20 May 2011

We all arrived back safely and the cruise was efficient in getting us off the ship and through customs quickly.



All agreed that this is what cruising is all about. On the pool deck in a chaise, pedicure, knitting in hand and drink on the side. What more could be asked for?

I will post more photos on the website as soon as I have time - I promise.

13 May 2011

We had a great time a Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival. We met many new people and we saw a lot of you. Thank you for stopping by and saying, "Hi!".

If you didn't make it to the festival, or you didn't have time to see all we had in the booth, stop by the store. We have all of the festival wools at the shop to make it easy.

Mountain Colors: Weaver's Wool and Mountain Lace
Manos: Maxima and Alpaca Lace
Prism: Saki, Stuff and Odds & Ends

I'm hoping to have the yarn here until the end of May.

Tomorrow I take off for Bermuda with 29 knitting friends. We're planning on having a great time knitting and chatting our way to and from Bermuda. If I can, I will attempt to blog from the ship. Yes, I will take pictures.

Here's a picture of Lyn wearing the Kaffe Fassett Unwind Wrap. Stop by the shop and try it on. You'll find it is just like a dream.

And, don't forget to plan for the sit and knit at the shop on the weekend of the Fourth. We're an easy drive and no traffic.

27 February 2011

Hi Folks

I sneaked away for a long and well deserved vacation (well at least in my opinion it was deserved).

Yes, I did get some knitting done. I have created a design for a Bermuda Project. All that are going on the Bermuda trip will have a project to do to remember the trip by.

While knitting the example for the Bermuda trip I ran into a common problem that can occur when knitting with cotton yarn, linen, etc. Your needle separates the strands and pierces the yarn easily. This can be quite annoying.

The solution is quite simple – start knitting from the other end of the ball of yarn. What is happening as you knit, and find that you pierce the yarn easily, is that with each throw if the yarn you are untwisting the yarn ever so slightly. Well, this adds up and you end up with a loose collection of plies.

By changing the end you knit from, your throw will wind the yarn up instead making the yarn's twist tighten instead of loosen and piercing will, for the most part, go away.

So simple.

29 October 2010

Don't forget tomorrow's Porch Party. It looks like the weather will be great - cool and sunny, so it will be the perfect time to wear that just finished sweater! We'll have hot tea available and lots of goodies. The party will be all day so come when you wish.

The PJ Party was another success if I do say so. Lisa Myers of Manos del Uruguay was our guest speaker. She had many sweaters to show and all of the lines of Manos. Lisa also spoke about the Manos project and how it was one of the first "Fair Trade" yarn suppliers. Manos employs women in the very rural areas of Uruguay who would otherwise not have any employment at all.

Hunt Country Yarns has carried Manos del Uruguay yarn from the day we opened our doors in 1997. We will continue to supply the finest that Manos has to offer to our customers.

Check out our website for the exciting news about the shop's upcoming trip to Bermuda! This will be a sit back and relax trip to remove the doldrums of winter. This trip is open to stitchers and their partners. There will be plenty to do aboard ship and much to do in Bermuda. Not to worry if you don't pursue the needlearts.

And lastly, a tip:

If you drop a stitch in a fine dark yarn or fuzzy yarn, hold the knitting over a bright source of light (try a lamp on the floor - take care with the hot bulb). It will be much easier to see where the stitches are and probably very easy to see the dropped stitch. Catch the stitch with a safety pin (we have the coilless ones again). Now you can decide to pick-up the dropped stitch or (heaven forbid) ravel back to the error.