This and That

So, I think we've sufficiently recovered from the Harlot. I personally did not have much time to really recover before I had to prep for yet another major event. This one was not yarn-related, but equally important. Last Friday night was the annual fundraising auction at the boys' school of which I was chair. The event raises much needed money for financial aid and last year's event was a bit of a bust, so the pressure was on. Ultimately, the event came off wonderfully, but by Saturday afternoon I was ready to curl up in the produce section at Whole Foods. I consider myself someone who is a pretty tough cookie with good stamina, but this past week was just over the top. It's all behind us now with only things like Tent Sale, end of the school year, TNNA, Convergence, etc., ahead of us. Piece of cake after this past week.

I have a few random items to share, so here goes:

1. On Monday Steve and I attended NENA - the New England Needlearts Association annual tradeshow. This is sort of a mini-TNNA. Many of industry's vendors show here, but on a much smaller scale than at TNNA. Although we've done a majority of our fall buying already, we still go to see some smaller vendors, follow-up with reps and just be supportive of the show. It's only 45 minutes from the shop, so it would be rather strange to not go. I scored a couple of skeins of yarn from J Knits:

This is a hand-dyed line out of Amesbury, MA that we currently do not carry. Not sure where we'll end up with this, but I grabbed a couple of skeins of their new sock yarn (the bottom skein) not only to consider for the store, but also for Melissa, who was unable to attend the show and just might have a need for sock yarn for some project involving knitting socks and lots of words, compiled together.. . . .at some point. I haven't given her the yarn yet, you like MMO?

It's 60% superwash merino/15% bamboo/15% nylon and 10% silk.

2. Speaking of sock yarn, in the madness that was last week, our newest Valley Yarn arrived. Huntington is a 75% wool/25% nylon with 218 yarns on a 50 gram hank. It knits at 7-8 sts to the inch on a #2 or #3 needle. It's available in 11 solid colors and it is just scrumptious! It's soft, it has a lovely twist and it knits like a dream. Huntington retails at $4.29/hank which means you can have a pair of scrum-dilly-icious socks for $8.58!! Don't forget - sock yarn is not just for socks! Huntington would be great for handwarmers, baby items or even a lovely shawl/wrap for the summer months.

3. So there appears to be a theme going on here - unintended, but still a theme. Steve and I see a lot of yarn. We see yarn from our wholesale partners, we see yarn from mills, we see yarn from small independent folks who may be hand dyeing yarn or raising their own animals and spinning their own yarn - I am talking a TON of yarn. We see amazing yarn and some yarns that make us say "what were they thinking?". Every now and again, a very memorable yarn comes along. The skein I am about to show you was shown to me at least 8 months ago. At the time, the producer was not in a position to take us on as a customer due to the scope of her operation. Well, the sales rep was in the other day and put this skein of yarn in front of me for a second time. This skein has stayed with me since I first saw it - it was love at first sight. Primarily due to the colorway. It takes a lot to make me stand up and take notice of a yarn, but this skein did just that and did it again yesterday when it was pulled out of it's bag. I *heart* this skein:

The even better news? This little company is ready to start doing business with us. Now, I'm going to be a bit of a tease and not reveal the source until the yarn is in the house. Sorry, I know, not totally nice, but I'm so excited I had to share so you could all be excited too. It should only be a couple of weeks until the yarn is here and then I will reveal all.

Tomorrow/Friday I'll be updating the blog with our current Babette CAL from Ready, Set, Knit! with pictures of Pixie's beautiful creation and, well, shots of the yarn that I chose (I am such a laggard). Plus, I've got some info on the newest yarns from SWTC that I can also share with you. Joe Raffino joined us this week for our podcast so be sure to listen this weekend to the show!

Kathy