Find out how. Click Here.
Celeste Gale! 1/14/2010
Connie Cottingham 3-2-2010
Thank you! I couldn’t do any of this without the awesomeness of you.
Much love & peace,
Nicole, Mike and Squeakers
Jan
14
MAKE A DIFFERENCE
Jan
14
Winter 2010 Newsletter!
How are you today? I hope everyone had a great holiday!
In today’s newsletter, I’m going to talk about a couple of fun things we’re doing here at Darn Good Yarn (DGY), some charity work you can help with, and of course some of our newer items! Worth the read!
Nurture. Empower. Promote A Life!
In case you haven’t noticed, my goal with Darn Good Yarn is to help others while bringing you some fun and funky yarns from around the globe. Well, one day I reached out to this AMAZING group in Nepal, EWN. You can read about them here: http://www.3sistersadventure.com/EWN/
We have come together and I had these bracelets made by women in the western part of Nepal.
I asked them to bead into the bracelets “N.E.P.A.L.” this stands for Nurture. Empower. Promote A Life. (tm DGY 2010)It’s a great reminder when you wear this bracelet that you have truly made a difference in someone’s life. Click the pictures to read more about the bracelets. This first picture is of one of the instructors with EWN!
Darn Good Yarn and the American Red Cross:
The earthquake in Haiti is horrendous. In an effort to help, 5% of every sale of our premium recycled silk yarn will go to the the American Red Cross until the end of February. It’s as simple as that!
Other BIG news that you can help with:
I often get emails from individuals and groups for donations. They all do very special charity work for their
communities. So, starting this weekend, we will have a special section of our website dedicated to a person or group once a quarter. In this section of the site you can donate to Darn Good Yarn wherein 100% of that money goes to these organizations by means of yarns that we carry at our cost. If you would like to read more about this great program, please CLICK HERE
This quarter, we will be accepting donations for Jake S. He crochets hats and hangs them around his town for those in need. You should read about his story HERE.
Want to win $25 to spend at Darn Good Yarn?
Have you come up with a simple, easy pattern for our yarn? If so, you could enter it to us here at info@darngoodyarn.com. If we use it as one of our free patterns on the site you’ll get a $25 gift certificate for the site! It can be knitted, crocheted or something else!!! (Hmmmm…) What are you going to submit?
Have you seen Chris’s Crochet Corner?
You’ve seen her awesome patterns, now she has a little home here on Darn Good Yarn too! Click on any photo to go to her crochet corner to get inspired! And if you have time visit her Etsy store by clicking on this address: www.chrisssmith22.etsy.com
What’s New at Darn Good Yarn?
Guess what we have back in stock…finally… Our Sari Ribbon! Click on the items below to check ‘em out!
If you have questions about anything you saw in this newsletter, feel free to contact Darn Good Yarn at info@darngoodyarn.com
Have a great day!
Namaste,
Nicole, Mike & Squeakers
Jan
10
Get Involved!
We have a new year upon here at Darn Good Yarn. And with that comes goals that have been sitting in a to-do folder on my desk. The biggest goal is one that you can help me with. I frequently get requests for yarn donations and discounted rates for people just like you who are making a difference. I try to give as much as I can but I sometimes wish I could do more.
Well, the one thing that never ceases to amaze me are all of the Darn Good Yarn Fans! You all are AWESOME! So, I am now accepting donations to help me help others. I think it’s great that we are re-thinking our crafting with the cool yarns Darn Good Yarn carries, like our recycled silks, banana fibers, hemp yarns and of course the awesome felt balls. These cool items are fairly traded and give jobs to women in particular who normally wouldn’t have work available to them
But, help me take it a step further. Every quarter (or so), I will feature a someone or a group who uses our products to help their communities. Your donations during this time will go to providing yarn and shipping…all 100%. Not only that, I will post your name on a special section of our website as a contributor.
This quarter, we will be accepting donations for Jake S. He crochets hats and hangs them around his town for those in need. You should read about his story HERE.
Want to donate? Click the button below! Thank you! And remember we’re going to publish your name on a special section of our website
Dec
21
Meet Squeakers The Official Dog at DGY
All of our Darn Good Yarn Family is important but our mostly cuddly is Squeakers. He’s the official Dog of Darn Good Yarn. Squeakers is our five year old mini-schnauzer. He’s our brilliant little pooch who even rings a little bell when he has to take his business outside!
Stay tuned for more antics of Squeakers the dog and more adorable pictures!
Nov
22
New Price For Our Yoga Bag Pattern!
Click here for the pattern
This is such a fun project! The entire bag is worked in the round, and includes tapestry crochet techniques for the Om symbol. The bright jewel tones and earthy feel is just such a great mix for a Yoga Mat Bag. You can also use it for those Pilates fanatics too!
Click Here For the Pattern
Get yours today!
The finished bag can be worn across the body or backpack style, and the drawstring closure keeps your mat secure. This bag is gorgeous and versatile.
Nov
13
Where does the lavender come from?
Did you ever wonder where some of the things you purchase come from? Well, at Darn Good Yarn we like to know the story behind the goods too! The lavender we use for our sachets is no different!
Give it a second to load, but here is a small video about me talking about the farm…..
We get our lavender from this great local farm which grows it organically! The place is called Clairmont Farms and you can go and visit their website and check out all of their great products! Click here to go to their site.
Clairmont Farms in Cali
Click here to get a sachet!
Oct
23
Oddball Gumball Yarn Packs Are HEEEEERRRRREEEEE!
Check out this video then read on! (Give it a second to load if you have a slow connection)
Click Here to check out the color
This worsted weight yarn is handspun in women’s co-ops in Nepal and made from recycled silk. So, not only are you getting an incredibly unique yarn, you’re creating jobs for others.
We got some different colors in outside of the normal Gumball Recycled Silk Balls. Well you’re gonna score on this deal! This yarn pack comes with 4 slightly mismatched Gumball Recycled Silk 100 g balls. And you can choose the pack you want…but HURRY! We only have one pack of each color pack shown in the pictures.
Each ball is about 100g and contains approximately 90 yards of yarn. With rich hues and great sheen this will make your projects shine!!!
We suggest size US 8-10 (5-6mm, UK/Canada 6-4). Depending on your knitting your gauge will be about 3-4 stitches per inch (13-15 stitches per 10 cm).
Exclusive to Darn Good Yarn: Remember, when you order this yarn with DGY, you’re going to get this great yarn in balls not cumbersome skeins. So, when you get your package, you can get crafting right away and not pay extra for that little luxury!
I’ve seen similar yarn sell on the internet for $14 per 100g and it’s still in skeins…what a rip off!
Oct
11
Need A Sample?
Click Here to Get Your Samples
I want to make sure you’re happy with your purchases so I offer you the option to get a sample of the yarn. You’ll get about two feet of the yarn wrapped around a 5×7 index card.
Choose the yarn you’re trying to make a decision on.
If you decide to the buy the yarn you got the sample for, let us know when you order and we will refund your sample cost!
Also, please note on the yarns which have multiple colors I will send our standard sample color. If you would like to see a sample of your specific color please email us at info@darngoodyarn.com upon purchase.
Click Here For the Samples
Oct
3
Throw it in the Dryer?
I was just at an Alpaca Event at Ranch of the Oaks. Check out their yarn here.But I was talking to someone who knitted with my yarn and she said she threw it in the dryer. I’m talking about Darn Good Yarn’s Premium Recycled Silk.
Click here to check out the yarn!
I just about fainted when I heard that. You see, I’m a total wus when it comes to my hand-knitted items. I have so little time to make them that they become treasured little nuggets so I “baby” them. But I figured I had to try this out…for the sake of all you out there feverishly crafting away with this great yarn!
So normally I tell people that if you want to wash your garment you can pick from this list: dry clean, dryel (the dry cleaning process you can do in your dryer), hand wash in cold water or throw your item in the machine with like colors on the delicate cycle with cold water.
And then to dry, I tell people to lay flat.
Well, for my experiment, I threw a swatch knitted up in stockinette stitch into the wash with like colored clothes on a …**gasp** normal cycle. Yes, I even had jeans in there!
I took it out, not bad…could this be a Darn Good Breakthrough?
Now onto the dryer…
I threw everything into the dryer on regular heat and all. My result… it held its shape pretty well. It did get a little fuzzy but it did make it reaaaaaaally soft. I like the result! Here are some before and after pictures. Hope they help you!
Before Washing DGY's Recycled Silk
Now keep this in mind too. When I took these photos, you will notice the “after” swatch is upside down. There actually really wasn’t that much loss in shape, my knitting was what didn’t have any shape to begin with:)
After Washing & Drying DGY's Recycled Silk
Sep
28
Part III of how it all started
Click Here for one of a kind bracelets
Due to constraints with our impending move, we were limited by weight and I couldn’t bring all of the inventory I accumulated with me. So I turned to Beth and asked if she would store and ship my items. Very very very luckily for me, she agreed. She is super supportive and always helped me with a plethora of ideas. She also seemed to have a good eye for what product would sell well on the west coast. After a few moves over the past two years, I got a little burned out in the Around the Om department. Finally, after being settled for more than 4 months I turned to Beth again to get my first business going again. Supportive as ever, she said yes and here we are! Tadah!
Click Here for Great Statues
We are now working together to pump new blood into the items we love and continue to import. We work hard to ensure items are fairly traded and people in the supply chain are paid fairly. Many of our items are limited in quantity too and priced for the holidays!
Thanks for taking your time to find out how Around the Om got started!
