Threaded Bliss

I'm really excited!

My best pal from law school, Jackie, turned 33 on Tuesday and opened her own LYS, Purls of Yarn in Pleasantville, NY.  I'm so thrilled for her and it's really fun since I know exactly the elation she's feeling and how surreal it seems.  This entire experience (watching Jackie do what I did) has helped me totally relive what I did.  We both own our own yarn stores!  WOW WOW WOW.  We may both have more guts than brains for dropping steady paychecks in good careers for entrepreneurship, but I bet we're both happier than we'd ever have been if we'd stayed on our respective legal courses.  Anyway, check out Jackie's blog - her shop is beautiful and her enthusiasm is contagious.

I'm also very excited for another friend of mine.  My friend who has spent the past 7 months fighting breast cancer has apparently won the war.  She had another surgery on Tuesday and yesterday we learned that all her pathology was CLEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Talk about excited - this news brought out the biggest sigh of relief I've ever experienced.  This ordeal, including the birth of a preemie daughter in the midst of everything else, has really been very frightening at times.  My friend is young, was otherwise totally healthy, was a relative newlywed, and was pregnant when diagnosed. That the very best and very worst times in her life overlapped so much always troubled me.  I could never really wrap my mind around that reality.  But hey - SHE BEAT THE CANCER, is happier than she's ever been, is married to a man who would walk barefoot to the ends of the earth for her, has the most beautiful, healthy and special little girl and has transitioned from type A to type B (in her words!).

But wait...there's MORE!  I'm excited about Threaded Bliss Yarns, my yarn shop that I own.  Last Sunday was our 10 month anniversary.  We've almost finished the "dreaded first year" and we're still here, still doing great and still loving it (even when it may seem to suck!)  I've said it a million times and I will certainly say it at least a gazillion times more - I have the greatest yarn store staff in the universe.  David, Elizabeth, Tyna, Tracie, Jamie, Beckie, Sue and Emily are literally g-dsends to me and we wouldn't be the awesome shop we are without these fantastic folks.  We are all lucky to have them and I can never thank them enough, so help me, will ya?   When you see them next time, let them all know how great they are!

I'm excited to know all the fantastic people I've come to know who I met when they came to buy yarn.  Again, WOW.  People who love yarn ROCK. And people who live in Nashville, Brentwood or elsewhere in the southeast, are the friendliest people anywhere -if they happen to love yarn too, then it's over-the-top friendly (in a good way) and that is awesome.  One of the primary reasons I wanted to open my own yarn shop was because I recognized that knitters and crocheters are a community just looking for a home.  Threaded Bliss Yarns has become that "community center for those who love fiber" of which I always dreamed. 

Our amazing Stitch and Bitch get-togethers on Thursday nights and Sunday afternoons never cease to leave me with a satisfied smile on my face on the drive home.  Unlike a lot of yarn stores I've been in around the country, when a new person comes into Threaded Bliss, rather than just staring at them, the others in the shop who are hanging out are there with the staff to welcome the newbie and make them feel both comfortable and part of the "group" so to speak.  Exactly as I pictured it, there is NOTHING intimidating about Threaded Bliss.  It warms my heart when I see a regular customer jumping in to help a new customer and/or new knitter with a problem.  So, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you to all of you who are clients and help make the shop the warm, inviting place that it has become.

I'm excited about Alison Hansel's neat pattern from Magknits.com, Nothing But A Tee Shirt.  I'd been thinking about what to knit out of Rowan Calmer when I remembered seeing this pattern.  I. Am. Loving. This.  The yarn is TO DIE FOR and the pattern is cute (though I changed it a bit to fit me better).  I've finished the back (only took a few days) and am now on the front.  I hope to be wearing this next week!  Pictures later, okay?  In the meantime, check out Alison's blog, it's a good one and you can find it here.

KNITTING FOR NEWBORNS

Allison Barnett is, simply put, a remarkable young woman.  Several months ago, she and her mom Kathy (also wonderful!) came into the shop and took a knitting lesson.  These two took to knitting like a fish to water and have become wonderful additions to our Threaded Bliss community.

Well, Allison has adopted a cause very close to our hearts here at the shop...the Knitting For Newborns program benefiting Nashville General Hospital.  Another member of the ever-growing Threaded Bliss community, Jan Hepburn, started this program and had this to say in her church's newsletter about her visit to the hospital last month:

"The staff was so grateful to those of Hillsboro [Presbyterian] and Threaded Bliss who have knitted and crocheted baby items for the Stitches for Babies Mission to Metro.  The nursery nurses told us that most of the parents have nothing pretty to give to their babies and now they do.  ...  The work you are doing is so important to those parents and to the staff who serve them."

Metro General Hospital receives the least amount of community support and is the one local hospital that needs it most as many of the patients there have very little.  For that reason, we all feel strongly that it is our responsibility to use a craft we love for the benefit of those less fortunate.

Allison is leading a month-long charity knitting drive for this great cause and hopes to receive her Girl Scout Gold Award through this endeavor.

Today, is the KICKOFF PARTY at the shop from 2-6:00pm.  There will be refreshments and door prizes.  We have free knit and crochet patterns to help and when you bring your finished items back to the shop, you'll receive a coupon for 10% off your next purchase.

At the end of the month (May 28th) we'll be hosting an End Of Project party and there will be prizes for those who made the most items in the month.

Allison can be reached at allison.barnettATgmailDOTcom.  (To those who don't understand that email addy, just replace the AT with @ and the DOT with .  This will prevent Allison from getting spammed!)

Please support Allison, Jan and this worthy cause.

Thanks!

It's THURSDAY!

It's the south's best Stitch 'N Bitch.

It's COOL.

It's HIP.

It's FUN FUN FUN.

It's the place to be on Thursday nights.

It starts at 4:00 p.m.

It ends at 8:00 p.m.

Be there...

or....

be square!

(feel free to groan now, I'm used to it!!!)

Phew...Secret No More.

Check THIS out.  My pals Ann and Kay have written a BOOK and it's getting published and I've known this for so long and haven't told a soul.  Phew.  That was hard, especially since I am so very excited for both of them and just know this book will be a winner.  Congrats guys!!!  I've actually known Ann for many, many years (we went to high school together) and through her have also met Kay, albeit briefly.  Such a great thing as this couldn't happen to two more deserving folks.

On the knitting front, I finished my latest project.  In fact, I finished it twice.  Meet the Easy Lace Poncho.  Pattern by Knitting Pure and Simple.  Yarn is Willow by Tahki and is 66% Linen, 34% Cotton.  I used color 5010, Lavender Mist.  This took absolutely no time to knit.  Like I said, I did it two times in a week.  The first time, as I was weaving in the last end, I saw a stitch dropped from the last row all the way up through the lace pattern to the neck!  It had been a while since I had to frog an entire project but this time at least I didn't have a lot of knitting hours invested in it.  I chose to knit this pattern since lots of our customers have been expressing in an interest in knitting lace and I was looking for the best first lace project I could find.  Well, search over.  To the locals - let me know if you want a class in this project. 

But look, I added a cord through the top row of eyelets and now...it's a skirt!

Or a maternity top (not that I'll ever need one of those!)...

So, it was a silly day at the shop today.  Those are always fun and do happen at Threaded Bliss frequently.

Onto a different topic:

This is Rudybear:

This is Rudybear on Puppy Prozac...

Supposedly, this should help cure Rudy of his incredible separation anxiety.  I've always said he's perfect as long as he knows where I am.  If I am out of his sight on the other side of a door (even a glass one), he used to go ballistic.  He'd bark, pace, panic, slobber and has even hyperventilated.  To some extent it seems to be working already though it has made him rather lethargic.  The entire process is a six month thing.   The drugs stop the panic mode and when he's not panicing he'll finally be able to learn that every time I leave, I come back.  Of course, I felt so guilty about doing this to him that we left the vet and took a guilt trip down the aisle of Petsmart!  If he showed any interest in something, I bought it for him!  Nah, he's not spoiled!?!?!

I'll keep you all posted on the Puppy Prozac Chronicles and wish us luck.  I hope this works and doesn't have bad side effects.  One side effect of the drug, I hear, is great for most dogs...it seems to make them learn better.  Of course, when you've got a dog as unbelievably smart as this one, that could be a bad thing.  Well, maybe not if I can teach him to do the bookkeeping!

Hope everyone is having a great spring week and enjoying the weather and blooms.

Thanks for stopping by!

I'm Back!

Although truly and deeply exhausted, I am feeling better and have faith that the end of this very curvy tunnel has got to be around the next bend!  If, by chance, it isn't, then the end will be around the next one.

I have said it before and I'll say it again, I am absolutely blessed by the staff at Threaded Bliss Yarns.  I've no idea why I've been so lucky but I will be eternally grateful to David, Elizabeth, Tyna, Jamie, Beckie, Tracey, Sue and Emily.  Please join me in a well-deserved round of applause for these very fine folks.

On the knitting front, I finally finished something (well, something other than the lace poncho I am making out of Tahki Willow which I had to completely frog when I went to weave in my very last end and realized I dropped a stitch during bind off and it ran through the lace all the way to the neck!!!).  Presenting, the Flat Bottom Deco-Riboon Handbag using Crystal Palace yarn and pattern.  The pattern's free and can be found here.  I modified it a bit to knit the bag at a tighter gauge by adding ten stitches and going down to a size 7 needle.

Here's a close-up of the seed stitch.

About this yarn - WOW, what a pleasant suprise.  It's really soft and smooth and knits beautifully.  I'm now thinking of some sort of summer sweater out of this since it would feel great to wear.

If it's spring, it must be forsythia. I've always loved that plant and pass this on my way to work.  Sniff, sneeze, cough, Aaaaachoooo!  Ah, allergies.

Here's Leah and her Lovely Lost Points Shawl from Southwest Trading Company.  This photo really doesn't do the work justice so take my word for it - it is BEAUTIFUL.  The kit uses Bamboo and Melody (SWTC's railroad yarn).  If you don't know Leah, then I have to tell you that she is a great knitter and wonderful person too!

As always, I have new pictures of Rudy.  Don't you all agree that every yarn shop dog should have his own flock of sheep, especially one that's mostly Border Collie?  I do and here's Rudy tending to his growing flock.

Last, but never least, here's the Rude-Dude with his new bestest friend, George.  George belongs to Jan, the woman whose face in this picture shows just how thrilled she is at this budding relationship!  I've held onto this photo for a week and after last night and many encores of this performance, I couldn't resist any longer!

Thanks for stopping by and reading this.

Life's a stitch at the knitting circle

Life's a stitch at the knitting circle - Tuesday, 04/12/05.

More press . . . I'm quoted at the end and one of our customers who we LOVE was quoted in the middle. Thanks JP!

I Apologize For The Unscheduled Delay of New Posts

Stuff has been going on around me outside of the store so I've not had much time nor any inclination to post lately.  I'll be back soon, that I can promise you.  Until then, knit on!

More New Yarn

New on the shelves this week: more Rowan colors in All Seasons Cotton (yum), Handknit Cotton (yummier) and Cotton Braid.  We checked in two big boxes of Tahki/Stacey Charles spring yarns yesterday.  We have Willow (beautiful linen blend), Poppy (like Plymouth Frou Frou but in different colors), Lucky (I admit, I can't remember what Lucky is since I'm still at home and totally exhausted!), Zarella baby (if you like Zara and heaven knows we LOVE it at the shop, then Zarella is going to become your fave new baby yarn!), colorful Timo riboon and awesome Victoria and Victoria Print.  We also got a bunch of the new pattern books too.

Plymouth Yarns for Spring have also found their places on the shelves.  We have new colors of Eros plus their new Eros Extreme - basically Eros on serious steriods!  There's also more Fiddle Dee Dee and patterns for great baby items both knit and crochet using this yarn.   There's also more Athena and Frou Frou, lots and lots of patterns and the new yarns Jungle and Elegante.

We have tons more brass copper (oops) stitch markers from Tracey.  This batch is beautiful with a great selection of different beads.  Have I mentioned how much I LOVE LOVE LOVE using these stitch markers?  See them on my Clapotis in progress here.

Don't forget, today's Thursday and that means the Best Stitch 'N Bitch in the land takes place at the shop today from 4-8:00 pm.  We hope you can join the fun!

Here's wishing everyone a great day.  Thanks for stopping by the blog.

Spring Is Springing

I'd say it's sprung except that I froze yesterday! 

Things at the shop are going well and even the f.b. mess is sort of looking better.  Every day I think I've found the worst thing only to be proven wrong the next day!  Still, all things considered, 'It's All Good.' 

That Elizabeth A. (not the Elizabeth K. who works at TBY) came up from Huntsville to see us laden with chocolates from what must be one of the best chocolate shops around made our day yesterday.  THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU Elizabeth.  It was great seeing you and mmmmmmmmmmmmm to those chocolates!  Note the Stars of David chocolates she found since I don't really get to do Easter!

What would Spring be without Daisies?  Far less colorful for one thing.  We are all LOVING these great needles from Crystal Palace.

Blissful Bear Designs has Spring fever too.  Check out our latest - the Fun Frisky Soft Spring Capelet (sorry we'll block it tonight!).  Reynold's Frisky is great to work with, drapes suprisingly well and feels great on the skin.

It may be Brown Sheep Burly Spun but even the wool is feeling Springy these days.  We got more colors of this great yarn.  I'm thinking a felted rug using these very colors.  What do you think?

Sigh...I am finally feeling almost complete (though what's making me feel that way is far, far from complete...go figure!).  Behold the Great and Growing Wall of Rowan (presently sharing the space with our fave Cascade 220).  That I've had my own yarn shop for 9 months without my favorite yarn is just not natural!  Many more colors of what is here and many more yarns are on their way.  Come Fall, we should have almost the entire line!!!!!!!!!

 

The Southwest comes to the Southeast with Bamboo and Beyond (cotton) yarns from Southwest Trading Company.  The Bamboo yarn is simply Beyond words (go ahead, GROAN outloud - you know you want to!)  The two middle shelves hold these treasures.  On top are Yin and Yang - great colors, great hand and I'm seeing light, open, airy bathing suit cover-ups and warm weather wraps.  Oh, if only there were more time to knit in each day.  The bottom holds some newly delivered colors of Lamb's Pride Bulky.  Brown Sheep is using a new kind of label on the LP Bulky and all hope that this will streamline their manufacturing process and speed up delivery.  Won't that be nice?

This is my Nana crocheting behind her store (more general store than yarn shop!).  My Aunt gave me this picture and I love seeing it during the day when I am working.  I come from a lineage of retailers.  In fact, the procession from the synagoge to the cemetary for my Nana's funeral drove past this very store so that when she saw my Pa Hymie again, she'd just apologize for being late but explain that she had to "stop by the store."  A few years ago, that very building burned down.  End of an era if you ask me.

You all know by now that we at Threaded Bliss will never miss an opportunity to support the fight against breast cancer.  Ashland Sky's pink trimmed Knit Stick Sacks are another part of our effort to help fight this prevelant menace.  Not only do these sacks do charitable good, they are wicked practical too!  I love my circular holder and have filled it with as many of my Addi's as I can find in my messy house!

Last but never ever least, here's Long Lean Rudy.  Could he be related to Long Tall Sally???  Go ahead, groan again - I'll join you!