May Day Thanksgiving

AHHHhhhh.....

That's the sound of me decompressing!

THANK YOU to all who came out for the yarn tasting last weekend! I hope everyone had a good time and got to try out some yarns they wouldn't normally try. We had a lot of fun putting it together for you and seeing everyone so excited and happy is definitely good for the soul :)

I don't have any photos of everyone because I was running around a bit. I should have put someone in charge of manning the camera. Does anyone have photos? Here are a few from our preparations - if you are wondering what this yarn tasting thing is all about, here we go:

(I should note that every store does this differently, this is just what we do/have done so far)

We pick a selection of yarns, sometimes with a theme, to be put on display. We go literal and put it right out on a plate for you to taste: I put up big signs to make it easy to spot the yarns you tasted in their natural habitat (on display):

Pure Pima is my new favorite cotton!!

There were prizes! I don't even know who got what, I was so out of it!! Prizes included stitch markers, pattern books, shawl pins, yarn, etc. There were goodie bags with fun things in them. This round I decided to do Yarn Emergency kits with various little things that will help you in a pinch:

We also had some food - cheese & crackers on Friday night and coffee cake and coffee Saturday morning. We had a big table with all the yarn and a few free patterns in the center of the store and the food was in the classroom area.

I'm not sure if there was a clear "hit" of the tasting this spring like there was last spring. I'll tell you about my favorites & maybe you can chime in with yours!

1. Pure Pima from Berroco. It isn't flashy, there are no gimmicks, it is just a wonderful high quality DK weight cotton with depth and beautiful colorways. At $5.99 for 115 yds it is one of the best summer buys in the shop. It won't stretch out of shape or do anything weird and the stitch definition is fantastic!
   
2. Sprout from Classic Elite. How did they make a bulky organic cotton without it weighing a million pounds?! Earthy, fluffy, soft, beautiful with a slightly bumpy texture... I love this yarn.
3. Ok, so maybe ALL the yarns are my favorites. By default. I mean, the reps come to see us and I pick out my favorites from the hundreds that we see, so the whole store is my favorite. But every favorite has a purpose, honest!

In case you missed them, we were offering printouts of these free patterns:
Market Bag from Plymouth
Star Washcloth from Classic Elite (pdf)
Sprout Baby Blanket from Classic Elite (pdf)
Lacy Crochet Kerchief (pdf)
Also check out Aruna (crochet) and Abrianna (knit) summer tops from Berroco

I want so badly to do more events. More out in the community. More charity work. More knitting in public. I just run out of time for the organizing. If anyone is organizing anything charitable or social I will gladly promote it here or on ravelry (or you can post in the Sage group there), just let me know. I have more ideas than time to execute them!

Happy May Day & Thank you again, everyone!!

Jen