Knitting Studio Trunk Show!

My 3rd trunk show was truly fun!

The Knitting Studio is called, "The Friendliest Yarn store in VT" and it's SO true. When you go into the store, you immediately feel welcome, comfortable and like you could stay there all day to chat and knit.

Before I even reached the door, I saw this sign in front of the shop on the sidewalk -



Isn't that awesome??? Ian was like, "Hey, that's pretty cool!" and I thought so, too!

I went inside the store to put down my trunk and boxes of books and Ian took this photo of me just inside the door -



Lee, Leslie and Bridgette of Knitting Studio are wonderful and made me feel very special that day. Leslie bought my very first book in cash because she said that she wanted me to have my very first sale right away. Isn't that sweet??

Here I am with Lee and Leslie before the show started. (And look at the great yarn in the background!!)



I set up my woolen goodies on the back table and, while I was waiting for interested knitters, I roamed the shop perusing their interesting and lovely assortment of buttons, yarn, patterns and books. It's one of those stores where you think you've seen everything and then, all of a sudden, you find something else that catches your eye.



The two items that I wanted to buy (but didn't this time, but will definitely get NEXT time!) were a beautiful lace/fingering weight Bamboo/Merino/Bison blend yarn (yummmmmy!) and the Eco Cashmere, which I've had my eye on every time I visit their shop. I ended up buying 2 skeins of a fushia Mirasol Tulsi, a skein of Regia Monster & book (for kids' socks), a couple of magazines for Jackie, a skein of Noro Kureyon for the Log Cabin blanket (in a color I hadn't seen before) and an adorable tea/coffee container that's green and stainless steel and had a sheep on the front saying, "Knit Happy".

I was totally lucky and grateful when a number of friends came by the shop to see me and the trunk show. Julie (CoolMoonYogaKnits from Ravelry) came with her adorable daughter, Phoebe and Pam (PamBill from Ravelry) also came to see me - and she looked so pretty in all of the hats. (I'm still thinking of that great Thorpe hat she had knit out of Malabrigo...it was great!) The four of us had fun trying on all of my designs and seeing which ones looked good on them. In this pic, they're wearing the ones that I thought looked the best.



Finally, Kerry (KMurphy4) came to visit me and that was wonderful to have a friend from home come to the yarn store! We sat and talked for a while (and planned later on to go to Dobra Tea house in Burlington to knit - which was sooo fantastic!).



At the end of the day, I'd sold 20 books (yay!) and went home tired, but happy. It was a great day!

The next day, though, wasn't so great. We got up very early so that we could leave VT in time to make a friend's last-minute wedding in NH, which was at 1:30 pm. On the way there, my car overheated (three times!) and we ended up having to call AAA to tow it to a nearby town in VT. It most likely has a blown head gasket and I had to leave my lovely car in VT (which has my trunk show, Ben's boots & karate belt and Ian's snow shoes!) in the trunk). Ughhhh! Ian's grandfather (who is in his 80s!) drove us all home and then drove right back to VT. It was very generous of him, but I was also worried about him the whole time. Almost 7 hours of driving for a grandfather is alot! Luckily, he got home safely. Whew!

So...at the moment, we found out it will cost over $1600 to fix my car and I won't get it back until Friday or Monday of next week. ARghhhhhhh!

But, besides this bad news, I was truly happy with the trunk show and I'm so grateful to everyone at The Knitting Studio - thank you all very much and I'll be up there again soon to shop and visit! (And I recommend that you do, too! lol!)

Have a great day everyone! ; )

Vermont Knitting Trip

Whew...finally got some time to post about our Vermont knitting weekend. I've had sick kiddies home most of the week and I finally think they're on the mend. Me, on the other hand.....

Anyway, I wanted to share with you all of the beautiful yarn that I bought, the fantastic inn we stayed at and the yarn stores we visited.



First, the Marshfield Inn and Motel - eco-friendly (which I loved!), extremely delicious breakfasts (esp the local eggs and bacon), very friendly hosts (they were very accommodating and friendly!), clean rooms/bathrooms (and hot water!) and a beautiful view. The only things that I wished for were a bigger room for all of us to group together for knitting (we ended up taking turns in each others' rooms) and clocks. Besides those, I would definitely stay there again - what a lovely place!



The first yarn store we visited was just around the corner from the Inn in Plainfield and only sold Vermont (non commercial) yarns, which I thought was a nice idea. The store was big inside (perfect for staying there and knitting) and had some nice yarns....Green Mountain Spinnery, Cherry Tree Hill, This and That Farm, a nice pattern/book selection and cute knitting accessories. The owner was very good to use and gave all of us 10% off our purchases. I think the biggest hit was the "This and That Farm's" Cormo/Tussah Silk 2ply (4 oz and 254 yards of heavy worsted). Sooo soft, soo squishy and nicely spun - I bought 3 skeins. I think almost everyone bought some.

Here is the whole group at the store:


(Back L-R: Christina, Me, Jackie, Lora, Vidhi, Patti, Heather, Julie, Amanda 2.0, Blogless Amanda, Ericka)
(Front L-R: Chris, Brittany, Donna, Gaye, Sarah, Denise, Donna)

After this, some people went to the Cabot Creamery, Ben & Jerry's or to another yarn store further away. Some of us stayed behind to knit - which was relaxing and fun. That's when I started giving out the hourly prizes for the weekend - everyone in the group donated something and was able to get at least one prize in return. That was awesome!

Later that night for dinner, we had reservations for the Main Street Grill in Montpelier and it was FANTASTIC! We paid to have our own room (with the wine bottles and stone walls...very cool) and had a hot, sexy nice-looking waiter to serve us. From salad to dessert, the meal was exquisite and delicious. I think I had the most fun of the weekend that night. I highly recommend this place!

The rest of the night was an orgy of knitting, playing Apples to Apples, drinking (some of us didn't) and some nakedness. I got a lot of knitting done on my sister-in-law's felted bag (pics next post) and laughed a lot.

Sunday was mostly spent packing, knitting and getting ready to go over to The Knitting Studio in Montpelier, VT. We had an appointment for the day - there was even a sign on the door saying that the store was closed for a "private party" and it was thrilling that it meant US! The owner, Brigette, was funny, welcoming, and adorable. I loved the store, the yarns and the whole atmosphere. I hope she visits us here in NH at one of our knitting nights. What a super store she has! (She even baked goodies for us and refreshments!)



Now...onto the luscious yarns I bought!!!



1 & 2. Green Mountain Spinnery's "New Mexico Organic" -2 skeins in white - for socks. Sooo soft and lovely. (shown on bottom) and This and That Farm's "Cormo/Silk" - 3 skeins off white- for a shawl. Again...extremely soft and squishable.



3. Regia 4ply Sock Yarn - 2 skeins for a gift for my grandmother-in-law



4 & 5. Classic Elite "Star"- 4 skeins (on sale 40% off!) in different colors for my sister-in-law's scarves and Classic Elite "Princess" - 1 skein for fingerless mitts for me

Then, I also got these yarns/fibers in the mail for other projects (I'm up to my eyeballs in softness and yarngasmic yarns!...not that I'm complaining....)


1. 4 skeins of Malabrigo in two complementary shades of yellow for a tea cozy (Ravelry Link)


2. 2 skeins of Malabrigo for hats for Ian for the winter


3. 2 bags of London-Wul's polwarth fiber for spinning - one bag will be for making yarn for this beret (Ravelry link).

I'm in Heaven!!!! What do YOU think? LOL