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She listened to his advice, but then spent quite a bit of time bouncing around doing no particular thing. Until she read a tiny ad in the back of a major knitting magazine offering a dyeing business for sale, able to relocate, and an email address. She wrote and within about 9 months owned Lorna's Laces. And voila, no complaining ever since!
She then talked about all the different yarns they dyed there and had samples for us to fondle, I mean handle. Wools, super wash wools, wool/silk blends, angora blends, silk bamboo blends (drool drool). Lace weights, bulkies, thick and thins, worsted, and sock weight. They have it all.
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After the steaming is done, they rinse the hanks in a washing machine. Beth did a very credible impersonation of a washing machine agitator, and I'm sorry I didn't get it captured on a pic. They use the washing machines to rinse the wool only; there is no actual agitation. When the water comes off clear, it's time to hang them up to dry:
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Toward the end of the tour, just before we were released to shop the mill ends, I was taking this pic
and suddenly heard Beth cry, "Don't take any pictures of the formulas" in a very...strident...voice. I stopped, and turned, and I think I even had my hands up like a cop had yelled, "Freeze!" I tried to explain that I thought they were just dye pots, and was certainly not trying to take pictures of her formulas. After she said again that I should not take pictures of the formulas because they had cost her a lot and were not to be shared, she said the dye was fine, but not the formulas.
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I really had no idea what she was talking about. I hadn't even noticed that there were papers hanging on the wall near the dye pots. I guess when I held my camera over the dye pots to get a shot from a different perspective she thought I was talking a picture of the wall. I was not.
Very awkward. And can I say that every other woman in the room was thinking, "Glad that's her and not me!"
The funny part (sort of) is that when I looked through the pictures I had taken of her showing us the process, the formulae showed up several times. I think they were too out of focus to read (I have no desire to even try!), but you can see that I blocked them out of the above pictures just in case. I didn't dare say it to her, but I think perhaps for the next tour she may be well-advised to take the formulae off the wall first. It would keep things simpler. And maybe a touch...nicer.
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Shopping was fun. The ends (or seconds) were about half of retail price. I got a few (ok, 4) worsted weights for the Christmas surprise I'm starting. And some sock yarn for my sister. The colours were all nice and I have yet to notice why they were considered seconds.
Despite a couple of tense moments, it was a great tour and it is very generous of Beth and her husband to come in on a Saturday to accommodate us. Thanks!
Up next: we visited three yarn shops and a button and trim shop. My impression and review of each...stay tuned!
-christina