Austin turns six today! This picture was taken on the ferry to New York a couple weeks ago. For our birthday adventure we are going to a water park in central Arkansas. Spending the day in a water park is not exactly my idea of fun, it's the putting on the bathing suit in public thing. It's for the boy, I will keep repeating...it's for the boy.
In Middlebury, Vermont, located inside a beautifully restored colonial farmhouse lays the Vermont Yarn Company. This yarn shop shares the farmhouse with the Field Farm, the Foote Street Farmstand, and Sandra Lance Pottery. There is loads to see and for sure everything to delight your fiber senses and more.
The shops layout was very unique with yarn even displayed around an old fireplace. Too cool!
Why use curtains when you can use hand painted boucle?
More Cherry Tree Hill Yarn everywhere!
I did not have the pleasure of meeting the shop owner while I was there, hopefully next time. The layout of the shop was just too precious to not share. I did grab a couple bags of painted roving and a bag of super soft natural mohair. Here is a picture of one of the balls I spun into yarn, a before and after.
Sandra Lance was more than helpful and is a very unique character. She does beautiful pottery work, even makes her own glazes. I squealed when I saw this handmade glass sheep. Sandra loves to wrap up your items in gift wrap and does a fantastic job at that too.
It is a treasured addition for my sheep kitchen makeover. I'll share more of my sheep finds tomorrow. ♥
In the past I have shown off some pretty interesting bags of barn yard fiber. After a trip to the Liberty Flea Market, owned by my Great Aunt and Uncle, I stumbled upon bags of old lace and bits and pieces of ribbons. These two combinations piqued my interest. With my recent voyage into the land of Art Yarns...What better combination than old rustic barnyard and vintage lace? Introducing Handspun Barnyard Lace:
After Jeanetta spotted a small skein of it, she had to crochet it up to see how it would look.
Isn't it cool? We both just adored it and agreed it would make a fantastic bracelet, or a bag, or even a necklace. Our husbands both looked at us like we were a little nuts, but you understand! We even talked about what a cool vintage embellishment it would make for crafters. It is such a cool looking yarn, it will be a nice addition to my new line of hand spun yarn.
Here's one more for my Thick N Thin Art Yarn Series. It's pink, and orange, and curly, and full of fun and wonderful twists. It will calm a bit and bulk up more as well in places once it gets set, but it's beauty will only improve. Really, I'm enjoying this yarn series so much, I see no plan of series being short lived.
My recent spinning has given me such a nice, peaceful feeling. Typically, I am pretty anal about how even my spun yarn is. Every little tiny part that's a tab bit thicker or thinner, I see a flaw and not an unique addition to the yarn. But, with my Art Yarns, my perfectionism is thrown out the window. I just let the creativity flow. The fiber can be thick or thin and locks can be left out and I'll over spin here and put in stings and lace and do whatever there. I get frustrated with life's little pains and I just put that extra spin in the yarn or just leave it bulky. Like magic, my frustration is gone and I am left with a gorgeous, unpredictable skein of yarn, as precious as a work of art. It is a very fun process and it is good for the soul. In my Art Yarn I find Peace.
I snapped this shot of the boys on one of our yarn shop trips in Vermont. Isn't it just so cool, sometimes in the insanity of it all, you find peace.
The boys, Daisy, and me on our way home on the "Ferry Tony". It's really the Ferry To New York, but when a person quickly writes "take the Ferry TO NY" (with the letters T O N Y) close together, you can see how a person can easily think the ferry is called Tony.
Always good times and fun at The Shed:
Top picture: Meg and Me
Bottom Picture: Brady, Granny, and Austin
Hope you have a happy and fun crafting week. ♥
With the recent trip to Vermont, I acquired loads of new fiber. The last trip I took, I bought up handmade yarn everywhere I went. This time, it was fiber! The best shop I found, surprisingly, was not in Vermont at all. It was Rainbow Yarns and Fibres in Germantown, Tennessee. They had a full line of spinning fibers and even had some spiffy bags of bits and pieces to spin into some art yarn from Pagewood Farm. First thing I did when I got home was spin this very unique art yarn.
It has sparkles and curls and thick and thin places and it is wonderful.
I got a couple of balls of super cool hand painted fibers from A Piece of Vermont:
I will show off what these beauties look like spun up later this week.
Two more finished yarns to show off...the green was a blended roving I purchased at Vermont Beads and Fiber, the red was from my favorite fiber farm right around the corner from my mom's, Chasworth Pottery and Farm.
These two may end up plied together for a nice Christmas Handspun.
Speaking of Chasworth Farm, I have bags full of yummy Vermont Grown Fiber. Much more yarn will be coming your way from this awesome farm. ♥
This is the birthplace of The Twisted Purl. Nestled off the main road in Stowe, Vermont, lies a yarn shop where my vision of The Twisted Purl began.
This is Stowe Fabric & Yarn. The shop is located in this house with a lovely porch. Once inside the shop you will have the option of going right to the yarn or left to the fabric.
Do you notice the hanks of hand painted yarn hanging from the hooks? This is Cherry Tree Hill Boucle and amazingly enough, they still had a few skeins of the same colorway that enticed me on my fiber painting journey.
Back in 2006, after attending my favorite restaurant, The Shed, and having sampled some of their brewed beer, served in a "Ski" :
At this time, I was already fully immersed in my yarn addiction...I noticed a yarn shop. So, what better way to end a trip to Stowe then to go drool over some fiber. Once inside the shop my eyes landed on this wall of yarn:
I was instantly in awe and admiration of the company who made this yarn. Then I found out it was handmade. Hand Painted....what did that mean? I wondered. I went straight back to my moms and started my research. Being the yarn-a-holic I was, no yarn was enough and no color combination satisfied my urge to have it all. So, naturally, painting yarn had to be my next step. I bought a ton of natural wool fiber off of ebay. Through trail and many errors, I learned the difference between good wools and the itchy old school wools. I also learned 50 yards, although sounding like a lot, was really not much at all. I bought dye and then let it all sit in the top of my closet for a month before I built up the courage to dye my own yarn.
Once I mixed the dye and dabbed my first brush on the wool, my love affair began. The rest is history. History that must be credited to a lovely little yarn shop called Stowe Fabric & Yarn and an awe inspiring handmade yarn company called Cherry Tree Hill. ♥
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