Originally published on January 7, 2011If you’ve been into the shop, you’ve probably noticed that we do things a little differently than most yarn shops.  Our shelves are not filled with skeins, nor hanks, nor balls.  We’re all about the cones. How much does a cone of yarn cost?  Well, that’s entirely up to you, because another main feature that sets Yarnia apart is that we sell our yarn by the pound. Now, this might seem pretty straightforward if you’re looking for an all-wool yarn, or half a pound of bamboo: figure out how much you need, and ...

Originally published May 6, 2015I’ve been crocheting a lot of flowers lately!  And these are not just any flowers, these are the flowers that will comprise my good friend’s bridal bouquet at her wedding this July, which she asked me to make for her a few months ago.  We talked about what kind of flowers she wanted, picked out a color scheme from the yarns we have here at the shop, and I’ve been cranking out 2 flowers a week! Here’s one of the main stars of the show: a peony. It’s a fun construction (based upon this pattern), starting in the center and spiraling outward;...

Originally published June 14, 2013Often, when we are working with a customer to build a custom yarn to their specifications, we’ll use a method called “wraps per inch” to determine the weight of the yarn as we build it. This is more reliable than referring to “yards per pound,” because it will yield the same results, no matter what sort of fiber combination we’ve come up with. To help us out, we have this little cheat sheet on our side of the desk. What does this mean? Well, let’s say we have a yarn, and we want to find out the yarn weight. Let’s use this house blend, Mum, as an e...

Originally published January 30, 2014One of my good friends is due in April, and after having just finished a crocheted baby blanket for my cousin, I decided I wanted to knit this one.  And you know what I haven’t made in forever??A Log Cabin Blanket!    So, I wound up five different colors of semi-solid yarn (I used a bamboo/acrylic blend for these — each one is 3 strands bamboo + 1 strand acrylic so they’re exactly the same weight, and they all look nearly solid). The beauty of log cabin blankets is that — unlike most any other square knitting project, it begins...