Aug 6th, 2006
TOOT! TOOT!
No, I have not been magically transformed into a train. (Sylvia, who adores the ceiling-mounted electric train at our usual grocery store, would probably find that pretty neat.) I am Temporarily Out Of Town.
Yesterday we made the long drive up to Vermont. It seems that everyone in the Mid-Atlantic was heading toward the New Jersey shore–in the opposite direction we were going–so we encountered little traffic and made good time. With brief stops for meals and yarn, we arrived in the late afternoon, with plenty of time to unpack and go grocery shopping.
We’re staying in a rustic lakeside cabin in the Northeast Kingdom, which is the northeast (duh) part of Vermont. As far as place names go, this is surely one of the best. Around here they just call it “the Kingdom.” That is so cool.
At the July meeting of my local knitting group, when I mentioned I was heading up to Vermont and asked if anyone had any yarn-related suggestions for me, about half the people present shouted, “Green Mountain Spinnery! Green Mountain Spinnery!” Then they got this shining look in their eyes and started talking about the place in reverential tones. Since we made such good time on the road yesterday, when we hit Putney in southern Vermont, Jan insisted we stop by the spinnery. And then he insisted I buy some yarn. (How sweet!)
And what a place. The shop/workroom is right next to the exit ramp, so you run into it as soon as you leave the interstate. When we got there, no other customers were in the shop, so the woman working there very kindly gave us a tour of the workroom and machinery, some of which is a hundred years old. Wow. We saw piles of unwashed, freshly shorn fleece, carding machines, wooden bobbins, batting and roving, spinning machines, and all sorts of other things that I can’t possibly begin to describe. I took lots of photos–when I wasn’t being amazed by everything I saw, of course. Then Jan and Sylvia went for a walk outside while I browsed the yarn shop.
And by “shop” I mean “room.” It’s a very small space, with a counter opposite the door and cubby-holes and bins on the two sides. If there are more than four people standing in that space, it gets difficult to move around–seriously. There aren’t that many types of yarn, either. Yet I still had trouble deciding. My option paralysis here was worse than when I’m in an ice-cream parlor. After much agonizing, I settled on five skeins of Cotton Comfort (80% wool, 20% organic cotton) in Weathered Green and four skeins of shimmery Sylvan Spirit (50% wool, 50% tencel) in Moonshadow (brownish-gray). I’m not sure yet what I will do with this–something for Sylvia is definitely in mind. Three skeins should be enough for a simple pullover sweater in size 2T, so I’ve got plenty to make a larger-sized sweater or maybe even a dress. Oh, the possibilities! Suggestions, anyone?
One Response to “TOOT! TOOT!”
Sounds wonderful! The weather here is actually quite nice. We miss ya and can’t wait to see the yarn!