It feels like it's been a long Winter, and frankly, I'm ready for Spring. Spring can be a tough time in the local yarn shop -- people fancy a little time outside and put their knitting and crochet down. Keeping people engaged in their crafting becomes a little harder when they aren't cozied up by the fire.
It's also a bit of a "rebuilding" time in the shop. We start clearing out the last of the limited-run wintery yarns, and restocking the yarns that have sold and sold through the Winter. Right now, we're really well-stocked in all of our "base" yarns -- the plainer yarns that are the backbone of everybody's crafting. Check out our expanded offerings from Malabrigo, Berroco, and Woolstock!
It has been a herculean task to keep those yarns in stock over the past year. I haven't seen supply chain and inventory issues this severe in my twenty years in this business -- even the COVID years weren't this challenging! But I've been ordering and stocking like crazy, even when it took months to get the yarns in stock!
I've also been strategizing. There are some awesome new entrants into the knitting needle arena and I've been expanding my needle stock accordingly. You'll see new interchangeable sets in stock -- the Grande sets from KnitPro have EVERYTHING you need in them, and the new Stelo needles are breathtakingly good. I've also expanded the Zing line with each order because these needles have really won me over. As prices go up on literally everything, Zings have stayed reasonable and I absolutely love to knit with them. As somebody who has easy access to any needles I want and who personally owns NINE different interchangeable needle sets, it says a lot when i choose one as my go-to. After at least 15 years using a different brand as my daily knitting needles, Zings won me over last year and I couldn't be happier.
I've been expanding my American yarn offerings as much as possible and will be looking for more when I go to Market this year. American yarns come at a price premium, but I love supporting the American yarn industry and I've found some really wonderful yarns as a result. Check out Appalachian Baby, Queen City, and Feederbrook Farms for a sampling of what we can do right here in the US. And don't forget our marvelous semi-local hand-dyer, Stella Luna Fiber Co. We've got a BIG restock coming and I am always blown away by the quality of Jacki's dyework.
And our standby yarn companies are always coming out with stunning new yarns for us. Modern Comfort and Remix Wool from Berroco, Diva from Jody Long, Prairie from Woolstock and Make it Blumchen from Universal are brand new and are already jumping off the shelf! We've also had a great response to Urth Trill and Etesia -- fabulous Summer yarns that have already made a splash.
We've got lots of new yarns and new colors coming in Spring yarns, so make your plans for your warm warm weather tops now! It'll be HOT before you know it and you'll want those new tanks and tees ready to wear!
Keep an eye out for some all-new classes, books, tools, and notions, and stay in touch! There's always something new going on!
