Just in - Colinette’s new dk cotton viscose yarn, “Banyan!”

Banyan is an all-season yarn with a lovely drape and the usual display of gorgeous handpainting by Colinette. The colors pictured above are (from left to right), Windfall, Fresco, Gaughin, Raphael and Copperbeach.

And of course, we have the book that goes along with the yarn, which contains 5 fabulous new patterns:

The long-sleeved ones take an average of 10 skeins and the sleeveless between 5-8 skeins, so the yardage is decent as well. Notably, this yarn is exchangeable with the Cadenza DK Merino patterns (and, of course, any pattern you have that calls for 22 sts over 4″).

Look for the kits on our store soon as well, with even more color choices!

As most of Connecticut is drying out (and hoping that the rain gives us a break, already), we’re still here!

It may not feel springy yet, but we’ve got the yarns to help you get in the mood and be ready for the nicer weather!

One new yarn is from GGH, a blend of 74% cotton and 26% linen called Linova:

This blend is gives you the crispness of the linen with the softness of the cotton and is machine washable. These are just four of the colors in the available palette of 31 colors. Recommended needle size is from 4-7 US to get 20 sts & 32 rows over a 4″ square.

We also have a new yarn from K1C2 called Ty-Dy - a 100% soft cotton, in self-striping, rainbow-dyed colors!

If you’re curious as to how it knits up, click on over here to check out the currently available patterns for this funky new yarn!

It knits up as 20 sts per 4″ as well and has fabulous yardage with 196 yards per 100g ball!

New stuff has come in over the past week or so. Firstly, we have more Malabrigo!!!

As you can see, we have several new shades of the popular worsted merino, but we also have built up our supply on their lovely bulky yarns Gruesa and Aquarella, both of which work up on US 13 needles! We also have one shade of their new Laceweight Baby Merino, in a blue/green colorway called Vaa. Just as soft as their original merino, but a lighter gauge. So new, it’s not even on their website yet!

Debbie Bliss has new yarn out as well…a super soft 100% superwash extrafine merino called Rialto!

Rialto is softer than her Merino DK/Aran and comes in bright, beautiful shades. It is an all-seasons yarn (much like Rowan’s All Seasons Cotton), and has a great slight elasticity in its twist for great stitch definition and cozy fitting without being skin-tight. We have the Rialto book in stock as well!

Also in is a soft new cotton from Rowan that lives up to its name: Cotton Jeans.

It really feels like that pair of well-worn-in jeans that you love more than any other pair. The multi-colors in each colorway are just beautiful and go great with said jeans or khakis!

Have we got a class for you — just in time for all your Spring celebrations!

Using the Decadent Fibers kit (which is amusingly shaped like a carrot), you’ll learn just how much fun needle felting really is. The kit includes strands of green chenille to make your stalks and plenty of wool in various shades of orange to make several little carrots - it all depends on how big or small you decide to make them. We’ve scheduled it just in time for Easter, but these little carrots are fun to hang up for any reason!

And we have the bunnies for sale, too.

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In other news…we’ve scheduled a Yarn Tasting! Join us on Saturday, May 12th at 11:30am to get a sneak peak at the Fall yarn collections from Rowan, RYC, Jaeger and Gedifra. A $5 fee saves your reservation for this special event- this $5 will become Store Credit to use whenever you wish! Call us today at 203.389.5117 to make your reservation!

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Did I mention the NEW STUFF? We-heh-helll…let’s start with Artyarns new Beaded Silk!

The little tiny beads make the silk even more gorgeous. We’ve also gotten a shipment of Artyarns’ new Cashmere 2 (as opposed to their Cashmere 5, which we also carry!). Delicious stuff.

And speaking of delicious, also just in: Claudia’s Handpaint SILK LACE.

This is 100% 20/2 silk laceweight and once you feel it you will not want to put it down. 1100 yards per skein give you LOTS to work with as well!

Also in…Lacey Lamb from Jade Sapphire!

Seeing as Jade Sapphire makes a lot of cashmere yarns, after feeling the cashmere-softness of this lace-weight yarn I was amazed to find out that it is really is “just” lambswool (even though I *did* see the name of the yarn)! You’ll have to feel it to believe it.

Lastly, for the sock-knitters, Reynolds Soft Sea Wool!

100% cushy dk weighted wool that makes for crisp stitch patterning in many colors. Reynolds has also published a great little book of sock patterns for Soft Sea Wool, with 12 designs for both men and women.

We have in stock, one of the the hottest new books to be released for the Spring: Twinkle’s Big City Knits by reknowned designer Wenlan Chia!

AND, if that’s not enough, we’ve got the yarn. With more to come. The Soft Chunky yarn lives up to its name…it’s SO cuddly and soft!

Also, the first yarn pack for a sweater from this book is already available online: The Best Friend Cardigan!

Additional yarn packs for other designs will be posted over the next week, don’t you worry!

We’ve also added two new Charlotte Web yarn pack colorways to the online store, as we’ve received new colors to play with:

O’Keefe

Melted Crayons

Not a bad way to welcome Spring in, dontcha think?

‘Tis a soggy, soggy day here in CT! Luckily, to keep those toes nice & cozy, we just got a whole bunch of new sock yarns in!

Firstly, we’re trying out a few colors of Claudia’s Handpainted:

That middle one is sport weight and the rest is fingering. We noticed how well the fingering weight goes with the Koigu we have in stock that could certainly inspire some new color ideas for projects like Charlotte’s Web!

We’ve also received new stock of the much-beloved TREKKING XXL! Get it while it lasts…it always flies out the door!

And, as I’m sure that many of us are feeling the dryness of the season in our hands and feet, we have the cure! Austermann Step!

This yarn contains Aloe Vera and Jojoba Oil that you will feel as you work with the yarn and as you wear your finished items. The effect is purported to last through 40 washings (note that the label says not to use fabric softener, though!)! Plus, there’s a free general sock pattern on Austermann’s site made just for their yarns. NOTE: If the Austermann pattern comes up in German, fear not! Just look to the upper right and click the British flag, which will bring you to the English home page. From there, hit the “Back” button and the pattern will magically be in English!

Our annual Super Bowl sale was a rousing success and we’ve decided to continue to keep selected yarns at 30% off per ball and 40% for a bag of 10 (of the same color) for a little while longer. Just look for the yarns that have the neon tags stuck in their bins!

Also, the new Rowan is pouring in…

We have the new Rowan Magazine 41 in stock, Rowan Studio 1 & 2 as well as other new yarns such as Little Big Wool, Bamboo Tape, and Pure Wool DK. Kasbah, pictured above, is a new book with patterns for Summer Tweed and there is a book of Bamboo Tape patterns as well.

We’ve also received new booklets and yarns from Berroco include those for Bonsai (a bamboo/nylon blend ribbon yarn) and Love It (a lighter weight version of Pronto, really!) - a few colors of which you can see pictured above.

Have you seen our new class listings? Check them out - they are always being updated.

And some might have noticed that our coupon hadn’t been updated for February - whoops - well, there’s a new one up now! We’ve got some limited in-store stock of Artful Yarns Fable and Jazz, which we’re offering for 30% off per skein, so print yourself a coupon and get it while it lasts!

Lastly, some more eye candy - a new ribbon yarn from Gedifra called Rubens…

Yep - we’ve got it! Here is our current selection (although we can order any colorway you like!):

Check out all the colorways here…

The yarn is JUST delicious - five plies that are held together for a worsted weight yarn. We’re running a class on making the one-skein Cashmere Scarflet, if you need an excuse and all - Wednesday, February 7th, 7:00pm-9:00pm.

Firstly, Happy Hannukah and for those still seeking Christmas gifts (or additional Hannukah gifts!), we have some great new gift items that arrived in the store today!

First off - we have the 2007 Knitting Pattern-A-Day Calendar!

They sell out quickly, so get one while you can!

Also just in, Knit Klips!

These are handy new finishing tools that you may have seen featured in the latest Vogue Knitting, Knitters Magazine Crochet Today and even knitty.com. They’re designed to go smoothly through your stitches so you can easily line up rows and stitches. And since they are easy to open and close, there’s no struggling with pins or worrying that they will fall out while you seam.

If you’re into needle felting, we already have needles, roving and some kits, but today we received Clover’s Needle Felting Mat, which some people prefer over using foam:

Know a budding spinner or someone who’d like to give dyeing a try? We’ve got two kits from Louet that will fill that need:

The Drop Spindle Kit comes with a Louet spindle, 1/2 lb of three colors of fiber (dyed or natural), detailed instructions and a sample bottle of Meadows Wool Wash.

The Hand Dyeing Kit comes with three 50g skeins of Louet Gems Merino (superwash!), three coordinating dye colors (Blues, Greens, Browns, Pinks and Reds - come in to see what colors we have available on-hand!), a squeeze bottle for application, a sample bottle of Meadows Wool Wash, instructions for dyeing and a sock pattern!

We have tons of great knitting bags as well, which you can give alone or filled with other fibery goodies. You can see a sampling of them at our online store! We have Lantern Moon, Offhand Designs, Jordana Paige and more!

And, of course, there’s always a Yarn Barn Gift Certificate.

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So, here in Connecticut we’ve been getting some really nice weather this past week, even with some sporadic rain. We haven’t needed our coats…just a nice sweater or fleece has been warm enough! We know it can’t last, but we’ve certainly been enjoying it. Although some Christmas snow would be nice, wouldn’t it?

Well, forget about it. All you need to get (or have others get for you) is a…

Yarn Barn Gift Certificate!

Get it in ANY amount you want and you can either pick it up in-store or call us at 203-389-5117 or toll-free 1-877-299-5245, pay by credit card and we’ll mail it out for you anywhere in the US!

See? Easy shopping.

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Oh, and if you liked the Vivian Hoxbro kits we featured in our previous blog post, they’re all available from our online store now, where you can check out all the current colorways as well…just click here to see the full list >>

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We’ve also got one more class before the end of 2006 - Needle Felted Snowmen or Gingerbread Men! The class is this Saturday, December 16th, from 11:00am-12:30pm, so call us to sign up before it’s too late. Here’s one of the little guys, worked up by the instructor:

We also have a few of the Felted Pears worked up, packaged and ready for purchase for a quickie gift for $5 each. Say you made it…we won’t tell!