Simply Shetland is here!

Simply Shetland Silk & Lambswool is a 59% silk noil, 41% Shetland lambswool blend waiting to be made into a sweater or shawl. The silk noil gives it a nubby texture without the sheen that most silks have, and the Shetland wool is soft and tweedy. The 50-gram skeins have 246 yards, which will land you at 6-7 stitches to an inch on size 2 or 3 needles. We've got it in eight gorgeous colors, each of them named after a Scottish castle:

Venlaw Castle

Slain Castle

Culzean Castle

Ardvreck Castle

At $11 a ball it's a great buy too, perfect for knitting summer shawls or even a garment. Stop in and take a look!

New book: Feminine Knits

We recently received a shipment of the book Feminine Knits: 22 Timeless Designs by Lene Holme Samsoe and just had to share. This book is beautiful!

Previously only available in Danish and Norwegian, it was recently re-published by Interweave Press, complete with yarn substitution recommendations for yarns available in the US.

Diagonal Lace Jacket

While full of projects in lace, cables, texture and fair isle, and classic and unique construction alike, the book is still very cohesive.

Lace Tiered Skirt

You will be sure to find multiple projects with that "knit me now!" appeal -- why not cast on for a cute lacy cover up for a summer night out you can finish in a week or two as well as a sweater with beautiful details you will complete for winter.

Plisse Jacket

Come on in and check it out!

WE'RE OPEN!!!!

Rosie's is open today!

We'll be here during our normal hours, 10am-6pm.

We look forward to seeing you this Memorial Day.
(Come on down if you need a break from the grill...it can get a tad smoky).

How to Weave In Ends

When you were learning to knit, you may have been told that you should never, ever tie a knot in your knitting. "But why?" you may have asked yourself. "By what other possible means will I begin a new strand of yarn? How will I ensure that it doesn't unravel and make me look foolish as I show it off to my knitting circle?" The reason behind the rule is that as your work is washed, blocked, and worn, knots make stiff nobbly bits in the otherwise uniform drape of your knitting.

You may also have wondered what to do with the tail ends of yarn hanging off the cast-on and bind-off rows. Here's what to do:

(1) When you begin and end your work, and when you add new yarn, make sure that the tails are about 6 inches long. Get yourself a yarn needle (also called a tapestry needle or a blunt needle) and thread the tail through it.
(2) You're going to make that tail invisible by actually following a row of stitches, weaving the yarn into the stitches in the rows above and below. (You're weaving in on the wrong side of the fabric - usually the bumpy purl side.) Have you ever looked closely at the stitch structure? It looks like this: Starting from the right, angle your needle so that it goes up through the bottom-row stitch and then up through the upper-row stitch to its right. Next, go down through the next stitch (the upper-row stitch to its left) and down through the bottom-row stitch to the right (the same one you started on). Go up through the bottom-row stitch to its left . . . and so on.

(3)Way to go, knitter! Now you've gained an understanding of stitch structure and made yourself a really professional-looking project. Give yourself a high-five!

Wine and Wind Party!

We had a really great time last night at our annual Wine and Wind party, and we hope you did too! Clyde made a breif appearance to see his fans, and he did not destroy anything, I'm pleased to announce. We got to see some really great yarn and I got some advice from Sherry about how to soften my world's scratchiest yarn which I purchased while in Maryland. Scratchy, yes. But beautiul. I don't have a pic yet, but it is from the Faroese islands, and I am a sucker for historically accurate yarns. More on that yarn later...

It was great to see everyone swatching and talking about everyone's plans for this years (and last years, and that other time...) purchases.

And we did wind some yarn.

I want to thank all of you who took the Rosie Bus to The Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival this year! You guys make it tons of fun. Congratulations to the winners of our Rosie's Bus raffle grand prizes--a Namaste Laguna bag and a set of Addi Clicks!

We look forward to doing it again next year!

POTM and Wind and Wine!!

Come on down to Rosie's tonight for our annual post Maryland Sheep and Wool wine and wind. Bring your skeins to show off your loot, use our swift and ballwinder and plethora of needles to swatch the perfect fabric . We'll provide the wine (and a little cheese and bread, too!), you provide the eye candy.
Not sure what to knit with your impulse purchase of luxury hand-dyed? Why not add a skein or two of Kidsilk Haze and knit this month's Project of the Month, the Mobius Cowl? Designed in two sizes (the larger is shown above) and four different gauges for each (dk, worsted, aran and bulky), it is easy to customize to your desired finished end result.

And if that isn't quite what you had in mind, we will be happy to set you up with the perfect pattern, tonight instead!

See you tonight!