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YARNMARKET.COM NEWS ISSUE #54
In This Issue:
Fall Fashion Trends Bring Chunky Knits Back in the Spotlight Plus Lots of Color | Stay Current with Most Recently Released Fall Yarns & Free Patterns from Crystal Palace | Yarnmarket Welcomes Kristin Nicholas & Her Outstanding Signature Yarn from Nashua Handknits | Tahki Keeps Up With the Trends with New Eco-Friendly & Tweedy Yarns Plus New Colors | Teva Durham Expands Her Loop-d-Loop Collection with Chunky Fiber Gem & New Fall Hues | An Update on Our Exclusive Impressionist Collection & a New Sock Yarn from Cherry Tree Hill | Knitting & Crocheting for a Better World, Part 2: Choosing a Worthy Cause | Customer Service Reminders
Fall Fashion Trends Bring Chunky Knits Back in the Spotlight Plus Lots of Color
In the past few issues, we've been exploring ways to transition from the dog days of summer to the cooler temps of fall, and now it just doesn't seem possible that fall will officially arrive in less than three weeks. So it's time to turn our sights firmly on the fall 2008 fashion trends for knitwear that will carry us through this pivotal season and well into winter 2009.
First off, it's fascinating that chunky knits are back with a bang -- what the editors of Vogue call "uber chunky," and some fashion mavens cite the economy as one significant factor. As Barbara Atkin, vice president of fashion direction for Canadian Holt Renfrew, puts it: "I think we're heading into a much more conservative way of dressing, where clothes have a classic but modern bent to them. When we see the economy fluctuating the way it is, we're looking to traditional signals that we've all grown up with for decades and decades and they're coming back in a new way."
The contributors to Style.com agree with this assessment and point to sculptural & architectural shapes as being key design features such as found in the creations of Marc Jacobs, Emanuel Ungaro & Bottega Veneta. Or as Nina Garcia, incoming fashion director for Marie Claire magazine and Project Runway judge, suggests that when women are buying "statement pieces," they should ask themselves, "Will it have some longevity or will you put it away and never wear it again?"
Several new chunky & super chunky, quick-to-knit projects shine with this longevity and yet they'll add some important statement pieces to your fall & winter wardrobe too. One such fashion gem is the Tundra Capelet with Buttons. Teva Durham's clever alternating of deep furrows of purl stitches with bands of knit plus her special use of shaping turns this clever accessory into a sculptural marvel. We love how the resulting accordion-like shape can be pulled to hug your shoulders and still make a fabulous addition to your wardrobe. Also the button closure can be worn to the center front or to the side for an alternate look in this quick-to-knit garment.
Another sensational fast yet classic wardrobe staple is the Montana Checkered Cardigan from Tahki's Rosemary Drysdale. With just two contrasting or coordinating colors, you can create this fab addition to your cool-weather wardrobe over a weekend. With its trendy 3/4-length sleeves & stylish stand-up collar, this little jacket has simple details that make a great piece for 2008/2009 but also give it longevity & added pizzazz.
And be sure to check out the additional color sets we've coordinated for you besides Color Set 1 as featured in the photograph. Just look for the "Suggested Color Sets" at the beginning of the "Shopping List," and you'll find four additional color options to check out. Click on any of the them, and the yarn scans will automatically change to the alternate color combos.
Now besides chunky knitwear, a second major fashion trend for the fall is the return of color to our wardrobes. The latest issue of Vogue Knitting refers to "harvest bold," which they define as "the rich, rustic hues of autumn taking on city sophistication as saturated foliage-inspired rust, mustard, chartreuse and plum play off cool wintry grays."
And according to Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of the Pantone Color Institute, "Fall is traditionally a time for subdued, quiet colors, but this season we are seeing a shift toward cool hues with bright, exciting undertones" or what Harper's Bazaar recently called "pops of color."
So which hues are the big winners for the season? Various shades of purple are cited as the must-have colors of the season ranging from Blue Iris, Pantone's Color of the Year for 2008, to Royal Lilac with its cheerful red undertones. Reds are also steadfast favorites, and consumers are gravitating toward pink shades, even those with brown undertones, plus intense hues like Burnt Orange.
So how can we add some of these lovely colors to our fall & winter wardrobes and stay up to date yet have "statement pieces"? We recommend the Colourscape Tender Pullover as a spectacular new design from Rowan knitwear specialist Sarah Hatton. Combining both trends with its bright colorways & use of the delightful, quick-to-knit Colourscape Chunky from Kaffe Fassett, this batwing sweater is sure to be one of your favorites for years to come. And it's no wonder this design gem was featured as the cover photo for the wonderful pattern collection The Colourscape Chunky Collection.
We also love the
way you can get this same structural shaping plus marvelous color combos with the Panda Silk DK Baby Batwing Cardigan that will look adorable on your favorite little girl. Starting with a free pattern from Crystal Palace, this precious little sweater has trendy sleeves yet they're functional too since they're easier to slip on & off your little one than traditional designs.
One other way to get these spectacular fall colors into your wardrobe is through your accessories collection, and a superb project featured in the current issue of Vogue Knitting International is a terrific example of how this approach can work so beautifully. In the feature section on mittens (appropriately called "Thumbs Up"), master designer & colorwork aficionado Kristin Nicholas uses her signature yarn to create a spectacular pair in the Julia Pagliaci Long Mittens. Inspired by the vibrantly colored embroidery of Central Asia called "suzani," Kristin has created the ultimate diva accessory with long cuffs and contrasting shades of brightly hued embroidery. Also when you look at all the extra touches like the pointed edgings on the cuffs and the pom pom drawstrings at the wrists, you'll realize have even mittens can make a fashion statement and establish your personal style.
Stay Current with Most Recently Released Fall Yarns & Free Patterns from Crystal Palace
In the past few issues of the newsletter and the bulletin, we've been excited to introduce the new fall yarns from some of your favorite yarn companies. This month we've added the five brand-new yarns from ever-popular Crystal Palace, and we are pleased to be one of the first shops to have all five in stock and ready to ship to you.
First of the new releases are Crystal Palace's new additions to their "Panda Silk" family. Because of the immediate success of sock-weight Panda Silk Print yarn, Crystal Palace has expanded the collection for those who prefer knitting on larger needles. Take a peek at Panda Silk DK Print, and you'll find many of the same wonderful color combinations you've come to love, but now they're available in a DK-weight concoction for your knitting & crocheting pleasure. Just imagine how many coordinating outfits you can now create with the socks in "Panda Silk" & a matching sweater, hat or scarf in "Panda Silk DK."
Also superbly crafted of 52% eco-friendly bamboo, 43% superwash merino wool & 5% combed silk is Panda Silk DK Solid. With the same softness, strength, warmth & sheen as Panda Silk Solid, machine washable "Panda Silk DK" is the perfect choice for all your knitted & crocheted cardis, pullovers, scarves, hats & more. And as an added benefit, these two bamboo blends are carefully coordinated so that you can mix & match the solids & the prints. In most cases, all you have to do is coordinate the last three numbers for each color, and if you're not sure of how well the shades will blend together, just give us a call and we'll check for you.
Next on our favorites list come two more bamboo blends from Crystal Palace, but this time they're mixed with soy plus elastic nylon too. To continue to build on the popularity of the eco-friendly movement, the yarn gurus at Crystal Palace have developed Panda Soy Solid. This fiber mix gives you the superb feel & luster of bamboo, and the soy adds a soft, silky core. Combine these two fibers with a generous amount of elastic nylon, and you have snap-back shape & additional durability for terrific socks, baby clothes, gloves, accessories & more. We also love the tweedy effect that results from the bamboo & the soy absorbing the dye differently.
And of course, Crystal Palace has created a coordinating variegated version too, so check out Panda Soy Print to mix & match color combos in all your fingering-weight projects.
Then you can see just how spectacularly "Panda Soy Print" knits up in the Panda Soy Baby Socks. Designed by Crystal Palace for the newborn in your life, these cute baby booties make excellent use of eco-friendly, soft "Panda Soy Print" as shown, or for a single shade, knit them up in "Panda Soy Solid" for a more traditional look. They are also straightforward from the basic directions and start off with a free pattern too. From just 1 ball of "Panda Soy," you can knit up to 3 pairs of socks (0 to 6 months), so this one's a great gift idea also.
And last but certainly not least, we now have available for you the latest addition to the "Cotton Chenille" collection -- Cotton Chenille Dot. With a different dyeing pattern than variegated Cotton Chenille Print, "Cotton Chenille Dot" adds a fun, funky spot-print option to let you go "dotty." Perfect for baby & children's garments & accessories plus slippers, hats, scarves & more, it's also marvelously coordinated to accent a number of the solid colors found in single-hued Cotton Chenille. And of course, all of the free Crystal Palace patterns designed for any of the Cotton Chenille versions are interchangeable, so you can knit & crochet with "Cotton Chenille Dot" in a variety of heavy-worsted projects.
Yarnmarket Welcomes Kristin Nicholas & Her Outstanding Signature Yarn from Nashua Handknits
Please join us in welcoming noted knitwear designer & color connoisseur Kristin Nicholas
to the Yarnmarket family with her wonderful designs and signature yarn. Kristin encourages knitters to conquer their color inhibitions, learn a little basic color theory and create personally satisfying fiber palettes. Once awakened to the glories of color, they begin to see new possibilities in nature, at museums, in full-color books and magazines -- everywhere that color makes a powerful statement. As Kristin has so aptly demonstrated over the years, any beautiful display can become the inspiration for an upcoming knitting project.
Designing exclusively for her signature yarn -- Julia from Nashua Handknits, Kristin has created this sensational wool blend from 50% wool, 25% kid mohair & 25% alpaca and has it spun & dyed in Peru by one of the world's finest mills. Constructed as a smooth, 3-ply yarn, "Julia" has great stitch definition for cables, Fair Isle, even simple stockinette stitches, and it felts superbly too. Kristin has also developed an extensive color palette -- many of the shades are based on Indian & French provincial textiles -- so that her solid hues work well together and can be mixed & matched quickly & easily. In addition, because we so admire Kristin's colorful designs and look forward to her upcoming projects in future issues of Vogue Knitting, we are launching her "Julia" yarn with all available colors in stock and are committed to carrying all shades in the future too.
And to add even more depth to this lovely "Julia" collection, you must check out Kristin's hardback collection of 25 colorwork designs -- Kristin Knits. From funky socks to flower-inspired scarves and from innovative sweaters to colorful afghans, Kristin shares some of her best secrets for developing your own personal color persona. Whether you use her suggested color combos or mix & match from your own personal preferences though, we know you'll enjoy making these wonderful, color-filled creations. Some of our top staff picks include:
The Julia Fingerless Flower Gloves with embroidered details & bobbled edges;
The extraordinary Julia Fair Isle Cardigan crafted of fascinating, symmetrical, geometric patterns;
The flower-inspired Julia Coleus Scarf using 4 hues of "Julia"; and
The Julia Navajo-Inspired Afghan that is truly a work of art.
Tahki Keeps Up With the Trends with New Eco-Friendly & Tweedy Yarns Plus New Colors
From past successes with such winners as Cotton Classic, Sky and Jeans, we understand how much you enjoy the classic designs & yarn creations from Tahki. So this month we are expanding our Tahki collection with two wonderful new fall/winter yarns plus new colors in some of your all-time faves.
To start with, we know you've been keeping up with Tahki's "Go Green" emphasis, and we're pleased to add the latest fiber concoction in their eco-friendly Terra Collection. Montana is a soft, lofty yarn crafted of 100% unprocessed wool roving in Italy. Available in generous 100-gram hanks, this yarn has natural wool fibers from the different shades of the sheep's coat blended together for the heather shades. Then low-impact dyes are used to create the other natural shades of "Montana."
Montana even has its own dedicated booklet -- Tahki: Terra Collection 2nd Ed. -- with 9 great designs that make terrific use of this chunky, quick-to-knit yarn.
Then the second new lovely fiber creation from Tahki is Tweedy Alpaca, but this one isn't your traditionally harsh tweed yarn. Combine the durability of wool with the velvety touch of alpaca, and you have wonderful texture & warmth. Then add a touch of acrylic & rayon for a bit of sheen, and you get one of the best heavy-worsted options currently available for your knitting & crochet projects this fall & winter. And special designs featuring "Tweedy Alpaca" are in the Tahki: Tweed Collection 2nd Ed. with projects for other Tahki tweeds also.
Next looking at some of your favorite Tahki yarns from previous seasons, the yarn aficionados have added sensational hues to a number of these beauties including:
3 new solids in Savoy (#11, #12 & #13) supported by the new Tahki: Savoy booklet;
5 new single hues of Sierra (#11-15) featured in the Tahki: Terra Collection 2nd Ed.; and
3 new lovelies in Torino Bulky (#247, #248 & #249).
Teva Durham Expands Her Loop-d-Loop Collection with Chunky Fiber Gem & New Fall Hues
We always look forward to any new additions to Teva Durham's Loop-d-Loop yarn collection, and this month we're thrilled she's added a superb super chunky concoction to her line. Beautifully crafted in Italy of 100% extrafine merino wool, "Tundra" is so light & soft it'll be hard for you to believe it's a super chunky gem but not the traditional super bulky yarn that's often too heavy & sometimes too warm. This lightness of "Tundra" makes it a marvelous choice for your quick-to-create knitting & crochet projects for fall & winter. Just imagine what lovely jackets, sweaters, hats, scarves & more you can make to keep you & yours snuggly & comfy.
Then to expand her yarn collection even further, Teva has added several gorgeous shades to two of her fall/winter yarns also:
To her DK-weight wool blend Moss, she's added a lovely camel (#09) & a luscious cranberry (#10).
Then in her fabulous component yarn Shale, check out the beautiful tone-on-tone hues of #08 (tan) & #09 (medium turquoise blue).
And of course, you know you can count on Teva for fabulous "Tundra" pattern support along with designs for the other five yarns in her collection, so check out Loop-d-Loop by Teva Durham: Volume 3 for a wide range of garments. Some of our favorites already include:
The Shale Crocheted Flower Scarf with its neck closure shaped like a flower,
The River & Moss Lace Trim Cardigan with all of its feminine detailing & open-work trim,
The Tundra Coat with Leaf Motif knitted in one piece from the top down and
Lovely enough to be selected for the front cover of the booklet, the Asymmetrical Cable Pullover.
An Update on Our Exclusive Impressionist Collection & a New Sock Yarn from Cherry Tree Hill
We are very excited to have recently received a new yarn from Cherry Tree Hill that is so soft, so lovely, so special that we can certainly see why Cherry Hill founder Cheryl Potter chose the name Supersock Select.
And what makes this special Cherry Tree Hill fiber gem so extraordinary you may ask? Well, first of all, this 100% superwashed merino wool yarn is spun from a lower micron count fiber, and you just won't believe how much softer that makes the finished product. As soon as you experience your first touch of this beauty, we bet "Supersock Select" will become your all-time favorite fingering-weight yarn.
The second reason why "Supersock Select" is so special is that it's available in our Yarnmarket-exclusive Impressionist Collection color combinations. From the luscious reds, pinks & greens of "Monet's Garden" to the turquoise hues of "Ballerina Blues" and from the autumnal shades of "Les Fleurs" to the purples & yellows of "Spring Bouquet," enjoy Cheryl Potter's interpretations of our eight Impressionist colorways rendered in this marvelous fiber.
And to give a dramatic demonstration of just how beautifully these colorways knit up in "Supersock Select," take a peek at the footwear project Supersock Select Ribbed Socks shown in "Paris Rain." This lovely sock project goes to show how even the simplest design can be transformed to a one-of-a-kind work of art with the right fiber/color combination.
Knitting & Crocheting for a Better World, Part 2: Choosing Your Worthy Causes to Support
As we introduced in the August newsletter, we're starting our annual feature of highlighting worthy causes in need of your handcrafted items. So here is the first list of charitable organizations that need your support:
One outstanding group operating throughout the United States is Warm Up America, an organization made up of volunteers who create handmade afghan blankets, clothing and accessories to help those in need. These items provide warmth and comfort to people who have lost their homes, fled abusive relations or are being cared for in hospices, shelters, hospitals and nursing home. The blanket program is based on a simple concept where individuals knit and crochet 7" x 9" sections, which are then joined together to make the finished afghans. We are especially excited to learn of their new partnership with Ronald McDonald House Charities. The goal is to provide afghans for the families of seriously ill children seeking medical treatment away from home and who are using the over 250 RMHC facilities.
Another worthwhile group with national recognition is a favorite of ours because it focuses on children who are seriously ill, traumatized or otherwise in need. Project Linus has been collecting handmade blankets from "blanketeers" to be donated throughout the U.S., and average 350 blankets given every month to local children. As their website states, "Together we have distributed over two million blankets to children in need since our inception in 1995."
Also Mom Kim Opperman has been collecting black socks for over two years now in the program she has developed called Socks for Soldiers, and we applaud this group's grassroots efforts. We also love the group's slogan: A group where love is an action word and "Support our Troops" means more than a yellow bumper sticker. So for all of you who love knitting socks and are looking for a worthy charity, Socks for Soldiers is an excellent option.
And then for the animal lovers among us, check out Hugs for Homeless Animals also known as the Snuggles Project. This group has been collecting handmade pet blankets for the past 10 years so that pets housed in animal shelters will have "a bit of comfort to call their own." Each blanket is called a "snuggle," thus the name for the program. You can find patterns, project sheets & blanket sizes on the Snuggles Home Page.
Because we believe so strongly in this type of charitable giving, we'll keep highlighting other such groups and organizations especially through the upcoming holiday months to remind us that those in need can benefit greatly from our beloved crafts. To suggest a non-profit, charitable group for us to feature, just e-mail the newsletter editor and share your suggestions. Please provide any details you have including the website address, contact person's name, e-mail address, etc. Then watch future issues of this newsletter for updates at least through the upcoming holiday months.
Customer Service Reminders
You know that we the staff of www.yarnmarket.com pride ourselves on our customer service. Each order is packed with pride by Lisa, Tina, Alma, Amy or Julie –- and we’re happy to say that although we have the occasional glitch, we have an almost 99% accuracy rate. If something does go wrong, we’ll do everything we can to make it right for you . . . right away! Just send us an e-mail at orders@yarnmarket.com or call us at 1-888-996-9276, and we’ll take care of the problem. Our customer service hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. ET, Monday through Friday.
Thanks for reading, and we wish you a great start to the fall season later this month on the 22nd. Also take time with family & friends for the upcoming special celebration days including Grandparent's Day this Sunday and Rosh Hashanah beginning on the 29th. And when you need help with holiday gift-giving ideas, have questions about pattern directions, want advice on yarn selections and more, just give us a call, and we'll let you know your best options.
And as always,
Happy Knitting & Crocheting!
Your Yarnmarket Knitting Store Staff
Yarnmarket, BargainYARNS and Yarndex are subsidiaries of Yarnmarket, LLC. Yarnmarket is an online yarn retailer with over 600 quality brands from 50+ leading manufacturers, plus patterns, books and accessories. BargainYARNS provides discounts on fashionable yarns and accessories. Yarndex is a free online yarn directory offering detailed information about specific yarns from leading manufacturers.
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