Big News at Needles in the Hay!

Greetings knitters and crocheters of Peterborough and beyond! I have happy news to share with you: I have sold Needles in the Hay, so it will continue to be your lovely little yarn shop, just under the direction of someone new! I’d like to introduce you to Deanna, who will soon be your local yarn purveyor!

So here’s the plan: I’ll be here at the shop with our regular posted hours (including my last Purlez-Vous Knitting Social this Tuesday night!) up until Saturday, July 30^th.  Then the shop is going to be closed for summer holidays for two weeks, from Sunday, July 31^st, to Friday, August 12^th, and then Deanna will reopen Needles in the Hay under her ownership with the same hours on Saturday, August 13^th! (Purlez-Vous will remain on hiatus for the month of August, but will return in September!)

Here’s a bit more about Deanna, in her own words:

Hello Everyone! I am very excited to be able to continue Bridget’s excellent work in curating a gem of a local yarn shop. I am an avid knitter myself who loves learning new techniques and experimenting with different construction methods. I always seem to have a new sweater or cardigan on the needles.

Needles in the Hay will remain a place where you can find high quality natural fibre of all kinds in a myriad of beautiful colours, and socialize with people who share your passion for fibre arts. There are plans to increase the inventory being carried by the store, and I will also be updating the website to include e-commerce in the near future. I’ll be sure to keep you in loop on new developments through the blog and social media.

I’ll be continuing my work with the Peterborough Symphony for the foreseeable future and will need some knowledgeable and reliable part-time staff to help me run the store. If you are an avid knitter or crocheter with excellent customer service skills, a knack for finding the perfect yarn for a project, and are available during store hours, please submit your cover letter and resume to Bridget at the store no later than Saturday July 30^th.

Hope to meet you at the store re-opening on August 13^th!

-Deanna 

(photos by Andy Guthrie of Page Creative)

Mini Mid-Summer Holiday

Just a quick note to say that I’m heading to Eastern Ontario this weekend for a family reunion, so the shop will be closed both Saturday (July 16th) and Sunday (July 17th) as well as our regular day off, Monday. I’ll be back with my regular hours on Tuesday (July 19th), but if you want one of these gorgeous new Gobstoppers before the weekend, stop in tomorrow (Friday!!) between 11 and 6!

Midweek Update!

Here are the cute new things we have in the shop this week!

Brand new ceramic shawl pins from Kawartha Wilds Art Pottery!!

A couple super cute zip-up project bags!

And a new special issue of Knitscene magazing – Knitscene Handmade! There are tons of great accessory patterns in this issue – lots of hats, scarves, and fingerless mitts, particularly perfect for those of you already looking ahead to the holiday knitting season. Preview the patterns on Ravelry here!

And just a quick note: this Friday (July 1st) is Canada Day, so the shop will be closed, BUT we will be open with our regular hours for the rest of the weekend: Saturday from 11 til 4, and Sunday from 12 til 4! Have a great weekend, and happy Canada Day!

Interlude KAL Update!

We’re halfway through our Interlude Knit-Along (aka KAL) and I’m trucking right along on mine:

But I realized during our first meetup (last Sunday) that the second meetup was scheduled for Sunday, June 19th, which it turns out is Father’s Day! Sorry Dads! I didn’t mean to overlook ya! It was also pointed out that the day before – Saturday, June 18th – is World Wide Knit In Public Day! So I figured, let’s just switch the day (and change the time! and the location!) and invite all of our knitterly friends!

So it’s Saturday, June 18th, from 2 til 4 at the Silver Bean/Millenium Park! There *are* tables and chairs at the Silver Bean, but especially if it’s a nice sunny day, maybe bring a chair of your own or a blanket and we can sit on the grassy side and have a lovely little knit in the park! Bring your Interlude KAL project if you’re working on it or bring something entirely different! Hope to see you there! 🙂

Tank Top Summer

I’ve been on a bit of tank top knitting kick since mid-April, and now we finally have weather for wearing them!

Kit Camisole by Bristol Ivy

I’ve had my eye on this pattern for a while, and it was on my list of potential tops to knit out of the Louet Euroflax 100% linen yarn that I posted last year, so when I restocked the Euroflax in the black colourway in April, I cast this on immediately. This pattern is pretty easy to execute – it’s knit in the round, the decreases are hidden on either side of a half-linen stitch panel up the back, and the half-linen stitch panels around the hem and neckline/straps are both attractive and practical.

The sizing of this pattern is less easy to navigate, in that it jumps from a 33″ chest (too small for me) to a 39″ chest (evidently, a little too big). I added an extra decrease and adjusted the armhole decreases, but I probably should’ve done more work on resizing it because it’s still quite large on me. Better to be a bit to big than too small, especially in the summer, but it’s the only downside of this otherwise very enjoyable pattern. The linen is a bit rough to knit with, but so easy to care for and wear – I have yet to actually block this top, I’ve only machine washed AND dried it twice as per the yarn’s instructions. The resulting fabric is cool and soft and lighter than cotton. I still have a bit of the Black left, so I might use it for the stripes in Pam Allen’s Saco Stripes pattern, which luckily comes in more sizes than the Kit Camilsole does.

Beach Tank by Jess Schreibstein

This little tank is the epitome of a perfect summer knit: easy to wear, fun to knit, super fast and super easy. It’s knit with two strands of sport/dk/worsted held together on a 5.5mm needle, one strand should be a cotton or cotton blend for coolness, the other a wool or wool blend for elasticity. I chose one strand of Berroco Remix, a nylon/cotton/acrylic/silk/linen blend made from recycled fibers, held with one strand of Berroco Vintage DK, a wool/acrylic blend. You knit two pieces that are the same and graft the straps together and sew up the sides. I’ve already cast-on a second one in Berroco Modern Cotton (cotton/rayon) held with a strand of Mirasol Nuna (merino/silk/bamboo)! Both of mine are tonal colour choices with the two strands, but some of the other people who have knit this tank have done really great high-contrast marled versions that look very cool. Check them out on the pattern’s projects page on Ravelry here: ravelry.com/patterns/library/beach-tank/people.

Last Sunday we wrapped up our Windrow Cowl knit-along, here’s mine in Malabrigo Rios:

Everyone who joined the KAL chose to use two colours instead of just one (as shown in the pattern) and it was so interesting to see all of the colour combos! This Sunday we start our knit-along for Interlude by Janina Kallio! Happy knitting, happy weekend!

Spring Knit-Alongs!

Windrow Cowl by Bristol Ivy!

(photo © Dawn Catanzaro)

Windrow is a cute little cowl knit up in worsted-weight yarn. It utilizes Brioche Stitch, which produces a super squishy and warm fabric that’s also reversible. It can be knit in a single colour as shown above, or you can try a two-colour version like this one:

Requires 200g of one colour of worsted-weight yarn, or 100g of each of two colours (I used Malabrigo Rios for this one in “Apple Green” and “Cirrus Gray”) and a 4.5mm circular needle. The pattern is available from Ravelry (here) but is also part of the Buy In-store program if you’d prefer to purchase and have it printed in the shop!

Meetups: Sunday, May 15th and Sunday, May 29th – 1 p.m. to 3 p.m., free of charge

** if you’re unfamiliar with Brioche Stitch, I’m offering an Intro to Brioche Tutorial on Thursday, May 12th, from 7 to 8:30 p.m.! Details are on the Classes page of our website!**

 

Interlude by Janina Kallio!

(photo © Janina Kallio)

Start your patio/porch/dock-knitting season off right! Interlude is an easy, intuitive shawl pattern that begins with a garter tab at the centre-top and knits continuously outward in a crescent shape. It calls for sock/fingering weight yarn (it would look stunning in a Gobstopper!) but can be adapted for other weights, like the one I knit in sport-weight Berroco Mykonos:

This shawl is a perfect project to knit *and* wear this summer! Requires 100g of fingering-weight yarn and a 4mm circular needle. The pattern is available from Ravelry (here!) and is also part of the Buy In-store program if you’d prefer to purchase and have it printed in the shop.

Meetups: Sunday, June 5th and Sunday, June 19th – 1 p.m. to 3 p.m., free of charge

If you have any questions about the knit-alongs or the class, check the Classes page on our website, send an email to info@needlesinthehay.ca, or leave a comment below! 🙂

Needles in the Hay is for sale!

Big change is afoot here at Needles in the Hay – after thinking long and hard about it, I’ve decided to put my business up for sale. Over the last 6+ years, I’ve built up this little shop to the best of my ability, and now I’m hoping to find someone to expand on this idea and improve on the areas where they feel like they could make positive changes.

I feel like a lot of you, especially those of you who’ve supported the shop since the beginning, will want to ask why I want to sell the shop and there isn’t one single straightforward answer other than this: it’s time for a change. As rewarding as owning a small business can be, it’s also very challenging, and has placed a lot of limits on my life. I’d like to be able to travel more, see more of the world while I’m still (relatively) young. As my parents get older, I want to have the freedom to visit with them more regularly, since neither of them lives here in Peterborough. The direction of my life was very different when I opened the store compared to what it is now, and my goals and priorities have shifted over time as well.

Before I opened Needles in the Hay, I never thought I would open a yarn shop (because I never envisioned myself living in a place where there wasn’t one already!) but the right opportunities fell into place and I was able to carve out this space for knitters, crocheters, and fibre artists in Peterborough. Hopefully I can find someone to pass along this opportunity to, and make Needles in the Hay better than ever. If you think you or someone you know might be the right person or team, I encourage you to look up the About page on our website for more details.

In the meantime, it’s still business as usual in this lovely little yarn shop. Stay tuned for Spring/Summer Knit-Along announcements next week, and I’ll keep you all posted on any developments regarding a change in ownership in the coming months. Have a great weekend, everyone! Happy Knitting!

Happy Friday!

Just in time for your weekend, we have beautiful new things in stock!

Gorgeous Handmaiden Casbah Sock yarn!

Fleece Artist “Baby Bootah” Kits, featuring Perl Grey’s patterns for baby leggings, kimono, booties, and hat, and enough Tree Wool for the full set!

New springtime colourways in Debbie Bliss Rialto Lace!

And new colourways in Malabrigo’s superwash merino hand-dyed sock-weight single-ply, Mechita!

We also have the brand new issue of Knit.Wear in stock, as well as the spring issues of all of our regular magazines for all of your weekend reading needs! 😉

Have a terrific weekend everyone! Happy knitting!

New Things Wednesday!

I’ve received a bunch of new stuff in the last week! Here’s a look:

Beautiful spring colours in the Louet Gems 100% superwash merino fingering weight!

A restock of the classic Cream and Cloud Grey colourways, as well as the new Charcoal and Teal in the Louet Euroflax 100% linen!

An amazing array of brand new colourways in Malabrigo Rios, a hand-dyed 100% superwash merino worsted weight. Some of these are colourways that have never been available in Rios before (like the electric “Apple Green”), and some are colourways that are brand new and have never appeared before in *any* Malabrigo base. Exciting times!

A restock of an array of Lett Lopi colours, for those of you who have an eye on the Stopover or Moon Pulls sweaters for spring! It’s almost campfire sweater season!

And, just in case you knit a hat this winter that needs a little extra something fun, our popular faux-fur pom poms are back in stock!

It’s a funny time of year for knitting – I’m always torn between knitting warm things that I still might need on chilly spring nights, or cool things that will be ready for the summer heat whenever summer’s ready to rush upon us. My solution seems to be to have one of each on the go! Happy spring knitting everyone! 🙂

Peterborough Fibre Arts Festival – Tomorrow!

This just in:

Indigodragonfly Chameleon Sock!

And Indigodragonfly CaribouBaa Sock!

Adorable jumping foxes zippered project bags!

These items and more will be at our table at the 6th annual Peterborough Fibre Arts Festival tomorrow!

I’m sharing a table this year with my good friend Marit of Gobstopper Yarn, so she’ll be at the fest and I (Bridget) will be holding down the fort at 385 Water Street! Please note: the fest is in a new location this year, at Fleming College’s Wellness Centre! Find more details here!