We’re at Vogue Knitting Live Chicago

Posted on March 09, 2018 | 0 Comments

You will find us at Vogue Knitting Live Chicago this weekend (March 9-11, 2018). Koigu sent us beautiful colors in KPPPM/KPM as well as their newest yarns, Chelsea and Othello.  And we have the latest Koigu magazine and the VILL pattern book for aran and chunky weight yarns, VI

After the Vogue show in NY I stitched up more project bags.  They are here at the booth.  Chicago is the last show we are at until the fall.  I’m looking forward to coming up with a new bag design over the summer. 

Our booth (217) is right by the fashion show runway. There are plenty of seats all day long  - come visit us and take a break to sit and knit.

You can also follow us on Instagram by following us chiagu.ny

 

 

 

 

Posted in Chelsea, Chicago, knitting, Koigu, KPM, KPPPM, Othello, project bags, Vogue Knitting Live

August's New Colors

Posted on August 18, 2016 | 0 Comments

We have three pretty blues for the dog days of summer.  From left to right the colors are P446, P409, P303. They are 15% off until August 24th.

Color P446-0003 is gorgeous, I would make something that I could look at while I wore it, like gloves or a shawl. 

Color P409-200 is beautiful, it's very close to a Koigu blue that I used for my Clapotis scarf. 

Color P303-0002 is hard to photograph. There is more of a brown/violet cast to it, not beige or yellow.  Pretty, muted and subtle would be the three words to describe the color - it would be a gorgeous sweater.

As the summer winds down, we are finalizing plans to be at the Indie Untangled Rhinebeck Show (October 2016) as well as Vogue Knitting Live NY (January 2017).

And we're excited to have our projects bags find a home at a new Brooklyn yarn store (more about this tomorrow)!

Posted in blue, Clapotis, fingering, Indie Untangled, merino, P303, P409, P446, Project bags, Rhinebeck, sock yarn, Trunk Show, VKL, Vogue Knitting Live, weight

It's Inventory Time...

Posted on January 28, 2016 | 0 Comments

When Vogue Knitting Live officially ends at 4pm on Sunday there is a mad rush by all the vendors to pack up their booth.  Those who traveled to the show have to deal with the package delivery services once their boxes and pallets are ready.  We locals dealt with getting all our stuff into a rental car on a snowy evening.

I took a couple of days off to recoup and then started an extended inventory.  This means counting and reviewing yarn colors, knitting kits, project bags, and yes, even patterns.  I'm running a bit behind with photos, but once they are done updates will happen in both shops, probably this weekend.  Believe me, I am making sure that next year the photos are done before Vogue Knitting Live takes place.

I also review the comments and requests that customers gave me.  Color-wise there will be new kits and new samples.  There are many new ideas for bags that hold your knitting, crochet, and drop spinning. There will (finally) be new patterns.  And of course I need to put an order in for more Koigu. A big thanks to Koigu for making sure I got more beautiful colors in time for the Vogue show.

Posted in bags, crochet, knitting, knitting kits, koigu, new york, ny, patterns, project bags, updates, vk live, vogue knitting live, yarn

Vogue Knitting Live 2015 Recap

Posted on January 23, 2015 | 0 Comments

(Yes, this post would have been up a couple of days ago if not for the fact that I lost it while I was in final proofread mode.  I gave myself a timeout before writing it again).

Vogue Knitting Live and I have a bit of history with one another.  I was a volunteer for the first VKLive, working the Marketplace entrance.  I worked for a vendor in 2012. The third year I injured my leg and missed all the classes I paid for. And last year I barely spent time in the Marketplace because I took machine knitting classes.

So when VKLive 2015 was announced I considered volunteering again.  Then I thought about taking classes.  But as New York Sheep and Wool (aka Rhinebeck) and the holidays rolled around I dragged my feet about doing something at VKLive. Well as fate would have it it was good that I hesitated: at the last minute my friend Marsha and I got a Marketplace booth.

Marsha sells stitch markers and jewelry at her Etsy store, One Geek to Craft Them All.  I had just acquired Chiagu and I had the inventory from my Etsy store, Sooze In The City.  We both had inventory and we had one month to make this work.  Up until this point we had shared a table at various holiday fairs but this was our first time working a booth.  We had to up our game and I'm glad we took the risk.

Here is the Chiagu side of the booth:

It was an exciting experience.  I loved meeting and talking to all the current Chiagu customers (thank you for visiting!)  And we enjoyed meeting all the new knitters and crocheters who found us.  The Tramonto Shawl was a big hit and the Runners Watchcap and Eldridge Hat patterns sold well. I almost out of everything from my Etsy shop.  And quite a bit of Koigu yarn found new homes.

I want to mention our lovely neighbors, MollyGirl yarns and Bar-Maids skincare.  They helped us stay fed and sane. The Bar-Maids owner provided insight on doing these shows and MollyGirl provided a view of gorgeous yarn:

 

And even with short notice we managed to have guests visit us on Saturday. Many thanks to podcasters Maria (SubwayKnits) and Kristin (YarnGasm) for coming by the booth.  Maria gave out buttons and Kristin gave out mini skeins of her yarn, Voolenvine.

We were busy most of the weekend.  On Sunday Marsha and I took turns walking around the Marketplace and got some shopping done. 

I picked up a pattern writing book by Kate Atherley (you can always pick up tips from one of the technical editors of knitty.com), an Orla Kiely print pouch from Splityarn and a couple of Hiya Hiya 11" circular needles for knitting sleeves, socks, and baby items:

But my absolutely favorite purchase is this wood yarn bowl from the Wools of Whimsy:

I love that the bowl is signed, numbered and that there are two holes to rest your needles. Wools of Whimsy provided the bowls for the Yarn Tasting area and they were able to sell the bowls when VKLive was closing on Sunday.

Well that's it.  I've been following up on some of the contacts I made and I've updated the shop's Koigu inventory.  In the next few days I will post new colors for the Loreley Kits and the Freemans Alley Kits.  And I'm working on getting the February Koigu Mini Skein Club packages out.  See you next week.

Posted in bar-maids, Eldridge, Etsy, Freemans Alley, Kate Atherley, Koigu, loreley, mollygirl, One Geek, podcast, project bags, Runners, Sooze in the City, Splityarn, Subway knits, Tramonto, VKL, Vogue Knitting Live, Voolenvine, Watchcap, Wools of Whimsy, yarn bowl, YarnGasm

Vogue Knitting Live 2015 - Meet the Podcasters

Posted on January 16, 2015 | 0 Comments

As Marsha and I are setting up our booth (#118, 5th floor, Marriott Marquis Times Square) at Vogue Knitting Live we are happy to announce that two podcasters are visiting us on Saturday, January 17, Noon to 1pm.

Podcasters Maria MN from Subway Knits and Kristen Lehrer from YarnGasm are visiting us for a Meet n Greet. Stop by and get to know these talented ladies! Kristen hand dyes beautiful Voolenvine yarn and is bringing some mini skeins to give out. Maria's latest fiber endeavor is creating a "How to Read Japanese Knitting Patterns" class.

I'm stocking the booth with kits (Loreley Scarf, Freemans Alley Mitts, and the Runners Watchcap), samples, patterns, notebooks, and drawstring project bags from my Etsy shop, Sooze in the City. And I'm bringing skeins of Koigu! I hope to meet a few of you.

And whenever I can leave the booth I'll posted entries and photos onto the Chiagu Facebook and Twitter accounts as well as a recap blog post on Monday.

Posted in Freemans, kits, koigu, Loreley, one geek, patterns, podcast, project bags, Sooze in the City, Subway Knit, VK Live, VKL, Vogue Knitting Live, Voolenvine, Watchcap, YarnGasm

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