Lost Ball

Lost your Ball???  This flew into the green space in front of the Great Balls of Wool Store during the last storm.  It hasn't been claimed yet.  Its flock has probably already flown south, so it needs a place to overwinter.  

Blogging Light

Faithful readers, your Blog Meister is off to Cortes Island tomorrow for 3 days of kayaking, so I will be off the grid (by choice) Wednesday through Sunday. Apologies for the upcoming silence (trust me, you want Roisin running the store, ordering yarns and being helpful, not doing the blog) but rest assured, there will be a spate of photos next week.

I am going to try and take my Slouch Hat In Progress out on the kayak, take a photo, and start a new feature, "Where's Your Yarn Been?" We yarny people tend to take our projects the *darndest* places so let's document this! Send Roisin photos of places your yarn has been (greatb.wool@gmail.com), tell us where you were, and we will post here!

P.S. Try and get your yarn and project in the photo, and tell us about that too!

Sheepish Humour

Fancy a little lamb?

Chilly Toes?

So sorry to remind you that your toes may be chilly in the not too distant future. But remember the store carries a full line of sheepskin slippers, gloves and hats.
Olga is showing off the UGG boot style.  100% gen-ewe-ine New Zealand sheepskin.  

-- 

Fancy A Possum Sweater?

That would be a sweater made of possum yarn, not a sweater for an opossum. 

From the Nordic Yarn site:

Possum Fibres from New Zealand
Some facts that you may not know about the possum from New Zealand:

• Possums are not native animals to New Zealand
• They were first introduced from Australia in 1837, and have no natural enemies
• There are approx. 60 million possums in New Zealand, reproducing at 30% per year
• It is considered a pest, destroying native plants, animals and birds in New Zealand's environment
• Possums eat and destroy nearly 20,000 tonnes of vegetation - every night!
• The NZ Government spends NZ$90 million a year just on eradicating the possum
• Within New Zealand, both the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, and the Department of Conservation and Regional Health Boards support the humane culling of possum numbers as a key means of protecting NZ's unique eco-systems

The Possum fibre is:

• 55% warmer than merino
• 35% warmer than cashmere
• shown to have a high resistence to pilling compared to other natural fibres
• exceptionally soft to the touch

More information and some photos of possum sweaters at Supreme Possum Merino.  

Our Girls

"Olga the Ice Queen" already has a new look - Butterfly cotton red vest, ribbon yarn top, crochet bumwarmer made with Marble Chunky 100% acrylic, Noro berry Hat, and Self-patterning yarn socks.

"Ilsa" who's been with us for awhile, now in her 'store greeter' position (she can't do much else, being handless).  Sporting a Manos Artesanas headband and cowl, hand dyed neck thingy around her waist and Lynda's felted handbag made with Noro Bonbori and Galway Heather with a gorgeous button by Jill.

Meet Olga

Meet our new model "Olga the Ice Queen" recently arrived from the frozen north.  We'll be dressing her up with leg warmers and fingerless gloves in the near future...she feels the cold, poor dear. 

Loopy Lounge Chairs...And A Favour

Roisin was in Vancouver over the weekend, and bought six new chairs for the Loopy Lounge...more comfy than the old ones. But, she could only fit three in her car. So, if any reader will be in Vancouver soonish, and can pick up the remaining three chairs, and deliver them to the store, Roisin would cover the cost of gas. The store is at Hastings and Boundry...details from Roisin if you can help out! 

New In Stock

Ester Bitran "Canela", a hand dyed yarn made in Chile (or, as the label reads "Maden in Chile") is 33% Rayon, 34% Cotton and 33% Acrylic.

As with all hand dyed yarns, the colour numbers really shouldn't be taken as guidelines as each hank or skein will have different shades and distributions. Here's the recommendation from the producer: "As there are not dye lots, we recommend buying enough yarn at one time to complete each individual project. Knit with two hanks in assorted rows (2-4). This will ensure an overall blended effect."

Update on the Noro Magazine

It was exciting to discover that Holli Yeoh is the designer of the cover hat on the premiere issue of the Noro Knitting magazine (that we featured here)--and that she has two more designs inside. Exciting because Holli lives in Vancouver (yay, for BC designers) but also because she is the step-daughter of Nigel (a good friend of mine) who designed the Baronial Slippers Roisin made for her son Bob. All sing now..."It's a small world after all..."


Holli blogged about her submissions to the Noro magazine here. Nigel's pattern for the slipper socks is here. 

Premier Issue

Yarn producer Noro has recently issued the premier issue (Fall 2012) of its magazine. Roisin sent the cover photo (below) to me to post here, and I forgot to do so. And I am glad because this afternoon I looked through the magazine--and got two copies, one for me and one for my sister. And I picked out a pattern I thought she'd like and got her the yarn to make it, as a birthday present.
Which is a long-winded way  of saying, this is a lovely magazine with terrific looking patterns, using Noro's yarns, many of which are available at the store. And there will be more coming later, in July, all set for fall knitting.

Puppies or Yarn?

We've been tidying up the GBOW blog and notice a trend...what does it say about the universe when people coming to a yarn store blog look at puppy pictures more than yarn pictures?

Roisin posted a lot of very cute puppy pictures back in the early summer...and the page views for these are higher than for pictures of lovely yarns and what is made with them. Does it suggest we should always post cute puppy (or kitty) pictures along side the lovely yarn pictures? Hmmm.  How about cute puppies wearing lovely yarn? That has to be a winner!

The Loopy Lounge is Open

Thanks to some rearranging of the GBOW space, the Loopy Lounge was created before the holidays, and welcomed with a party on New Years' Day (the first anniversary of GBOW!). The Loopy Lounge is right beside the yarn room, and if you are fond of the comfy couch that sat beneath the front window, you can now find it in the Loopy Lounge, along with a nice big table and chairs. It's a great place to come knit or crochet for a while and hang out with like-minded folks of all levels of expertise. Come share your knowledge or get ideas and help.
The Loopy Lounge is open when the store is, and is a fragrance-free zone.
And thanks to Susan for the Loopy Lounge sign.

Happy New Year!

Great Balls of Wool blog is baaa-ck! Things got very busy and the wooley blog just did not get added to as other things needed attention. So, the blog languished but we hope to be here way more often with up-to-the-minute info on new yarns, new classes, and sheepish musings.

May the fleece be with you!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2FX9rviEhw

Knitting Groups

re:  knitting groups

"You can never get enough gossip
and you'll always need a scarf"

Welcome to Great Balls of Wool Blog

In the plans for this Blog -

• Photos and information on wool in stock and on sale
• How to knit videos - cast on methods etc
• General store updates
• Gallery of knitters projects, in various stages of progress
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