See catchy?! Well, she didn’t play it then. But on the drive back home not only did Madison at Sirius play the song, she read my email and gave props to Darn Good Yarn! Holy Moly! We’re famous! Yes, I did send Madison some yarn-- she got it and loved it! You will too. She got the recycled silk sari yarn and my new recipe of banana fiber to be exact. Check them out!

Nicole's Recipe a la Banana Fiber Yarn in Tokyo Billboard

Absolutely anyone can enter!  Just visit my Blog for the Details:

http://theartofzencrochet.blogspot.com/2010/03/earth-day-giveaway.html

Free Scarf Crochet Pattern

To get the free pattern to make this scarf please visit my blog @
http://theartofzencrochet.blogspot.com/
BTW: I think this scarf would work up really lovely in any of Nicole’s Yarns, especially the Banana Silk!!! I am going to give that a go next and will post photos on my blog for you to see, (and admire!)
Have the best day ever!!

Check out this video!

We now have our EXCLUSIVE YOGA MAT BAG available for you knitters and crocheters!

Come and check it out by clicking on one of the pictures:

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

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/

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

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

Not really a run of the mill resolution.  I decided I wanted to make my business, The Art of Zen…….Crochet, a lot more hmmmm….Eco friendly?  I know that seems a catch 22 phrase nowadays.  Anyways,  I want to put some serious effort into recycling, upcycling, repurposing!   So here is just the beginning of this.  I used some of the premium Recycled Sari Silk and some recycled T shirt Yarn to make this cap!

Enjoy and Happy New Years Crafting!

To see more Great Ideas and Items I make please visit my Etsy shop @

http://www.etsy.com/shop/chrisssmith22

Stay tuned for more antics of Squeakers the dog and more adorable pictures!

Here’s one for a Bracelet:

Sari Silk Bracelet

20-40 yards of Recycled Sari Silk Yarn
An old bracelet of any width  I used a plastic one about 1/2″ wide
Size 4.5 mm crochet hook.
Darning needle.

Row 1: Make a slip knot as you normally would to start crocheting. With the inside of the bracelet towards you and the yarn on the outside insert hook to the inside (from top to bottom) of bracelet, yarn over and draw up a loop, bring yarn around back side of bracelet, yarn over, pull thru 2 loops on hook. You are going to repeat this until you have covered your bracelet.   Push your stitches close together to ensure you cover your bracelet fully.  Join with slip stitch to first stitch. Fasten off and weave in ends.   Please see the photos below for visual help.

Tip, work the tail from the beginning under as you go, then you don’t have to weave it in later.   Have fun!