Well everyone, it’s July, and HOLY COW is it hot! We feel like we’re channeling Ruby Rhod from The Fifth Element on the daily! (Also, if you have never seen this movie, stop what you’re doing right now and go stream it. You can thank me later.) It’s so hot that many of us put down our projects in favor of anything that will make us less warm, like popsicles, reading in the darkest, coolest corner of our homes, or simply laying naked by a fan. But, it doesn’t have to be that way. This is the perfect time of year to whip up all sorts of cute and small accessories that don’t lay on your lap and instead hang coolly from your hooks and needles.

The Thicket Headband by Mirella Moments

This is a super cute headband that you can whip up in no time and will be ready for the first cool nights of fall when they inevitably sneak up on us. It calls for just over half of a 100g skein of worsted or aran weight yarn (ballpark is probably about 130yds) and US8 needles. The pattern will walk you through the super simple seaming to make the cute twisted knot that sets this headband off, and you can use the technique for any other headband you dream up. This pattern is available for free through Ravelry.

We recommend something delightfully soft yet warm, like Cascade Miraflores, Malabrigo Rios, or even Cascade Cherub Aran. Add a strand of Rico Designs mohair for an even warmer and fluffier version!

Enchanted Summer Shorties by Loulabella Knits

In this shop we believe every day is the best day to be making socks. We love their portability and how they keep our attention just enough to keep away the boredom some other projects may bring (we’re looking at you sweater body stockinette slog-fests!). So if there was ever an even more perfect time to knit your own socks, it’s summer!

These socks are perfectly built for summertime wear with their short cuffs that will peek out over the edge of your sneakers while you work or run errands, and a stunning stitch pattern you can stare at when you kick those sneakers off at the end of the day. Depending on your foot size, each pair will take about 220yds of sock yarn and the pattern calls for US2/2.75mm needles (or use your usual sock needle size if you have one). This pattern can be purchased through Ravelry for £4.00. This is one of those rare patterns we can’t sell you in-store, so make sure to grab it off Ravelry yourself.

We recommend any fingering weight yarn with at least 20% nylon (for easy washing and durability), like Frog-It Yarns Merino Fingering, Cascade Heritage, or Manos del Uruguay Alegria.

Succulent Echeveria Amigurumi by Michael Hon

Finally, a plant that not even you can kill! There are all sorts of plant-based amigurumi patterns out there, but we love how adorable this little guy is, right down to his pot, cute safety eyes, and stitched smile. Wanna have even more fun? When you’re finished, grab some pink eyeshadow and “paint” the edges of the leaves to make them look even more realistic. Use any size yarn with the appropriate hook to make this succulent as big or small as you want. This pattern is available for in-store sale through Ravelry for $2.99.

We recommend Cascade Cherub Aran or Universal Deluxe DK Tweed for this project.

The World’s Simplest Mittens by Tin Can Knits

We absolutely love Tin Can Knits patterns here, and this pattern is no exception. You can pick from four sizes and four different weights of yarn to make these warm mittens in whatever you’ve got lying around. We think these would be a really fun way to do some striped scrap busting, and would be equally beautiful made from a fresh-off-the-shelf skein of yarn. This pattern is available for free through Ravelry.

We recommend Berroco Vintage or Vintage Chunky, Dream in Color Cosette, and Schoppel-Wolle Crazy Zauberball for this project.

We hope you are inspired by these projects to get those hooks and needles moving. Feel free to stop in and ask us about even more fun heat-busting project ideas, as we have plenty! Oh, and stay cool, dear theorists!

This Saturday, April 30th, is 2022’s Local Yarn Store Day! We will be celebrating all day during our regular hours of 10am – 3pm. As always, we have lots of exciting things planned and plenty of project ideas to help spark your creativity! We also have lots of free pattern offerings from Malabrigo, Cascade, Berroco, and Casapinka for you to look forward to.

Introducing Frog It Yarns!

We are SO EXCITED to announce that we will be adding Frog It Yarns from Wellsville, PA to our yarn collection! We really wanted to bring you something wonderful and local for LYS Day this year, and we feel Frog It Yarns is the perfect choice.

Frog It Yarns is a husband and wife duo that started out as a mobile yarn shop back in 2017. Brian designed and worked on the inside of their mobile trailer, and came up with the name Frog It Yarns because he was always frogging his own projects (we’ve all been there!). Tasha is the dyer and self-described yarn enabler. Together they’ve created something truly wonderful, and we can’t wait for you to see what they’ve dyed up for us. We will have a nice selection of fingering and worsted weight yarns for you to ogle and add to your stash from this wonderful duo.

Speaking of locally dyed yarns…

We will also be featuring yarns from our in-house brand, Chromodyenamics! We have a gorgeous selection of colors and weights from our guest dyer Mary R., all dyed using natural dyes. We will also be debuting our in-house dyed single-ply fingering.

FREE patterns YAY!!!

As we listed above, we’ve got all sorts of free patterns available from all sorts of designers and yarn brands. In order to receive your free pattern, you’ll need to purchase yarns from Malabrigo, Cascade, or Berroco, or purchase any two skeins of fingering weight for a free Casapinka pattern. Here are the patterns being featured so you can plan ahead:

• Sense of Direction by Ewelina Murach – uses 2 skeins Malabrigo Rios
• Dotty by Elena Fedotova – uses 2 skeins Malabrigo Sock
• Wonky Rib by Ewelina Murach – uses 2 skeins Malabrigo Arroyo
• Ric Rac by Casapinka – uses 2 skeins of any fingering weight yarn
• 2022 LYS Day Wrap by Shannon Dunbabin – uses 3 skeins of any Cascade worsted weight yarn
• With any purchase of any Berroco yarn (including drop ships!), you will get a code to download one Berroco.com pattern for free

Save on discontinued favorites!

Any yarns that have been discontinued by the manufacturer will be 25% off. We will have these clearly marked throughout the shop. Make sure you grab what you need, or maybe a bit more just in case, as these yarns will not be returning to our shelves. Help us clear out some old but awesome yarns to make way for new awesome yarns!

Last, but certainly not least…

When the first LYS Day happened a few years back, we decided to celebrate with mimosas. It is now an LYS Day tradition, and we will have regular and alcohol-free mimosas available all day.

We look forward to seeing you Saturday!

It’s that wonderful time of year again! The birds are chirping, the flowers and trees are beginning to bloom, and the weather is finally warming up. Each spring brings the promise of rebirth and the opportunity for a fresh start.

In yarn land, this means new and returning summer favorites. Warmer weather calls for a shift in what kinds of fibers we wear, typically moving from warmer wools to cooler cotton blends. Here are some yarns we are super excited about this spring, and we hope you’ll find some wonderful projects to match:

NEW! – Rico Design’s Creative Lazy Hazy Summer Cotton

This new yarn is the perfect mix of color and washability and is ready to be made into everything from simple shawls to summer tees. Lazy Hazy Summer Cotton is a DK weight blend of 49/46/5 Cotton/Acrylic/Polyester and each skein comes in at 164yds/50g. We’re currently working on a shop sample of Alicia Plummer’s Salted using this yarn, and we’re planning to leave off the sleeves to make this a perfect summer top. We expect this yarn to be on the shelves early next week (4/5), and we hope you’ll love it as much as we do!

Berroco Remix Light

Remix Light is a newer classic that has been part of Berroco’s lineup for a few years now. It is marketed as a DK weight blend of summery fibers, but we find it works up particularly well as a fingering or sport weight. Each skein is a 30/27/24/10/9 blend of Nylon/Cotton/Acrylic/Silk/Linen and has 432yds/100g. It is surprisingly lofty, rustic, and reminiscent of shetland wool with none of the itch or extra warmth. We think it would be perfect worked up into Bristol Ivy’s new Fields of Gold pattern, guaranteed to be a classic transition piece for your spring and fall wardrobe.

Universal Yarn Bamboo Pop

Bamboo Pop has been a staple here at the shop since the day we opened. This beautiful 50/50 Cotton/Bamboo DK weight yarn has stunning drape, softness, and coolness that is unparalleled by any other yarn. It comes in a stunning array of solid, variegated, and dotted colors that are sure to make your next project shine. Each skein has 292yds/100g. Grab two skeins and work up Tulip Chest by Klára Nagy for a beautiful and lacy piece that is sure to be a conversation starter.

These are just a few of the lovely yarns we’re hoping you’ll fall in love with this spring and summer. Feel free to stop in and ask us about any of these on your next visit.

P.S. – Local Yarn Store Day is right around the corner, and we’ve got lots of exciting things planned for this year’s event. Keep an eye out for an update on this in the coming weeks!

Hello there, theorists! We know it’s been a minute since we’ve posted any updates here on the website, but we promise we’re still here and we’re all set to get you excited for our 6th (yes, sixth!!!) Annual Fibertastic Friday Frenzy. We’ll start off with the not-so-fun business, and then get right on into what you can expect for our biggest sale of the year.

First things first, MASKS ARE REQUIRED REGARDLESS OF VACCINATION STATUS, NO EXCEPTIONS. This is in big, bold print to let you know just how serious we still are about this. If you do not have your mask on when you enter the shop, you will be asked if you have one. If you do, great, go get your yarn squish on! If not, you will be asked to return another time, or you are welcome to email the shop at stringtheoryyarnshop@gmail.com and we will be happy to do some personal shopping for you. We most likely will not have the time to do personal shopping during the Friday and Saturday rush, and you will not receive a discount for anything purchased outside of those two days, so be sure to come prepared with your mask at the ready!

Alright, now that the not-so-fun stuff is out of the way, let’s get on to the good stuff! Our hours for this year’s Fibertastic Friday Frenzy will be as follows:

• Friday, November 26th – 8am to 2pm
• Saturday, November 27th – 10am to 3pm

Since we are still in the midst of a pandemic, we will once again have almost everything 30% off for both days to discourage everyone gathering all at once first thing Friday morning. All items excluded from the sale will be clearly marked.

As a reminder, we may not be able to help you if you come in with technical questions on a current project as we expect to be fairly busy throughout both Friday and Saturday. We also will not be offering winding service for the duration of the sale, but we’re happy to hold onto the skeins you want wound for pickup the following week, or, as always, you’re welcome to stop back to have your skeins wound when you’re ready to start your project.

Be sure to keep an eye on Facebook over the next week and change for some great projects that we think are perfect for gift giving. We very much look forward to seeing half of your faces on this most Fibertastic of Fridays and Saturdays!

I am writing this today to make something very clear. IF YOU COME INTO THE SHOP, YOU MUST PROPERLY WEAR A MASK. If you do not properly wear a mask, meaning covering nose and mouth, we will be unable to provide in-person service.

“But I have an exemption!” you say. This is where the direct threat portion of reasonable accommodation of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) comes into play. To quote the ADA:

When you come in without a mask, you are a direct threat not only to me as a shop owner (or any other employee), you are a direct threat to any other customer present at the time. I do not know, and have no right to know, if you have COVID-19. Therefore, the assumption is that you do, and measures need to be taken to protect myself and others.

“So how can I shop?” This is simple! Just send us an email at stringtheoryyarnshop@gmail.com with what you are looking for and we will be happy to do personal shopping for you. Once you’ve chosen your items and paid, we can either ship product to you or deliver within a reasonable radius (approx. 10 miles).

We hope this helps and makes clear our stance on mask mandates.

The last few months have been strange, to say the least. The COVID-19 pandemic has turned our lives upside down and we’ve all had to adjust to a new normal. For us, that meant closing our doors and staying home to help keep everyone safe. The hardest part of this has been missing out on simply being together as a crafting community.

Needless to say, we were very excited to find out that Cumberland county would be moving into the commonwealth’s yellow phase this Friday, May 22nd. This means we can reopen, albeit with restrictions, and start stitching our community back together. We know you’re excited too and can’t wait to get your hands on some good, yarny squishiness!

Until Cumberland county is moved into the green phase, the following restrictions will be in place:

• You must wear a face mask covering your nose and mouth at all times while in the shop.
• Upon entering the shop, you must use the supplied hand sanitizer. Yarn is a soft surface that can easily hold on to virus particles for extended periods of time, and by using sanitizer you are preventing the possible spread of the virus to others.
• While shopping, please maintain a distance of at least 6 feet from other individuals.
• The shop will be limited to a maximum of 8 customers at once. This will help ensure that you have enough space to keep 6 feet apart from other customers while shopping.
• There will be no stitch gatherings. There simply isn’t enough space around the table to make this safe. The table will be limited to a maximum of 4 people at once, and there will be no food or drinks allowed.

The shop will also have adjusted hours until we move into the green phase. They will be as follows:

• Sunday & Monday – CLOSED
• Tuesday, Thursday, & Friday – 12pm-4pm
• Wednesday – 1pm-6pm (5pm-6pm are reserved for high risk individuals and seniors)
• Saturday – 11am-2pm

We truly look forward to seeing you and helping you pick out some fun summer projects!

Three beautiful Huacaya alpacas at the 2020 PA Farm Show

It’s officially Farm Show week here in the Harrisburg area, and that means our favorite event is coming: Sheep to Shawl! As usual, we will have the laptop set up streaming PCN’s coverage of the event so we can listen to Tom Knisely and Sara Bixler’s commentary throughout the contest. Since it’s a viewing party, no party is complete without delicious noms, so we’ll be sure to have pizza and drinks all night long.

Sheep to Shawl coverage begins at 3pm on Wednesday, January 8th and usually runs through around 7pm with the auction included.

We hope to see you there!

PS – You can find out more about our local experts Tom & Sara at redstoneglen.com/instructors, plus you can find information and schedules for weaving and spinning classes on their website. Red Stone Glen is located about 20 minutes south of the yarn shop.

Hey there theorists! We have sped through another year and find ourselves a week shy of Thanksgiving. We don’t know how it happened, but regardless we’re here with all of the important info you need to get ready for this year’s Fibertastic Friday Frenzy.

We will be marking down nearly all of the items in the shop to help you make the perfect gift for your loved ones (keep an eye on Facebook for some great gift ideas), or just to stock up your stash. Exceptions will be clearly marked. Here’s how Friday and Saturday will work:

Friday, November 29th

• 8am through 10am – All purchases 40% off
• 10am through 12pm – All purchases 30% off
• 12pm to close at 3pm – All purchases 20% off

Saturday, November 30th – All purchases 20% off

The earlier you come, the more you’ll save! Plus we’ll be happy to have you help us make room for some much-needed restocks of yarns, and maybe some other goodies too!

We also have some super cute bags leftover from our Rhinebeck trip. Anyone spending $100 or more will receive a free bag. Spend $50 or more and get a bag for just $5. Otherwise, if you’d just like the bag, you can snag one for $10.

We look forward to seeing you next week, and we wish you a very happy Thanksgiving!

This Saturday, June 8th is Worldwide Knit in Public Day! Weather permitting, we will set up a seating area outside the shop so others can see us at our crafty best. We’ll also have light refreshments available. Everyone is welcome, and though they call it a knitting day, you can come to crochet, spin, weave, whatever! We hope to see you there!

This week I opened my email and the first one I had was from Half Moon Handwerks (If you don’t know about them, they are located in New Cumberland and have lots of goodies for quilters and stitchers!). The thing that caught my eye was towards the end. It was in big, bold letters: GIVE YOURSELF PERMISSION TO BE A BEGINNER.

This is a concept that a lot of us struggle with, including myself, and it doesn’t only apply to beginners. No matter how knowledgeable we are about knitting or crocheting, there’s always something out there we’ve yet to learn. What we tend to forget is to allow ourselves to make mistakes. None of us are perfect, but society has programmed us that we should excel at everything immediately. We almost expect to be perfect, so when we make mistakes they make us feel awful and inferior, like we’ll never be good enough. We forget to give ourselves permission to be a beginner!

So what can we do to work past this? Here are a few tips that can help:

Practice Makes Perfect – If you’re trying something new, dig out some scraps of smooth, light-colored worsted weight yarn, a US 8 needle/H hook, and give it a whirl. It’s much less stressful to make mistakes on something that is not your final project, and it can give you the confidence boost you need to get going.

We Learn by Making Mistakes – This one is HUGE. Our brains are programmed to learn through repetitiveness and by making mistakes. The important thing is that we realize we made a mistake, learn from it, then work towards correcting it. Once we feel we have something down pat, we can still make mistakes. Even professional hockey players fall down. The important thing is that they get back up and keep going. So don’t worry about those weird stitches, just brush yourself off and keep going!

Don’t Panic! – Yes, this is a partially lame reference to Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. I am a nerd, after all! If you made a mistake, don’t freak out about it. Many times panic leads to even more mistakes, so take a deep breath before trying to figure out what went wrong. Sometimes this means putting a project in time-out so we can look at it again later with fresh eyes.

YouTube Is Your Best Friend – What a time to be alive! If you’re stuck with a technique or stitch, I guarantee there are loads and loads of YouTube videos of the exact thing you’re struggling with. Not all videos are created equal, so if one doesn’t make sense, try another. The best part? Videos pause and rewind, so if you don’t catch something the first time or simply need a moment to figure it out, use those buttons!

Get Thee to the Yarn Shop – We are here to help you. Really! If you’re stuck and need another set of eyes, bring in your project. We’ll help get you unstuck or demystify that one part of the technique you were stuck on. This always has been and always will be free, so you have no excuses!