Way Overdue Shop Update

I'm Back!

Long time no post! For months Blogger and Google refused to let me add photos. But I've successfully procrastinated long enough. I CAN BLOG AGAIN! Without cursing like a sailor or throwing things at my laptop. What a relief.  well I still curse a bit too much under my breath...

Surprise Spring Sale! 

It's a MMMMegan Day Storewide Sale. Read detail on our blog. 

Crochet is Cool! 

Yep! Crochet is super-trending and seeing a big resurgence. It's especially popular among the GenZ set. We've bulked up our crochet supplies and as always, have great yarns perfect for any project. 

6 Day Star Blanket CAL with Betty McKnit

Star Dreams Blanet CAL: Join in the Juniper Moon Farms/Betty McKnit Crochet-a-long starting May 6th. Just posted details at our blog at link above. Sign up online for access to exclusive videos, tutorials and Live Q&A with Betty. Plus you'll be entered into KFI's Prize Raffle for good stuff! Let us help you pick your colors & get 15% off supplies. 

Calls for 6 balls Juniper Moon Farms Cumulus Degrade. We have new batch of colors in stock and access to the pattern. The pattern also comes with links to the video tutorials if you want a head start.

Crochet Critters CAL

Our weekly Drop-In Thursday group having fun making Crochet Critters from Kerry Lord's book, Edward's Menagerie: New Edition. If little animals more your style, come join in 12-2pm each Thu. Lisa guiding everyone through the 50 critters (note: photo showed older version of book). Soon we'll have a zoo's worth! Kerry has great how to videos as well. 

Yarn Crawl Time! 

Golden State Yarn Crawl 2025: Dates are Jun 19-28th. Expanded to 10 days and maybe a few new locations, but same drill. Make a mad dash to shops to collect your passport stamps. Goal: A fun excuse to travel to new towns in our California backyards. Discover new shops, good stuff, maybe frolic with baby alpacas too! Bonus for us in Murphys: Wineries to entice a little wine-tasing during their travels. Follow updates on instagram.

New Lykke Needle Cases 

• Lykke Works Cases: New empty denim/leather organizing cases for all your interchangeable needles & cords, notions and hooks. Three styles (Weekender, Oxford and Taylor) designed for 3.5" and 5" IC tips and cords. But some of the cases could work for other types of needles and notions. Great when you need a smaller option for travelling. 

DellaQ Restock

• DellaQ bags: You can never have too many bags! We have the Maker's Midi Backpack and Mini Messenger. Plus the new Maker's project totes. The waxed canvas is super sturdy and perfect for travelling. The bags designed with crafters in mind with little details: stitch markers, stitch holder, thread cutter, tapestry needle and sweet mini notepad included. 

Maika Bag Restock

• Maika bags: ....or too many adorable, sturdy canvas project bags! Zipper pouches are fantastic for travel and everyday use. The Lunch Totes make awesome project bags and surprisingly hold a ton! And who doesn't need an adorable little keychain pouch for the absolute essentials? 

On the Bookshelf  

  

Frozen River is now in paperback and customers are loving! Based on true-story of 18th century midwife. Another fantastic novel by Ariel Lawhon. 

Before the Coffee Gets Cold is a Japanese series set in a magical coffee shop. Still in hardcover in the US but it's a lovely, if bit quirky, take on second-chances and time travel. 

Ruth Galloway Sorta Back!  Elly Griffiths wrapped up Ruth's series last year, but released Man In Black short stories. Little vignettes of all our favorite characters. These are Elly's warm-ups scenes and wonderful revisit of Ruth's world. 

  

New Elly Griffiths Coming: She launches a brand new series, The Frozen People in July. Main character is a Cold Case Detective with a secret: The team can travels back in time to solve the case! Works great until our main character gets trapped in 1850s London! Hardcover but for fans....we don't care! I can't wait. 

Lane Winslow Mystery Series: Brand new release! #12 The Cost of a Hostage is a welcome addition to one of our shop favorite series. Looks like her and Darling head to Mexico City to save another sibling! We're taking bets when a Little Darling will enter the King's Cover neighborhood. 

New Scandi Mystery Series by Viveca Sten: Came highly recommended by our customers (huge mystery readers) and now there's a Netflix series based on her Are Murders Series. Sten is a massive best-selling writer in her native Sweden. Her first series, the internationally #1 best-selling,  Sandhamn Murders, also found a place on our shop shelves! (I'm longing for snowy vistas and freezing temps of Scandinavia as our temps tease us with summer months to come)

Yarn Trends: Mohair Pairing Still Big

Still the fad for pairing mohair with your yarn now reaching "here to stay" status. It's a ton of fun to play yarn mixologist, experimenting with yarns, different shades, solids with variegated. It's a way to bump up your gauge to next level and create a unique yarn at same time. 

Dream in Color Smooshy Cahsmere

Gorgeous fingering hand-dyed yarn with cashmere. It's a delight to use. I've swatched using it with Aerial mohair together. (Another big trend-especially Scandinavian designers-using carry-along technique with strand of silky-mohair. Bumps gauge up a bit and creates a unique, soft fluffy, cuddly fabric. Got small restock in the dye pots right now, due to arrive next month. On our website but not all colors have pictures yet. 

Berroco Aerial  in 80 colors. So much fun pairing the wide palette to create a unique duo. It's addictive fun....kinda like wine & food pairings without the calories! Addictive too. It's magic watching how your pairing turns out but always in amazing ways. It's such a huge trend (especially with Scandinavian designers) to pair a fingering or dk yarn with strand of mohair. It bumps up gauge a bit and makes a lovely soft fabric with wonderful halo effect. A hand-dye like Smooshy Cashmere + Aerial creates a gorgeous combo. 

Take it up a notch....with Cashmere!

Lang's Cashmere Light & Dreams:Few years ago we gave Cashemere Light a spin. Tentatively we placed the order since it's pricey....but it's proved to be irresistible. When you want "special gift" this is your yarn. 88 cashmere/12 nylon blend is actually softer to the touch than 100% cashmere!  

This year they have Cashmere Light Colors (multicolor) and we have a few Cashmere Dreams to test out. Order was due in winter so colors deeper, rich tones but a dream to use. I'm making a 1 ball simple keyhole scarf now and it's just sublime. This could be a perfect friend/loved one gift knit this holiday season. Love you can turn these little balls of heaven into a gorgeous, scrumptious gift! 

Summer Is Coming

Thermometer ticking up. That means it's time for our seasonal yarn shuffle to begin. We pull the chunky wools and put out our cottons. We love all the Cumulus' and Cirrus' lines. They're so beloved we keep them out year-round! Included are Berroco's Pima Soft and Modern Cottons (here, here) to the list. 

Our climate differs from other regions. When customers making baby blankets I always ask two questions: Where does baby live?  Will Mom want sturdy/super-washable on high, or will she be ok with wash gentle/tumble cool? Don't get me wrong.... I adore wool! But you can't beat the softness of our cotton yarn lineup. Most people pick soft and cuddly every time. 

Here's quick snapshot of what's what, past-present-future yarn doings:

Berroco Spring/Summer '25 arrives in mid-May: Vintage Sock Handpaint, Modern Linen and Iris. New Berroco Fall/Winter Lines: In the shop Millstone Tweed, Merino 401, Gimlet. 

New KFI/Euro Yarns: Restocks of our usual favorites (new colors, new patterns): Juniper Moon Cumulus' and Cirrus' lines; Noro Akari and Akari Solo; Jody Long Coastline, Ciao. Cumulus Degrade restocked now for the Star Blanket CAL. 

Other New Summer Yarns On Order: Eco Bag, Noro Kakigori, Ohajiki; Jody Long Pima Grande, Satiny (Jody's bringing great new cottons!), Brighton Beach, and Jute.

Trunk Shows

Berroco Fall/Winter '24: Came, Inspired and Went. Find them on Berroco's YouTube channel. 

Berroco Spring/Summer '25: Save the Date: Modern Linen: Jun 6-23rd; Iris: Aug 8-25th.

Jody Long Summer '25: Timing this trunk show for the Golden State Yarn Crawl. Expect to see it here mid-late June. Requested Pima Grande and Satiny. Super thrilled about Pima Grande: It's a, nubby chunky cotton! It's hard to find chunky cottons. Satiny is a loosely spun, super soft Spanish-Italian collaboration. 100% Mako cotton so stronger, softer and shiny! 

Free In-Shop Sessions, Circles, Gatherings....

Free Weekly Drop-In Circles: Perfect for practicing with others nearby to guide you. It's a great way to test the waters. Always fun to work together around the table. Granted....there's also a lot of tinking-back and ripping out as we chat and laugh! 

Socks, Baby....Socks!  Maureen still here Fridays to coach you on making socks. She loves an Easy        Vanilla pattern using 9" circulars. But all styles welcome. Great chance to have Free Drop-in. You can always drop-in even if not making socks! We love the company.

Individual Classes

First Time Knitters Classes Sign up with Kim for individual lessons here. For Newbies. No fuss and not costly. We like to start simple and take it at your pace. Supplies needed: Worsted weight solid cotton yarn and pair of needles #8 or a hook #I. If you like things big....use a chunky or super bulky. Your choice. We find affordable cotton yarn a great place to start. If you like it and want to keep going, sign up for more individual lessons to take to the next level and tackle the purl!.  Lessons are $20 a session and run about 1.5hrs. For now come to shop and set up a class with Kim. Eventually we will get it up on the website...but not yet! LOL 

That's it until next time!

 

   

On the Bookshelf: Lots of New Arrivals

Here's peek at some of our shop's favorite books of the moment. We love a good mystery series and there's several new releases of old favorites! Most titles mentioned in newsletters are found on our website Bookshelf. 

Tip: All newsletters are pulled from our blog. Sometimes the time-vortex has a wee wibble-wobble hiccup. Posts are on our blog for weeks before they get sent out to emails via our mailchimp. Oopsie Daisy! Feel free to bookmark our blog to see most current shop content. Or if you wonder "hmmmm how's maisieblue doing?" Or you just can't wait until we (Kim) gets it together enough to finally send a newsletter out! ;) 

Ruth Galloway (Elly Griffiths)

Rare that we order new hardcover fiction. When we do it's very specific and books we absolutely can't wait another year to read. For example. There's a new Ruth: #15 Last Remains!! She's my literary BFF and can't wait to catch up with her over tea and biscuits as we sit on her marsh beach and listen to the wild Norfolk ocean waves. 

For those who have restraint (and can resist the siren call of a brand new hardcover....) there's a new paperback of #14 Locked Room.  Find all of Ruth's series here on our website if you can't visit shop. 

Lane Winslow (Iona Wishaw)

Another shop favorite cozy mystery is the Lane Winslow Mysteries by Iona Wishaw. Set in post-war Canada it features a woman seeking quiet solitude in wilds of British Columbia after her treacherous stint as British spy behind Allied lines in WW2. Each installment improves, carries forth multiple character story lines and creates a wonderfully vivid escape to shores of King's Cove. It deftly weaves back and forth in time, unfolding the mystery bit by bit while gradually pulling in Lane's neighbors to create a lovely cast of characters. The latest #10 To Track a Traitor sheds light on Lane's difficult sister Diana and her grandparents. When an early morning crisis phone call pulls Lane back to her family, Darling is left adrift in the back and beyond of Western Canada.....or is he? You'll have to read to find out! Series available on our website

Bruno Chief of Police (Martin Walker)

A perennial shop favorite mystery series. Features Bruno, a retired French Police Chief. He loves his quiet life in rural Provencal village. Loves wine and good food. Has a knack for solving local mysteries. A perfect binge read series that will have you cooking French food, drinking wine and hopefully not finding dead bodies like Bruno! You might suddenly decide to book trip to France though. 

Brittany Mysteries (Jean Banneluc)

Another French mystery series but now we head to Brittany. Cranky Parisian Commissar Dupin transferred to the rural Breton Coast where plenty keeps him busy in the sleepy little fishing villages. If you like Bruno then this is another great series.  

Thursday Murder Club (Richard Osman)

One to watch. Richard Osman's new mystery series is a runaway hit. There's now three books: Thursday Murder Club, Man Who Died Twice and Bullet That Missed. Customers are loving this fun, witty, hilarious series about four friends in village retirement community with a knack for solving crimes. 

Not a New Maisie (Jacqueline Winspear) 

No new Maisie this year. Instead we have a standalone novel (possibly an introduction of a new character?) Already hearing customers say they love it. I suspect this character may eventually intersect with Maisie in future books. That's just my two cents! Still only in hardcover but usually see paperback a year later (March 2024) You can find all the Maisie Dobbs here. 

Louise Penny's Latest Paperback 

Just out in paperback is #18 Inspector Gamache. Originally published in Nov 2022 hardcover. This is a really fast push to paperback! Great news for Louise Penny fans. 

Wonderful French Translations (Valerie Perrin)

Many customers loved Fresh Water for Flowers and now we have Valerie Perrin's eagerly anticipated next novel, Three. Perfect for a summer beach or vacation read, with a bit of je ne sais quoi! Both books bestsellers in France. For those who loved her previous book, you'll like this one too. These both lean "literary" on the reading scale of "easy/beachy - cozy/mysteries - historical sagas - literary/thoughtprovoking" 

This European publisher, Europa editions has a knack for picking best of European fiction and publishing here in the US. One of their first runaway handbell-favorites was The Elegance of a Hedgehog. Years later they really made their mark with the highly successful My Brilliant Friend (# 1 in Neapolitan Series) by Elena Ferrante. Granted Ferrante's massive status enhanced by her anonymous status that led to an almost rock-star level fascination (here, here ). Despite who she is...her writing is remarkable. Intense and not for everyone, but enduring and captivating. She's now a global literary phenom and her subsequent books are much heralded publishing events. 

For those who love foreign literary works, his summer Europa's hot-hot-hot indie booksellers favorite is The Postcard by Anne Berest. Still in hardcover but huge buzz leading up to its publication. An author to watch and next summer I expect we'll see this paperback hit our little shop's shelves. 

Two other potential Europa editions gems on our shelves: Lesser Islands (Italy) and Barbara Isn't Dying (Germany). Both are slim reads but sound promising for a thoughtful vacation read. 

I'm so intrigued by Lesser Islands since described as a "historical family saga" yet only less than 1/2" thick!? This is on my to-read-bookshelf for that reason alone! 

New Historical Fiction Series (Chanel Cleeton)

Chanel Cleeton Cuban Saga perfect for fans of historical fiction  Great beach reads if you like engrossing, dramatic, emotional family saga's that carry you along the tide of history. Latest is Cuban Heiress. Set in 1934 on a luxury cruise from New York to Havana. Two women's pasts collide as they struggle to survive. Based on the true story of the SS Morro Castle disaster. Find her books here. 

Seven Sisters Saga (Lucinda Riley) 

Finally! The much anticipated final 8th book the Lucinda Riley's Seven Sister Saga. Huge favorite series in the shop. It's in the family saga/historical fiction/romancey/magically mysterious mythology genre. Sadly the author died last year but had left a fully formed final book roughed out, with certain key passages fully finished. Her son and literary collaborator, Harry Whittaker did final drafts so her fans could all find out the true story of Pa Salt! Books #7 Missing Sister and #8 Atlas both still hardcovers (and hefty super sized door stops) but books rest of series available in paperback. 

You can find them here. 

Sweetly Poignant 

The Patron Saint of Second Chances is a charming novel about a small town Italian Mayor trying to boost his towns tourist profile but things don't go as he envisioned. Entertaining, heartfelt and poignant. A gem with cast of memorable characters. 

Beach Read Time! 

The Darlings by Hannah McKinnon a perfect family saga/wedding/cape cod/secrets come tumbling out type of novel that's perfect for a relaxing beach read! Megan took this on a recent vacation and loved it! McKinnon author of several backlist titles: Summer House, Lake House, Mystic Summer. If we can't spend summer at an east coast beach house then next best thing is a book that takes us there. 

Beach Read Times Three!

Trio collaboration by three best-selling authors. Each tackles a different era at the same summer Newport enclave. This screams "summer beach read"! 

Potenial Gem

Narrowboat Summer is a charming "life-long girlfriends to the rescue" novel set on a longboat (English houseboat) over course of few weeks on a heavenly English summer. Perfect for when you want a heart-tugging, satisfying, feel-good book. Nothing like the power of girlfriends at any age. 

Just unpacked another order of beach reads too late to include here. You'll have to come see us in person! Several titles by Emily Henry and Annabel Monaghan. Megan loving these right now. More from both authors to be added to online shop next week. 

You have successfully reached the end of this very long overdue (and long winded) book chat! 

One more thing: Want to walk around the shop? Our google map page now has virtual tours!