>As we head towards the Holidays, we’re going to try to come up with some great, quick ideas for you for gifts. Here’s our first one.

Julie had a brilliant idea in the store for a knitted item for the hunters in your life. A bright orange PolarKnit hat. Picture this hat in orange and you get the idea:

This pattern is a free download pattern from http://www.polarknit.com/. It calls for 3 skeins of PolarKnit ($8.50 per skein).

And, while you’re at it, how about a pair of “pop-up paws”?

These are basically fingerless gloves with a section that pulls over the top of the fingers to form a mitten. These are great for hunters (and others) who need their fingers free occasionally, but want their fingers warm for the rest of the time. This is a Nancy Lindberg Pattern called “Fits Like … a Glove” and uses a DK weight yarn. The pattern is available in the store for $4.50.

>I thought you all might like to see a cute little dog sweater I knit up using a Style Hounds kit:

This is the Country Checks kit from Style Hounds. It took less than four days to work up completely (which was probably about 5 hours of actual time – maybe less). It’s a little big for this toy dog, but at least you get the idea! Here are some other sweaters by Style Hounds:The kits come with yarn, pattern, and buttons (including an extra button, just in case…). In addition, there are owner’s scarf kits so you and your canine friend can match! How cute is that?

>We received a beautiful shipment of the new Malabrigo Sock Yarn last week from Uruguay. If you’re not familiar with Malabrigo, all of their yarns are made in Uruguay and they are known for their rich, kettle-dyed colors. Felters have been fans of their 100% wool yarn for years, and now sock knitters have the chance to dive into the colors as well. Here are just a few of the colors we have:

An interesting tidbit about this yarn: Malabrigo has purposely put a knot in each skein at the half-way point. That way, you can wind two separate balls of yarn and know that you can only use one ball per sock. Then you won’t run out of yarn at the end of the 2nd sock! Ingenious!

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The needlepoint department is in the planning stages for a monthly class that will begin in January to complete the 12 Days of Christmas ornaments from Shelly Tribbey. We have EXCLUSIVE stitch guides for this class, so it should be a fun and informative group of lessons. If you are interested in the class, please call us to get your name on our list. In the meantime, if you would like to pre-order your canvases during the Shelly Tribbey trunk show, you will receive 20% off your canvas purchase. The trunk show is only in the store through November 25, so make sure to let us know before then if you would like to pre-order them.

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