Hello and Happy New Year!

Our wish for you is that each new year is better than the last, in every way.  Now for just a TEENSY bit of snow to make it look more like January.  We've seen buds on a lilac and the tips of daylilies.  Crazy, but there is something out there called a North Atlantic inversion (??) to blame.  But we hope you've been enjoying those beautiful days  … a precious bonus for us in New England, unless you are a skier.

The start of the new year has given CFA a new look.  After days of painting, hammering and moving cabinets, fabric, books and mountains of yarn, we've finally settled in our new spaces.  Do we know where all the yarns have been put?? Ha!  It's getting better though, with help from our customers to ferret out their new cubbies.  The bonus of more natural light and the large front room for classes or just sitting with the books or knitting has been worth the effort.  Re-furnishing that area is next on the agenda when we've recovered a bit.  We hope you'll enjoy it all.

In case you've just tuned in, the quilting department is going out of business.  It is now downstairs, in the former yarn room, and there are still some great bargains.  Lots of fabric, thread, and books  - sorry, no more batting- at 40% off.  You'll also find a few quilts and samples plus out-of-print books from our library.  Need an ironing board or iron?

We have many of our yarns hanging on the walls now so you can better appreciate the gorgeous display of color and texture.  Our "baby room" has cubbies full of our new Dale "Baby Ull", all colors, and a large selection of Debbie Bliss "Baby Cashmerino", to name a few.  You have to see Nancy's beautiful baby/toddler sweater, designed by her in 6-ply Opal sock yarn.  Kits are available.  The Colinette corner has a wall of "Giotto" and a large selection of their new "Cadenza", a hand-dyed WASHABLE merino DK, great for children's things.  Speaking of Colinette, their new sock yarn," Jitterbug", is going fast, their brilliant colors fairly jumping off the shelf.  Mountain Colors "Barefoot" and Opal's "Feeling" have arrived in the sock department.  The rest of the Mountain Colors order and The Fiber Company's group should be arriving very soon.  We're already starting to think ahead – interesting cotton blends, soy, bamboo, who-knows-what. 

Another new and outstanding addition to the collection will be qiviut, a gorgeous and luxurious fiber from the down of the muskox (yes, really!).  The very recent book, "Arctic Lace" by Druchunas, features this fiber as well as the Native Alaskan knitters who turn it into incredible works of lace art.  Qiviut can be softer than cashmere, 8 times warmer than wool and the strongest of all the luxury fibers.  Guess that's very important to the muskox!  To learn more about this special fiber, the animals and the knitters of Oomingmak, check out www.qiviut.com.  It's expensive but one skein lends itself beautifully to small projects, especially lace work.

Speaking of lace, we're working on our class schedule and will be offering beginning and intermediate lace classes (thanks to Molly).  This is THE technique of the moment it seems.  Be sure to look at our new books focused on lace – absolutely breathtaking.  We're also working on cables, socks, finishing the basics and whatever else our teachers can come up with.  Check our website frequently for the first listings in about a week.  Everyone seems to be de-compressing after the Holidays so we'll post them as we schedule them.

Stop by the shop often as we receive trunk shows every few weeks from Westminster (Rowan and Jaeger), Simply Shetland and Manos del Uruguay.  We'll be adding Colinette to that list soon.  You'll get a chance to see pieces from their latest books in the new yarns.  Sure does save us a lot of midnight knitting!  And as always, if we don't have it in stock, we're happy to order what you need for the project.

Whew!  That was a lot of information but we hope you found it interesting and most important, that you can't wait to come in to see it all.

Looking forward to spending time with all of you, 
Helen at CFA