No April Fooling Here!

News from Baskets of Yarn
No April Fooling here! When starting this newsletter, I realized that you would be receiving it on April
1st, April Fool's Day! I must admit, I have never had much use for the holiday so you will see no
tomfoolery around the store. I looked up the holiday to find if there was something more interesting
about it than I recognized, but alas, no…
Combining yarns: What a long way we have come from when I first began knitting! Although I made
my first crochet projects in my 20's, I did not get into knitting until the great Novelty yarn craze in the
early to mid 90's. My first love was the art of combining yarns to make a one-of-a-kind scarf. There were
so many choices and colors. Those days are mostly gone…though the yarn reps still pull out those
novelty yarns every trip…but the art of combining yarns is still alive. I was thinking about this as I am
finishing up my Crochet Wrap using Rowan Kidsilk Haze and Rowan Purelife Revive. What an amazing
difference putting two yarns together can make. This is especially true with Kidsilk Haze. This beautiful,
soft, warm and THIN strand of mohair and silk simply glides alongside just about any other yarn you
want, adding amazing warmth and loft to the project.
Here is my wrap (hopefully finished by the newsletter date) and here is another project out of only
Rowan Purelife Revive. What a difference!
Patty's Kidsilk & Purelife Revive Wrap
Patty's Mountaintop Scarf in Purelife Revive alone
As Angie has said many time, everythings better with a little Kidsilk Haze!
Tunisian Crochet: I have been singing the praises of Tunisian Crochet for several years now. I usually
tell people it is the perfect blend of knitting and crochet, keeping the good parts of each and eliminating
some of the harder parts of each. I now realize that the knitting and crochet media confirm that! In this
issue of Knitsimple (Vogueknitting's baby sister) there is not 1, but 4(!) Tunisian crochet patterns…in a
KNITTING magazine!
I love it! Here is my favorite. It looks so cool and retro!
Knitsimple Spring/Summer 2012: So, I already told you about the cool Tunisian patterns, but that is
not all! They have a great Anorak Hoodie that I am seriously thinking about for one of our summer
projects! I just love hoodies. Why is that? I never actually wear the hood! Then there is a section on
warm weather scarves that they describe as "airy and exuberant". I really love the striped scarf, knit out
of Kollage Corntastic alternately on size 5 and size 10 circular needles. We have some of this great yarn
left from last year's Kollage Kits and this would be the perfect thing to do with it!
March Gladness: The Final 4 teams are battling it out as we finish the newsletter and the championship
game will be played this Monday. That means that on Tuesday we'll have 1 yarn left standing and that
yarn will be on sale at 40% off! As an added special, I'll give you one more sale for this week! We have 7
colors of Corntastic and 32 total skeins. We can re-package them for you to make this great scarf from
Knitsimple that uses 5 different colors. Corntastic's retail price is $7.95 per skein x 5 skeins = $39.95.
Our special this week is 20% off when you buy 5 different colors of Corntastic!
60 More Quick Baby Knits: Well, I ordered this back in August, not knowing that it's publication date
was so far away, but I am glad I did! Cascade 220 Superwash Sport is the base for all the patterns in
this book, which includes some truly adorable baby knits. As you see on the cover, they start out with a
bang with the adorable bear hat and they just keep going. Their WOW pattern has to be the Bunny
Blanket, you could just whip it up for an Easter gift, right?
New Yarn came today! We got in some great colors of Queensland Llama Soft Cotton! This great 80%
cotton, 20% Baby Llama blend is heavenly soft to hold and I can't wait to put it with the right project.
We also got in some Mirasol Nuna yarn. Nuna is a 40% wool, 40% Silk and 20% Bamboo sourced
Viscose (new one on me!). It is light, with a silky shine. As many of you know, the Mirasol Project
supports local communities in Peru and a portion of every purchase goes directly to the funding of a
school in the remote area of Munani.
And finally, we got in some more of the divine Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool. I have been waiting on this
since I decided to jump in on the garter stitch wrap. Glenda used this on her wrap and I think it is an
excellent choice, not only for the wrap, but for our climate and that much yarn! Silky Wool is a 45% wool,
35% silk, 20% nylon blend and comes in some of the most brilliant colors! What to do, what to do?
Yarn Tasting! As we've said in earlier newsletters, we are getting ready to do some yarn tastings over
the next few months. If you haven't ever been to one, you should try it out! Next up we are pleased to
announce that Michael del Vecchio from Universal Yarns is going to come and show us some new
things with their great yarn that we already have and some new yarn that we MIGHT have in the shop if
you tell us you love it! Michael is the Creative Director at Universal Yarns and has written many of their
patterns as well as being responsible for the look of their pattern books, brochures, and much more. He
has just returned from a trip to Turkey and Germany and has lots of great trends in the fiber industry to
share with us as well!
PLUS Michael will be bringing goodie bags or door prizes or BOTH! Sign up early as we can only
accommodate a certain amount of people at a time! He will be here Thursday, April 26 6-8p and
Saturday, April 28 (time to be announced).
Summer School! I have fond memories of summers spent in Vacation Bible School. We would make
the rounds from our church, both Grandmother's churches AND then aunts, cousins…it was all fun. I am
certain they were teaching us very important stuff, but I remember finger painting and craft sticks and
glitter. Well, get ready for that kind of FUN this summer with Baskets of Yarn! We have a goal to have
everything put together for you by mid-April (goals are good) but here is a little taste of what is to come:
Yarn Tastings, Knit Alongs, Crochet Alongs, Skills classes, Project classes, and Mini-Retreat weekends!
We are also planning on turning the entrance room area into a knitter's summer paradise by cranking up
the air conditioning, moving all our Sit and Knit furniture into this cool room and having classes there. So
GET READY TO HAVE SOME FUN!!!!
Small Business Corner: Ever wonder how Gary and I managed to stay on the cleanse program, deal
with tax season, run the shop and not cheat? We had a secret weapon that I want to tell you
about. Beverly's Gourmet Foods (http://beverlysgourmetfoods.com/) is a wonderful local source of
delicious vegetarian meals. Gary was able to take a cooking class with her through the program and we
found that her prepared foods are available at the Mecklenburg County Market, every Saturday. Not to
worry if you want more, most of her food is vegetarian but the vegan and gluten free choices are a small
part. We have gone from 2+ meals out a day to almost 2 or less out in a week. Here is a sample of
some of the meals you could get this Saturday: Mediterranean Quiche, Tomato Basil Pie, Black Bean
Soup, Mac and Cheese, Baked Ziti, Lasagna and the list goes on! She is a great cook and you usually
get to meet her on Saturdays. Her food is in a lot of other health food locations near you, so check out
her website!
Summer Youth Classes: This summer Baskets of Yarn is offering fun camps for children rising
Kindergarten through 6th grade at Providence Day School. The classes to choose from are Crochet,
Crochet Jewelry, Knitting 1 & 2, and Weaving! This is a great opportunity to register your children or
grandchildren for a week of summer fun with Baskets of Yarn. All registration and camp information is
available through Providence Day School at www.providenceday.org Summer Programs.
Our Our Needles
Just off her needles is a shawl that Nancy just finished using Wolle's Color Changing Cotton yarn and a
pattern by Lynne Ashton called "28's Cousin 53", referring to the famous 28 Row Scarf. It turned out so
beautifully that we just had to share it with you even though it's "off the needles"
Take a look at past projects "on our needles" for fun and inspiration!
Our Hours
Tuesday - Saturday: 10am - 6pm
Knit Mornings (Tuesday & Thursday): 10am - 12pm
Knit Nights (Tuesday & Thursday): 6pm - 8pm
Our Location
1318 Central Avenue, Suite E3
Charlotte, NC 28205
Find Us!
Look for us past the Family Dollar building and behind the Fitness Together!
Call Us!
704-733-9053
Join Us!
In addition to the newsletter there are several other ways to keep up with what's going
on at the shop and to contribute to the community if you like. We'd be very grateful if
you participated in the conversation either by joining our Ravelry group at
http://www.ravelry.com/groups/baskets-of-yarn
or by following us on facebook at
http://www.facebook.com/basketsofyarn
or, to be the first to know everything, follow our twitter feed at
http://twitter.com/#!/Baskets_of_Yarn
We look forward to seeing you soon at Baskets of Yarn!
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