50 years? can it be true?

for years when asked how long the shop had been around, kay kilbury would say…

"i bought it in 1976 and it was around for at least 10 years before that."

so that would make it 50 years old in 2016, right? 1966 to 2016 = 50 years

well the historian in me wanted to mark this monumental occasion with a year of celebration. giveaways, special events, new classes, sales, etc. a real celebration of 50 years in business on the same block. not many small businesses make it that long.

so in preparation for this big anniversary, i asked by historian and librarian friends to make sure that 1966 was really the right date. it would be really bad if we got it wrong.

stephanie bayless at the butler center looked in the city directory for me and found that the YARN mart was first mentioned in polk's city directory in 1964 and it didn't appear in the 1963 edition. 

oh no!!!! it is 2014 already!!!! we were about to miss this milestone without a thought or mention!

starting in september we will begin celebrating in a big way. watch for parties, events, and specials. 

and you can help us make the celebration even more special. what are your memories of the YARN mart? did you sit around the table with kay and the other ladies? did you make something special for a child or grandchild with yarn from the shop? did you needlepoint your families' christmas stockings and have kay put the names on them?

go to our website and submit the comment form.

share your stories. share your pictures. share your projects.

how can you lose yarn?

it may seem like an odd question but it happens. just like losing your car keys or phone, you can lose yarn as well. and there is nothing worse than losing that one skein that you need to finish a project. that is what has happened to me. i've been knitting on a sweater out of noro kirara since last july. i bought seven skeins and i'm almost ready to bind off and i can't find the last skein. i've looked in my yarn stash at the shop and i've looked through the stash at home. i simply can't find it anywhere.

and this isn't the only project. i'm almost done with magrathea from the hitchhiker series we did last spring. in this case i don't know if i was going to make the small, medium, or large size in the beginning and now i've decided to knit the largest size. so it is possible that i just don't have enough or i could have lost a skien.

so what is my solution to this lost yarn epidemic in my life. i could work on finishing project more quickly but that's just not me. instead i'm implementing a new project organization system. when i start a project, i put everything for that project in that project's project bag (for a small project) and if the project is too large for a portable project bag, then a clear plastic ziploc will work. i'll keep you posted on if it works or not.

social stitching

knitters are social creatures. we knit together. we retreat together. we go to festivals together. about 10 years ago, everyone was stitching and bitching and we loved it. we still love it at the YARN mart. we knit/crochet/needlepoint with people everyday at the shop. customers have become friends and friends have become customers. i love it that my friends (even my non-knitting friends) come by the shop to have lunch or just sit at the table and chat. this is what we do as women whether it is the table at the shop or someone's cabin/lake house/deck. we are a community.

well at the YARN mart we want to be your stitching community. we are rebranding our knit night as SOCIAL STITCHING. come and sit. come and stitch.

join us every (or any) monday night from 5 to 7:30 for SOCIAL STITCHING. bring whatever you are working on (knitting, crocheting, needlepoint, etc) and sit with us. the project doesn't have to be from the YARN mart. the yarn doesn't have to be from the YARN mart. we just want you to come and join our community.

sometimes we will have pizza. sometimes we will have potlucks. sometimes we will have treats. byob (if you don't know what that means you aren't old enough to know but you can still join us).

just join us. come and sit. come and stitch.

so mark your calendar. monday nights from 5 to 7:30. $5 per person or free if you make a $5 purchase.