Rugs, rugs and more rugs

This week is the "Hooked in the Mountains XII" hooked rug fiber art show at the Shelburne Museum. Yesterday was my day off, and I spent a couple of hours there looking at over 400 hooked rugs. If you have some free time, I would definitely recommend heading over to the Round Barn to check out these amazing works of art. The show runs through November 18th, and is open 10am-5pm (4pm on the 18th). I had my camera, so this post will be picture heavy. But really, you need to see these rugs in person, to really appreciate their beauty. I loved the random colors of these fish.

These colors were great too. Very soothing!

A nice funky chicken!

This is a Primitive Grace pattern that we sell. Love it hooked! Very inspiring...

Beautiful view! Very realistic.

This was amazing. It is HUGE (almost 5x8 I'm guessing?) and the details are just incredible. You HAVE to see this one up close.

I just loved this one. Very artistic use of color.

This was very cool. Life size! And such vibrant color.

Not my favorite design, but incredible work...

Very nice! Love the top and bottom borders.

This was neat. Four pieces, and three dimensional. Wow.

Wow - vibrant colors! Makes you think of spring.A dark and dreary day, captured well.

And in contrast, a sunny day on a cornfield. Look how those leaves POP off the background.

I liked this one a lot. Orderly, yet random.

These two go together well. Wish my garden looked like that!

This was very 3 dimensional. I normally don't like all the texture, but I really liked this one!

WOW! Vivid.

I'd seen this one before. Fun!

I really thought this would have been fun to hook. I really liked the use of color.

Great example of what to do with scraps!

There was a lot of nice detail in this dragonfly.

I liked the background in this one.

And I remember when the woman who hooked this brought it into the shop a couple of years ago! She may have been looking for wool to bind it. It really lookes great finished. She made it for her friend whose dog had passed away. What a tribute!

So needless to say I was inspired to hook last night. And I found out that Lucy likes my rug as much as I do.

Be considerate people!

Today has been rough. We've have been swamped, and we've had a crazy day with a busy shop and a TON of internet orders. We are psyched - we love it when it's like this! However, I had to just take a few minutes to sit down and vent about the following:

Parents of small children... please do not let your toddlers roam wild in the shop. Are you aware that our shop is not child proofed as your home should be? Does it worry you that the mannequin your child thinks he is dancing with, starts to teeter and totter and tip over? Where are you when I rescue your child from being crushed under that very heavy figure? Oh, that's right. You are looking for a pattern 2 rooms away, not paying any attention to your child. Do you hear me asking your child not to play with the mannequin because it is not safe for him, and I don't want him to get hurt? You DO hear me? Great! Why then, does your child do it another 2 times, while you are still paying no attention to him?

Did you just hear the big wooden smacking noise, followed by tears, and a nice young lady saying she's sorry? Do you know that your child was standing right inside our front door (out of sight from the outside) and a customer just came into the shop and opened the door right into your child? (Don't worry, I told the nice lady not to feel badly - it's not her fault, it's yours.) Now your child is screaming, most likely because you are paying no attention to him, and you are still looking for a pattern.

You know that bag of Sesame Pretzels that your daughter has been snacking on? Do you see that she is spilling hundreds of sesame seeds all over our floor? That may be okay at your house, but it's not okay here. Now those sticky little hands are touching so many different balls of yarn. Hmmm. Do YOU want to buy a ball of yarn that has been touched by sticky sesame hands? I sure don't. Do you realize that every ball of yarn we find, when straightening and restocking yarn, that has been manhandled by your children, or snot-dripped upon, must be taken out of stock?

Great, now your daughter is dancing with the mannequin. Wasn't she standing right there when I was reprimanding your son? Oh sorry! I forgot. You wouldn't know. You weren't paying attention.

You know those beautiful shawl pins that we have at the counter? Did you realize those aren't chew toys for your kids? The nice display with the marbles that houses those shawl pins? Not a game of Pick Up Sticks. Our customers do not enjoy jarring, crashing sounds as your daughter knocks over the entire bowl of glass marbles, because she didn't like it when we asked her not to play with them. Nor do they enjoy tripping over the marbles, as they shop.

Those Brittany double pointed needles we sell? Those size 0's, 1's and 2's are pretty small, aren't they? Does your child have to test them to see if they will break? Let me save him some time. YES. They break. And since you don't want to pay for a broken needle, I guess we'll just have to put it with all the sticky and snotty yarn we've already pulled from the shelves.

You know, we're not just trying to look after your children because you aren't doing it yourself. We actually have a job to do here, and it's not daycare provider. We're actually really concerned for their safety and for our inventory. You know that if that mannequin fell on top of your child, even though you were in the other room not paying attention, you would blame us. You know that if your child opened our basement door and fell down the steps, again it would be our fault somehow.

And for those of you who are starting to feel the stress of the holidays, hear this. Please understand that we are only here to help you. When you come in with a really bad attitude, we are still going to smile and treat you like all of the nice people who have preceeded you. But if you don't let up on the attitude, we fully reserve the right to politely remind you that there's no reason to be rude to us.

When the UPS truck is backed into the driveway at 4pm, and there's rush hour traffic on Pearl Street, do NOT pull in and block him. Do you really think you have enough time to come in and make an exchange? Do you not realize that he is on a schedule? Do you not see that you have parked your car next to a sign that says "Please Do Not Block Driveway?" Do you see that now there is another customer behind the UPS truck, waiting to get out, all because you will not move your car? I am aware of your dirty looks and snotty attitude when I tell you I cannot help you until you move your car. The other customers in the shop are also aware, and when you finally go to move your car, they have nothing but raised eyebrows about your behavior.

Okay, rant over. Have a good weekend.

The holidays are a-coming!

Just yesterday I realized that we are just 2 short weeks from Thanksgiving. It seems as if it was just Halloween yesterday, but that was over a week ago. I guess time really flies when you are crazy busy. And that's what it's been around here. Lots of customers, classes, internet shoppers, and new yarns.

Before I skip over Halloween, I'll show you what treats we get to enjoy around here on certain holidays. Michele makes these amazing cookies, and is always nice enough to bring in a big tray for us. Of course, they are gone within a matter of hours. This poor little guy hung around until the next morning - I guess people were shy and didn't want to take the last one. Well, I was bold and gobbled it right up. Nothing like cookies for breakfast. This, only days after Kalen brought in half of a Costco cake - the leftovers from her brother's birthday. It was chocolate, and Michele doesn't eat chocolate. Barb was out for a couple of days so she missed out on the cake, but never fear, Kalen and I managed to eat almost all of it. Cake for breakfast, snack, lunch and snack is not the healthiest of diets, but hey, that's life. And then came the leftover Halloween candy. We live in a big neighborhood that gets a LOT of trick-or-treaters. And I never know just how much candy we'll go through, so I tend to overbuy. I usually have leftovers which come into the shop the next day. This year was no exception. And we've gone through those leftovers pretty quickly.

At least the sugar has helped us keep our energy up. We've been busy moving around some yarns - check out our sale section for lots of new markdowns. These are ONLINE ONLY. They are not in the shop any more, they have been moved to one of our warehouse locations. If you want them, place an order on the website and write HOLD FOR PICKUP in the comments section. We'll deduct your shipping charges and call you when the order is ready. I'm sending out a mass email on these yarns tomorrow, so they won't last long. Great sock yarns - perfect for gift knitting or gift giving. Plus some colors of Plush, Plush Colors, Touche, Love It and Bonsai that we are discontinuing. This always happens at this time of year. I meet with some reps to buy for spring, and they always have some yarns in stock already - some new yarns and some new colors in existing yarns. And since I can't resist, I end up buying them, and having to make room. So help us move them out so we can show you the new stuff!

Marc and I took the girls to NYC last weekend. It was fun - certainly a whirlwind trip - but we really had a great time. Some highlights:

The gorgeous ferry across Lake Champlain to New York. Look how calm it was!

The American Girl Doll Store... CRAZY! Can you see my eyes rolling into the back of my head?

A man wearing an Eros scarf... after being so tired of this yarn, I was actually pleasantly surprised to see him wearing it! It looked very fashionable on him.

A very interesting (?) hat I spotted on the train. Hmmm. Enough said.

The M&M store! Note the ceiling high bins of different colored M&Ms.

I won't tell you how much money I spent on M&Ms, nor will I disclose how many peanut M&Ms I've eaten since my trip. I can't even say how many (few) days it took me to eat them.

In summary - it was fun! It was quick and busy, and exhausting and stimulating. But fun. And furing the long car trip, I was able to whip up a couple of neat hats. Kalen gave me some great ideas of what we needed to write up for free patterns, and this is what we came up with. This one is a great unisex earflap hat using Frog Tree Alpaca and Berroco Foliage.

This one is the ever popular super bulky ribbed pom pom hat. Love it! It uses Berroco Peruvia and Cascade Baby Alpaca Chunky. It came out a little big, but it would fit an adult l-xl. To make it smaller, I'd use the same pattern with a smaller needle. It's oh so soft and warm, and the huge pom pom really makes it.

Custom Colorways... for Kaleidoscope Yarns!

Some of our suppliers are just great to do business with. Several weeks ago, Tracy (owner of Tilli Tomas) called and asked me if I'd like her to create a custom colorway for us in one of her yarns. We talked about some color ideas, and threw around some names, and then look what arrives in the mail one day? Pure and Simple, in our custom colorway called "Leaf Peepers." We love it! It reminds us of the gorgeous fall foliage we have here in Vermont. Our fall tourists are called "leaf peepers" and the name also has meaning for us since a few of ran in the "Leaf Peepers" Half Marathon recently. This colorway was developed for us, but should be available in other stores that stock the Tilli Tomas Pure & Simple.

Then Cheryl from Cherry Tree Hill called the other day. They recently acquired Wool in the Woods, and she has a lot of their dyes left. She offered to dye up some "potluck" colors in Sockittome for us. I asked her for 8, and we talked about what colors I liked and what I didn't like. Today, our UPS driver brought us the gorgeous yarn. We have 12 skeins in each colorway. That's it! They are our colors and you won't see them elsewhere. When they are gone, they are gone. Kalen and I were unpacking them, and decided to name the colors after some of the local ski & snowboard resorts. Maybe we really are eager for the snow to fly? Anyway, they are spectacular colors. Thanks Cheryl!

From top left to bottom right: Smugg's, Sugarbush, Stowe, Bolton, Stratton, Snow Bowl, Mad River and Jay.

New Aktion sock yarn from Lang

Just in, Aktion sock yarn from Lang. Berroco KnitBits talked about it a couple of weeks ago, and we received it in the shop last week. Lang's sock yarns have been in 50g skeins before, but this one is 100g, so you only need one skein per pair of socks.

This "limited edition" program has gorgeous yarns that are put out monthly. And when they're gone, they're gone. We have 4 of the October colors in stock, and will be getting 4 of the November colors next month. They're quick movers!

Remember those cute kitties I got a little over a year ago? Look how cute they were.

They're still cute - really, they are great cats. I just thought that after the first year, they'd chill out a little. You know, mellow a bit. Not eat my yarn anymore and end up having emergency visits to the vet. Not eat every little plastic bead or hair elastic that my kids leave all over the place. Not steal my kids' stuffed animals and carry them around the house as if they were prey. Not make a huge mess every single day when we are all at work/school. Well, I thought wrong. If there's any bit of trouble that you think they could get into, they will.

Last weekend we went away for 2 nights. The girl across the street came to feed them and check on them. I guess she missed this.

Just my crocheted pillow project from a couple of years ago, still unfinished. On the bright side, it does look like they had fun with it, doesn't it?It wasn't just an open bag of yarn. It was actually hidden underneath another bag. Yes, it should have been behind closed doors, I know. And here's Maisy saying, "Who, ME!?!"

Lesson learned. Next time they're boarding at the vet.

Last night I started a new hooked rug. I was inspired by a piece of wool I spot dyed over a week ago. Just had to use it in a project! This is the wool.

This is the project.

It's going in my mudroom, which is being worked on, so I have some time to finish it.

Knitting weather is upon us

What a cold morning here! 50 degrees, raining, and a bitter wind. Not good for outside activitites, but great for sitting inside and knitting. In fact, this week it has been nice and cool, and that cool weather always brings a lot of people into the shop. We've been quite busy.

I've been knitting a lot recently. I am wearing my Pure Merino top today - yay! It is so comfortable and warm. Michele wore hers on Wednesday and I should have gotten a picture, but I didn't... So next time she wears it, I will. Hers is brown, and she got compliments on it all day. Kalen is nearing completion on hers - maybe she'll be done next week?

I am almost finished the front of my Anais sweater. It's going faster than I thought it would, considering I am only on size 4 needles. I LOVE the Felted Tweed. I had to take a break from it last night, as the hexagons for the Aune skirt arrived! Joy knit the hexagons and the waistband, and I agreed to crochet everything together. I'm not a big crocheter, but look at what I accomplished last night! It was pretty easy, and once I block it again, it will be perfect. We are excited to wear it... We've been busy this week - dying wools for rug hooking, unloading lots of shipments, etc. We got in a number of new rug hooking kits. We've had such an increased interest in rug hooking, so we ordered some new kits that we haven't had before. We also brought in a few more patterns from Vermont Folk Rugs, and a number from Primitive Grace - those will be here next week. All this wool dying has made me want to start a new project. I'm not finished the checkerboard rug for the girls yet. I put it down this summer - it just got way too hot for it. And I think I want to start another one, and maybe have two going at a time. Just like knitting, it's hard to only have one project!

Errata - a timesaver in the end

Today in the shop, a woman asked for help calculating yardage for a great sweater in the Men in Knits book, by Tara Jon Manning. For a men's medium, it was calling for 4 skeins of yarn, at 800 yards each. That's 3,200 yards! We immediately knew something was wrong.

So I logged onto interweave.com and checked out the book corrections. Sure enough, that pattern had a correction - it meant to call for 4 skeins of yarn, at 400 yards each. Now that's more like it.

If something seems wacky to you, or a stitch count isn't quite working out, etc. take action and check to see if there's an errata out there! These patterns and books are usually rushed through to being printed. The authors and editors are human. Mistakes happen. Things get left out. And when they realize there's a problem, the publisher usually puts out an "errata", a sheet with the pattern corrections. These can be obtained on websites, or by calling the publisher.

The sweater I am making, the Anais, also had an errata. Which we had printed out, from Berroco's website, and nicely stapled into all of the pattern books, including my own. But did I check? Nope! So in my last post, where I mentioned that all sizes of this sweater only took 4 skeins of Ultra Alpaca Light - well, that's not quite right! I mean REALLY, Jill. I should have figured that out! But what really clued me in, was when I started knitting on Saturday evening, and it called for several needle sizes. It had me cast on with the smallest needle size for the ribbing - and then it didn't mention changing to another size. I skimmed through the pattern, and it actually never calls for the next size up needle, yet it was listed as one I needed. So, I turned to the errata, nicely stapled in the front of my book, and yep, there were a couple of corrections for that sweater.
So, word to the wise! There are mistakes in many patterns out there. We know about some of them, but there's no way we can know about all of them. Be proactive. Do a little googling of your pattern or book to see if there are any erratas out there before you start. You'll be glad you did.

Monday and Tuesday the girls come to the shop to hang out after school. It's only for a couple of hours, and they can have a snack and get their homework finished. Then they read quietly. I'm so glad they love to read... and that we have a library right out back so we can always get new books. Today it's feeling really fall-like, and so Helen is snuggling up in our new Comfort afghan. Kim just finished it and brought it in today. It is SO soft and cozy. Fun to knit too. I will be putting that up online soon, with a number of different color options.
Sophie doesn't want a blanket, she hasn't moved from the kitchen.

Pure Merino knitting

So four of us are knitting Pure Merino! Well, really only three. But that's because I finished my sweater 2 nights ago. Here it is...

Here's the progress of all the Pure Merino sweaters as of yesterday. Barb started the Manon sweater the other night. That was one of the most popular ones when Norah was here at the shop.

Last night I did a gauge swatch for my next sweater - the Anais. I'm not doing the Ultra Alpaca light - as I think it would be too hot for me. But if I used the Ultra Alpaca Light, the total cost for all sizes is just over $20! What a deal!!!

I wanted something washable, so I was deciding between Wool Cotton, Cadenza, Felted Tweed, or doubled Jitterbug. I really wanted to do the Jitterbug because there was a color screaming out to me (Morello Mash) but it would have cost $80! And that's just not responsible yarn buying (for me!) So I ended up with a gorgeous color of Rowan Felted Tweed (Avocado). The yardage translates into 3.01 balls of felted Tweed, so since I am doing the small, and all sizes call for the same yardage, I know I will only use 3 skeins. At $9.25 a ball, it's still under $30. NOT BAD!

Raffle for breast cancer research

We're having a raffle this month, so come in and buy some raffle tickets! Don't live around here? You can still participate - buy tickets on our website! Tickets are $5 each or 5 for $20. All proceeds go to the S.D. Ireland Cancer Research Fund.

We've got some great prizes for this raffle! FOUR signed copies of New Pathways for Sock Knitters (by Cat Bordhi), TWO Denise PINK Interchangeable Knitting needle Kits, and ONE grand prize... an S.D. Ireland Research Tote, a Denise Pink Kit, a signed copy of New Pathways for Sock Knitters, and yarn donated by Kaleidoscope Yarns!

Raffle drawing will be October 31, 2007.

GREAT New Shawl Pins!

Barb went to visit her mom about a week ago, and in her travels picked up a gorgeous shawl pin. So that day, we contacted the company, placed an order... and 3 days later... look what we now have in stock for only $30! These are great gift ideas...

Assorted stone Agate shawl pins:
Circular shawl pins in abalone, black shell, pink shell and mother of pearl:
Square shawl pins in abalone, black shell, pink shell and mother of pearl: Oval shawl pins in abalone, black shell and mother of pearl:
Assorted wooden shawl pins:
Ebony stick pins:Oh, and the neck ribbing that I thought I only had 1 more inch to do? Well, it turns out I have to rib for 5". So it was a LOT of ribbing last night. I think I have 1-2 more rounds before binding off. I chose to do the neck first (rather than the sleeves.) Then I can seam most of it up, try it on, and see exactly how much ribbing I want to do on the sleeves. I've already shorted each sleeve by 1/2", and can shorten them more by doing a little less ribbing.

We Leaf Peeped!

Wow. We did it! We ran our Leaf Peepers half marathon yesterday. What an amazing day for a little 13.1 mile run! It was just gorgeous weather, perfectly sunny, yet cool. The leaves were a bit on the dull side - perhaps our drought is the reason for that... but still, it was a great day. And here are some shots... Kalen and Michele at mile 2:

My own mile 2 cheering section - Marc (taking the picture), the girls and my mom:

Me at mile 2, shedding the t-shirt and gloves I had been wearing (hey, it started out cold!):

Kalen, always smiling... and approaching the finish at 2 hours 3 minutes:

My cheering section again... on the lookout for me to round that last bend:

And here we come! Michele (r) and I are heading in to the finish at 2 hours 18 minutes... yay! I beat my goal of 2.5 hours!:

Smiles all around - not bad for some yarn shop ladies!

And from running to knitting... we got in these AWESOME new monochromatic variegated Lamb's Prides today! Worsted and bulky... 8 colors. Very cool. We're one of the first shops to have them.

And some progress on the Aamu - almost done! Just another inch of ribbing on the neck, and then the sleeve ribbings. Maybe if the temps are cool I can wear it next week!?

And I just blocked our Retro Ribbed Cardigan (out of Green Mountain Sylvan Spirit) this weekend. It is not quite dry yet, but I LOVE this sweater. A great classic, ribbed sweater, but it fits great and it actually attractive on - unlike some I've seen! This is a perfect staple for any winter wardrobe.