Newsletter 512
Looking for Some Summer Knitting?
The Bella Lino Fringed Scarf - knit with just one skein of ITO Yarns Serishin - is a quick knit with a lot of WOW! Serishin is 100% silk, sport-weight and is available in five glorious colors.
The pattern is easy-peasy: begin with just a few stitches, then increase every other row until you've used up half of your yarn (we increased to 67 stitches), then decrease back down to the original cast on count. The MAGIC of the pattern happens at the end, when you INTENTIONALLY drop stitches, unraveling them down the entire length of the piece and...fringe appears! We'll admit, we squealed just a little watching the magic happen.
Ever wondered how the heck you're supposed to know when "half of your yarn" has been used!?!? Weigh it before you begin, then periodically weigh the unused cake on a digital scale! We happen to have a few of them in stock...have a look-see here.
*sample photographed in Serishin, color 109 Papyrus
Just short of five years ago, we launched the mobile version of our shop. Her official name was “Haus of Yarn To Go,” but no one called her that; from the very beginning, she was The Yarn Bus. Over time, we’ve taken The Yarn Bus to so many great places in Middle Tennessee (Murfreesboro, Lebanon, Hendersonville, Madison, Dickson, Opryland) and a few further afield in the Volunteer State (Monteagle and Jackson, the latter many many many times!). She made repeat trips to Kentucky (Land Between the Lakes and Lexington). She even once made the trip to Chicago, where she had to drive around a convention center parking lot for an hour to use up all the gas before the Stitches Midwest people would let her park inside. One summer, she ventured as far as Augusta, Georgia, for what can only be referred to as the hottest fiber festival on the face of the earth. And you all came to visit, every single time. Wherever she went, The Yarn Bus posed patiently - awning extended! - with excited visitors for photographs, and offered a tiny bit of air-conditioning (or heat) for sweltering (or freezing) yarn shoppers. She bore it all happily!
But now the sad news: Haus of Yarn is retiring The Yarn Bus. No more will she trundle along I-40, passing 18-wheelers (in the left lane!) or whiz up I-65 in a torrential rainstorm to get to Lexington in time for her driver to eat a Hot Brown at Wallace Station in Versailles before they close. Despite her almost immediate smashing success (she went into the black the first year!), the bus has always been a tricky component of the shop: it’s tough to find a driver with a flexible schedule (sometimes overnights are needed) who’s both an experienced knitter capable of answering almost any technical question thrown her way and a confident driver of a 31-foot bus! So after five years, we’ve decided to work smarter rather than harder and retire our sweet four-wheeled mascot. She’s being pressed into service by a charitable organization in Sumner County who does great work, so you might still see her around Nashville in her next incarnation!
She's so appreciated your waves and honks…and especially your visits! And she’d particularly like to thank the lovely knitters of Jackson, TN — so many of them! — who came to the Jackson Farmers Market once a month like clockwork, though rain and heat and freezing cold. The success of the bus was unimaginable without you Jackson ladies (and occasional gentleman), and we thank you from the bottom of our hearts. So many friends were made and it brings a tear to our eye to think we won't see you on those monthly Saturday morning visits. Do please stop by the shop whenever you make it up the road from Jackson; we’d love to see you.
Forever and always: honk if you love The Yarn Bus!
Beginning July 15th, we'll have on hand ALL of Lauren's fingering weight bases, in as many colors as she can dye up before the 15th! We hear through the grapevine that they'll even be some new samples coming along with the show and we can't wait! Whether you're a local or just visiting Nashville, do be sure to stop in to see all of her lovelies in person...show runs throgh August 5th, so you'll have plenty of time!!
Let's face it: we ALL make mistakes when we knit. We drop a stitch or forget a yarnover and don't see it until the next row...and sometimes we're not quiiiiite sure how to fix it! If this sounds a little too familiar to you, you need to take Sue's next class!
Saturday, July 28th from 11:00 am until 1:00 pm. Call the shop to register: 615-354-1007
*There's homework required for this one; you'll find the details here.