You can't judge a yarn by it's label

I have always been a bit of a label snob. My sales reps laugh at me when I see and touch a new yarn, but then shrink away from it when I see the label. I always wonder why yarn companies come out with great new yarns, and then slap a cheap looking or badly-designed label on them. I have decided against bringing in new yarns simply because the label is so cheap looking that it detracts from the yarn itself. (It's all in the presentation, people!)

I almost didn't buy this new yarn from Plymouth. At first sight (not touch) I said "no way!" It wasn't so much the label this time, it was more the name... OH MY! Yes, with the exclamation point. Bad name. Really really bad name.
But then I touched it. And my reaction was... Oh My XXXXXX (put in whatever word you would use when something is BEYOND description.) This yarn is so soft, cuddly, scrumptious, cozy, velvety... well I can't pick just one adjective. I still think the name is awful, but I am a believer in the product. It's a great pick for babies and kids. Plymouth had some adult colors available in this yarn, but none of them were spectacular, so we're targeting it for kids with 8 kid friendly colors.
I started a little hooded pullover with it last night and loved working with it. It's on size 10 needles and very reasonable at just $5 a ball. And machine wash and dry!

SALE this Saturday!

Just a reminder - we are having a sale on all Rowan and Jaeger yarns this Saturday only in the shop (not online - sorry!) Our sales rep will be here and if you want to swatch Rowan or Jaeger DK & Sport weight yarns, just call the shop at (802) 288-9200 ext 4 to sign up for a slot. Bring your own needles (size 5 and 6 US) and you'll get to knit with the following yarns:

Rowan

Cashsoft DK

Felted Tweed

Silk Wool DK

Wool Cotton

Tapestry

Jaeger

Matchmaker DK

Roma

And ALL Rowan and Jaeger yarns will be on sale in the shop. If you swatch one of the dk/sport weight yarns and end up buying it, you'll save an extra 5% on that yarn.

Don't miss it!

A great new yarn and a borrowed stitch

I started a men's scarf last night out of Soffice, a new yarn from Lana Grossa. This yarn is fabulous! I can imagine a gorgeous men's sweater knit with this yarn... it's a blend of extrafine merino, cashmere and acrylic, and it's machine washable. I'm doing an easy stitch pattern on size 10 US needles. It's worked over an odd number of stitches - the first row (WS) is knit, and the second row (RS) is K1b (p1, K1b)* repeat to end. The K1b is knit 1 in the stich below. My sister called the other day from work, and a coworker of hers was knitting a baby sweater. This two row pattern was in the sweater, and they were having a hard time figuring it out (it does seem weird on the first couple of rows!) I swatched it up, and it's really pretty - sort of like a slipped rib, which doesn't pull in as much as a real rib. And both sides are attractive, so I'd go as far as calling it reversible.

I had been looking for a nice stitch pattern to work up in a men's scarf with Soffice, and so I chose this one. Sometimes when we help our customers figure out a stitch, we end up borrowing it for something of our own. Barb also knit a hat for her husband out of this yarn. Trust me, it's lovely!

Playing Hookey

Today I skipped out of work to join my daughters and their classes for their annual hike of Mt. Philo, about a half an hour south of us. There were more than thirty 6-8 year olds, a few teachers and 12-15 parents. We are so lucky to live in such a beautfiul state. Look at the view across Lake Champlain toward New York state!

And the leaves are just gorgeous. Especially when the sun comes out! Though we didn't have much of that today.

One more...

Leaf Peepers 5K

Well, today was the day! After THE most beautiful day yesterday, I woke up at 7am to the sound of pouring rain. It wasn't supposed to start raining until later in the day but clearly that forecast was incorrect. By 8am it had stopped raining and even looked like it might clear up a bit. When Barb and Michele picked me up at 9:30am, it was chilly (52 degrees) but it looked like a pretty good day for a run. Here's a shot of some smiling faces pre-race:We drove to Waterbury, and it started to drizzle. A few miles later, it became a steady rain. A shame, as the foliage is probably close to peak, and it was pretty foggy and we couldn't see much of it. We arrived in the parking lot, and sat in the car for about 10 minutes. NOT to escape the rain. Why? Well... we actually couldn't decide what to wear. How typical! Shorts or tights? Short sleeved shirt or long sleeved shirt? Or both? Rain jacket or fleece? We still had over 45 minutes to the start of the race, so we knew we'd be soaked, and we all wanted to start off as dry as possible.

We finally made our clothing choices, and headed over to register for the race. We checked in, figured out how to attach our chips, got our race t-shirts, used the port-o-lets, and headed back to the car to dump our jackets. We jogged over to the start, and waited under a tree until the gun went off. And then we ran. It was a lot of fun - and had the weather been better we would have had a gorgeous run through red and orange colored hills.

We each ran at our own pace, beat our previous times, and had a great time. We saw people of all shapes and sizes - further proving that you can do anything if you set your mind to it. We saw several of our customers from the shop who were running, and though I didn't see you Carlie, WOW I am impressed at your stellar pace in the half marathon. (I checked coolrunning.com for the results after the race.) You rock, and I am inspired to keep going.

In non-running news - I did my first needle felting this weekend. It's so much fun!