Merry Christmas to you all!

Just a quick post to wish you all a very Merry Christmas! Thank you for your support this year and we look forward to seeing you in 2011.
 
The nativity scene above was knitted by Monica Morse who comes to our Wednesday night knit club. She was good enough to bring it in for us to look at and we love all the attention to detail!

New Courses for January 2011

 Is your new year's resolution to improve your knitting skills? 

If so, let Purl City Yarns help you!!

Knit 201 - Advanced Beginners 

Duration: 6 hours over three weeks

Know how to cast-on, knit, purl and bind-off but want to improve on those skills? Then this is the class for you. The class will be customised to meet the needs of the students but topics could include: increasing, decreasing, different types of cast-ons (including provisional) and bind-offs, picking up stitches, weaving in ends, fixing mistakes, blocking, and cables.

This course runs for three weeks, beginning on Saturday 15^th January and continuing on 22^nd and 29^th January. Each session is two hours long and takes place 10.15am-12.15pm in the gallery.

Each student will receive a kit at the start of the course containing two balls of King Cole Merino Blend Aran, a pair of Brittany needles and a 10% voucher which can be used against purchases in the shop or towards the next course. Students will also receive a Purl City Yarns tote to keep everything together. The price for the entire course and materials is £70.

Stranded Knitting Workshop

Duration: 3 hours

Date and time: 12pm-3pm, Sunday, 23^rd January

Students need to know how to cast on, bind off, knit, purl. Having knit at least one project in the round before is preferable, but not necessary.

Description: This class will cover everything you need to know about stranded knitting. Learn a bit about the history of stranded knitting, how to read a colourwork chart, how to work with two colours at the same time, and how to select colours for stranded knitting projects.

Project will be a pair of fingerless mittens (pattern included).

Each student will receive a kit at the start of the course containing two balls of King Cole Merino Blend Aran, a ball of Noro Kureyon  a set of Knit Pro double pointed needles and a 10% voucher which can be used against purchases in the shop or towards the next course. Students will also receive a Purl City Yarns tote to keep everything together. The price for the entire course and materials is £49.99.

Classes are limited to a maximum of eight students. Bookings can be made either by visiting the shop, via our webstore (click on the classes and workshops option in the department tab) or by telephoning 0161 425 3864. We regret we cannot reserve places without payment.

Little Fella

This little guy lives at our shop thanks to Louise Brandon, who made him with some of our very own King Cole Baby Alpaca DK. Unlike most hedgehogs, he is lovely and soft and doesn't get all mardy when you try to pet him!!

Dreaming of Manchester

PURL CITY YARNS DESIGN COMPETITION INSPIRED BY MANCHESTER

		Purl City Yarns wants to see your designs! Purl City Yarns is holding a design contest and we want to see your original hand knitted and crochet designs inspired by Manchester. Your inspiration could be a song lyric by a Manchester band, a painting by a Manchester artist, a Manchester landmark, or anything to do with Manchester that gets your creative juices flowing. Designs will be judged in five categories: garments, accessories, shawls, socks, and miscellaneous.  The winner of each category will win a £50 Purl City Yarns gift voucher and the patterns will be published in a special Purl City Yarns pattern book and displayed in the Purl Gallery. We are having a launch party for the competition in the Purl Gallery at the shop on Wed, 15th December, 6pm-8pm. Come along, grab yourself a drink and learn more! Contestants have until 31st January 2010 to make submissions to Purl City Yarns.  When submitting a design, you must include a completed knitted or crocheted sample that has been knitted/crocheted in a yarn stocked at Purl City Yarns and a description of how the design is inspired by Manchester.  You do not have to submit the written pattern; we will only ask for a written pattern if you have a winning design and will arrange to have your pattern test knitted before it is published.  Finally, all designs must be original and cannot be published elsewhere. You can bring submissions into the shop or post them to us at: 62 Port Street Manchester M1 2EQ If you have any questions and to receive a copy of our full competition rules, please contact us at 0161 425 3864 begin_of_the_skype_highlightiend_of_th info@purlcityyarns.com. We look forward to seeing all your designs!		December 2010 15

Are you ready?!

Purl City Yarns is pleased to announce:

The Christmas Treasure Hunt!

Win a ball of Noro Silk Garden Sock and a ball of Noro Kureyon Sock

It is nearly Christmas and we are feeling festive. Be the first to find the word 'SANTA' hidden somewhere in our webstore and you win the goodies! When you find the word, email us at info@purlcityyarns.com and tell us exactly where you saw it. We will let you know if you are the winner!

We are also pleased to announce that we are offering FREE UK SHIPPING on everything  bought online from now until Christmas.

We will also be offering vouchers via the webstore from Thursday.

Finally, just a reminder that tonight is the Natural Dye Studio Trunk Show, taking place in the gallery from 5pm(for 6pm) until 8pm. There will be cake and cocktails galore! We have a few places left and would love to see as many of you as we can fit in, so if you would like to attend please email us at info@purlcityyarns.com and we will add you to our list.

Happy hunting and bottoms up!

 

Future Event The Fyberspates Trunk Show takes place on Saturday 11th December, 4pm-6pm. RSVP to info@purlcityyarns.com

Future Event We will be launching our Design Competition on Wednesday, 15th December, 6pm-8pm. Look out for more information coming soon!

RSVP Let us know if you are coming to the Natural Dye Studio trunk show tonight and if you have guests.

Shop closing at 6pm tonight

Hi everyone,

Due to the current weather conditions and forecast for later today, we have decided to close the shop at 6pm tonight so that everyone can get home safely.


That means this evening's knit club is cancelled. Sorry folks!

Natural Dye Studios and Fyberspates come to Purl City Yarns!

Purl City Yarns is very excited to announce two upcoming events: The Natural Dye Studio Trunk Show and the Fyberspates Trunk Show.

Amanda Perkins from the Natural Dye Studio will be joining us on Wednesday, 8^th December, 5pm-8pm to celebrate the launch of our extended range of Natural Dye Studio yarns.

The Natural Dye Studio exclusively uses historical plant dyes which produce an astounding spectrum of beautiful subtle colour. Their aim is to produce desirable luxury yarns in as ethical and enviromentally friendly way as possible. They dye using the plants rather than the extracts as they say its ‘much more fun’!

Amanda will be at Purl City Yarns to explain more about the process of dyeing and the yarns they use. The Natural Dye Studio’s Dazzle British Blue Faced Leicester is licensed by the British Wool Marketing Board to carry the prestigious British Wool mark. All their exotic yarns come from a family run mill in Peru.

Amanda is also on a personal mission to make crochet motifs ‘sexy and desirable’. And will be talking about her beautiful crochet designs.

She explains: “Motifs normally have a bad reputation, ever noticed the un-loved granny square blankets lurking in the depths of many charity shops? The motifs deserve a bit more respect and love, hence my crusade!”

“I make pretty things exclusively using the Natural Dye Studio’s luxury yarns. The subtle plant dyed colours lend themselves to being mixed together in one big project. I am fascinated by the gaps between the joined motifs, they often form a secondry un-planned design that you will only discover after joining them. I like suprises!”

The Natural Dye Studio trunk show will take place in the gallery and refreshments will be available free of charge. The event is free to attend but as we can only offer a limited number of places, so in order to attend you need to email us at info@purlcityyarns.com to reserve a place. Places will be reserved on a first come, first served basis.

Jeni Hewlett of Fyberspates will be joining us at Purl City Yarns on Saturday, 11^th December, 4pm- 6pm to celebrate the launch of our extended range of Fyberspates yarns.

In addition to the beautiful Scrumptious range, we will now be stocking a wide range of absolutely gorgeous Fyberspates sock and lace yarns including Nef Lace, Scrumptious Sock, Sparkle Sock, Faery Wings and Ethereal. Trunk show attendees will be the first to see and pet the yarns!

Jeni will be talking all about her yarns and the inspiration and process behind them. She will also be discussing the range of beautiful patterns that accompany Fyberspates yarns.

The Fyberspates trunk show will take place in the gallery and refreshments will be available free of charge. The event is free to attend but as we can only offer a limited number of places, so in order to attend, you need to email us at info@purlcityyarns.com to reserve a place. Places will be reserved on a first come, first served basis.

See you there!!