January 3

Greetings! It's freezing! ZERO degrees! And Happy New Year! We stayed in, as usual, but enjoyed a good walk and a movie. It was all we could do to stay up late enough to toast in the new year. The cabled riding jacket is coming along nicely. I spoke with my sister who finished up her pair of mittens, and she said they came out well. I was looking through my old knitting pattern books from the 1950's, and found a great mitten pattern I'd never noticed before (see the picture). They're done on double pointed needles, which I was happy to see. I picked up a few new skeins of yarn yesterday, a yarn I'd never seen before. It's called 'Classic' from Ella rae...made in Romania. Worsted weight...219 yards...lovely colors and $6.00 a skein! I haven't seen yarn priced that well in a long time.
The feedback on the leather cases has been great, thank much! When I was in Northeast Fiber Arts yesterday, I noticed one of the gals who works there had hers on top of her bag and it looked great! She opened it to show me just how organized her (many) pairs of double pointed needles are...she's an avid sock knitter.

http://www.vermontfelter.com/ to see Jennifer's incredible felted garments. She's the owner/operator of Northeast Fiber Arts. She creates felted fabric, then sews it into stunning jackets etc...Her work crosses from craft, to art.

Four bags tonight, another holiday week, so another week of not as much studio time. I also have two custom bags that I hope to get out tomorrow, so I have to save some energy for that. We leave on Sunday for 5 days in Utah. So any purchases made after Saturday will have to wait until I return to be sent out. The guys will snowboard, and I'll snowshoe, cross-country ski, read and knit. Oh...I picked up a pair of old wooden cross-country skies from Norway at the recycle center yesterday along with bamboo poles, all for $8.00. I still ski on the old Norwegian wooden skies, and never pass up an opportunity to purchase more when I see them.

After Utah I look forward to getting back in the swing of work, and the usual 8-12 bags listed weekly.

Tonights old Vermont Proverb:
'How beautiful it is to do nothing and then rest afterwards.'

Till next time...stay warm & knit on good women!
Martha.