Vintage Knits Update

What could this title be referring to? Well, we finally reordered the lovely Poetry in Stitches kits. Here are pictures of book and kits. Click the picture for a larger view.

First, before getting into where the package is, we have some bad news for you. The book Poetry in Stitches is out of print. I thought something was going on when my customers started buying this book like it was on fire. Well, the book was not on fire. It was just out of print. Unfortunately, we never receive information from our U.S. distributors when books go out of print. I found out when I tried to reorder it, and was told that it’s gone. Likewise, when people started buying the kits, I just thought business was good.

Anyway, I called the manufacturer in Norway, to see if they had any more books. Sadly, the books are sold out in Norway also. But, the kits are still available. Before, the kits were sold separately, and you had to buy the book to get the pattern. Now, the manufacturer is selling the kits with the single pattern included in the kit.

In early October, we ordered more than $3,200.00 (retail) in Poetry in Stitches kits. They are also sending us patterns for the current kits that we have in stock. We restocked all of our sold out Poetry in Stitches kits, and added about 4-5 new kits. It has been so long that I really do not remember exactly what I ordered. The order was delayed awaiting printing of one of the patterns.

About two weeks ago, I noticed that my credit card had been charged, and that the package had been shipped. This past Monday, I received a telephone call from the delivery company in the U.S., and I was told that my package was “stuck in customs,” and was sitting in a customs warehouse in Los Angeles. This order goes through at least three delivery companies before I get it. It is normally a very smooth process of getting here from overseas. Anyway, I gave the delivery company all requested info, and they hoped to get it released from customs, and delivered to me by Friday. Well, Friday has come and gone, and I have no idea when this shipment will get to me. For some reason, the customs officials had questions about what a “knitting kit” was. Now I am remembering all of the horror stories that I have heard from distributors about packages sitting in customs warehouses for months. I hope that my shipment does not have that fate. I will keep you posted on the status of the shipment. These kits are incredible, and I cannot wait for them to finally arrive . . . that is if U.S. customs ever releases the shipment.

We finally restocked our Absolutely Fabulous Kits from Colinette Yarns. Doing this has been on our list for quite some time, but there is so much yarn our there, and so many things we want to carry, that it just slipped through the cracks. Anyway, the order was placed, and most of the kits were in stock. There are still four or five color-ways that are backordered. As soon as we listed the kits, many sold, so we have placed another order to restock the kits that sold out immediately. One of the new color-ways that we ordered was the July of 2006 kit. It has a stars and stripes theme, and is perfect for that month. Here is a picture of this Kit. Click the picture for a larger view.

There was more in our box from Colinette Yarns than the ab fab kits. We also restocked few Vintage Knits Kits. These kits have been a shop favorite. Each kit contains four patterns. You can make the kit fit whatever your heart desires. A pattern is included for a poncho, a shawl, and two vests. Choose your favorite design, and start knitting.

Oh, I almost forgot. We received our first shipment of Colinette Jitterbug sock yarn. This yarn is really soft, and easy care. From the response that we have received, we will certainly be adding more colors soon.

Here a glance at our latest from Colinette. Click on the photo for a close-up view.

Pictured from left to right are:
Vintage Knits Kit — Shawl, Jitterbug sock pictured in
Mardi Gras, and a hank of Jitterbug in Popsicle.

We have shipments coming in every day, faster than we can inventory, photograph, and get on the website. Our Karabella order is in. It has more of the lovely Aurora 8 yarn, and a new yarn for us, Margritte. We also, have a fairly large book order that just arrived. We will try to get the products online, minus the pictures for now. After we are caught up with our inventory, we will start taking photographs. If you need to see a picture of a Colinette yarn or kit that is not on our website yet, visit Colinette Yarns. They have photos of their yarns and kits. That’s all for now, talk to you soon.

If you are looking for some spectacular yarns for your holiday gifts, look no further, we have them. A huge shipment arrived from one of our favorite vendors, Mountain Colors Yarns. We use to carry mainly their sock yarns, but now we bit the bullet, and added several of their yarns. When we opened this shipment, we knew that we made the right choice. We have added Mountain Colors Twizzle and Merino Ribbon yarns to our store.

Here a glance at the yarns. Click on the photo for a close-up view.

Pictured from left to right are:
Merino Ribbon in Crazy Woman and Goldrush,

and Twizzle in Sunburst.

What we like about Mountain Colors is their deep color pallet, and the vibrant colorways. Twizzle is sure to please if you are looking for something a little different. This merino/silk blend is very soft. The silk takes dyes differently than the merino, making a sort of tone on tone effect. The Merino Ribbon is very versatile. It would make a great shrug, poncho, or sleeveless top.

We told you about our anticipated shipment from the great people at Kertzers, and it has finally arrived. The Freedom Spirit and Freedom Wool was nicer than I remembered from the trade show this summer. With the colder weather coming, Freedom Wool would make a great sweater, or even a throw to cuddle up with. This yarn is so soft, and light weight. Even I, who does not like knitting with anything larger than a size 6 needle am tempted to knit a sweater out of this yarn. Freedom Spirit is dk weight, and will make a nice sweater that will be warm without being bulky. We have some great pattern books for these yarns. Expect the pattern books to be on the website this weekend.

Here is Freedom Wool
pictured in 417 dusky pink and 408 moorland,

and Freedom Spirit
pictured from left to right in 506 (air) and 501 (soul).

Later this week we have four very interesting (non-knitting) things to tell you, along with more from our new yarn shipments. Of course, if you have any questions, feel free to contact us. If you are ready to buy, purchase from our online yarn shoppe.

One final thing, we keep getting emails asking us if our products listed on-line are in stock. Yes, everything that you see at our online shoppe has the current inventory listed. So, you can rest assured that if you place an order, your items ordered are in stock, and will normally ship within 48 hours, if not the same day the order was placed.

You are probably familiar with the wonderful Noro Silk Garden and Kureyon yarns. They are filled with vibrant colors, and knit into a wonderful striped pattern. Noro is known for its bold color combinations; so well known that many manufacturers are trying to copy the “Noro look.” Many people have longed for more subtle shades for that special man in their life. Noro has heard your request, and has come out with a wonderful subtle shade of their popular Silk Garden and Kureyon yarns. The newest color combination is a neutral shade, composed of tan, beige, and a hint of gray.

Take a look at Noro’s new neutral colors. While at first glance the photo appears to be two skeins of the same yarn, a closer look shows that the yarns are different. Picture from top to bottom are:

Noro Kureyon in color #211, and Silk Garden in color #269.

Tomorrow we are expecting our first shipment from Cherry Hill Tree Yarns. We ordered a tester of their new sock yarn, Sockittome, in five shades. This yarn is a merino yarn with a bit of nylon for durability. We will update you when the package arrives and we actually feel the yarn. From the feedback that we have heard on the web, this yarn is a winner!

This weekend I attended the Northwest Needle Arts Market. This is a trade show put on by the Skacel company. No, we do not sell their needles or products, but that is another story. Anyway, I am really excited about the new yarns that we ordered. First, we ordered about ten shades of Karabella Aurora 8. This is the softest and most coveted merino yarn on the market. We have been meaning to restock this yarn for a long time, but something always came up. We also ordered a new yarn from Karabella, called Margritte. This is a merino/cashmere blend. I touched a shawl made from Margritte, and it was so soft, and glamorous feeling. We scheduled shipment for these yarns in October. This will give up time to unpack the boxes that we have stacked in the hallways, and get our patterns on the website.

We also place a huge order at the Needle Arts Market from SR Kertzer. This company is known for its quality yarns sold at a great price point. One yarn that has received a lot of “chatter” on the internet is their Freedom Spirit yarn from Twilley. Twilley’s Freedom Spirit is a self-striping, 100% wool yarn in nature-inspired shades. This yarn is really soft, and suitable for next to your skin wear. Freedom Spirit is a dk weight yarn, with 130 yards, and will sell for about $5.00 per skein. We will have 2 pattern books to support this yarn. All of the patterns are really fresh, with many garments that you will want to knit.

In addition to Freedom Spirit, we ordered Freedom Wool. This is the same yarn, but in a heavier weight. While Freedom Spirit is a variegated yarn, most of the Freedom Wool colors are solid colors. We ordered two variegated colors in Freedom Wool, and the bulk of our order is in solid colors. Freedom Wool is a Lopi like yarn, but it is very soft, light weight, and does not have the Lopi scratchiness.

Last but not least, we do listen to our customers. One customer wanted more information on the fantastic Ella Rae patterns pictured on our website home page. This made us do something that we should have done a long time ago, put the Ella Rae books on the website (or at least one of her books). Ella Rae Book 8 is now on our website, and sell for 10% off the normal retail price. This book is dedicated to bags. It has 14 bags to knit and felt. Here are a few of the projects included in this pattern book. Picture from left to right:

Black Rose Bag and Bon-Bon Purse

Bubble Bag and Shaggy Bag

To purchase any of our yarns, visit our online catalogue.

Two new yarns from Araucania arrived. What is exciting about these yarns is that they are both hand painted in color coordinated colors. Araucania Pehuen is a worsted weight, 100% cotton, hand dyed boucle yarn. This yarn has lots of texture and color variance. It has 131 yards and is knit at 4 stitches to the inch on size 6 needles. We have this yarn on sale for $14.40 (regular price $16.00). Pehuen is hand painted in Chile, in a number of lovely color-ways. Pehuen is a good choice for sweaters, cardigans, ponchos, scarves and children’s garments.

Here is what was included in our first shipment of Pehuen, click on any photo to see a larger picture:

Araucania Quellon is a very soft heavy worsted chenille type yarn. It is a viscose cotton blend that is hand dyed to match its sister yarn, Pehuen. Use Quellon for sweaters, cardigans, ponchos, afghans, shawls, stoles and scarves. You can also use this yarn for the ever popular Clapotis pattern. The link to this pattern is on our main site under the free patterns section. Quellon can also be substituted for any pattern calling for Touch Me by Muench Yarns. Quellon has 161 yards, and knits at 3.5 stitches to the inch on size 6-8 needles. We have this yarn on sale for $14.40 (regular price $16.00)

Here is what was included in our first shipment of Quellon, click on any photo to see a larger picture:

We also unpacked three boxes of books. All are on the website except a few titles. If you dye your own yarn, check out our new books on hand dyeing. We have in stock A Dyers Garden, Hands on Dyeing, Indigo Madder and Marigold, and The Ashford book of Dyeing. All four books are good, but I am partial for A Dyers Garden. It is summer, and I love to plant, so this book really got my attention. It tells you about what plants to grow that can be used for dying, and has a small section on laying out your garden. It also shows you pictures of how a color/dye will look on several different fibers. It is hard to believe that some of the photo’s are the same color. But, after reading this book, you will understand why the same color on cotton looks very different on wool.

We have 9 more boxes that arrived, and are yet to be opened, they are shipments from Mountain Colors, Louet, KFI and Bryson Distributing. We will get these inventoried and on the website as quickly as possible. Expect to see lots of new yarns, and yarns dyes this week. Of course, if you would like to purchase any of our products, visit our online catalogue.

As you may have figured out by now, we love sock yarn. Our first shipment of Claudia Hand Painted Sock Yarns arrived, and we were blown away. Not only are these yarns really soft, but the colors are beautiful, and much nicer than even we anticipated. We are starting with six color-ways, and intend on adding more sock yarns, and other yarns from this vendor.

Take a look at Claudia Hand Painted Sock Yarns, pictured from left to right in:

Passion Fruit, Caribbean Blue,and Leopard,

and Sunrise, Butter Pecan and Freesia.

On the sock front, several new arrivals are in. First, we now have in stock Regia Reinforcement Threads in nearly every color imaginable. We will try to get these on the website next week. The Sock It To Me shoe Conversion Guide arrived this week and is on the website. It is a really useful tool. It is a laminated card that has all of the necessary measurements to allow you to easily knit the correct finished sock length, from heel to toe, based on an individual’s shoe size. Measurements are included for women’s, men’s, infant’s and children’s sizes. This guide retails for $7.00, and we are selling it for $6.30, 10% off the normal retail price. Last on the sock front, the Fiber Trends Sock Blockers are in stock, look for them on the website soon.

After 10 days without rain, the streets are wet in Western Washington. Along with the rain, came a nice surprise, a large box from Lorna’s Laces. In addition to restocking some sold out colors, we’ve added several new colors, including some nearly solid colors.

Aslan is a new color-way for Vintage Knits. We like the subtle shading of this color-way so much that we added it in four yarns, Shepherd Bulky, Lion & Lamb, Shepherd Sock, and Helen’s Lace. Here are photos of Aslan, click on the photo for a larger view of this yarn.

Here is Lion & Lamb in Red Rover and Bittersweet:

The final yarns in this shipment were Shepherd Sock in Navy, Tickled Pink, Red Rover, Turquoise, and Flamingo Stripe. At first glance Tickled Pink and Flamingo Stripe look the same, but they are very different. Flamingo Stripe has two colors, light and dark pink. Tickled Pink has shades of pinks and purples. Flamingo Stripe is not a typical variegated yarn, it will knit into stripes, and Lorna’s Laces will donate 20% of all proceeds from the sales of this color in Shepherd Sock yarn to breast cancer research.

From left to right the colors are: Turquoise Tickled Pink, Red Rover, Turquoise, and Flamingo Stripe.

We have a new clearance section at our online catalogue. Look for discontinued yarn colors, special purchases, odd balls, and items we are no longer carrying. Right now, you can find Filatura Di Crosa Brilla. This is a great yarn for summer. It is a shiny plied yarn, made of 58% viscose, and 42% cotton. Brilla normally sells for $7.00 per skein, and has been reduced to $5.25, which is a 25% discount off the regular retail price. Remember that our discount coupons can be applied to sale and clearance items for additional savings!

We are really excited about new products coming to Vintage Knits soon. We will be carrying a new hand dyed yarn line, Claudia Hand Painted Yarns. The order has been placed, look to see it on our website within two months. We are starting with the sock yarns, and will be adding more of Claudia’s yarns soon.

Check out our book section. We have lots of new books, including the very popular Favorite Socks book from Interweave Press. This is a great resource for the sock knitter. It has twenty-five sock patterns that were originally printed in Interweave Magazine, along with a few new patterns. Most of the patterns are from out of print issues of Interweave Magazine. Even for people like me, who have the magazines going back several years, it is really a pain going through years of stacked up magazines to find sock patterns. This is a handy reference, with their best sock patterns in one place. Favorite Socks is on sale for $20.70, which is 10% off the normal retail price.

On the notions front, take a look at these cute tape measures:

Something really nice just arrived from Mountain Colors Yarns, it is Mountain Goat. This yarn is very soft, and made of 55% mohair and 45% wool. It has 230 yards per skein, knits at 5 stitches per inch on size 6-8 needles, and we sell it for $18.90 per skein (normal price $21.00). Mountain goat will make a really nice sweater. It has a firm twist, so there should be no splitting issues, and of course, it comes in all of the beautiful Mountain Colors color-ways.

We have 5 color-ways in stock, and will be adding more color-ways in the future. Here are two of the color-ways that are new to our shoppe, Crazy Woman and Indian Corn:

Also in stock is Evergreen, Ruby River and Winter Sky. We will try to get this yarn on our website within a few days. In the meantime, if you are looking for this yarn, contact us.

The WEBS Bamboo Interchangeable Needle Sets are no longer available. We have been informed that the manufacturer who makes the bamboo needles will no longer supply WEBS with the needles. WEBS posted the details about this situation on knittersreveiw.com. The post is located in the “needles” section. It appears that this is a situation of a larger competitor forcing out the little guy. In any event, WEBS is trying to find another supplier for their needles. Until then, the needle sets are no longer available. Our last few sets sold out immediately. These are really nice sets, I hope they find another supplier.