On The Needles: Chuck in Liberty Wool

Hey, Sheepish fans! Welcome to a new feature here at the blog called On The Needles. Each week, we'll be showing you one of the staff projects currently underway here at the shop. Let's take a look!

Stacy is working on this cabled beauty called Chuck, designed by Andi Satterlund (of Miette fame). The yarn is the ever-popular Liberty Wool in color 7880, Golden Poppy.

Stacy says, "I fell in love with this sweater the first time I saw it and knew I had to make it! I added another cable repeat so it would be hip-length and give me more wearing options. Despite how cabley it is, it's going pretty fast. I'm hoping to have it done soon so I have the chance to wear it a few times before the weather warms up."

 

What's on your needles? Tell us in the comments, or post a picture on our Facebook page.

Celebration time

While we've been busy re-stocking yarns and needles, as well as meeting with sales reps to order more goodies, we've neglected to post about our Grand Re-Opening Celebration. Let's remedy that!

It was a fun night. We had food, drinks, music from DJ Lopi (aka Stacy's husband, Anthony), and lots of folks stopping by to visit, mingle, and shop.

Mmmm...deliciousness.

Susan wore this scarf that she made in her first knitting lesson with Stacy, circa 2005!

Megan and Diane, mixing and mingling.

Alastor and Anthony, talking about guy stuff.

Mariele spent the evening dancing her booty off and playing "pee-boo."

Emily made friends with some lovely skeins of yarn.

We decided that from now on, all staff meetings need to include champagne!

Thank you so much to everyone who came out to celebrate with us!

Kraemer cottons for spring

Yes, it's time to start planning those spring projects. Here are a couple of new yarns to get you inspired. They're both from Kraemer (the folks who make our super-popular Perfection yarn), and are made in the U.S.A. like all Kraemer products.

Tatamy Tweed Worsted

First, we have Tatamy Tweed Worsted. This easy-care cotton/acrylic blend will be a great choice for warm weather garments, baby items, blankets...you name it! We love it because the tweed flecks are small and spun right into the yarn, so it doesn't have that linty look that many tweeds have. Tatamy Tweed Worsted comes in a nice range of colors, from neutral to pastel to bright.

Tatamy Tweed Worsted in Rubber Ducky colorway

Here's a little blanket Carrie made for Mariele's baby doll. It's so soft and cute. And when it gets dirty, it can be tossed in the washer and dryer--HURRAY! This yarn comes in a 180-yard ball for $6.50.

Tatamy DK

And this is our wonderful selection of Tatamy DK. Another machine washable cotton/acrylic blend, this one is a bit lighter (calls for a US 5 needle) and doesn't have the tweedy flecks. Carrie is making a market bag out of it and she reports that she really loves working with it. The colors have a lovely depth to them--stop by and see them for yourself! Tatamy DK comes in a generous 250-yard ball for $6.50.

More cottons will be arriving in the next few days....

Dream Club: February 2013

This month marks the last installment of the 2012-13 Dream Club, and Dream in Color is certainly ending the season on a high note.

Beautiful!

February's yarn is Everlasting DK, a 100% superwash merino in a rich hand-dyed fuchsia color.  It knits up at 5.5-6 sts/in on a US 5-6 needle. The 275-yard skein retails at $26.00. As always, this is an exclusive yarn, released only to Dream Club subscriber shops. Quantities are limited, so when this yarn is gone, it's gone!

What a way to brighten up a dreary winter day!

The pattern that comes with Everlasting DK is the Trinity scarf. The textures of this piece are perfect for showing off the subtle shading variations of the hand-dyeing.

Doesn't this look like it would be fun to knit?

We'd like to thank all of you who've made the 2012-13 Dream Club a success for us, and we hope you'll join us again when the next Dream Club starts in September!

Settling in

Whew! It's been quite an adventure getting set up in our new location. Let's take a look at some of the highlights of the before, during, and after, shall we?

Here's what it looked like when we got the keys. It was so yellow! And so green! And had such ugly carpet! And there were these platforms and booths in the way.

Demolition!

 

 

Priming and painting.

With the carpet ripped up, the concrete floor got a new paint job.

Ready to move our stuff in.

Moving day!

Everything in--now where to put it all?!?

Pegboard going up....

Looking good, and open for business!

If you haven't come by to visit us in our new space yet, please do! We're still in downtown Decatur, now at 308 W. Ponce de Leon Ave., Suite F-2 (in the same building as Café Lily and Big Tex Cantina). Our phone number is still the same, 404-377-6875. And if you know any of our customers who somehow haven't already heard about our move from our signage/ Facebook/ blog/ Ravelry/ website/ email/ etc., please spread the word!

Good news

In case any of you aren't on our mailing list and/or you missed the email Carrie sent out yesterday, here it is:

Greetings, Sheepish fans! We have some really good news to share. Sheepish has found a new home right down the street in downtown Decatur! We have another week on our lease at the current location, and then we'll be headed to 308 West Ponce de Leon Ave Suite F-2. We'll be in the building with Cafe Lily and Big Tex, in the space right next door to the Christian Science Reading Room. Bibi the cat will be making the move with us (we know you were worried!) and will have two windows in which to sun herself. There is parking on the street in front of the building, and on nights and weekends you can park in the county lot right across the street.

 

What began as disappointing and shocking news has turned into something that we feel is going to be positive for us. We cannot thank you enough for all the feedback after the last email. We could not respond to everyone individually, but we read every comment and really appreciate you taking the time to let us know how you feel. Running Sheepish is a labor of love, and the thought of it suddenly not existing was really sad. We are glad that the shop is important to you, and hope you will continue to share your opinions and feedback with us.

 

Our last day on the lease at 335 West Ponce will be next Tuesday the 15^th. We're going to spend that day packing and removing shelving. We will reopen at the new location a couple of days later. The new space needs some sprucing up and we'll have to figure out where everything goes. As soon as we have an exact re-opening date, we'll let everyone know. We think a party will be in order!

 

We have a lot to do in the next week: painting, packing, moving, etc. The less we have to move, the better. So if you're looking for that next post-holiday project, get on in and take some of this yarn home with you! We've got more Perfection from Kraemer on the way, and we're still pretty stocked with yarns from Brown Sheep and Manos del Uruguay. And now that we sell patterns through Ravelry, hundreds more project options are available at the shop. Why buy Ravelry patterns through us? You get credit toward your customer rewards, the shop benefits, and the designers benefit. It's win-win!

 

Hope to see you soon at the current location, and in a few weeks at our new home!

 

-All of us at Sheepish