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Guest: Kathy and Norah talk about the new book from the Berroco design team: Comfort Knitting and Crochet: Babies and Toddlers. With 50 designs there’s something for every skill set and design aesthetic.

The Snowflake Blanket, on page 25, one of Kathy’s favorite patterns from this book.

This is the perfect follow-up companion to their first collection: Comfort Knitting and Crochet: Afghans

Steve’s Yarn Picks:

• Madeline Tosh Pashmina Worsted
• Juniper Moon Herriot
• Noro Kirara
• Online SuperSocke Sock Grab Bags – Actual Socks!
• Opal Antonia Hand Dyes Closeout
• Opal Rainforest #7 Closeout
• Opal Sport 2 Closeout
• Opal Schafpate 3 Closeout
• Plymouth Encore Discontinued colors
• K1C2 PJ’s Closeout
• K1C2 Fleece Closeout

There is all sorts of stuff happening and new products arriving faster than I can photograph them and get them up here. I’m going to get right to things.

First up, we are thrilled to introduce five brand spanking new colors from Fiesta Yarns. What makes these extra special? They are exclusive to WEBS! Woohoo! Here they are in Baby Boom, a personal fave:

The color names are (from left to right) – Chesapeake, PB&J, Autumn Lace,Sangria Swirl, and Mulberry Tree. These colors will also be available in other Fiesta yarns and stay tuned for more collaborations with Fiesta!

A big thanks to everyone who joined us on Friday evening for our event with Louisa Harding. What great fun we had! Unfortunately, I left my camera sitting on the desk of my home office, but luckily Skrillaknits was armed and at the ready. I’ll posting pictures shortly, but did not want to let too much time pass before posting.

We’ve also introduced a new Valley Yarn – Springfield. It was in our Spring catalog and we’re working on a couple of patterns to support this great new yarn. Springfield is 88% cotton/12% acrylic and has a textured “crimp” to it. It’s super soft and knits at 5 sts = 1″ on a #6 needle and has 110 yards. Springfield is available in 11 colors and is $3.49/ball – oh and it’s made in Italy.

The focus of our world right now is Stephanie Pearl-McPhee’s return to WEBS this Sunday, April 27th. Full details of the event are now available at www.yarn.com. Just click on the button on our homepage for all of the details. It is going to be a great day!

Kathy

The Yarn Harlot
April 27th (it’s a Sunday)
2pm
The Calvin Theater
Book Signing and other festivities at WEBS (probably stuff before and after the Calvin)
FREE – but we need you to register (which is now live!).

Stayed tune for LOTS more info on parking, the festivities, etc.

NOTE: IF YOU ARE REGISTERING A GROUP, WE’LL NEED EVERYONE’S NAME AND EMAIL!!!

We are so excited!!! It’s going to be a blast!

Kathy

I’ve got a whole hodge podge of things to get to and time is short.

I leave for Stitches in the a.m. and to say I am unprepared would be, well. . . an understatement. I have no idea how it got to be October 9th. Seriously. I am still somewhere in early August. I haven’t even made it to Stitches Midwest yet, but the calendar says October and my calendar says I’m to go to the airport tomorrow to fly to Baltimore for East. Okay, I’ll do as the calendar says, but I swear, it’s truly only early August.

So first, I must post, Pixie’s finished Duster (cue the trumpets, please):

It is “dahling” as I would say with my Boston accent, which I don’t let out very often, but every now and again Really, it is exquisite – for all of the ribbing we give Pixie for her pickiness about which increases to use, which seaming technique is best, well, the garment speaks for itself and her skills. I know you can’t see the detail and I’m sorry I didn’t take close-ups of some of the points she’s made in the podcast. Remember that speed/calendar problem I’m dealing with? I’ll see what I can do when I get back. For those of you coming to Baltimore, it will be there, on display. Come see it, try it on, fall in love with the Tilted Duster. Mine is coming too! It’s just not quite as, how can I say this. . . finished?? Yeah, that’s it. But it’s coming along. Anyone interested, just ask Remember, if I can make this, so can you! We’ll have lots of Peruvia on hand or our Berkshire if you want to substitute.

On the podcast today (which we recorded without Steve which was another totally weird part of today. Seriously, my timing was completely off, I felt completely out of sorts, it was just plain weird. Never again.) Pixie discussed the shoulder seaming and her preferred technique (okay, let’s all quietly giggle at Pixie and her “preferred/better than the rest way” but we must all acknowledge that darn it, she’s right). Here is the the two swatches she references:

So listen on Saturday or download the episode when you can (available also Saturday) and you now have the visual to go with it.

Okay, now it’s time for some yarn love. Alpaca Sox from Classic Elite came in during the deluge and although we talked about it on the show, I never quite got it on the blog. So here it is:

Love this yarn. Now, it’s not machine washable and I know this will be an issue for some of you. I get it. But the yarn is yummy, the colors outstanding. Here are my two favorite:

And yes, I did write down what they were when I took this picture last week and do you think that scrap of paper is anywhere to be found? Oh, we’ve got a winner folks! Gold Star to the reader from Oregon who just blurted out “Heck no, you are in some weird time warp, you are trying to get out of town, your behind schedule, the kids are cranky because you are leaving again and not being very cooperative and that piece of paper is NOWHERE TO BE FOUND”. The reader is correct and I am sorry. I will try to figure it out and edit somewhere down the road. (NOTE: Betsy, et al at Classic Elite, if you can add a comment with the colors, I will be forever indebted).

So, here it is, 7:15pm. I’m blogging and trying to get the boys ready for bed and get their KBAR done (Kick Back And Read), which I have asked Jackson to handle and read to Jonathan to kill two birds with one stone and I’ve got laundry going which I pray is almost dry or else, well, someone in this family is going to be short some important garments in the next few days and I have sweater models that HAVE TO FIT IN MY SUITCASE which I am not at all confident is going to happen, even if I do only bring two pairs of pants for the entire show, which is so completely not how I pack, but I digress. It’s 7:15 and the phone rings – the forward progess of all of the above comes to a halt. I go to get the phone and think “If this is Steve calling to check in, during what he KNOWS is the insane time of the day on a regular day, much less a day when we’re down to one parent who has to travel in the a.m., I swear I’m going to snap. I pick up the phone and on the other end I hear “Hi Honey, how’s it going?” All cheerful and kid free and adult-dinnered and probably adult-beveraged with no laundry worries or packing issues or anything. Yup, it’s Steve. I ask if his watch is broken or lost, he says no. I ask if he went somewhere else besides Baltimore that included a time change and he again says no. I then say “I’ll call you back”. He’s not happy but since he is getting adult-dinnered and beveraged, I trump him.

So, the only other quirky part of the day happend about 15 minutes before I was leaving to record said show “alone” with Pixie. My office phone rings and I answer “Hi, this is Kathy” and on the other end of the phone a voice, a familiar voice, says “Hi, it’s Stephanie. Please don’t fling yourself off the roof of your building because I haven’t receive my yarn”. Now, there was more to it than that, but you get the gist. Guesses, guesses, any guesses? It was the Harlot, who is oh so patiently waiting for an order (not just any order, but you’ll need to keep up with her blog for all of the details on that – I’m short on time, remember?) that still has not arrived. Seriously, I can get yarn to the lovely Amanda and Sasha in Australia faster than I can get it to Toronto. I posted on her blog about the flinging myself off our building and skipping Stitches to drive the yarn to her. She was kind enough to call and tell me not to waste my time, not because she didn’t appreciate my valiant efforts but, any ideas why she would take the time to do this? How’s about because she’s a nice person? Well, she is very nice, but no, that was not the reason. Maybe she decided she doesn’t really like the yarn but will accept the order when it arrives? Nope, not that. Still in lust with the yarn. No, she was nice enough to call and tell me this: we (WEBS) simply do not have any more of the yarn. It’s gone. All gone. So, if the package, two weeks in transit does not arrive (note: she says this amount of time is still reasonable for US/Canada deliveries), the package containing her “reward yarn” for finishing her book, I cannot do a thing to fix it. There is no more yarn. Yeah, I’m so stoked at this point in the conversation I can barely stand it. Now, later in the day, I think I was thrown a life preserver, but I’m keeping that under wraps until I truly need it. You know who you are – for your safety and my sanity, please stay quiet

Okay, that’s it. KBAR is over. Steve deserves to say goodnight to his boys so I need to call him back and I need to put in the links, add the pics, finish the laundry, pack and get out of Dodge. See you all in Baltimore.
Kathy

P.S. It’s 8pm, later than usual for bedtime, but they’re done, this post is about to be posted, Steve and the boys connected and I THINK my laundry is dry. Woohoo!

The last six days have been nothing short of insane. After wrapping up the Harlot event last Wednesday night, Steve and I left on Thursday to attend our bi-annual industry market in Columbus, known as TNNA (The National Needlearts Association). We arrived home this morning and boy oh boy, do I have a lot to talk about. I think for today, let’s just get through The Yarn Harlot’s visit to WEBS.

It was simply – AWESOME!

Now, I am not one to brag, but last Wednesday just blew me away on so many levels, I am not sure I will even be able to accurately convey it all to you. It was pure electricity from start to finish. Except for the ache-y, burn-y sensation in the pit of my stomach. I was so stressed out about having to go out on the stage at the Calvin for our little intro, it was nearly making me sick. I felt very reassured when Stephanie and Jayme showed up just after lunch and Stephanie confessed she too had the same exact feeling in her stomach.

We took Stephanie on a quick tour of the warehouse, under the pretense of showing her where the sock yarn was. In all honesty, we had a surprise waiting for her. Steve took her out and I lagged behind with Jayme and told her what was about to happen. Set up next to the sock yarn was “a nest of silk and mohair in colors of green and gold”. This was the wish that Stephanie posted on her blog after her last visit. So a bunch of us on the staff each made a square and the faboo Melissa assembled them into this gorgeous blanket:

Stephanie’s quote was “there I was in the WEBS warehouse and the only thing I saw was this beautiful blanket”. I think she really liked it and we sent it home with her. Hopefully it will keep her snuggled and cuddle during the long winters while she knits.

We left to go record the radio show, which I enjoy doing. It definitely relaxed me and we had a great time with Stephanie. If you haven’t listened, you can click here to get the download.

That second photo is Jayme-the-wonder-publicist. She worked on her sock throughout the day. She had great first sock mojo going. She was even still plugging away at nearly midnight as we sat and ate dinner after the event. She is a better woman than I.

After that, it was back to the store to get some books presigned, let the staff get theirs signed and then the serious tour of the warehouse and store courtesy of Steve. During all of this, the place was really starting to fill up and the vibe was awesome. We hung the banner for NYC right over the registers – it looked faboo. Thanks Guido! We missed you!

Throughout the day, we continued to increase our staff in order to be sure we could handle the crowds. Truthfully, Steve and I were scared to death!

Then, it was time to head to the Calvin. We got there about two hours before to get set up and I needed time to become one with the space. I’ve been to events at the Calvin, but I’ve never been on the otherside. Walking on the stage the first time and looking out into the theater of empty seats was incredible. And I realized not nearly as scary as I thought it would be!

Funny thing – as we drove past the Calvin to park, there were two knitters already sitting out front, waiting for the doors to open:

Events like this are like planning a party – you always have that slight fear that nobody will come. I could have hugged those two ladies – which had morphed into four by the time I parked and got out there with my camera. That was definitely a sign of things to come.

The time came and we opened the doors and in came hordes of people!!!

Next thing I know there’s a photographer there from the local paper saying that he got a call that there’s a large group outside of the Calvin and he was sent over to see what was happening. He didn’t seem very impressed, but I must have misjudged him. A little while later, the lovely Victoria came over to interview Steve and I and Stephanie. She ended up staying for the entire event and even came back to the store. There was an incredible article in the paper on Friday – front page and everything!

Stephanie just rocked the house. When Steve and I introduced her and brought her out on stage, the place went crazy! It was seriously like being at a rock concert.

Everyone was cheering, flashbulbs were flashing throughout the audience. It was magical.

I was so relieved that everything was going according to plan, Steve and I went back to the bar area, ordered a beer and downed it faster than I can ever remember drinking a beer.

Speaking of beer, check out this clip posted on Youtube:

http://www.technorati.com/videos/youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3D6j_Zbnp-nu4

In no time it was over and we were on our way back to WEBS. Oh, before I get to that, I have to tell you another funny. Stephanie and Jayme were due at the Calvin around 5. It was starting to get late and no Stephanie. I call them only to tell me that they ARE at the Calvin, just in the basement. Does anyone see the connection (read previous post if necessary)? They were dead serious – that’s where the “green room” was. I was so freaked out I made them come up stairs and sit behind stage, where it was too dark to knit and it was cramped, but the basement thing was more than I could handle and it was messing with my event mojo. Sorry Steph, but thank you for being accomodating.

The store was like a carnival – seriously. Just like Rio in the summer. Although we cooled the space, it was still over 85 outside and the warehouse does not have modern climate control. So needless to say, it was HOT! Steve moved fans to the warehouse and the store staff started handing out waters. Nobody seemed to mind, but we were a bit stressed. Everyone was more than understanding.

So many of our regular customers were there, so many new and first time visitors. We saw Jessica from Ravelry (you must check it out), Amy from Knittinghelp.com (go there too) and Peta Bailey and her Yarn Safaris Group. I honestly couldn’t keep it all straight.

The last knitter finally left at about 10:45:

We collected over 100 hats:

Tons of squares:

Please knit 7″x7″ – no worries. We are nothing, if we aren’t consistent.

And lots of food:

This is only a fraction of what we collected. You all are amazing.

Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who came, made a donation of any kind and made this one of the best events EVER. Really. I once did an event at a Nordstrom with Tyra Banks, back in the day, during her supermodel era. We had more people for Harlot, than I did at that even for Tyra. Harlot beats Tyra. I love that. All things are right with the world.

And I would be remiss if I didn’t mention our amazing staff. Seriously. I”ll put my staff up against other staff, anytime, anywhere. Thanks to everyone who worked, you made the night back at the store so enjoyable and did it with a smile, even after many of you had been working for 12+ hours. Steve and could never do this without you nor would we want to. Thanks for taking this crazy ride with us!

Tomorrow I’ll catch you up on TNNA and all of the awesome things we saw and I’ll try to share some of the craziness of the weekend. You may not believe some of it – it’s pretty far out, but I swear it’s all true.

Kathy

Something most people don’t know about me is I don’t sleep soundly most nights. I often have a 2 or 3 a.m. staff meeting with myself. I rarely get up, I sometimes jot down a note, but mostly I lay in my bed quietly just letting my brain process all of the things that don’t get processed during the day. I often have very good ideas at this time of night, I sometimes remember things I forgot to do. These meetings usually last about an hour then I fall back to sleep. I’ll go through spurts where I’ll wake up at exactly the same time, give or take a minute or two, for several nights in a row. Seriously, 2:19a.m. for 4-5 nights straight is not uncommon.

But I rarely dream. Nightmares are truly scarce.

But not last night.

Last night I had a nightmare. I dreamt I was on the Mass Pike in car in a thunderstorm, going to the Harlot event. Which was being held at my mother’s house. Now mind you, my mother is two hours away and lives in very small house. Next, I am in the dark, dank, icky basement with Stephanie. We are talking, waiting to go upstairs to give her speech. Many of our regulars are in my mom’s kitchen. We are in the basement for a very long time. I look at my watch and realize the time is wrong – not sure if I had the watch on wrong or if it stopped. I go upstairs and everyone is gone. I go back to the basement and tell Stephanie that everyone is gone and it’s really 10:15p.m. We decide to drive back to WEBS to see if we can find anyone. Then I wake up – sick to my stomach.

I then proceed to conduct a 1 1/2 hour staff meeting with myself, going over all of the details for today, checking and rechecking my mental lists.

So, in case anyone is confused – the event is at The Calvin Theater here in Northampton. Not at my mom’s house.

Kathy