Fall is in the air

Back to work tomorrow after a great vacation. We went to our camp in Maine, where we go for a week or so each summer. We usually go in early August when it is nice and hot. The camp is right on a lake, and the water is shallow by the shore and great for swimming. We spend 8-10 hours a day in and on the water.

This year we took a later vacation, and has anyone noticed how fall-like it's been for the past couple of weeks? Our first day was the warmest, and then we had very chilly temperatures, wind, clouds and some sprinkles. It was still a great time - and because of the cool temperatures, I became an expert at lighting the woodstove. (I'm always up for fine tuning one of my skills!)

The great thing about being on a lake is that the scenery is never dull. It changes from one minute to the next. (Can you see how COLD the air was? Brrr.)

I did do some knitting on my trip. I finished and blocked my Koigu slipstitch hat - it's very cute...

And I started and finished a simple little roll neck raglan (top down - Knitting Pure & Simple 9730) sweater out of Lang Mille Colori. This could be one of my new favorite yarns. SO soft, and NO way to know what color will come next. It's a really fun yarn and it was nice, mindless knitting. I also knit a little newborn sweater out of Blue Sky Worsted. It's finished, almost. I need to single crochet around the edges. I could have done it, but I need to pick a button or two out tomorrow when I go back to the shop.

Nana came to our camp and taught the girls to fish. On the first day, they practiced from the dock.

Fishing can mean waiting. And waiting. And waiting.

And one day, while we were out exploring in the car, we saw what we always hope to see in Maine... a moose. This one was about a year old and just off the side of the road. A few minutes later, we realized that it wasn't alone.

It was with Mommy and a younger sibling! They were really spectacular.Because of the cooler temperatures and one of the girls getting a fever of 102, we came home from our trip a couple of days early. Even though the week wasn't as warm as we'd expected, we finished our vacation with a gorgeous day on top of Stowe (Mount Mansfield) yesterday with some great friends.

Tomorrow I'll be back at work, and hope to finish the fall newsletter - it's almost done, just a few more touches and then off to the printers.

Classes are posted

The fall class list is posted. We will be formally announcing it in our weekly email this weekend, but we are accepting signups now. Scheduling classes is one of the more difficult things we do - we spend hours and hours on it. So when each class list is posted, we breathe a HUGE sigh of relief. Yeah!!! It's done!

So this weekend I ran in my first 5k race. I had never run more than a mile and a half, so I was worried I wouldn't finish. But I did and I only walked through the water stops. My sister Lisa stayed with me the whole way, and encouraged me through the hard times. There were several times I thought I would die, but I hung in there and I'm already excited to do another one! My run last night was easy, now that I know what I can do.

Now I'm trying to get my desk cleared off before I leave for vacation on Friday. We've been getting in more new yarns. Yesterday we received Terra from the Fibre Company. It is GORGEOUS. One of our internet customers was in visiting us and she bought a sweater's worth in the color Cochineal. I can't even begin to pick a favorite color. If I do pick one, and then turn away, when I turn back, I forgot which was my favorite and I have to pick one all over again.

And we got some new colors of Blue Sky Bulky Hand Dyes and Blue Sky Worsted that are just beautiful. We also got a new yarn from them called Brushed Suri. I am working like crazy to get all of these yarns up on the website before I leave.

On the drive down and back I worked a little on the slipstitch hat. It's going well, I really like the colors I picked. It will look nice when it's blocked!

And we're now open for comments on the blog!

New yarn... and classes coming!

Barb is back from her vacation - she had a lovely and restful week at her camp up near Barton, Vermont. Barton is the home of Cherry Tree Hill Yarn, and while she was at camp she bought a skein of CTH Silken Mohair. She wanted some mindless knitting, so she made a simple shawl with the full skein. It is gorgeous.

Since I'm a sucker for anything new, as soon as I saw the shawl, we ordered the yarn for the shop. It will be available on the website within a week or so, it is last in a long line of my "to-dos."

India stopped in today to firm up some fall class offerings. The final class schedule should be ready next week sometime... I know you're all chomping at the bit, but we are waiting for a few instructors to get back from vacation to finalize things. We have some great classes, so it will be worth the wait.

India is going to be teaching a class on a slip stitch hat, made with two colors of Koigu - one hand painted and one solid. Isn't it spectacular?! She wrote up the pattern, and it just needs one more round of testing, but it will be ready for the class and available for sale both in the shop and online. I plan to make one on MY vacation in a week and a half.

And what's this? An ALMOST finished Koigu & Cherry Tree Hill Supersock Diagonal afghan? Why yes! I seamed it together two nights ago - and I have a few ends left to work in. I decided to grab another two skeins to fringe it. I'm not going crazy with the fringe, I just feel it needs a little weight on the ends. And mind you, this is NOT the couch that I made this afghan to rest on. My color sense is a little better than that. This is our couch at work...In other news, a few of us have started running recently. We have taken advantage of the lovely Vermont summer to start getting in shape by running. Kalen is already a runner, but Michele started running in June and just ran her first 5k last weekend. Yay Michele! I started running on July 4th and am doing my first 5k this Saturday in NH with my sister (I hope I make it!) And Barb started running last week at camp, and will join me and Michele on October 1st for the Leaf Peepers 5k in Waterbury. That race is also a half marathon, but OBVIOUSLY we will only be participating in the 5k part. It's a great way to push ourselves to do something we wouldn't normally do. And yes, I would much RATHER be sitting and knitting, but that's not really getting me into shape now, is it?

A litte makeshift blocking

I finished the Blue Sky "Royal" Alpaca fingerless gloves this weekend. I didn't have my blocking wires at home, and couldn't find a pin to save my life. So I cut a piece of cardboard (thanks to a birthday shipment for Helen and Sophie from LL Bean), covered it with a little plastic wrap, and inserted it in the glove while it dried. Perfect!

A few finished items!

Another busy busy week here at the shop. I have only a minute to show some finished things .

Wee One Welcome Set in Koigu Kersti - took 3 skeins. SO easy and cute. Great FUN colors for babies - either boy or girl.

Recycled Silk & Springy Capelli roll brim hat. Easy, QUICK (2-3 hours) and beautiful.

Ribbed hat out of Berroco Memoirs in Berroco Book #252. Took EVERY bit of one skein. Easy and fast. Great color choice and soft yarn.

MinnowKnits Kangaroo Sweater done with Manos Cotton Stria. Very sweet little sweater. Another easy project.

All of these will be online as kits next week.