Things to do with Liberty Wool Print!

I've always loved Liberty Wool...what's not to love? Squishy, soft, machine-washable, and the perfect gauge, it suits me completely. As soon as the first Liberty collection came out in fall of 2010, I cast on for the Elizabeth sweater ("the Magic Sweater" as we called it around the office), but made it in a solid color. As a knitter that tends to shy away from bright colors, Liberty Wool Print took a little longer to embrace, but the compulsion hit me hard.

As soon as this week's free pattern was completed, Meg and I both cast on the Splash of Color cowl, one in each new colorway (12 new colors are being released this spring as part of our retailer subscription program). Meg's is in Berry Brambles, mine is in Golden Pagoda. The colors are bright, but what a great way to add an accent color to your outfit.

If you love cowls, this pattern from Kelly J. Knits, the Key to Warmth Cowl, knit here in Liberty Wool Solids and Prints, is brilliant.

We also dressed up our office with Liberty Wool Print. Machine-knit, the installation is 60' total length in 20 colors of Liberty Wool Print...overall 8900 yards and 8 pounds of wool with 73 color changes!

Putting the Liberty "knitdown" on foam core for our office decoration.

Finished! All 60 feet of it!

Downtown Knits in North Carolina has another beautiful display idea using the Molly scarf, one of our best selling patterns. Owner Michele Riggs knit one ball of each color into a scarf, and as new colors are released, she just adds a little more to it.

Betsy, the owner of Classic Elite Yarns, knit up a Log Cabin blanket (with the help of the Mason Dixon ladies) in multiple solid and print colorways of Liberty Wool.

Hub Mills Store here in N. Billerica knit up a chair cushion in each color to soften up the chairs for Knit Night. You also catch a glimpse of the Aldred scarf over the chair, an independent design that uses Liberty Print's color variegation very cleverly.

How do you use your Liberty Print?

Silky Alpaca Lace Design Contest I

Trade shows are great places to meet up with other people in "the business". For a yarn distributor, that means sales reps, designers, mill representatives and, arguably our most important partners, yarn shop owners! We sat down for dinner with Stephanie Steinhaus of Unwind in Burbank, CA and put our heads together to come up with a fun, engaging way to sell some yarn. Stephanie mentioned that Silky Alpaca Lace is a bestseller in her shop, perfect for the Southern California climate and stylish enough for her young, hip customer base. After some back-and-forth, Unwind's "Absolutely No Design Skills Required" Silky Alpaca Lace Contest was born!

Stephanie was looking for designs that were climate-friendly, hip, and casual. She wanted stylish pieces that were unfussy and appropriate from the beach to the street to the office. For us, we knew that the winning design would be featured in a Web-Letter, so we had some criteria of our own. We wanted something that would not only meet our CEY design aesthetic, but also something the average knitter would have the desire and capability to execute on their own. Both our finalists were stunning pieces of work. You saw our accessory winner in the Web-Letter this week, the Dandelion Shawl from Kavita Sleight.

Here is the designer's own description:
This triangular shawl with a rounded lace edge is worked from the center of the upper edge outwards, so the size can be adjusted. The size indicated is for a small shoulderette. The lace pattern was inspired by dandelion seeds blowing in the California breeze.

The original piece is quite dainty, Kavita refers to it as a "shoulderette". We appreciate that some may want a larger shawl; the Web Letter pattern includes a size range of 34 (44, 54)" wide at top x 13 (17.25, 22.5)" deep at center point.

There are two honorable mention entries in the accessories category. The first runner-up is the Poppycock Shawl. Designed by Karen Eckhoff, this garment is truly a piece of art. Taking it out of the box elicited gasps from everyone in the room, and we all had to try it on (obviously). The colorway she chose, Midnight Forest, perfectly echoes the iridescent colors of a peacock's tail.

While awe-inspiring, Poppycock is not for everyone...the pattern numbered 11 pages long! We would be remiss if we didn't give you a couple of peeks at this stunning piece. Hopefully Karen will decide to self-publish this shawl someday!

**UPDATE** Here is a note from the Karen Eckhoff, designer of Poppycock:

Thanks everyone for your flattering comments! I am quite stunned by the response! I will be making Poppycock available, however I would like to have it tech edited and charted first, as it is quite cumbersome in its raw form. I am rapunzelrides on Ravelry if you would like to drop me a line. Thanks again for the outpouring of support! Meanwhile, let's make Dandelion, it is lovely and Silky Alpaca Lace is fabulous to work with!

We have a second runner-up that will have to remain a secret for now...there's a special project on the books and you'll just have to stay tuned.

Next week we are featuring finalists in our garment category! If you do not receive our Weekly Web-Letter, what are you waiting for?

TNNA Hooray!

What a weekend. I love reading all the recaps about TNNA, and can sympathize with those who wish they took more pictures!

How it all begins...

As you might have heard, pictures are not exactly allowed on the show floor, so I have few to spare. I can show you our yarn wall though...cue angelic voices...

Expert packing

 Classic Elite is know for the Yarn Wall, and I can see why. Its high drama all the way. Betsy and I thought, way too late, that we should have filmed us putting it up. Next time, right? Thank goodness I had the help of some seasoned sales reps to make me feel necessary, otherwise I would have just floundered in the wake of so much to do. Before you know it, the booth was set up and the new yarns were out. I can't wait to share Fall. Soon, soon...

June Liberty Print Colors and Patterns!

Yes, it is upon us...the final monthly release of Liberty Print for Spring 2011. Our experience with the subscription program has been great! We got some awesome feedback from local yarn shops and crafters all over the country; stores that participated in this program loved it! Wish you had signed up? Stay tuned! We will be offering it again starting in January 2012.

Without further ado, our June colors, Starry Night and Red Rock Canyon!

We also have two new free patterns to share. Though these are currently available free only to our subscribers, you can still find them on Patternfish once the month is over.

Starry Stripes Baby Blanket
A colorful blanket every baby and mother will love in machine washable Liberty Wool. The subtle slip stitch chevron showcases the stripes in Liberty Wool Print to their best advantage.

Liberty Wool by Classic Elite
8 balls 7811 Starry Night

Button Center Pillow
A simple to knit Stockinette stitch pillow that highlights the stripes of Liberty Wool Print. This pattern is easily adaptable to different size square pillows. Another option? Knit each panel in a different Liberty Wool colorway!

Liberty Wool by Classic Elite
4 balls 7812 Red Rock Canyon

Host a Yarn Tasting!

Here at Classic Elite, we are always trying to think of ways to support our local yarn shops. You may have seen our post on Classic Elite Knit-a-Longs, a fabulous way to get your customers excited about spring knitting. Yarn tastings are another way to bring crafters together in your shop and to have fun exploring new fibers!

Knit-a-Long With Us and Win!

Honeysuckle KAL at Smith's Furnishings in Oberlin, OH

Spring Knit-a-Longs have been HUGE this year. Should your LYS be hosting one?

Community is the lifeblood of the LYS. Yarn shops are where we meet new friends united by a common passion, learn, inspire, and share our lives with each other. There's nothing like walking into a yarn shop filled with happy knitters, chatting away and working on their projects together. Hosting events is an easy way to bring people together, and Classic Elite KAL's are a no-brainer.

Knitting along at Personal Threads in Omaha, NE

This is how it works:

1. To register your KAL, you must be a CEY retailer whose account is in good standing.
2. Assemble five or more participants and set a beginning and end date.
3. Have each participant choose any project from the 2011 Spring Collection requiring 2 or more balls of any CEY brand yarn.
4. Pre-register your group with Heather, our sales manager.
5. Sit back and knit, making sure everyone is done by your established end date.
6. Choose a winner to get the grand prize, a $100 retail value gift basket filled with sweet swag from our gracious friends at companies like ChiaoGoo, Soak, Della Q, Namaste, Eucalan, Lantern Moon, Designs by Romi, Paradise Buttons, and Buttons Etc. All our baskets are a little different, the picture below is an example of the great stuff you could receive.

7. Send us your pictures so we can share them with other Classic Elite knitters on Facebook, Twitter or Ravelry.

The possibilities are endless, and there's no limit to the benefits. Hold a regularly scheduled knit group, or host your KAL online through Facebook or Ravelry. Choose a winner by raffle, whoever finishes first, or have your other customers vote on your own mini-trunk show. Hold a fashion show or other event where your knitters can showcase their latest garment.

How will you participate in a Knit-a-Long this spring?

Knitters at A Likely Yarn in Abingdon, VA

Love Your Shop Update

Our Love Your Shop promotion has been a huge success! Thank you for mobilizing and supporting local yarn shops, they are the lifeblood of our community. The only way to make sure the LYS is here to stay is to support your local shop!

You still have time to enter if you haven't already, sales slips can be dated between November 1st and December 15. Make sure you drop them in the mail before the end of the year. Click the image above for a full page printable flyer your shop can display...let's go out with a bang!

And now, on the eve of the last shopping weekend, we wanted to share some statistics with you.

As of this week...

The knitters and crocheters have spoken! We have received a total of of 864 receipts. The total dollar amount of qualifying merchandise is $62,531!

Average ticket = $73.65

We have received entries from 44 different states and DC. Massachusetts is in the lead with the most entries at 73. Next are Wisconsin (56), California (53) and Michigan (51).

344 stores are represented. Top stores are:

o The Woolpack in Acton, MA (30)
o Webs in Northampton, MA (25)
o Sows Ear in Verona, WI (16)
o Black Purls in E. Sandwich, MA(13)
o Yarns by Design in Neenah, WI (12)
o Beyond the Rainforest in Flint, MI (12)
o Amazing Threads in Maple Grove, MN (10)
o Three Bags Full in Northbrook, IL(10)
o Knitting Bee in Portland, OR(10)

Most frequently bought Classic Elite items are:

o Fresco
o Wool Bam Boo
o Liberty Wool
o Magnolia
o Twinkle

You have 5 more days, get out there and buy some yarn!

Love Your Shop Giveaway!

I'll never forget my first LYS experience...I wanted something to do on a weekend at the lake, and my friend Amy offered to teach me how to knit. The first thing we did was drive to the nearest LYS, it was a tiny shop in the next town with walls packed floor-to-ceiling with yarn. I was completely overwhelmed, and to be honest, didn't understand the zeal exhibited by the woman behind the counter (the owner I soon found out). After deciding to start with a scarf, she pressed a pattern book into my hands, and clutching my arm, said with a shudder, "The scarves in this book give me chills!"

I was completely intoxicated by her enthusiasm and bought not only the book, but a Learn to Knit DVD, three skeins of wool and a set of Addi's (that was three years ago and I still haven't made a thing in that book). As I was leaving, she stopped me at the door and gushed, "I'm so excited for you! Promise me you'll knit two rows a day!" I laughed. But she wouldn't let go of my arm and looked right into my eyes with a deadly serious stare. "Promise me!! People start knitting and then they put it down and forget about it. Promise you'll knit two rows!" Okay, okay, lady, geez...

Going to that shop immediately became tradition. I never once went to the lake without stopping there to talk, learn, and take a big whiff of that woman's obsessive, almost scary passion for fibers. I would love to see her today and tell her how far I've come. Sadly, that shop closed last summer.

Now that I work at an LYS myself, I try to pay her lessons forward. We educate a new generation of crafters with Kids Camps and birthday parties, we provide help and encouragement to new knitters, and we are a shoulder to lean on during knitting and non-knitting emergencies, we are a meeting place for our community. Where would any of us be without our LYS? I know I wouldn't have even known my own creativity, and I certainly wouldn't be writing this love letter today.

Classic Elite wants to give back to the men and women who risk it all to follow their dreams, open yarn shops and keep them open in these changing and challenging times. In fact, we have so much faith in those dreams that we want to give everyone a present. Between now and December 15th, spend $40 or more on yarn or books at any CEY retailer in the continental US and send us your receipts. We will send you a free recent pattern book and three mini-skeins! It's our "thank you" to all the knitters and crocheters who recognize the value of supporting our local knitting communities. Please see our website for rules and instructions on how to receive your gift.

If you think your Local Yarn Shop should be involved, click the Download button below to print your own Love Your Shop flyer for display!

Now get shopping!

Shopatron

The word "Shopatron" evokes images of armies of retail robots, programmed to do our bidding...Oddly, it kind of is a robot designed for just that very thing. Classic Elite Yarns is a direct-to-retailer company, selling wholesale to the lovely brick-and-mortar and online stores you know and love. However, what if you see something on our website that you really like? Or that you haven't seen at your LYS?

When you click on a product on our website, you will see a "Buy Now" button on the left side. That button is powered by the aforementioned Shopatron.

Your order is sent along to them, where a sophisticated algorithm designates the closest retailer with your product in stock, and that retailer fills your order! You can either have it mailed to you or even pick it up in person.

For consumers, Shopatron is a great way to connect the experience of browsing through Classic Elite's full line of yarns and patterns on our website and receiving our actual products by mail at home. It also means you're receiving orders from an LYS near you, so you're supporting the stores that are the lifeblood of our industry. For us, it gives us a direct way to support our retailers by filling orders through actual brick-and-mortar stores and to connect directly to our consumers through our website. For retailers, you can benefit from the promotion we give our products through classiceliteyarns.com in addition to what you are already doing on your own website; and it's completely free to sign up! It's a win-win. You can find more information on Shopatron through the Classic Elite section of the Shopatron website.

Happy shopping!

Webs! Part 2

Ok. Where were we? Oh yeah, The Magic Sweater... Here she is--Elizabeth, the side-to-side cardigan!

And the best part is? She looked good on everybody...

The women above are all different heights, weights, and body shapes, and the sweater looked dynamite on all of them. I even tried it on myself (and I wish I had a picture, but alas, thus is the onus of the photographer.) Here's the thing, I'm almost 6 feet tall and a size 12, this sample is the smallest size published in the pattern!

We couldn't quite figure it out, but I think its the 1x1 rib that comprises much of the sweater, it looks like stockinette, but has incredible stretch, thus making its wearer look thinner. The stripes also contribute to the lengthening effect. The back is constructed side to side, and there is a gathering right at the lower back, taking in the fabric and giving it a tailored look. I love this sweater! It was designed by Cecily Glowik MacDonald (you rock!) and knit in the star of the show, Liberty Wool Print. I'm casting this on in a solid as soon as I get the yarn, and will be sure to post some pics!

This scarf is also Liberty Print, done in mitered squares in just one color of the Liberty Print! This one got ALOT of oohs and aahs...It was designed by our very own Andi Clark, you might remember her beautiful napkin edging for the staff Allegoro project?

The crowd was very engaged, asking questions and fondling all the garments, getting a sense of the feel of our yarns.

That last young lady is feeling Jared Flood's Cinder in Ariosa. The green hooded sweater is Connie Chang Chinchio's Alley Cat also in Ariosa, and the red sweater is Cecily's Dayspring. The lovely and gracious model is Cara of WEBS. Some people just wanted to try it all on--why not all at once? Who is this mystery woman? It's Melissa LaBarre!

Check out the crowd. Who is that blonde? Why, it's the woman who taught me how to knit! Thanks, Amy!

We also had giveaways! WEBS is so generous and always gives something away at their events. This time there were gift certificates! And Betsy brought along a kit to make our beautiful vest, Forest, in Woodland, including the pattern book and all the necessary yarn. You can see the vest on the left below. Congratulations, Miss Martha!

Altogether, an amazing time was had by all! There were refreshments, modeling, giggling, picture-taking, girl talk, and inspiration for all. I wish you could have all been there. The garments are traveling out to trunk shows all over the US, perhaps to a LYS near you?

I have tons of pictures! Let me know in the comments if you'd like to see a slideshow...Thanks for reading!

WEBS! Part 1

What a day we had at WEBS! The fall fashion show was a huge success, thanks in large part to the amazing staff of Webs and the enthusiastic Northampton knitters! Northampton is about as adorable as a New England town can be. Walking down the cobbled streets reminded me of visiting Smith College as a high school student and then later as a college sophomore. If only I had knitted then! Perhaps I wouldn't have delayed my trip to America's Yarn Store until now. (So cute!)

I arrived there at around 1:30, just in time to miss Betsy taping the podcast. Looks like I'll have to wait until it's released, just like everyone else. I did manage to sneak this grainy, paparazzi-style shot of Betsy though...Sketchy? Maybe.

As a listener of the "Ready, Set, Knit" podcast, I often wondered what the Elkins looked like. Well, here they are! They're usually smiling though...We were lucky enough to have Kathy as a sort of MC for the fashion show, introducing Betsy and Heather, trying on the garments (as you'll see later), and just chatting happily with the attendees, her customers. Seeing her work the garments and crack jokes so comfortably in front of the crowd reminded me of what a good podcaster and LYS owner she is. As Betsy said in the car on the way home, "Yup, she's a pretty remarkable woman." She and Betsy actually worked together before, about 15 years ago, for a shoe company! Talk about a small world...

Anyway, after we left the radio station, off to WEBS we went! And I'll tell you, it definitely met expectations. I posted a picture of their warehouse on our Facebook page, without even a caption, and got twelve responses from people who recognized it right away! Amazing, the power of the Yarn Mecca. Who is the first person I ran into there? Melissa LaBarre of New England Knits and knittingschooldropout.com fame! Turns out she works there part-time! She was also gracious enough to model some of the garments.Then it was off to see the Fall garments laid out after the staff meeting...Its always an interesting experience to look at sample garments, almost like the fascination of seeing someone from TV walking down the street (Oh! You do exist! And you look so different!) They are all gorgeous, and like every knitter, I immediately examined the stitchwork, and of course, the finishing. Flawless! The picture below is our backpack knit in Chesapeake.

Then we began setting up for the show, and unveiled The Magic Sweater...but you'll have to wait until tomorrow for that...