Month: May 2008

>The New Kid on the Block (Sort of)

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Hello Everyone!

My name is Rachael, some of you may know me as Dr. Knit, I am the newest full time member of the staff here at 3 kittens. I am taking over for Ms. Tiffany who, as you probably know is moving far far away. We will all miss her!

That being said I am really excited about being here and taking over her classes! I sat in on a few classes with her last month in preparation for her departure. She taught the 2 socks on 2 circulars technique, which I adore! I am so excited to have a complete pair when I am done, no more second sock symdrome for me!

I also sat in on the Scarf Style class in May. I finished the capelet in time to wear to a wedding this weekend. I got lots of compliments all night long! Its on display in the shop now.
I am very excited about the scarf we chose for the next class (June 11th, 6-8pm). It is the Midwest Moonlight scarf by Ivy Begelow. Some simple lace with some garter stitch in between give this scarf a gentle wave. Look for the sample swatch in the shop soon.

>3 Marys at 3 Kittens -& Memorial Day, too!

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Memorial Day is a day of remembrance, a day to honor all of our service men and women. It’s a day to spend with family and friends. For many, it’s a day to knit, crochet, stitch, or to watch the Indy 500. For the 3 Kittens staff, it’s a day off – the shop is closed. Treasure the time with your loved ones doing what ever it is you love to do! Happy Memorial Day to all!
And now, I am excited for you all to meet the last of our 3 Marys – Mary Drummer. If you haven’t been in the shop to see the exhibit these special women have shared with us – don’t miss out – this is the last week!

I’m proud to introduce you all to Mary Drummer, a mother, a family law attorney, and a needle fiber artist. Mary was introduced to the needle arts by her Grandmother one summer when she was just a little girl. She learned to cross stitch. Her 1st piece was red & yellow in colors and states: “East, West, Home is Best”. Mary still has this piece. Mary continued to cross stitch through out her life until about 4 ½ years ago. After many years of walking to the back of the store “past all those yarn balls” to get her cross stitching supplies, Mary saw Zandy’s advertisement for a Beginning Knitting class and she decided she had to solve the whole yarn ball mystery. She took the class and after knitting 2 scarves, she was ready for anything. Mary needs projects that demand attention to detail. Plain old stockinette won’t cut it for Mary. One of her first projects is a Norwegian knit, and admittedly still on the size 2 needles to be finished another day. Her next project was the beautiful slip stitch sweater on display. Her favorite designs feature interesting shaping and color. Mary is prolific in her knitting and like most knitters, she is also a generous knitter. Her husband has no less than 3 sweaters, 2 of those are Aran knits. And Mary says knitting 1 sweater for Craig is like knitting 2 or 3 sweaters for her self – he’s 6’2” – long torso & long arms! After watching his Mom knitting, Mary’s son, Alex, gave knitting a try when he was about 10 years old. He completed a scarf! Mary has learned to be creative with storing her yarn stash. Alex’s top bunk bed is a favorite place to stash new projects, as is the basement, since 2 closets are fully stocked! She’ll admit to at least 30 projects on needles. Her favorite yarn fibers are wool and silk blends and linen blends,
and her favorite weight yarn is lace weight.

3K Club Perk – Attention 3 K Club Members:

This is the last week to get 20% off artyarns Silk Pearl, Silk Ribbon or Karabella’s Terrain and receive the “All Tied Up!” pattern free. You still have time to knit this unique gift up for the special man in your life for Father’s Day!

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>Last Week of May Event – And Bags of Deals!!

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>I cannot believe that this is the last week of May, that Tiffany has worked her last day before she starts on her new life adventure, and we celebrate Memorial Day on Monday!! Time really does fly when I am having fun – and I have been having lots of fun looking at the new fall yarns. And that is another reason to have even more super deals this last week of May – I need shelf room for the new fall yarns! So – this week I have addeds bags of deals!! If you loved the 3KO days, then you are sure to love the added deals by the bags as well as 20% off and double points on many yarns !
MAY 25 THRU MAY 31 ONLY
Double Points & 20% off yarns listed below & books & patterns specific to the yarns:
SWTC
• AMAIZING
• CRAFT
• KARAOKE
• LOVE
• PURE
• ROCK
• YANG
• YIN
ALL 22 NEEDFUL YARNS
QUEENSLAND
• ANDES
• ANTUCE
• HIMALAYA
• KATHMANDU DK & ARAN

>so long, farewell, auf weidersehen, adieu!

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>Sadly, this is my last blog entry for 3 Kittens Mews. Today is my last day at the shop, as I am moving to Winston-Salem, North Carolina next weekend. I’m moving to be with my girlfriend, and I am excited for this new chapter of my life, but also sad to be moving away from such a great area, and so many knitting friends. However, I did manage to find myself a job at a yarn shop down there! If you are in the area, please come see me at Knit Picky!

It has been fantastic to be able to be part of such a great team at 3K. My unending thanks to Cis, Laura and Julie, for taking me on in the first place, and giving me this great opportunity – I’ve learned SO MUCH and enjoyed it all.

To the entire 3K staff – I thank you so much for the laughs and learning that we’ve had together. It’s been wonderful to see and make these great changes to the store over the last 18+ months. I’m sure it will only continue to get better!! (And I can’t wait to come back and visit, and see what else changes!)

Now when I have a knitting or shop question, I have to think – WWJD? (What Would JANINE Do?)

I have enjoyed meeting all of you, and make so many great knitting friends! I hope I’ve been helpful and that you have learned from me, as I have learned from you. Please keep in touch – my personal blog is listed at the right of this blog, and I’m committed to keeping it more updated, once I get settled.

Thanks especially to these 3 ladies, who were in my very first knitting class I ever taught, and have stuck with me through all of my “Scarf Style” classes – it has been so much fun, and I will miss you!

L-R: me, Sue, Lora & Ann

Happy knitting, crocheting, needlepointing, and all other creative things,

Tiffany

>Dream in Color – dreaming of shawls, lace in general…

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O.K. – I know I’ve said it before but it’s worth blogging about again – we got in more wonderful lace, hand-dyed yarn! This time from Dream in Color. This super great collection has wonderful names like Pansy-go-lightly, Lunar Zazzle and Punky Fushia. To get those juices flowing – (Yes, I know I sound yet again like broken record) check out the new pattern line from Sivia Harding. I know that some of you don’t like to knit with wool in the summer but this stuff is so light and airy that you can have it in your hot laps at the beach and you’ll LOVE working on it. Really, I mean it. Really, I mean it.

>Meet Mary!

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This week I am excited to introduce to you the second of our 3 Marys….Mary Heller!

Mary Heller is a mother, a NICU Nurse Anesthetist, famous water gardener, and a needle fiber artist. Mary was all of 8 years old when Mrs.Doylen taught her 4H group how to knit. Her first project was a pair of slipper bootees knit with yellow worsted wool. Latch rugs were favorite projects but her interest in the fiber arts waned until she was in college where she met a sorority sister who enjoyed knitting. So she started dabbling in the needle arts again. While living in Ann Arbor attending nursing school, Mary found a needlepoint store close to campus and she found that stitching was a great outlet from studying and it was an affordable way for her to make gifts for her friends and family. She tells me that wool was the only fiber available for stitching until the metallics were introduced and then the WOW factor was introduced to her needlepoint world. Mary also enjoyed sewing in the past. She remembers Faber’s was a favorite fabric store back in the 70’s. Mary has two sons (now 21 & 24 years of age), married to a doctor, and has always had a career in the medical world – busy lady! Then about 15 years ago, Mary was stricken with Whooping Cough and found solace in her knitting needles. She started knitting afghans while she was in recovery and hasn’t stopped knitting since. Five nieces and nephews have received afghans in their college colors upon high school graduation. She’s always knitting a baby garment for someone special in her life and she is wildly creative & prolific in her sweater knitting. Mary loves life & it is evident in her knitting & yarn selections. She uses color to accent designs – loves Colinette & Prism yarns. I remember shopping with Mary at the first Stitches convention in Saint Paul several years ago – we both fell in love with Maggie Jackson’s couture designs! She tells me she has an entire room dedicated to storing her knitting & needlepoint stash…a girl after my heart!

>Crocheted Baby Blanket Pattern

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For all of you who would like to crochet a child-size afghan for Project Little Lambs, here’s a quick and easy blanket pattern. It’s basically a granny square super-sized:

  • Round 1: Ch 3 (counts as 1 dc), 11 dc into ring, join with slip st into 3rd of ch 3 (or you can use the magic ring method with 12 dc in the ring) 12 dc
  • Round 2: Ch 3, *[2 dc, 1 tr] into next dc, [1 tr, 2 dc] into next dc, ** 1 dc into next dc; rep from * twice and from * to ** once, sl st into 3rd of ch 3
  • Round 3: Ch 3, 2 dc, *[2 dc, 1tr] into next tr, [1 tr, 2 dc] into next tr, ** 5 dc; rep from * twice and from * to ** once, 2 dc, sl st into 3rd of ch 3
  • Round 4: Ch 3, 4 dc, *[2dc, 1tr] into next tr [1 tr, dc] into next tr, ** 9 dc; rep from * twice and from * to ** once, 4 dc, sl st into 3rd of ch 3
  • Continue in pattern: At the corners, in the previous row’s 2 tr, you will always do [2 dc, 1 tr] into 1st tr, then [1 tr, 2 dc] into the 2nd tr.
As for the color sequence, I used the Fibonacci Sequence, which is technically 0,1,1,2,3,5,8,13,21,34,… (each number is the sum of the previous two numbers). I decided to stop at 5 and reverse the process, so my color sequence was as follows 1 row pink, 1 row purple, 2 rows blue, 3 rows green, 5 rows yellow, 3 rows pink, 2 rows purple, 1 row blue, 1 row green, 2 rows yellow, 3 rows pink, 5 rows purple, then I trimmed the whole blanket in a row of sc in blue (at the corners, do [2 sc, 1 dc], then [1 dc, 2 sc]).
Pretty simple and really fast. I have some more basic granny square patterns that I’m thinking of supersizing for more blankets – you can easily do the same!

>The Month of the 3 Marys at 3 Kittens

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We have 3 customers that have so much in common and are at the same time so unique that we decided to have an exhibit featuring these special women. They all share the same first name of Mary, they are each Moms, and they are all long time clients of 3 Kittens.
So May, the month for Moms, is the month of the 3 Marys at 3 Kittens!
You will be impressed by the breadth of their skills and hopefully you will understand why we thought it was important for us to share their stories with you so,
you too could appreciate their accomplishments!
Over the next 3 weeks, I will post each of the Marys stories.
Here is our first Mary!

Mary Dennis is that striking woman with a bright smile, short, sassy white hair,
wearing one of her hand knit garments often seen weekday afternoons stitching in the needlepoint room or knitting a Colinette sweater with me. Mary is one of the most charming women I have ever met. She’s most definitely an artist – but she would probably blush at hearing that. Mary has a full life keeping up with 2 grown children, Kathy & Greg, 3 grandchildren, her Westie, Molly, gardening, and travel.
Mary tells me when she was in grade school she had poor health. Because she was home
so much, to keep Mary busy, her Mother taught her how to knit and cross stitch,
do feather stitching and embroidery and cut work as well!
She has always loved knitting the most! Mary lived in New York for a time and she tells me she & her girl friend got the most incredible deals on yarns at the Reynolds warehouse on Long Island and that there was a lace mill in Port Jefferson that was also a great shopping haven. Mary has some memorable projects – a table cloth she cross stitched to match her wedding china, a skirt knit out of La Gran mohair in the 70’s (on display in exhibit), a fair isle pansy pattern sweater knit for her daughter, post World War II argyle socks! These days Mary is always knitting garments for Kathy & Emily, her grand daughter, and occasionally for her self.
She loves classic styling with a flair for color!

>Happy Mother’s Day & Week Two May Event 20% Off & Double Points

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>Happy Mother’s Day to all of our Moms!!

The May Double Points event continues…..before I announce next week’s featured yarns, I want to thank all of our customers for your continued patronage. In the first 4 days of Week 1 of the May Double Points event, over 2000 points were awarded! We know you have many other yarn store choices, so we work hard to make 3 Kittens your first choice by extending outstanding customer service and by offering broad inventory choices throughout the store. The monthly Perks we extend to our 3 K Club members are one of the ways we say thank you.
And so we have some great perks for you this week. Check out the list below!
MAY 11 THRU MAY 17 ONLY
Double Points & 20% off yarns listed below & books & patterns specific to the yarns:
Yarns & Kits by LOUET:
• ALL KITS
• DIANA’S DREAMS
• KIDLIN
• MOHAIR
Yarns by ELLA RAE:
• AMITY
• CLASSIC
• KASBAH
• MADISON
• MOSAIC
• SHIBU
Yarns by ELSEBETH LAVOLD:
• CHUNKY AL
• COTTON FRAPPE
• COTTON PATINE
• HEMPATHY
• SILKY CASHMERE
• SILKY TWEED
PLYMOUTH Yarns’ OUTBACK MOHAIR
And not to be missed – 3 great yarns that are perfect for fun colorful felted projects…..CRYSTAL PALACE’s ICELAND, CLASSIC ELITE’s DESERT, and K1C2’s PAINTBOX.

>ATTENTION ALL HAND-DYED YARN LOVERS!

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3 Kittens is excited to have received three yarns from the J. Knits collection. Lace-a-licious is an extra superfine alpaca, 1200 yards a skein. It would be great for any of those lace patterns you have been dying to try! We have pattern suggestons in the store for all of them. Next we have the new sock yarn called Superwash Me. It’s 100% superwash merino, 550 yards per skein so you have plenty for a pair of socks or a fingering weight project. Last but certainly NOT least we have Charming. Wonderful worsted weight 80% lambswool, 10% Cashmereand 10% angora. Not only is it wonderfully soft but each skein comes with a charm to embellish your project or use as you wish. Tiffany, Cis and I are all about the names of the color ways – they are all States and Cities in the US. I have dibs on Boston…..Cis is checking out the Florida and Tiffany is trying to figure out how to have them all!