The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat

Check out our pal Fiber Fanatics R Us-- she has a published pattern, and we carry it! We only have three or four copies left, but can get more after Thanksgiving. Her pattern is the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, made with ten different colors of Cherry Tree Hill's Supersock.

Here are some pictures -



And three detail pictures -

The Hanks Question of the Week

Do you have a favorite yarn, or a favorite fiber, that you go back to again and again? For instance, I'm a sucker for a sock yarn with a merino/tencel blend, and I love, love, love to spin Blue Faced Leicester. Maybe you have a favorite? Not necessarily a brand name, but something that you just can't resist whenever you touch it?

The Hanks Question of the Week

Hello, and welcome to a new feature of the Hanks blog; the Hanks Fiber Question of the Week. This isn't designed to make anyone panic, it's just a way to encourage conversation and the sense of community we feel with other fiber addicts. Feel free to answer, or not; this will be a weekly feature on Mondays so if you have an answer for this one, but not for next week, that's fine too! And if you have any questions you'd like to submit, drop us a line.

And the question is....

How do your family and friends feel about your fiber habits? Do they line up for crocheted dishcloths and potholders? Do they live for you to knit them a new pair of socks? Do they fight each other for a hank of your handspun? Or do they smile and nod and back away whenever your eyes fill with joy at the sight of a new project?

Opening weekend photographs

I finally have our opening weekend photos up. It was a blast, really; it felt like we had a party at our house all weekend long and that everyone who came had a fantastic time. We are very, very lucky that such wonderful fiber enthusiasts live around here and chose to spend their weekend with us. Thank you all, so very much! We love you all!

Cherry Tree Hill's Orenburg Lace

Continuing in the theme of Cherry Tree Hill Day, let me mention Orenburg Lace (you can see our selection here although not every colorway has a photo associated with it yet).



This hard-to-get lace weight yarn (it's my understanding that there are only a small handful of stores - less than ten - in the United States that carry this) is brought to you from handspinners in Russia. It's entirely spun on drop spindles. The content of this lace is 80% Kidd Mohair and 20% silk, and comes in 50 gram hanks of 600+ yards. Cherry Tree Hill handpaints the yarn in all of their traditional colorways. We just got a large shipment before we opened, and will be getting even more in, in just a couple of weeks.

Some opening day photos

Our friends Ouida and Mark took some great shots of opening day with Mark's iPhone--



Thanks for bringing these in today! Y'all rock!

We are humbled

In our wildest dreams we could not have imagined a more perfect first day. Thank you, one and all!

I am sure that there are some that I missed, or some that I will remember as soon as I hit "submit" on this post, but here are some high points of the day: getting in and listening to a message on the machine from my friend Karen in Scotland... Karen calling again not ten minutes later and being able to hear her beautiful voice tell us that even though she is thousands of miles away she considers us to be her Local Yarn Store... Sophia calling from Canada (town wave, sweetie!)... flowers and chocolate from Beth and Joe who are traveling in Atlanta right now... flowers from Aunt Gay and Uncle Joe, and also a bottle of champagne from them walked over personally from Robbie at Dorn's across the street... flowers from Kelly and Robbie in North Carolina... my mother and Dave coming up, and bringing limes from their tree (with a caveat not to do this again, hah hah, no worries there!)... turning around and seeing that WV Beth had surprised us by driving up from Orlando... other out-of-towners Carla and Lynn coming up (separately, from the same city!)... my friend Amy dropping off flowers... other people who I missed bringing plants and flowers... the wonderful knitting group who crowded around at opening and watched our happy teary ribbon cutting and cheered us on... and the same knitting group looking so happy and at home as they sat in what we feel is our living room and chatted and knitted and had a great time (thank you Daniel for helping to make coffee!)... Katie coming down from Baltimore on Wednesday and staying through Saturday to help (and she's not even a knitter!)... Charlie and Chris juggling outside... a group of women (one of whom I had heard took the day off from work) who showed up and also sat in our "living room" for a few hours with all number of crafty endeavors including knitting, crochet, and embroidery... meeting people in person who I had only had email contact with... seeing that kids really did like the easel and the toys... hearing that people had been reading about us on our blog and were so excited that we're open... people who said they'd been driving by for weeks (and months) watching us prepare and that they're so glad we're here... I'm sure that I've forgotten something or someone, and my apologies if I have; my mind is like a steel sieve these days. A special wonderful amazing teary thank-you to our men, who did 100% of the renovations and we love them beyond distraction for that and many other things.

We could not have asked for a better, more amazing and happy, first day. It feels like the best dream, and I can't believe that I get to go do it again today. I am humbled, and full of joy.

Thank you, everyone.