News About Skacel

Hello!

Last night I attended the October meeting of the Eastside Knitters Guild.  I have a lot of notes from the meeting, and I was writing furiously, so I hope I didn't get anything down wrong. If I did, I will be sure to correct and update this post.

The first things we talked about at the meeting were the many charities the guild is knitting for.  One of the interesting things that I learned, is that the members who work for Microsoft keep track of their hours of charity knitting, because Microsoft will match the hours with money for that charity, just as they match cash donations.  Isn't that generous?

The guild is busy with many many charities, but one that we discussed a lot was making scarves for the Special Olympics.  Last year, every participant in the Special Olympics received a Red and Blue scarf.  There were  1000 made just for Washington.  There was a special appeal for scarves for Alaska, so when we had finished our Washington quota, the guild got  busy and made scarves to send up to Alaska.  This year, however, instead of having all of the states use the same color scheme, each state is choosing it's own scarf colors.

The colors for Washington (which needs 1000 scarves) are
 Red Heart Soft    Really Red #9925, and Light Grey Heather #9440.

The colors for Alaska (which needs 750 scarves) are
Caron one-pound:
Midnight blue #456 and Sunflower  #549

There are no patterns you need to follow, just use both colors in your scarf.  They should be 6 in. wide and between 54 - 60 in long including fringe.

If you make a scarf, you can mail it (or drive it over if you are local) to:
Special Olympics Washington
Attn: Scarf Project
1809 75h Avenue, Suite 1509
Seattle, WA 98101

Contact:  Ginger Cutler-Campbell

After we had finished the business portion, we had a presentation by Karin Skacel (pronounced CAR -in ske - SELL), President of Skacel Collection, Inc.  They are a local company, with their facility just south of Seattle.  They are the sole North American distributors of my favorite knitting needles, Addi Turbos, as well as a bunch of really cool yarns.  All of this, and, they are a family company.  Local and family owned.

Anyway, Karin talked to us about their newest venture, a retail store coupled with a bakery that specializes in Gluten Free baked goods.  She wanted the "crafting community center,"  her daughter dreamed of running her own bakery, they are putting them together in "Makers' Mercantile."  They will have over 6000 sq ft of space.  There will be the bakery, a large space with a counter at the back and lots of room for tables, chairs, couches, etc. where people can sit and craft while enjoying the goodies.  Remember, Karin told us, "Gluten free does not mean calorie free."  She brought us some of her daughter's cookies to sample, peanut butter (honestly - to die for), and chocolate chip (equally yummy).  The food part will include espresso, local sodas, and teas.  There will also be plenty of room for classes.  Karin sees the store as way more than yarn and needles.  Of course there will be yarn and needles.  It is Skacel, after all.  But they will offer a variety of other crafting projects. 

One of Karin's big dreams is for the classroom space.  She wants to offer lots of classes and gave us a sampling of the projects they will be starting with.  The most amazing ones to me were the felting.  This is not fulling, as when you knit/crochet something and throw it in the washer to "full."  This is full on artistic needle felting. 

front of felted blanket

back of felted blanket

Check out the felted scarf:

It was amazingly light and soft.  The roving used to make it was cashmere.

Karin also talked about this hooking craft.  It's not the same as the latch hooking that was so popular in the 1970s.  She showed us some sample purse projects.

One of the things I liked about the projects is that they will be offered in a variety of price points, so you can do them relatively cheaply, or luxuriously. 

As for yarns, they will only sell their own brands.  There are many yarn shops in the Seattle area.  And these shops do a great job selling all kinds of yarn from Cascade to specialty local dyers.  They don't want to replicate that but rather compliment our local offerings with their own.  Makes great sense to me.

In addition to all of the cool crafting and felting classes, they will hold regular skill building classes for knitting and crochet, as well as offer classes with visiting instructors/designers such as Franklin Habit. 

Then the best part of the evening started.  Karin had brought a special set of Addi Needles size 15 filled with .....

Swarovsky Crystals.

I kid you not.  She raffled them off.  I did not win.


However, she also brought goody bags for all the Guild members who attended, so I did score one of those:

Not only did I get a new reusable bag, but inside there was a catalog with free patterns, a ball of their XXL Treking sock yarn, and a pattern for a project bag to be knit with the yarn.  Awesome goodies!

Thanks so much to the Skacel Collection for the great program, and especially to Karin Skacel for coming out to talk to the group.

Stay safe and well.
Yours,

f1bercat
shaping the planet with new sock yarn!