We finally did our bat drawing and the winner is……

Kristina Z.!

Congrats! You win a $50 gift certificate for the shop. Thank you to everyone who submitted bats.

If you haven’t visited the bat window yet, do stop by. It will be there through the end of the month and into early November.

There were two “runnings of the knitters” this weekend. The first was the race to the Babs yarn. More pictures for your amusement:

knitters sit on chairs and wait in line to get in on Friday

yowza mayhem!

CHEESE!

It's Babs!

Knitters are happy after they have scored the Babs yarn

The other “running of the knitters” was the first ever Woodrow Wilson Bridge Half Marathon, which was Sunday morning. Kathy, Suni, Nicole, Jennifer and I were up really really early! Everyone finished the race!!! Suni had a PR! There was much swearing, some Elevation Burgers were eaten and today there is lots of limping around. Good times were had by all. Yay team fibre space!

Pretend that all of our team is in this photo...it was hard to herd the team members for photos

Our coral reef window display has gone away. [sad] It is being picked up this evening by the Smithsonian. If you have pieces that you want sent along, please bring them in today. If you made a critter for the window, please stop by the shop to pick him up. They are only taking coral and some of these critters are rather amazing, so they should really go back to their owners!

Our new window is creepy…that’s all there is to it. I came in this morning and I should have grabbed coffee. If you thought that the mannequin was creepy before, you ain’t seen nothing yet.

And the window needs BATS! Since I simply can not knit enough bats for the window, I am sending out a call for bats.  I can’t promise that these will be on display at the Smithsonian but I can entice you with a contest. Make a bat that has a 4 inch or wider wingspan and be entered into a drawing for a $50 gift certificate. Bats must be submitted before Thursday, September 16th at 9 pm. (that is little over a week!) Bats may be knitted, crocheted or felted and you may enter more than once. Make ten bats and be entered ten times. Bats will be returned to their owners the first week of November. Here are some bats to inspire you:

UPDATE: Daphne has created an adorable free pattern available here or on Ravelry here.

Flippy the bat seen here in Mochi Plus

Boo the Bat pattern available for download from Mochimochi Land (be sure to check out the other amazing things on her site or stop by to see her new book, which is available at the shop!)

Photo courtesy of Mochimochi land

Vladimir, the Bat from Deliciouscrochet and available as a download from her Etsy shop.

Photo courtesy of Deliciouscrochet

Felted Halloween Bat by Lion Brand yarn – free download from their site, although you will need to register to use their site.

Photo courtesy of Lion Brand Yarn

Bat and Jack O’ Lantern patterns from Barbara Prime and available here. If you don’t know about Barbara’s Fuzzymitten collection of adorable toys, check it out.

Photo courtesy of Barbara Prime

The bag contest for summer travel has ended and I have on more post of photos to put on the site before voting begins. We will open another travel contest starting now that will end after the New Year, to include all of your holiday travels. So take your fibre space tote on your travels and send us your photos!

As many of you already know, we don’t tend to close for silly things like federal holidays, so we will see you all weekend! Our hours are completely unchanged from the norm:

Friday: 10 am – 7 pm

Saturday: 10 am – 7 pm

Sunday: 11 am – 6 pm

Monday: 10 am – 7 pm

We even hear tale that designer extraordinaire Wendy Johnson will be here on Monday along with the Knit Girllls, who are visiting from out of town.

It is also the last weekend to see our amazing coral reef window display before it heads off to the Smithsonian!

We are open and have power, as does most of the King street retailers. We had a great crowd last night..many folks without power who were seeking the air conditioning. This tree came down on King street yesterday near Route 1. We lost a great old oak tree in the storm:

This is the front door to an office building in Old Town:

When i got home last night, i realized just how lucky I was to be a knitter. With a few candles, I could occupy myself for hours before bed, while my husband struggled to keep himself busy with a book and an iphone. I have to admit that I had to stop working on my sweater when I reached the point of picking up stitches. That just wasn’t possible with dark green yarn in the dark.

This morning I ran a five mile loop around Del Ray – heading down Mt. Vernon Avenue to Glebe and then turning onto Russell Road and coming back to the King Street Metro. Almost everyone inside this loop has no power.

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First, the storm update:

the GW parkway is CLOSED. I suspect that you will not get here by 9pm if you intend to drive via the GW parkway from North of us.

Route one also looks ugly according to my iphone. If you don’t know how to sneak the back way down Arlington Ridge Road, give us a call.

We have power and most street lights in Old Town appear to be working.

In non storm news!

We have named our mannequins and picked the winners of our contest. During last night’s staff meeting, we went through every entry and settled on:

Lolita LaRue

Joy Bindoff

So that means that Beth wins for naming number one:

I think they look like drag queens, so I’ll say Lolita LaRue

And Michelle M wins for naming number two:

Creepy Mannequin # 2 is very happy. I’m not sure if she is happy about the recent shipment of her favorite yarn, or if she just realized she could fit your entire ankle in her mouth. It may be that she has recently learned to knit and as long as she has yarn on her person no one questions why she is carrying around those sharp pointy sticks. With that overwhelming smile and the bliss that can only come with finishing a project, her name is Joy, Joy Bindoff!

Our entire fall lineup of workshops is on our site and open for registration. We are so excited to offer everything from shawl design with Kirsten Kapur to a two day off site retreat with Stefanie Japel on top down sweater design. Register here.

**Please note that some workshops may sell out right away. We will put no more than 10 people on a wait list.

Dye Studio -  Saturday, September 11, 3:30-7 pm

Make your own custom colorways in our dye studio with our own spinning and color expert, Rosemary. Read more here.

Miss Babs Preview Party and Color Workshop – Friday & Saturday, September 17-18 – SOLD OUT

Join hand dyer Miss Babs for a two day event featuring her fabulous yarn and a color workshop. Read more here.

Shawl Design with Kirsten Kapur – Saturday, September 25, 1-5 pm

Work with knitwear designer Kirsten Kapur to design your own triangular shawl. Read more here.

Handspun Halloween with Molly Miller – Saturday, October 30, 10 am – 12:30 pm

Join local artist Molly Miller on Halloween weekend to learn to use unique handspun yarns for quick and easy projects. Read more here.

Knit-to-Order: a design retreat with Stefanie Japel – Saturday & Sunday, November 6-7, 11 am – 6pm

Join knitwear designer Stefanie Japel for a full two days of top down sweater design. The workshop will take place at Daniel O’Connells Restaurant in Alexandria, VA. Read more here.

Shirley Paden Design Studio and book signing – Saturday, December 4, 10 am – 5 pm – SOLD OUT

Learn to custom design your own sweaters in our 6 hour workshop with designer Shirley Paden. Read more here.

We have a new contest for you all. The two newest ladies to come work at the shop need names. Meet creepy mannequin number one:

Meet creepy mannequin number two (small children beware):

Here is how it works – submit your names for one or both in the comments, and we will select our two favorites. The winners will get one of two yarny prize packages donated by Cascade yarns! (lovely things that haven’t seen in our shop yet…)

So the “yarn bombing” of July 2010 made the front page of Alexandria Gazette today. Here is the full story. That poor hot horse….

If you are a runner, biker or anything else involving lots of sweat, this little guy could be for you. In honor of our half marathon team, who has been training very hard every week, we are ordering technical shirts next week for anyone who wants one. We are selling these at cost but they must be pre-ordered by Tuesday, July 13th. The shirt is a royal blue Augusta Sportswear women’s cap sleeve shirt with our logo on the front and “team fibre space” on the back. The cost is $14. The finished size of the chest of the top:

Small: 35″

Medium: 37

Large: 40″

XL: 43.5″

2XL: 47.5″

To get a shirt on order, please call the shop at 703-664-0344 in the next few days!

Some terrible bandits have yarn bombed the happy horse at Hard Times. I was tipped off by Meanlouise on fb last night. This afternoon, I stopped by to take photos and the horse was gone! When asked, the staff at Hard Times reported that he had been vandalized and was on the move. Then this evening, another customer again reported seeing the horse back in his happy home, complete with some extra warmth.  We here at fibre space™ are concerned that his temperature may rise to a melting level now that his little ears and legs are all covered in cozies.

Celebrate the Fourth of July this weekend by supporting your independent, locally owned businesses. Here in space, we are open our regular hours for your shopping enjoyment!

Friday: 10 am – 7 pm

Saturday: 10 am – 7 pm

Sunday: 11 am – 5 pm

Monday: 10 am – 7 pm

Visiting from out of town?

We are located just five blocks from the King Street Metro station (blue and yellow line). Little tip: exit the train on the north end (this is the back of the train, if you are coming from the city). That exit is a lot easier and short walk to King Street. Then head away from the Masonic Temple, towards the water, on King Street. We are on the corner of King and N. Fayette. There is a sign on the corner to direct you. Here is the WMATA site.

Driving? There is free street parking on North and South Fayette. Metered parking is available on King street. When in doubt, park farther west and you will face less traffic and find more parking.

And here is what we brought home:

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Lots of news to report! First, we are open all weekend. Come on out to hot hot Old Town this weekend and see us.

Holiday weekend hours

Saturday: 10 am – 7 pm

Sunday: 11 am – 5 pm

Monday: 10 am – 7 pm (come in for a day long “Stitch in Space” featuring treats!)

New workshop added

Want to learn to dye your own yarn? Join Rosemary for one of two afternoon dye workshops. Read more and register here.

Summer Class Schedule

This Summer’s classes will focus on one session workshops to get you rolling on holiday knitting! In addition, we will have two Sweater Modification classes and several advanced sweater classes, in addition to another session of the beaded scarf class, an intermediate crochet sweater course, and new things for babies. You can view them all on our registration page.

As you may know, designer Jared Flood was in fibre space™ this weekend, teaching three workshops: top down sweater design, colorwork and his Girasole pattern. Those who were speedy enough to sign up within moments of the workshop becoming available will tell you that it was a wonderful series of workshops. I have had lots of great feedback. I wish that I had been able to hover outside the door for all of the workshops – I learned a ton! Jared is an amazing teacher and an exceptionally educated knit wear designer. I think, more than anything, that he is curious to learn more and investigate everything, and this has made him a very very good educator and designer.

He took a particular liking to Heinz..plopping down on the floor of our backroom to pet him. Heinz was quite smitten with Jared too.

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