New arrival for Skacel!!!

On August 6^th 2010, Skacel‘s graphic designer Candice Bledsoe along with her husband Ian welcomed their sweet baby boy into the world.  His name is Toby Duncan Bledsoe, and he is a very healthy 7 lbs 5 oz.  He’s the spitting image of his proud and loving parents.  Both mom, dad, and baby are at home resting comfortably.  While a prescription of rest was issued, true to her graphic design roots, Candice could not resist sending us these beautiful pictures of her new son.  Congratulations to the whole Bledsoe family!

Luggage Finders

In the knitting universe Spring is just around the corner and with Spring comes that wonderful week known to all as Spring Break. I travel a lot in the spring and the one thing that always goes with me is my black check in luggage. The same luggage that looks like ninety percent of the other traveler’s bags. If only I had some way to tell my bag from the other big black bags.

We have a solution to not only your bag identifying needs but also to the scrap sock yarn you may have in your stash! Introducing the Luggage Finders!

These four cute tags can be made unique with a plethora of different sock yarn colors, and no one can dispute if a piece of luggage is yours if you are wearing a matching pair of socks to your tag.

This pattern is available for free download on our skacel website.

Enjoy!

Freezing for a Cause

Last weekend a few of my very crazy coworkers decided that it would be a ton of fun to take the Polar Plunge. What is the Polar Plunge? The Polar Plunge is a fundraising effort organized by law enforcement agencies throughout the state benefiting Special Olympics Washington. Participants collect pledges and plunge into various frigid water locations across Washington. All proceeds collected by Plungers benefit the Special Olympics Washington program in their local areas and helps further the Special Olympics Washington Mission.

Brianne, Rob, Rachael, and Karin in their Jumpin' Jammers!

Getting ready to run in.

So in a few words they voluntarily ran into the freezing waters of Puget Sound. (I am still questioning if they are of sound mind or not. Jury’s still out.) But it was for a very good cause, so in they went, and out they ran faster then lightning.

Running in...

...and running right back out!

Karin (our fearless leader), took the plunge along with Rachael, Rob, Rob’s fiancé Brianne, and two of Karin’s high school mates. I stayed dry, warm and on the shore to take pictures of the craziness. Don’t get me wrong, I am a big chicken, but I got to use being pregnant as a pretty good excuse not to run into the cold water.

Very wet, very cold, very happy

In these hard times, it’s always nice to take a few moments to help out our community. Whether it be volunteering at a local school or stripping down and diving into freezing water. Skacel’s crew by the way, raised $1,000.00 for Special Olympics.

Candice

It’s raining men…!

On any given day the maximum number of men in our building is four, our average number of women is…hold on I have to count…17, so you can imagine how mind-boggling it was to have 28 men descend on Skacel, all at the very same time! Us women were outnumbered; I think it was a first.

Labor Day weekend was the Men’s Knitting Retreat hosted here in Seattle, Washinton. Our own Brian Kohler attended and co-hosted the retreat.  Skacel invited the group to come on a tour of our facility as well as let them do some shopping via All Points in Des Moines.  The owner of All Points, Morgan Hicks, was part of the Men’s Retreat as well.

It was great fun seeing that many men get excited over yarns, needles, and patterns. We also had some star guests with the group. Franklin Habit, Author of It Itches, was part of the retreat, as well as Cat Bordhi, famous sock knitter and author of many books including her newest book Personal Footprints for Insouciant Sock Knitters. Cat was an honorary man for the weekend and was given a token apple, to represent an adams apple. How sweet.  Literally.

Cat Bordhi and Franklin Habit

It is always refreshing and rejuvenating to hear and talk about a favorite craft with someone that has a completely different view of it.

But now that they have gone back to their respective cities, it has stopped raining men and Skacel is once more, a facility flooded with women.

~Candice

Turtles of the Ninja Variety!

I used to knit. I remember knitting fondly and I even have finished projects that I have knitted but the instant I learned how to crochet my knitting needles found new homes in their respective pouches. Pretty soon they will start singing to me like the Swiffer commercials begging to come back into my life. My crochet hooks laugh at them at night, I just know it.

What I like so much about crochet is the ability to make….Japanese toys! When I was in college (okay so I am a young ‘un, college was only 5 years ago) I stumbled across a book in a Japanese book store. I can’t exactly remember the title even though I can read Japanese but part of the title I distinctly remember had the name Amigurumi in it. According to Wikipedia “Amigurumi (編み包み) is the Japanese art of knitting or crocheting small stuffed animals and anthropomorphic creatures.” I was hooked….if only I knew how to crochet… I put it off as something I couldn’t do and moved my attention elsewhere.

Then about 4 months ago my co-worker Rita taught me how to crochet. The instant I grasped the concept I couldn’t be stopped. I LOVED this craft! I looked at some patterns but most of them didn’t do what I wanted something to look like so I started to just do my own thing. And one of the first things I wanted to make was turtles of the ninja variety. I would love to say I made these for a nephew or another kid I knew but no, these were all for me. My guilty pleasure is I still wake up at 7am every Saturday morning, grab a bowl of cereal, and watch Saturday morning cartoons.

I made my turtles out of Noblesse by Zitron. The slight variegation in color was perfect in making the toys because then every turtle has a slightly different skin color. Add in the fact that the yarn is wool and silk, these boys are so soft too. I hate itchy wool, can not stand it.

Of course, like most crafters, I couldn’t stop at just the finished turtles, I had to make their weapons too and I am so very happy I did.

I love making toys. I love Amigurumi. I love crochet.

~Candice

Welcome to our new skacel collection blog!

This blog has been created for all knitters, crocheters, and other fiber enthusiasts, who have any interest of what goes on at a yarn and needle company.  Through the voices of many (all employees will have the opportunity to participate in writing this blog) we will give you insight into what’s new as well as what we are all working on.  Amazingly enough, everyone who works at skacel collection is either a knitter, crocheter, weaver, spinner or felter – or all of the above.  Thus there are always a multitude of new projects being worked on.

My name is Candice, and I will be facilitating this blog.  I encourage everyone to participate by commenting on our posts, and asking any questions.   We LOVE to hear from others who are as excited as we are about needlecrafts.

So sit back, grab your needlework, and enjoy!

~Candice