A great Christmas idea

Michele had a class last Friday for needle felting. She brought in two of her latest creations to show everyone - hand felted Christmas balls. They are adorable! The pink swirly ball was done with our Cherry Tree Hill Potluck Powder Puff roving. The snowman ball was done with Lamb's Pride (worsted or bulky, I forget!) Michele wanted it to have a more textured look than the pink ball, and it worked! So stay tuned! We are going to put together some classes in late October and November to teach people how to do these. Everyone in class was so excited that they promptly went downstairs and bought the rest of the needle felting tools, so we have more coming in today or tomorrow. I can't wait to try this!

Another set of twins

I had the day off yesterday, and picked up two of the cutest kitties - meet Maisy and Lucy. This was what they looked like more than 3 weeks ago when we went to pick them out. Yesterday they were a bit bigger - at just over 2.2 pounds each. They had a little visit to the vet, and then came home and crashed (in the LOVELY pink girlie bed that my daughters picked out for them!)They were successful in USING the litterbox, and also in PLAYING in it.
Today is a rainy Saturday so we're seeing a constant stream of knitters down in the shop. And we have a jovial bunch in Tom's Beginning Knitting class. It's always good to hear laughter coming from that class - it means it's a success.

Just in... new samples

The temperatures are nice and cool and we've seen a lot of people in this week looking for new projects. Barb finished her Diamanta Shawl out of Frog Tree and several people have picked that up for themselves. It is really beautiful - what an amazing pattern. Looks harder that it really is. Joy sent us a Malabrigo sweater - a cute shaped top down cardigan from Knitting Pure & Simple. It's adorable - that yarn really knits up nicely. We have a really cute patchwork scarf knit out of Frog Tree Alpaca - we just love Frog Tree. So much that we just brought in 6 new colors.
I was almost finished a cute short sleeved sweater out of Blue Sky Melange but oops. Checked my gauge at the beginning but not once I started knitting it. No WONDER it was like two sizes too big. It was so easy (a top down with nice ribbing at the bottom) but I just can't bear to re-knit it, so I am going to have someone else do it.

I actually finished my Koigu afghan the other night - I fringed it and it looks amazing. Picture to follow. Imagine my horror when I came downstairs this morning to find it in a heap on the floor in front of the couch. Helen or Sophie have to get a little better at caring for things, especially when I have made them! Another note on Koigu - all colors should be here by the end of next week. We cleared out a LOT of the old colors during our sale last week.

We can tell our newsletters have hit as the phone has been ringing off the hook with class signups, and people have been flocking in to see the new things.

Fall Newsletters... and parking reminder

The fall newsletters have been printed and are being mailed either today or tomorrow. We're about a week behind when we usually send them out - sorry! With a busier than normal summer, it took me longer to put it together, and then there were a couple of small delays at the printers. They go bulk mail, so they should start hitting your mailboxes in a few days. These get mailed to our in-store mailing list - they do not go out to email subscribers. Once they start hitting the actual mailboxes, I will copy and paste the text and put it up on the website for all others to see.

This week Betsy is off, so we're covering shipping for her. Yesterday it was SO busy with the Kersti sale. I was in shipping and it took forever just to box orders - we had pulled so much yarn that I couldn't even unload more than 1/3 of it at a time onto the shipping tables. Anyway, when I was in shipping, I realized that as Betsy is packing and shipping all of our orders each day, she really has a great view of the parking lot and who is coming and going. Yesterday our lot was full for most of the day, with lots of out-of-state cars. But also with a lot of locals. And at times, the air was tense with people jockeying for parking spots.

LOCALS - please remember to park in the Municipal Lot! Part of what makes us a great shop is the great following we have, and that following is getting bigger and bigger with people who drive a long distance to see us. They aren't familiar with the Municipal Lot, so when they drive into our lot and turn the corner and happen upon 6 or 7 cars, practically on top of each other, and then they try to get out of our lot (which is almost impossible when you have NO place to turn around)... anyway, I think you get my point. Let's make it easy for everyone to get in to the shop. And by parking in the Municipal Lot, you may have to walk... what, like an extra 20-30 steps? It's a good way to get in shape.

It also goes without saying... try to park responsibly (in the lines.) And those two little areas with bricks? Those are called sidewalks. As in FOR WALKING. Do NOT park on top of them - how can you expect people to get around your car? I can't begin to tell you what we've seen in the lot over the past week. Maybe it's just the cool weather, freaking everyone out and making them forget how to park, because they are MADLY rushing in to buy yarn. Whatever it is, breathe in through your nose, and out through your mouth a couple of times. Then park responsibly. Please.

Last night I finished a bulky bolero out of Reynolds Smile. It's really cute and worked up on size 11 needles in no time at all.

Now I've started another similar sweater out of Blue Sky Melange, a new heathered BABY alpaca that is SO lovely. It is double stranded on an 11. I know I didn't get very far last night, but I had to bring it in today so everyone could fondle it - it is like butter!

I am working on a herringbone scarf out of Blue Sky Brushed Suri. It's really gorgeous, but I am doing it on Addis and I probably should switch to Bamboo - it's a bit slippery. I also need to do some blocking - I have a little sweater out of Blue Sky Worsted that just needs blocking and one end woven in. And I have to block the Vintage Knits cover sweater - out of Felted Tweed. And that needs buttons too.

We sent a few things off to Joy to knit last week - a Malabrigo sweater, a little newborn set out of Blue Sky Royal, and a Classic Elite cardigan pattern done in Berroco Ultra Alpaca. She cranks through the samples and does a beautiful job, so those should be done soon.

Kim finished a cute kids hate (with earflaps!) and mitten set done in Encore Colorspun. That will be put online sometime this week. And she also did a simple (but beautiful) scalloped scarf with two skeins of Malabrigo. She is working on a pair of ribbed armwarmers in 2 colors of Blue Sky Melange.

India knit us a domino patchwork baby blanket out of Encore and Encore Colorspun, This is the blanket she is teaching the class on. It is ADORABLE! I just put it down in the shop today, and it's been the center of attention in the back room. What an easy yet perfect idea for anyone making a baby gift. The best part is that you can just make it bigger and it's an afghan. You can go crazy with colors, too. There are many great combinations.

Sheep & Wool Festival & things on sale tomorrow!

Well my girls are back in school after a somewhat rough start. Sophie missed the first two days (fever), Helen missed the second day (fever), and on the fourth day Helen slipped off the monkey bars, split her chin open and got three stitches. (The folks in the ER couldn't believe how brave she was.) I hope we're out of the woods for at least the next week or so! The Vermont Sheep and Wool Festival is at the Champlain Valley Expo Center this weekend. It is usually in October, but they moved it up by a whole month this year. We expect to be busy in the shop. We normally run our tent sale at the same time as the S&W Festival, but we are not having it this year for a number of reasons. But because we know we'll be busy with S&W go-ers, we've done a MAJOR pattern cleanout and are offering some great patterns for $1 or less! We also will have Lamb's Pride on sale (in the shop ONLY) on Saturday, as well as a NUMBER of other yarns at great prices.

We have a couple of great sweaters in on loan from Unique Kolours and Jaeger. This basic pullover is knit with Prism and is really nice. And this cardigan in Roma is adorable - the details on the trims, pockets, and sleeve cuffs are fantastic.

Many many new samples

When I got back from vacation on Monday, we all had a show and tell with the things we've finished recently. Betsy finished her Einstein Jacket (from the Knit Stitch) out of Lamb's Pride Bulky in Khaki #18. And believe it or not, it was cold enough last Sunday that she WORE it! She said it was really chilly and windy, and the jacket was perfect at cutting out most of the wind.

Michele brought in her Tara Jacket in Berroco Trilogy. The pattern is on the cover of Berroco Book #254/Trilogy. The jacket is just adorable - really flattering. She did a great job, and we can't wait for her to wear it! Barb brought in a number of things - she finished the lacy camisole out of Colinette Lasso. It's really pretty by itself, and would look great under a nice jacket for this fall/winter.

She also finished a really cool sweater (Lacy Sleeved Pullover) in Cleckheaton Studio Mohair 8-ply. The sleeves are worked first, and then you pick up and knit down for the front and the back. It's really a nice design with a great fit.

She started the Diamanta Shawl (she's using Frog Tree Alpaca) and brought that in to show us. It's so neat and fun to do. She's teaching a lace class on this so if you want to sign up, stop in or give us a call!

She's finishing the sleeve caps on a Giotto sweater that one of our sample knitters knit for us this summer. We thought there was an error in the instructions for the sleeve, and we called Colinette, but they never got back to us about it and so we're going to figure it out on our own. The sweater is adorable - with a ruffled collar and ruffles on the sleeves. Barb's mom was nice enough to make us the Strawberry Lace Scarf out of the Cleckheaton Studio Mohair (this is a NICE yarn!) It's really cute and a pretty simple lace pattern.
My little top down childrens pullover sweater is finished - we ALL love the yarn (Lang Mille Colori.) There are so many colors in each ball. It's a blend of wool and acrylic, and it's washable and soft. Perfect for kids and adults.Berroco sent us a little baby kimono sweater out of Pure Merino. This yarn is a big hit - so soft, washable, great colors. We love it. We just got in assorted wooden shawl pins from Frog Tree Alpaca. They are lightweight, so they won't pull too much on your shawl, and they work great on all weights of yarn. They are $38 and will be online soon.