What did you do for your vacation?

I did a lot on my vacation! I relaxed, I read. I swam, I sunbathed. I panned for gold, I went running. I played tennis, I ate well (too well.) I knit, I hung out with friends. I went hiking, I went to a funeral, but a happy one. Let me elaborate on a few of these things.

I ran in a little race the first weekend of my vacation. It was the 5th Annual... so you'd think there would be a lot of people in it. Not so! We (my friend, my sister and I) arrived at the race and there were only about 25 people (or less!) registered. I've always worried about running in smaller races. Not that I am concerned about beating other people - I just like to race against myself. But coming in last, or close to last can be a bitter pill to swallow. So we lined up at the start, in total disbelief at how few participants there were, and off we went. We came in 1st, 2nd and 3rd... to last! It was actually pretty funny, I laughed about it for days. But I still matched my best 5k time, so I consider it a success. If coming in last is the worst thing about a small race, the best thing is the odds are in your favor for winning raffles and ribbons! I came in third place for my age group (out of 4 - my friend was fourth) and my sister came in 2nd in her age group. We all won raffle prizes - from fold up chairs, to homemade jams, to coupons on new running shoes and more.

There was a kids' 1 mile race and Helen and Sophie did it with their two friends. Hey, they got front page coverage!

Sophie is in the yellow sweatshirt/pink sweatpants (#8) and Helen is to the right in blue shorts and blue shirt (#7). They had such fun!

We did a very small hike - if you can call it that - and enjoyed some beautiful views of Mt. Blue and Tumbledown. Note the 2 American Girl Dolls in Sophie's backpack - they came too.

We went to a very special funeral on August 24th. My husband's great uncle was killed in WWII in Papua, New Guinea and they just recently recovered and identified his remains. Read more here or here. He received a burial with full military honors and I was so glad we were able to attend. It was really amazing, and a great history lesson for all of us, especially the kids. Here are some photos that were particularly meaningful to us:

More to write, but it will have to be tomorrow!

The 80's make a comeback

I had started a sweater out of Twinkle Handknits Soft Chunky months ago, but there were so many errors in the pattern, and the Twinkle Handknits Big City Knits book had not yet put out an errata... so the project just sat. Then 2 weeks ago the new fall Interweave magazine came out, and I came across this one:

It's definitely an 80's style, but that's what we are seeing these days. It's really cute and a quick knit. Sorry to all those who were waiting for me to knit the one from the book. Sometimes you just have to rip and start fresh. This was a fun sweater to do. All short row shaping for the yoke, something I'd never encoutered (to such an extent) before.

I'm cruising along on my Malabrigo Chunky vest. Just one more side to go. Love working with the yarn. So soft... and QUICK. That's my kind of knitting.

My next project is the Astrid shawl from the Norah Gaughan Collection, Volume 1 book. Love it! Lots of different sized circles all put together at the end in a fabulous shape - this project is totally portable and EASY. It was perfect vacation knitting (I'm in Maine this week) and of course, the ususal happened. I was 20 minutes into my trip over here, on I-89 outside of Montpelier. I had wound my first ball, cast on, worked my first row, and WHAT!?!? Change to next smaller sized needles? What are you talking about? I checked the pattern before I left, and it called for size 9 DP needles. So I had 2 size 9/20" circulars, since I prefer that to DP knitting. Well, that little course I took in what, 7th grade? on skimming and scanning always gets me in trouble. I NEVER read carefully. So I checked the materials list, and of course, it ALSO calls for size 8 and size 4 DP needles. Oops. So before I lost cell service, I called Barb at the shop and she put together a nice little needle "care" package for me. It arrived Monday. Thanks Barb! Now when I finish my Malabrigo Chunky vest, I should be all set for the Astrid shawl.

It's been a bit nippy here at camp. The mornings are cold...

But the evenings, especially post-thunder/lightening/hail storms, are quite beautiful.

Today we went panning for gold with Aunt Maddie, who grew up here. We found lots of "fool's gold" and had a great time.

Happy Birthday times two

Today is Helen and Sophie's 8th birthday! They don't officially turn 8 until 9:37pm and 9:51pm, but as far as they are concerned they are already 8. In fact they're both convinced they grew taller overnight. It's going to be a birthday weekend, full of celebrations. It started out with blueberry picking at Owl's Head Farm last night and a little picnic dinner there with my parents. We picked 18 (!!!) quarts of blueberries and this was part of my take:

Imagine coming home to find no freezer ziplocs!

The celebrations continue - with camp friends today, with my parents again tomorrow (and a little visit to the Alpine Slide at Stowe - can't WAIT for that!), and with 10-12 friends at their official party on Sunday - a nice scavenger hunt and water slide party. Summer birthdays are so much fun when the weather cooperates.

I was looking through some photos this morning, and getting a little nostalgic. Here are some of my favorites...

4 months old and posing for a Christmas card:

1 yr old in Maine:

2 yrs old and a little swimming:

2 1/2 yrs old on the playground:

3 1/2 years old - ice cream cones in FL:

4 yrs old - showing off new lunchboxes:

5 yrs old - Fairies for Halloween:

5 1/2 yrs old with their dolls:

6 yrs old - in the backyard:

7 yrs old - first time fishing at camp:

almost 8 yrs old - going out on the Sea Doo with dad:

Happy Birthday girls!

Hey, hey, I wanna be a rockstar

Not the Nickelback song, though I do like it... nope, it's our new sweater with Tilli Tomas Pure & Simple and Rockstar, and WOW is it gorgeous. Most people are thinking scarves with these yarns, but folks please do NOT stop there. No, these yarns are MADE for sweater knitting. This sweater is a "gotta have it" knit for this fall. We barely had the sample out of the Priority mail package (thanks Joy!) and we sold two of them in the shop. The fit is amazing and the detail with the patterning and beads, well, see for yourself.

If you don't care for this style, we have some other patterns that aren't so fitted, and work perfectly with these yarns. This kit should be online by Friday sometime.

Today is a computer day - I am busy putting up new yarns on the website. We got in Nashua Handknits Sitar, Lace-a-licious and Superwash-Me Sock from J. Knits, Plymouth Baby Alpaca Brush Paint and Alpaca Boucle Paint, and Old Western from Artful Yarns to name a few!

Kalen and Michele are moving a lot of things around down in the shop - we had to fit these new yarns in and so things had to SQUEEZE together.

I can't believe it's almost the middle of August! School is just around the bend. On September 30th, Michele, Kalen and I are running in the Leaf Peepers Half Marathon. Last year we did the 5k and this year we are stepping it up. We are training for it (sort of!) and hope we can do well, or finish anyway... Last weekend Michele ran the Egg Run 10k here in Fairfax, VT and I travelled to Cape Elizabeth, Maine and ran the Beach to Beacon 10k. What a fun (and well-attended!) race! I even got my first medal, since it was the race's 10th Anniversary.

Norah Gaughan to visit next month!

We're so excited to announce that Norah Gaughan will be at our shop on Saturday, September 22 from 1-3pm. She's the author of Knitting Nature, and is the design director at Berroco. Mark your calendars and come in and meet her! If you haven't seen her newest book (from Berroco) The Norah Gaughan Collection: Volume 1, come in and check it out. We've only had it in stock for about a month and I think we've reordered it 4-5 times. It's got some really great designs in it. Our sales rep Andra, who visited with all our customers last November, will also be here.

India and Suzie stopped in yesterday to go over their plans for sock classes this fall. Boy have they been working hard on this! They both love knitting socks, and not just basic socks, but socks with lace, with fair isle, with slipstitch, and not just socks with your basic heels and toes, but short row ones and different cast ons for top down, and different bind offs for bottom up. So they've had some phone calls and some test knitting, and some email exchanges and some test knitting, and some breakfast meetings and some test knitting. And they've come up with some great sock classes for this fall. Of course they'll offer the basics - learn to knit socks on double pointeds, and on 2 circulars. And then they're going to tag team and offer a toe-up workshop, where they teach a short row toe and heel, and also some fun bind offs. And then there will be a lace sock class, a fair isle sock class, and a mosaic sock class - which can be worked top down or toe up. They brought samples for me to see, and I'm really excited to get these classes scheduled!

We are working on scheduling fall classes, and they should be finalized by the end of the month. As they are ready, they will be added to the classes page on the website so keep checking back since they will not all be added on the same day.

In other shop news, Kalen is back from a great vacation in Florida and Barb heads on vacation next week to her camp. We were so busy in July. When I say busy, what I really mean is BUSY BUSY BUSY! It's been so great to see so many of our out-of-state internet customers. Some of these folks visit Vermont each year and always make it a point to come in and see us. Others just made it to Vermont for the first time this summer, and they, too, were sure to save an hour or two to come in to our shop. It's always nice to put a face with a name, and we've all been thrilled to meet you in person.

We have unloaded so many new things recently. Felter's Dream from J.Knits came in last week and it's gorgeous. We can't wait to whip up a little felted bag in this yarn.

We got new sock yarn from Regia - 12 gorgeous colors in the Kaffe Fassett Design Line. Many of you know Kaffe Fassett - he is an internationally creative textile and knitwear designer. This sock yarn is just gorgeous - 6 great striping colorways, and 6 great variegated colorways. Have your pick!

Just in - a new sample for us - the Cocoon Lace Shawl done in two skeins of Jade Sapphire Cashmere. GORGEOUS!! I blocked it on Monday morning and it looks amazing.

And for those of you who want to try a lengthwise sock - checkout our Cherry Tree Hill Sockittome Lengthwise Sock Kit.

Malabrigo in Maine

So this weekend we went to Maine for a quick trip to our camp. We go there for a longer stay each August. I took 4 skeins of Aquarella to make a little bolero, and some Malabrigo Chunky in Mariposa to start a vest.

The drive is not an easy one, so not much knitting gets done on the trip. Route 2 is curvy, hilly, and bumpy for the most part, and knitting in the car on route 2 has been most problematic in the past. And then the weather was amazing, and knitting and swimming do not go hand in hand, either. But I was able to squeek out the bolero:

And I did make some progress on the Malabrigo Chunky vest:

This is what we mostly did!

My rug hooking project (the checkboard) has come to a halt with all the new yarns we've been getting in. (Two more came today, Colinette Iona and J.Knits Felter's Dream.) So instead of a birthday gift for Helen and Sophie, it's looking more like a Christmas present. That's okay! I really like it, and I will take it to Maine in August and make some progress at that point.

Wellington Hat

Finished! Small adult (or large child) size took 3 skeins of Nashua Handknits Julia. I'm seeing this with an Isis jacket!

Rooster's final resting place

I saw my rooster rug hanging in my mom's house the other day. It looks great:

The colors I picked actually work perfectly with her other rooster items!

Malabrigo Chunky!

So we've still been unloading new yarns, and we're so excited about some of the ones that have arrived during the last week! We cleared out some space in the bulky room for Malabrigo Chunky, and were lucky enough to be organized before the boxes arrived from Uruguay. This is what it looked like late last week:
And this is now with 22 scrumptious colors:
This yarn is fantastic, just like the Malabrigo Worsted that we know and love. I am going to make a quick and easy vest out of the Chunky this weekend. It was hard to choose a color, but I'm going with Mariposa. It's gorgeous!

We also got some new colors in the Malabrigo Worsted, and to make room, we are discontinuing several of the old ones. They are NOT in the shop any more - they are online only. But order them while they're in good supply. As soon as my next e-mail goes out, they will be gone.


I just finished a felted bag out of Berroco Peruvia and Jasper. The Jasper just arrived on Friday of last week. It is heaven to knit with, and the striping effect gets more pronounced after felting. This cute bag took no time at all.

We got Nashua Handknits Julia last week, and it is amazing. It's a blend of wool, mohair and alpaca, and it is softer than I imagined it would be! I don't like working with or wearing mohair, but this is an exception... I can't even tell there's mohair in it! There are so many great colors and they all seem to work with each other - this yarn is perfect for colorwork. Yesterday I grabbed a ball of each to photograph for the website, and I tossed them in random order on the couch. Three of the balls JUMPED out at me.
I probably never would have chosen the three of them to use together, but for some reason, they were screaming to be knit, all together, in the same project. So I grabbed a fun hat pattern and look what we have this morning?
Not finished yet, but I am in LOVE with the colors. Isn't it funny where your inspiration comes from? This was completely random, all because those three balls fell out of a basket and landed next to each other.

Barb's Syncopated Hat is coming along nicely, out of Soxx Appeal. It's so cute! It's merino wool with some elastic and because it's fingering, it's lightweight, yet warm. Perfect!
This is her toe-up sock out of Regia Bamboo.

Kalen leaves for her vacation this Friday - she's been working on a gorgeous shawl out of Pure & Simple and Rock Star, from Tilli Tomas. It is really elegant, and it's a gift for someone who is about to become engaged. Who knows, maybe it will be a part of the wedding attire? It should be! It's really perfect.

Hot and humid

Wow has it been hot up here. I think a lot of people don't realize how hot and humid it can get in Vermont. When it's nice, it's beautiful. But when it's hot, it's pretty unbearable. We have gone from total drought to inches of rain in severe thunderstorms almost every day. The crunching sound of the grass in the backyard has been replaced by buzzing and swarming of mosquitos and black flies. So these days we are trying to stay cool by knitting and hooking in air conditioned places, or directly in front of a nice, strong fan.

We just starting carrying the Tilli Tomas yarns and I can't believe we waited so long! Last week I had a delivery of some new Rock Star colors, and several customers pulled yarns right out of the box, after the UPS driver dropped it off. I hadn't even checked it in, and before I knew it, 5 skeins of Rock Star were gone. And we got in three colors of Mariel's Crystals - that is the Pure & Simple Silk with Swarovski Crystals!!! Barb just finished a gorgeous scarf out of one skein of the Pure & Simple silk... it's a pleated scarf that is easy to knit, and it's totally reversible. I am NOT a fan of stitch patterns on scarves that are not reversible. I just can't stand seeing the wrong side... We just unpacked some great new sock yarn from K1C2 called Soxx Appeal. It's superwash merino wool with a smidge of nylon and 1% elastic. LOVE it. The colors are great - variegateds and solids for mixing and matching on heels and toes. But I am dying to make a baby sweater out of it, and Barb is going to make the Syncopated Cap in the Interweave Knits Summer 2007 issue. Keep your eyes peeled, that will be a class this fall.

We also just unloaded five new colors of Jade Sapphire 2-ply cashmere - solids! We are doing the Fiber Trends Cocoon Lace Wrap out of the Blueblood Red as a shop sample. It is SO gorgeous.

On Friday of last week I took home the checkerboard rug hooking pattern and some new pieces of wool. I am making it for Helen and Sophie for their 8th birthday, which is right around the corner... August 10th. I don't know if I will finish it on time. But I am working really hard on it, so my fingers are crossed! I went out and got wooden discs (1.75" diameter) at Michael's for the checkers. I will be painting them myself... we'll see how that goes. Speaking of painting, they both want their rooms repainted for their birthday. I do love painting walls (not trims) so I'm not too upset about this. But then Helen informed me that in addition to wanting her room painted blue, she also wants life sized palm trees painted on the walls. Sophie, who wants her room painted peach, then decided that she would like several kitty cats painted on her walls. Clearly, these children think I can perform miracles. Does anyone have any life sized stencils I can borrow?

What's that I hear? Oh, that's right. The familiar sound of thunder.

Is fall in the air?

We have been so swamped! It started in the middle of last week with the Quilt Show at the Champlain Valley Expo. We had SO many customers in the shop through Saturday evening, it felt like fall or even winter. Then this Monday we thought we'd catch a break, but that didn't happen. Michele and I were running around like crazy. Trying to help people from the moment we opened to the moment we closed. Tuesday was a bit calmer, and then we got a bit of a break, being closed on Wednesday. That always throws a kink in things though, being closed a day in the middle of the week. So the past two days have been still busy with customers and busy with unpacking NEW YARNS...

Yes, new yarns from my fall orders have started to arrive. We've had a lot to do in the shop, to prepare for these yarns too. So what did we get? This will be a QUICKIE post, with no pictures, since it is Friday evening and I want to go home to my family... So if you want to see any of the following yarns, come on it to the shop and check them out in person:

CTH SOCKITTOME

Malabrigo AQUARELLA

CTH CASCADE LACE

CTH MERINO LACE

CTH COTTON BOUCLE

Berroco Ultra Alpaca Light

Berroco Fall pattern books

Norah Gaughan's volume 1 (FANTASTIC!!!)

CTH OCEANIA (not online yet!)

Plus we have a trunk show for another week for Cheryl Potter's Special Little Knits from Just One Skein. We have autographed books and several items from the book on display.

Next week our Malabrigo Chunky is coming, as well as Malabrigo Laceweight and several new colors of Malabrigo Worsted. And Offhand Designs bags and needle cases! And a new sock yarn from K1C2 called Soxx Appeal. It's here already, but still in the box. Sorry, we just couldn't get it all done.

Have a great weekend!

Small New Projects

We just got in some Bully Woolies Felting Kits. We have two bags - a larger handled tote available in 2 colorways
and a smaller bag that is available in four designs.
These are kits, sold in a little box with the pattern, the yarn (all the colors in the right amounts) and the button and/or handles. All you need is the needle and off you go. They are really reasonable, considering that once you make the bag with the yarn supplied, you can use the chart and dig into your stash to make more bags.


I really didn't want to start another project, since I have so many unfinished ones, but I broke down the other night and started the Flower Power bag, which is one of the smaller ones. I used to do intarsia ALL the time (way back when I was 20...) but I really haven't done it at all since then. This is a great project for beginning intarsia knitters, and also for those, like me, who haven't done it in a while and need to brush up on their skills. Because, since it will be felted, any little "problems" will be hidden when it is finished. That's my kind of intarsia!

I made some more progress on the American Girl Doll coat... why is it that a tiny project seems to take longer than a larger one? I told my girls I would make each of their dolls this coat, and that I would make it for one of their friend's dolls. Hmm. I might have to find a way out of that one. I'm not opposed to making 3 "items" for the dolls, but 3 of the same? That could put me over the edge. I'll have to be creative.