A Piece of Vermont

Today I started thinking about all of the great folks from out of state who will be visiting our shop in the next few months. They come from miles around just to visit our shop, and we are so glad to have them! It's always fun to meet people who are visiting our beautiful state. They always say how lucky we are to live here... and well, we agree.

We always like to have some special yarns for these folks - as most of them want to take home some yarn that will remind them of their visit to Vermont. We do have some Green Mountain Spinnery that is very popular with our out of towners, and the Cherry Tree Hill yarns, which are dyed just a few hours from here, are also a big hit. But I'm always looking for more yarns that have Vermont ties, so...

today I called Jessie Raymond, owner of A Piece of Vermont, in Middlebury, Vermont. She has been hand dying yarns in Vermont for several years now, and so I talked with her about getting some of her beautiful yarn in our shop. She has a number of fibers that look really interesting, and she handpaints these yarns in an array of gorgeous colors. I decided to try one of her sock yarns - a blend of superwash wool, bamboo and nylon, and it looks amazing! We've settled on about 8 colorways to start, and depending on how they are received, we'll take it from there. She does have some 100% Vermont Fiber, but I'm waiting to see that in person. Maybe it, too, will end up on our shelves?

I normally buy in really large quantities for the website, and that means I need to have large amounts of the same colorway (sweater quantities, etc) even in hand dyed yarns. But with A Piece of Vermont, I'm going to do it differently. These will really be one-of-a-kind "grab it when you see it" yarns.

In talking with her I realized that we both went to Middlebury College, and pretty much graduated in the same year. We didn't know each other then - so much for it being such a small school! But I am thrilled to be doing business with her, and eager to meet her face to face. I'm just as eager to get my hands on her yarn!

Sharing our customer's projects!

We just received 2 emails from customers of ours sharing their projects with us. We were so impressed that we thought we'd share them with you all!

First we heard from Leslie T. from Vicksburg, MS. She sent us a picture of her Fiddlesticks Peacock Shawl that she made out of Cherry Tree Hill Merino Lace in Winterberry. Gorgeous! And we have to give Leslie EXTRA kudos for her amazing blocking job. I bet those blocking wires helped...Then one of our local customers, Nancy R.D. from Waterbury, sent us two pictures of rugs she has hooked with yarn. I remember when she brought in the Thistle Rug - she was picking out more Lamb's Pride Bulky to use in it and we all just couldn't believe how gorgeous it was! She said it is SO soft and springy! (Looks small but it's over 5 feet square!)Her second rug was made with some Lamb's Pride and some natural wool rug yarn that she dyed herself. WOW. Gorgeous.Thanks for sharing!

Raise those windshield wipers

Today we are getting a nasty, wintry mix. We are closing the shop at 2pm, and will not be shipping any outgoing packages, since UPS doesn't come until later in the afternoon. The girls had a half day at school so I just picked them up and they're coloring in the classroom. Our Knitting on 2 Circulars workshop, that was scheduled today at 1pm, has been rescheduled to next Friday at 1pm. We called it yesterday, as we knew the weather was going to be iffy. It turned out to be a good call. And two people couldn't make next week, so we now have some openings. Give us a call to sign up.

So big Superbowl day on Sunday! I am excited to get some knitting done! I am currently swatching some Tilli Tomas yarns. Last night I swatched the Plie and it is really gorgeous. Same gauge as the Pure & Simple, but plied, so it is not going to pill. It would be wonderful in a sweater! I used Jade - one of my favorite colors. I photographed 27 colors of Plie yesterday, so they are now online.
Then I started swatching the Beaded Plie, which is the same yarn, strung with gorgeous beads. I'm not quite finished this swatch - but I used Ruby Wine, another one of my favorite colors. These colors are SO rich. The beads make it a little more difficult to keep an even tension, but with blocking it will be fine.
Tonight I will swatch the regular Pure & Simple, in Leaf Peepers. This is a custom color that Tracy made for our shop. It's really beautiful.

Last weekend after skiing at Stowe, I stopped in the ski shop at the base lodge to check out the offerings. In my early years, I worked in Stowe as a manager and buyer for one of their top shops, so I'm always interested to see the latest products. I picked up this hat, because I thought it was really cute. It has a nice fleece liner, since the wool is a bit scratchy. I wore it on the ride home, and unfortunately, by Waterbury Center, I had to take it off because it was still itching me. Bummer - I really liked the hat. No worries! On Monday I grabbed a skein of Malabrigo Chunky, and whipped up my own version of the hat.
I made it about 1/2 inch taller so it fits better. And white, so I could have fun with embellishing. Now it just needs a little artwork... I'm thinking of using the Cherry Tree Hill Powderpuffs and doing some funky needle felting. So stay tuned!
This morning was mandatory computer time for Michele, Barb and Kalen. We always come in and do a mini show and tell each morning. We bring in our latest projects, and show our progress. Well, now you're going to get to see what they are doing, too. I told each one to grab a computer and write for 15 minutes. I'll be posting their entries on the blog over the next few days.