Green Mountain Spinnery................

The entrance to spinnery and the store.

Here is the last day of my weekend in Vermont. Convinced hubby that I need to go to Putney to see the Green Mountain Spinnery. So off we go across Vermont, over the mountains and into Putney two hours later. It is a sweet little shop. Around 12x12 and filled with the most luscious yarn. All from American only sheep, thank you! The temperature that day was around 90 degrees outside and about 100 degrees in the shop. The gal I spoke with was friendly and interested in what I was working on. I was able to peek at the factory in process and saw some of the new Fall line. I bought some yummy sock yarn and some new natural color yarn just spun that day for about a dollar an ounce. That is about all that is on sale. The sock yarn was $18.00 for 50 grams and you need two skeins for a pair. Even so I enjoyed seeing the process and it was a piece of quintessential Vermont. Independent people making a living a natural way and having fun doing it. I think that if you are in the area it is a fun place to stop by and visit. But I wouldn't make a special trip there. You can order their yarn online http://www.spinnery.com/. The whole process took about thirty minutes and then we had lunch at the Putney Co-op. Yum! We then headed home and I started a pair of socks! What else? Enjoy the pics.

The factory and fleece and more fleece.

The next adventure.....

As promised this is what happened next on my weekend away...........


On Sunday we went with four cousins to the Saratoga Race Track. All the ladies were going outlet shopping so off I went with all the guys. It was the first Sunday opening and the Jim Dandy was being run. That is a very historic race that has been run for over 100 years at Saratoga. The winner then is eligible to run in the Breeders Cup in October. The day was a scorcher and no one told me that the race track had no air conditioning anywhere except for the boxes. Which needless to say we did not have one. Oh well, what can you do. When we got all settled I noticed that the gal next to me was knitting. I was so excited I asked her what she was making.....a sock of course! We started to chat and she was so nice (aren't all knitters!). I wished I had brought mine along. I just thought the guys would never let me hear the end of it. Managed to win two races and had great laughs all day with the boys. The track is fascinating and I kept imagining the ladies and gentlemen






of long ago gliding by in their long dresses and Top Hats. Quite a change to today's race goers!


I live very near a racetrack and we go occasionally. The Breeders Cup I mentioned before will be there in October. So I hope to go see the winner from Saratoga run. It is a big race and thousands of people come from around the world to see it. There is something about being at the track. The horses are so brilliant and shinny. They look regal and so far removed from what is going on around them. And then suddenly they are speeding around the course and all eyes are on them. They are truly magnificent creatures.

My next adventure took place on the way home Monday and I will post that soon. We made a great side trip to The Green Mountain Spinnery. We took pictures and I bought yarn of course! Keep Knittin' Kittens.

P.S. drop by http://letslearnsocks.blogspot.com/ and check out our sock knit along.

Back from Vermont.....

I had such fun doing my contest. I made new friends and really missed blogging when I was away..........

I had the best knitting adventure in Vermont. It started on Saturday morning.......

We had left home on Friday and arrived around 11:30PM. I had to work until five and it takes about six hours worth of driving and stopping for dinner at our favorite Cracker Barrel in New York. So here we were on Saturday around 11:00 AM after popping in to say hey to various relatives in Rutland, wondering what to do until the party started around 4PM (My husband's cousin was celebrating a milestone birthday). And what do my wandering eyes perceive...yes a JoAnn's Fabric Store. Well what can a girl do? She must check out the yarn situation. Hubby went over to the sporting goods store and in I went to JoAnn's. At first I didn't know which way to go. They always stick the knitting goodies at the back of the store as if no one in the world knits. So I headed to the back. But from the corner of my eye I caught the shimmer of shinny yarn. I swiftly reversed my direction and honed in on the yarn. A sale display. What luck, I thought and then I thought again, probably just getting rid of stuff no one wants. I moved in closer and behold baskets filled with Paton's Pebble yarn. In Rainbow colors. I flipped and immediately scoped out a shopping cart. My heart was beating faster and I had a big grin on my face. Another shopper looked at me and must have thought I was nuts! I was! I was in the grip of Yarn Mania!!! I didn't need any new yarn my stash is bulging, I have three projects OTN's and my husband was in the next store. What did I care. I through caution to the wind and pulled the cart up close and started plunging skeins into the wagon. Slow down, slow down and let's think of what you can do with this yarn. Christmas gifts were looming in my mind. I then decided on two colors and grabbed eight skeins in red and blue. Oh did I mention that the skeins were marked down to $1.97 each. You bet I bought sixteen skeins! I manoeuvred my cart around to the back of the display and there I find Modea mohair in a most lovely peach color (camera made it look red.) with some silvery threads running through it. Yes, yes it too was $1.97 a skein. So, in went eight skeins of the peachy mohair. I was quite proud of my prowess at scoping out such a sale. So then I headed down to the official knitting section thinking perhaps I will pick up some needles that I need. Moving up and down the isles I was pleasantly surprised at their yarn selection and I looked at the needles but they didn't have the size I needed. Steering my cart to the front of the store to pay for my haul I suddenly noticed some skeins sticking out from a basket marked clearance. I casually went over not wanting to alert other shoppers and there in the clearance basket were seven skeins of Lion Brand Suede marked down to .97 cents. That's right .97 cents. And the color wasn't bad either. A grayish pewter color. Zip they went into my cart. As I mentally calculated the cost of my purchase I was pleased that it would not top $50.00. Up to the register and each skein scanned and then those Lion Brand skeins rolled up to the scanner. What, I goggled? .57 cents!! Not possible. They were reduced further. Let me tell you it was a yarn purchase like no other. I floated out the door and went to the car to wait for hubby (yes I was back before him). What a morning and it was only 11:50 AM. All that grabbing and paying took a mere twenty minutes. Yarn Nirvana, shopping extraordinaire.

The party was fun but what a shopping experience. I am still smiling as I write this. My next day was equally exciting and I will tell more in my next post. Must dash as Oliver is making away with my new goodies!