Warp, Weft, Shuttle, Oh My!

With the onset of the pandemic, we have hunkered down and focused on keeping our employees and our customers safe. Now with so many vaccinated and the restrictions beginning to lift, and with all of us feeling a bit disconnected from our community and our yarn shops, we thought we’d highlight some of the things we carry in our shop – things you might not be aware of - in hopes that it might be of some help to you. We're trying to banish the doldrums!

But First (and Most Importantly) This News!

As many of you know, the Puget Sound LYS Tour is happening this year. It will run from August 13-22nd this summer. Ten (10) fun-filled days through twenty (20) local and diverse yarn shops. So save the dates. We are already gearing up for this much-looked-for event and can’t wait to see your beautiful faces. We have missed you!

We can’t talk about our free pattern, but we thought we’d give you a sneak peek of some of the kits we're putting together for the LYS Tour to whet your yarn appetite. How excited we are for our ten whirlwind days of fun with you. We hope you’ll plan on coming to see us.

Beautiful cashmere minis in rich autumnal colors - keep your eyes peeled for these kits during the tour.

Now On to Weaving

A couple of years ago, Judy got hugely interested in weaving. She started on a 10” Rigid Heddle Cricket Loom and as her obsession grew so did her loom. She is now the owner of a beautiful 48” rigid heddle loom (with stand) and a 32" table loom.

If your obsession runs in the same direction, or if you have any interest in giving weaving a try, know that you can find supplies and looms at Quintessential Knits.

We carry Schacht 10” Cricket Looms as well as Ashford 16” Rigid Heddle Looms in store. We can also order any size loom you are interested in from these two vendors, including table or floor looms as well as accessories to round them out.

All four pieces were woven on a 10" Cricket Loom using solid colors, linen, Noro. The exploration is half the fun.

Some of Our Favorite Weaving Items

Inventive Weaving on a Little Loom takes you from start to finish on a small loom, i.e. how to warp, how to weave, options for finishing, troubleshooting, and further exploring of designs and patterns. A small rigid heddle loom is a very powerful tool with the right instructions. These two books don’t overlap much so both would be great additions for your collection.

Weaving Within Reach is a great small-to-medium project book with beautiful finished items to love. The author uses found objects, homemade and inventive looms of varying sorts, as well as a frame loom. We tried out one of her projects from the book using an embroidery hoop and some Malabrigo Rasta (which we stock) to make this beautiful woven project which hangs on my wall at home. The pictures and directions are clear and understandable. The projects are beautiful, inventive and textural. Great book to get your feet wet or to see if weaving might become your next great obsession. Judy would love the company :)

Small Purl & Loop Looms: We love these for so many reasons.

• They’re amazingly helpful in swatching colors for a bigger project. Try your ideas and yarn out on the small loom to see if you will like how the finished project will look before investing all the time and yarn.

• Use them to stash bust. Weave up a bunch of colorful squares then sew them together for scarves, blankets, doll blankets, or a stuffed 6-sided square toy.

• Using thinner yarns, make a doll rug or a bedspread for a small doll house

• Use to make coasters in brights or neutrals

• Get kids involved by setting them up to learn something new, and giving them a crafty outlet at the same time. The power of creating something does wonderful things for us human beings.

Other things we carry and recommend:

· Juniper Moon Zooey yarn for the warp. This cotton/linen blend yarn is strong which makes it great for warping a weaving project. We stock 11 different shades.

· Ashford’s Yoga Yarn. This blend of cotton/nylon is perfect for weaving tea towels.

Have questions or want help? Judy (the owner) is your go-to contact person at the shop for all things weaving. Just beware! She'll try to convert you.

Come see us!

Judy & Megan