Purlescence

Swap!

Sunday we hosted a stash swap. We all sifted through our stashes for yarn we were no longer in love with and brought it in to send it off to new homes. The table was piled high with all kinds of good stuff and everyone went away happy.

See? We weren't kidding! Sarah was over the moon with her new acquisitions. We love that happy smile!

Jasmin has an evil grin that can only mean she found something wonderful and covetable.

Lots of people brought in more yarn than they meant to leave with, so there was more than enough for all. We will be donating the remaining yarn to charitable knitting causes. Look for more information about charity knitting events in the shop soon.

All in all, the swap was a tremendous success. We'll have to do this again sometime...

Pajama Jammie Jam

It's that time of year again! Time to stock up for the holidays and get great deals on your favorite yarns. We'll be closed Tuesday through Thursday this week for the Thanksgiving holiday and reopen bright and early on Friday morning for the Pajama Jammie Jam.

Pajama Jammie Jam
Friday, Nov. 23, opening at 6:00am

Arrive between 6:00-7:00am for a 30% discount on your purchase
7:00-9:00am for 25% discount
9:00am-noon for 20%
Noon - 6:00pm for 15%

Discount applies to full price items purchased the day of the sale only. No discounts on previous purchases or special orders. Discount card must be surrendered at time of purchase.

Sale excludes Blue Moon Fiber Arts, Handmaiden, Dream in Color, Manos del Uruguay, spinning wheels and accessories, books, and needles.

We'll be here in our jammies. Won't you join us?

Birthday Pics!

Happy birthday to us! We celebrated our first birthday in style all day on Saturday. See those happy smiles? It's been a fabulous and fun year. Our shelves are stocked with beautiful yarns, our needles full of wonderful knitting and our shop is filled with lots of happy knitters, crocheters, and spinners.

Of course we had to have cake! We ordered a beautiful white cake with fresh strawberries and white buttercream. Of course the roses were purple! It was decadent and delicious.

The highlight of the day was gathering together folks who had knit some of the shop's favorite patterns. From left to right standing: Kaye with her oh-so-close-to-finished Sharks Ribby, Kathy in her Ribby Shell, Cindy standing in in Nathania's Scoop Neck Ribby, Nathania in her Rollneck Ribby, Ruth in Sandi's Scoop Neck Hooded Ribby (another almost complete Ribby), CJ in her Twisted Hooded Ribby, Lisa in her OMG-I-just-pulled-an-allnighter-and-finished Ribby, Robin in her Rollneck Ribby, and Ivee in her finished-just-this-week Ribby. Kneeling: Celia in her Twisted/Cascade Ribby, Chloe in her Short Sleeve Hoodie Ribby, Leslie in her I-ran-out-of-yarn-on-the-hood-and-improvised Ribby, and Sandi in her Hoodie Ribby. Hurray for Ribby Pullis!

Next it was time to show off our Clapotis. This is a perennial favorite with staff and customers alike. Left to right: CJ, Chloe, Kathy, Leina, Janice, Juanita and Nathania.

Becky had to leave before the pictures were scheduled, so she and Janice posed for a picture together in their Clapotis. Aren't they beautiful?

Finally, we snapped pics of Ju-San Lunas we've knit. CJ was a rockstar and knit two! She shows off hers, Ruth wears the original that Sandi knit, Sandi wears the one CJ knit for the shop and Nathania wears the stole version.

We were blessed to share the day with many of our friends and family. Debbie and Carol brought a birthday cake that Sandi could share, complete with a candle! There was laughter, camaraderie, some spinning, some knitting and lots of love to go around. Thank you to all who have made our first year such a wonderful one. We appreciate your support and love more than you can know.

Birthday Sale & Party Lite for Breast Cancer Awareness

Can you believe it? We're almost a year old. Join us Saturday, October 13 from 10 am - 5 pm for our Birthday Bash and Sale. Selected items will be 40% off and we'll be taking pictures of Ribby Pullis, Ju-San Luna Shawls and Clapotis. Please come help us celebrate!

We're also making the most of Breast Cancer Awareness month by hosting a special Party Lite candle party on Saturday, October 20, from 5 -8 pm. Check out the glorious scents of the Party Lite menu and enter to win a special grand prize drawing. We'll be donating a portion of the proceeds on select "Pink Ribbon" items as part of our commitment to raising awareness about this disease which has touched the lives of so many we know and love.

Late Night Knits this Friday!

Late Night "Fits" Sale!   Don't forget that Late Night Knits is this Friday, July 20th!!  We will be open until 11 p.m.  From 6-11 p.m. only we will be having a special Late Night "Fits" sale featuring Stephanie Japel's book, Fitted Knits.   Her book will be 10% off, and all Cascade Yarns will be 15% off.  Cascade yarns feature prominently in this great book with lots of wonderful pieces to start your Fall wardrobe.   We are also planning to show "Shakespeare in Love".  The movie is rated R, with some nudity and sexual situations.  The movie will start about 7 p.m. and should run until 9 p.m. or so.   Offer valid only for the given dates and applies to stock on hand. Does not apply to special orders or previous purchases.

We Got Amy!

Amy Singer is making an exclusive Bay Area appearance at Purlescence
July 28-29. Amy will be teaching two workshops:

No Sheep For You, Saturday, July 28, 9:30-noon, Cost $50 + materials:
Learn the ins and outs of fibers that aren't wool and never had four
legs. We'll learn about cotton, linen, hemp, bamboo, lyocell, rayon,
soy, the new synthetics and more, plus the most delicious non-wool of
all: silk. Get to know the GeeKY thing [hint: it involves knitting].
It's the tool that will help you to how to substitute non-wool fibers
when the pattern calls for wool and get a great result. Here's a
secret -- it's WAY more than matching the gauge.

Amy will provide swatching yarn from Louet and Classic Elite.

Supplies:
- Knitting needles (straights or circulars) in sizes US 5, 6, 7, and
8, any length

and Tuscany Shawl, Sunday, July 29, 9:30-noon, Cost $50 + materials:
Amy will introduce us to the joys of knitting lace the easy way. Our
project will be the Tuscany shawl, knit from a smooth worsted-weight
silk yarn, which feels amazing against the skin. If you can
confidently knit and purl, make yarn overs, cast on and bind off,
you're ready for this project! We'll learn all the tricks that make
knitting lace a pleasure, and the easy way to block your finished
shawl when you're done. You'll be proud to show it off, and you'll
love wrapping yourself in its shimmery folds.

Supplies:

- No Sheep for You, published by Interweave Press [the book contains
the Tuscany pattern]

- size US 6 needles - 40" circulars recommended

- 24 stitch markers [simple rings are best]

Sign ups are available on a first come, first served basis. Limited
spaces are available, so sign up early!

Amy will also be here for a book signing Saturday, July 28 from
2:00-5:00pm.

Love Actually

Don't forget that tomorrow night, Dec. 29, is Knit Flick night here at Purlescence. We'll be watching Love Actually (one of our favorites) at 7pm. Please join us for some holiday laughter and cheer!

NB: Love Actually is rated R and contains a bit of nudity, some naughty language and some adult subject matter.

Pajama Jammy Jam

We had no idea. When Chloe and Nathania arrived at the shop a bit before 6am on Black Friday they wondered how many people would show up at the crack of dawn to get a good deal on yarn. Anne S. (that's Anne with an "E", sorry, honey!) was the first to arrive, her headlights turning into the parking lot at 5:55am. From then on madness ensued. People streamed in the door and left with armloads of yarn. Some, like CJ, Christina and Hellen, sat in the family room and knit for most of the day. People came in their jammies and drank spiced cider and coffee from Peet's.

Kevin lent a hand as did Kaye, so we were well staffed for the onslaught. We're pleased to say that our shelves are a little bit lighter to make room for more new goodies slated to arrived in the next couple of weeks. Meanwhile, there are more photos for your viewing pleasure on Flickr.

Late Night Knits

Our very first ever Late Night Knits was a huge success! The shop was full of friends and family, we watched Young Frankenstein and had a great time. Christina whipped out a gorgeous sample for us, a crocheted choker in Rowan Lurex Shimmer. She finished it in under three hours! There are lots of great pictures to share, but rather than take up bandwidth here, we've uploaded them to our Flickr page. You're sure to recognize Kristi & Cookie, Sheetal, CJ, Christina, Kate, Kaye, Kevin, Sandy and a few new faces too. Thank you all for coming to knit with us!

Upcoming Events

Friday, November 3: Knit Flicks - Galaxy Quest
Friday, November 10: Late Night Knits - Nightmare Before Christmas
Friday, November 17: Knit Flicks - Say Anything
Friday, November 24: Pajama-jammy-jam/Knit Flicks - A Christmas Story

Preview Party

The day has come for Purlescence Yarns to make its big debut. Before we officially opened the doors, however, we invited our nears and dears to help us celebrate this momentous occasion in our lives.

We spent the day putting the finishing touches on the shop and by the time people were scheduled to arrive, we had things pretty well in hand. It was beautiful to see all our hard work come together into such a warm and inviting space. While there is still much to do, what we'd done was enough and we were ready to welcome those we love and those who have helped us make the shop what it is to our party.

The first bit of celebration happened when our friends Maria and Mark arrived to install the overhead sign on our building. We had originally worked with another contractor who just didn't get it. Maria and Mark and Cut 'n' Paste Signs got our sign done in 24 hours and we can't tell you how much we appreciate them! We think it looks fantastic.

Before long we had a shop full of people laughing, eating, knitting. Everyone seemed to be having a good time and we were having a great time too. There were sheep, alpaca and llama cookies, provided by Ghost's mom and stepdad.

And then there was cake. Rich, Ghost's stepdad, spent all afternoon decorating the most amazing cake we've ever seen. A sweater cake! The three of us girls got to cut the first piece together.

Of course, this is what it's all about. As the evening wound down to a close, the knitters gathered in the Family Room and we knew that everything we've done is totally worth it.