Yarnover & Shepherd's Harvest

The Fantastic Fiber Fest 2011 was seriously fantastic! 

I think I speak for everyone when I say our teachers were outstanding and our special guests were so much fun!  Nadine from Be Sweet showed off some really amazing products.  She showed us a new line of yarn - Medium weight Brushed Mohair.  It is gorgeous!  Of course, it is still in production so we don't have it in stock yet.  We had our t-shirt yarn replenished and she brought lots of colors for the striped shawl in extra fine boucle. 

Nadine spoke to the Wild Women of Wednesday and we had an all day Be Sweet day at StevenBe on Thursday.  It was great to hear about her mission for Be Sweet and all the wonderful things they have accomplished in South Africa.  She also described the itinerary for our 2012 South Africa trip.  Talk to Steven for more information.  It will an amazing experience.

Check out this fab free pattern from Be Sweet's blog:

Yes, we have the yarn for it!  Love it!

Sarah and Mary Heather from Ravelry hosted meet-ups at our booth at Yarnover and at StevenBe.  On Sunday they gave a lecture on features of Ravelry and how to use them.  It was really informative and we had a full house of listeners.  You may have seen a review the of the weekend on Ravelry.  We made the front page!!!!!

We had fun with all our teachers - Annie, Pam, Julie and Nicky!  They all taught great classes.  I think everyone learned something!  They all inspired us to expand our ideas about knitting and crocheting.  We were sad to see them go home.  We didn't want our weekend of fun and learning to end!  The wrap-up party was pretty fun, though.

Steven handout tons of swag!

Here is one of the happy recipients!

The next weekend you could find us at Shepherd's Harvest:

We did not leave Shepherd's Harvest with a rabbit or any other type of fiber producing animal.  We do know someone who did leave with a new pet......you know who you are!  Thanks to everyone who came to visit us!  We had lots of fun! 

We look forward to our Memorial Day weekend BBQ and the SDA conference/DIY fest in June. 

Announcements and special acknowledgements!

Only in Minnesota can we experience snow one day and balmy weather the next.  I am constantly kept guessing.  One thing I can count on is excitement when it comes to the Yarn Garage and StevenBe.  It is almost time when we will welcome Nadine from Be Sweet yarns, Julie from CocoKnits, and Nicky Epstein from, well, Nicky Epstein, into our midst. 

I am anxious with anticipation!  The staff and I are working hard to make sure both shops look fantastic for our amazing guests!  I also don't want to disappoint any of our fabulous customers that will be gathering for Fiber Fest 2011.  Before I launch into all things Fiber Fest, I need to take care of some business.

BREAKING EASTER NEWS..........
Both StevenBe and Yarn Garage will be CLOSED Sunday, April 24th.  I can't believe it, the Easter Bunny is working and Steven ISN'T!  Feel free to grill Steven about what he has planned for his day of rest.  He has been ordered to relax and not work, but you know Steven........oh, and don't be afraid to bring him ALL of the Easter candy you fail to consume.  His favorites are chocolate, so keep that in mind.

FASHION SHOW WRAP-UP.........
I would like to send out a BIG, BIG thanks to everyone who helped make our fashion show a tremendous success!  I have to do a few plugs here, so hang in there with me.

Hair and Makeup was done by the AMAZING Brett Dorian Artistry Studio.  They are located in the Semble Mansion in Minneapolis and they are true artists! Here is an example of their work on our model Stephanie.

 East 42nd St Salon also provided hair and makeup to our fabulous models.  Here is an example of their work on our model Ashley.

Music and lights were provided by Geoffrey M Blanton and associates.

Turtle Bread/Cafe Levain provided the food.  Vino 100 provided the champagne.

Dave, Thomas Andrs and Mad Dads provided security and valet parking.  Elliot and Nick were our outstanding waitstaff.

Tim and Jeremy were the production staff behind the entire event.  The program was a labor of love spearheaded by Jeremy.  Thanks to Stephanie and Lauren for making the shop look great for the show.  Thanks to all the staff at Yarn Garage for holding down the fort!

BIG, HUGE, couldn't have done it without you thanks go to Emily, my production assistant/intern. 
Thank you to Kathryn who helped dress the models and run errands. Thank you more than I can say to Sarah Burgduff for her unfailing guidance and support.  She helped secure beautiful, talented models and the Brett Dorian Salon.

Photography was provided by a number of sources including Tom Duevel.

We also had talented MN Fashion Week photographer Rhea Pappas.

Additional entertainment was provided by Mistress Ginger.

Of course, it couldn't have happened without all our designers....you know who you are.

All of this was done to benefit Guadalupe, who survived a shooting in November.  We were able to give her a sizable donation which we hope will help to make her home more handicap accessible.

To anyone I may have not mentioned, 
thank you and we couldn't have done it without everyone's support!

FIBER FEST NEWS......

Nadine from Be Sweet will be making a special apperance at Yarn Garage on Wednesday, April 27th for our Wine and Cheese preview party.  It will be really fun.  We will look at trunk show garments from Be Sweet, Coco Knits, and Nicky Epstein.  You can try them on and decide which look is the best for you.  Nadine will also be with Steven all day at StevenBe on Thursday, April 28th.  Thurday launches our class weekend with Annie Modesitt teaching colorwork.  Thursday night we will have another Wine and Cheese preview party for those of you who can't make it to the Yarn Garage on Wednesday night.  Friday brings Nicky to StevenBe and Julie to Yarn Garage.  Come early for the coffee clutch at 9:00am, get settled in, meet your teacher and classmates, and enjoy coffee, tea and snacks.  Saturday we hope to see you all at Yarnover.  Steven, Tim, Kathy and I will be at our booth.  You will know which booth is ours.  It is the biggest and most ostentatious.  I suppose we will also be wearing pink jumpsuits.........

In Ravelry news, Sarah and Mary Heather will be at Yarnover on Saturday.  Come to our booth to see them and get a photo!  Also, Saturday night we will be hosting a meet up at StevenBe.  We will have a Ravelry Red carpet with a special "Wall Bob" as a fun backdrop for you to pose with Sarah and Mary Heather.  Also, bring your favorite Ravelry project for more photo ops. 

Jeremy wants me to remind everyone to have their homework done for class.  "Study Hall" is in session Monday 6-8pm at Yarn Garage and Tuesday, 12-8pm at StevenBe.

Announcing Schedule and Pre-Registration for Fantastic Fiber Fest 2011!!!

YTwo Great Shops........One Amazing Schedule:

Wednesday, April 27th through Sunday, May 1st StevenBe and The Yarn Garage host a series of classes and events in conjunction with YarnOver, the Minnesota Knitter's Guild Annual Knitters event. Classes, Parties, special rates for members, individual rates. Join us for any or all of this Fiber Weekend. You can learn from renown teachers at the Yarn Garage or at StevenBe.

Classes are filling fast, register today to take advantage of Early Bird discounts!
For full information, click here.
If you have questions for Steven, click here.

The Cast for the Weekend at the Shops

Annie Modesitt I knit for a living. I have a blog, I write about knitting, I teach classes online (and in person) and I love what I do!
Nicky Epstein Nicky Epstein is a world renowned knit wear designer, teacher and author of over 20 bestselling books. Her knitting and crochet books range from highly original resource books, to historical books, to travel books, to Barbie Doll books, to amazingly creative design fashion/pattern books. Her books are “must haves” in the libraries of designers and knitters alike, and she has won the National Independent Book Publisher’s Award for Best Craft Book Of The Year…three times! Her innovative, fashionable, whimsical and award winning designs have appeared in every major knitwear magazine, in museums and on television, and she has taught classes to knitters around the world and hosted many Vogue Knitting Tours overseas as well as others.
Julie Wiesenberg, CoCo Knits In 2004, I began teaching classes at Article Pract, a yarn shop in Oakland, California, and in 2006, at knit-one-one, a knitting atelier in Emeryville, California. I offer knitters of all levels a wide variety of classes, including felted work, custom-designed sweaters, and finishing techniques.
Mary-Heather & Sarah from Ravelry Ravelry Staff will be with us to talk about the system and the joys and fun of being the home of thousands of fiber artists online.

Final Days at TNNA

Okay, so we flew back from L.A. on Monday night, and I do realize that I am almost a week late in reporting on our last two days at TNNA.  I beg your forgiveness and I hope the wait will have been worth it!  One of the biggest things that happened at TNNA was Steven placing our first order with Shibui Knits!

Here he is wearing their fabulous Piega Cowl and don't worry, we ordered the pattern and the yarn to go with it.  Their yarn is beautiful and we will be unpacking in a the next month or so.  Julie, the designer behind CocoKnits, uses Shibui yarn.  She will be one of the teachers we are hosting during Yarnover weekend.  Steven will once again have classes before and after the Yarnover.  It will be called StevenBe's Fabulous Fiber Frolic.  Okay, so we are still working on the name of the weekend festivities, but whatever the name it will be amazing.  Also, the Ravelry crew will be in town to discuss Ravelry with everyone!

This is Steven with Mary-Heather, Jessica, Casey and Sarah, all from Ravelry.  This picture was taken in the Madelinetosh booth with the fantastic Madelinetosh girls!  Their booth is ALWAYS beautifully displayed.  They were taking Polaroids of everyone and then you were supposed to write on the Polaroid the name of the color of Madelinetosh that best described your personality.  Not your favorite Madelinetosh color, but the color that matches your personality. 
I chose "Baltic" as my color. 

What would your color be?  Steven got distracted before I could get him to decide on his color.  What color do you think best describes Steven?  Click here to see Madelinetosh colors. 

We were super excited  to see everyone from Namaste and to see the new Namaste Bitty Bag! 
Email Steven for your Bitty Bag pre-order.  Here we are with Kelly from Namaste Inc.

Another celebrity who will be visiting us during Yarnover weekend is.........

Nicky Epstein!!!!!!!!!!!!!  She will be our mistress of ceremonies!  Her new book "Knitting Block by Block" will be in the shop soon.  Steven may let you take a peek at his personalized signed copy before the our arrives. 

We had a good time with the boys from Feza Yarns.  We have some great new samples from them and they sent us great new one skein patterns using Alp Oriental.  Emre and his brother Emir are the brothers that run Feza here in the USA.  Their company has been in the yarn business for 50 years in Turkey, and they have been here in the United States since 2004.  They took us out to dinner at The Ivy. 

Dinner was fantastic and we love Feza and the Feza family!  After dinner we had another run-in with a celebrity.  Well, everyone else had a run-in with Christian Slater!  I just happened to have left the table when he got up and stood right next to our table to talk to a waiter.  When I came back to the table, Steven asked, "Who is Christian Slater?"  Really?! He doesn't know Christian Slater?  Dreamy, dreamy Christian Slater?!?  I just don't think it is fair that Steven kept seeing celebrities and I only saw a terrified Maureen McCormick.  He didn't even appreciate the Christian Slater sighting!  Steven described him as "short and scruffy!" 

Anyway, back to yarn...........

Here is Steven with the Trendsetter team. 

This concludes the TNNA report.  One last picture for you all.  Here is Steven in our rented PT Cruiser convertible.  Please note the amount of luggage sticking out of the backseat.  Keep in mind the trunk was all full of luggage.

And here I am.....

I am attempting to look very chic and sophisticated, but I think it came off as disgruntled.  I have to admit, I was disgruntled that we had to leave the beautiful California weather.  See you later, L.A.!!!