A Rainy Sunday and Blowout Sale Bins!

This past weekend was a bit of a washout. Luckily I had some finishing to do on the ballet wrap cardigan, and the rainy weather forced me to do it. The most time consuming part of the finishing was knitting the 2 ties. Each one was 45" long. Long skinny pieces are not my favorite.

The sweater pieces went together quickly and then it was blocked, and voila! It's on the mannequin in the shop now and a few of our customers have already started it for themselves. I made a 34.5" finished chest size, which called for 6 skeins of Prism. I almost got away with 5 skeins, but needed to go into the 6th for the second tie.

Our weekly special on Saturday was 15% off Lamb's Pride Worsted and Lamb's Pride Bulky, through this Thursday. So I checked orders from home on Sunday. WOW. LOTS. And because it was raining I thought it would be a good idea to kill some time before our matinee (CARS) by pulling some of the orders. So I went in to the shop with my soon to be 7-year-old "helpers" Helen and Sophie. They like to help out when they can (they are in training for after school helping a few years down the road!) and they are pretty good at holding/carrying bags of yarn and writing down order numbers (with my strict supervision so numbers aren't transposed!) They are also REALLY good at:

1. playing with the UPS label machine
2. putting return address stickers on things (mostly themselves)
3. playing with the laser scanner
4. sitting on Betsy's chair in shipping and rolling across the floor (these uneven wood floors!)
5. collecting things from the warehouse floors like rubber bands and paper clips

Unfortunately, those are all things that don't really help to get orders picked any faster. I told them if they did a good job helping (and I meant helping at bag holding), I would let them each have candy at the movies, and that I would give them a dollar. I know it's bribery, but it did work. They still managed to scan a number of non-scannable items with the laser scanner, sticker themselves, collect some rubber bands, and roll around in the chair.

Last week Barb and I put together some great yarns for our local customers. They are just inside the front door of the shop, by the mannequin. The yarns are on blowout - they are just $1-2 a ball! Locals, don't wait! We've already had to refill the bins about 5 times since Saturday. At this price they won't last for long.

Knitting Nature Trunk Show!

This is some advance notice for our local customers - we will be hosting the Trunk Show for Knitting Nature by Norah Gaughan August 17th - August 28th. If you haven't seen it yet, this is a GREAT book! There are some really amazing projects in it. You will NOT want to miss seeing the garments in person!

In knitting news, the Ballet Wrap sweater in Prism is almost finished. I should be able to do the rest of sleeve #2 tonight, and then I have to knit the "ties" and do all seaming. It is SO cute. Prism is definitely one of my favorite yarns. It's soft and QUICK and the colorways are amazing.

Michele is almost finished a Suede tank from Berroco Book 215. It was supposed to be done in Glace, but she picked Suede and it's really nice. She brought it in so Barb could help her with the crochet finishing around the neck.

This week and next, Kalen is relaxing in Florida, and we hope she's having a great time. Betsy had a mini high school reunion last weekend, and wore her Rayon Boucle Wrap in Quince. Barb saw it and said it was gorgeous! Michele did get a lot of knitting time when she was on vacation in Maine. If you are reading this Michele... bring in the pieces of your Trilogy top on Monday so we can see!!

Folk Hats Trunk Show

The Folk Hats Trunk Show arrived a couple of days ago, and to celebrate we are offering 20% off the book. Locals should definitely come in and check out these unique hats. Here are some of our favorites. First up - Ruffled Dignity:

Next, the Folded Bloom:
Now the Cable Braid:

And finally the Big Cossack:

So while it may be super hot out there, come on in to see some great hats. And enjoy the comfortable AC while you are here.

We just decided to have one of the new MinnowKnits patterns "Kangaroo" knit up as a shop model in Manos Cotton Stria. It is so cute - and will have a couple of nice Zecca buttons on it. I am going to start the Wee One Welcome Set in Koigu Kersti next week. It has been so popular that we sold out of the pattern, but it's due back in tomorrow. Kalen left on her vacation today, and hopes to finish the shell she is making out of Rowan Summer Tweed. And Michele gets back from her vacation on Monday, and hopefully she will have something to show on her Berroco Trilogy sweater.

Buried!

This is normally our slower season, but boy have we been busy here at the shop! We've had SO many of our internet customers stop in to see us over the past month. Vermont is a beautiful place to travel, and customers from all over the US are visiting our area and stopping in to see the shop in person. It's been great to meet all of you!

Last weekend was the Vermont Quilt Show, just down the road at the Champlain Valley Expo Center. They had over 7,000 people in attendance, and a LOT of them visited the shop last week. They were so excited about the new venue for the quilt show, and we are thrilled that it will be back for the next couple of years.

We have been keeping busy with the great sale on Cool Wool Big and Cool Wool 2000. They are over 40% off! These are two yarns that we LOVE. We are sad to let them go, because they are really wonderful to knit with, and they are so soft, and superwash merino. But Lana Grossa does not have the name recognition that our customers seem to demand, so they are going bye bye. If you haven't tried this yarn, don't delay. They will be gone soon!

And we have several amazing new yarns - one of my favorites is Royal by Blue Sky Alpacas. It is so soft - and luxurious. I am making a pair of wristlets - they are about 12" long with a gorgeous ruffle at the top. I only started last night, but the yarn is a dream to work with. We also got in our new yarns from Colinette: Tao and Parisienne. They are so much fun. I especially like the Parisienne. The patterns for this yarn are nicely shaped and figure flattering. I'm not a big laceweight fan, but this yarn just might win me over!