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!