Getting Ready...

The holidays are upon us once again. This year will be a day of thankfulness for the wonderful people I have met along my journey through life and especially my family and friends. We have decided to take the day "off" and spend a quite time at home before the craziness starts at the store.


We start the season with opening our doors at the store on Friday at 7:30 am for some early bird specials. We have some wonderful gift ideas for those looking for hand crafted local gifts as well as great wonderful yarns and accessories. Don't forget the Classic Elite and American Express promotions we talked about last week. Scroll down if you didn't get to read about them.


This morning is a morning "off", if you will, to stay home and work on the computer work for the store. There are always so many hidden things that need to happen to have a business run. It has been a huge eye opener this past year as we took the store off the farm.

The dye pot is also been steaming for a while with socks I took off the antique circular sock machine last night. Production on socks have really slowed down since moving. I miss working on them so last night was a good night as I took a total of four socks off. This morning they went into a mordant bath for 2 hours and are now in dye pots cooling down.

Last night I got my Christmas gift at the store. My husband kept asking me all day what I was doing and what time I would be home. Since I teach many of the evening workshops, this was not an unusual question until he kept asking it. He called to say he was dropping by the store around 4 pm. Okay, no biggie, but then he just sat there. He then wrote a note to me saying he had a surprise for me. We were busy and usually he will just leave. My husband can not keep a surprise! For those who have heard the store of our engagement and him giving my ring , you know he can't keep a secret. All of a sudden, I see him and Paula Kochanek of Five Crows headed off some where down the street. The next thing they are heading back with Skip holding an amazing piece of stain glass!

Last year, when we decided to open in Natick Center, I approached Paula about commissioning her to do a couple of pieces of stain glass for the store windows. When chatting, she brought up from her cellar a drawing and the vintage glass of a ram's head. Since we were trying to bring some of the aspects of the farm to the store, this was the perfect piece for her to finish for us. It had been drawn and cut out over 15 years ago! It looked just like our first Shetland ram, Dartmouth. Well as with many of us, life just got in the way, Paula and I lost touch with our vision for this piece. As our one year anniversary approached, Skip contacted Paula and the two of them work together for Paula to finish this amazing piece of art and they both presented it to me last evening. I can't thank them enough. What a wonderful act they both created. It proudly hangs in the window at the store. My photo does not do this piece justice. It needs to be seen in person. We hope you enjoy "Dartmouth".

Life's Little Pleasures

Saturday's morning and afternoon classes are compromised of some great people. Saturday afternoon "I" surprised us by showing off her socks that she had made in one of our Happy Feet Sock workshops. She has since made two more pairs as well as many other things. I made her show us a little leg and her socks.

We have finalized our Janaury class/workshop schedule. We have some old favorites as well as new ones up. Can't wait to get them up on the web site for all to view. Our six week classes start up again as of December 1 until January 31.

Today has been a busy day with meeting with the Classic Elite, Tahki Stacy Charles, Dream in Color and Southwest Trading Co. Believe it or not it is exhausting looking at so many yarns and great colors. We want to make the store fun and exciting as well as inviting.

Coop members are bringing in wonderful winter and holiday items. It is starting to get colder out, the one of a kind, ready made scarves, mittens and hats can help with those last minute gifts. Table runners, placemats, honey and more are great hostess gifts when visiting during the holiday time.

Lastly, lip balm from Iron Horse Farm is back in stock! I spent most of Saturday evening making each flavor and then Sunday was label making time. It is made with all natural ingredients and a little flavoring.

More Great News for Shoppers!

The store belongs to the Natick Center Associates. It is a wonderful non profit group of small independently owned businesses that work together to improve Natick Center as well as host some of the great events on the common each year. Check out their website.

They sent out a great email this afternoon for those who shop and for small businesses who accept American Express cards. Iron Horse accepts all major credit cards including American Express so this is very exciting. Add this to the Classic Elite offer we mentioned yesterday and it is a win-win-win situation!

This was the email:

We are pleased to announce that American Express is running a special on Saturday, November 27th for small businesses. Use your registered American Express® Card to shop at participating businesses on Small Business Saturday - November 27, 2010 and you will receive a $25 statement credit when you spend $25 or more. For more information and to enroll as participants, please visit Small Business Saturday. Happy Shopping!

Classic Elite's Gift to You!

If you do not get Classic Elite's Newletter, here is a great promotion from them, for us and most importantly YOU!

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Do you Love Your Shop?

Classic Elite wants to give back to those who risk it all to follow their dreams, open yarn shops and keep them open in these changing and challenging times. In fact, we have so much faith in those dreams that we want to give everyone a present.

Spend $40 or more on Classic Elite yarn or books yarn or books between now and December 15th, send us a copy of your itemized receipt and we’ll send you a recent pattern book and three mini-skeins of Classic Elite Yarn, just for buying local.

It's our "thank you" to all the knitters and crocheters who recognize the value of supporting our local knitting communities.

Find out more about the Love Your Shop giveaway on our

blog and view complete rules and details on our web site.

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We have nice line of Classic Elite yarn and books for you to chose from. We will be happy to show them to you when you visit.

Just Another Day...

Last night our Mitten Workshop participants finished up their two session workshop. Most had finished one mitten. Some were discouraged, but we hope they felt better as they left
knowing that all of us make items we are not always pleased with. The decision then is can we live with it, or rip out and start all over again. Sometimes sleeping on it makes it seem more tolerable.

Three of our participants came in today during our two hour drop in session that we offer three times a week for $15.00 a session, to work on their second mitten and become inspired to continue on. It is a wonderful feeling to see people pleased with what they have accomplished.

These workshops and classes make a community. We laugh, tell stories, cry, share stories about our families and build on relationships. It is wonderful for me to be able to greet people by their first name when they return. They all of have become an important part of my life, even for a brief moment. Just like stitching, weaving or felting, we are building something.






Above I am "building" a hat as a Christmas gift. I have a long way to go. The yarn are from our animals on the farm. Llama and wool. It is yummy!

The Boston Globe is writing an article that will be in the Globe West, Thanksgiving Day (I was just told) or Thanksgiving Sunday about shopping locally. What does the customer get out of shopping in a small community downtown area like Natick verses the malls? I talked to the reporter at length on the telephone yesterday. Today she surprised me with a visit. She was in to talk to customers about their experiences shopping locally. One of our customers at the time was a good friend, Karen. Karen also owns a small restaurant in Lexington called Nourish. Karen was my go to woman when I was trying to decide whether to move the store off the farm and were to go. She was the one that suggested Natick Center. I never tire of listening to Karen talk. The reporter was very interested in what Karen had to say. The one phrase that Karen said that still sticks in my mind is, "We are building relationships when we shop and eat at local independently owned businesses."

New Gifts in the Store.

It seems we are at the crossroads of the seasons with fall really gone, yet winter and the holidays are yet to come. The cold weather is not upon us. I say "thank You!" because I am not a cold weather person. So why am I in still New England? For the love of a good man and now my daughter has moved back from the south and she threatens death if I even think of moving...





Hanukkah is early this year, starting December 1. Check out our window displays each week. We move our artisans' around for the window displays.

It seems we are always looking for cute baby gifts. Want something out of the ordinary? Think of a beautiful quilted baby blanket. A group of friends can go in on special gift that will last a life time. Baby socks are always a nice touch also. Joanne just sent pairs of striped socks in 0-3 months and 6-12 months sizes.




HiyaHiya dumplings are back in stock. These make great stocking stuffers or Yankee swap gifts. Look out on the horizon because we have more great little gifts coming in soon.

Sunny Day!

Yes! We have had sun for the last two days. This is a good thing! Things always look better when it is sunny, don't you think? Saturdays are always fun with our classes and seeing friends that are busy working during the week that come by on this day.

This week has been busy with representatives from yarn and button companies calling on us to place spring orders. Yes, I said SPRING! It is sometimes hard to to envision what spring will be like when we have not even started into winter yet. I do have to say that there are some new beautiful yarns and buttons coming out. We are excited about the spring line up so far!

One of the areas I think we lack in are the patterns for the crocheters in our lives. I always say that crocheting has been like Cinderella in the fact that she got left behind for the ball but I think she is getting dressed right now. Last year, Tahki Charles dedicated a whole booklet for crochet. The book is in the store. This coming spring Berroco will also have a booklet that has crochet and knit in it for the person. Can't wait for the book to come in!






Just in! Look at the new sock yarn that just arrived. Opal sock yarn. It is the original hand painted, self striping yarn. The colors are gorgeous and so much fun. Right now they are in baskets next to the hand crafted jewelry by Eileen and Joan.

Our coop has been bringing in great items for the holiday season. The Unique Boutique women have some wonderful items for Hanukkah. It is early this year so don't caught without your Judicial items. They make wonderful gifts also. As some of you know we also welcome custom orders. Please note that if you are thinking of a handmade item as a holiday gift, please drop by soon. The members need time to work with you and create your item. We don't want anyone to be disappointed.




Next week we will be winding down our evening workshops until after the holiday season. There is already a great line up on our website with many more to be addedfor January. Our 6 week instructional classes will continue. If you are able to drop in on a session, it is $15.00 for two hours or if you would like to commit to joining one of our groups, we would love to have you and those are for 6 weeks for $75.00. The next 8 session begins December 1 and runs through until January 31. These classes do have an instructor present ready to help with bumps in the road.