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!

A great Christmas idea

Michele had a class last Friday for needle felting. She brought in two of her latest creations to show everyone - hand felted Christmas balls. They are adorable! The pink swirly ball was done with our Cherry Tree Hill Potluck Powder Puff roving. The snowman ball was done with Lamb's Pride (worsted or bulky, I forget!) Michele wanted it to have a more textured look than the pink ball, and it worked! So stay tuned! We are going to put together some classes in late October and November to teach people how to do these. Everyone in class was so excited that they promptly went downstairs and bought the rest of the needle felting tools, so we have more coming in today or tomorrow. I can't wait to try this!

Another set of twins

I had the day off yesterday, and picked up two of the cutest kitties - meet Maisy and Lucy. This was what they looked like more than 3 weeks ago when we went to pick them out. Yesterday they were a bit bigger - at just over 2.2 pounds each. They had a little visit to the vet, and then came home and crashed (in the LOVELY pink girlie bed that my daughters picked out for them!)They were successful in USING the litterbox, and also in PLAYING in it.
Today is a rainy Saturday so we're seeing a constant stream of knitters down in the shop. And we have a jovial bunch in Tom's Beginning Knitting class. It's always good to hear laughter coming from that class - it means it's a success.

Just in... new samples

The temperatures are nice and cool and we've seen a lot of people in this week looking for new projects. Barb finished her Diamanta Shawl out of Frog Tree and several people have picked that up for themselves. It is really beautiful - what an amazing pattern. Looks harder that it really is. Joy sent us a Malabrigo sweater - a cute shaped top down cardigan from Knitting Pure & Simple. It's adorable - that yarn really knits up nicely. We have a really cute patchwork scarf knit out of Frog Tree Alpaca - we just love Frog Tree. So much that we just brought in 6 new colors.
I was almost finished a cute short sleeved sweater out of Blue Sky Melange but oops. Checked my gauge at the beginning but not once I started knitting it. No WONDER it was like two sizes too big. It was so easy (a top down with nice ribbing at the bottom) but I just can't bear to re-knit it, so I am going to have someone else do it.

I actually finished my Koigu afghan the other night - I fringed it and it looks amazing. Picture to follow. Imagine my horror when I came downstairs this morning to find it in a heap on the floor in front of the couch. Helen or Sophie have to get a little better at caring for things, especially when I have made them! Another note on Koigu - all colors should be here by the end of next week. We cleared out a LOT of the old colors during our sale last week.

We can tell our newsletters have hit as the phone has been ringing off the hook with class signups, and people have been flocking in to see the new things.

Fall Newsletters... and parking reminder

The fall newsletters have been printed and are being mailed either today or tomorrow. We're about a week behind when we usually send them out - sorry! With a busier than normal summer, it took me longer to put it together, and then there were a couple of small delays at the printers. They go bulk mail, so they should start hitting your mailboxes in a few days. These get mailed to our in-store mailing list - they do not go out to email subscribers. Once they start hitting the actual mailboxes, I will copy and paste the text and put it up on the website for all others to see.

This week Betsy is off, so we're covering shipping for her. Yesterday it was SO busy with the Kersti sale. I was in shipping and it took forever just to box orders - we had pulled so much yarn that I couldn't even unload more than 1/3 of it at a time onto the shipping tables. Anyway, when I was in shipping, I realized that as Betsy is packing and shipping all of our orders each day, she really has a great view of the parking lot and who is coming and going. Yesterday our lot was full for most of the day, with lots of out-of-state cars. But also with a lot of locals. And at times, the air was tense with people jockeying for parking spots.

LOCALS - please remember to park in the Municipal Lot! Part of what makes us a great shop is the great following we have, and that following is getting bigger and bigger with people who drive a long distance to see us. They aren't familiar with the Municipal Lot, so when they drive into our lot and turn the corner and happen upon 6 or 7 cars, practically on top of each other, and then they try to get out of our lot (which is almost impossible when you have NO place to turn around)... anyway, I think you get my point. Let's make it easy for everyone to get in to the shop. And by parking in the Municipal Lot, you may have to walk... what, like an extra 20-30 steps? It's a good way to get in shape.

It also goes without saying... try to park responsibly (in the lines.) And those two little areas with bricks? Those are called sidewalks. As in FOR WALKING. Do NOT park on top of them - how can you expect people to get around your car? I can't begin to tell you what we've seen in the lot over the past week. Maybe it's just the cool weather, freaking everyone out and making them forget how to park, because they are MADLY rushing in to buy yarn. Whatever it is, breathe in through your nose, and out through your mouth a couple of times. Then park responsibly. Please.

Last night I finished a bulky bolero out of Reynolds Smile. It's really cute and worked up on size 11 needles in no time at all.

Now I've started another similar sweater out of Blue Sky Melange, a new heathered BABY alpaca that is SO lovely. It is double stranded on an 11. I know I didn't get very far last night, but I had to bring it in today so everyone could fondle it - it is like butter!

I am working on a herringbone scarf out of Blue Sky Brushed Suri. It's really gorgeous, but I am doing it on Addis and I probably should switch to Bamboo - it's a bit slippery. I also need to do some blocking - I have a little sweater out of Blue Sky Worsted that just needs blocking and one end woven in. And I have to block the Vintage Knits cover sweater - out of Felted Tweed. And that needs buttons too.

We sent a few things off to Joy to knit last week - a Malabrigo sweater, a little newborn set out of Blue Sky Royal, and a Classic Elite cardigan pattern done in Berroco Ultra Alpaca. She cranks through the samples and does a beautiful job, so those should be done soon.

Kim finished a cute kids hate (with earflaps!) and mitten set done in Encore Colorspun. That will be put online sometime this week. And she also did a simple (but beautiful) scalloped scarf with two skeins of Malabrigo. She is working on a pair of ribbed armwarmers in 2 colors of Blue Sky Melange.

India knit us a domino patchwork baby blanket out of Encore and Encore Colorspun, This is the blanket she is teaching the class on. It is ADORABLE! I just put it down in the shop today, and it's been the center of attention in the back room. What an easy yet perfect idea for anyone making a baby gift. The best part is that you can just make it bigger and it's an afghan. You can go crazy with colors, too. There are many great combinations.

Sheep & Wool Festival & things on sale tomorrow!

Well my girls are back in school after a somewhat rough start. Sophie missed the first two days (fever), Helen missed the second day (fever), and on the fourth day Helen slipped off the monkey bars, split her chin open and got three stitches. (The folks in the ER couldn't believe how brave she was.) I hope we're out of the woods for at least the next week or so! The Vermont Sheep and Wool Festival is at the Champlain Valley Expo Center this weekend. It is usually in October, but they moved it up by a whole month this year. We expect to be busy in the shop. We normally run our tent sale at the same time as the S&W Festival, but we are not having it this year for a number of reasons. But because we know we'll be busy with S&W go-ers, we've done a MAJOR pattern cleanout and are offering some great patterns for $1 or less! We also will have Lamb's Pride on sale (in the shop ONLY) on Saturday, as well as a NUMBER of other yarns at great prices.

We have a couple of great sweaters in on loan from Unique Kolours and Jaeger. This basic pullover is knit with Prism and is really nice. And this cardigan in Roma is adorable - the details on the trims, pockets, and sleeve cuffs are fantastic.

Many many new samples

When I got back from vacation on Monday, we all had a show and tell with the things we've finished recently. Betsy finished her Einstein Jacket (from the Knit Stitch) out of Lamb's Pride Bulky in Khaki #18. And believe it or not, it was cold enough last Sunday that she WORE it! She said it was really chilly and windy, and the jacket was perfect at cutting out most of the wind.

Michele brought in her Tara Jacket in Berroco Trilogy. The pattern is on the cover of Berroco Book #254/Trilogy. The jacket is just adorable - really flattering. She did a great job, and we can't wait for her to wear it! Barb brought in a number of things - she finished the lacy camisole out of Colinette Lasso. It's really pretty by itself, and would look great under a nice jacket for this fall/winter.

She also finished a really cool sweater (Lacy Sleeved Pullover) in Cleckheaton Studio Mohair 8-ply. The sleeves are worked first, and then you pick up and knit down for the front and the back. It's really a nice design with a great fit.

She started the Diamanta Shawl (she's using Frog Tree Alpaca) and brought that in to show us. It's so neat and fun to do. She's teaching a lace class on this so if you want to sign up, stop in or give us a call!

She's finishing the sleeve caps on a Giotto sweater that one of our sample knitters knit for us this summer. We thought there was an error in the instructions for the sleeve, and we called Colinette, but they never got back to us about it and so we're going to figure it out on our own. The sweater is adorable - with a ruffled collar and ruffles on the sleeves. Barb's mom was nice enough to make us the Strawberry Lace Scarf out of the Cleckheaton Studio Mohair (this is a NICE yarn!) It's really cute and a pretty simple lace pattern.
My little top down childrens pullover sweater is finished - we ALL love the yarn (Lang Mille Colori.) There are so many colors in each ball. It's a blend of wool and acrylic, and it's washable and soft. Perfect for kids and adults.Berroco sent us a little baby kimono sweater out of Pure Merino. This yarn is a big hit - so soft, washable, great colors. We love it. We just got in assorted wooden shawl pins from Frog Tree Alpaca. They are lightweight, so they won't pull too much on your shawl, and they work great on all weights of yarn. They are $38 and will be online soon.

Fall is in the air

Back to work tomorrow after a great vacation. We went to our camp in Maine, where we go for a week or so each summer. We usually go in early August when it is nice and hot. The camp is right on a lake, and the water is shallow by the shore and great for swimming. We spend 8-10 hours a day in and on the water.

This year we took a later vacation, and has anyone noticed how fall-like it's been for the past couple of weeks? Our first day was the warmest, and then we had very chilly temperatures, wind, clouds and some sprinkles. It was still a great time - and because of the cool temperatures, I became an expert at lighting the woodstove. (I'm always up for fine tuning one of my skills!)

The great thing about being on a lake is that the scenery is never dull. It changes from one minute to the next. (Can you see how COLD the air was? Brrr.)

I did do some knitting on my trip. I finished and blocked my Koigu slipstitch hat - it's very cute...

And I started and finished a simple little roll neck raglan (top down - Knitting Pure & Simple 9730) sweater out of Lang Mille Colori. This could be one of my new favorite yarns. SO soft, and NO way to know what color will come next. It's a really fun yarn and it was nice, mindless knitting. I also knit a little newborn sweater out of Blue Sky Worsted. It's finished, almost. I need to single crochet around the edges. I could have done it, but I need to pick a button or two out tomorrow when I go back to the shop.

Nana came to our camp and taught the girls to fish. On the first day, they practiced from the dock.

Fishing can mean waiting. And waiting. And waiting.

And one day, while we were out exploring in the car, we saw what we always hope to see in Maine... a moose. This one was about a year old and just off the side of the road. A few minutes later, we realized that it wasn't alone.

It was with Mommy and a younger sibling! They were really spectacular.Because of the cooler temperatures and one of the girls getting a fever of 102, we came home from our trip a couple of days early. Even though the week wasn't as warm as we'd expected, we finished our vacation with a gorgeous day on top of Stowe (Mount Mansfield) yesterday with some great friends.

Tomorrow I'll be back at work, and hope to finish the fall newsletter - it's almost done, just a few more touches and then off to the printers.

Classes are posted

The fall class list is posted. We will be formally announcing it in our weekly email this weekend, but we are accepting signups now. Scheduling classes is one of the more difficult things we do - we spend hours and hours on it. So when each class list is posted, we breathe a HUGE sigh of relief. Yeah!!! It's done!

So this weekend I ran in my first 5k race. I had never run more than a mile and a half, so I was worried I wouldn't finish. But I did and I only walked through the water stops. My sister Lisa stayed with me the whole way, and encouraged me through the hard times. There were several times I thought I would die, but I hung in there and I'm already excited to do another one! My run last night was easy, now that I know what I can do.

Now I'm trying to get my desk cleared off before I leave for vacation on Friday. We've been getting in more new yarns. Yesterday we received Terra from the Fibre Company. It is GORGEOUS. One of our internet customers was in visiting us and she bought a sweater's worth in the color Cochineal. I can't even begin to pick a favorite color. If I do pick one, and then turn away, when I turn back, I forgot which was my favorite and I have to pick one all over again.

And we got some new colors of Blue Sky Bulky Hand Dyes and Blue Sky Worsted that are just beautiful. We also got a new yarn from them called Brushed Suri. I am working like crazy to get all of these yarns up on the website before I leave.

On the drive down and back I worked a little on the slipstitch hat. It's going well, I really like the colors I picked. It will look nice when it's blocked!

And we're now open for comments on the blog!

New yarn... and classes coming!

Barb is back from her vacation - she had a lovely and restful week at her camp up near Barton, Vermont. Barton is the home of Cherry Tree Hill Yarn, and while she was at camp she bought a skein of CTH Silken Mohair. She wanted some mindless knitting, so she made a simple shawl with the full skein. It is gorgeous.

Since I'm a sucker for anything new, as soon as I saw the shawl, we ordered the yarn for the shop. It will be available on the website within a week or so, it is last in a long line of my "to-dos."

India stopped in today to firm up some fall class offerings. The final class schedule should be ready next week sometime... I know you're all chomping at the bit, but we are waiting for a few instructors to get back from vacation to finalize things. We have some great classes, so it will be worth the wait.

India is going to be teaching a class on a slip stitch hat, made with two colors of Koigu - one hand painted and one solid. Isn't it spectacular?! She wrote up the pattern, and it just needs one more round of testing, but it will be ready for the class and available for sale both in the shop and online. I plan to make one on MY vacation in a week and a half.

And what's this? An ALMOST finished Koigu & Cherry Tree Hill Supersock Diagonal afghan? Why yes! I seamed it together two nights ago - and I have a few ends left to work in. I decided to grab another two skeins to fringe it. I'm not going crazy with the fringe, I just feel it needs a little weight on the ends. And mind you, this is NOT the couch that I made this afghan to rest on. My color sense is a little better than that. This is our couch at work...In other news, a few of us have started running recently. We have taken advantage of the lovely Vermont summer to start getting in shape by running. Kalen is already a runner, but Michele started running in June and just ran her first 5k last weekend. Yay Michele! I started running on July 4th and am doing my first 5k this Saturday in NH with my sister (I hope I make it!) And Barb started running last week at camp, and will join me and Michele on October 1st for the Leaf Peepers 5k in Waterbury. That race is also a half marathon, but OBVIOUSLY we will only be participating in the 5k part. It's a great way to push ourselves to do something we wouldn't normally do. And yes, I would much RATHER be sitting and knitting, but that's not really getting me into shape now, is it?