PURL DIVA*

Mind the Gap

Many people are taking advantage of our closing sale to stock up on needles and hooks. Did you know that Ravelry has a handy-dandy chart you can fill in so you know what sizes you have (and what sizes you need)? 

Go to your personal page on www.ravelry.com, click on "my notebook", then scroll down and click on "needles and hooks". A chart will pop up. Once you have filled in the chart, click "print pocket card" and tuck that card in your wallet. (If you don't have a printer, you can access your Ravelry account on our dedicated pattern-search computer when you here.)  Once you have done that, we'll help you fill in those gaps!

Closing Sale Update

The Purl Diva Closing Sale continues!

Starting Wednesday, October 23rd, we will take 20% off your final invoice at checkout.

As a bonus, all hard copies of individual patterns will be pre-discounted 50% (i.e., patterns will be half price, and then we'll take another 20% off your selected patterns - and all your other selected merchandise - at checkout.)

Busy, Busy

It has been a busy couple of weeks since I made the big announcement. Things (life, merchandise...) are moving quickly. More than a third of the shop's inventory items have found happy homes, so Cherylyn and I have consolidated everything into three of the shop's four rooms. It is now looking like we will be closing the shop doors by Thanksgiving, probably sooner.

I have been quite touched by your cards, letters, emails, and comments. Oh, and the hugs, too!  Thank you for taking the time to reach out with your pens, keyboards, and arms to show your support.

Many of you have asked about my future plans. I love Brunswick and plan to stay here, and I will continue renovating the Purl Diva house. Despite its many imperfections, there is much about this place that charms me. For example, I miss when the shop's pattern/bulky/bargain room looked like this:

I'm looking forward to enjoying tea at that table again.

Once the renovations are done, Paul and I will move in, and will duck behind curtains every time someone drives by wondering what happened to the yarn shop that used to be here. Then Paul and I will start planning our next project - designing and building an energy-efficient home in Harpswell.

Those are the big items on my list. I am also looking forward to life's smaller, simpler pleasures, such as hanging out with friends and family during the day on weekends (what a concept!), volunteering, and taking impromptu walks with Loki (walks that are now shorter and slower as her muzzle turns gray...). At some point I will look for a new job, but after working six days a week for more than seven years without a truly relaxing vacation, I think I deserve some time off.

In the meantime, the 15%-off discount will remain through Monday, October 21st.

Purl Diva - Closing Sale

I have decided to close Purl Diva.  

 

The business is successful enough to make this a tough decision, but not so successful that I feel that being a yarn shop owner is a viable career choice long term.

 

In my previous jobs, I worked long hours and was rewarded with a good income. As the owner of a small retail business, I work long hours and earn a small income. Initially, my passion for yarn served as a spiritual subsidy for that reduced income. But over time, my passion for yarn has diminished and that subsidy has disappeared. I plan to knit for the rest of my life, and there is so much about the craft that excites me, but yarn in general no longer makes me swoon.  

 

You probably think I am crazy, because you love yarn. But yarn is a lot like chocolate. I think if you spent nearly every day for more than seven years surrounded by chocolate, eating chocolate, talking and blogging about chocolate, making new and interesting chocolate desserts, and teaching people how to prepare chocolate, after a while you wouldn't love chocolate anymore. See? You are already sick and tired of the word "chocolate". It's sort of the same idea.

 

I am not in a huge rush to close the business, so I plan to wind things down gradually over the next couple of months. For the first stage of that process, starting Wednesday, October 2nd, all merchandise will be 15% off*. All sales are final. Please use up your store credits and gift certificates. If you have given gift certificates to others, please encourage the recipients to redeem them soon.

 

Please be sure to check out this blog and/or our Facebook page to learn about bigger discounts as we move forward.

 

I'm really glad that I launched Purl Diva. Thanks to this venture (and adventure!), I returned to Maine at an important time for my family. I renovated an old house. I found countless ways to channel my creativity. I learned a lot about A LOT! And I met so many wonderful people (you!) who passed through Purl Diva's (many!) doors.

 

Thanks for your support over the years. I hope to see you during the sale, but if I don't, please remember: The yarn is important, but the craft is crucial. Share the craft. It's an important legacy.

 

Best regards,

Ellen Rodgers

* I know how frustrating it can be to buy something and then have it go on sale soon afterward. So, if you made a purchase here within the past week and are disappointed that you missed out on this discount, please bring in your receipt before October 15th and I will try to come up with a mutually agreeable solution.

August Arrivals

Before we show you what's new at the shop, we'd like to make a little Public Service Announcement:

If you are wondering why we are not blogging as often, it is because we are now much more active on our Facebook page. If you are not registered on Facebook, it's OK - you can still get a glimpse of what's happening by looking at our page (which can be found HERE. You might want to bookmark that link!). 

Please note that non-Facebookers might experience some limitations (e.g., you won't be able to leave comments).

If you ARE on Facebook, but not yet following us there, please be sure to click our "Like" button so our updates will show up on your Facebook newsfeed.

And now back to our August Arrivals update...

We received some Silkpaca Lace from Malabrigo in beautiful jewel tones...

...and some Mecha, a superwash bulky weight yarn...

...and some Rios, Twist, and roving! Wouldn't it be fun to spin some of this roving to see how it compares with pre-fab yarn in the same colorway?

We now sell "roll your own" dryer ball kits so you can reduce energy costs and static cling when you dry your laundry.

Dryer balls are also useful as cat toys and juggle balls. Or confusing centerpieces.

We just received a shipment from Fleece Artist, including one of my favorites, Peter Rabbit...

...and BFL Sock.

And, because our fascination with fiber knows no bounds, we also have more fabric...

We're Turning Seven!

Purl Diva will be seven years old on Monday, June 17th.

Seven years.

SEVEN YEARS!

Wow!!!!

We'd like to thank you for all your support as we mark another anniversary.  To celebrate, we're having a birthday sale!  From Saturday, June 15th through Monday, June 17th, all shop merchandise except Addi needles* will be 15% off. Some items are already on clearance so the additional savings can really add up to some great deals.  All sales are final.

As an added bonus, those who come in during the sale can enter to win a $50 Purl Diva gift certificate.

Hours during the sale:

Saturday & Sunday 11-4

Monday 11-6

Hope to see you soon as we celebrate seven sensational years!

*Skacel does not allow its retailers to discount Addis.

Friends and FOs Update

Do you remember when temperatures recently surged to the 80s, then plunged to the 40s? During that cold spell Tamsin was able to wear her latest FO, the Chevron Hat from the Spring issue of Knit.Wear. The pattern calls for a bulky yarn but Tam wanted to use Quince Owl (a worsted weight yarn), so she tweaked the stitch count to make it work. Don't these colors look great together?

Tam also made this wee Moonflower Lace Bookmark out of leftover Malabrigo sock yarn.

Also in the "wee things" category...this itty bitty kitty that Sue B. made for me.

Isn't it sweet?  It is much lower maintenance than some other kitties I know (Honey! Boris! I'm looking at you!)

Jytte made an Iced cardigan (a Knitty pattern) out of Berroco Vintage Chunky. This knits up fast!  Some of you could make this sweater in a weekend. It is also a great excuse to show off fancy buttons.

Cassie is moving on to her next adventure, so unfortunately we won't be seeing her around the shop anymore. But she did take a break from packing to show us her latest FO, a Winter Shadows Wrap. She made this out of Quince Chickadee and Classic Elite Silky Alpaca Lace because they just happened to be the same exact color! It was a match made in heaven!

Sue M. has been quite the dedicated knitter as she makes her way through Level Two of the TKGA Master Knitter's Program. One requirement is to make an argyle sock, and Sue made hers made out of Cascade Heritage (solid and handpaint used for the main portion of the sock) and Nature Spun Sport (used for the duplicate stitch). She wore her loafers to complete the prepster effect.

She also finished this beautiful Fair Isle swatch. I love her color selection!

So that's what Purl Diva customers have been doing recently. Given how quiet it has been here on the blog, you may be wondering what I have been up to...? Well, lots of gardening and landscaping, including a lot of hauling and dispersing pea gravel...

I keep noticing customers walking up the steps, passing the shop door and continuing on to the far end of the porch to look at the blooming rhodie bush in the back yard. The rhodie blossoms are full of happy bumblebees. The peonies and a sole poppy are about to burst open and that will be an exciting day (for me and the bees).

When I wasn't tending to my gardens, I experienced a "Finish, Frog, or Fix Frenzy", which involved reviewing my personal yarn stash and UFO collection: I frogged some sweaters to give the yarn a new lease on life; I fixed some projects that had been bugging me (e.g., I shortened my Ditto and redid the button band...); and I finished some projects, including a pair of socks that are will serve as festive footwear on St. Patrick's day.

These Frenzies can be liberating, because once you reduce the number of UFOs - whether by finishing them or frogging them - it is easy to justify starting a new project. And that is exactly what I did. Here is the start of my Gytha sweater.

I have admired this design for a long time, and after seeing Sue's beautiful fair isle swatch I was excited to do some colorwork. If you hear me mumbling blue-green-blue-green-blue-blue-blue (or some variation of that mantra), you'll know why.

Friends and FOs Update: Short Rows Anyone?

Just a quick update to show you two shawls that make the most of short rows. As you can see from the following projects, short rows can be used to great effect when you play with colors.  Here is Tam's Varjo shawl, a design by Veera Välimäki. Tam made this out of Madeline Tosh Merino Light in two different colorways (Baltic and Celadon).

This shawl has a unique shape and construction!

If you pay attention to Ravelry you might have noticed that recently there was a bit of activity involving the Wingspan shawl by Maylin of Tricoterie Designs. To show my support for Maylin, I decided to make a Wingspan for the shop. The pattern was fun and versatile, and works well with the color transitions of Noro Silk Garden Sock Yarn.

One of the great things about both of these shawls is that they make the most of garter stitch. Easy to knit. Easy to wear. We love garter stitch!

Friends and FOs Update - The Most Amazing Vest EVER!

Sue finished the most amazing vest ever for her daughter Samantha.

Before I show it to you, I need to tell you the backstory.

When Samantha was a child, her music teacher wore intarsia sweaters every day. Apparently this teacher had many wacky intarsia sweaters in her wardrobe, and she was not afraid to wear them.

This became a running joke between Samantha and Sue. So when Samantha grew up and became a music teacher at a middle school, there was only one thing for Sue to do: Knit Samantha a crazy intarsia sweater.

Sue found a pattern with a cat theme. When I say "cat theme" I don't mean one little demure cat. I mean lots of frenetic cats climbing and jumping all over the place.

But that wasn't enough. So Sue knit the cats in pink, and added some angora to make some of the cats fuzzy, and some boucle to make some of them look like those curly-haired LaPerm breed cats.

But that still wasn't enough.

So Sue added a few cat paw prints along the bottom edge. And some mice.

And since even that wasn't enough, she added some button eyes to make the cats look a little crazed, and took the time to add some picot edging, and then - what the hell - some large pink buttons for good measure.

So here it is. The Leaping Cat Vest*:

That's the front, and here's the back:

Isn't it WONDERFUL?

Isn't it CRAZY FUN?

Sue told Samantha about the vest as she was knitting it, and Samantha was incredibly excited. In fact, she was SO EXCITED that she told her students what her mother was up to. And then her students got excited.

I am sure that by now Samantha has worn this masterpiece to class, much to the amusement of her students. I only wish we had a video of that.

Brava Sue!

*Update: The pattern is Leaping Cats by Janice Wright, available in the book Masterpiece Sweaters.

Friends and FOs Update

Between our Harvest Moon KAL and other finished objects and WIPs, we are experiencing a bit of a Heidi Kirrmaier Love Fest over here at Purl Diva. Jytte finished her Harvest Moon (her daughter, the recipient of said sweater, stopped by for a photo op on a Tuesday - the one day we are closed). Jytte made a Vitamin D - another Kirrmaier design - and is modeling it here:

She made this out of Fiberphile Super Squoosh, but you can make it out of any fingering weight yarn. She loves this sweater (we do too!) and has bought some Tosh Merino Light to make another Vitamin D. 

I'm not sure if this next object qualifies as a finished object. It was already done, but I redid it. It's my Tea Leaves Cardigan - the focus of one of our past KALs. I wasn't happy with the button-at-the-top look, so ripped out the button band and reknit the band with more buttonholes. Lots of buttonholes. Seventeen of them, in fact!

In case you are wondering "Well, aren't you going to get tired of all that buttoning?" No. I plan to unbutton only a few at the top and then pull it off like a pullover. Easy peasy!

Surrey made these incredibly cute nursery rhyme-themed hats out of Cascade Heritage Sock yarn.

I took advantage of the snowstorm today to finish this Katahdin Hat out of The Fibre Company's Acadia.

And now I am mulling my next project.