Thursday Knit Night for Marilyn

Ok knitters, we need you to stop by the shop on Thursday to welcome home Marilyn!!!



As many of you know, Marilyn had a bad ankle break and has been out of commission for about three months. Well, she's made about a 98% recovery (that 2% means she needs to ice the ankle at night) and she's ready to get back to the shop. She has missed all of you so much, so it would make it so much more special to have lots of you come see her. Bring all your projects so we can update her on everything.

We had a fun day yesterday with lots and lots of visitors. I of course got out the camera to share these cute knitters.

Here we have Zara in her crocheted hat that took her 90 minutes to do. It's out of Tonalita and turned out so cute that her friends now want her to crochet hats for them!



The twins in this picture are here for the Charlottesville Festival of the Book. They wrote The Strand Prophecy with their father. Yes, we had celebrities in the shop.

And here are the Rendquists knitting up garter stitch squares for a baby blanket for a new baby in the family.



Thank you all for visiting us this weekend and please stop by for Knit Night on Thursday from 5-8 pm. Come and knit with Marilyn!

Baby Blanket

It's baby time in Charlottesville! I have just completed a baby blanket for my good friend Nora. The theme of the baby's room is farm related, so I thought, what better than to put farm animals on the blanket? Also, Nora loves cows, so a cow had to be included somehow.

I thought about doing four different squares and knitting animals into the fabric, but then Debbie had a great idea- knit up the blocks fast, seam them together, and then duplicate stitch the animals on. Well, it worked great! I made it all up and it's totally easy. All you need is four skeins of Heirloom (washable wool) in different colors. Cast on 65 stitches on a size 7 needle. Garter stitch eight rows and then on the 9th row, knit all 65. On the 10th row, knit 4, purl 57, knit four. In other words, a stockinette square with a garter stitch border. Continue this until you're almost out of yarn and then do your 8 garter stitch rows and cast off.

Then, block the squares a la Jane Slicer-Smith. Fill a bowl with lukewarm water and put a washcloth in (white if possible to avoid any color running issues). Squeeze out excess water from the washcloth and put on your fabric. Then put a hot iron on top of the washcloth. This will produce lots of steam, so be careful. When you've ironed the entire wash cloth, you'll have to put it back in the water and let it sit for about 30 seconds. It can get really hot, so again, be careful! Repeat the whole process until the square is flat.

Seam squares together and voila! I duplicate stitched animals on and my blanket was ready to be wrapped. Thank you, Liesel, for wrapping it. That's an art that I haven't mastered yet.



little lamb...



Mama duck and ducklings...



piglet...



and the cow!

Wednesday Morning Knitters

It seems that The Needle Lady is the place to be on Wednesday mornings. We hear so much about how fun this group is from Mimi and now we have actual proof that this group of knitters exists: photos!

First off, we have a scarf knitted in Rowan Tapestry. This yarn is so pretty and we have lots of colors.



And just in time for the city market, Mimi crocheted the Market Bag made of Louet's 100% worsted weight linen. I think you could fit lots of fresh veggies in this bag. How chic!



Here is Lynne with her periwinkle blue shawl. Gorgeous!



And last but definitely not least, Angela, and sleeve number 1 of her Jane Slicer-Smith cabled swing coat. Can we say perfect color for her complexion? Angela, I think we need frequent updates on this project.



Is it just a coincidence or did the wednesday morning coordinate their knitting in blue for this photo shoot?

We also hope that Jane Slicer-Smith will be back soon so we can all have new coats for next fall. Jane's designs can be seen at http://www.sigknit.com/ and the patterns are marvelous.

In other news, those of you on ravelry.com make sure to check out our Needle Lady Knitters group where we can just dish on what projects we're doing and what yarns we're eyeing at the shop. Join us!

Here is Mary Flo, who I think knows absolutely everyone in Charlottesville (at least everyone that comes into The Needle Lady), modeling her Mission Falls 1824 wool vest. This was her first venture beyond a rectangle or a square and it looks just great on her. She’s moving on with confidence to a new sweater knit out of Classic Elite’s Bamboo Wool. She has joined Debby Ware this past week for a wonderful knitting workshop with Debby Ware and Jil Eaton (Minnowknits). I can’t wait to see what she has created at the workshop. Here are a couple of pictures from Debby’s last workshop at The Needle Lady.





These are a wonderful “Debby Ware” booty and hat set that was knit and created in the last “Create your own Hat” workshop by Debby Ware. It is modeled by the beautiful grandchild of the knitter. This grandma actually completed the entire hat during the Sunday workshop!

Come see us this weekend, Mimi

Finished: Vittadini Scarf

Krista emailed us this adorable scarf modeled on her son. It's actually for an adult, but it looks great on all sizes:) This is the One Row Hand Spun scarf by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee.



This took three skeins of Adrienne Vittadini Nadia, which will be one of the yarns during the March Madness Sale this weekend. Parfait!

March Madness Sale!

Hello Knitters! We have a great surprise for March- Mimi has just announced the "End of Winter March Madness Sale." Lots of the winter yarns will be on sale at 40% off. All of the Vittadinni, some Noro, some Jo Sharp and lots more!! The sale officially runs from Friday through Sunday, but the Needle Lady rule is always that the sale continues until we clean up, so if you can’t get there on the weekend, try for Monday morning before everything gets put away.

This is BIG. My advice: Go to Knitting Night on Thursday from 5-8 pm to get a first crack at this, i.e. before the Saturday rush. You'll have the store to yourselves. Doesn't this sound heavenly? A private shopping spree at the Needle Lady!

We have a few new things to show you this week. First and foremost, Plymouth Bamboo that we are all going to make summer shawls out of. This yarn feels so lovely and it's a great deal at $7.50 per skein. Look at these colors!



We've also got a new cotton/acrylic mix in and it is also a serious deal. $3.99 per skein, and one ball makes a premie hat. Again, fabulous colors...



There is also a new display of Prism yarn in the front of the store. New colors and all. FAB.



And one finished object made of Mission Falls 1824. Cute.



Remember, March Madness Sale starts Friday and ends Sunday, but Thursday night knitters will have first dibs! Stay tuned and keep in touch. Also, please send any pictures of finished projects to us at info@needlelady.com We love to put pictures of our loyal customers on here!