I didn’t..well until today. I have had the world’s longest week.  I must warn you all that this is not a happy post.

It started Sunday morning. At 8 am I got a call from my Mom who had just received a call from Linsday, my brother’s new wife (of four weeks!). My bro, Michael, was driving early morning Sunday on a very small back road and was speeding. He missed a stop sign, braked too late, the car slid and he hit a tree on the driver side going very very fast. The car flipped up onto its side and the roof calapsed into the car. He was killed instantly. His passenger was life flighted to Pittsburgh and underwent surgery. We still don’t know whether he will make it. For all my brother’s struggles, he has never been happier than with his new baby and his new wife. Lindsay and Michael have made him happier than I have ever seen him and he seemed to have really been improving. He was amazing with that baby. It breaks my heart to know that little Michael will never get to know his father.

I have decided to dedicate my new shop to my brother. He had dreams of someday opening his own restaurant. He was an amazing cook and it was always his dream to have his own business. So because its July, I guess I had promised that a new yarn shop would appear in Alexandria this month. Because I can’t possibly have time to stop and think about how absolutely horrible this tragedy was, I will be spending the next week or two of my life getting this shop open. I don’t have an exact date just yet…but I might very very soon (as in, I might know in the next 48 hours exactly when the doors will open).

So stay tuned. I promise that my next post will be not be this sad.

I leave you now with something happy (or bizarre). Many of you may not know but my brother’s home town (and Phillip’s hometown as well), Canonsburg, PA, hosts the state’s second largest Independence Day Parade (I thought it was the country’s but wikipedia says state..hmmm….) So when we arrived on Sunday, a full week before the parade, Pike Street looked like this for miles:

Anyone need new lawn furniture? I know where you can snag some…

If you have come by the Five Guys restaurant lately, you may have noticed a few changes that fibre space storefront. Last week, the inside work was completed, for the most part and my fibre space team went in to add the accent colors and work on the bathroom and light fixtures. Here is the before:

And here is the after:

Yesterday, Tim’s Tidy Touch Paint folks came out and painted the exterior trim of the building and my little stars, which were previously just white and not really visible. Now I have red trim and lots of cute brown stars! I highly recommend Tim. He and his folks are amazing!

There is a temporary sign in the window but the permanent stuff will be done in a few weeks….

I haven’t knitted a thing in weeks and I am hoping to get some knitting done tonight during my lace wrap class.

I got back from the National Needle Arts Association trade show late Monday night and am exciting to report that you will have the most fabulous yarn selection at fibre space! I spent most of Saturday night with large post it notes in a hotel room plotting out the different categories of yarn and what companies I wanted to bring in for each. I promise that it was well thought through, despite the fact that it occurred in the middle of the night.

I am bringing in two large national companies that are not widely carried in our area but offer amazing fibers at really really good prices. I was really excited by some of the fiber combinations that I saw for less than $6 a ball. (think cotton angora washable yarn for baby blankets!)

But I am most excited about some of the smaller companies that I discovered at the show. There is a rise in small family owned companies who are focused on eco friendly fibers or yarns produced from local farmers in cooperation with other local businesses. The shop will definitely have quite a few different companies that fall into this category.

AND, I found some amazing interesting fibers like cotton chenille for baby items and recycled silk yarn made from saris in India and Nepal. We are also carrying a huge line of hand dyed silk ribbons…

Perhaps the most exciting fiber that I found is a new yarn for the infamous beanie hat. I am working on a new hat pattern now that will use this new fiber…but can’t reveal quite yet what line this is from. I promise that you will all be very very happy to see it in the shop though.

My first yarn order shipped yesterday and while it was really exciting to see the UPS tracker notification, it also made me really really nervous. I don’t have any fixtures yet to put the yarn on! The first of the custom fixtures will arrive next Monday but the majority of my awesome fixtures won’t be in until July. In the meantime, I might just dump all of the gorgeous yarn on the nice new floors and roll around in it. Well, maybe not. I suppose it won’t be very nice to purchase then.

So I met someone that a few of you might be excited to know about….this is Miriam Felton from MimKnits on the right with the red wrap. I am wearing one of her new designs. (she is the designer of the Adams shawl!) On the left is Amy O’neill Houck who used to be local but moved to Alaska last year. We met a couple of years ago at A Tangled Skein. They are both part of the Stitch Cooperative, which brings together many amazing designers under one company and allows them to receive profits for their own designs at a much higher rate than the larger companies pay. I am excited to be bringing their designs into the shop, so look for some hip knit and crochet patterns from Amy and those amazing lace patterns from Miriam.

New classes have been added to the schedule, including the Chanel styled jacket that many of you were interested in. It will be held at the new shop! I am going to use Malabrigo silk and wool for the project and am scoping out colors now. There is a good chance that this yarn will be in the shop in time for the class, along with some other amazing options from Cascade. They have a cotton tencel blend yarn that has a gorgeous drape and promises very little wear and tear.

In the next few days, crochet classes will be added as well. In late June, I will put more beginner and intermediate classes on the schedule for the store.

I am also looking for someone to teach weekend classes in Washington DC. If you are interested (or know someone who is), please shoot me a note.

After a long weekend of deliberations, the fibre space team (ok, so me, my husband, our dogs and three of my teachers) decided upon the name for the new space girl.

Meet our newest addition to the team: Fibre Girl - saving the galaxy from bad yarn!

Congratulations to Cameronne, who wins a $50 gift card to the new shop and bragging rights!

The ballet slipper class starts up this evening at Greenberry’s in Arlington and there are still a few spots in the class. While the pattern is specifically for slippers, the skills involved are the same as socks, but with fewer stitches!

So grab 150 yards Worsted weight yarn, 2 sets of US#3 circular needles 24″ or longer and a stitch marker and join me for these adorable slippers!

While my mystery baby blanket went off to live with someone else (a new baby…), Amanda has completed hers along with a custom pocket that features the “W” of her last name.

While I was gone, lots of great things happened in the shop. This is the door to the classroom space…it will be painted white and it will be on a new wall that hasn’t been constructed yet. The wall will be an accent color so that the door and glass really “pops.”

The carpet has been ripped up and we have ordered the new flooring, which will be a bit more comfy on my back! While restoring the cement with a hip new finish seemed like a good idea at the time, I have been convinced that standing on that all day may not be very good for my body.

Here is a glance at the classroom and back room spaces (front door is on the right just off the photo), where the new wall will go soon. The walls are being prepped for new paint, which will be neutral with great white trim.

The reception this weekend was a blast and so many things turned out so well. I am super proud of those centerpieces…they couldn’t have been more perfect and the little herb table markers were great. I will get a photo of the place card herbs soon…waiting on more photos to arrive in my inbox.

The cupcake table was awesome! The flavors were amazing and a huge hit. Special thanks to Dozen Bake Shop. We had:

The Elvis - banana cake with caramel center and peanut butter icing

Cosmo - vodka soaked cranberries in the batter and topped with pink buttercream and rimmed in pink sugar just like a martini glass!

Key Lime - made with real imported Florida key limes and topped with graham cracker

Lavendar lemon - the buttercream icing was lavendar and lemon…incredible!

East end stout - chocolate cupcake that is made with stout beer…mmm…

They were all decorated with calendula flowers, which are edible and from a local organic grower.

Meet the newest face of Knit-a-Gogo’s fibre space. This little lady is excited to be part of the team but desperately needs a name! So I am going to host a contest.

Details:

Submit ONE name idea in the comments section below before Friday, June 5 at 5 p.m. The fibre space team will then select the best name from the submissions. The winner will receive a $50 gift card for the new store!!

You should feel free to express your opinions about each other’s submissions!

Happy naming…