luxury fibers
TNNA Phoenix
Jan 18th
Team Anzula is currently preparing for the TNNA Winter Trade Show in Phoenix this weekend, where we will be showcasing a number of exciting new products and patterns, including some of our most luxurious spinning fiber and all our new colourways.
We very much hope that you will come by to see us at Booths 439, 441, 538, and 540!
We have two new patterns for you to choose from at this year’s SAMPLE IT!: Faina Goberstein’s hat, Al Fresco, in Oasis. And Grace Akhrem’s Seaweed Scarf in Cricket.
Seaweed Scarf ©Grace Akhrem
Al Fresco ©Faina Goberstein
You can purchase them both at SAMPLE IT! Booth 24.
You can also go and check out our wonderful alpaca and silk-blend yarn, Mariposa, at the Great Wall of Yarn, along with a photo of Miriam L. Felton’s Clustered Vest design, which was made with Mariposa.
©Miriam Felton
Our incredibly soft Camel and Silk Spinning Fiber will be available to see and feel at the Spinning and Weaving Display. Like all our spinning fibers and yarns, it can be dyed in any of our available colorways.
Sarah Wilson, aka TheSexyKnitter, has designed an amazing new dress for us, which you will see in the TNNA Fashion Show.
©The Sexy Knitter
According to Sarah, designing this dress was quite the adventure! In an email interview with her, she had this to say about her inspiration and design process:
“The original inspiration was a piece from Dior’s Spring 2011 line, which was this dreamy, floaty, pouffy extravaganza. After many sketches, head-scratching, and discussion, in the end both Sabrina and I wanted to go with something that would be more wearable, without losing the showstopping qualities of the original piece. I started looking at photos of my current style obsession, the Duchess of Cambridge. I thought, ‘what would Kate wear’? A slim fit, conservative hemline, and plunging back trimmed in delicate lace seemed like the perfect fit! This pattern is written in six sizes and would be perfect for a bride to wear to her engagement party, or any confident lady to flaunt her curves at that big event. The main dress is worked with one strand of Breeze and Milky Way held together, while the cowl is comprised of just one strand of Breeze, worked on a large needle. The construction is fabulously interesting, which helps prevent the miles of stockinette from becoming dreary.”
Sarah is planning to publish the pattern in time for the show, so keep an eye on her Ravelry page! She has designed for Anzula before, creating Miss Brooks with Sebastian and Mermaid, which was our entry for last year’s TNNA Winter Fashion show; and more recently, the Army Hat out of For Better or Worsted.
©2010 Lee Ann Barker
©Cooperative Press
We have seven new colorways. TNNA will be their debut, and you can see them in Dreamy at the What’s New! Display.
©Anzula
©Anzula
©Anzula
©Anzula
©Anzula
©Anzula
©Anzula
If you missed us at TNNA’s Summer Trade Show in Columbus last year, you’ll be able to come see for yourself the previous seven new yarn lines we debuted there: Haiku, Dreamy, Milky Way, Mariposa, Kern, Inyo, and Echo; along with the three new colors we launched at the same time: Elephant, Hyacinth, and Petunia!
We are excited to announce the new designers who have created so many patterns using Anzula yarns in the past year. In addition to those featured above, there are three new hat patterns: North Lyme by Woolly Wormhead in Oasis; Dear Baby Francis by IrishGirlieKnits (Squishy suggested); and Amanda Scheuzger‘s Arabesque Beret in For Better or Worsted, which was featured in Interweave Knits Accessories 2011.
©Woolly Wormhead
©IrishGirlieKnits
©Interweave
Purl Soho, and their blog, Purl Bee, also have a hat pattern, Jen’s New Sweetie Pie out of For Better or Worsted. In addition, they have designed the Perfect Fit Socks out of Cloud, and three items for infants: a crib blanket, Hudson Bay Inspired, out of For Better or Worsted; the Little Baby Sweater in Sebastian; and the Forever Baby Blanket in For Better or Worsted.
Jen's New Sweetie Pie ©Purl Soho
Perfect Fit Socks ©Purl Soho
Hudson Bay Inspired ©Purl Soho
Little Baby Sweater ©Purl Soho
Forever Baby Blanket ©Purl Soho
Kate Oates, owner of Tot Toppers, created Hansel & Gretel in For Better or Worsted for babies and toddlers.
©Tot Toppers
There are an amazing number of new socks from two designers. Claire Ellen has created four sock patterns for us in Squishy: the Legolas Sock, Pippin Socks, Samwise Socks, and Susie Asado.
Legolas Sock ©Claire Ellen
Pippin Sock ©Claire Ellen
Samwise Socks ©Claire Ellen
Susie Asado ©Claire Ellen
And three new designs from Suzanne Bryan: the Emerald Sock in Squishy and Sebastian, Red Mosaic Sock in Squishy, and Pretty Socks in Sebastian.
Emerald Sock ©Suzanne Bryan
Red Mosaic Sock ©Suzanne Bryan
Pretty Socks ©Suzanne Bryan
Last, but definitely not least, there are four beautiful new shawl designs: Anna Dalvi used Milky Way to create her double-knitted, fully reversible La Toupie; Cloud is wonderfully showcased by Mary Catherine Black in her lace triangle design, Aecor; Francesca Murphy of Slow Knits used Wash My Lace to design Fragile Hearts; and Laura Patterson created Starshine using Sebastian (be sure to go and see the real thing at the Bryson Distributing Booth).
La Toupie ©Anna Dalvi
Aecor ©Mary Catherine Black
©Francesca Murphy
Starshine ©FiberDreams
That should have whet your knitting appetites. If you can’t make it to the show, be sure to check out our newly updated Where to Buy page. Can’t wait to see you all in Phoenix!
Press Release
Jan 9th
On Sunday, The Fresno Bee – Anzula’s local paper – ran an article with photos about the prospering yarn and knitting culture in our home town. The piece focuses on Fresno’s three local yarn shops: Janna’s Needle Art, SWATCHES, and The Knit Addiction, which expanded their premises exponentially in November. Reporter Bethany Clough spoke to various members of Fresno’s many knitting groups about what they knit … and what they knit with, like Anzula yarn.
Clough visited the Anzula factory, and Fresno Bee photographer, Craig Kohlruss, captured a rare photo of Sabrina in mid-dye.
The article has a feature on Anzula, as the only large-scale local dyeing operation in the entire area. In her interview with Sabrina, Clough reported on how Anzula has grown from being a hobby, to being a small business out of Sabrina’s home, to the yarn now being carried not only in the three yarn shops locally, but to 60 shops all over the continental United States and Canada.
The piece is a wonderful showcase of how one small community can support not just one shop, but three, as well as a full-scale dyeing operation. And the entrepreneurial benefits knitting and craftsmanship can bring to just one local economy.
Make sure you check it out!
For the Troops!
Nov 29th
The Knit Addiction has a challenge for you, here is what they have to say:
Okay hat knitters, another challenge – Our last shipment of hats and scarves has already gone overseas. Debee Wachtel of Knitting4Troops had some great thank you emails from some of the soldiers who got them. One young man thanked her, telling her he is one of 100 soldiers sleeping in an unheated barracks room. He said it gets down to around 45 degrees at night, so they have trouble keeping warm enough to sleep. Debee is packing up a special shipment from several stores to this young man’s unit this Saturday, and her son is picking up our items Thursday or Friday morning. Do you have one or two hats or scarves at home you could finish and bring in? Right now we have 20 hats and 4 scarves. Let’s see how many more we can add to help Debee send a shipment with 100 hats, so all those soldiers can be warmer when they sleep.
You know what’s warmer than wool? Cashmere, Camel & Alpaca. So, we have 125 skeins here at the warehouse of For Better Or Worsted, Cricket, Oasis, Inyo, Kern, Mariposa and Echo in browns, greens, and blues. If you can knit a hat or scarf for the troops by Thursday, come down to our warehouse today and pick up a skein of yarn, then drop off the hat or scarf at Knit Addiction by Thursday. Our knitting group is tonight, feel free to hang out and knit, or just pick up a skein of yarn. We will be here until 8pm. Our address is 740 H St, Fresno, CA 93721.
