String of Purls Participated in First Omaha Sew Quilt & Embroidery Festival

We had great fun creating a "mini" String of Purls exhibit at the Sew Quilt and Embroidery Festival at the Qwest Center June 15-17. So many of our knitting customers talk about their "cross addictions" with the fiber arts. These days people are using yarn for knitting, quilting and everything in between. A good example of this is Jean Mills, a fiber artist recently located in Omaha from the Seattle area. We are lucky to have such a gifted artist who integrates yarns, fabric and embellishments to create panoramic fiber canvases. Jean conducts workshops on her techniques--a great way to expand your love of combining color and texture.

Here is a look at our exhibit. A special thanks to our dedicated Louise Rownd who did a great job with the booth!

Just Back From Fall Market

We made some wonderful discoveries at market last week! It was an act of restraint not to bring home everything we saw...just a lot of it! This fall will feature soft and colorful alpaca and richly dyed silks and ribbons with embedded beads. Innovative needle felting is also going to be very big.

In addition to our usual great yarns, we found a few new yarn companies that were irresistible. Be Sweet is a womans' cooperative from South Africa. It was a pleasure ordering from a company whose proceeds benefit the hard working hands who produce this stunning yarn. You'll see a combination of yarns with subtle novelty touches including beads, Be Sweet mohair and ribbon. Tilli Tomas from Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts is showing exquisite silks and ribbons stranded with beads...a luxurious treat! We nabbed the most adorable needle felting projects from Decadent Fibers who featured felted vegtables...believe it or not, carrots and pumpkins, in bright colors...Fanatica Fibers offers the most whimsical needle felted ornanments and animals.

It is never too early to think about holiday gifts. We found the perfect, "not so time consuming" gift creation. MagKnits introduces a new magnitized closure suitable for creating a necklaces or belt. Available in matte silver and gold and different shapes, MagKnits turns your knitting into jewelry. You will have to stop by the shop to see what we mean!

Trendsetter has come up with an ingenious mesh product that allows non-knitters to enjoy working with beautiful yarns and ribbons. With this woven mesh you can finger weave yarns to create dramatic, textural scarves and shawls. I just put one together and it only took me three hours to make a beautiful, metalic ribbon fringed scarf.


It is going to be an exciting fall at String of Purls. Aside from the new items we have talked about, we will be offering new line of alpaca and linen and more colors of Lorna's Laces. Our new fall yarns arrive later this summer. In the meantime there is plenty of summer knitting to do!