Signature Needle Arts

At the Maryland Sheep and Wool 2008 and the Stitches knitting shows we saw that kits seem to be a popular choice. I think knitters—especially new knitters– like to see what a project will look like in a given yarn and not have the anxiety of trying to find a substitute.

We have decided to go one step further: at Stitches Midwest in Chicago (Shaumburg actually) which starts Aug. 22nd Signature will have kits available for sale that will include a pair of Signature needles, a pattern and some fabulous yarn. We will be at booth 423 so please come and see us.

We wanted to find top designers to help us and we are proud to announce that our kits will have patterns from 3 stars: Annie Modesitt famed for her teaching, blogging, and the author of several wonderful books, Janet Russell from Twisted Knitter blog fame, and Eugen Beugler who is well known to the lace knitting world.

We gave them all the same starting point: design a scarf using Signature needles and some fabulous yarns from Argosy Luxury Yarns and Windy Valley.  At Eugen’s request we also will have some kits with Crystal Palace Silk yarn. Each of them has come up with something very different and each is wonderful in its own way. It has been so interesting seeing how the same kind of project and same yarns have resulted in such different patterns.

My job was to do up a sample of the Crystal Palace and I started last night using the 3.0mm Signature 7” needles. This size does not match any US needle size but is between a US 1 and 2 and is what we call the “missing millimeters”. We also have a size 2.5 mm (between US 1 and 2). I am not done but wanted to give you a hint of the type of pattern we will have at the show.  Happy Knitting.

Hooray! The Size 2 double points are ready—at least the 4” and 5” lengths are ready with the 6” and 8” next week.  We have had so many people wanting the 4” lengths for fingers of gloves etc. so I am glad they are done.  I have to confess I have never had a project that needed them, but our test knitters had plenty to say. They all loved the Stiletto points but were being poked in the palm of the hand with the other end. So…I made the executive decision that on the 4” double points (and ONLY on the 4”) that one end would be our Blunt tip. It is good being the Queen.

This Blunt end is just rounded enough to make the knitting pleasurable. Actually, I tried using the Blunt end to knit some of the rows and it worked fine so if you get a needle turned around you can knit, but you will get poked. 

The yarn pictured with the 4” needles is a Regia wool 2 ply sock yarn. The sock was done with longer US Size 2 needles in Maizy Corn & elastic from Crystal Palace.   Since I want to try lots of yarns with the double points in various sizes I never seem to get the second sock done. I have loads of single socks and a hope that some day I will get the other one done–or we will have to start a new fashion wearing 2 different socks.

One of the great things about being the manufacturer is that I can see exactly what is happening as the product is being made. I can’t tell you the details, but something happened that the shop folks thought was bad, but turned out to be fabulous in the way the needles hold the yarn. So, our double points give you the great strength of metal and our fabulous points, but still hold the yarn just enough to pass the “shake test”.

Our son Paul amazed people at Stitches West with shaking the stitches on the double points as he talked to people. It was wonderful to see the faces of people when they realized he was shaking the work and the stitches were NOT falling off.  You can see the test too on YouTube,   The Signature Shake Test.  Happy Knitting.

The Milwaukee Brewer’s didn’t have a great night but all the knitters at the Miller Park Stitch & Pitch certainly did! 

I had not been to the “new” Miller Park before and it is quite an architectural delight. My memories of the old Milwaukee County Stadium were nothing like this! While some of the sections were not completely full the Stitch & Pitch areas were packed with knitters—many of whom obviously were big Brewer Fans. They knew all the players and were in full Brewer regalia.

A good friend from St. Louis came up to join another local knitter friend so this event became extra special for us. They weren’t sitting right with us but were using their Signature needles in another section. 

St. Louis Sally is a friend that anyone would want to have. We have known her since she began dating her husband more than 30 years ago. They are the kind of friends that I would wish for everyone. We have been through it all together—births, deaths, vacations, holidays, laughter and tears. Honestly, you could call Sally in the middle of the night and say you and 20 friends were coming their way and needed to stay for a month and she would say, “Wonderful, do you want me to pick you up?”  And…she is a fabulous knitter!

The other friend with her is a wonderful teacher and person—the kind every public school kid should have.  She is an incredible knitter herself and active in the Kenosha knitting scene. She told me that she taught her whole class of 4th graders to knit. She started out telling the boys that they better not have any comments about it being a “girl” thing because it would insult her father who was an avid needle worker. Enough said. She said that the class loved doing the projects and were so proud of actually turning yarn into something. One of the little girls even gave her a scarf that she had made which I know is considered a real treasure. 

As an added bonus we got to sit with some Signature customers. It is always nice to be able to actually meet some of the people buying and using our needles. One of the women sitting behind us told me how she had to convince her family that having good tools was a great value for her knitting. She said that although she was on a budget, she is slowly adding to her collection and has put the needles on her “wish list”.  The woman next to her reported she had more than a full set and was going to order more. Both of them were so complimentary about how the needles work which is always so gratifying to hear. 

Cathy Bothe, President - Daniella Rosenthal, Vice President - Laura Bothe, Director of Manufacturing - Vicki Cronin, CFO

I love the 4th of July! What a great holiday: No gifts to shop for, great weather, easy food, unabashed patriotism, friends and family all make for a wonderful celebration. When we moved to our current house ten years ago one of the big selling points was the neighborhood “parade” on the 4th—which has been going on for more than 40 years. There are no fancy ads—the time (which is always 10am) and date reminders are on paper plates attached to trees. At the appointed time people stream to the starting spot with kids in strollers, on bikes, or walking. Some are very dressed up but some just in play clothes. Some have decorated bikes or wagons, but lots just come. One of the adults who is the grandson of one of the founding families plays the drum with a couple younger kid drummers and they are off.  The kids (and some parents) walk around a big block twice. People on those streets play patriotic music and sit in their front  yards waving and clapping. At the end there is a house “where the ice cream is.” I think when that house is sold there is something in the contract about this big responsibility—which is to make cones from the ice cream donated by a local store. The whole thing is over in about 20 minutes and everyone goes home thinking what a great holiday it is-including our grandkids who go as part of our household. In the 10 years we have seen families whose kids have grown into and out of wanting to be in the parade. It is interesting to see those parents still show up with not a small amount of wistfulness over times gone by.

I felt that same wistfulness when our 5 year old Katie announced her Minnie sweater was just too small. I can’t help but think that when we put so much of our time and care into a project for a loved one, only to find they have outgrown it, or outworn it that it has a much bigger effect than something we buy for them. Luckily for most of us we just go into our stash and come up with the plans for another project. Actually, just recently I confided to Katie that I would show her my “secret” yarn room in the basement. Is she in for a surprise!

Birthdays are hard for me to remember. I guess my brain is not wired to retain them. Actually that is why it is such a blessing that our 3 kids have the same birthday (10 year spread, all natural-story for another time). For the rest I have a husband with a fabulous memory. But now there is another date I won’t forget: June 18, 2007.

I consider Doris Hajewski, a business reporter for the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, the midwife who birthed the dream of Signature Needle Arts. We were not really ready to “go live” with the website and online store, final shipping procedures and a million other details. We had been shooting for Aug. 1, but she did a wonderful story with pictures and they had space, so June 18 it was.

To say everyone here was shocked by the response is an understatement. Hasn’t everyone heard that newspapers are dinosaurs that no one reads?? We got calls and orders from all over the country. One of our first (and favorite) customers was an ex-Wisconsinite living in New York City who read the paper online.

Calls came from knitters and people who wanted to gift knitters and people who wanted to buy products made in America.

The very next day a call came from Country Woman magazine and we were taking big steps into the world of knitting. The year since has been filled with so many wonderful and interesting things. All the folks here who work on Signature know that every single day something astonishing happens. For the rest of our “birthday” month I will share some of them with you.

Click here to read the article that started it all