Exclusive to Jimmy Beans Wool - Limited Edition Lorna's Laces!

Fall and winter have the best seasonal coffee drinks of the year by far; eggnog lattes, peppermint mochas, chai cider... mmmmm, I'm getting a craving just thinking about it!

We at Jimmy Beans have found that specialty coffee drinks translate very well into limited edition colors (remember Peppermint Mocha? Now it's one of our regular Lorna's colors!). Knowing this, it seemed a no-brainer to create a Limited Edition Color after our favorite winter wake-up drink: Caramel Pumpkin Latte! Once a tasty treat only available from Starbucks, you can now knit socks, sweaters, or even a cozy for your coffee in this delicious color!

Gasp! The Goblin has arrived! Not the kind running around your neighborhood on Halloween, but October's Limited Edition Color from Lorna's Laces! A frightfully delightful combination of rich brown, rusty brick red and sour apple green, Goblin evokes images of cherished fall phenomena from costumed tricksters to harvest festivals and mid-autumn leaves.

To be honest, when I hear the word goblin, I think of the Green Goblin from Spider Man (probably because it's pretty much the last movie that I've seen in a theater). This month's Limited Edition color from Lorna's Laces aptly embodies the Green Goblin's supervillain costume color scheme. As fall quickly approaches though, the color itself also conjures up images of caramel apples, maple trees halfway through their autumn costume change, and the awesome pair of socks you could be knitting with a hank of Goblin. :) We hope you'll be able to use your Goblin to knit up something fall-tastic for yourself or for the goblin in your life (i.e., Huck for me)!

p.s. don't forget to join our newly formed Jimmy Beans Wool LLE Fan Club! Haven't heard of it? Take a peek at the perks here!

One of our French enthusiasts here at Jimmy Beans, Leanne, is a devoted fan of Chocolate Mousse (or as the French would say, mousse chocolat). She maintains that there is nothing better than skimming small spoonfuls of the decadent dessert and savoring its rich creamy chocolate deliciousness. If her description doesn't have you salivating already, maybe this will seal the deal : September's Limited Edition color from Lorna's Laces, Chocolate Mousse, is a luscious spectrum of browns ranging from of deep and vivid to light and airy.

Though not intentionally inspired by the hit summer flick, "Eat Pray Love" (starring Julia Roberts), we couldn't help notice how well this color fit in with the movie: this color is a tribute to those moments when you just need to "let yourself go". Small indulgences, be they yarn or chocolate mousse, are so necessary in maintaining our sanity and we so often forget to give into temptation every now and again during the hustle and bustle of school starting, summer ending, and the everyday stresses life throws at us. This September make sure to treat yourself to something special!

Welcome, Capital City! This month's color was inspired by my early days growing up in the nation's capital, Washington DC. For whatever reason, I thought that my dad played for the Redskins simply because he lived in DC... I remember returning from a trip to see him and telling everyone in my 5th grade class that he was a pro football player (which he wasn't). Too funny! Capital City is now available in Sock, Sport, Worsted, Honor, Helen's Lace, Pearl, Lion and Lamb... plus a little bit of Greenline DK and Worsted at 50% off!

July is finally here which means summer is well under way, Jimmy Beans Bucks are out, and the newest Lorna's Laces Limited Edition color is here! Eclipse is our homage to the lunar and solar phenomenon, but more importantly to the wildly popular Twilight saga; the third book and movie of which share the name: Eclipse. Karla, Ailene and Leanne, our resident Twilight enthusiasts, were thrilled to the point of tears and wild giggles at how perfect Eclipse (the color) embodies the essence of that epic story. A smoldering union of smoky charcoal, velvety maroon and a twinge of dusty sapphire, Eclipse is nearly impossible to resist regardless of your feeling towards stories of vampires and werewolves, and is definitely a must-have for your next project or your stash ;) As stunning as its sister color, Twilight**, Eclipse is a magically versatile and unique color that is already flying off the shelves!

Doug and I were married in September. September 9, 2000 to be exact. We took our honeymoon in September... skiing in Chile and windsurfing in Brazil. It was amazing. In fact, if i close my eyes for long enough, i can imagine that the sunset over the ocean in Buzios wasn't too different in color from this month's color. So why didn't we wait to use this color in September? I guess I just don't know... maybe because the beautiful blue, rich yellow (honey!) and purple reminded me more of a lazy June evening than a potentially snowy fall September night. Or maybe because this color simply makes me want to curl up with a book under the blue sky and watch the beautiful flowers dance in the breeze. And besides, who says that as we celebrate our 10th year of marriage (and our son's 1st birthday), we can't pretend that we're on our honeymoon all year long?!

Ok, ok. that last bit was a little too syrupy even for me. bottom line? i love the honey color in this month's colorway - and I didn't want to wait to knit with it until the fall. what started out being a romantic story really just boiled down to me being selfish. and who says that marriage will change you?! xoxo - Laura

p.s. wanna see how it looks knit up? Sara has started pair of socks...

It is the month of Mother's Day, and the Limited Edition Lorna's Laces color for May is named in honor of the mother we all share, Mother Earth. Although Earth Day was last month, we believe Mother Earth should be celebrated every day! An eye-indulgent combination of blues, greens and the hues in-between, Mother Earth's spectrum includes dusty tones of slate grey, olive green, periwinkle blue and a refreshing burst of bright jewel blue-green that really makes the compilation of luscious colors pop! If you mom doesn't happen to be a fan of the traditional pinks and pastels often associated with Mother's Day, this color makes a wonderful gift whether knit into a stylish pair of socks or as an addition to her stash. Mother Earth is perfect for the earth tone lovers who like to stray to brighter hues every now and again :)

Shades of rose, chartreuse, and dark chocolate brown round out this month's limited edition color. This color is perfect for any project requiring bright and distinctive variations in color, especially with summer just around the corner!

We've all been in that situation where "the grass is greener on the other side," and this month's color is dedicated to that melancholy feeling. Just in case you have only experienced the "greener side," here is the story of how we discovered this color's name. Laura, our fearless leader, was getting ready to travel on a journey of epic proportions to Stitches West as part of her never ending quest to bring the joy of fiber to everyone, everywhere. While talking with her good friend Kristen Muench, another crusader for the joy-of-fiber cause (also from Muench Yarns - the brains behind Touch Me, Big Baby and Family) about her upcoming vacation, Laura expressed her desire for a much needed vacation. Kristen responded with her wish that she could abandon her vacation and partake in the yarn-mazingness that is Stitches. They both laughed about Kristen wanting to go to Stitches and Laura wanting a vacation -both thinking the grass was greener on the other side... and lo! Another Limited Edition Lorna's color was born! The Grass is Greener is a less-than-melancholy flow of springy green (the other side) to cheery yellow to earthy brown (where you stand) and back to green suggesting that maybe you were on the green side the whole time ;) If you are looking forward to starting those summery project in vibrant colors but not quite ready to let go of the snow and/or cooler temperatures, this color is a perfect warm-up! The Grass is Greener sports warm, earthy tones with just a bit of zesty spring hues! (Written by Leanne)

We introduced this stunning (and wildly popular) color at Stitches West last weekend... and needless to say, 9 out of 10 people that saw our display of the color told us that it was making them hungry! Fitting, considering that on the way to the event we stopped at a Starbucks and were given samples of their new Dark Cherry Mocha. Yummy!

This February's limited edition color, Love Potion, from Lorna's Laces, pays tribute to the month of secret admires and heart-shaped everything. Ranging from innocently pale pink to a passionate purple these optimistic tones bring bright warm-fuzzies to an oftentimes-dreary end-of-winter month. As I'm sure you're well aware, love potions are traditionally an easy - though often temporary way-- to guarantee that special someone will fall madly in love with you. When Laura first informed me that this month's yarn was named Love Potion, my first thought was to whom I would ensnare with my lovingly knit Love Potion scarf. My current crush is an extremely good-looking French exchange student in my chemistry class, and if I sit close enough it would be all to easy for me to slip it around his neck as he tries not to fall asleep in lecture and Bingo! I will definitely be spending my summer vacation in Paris with the new love of my life! Needless to say, I've already reserved two skeins for this endeavor! (Written by Leanne)

Happy New Year - Welcome to 2010! Wasn't 2010 supposed to be a year in which we're all driving hover cars, eating food capsules for dinner and taking showers via a conveyor belt, just like the Jetson family did?! Well, instead of driving cars through the air, we're driving cars that plug into electrical outlets - and instead of eating capsules that taste like steak and mashed potatoes, we're drinking smoothies full of the day's calories and nutrition. The one thing that hasn't changed over the last 20 years? Our obsession with vampires! That's where the inspiration for this month's color came from: the Twilight movies and our teammate Karla's mild obsession with it (a diehard fan, she skipped sleep to see the most recent premiere at 3am!!).

To be honest with you, I've been holding on to my sample for quite a few months now... just waiting for the right time to release it (and for the right name to give it). Similar to the Black Purl but without the black, this colorway has the most gorgeous transition between colors that I have seen so far...i guess there is a fine line between purple and grey! Anyway, as soon as I showed my to Karla last month, I knew that this color would have to be dedicated to her - and to her love of Twilight. This has got to be one of the prettiest color combos we've ever had (and I'm not a huge fan of purple). I hope you enjoy it as much as we have.

The December Limited Edition color, Sugar Plum, is available now! We'll have a more complete description shortly.

Who are my favorite fellas, you ask?! They are the heart and soul of our business, the bright spots in our lives... they are Buddy and Wiley - our SuperDogs (and best friends)! For the last 7 years, their photos have adorned the website... the photos rotate - some are of buddy, some of wiley, and many of them together. They are terrific and patient models and appear on the lower left hand side of many pages on the website (the yarn home page, for example). (And if you visit the shop, you'll see framed photos of them on the back wall!) If you've got fellas of your own, then you can understand how important they are to us... and because of that, we begged and begged the girls at Lorna's Laces to create a colorway that both honors and represents them. And i think they did a terrific job!

Ah, Halloween. It brings back memories. Back when i was a kid in Raleigh, my best friend Allison and I used to run wild, especially on Halloween and Easter. Given the fact that there was an Kerr Drug in walking distance from our house, Allison and I used to count down the days until the day AFTER those famous holidays. Why, you ask? Because that's when all of the CANDY WENT ON SALE!!! The first day after Halloween would yield prices at 25% off, 2-3 days later the prices would drop 50%, and eventually every piece of candy could be had for pennies. We would go crazy. We saved up our kool-aid stand money (that's another story...) all summer for these super candy sales (yes, we had limited parental supervision those days and consequently bought as much sugary candy as we could afford). Anyway, I'll never forget those days... and the sheer happiness of knowing that we could get a bag of candy corn - or a peanut butter egg - for a nickel. (Of course, to date myself, the McDonalds down the street sold ice cream cones for $.26: a quarter plus 1 penny tax.) So, in honor of my memories of Raleigh - and in celebration of Huck's 1st Halloween season, we've come up with a color that reminds us of the colors we saw while walking up and down the sale-candy aisles. We hope that these colors remind you of your own youth. Trick or Treat!

Yes, we know Mojitos don't usually have anything purple in them (something about a Grape Mojito sounds pretty interesting, don't you think?!), but the cool minty greens and serene lavenders in Purple Mojito are about more than what might be an interesting summer cocktail!

Yes.. Summer is drawing to a close and my desire to hang on to the lazy summer nights is ever-increasing, yet I'm already excited for the busy fall months and the holidays ahead (I think that's why September is one of my--and some of the girls in the shop's--favorite months!). Ashley and her now-husband Cory finished their yard just in time for their backyard wedding last month, and now that life is returning to normal for them she says they've been enjoying evenings tending their garden and watching the sunset. Rumors of a knit night on Sandy's deck have been circulating all week, and it seems there's always chatter about a barbecue or picnic on the weekends.

Needless to say, the inspiration for this month's color came from these sorts of end-of-summer rituals that are just a little bittersweet as the seasons change, but more than anything help us all to recharge for the coming fall months. For September's limited edition color, we thought we'd bring you along with us for just a moment: a barbecue with good friends (or a quiet evening knitting on the porch), a refreshing drink (perhaps a mojito!) in hand, and the season's last few blooms of purple sage rustling in the wind.

Ok, let's be honest. I think it's pretty safe to say that my favorite color is brown. So much so that the girls at the shop constantly tease me about being obsessed with it (maybe because 80% of my recent projects have been in shades of brown?). So naturally, when it came time to choose the color for now 2 month old Huck's nursery, my vote was for shades of brown. Don't get me wrong - I do like blue...really I do, but I just couldn't imagine an entire room in shades it...and without any brown! Sure blue is supposed to be calming, but what about a crying baby is calming, anyway (and believe me, this kid has lungs)? Needless to say, we settled on two colors for his room: brown for the bottom few feet of the walls, and a light blue for the top, separated by a jungle-themed border. We liked the color scheme so much, we thought we'd share it with you in this month's color Huck's Room. Maybe the combination of blues, browns, and in-betweens will be a common ground for you and say, the person you're knitting for!

What? It's September already??!! The passage of time never ceases to amaze me... One minute the streets of Tahoe are crowded with tourists on holiday around Memorial Day, then poof! - one second later the streets are full again - only this time it's Labor Day weekend. Where in the heck did all of that time go? It's a mystery to me, for sure. To be fair, i have heard that time speeds up as you get older... as an 8 year old, you've only been alive for 96 months, so a single summer constitutes 1/32 of your entire existence. Now that i've been around for 408 months (as of last week!), those 3 piddly summer months (1/136) are just a blip of time on the radar of my life so far. Crazy, isn't it?

What does that have to do with Gone Fishin'? Ha ha - not much (as usual), except that the name came to us (Jeanne gets full credit this time) as we were lamenting the fact that the summer has gone by so quickly... and we all wished that we could take a week off and spend it on the side of the lake, staring at the clear blue water - and maybe we'd just put a sign on the door of JBW that says "Gone Fishin'... We'll Be Back Later." Now that would be some great customer service, wouldn't it?! :)

So, no matter where these last few weeks of warm weather take you, make sure to have a few hanks of the Gone Fishin' in your travel bag... it's a fun new color packed with endless possibilities!

What can you do with a Hot August Night?? Knit! That's what i'm going to be doing with my Hot August Night yarn... This month's Lorna's Laces Limited Edition color was named after the smoky night skies here in the sierras... With all of the smoke this year, the skies have turned intense shades of red, orange, purple, and brown - and we've tried to recreate the colors to the best of our abilities. The Hot August Night color is available in: Shepherd Sock, Shepherd Worsted, Lion and Lamb, and NOW Shepherd Sport!

Let the Fireworks Begin! Naturally the first thing to come out of my mouth when Beth from Lorna's Laces asked for a color name, this being July's color, was Fireworks. When the girls at the shop first saw this color though, they all thought of popsicles -- you know, the ones off the ice cream truck that stained our mouths neon colors in childhood. I'm a sucker for reminiscing, so I passed the new name on to Lorna's Laces. The color arrived today, labeled FIREWORKS! It seems Lorna's Laces is just that efficient and they had already labeled the majority of the hanks before I got back to them! So if in all of this we've told you this month's color will be Popsicle, I'm sorry...but let the fireworks begin!

The color is called Blueberry Snowcone because it reminds us of, well, summer snowcones! To be honest, I wanted to name it Blackberry Snowcone since it has so much purple in it (it has purple, periwinkle, bright blue and charcoal), but we figured that might be confusing since Lorna's already has a Blackberry color. Either way, the color is gorgeous and I'm excited to use it for this little sundress or maybe a baby sweater set. Then I'll just have to find a little kid to give it to!

The May color was designed by longtime Lorna's Laces employee Becca. Here's what she had to say about the color - and her experience at LL: "Leaving Lorna's Laces is bittersweet for me. It is hard to leave an environment that has become like a home. With the good friends, the bright colors, the dance parties and lots of memories it is hard to believe that leaving is the best option. But, sometimes you have to jump into change with both feet and trust that you will land safely. So, thank you to Beth and everyone else at Lorna's for nurturing me (and putting up with me) for the past three and a half years. I hope that you all like the color that I created, and I hope that it encourages you to jump into change with both feet."

The April Lorna's Laces limited edition color Lily Pad makes us feel like playing leap frog to celebrate the beginning of spring! The colors are elegant yet still remaining fresh. Jeanne says that it reminds her of one of Claude Monet's paintings of the water lilies (in fact, we were thinking of naming it Monet's Meadow!)

This month, the girls in the store sat down and picked out a few of their favorite Lorna's shades - and asked Beth if she could dye them all next to each other. Whisper, Sage, Sunshine, and Natural are joined together to create "Spring Forward" - our limited edition color for March. I personally love it!

American Heart Month, Valentines Day, and lots of chocolate.... February makes me think of reds, browns, and all of the colors in between. This month's color SWAK (Sealed with a Kiss) is the perfect combination of all things sweet (candies, love, your honey, etc). Whether you choose to knit a pair of socks for the love of your life - or a shawl to keep your darling mom warm during the cold months - or even a simple poncho for your 2 year old - you'll adore watching the colors of red, purple, and deep brown blend together. So - have fun with this color - and have a terrific February!

"It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas, everywhere you go..." Well, maybe not everywhere, but at least it's snowing a ton here at my house. After skiing in the sunshine this morning, we returned home to snow and ice... and white skies. Yet just a few weeks ago I went for a run on the trails in shorts and a t-shirt! The lack of snow back then is what prompted us to come up with a yarn color that reminded us of snow and ice... maybe as our way of doing the 'snow dance.' And i guess it worked, cause it's been snowing all week long!

Ah, the holidays... traditional colors of red and green filling the house (well, not my house, but i have heard rumors that other people decorate their houses for Christmas, Hannukah, and other Winter Holidays!). This December, the creative geniuses at Lornas Laces have taken that red and green, softened them up a bit (think cedar and cranberry) and then added a touch of Gold. The result makes me giddy!

For November 2007, we came up with the color Autumn Leaves! Remniscent of, well, Autumn Leaves... you can't go wrong with the shades of gold, brown, and rust.

For October 2007, we came up with the color Candy Corn (our very own Jeanne came up with the name!). The color combination of orange and chocolate came about as a tribute to those who are fans of the Halloween holiday - and to those who aren't (hence the brown instead of traditional black). Personally, this color makes me think of those chocolate dipped orange slices, but it reminded Jeanne of her favorite October treat Candy Corn (without the white, obviously).

For September 2007, we came up with the color Cherries Jubilee. With summer coming to an end, we find ourselves already missing those warm nights with ice cream in hand. I know the green in this yarn doesn't really have anything to do with ice cream, but the pinks and browns reminded us of that favorite ice cream cone. I hope you like it as much as we do.

For August 2007, we came up with the color Rainforest. Why Rainforest? Well, because Rainforests remind us of the tropics... and the tropics remind us of going on vacation... and August is the month for summer-ending vacations...