a review has at least 10 reviews written, you see a Review Faceoff. This will show you the most liked positive review vs. the most liked negative review.

Write a Review

The best part about PowerReviews is that you can include a lot more information with your review.

• Who’s writing the review? – Look for review badges such as Verified Reviewer and Staff Reviewer. Also you can find more information about who’s writing the review such as ‘beginning knitter’ or ‘Malabrigo junkie’.
• Pros, Cons, and Best Uses – Pick from commonly used attributes or add your own.
• Recommend Accessories – List other products you’d recommend to use with the product, such as a good yarn for a pattern.
• Add Photos or Video – You can even upload photos or a video with your review. This is a perfect opportunity to include a photo of your finished project. We love to see your work!
• Service Comments – You can leave service comments separately from your product comments. Maybe you love the yarn you just got, but there was an issue with shipping.

Chime in on Other’s Reviews

If you read a review that was particularly helpful or not, you can click on the Yes or No at the end of the review. Also, you now have the option of commenting on a review by clicking on the Facebook Comment link at the bottom of the review.

We hope you enjoy this upgrade to PowerReviews. Let us know what you think in the comments. Do you read reviews when shopping online? What do you find helpful in a review? We encourage all reviews, the good, the bad, and everything in between. A negative review of yarn because it’s scratchy may be just the rustic yarn someone else is looking for. Thanks to all of you who have already left reviews on our site. We truly value them.

Dena

All through the summer we have been hosting some lovely trunk shows here at the store!  And our latest one is from the pattern company C2Knits.  I was very excited to get this pattern line when our representative showed them to me.  What caught my eye was a couple of things.  One being that the pattern names are named after dogs, she had me at named after dogs!  Which they so kindly put a picture of the dog on the back of the pattern.  The other being that they take the time to list many different yarn options for those of us that may be unsure what to use.  And to top all of that, for those that prefer top down knits, these will be right up your alley!

Everytime we get a trunk show in, we have so much fun opening up the box and seeing what goodies await us inside.  And we of course are more than happy to try a few on!

So here are a couple we chose to share with you!  First up is the pattern “Greta” and we just had to have sales associate “Greta” be the one to model it for us.  The pleating around the neck and around the buttons that are on the sleeves are quite a nice touch as well as the bottom half waist!

Next up we have Heidi, and Grace both modeling “Bella Hoodie“ .  This sweater is so cozy!  I love the zipper for a closure.

And here is Lindsey our photographer, it took some persuading to get her on the other side of the lens!  Thanks Lindsey for indulging us!  This fun little top is “Gidget”

And with it being Friday, who better to model  “Sedona“, than our Friday gal, Dori!  This vest looks great on her!

So, if you are in our area over the next week, why not stop by to see what else we have in this trunk show!  We will have it in the store through August 6th.  These patterns are available in the store and as a pdf purchase on our website!  Enjoy!