Knit 1 Hearts Chicagoland Yarn Crawl!

It's July and new yarn and samples are coming through the door at lightning speed!?  It can only mean one thing -- Yarn Crawl starts next weekend.  Here are the highlights:

Friday, August 1 from 6PM - 8PM Customer Appreciation Party
We will be debuting a limited edition, Private Label Knit 1 Yarn.  It's exclusive and artisanal and gorgeous.  The party features door prizes, a $50 gift certificate for the winner of the evening's raffle, refreshments and a chance to pick up your Passport.

We are featuring the wonderful yarn and concept that is Shibui.  Come see a selection of model garments made with mixes of Shibui fiber.  The mix idea, in the words of Shibui fuses modern taste with classic silhouettes, creating a line of elegant and functional designs.  Affordable luxury yarns and inventive, elegant patterns with  creative and accomplished designers like Julie Hoover, Kirsten Johnstone and Lori Versace just to name a few, is what Shibui is all about.  On Wednesday, August 6 you will have a chance to explore the concept yourself during The Mix Party.  Each participant receives mini skeins of each fiber.  You will have the chance to try your own mixes and try on garments; it's akin to mixing paint colors, but it's fiber!  This party is for knitters of every level and budget; you can't make a mistake and you can make a wonderful and unique piece for under $50.  There is a $10 charge for participating, but you can apply it to your Shibui purchase of $20 or more on the day of the party. Please call to register 773-244-1646 or send me an email at info@knit1chgo.com.

A new shipment of Madelinetosh is in the house!  We also have a fantastic selection of Jul closures, a great selection of the new Addi Rocket needles and a whole lot more!  And as with each Yarn Crawl, everything in the store is 10% off. 


We love Yarn Crawl and we can't wait to see all of you friends, new and old!

Lynn

Anzula Takes it on the Road (and brings it to us!)

Just when you thought summer in Chicago was all fests and no knitting along comes the Anzula Trunk Show!  Sabrina from Anzula is coming to Knit 1 this Wednesday, June 25 from 4PM - 7PM.  She's driving here from California to visit us.  Judging by her pictures she's got suitcases loaded with product and sample garments.  At the moment, we only carry 2 of Anzula's yarns, our beloved Cricket and the lovely lace weight Breeze, so we are excited to see the rest of her line in all of her hand dyed colors.  Please join us for this special opportunity to see and buy their beautiful yarns and meet Sabrina.  If you have projects in mind bring your patterns and we'll help you with yarn amounts.  We also have lots of patterns that we know will produce beautiful garments, so we're happy to help you choose a project.

Happy Summer Solstice,
Lynn

On Needles and Off

We had a fantastic time at TNNA.  We saw lots of new products:  yarn, patterns, closures even new needles!  Some things have already come in like the fantastic closure pictured below from Jul.  We couldn't wait to start knitting with it all.  Here are some photos of a few things we've been working on.  I couldn't resist going outside to snap pictures, it's just so nice out, finally!

Jul leather closure on The Boyfriend Sweater designed by Wendy Bernard*

Ridgeline by Andrea Marquis knit in Shibui Staccato

Gorgeous Cabled Tank in All Seasons Cotton

Building in Color -- a class starting on June 15th

*Wendy has a new book!  It's my favorite of the new books Up, Down, All-Around.  A compendium of stitch patterns with instructions for knitting them from the bottom up, the top down or in the round.  So many ideas swirling in my head while swatching from this cool (mine's autographed!) new addition to the library.

Please stop in and see us on your way to the garden center.  If it's hot out, our air is on.  Plus, new classes online designed to work with your summer schedule.

Lynn

Spring + Road Trip

Thanks to our friends, A Vintage Bloom, we have new planters!  I'm just so happy to see color outside the store.  Has anyone else noticed that as the seasons and the light change your personal palette changes?  I'm gravitating to lighter colors, more pale neutrals and less saturated shades.  We got our new shipment of Ultra Pima Cotton and there are some really pretty colors and they all look great together.  The pale blues and greens are fantastic and I love this yarn for crochet.  It makes really great market bags.

We decided to carry Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino.  The Cashmerino Aran is such a great go-to yarn for all things baby that we thought you all would like the sportweight version.  There are over 30,000 projects using it on Ravelry, and many of them free.  Check it out here.

Next weekend we'll be closed while we're at the Needle Arts show in Indianapolis.  We'll be checking out trends in the knitting and crochet world plus ordering inventory for fall and winter.  I can't wait to see what's new, hot and trendy.  I'll Tweet and post on Facebook while we're gone. 

My goal for today is to post all the new classes on the website.  If not today, then tomorrow.  And, if anyone wants a class comment or email me, we are always looking for inspiration from all of you!  Just to tempt you, there's going to be Building in Color.  Building Blocks was really popular and people who took it have grown their skills exponentially. 

In the meantime, enjoy the transition to spring!
Lynn

Freedom from Enclosed Places

One more snow picture:

We haven't lost our hope for warmer weather, this is just a minor set-back.  Spring yarns are rolling in, winter stuff is in the sale bin and we're thinking about carefree summer projects. 

We'll be closed on Easter Sunday, but look forward to seeing everyone during our regular hours the rest of the week.

Lynn