Needles, needles everywhere

Literally everywhere. We just received our first and very large shipment of the new Lana Grossa needles. There are two kinds. One is chrome plated brass circulars in all sizes in 16", 24" and 32" lengths. The other is layered wood in colors to form a lovely design. These are available in double points, crochet hooks (not in yet) and circulars in 24", 32" and 40" lengths. Not every size in each style has arrived yet but all are on order. These needles have very, very smooth joins and extra sharp tips for those who love working with a pointy needle. The yarn glides right over the join with no stopping to push it up. I loved working on the sample I did. So come in and give it a try. You'll like it.

Stitches Fun

Here we are with the Ravelry crew we spotted at Stitches on Friday morning. There's Alma, Eve and myself pictured with them. We had to stop and tell them how much we enjoyed Ravelry and they thanked us and gave us buttons to wear.

The Stitches market was very nice with many vendors attending. I saw many folks I have known over the years from TNNA shows. I did purchase some cute drawstring pouches for the shop and stitch markers too. The only thing I bought for myself was a beaded necklace kit, which I have already completed. It made me realize how much I enjoy working with beads and so I am trying out a few ideas. Who knows what it will come to, probably nothing. I did learn a beaded cast on from this kit and have used this on a new scarf model for the shop. It is coming out nice.

Mother's day is coming up this weekend and my daughter and I will head over to Home Depot to pick up some flowers. Then we will come home and pot them all up for the patio. We will also purchase vegetable plants for the garden. It should be a fun day. I hope you are able to spend time with a family member this Sunday or at least have a phone call. Tell Mom how much you love her. You can never hear it enough.

Arlene

P.S. Final total for Ovarian Cycle fundraiser was $2,150.00. Thank you everyone.

Ovarian Cancer Fundraiser - Report

Our event was held on a beautiful sunny day. The vendors were there as well as the shoppers. The items for sale were wonderful and many went home with new owners. Artuzzi's supplied free pizza and drinks for everyone - that was so generous of them. All of the silent auction items have not been picked up yet but we are somewhere in the range of $2,000.00 that has already been donated to Ovarian Cycle (this event happens this weekend). The shawl raffle was won by Sandee Stephenson and the bowl was won by our own Jan Goodloe.

Thank you to everyone who participated - either by being a vendor, attending and purchasing items, baking for the bake sale, spreading the word and general helpers. You made a valuable contribution to an important quest and you should be proud of yourselves.

Ovarian Cancer Fundraiser & Sidewalk Sale-April 10th

Once again our vendors will set up on the sidewalk in front of Needle Nook. We will be there from 2 - 6 PM on Saturday, April 10th. There will be many items to choose from including:

• Baskets
• Baby Hats
• Wood bowls & wine stoppers
• Felted Purses
• Silver & wire jewelry
• Quilted table runners
• Tshirts
• Knit & crochet items
• Santa & Mrs. Santa dolls

There will be much more to choose from. This is a great time to select gifts for Mothers Day, Fathers Day, graduation or just for yourself. A portion of each sale will go towards research to find a test for ovarian cancer. Currently, no such test exists. Madame Jeri will return to read the Tarot cards. I had mine done last year and she was right on the money. So please come by on the 10th to lend a hand. We will also have a silent auction, raffle and bake sale. See you then.

Arlene

Happy Anniversary Needle Nook

The Needle Nook opened on March 20, 1976. Back then I was a 31 year old who knew nothing about running a business. It's a wonder the shop survived but it did and now it's 34 years later and still going. All this is thanks to wonderful loyal customers and friends and great staff.

Come by on Saturday, March 20th and wish me a happy 34th anniversary. In turn I will give you a 10% discount on your purchases all day. This does not include classes or special events. Hope to see you then.

Arlene

New-New-New

The beautiful Malbrigo Rasta yarn has arrived and is a beauty to behold. No one can dye colors like Malabrigo. The Rasta is a super bulky weight, knitting at 2 stitches to the inch. We have 10 gorgeous colors to choose from. Each hank contains 90 yards and sells for $24.00.

Lots of new yarns have arrived already. Light weight cottons and blends, sugar cane yarn and more. Above is a shrug knitted in the new Mia bulky cotton. We will offer a class on this soon.

And also shown above is a new knit bag from Namaste. It is gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous. We also received circular needle cases and gadget cases from them. They look like leather but are actually faux.

Since I can't seem to put the pictures with the correct article, I'll close now and hope you will come by to see all the new items in person.

Arlene

Finished Olympic Challenge

This is the Citron Shawl from the current issue of Knitty.com. It is our knitalong project and I decided to do it as an Olympics challenge. I cast on during the opening ceremonies and finished this morning. I set a goal of a certain number of rows to do each day. At the beginning it was easy to maintain my pace but as the rows got longer and longer and longer it was tough but I perservered and completed it this morning. I even added 3 repeats of the pattern to make it larger for me. It came out great. I used a lace yarn called "Ballerina" which is smaller than the Malabrigo lace it calls for. If you enlarge this pattern, be sure to double the yardage needed. I ended up with a tiny, tiny little ball left over. All in all it was fun and I have a great spring shawl to wear.