Yarn Harvest

Whew!  Had some great times over the weekend of October 8-10.  We had a great turn-out during ACL and got to say hi to many, many knitters during the Hill Country Yarn Crawl.  And my brother’s wedding went off without a hitch (pun intended).

So now, on to the next fun holiday event.  We’ve teamed up with the wonderful ladies of The Wondercraft to host a knitting and crocheting party during the East Austin Studio Tour.  EAST is a fantastic event held over the second and third weeks of November, where artists who live and work in East Austin open up their studios to the public.  We’re going to be throwing our party on Tuesday, November 16 at a cool new studio/gallery space called Starving Art Studios located on E Cesar Chavez.  Knitting party kicks off at 5:30pm, film screening at around 8:30pm.

There’s going to be a ton of knitting at all skill levels, knit-tastic giveaways for the first 30 guests from Gauge Knits, and a screening of the indie-documentary “Handmade Nation,” featuring Austin’s own visionary crafters Jenny Hart of Sublime Stitching and Magda Sayeg, of Knitta, Please.

Yarn Harvest is going to be showcasing our brand new line of recycled cashmere yarn, as well as our Knit Kits and our recycled wool yarn.  In honor of the celebration, we’re going to raffle off a cashmere hooded scarf kit, with 3 full hanks of cashmere, needles, and the pattern… a $75 value!

We’ll have several experienced knitters on hand to help introduce the basics to new knitters and show-off some advanced techniques as well.  Our knitting/crochet teachers will include Tara Tschillard of Fifty Acorns, Maggie Murphy of Assorted Musings, Julia Chambers of Pixie Worx, Andrea Harris-Giron of Bitch Stitch, Kelly Minton of kellymagelli, as well as the in-house teachers from Gauge Knits.

And since this is a party, we’re going to have libations and snacks too!  Free beer from St. Arnold’s and popcorn by Reel Popcorn.

So, circle November 16th on your calendars and get ready for a rocking good time celebrating the fiber arts in East Austin.  Til then, happy knitting and crocheting.

Greg

And like that, the countdown timer begins.  The packaging is the last piece of the puzzle to come together for the Knit Kits.  Once they’re back from the printer, we’ll be able to start offering Knit Kits for sale.  Very exciting times.

When that day arrives, there will be announcements all throughout the Yarn Harvest digital world (and by that I mean the blog, Facebook, Twitter, etc…), but most likely the Kits will only be available at the HOPE Farmer’s Market at first.  This isn’t to be mean to anyone who may be more virtually inclined.  This is to reward those customers who stuck through the steamy summer with us at HOPE.  It got hot in that tin roofed building without any A/C.

We’re so thankful for everyone who stopped by to say hi and offer words of encouragement.  Now that summer is beginning to wane, we want to pay them back by offering our Knit Kits first and exclusively at the HOPE Farmer’s Market.

But no worries, soon after the launch we will open up our sales of Knit Kits to our online store and other retailers throughout Central Texas.

The Knit Kits will have all the materials needed for a scarf, or headbands and smart-phone sleeves.  They will include our 100% recycled wool yarn from sweaters, and they will retail for $20.00.

Until then.  Yours,

Greg

I must admit that it has been a pretty slow summer.   Wool scarves and hats aren’t always the first thought when it is over 100 degrees outside.  That being said, however, we have been using the summer to work on two, brand new products that we are very excited about.  Both will be coming out soon, hopefully just in time for the first cold front of fall.

I can tell you about our first new product.  They will be Knit Kits, which will include yarn, needles, and patterns to make a scarf or headbands and smartphone sleeves.   We’ve teamed up with a Master Knitter here in Austin, who designed our patterns to be as beginner friendly as possible, while still looking shnazzy.  Her name is Staci Perry and you can find her wonderful website at www.verypink.com.  The Knit Kits are almost finished.  We just need to finalize the packaging and then we will be off to the races.  Er, at least off to the printer.

Our second new product is something that is still super secret.  I can only tell you to think luxuriously soft.  Mmmmmm, soft…

A friend of mine happened upon this and I just had to share it.  So when oil spills happen in the southern hemisphere, apparently a bunch of people knit tiny sweaters for the penguins that are caught up in the oil slick.  The sweaters serve two purposes.  One to keep the the penguins warm, since the spilled oil destroys their natural oils.  Second, to keep them from preening themselves, so that they don’t ingest oil and poison themselves.

That’s a nice looking sweater the penguin has on.  I wonder what other patterns would look snazzy?  Wouldn’t that be funny to put a tuxedo sweater onto a penguin, hehe…

Seriously though, with the oil fiasco in the gulf right now, I wonder if one could knit anything for any of the animals that are affected.  Probably wouldn’t work for a sea turtle, but what about a pelican?  I wonder if anyone involved in the cleanup knows anything more about this?

This past weekend was the Green Living Expo at the Austin convention center and I was there representing Yarn Harvest.  For those that don’t know, the Green Living Expo bills itself as Austin’s green lifestyle event, where you can find all aspects of greenness for your life.  I was both excited to be a part of, and curious to see what a “green lifestyle” meant to everyone at the expo.

The actual event was held in one of the huge rooms of the convention center.  The hosts did a great job sprucing up the space… they even brought in small trees to greet everyone as they entered.  The event was very well attended, both by exhibitioners and attendees.  Row upon row were filled with all sorts of stuff.  Everything from electric cars and concrete wall kits to handmade pasta and gardening tools.  There was even an entire section filled with hot-tubs.

Yarn Harvest was part of the Go Local Austin set-up.  We were a bunch local artisans who had banded together to share the price of the booth.  I could have in no way afforded a booth on my own, so even though it was a tad cramped with all the 15 artisans sharing the space, I think we were all happy to be there.  In fact, I think that we were some of the most energetic and fun vendors at the entire show.

And I had the best time getting to know my fellow Go Local vendors.  Over the course of the three days of the event, I really got to know each of them, as well as what their products meant to them.  On one side was Terra, who’s stained-glass mosaics were a way to add splashes of color to the little moments in life.  On the other side was Christy, who’s soy candles were illuminating new uses for the soybean plant.  Add in the wonderful attendees we met the whole time and we were a very diverse group of people and products.  So much so that it got me thinking about what a “green lifestyle” meant to me.

The green stuff, including the hot-tubs, was nice to see, but ultimately, it was the people who were at the Green Living Expo that made it “green.”  I know for sure that Yarn Harvest and I did our part to contribute.  I’m definitely going to sustain our new-found relationships through the HOPE Farmer’s Market, and hopefully we can all pull together for a lifestyle that’s a little more local, a little more connected, and a little more enjoyable for all.

Your looking forward to May blogger,

Greg

Well, you’re in luck!  Coveted Yarn, located in Gloucester, MA, is the first yarn store outside of Texas to carry our yarn.  They run a top notch store and we’re thrilled to be a part of what they are doing up north.  They’re doing an introductory, 25% off sale for Yarn Harvest yarn until April 21st, so mosey on over to their website and check them out!

Super cool to be able to say that we now ship nation-wide.  Now if only I could get my lace stuff to do exactly what I wanted…

I’m starting to get a hang of it.  Just need to keep practicing :)

Cheers,

Greg

Every year there is this wonderful event at the Austin Convention Center that explores and showcases all aspects of living with an eco-friendly mindset.  The Green Living Expo runs April 23-25 and Yarn Harvest will be participating this year.  We’re excited to be a part of this fun expo and looking forward to seeing all the other cool stuff that will be there with us.

For more information, wander over to the Green Living Expo site.  Admission is $10 for adults, $8 for seniors, and Free for children 16 and below.

And as always, Yarn Harvest yarn is available every Sunday at the HOPE Farmer’s Market.  For those that haven’t discovered HOPE yet, it’s a quirky, fun market on Sundays from 11:00am to 3:00pm in East Austin at 4th and Waller.  In addition to farm and food goods, there are artists galore, free yoga and live music.  It’s a great way to spend Sundays.

Hope all’s well and cheers,

Greg

Happy April Fools!

The post yesterday was an April Fool’s post, as we are not selling Kitty Capes online.

That being said, I did indeed knit Uncle Cecil’s Kitty Cape myself.  It still needs a lot of work, I must admit, but I’m going to make revising and improving it my next priority.  This way, we can offer the pattern in the future for those who wish to knit Kitty Capes for their own kitties (and yes, Uncle Cecil does actually not mind wearing his).

I hope everyone has a fantastic start of April yesterday and happy knitting!

Greg