etsy shop update - free shipping thru Nov.1

Just a quick one - I am offering free shipping on all orders placed through midnight EST November 1st.
Good on all in stock items.
All orders will be shipped out FOR FREE within 48 hrs.

Click HERE to see!!

On November 2nd, I am pulling most current colors.
The shop will be restocked and updated on November 4th.

Always something up my sleeve (or is it pantleg? Since I dye mostly sock yarns?).

Rhinebeck 2009 - Sunday stroll

Sunday at Rhinebeck proved to be on the chilly and wet side.
Kay was prepared.


When my friend Anna came down with our families, we got to take a stroll. Here are some pictures for you.

The only thing I bought that day were 2 books, one of which is the Knitters Book of Wool, by Clara Parkes. Not only is she one of the nicest people you'll ever meet, gentle and funny, smart, and oh does she know how to write about, research, and design with her favorite medium.

I also caught a glimpse of Lily Chin.

After a wonderful few hours of walking around, it was back into the booth for me.

Here's Ava, one of my last customers that day. We had a great time talking yarn and knitting. She's going to make mitts for her friends. I do hope Ava will come see me again next year!

Too soon it was time to pack up. The animals were ready to go home.

Thanks everyone for making Rhinebeck such a success.

See you next year!

Rhinebeck 2009 - booth with a view

In past years, I realized AFTER Rhinebeck that I had managed to take lots and lots of pictures without any people in it. What's up with that? Thousands upon thousands come and I finally decided to make sure I got some people in the frame.

Our booth on Saturday. Three handdyers, two basketmakers, one sewn bag maker, one llama farmer. All of us knitters. Hint: sometimes, they were one and the same person!


Since the only time I left the booth was when I ran to the bathroom or to go stock up the Spinning Room booth, I tried to capture what was going on right out front.

Remember Jasmin? :) Hint: bright pink hair.


Lynn the basketweaver, knitter, and llama keeper, also has bunnies. This little girl captured her heart and she kept us company all day.

Kay and Laurie, most excellent handdyers of Sliver Moon Farm, gave me some prime real estate in their booth: a spinner rack for my sock yarn. (I also had a couple of baskets of worsted merino superwash). The basket below contains the Rhinbeck 2009 colorway, which sold out on the first morning. I guess I better come up with something really good next year, and dye more of it, too!

Kay's colors are to dye for....

...as were the colors on the trees.

My feeble attempt at a snapshot inside the booth.

I had the most wonderful visitors. GlennaC. from Toronto (far right), whom I met at the Sock Summit this summer, with her two friends Liz and Rebecca. Sorry Liz, I should have taken another shot...hope you can forgive me. MargoLynn (far left) from Hartford, CT, comes to see me every year, which totally brightens my day.

Elizabeth and her mom were customers at my store at the time. Elizabeth made her Norwegian sweater, of course. Her mom taugh her well, and then she just took off from there...

Laurie our dyer enjoying something apply crispy.

A podcast being recorded right outside our booth.

Booth helper Ben brought bags of maple cotton candy, which I mistook for wool fiber at first. Then they started eating it. Kay felt much better after that. :)

The clouds started to move in towards evening, promising a wet Sunday.

But try and keep the knitters from a sheep and wool festival!

Vermont Sheep and Woolfest, October 3+4, 2009

Before I head out to the New York State Sheep and Woolfestival this weekend in Rhinebeck, NY, I still need to catch you up on the Vermont Sheep and Woolfest from two weeks ago.

Early morning on Saturday, October 3, I went up to Tunbridge, which is about 2.5 hours from Bennington. On the way, right outside of Rutland, as you head up the hill to Killington, the car swerved left into a parking lot because it saw this: alas it was 8 am and no one was there...



Melanie had already set up her booth the day before. All I had to do was add my yarn. Boy did I ever have it easy. Well I did bring another table and various office supplies and a credit card machine.

Our yarns are different but lived together quite nicely in our booth.

Melanie does semi-solids and stripes, see above and below. If you would ever like to order some from her, please go to Dyenamics Yarn. We have shared the website for a few months now, and Melanie is in charge of it.

The weather was a total split between very rainy on Saturday and wonderfully sunny on Sunday.

People came, no matter what.

The clouds literally touched the ground. But the Knitters were on a mission. They came, they saw and felt, and happily walked away with yarn, through mud and puddles.

Of course there were sheep herding demos.

Other stuff happened, naturally.

The next day, it dried out a bit. I'll let you take a tour like I did, weaving my way in and out of buildings, admiring everyone's work and wool.

I got to look at this all weekend, our booth neighbor's work. Gabriella has her own sheep, which wear coats and are very well taken care of. She is also an artist and it shows in everything she does...

Though I was very tired from the two days, I was almost reluctant to leave. Tunbridge is a lovely spot in the Green Mountains in the fall, and I am really looking forward to going back there next year.

The application is handed in. Melanie already took care of it.