Glasgow School of Yarn: Nearly there!!!

Just one week to go!  The Glasgow School of Yarn is happening this coming Friday and Saturday and we’re all getting terribly excited!

 

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Opening Times

The event takes place on the 21st and 22nd of October 2011 at the Mackintosh Church on Garscube Road, doors open at 9.45am on both days.

The marketplace will run from 11am to 6pm on Friday and 10am to 6pm on Saturday.

If you haven’t pre-booked a General Admission ticket or a workshop, entry will be £5 at the door for both days.

There are still some workshop spaces left, go to http://theyarncake.bookwhen.com to book.

 

Party!

It’s our birthday and we’re having a party!  The party will be from 6pm to 10pm on Friday evening and we’d love for you to come and join us.  There’ll be finger food and drinks and birthday cake and knitting and general merriment. We’ll be announcing the winners of the design competition, too!

 

Vendors

We are happy to confirm the following, very exciting vendors for The Glasgow School of Yarn:

 

Abstract Cat Crafts (www.abstractcat.co.uk)

Colorimetry (www.etsy.com/shop/colorimetry)

Old Maiden Aunt (www.oldmaidenaunt.com)

Peppermint Penguin

Ripples Crafts (www.ripplescrafts.com)

Skein Queen (www.skeinqueen.co.uk)

The Yarn Yard (www.theyarnyard.co.uk)

 

Bits And Bobs

Three of our lovely tutors will be bringing samples and signing books over the course of the event, so grab your chance to chat about patterns and play with garments.  Ann Kingstone will be signing on Friday afternoon, Carol Feller on Saturday morning and Stephen West on Saturday afternoon.

We’ve organised a massage therapist for the event, who will be offering a variety of gentle relaxing treatments over the two days, at great prices – keep an eye out for sign up sheets at the door and treat yourself to a wee relaxing break.

 

Food and Drink

There will be The Yarn Cake cake and stew, copious amounts of tea and delicious coffee from our friends at Artisan Roast available in the Church on both days.  There are also several newsagents and cafes nearby, and a Tesco Express on Maryhill Road.  Please note that while the CRM Society are very kindly allowing us to bring food into the venue, we cannot allow any items (red wine, beetroot juice, tumeric, that kinda thing…) which might stain the original features and we ask that you dispose of any rubbish in the bins provided.  We’re hoping to get asked back next year!

 

The Yarn Cake

In order to accommodate this event please note that The Yarn Cake will be closed to the general public from 6pm on Thursday 20th October.  We will reopen at 11am on Tuesday 25th October.  We will, however, have a stall in the marketplace if you run out of stitch markers!

 

Money:

This will mostly be a cash event, although some of the vendors will be able to take PayPal payments.  The nearest cash machine is at the Tesco on Maryhill Road.

 

Parking

There is free, on street parking around the Church and we recommend looking for spaces in residential side streets.  Partick Thistle are playing a home game near the Church on Saturday, so parking on the main streets (Maryhill Road, Garscube Road) will be restricted, but there are usually no issues getting parked elsewhere.

 

Public Transport:

The closest underground to the Church is George’s Cross, which is roughly ten minutes walk away. There are any number of bus routes serving Maryhill/Garscube Road; you can plan your route from your home or hotel to the venue by using the journey planner at www.firstgroup.com/ukbus/glasgow/

 

Visiting Glasgow

If you’re not familiar with Glasgow, and the West End in particular, you might find See Glasgow (www.seeglasgow.com) useful for information on places to see and things to do.  You will also find plenty of options for overnight accommodation on websites such as LateRooms.com, LastMinute.com and TripAdvisor.com.

 

Booking Now Open!

Booking for The Glasgow School Of Yarn is now open!

We will also have a marketplace running alongside the workshops; so far, we've confirmed The Yarn Yard, Abstract Cat, Skein Queen, Old Maiden Aunt, Ripples Crafts and Colorimetry with more on the way.

Please note that General Admission to the event is included in the price of a workshop, but that we're also selling advance tickets online at £4.  General Admission tickets will be available on the door for £5.  

Hope to see you there!

Antje and The Yarn Cake team

Glasgow School of Yarn: Classes

We’re delighted to announce the class list for The Glasgow School of Yarn. This post has details of dates, times and prices for each of our classes, as well as a short description of each.

SPECIAL OFFER: As a wee treat for the customers who visit us instore, advance bookings will be taken in person at the shop from Thursday 18th August to Sunday 21st August. Payments can be taken in cash, cheque or by card. Bookings will not be taken online or by telephone during this period.

Online booking will go live on Tuesday 23rd of August.

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Classes with Amy Singer

Amy Singer lives in Toronto, Canada and is the editor of the online knitting magazine Knitty.com, which has had more than 108 million site visits since its launch in 2002. She’s a knitter, knitting magazine editor and proud ukuleleist, and happens to be allergic to wool…

Amy has published designs in Knitty.com, Interweave Knits and has co-authored the books Big Girl Knits and More Big Girl Knits, as well as Knit Wit: 30 Easy and Hip Projects and her guide to knitting with non-wool fibres, No Sheep For You.

Plug-and-Play shawl design starter class

(Friday 21st October 10am to 1pm)
3 hour class, £40

Amy will give you a simple plug-and-play manual that will let you turn fingering- or sport-weight yarn into something gorgeous and uniquely yours to wrap around your shoulders. The comprehensive handout includes a selection of lace patterns chosen for ease of knitting as well as a pretty finished result. You’ll do a good portion of the design work after class is over.

Once you’ve completed your first project, you can use the plug-and-play concept and manual to create more designs that are uniquely your own.

This introductory design class is for knitters who can knit, purl, make increases and decreases with confidence. Previous design experience is not required.

Supplies:

  • 600-800 yards of fingering-weight yarn – suggestions include pure wool; wool blended with silk, bamboo or tencel; pure silk; alpaca; cashmere; tencel blends – in a solid or semi-solid color.
  • optional: approx 100 yards of fingering- or sport-weight cotton or cotton-blend yarn for swatching purposes only
  • a good selection of needles in sizes US4 - US9 (circulars are great for the increasing row length in triangular shawls), and more sizes wouldn’t hurt
  • a big pile of simple ring stitch markers (at least 25…more is better)
  • a pad of graph paper and a pencil/eraser

Experience level:
”I’ve never designed anything lacy before and I want to be eased into designing.”
This introductory design class is for knitters who can knit, purl, make increases and decreases with confidence. Previous design experience is not required.

Making the Next Monkey, Mr. Greenjeans or Mrs. Beeton

(Friday 21st October 2pm to 5pm)
3 hour class, £40

In this class, Knitty editor Amy Singer will share some of Knitty’s secrets with you so your submissions will stand out from the crowd..

We’ll talk about what makes a pattern stand out among the hundreds submitted to Knitty every year, what makes a good pattern, pattern-writing techniques that make a difference, what makes a pattern go viral, the five things you can do to ensure you have the best possible chance of being published, and the five things you can do that will blow it for you.

In order for this class to be a success, at least 4 participants need to bring design proposals for evaluation. Please assure the participants that my comments will be encouraging and kind, as well as practical.

Autopilot socks (non-wool friendly)

(Saturday 22nd October 10am to 1pm)
3 hour class, £40

In this class, you’ll learn Amy’s super-easy toe-up sock recipe which she designed specifically to work with the characteristics of non-wool sock yarns. As a bonus, it works well with woolly sock yarns too! It features an easy gusset, and a heel flap built with Amy’s tweaked Japanese short-row technique, all 100% math free. Knit one, and you just might want this to be your sock recipe for life. The easily memorized pattern gives you lots of room to improvise, should you want to add texture, colorwork or lace to the foot and/or leg.

Supplies:

  • Your chosen sock yarn: non-wool or wool welcomed equally
  • Needles: appropriately sized needles to match your sock yarn that will give the sock fabric that you like best; DPNs work beautifully with these techniques; if you prefer 2 circulars, there are a few places in the pattern where DPNs make the job easier, so please bring both.
  • At least 20 removable stitch markers, such as Clover’s locking stitch markers, split ring markers, or safety pins.
  • Note-taking materials - paper, writing implement of choice

Homework:
- practice and be confidently able to work Judy’s Magic Cast-on,
written instructions with illustrations: http://knitty.com/ISSUEspring06/FEATmagiccaston.html
video instructions, courtesy the lovely Cat Bordhi:

Experience level:
This class is for knitters with previous sock experience who can confidently knit, purl, increase and decrease, and who are not afraid of DPNs.

Spindling silk, a friendly introduction: learn to spin silk yarn on a drop spindle

(Saturday 22nd October 2pm to 5pm)
3 hour class, £55 - all materials included

It may sound intimidating, but it doesn’t have to be. After this class, you will be able to spin silk yarn! Amy’s allergy to wool means she jumped into spinning silk headfirst. Spinning Tussah on a spindle now ties with knitting as her favorite fiber-related pastime. Handspun silk is unlike anything you can buy, and an absolute dream to knit with!

In this class, Amy will take you from cocoon to hanky to roving and get you spinning silk, guaranteed. Even if you’ve never touched a spindle, you will be successful in this class turning silk hankies into beautiful, rustic yarn that you can knit with right away! We’ll also learn the skills that will help you, with practice, become a confident spinner of Tussah and even slippery Bombyx silk! We’ll talk about the different tools available for spinning, and explain the terms that spinners use so you’ll know the difference between hankies, bells, caps, bricks, batts, top and roving…and which you might want to choose for your future spinning projects.

The class fee includes a kit assembled by Amy including a great starter spindle, and samples of all the fibres you’ll work on in class and enough for you to continue to practice after class is over.

Supplies:
All required supplies are provided in the kit.

Experience level:
No previous spindling experience is required. Spindlers who have had experience with wool and other animal fibers, but not silk, will also find this class beneficial.

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Classes with Ann Kingstone

Ann Kingstone is a British designer based in the beautiful county of Yorkshire. Her designs are generally inspired by the history, literature, and traditions of her native country and its neighbours which she has interpreted using her love of the technology of the knitting process to create beautiful and inspiring pieces.

Ann’s designs have been published in The Knitter, Twist Collective, Linda Knopp’s The Joy of Sox as well as having a number of patterns available in her Ravelry store. She’s also just published her new book Novel Knits, British Literature in Stitches which features patterns themed around the works of three of Britain’s most famous authors, Jane Austen, JRR Tolkien, and JK Rowling.

An Introduction to Steeking

(Saturday 22nd October 10am to 1pm)
3 hour class, £40

Class includes
• Bridging stitch arrangements
• Shaping around steeks
• Reinforcing methods
• Cutting steeks
• Picking up stitches next to steeks
• Finishing touches

Supplies: (coming soon)

Experience: suitable for beginning fair isle/stranded knitters

An Introduction to Twisted-Stitch Cables

(Saturday 22nd October 2pm to 5pm)
3 hour class, £40

Class includes:
• Historical overview of use of twisted-stitch cables in Germany and Austria
• Well-known contemporary patterns with twisted-stitch cables
• Working the stitches with a cable needle
• Working the stitches without a cable needle

Supplies: (coming soon)

Experience: suitable for both beginner and experienced cable knitters

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Classes with Carol Feller

Carol Feller lives with her family in the south of Ireland. She enjoys designing knitwear that is well-shaped, flattering to wear and enjoyable to knit. She strives to design clothing with a difference: not overly complex, but still giving a very unique end product. She likes to work with different construction methods, so long as they enhance the knitting experience and make for a more intuitively put-together knitted item.

Carol has had patterns published by Interweave Knits, Twist Collective, Knitty.com and Yarn Forward, as well as publishing her own collections via her website StolenStitches.com. Her new book Contemporary Irish Knits is due for release at the beginning of August.

Short Rows Demystified

(Friday 21st October 10am to 1pm)
3 hour class, £40

Carol’s popular class on Short Rows works students through several different ways of creating short rows until they find the method that perfectly suits them. Once the short rows have been perfected students will learn all the wonderful uses for them; short row set-in sleeve shaping, bust shaping and shoulder shaping. Learn how to use short rows to create the perfect garment for you.

Materials needed for class:
Yarn (dk-aran weight would be best); straight or circular needles suitable for yarn, stitch markers, split ring stitch markers or safety pins.

Technique bag of tricks for seamless knitting
(Friday 21st October 2pm to 5pm)
3 hour class, £40

Learn lots of tips, and tricks to help you knit your seamless garments with ease.
How do you try the garment on as you go? What are the best cast ons to use? Bind offs? How do you join new yarn? What is the magic loop?
Learn a range of increases and decreases and how to add shaping darts to your knitting.

Materials needed for class:
Yarn and matching circular needle as short as possible, crochet hook in similar size to needle, stitch markers, tapestry/darning needle.

Seamless Knitting – Moving Beyond the Raglan

(Saturday 22nd October 2pm to 5pm)
3 hour class, £40

This is an exciting class that explores the basics of seamless knitting and moves beyond. Different construction types will be examined such as bottom up, top down, side to side as well as multiple shoulder types. Students will learn how to create their own perfect fitting garments and even get started on this in class. You will learn how to take accurate measurements of you own body and how to use these numbers to get a perfect fitting jumper just for you!
A full worksheet on top down, body first, set-in sleeve jumper construction will help you get the most from your class.
Tips on choosing the right sweater shape for you as well as how to adjust shaping to suit your own body.

Note: This class is primarily lecture style and practical techniques described in class will be fully explored in ‘Short Rows Demystified’ and ‘Technique bag of tricks for seamless knitting’.

Materials needed for class:
Measuring tape, calculator, 6x6inch gauge swatch in yarn of your choice so gauge can be measured for worksheet.

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Classes with Stephen West

Stephen West is currently based in Amsterdam where he studies dance and designs beautiful and popular knitwear. His shawl designs and innovative colourwork have helped him become a widely recognised and respected designer around the world.

Stephen’s designs have been published in Knitty.com, Malabrigo Book 3 and recently in Jared Flood’s Wool People. He has also published his own collections in Westknits One, Westknits Two and the forthcoming Westknits Three due out this Autumn.

Color Play, the Westknits Way!
(Friday 21st October 2pm to 5pm)
3 hour class, £40

This class is all about showing off beautiful yarns with simple techniques combined in clever ways. Techniques like stripes, slipped stitches, cabling, and intarsia will be explored and combined to create bold architectural fabrics. We will thoroughly discuss how drastically different fabric characteristics are achieved with fiber content and color choice.

Materials: An array of colorful scrap yarn for swatching (fingering or worsted weight recommended) and needle size of choice, cable needle (optional)

Top Down Shawl Workshop
(Saturday 22nd October 10am to 1pm)
3 hour class, £40

In this workshop Stephen West uses his popular shawl designs to talk about shape, construction, and drape. Students will knit a small triangular swatch while topics such as cast ons, increases, bind offs, and blocking are discussed. Special emphasis will be focused on different shaping techniques. You will also learn some of Stephen’s favorite tips and tricks!

Materials needed for class: scrap yarn and needles of choice for a swatch (worsted weight recommended)

Homework: Familiarize yourself with Make One Left and Make One Right increases if you have never encountered them before.

Vacancy at The Yarn Cake!

 

The Yarn Cake Ltd

Assistant Manager Vacancy

 

Description:

The Yarn Cake Ltd are looking for a new part-time Assistant Manager to assist the Manager in the day to day running of a knitting café in the West End of Glasgow.

The ideal candidate will have a passion for fibre crafts, enjoy dealing with customers on a day to day basis, have great attention to detail and be enthusiastic about the variety of tasks involved in running a small business.

Required Qualities:

  • Good knowledge of baking (either hobby or professional experience acceptable)
  • A working knowledge of fibre crafts (knitting, crochet, spinning or dying etc)
  • Previous customer service experience essential
  • Ability to work both as part of a team and independently
  • Excellent interpersonal skills

Desirable Qualities:

  • Café and/or retail experience
  • Current Food Hygiene certificate
  • Experience supervising a team
  • Events advertising or promotional experience

The position currently consists of 18-20 hours, but there is potential for development as the business expands. The successful applicant will be required to work at least one evening (6-10pm) and one weekend day (10.30-5pm) per week.

Closing date:

5pm Monday 15th August 2011

Please apply with CV and cover letter, sent to infoATtheyarncakeDOTcoDOTuk. Interviews will be held week beginning 22nd August.

Glasgow School of Yarn: Design Competition

We’re lucky enough to have secured the Mackintosh Church at Queen’s Cross in Glasgow as the venue for our birthday celebrations and are pleased to be working closely with the Mackintosh Society for the occasion. In celebration of this cultural event we’re delighted to announce our competition for knit or crochet designs based on the work of the  Glasgow architect and designer, Charles Rennie Mackintosh. Famous for his distinctive motifs and architectural work Mackintosh is celebrated internationally as one of the most significant talents of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and has since inspired generations of artists and designers in all mediums and crafts.

Prizes: The top three designs as chosen by the judges will win prizes which include a Yarn Cake goodie bag, a £25 voucher for The Yarn Cake and a selection of handdyed yarn… and endless glory! The people’s choice award (as voted by visitors to the event) will also receive a small prize.

The top two prizes will also include a copy of StitchMastery Knitting Chart Editor or StitchMastery Knitting fonts, kindly donated by Cathy Scott of www.stitchmastery.com! A wonderful tool for any knitting designer, the Chart Editor and Fonts create beautiful and professional charts for inclusion in knitting patterns or instructions, and come highly recommended from a number of designers including Ann Kingstone, who used StitchMastery Knitting Fonts in her recent publication, Novel Knits. This prize is a must-have for budding designers!

Judges:

Amy Singer, editor and creator of Knitty.com online magazine.

Antje Karl, Owner and Manager of The Yarn Cake Ltd.

A representative of the Charles Rennie Mackintosh Society

The Rules

Entries: All knit or crochet designs inspired by the life or work of Charles Rennie Mackintosh will be accepted. Designs will be accepted from designers unable to attend the event, though we would love to see you there!

Design entries must include a written version of the pattern in a publish-ready state (either in paper form or electronically) submitted to judges in the days prior to the event and at least one sample available for display over the Glasgow School of Yarn weekend. Up to three entries may be submitted per designer. The samples will be displayed for the duration of the event and may be collected or will be returned after judging takes place in the evening of  Saturday 22nd October.

All entries must be unpublished, original designs. Taking patterns or designs from any other source will disqualify your entry. You may get inspiration from any source, but plagiarizing another person’s work will result in your entry being disqualified.  

The designer retains all publishing rights. The Yarn Cake Ltd reserves the right to display sample knits of any entries instore where full credit will be assigned to the designer, and to publish promotional materials, pictures and links to patterns online at their discretion.

Deadline: Written copies of the pattern must be submitted to The Yarn Cake by close of business, Tuesday 18th October. Each submission must be accompanied by an entry form, available from The Yarn Cake’s blog or instore. Samples must be received by The Yarn Cake no later than Thursday 20th October to qualify for entry.

Yarn: There are no restrictions on which yarn must be used for designs, but all patterns are required to be compatible with Yarn Cake stock.

We recommend using yarn which is available to purchase instore at The Yarn Cake. These include: Drops, Shilasdair, Malabrigo, New Lanark, handdyed fingering and laceweight yarns from The Yarn Yard and Abstract Cat, and a selection of sock wools including Schoppel-wolle, Trekking and Opal.

Unfortunately we are unable to provide yarn or refunds for materials of original design samples. Original design samples used for display purposes over the weekend event will be returned by post if not collected. The Yarn Cake Ltd take no responsibility for items in postal transit.

Any questions? Please contact Sadie at the shop, via Ravelry (RavID: Sadielou) or via email (sadieATtheyarncakeDOTcoDOTuk). 

Click here to download:
GSOYDesignComp_Entry_Form.pdf (37 KB)
(download)

Glasgow School of Yarn: Tutors and workshops

We've secured some of the finest knitting teachers out there for our event in October. Read a little more about them below!

Amy Singer lives in Toronto, Canada and is the editor of the online knitting magazine Knitty.com, which has had more than 108 million site visits since its launch in 2002. She’s a knitter, knitting magazine editor and proud ukuleleist, and happens to be allergic to wool…

Amy has published designs in Knitty.com, Interweave Knits and has co-authored the books Big Girl Knits and More Big Girl Knits, as well as Knit Wit: 30 Easy and Hip Projects and her guide to knitting with non-wool fibres, No Sheep For You.

Amy will be teaching “Autopilot Socks”, “Plug and Play Shawl Design Starter Class”, “Making the next Monkey, Mr Greenjeans or Mrs Beeton” and “Intro to Spinning Silk on a Drop Spindle”.

Ann Kingstone is a British designer based in the beautiful county of Yorkshire. Her designs are generally inspired by the history, literature, and traditions of her native country and its neighbours which she has interpreted using her love of the technology of the knitting process to create beautiful and inspiring pieces.

Ann’s designs have been published in The Knitter, Twist Collective, Linda Knopp’s The Joy of Sox as well as having a number of patterns available in her Ravelry store. She’s also just published her new book Novel Knits, British Literature in Stitches which features patterns themed around the works of three of Britain’s most famous authors, Jane Austen, JRR Tolkien, and JK Rowling.

Ann will be teaching “An Introduction to Twisted-Stitch Cables” and “An Introduction to Steeking”.

Carol Feller lives with her family in the south of Ireland. She enjoys designing knitwear that is well-shaped, flattering to wear and enjoyable to knit. She strives to design clothing with a difference: not overly complex, but still giving a very unique end product. She likes to work with different construction methods, so long as they enhance the knitting experience and make for a more intuitively put-together knitted item.

Carol has had patterns published by Interweave Knits, Twist Collective, Knitty.com and Yarn Forward, as well as publishing her own collections via her website StolenStitches.com. Her new book Contemporary Irish Knits is due for release at the beginning of August.

Carol will be teaching “Short Rows Demystified”, “Technique Bag of Tricks for Seamless Knitting” and “Seamless Knitting – Moving Beyond The Raglan”.

Stephen West is currently based in Amsterdam where he studies dance and designs beautiful and popular knitwear. His shawl designs and innovative colourwork have helped him become a widely recognised and respected designer around the world.

Stephen’s designs have been published in Knitty.com, Malabrigo Book 3 and recently in Jared Flood’s Wool People. He has also published his own collections in Westknits One, Westknits Two  and the forthcoming Westknits Three due out this Autumn.

 Stephen will be teaching “Top-Down Shawl Workshop” and “Color Play, the Westknits Way!”


Further information on classes and booking will be made available soon, so watch this space for details.

Introducing... The Glasgow School of Yarn!

Glasgowschoolofyarn_fullcolour_on_white

 

BOOKING NOW OPEN!

 

It’s hard to believe, but The Yarn Cake will be a year old in October! Running the shop has been a daily labour of love for us and we’ve been overwhelmed and touched by the support we’ve received from both the local and online knitting community since we opened our doors.

We couldn’t have had the incredible year we have experienced without our friends and customers, so we’re going to give something back by having a birthday bash to remember and we really hope you’ll be able to join us!

The Glasgow School of Yarn will feature:

All contained in the beautiful surroundings of the Mackintosh Church at Queen’s Cross in Glasgow, in conjunction with our friends at the Charles Rennie Mackintosh Society.

So, keep the date(s)…we’ll be celebrating over two days on the 21st and 22nd of October, keep your eyes open for more information which will appear here in the near future. Booking will open soon and we’d love to see you there! 

Socks are for Summer!

Summer weather has finally hit Glasgow, and knitting in public is the cool way to spend sunny days. We recommend getting down to the Botanics with a lovely picnic of juice and cake from The Yarn Cake, and what better project to take with you than socks? Here are six reasons we think socks should be your essential summer project.

Socks are simple!

Did you know we have sock kits available at The Yarn Cake which includes everything you'll need to make your first pair of socks? Yarn, needles and a simple sock pattern all collected together in a cute Yarn Cake project bag will have you set for summery socks in no time! All this for the bargain price of £12.95 (£11.95 with Admiral yarn).

Socks are small!

They're easily transportable whether you're knitting in a pub, in the park or travelling off to hotter climates on your holidays.

Socks are surprising!

It's shocking how easy it is to make a basic pair of socks. Once you've turned your first heel you'll wonder what you were ever worried about! It's far easiler than you think, and we've always got staff on hand to give you a few tips if you get stuck.

Socks are special!

Handknit socks are the ULTIMATE luxury. They are so much warmer and cuddlier than shop-bought socks that once you pop some handknits on your feet you'll never go back!

Socks are silly! 

Socks are really the best items of clothing of all because you can truly express your personality in any outfit. Wild colours, funky patterns and crazy lace all look great when peeking out from beneath your respectable work clothes. It's like a silly little secret for suit-wearers.

Socks give us solidarity!

Knitting socks can give you a real sense of pride, as sock knitters can identify with generations of men and women throughout history who spend their time crafting pretty and practical gifts for their loved ones. And we bet your granny would be proud!

Read the rest of this post »

June Update

New and Returning Stock

We've added a few new ranges to our DROPS stock, with Muskat Soft cotton, Safran cotton and Lin 100% linen yarn. New and exciting colours have arrived in the Zauberball, Crazy Zauberball and Zauberball lace, and we have also introduced a range of solid coloured sock yarns from Schoppelwolle called Admiral which offers a lovely contrast to the variegated yarns we already stock. Tote and project bags are now back in stock too!

Knit Nights

Our weekly Knit Nights are going from strength to strength in the shop with special guest appearances from our talented hand dyers The Yarn Yard and Abstract Cat with masses of new stock available for purchase on the night. We will announce all visits ahead of time on Facebook and Ravelry so keep an eye out for the next one.

We've also decreed that the first Thursday Knit Night of each month is TakeAway Thursday, where our regular knitters organise takeaway food to be delivered to the shop for a lovely evening of knitting and dinner. All are welcome, though it can get a tad crowded so arrive early to get a good seat!

Ursula's Blanket

We'd like to thank all the knitters who have contributed squares to the blanket project we've been putting together for Antje's friend who lost her house in the gorse fires in Ireland recently. We now have enough for a beautiful handmade gift for Ursula herself, and any remaining squares will make up a second gorgeous blanket which will be raffled at an event in Ursula's home town in July. If you still have squares you'd like to contribute, don't worry! We're going to start seaming next week but everyone has been so generous with what they've donated that it'll take us quite some time to finish both blankets so please pop them into the shop or in the post whenever you can.

Glasgow Science Festival

If you've visited the shop this week you may have seen the Knitted Neurons display which we've got hanging on the wall. This artwork has been brought to the shop as part of the Glasgow Science Festival which we're delighted to be taking part in. We've hosted two Knitted Neuron sessions this week which have featured neurologists who have come along to talk to our knitters about the science behind the artwork which went down a storm. The wall hanging will be available for viewing in the shop until the end of June.

Tomorrow we'll be taking the Neurons along to the Centre for Contemporary Arts on Sauchiehall Street where some talented knitters will be helping create Mr Stuffy, an anatomical model made with knitted body parts! We'll be there at the Science Knit and Natter from 12pm to 4pm on Saturday 11th June, we hope we'll see you there!

Summer Lovin'...

You may have noticed that we've started offering lots more fruity cakes inkeeping with the season recently. Watch out for the new strawberry cake and our delicious mandarin bake alongside our usual assortment of delicious goodies available both instore and to take away - they're perfect for a picnic in the park as the weather hots up!

March Update!

New Opening Times
We're amending our opening hours slightly and will be closing at 6pm instead of 7pm on Wednesday and Friday evenings, to leave room for potential Super Secret Projects. But don't worry, we are still open until 10pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays for late night shopping and knit nights.

New Stock
We've expanded our book selection this month, and we've also added some real yarny treats:  Zauberball, Zauberball Crazy, Zauberball Lace and Mille Colori are now in stock!  Come and see them in their full, variegated, colourful glory!  Or you can pick up some Yarn Cake tote and project bags.  We're getting ready for some spring/summer goodies, so watch out for lovely cottons and non-woolly yarns over the coming weeks! 

Knit Nights
Our knit nights are still running twice weekly, on Tuesdays and Thursdays, they're free and everyone's welcome to come along.  Tuesday night incorporates our "Knitorials", so pop by with any knitting related questions and we'll try and help you out.

Ravelry Competition
Have you joined our group on Ravelry yet?  We love to see what happens to our yarns when they leave the shop, so we've started a Finished Objects thread over there - post your The Yarn Cake projects, and we'll draw a name out of a hat every quarter and the lucky winner will get a The Yarn Cake goodie bag!  So get your projects in before the 31st of March to be in with a chance to win, and show off your pretty, pretty projects!

Staying in touch
We're now on Twitter, Facebook AND Ravelry - so please add us on your social networking site of choice.