Join us!

Second Annual Independence Day (on the 5th) Party

Don't forget to come and celebrate Independence Day with us! We are having a pot luck and are providing the grilled hot dogs. There will be fireworks after dark so bring anything you want to share! This is a family event so make sure to bring everyone along! Sunday July 5th starting at 4:30 pm. Please RSVP by calling 270.772.1675 or emailing at enchantedyarnandfiber@gmail.com. Last year we all had so much fun, we can't wait to see what this year has in store!

Here's what's been happening!

Thanks to all who made our WWKIP Day event such a success! We had so much fun and even have t-shirts to prove it! We spent the afternoon at the mall in Bowling Green and it was perfect! We gave away door prizes and goody bags, if you weren't able to make it, you can't miss it next year :)





We are starting to get shipments in of our orders from TNNA and its so exciting! We just got a fun box today of Kraemer's sock yarn called Sterling. It's in 10 gorgeous colors with 3 of them being variegated. It has 63% superwash merino/20%silk/15% nylon/2% silver. Pure luxury! It is spun in Nazareth, PA so proudly made in the USA!

I've just started a shop account on Twitter, so click here, or on the link to the left to start following me! It will be like mini newsletter updates, so lots of fun and info!

Our Kumihimo class is this Saturday (the 27th) or next Thursday (the 2nd) at 10:00 am. If you haven't already reserved your space for it, you are going to want to! We still have a few spaces available so join us in the fun! This is a one session, beginning level class. No prior knowledge of knitting or crocheting required. You will leave with a braided, beaded bracelet! This is a really awesome technique which can be later be used with felting or as an embellishment on a knitted or crocheted project. $25, includes all supplies, instructor Angela Hammer.

Pictures of what has been happening around here

Just thought you might want to see a few pics of one of the Yarn Tastings, we forgot to take pictures for the Saturday event...LOL. We had a really busy day that day!!


Here is Rich with his new wheel:

Time flies!!

As I am writing this, we only have 5 more days until our one year anniversary. I can hardly believe it......
We have done so many things, learned so much and met some really awesome new friends.

Just wanted to let you all in on our new water features. We have one in the garden, just behind the shop to enjoy while you are on the deck and another to greet you from the parking lot.

Spring Yarn Tasting!!

You absolutely can't miss our upcoming spring yarn tasting! We have gotten in over 1300 new balls/skeins of yarn in the past two weeks, so if you haven't been in lately you won't recognize the place! We will be featuring some of the following yarns at the event:

Hemp
Linen
Organic Cotton
Silk
Bamboo and silk
Kapok and cotton
Hemp and cotton
Corn and cotton
100% corn fiber yarn
Cotton and viscose
Cotton stretch sock yarn
Sugar cane yarn
And more!!!

With all these new and beautiful yarns, you also won't want to miss out on the storewide* 15% discount that accompanies registration in our yarn tasting event. We will be offering finger foods and drinks so bring your needles and join us! Awesome door prizes and freebies are planned too! Spaces are filling up fast, and pre-registration is required, so call (270-772-1675) or email (enchantedyarnandfiber@gmail.com) us today!
Dates are- Thursday April 30th from 9:30-11:30 (We are almost full in this event)
or Saturday May 2nd from 5-7 pm (Plenty of spaces available)
Cost for the event is $20. This includes a sample pack with mini balls from each of the new yarns, and other goodies! We can't wait to share all the exciting new products with you :)

*Excludes spinning equipment/accessories/looms and class fees

Unpacking all the new yarn with a little help

Knitting.....new miracle drug? LOL

CBS news has done a story on knitting as a miraculous new health remedy!
If you missed it this morning, it really is worth a look!

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=4917058n

Latest class/event list

Here's what happening this month here at Enchanted!

As always, please mention if you are buying materials for a class and we will give you 10% off!

April 3rd 10:30 to 11:30- Anything on 2 circulars class, Free!

If you want to learn an alternative to working with double-pointed needles, now is the time! Some of our classes this month require knitting with 2 circs and this will get you there! We will be working on a sample tube using 2 circular needles. After this class, you will be able to knit anything on 2 circulars! 1 session class.

April 7th 10:30 to 11:30 or 10th 5:30 to 6:30- Navigating Ravelry I, $15

Learn the basics of navigating Ravelry. We will be working on seperate laptops and walk through logging on, searching for and adding friends to your profile, joining and posting on forums, searching and browsing for patterns effectively, finding yarn details and more! There will be a time for questions so bring your laptop and let's explore this awesome online resource! Requires a laptop or buddy with one to share, as well as an existing ravelry account. Class limited to 3 laptops so reserve your space in advance. 1 session class

April 14th 4:00 to 5:30- Cables 101, $20

We will be using a child's size hat to learn the basics of cabling. Requires knowledge of knitting in the round (preferably on 2 circulars), and decreasing. Homework is required before class, so please register in advance. $20 includes pattern, this is a 1 session class

April 21st, 28th, and May 5th from 4:00 to 5:30 Toe-up Socks, $15

Learn how to create your own custom fitted socks from the toe up. We will be learning the turkish cast on method, doing a short row heel, and learning the sewn cast off. Requires basic working knowledge of knitting and purling, knitting in the round on 2 circulars, and increasing. 3 session class includes pattern.

April 22nd, 29th, and May 6th from 1:00 to 2:30- Cuff Down Socks, $20

Always wanted to start a pair of socks but never have? We will be walking through a cuff down pattern for socks either on DPN's or 2 circs, whichever you have working knowledge of. Requires knowledge of knitting in the round, knitting/purling, and decreasing. 3 session class includes pattern.

April 23rd 11-12:30, 30th 12:30-2,and May 7th 11-12:30, Top Down Sweater

Anyone can be a sweater designer when you start from the top down! Learn to make and personalize a small sweater, learn to bind off the EZ way, learn to use 2 circs for sleeves, and pick up stitches. Must know basic knitting fundamentals, knitting in the front and back of a stitch, using stitch markers and decreasing. 3 session class, pattern included- Class size is limited to 8, so register early to guarantee a space!

Spring Yarn Tasting

Due to the overwhelming response to our fall yarn tasting, and to share all of our new yarns with you, we have scheduled our spring/summer yarn tasting event! Each participant will receive a sample of all our new yarns as well as some oldies-but-goodies to experience and take home. Finger foods will be served, and you will also receive 15% off any purchases made that day (excluding spinning wheels and sale items). Space is limited, so please register now! Cost is $20 per participant. April 30th from 9:30-11:30 am and May 2nd from 3:00-5:00 pm.

So, here we go again!!

Alright, we have inventory and taxes out of the way and now, we can go on with life!!
The trees outside are totally gorgeous and we are thinking about landscaping the new part of our building. There have already been a few days of lovely weather that allowed us to take advantage of our knitting deck again. I just love to knit outside, it is so wonderful.

So, spring is in the air. Lots of things coming up and budding out. New life.

We have lots of new things coming in here at the shop too! We have been asked to have a spring yarn tasting and so we will keep some of the new stuff off the blog until we have had a chance to put it in the hands of the yarn tasters. One thing I can't keep to myself though, is the new cotton sock yarn we got in called Summer cotton stretch by Online. It is so cool. Come in and see the sample socks we got with our shipment.

We are going to be doing a new thing on our blog. Finished Object Fridays. Every Friday (knock on wood! lol) we are going to be posting pictures of the really cool things you all have finished. Feel free to email us your pictures and we will be happy to put them up here. Here is a picture of Sharon with her first plied yarn and her new wheel! She is a natural. Congratulations Sharon!

Life is so fast, it seems like you get caught up in the little things and the big things just pass you by. I am going to start taking care of little things a little faster, so keep you posted....in the meantime, go out and look at the awesomeness of Spring!!

You're invited!

Please don’t forget that you are all invited to the shop on Sunday, February 1st for a celebration! We are going to have the foosball table set up, seating will be available around the fire for those who want to sit and knit/crochet and there will be food! Any purchases made that day will receive 10 % off as well. The festivities will begin at 3 so bring a snack and enjoy the day with us! This is a family event, so bring everyone! We will be providing drinks, so please RSVP so we can get an approximate headcount on how much to buy. Either call 270-772-1675 or email enchantedyarnandfiber@gmail.com. Thanks! Hope to see you then!

Turkish cast on tutorial

This is a great video to demonstrate the Turkish cast-on. It's my favorite cast on for any kind of closed knitting such as a pouch, fingers on a glove, or socks from the toe up. This is the method I teach in my toe-up sock class, so I thought it would be beneficial to show you here just how it's done. Or if you've taken the class and want a refresher, here you go!



There is also a great tutorial with pictures of every step here.

Pictures from the Traveling Shawl

Traveling Shawl update

I recently spent about an evening knitting 7 rows on a very special shawl. I consider it an honor to be chosen to knit on the “Traveling Shawl”. When Kay Meadors, of Little Rock, Arkansas wrote me an email and asked if I would be interested in sharing in this project, I was overjoyed.

Ashley and I had the pleasure of meeting Kay last year when she came to the shop. She is a published lace knitter and a really wonderful person.

The Traveling Shawl is making it's way across the United States, 7 rows at a time. One person from 50 states is knitting their part to help raise funds for the Susan G Komen Foundation. This started in October of 2008 and ends in October 2009 or when the shawl is finished. There have been really neat articles published in local papers along the way.

The shawl has a blog, where the knitters post the person they are honoring while they knit their rows and the feelings it may evoke. The blog posts can be very moving. It really makes you stop and think when you see how many people are affected by this horrible disease and how many peoples lives are touched and impacted.

When I got the package with the shawl, there was a big to-do around here. I had been talking about it for about a week, because I knew it was coming. The children just love mail time around here (kind of like Christmas every day, lol) and they brought the package to the shop. I opened it and took out the shawl and everybody around oohed and ahhhed.

When I had the time to knit on it the next day, the children all saw me doing it and taking great pains to make sure no one interrupted Marmee....(read that k1,2,3....just a minute, Marmee is busy, I will talk to you at the end of this row, LOL). Just in case you don't know, I have 6 of my 8 children living with me and sometimes we even have 2 or 3 trying to get my attention at the same time, hard to believe I know... ;) Anyway, when I devote that much concentration to something, the kids want to know why, so I began to explain what I was knitting on and why.

I immediately knew who I wanted to honor when Kay asked me to knit. I have a very dear friend, Patricia, that lost her sister to breast cancer, and I saw how she and her mother, Sue, handled that loss. I love them both so much and they faced it so bravely. I knew I wanted them to know that I had noticed and had not forgotten. The other person I wanted to recognize is a breast cancer survivor, Judy. This woman is the spunkiest, most courageous person I know. As many of you know, when you face the life altering circumstances of this horrible disease, you also have to face the fact that others lives around you are going to alter. Judy has demonstrated to me that you can take what life deals you and your immediate world with a smile on your face. These people are my heroes and I wanted to honor them.

The children wanted to honor them too, so they all wanted to knit one stitch on the shawl. Kay graciously gave us permission! Greg joined in too and knit one stitch. He hadn't knit since he was a kid, but he remembered how! Then came the request to give their savings to the foundation, as the shawl has a $5 suggested donation (which you can do through this link). If you are asked to enter a first and last name of the team you are supporting enter, Traveling (first name) and Shawl (last name). Every donation is entered in a raffle to win the completed shawl. I was so happy to watch them be as moved as I was by this shawl being a part of our lives for a couple of days.

My extended “Enchanted family” was also impacted. People came in asking to see it and some people just wanted to touch it. As people saw the shawl, the stories began to flow as to how their lives were impacted by breast cancer, either by someone they had lost or someone they knew who was a survivor. I will never forget the opportunity that was given to me to do this. I really appreciated being given the chance to use my love for fiber arts in a way that could help someone else and in turn help me so very greatly.

Thank you Kay Meadors and all the people on Ravelry that helped to organize this awesome project.

From Kentucky, the shawl travels to Ohio. The Traveling shaw has a Facebook group, a Ravelry group and a blog all it's own. Keep up with it and if funds allow, make a contribution to end this horrible disease!

I have pictures to upload, but Blogger is giving me fits...I will put the pics in the next post :)

Traveling Shawl arrives in KY!

In a day or two, an opportunity of a lifetime will happen to me! I get the chance to knit 8 rows on the "Traveling Shawl". I will represent the state of Kentucky in a sort of knit-along for the benefit of the Susan G. Komen foundation to raise breast cancer awareness. I am supposed to be receiving the shawl via mail tomorrow or the next day. I will have 2 days to complete my rows so be sure to ask to see it if you are out at the shop during the next week! This shawl will visit all 50 states and pass through the hands of 50 talented knitters that will be able to journal and blog about why they are knitting and who they are knitting for. This is taking place from October 2008 to October 2009. Donations will be accepted to the foundation through the shawl website, and for each $5 donation made you will be entered in a drawing to win the lace shawl. Click here to visit the donation page.

If you are asked to enter a first and last name of the team you are supporting,

enter Traveling (first name) and Shawl (last name).

50 Enchanted Gift Ideas Under $50

Ravelry buttons 1.00
Knitting, crochet and fiber pin-on buttons 1.25

Shepherdess solid perfume 2.98

Keychain Sock blocker kit 3.00

Zecca stitch markers 4.00 ea

Shawl sticks 5.00

Garlic Expressions dressing/marinade 5.25

Chain maille stitch markers, set of 5 5.25

Magnetic board 5.26

Yarn requirements (yarn yardage requirements for mittens, gloves, scarves, socks, hats, sweaters, and vests, at multiple sizes and gauges) great stocking stuffer!!! 5.95

Lavender fragrance stones 5.98

Purse handles 6.00-21.00

Shepherdess skin cream 6.98

Sock it to me shoe size to sock length conversion guide 6.98

Sweater stone 7.00

Spinning wheel oil 7.50

Shepherdess lotion 7.98

Zecca designer buttons 8.00

Bag-E-bottoms 8.00-9.00

Magnetic board stand 8.80
Magnetic board magnifier 8.80

Darning Egg 8.95

Yarn ball earrings 9.95

Sweater soap 12.00

Enchanted logo bag 12.50

Knitters Coasters 12.95

It itches by Franklin Habit 12.95

Oh snap! bags by Namaste 14.49
Buddy cases by Namaste 14.49

Spinners control card 15.00

Hand painted Roving by Monet's Rovings 17.00-19.00

Socklady mismatched socks 17.00 for cotton and 21.50 for wool

Zecca scissor fobs 18.00

Harmony guides 101 stitches to knit 19.95

Electronic row counter 19.99

Gettin' Knit together kits 19.99

Fused glass shawl pins 19.99
Square knitting needles 19.99

Recycled knitting needle necklace by Sassafras Creations 21.00-45.00

Lornas wool felting kits 22.99

Recycled knitting needle bracelets by Sassafras Creations 25.00

Circular solutions double-pointed needle hanger 25.50

Cashmere yarn 27.00

Blocking wires 37.00

Wool winder, or yarn ball winder 44.95

Namaste Clutch 44.99

Yarn meter 49.99

Metal umbrella swift 49.95

Katie a-go-go 49.99

Gift ideas

We are highlighting some awesome gift ideas here at Enchanted from now until Christmas. These are all items that would make wonderful additions to your Christmas list, and they are all under $30!

Gorgeous needle gauge pendants ($16)

Solmate mismatched socks come in cotton or wool, we carry baby sizes all the way up to adult. These are a personal favorite around here! ($17 cotton, $22 wool)

Unique and beautiful knitting needle jewelry
by Australian artist Liana Kabel. ($28.95)

Knit Lights are too cool! Just the perfect thing for those dimly lit rooms,
or when you need to get just a few more stitches in before bed :) ($10)

Adorable knitted felting kits from Crafty Alien.
These kits are all inclusive, and very simple! ($12)

These are on sale until Christmas 40% off! ($26.00)

This Hand Dye Kit has been designed using Louet's Gems Merino Superwash wool yarn (enough for a beautiful hand-dyed pair of socks) and 3 - 10gm containers of acid dyes by Gaywool. This is a simple, safe, in your kitchen method of creating your own unique hand dyed yarn. The kit includes three 50gr skeins of fingering weight merino, three 10gr cans of dye, 1 squeeze bottle and a sample bottle of Meadows Wool Wash soap.

What we've been up to

Well, here's a small update. Uncle Paul has now departed and we are left doing some minor finishing work. Of course, without him it's not getting done nearly as fast as we would like :) Oh, well! This week we got our sign put up outside the entrance to the shop.

The fairy door actually was put in before Uncle Paul left,
but we just never got around to taking a pic before now.

As you can see through the door, our holiday decorations are up and we are in full swing for the season! I am starting some Christmas projects myself, already feeling behind of course! :) Hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Latest news

We have all but finished our main room in the addition. While we do have some touch up and finishing work to do on the classroom, we are definitely open for business now and have our fireplace put in and everything! :) Here are a few pics! Our trunk show is underway and we are still getting submissions. Come bring your items by so we can display them!

Look how close we are!!

Please forgive our long absence here at the blog. We have been working our fingers to the bone every day and falling into bed every night. We would never have been able to do all this without the unfailing devotion and assistance from some very awesome people. Sending a shout out to Peggy, Gayla, Steve, Mary, Judy, Brady, William and Cheryl. You guys have been such a help, we are so lucky to have you all in our lives!

So, here's an update in pictures. We almost have everything done by now except the ceiling fans put in the new section. Now to touch up the old section, finish out the classroom/dyeing studio and we're done! It's really starting to take shape, and it's amazing how much more room we have. We walk into the old section and wonder how we ever fit all of that in there! Thanks again to everyone for your patience and understanding with us on this whole thing. It's been so much work, but I think it is going to be worth it. We can't wait for you to see the new Enchanted!

Gayla's brother Steve (our hero) sanding the floor,
while we assist in the difficult part of the job...;)

The floor after 2 coats of paint

And I just thought this would make a pretty picture, lol.

Things are in a bit of disarray

Putting together miles upon miles of shelving...whew!

Transferring yarn from the old section to the new

Look at all that yarn!

Our first new customer, William's dog Zeke :)

Uncle Paul, hard at work


Things are starting to look a bit cleaner

Resting after a very long day. This was at 10:30 last night!

Apologies

Things are moving right along here! We have gotten all the painting done today except for the flooring. We just want to make sure that it's clear that although we are technically open, we need to ask for patience and understanding from our customers who wish to stop by. We are more than happy to help you locate anything you are looking for, and hope to have the shelves up and in place for the yarn by Thursday. Unfortunately, we disappointed some people today by not having this clearly stated sooner so we want to make sure that everyone understands for the rest of this week at least. Things are in a bit of disarray right now and we are working as fast as we can to get everything in place. Thanks so much for understanding! Please accept our apologies Ashley and her mother...we hope you will be able to make it out again sometime soon.

New Pics

Just a few shots to show our progress.

Visible progress and halloween pumpkins

Aubrey and her very kind and patient friend, William, helped the kids carve their very first jack o'lanterns ever!





Aren't they so awesome? I have never seen any as good as these.
Thank you a thousand times you two! The kids were so proud of themselves and so were we!






We are now officially wide open to the new space. I am so excited. Can you believe it?

We thought we could do it, we really did......but....

We thought we would be able to stay open and do our construction work at the same time.....but....well, here is a glimpse inside of the shop today.....

After we stepped back and looked at what we had to do, we took a vote and it was unanimous. We are going to concentrate our efforts on getting this shop open for you by next Tuesday and that will give us all week to attend to everything else.
Please forgive our overextending ourselves.
We will see you at 11:00 on November 4th, when we re-open and start our really cool trunk show. This gives you another week to finish all those awesome projects!!

The perfect touch for a day like today!!

Here is a picture of our new fireplace and mantel. It is a rainy, dark day and the thought of being able to cuddle up close to that soon, is so cool!

More updates

Namaste goodness!

We are so excited about the newest goodies from Namaste! If you haven't heard about this yet, listen up! They have a new purse that will be available in November called the Zuma. Here are some pics of that. Along with interior pockets, there is an expanding section on the front that opens to store all the important items that need to be easily accessible. This comes in 7 different colors and our order is in for several of them. If you would like to get one in a specific color, just call and we will make sure it's on our order :) The cost for this bag is $64.95. Click here for more information as well as the color choices that are available.

Now, on to more fun stuff!

BUDDY cases are the essential accessory for your little stuff- bring your BUDDY along to tote your personal, crafting, or travel notions so you'll never be without. The BUDDY case features hidden magnetized interior walls to keep your metal items in place, a removable interior divider, and is made of the lush animal-friendly faux leather that you've come to expect. Contrast stitching, solid construction, and snap button closure- everybody needs a BUDDY!
These will be available at Enchanted the first week of December and would make an awesome Christmas gift for that special person in your life!
The cases are $14.95


A divinely simple way to keep your stuff in its right place- the Oh Snap! pouches come in a set of 3 to bring the Zen back to your life (and your handbag). Whether you're a tidy two-shoes or a messy marvin, Oh Snap! keeps it all together for you. Customized Namaste snaps, carefully crafted mesh pouches, it's effortless organization. These pouches will be at Enchanted in mid November and are $14.95.

I wanted just the right feeling.................

And I found it when we found these doors!!

I wanted an entrance that would be as enchanting as the shop itself. I love these.




The windows are going to be all along that front side, up above all the shelves.

Now we are coming to the part where it seems to crawl along...the electrical and ductwork, etc..

I am ready to put in all the little fun things......I will try to keep you all updated. Let me know what you think about our new doors!

Here's what's new

Well, everything is closed in now and it's on to the roof! It's really starting to take shape now, and the building looks so huge! Thanks so everyone for all your patience with our mess around here. Right now you have to enter through the back door, but soon we will have our new, gloriously beautiful front doors to show you! We can't wait!!

The little boys just hating to have to help out with the roofing...;)

As you can see from the sign, we're still open! :)

Pictures!!

Well, here are a few pics of what's been happening around here! My mom and I are just about to go out and help with some trusses, wish us luck!! Eek!

Wall number one

More construction updates! We have the flooring in and today the first wall has been put into place. In case you were wondering about the work crew...we're it! Our shop has a lot of love put into those walls :) So, here's a blow-by-blow recount of today's work:

The wall is constructed and waiting to be lifted

Bisou is the overseer of construction operations

Lifting the wall...very professionally, I might add ;)
This was a bit scary though! We were all picturing that work truck with
splinters of what used to be the wall all over it, lol!

Look at how beautiful that wall is!

We wanted to leave you with a Thornton child-quote.
Levi, came in to make himself and Zach lunch today. Levi, totally serious says,
"I'll make you a sandwich, Zach. Oh, and this time I won't drop it on the floor."
LOL!

Crocheting and expansion update

Well, our tunisian crochet class was a blast! Everyone brought their yarn choices and all brainstormed with my mom to choose that perfect afghan. It looks messy, I know...but there is a method to the madness here at Enchanted. We are having another class at the end of this month on a weekend for those who were unable to attend this one. Don't you wish you would've been here yesterday? Just look at all that fun :)






Our expansion is moving right along...the flooring is going in today. I think the walls are due next. Things are really starting to take shape and it's so exciting! Of course, our front door is nonexistent right now, but we have the back entrance open. If you stop by, please ignore the heavy machinery, lumber, and other miscellaneous equipment :) We're still knitting, spinning, and weaving here inside the building.







Well, that's all the news that is news so far. We will keep you posted!

Here we GROW again!!

Wow, it seems like yesterday when we were putting up construction pictures, but believe it or not, we are going to do it again!!
We are planning to make room for a classroom/dyeing studio, a place for the spinning guild library and future equipment, pattern perusal corner, floor space for all the spinning wheels (so you can just pull up a stool and start spinning on any one you choose) and a cozy visiting area with a fireplace, oh and there is always our growing selection of yarn, patterns and accessories!

I can't resist posting a picture of my new tunisian crochet afghan. We are having a class for this October 2nd at 1:00. There are still a few openings, call the shop if you are interested. You do not have to have any prior knowledge of crochet to do this class and the 45.00 fee includes the hook and pattern also!!

Hello again old friends

Well, it's been entirely too long since I have let you all into my little world. We have been so busy being new shop owners and, I am sorry to say, blogging has fallen by the wayside. Well, here I am again! :)

Lately I have been in a finishing mood. I finished up my Winter Branches sweater (Rav link here) and it only lacks blocking and "official" Ravelry pictures. I did my final tier row on the entrelac scarf I started...my first entrelac, and I loved it too! You see, I have a new project in mind, and I told myself that I wouldn't start it until I finished up my WIP's. We just stumbled upon the awesome Chic Knits patterns and have stocked almost all of them in the shop. I am in love with the Cassidy!
I have been dying to start it since I saw it a couple of weeks ago and I am finally almost there. Now I have to decide what yarn to use! I only have the thumb remaining on my second mitten of my latest mitten project. I'm so close, I can almost taste that thrill of starting something new. There's nothing like it!

On the personal side of things, I have decided to get a drastic hair cut. I feel that I am due for a change, and this will be it! For those of you who haven't seen me on Ravelry or Facebook, right now I have several blue streaks in my hair. I love it and have enjoyed the thrill of individuality it has given me. Perhaps that is what has inspired me to move on to this new hairstyle...who knows? I will keep you all posted on that development :)

Lately I have been on Facebook entirely too much. I got hooked on it and they connectedness it allows. My group of Facebook friends are so awesome and I love being able to see what everyone is up to at a glance. Although, I imagine some of my non-knitting friends didn't understand the imperative nature of a mitten thumb when I put that as my status, lol. Oh, well...

After stretching my ear lobes to a 10 gauge, I have been obsessed with all the gorgeous jewelry that is available to me! I admit, bought more earrings lately than I have in a long time. These are some glass "squids" that I just got from the GlassHeartStudio etsy shop. Aren't they too cool?!


The weather is slowly hinting and teasing of the seasonal change. I can't wait for the cooler weather! It brings about all these different emotions and feelings...how do I describe it? You all have to know what I mean though- all of a sudden, on a cool evening, you are craving apple cider next to a bonfire. Or a hayride with all your best friends at a harvest party. What is this transition that comes over us? I have just lately had an elderly-sister-instinct to ensure that all my siblings have warm, handknitted socks. I know that this weather is to blame :) Here are some sibling-toes all toasty warm and ready for fall.


Well, I rambled a lot and I am sorry... but I have missed you all too much! Thank you for waiting for me, and for welcoming me so warmly back into your hearts. Happy knitting and fall!

Yarn Tasting and Fall Approaching!

The past few days have had a cooler tinge to the breeze and, with school in session, fall is coming into view. We have some of our new fall yarns in already with more on the way. We are so excited to unveil them at our yarn tasting that is coming up on the 23rd at 6:30 and the 24th at 3:00! We won't just be revealing new yarn, however...we have new pattern books, new individual patterns, as well as other goodies. Because this is by reservation only, we will also be sending participants home with sample items that you won't want to miss! This is a great time to think about your holiday knitting projects because participants also get an exclusive 15% discount on any item in the store (excluding spinning wheels). The cost for the event is $20 and we will be providing refreshments as well as sample balls of all the new yarn and some luxury yarns that you may have never had the opportunity to try before. We are expecting to have a great time, so call (270-772-1765) or email (enchantedyarnandfiber@gmail.com) with your reservation for either date. We look forward to seeing you there!

Happy Birthday to ..........

We had our very first ever BIRTHDAY BASH at Enchanted! It was a blast and I really hated to see it end. The party was fun and the company was excellent. Thank you Nancy, for letting us share your fun!! (Nancy is a party all by herself, she doesn't need a birthday to do that)

If you want to have your birthday or get together here, we would love to share it with you! Just let us know.



We have so many new things going on around here!! Our new baskets have arrived from Kenya. We are so excited. These are just as beautiful as the last ones. Here are 3 of the new ones.






We have also added something totally unexpected (but you probably expected that from us, by now, didn't you? LOL)

Check this out! Garlic Expressions salad dressing/marinade. This stuff is to die for, for sure!! We love this stuff, and we are totally sure you will too.

Use it on pasta salad, as a bread dip, or to marinate meat. One bottle won't be enough! Trust me on this...lol



We just received these darling little knitting cards, the proceeds from these cards go to fund and improve the living conditions of deaf women in China.



Come in and find out more...they are so cute and witty, and what a great cause.









The new needle gauge necklace charms are here and we got them in 5 different colors.

They are really sweet and surprisingly light weight.

We have lots of new stuff coming on the horizon. You may have gotten our newsletter, which was sent out on Thursday. If not, send us an email and we will get you one.

First annual fourth-on-the-fifth

We had our first annual Independence Day celebration here at Enchanted. I wish I could find one word that could describe to you how much fun it was! It would take a whole series of words like amazing, hilarious, colorful, crafty, creative, delicious, capricious, agitating (and you know who this one describes!), dazzling, etc. etc.

We are so glad that we have a ton of reasons to get together now, because this was so fun...we want to do it over and over!

We had kool-aid dyeing, awesome food and conversation, then fireworks to end the evening.
Take a look for yourself and see what a blast it really was!

What's new here at Enchanted

Well, it's been a while since our last update and I am so sorry! This one's for you Diane...;)

We have been having classes and getting to know so many awesome people, it's a blast! We have been rearranging our shop, trying to find the best place for everything,
getting settled in to our shop owner-ness. For those of you who may not already know, we made the front page of our local paper! Check it out!
We are so thrilled that people nearby know we are here now.
Thanks for all your support!


Here's what's new!

Gorgeous chain-maille stitch markers...
I am trying to invent a reason to use these I love them that much! LOL

Kits from Crafty Alien, isn't this so adorable?!

Awesome, awesome woven bags made by Tibetan refugee women in Nepal

Pencil Roving to spin

Recycled sari silk yarn in gorgeous, vibrant colors.

I will try to stay more on top of the blog (Diane, lol) and keep you
all more informed of what's going on. Happy stitching!

Baskets!!!!

So many of you have asked about our new baskets, and frankly, I am overjoyed. These baskets are handwoven from sisal by women in the Kasigau region of Kenya. All of the profits they receive go to purchase school supplies and tuition for orphans and poor children. I love this whole thought and am so grateful to Margaret Bowker for helping us become informed and bringing out the baskets. Like Ashley said previously, these baskets we have now are only on consignment, but we should be able to make our own contribution this summer and get baskets just for Enchanted. How awesome is that???!!!
I want to give all of you that are not close enough to come for coffee, the opportunity to purchase one of these baskets! Here is a picture of all of the ones we have for sale:



The big basket on the left is 50.00, it measures approximately 13" tall and from handle to handle across is 16" and can be stuffed to be bigger. The one next to it with a green stripe is 8" tall and 11" in diameter and is 35.00 and is from the Rukanga village. The one that has 2 blue striped bands is 10" and 10.5" in diameter and is 40.00 from Rukanga village. The one with one blue striped band around the middle with blue and tan handles is 8.5" tall by 11" diameter is 35.00 and is from Rukanga village. The next is the yellow striped basket 7.5" tall and 8.5" in diameter is 25.00 and has the name of the woman who wove it on the basket, Caroline Challa, from the Kiteghe village. The one with the purple band is 7" by 9" in diameter, it is from the Rukanga village is 15.00. The one with the blue stripes and no handles is 15.00 and 7" by 7" and so is the basket with the picture hanging from it with the yellow and blue stripes and handles.
I tried to get a close up of the picture Margaret gave me of the women weaving the baskets, here it is

If you are interested in any of these, we can post them on our etsy store and you would only pay actual shipping and listing cost on top of the price of the baskets. All of the money from these particular baskets are going right back to these women.
Just drop us a line at rolynn@enchantedyarnandfiber.com

Life is just a bowl of cherries

Well, we are getting in the swing of things here at Enchanted. I am busy knitting up shop samples (it always feels like we're behind on that! LOL), getting class schedules together, ordering new things, etc. Our first order from Schoolhouse Press arrived today. We did a little EZ celebration dance :) Isn't is beautiful? A box full of EZ's books *sigh*...


We also had the awesome opportunity to meet a woman today who buys and resells these beautiful baskets from a few villages in Kenya. She goes over there in the summer, buys the baskets, re-sells them here in the US for a profit, then takes the money back to the people when she visits again the next year. We are honored to be able to contribute to this wonderful idea! This summer she will be getting some baskets on our behalf, but until then we are offering these baskets for sale on her behalf here at Enchanted. Aren't they so incredible?! We are in love! :)


We have continued working on our knitting garden out back. We have spread mulch and it's coming along nicely! What do you think?



Unbeknownst to us we have a cherry tree out there as well. It blooms beautifully in the spring and now we have gorgeous red cherries all over! They are pitted, of course, so we might just be using them for little kid snacks and gourmet bird food, lol. The kids have gathered a bucket full and Marmee has promised them refrigerator jelly if they pit them all...this could take awhile, LOL! Here's the view from our deck out back.


I am going to try to update the blog more regularly now that things are kind of getting more normal around here...I am also working on a spinning project. Cabled yarn! I have never done this, and I am so excited to see how it turns out! I will keep you posted on this :) It will be my first handspun to add to my Ravelry stash...yay!! Stay tuned ***

We're open!

Well, the sign is up and our doors are officially open! We've had so many comments on our beautiful logo, and we love it too! (Many thanks go out to OrangeInk from etsy for designing it!)


We had our preview party on Saturday with some of our close knitting friends and yesterday was our first "real" day to be open. Here's our awesome parking lot ala-Dad on tractor :)

There's me looking official behind the counter
(probably studying up on the cash register manual! LOL)

These are just various angles of the shop.
We have the beautiful Namaste knitting bags and we are in love with them!
Here's a link to some more pics of our opening party. Check it out!

It is coming together!!

Lots and lots of stuff happening this week. If you are a vendor and I haven't gotten back with you, please, please forgive me. If you have written me about the Mach 1 and I haven't gotten back with you, please forgive me and come on Tuesday, the 13th and spin on one to see for yourself! Ashley and I have been holding a staple gun and paint brush for the last 3 days straight and now it is paying off!

We have our "knitting lounge" set up, equipped with chairs, couch, end tables and lamps. Today we are going to start moving in part of our inventory. This is so hard for us to believe. It seems like this has all been a big dream up until this part. Now, it is becoming real.

We have decided not to post pictures until after Saturday. We are having a preview party for the people who have helped make this store a reality. So, to keep it a surprise for them, we are keeping our finished project a secret and not posting any pictures.

I can tell you that the back deck is absolutely divine. Last week when we were walking back into the house from the shop, we saw 4 deer in the side of our property and a turkey flew over our heads at almost the same time! We have wrens nesting (even in our owl house!) and they are working with such exuberance, you might think they were opening their own yarn store. LOL
I love the deck and am so glad we are able to open it up for everyone to enjoy.

Ashley has not gotten a chance to finish dying all the yarn she has ordered, so I see that in the next week. We are going to become good friends with our cash register and credit card swiper-thing, ha!

We have an awesome first day planned and have more to announce about that later.

Stay tuned, things are happening fast over here!

More updates on the yarn shop!

We are knees and elbows deep in construction and yarn here in Southern KY!
Here's an update in pictures. Enjoy!

Prepping the floor for painting and sealing

The floor after it's been finished

Trim going up! We stained the trim rather than painting it
to create more of an organic/earthy feel.
(oh and that newly painted floor is under all that sawdust...somewhere! LOL)

A trail of enchanted stars lovingly painted by Marmee :)

The stars in more detail. Awesome, aren't they?!

Getting our parking lot gravel...

Parking lot completed and tested! It passed! ;)

Our house is overflowing with yarn and spinning wheels now. We are so ready to have that building finished and transfer all the shop stuff to it's new home. We have been landscaping and will have pictures of that completed very soon. We are creating a wildlife friendly knitting sanctuary around the deck out back. It's so gorgeous! Can't wait to show you all! Thanks for all your patience with our blogging...we have been collapsing every night, we're almost there!

Painting!!

We have been so busy. Please forgive the lack of updates. Here's what we've been up to!

Painting..

Painting...

And more painting!

It gets really messy trying to paint the ceiling as you can see below, lol...

Some of us wish we could be doing something else...looking longingly out the door :)

We are getting closer here. We have one more coat to go on the walls, then it's on to the floor! After that, things will be so much easier. Meanwhile, in the house with all the fun stuff (yarn) we have been compiling orders, knitting samples up as fast as possible, and falling into bed each night, lol! I am almost done with Maylie and have already started a display sock that I will Ravelry about soon.

We have had the wonderful opportunity to have some folks come out to visit and shop even though we just have it set up in the dining room. Fiber arts people are so great! We've been so honored to get to know more of you and we can't wait to be open now!

We have found another really awesome source for yarn and that is Frog Tree Yarns. They're mission statement says it all, they are non profit and they work to benefit so many people. We are so thrilled to be able to order from them. Their yarn is to die for! And Tricia, one of the owners, has this way of making it seem like you are her very favorite customer...all the time! I just love that! So, even though we haven't been very chatty lately, we have been being productive, we promise! We are beginning to see things come together and it's getting very real. It's so exciting!

I think I have mentioned it, but we have built a deck out back and we've started calling it the knitting sanctuary. We have 5 acres of forest behind the shop and it's so peaceful back there! We have added this gazebo, and I think I know where we will be spending most of our time this summer!

I can see many happy hours of knitting here. There is mosquito netting around the entire gazebo for those summer evenings. We are planning on doing some landscaping back here as well as adding a bench and some bird feeders. Doesn't that sound delightful?!

Open-ish :)

OK y'all...here we go! We've been "playing store" and have all of our inventory priced. You are all welcome to come out and see anything that we have so far. Bear in mind that you will have to walk around our dining room table to get to the shelves and things aren't displayed prettily, but if you are willing to overlook that we would love to have you come on out! Although we don't have any of our spinning wheels yet here's what we do have:

Drop spindles
Hand dyed spinning fibers
Blended spinning fibers (merino, merino/silk blend, Lincoln)...we are adding more every day
Yarn (JoJoLand, Peace Fleece, SWTC with more on the way)
Knitting accessories and notions
Knitting jewelry
Patterns for crochet and knitting
Knitting needles
Books

If anything there interests you, come on out! We can sit around the dining room table and we can share a cup of coffee while you browse :) Just call or email to make an appointment (just to make sure we will be here) and we can make sure you have directions on how to get here. Our contact information is:

Phone # 270-772-1675
Email- enchantedyarnandfiber@gmail.com

Can't wait to get to know all of you!

JoJoLand!!!

We got another yarn shipment today, this time from JoJoLand. It's gorgeous yarn and we are both in love with it!! It's a bit noro-like in it's variegation. There are some really good examples on Ravelry here and here. Isn't it awesome?! We have been filling those shelves in the dining room slowly but surely. We spent all day today splitting fiber into 4 ounce amounts, pricing yarn, putting tags on skeins, etc. It's been a full day! Here are the fruits of our labors-


Our dogs were there right along with us, helping every step of the way. We brought in their dog beds because they are both bed-lovers. After a few minutes of working, we looked down and had a laugh at this-

Of course, the grass is always greener, right? LOL

Kelsey and I have been working with drop spindles and she loves it!
She has her first handspun, plied skein and loves it so much.
Here is her first completed work. Isn't it awesome?!

Yet more temptation

There have been goings-on here at our house! We have been visited by the Fed-Ex and UPS fairies :) We got our order from Interweave Press, and SWTC with such beautifully tempting books and yarn! We love books at our house anyway, and to see so many shiny, brand new ones all at once is a rare treasure! We are finding ourselves inspired over and over again no matter where we go in our house! So many projects just waiting to be born out of all this, I can't wait to see what happens! We still have an awe and reverence for the room with all the yarn in it...it's like a cathedral, lol.

We are still working on the shop, albeit not as speedily as when Uncle Paul was here :) We are planning on spraying texture onto the walls this weekend, so keep your fingers crossed and hope with us that this is the last time you will see all this wood! The seams have all been taped and mudded (that is a word, right?) and now it's just waiting for the weekend and lots of elbow grease. We know we have that with so many elbows around here! ;)




I am almost done with my Maylie pattern. It's so fun to work with new yarn and all new patterns! Of course, I am knitting the smallest size since it's a display (and doesn't have to fit anyone in particular) and it's moving along very quickly. I love this little sweater! Those diamonds will have embroidered flowers in them and there will be matching ones on the sleeves. I am knitting it in the round, and you can see more details at my ravelry project page here.

Okay, we touched....

As some of you darling, kindly souls have pointed out, it is our duty to touch this really cool yarn! So, strictly in the name of samples and research (she says with a grin...and a snicker) we gave in. That didn't take long, did it? I think it was about 2 hours that we waited... Ashley is making the most darling sweater from a pattern we just received. You can see all the details here. We had to wait until we had a few of our patterns and at least one of our yarns. Just so happens, they both came almost the same day! There is a God and He believes in yarn!! LOL
We found the most glowing review about the first yarn we chose to purchase, Peace Fleece. Check it out here!
We thought you all might want to see some of the decisions we have made based on your feedback from the contest.

Hours: We have decided to be open Tuesday -Friday 11-7 and Saturday 9-3. So many people mentioned that they wanted to go shop for yarn after work that we decided on those evening hours.

Atmosphere: We are going to have a coffee/tea bar set up as well as a sitting/lounging area, a table with padded chairs for perusing patterns as well as classes. Our lounge area will be open to spinners, knitters, and crocheters as long as the shop is open. We want to start a spinning and knitting guild for Tuesday mornings before we open and Wednesday evenings after we close for about 2 hours. We want this to be the kind of place where everyone is welcome to share their knowledge. We don't feel that we are experts and think that one of the joys of life is continually learning new things! Although we don't claim to know it all, we will always be here to help you either by sharing what we do know, or finding the answer to your questions to the best of our ability. We totally believe in keeping the crafts of knitting/spinning/crocheting alive. We want to foster an environment where creativity is always fun and intriguing. We will have an outside deck area for those who enjoy nature or need to get outside for a smoke. We took to heart what so many of you said about pushy and snooty sales people and we've made each other swear never to let this happen! :)

We were very disappointed to learn that we could not be a distributor for Lendrum wheels just yet. We are on a waiting list, but apparently he is so backed up with work that he isn't accepting any more accounts just now. It has, however, led us to look at other options. The wheels we are going to carry are:
Schacht- We will have a Matchless double treadle right away, but we are on the list for a ladybug and won't have one until June.
Majacraft
We are in the middle of creating a dealership account with Kromski
We have also just ordered a brand new wheel called the Mach 1. It looks like an awesome option, if you look at their website you can see a video of this wheel in action. While you are over there, be sure to see their reseller page...we are official now! ;)
We will eventually have some Louet wheels as well.
As soon as we get the Mach 1 (which should be in the next 2 weeks), we've told Kris Pauly that we would be open by appointment for anyone who wants to come and spin on it until the shop opens. Which means that you would be forced to pull up a kitchen chair and sit and spin, but we could probably come up with a cup of coffee for you while you're doing it :)

We have had to write a very short description of our shop and wanted to open it up for feedback. Does this seem to describe what we are all about (based on what we've written above)?

Enchanted Yarn & Fiber focuses on supporting independent artisans by offering unique knitting and crocheting yarn, and handcrafted supplies and accessories. We also supply spinning wheels, supplies and fibers. Classes are available, as well as weekly knitting and spinning groups. Come see us at Enchanted Yarn & Fiber, where we make magic one skein at a time!


Here are a few of the items that we are going to be carrying. Just a taste to whet your appetite!

Knitting patterns by Marie Grace Designs

Clay scissor tip protectors.

Mismatched socks in cotton and wool

Crochet patterns from Gourmet Crochet

Jewelry from recycled knitting needles


The countdown to our opening has begun! We think it will be the 13th of May, but if we get everything together before then (ha) it will be moved up. For everyone who is planning on coming for a visit once we're open, our address is 399 C Dodson Ln in Russellville, Ky.
See a map of where we are here.

Look but don't touch...for now!

Guess what we got today!! Here is our first "official" yarn order...we are so excited!
We had an empty shelf ready and waiting just for storing all these beautiful skeins (until our shop is ready). Here's what we have to look at, but not use...it's too tempting!

What we've been up to...and winners

Yesterday was an "enchanted" day all the way around. Our contest ended and we got our winners. AND>>>>>>the movie "Enchanted" came out! We all love that movie here and I am sure we will all know all the words of the songs in no time...lol.
So, without further ado, the winners are....

Grand Prize-Studio Knits
Second Prize-Knittingpanda
Third Prize-K8
Congratulations to all. And many, many thanks and a big cyberhug to all that participated in our little survey. It was so awesome to have such a great response.

Now, on to normal....well, on to our life.
This is basically how we spend our days. In a cyberhole somewhere in ordering land.....




This is a small glimpse into dyeing days...I am attempting to work on the table there Jennifer and Diane...this is not the finished product...lol, and you may never see the finished product. As a matter of fact. the product may finish me off before this is over!
We shall see. Anyway, Ashley was doing her first custom dye order there for Peggy. She enticed me into my very first knitalong....I know, I know, I am a few sandwiches short of a picnic here. What am I thinking?????Do I have time to do this, I ask myself. Time is relative really, right?

Shop construction update

Uncle Paul has made his way back to Arkansas after helping us get this far. We have the walls up, the bay window in and now we are going to focus on finishing things up.
Here's where we will have our knitting lounge. Don't Marmee and Bisou look so comfy? :)

This is a better view of the knitting lounge area on the right
and where will have a table for classes, pattern perusal, etc. on the left.

We will have a deck with an awning out here for smokers
or if you just want a breath of fresh air

This will be our main entrance, don't Bisou and I look like a prospective yarn shoppers?

This will be the side entrance, but we will only be using it for receiving
all those HUGE boxes of yarn and fiber, lol.

The bathroom...need I say more?

We will have a counter here and a dog bed back behind
for the little Bisou and Bailey mascots.

I will be posting 3 more skeins of alpaca lace weight on my Etsy shop tomorrow,
I was going to do it today but I wasn't satisfied with the photos I took :)

We need your help...again! :)

Due to the overwhelmingly awesome response that we have gotten from our contest, we have observed that all of you are just as excited about unique knitting/spinning items as we are! Because of this, we thought we would come back and ask for your help again (this may not be the last time, lol). If you know of an independent pattern designer, someone who makes handmade buttons, drop spindles, baskets, anything fiber related...we would like to give every small business, no matter how small, an opportunity to sell their product in a storefront. The time to order is almost upon us now that our store is coming together physically. We have contacted the big fiber vendors already, but in doing that we have realized how much the small business person gets lost in the shuffle. So, before we order from the big companies, we would love to give all you indie suppliers out there the first chance. Bear in mind, however, that we are on a budget for our first orders and probably for awhile until we get ourselves established, so we really need competetive wholesale pricing. Here are the things that we are looking for, so if you know of someone or if you can fill this need yourself, please leave us a comment!

Unique buttons
Knitting patterns of all kinds
Crochet patterns of all kinds
Unique purse handles
Sock blockers
Spinning/felting fiber
Knitting/crochet jewelry
Knitting bags
Buttons (badges)
Coffees & Teas
Pottery
Baskets
Anything else that you can think of that I haven't listed here :)

Thank you in advance for your help on this. If you know of anyone who specializes in these areas, please send them our way!

Dancing through life

Time wasn't wasted for the little kids while we were working out in the shop yesterday. Everyone had waltzing lessons and Kelsey and Mallory haven't stopped dancing since.
They love the fact that waltzing is the dance of princesses!
Here they are in the midst of their dance this morning.

This is just them acting silly for the camera, but it was too cute to leave out :)

I am moving right along on my Fletcher sweater from the book Simply Noro. I am on to the sleeves now and am working them both at the same time on 2 circular needles.
I have found that just as you can get second sock syndrome, you can get second sleeve syndrome! Problem solved! Bisou is posing for the picture, as usual :)

We have been working on the ceiling and walls in the shop today, here's what we had done last night. I will go out and take more pics for another update tomorrow or Monday.


We finally got our first "real" snow since we've moved to Kentucky! The morning before the snow was expected, I had to go grocery shopping. As I pulled up to the checkout with my cart full (and this time it was only 1 cart! I have left Wal-Mart with 2 or even 3 before), and I usually buy institutional sizes of everything that I can get away with. As the cashier is scanning the third large can of green beans, she jokingly says to me "This reminds me of one of those reality shows. You know the kind where 'those people' have to buy food for all those kids?"
I turned and said "Well, I have eight kids, and this is my reality!"
LOL I thought this was so funny, I had to share it with you :)

We have been getting so many great comments for our contest. Thank you all!!

Box of scrumptious goodies!

My order of yarn to dye has arrived and I have set to work!

Here are the tempting treasures that were within.
I have begun putting all of it into skeins and have gotten the new lace weight all dyed so far. It's so awesome! I think I will definitely have to get more lace weight yarn very soon. It dyes up so beautifully and the alpaca is so soft! I have updated my etsy shop with these-

I have 2 more skeins that are drying right now and will be up there soon. I've not done much lace knitting and none at all with lace weight, but these are tempting me into it! LOL

Building and Bisou

We are taking a break from our construction adventures to post this update! We have been busy for the past few days, and I mean physical labor! This is not my cup of tea! LOL It will all be worth it when we are cozying up in the knitters lounge, knitting and surfing ravelry or our favorite blogs in the yarn shop. Doesn't that sound like a blast?! Come on over and join us! :) So, back to the building...here are some great shots of us working our little fingers to the bone. Oh, and see if you can find Bisou again...it was so fun in our last update post that we just had to do it again! I tried to make it challenging in a couple of these!

First we have Marmee and Uncle Paul working on insulating the ceiling
(I was helping...I swear! ;)

Here is (what will be) the bathroom.

The new bay window.

A view from the outside.

Wow, that doesn't really make it look like we have gotten a lot done, but we have! As I am writing this Uncle and Dad are out there putting up the ceiling...it's so exciting to see it all come together! I got all my new yarn and fibers to dye and it's so thrilling! I am going to post about that tomorrow, but suffice it to say that I will be putting some tantalizingly succulent treasures up on etsy. Hooray! :

We want to send a HUGE thank you out to all of you who have entered our contest so far. We are so honored to have your input and opinions. It means so much to us! And we especially want to thank Kitten With A Whiplash who started his blog just to enter the drawing! Head on over there and say hi to him if you can. You know how it is when you first start your blog...you''re desperate for comments, lol! Share the love!

The "You're Enchanting" Award!!!

Now that we have merged blogs and have been browsing around blogland, we have found so many that we enjoy. We would like to give you this award! Feel free to save a copy of the button, but please upload to your own server. Here are the rules for this award:

Give this award to 5 people that bring that spark of magic into your life. Let them know by posting a comment on their blog so they can pass it on.

Here are our nominations (we couldn't narrow it down to 5!):

Nancy
Kate
Peggy
Fat Pigeons
Stitchuesque
Erin
Abby
Awesome Mother
Rachel
Chan Knits

Thanks to everyone who has made our online world a magical one. We enjoy you all so much, even if we don't comment regularly *blush*... Here's a sized-down version of the button if you want it to put on your blog:

Yarn Contest and Giveaway!

Ok, as promised, here is our contest. We need input on what you like to see in a yarn shop. To be entered in the contest you must post about this contest on your blog (Please comment even if you don't have a blog, just be sure to put your email address in your comment so I can contact you if you win), then leave a comment here with answers to the following questions. If you refer anyone to this contest and they mention your name, you will be entered twice! We will be drawing a name randomly in 2 weeks (March 18th) and will be giving 3 prizes. I'll go into detail about that in a moment...here are the questions we need answered:

1. What yarn do you like to buy? What weights/fiber content/colors?
2. What type of atmosphere do you look for in a yarn shop?
3. What makes you come back to a yarn shop?
4. What classes would you be interested in taking?
5. What don't you like in a yarn shop?
6. Would you only buy brands that you are familiar with?
7. Is there anything besides yarn and spinning supplies that you are interested in purchasing when you go into a store of this nature?
8. How do you go about looking for a LYS, online/yellow pages/yarn store listings/etc?
9. What days/hours are you likely to visit a yarn store?

On to the fun stuff...prizes!! Click on any of these pictures to see more detail.
The grand prize- A mini niddy noddy (will wind a 28 1/2" skein) and your choice of either:
a) 4 skeins of hand dyed yarn from our shop (100% Merino 420 yards)
b) 3 skeins of hand dyed yarn from our shop and spinning fiber blends. The brown/blue/green (3.7 oz) is 10% baby camel and 90 % merino, the peach (2.2 oz.) is 100% merino


Second place prize- $25 credit toward any purchase at our etsy shop

Third place prize-
Knit Fix-Problem Solving For Knitters by Lisa Kartus

We are so excited to hear what everyone has to say! Thanks for participating!

Exciting new yarny goodness...

It's raining here at our busy household today. I love rainy days! They just make me want to stay inside, cozy up and do something fun! Today I was working in the kitchen in among the dyepots :) Now that is fun. I was dyeing up the last of the "blank" yarn that I had in preparation for a new batch that should be arriving on Wednesday. Here is what I got done today!





Now, on to the exciting new order. I am so jazzed about the new yarn that will be here in a couple of days. Here's what I ordered:

50/50 Baby Alpaca & Merino Roving
Tencel/Merino Roving
Bamboo/Merino sock yarn ( a new yarn that I haven't tried before)
Merino Superwash DKyarn
Fingering Weight Merino yarn
Alpaca Lace Weight yarn
Merino Worsted Weight yarn

Exciting, huh? I am especially looking forward to the alpaca lace weight and the tencel/merino roving. It will be like Christmas, opening that package!! Ok, I have to stop now...I am getting myself too worked up :)

Things are still moving right along with our shop. The bay window actually has windows in it now and is looking oh-so-official. We have a Home Depot truck on his way as I am typing with a load of supplies. We won't be bored around here for the next few days, lol.

I am still working on my Debbie Bliss cardigan for Kelsey, and those socks. I am at the heel-turning point on my socks, but I have just gotten too distracted with my spinning lately! I am almost done with my first bobbin, but it goes so slow when your spinning 1/3 the weight of fingering yarn. I haven't tried anything this elaborate with my spinning in a long time so I am really looking forward to the end result!!

We need all of your input so we are resorting to bribery...we are going to be having a giveaway in the next post...probably tomorrow, so please be on the lookout for that. You really won't want to miss it!

Moving forward

This is the beginning of our shop building transformation and we wanted you to all be a part of it. This is where the garage door used to be and it will be a bay window very shortly. It's so exciting! We're looking at layout, display, and other options that you have to consider in a situation like this one. It's a lot of details, but we're looking forward to it! If you look closely, you can see little Bisou getting in on all the fun! lol

New spinner in the family!

We have a new spinner making her debut! Kelsey is learning how to spin on our new Fidelis wheel. We wanted to test and see how easy it would be for someone to learn on, and we've been meaning to teach the girls how to spin anyway, so it was the perfect time! Kelsey is a natural at this and knew how to draft almost immediately. She's 9 years old and so eager to spin!



Off topic...we wanted to share something that is a common occurance here at the Thornton's. Buying food in bulk! This is our breakfast cereal, and the kids are so jazzed because they can dip it out by the bowl-full. This is ziploc's XL bag, 2'x 1.7'. That's a lot of cereal! :)

Some enchanted evening...lol

This is how Ashley and I spend our evenings now....
We are trying to make decisions about what to order for the shop.
We really want to do this right and give a really good selection of products, while at the same time giving good prices.
We go to the mail box everyday with expectations high, and squeal like little girls over the wholesale catalogs and information all the way back to the house. I think our neighbors may be scratching their heads a bit...lol
Tomorrow is our first big day on construction crew for the shop. We have called in the big guns, (aka Uncle Paul the builder...can he fix it? Yes, he can!!!) and he arrives tonight. We have him for 7 days and we are expecting miracles....something along the lines of Rome. No, wait, that wasn't built in a day, was it? Well, anyway, you get the picture.
Here are some windows we picked up at the Habitat Restore yesterday that going to become our knockout display window, replacing the garage door.
Stay tuned for more big improvements. Same bat time, same bat channel!

Spinning and Etsy

Well, the biggest news of the day is that I made my first Etsy sale!!!!!!!!!!!! One of my favorite bloggers, Heather, has purchased two skeins from me and made my day! :) She is sure to create something magically beautiful with them, and I can't wait to see!

Shop news- We have some vendors contacting us now and we are still researching all the yarns out there and trying to make decisions about what we will be stocking initially. This is really fun, but also a bit overwhelming! There are so many awesome knitting gadgets, yarn, fiber, and spinning wheels out there...We are going to be working on construction this next week and will have pictures every step of the way. We can't wait!

I have been focusing on my spinning for the past few days and have a pretty bobbin to show for it. I am spinning this gorgeous fiber and would love to make this a fingering weight 3 ply. I think that a 3 ply handspun has such depth and variance of color, it's wonderful! I know that I won't have enough of the fiber that I am using now, but I will be dyeing a complimentary colorway and use that as 1 ply. By the way, my charming wheel is a Lendrum double treadle. We call her Whisper Wind because she hums along so silently and sleekly, what could be better?!

Here are the pictures of the fiber as it is before spinning-

Before...the beginnings of a yarn shop.

This is the future location of our yarn/fiber/spinning shop. We are so excited, this is literally going to be a from-the-ground-up operation. We (RoLynn and Ashley) will be merging our individual blogs to this cooperative blog. We're going to discuss our works in progress, projects for the shop, new yarns, and all that fun stuff. We can't wait to share all of this exciting experience with all of you! Keep a look out for an upcoming giveaway, you won't want to miss it!