A Cascade of Cascade

New Cascade yarns for the fall will start pouring in in two weeks! Among our favorite quality yarns from the Cascade company are: Ultra Pima (pima cotton with a fantastic sheen), Venezia (the luxurious silk and merino blend), Pastaza (a cozy, bullet-proof Llama blend with a great feel and a high-end look), Heritage sock yarn, as well as a few shades of Heritage with silk. Several other yarns will also be arriving as well as some fantastic pattern anthologies, including the new 60 More Quick Knits. It's time to start planning out your fall and winter projects and checking off Christmas gifts from your list!

Yarns for All Seasons

Two of our favorite all seasons yarns arrived yesterday in an explosion of color: Grass and Vita. These yarns from Plymouth are terrific blends that look great and are comfortable to wear 12 months of the year in Acadiana. Grass is an earthy hemp and cotton blend that works up in a light-weight, classy tweed. Vita is made of recycled cotton and cashmere. It's cotton, but with the soft luxury of cashmere. Both Grass and Vita are just as home in fall sweaters as they are in spring and summer tops. There are several colors in both to choose from. Make your next garment project in Vita or Grass!

Rowan for the fall

The new yarns and design collections from Rowan arrived with much fanfare last Friday! I started getting the word out earlier in the week, and the buzz spread, resulting in a quite a sizable welcoming party Friday afternoon. With all due respect to my other yarn lines, there's just something special about Rowan -- colors, textures, quality, design. I always say "The sun never sets on Rowan fashion", and that's the truth. All these things are what makes Rowan so special. Plus, Rowan patterns and yarns are available nowhere else in Acadiana. They're exclusive to The Vermilion Bay Yarn Company! If you've not yet tried Rowan, it's time! Check out the new colors of Kidsilk Haze, Felted Tweed, Summer Tweed, Heritage Tweed, Kid Classic, Big Wool, Drift, and many many others! When you're here, be sure to pick up your copy of the 50th edition of the Rowan Magazine! I know there are many of you have collected all these amazing books. Add the anniversary edition to your set!

Colorful Class Schedule!

The class schedule for July has been finalized! It's Color Month at The Vermilion Bay Yarn Company. In this month's edition of The Vermilion Bay Light you'll read about the colorwork challenge: it's time to incorporate colorwork techniques into your knitting using different yarns! All this month, there are specific classes designed to help you master these important and valuable techniques. VBYC will support you every step of way. One of the most difficult stages of a colorwork project is selecting a collection of yarns that's most suitable -- colors that both work together and that make you look your best. On Sunday, July 24th, stylist and color expert (and knitter!) Blaine Guidry will conduct an informative one-time seminar on selecting colors that will compliment your look. He will discuss hair color, skin tone, and other factors crucial to color selection. The Vermilion Bay Yarn Company is honored to host this unique, one-time seminar for the benefit of the fibering community. Do not let this exclusive opportunity pass you by! Sign up today and take part! Once you're armed with the practical knowledge and countless great fashion tips from the Color Seminar, it's time to dig in to the color technique. The following week, you'll have a chance to practice both the Fair Isle and Intarsia, the two ways we paint pictures and insert color patterning into our fabrics. We'll make some simple projects to get you started working with color.

A number of knitters have asked about making gloves, so on July 23, we'll show you how. You'll have the option of making yours with either double points or two circulars -- that's up to you. You'll need a large hank of sock yarn or two smaller hanks to complete this project. We'll be using U.S. size 2 needles.

Acadiana Profile recently listed The Vermilion Bay Yarn Company among the top 13 places in Acadiana to learn new things. Each month VBYC offers classes for fiber folks -- sign up today and experience what it is that makes us the best!

You need this Moebius!

Moebius cowls are really cool. What are they, you ask? When working things in the round, the pattern instructions will generally warn you explicitly "be sure stitches aren't twisted before joining." But cool your jets, and don't let these ominous words scare you away from circular items. The sky won't fall, and neither will you spontaneously combust if you join a ring of stitches that's twisted. If you're making a sock or a glove, you'll have a little problem trying to wear the finished product, but if you're making a cowl, twisted stitches before the join will create a pretty cool, and rather elegant, permanent "bend". Without twisting, the result will be a knitted tube -- that's what you need for a sock leg or a glove or the beginning of a hat. A Moebius is a tube with a contour, a twisted section where the outside curves and swoops to become the inside. While you're knitting, you don't notice the twist. It's gentle and slides round and round silently. The new magazine Interweave Weekend features a brand new design for the popular Moebius. This month it's time to get creative with color and texture! Select something not so monochromatic and colorize your autumn look! When the magazines arrived yesterday, a few knitters already started planning out their Moebius -- or Moebii in a couple cases. So, you're going to let them get started and have a fabulous new cowl for the fall?? Cowls are the look -- both for women and men (ours are called "circular scarves", but let's face it: it's a cowl) -- they're easy to make and can transform a look with just a few seconds of styling! Stop in today for your magazine and 400 yards of fabuliciousness!

July 4th Schedule

Please take note of the VBYC schedule for the Independence Day weekend: Friday, July 1: Open 10am-6pm Saturday, July 2: Open 10am-4pm Sunday, July 3: Closed (no Sunday Tea) Monday, July 4: Closed Tuesday, July 5: Open 10am-8pm (Knit Cafe 6pm-8pm)

Thank you everyone for making VBYC YOUR local yarn shop! We are open practically every day of the year to serve you, but now and then, we must take a holiday to recharge so that we can serve you even better! Without your continued support and patronage, VBYC could never exist. It is thanks to you that we can provide you your favorite fibering oasis in Acadiana. Have a safe and fun July 4th weekend!

KNITTING PARTY!!

Looking for a fun party experience for friends, a cool theme for a birthday celebration, or just a reason to get together? Here's the answer: a Vermilion Bay Yarn Company Knitting Party! Talk up your friends -- 7-10 or so of them. Stop in at the shop to set a date and time for one of the most interesting and fun 3 hours you'll have had in a while! Everyone gets a project -- either a first time one or a simple afternoon project. Potluck party food items create the perfect snack buffet for your group, and VBYC provides the set-up's. Last Sunday VBYC hosted a terrific group of first time knitters and few seasoned fiber folks for "knitting with a twist". Group instruction with individual help ensured that everyone who came in never having knit left a knitter, and the people who already were knitters left having learned something new and exciting about an art they love. A VBYC knitting party is perfect for groups of friends, office groups, or any group of people who enjoy sharing each other's company and are willing to try something new! Take a look at all these happy faces enjoying fiber arts success at VBYC! And there's one more face who isn't in the picture because he's behind the camera: Blaine. Many thanks to him for assembling this fabulous bunch of knitters, mixing the Happy Raspberry cocktails, and sharing his brilliant creativity with us all!

No Sunday Tea this Week, June 26th!

Just a quick note to folks who regularly attend Sunday Tea: There will be no open Sunday Tea this week. VBYC is hosting a knitting party for a sizeable group this Sunday. If you would like to plan your own knitting party, gather together at least 10 of your friends and book the date! Contact me at the shop for booking details. Look for pictures of Sunday's Knitting Party on the blog and on Facebook!

Bat Wing Shawl!

It's been one of the hottest European Knit-Alongs on Ravelry. Designer Jana Albrecht has created a simple, elegant, and utterly clever wrap with a beautiful shape inspired by nature. The German name for the piece is the Fledermaus-Tuch. Fledermaus is the German word for "Bat", hence our Anglicized name for the garment. Regardless of the name or how you feel personally about bats, it's a pretty darned cute garment project -- and not one that breaks the bank or one that'll cause you to abandon it in utter disgust. This pattern is perfect for folks who have never followed a lace chart. Yes, it does have a chart, but it's limited in the lace operations it demands from you. Just the thing to get you comfortable reading charts. Your success in knitting this and completing it are absolutely guaranteed. Plus, if you were bitten by the beading bug (and I think we all were) last month after working up all those Jeweled Cowls, you can up the ante so speak and set a few beads into your bat wing as well! We'll be starting off this bat wing shawl as a class on Saturday, June 25 at 10:30am! Join the class today by stopping in, selecting your yarn, and -- if you want to make it shimmer -- head over to Bella Beads and let Rae fix you up with the perfect gems! Classes at VBYC are selected and planned for YOU. I pay attention to what it is you all like to knit, the concerns you have in the projects you select, and I hunt out possibilities that you will both love to make and that will expand your range of experience to tackle more and more complex projects in the future. Be sure to take advantage of class offerings at VBYC. A missed class is a missed opportunity to learn new things, meet new people, and most of all to challenge yourself to open up new avenues for fiber creativity. We'll see you Saturday!

Habemus Nomen!

The voting has closed, and we have a name! Our little adorable dragon is named Oscar! The story how he came about is currently in preparation and will be posted here and linked to facebook in the next couple days. In the meantime, Oscar will be living at VBYC until July 2. Stop in an be sure to say hello! He doesn't bite, but he sure does have a wide, welcoming smile!