This time last week, Tolt Yarn and Wool was busy preparing for it’s one-year anniversary weekend! Since I was in Portland on Saturday, I couldn’t be at the actual party, but I did make it out for Thursday night’s stitch circle, which featured a Q&A with Fringe Association‘s Karen Templer (who was in town shooting the Fringe holiday catalog with Kathy Cadigan, but more on that in a moment). Since Tolt is in Carnation, and depending on traffic, anywhere from a 45- to 90-minute drive from my neighborhood in Seattle, I don’t make it over very often. This meant it was my first time at the Thursday evening stitch circle, but from what I gather, we were a much larger group than normal! Karen fielded questions and talked about her business for near on an hour and a half (she’s a champ!), while we all merrily knit and stitched as we listened. Kathy grabbed a great photo, seen above. Gudrun was also in town for the weekend, doing a book signing on Saturday for the shiny new Shetland Trader Book 2 (which is gorgeous), giving a talk, and teaching a class on Shetland lace.

Kathy also grabbed a photo of the shop on Saturday (above), during the proper anniversary celebration, and it looks like it was a madhouse. Congratulations on one year, Tolt! Anna has done such an amazing job with her store, creating not just a beautiful and inspiring space, but also a community around it. I’m so incredibly grateful to be a part of it. And I also can’t wait to get my hands on some of Tolt’s new Snoqualmie Valley Yarn – you can read about it on the Tolt blog here.

Going back to Fringe for a minute, I mentioned that Karen was in town to shoot the Fringe holiday catalog with Kathy. It went up today, and man, it is gorgeous. I’m particularly obsessed with the old fiber mill spindles (and I may have already ordered a few; hoping to spice up the yarn storage situation at Paper Tiger HQ) but everything is beautiful and the brand new Fringe Supply Project Bag looks like a dream. You can view the clickable catalog below, or (in case the embedded version isn’t showing up) view it on the Issuu website here.

It’s a joy to have friends who make such beautiful things happen. And one last thing! I’ve cast on for the Hearth Slipper KAL, jointly run by Tolt and Fancy Tiger. I’m trying out some new colors and I’m really enjoying the wintry feel (think ice caves / glaciers / snow at night). Check out all the photos tagged with #hearthslipperKAL right here.