Its not too late!

Believe it or not, we still have some room left on the buses for Maryland Sheep and Wool!

If you've been waffling a bit about whether or not to go - it is a total blast and worth the trip.

Pygmy Goats!!

Go check out the amazing list of vendors if you still need more convincing then give us a call at 215.977.9276 to sign up.

An Afternoon With Ysolda

Rosie's had a great time on Sunday with Ysolda. Stacy and I were up early sprucing up the store and then after putting the final touches on our afternoon tea spread--Stacy arrived with her vintage Fiesta tea set in tow! At noon we hopped over to 30th Street to meet Ysolda, fresh from her arrival in New York and visit to The Point the previous evening.
After we hit La Columbe and Di Bruno Brothers for a much needed pick-me-up and lunch-y goodness we settled in Rittenhouse Square to chat until the event at 2:00. It was great to just relax with Ysolda, who is totally as down-to-earth and lovely as she seems on her blog.
After arriving at the shop we got all the goodies out and set the water on for tea, yes, even in the 90 degree heat. Turns out she prefers coffee so Stacy bested my painstakingly chosen tea choices from Steap with a gift of a pound of coffee beans from La Columbe.
Ysolda unpacked all of her lovely samples and we set out unsigned copies of her newly released book, Whimsical Little Knits, available at her website or at Rosie's Yarn Cellar.
She also modeled her new Fluevog's for us. She's not really that tall, I was just directed to be sure to get the shoes in the photo so I'm sort of half on the floor.

Okay, I couldn't resist it. The animals are really stinkin' cute.

Customers began to arrive and samples began to get passed around the room as everyone wanted to try on the sweaters and hats--did I mention that it was 90 degrees outside? It didn't even stop Wendy and Ysolda from modeling their versions of Little Birds for the camera.
And then we had to do the Ishbel photo shoot--and this wasn't even all the versions we saw that day!

We were sold out of books (don't worry--she brought us more!) and ready for dinner by the time we locked up at 6:00--only an hour over the scheduled end of the event, not bad! We headed to my favorite Philly dinner spot, Tria, and enjoyed some more knitting talk and excellent drinks and eats 'til we all found our exhausted ways home.
A great sucess.

As a quick note: We have all the samples from Whimsical Little Knits, and more from her website, until after knitting circle tomorrow night so be sure to come out to Rosie's from 6-8 tomorrow and bring your knitting. Ysolda may also be stopping by, so if you missed us on Sunday...

Ysolda is coming to Rosie's!

We are very pleased to announce....


And, whats more, we currently have her beautiful collection of patterns, Whimsical Little Knits, in stock. It will be available in the shop all week -- grab a copy and Ysolda will be happy to sign it for you on Sunday!

Come on down, have some tea (feel free to impress us with your dairy free cookie/cupcake/scone/muffin making prowess!), ask questions and show off your knits using Designs by Ysolda!

See you there!

Don't Forget! Sidewalk Sale this Weekend!

Its that time of year again!...

Make a special request for sun (or at least an end to the rain) and come down to Rosie's this weekend for our annual sidewalk sale. We scour our inventory, search for rare and unusual yarns squirreled away over the last season just for this purpose and bring it all out in one weekend of glorious yarn enabling just for you!

You never know what you are going to find -- custom handdyed sock yarn, a sweater's worth of a classic alpaca blend, or a hank of gorgeous silk -- all at amazing prices.

When: Saturday, April 18th, 10-6 and Sunday, April 19th, 12-5.

Come early, come often.

Bring your Rosie's bag and get an extra $5 off!!

New Spring Classes

Want to learn something new? We've got some dynamite classes going on for all levels this spring: advanced knitters, intermediate knitters, beginners, pre-knitters . . .

The six-week classes:

Beginner Knitting - The basic introductory class for those who've never held needles, or who has but needs a refresher and wants a thorough grounding. You'll learn to knit, purl, cast on, bind off, read a simple pattern, measure gauge, seam knitted pieces, and make a buttonhole. $125, and materials are included. Mondays, 6-8 pm, beginning April 13, or Thursdays, 6-8 pm, beginning April 23.

Sweater Class - Work with an instructor to knit a sweater of your choice. You'll learn to calculate fit and yarn substitutions, increase and decrease, read pattern charts, and more. Students must know how to cast on and bind off, and knit and purl confidently. $75, materials not included. Tuesdays, 6-8 pm, beginning April 28. Note: this class does not meet May 5.

Intermediate Knitting - This project-based class teaches you the foundations of more advanced techniques: cables, lace, and colorwork. Three projects will have you well on your way to conquering any knitting project in your queue. $125, materials included. Thursdays, 6-8 pm, beginning June 4.

Three-week classes:

Trellis Lace Capelet - Knit this super cute pattern written by Rosie's staffer DC Boyd! Knit using Rowan 4-ply cotton, the perfect summer yarn, this pattern will gear you up for warmer weather! $30, pattern included, materials not included. Sundays, 1-5 pm, April 19, April 26 and May 3.

Triangular Shawls Design 101 -Use Courtney's simple formula to design your own easy-to-knit lace shawl. Choose your yarn and your needles, and pick one of a few simple-to-chart patterns and get to it. $65, materials not included. Sundays, 1-5 pm, May 25, May 31, June 7.

Sunday Workshops:

Helen's Lace Mother's Day Shawl - A great way to spend Mother's Day. Knit her a shawl, bring your mom and knit shawls together, or get your kids/partner to pony up for you to attend this one-day workshop. Using Lorna's Laces "Helen's Lace", a gorgeous hand-dyed wool/silk lace yarn, you will work with an instructor to tackle the short-row shaping of this simple yet elegant shawl. $60, materials included. Sunday, May 10, 1-5 pm.

Baby Caps in Any Gauge - Learn to knit a simple hat, and to design it to your specifications using any yarn you choose! Take this class to learn how to design your own quick knits for all your friends having babies this year. A great idea for stash-busting too! $20, bring yarn and double-pointed needles of your choice. Paper and pencil helpful too! Sunday, May 17, 1-5 pm.

Granny Square Mania! -Remember those afghans on your grandmother's couch? Amazing, weren't they? You know you want to make one. Learn the basics of Granny Squares and crochet a few in the traditional colors of black, white and your choice of crazy colors to accent. We'll be using standard worsted weight yarn in acrylic or wool. $40, materials included. Sunday, June 14, 1-5 pm.

Give us a call to sign up, or come on in and do it in person!

The Other April Project of the Month

Just on the off chance that yesterday's project doesn't cry your name in quite the way you'd like, here's a more demure (but equally lovely) pattern. The Articulation Scarf is a beginner-level lace project made from one skein of Louet Mooi, a luscious bison/bamboo/cashmere blend.

It features a simple two-row repeat, the double-ladder look being achieved by working yarnovers on both right & wrong sides.

Articulation is available for free download here on our Rosie Knits Pattern page. Happy April!

April Project of the Month

Sometimes I look around me, and the artist in me just screams to get away from the strictures of "knitting patterns." Not to mention the fact that the economy has us all scrambling to use what we have instead of buying more and more. The natural move for this month's Project of the Month struck me. I took all of the leftover swatches from the past 20 years of knitting and picked the best and the brightest. When sewn together, they created this masterpeice.

In lieu of the more traditional "pattern .pdf" format we have been bringing you for the past year or so, we wanted this project to be more free-form to enable you to really use your creative minds and heart in order to produce a scarf that really speaks to you and for you as a knitter.

In our version, we also included a versatile pleat (aesthetics and function! A knitter's dream!) that not only adds dimensionality, but adds a keyhole function for an alternate means of wearing the scarf.

It's very easy to knit, and I have outlined each square for you below.

First, gather your materials.

Yarn (1 skein each of the following):

Reynold's Saucy in Lemon Yellow

Cascade Pima Silk in Pink

La Gran Mohair in Fuschia

Kohlibi in Burgundy

Noro Iro #18

Caron Simply Soft in Butter Yellow

Donegal Tweed in Black

Manos Clasica in a color that doesn't actually exist but was a prototype sent to Lisa from Uruguay

Manos Clasica #120

Manos Clasica #64

Reynold's Whisky #86

Rowan Scottish Tweed DK (which is discontinued, but you could probably find it on Ravelry)

Summer Tweed in Toast

Kidsilk Haze (held double) in 579

Rowan Cotton Braid 360 Degas

Red Heart in Yellow

Rowan Pure Wool DK in blue

Reynolds Saucy in Aqua
Cascade 220 in Green

Jameison's Shetland Worsted in Mulberry

Needles:

1 pair each single pointed needles in sizes 4through 13.

Notions:

Stitch markers

Intarsia bobbins

3 Safety pins

Darning Needle

Oh, for goodness sakes.

April Fools Day!