As If I Ever Needed ANOTHER Excuse to Knit...

I love knitting and yarn, thank god right, because that's my job. But seriously, Cara and I went into Flock, the only true yarn shop on Nantucket Island, and I totally had to rescue this defenseless ball of angora because of Cara's overwhelming desire to assault it. As you can see, Cara ended up buying it anyway.

Well, in addition to cute little balls of yarn that you want to take home and feed because they look like wee animals, my other love is wooden knitting needles. Sure I got really annoyed that I somehow managed to lose one needle of a pair size 19 massive needles. It reminded me of the time I was flying home from school and I got stuck in Detroit on a layover because Southwest Airlines had "lost our plane." Everyone was like how do you "lose" a plane? This was clearly well before September 11th. So yes I lost one of biggest needles, but upside was that I got to go buy a new set of WOODEN size 19 needles! Very exciting. Not the spending $$ part, but the new needle part.

Now I was on Twitter this morning, and what do you know that I found? COLORED WOODEN KNITTING NEEDLES. I didn't even realize that wooode needlses coudl ... get EVEN better!?!?! See I was so excited, I missplet all those words. I left them there intact so you could see the affect that colored wooden needles have on me. I have scoured the internet (a cursory glance really, as I am SO BUSY) to bring you my top 3 favorite kinds of novelty woodel neesdles.

NUMBER THREE:

So these aren't technically colored, they are just different types of natural woods, but the added rosebud at the ends made me love them all the more. You can find them at Winter Rose Needles.

NUMBER TWO:

Harmony Wooden Needles come in straight, double pointed and circular and look like gelato heaven on a stick!

NUMBER ONE:

This etsy seller, Tikimau, makes vintage needles into jewelry, but sometimes she sells the uncut variety. I bet if you asked her nicely she'd make a pair for you. She just seems like that kind of lady.

Honorable Mention:

These are actually mini shawl pins I found on Etsy, but if they were standard sized needles, they'd be AWESOME!!!

Happy Knitting!

x,

charlotte

N Magazine Photo Shoot Sneak Preview!!

I've been packing up what feels like the entire Union Textiles studio for our first ever photo shoot held on location in the "Serengeti"* of Nantucket Island for N Magazine. While the shoot is mostly going to use pieces from my Fall 2011 isobel and cleo collection, there will also be a couple Seaweaver pieces and one collaborative Union Textiles garment in the shoot. I personally would have liked to get some more Seaweaver and Union Textiles pieces in the line up but unfortunately a good chunk of our collection is stuck in Charleston awaiting the announcement of the new date for the Music Loves Fashion event. I hope that it comes soon and that all our friends down South weren't badly affected by the hurricane. Here on Nantucket, it was just very windy with slight drizzles here and there that lasted all of 5 minutes. Everyone abandoned the island in fear and those who stayed boarded up their property. In the end it was way safer here than the rest of the East Coast. Several of my friends even went to the beach, where the waves to be fair, were massive and awe-mazing. Forgive me, I'm babbling! I have a cold in AUGUST and I'm a bit verbally discombobulated right now.

Anyway, I've totally gone off topic. N Magazine. Right. Check out some of the styling and looks that are inspiring the editor and photographer Nathan Coe:

Hot right?! It's going to be a sizzling photo shoot tomorrow morning, but I better get some sleep as our call time is 7am and I have to pick up Cara and the make up artist! Make sure to follow all the action tomorrow on Facebook and Twitter!

x

charlotte

*will explain that later

I've got the money, You got the STUFF?

So. I have a problem. Anyone is knows me KNOWS I have an addiction. And even though Cara isn't around right now to confirm this about herself, I don't think that she'd be upset if I told you she's got a little problem too.

We have a LOT of yarn. We could probably start our own yarn shop. It'd be a place that sold remnants, like the remnant section at the fabric shop. Hmm. Maybe we should do that? Anyway. I thought if I'd tell you about my favorite dealers AND why I buy from them.

See what I mean. That's mostly my yarn. Cara's doesn't even fit in the studio.

So without further ado here is the list. And this is not exhaustive nor final. This list changes ALOT (see earlier blog post about my ADHD).

1. flock, nantucket island, massachusetts
why I love it:
- the owner Shelia, is freaking HILARIOUS. Worth going in just to talk to her alone.
- For such a small space, Shelia has a beautiful selection of yarns. My favorites? Check out the hand painted mohairs and the chunky thick/thin novelty yarns (see pic below).

an awesome novelty yarn at Flock

2. downtown yarns, nyc
this place is literally crammed from floor to ceiling with yarn. and in a place where good space is hard and expensive to come by, there's no surprise why. the staff here are really helpful and even went so far as to ship my favorite yarn to me in Nantucket, even though they don't have a mail order or e-commerce business. favorite yarns: best bet for recycled sari silks.

3. silk city fibers, paterson, new jersey
This place is a godsend. I thought I had died and gone to yarn heaven. Albeit a cold and large warehouse heaven, but I didn't care. The majority of these yarns are on cones for machine knitters and weavers, which is so hard to find (see my plea below). Anyway, I left Philadelphia at 4 am and took a taxi and a train to NYC, where I then walked to the Port Authority bus station. I then took 2 buses to get to New Jersey where the hold their monthly warehouse sale. This place is just that good. I nearly dropped $900 and obviously had to reign it in to a more reasonable amount. Like $600. And the owner gave me and my rolling duffle bag which I thankfully decided to bring, a ride all the way back into NYC. Clearly great customer service!

4. fabulous yarns, tivoli, ny
This place is on here because of their FABULOUS discounts. Sure, they may not have the flashest website, or the the most streamlined e-shop, but for a struggling knitwear designer like myself, I'm much more concerned with finding a good deal and awesome yarn. They over free shipping on orders over $100. The automatically DEDUCT 10% off EVERY ORDER. And then they offer a 5% off code, which when used with their volume discounts can save you 20-30% depending on how much you spend. 30% off? That's a better deal than I got as a retail employee off my own store merchandise!

5. a quarter stitch, the french quarter, new orleans, la
i just LOVE the shop. I think it may be near perfect. The staff is ridiculously nice and friendly. The yarn is all amazing, most of it is hard to find novelty, which I love blending with other everyday yarns to get awesome texture and combinations. I also love how it's set up. It's not organized within an inch of it's life. It has personality. The yarns sit in baskets all over the store, and it's lovely to rummage through them all. And it's in the french quarter in new orleans, need I say more?

through the window at A Quarter Stitch.

6. webs, northampton, ma
this may not be the biggest revelation on the list of my favorite yarn shops, but webs carries yarns on cones, which is oh-so-nice for us machine knitters. They also do good novelty yarns and have their own label, Vally Yarns which is sold at very reasonable prices. Webs also offers volume discounts on orders over $60, but no free shipping.

Those are some of my favorite places, but if you have any to share, please add them in the comments! I would love to know where I can get more yarn on cones!

x,
charlotte