Friday, August 29, 2008

We Don't All Have to Fit In This Tent


Don't pack away that tent and gear after Labor Day; you have one more camping trip this year! Clear your calendar for Friday, September 19th; it's time for The Purl District Camp Out. From 6:00 PM to 10:00 PM, you are going have some fun roughing it surrounded by some of the best yarn in the world.

Twenty bucks gets you an indoor campsite (aka a chair) -- no worries about skeeters or rain -- and a chance to mosey up to our chuckwagon-- not just beenie weenies and smores-- AND a 20% discount on whatever you buy that night. (The discount is good at both The Purl District and Snippets, 'cause we're all camping together that night.) Bring in a pop-up tent or camping equipment and we'll bump up that discount to 30%. Wow! What more could you want? It's an excuse to knit and laugh and eat and pretend that summer isn't over. But since autumn really is just around the corner, there will be hourly door prizes to jumpstart your autumn knitting.

Be sure to come in and sign up by September 11th. We're not sure that we can build a campfire, but we can't wait to hear you tell us scary knitting stories around the big red table.

Monday, August 25, 2008



Barbara designed these beautiful socks with viscachas (a small South American animal somewhere between a squirrel and a chinchilla) on them, but she found a mistake, we believe some ripping was involved, and now she wants nothing to do with them.

We're going to nag her here in the blog to try to guilt trip her into finishing these gorgeous bits of footwear. I mean, check out the 3D edging at the top of the socks. 

So, Barbara, you know who you are, we want to see you at the big red table on Friday with these puppies in hand. Pleeeease. (We're also not above begging.)

Friday, August 22, 2008

Has She Hit the Wall?


It's been said that a marathon can be divided into two equal halves -- the first 20 miles and the last six. All marathoners know that there's a point -- different for each runner, every race -- where it seems that you can go on no longer. It could be in the 18th mile, maybe it doesn't happen till the 21st, but sooner or later you hit the wall.

In crochet, the wall is made out of yarn.

Celia's crocheting a hat marathon. She set herself a goal during the Olympics: 26 hats in 17 days. Here in the basket you see 20 hats. There is sworn testimony that there are two more hats at her house, and a couple of our mannequins are wearing some pretty warm headgear for August, so that brings us to 24 completed objects with only a couple of days left to go. It looks like she's going to make it, BUT it's possible that she's hit the wall. Those last two skeins of Cascade 220 Superwash could be the equivalent of six miles of grueling road.

Check in next week to see if she won the gold...

Friday, August 15, 2008

Yarn Dreams


It could be a yarn shop. It could be a small, well-organized fiber warehouse. Or it could be the headboard of Jane's bed. Take a guess.

Our Jane, The Purl District yarn slave and incredi-knitter, lives for fiber -- and not in an All-Bran sort of way--which explains why, when she needs a respite from a hard day of being surrounded by skeins of wool, alpaca, and bamboo at the shop, goes home to this. Last thing she sees at night? Yarn. First thing she sees in the morning? You get the idea. Just in case you didn't feel that Jane is fully committed (and feel free to think of the word 'committed' as you like) to the fiber lifestyle, you should know that she is here in the shop right now -- on her day off!  Some people are crazy like that.

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Friday, August 8, 2008

Deja Vue Web Page


You may have checked out our website lately and said, "Whoa, haven't I seen this before?" The answer is probably 'yes'. The page has been a little bit on hold since spring, and we bet you're gonna ask why. So we're gonna tell you. Tim, our webdude, is revamping the whole shebang.

When Tim's done, we're going to have a shopping cart, and while you can't ride it up and down the aisles like at Safeway (yes, you know you've done that), you can load it up with yarn and yarn and more yarn. Oooh, and you're going to want some of those buttons, and dang if you haven't misplaced your 24" and 40" size 8 Addi Turbos, so throw a couple of those in there. And before you finish clicking, there's a new book on needle felting you MUST have. Whew! You've done a full day's shopping and nobody needs to know you're still in your jammies.

The Purl District will also no longer be calendar-challenged. We'll have one for you to click on, so you can check on upcoming events. And never again will you have to sheepishly call to find out what time Gail's teaching that class-you-signed-up-for-but-can't-remember-when-you're-supposed-to-show-up-at. (It's okay, it happens to all of us.)

So the upshot is: keep visiting our site. We're sure it'll be worth the wait.

Oh, since you're going to be shopping in your pajamas, you'll need new slippers. What a coincidence -- Jane will be teaching a clogs class, beginning Tuesday, August 12th. As the picture shows, these are fabulous, so soft and cushy. Yep, you definitely are going to want these.

Friday, August 1, 2008

When It Comes to Yarn: Moths Bad, Butterflies Good



Susan Carr brought in her Butterfly afghan today. "Only 3 rows to go." And sitting around the big red table, she polished off those rows; pictured here is the result. (By the way, that's Susan, hidden by her feat of crochet.)

Using Tunisian stitch and an afghan hook (which looks a lot like a regular crochet hook on steroids), Susan turned 18 balls of Encore yarn into a work of art. This fall Susan is going to teach the Butterfly Afghan class for us (details pending). We'd love to have you join us.