Tuesday, July 26, 2011

I love Classic Elite Provence.

Maybe it's just me but there's nothing I love more than Egyptian cotton. I love the feel of it. I love the look of it. I love the way it grabs color. There's just something special about it. Whenever I can, I buy Egyptian sheets because nothing feels cooler, crisper and more luxurious when I crawl into bed after a long day.

Right now, I'm drooling over our Classic Elite Provence yarn. Not only does it come in 39 glorious colors with the sheen that screams quality, it's also available in Marls. The shades are rich and brilliant and just perfect for summer days or nights.

Classic Elite offers a collection of fantastic patterns for this yarn, too. Don't you love this pretty skirt with lace trim? Wouldn't it be perfect for evening events or garden parties? I saw that several knitters on Ravelry have created it and they refer to the project as "very satisfying" and "very easy." One knitter commented that it's the first skirt she ever made, and it really turned out beautifully.

Another very popular Provence pattern is for a Baby Cardi. It was featured in one of Classic Elite's fabulous Web Letters that provide information about their yarns and patterns. (If you don't subscribe, do so!) This adorable little sweater has been made hundreds of times by Ravelers who are thrilled with the results.

If you're looking for a superb yarn that glistens with color and feels simply wonderful, you'll want to consider Classic Elite Provence yarn. The patterns are always very clever and creative...and the look is always classically fashionable.


Learn about Sock Yarns in today's Just My Type

We just sent out our Just My Type newsletter for the month, and if you're a sock knitter -- or you're thinking of giving socks a try -- you'll want to read this issue. It's got lots of information about sock yarns and books and patterns.

I know one little guy who ought to read it! This weekend when we were having our Open House at Yarnmarket, a woman brought in her son to see the yarns because he wants to learn to knit socks. I was so impressed! I mentioned to him that brain surgeons often knit to keep their hands agile, so if he learned to knit now he'd be ahead of the game if he should happen to become a brain surgeon some day. I think it's great that a young boy would have such an interest in creating something. Kudos to his Mom!

If you don't receive a copy of Just My Knit in your email, you can read it online.

Monday, July 25, 2011

I hope Alex is ashamed, embarrassed, and remorseful...and that he'll apologize with some Jeni's Lavender Berry ice cream.


As you may recall, Alex (the man I refer to as "my husband") announced, "There is no Higgs boson" after giving the matter a great deal of thought...and maybe reading a few pages of Popular Mechanics or watching an episode of Star Trek.

I was mortified. And justifiably so.

Well, today The Telegraph reported that we are close to confirmation that THE GOD PARTICLE DOES EXIST.

I hope you'll join me in snickering at Alex for his lack of vision and generally bad attitude toward sub-atomic particles.

Saturday, July 23, 2011

Thanks for making today so special for us!

We were so happy to welcome visitors to YarnMartian Headquarters. I can't believe that one group drove all the way from Baltimore, MD. Isn't that fantastic? What lovely ladies they were and what a delight to meet them.

I've taken some video that I'll try to edit so I can share it with you. Wish me luck!

Thanks again to all of you who were with us...and those who were with us in spirit. We really do appreciate that you've chosen Yarnmarket to be your yarn shop.

It's Open House at Yarnmarket! Please join us today from 10 to 2.


If you happen to be near the thriving megalopolis of Pickerington, OH please stop by at Yarnmarket for our Open House. It's going to be a lot of fun, and we can't wait to see all our friends!

Stef, Lisa, Michele, Mary and I are here to show you around the place and help everyone find what they're looking for.

Oh...I thought I'd share with you a photo I received last night of that sweet little kitty who wandered into our yard. Donnely of Lancaster, OH took her in and look at her now! She looks so happy, doesn't she? She's with Manny, another very sweet pussycat rescued by Donnely.

We can't thank Donnely enough for her kindness.

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

New Yarns & Color Choices from Berroco, Fiesta, Himalaya, Sirdar, Filatura Di Crosa & Karabella

If you haven't received your own personal copy of the Yarnmarket Bulletin, you can view it online. In this issue, Jan brings you lots of new yarns and patterns from some of our favorite manufacturers and designers.

I particularly love this bright red tank top from Sirdar in their Flirt yarn. It's perfect for these very, very hot days of summer!

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

I'm just an old fashioned girl

How do you like my washboard? I bought it from Lehman's, the Amish store here in Ohio because I'm on a fast track to get to the past. Yes...I'm going back to the good old days. I've been saving grease so I can try to make my own soap. I've installed a clothesline. And I've got my eye on a nifty gas stove that has NO computer components. Not even a digital clock.

You see, something's been happening to me over the past couple of years as I've watched what's happening to the world. I've decided I want to go back in time to a time when things were simpler and people were much, much happier.

I want to go back to the good old days when kids could safely play outside (until the street lights went on). I want to go back to when you'd buy fresh berries in little wooden cartons that the fruit distributor down the road would pay us kids to collect for him. And I want to go back to the days when you'd buy a bottle of pop for twelve cents and return the empty to the store to get two cents back.

We recycled in those days without even thinking about it. We took our pop bottles back to the store so they could be washed and refilled and sold again!

When we shopped, we didn't have plastic bags, and we didn't drive to the store. We had a little cart for bringing our groceries home from the A&P store that was two blocks away, and the groceries came in paper bags that were later used for trash.

Everything seemed simpler then. The world was a quieter place. The most fun a little kid could have in the summer was watching the big machine the road workers would use to melt the pavement on Dennis Avenue and then smooth it out again. (Even the streets were re-cycled!)

I want to go back to whem we didn't expect to have something new to wear every week and we wore what we had until it wore out!

Sometimes when people say, "I'd like to go back to the 60s," cynics respond, "Oh, you want to go back to segregation and when women earned less than men?"

No. Of course not. Nobody wants that. But wouldn't it be nice if kids could run freely again and we hung our sheets out in the sun to dry and we took our pop bottles back to the store?

Maybe I'm romanticizing the past. But when I was a kid in Toronto in the 60s, we were free to go anywhere and everywhere we wanted and life was good and everyone was optimistic about the future. We knew the names of every astronaut. We all watched the Ed Sullivan show. And government officials were people who earned our respect.

There was a big middle class, and it was growing bigger all the time. We weren't assaulted with messages that we ought to be living in a mansion, spending $60,000 on our teenage daughter's 16th birthday party, and having plastic surgery because we weren't attractive enough.

We were thrilled to go to Heart Lake to swim and listen to music with our transistor radios. We loved the fireworks at Smythe Park on the first weekend in July. We looked forward to the opening of the big fair -- the CNE -- in August.

There were special times we celebrated because everything wasn't always available. It was a big deal when the strawberries were ripe and we could enjoy strawberry shortcake for a couple of weeks each year. (You didn't eat strawberries in February! And strawberries actually had flavor.)

It was a lot of fun to go to a different town for a visit because it would be so different from where you lived. It wouldn't have the same restaurants, the same stores, the same everything as where you'd just come from.

The world was not as busy, not as noisy, not as crowded or complicated or demanding. The world was a magical place to be and we were excited by discoveries and inventions that we didn't realize would someday propel us to where we are now: living in a jaded consumer society where everything is disposable, including our values and integrity.

I wonder if we'll ever change? I wonder if we'll ever return to the days when kids were free to play, everyone who wanted a job could find one, and we had a whole lot less but life was so much better?

Boy, I sure do hope so. Because when it comes I'll be ready for it...with my washboard, my clothesline and my old-fashioned stove.

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

You could win a free ticket to the VK Live event in California or New York!

We just sent out today's Yarnmarket Spotlight. This issue features Vogue Knitting Magazine, one of the most popular knitting magazines in the world.

Be sure to have a look at it because it's loaded with great fashions for summer and Autumn 2011 and we have two very interesting articles. First, you'll learn the history of the magazine. The second article features the fantastic Trisha Malcolm and her rise to be Editor of the knitting magazine we all love.

Be sure to enter the contest so you have the chance to win a free ticket to the VK Live Event in California this September.

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

A kitty named Mercedes Bends

Even Dr. Shields commented, "This is a really nice cat." Yes, our little stray pussycat is adorable. She's docile, yet playful. Really the perfect little kitty.

After examining her he told me that she did have tail damage, but it would likely get better over time. He suspects she was dinged by a car. It hit her but didn't run over her. Just sort of bent her a bit.

That makes sense to me. There's a farm not far from our house that has a number of barn cats. Every once in a while, one of them will cross Highway 204 to our neighborhood. It appears that this little sweety must have decided to see if we have better quality mice on the north side of the street.

Tomorrow we'll pack her up and drive her to her new Mom in Lancaster, OH. Alex and I will cry because we really do adore her and we'd love to keep her. But I know her new family will welcome her with open arms and open paws and that she'll be very happy in a far safer place.

I can't thank Donnely enough for helping one more little kitty have a long and healthy life!

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Stanley, Mousie, Ms Cleo, Manny, Mystic, and Ms Rosie await their new little sister



Our precious little kitty spent a nice holiday weekend in bed while Alex and I plastered the neighborhood with signs and fretted over her future. She stayed there all day Saturday and most of Sunday. By Saturday afternoon we were a little worried and I called the vet but couldn't get her in for a visit. When she got up to eat and go to the bathroom, I noticed she was having trouble so I sent Alex (the guy who claims not to love pussycats) out to the pet shop for some kitty laxative. That seemed to do the trick but she still wanted to stay in bed.

When I lifted her up she let our a little squeal so I realized she was in pain. I examined her, and then the photos we had of her shortly after arrival, and I noticed that her tail was always hanging low behind her. She didn't have it up like a flagpole the way most little kitties do.

So...it appears we've got a cat with a broken tail. Today we're taking her to Dr. Shields, a very nice veterinarian here in Pickerington, OH.

And as soon as she's well, she'll be joining her new family in Lancaster, OH! Isn't that wonderful! Donnely, one of our long-time customers, offered to take her in. We're really relieved because Alex mustn't live with cats. (Allery-induced asthma.)

Donnely has several other pussycats who we know will make wonderful siblings to our sweet little broken-tailed pussycat. This is a photograph of them after a mouse had been flushed. Apparently, they thought it could be retrieved!

Many, many thanks to Donnely for doing such a wonderful thing for this little kitty. You're our hero!

Friday, July 1, 2011

Sweet little kitty needs a nice home!


I was minding my own business at the office this morning -- you know, inputting new yarn data and watching what was supposed to be the Casey Anthony trial in the top corner of my screen -- when I got a call from Alex.

"Come home right now," he said, almost in a panic.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"There's something here that won't stop following me. Come and do something about it."

Well, I know what a cat magnet Alex is, so it took me a nano-second to figure it out. As you may recall, it was two years ago on this very weekend that an injured cat we named "Scarface" appeared. Alex trapped him. We got him medical care. And then we found his owner. All was right with the world.

Well, another little pussycat has found us.

I rushed over to the grocery store to buy kitty litter, food and special cat milk (because Alex said he or she was too young to be out on its own) and I raced home to assess the problem.

Yup. It's a cat all right. It's a cute little kitty that loved the tuna Alex gave to it and then gobbled up the food I brought home.

You know how it goes. The cat is now sleeping happily in our house and Alex is outside so he won't have an allergy attack. He's very severely allergic to the cats who keep wanting him to adopt them.

So, my project this weekend will be finding the owner of this little kitty cat or finding someone who wants him.

If you'd like a lovable little kitty, please let me know. It comes complete with a supply of food and a catnip mouse.

Oh, yes...we'll even throw in some yarn.