Archive for October, 2009

1 October, 2009 | No comments

Don’t look now . . .

Three months from today, the menorah will have been put away, winter solstice 2009 will be history, and the Christmas tree will be a bit bedraggled. (Okay, if you’re an Orthodox Christian, you’ve got a bit more time.) So how is your holiday knitting and/or crocheting coming along?

Here at A Tangled Skein, we’ve got lots of ways to help you get a grip on your gift lists: lots of new yarns and new supplies of old favorites, scads of patterns and books and booklets, and classes to help you develop or refresh your skills. I’ll mention just a few yarns here.

Those of you who have been in the shop recently may have noticed that we have Small Balls (pictured below). These miniature balls from Pick Up Sticks have 65 yards of worsted-weight yarn and are perfect for small items and multicolor work, or wherever you need just a splash of color.

We also have large balls (below, left to right). Rowan’s Big Wool is a plump, enticing, 100-gram ball of solid-color superbulky merino that knits at 2.5 stitches to the inch on big (17 or 19) needles. Murano, from Austermann, is a bulky (3.25 stitches to the inch), self-striping wool-acrylic blend with long color repeats in bold colors. One 262-yard ball (150 grams) will make a small child’s hat and scarf or a sizable adult scarf. Mille Colori Big, from Lang, is 200-gram ball of wool-acrylic, self-striping yarn in quieter (but not too retiring) colors. It knits up at 3 stitches to the inch on size 13 needles and is perfect for quick scarves and hats.

While we’ve got the ball rolling here, I’m pleased to note that we’ve just restocked our popular Zauberball (left, below) and Zauberball Crazy sock yarns. Zauber, by the way, is German for “magic,” and this yarn does knit up almost magically into wide and not-so-wide stripes in a variety of bold colorways (even the neutrals are bold). Zauberball Crazy plies two colors together for even more oomph. One 100-gram ball makes a pair of socks. Or consider knitting a Baby Surprise Jacket for the avant-garde infant in your life.

By the way, Skacel has requested that shop owners let customers know that Zauberball is not a pull-from-the-center ball. If you have tried that, you’ll know that the result is a knotted mass—a truly tangled skein. Take the yarn from the outside of the ball, please.

We’ve got lots more to share with you, but rather than wait for the next installment, why don’t you come into the shop and discover a favorite yarn of your own?