FREE pattern

So I decided the other day in honor of Earth Day to come up with an "idea" of sorts. Then I remembered that when I was growing up in Germany we used a thing called a "Netz" to carry groceries in. I looked it up online to see if they still existed, and sure enough they do.....

Of course I wanted mine to be knitted and use lots of yarn since I am in the yarn selling business. There is so much talk about being eco- friendly and I wanted it to be just that. Of course there is also much talk about how much energy being eco- friendly might use in some cases. So I used a yarn that we and many of our customers have lots of: Eros by Plymouth. The result was my version of a Netz. We had lots and lots of inquiries for the pattern, so I expect to see a finished version of it in a grocery store near you soon! If you are making one, please send me a picture of it at gaby@yarnlady.com and I'll share it here.

You know how one design often inspires another? Well when I looked at this bag, I turned it just a bit and mentally took off a portion of it and there it was: a tank top!! (If this was going to be a tanktop, I would do more solid rows on top so the line wouldn't come you-know-where...) I couldn't wait to get to work on it, only this time I did use an eco -friendly yarn. I used 3 hanks of Pakucho by Trendsetter. Because of the amount of stitches that I used, it became a very SMALL tank top or a beautiful dress for a little girl. All it needs now is a ribbon and a small flower and it would be darling on a little girl.

If you would like the pattern, please write to me and I will e-mail it to you free. Please give me credit if you use it and pass it on. Enjoy!

Another opportunity to help

Dear friends, As some of you know, I, and 17 other knitters in the area, have been busy this past year knitting and putting together an afghan - in a small effort to help bring about peace in the world through an organization called Central Asia Institute, founded by Greg Mortenson. Several years ago Greg Mortenson visited Hood River to talk about his work building schools in remote areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan, and to promote his bestseller "Three Cups of Tea" which chronicles his work. It is an amazing story of how one person can make a tremendous difference in the world, in this case by building schools, primarily for girls, in a fundamental Moslem part of the world, where only boys are traditionally educated, and then mostly in fundamentalist-based schools run by the Taliban. Greg and his organization CAI have completed over 60 schools to date! Greg's visit left a lasting imprint on many in the Gorge community. A silent auction was organized and held last May, and the money collected then, and in the months following, has reached a total of more than $30,000. An entire school can be built in Pakistan and Afghanistan by Mortenson's organization for about $34,000, so we are very close to having raised enough money for the gift of a school from this area. The afghan consists of 20 blocks of complex knitting - mostly cables, or what is referred to as aran knitting - and it is done up in a beautiful, offwhite wool. The dimensions are roughly 4' x 5'. See attachment with photo. I'm hoping you will get inspired to contribute to this wonderful cause, and wish to purchase raffle tickets with the chance of winning a gorgeous piece of handiwork. Each ticket is $5, and I will personally fill out a raffle stub and put it in the "tub" for each $5 you send me to 2556 East side Road, Hood River, OR 97031. Please make checks out to CAI (it is a tax-deductible donation), and mark your telephone number so I can call you if you are the lucky winner!! In Peace, Marie Louise

More places to get involved

I'm sure you have a whole list of places that could use your contributions of knitted and crocheted items. Someone just pointed out this one to me. It looks like a very worthy cause to me, so get your needles cooking and use up that stash!
http://www.warmwoolies.org/

Click here for a video about this.
http://www.myfoxcolorado.com/myfox/pages/Home/Detail;jsessionid=4D81321608A5B1944FD3674AE36589FC?contentId=2344135&version=4&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=VSTY&pageId=1.1.1

Thanks for helping!

Glimpses of a day at Yarn Lady

Getting Involved

We have had such great responses from our customers when we asked you to get involved and help a specific cause. You support Stitches From The Heart and you have knit so many little sweaters that we hung them from our walls and they circled the store, then you knitted pink scarves for cancer and there are so many other things that you have opened your hearts for.

Here is another organization that would welcome your contributions, so I thought I would highlight Afghans for Afghans. You probably already heard of them, but perhaps today is the day you want to learn more.

http://www.afghansforafghans.org/

This grassroots effort is inspired by Red Cross volunteers who made afghans, socks, slippers, and other items for soldiers and refugees during World Wars I and II and other times of crisis and need. Read about the Red Cross knitting tradition.
Afghans for Afghans is a humanitarian and educational people-to-people project that sends hand-knit and crocheted blankets and sweaters, vests, hats, mittens, and socks to the beleaguered people of Afghanistan.

Eco friendly yarns- what to choose

By now, I'm sure that you, too have at least thought about switching some of your knitting to eco-friendly yarns. We are all more conscious of what goes in and on our bodies and of course what it takes in terms of materials and energy used to produce these items.

Laura Bryant, owner of Prism Yarns, suggested recently on the Knit-U list that we could Google different fibers to find out exactly what they are about and can make better decisions for ourselves. I thought I would do that for you and give you some links here. Prism Yarn carries a Tencel Tape and Laura has shared with us some thoughts, pictures and pattern samples. You can see them here: http://www.yarnlady.com/prism/from%20laura/tencel%20puff%20piecepublic.pdf

Regarding bamboo: http://www.swicofil.com/bambrotexenduses.html

Regarding tencel: http://www.lenzing.com/fibers/en/textiles/4180.jsp;jsessionid=91806AF27437BC9B4FEA8346134E5B36?rdc=1

http://www.madehow.com/Volume-5/Lyocell.html

Well, I can already see that this could take some time, so perhaps you had better look for yourself, if this interests you.

Fashion Colors

Most of you probably already know this, but I just remembered that you can got to
http://pantone.com/downloads/articles/pdfs/PANTONE%20Fashion%20Color%20Report%20Spring%2008.pdf

to find out about the latest fashion colors and anything related to that.

At Yarn Lady, we are of course very interested in what colors you will be looking for when you come in to buy that yarn to make your newest garment. Actually, our suppliers have made most of those choices for us, often a year or more in advance, since they have to place their orders early. Where we come in, is selecting from the colors that our suppliers offer to us. While we can't stock each and every color, we have always tried to carry most of the colors that are offered to us to give our customer the largest selection possible. Just because I like one color over another, doesn't mean that you will.