A Flyin' Skein

Summer Visitors

Yarn Lady — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 02:41:33 +0000

This has been a great summer; meeting people from all over the world, teaching new knitting techniques, seeing projects grow to completion.

Had a very fun couple of ladies in from Kiwi-land (New Zealand) and she bought a skein of yarn for her memory quilt. She took our picture and posted it on her blog – http://www.ruakiwi.blogspot.com/ - (we are after the pictures of the glacier). We had a great visit, while in the store she met another New Zealander and of course, we directed her to Softly Silk – http://www.softlysilk.com/to meet Kerry Cline our resident “kiwi”.

This morning a man came in saying that he and his son were debating over the name of the store. His son thought that it was because skein rhymed with flyin’ (but that is only if you pronounce skein as “sky-in”). We had a great chat. I corrected the pronunciation of skein (rhymes with rain) for him and explained that skein can mean at least 3 things – “ball” of yarn, geese in flight and the egg sack of a fish (at least that’s what a group of fly fishermen told me when they thought I was a bait shop). I also pointed out that the logo is skeins of yarn in flight like a skein of geese.

I looked it up the word skein. I never found where it is the egg sack of fish but it is also used in mathematical terms, a name of a supervillian of Marvel Comics and a skein dubh is a Scottish knife. Whew, lots of meanings there.

But when I was thinking about a name for the store I first thought about what all the crafts have in common – knitting, crochet, x-stitch, spinning…. and they all use a skein of some sort – and we have geese that fly in skeins, which brings me to the flyin’ part. Just as geese have to be flyin’ to be a skein as we use the yarn or threads it “flys” off the skein and we have lots of people here that have airplanes and fly – it was a conglomeration (word of the day) of thoughts and things. Then the big question was should it be The Flyin’ Skein or A Flyin’ Skein, decisions, decisions. But I realized that it was a play on words of A Cryin’ Shame and decided that it would be A Cryin’ Shame if I didn’t open A Flyin’ Skein.

Now, aren’t you glad that guy came in and asked about the name of the store?!?!?!?!

Body Therapy Winners

Yarn Lady — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 18:47:32 +0000

May’s Fiber Therapy theme was a big hit. A number of people entered their names for the Bath Therapy kits. And the winners are:

Rebecca Pazdernik, Sherry Borer, Heleana Backus and Jennifer Swander.

Next time you are in the store you can pick up your prize.

Craft Cruises to Alaska

Yarn Lady — Mon, 24 May 2010 04:55:14 +0000

Imagine knitting your way to and through Alaska. Getting to visit all the yarn shops along the way.

I had my first knitting cruise in today. They were a lovely group and definitely having a great time and while I am happy for them to be going on the cruise, I am jealous that I could not be going with them……maybe some day.

Hey knitters let’s get a cruise together to Australia/New Zealand in the winter and knit our way ’round there - the sun will be shining down under! In fact they have one scheduled for October 2010. I’ll get the info, let me know if you are interested.

New classes & pictures added

Yarn Lady — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 22:15:23 +0000

Check out the newest classes – Felted Flower Pincushion, Needle Felting and Gelato Bag.
And pictures in Friends Projects…

New Yarn, Books and Magazines

Yarn Lady — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 21:29:58 +0000

Cascade 220, new colors in both superwash and regular wool. Perfect for baby knits and your next felted project.
60 Quick Knits using Cascade 220 – 20 hats, 20 mittens & 20 scarves.
Dog, bunny & octopus mittens, cables, tweeds and textures galore.
New Issue of Crochet Today – A zoo of amigurumi animals, keepsakes for a handmade wedding, baby toys and a cute mobile for a baby’s room, 20+ patterns.
Great Afghan Books – The Block Parties will begin soon. Come check them out.

Good Vacation

Yarn Lady — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 21:18:29 +0000

Thanks to Jennifer for being the interim “yarn lady” for a week. I went to Florida for my Mom’s 90th birthday. She didn’t know I was coming. My brother picked me up at the Orlando airport – couldn’t even get a flight into Tampa. While I was on the way to her house I called her to wish her a Happy Birthday and told her I’d let her know when I would be able to make it down. We stopped at the grocery store, I picked up a small cake, celebrate candles (9 letters = one for each decade) and a bouquet of flowers. When we got to the house Tom went in and told Mom “I know you didn’t want me to get you ANYTHING, but I had to bring you SOMETHING.” Then I stepped in holding the cake with the candles and flowers singing her Happy Birthday. She was surprised to say the least. I got to see all my brothers (3) and sisters (2) plus a number of other relatives. Luckily the weather was very cooperative, kinda like a Seward summer.

Knitted House – Natural Gas Commercial

Yarn Lady — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 21:05:01 +0000

If you haven’t seen this yet – it is really neat. Thanks goes to Cindy Capra for sending the link to me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUFnH7KYMFE”

I can’t get it to show up as a link, in fact it doesn’t show up at all if I try that. So just copy and paste.

Knitting in the fast lane

Yarn Lady — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 01:54:53 +0000

I believe in being as efficient as possible to maximize time, not that it won’t be relaxing and fun, you just get more done in the same amount of time. I admire people who can do the double point thing. I once finished a hat with dpn’s and have sworn them off forever – they are handy for making I-cord – Although you can make I-cord with a circular needle, you just have to slide a little farther. I make 2 socks at the same time, 2 hand-warmers at the same time and hats on long circs to a) not have to do the exact same thing with the same exact yarn again b) not have to change to either dpn’s or add another circ. Maybe someday I’ll make several pairs of socks at the same time. I make my socks from the toe up so I can try them on the recipient and check that my measurements are good and to make the leg as long as I want, given enough yarn they could be knee highs. I make socks pulling from both ends of the skein with self patterning yarn, the grandbabies love these.

The yarn days of Seward Blog

Yarn Lady — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 04:05:30 +0000

As you can see the look of the site has changed, and will continue to change until I get the full hang of this. Feel free to comment, I like hearing others ideas – after all, I can’t think of everything…..but I hope you like it.