Last Minute (for regular shipping) Gift Ideas

It’s fast approaching: The last day you can place an order with regular shipping and be sure to get it before Christmas. Due date: December 15th, aka this Monday! Of course, you can still order holiday gifts after Monday and get them before Christmas, but in that case you may have to select one of our rush shipping options in order to be sure…

Here are some more great gift ideas from the fiber fanatics in the store:

Peace Fleece Wooden Knitting Needles $8.95 The spirit of the holidays shines forth with Peace Fleece knitting needles. Made with Maine milled maple wooden balls, Lithuanian milled birch dowels, and assembled and painted by Russian artisans, these knitting needles are a product of international cooperation and a celebrate traditional craftsmanship. It just feels good to use them and they are a perfect compliment to any knitting project!
Plastic & Metal Ball Winder $39.50 A gift that will be used again and again. The ball winder is a time saving piece of equipment you will not want to be without. Clamp it to your table, just a few feet away from your swift and crank the handle. In a matter of minutes you will have a stackable, center-pull ball. Ball winders are also useful when for winding multiple strands of yarn into one ball. It is all but impossible to reap the benefits of a ball winder without a swift so be sure to put one of those on your wish list, too. Winds balls up to 4 ounces.
Plastic & Metal Swift $39.50 This plastic and metal swift has two special features. A crank at the top that allows you to make a skein of yarn, and a clamp that will allow you to adjust the angle at which the swift is resting. Stands 16″ tall, weighs about 1 pound and accommodates a 60″ skein.
Ashford Fiber Bag $35.95 Bring new life to an old sweater with Needle Felt embellishment. This collection includes an ounce each of 19 rich Ashford colors (total weight is approximately 1lb 3oz). High quality and easy to work with the Ashford Spinning Fiber Bag is a great place to start experimenting with color blending or to get a little of everything for your favorite felting projects. Each color of Ashford’s 100% Corriedale top can also be purchased individually by the ounce or pound. The perfect palette for embellishing picturesque scenes, children’s toys, masks and more!
Oxford Plain Punch Needle $29.95 The Oxford Punch Needle was designed for comfort and speed. Its special features include a wide lip to rest your fingers on while pressing down and a “bump” on the handle that gives you something to pull up on, reducing hand strain. Comes with a 28 page instruction book. The size of the punch determines the size of the loop.
Halcyon’s Engraved Brass Hook $7.95 Halcyon’s brass hook does double duty as a heddle hook and as a reed hook. The hook is 6.5″ in length, well balanced and a joy to use. Best of all, our toll free number is engraved on the handle; we’re here when you need us!
Yarn Store in a Box $40.00 There is no substitute for walking up and down the aisles of a fully stocked yarn store… unless it is our Yarn Store in a Box. This is a wonderful gift for someone who loves yarn, and is always planning for the “next project”. We developed the Yarn Store In A Box® in 1980, as a planning and designing aid so our customers could see our yarns, touch them and learn all about them and order in the convenience of their own home or studio. The Yarn Store in a Box now includes over 50 sample cards representing over 110 different yarn styles. Each sample card has individual strands of yarns styles and samples of all available colors. Included is information about the yarns and their use in a variety of fiber arts with helpful facts such as appropriate weaving setts, knitting gauges, yardages and put-ups. Also includes our yarn and equipment catalogs, our searchable CD of books, patterns and videos and a coupon good for $10 toward your first order over $60.00.
Gift Certificates We’ve had a lot of happy customers who have received gift certificates and are enjoyed spending them. It’s a great way to take the guess work out of gift giving and sure to be a great value! No expiration, no decrease in value, no worries!

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A Gift from Halcyon Yarn’s Family for You…

Happy Holidays from our Halcyon Yarn family to YOU!

After all the time and effort you’ve given to others over the season, we’d like to give you a little gift for your personal projects this coming February.

Place an order between now and Dec 31, 2008 and and receive a coupon for free standard shipping on an order over $50 placed in February of 2009. Each coupon is good for one order.

Happy Holidays from Halcyon Yarn!

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“Quick Knits, Second Helping”

If you’ve had time to work on one or a few of the last group of projects, bravo! We’re not wanting to rush anyone, but certainly want to keep the ideas flowing and give everyone a chance to try something new in all types of fibers. We hope the new ideas are inspiring as well as fast! Have fun!”

The Fountain Hood” was designed and knit by Beth Hood, who has recently been added to the “Luxury Yarn One Skein Wonders” hall of fame books.  We’re all very proud of her!  Try her new design with just one skein of Gemstone Soft Twist Silk and create a luxurious gift for yourself or someone special.  If the book isn’t in your budget we have the single pattern available as well.
The “Adult Big Hat” designed by Ann Norling, knit by Gwynn Erickson Here’s a fun, quick knit that won’t muss your hair over the long winter ahead.  Gwynn used a double strand of the Victorian Boucle and made this lightweight, soft accessory to take the chill away without the dreaded hat head of old.  Great idea Gwynn.  Pattern #40401800.
“Edgar” designed by Silke Hupka, knit by Denice Sharpe Test your skills a bit with a geometric flair that is easy and produces a fast but intricate look. The Edgar Scarf is a free download from Knitty.com and was knit in Noro Silk Garden in a cravat size with one skein.  If you prefer a long scarf,  I’d suggest two skeins so you can make it anywhere from 60″ to 85″  long for a warm and colorful adornment that will go with just about any coat!
“Simply Organic and Sublime Cowl” designed and knit by Denice Sharpe Whip this sweet thing up over the weekend even if you are a new knitter and are watching the games at the same time.  Sublime’s Organic Merino DK is soft, luxurious and ever so warm, not to mention the environmental bonus of a 100% pure organic merino wool. This is a cozy thick Cowl, and requires two skeins. Gotta love green wool!  Item #1360000P
“Sophisticated Weekend Scarf” designed and knit by Denice Sharpe This scarf was knit lengthwise on size 10, 40″ circular needles.  Once you cast on, a few rows later you are binding off!  The Botanica and Victorian Boucle are paired alternately and create a sophisticated scarf that wraps a couple of times or cinches nicely in half to leave your neck draped in warmth without the bulk.  Get creative with color combinations or keep it the same for a more elegant look.  It’s definitely a must have!

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Great Gifts under $40! Solutions for Fiber Folk

Gift giving problems solved! My email inbox is just as full of “Holiday Specials” as anyone’s, and at this point it is easy to get a bit overwhelmed; the sheer number of offers, trying to figure out what is a “deal” and will my friends/relatives really even like it? Well, here are some suggestions that come not from a “marketing division” but from the fiber fanatic employees in our retail store. We polled these folks on what they’d like (that was affordable) - so if you or someone you know gets excited about fibers, it’s a good bet that these items will be a hit AND a great value.

Debra’s Garden Needle Gauge Pendant $16.00. Never lose your needle gauge again with this beautiful needle sizer pendant. It can double as a key ring, zipper pull or even as earrings. Measures 1.5″ X 1.25″ and measures needles size 0-17 and comes in 6 shimmering colors complete with a drawstring bag. Let us pick the color!
Bluster Bay Poke Shuttle (6″ or 12″) $10.95 or $13.95. Poke shuttles are a great tool for hand manipulated weaves. They can be used in soumak, leno and for just about any supplementary weft requirement. Made by Bluster Bay out of beautiful exotic woods.
Shotzee Medium Weight Drop Spindle $38.95 Made in Maine. Beautifully made cherry drop spindle weighs 1.0-1.75 ounces. The two pieces are roughed out and joined, then turned on the lathe as a unit to preserve balance for the longest spin. The stick is worked to have stops which prevent that annoying creep of the yarn cone down into the spinner’s fingers.
McMorran Yarn Balance (available in English or Metric) $24.95 A lot of information in a small package! You’ll wonder how you got along without this indispensable tool for dealing with unidentified, mystery yarn. To find the yards per pound loop a strand of yarn over the balancing arm. Trim the yarn until the arm balances. Remove the yarn, measure it in inches and multiple the length by 100. That number will be an estimate of the number of yards per pound. If you know how many yards are in a pound, and the weight of your leftovers, simple math will tell you how many yards of yarn you have. The balance stands 6.25″ tall, and works with any yarn. Metric requires a bit of math.
Knit One Below Price: $19.95. Knit One Below is collection of projects for the entire family with over 30 designs that introduce a new and exciting way for knitters to combine colors, weights, fibers, and types of yarn into wonderfully flexible fabrics. The shapes are simple, the finishing minimal, and the fabrics versatile. By Elise Duvekot.
Knitting Noro Price: $27.50. Jane Ellison presents 30 patterns to knit with Noro yarns. No two balls are exactly alike because each skein of this exquisite multicolored yarn is individually dyed to produce a unique pallet of vivid and subtle hues. Designed to let the glorious colors of the long-repeat variegated yarns take center stage, the garments are divided into six classic silhouettes with five variations for each.
Gold Shawl Pin Price:$ 30.00. If you like shawls, but have not worn them as much as you thought you would, this might just be the solution. Fashionable and practical, shawl pins are an elegant way to stay cozy and snuggle into your shawl. Add pizzazz and stylish charm to your favorite shawls and scarves. Comes with handmade 3″ ebony stick. 2″ x 2.25″.

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Como - Big, Beautiful, Fun from Debbie Bliss

Como Yarn by Debbie Bliss is the Big Easy - a beautiful,  superchunky yarn that is perfect for the simple knits featured in the book, Como. Due to it’s unstructured nature, Como gives wonderful stitch definition to classic ribs, moss and stockinette stitch and also makes the most generously sized designs light and easy to wear. Weavers - Como would be fun for weft.

With 90% Merino and 10% Cashmere, this has a luxurious feel which is accentuated by the loose and light twist. Even for the most veteran yarn store employee, it’s hard to walk by the Como shelf without a quick stop to run this new fiber between your thumb and index finger.

And speaking of the book, we do also love Como (the book) by Debbie Bliss! The large format of this book fits the large personality of the yarn. The richly colored and detailed photos will inspire some wonderful projects!

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Great Gift for over $40… Splurge on a Ladybug, Save on Shipping!

Schacht Ladybug Spinning Wheel

Cute as a ladybug and friendly to new spinners as well, what more could you ask for in a spinning wheel! How about made in the US! The Ladybug weighs twelve lb., is scotch tension with a 16″ never-warp drive wheel, and uses the Matchless flyer, bobbins and whorls. Comes with slow and high speed whorls and 3 bobbins.

As you can guess, shipping a spinning wheel can be pricey… Luckily, Halcyon thinks these wheels are too cute to be sitting in our show room, so she has agreed to offer FREE SHIPPING on all Ladybugs! Happy Holidays!

Item Number: 640000LB.
Price:$ 550.00.

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Get that special someone “Just what I wanted”: AKA, A Gift Certificate

OK, so this post is probably most effective if forwarded to your mom/dad/grandparent/husband/wife/significant-other…  Anyway, we think that the current “craze” of giving gift certificates is actually a good thing, and here’s why: We stock almost 10,000 items in our rickety old wooden building here at Halcyon Yarn (yikes, yarn colors rack-up the product count!). That’s a lot from which to chose, and if you’re purchasing for a fiber lover, chances are good they know what they like… Granted, there is a lot of great stuff that most anyone would appreciate, but if  you want to be sure, we have some pretty solid gift certificates: They don’t expire or lose value, they can be used toward any purchase at Halcyon Yarn and can be made out for any amount… Just think, almost 10,000 items at you or your fellow-fiber-fanatics fingertips!

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Harry Potter and Opal: A Magical Combination!

Have you heard? It’s out, in the store, POPPING off the shelves!!! And it’s early!…at least as far as the movie release goes. As you probably know, the release of the Harry Potter Opal Sock Yarn was supposed to coincide with the release of the newest movie. Alas, the movie release was postponed but rejoice Sock Knitters!! This means we can all turn up at our local movie theater donning the Character of Choice (character choices include: Harry Potter, Harry & Ron combined, Ron Weasley, Tonks, Lupin, Dumbledore, Hedwig and Draco Malfoy) on our toesies and half the fun will be playing I Spy for simpatico sock knitters. (Is anyone actually knitting Draco?) So Get Knitting! Finish a pair - or better yet, pick a character for each foot and cast on someone else to knit during the movie!!!! Not to mention, how many Harry Potter followers in your life need a pair of their own?

Not a Harry Potter Fan? Buy a ball of this yarn and become an Opal Fan! This sock yarn is dead soft, reliable and hard wearing. Plus, you won’t believe what this company does with color. Knit the simplest sock you can and watch it come to life with unimaginable color combos, stripes and designs. Dazzle your sock knitting friends and non-knitting friends alike with your fancy footwork.

And remember, Opal creates collections of sock yarn which are only available for a limited time. We are currently offering colors from Rainforest 4 and Hundertwasser 2 as well as the Harry Potter Collection. Do you remember what is is like to pick up a book that is so good you just had to read it cover to cover? Well that is the feeling you’ll get from these awesome yarns - you’ll be knitting a pair of socks top-to-toe non-stop! Happy Knitting!

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