There is a new scarf on display in the shop.  It is an original design, something we have come to expect at Creative Yarns, but this one was created by Cristina, knitter extraordinaire, knitwear teacher and member of the shop’s knit group.

The creation of this scarf has been a journey for Cristina.  She was inspired by a interesting, drapeable, felted lattice scarf that was gifted to another member of the knit group.  Cristina wanted to create a scarf that was different from her inspiration piece, but that was felted, draped well and had open spaces.  She tried several yarns, various felting methods and different stitch patterns.  These trial runs had some interesting results, but none of the scarves met all her goals, But then she hit gold this fall.

The Step and Ladder Scarf meets all of her objectives: it is very different from the inspiration piece; it is lightly felted and drapes beautifully; and, it has a lattice like grid with open spaces.  Best of all, everyone that sees it  loves it and doesn’t want to take it off.  The scarf can be styled in numerous ways as you can see in the photos.  Cristina confided that she made several as Chistmas gifts but couldn’t bear to part with them.

The scarf is actually quite straightforward to make – the difficult part was developing the design and finding the right yarn and felting technique.  Cristina has done all that for us.  If you are interested in making one for yourself, or perhaps as a gift (if you can part with it), Cristina will be teaching a class on the techniques used on February 22, 1-4 pm.  The pattern will be provided in the class.  You can find all the details here.

A wonderful end of year present arrived at Creative Yarns – a much anticipated, new shipment of Madelinetosh yarn.  The new shipment of yarn came in two weights.

There is more Tosh Sock, that wonderful fingering weight yarn that you can use for socks of course, but the array of luscious glazed solid colourways will inspire many knitters to create a beautiful, soft shawl, wrap or other accessory.

New to Creative Yarns is Tosh DK which works up to a versatile light worsted weight perfect for sweaters and accessories.  The colourways are beautiful, as we all have come to expect from Madelinetosh, but an added bonus is that this 100% merino wool is machine washable in cold water.  Perfect!

You can see the extensive colourways for Madelinetosh here.

Estelle Yarn Tasting (Nov 2013)

Following the success of our November ‘yarn tasting’ event, we are very pleased to announce a second Estelle yarn tasting, this time showcasing some of Estelle’s spring yarn collections.

• When: Saturday 15/February, 1 – 4pm

• Where: Creative Yarns, 269 Ellesmere Rd, Scarborough

• Bring: your favourite needles (yarns vary from fingering to aran weight)

We will have samples of ten new Estelle yarns for you to test and enjoy in the store, and there will be door prizes provided by Estelle.

Creative Yarns will provide coffee and snacks.

This event is free, but registration is required to reserve a spot.  Call now (416-331-8085) to reserve your place.

A few Rowan Kidsilk Haze colours

Creative Yarns is delighted to start carrying Rowan Kidsilk Haze, which is arguably the gold standard in lace weight mohair.  It is a wonderfully soft and strong mix of mohair and silk that has a fabulous sheen and co,mrs in a wide range of colours.  You can view the full range of colours on the Rowan website here.  The yarn has been such a hit with customers that the blue shades from our original order are sold out.  But not to fear, more are on order.

Nina’s gradient Kidsilk Haze cowl

Nina created this charming, simple cowl, in a gradient of three colours, that will keep you toasty in the winter chill.  It is knit on larger needles to create a delicate, loose but very warm fabric that is light as air.  The mohair fibre has a ‘halo’ that captures warmth around the fabric.  This is a very easy, quick knit that is still elegant and luxurious.  A perfect cowl for Toronto weather in 2014.

Look out for more Rowan yarns coming to the store in the near future.

“All the Shades of Truth” wrap

This gorgeous wrap was knitted by Gail, one of our regulars, from a pattern by Laura Ayler.  The pattern is called “All the Shades of Truth”, and it’s available for sale on Ravelry (link here).

It’s a lovely pattern, all in garter stitch and very simple to knit, being worked in blocks of colour with stitches picked up and knitted on for each new block.  This version is worked with a combination of fingering weight yarns, including the Mountain Ridge Kaleidoscope and Baah! La Jolla, but the possibilities are endless.  Nina has a great selection of suitable yarns in solid and semi-solid colours.  She is working on an alternate colourway in a mix of Madeline Tosh and Mountain Ridge yarns, with a beautiful, strong, semi-solid orange-yellow accent, and we have another knitter starting one in shades of brown.

If you are as impressed by this wrap as we are, why don’t you stop by the store for help picking colours, and knit along with us.

Self-striping BFL sock yarn, colourway “Thursday”

We are very pleased to announce that we are beginning to dye our own unique yarns, albeit on a very small scale as yet.

Self-striping BFL sock yarn, colourway “REM”

Some of you have already had the opportunity to purchase custom-dyed yarns for the Colour Pooling workshops that were held this Fall/Winter, and we now have a few skeins of self-striping BFL Sock yarn available for sale in the store.

‘BFL’, of course, stands for ‘Blue-Faced Leicester’, a soft, strong, long-staple premium wool fibre with a great hand.  It’s one of our favourite fibres, and makes excellent socks with good wear characteristics.

Self-striping yarns are fun to work with, but as the colour repeat is extremely long, it’s impossible to tell from the skein what they will look like when knit up.  Some of you have said that you enjoy surprises, but we do have sample cards in the store for each new colourway.  These show what they look like when knit in a typical sock circumference.  Just two so far, as shown here, but there will be more.

“Thursday” knitted sample

“REM” knitted sample

At the moment, there are only a very few of these skeins, and we do not have the capacity to dye custom orders, but we will be producing more, and also trying out new colourways.  So, look out for the Creative Yarns colourway sample cards in the store, and be sure to tell Nina what colours you like best.  We’d like to know which are your favourites, so that we know which to dye more of.

Dear Customers and Friends,

Nina Klenki

Our opening times over the holiday season will be:

• Tuesday, Dec 24              10am – 1:30pm
• Wednesday, Dec 25         Closed
• Thursday, Dec 26             Closed
• Friday, Dec 27                 10am – 7pm
• Saturday, Dec 28             10am – 6pm
• Sunday, Dec 29                Closed
• Monday, Dec 30               Closed
• Tuesday, Dec 31              10am – 2pm
• Wednesday, Jan 1            Closed

(Formatting updated: changes from normal hours are shown in red).

Normal business hours will resume after the New Year.

We would like to wish all our customers and friends a joyous holiday season.

Here’s one of the most interesting new yarn offerings of the season – a super-bulky, quick knitting, easy-care acrylic yarn for making winter hats and scarves, but with a novel twist: regular flecks of light-reflecting material that make it glow in the dark, reflecting car headlights and other light sources.  An excellent choice if you are knitting scarves or hats for a dog-walker, cyclist, or any regular pedestrian in our long, dark winters.

Take a look at the picture on the right, showing the colours Nina has in stock at the moment.  Both pictures were taken in daylight, but the top one was taken with a flash, the bottom one without.  The reflective material is bright enough to show quite well under a camera flash, even in daylight.  We think this yarn is a winner!

Mini-socks have become a Creative Yarns holiday season tradition.  Mairi, one of our teachers, makes mini-socks all year out of sock yarn leftovers, and then gives them away in December to friends and customers who happen to be at the store when she is there.  This year, we again have a mini-sock advent calendar—24 mini-socks on a chain, each one stuffed with a chocolate treat.  Every day from now until Christmas Eve, the first customer each day will get that day’s mini-sock treat.  So, don’t forget to ask Nina if today’s mini-sock has been claimed yet!

But Mairi has more mini-socks.  Lots more.  How many can you count in this picture?  That’s how many Mairi has to give away this year (it has been a good year for sock yarn leftovers).  So if you haven’t got a mini-sock yet, stop by the store often to look for Mairi and her mini-socks.

What do you do with mini-socks?  Use them in your holiday celebrations as gift tags or tree ornaments, or all year round as zipper pulls, purse ornaments, or just a handy little pocket for small things that always get lost at the bottom of your handbag.

Mairi would especially like to thank all the people who have donated left-over sock yarn.

Here are the new classes we are offering for November & December.

Beginner Knit―Individual instruction

Skill level: Complete beginner
Date: Call to schedule (1 hr session)
Instructor: Isla Ghent
Cost: $12 + HST
Details: click here

Gloves that Fit (course)

This class has been rescheduled, and will now begin on 10/November.  There are still places available!  Come and learn everything you will ever need to know about knitting gloves.

Skill level: Beginner/Intermediate
Dates: Sundays 10/Nov, 17/Nov, 24/Nov, 1/Dec, 1:30-3:30pm (4 sessions, 8 hours total)
Instructor: Mairi McKissock
Cost: $85 + HST + materials
Details: click here

The Joy of Ravelry (workshop)

Skill level: Everyone welcome.
Date: Sunday 10/Nov, 1:00-3:00pm
Instructors: Minusha Gorman and Trish Denhoed
Cost: $25 + HST
Details: click here

Short Rows and Welts (workshop)

Skill level: Intermediate
Date: Saturday 16/Nov, 1-4pm (1 session, 3 hours)
Instructor: Cristina Simionovici
Cost: $35 + HST + materials
Details: click here

Colour Pooling (workshop)

Skill level: Beginner/Intermediate
Date: Saturday, 23/Nov, 1-4 pm (1 session, 3 hours)
Instructor: Mairi McKissock
Cost: $35 + HST + materials
Details: click here

Brioche Stitch (workshop)

Skill level: Intermediate
Date: Saturday 30/Nov, 1-4pm (1 session, 3 hours)
Instructor: Cristina Simionovici
Cost: $35 + HST + materials
Details: click here

Finishing (workshop)

Skill level: Intermediate
Date: Sunday, 8/Dec, 1:00pm – 4:00pm (1 session, 3 hours)
Instructor: Trish Denhoed
Cost: $35 + HST
Details: click here

Colour Play (workshop)

Skill level: Intermediate
Date: Saturday 14/Dec, 1-4pm (1 session, 3 hours)
Instructor: Cristina Simionovici
Cost: $35 + HST
Details: click here

Nina will be at the Creativ Festival this Friday, Saturday and Sunday, showcasing  new designs and new yarns.  If you are planning on going to the show, be sure and stop by the Creative Yarns booth to say hello to Nina and check out her latest creations.

In preparation for the show, the store will be closing at 7pm on Thursday, and the regular Thursday evening social knitting group is cancelled for this week.  Friday, Saturday, and Sunday hours remain as normal.

Berroco’s Boboli yarn has been popular here for a while now, so we’re delighted to see this new, lighter weight version of the same fibre mix.  Although it calls itself a lace yarn, it’s more like a fingering weight in yardage and behaviour.  Single-ply, like it’s heavier cousins, it has the same exciting colour mixes that made Boboli so popular, and the same, wool-rich, fibre composition: 42% wool, 35% acrylic, 23% rayon/viscose.  It’s lovely to work with, and the dynamic play of colours is fun to watch under your fingers.

Nina has worked a simple striped triangle shawl with one ball of Boboli lace, and one ball of Berroco’s Ultra Alpaca Fine in a complementary solid to show off the Boboli colours to great effect.  It’s a simple, fun knit (at an economical price) and we think it looks terrific!

There are so many colours in each ball, that the possible combinations are endless.  These yarns have been flying off the shelves in all colourways, and we are looking forward to seeing many of them coming back as finished shawls.

What colours would you pick to knit this shawl?

“Titus” is a new yarn by British company”‘Baa Ram Ewe”.  It has been creating quite a bit of buzz on the net, with good reason.  The fibre mix is 50% Wensleydale longwool, 20% Bluefaced Leicester, and 30% British Alpaca in a 4-ply fingering weight.  If you’re not familiar with those first two names, they are both premium British breeds of wool-producing sheep.  OK, all sheep produce wool, but some breeds produce better wool than others, and these are two of the best.

Wensleydale fleece has very long fibres that add a lot of strength and sheen to the yarn.  Bluefaced Leicester, a long-time favourite fibre with handspinners, also has a long staple, and is soft, strong, and lustrous.  Titus yarn, with a generous amount of alpaca for extra softness, is a wonderful blend of woolly warmth together with visual characteristics – soft, gray-toned colours with a rich ‘glow’ – that provide excellent stitch definition. The yarn launched with some very attractive patterns that highlight the yarn characteristics, all available at the store.  Pictured here are a couple of these designs – Ann Kingstone’s “Ilkely Moor” hat and “Baht’at” fingerless gloves – knitted as store samples at Creative Yarns.  Thanks to Jane and Angela  for knitting the store samples, and Meredith for modeling the hat. We’re looking forward to seeing more customer projects with this interesting yarn.  Please do bring your finished projects back to the store to show off what you have made!

We are very excited to host our first official ‘yarn tasting’ event, sponsored by Estelle Yarns.

• When: Saturday 2/Nov, 1 – 4pm

• Where: Creative Yarns, 269 Ellesmere Rd, Scarborough

• Bring: your favourite needles (yarns vary from fingering to aran weight)

We will have samples of ten new Estelle yarns for you to test and enjoy in the store, and there will be a door prize from Estelle for each registered participant.

Creative Yarns will provide coffee and snacks.

This event is free, but registration is required to reserve a spot.  Call now (416-331-8085) to reserve your place.