News

The last batch of 2018’s customer FOs and shop projects are ready to share. Be ready to get some ideas for 2019!

We begin on a high note: Jill’s fantastic Mountain High* from Heidi Kirrmaier. Her yarn is Berroco’s new Ultra Alpaca Natural. I hope you’ll be seeing Jill wearing this perfectly-fitting pullover in the shop soon.

Don’t you love the way the increase and decrease stitches create detailing on the front, and the garter stitch band runs alongside the raglan shoulder shaping and down the sides to create faux seams?

While Ultra Alpaca has been a much-loved staple yarn for years and years in dyed shades, Natural is – you guessed it – a blend of the natural colors of alpaca with undyed wool fibers.

I used it for a pair of Rathtrevor fingerless gloves from designer Jane Richmond. OK, I went a little off-pattern, adding rib to the thumb and hand and using the tubular cast on and bind off. But isn’t that the fun of making our own?

Below is a shot I took right before Christmas of several of our not-quite-white yarns. Ultra Alpaca Natural is in the front row, alongside Trendsetter Icon, with its glittering micro sequins. (Topas, Llamor, Woolstok, Ultra Wool, Drizzle, Classic Alpaca, and Maxima round out the group.)

I realized after taking this photo that I’d never posted pictures here of our Icon shop sample, the Hasukai Cowl* by Hiroko Fukatsu.

For this version of Hasukai, I again went off-pattern: I used 3 skeins, approximately 475 yards, of chunky weight Icon on US 10.75/7mm needles for a pattern that calls for 900 yards of lace weight yarn on US 7/4.50mm needles. Making the switch was easy: a quick, small swatch gave me my stitches per inch, then I only had to change the number of stitches to be cast on. It was a quick knit, finished in about four days.

Hasukai is knit in the round. It’s just a big tube; imagine the same shape as penne pasta, but with a ruffle at each edge. I can highly recommend the pattern, whether you go chunky as I did or stick with the original lace weight. Notes on my adaptation to the original directions are available when you purchase either your yarn or pattern at the shop.

Its unique shape allows it to be worn as an oversize cowl when folded in half, above, or as a ruffly scarf, below.

It can even be pinned as a shawl.

From the designer’s Ravelry project page, here is Hasukai done in Malabrigo Lace…

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Here’s one more FO from Jill, a sporty Twisted Trails* from Lisa K. Ross, made for a lucky grandson. Machine washable, 100% wool Berroco Ultra Wool gave her great stitch definition in these intricate cables.

And, finally, Barbara’s pièce de résistance: a drop dead gorgeous cardigan in, once again, Ultra Wool. The pattern comes from the French yarn company Bergère de France. Like many European knitting designs, it has plenty of what we Americans would call “couture construction techniques.” (That’s code for many hours spent puzzling over vague directions and ambiguous schematics.) Nevertheless, Barbara persisted. She knit, un-knit, and re-knit until she was 100% satisfied. After finding some buttons at GYI that she adored, she even re-designed the button band so they would be front and center, rather than hidden behind a covered placket, as in the original. Her investment of industry and ingenuity paid off with this beautiful masterwork.

I can’t wait to see 2019’s first FOs. How about you? Want to know whenever we post the newest gallery of customer FOs? We can now send you an email notice every time a new post is published to this blog! It’s not the same as our general email list; it’s just to get an alert for this page. Just sign up to “stay in touch”!  (This feature may not appear in Mobile View.)

Note: Patterns marked with an asterisk (*) are available at Gosh Yarn It!

Breaking news! The Wyoming Valley’s own Carolyn Kern has brought out two new original patterns: the Sidereal Check Hat and Sidereal Check Cowl, both knit in Arranmore Light from The Fibre Co.

Says Carolyn, “My Sidereal Check Hat & Cowl were selected by The Fibre Co. for their Fall 2018 Yarn Support Programme! These colorwork projects were inspired by high fashion garments featuring graphic variations of houndstooth check. I enjoyed charting some of these checks for stranded knitting. The check pattern I use here was one of my favorites. I love how the background color appears as a series of four-pointed stars. ‘Sidereal’ means of or relating to distant stars or constellations.”

Samples of Carolyn’s stranded hat and cowl will be on display at the shop for the next 10 days. Come see how lovely they are! Two skeins for the main color and one of a contrast color will be more than enough to make both the hat and cowl – and we have lots of beautiful Arranmore Light colors to choose from.

Carolyn’s not only on The Fibre Co.’s radar – she is a longtime contributor to Quince, and her Daphnis* appeared earlier this fall in their Scarves, etc. 7 and as an individual pattern available in-store through Ravelry. Suzanne was quick to pick up her needles for this elegant shawl worked in aran/chunky weight yarn. Her beautiful Daphnis in our GGH Topas is below.

It’s a busy time for knitters, and we often miss seeing a lot of the projects finished in December because they are quickly “gifted” away. Luckily, quite a few FOs have visited the shop recently, and they are an impressive bunch!

Above is Bonnie’s Declan’s Hat from designer Samantha Kirby, a free pattern on Ravelry. Bonnie’s mystery yarn for her Declan came from deep in her stash, but it’s very similar to Maxima from Manos del Uruguay, another single ply that will have great cable stitch definition. Below, Bonnie herself modeled her version of Kathy North’s Tasseled Earflap Hat, another free pattern. This hat was given as a gift the next day. Our fox fur pom pom was a perfect color match for Bonnie’s Malabrigo Rasta. 

Staying with hats, Brigid is seen here behind an impressive stack of her knit hats being readied for a craft fair. The cute green one on top of the pile, though, is going to our holiday donation to the Misericordia University Women With Children Program.

I made a Focalise* hat for the Misericordia collection. The pattern comes from Kirsten McTeer. I used an easy-care wool/acrylic blend from my stash. I love how the decreases at the crown spiral like the spokes of a wheel.

Here’s Joan’s on-trend Rikke in madelinetosh Pashmina. Sarah Young’s popular pattern is both easy to knit and wear. Will the number of projects on Ravelry for Rikke top 11,000 in 2018? 

If these hats inspire you to pick up your 16″ circulars and cast on for one or two more hats before the holidays, our selection of Berroco Ultra Wool has been fully re-stocked, 45+ colors! Ultra Wool is our all-time favorite 100% washable wool worsted weight. May we suggest a handknit version of this season’s hottest hat, the Copy.Cat C.C Beanie by Emily Ingrid? 

Shifting to a shawl, here is Steven’s spectacular Seashell, Nicola Susen’s free shawl pattern, in Malabrigo Lace. The pictures speak for themselves…

Now a cowl: Steven’s Big Herringbone Cowl was a perfect choice for Rios, another kettle-dyed Malabrigo yarn. Purl Soho’s design is free on Ravelry. 

And flip-top mitts: Rebecca’s jewel-bright The York Mittens, a free pattern from Mariana Wegener, in some of her stash yarn. 

Gina’s long and happy career as a sock knitter so far has yielded enough leftovers for her to knit two Split Personality scarves. You can tell she had fun making this second one! Do I see some Opal in there?

And so we’ve gone from top to toe: Joanne’s lacey Hummingbird Socks by Sandi Rosner from Clara Parkes’ The Knitter’s Book of Socks. Her yarn is Cascade Heritage Paints with heels and toes from – you guessed it – stash leftovers. What would we do without our stashes?

Note: Patterns marked with an asterisk (*) are available at Gosh Yarn It!

Our customer Lisa and her Humulus* sweater knit in GGH Topas are famous! She made it into Kristy Glass’ 2018 Tell Me About Your Rhinebeck Sweater video, with over 27K views. Watch the video here on YouTube, and if you want to go straight to Lisa’s star turn, fast forward to 42:58. Humulus was created by German designer Isabell Kraemer, and it’s pretty famous, too. The pattern was the winner of Mason-Dixon Knitting’s 2018 March Mayhem. And, yes, Humulus is a pullover – Lisa steeked hers into a cardigan!! If that doesn’t blow your mind, Lisa told us, “I made it in 8 days so I could wear it to Rhinebeck! I am so glad you had the yarn for it!” You read that right: 8 days! Below, Lisa and Kristy Glass.

Here’s one of the balls of Olive that later went home with Lisa for her Humulus…

Jill’s been knitting up Topas, too. She zipped through not one but two shop samples recently: a Rikke Hat* from designer Sarah Young in pure white Classic Alpaca from the Alpaca Yarn Company and a Speed Demon Cowl* in Topas. Jill took some liberties with Speed Demon, increasing the number of stitches to be cast on from the original instructions, which were written for size US 15 needles and a super bulky yarn like Malabrigo Rasta. She used US 11 needles with her Topas, a bulky weight. The changes worked perfectly!

The clever stitch pattern of the Speed Demon Cowl, close up.

Jill’s needles are on fire – she also completed this gorgeous baby blanket in madelinetosh Tosh DK. The color is called Shire, and the pattern is Channing Road* by Michelle Hunter. The rich stitch definition of the yarn beautifully shows off the diamonds-within-diamonds pattern.

Beth finished her amazing Shipwreck Shawl from the Knitting Harpy in Cascade Heritage Sock. The design is free on Knitty.com and is based on Elizabeth Zimmermann’s Pi Shawl formula. Says Beth, “It was a fun knit, but use lifelines!”

These photos do not do it justice. Trust me, it is a masterpiece.

Andrea Mowry’s Tinsel Mitts* pattern includes instructions for making them as full mittens, convertible mitts, or fingerless mitts. Stephanie chose the “flip top” version for the best of both worlds. Her yarn is Oink DK from our 2016 Oink Pigments Trunk Show.

Gina gathered up lots and lots of leftover bits of sock yarn and created this OOAK Split Personality, a free scarf pattern from Espace Tricot. That’s the wonderful thing about making it up as you knit along, your finished project is the only one like it in the world!

Finally, Gosh Yarn It! knitters joined with the Knotty Knitters group in Tunkhannock this year to knit hats for the children whose mothers attend Misericordia University in Dallas, PA, through their Women with Children Program. The hats go into gift bags that will be waiting for each child when they return to their residences from their holiday party. Special thanks to coordinators Jane Jones at GYI and Ann Way in Tunkhannock. Below, hats made by the Knotty Knitters, most in Berroco Ultra Wool.

Note: Patterns marked with an asterisk (*) are available for sale at Gosh Yarn It!

We’re down to the final three classes of the year: Reading Your Knitting, Saturday December 1st, and Be the Boss of Your Yarn and A Knitter’s Bag of Tricks, both on Saturday December 8th. All three are cram-packed with useful hints, suggestions, and techniques for all knitters. If it’s time to kick your knitting skills up a notch, flip over to our Classes/Upcoming Events page for more information!

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Bingo Funky Print: a name that may be hard to remember but a yarn that’s easy to love. The popularity of this Lana Grossa worsted weight has surprised even us! Bonnie topped one of her hats in Bingo Funky Print with one of our new fur poms…

…and another Bonnie beanie in Bingo was crowned with a contrast yarn pom made by Marsha. Bonnie used her own patterns for both of these hats.

Berroco Millefiori has been another sleeper hit this season. Again, not the easiest yarn name to recall but lots of fun to work with. Here, Bonnie used aran weight Millefiori with the Lorcan Hat* by Tracie Taggart, switching out the pattern’s moss stitch brim for traditional 2×2 rib.

She chose the perfect “Electric Blue” pompom for it.

Rebecca used Millefiori to great effect in her Basic March cardigan. A simple, classic design lets the yarn colors really shine. It looks absolutely great on her, too, but Maude the Mannequin got the job of modeling.

This sweater is a beauty, right down to the buttons.

Steven’s Origami Top Hat* took one skein of our Urth Uneek Worsted. He cleverly used the helical striping technique, working with a strand from the outside of a center-pull ball alternately with the inside strand, to get all these very cool skinny stripes. If the yarn had been knit in the conventional way, its color patterning would have been more like that of Millefiori. Pattern from Lori Versaci.

And I’ll close with one more of Bonnie’s imaginative hats; this one is done in soft Manos del Uruguay Maxima. It’s both imaginitive and original – she worked up her own pattern, including a brioche stitch brim – as she went along!

Note: patterns marked with an asterisk (*) are available at Gosh Yarn It!

 

 

…and the winning yarn/pattern pairing this season is Malabrigo Rasta and the Perky Little Hat. Seems like I see a new Perky every few days, hot off the needles! We have our customer Joanne to thank for introducing us to Sharon Lentsch’s free pattern. (I slurped the photo below from the designer’s project page to show how it looks pom pom’ed.)

 

Be sure to come see our Rasta selection soon. We can also give you lots of ideas for other quick projects to make with Rasta and US 13-17 needles. Joanne’s hat, the one at the head of the Perky parade, is below. One skein makes it with enough left over for a pom pom, if you are so inclined.

If you’re good with real fur, we have some great fox and racoon pom poms. They’re selling quickly, and a second order for both natural and dyed poms is already on the way.

Joan scored one of the last red pom poms from our first order. It now lives happily atop her Photographer Hat, another free Ravelry pattern. The designer is Lavanya Patricella. Joan’s yarn is our self-striping Urth Uneek Worsted.

I went back to one of my favorite (also free on Ravelry) patterns, the Rikke Hat from Susan Young when I wanted to make a new warm hat for my daughter. The slouch built right into Rikke only gets better with alpaca, so I used our Classic Alpaca from The Alpaca Yarn Company, based close by in York, PA.

Catherine found a bag that had been tucked away and, well, forgotten. What was in the bag? Treasure!

There were socks she had made for Ravelry’s Sock Madness competition plus “a few” more. What a find! Mostly made from Opal yarn, her bestie sock yarn.

If you want to start your own love affair with Opal yarn, you’re in luck! All the colors of the latest Handwerk & Hobby 3 Collection are now in stock.

Linda continues to outfit the  N.Y. Giants fan in her family with warm hand knits in team colors. Fortunately, our Berroco Ultra Wool has just the right blue and red for the job. Here is her Head Hugger by Gail Tanquary and Tiennie’s Ribby Neckwarmer.

And finally, stash yarn went into my Ballydesmond* fingerless gloves from Irish Girlie Knits. These were made for a recent class I gave on cabling. The discussion strayed into other topics, such as Magic Loop technique, altering patterns, and – ahem – the careful reading of instructions. By happy accident, i.e. my cursory reading of the instructions, I knit each round of the cuffs with the charted cable pattern twice, when I was supposed to follow the chart only once for just half a round. My goof allowed me to rib the palm, rather than have it be plain stockinette, and to adjust the placement of the thumb gusset for a better fit.

I do think my “custom” thumb gussets, which begin in the center of a cable cross, are pretty neat.

If you’d like a copy of my modifications, please ask when you purchase the Ballydesmond pattern at GYI. And remember to love all your projects, even the “mistakes”!

Note: Patterns marked with an asterisk (*) are available at Gosh Yarn It!

We can’t get enough of the Simple Slouch Hat by Robyn Devine and Hat in Slipped Stitch Ribbing for a Lady by Yelena Chen. They appeared on the blog a few posts ago, but they look even cuter in this shot with their buddy, the Churchmouse Fisherman’s Rib Beanie*. Catherine made the Slouch, Brigid the Hat…for a Lady, and Jill made the Beanie, which is conveniently sized for four different weights of yarn.

All three patterns are easy. All three are free. All three yarns are really fun to work with. Shown below, clockwise from left: Bingo Fun Print and Gomitolo Merino from Lana Grossa, and Brielle from Berroco. (And, yes, I had to look up “gomitolo.” It’s Italian for “ball of yarn,” pronounced go-MEET-oh-low. We are so much more than a yarn store.)

Three years ago, Catherine introduced us to Violet Waffles from Halldora J, which has become a huge customer favorite. Now she has tracked down mitts to match: Cozy Thermal Mitts by Karen Everitt. Brilliant! She made the complete set recently with Madelinetosh Tosh DK.

Crystal fell in love with our shop sample of Antonia Shankland’s Bubble Wrap Cowl*. Not finding the exact peacock blue she wanted, she dyed her own with Wilton’s Food Coloring using Woolstok from Blue Sky Fibers. Even though still on the needles, I had to take this UFO shot.

Stephanie finished her stop-and-stare-worthy 2018 Rhinebeck Sweater in plenty of time. Here is her Hadley Pullover from Veronik Avery, also in Woolstok.

Stephanie said she could be quoted: “I just have to say, this is the softest wool I have ever felt!”

Bonnie was among the first to snap up some of our new real fur pompoms and some of our new Millefiori from Berroco and voilà! Her Lorcan Slouch Hat* from designer Tracie Taggart.

Beloved* is one of those wonderful Tin Can Knits patterns that is sized from newborn to adult. Linda sent us this snap of her itty bitty Beloved in La Jolla fingering from Baah Yarns.

I admit to slurping this next shot from Ravelry of Julia’s Pumpkin Spice Hat* from Cutie Patootees in our Berroco Ultra Wool. How could I not share this much cuteness?

Joanne is scary good at customizing her knitting. First, she modified the Bankhead Hat for a deeper cuff using DK weight Classic Alpaca held double to make the worsted weight called for in the pattern.

Then she modified Katya Frankel’s Timber Trail Hat* pattern for a heavier yarn than called for in the pattern. She substituted worsted weight Berroco Vintage for the recommended sport weight.

 

THEN, she made up her own sock pattern for Manos del Uruguay Alegria to incorporate lace, eyelets, and multiple textures. Talk about fearless knitting – wow!

 

Note: All patterns marked with an asterisk (*) are available at Gosh Yarn It!

 

 

 

 

 

Oh, look, another grey day. What’s a good cure for the overcast blahs? Color! Here are Wanda’s Kite and Zanette Shawl to cheer us up.

Kite* comes from designer Ann Klimpert. Wanda used La Jolla from Baah! Yarn and Alegria from Manos del Uruguay.

The Zanette Shawl* was designed by Katy H. Carroll, a.k.a. Katinka Designs. Wanda’s yarns here are Shalimar Paulie and, again, Alegria from Manos.

Now, a word about the colors: the light pink of the garter section and dark pink of the lace edging weren’t Wanda’s idea. The latter bled onto the former, despite her using the (usually foolproof) trick of soaking a project worked in both very light and very dark colors in icy water liberally doused with white vinegar. The Alegria was originally white with speckles of pinks, reds, and blues. Alas, sometimes bad things do happen to good knitters. But if I hadn’t spilled the beans, would you have ever guessed it wasn’t exactly what she’d planned all along?

Now, some beautiful cable work. Suzanne made her Two Roads shawl from Melanie Berg in Berroco Vintage DK. She has it pinned at the shoulder poncho-style. Lovely.

I’ll end with a plug for another of our yarns, fingering weight Coexist from Urth Yarns. It’s an 80% silk/20% Extrafine Merino blend. Brigid created our shop sample scarf in the classic seafoam stitch.

Full disclosure: perhaps not the best choice for beginner knitters, since silk is famously slippery and inelastic.

But, that said, wow! Doesn’t it make a super wearable scarf? It will definitely attract both compliments and that comment we all love to hear, “You made that yourself?”

Note: Patterns marked with an asterisk (*) are available at Gosh Yarn It!

You don’t need to be a technique geek (like me) to want to learn a new knitting trick now and then. This fall’s classes are filled with tweaks and tips to make your knitting more enjoyable. Here’s what’s on the schedule so far (all dates are Saturdays):

Beginner Cables: Ballydesmond Fingerless Gloves with Ann Ross; November 3
So You Want to Knit a Sweater with Stephanie Hogan; November 10
Reading Your Knitting with Ann Ross; December 1
Be the Boss of Your Yarn with Ann Ross; December 8
A Knitter’s Bag of Tricks with Ann Ross; December 8

For full details, see our Classes page. Please check back often, as more classes may be added to the schedule. Individual instruction is always an option, and we’ve created a menu of the most frequently requested knitting techniques. Also ask about designing your own private lessons. We’re happy to customize a class to meet your specific need.

• Cable Knitting
• Cast-ons and Bind-offs
• Double Knitting
• Fixing Mistakes
• Horizontal and Vertical Seaming
• Increases and Decreases
• Intarsia
• Kitchener Stitch Grafting
• Knitting in the Round – Circular Needles, DPNs and Magic Loop
• Knitting from Charts
• Log Cabin Knitting
• Math for Knitters: How to Get (or forget about) Gauge
• Provisional Cast-on: Making It and Making It Disappear
• Short Rows
• Toe-up Practice Socks – 2 sessions
• Top-down Practice Socks – 2 sessions
• 2-Color Brioche Knitting (Flat or In-the-Round)
• 2-Handed Stranded Colorwork

Our last post featured one of our new yarns, Trendsetter Pure Collection New York. We now have two trunk show samples of New York on loan from the yarn company; here is the Get to the Point Pullover*.

This stylish intarsia sweater was designed by Barry Klein of Trendsetter Yarns. We love this versatile DK weight 100% organic wool. It’s also beautifully represented in the new Fall/Winter 2018 issue of knit.wear magazine with Norah Gaughan’s Sloane Dress.

Another of our new favorites is bulky Topas from the German yarn maker GGH (another Trendsetter import). For a chunky that’s happy on US 10-11 needles, it’s airy and light because it’s a hollow-cored chainette and soft because it’s a wool/alpaca/acrylic blend.

 

If you receive our emails, then this picture could be familiar:

It’s a collage of 9 of our 10 newest yarns, which all seemed to arrive at once!

The shop was a beehive of activity for a couple of days as yarn was unpacked, tagged, and put out on display. Although the best way to get to know a yarn is to hold it in your hand (and then swatch it, of course!), here is a brief introduction, left to right, top to bottom:

• Lana Grossa Bingo Funky Print / Bulky, 88 yds/50g
• Schoppel-Wolle Zauber Flower / Fingering, 656 yds/150g
• Madelinetosh Twist Light / Fingering, 420 yds
• Trendsetter Icon / Aran, 165 yds/50g
• GGH Topas / Bulky, 125 yds/50g
• HiKoo Llamor / DK, 109 yds/50g
• Urth Yarns Coexist / Fingering, 400 yds/100g
• Lana Grossa Gomitolo Merino / Aran, 120 yds/50 g
• Lana Grossa Gomitolo Versione / Worsted, 770 yds/200g

It’s easy to say, “something for everyone,” but our Fall 2018 selection of yarn is all that and more. (Especially when you count in Berroco Brielle and Millefiore, plus re-stocks of Berroco Ultra Wool, Blue Sky Fibers Woolstok, Isager Alpaca 2, and Ewe Ewe’s Ewe So Sporty.)

And where’s the tenth new yarn? Here it is, Trendsetter New York (DK, 190 yds/50g)…

…the star of Catherine’s Heavenly* sweater. As mentioned in the last post, she is the first on the GYI staff to finish her “Fall for Sweaters” project. Congratulations, Catherine!

This stylishly simple pattern comes from German designer Ankestrick. Woolen-spun New York makes a perfect between-seasons sweater with light warmth without weight. Love that intense sapphire blue. Catherine chose another can’t-miss blue for her elegant Horai Scarf by Hiroko Fukatsu.

Her yarn is Sugar Bush Drizzle silk/mohair.

“Horai” is a paradise in Japanese mythology. Easy to imagine, wrapped in this lovely stole!

Stephanie is also under blue’s spell; her toe-up socks are knit in Urth Uneek Sock, and, yes, they’re a perfectly matched pair.

Note: Patterns marked with an asterisk (*) are available at Gosh Yarn It!

 

 

It’s sweater weather at Gosh Yarn It! This is a first: all four members of the GYI staff are working on the same kind of project at the same time: SWEATERS.

And, yes, well, to be honest, Catherine has already finished. Jill’s as far as separating stitches for her sleeves. Brigid is ahead of me with casting on and will probably be done before I’m halfway through, but I found my tubular cast on mojo over the weekend and am happily knitting the ribbed hem. Four knitters, four patterns, four yarns. We can’t wait to share our sweater stories with you, from swatch to success. If we can do it, you can, too!

Jill

Pattern: Mountain High by Heidi Kirrmaier
Yarn: Ultra Alpaca Natural from Berroco (50% Super Fine Alpaca, 50% Peruvian Wool; 215 yds/100g; worsted weight)

Catherine

Pattern: Heavenly by Ankestrick
Yarn: New York from Trendsetter (100% Organic Merino Wool; 180 yds/50g; DK weight)

Brigid

Pattern: Cromwell Pullover by Bobbi Intveld
Yarn: Woolstok from Blue Sky Fibers (100% Fine Peruvian Highland Wool; 123 yds/50g; worsted weight)

Ann

Pattern: Weekender by Andrea Mowry
Yarn: Luma from The Fibre Company (50% Merino Wool, 25% Organic Cotton, 15% Linen, 10% Silk; 137 yds/50g; DK weight)

All yarns are either currently in stock or will be arriving shortly. All patterns are available at GYI.