Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Pocket Meadow Farm — the shop

Thanks for all the nice comments about the shop! I got one anonymously which I'll answer here. I won't be doing online sales, that is, with a website shopping cart, but when I do finally get the site up (which should be soon, now that I've found someone to troubleshoot my coding), I'll have all my yarns listed with photos. I can do mail orders; will have credit card capability in a month or so.

Basically, I'm carrying Plymouth, Brown Sheep, JCA, Louet, Misty Mountain Handpaint, Crystal Palace and Skacel (this encompasses a lot of other brands, ie, Jo Sharp, etc., that are also distributed by these major companies). I am working on my own very small line of handpaint sock and laceweight yarn, and have small quantities of my handspun. My specialty is lace, and the stock reflects this. One of the commerical yarns I can't wait to try out is Louet KidLin. Its a laceweight kid mohair and linen blend, really nice looking and unusual, without being a "novelty yarn". I've got a lot of the Louet Euroflax too. Not too many people knit with linen, but think about the incredible longevity of linen fiber. Machine washable, all season, nice drape, and won't get eaten by moths.

In the handspinning side of things, I've got a ton of breed specific spinning fiber, and this really nice space dyed pencil roving from Louet mentioned earlier on the blog. Bags and bags of the uber-popular Bluefaced Leicester roving.

The fleece from my own sheep (Leicester Longwools) was a mixed success this year. It's a tiny flock — 4 sheep, 2 goats, so far (we'll breed this fall). Three are fabulous, and will be mixed with some absolutely gorgeous Border Leicester that I got at MD Sheep and Wool this year and spun commerically, but that won't be back for a couple of months at least. That will be 2 ply sport weight, with some laceweight if I can get anyone to spin it. I'll have some as roving too, for spinners.

I've got the usual (and some unusual) books and knitting tools (needles, hooks, Turbo's, notions, etc.). No wheels yet. Turbo lace needles, but I haven't tried them yet. Tablet weaving supplies — more on this next post.

Visit us! Come to Berkeley Springs if you are in the area. We are less than 2 hours from DC. Here is why you need to come: this is a cute, historic spa town with a serious arts reputation. What a great little pampering vacation you can give yourself! Check it out here.

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