Back to reality

Well, I'm back from vacation. It was wonderful to get away and enjoy temperatures in the 70s and 80s (though I'm aware it was that warm in VT for several days!) The best parts? Relaxing on the beach in Sanibel, hearing Helen and Sophie laugh and play together for many many days in a row, seeing my parents, running in warm weather, petting a dolphin at SeaWorld, and conquering my (and Sophie's) fears and doing water "coasters" and flumes at Typhoon Lagoon.
The not-so-best parts? That it had to end, and of course the weather when we stepped off the plane in Burlington on Sunday night (let me see - your typical 50 degrees, windy and raining...) At least the sun is shining brilliantly today, and did anyone catch the sunset last night? WOW!

Barb and Kalen did a great job holding down the fort while I was gone (Michele was also on vacation). Rug hooking is really picking up in the shop - yesterday we had to reorder a lot of patterns and kits. This week we have some new patterns coming in (Primitive Grace). I'm not sure what my next project will be. I am definitely going to hook our checkerboard pattern for Helen and Sophie, but I'm not sure if that is next on the agenda. The girls love to play checkers, and I have always wanted a large cloth checkerboard. So I will hook the checkerboard and most likely give it to them as a birthday present (August) or Christmas present. It will depend on how many other projects I start in the meantime.

We did get in some lovely new wools - textures and plaids. Can't wait to get started on some of these!

Fishies is nearing completion. I worked on it last night between post-vacation laundry loads.I made the Krayon Krazy sweater on vacation. It is adorable! And the yarn (Cilantro) rocks. It was excellent to knit with. I am on the sleeves on the Coco Loco sweater. It's cute and I hope to finish it up by the end of the weekend. Joy sent us two new kid's samples and they are great. One is Cheri Cherry in Manos Cotton Stria:and the other is an Oat Couture baby polo in Rowan Wool Cotton:

They are both adorable - and people are knitting for kids and babies like crazy at this time of year, so now we have four new models to inspire people.

Travel Knitting

I'm headed out on vacation tomorrow, and I have a couple of smaller projects to take with me. I am making two Minnowknits cardigans - one is Coco Loco and I'm using Berroco Love It in Walnut, Brownstone and Salamander. Cute NON traditional baby colors. Sometimes you just need to shake it up a bit and show people some different color combinations.

Then I'm making Krayon Krazy, a really cute little colorblocked sweater. This will be made out of Nashua Handknits Cilantro in Lime Sorbet, Aqua, Lupine and Soft Green. Mmmm, these colors remind me of the beach, and since that's where I'll be, I thought they were a perfect choice.

I've been wanting to try both yarns but just couldn't come up with the right patterns. Now I have, and I am actually looking forward to casting on for one of these tomorrow on my flight!


This weekend we sold out of almost all of our rug hooking kits - so we have ordered more and they are due in any day. Our 6/13 evening class is full, but we still have some openings in our 5/15 day class.


Our newest shop sample is the Clovelly Cowl Neck Sweater - it's so cute. It fits nicely and the sleeves have such a nice little flare at the cuff. This yarn was so popular last year (Rowan Natural Silk Aran) and they have added four great new colors. Pattern is in the Coast booklet.

This past week we received a fall 2007 color card for Baby Ull (Dale of Norway) and to our surprise (and horror!) SO MANY of our favorite colors have been discontinued! There are a few new colors for fall that are really pretty, and we will be ordering those, but for now we are getting rid of all of the ones that they've discontinued. Think baby sweaters, shawls, socks, hats, etc! This yarn is NOT in the shop, but it is 40% off on the website. As usual, you are welcome to order it online and then put "hold for pickup" in the comments section.


Another great fingering weight yarn that's on sale is Cherry Tree Hill Supersock SOLIDS. Not the ones we normally have in the shop - but 10 of their solid colors. Again, online only. Normally $20 for $14. Great deal. This yarn is perfect for socks, shawls, baby items and more.

Spring & Summer Hours

Just a note to all of our customers - from April 30th to August 31st - we will be operating on spring and summer hours. Don't worry, we're not changing them much! On weekdays, Monday through Friday, we will be open from 10am to 5pm. On Saturdays, we will be open normal hours - 9am - 5pm.
Spring and early summer classes have been posted. We have some really nice sweaters in the lineup for this session. My personal favorite is the May Shrug, done in Cashsoft DK (any sport/dk will do!) I'm not really a shrug person, but this one is just gorgeous. Really flattering, and so great with all the cables and the nice collar! I'll be wearing this one for sure once the weather warms up. It's from the Rowan book Mother & Baby and is shown as a maternity shrug. But hey, it works well for those of us who are without child, too! Yesterday Michele taught 6 people how to rug hook. This was before the class - everything waiting and ready...I always forget to take pictures while the class is in session, so I can't show you... but I can tell you that there was a lot of laughter coming from the class. Honestly, it was a class made up of a lot of our best customers, who all have great personalities, and senses of humor. So it sounds like they all had a lot of fun. You never know with classes - it can be a good mix, or a not so good mix - based on the people in the class and how their personalities mix. I think this was a good one!

I am going to pull together a few little baby sweaters to knit over the next month. I am going to make the Betony bolero out of Wool Cotton (from the Rowan Mother & Baby book) and a little textured cardigan out of Rowan Handknit Cotton (from the Nashua Handknits Bloom pattern book - another GREAT one.)I am also dying to knit with the Nashua Handknits Cilantro - the colors are amazing and I just love the feel and springyness of the yarn. But I can't settle on a pattern. I am going on vacation in 2 weeks, and need some little projects to keep me busy at night, when I am not on the beach! I'm not much of a beach knitter - but I do like knitting on planes, each morning while enjoying my coffee, and each evening after a nice hot day at the beach.

I have made more progress on fishies:
but not as much as I'd planned over the weekend. It was the "Great Room Cleanup" for Helen and Sophie. It took hours and let's just say the Salvation Army will be happy with us. They are packrats! It feels much better to have fewer "things". So instead of getting in some time to myself, I was sorting through "junk", cleaning, steam cleaning, etc.

At least I did manage to run both days which felt really good, and really awful (the sore part!) at the same time. No pain, no gain.

Spring Lambies

Today after we went skiing (probably MY last day of the season, with the warm weather predicted this week!) and then drove to Fairfax for a quick visit to Michele's. She had told me on Friday that her neighbor's sheep had all had their lambs - three sets of twins and one set of triplets - within the past week. So we took Helen and Sophie up to see them. These are the triplets with their mom - I think these were about 3 days old.


Here is a set of twins:

One little lambie getting ready for a nap:
Helen going in for a hug:
Sophie didn't want to get too close:Proud papa, certainly a hunk to most ewes in the sheep world, was hanging outside enjoying the sunshine:
Then we went inside Michele's house for a quick tour and look at all the hooked rugs we found... her purse:
A gorgeous chair cover:

An incredible foot stool:

Her family portrait (as drawn by one of her sons when he was younger):

And her view... now THAT'S incredible. Don't you agree? And look, it's the sheep!

Spring is here

It's so gorgeous out today - the snow is melting fast and it's perfect weather for... a RUN! I have to get back in shape - since we are running in the Vermont City Marathon Relay on May 27th in Burlington. That's right - Barb, Michele, Kalen and I are running in the relay! We're excited to do it - it should be a lot of fun.

Today's rug hooking class went really well, and we only have one more spot available for the class on Monday, 4/2 from 2-4pm.

We just got in a gorgeous assortment of wools - these are sold either by the yard, by the half yard or by fat quarters, and they are un-washed. Great to use as-is, but fun to overdye. Will be online by tomorrow.

My Twinkle Handknits sweater is going well. Unfortunately the pattern is full of mistakes. I will be making a call to Classic Elite (the distributor) soon with all the ones I found and then hopefully they will add those to the errata. It's a great sweater, but if you can't tolerate figuring things out on your own then it's not for you.

Have a great weekend!

Rug Hooking classes are scheduled

We've called everyone on the waiting list - because we were finally able to schedule the rug hooking classes. Michele had been sick, and Barb was sick, and I had a sick kid last week, and now Kalen's out in CO for a few days... but we finally got together, looked at the schedule and picked two days that will work. So give us a call for times and details if you are interested. These "how to" classes are going to be easy and fun. You'll learn how to rug hook on a pattern for 4 whimsical coasters. Come in and pick 5 or 6 colors of wool, and we'll have it cut for you and ready for the class. Our coasters are almost finished:

Michele finished her "Bunny Spring" - she modified the pattern a bit. Hey, that's allowed! Just like in knitting, don't be afraid to modify things to suit your taste. It is so cute.


Original:

Hers:
I made some progress on my "fishies" this weekend. And I ordered a Townsend cutter today. Can't WAIT for that to come.

I did cast on and knit a few rows (and I really do mean, only 3!) for my Twinkle Handknits Soft Chunky sweater. Unfortunately, I did not have size 19 needles at home, and that's what I needed for the body. But now I do so I can continue on that tonight. What SOFT yarn. It was so much fun to wind. I have a winder and swift, but I've always wound yarn by hand, and so even though it would take me no time at all to set up the winder, I did it by hand. And loved every moment of it. Is it really so awful to touch every bit of the yarn? I don't think so.

Sickness, sopping wet, and snow, though not necessarily in that order

I got a call from school on Wednesday afternoon that Helen wasn't feeling well. I left work early to pick her up, and she had a 103 degree fever. Poor thing. She's always the one who catches things. And the "things" always hit her harder. So I stayed home with her yesterday - I went in to work from 7-9 am to grab some things I could do at home, while Marc let her sleep in. When I got home, he left for work and she pretty much hung out on the couch with the two cats all morning. There was a lot of PBS TV watching - which is a treat considering my kids watch about ZERO minutes of TV a day. They would love to watch more, and I'm okay with certain shows, but really, there's no time! So they watch none. She watched a few hours while I finished the edges on the rug hooking sign I made for the shop. It's cute!

She had a burst on energy during the day and asked if I would teach her how to rug hook. We just got the Oxford Punch needles for the shop and I had brought some burlap and a sharpie home, as well as a lap frame for her to use. I drew up a little sign for her room with her name and a flower, and taught her how to use the punch needle.

Good thing I remembered that for punch needle, the pattern actually needs to be drawn in reverse. With punch needle, you are facing the wrong side of the work while you are doing it, so for text, it must be done in reverse in order to look correct. With rug hooking, you are facing the right side of your work. Big difference!

It was a little frustrating for her at first (she likes to do everything FAST) but I forced her to slow down and take her time. She needed help on some sections, but she really can do most of it herself. The best thing about the punch needle, is that - unlike sewing - I do not have to re-thread the needle every minute. The skein of yarn just feeds through the punch needle until you want to switch colors. Easy. We picked some of her favorite colors of Lamb's Pride Bulky, and she'll be finished this weekend.

Today she was fever free but coughing up a storm, so we were home again. I worked on my latest project (Fish in a Line) which is really fun, and she worked on her name picture again.

We picked Sophie up right after school and then I drew up a pattern for her and taught her how to do it. It's a great activity for kids!

I stopped into the shop quickly today because we got a new yarn - it is called Soft Chunky by Twinkle Handknits. This stuff is amazing. Soft, soft colors. Soft, soft yarn. Super, super quick knitting. And really fun and different patterns in the book Twinkle's Big City Knits, by Wenlan Chia. Modern shapes, creative designs, and beautiful colors.

So I grabbed 6 skeins of Lavendar and I will be making the Rockefeller Sweater which is a cute, kind of shawl collared, cabled cardigan.

We had to cancel our classes tomorrow because we are expecting 10-15 inches of snow by morning. Another big dump, although after the Valentine's blizzard, what's a foot of snow? But we did call everyone and cancel and we are in the process of trying to reschedule. In five years, we've only had to do this a few times, and two of the times have been in 2007. So, not too bad, considering where we live, and how it COULD be. And this new snow is coming after we just lost about 12+ inches in a matter of 2-3 days. It was close to 60 degrees here for two days straight, which caused major meltage of all of our snow, which - in turn - caused 2 days of sopping wet floorage in our small basement room. Yeah, well... it happens with every major meltdown each year, sometimes several times. That's what a shop vac is for, and this week, we know it well.

And by bedtime, back up to 101 degrees. Will it end?

Finished!

At 8:46 pm last night I finished hooking my rug! Of course now I have to do the edging, but that should only take me a few nights and then it will be completely done. I love it! I am using 4/8s Wool by Mountain Colors to do the edges.And our patterns arrived today from Vermont Folk Rugs - hand delivered by Davey, thank you very much! She dropped off one of hers (called Cats Spot) for us to display and it is gorgeous. I actually got the patterns and cutters and hooks online today, and will work on the rest of the rug hooking stuff over the next few days. Customers from all over have been asking... when will it be online? So it's coming. Slowly, but be patient! It's worth it - such fun stuff.

And Fiona brought in her Townsend cutting machine for us to try - wow. She described it to me the other day, and said it was like cutting butter. It's true. What an incredible machine. I'll be getting one of those for the shop shortly. She also brought in her latest rug - I can't believe I forgot to get a picture of it. Thanks so much to all of our customers who have been so supportive of us in this new venture. We appreciate your sharing all of your knowledge and advice! It's so fun to talk hooking!

On the knitting front - we got the Rowan Damask, which should be online tomorrow. It's really pretty. Late last week we got new colors of Calmer, Summer Tweed and Handknit Cotton. They are all beautiful. Four new Rowan pattern books arrived - each one is spectacular. Their patterns are just so amazing. I immediately sent off a care package to joy, who does great sample knitting for us. I told her they were all such cute sweaters, and she emailed me when she got the box - she loves all of them. She can't decide which to start.

Our Nashua Handknits patterns FLEW out the door. Apparently we were the only shop to have them for sale online last week. We sold a ton, and have reordered, and reordered again! They are mostly back in stock - and will all be back in stock next week.

Quick new hat with earflaps

Everybody has been asking for earflap hats this year... and we have several in pattern books, but of course, everybody wants a free pattern. Well, I came up with one two nights ago. After seeing all the kids snowboarding at Stowe for the past weekends, with chunky earflap hats with tassels, and pom poms, here's my take. A quick, easy and very cool hat made with two strands of Lamb's Pride Bulky in different colors. Leave the poms off if you don't want them. Pattern is free, with yarn purchase. Kit will be online as soon as I take pictures of color combinations.

I finished my sheep tile last week and yesterday Michele taught me how to finish it by wrapping Lamb's Pride Bulky (leftover from the above hat!) around a cord all the way along the edge.

It looks great. I am almost finished a doorstop - this piece will be cut out and sewn around a brick.

This is one that my mom did years ago - we sell this kit in the shop as well.

A few more storm shots

Today things should be back to normal, almost. School is still closed in Essex, but in my town there's just a two hour delay. Most schools south of here are still closed. So while I am waiting here with the kids, Marc is at the shop finishing the snowblowing of the driveway. The plow guy let us down and never came back. Time to get a new guy. I mean he plows when we have 1 inch of snow (and he's not supposed to do it unless it's 3" or more!) and then he blows us off with 30" plus. Something's wrong with this picture.


Here are a few more shots from the storm. Marc's drive home from Stowe on I-89 on 2/14 on the "Bolton Flats". Windy, white, and are those white knuckles? They should be!
I guess we won't be using this sliding door anytime soon.The house across the street.
Shoveling the deck on 2/14 at 5pm. We got about another foot after this point.
Our driveway is a great sledding run!
Added later: They cancelled school, again!

Digging Out

I'm not sure what the official snow totals were from the storm... but I think we got at least 2 1/2 feet of snow at the shop. I called everyone this morning who was working - I told Betsy to not worry about coming in - she drives a LONG way and was coming in to Essex Junction anyway to check on her mom, but I told her work could wait until tomorrow. Barb's husband plows and he had a long night with some transmission issues - so she was up quite a bit last night and I told her not to come either. Kalen is only 10 minutes from the shop, like me, so I arranged to meet her there around 10:30am to assess the situation (like, did we get plowed?) for a couple of hours. Not to open the shop.

I went outside to check our driveway. My husband left at 6am to get some fresh tracks at Stowe, and he must have taken his Suburban and plowed right through the huge bank at the bottom of the driveway. Apparently, he lost a mudflap, which I found when I was trying to dig out the mailbox, which is now at a 45 degree angle, and it would be dangling were it not for the 6 foot snow bankings holding it up. We still had a good foot of snow in the driveway so I thought I couldn't get through it. But just then our plow guy came with his bucket loader. I have never seen so much snow. It is just amazing. Neighbors right and left were asking this guy to do their driveways.

Finally I was ready to drive in to the shop. I got the girls all dressed and packed some Magic Treehouse Books, IPods, lunch and Hershey's Kissables and got in the car. Yep, it was dead. Totally dead. I guess that's what happens when the girls forget to turn off the dome light and it's in the single digits for days. Lesson learned (for them), I hope. Marc got home later and jumped my car and it was off to the shop, again.

On the way, Kalen called and said she'd be in soon, but she had just gotten stuck in her car and was digging her way out. I pulled into the Municipal Lot and left the girls in the warm car. I was in full ski attire, complete with goggles, and I took my snow shovel and trekked through the thigh deep snow. I got up to the driveway, and saw that we had been plowed once yesterday and that was it. As I got closer, I realized that the plow guy had come back early this morning with a bucket loader, and driven straight in the driveway, pushing all of that snow back toward the shed, just at the bend in the driveway. And then of course, since that bend is a TOUGH one, even for some cars, he couldn't fit through the bend, and so he left. Now I'm not sure if he was (or is?) planning on coming back to do something about it. I'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt - since I know they've been out plowing and trying to keep order with this insane storm. I tried calling, but no answer. Not even an answering machine. Then I drove by, and there's no one there.

What to do... I called Marc and had him swing by. He had our snowblower from home in the back of his car. We needed it to make a path to the shed, so we could get out the shop's snowblower. Anyway after 3 hours of shoveling and snowblowing, Marc and Kalen and I have cleared the walks, and part of the driveway. We made good progress on that mountain of hard, heavy snow that the bucket loader created, so now if the plow guy decides to come back (PLEASE DO!) he can actually fit his plow truck through the bend and finish plowing the huge amount of the parking lot that is still covered. If he does not come back, we will be doing it in the morning. And boy are we sore, so it will be slow going.

Through all of this, we had customers. With our parking lot and walks almost completely uncleared, and a Municipal Lot with snow bankings about 15-20 feet high, and only about 10 spots to park in, people are still out shopping. So many places are closed today. Things like this don't happen that often. I'm sorry, you'll just have to come back tomorrow!

And if you do, try the Municipal Lot. Ours may still be full of snow!

CLOSED for Valentine's Day

So we are doing something we've never done before - we're closing for Valentine's Day. We're expecting a MAJOR winter storm - and since our employees drive quite a distance to get here, we're playing it safe and closing the store so we can keep them off the roads. We would LOVE to get a huge dumping of snow. So hopefully the storm doesn't fizzle out as it has so many times before.

Hopefully you all have enough knitting projects to last you through the day tomorrow.

What will we be doing? Well, probably any number of the following things:

knitting

rug hooking

weaving

sledding

skiing/snowboarding

relaxing

shoveling/snowblowing/plowing

sleeping in