Monday, February 11, 2008

It's Gotta Be Better Than This!

As many of you know, one of our favorite patterns around here is the Baby Jacket with Moss Stitch Edges. As I toil away at the computer day after day, trying to format our patterns for download on the website, I cannot stop thinking that there must be a better name than this. Yes, Baby Jacket With Moss Stitch Edges is consise. It correctly describes what you will, in fact, be knitting. But it's gotta be better than this! It needs a new name. Something cute, but not cutesy. Something catchy but not annoying like a jingle in a commercial that after you see it the 7th time makes you want to microwave your head. So that brings me to this blog post. A lot of you have knit "Baby Jacket with Moss Stitch Edges" so help me come up with a good Rosie Knits name for it before I start loosing sleep.

Now I'm having second thoughts. Maybe Baby Jacket with Moss Stitch edges is a great name. (I have to confess that this part of the post is being written after a good night of sleep. The top half I wrote yesterday!). I took Queenie for a long walk last night--without the baby!-- and had time to think about it. Maybe being obvious about a pattern name is good. Who can tell what a pattern with a crazy name is? Something called "Shmooty-hoo" could be anything, a sock, a hat, a tea cosy--who knows? And all these fancy names of things--are people just looking up words in a dictionary? Pulling a number out of a hat and turning to that page of a thesaurus (which always seemed to me should be an all-knowing dinosaur, by the way). Care to chime in with your opinion on the issue?

Sunday, February 03, 2008

New Rowan! Purelife Organic and More...

We've just gotten in the Spring Rowan! There is a new line of yarns, Purelife Cotton. It's a naturally dyed 100% Organic Cotton. I really think that Rowan is doing it right too. There is an article about the producers of the cotton in the new Rowan Magazine, #43 which is also in a the shop. There's a book to go with the new cotton, The Organic Cotton Collection
the book retails for $17.95 and has great sweaters for women, men and kids. There's even a great dress in young adult sizes!
These are the colors of Purelife Cotton. The muted colors are due to the natural dye process. I think these are great colors for babies (but of course I have babies on the brain right now!) and I know a lot of people who are looking for organic cotton for baby items. The fact that the dyes are natural and not synthetic chemicals just makes the idea of a super soft baby sweater or blanket even better. And at $10 for 131 yards it is totally reasonably priced comparable to other cottons.
Also in is a new book for all sizes and styles using the classic All Seasons Cotton, which has a new palette this season. They've been swapping colors in and out for years and I'm hoping they've finally settled on a good classic palette.

These are the new colors of All Seasons Cotton below. There are still some old favorites though! The new colors will hopefully be available through our website by Monday.
These are the three new books from RYC. There are also some great new color additions to the RYC Cashcotton 4 ply and DK and the Natural Silk Aran, which in my humble opinion is a great all year round sweater yarn for those who can't do wool.



These are the new colors in the Cashcotton DK. They are definitely filling in the gaps for the much requested "kids" colors. And finally a red! It's a great rich crayola red, the computer screen isn't doing it great justice.
And in the 4 ply they have given us the same red and the addition of a great bright orange.
Orange and red again round out the additions to the Natural Silk Aran. This is really a great yarn, and I hope it gets the attention it deserves this season! Take a look next time your in.
There aren't any books for it this season but there are new colors of Bamboo Soft

and Bamboo Tape.

Both of these yarns are 100% bamboo fiber, making a great soft and drapey fabric similar to a rayon but better because it's all natural and bamboo is a renewable resource using less energy to produce than cotton, which rayon is a byproduct of. Check out the Bamboo Tape Collection from last year and also RYC Nature which has great Bamboo Soft patterns.
See you soon!