What a week!

Posted by Emily in events

This is a big week at Twisted!

Tonight, of course, Larissa Brown and Sarah Gilbert are joining us to celebrate the new book Knitalong (read more about it in yesterday’s blog post). This is a perfect opportunity for friends, fathers, and kids to make a wonderful Mothers’ Day gift for their favorite knitter. Join us from 6:00 - 8:00 pm.


Tomorrow night, another talented author and designer, Fiona Ellis, will be joining us for a lecture from 7:00 to 9:00 pm. The topic of Fiona’s lecture is “The Knitter’s Muse.” As her website says, the world is full of inspiration, from exotic travels to everyday scenes. Fiona will talk about what inspires her and how she uses this as a springboard for her knit designs. This hour-long presentation may even change the way you look at the world.

Please note: To make room for this event, Twisted will be closing early at 6:00 pm, then reopening at 6:30 pm ONLY to people who have pre-registered for Fiona’s talk. If you’re interested in attending, give us a call at 503-922-1150.


Finally, for Mothers’ Day on Sunday we’re having an event that asks people to share “Why I Knit.” On Sunday from 2:00 - 4:00 pm, our friend Laurie Ann Greenberg will be here, video camera in hand, to hear what motivates you to knit.

We’ve had a journal in the shop for the last month or so, and have had lots of people contributing their answers. Laurie Ann has been talking about why she knits on her blog. For this event, on Mothers’ Day, we’re hoping moms and daughters will come in together to share how they got started in the craft and what it means to them.

Knitalong Mother’s Day Event

Posted by Shannon in the shop, books, events

The uber-talented Larissa Brown and Sarah Gilbert will be here at Twisted tomorrow (Thursday) night for a book-signing and Mother’s-Day-gift-making extravaganza! Larissa and her hubbie, Martin, wrote the most amazing book, Knitalong, which is filled to the brim with interesting stories of knitting as a community, both a physical community and a cyber one. Both Larissa and Sarah not only shared their knitting, writing, and photography talents, but their children, as well, who can be seen modeling many of the projects in the book, and for that, we are grateful, because they are so darned cute!

Larissa will be signing books and leading a Magic Yarn Ball project - perfect to give as a Mother’s Day Gift. You can buy the yarn and all the little gifts to go inside here at Twisted. Designer and photographer Sarah Gilbert, who has one pattern and many photos in the book, will join her.

Dads and children, this is your opportunity to get a great knittin’ gift for mom, a signed book and a Magic Yarn Ball!

At Twisted on NE Broadway, Portland, Oregon. May 8. 6 pm.

knitting and walking

Posted by Shannon in events

Are you regretting letting go of your New Year’s Resolution to get in shape? Are you looking for an excuse to see the beauty of Oregon at a slower pace? Well, Chrissy Gardiner, the insanely talented local designer and Twisted Toe-Up Sock Class Teacher (among many other talents), has just the cure for you.

She’s trying to get a team of knitters together to do the Portland to Coast relay walk on August 22. We’ve got three and need 9 more. Entry is $71 and each walker would do two 5-6 mile legs. More info at the website. Download this document for all the pertinent info. If you are interested, please email Chrissy at cgardinerATgardineryarnworksDOTcom (replacing the AT and the DOT with the correct things, of course).

No word yet on whether or not Chrissy will be knitting as she’s walking, or waiting until the walking is over to knit her celebratory sockies.

oooh, la, la

Posted by Shannon in the shop, yarn

We’ve got something super exciting to share with you all - new SOCKS THAT ROCK!

Yeehawww!!

We received a partial order, and will be getting some more in the next week. We are so madly in love with what we have that we weren’t quite sure we’d share it with you all. But, we decided that we are, after all, in the business of selling yarn, even though we’d just love to enhance our personal stashes by a hundred (or thousand)-fold with this new STR infusion. As always with our Blue Moon yarns, it’s a first-come, first-served kind of thing, with no holds, no shipping, no special orders. And remember, doors open at 11am.

Today, also, is the Tigard Knitting Guild Shop Hop, and we hear these ladies and gents are CRAZY. They’ll be at Twisted from about 2:30 until 3:30 or so, and it may be a bit hectic, so think about coming before or after that for your fix.

New Newsletter, highlighting May events!

Posted by Shannon in the shop, events

Just a quick post to let you know that our new newsletter is now up! The May Twisted Newsletter is all about the happs - we have tons of fun events coming up this month, folks - hope you can make one, or three, or all of them!

April/May Contests

Posted by Emily in contests

April’s haiku contest addressed the theme of crafting and the weather. Not an obvious link, but we had faith you all would come up with something brilliant. And we were not disappointed. In fact, though we’re the first to admit that we usually go for the funny poems, this month Brianne swept us off our feet her very lovely and perceptive lines. We both just love this haiku and think Brianne is quite talented.

Rivulets of rain
make cables down my window.
Inspired, I knit.
-Brianne P.

Now for May’s contest, which is NOT a haiku at all. We’re looking for a slogan for Twisted. Think “Got Milk” or “Just Do It.” Something appropriate for t-shirts and bumper stickers. Something fun, funky, and fresh. Something that encapsulates the Twisted vibe. Feel free to submit crazy and/or bawdy slogans, as we’ll surely enjoy reading them, however the winner will be something that your mother would not be embarrassed to read on the bumper off the car in front of her while stopped at a red light. For this month, multiple entries will be allowed. Again, this is NOT a haiku contest this month! No haiku slogans, unless they’re exceedingly clever. To enter, click here. This month’s prize is a t-shirt and bumper sticker with our new catch phrase on it!

Finally, thanks to all who entered April’s contest:

Scorching summer day,
Twisted needles knit and purl
Cool Christmas presents.

Rainy, windy days,
Demanding knitted sweaters.
Greys and Greens and Blues.

I love summer. But,
long days cut my knitting time.
No knitting till dark.

Season is changing
Warm sun between the cloudbursts
Eyeing stash cotton!

rain drops, no stitch drops
knit, purl, stay warm
the throw now reaches my toes

Bamboo’s cool to knit
Perfect for hot, summer days
Sweater done by fall.

Short stop at the park
Sunshine filters thru the trees
Yarn flies on needles

When it is dreary
I knit inside dreaming of
Days full of sunshine!

I still knit wool socks
Though it’s seventy degrees.
The rain will return.

get this monkey off my back! or, maybe not…

Posted by Shannon in yarn, socks, knitting

i have a confession to make, folks. i have a monkey on my back - a BIG one. i blame a good friend and fiber-enabler-extraordinaire for this addiction. she got me started on this road. whether or not she knew how low my resistance is to this kind of thing is beyond the point, because she got me hooked.

what the heck am i talking about? a little pattern that has been making the rounds - the blog-land rounds, the ravelry rounds, and has definitely been making rounds on my size one addi lace needles these last 5 or 6 months. the MONKEY SOCK PATTERN by the insanely talented COOKIE A!! the girl wasn’t lying when she said, in the intro to the sock pattern on knitty, that “the true driving force behind these socks was ADDICTION. There was no other way to get them off my back than to knit them.” many of us have fallen into the monkey-sock-addiction-trap. i am 8 pairs in, and not sure it is over for me. i start to get a bit…shaky and nervous, fondling fingering-weight yarn and picturing it knitted up into monkeys if i haven’t had one on the needles in a while. geez, people! the monkey sock has become my vanilla sock pattern - if i am not sure what to do with a pair of socks, chances are they will end up as monkeys!

and the saddest part of this whole thing? i’m not even sure i want help for this addiction. in fact, i may just want to dive further in…

a smattering of monkeys socks:

from left to right: STR Lightweight in Algae, Cherry Tree Hill Supersock in African Greys, Dream in Color Smooshy in Deep Seaflower

Free Fiona Ellis Lecture

Posted by Shannon in events

Mark your calendars and give us a call to register for an exciting lecture at Twisted on Friday, May 9, 2008, from 7-9pm. Fiona Ellis, the amazing designer, will be kicking off a whole weekend of classes sponsored by Blue Moon Fiber Arts (the Socks That Rock goddesses), with a free lecture at Twisted. The rest of the weekend’s events will take place up at the World Forestry Center, and if you want to register for those, please go to Blue Moon’s website. If you just want to come to the lecture at Twisted, give us a call at 503.922.1150 to register.

Photo Gallery

Posted by Emily in the shop

What do your Twisted purchases become when they grow up? Show us your creations and check out everyone else’s in our new Twisted customer photo gallery. It’s a flickr group where you can show off the finished objects that started their lives on our shelves.

The little button/badge/thingamagig to the right in the side bar shows ten recently-added images from the gallery. You can click on them to go to the original Flickr image and see more details about the project. Or, click here to see all the photos, or to join the group and add your own!

If you want to see when others add photos, subscribe to the RSS feed.

We’d love to see what you’ve made, so when you have a moment please join the group and share your wonderful creations!

Rusted Root Mania

Posted by Emily in classes

Jump on the Rusted Root bandwagon! This is definitely the hottest summer shirt pattern we’ve been selling lately. Shannon did it in Cathay. Parna’s got it in progress in Pure Cotton. I’ve got it queued in Euroflax… wait Prima… wait Soya Cotton… errrm…

Anyway, whatever yarn you knit it in, the pattern’s written by Portland’s own Zephyr Style gals. It’s knit from the top down so there’s, say it with me, no seaming. And you can try it on as you go so the fit is sure to be perfection even if your gauge isn’t. The break between the second and third classes gives you plenty of time to work on the body. If you’re feeling up to it, there’s a lace panel down the front. If you’re looking for something simpler, you can just go with the plain white (or orange, purple, green, etc.) T look.

Sundays, June 1, 8, 29, 3:00 – 5:00 pm.
with Parna Mehrbani
$60
Materials: Worsted weight yarn (5 sts/inch), 24” circular needles in size necessary to obtain gauge.
Includes: Zephyr Style Rusted Root pattern.
Skills learned: Raglan sleeves, basic lace if desired.

2310 NE Broadway, Portland, OR 97232     *     503-922-1150     *     info@twistedpdx.com