Psst. You - yeah, the one with the yarn? Guess what? I finished my work tasks earlier than planned. If you live within commuting distance of the shop, you might wanna take a look over here: www.stillyriveryarns.com/store/c7/Cla...

This week's shop schedule: - classes open for registration on the shop website at 7 PM - Community Crafting Circle on Tuesday, 1-3 PM - Stanwood-Camano Spinners on Thursday, 6-8:30 PM - Rise & Shine Social Time on Saturday, 9 AM - noon - Shop closes at 1 PM on Saturday for travel to Spokane

It has been a fraught few days. So I went and petted a few local sheep, provided a little financial and lots of moral support at a makers’ market, and am getting ready to teach a spinning class.

Re: package from Ukraine My mail carrier stopped by this morning. “So I asked about your question from yesterday, and, uh, was told we aren’t collecting that money.” My package arrived at my house, so when I got home from work, I asked my husband about it. “Nope. No money taken or asked for.”

Tariffs BS, round [I have lost track]: ordered something for my RPG from Ukraine that will arrive via USPS. Realized I don’t know how they collect tariffs, so I asked my mail carrier. “Great question. We have no specific guidance on that, but here’s how we usually handle money due…” (🧵)

Sad to say, a lot of folks are just now understanding why the domestic wool industry in the US is in deep trouble. A huge part of the conversation is the lack of financial incentive to produce wool - SO much work but so very little return. Here’s my quick explanation (the table I mention is below)

Hey all! I have been massively slacking over the summer on using BlueSky. But the mentions overnight summoned me. So - I’m back with more plain talk about our industry, more randomness, more BTS of yarn shop ownership, MOAR SHEEP

This week at the shop! Tuesday: Book signing with Deborah Held (and a sold-out class), so no community crafting circle - and After Dark Social Night is rescheduled to next Tuesday, 7/8. Shop opens at 11 AM on Wednesday. Closed on Friday/Saturday for the holiday weekend.

The weather may not be hot, but the patterns are... , by @StillyRiverYarn substack.com/@stillyriver...

“I’ll just go to bed when I’m tired,” she said. 1:45 AM sleepy time + weather change + work day with a giant yarn shipment coming in = bad news.

How is it the 4th week of WIP Bingo already!? If you haven't colored in square 11, we'd love for ya to check out our LYS partners - they are amazing! @stillyriveryarns.com @alittleknitty.bsky.social @theknottyknittress.bsky.social @stringfieldyarn.bsky.social and Cozy!

Some eager, astute knitters pinged me to let me know that I neglected to explain how to move the stitch marker after increase rows in our @lystour.com pattern, Calculated Stars. My apologies, and many thanks to y’all! Updated pattern tomorrow, video tutorial tonight: youtu.be/DX8vr_fv7tI?...

🚨 💉The FDA will no longer approve COVID vaccines for people 6mo–64yrs who don't have a risk factor for severe COVID-19. People 65 years and older and those under 65 with risk factors can still get vaccinated. There's so much to unpack here. See a few thoughts below 👇

Looking for something to use up all that yarn you got on the LYS Tour? Sign up for our How to Doodle class with the Queen of Doodles herself, Jamie Lomax! Saturday, May 31 from 3-5 PM. Registration is $75 and can be done in person or through our website: www.stillyriveryarns.com/store/p682/D...

And I might as well start gathering ideas for more designs, because @spl.org Summer Book Bingo came out today!! Book 1 done - “new-to-me format” (e-book from @bookshop.org ), How We Learn to Be Brave by @mariannbudde.bsky.social . So many good lessons and reminders.

@lystour.com was amazing, exhausting, motivating, and draining, all at once. Thank you SO MUCH to our visitors, volunteers, Lydia, Tour staff, and Tour board for a fantastic event. I took today totally off and will have a non-customer-facing day tomorrow. 😴

'Twas the day before Tour And all through the shops The clerks hustled madly To find "that one box" The discounts were set up In the POS with care In hopes that customers Soon would be there The shop teams made lists The customers made plans Owners posted reminders About where to park tour vans

I watch too many storm chasing streams. Thinking through how I'm going to sequence my mornings for LYS Tour and caught myself thinking, "If I carry both signs in the car, I can deploy them more efficiently..." Most people would say "set out," or "put them up." Not me. "Deploy." *sigh*

Ready for some @lystour.com pattern reveals since we're just a day and a half out? Here we go!!! Our crochet pattern is called Something You Can Cuddle Up In, featuring @berrocoyarn.bsky.social Wizard. Our knitting pattern is Calculated Stars, featuring Juniper Moon Farm Cotton + Merino.

What a day shearing yesterday! Made it through 4 Kerry Hill crosses (1 x BFL, 3 x Cheviot), tried a new-to-me pattern that will be my go-to from here on out (check out that blanket in the 2nd photo 😍), and taught a new shepherd how to skirt for milling.

One of the big advantages of our new location: PARKING GALORE, especially for @lystour.com! The red cars in the 2nd image show areas where you can park while visiting the shop. Please help us be good neighbors by NOT parking in condo resident spots across the alley from the shop (3rd image)!

Next up on our @pugetsoundlystour slow reveal, you might love our featured yarns so much you’ll need a bigger boat… errr… TOTE. Our knitting project will come in at just about $23; the crochet project will cost about $27 for the 1-ball size and $54 for the 2-ball size (all totals include tax).

We’re rolling out our @lystour.com pattern reveal over the next few days… first up, this year’s literary inspiration! I read both of these last year and was really touched by them. Our knitting pattern is called Calculated Stars, and our crochet pattern is called Something You Can Snuggle Up In.

The @lystour.com starts next Wednesday, and as your local #FullServiceYarnShop, we’re here for your travel planning needs. On the Tour page of our website, you’ll find detailed directions, all the info on parking for the shop, a list of parks, and a list of restaurants. And for the EV owners…

The LYS Tour is just the start of a summer of learning and community events at Stilly River Yarns. Join us on Saturday, May 31 from 3-5 PM for a class on How to Doodle with @pacificknitco.bsky.social herself! Register here: www.stillyriveryarns.com/store/p682/D...

The @lystour.com bags are now available in our online shop - and in-person tomorrow starting at 10 AM! Have us ship them or reserve one for pickup: www.stillyriveryarns.com/store/p681/L...

Chapter 6 of Domestic Wool Doldrums: what can you do to help improve the situation and learn more?

Clarification on something I’m seeing making the rounds from MULTIPLE sources: Berroco and KnitPicks were not sold to the private equity firm this week. They have been owned by the firm since autumn 2021. Jimmy Beans Wool and its subsidiaries are the ones sold this week. (1/🧵)

A note for those discussing the sale of Jimmy Beans & its associated brands - local yarn shops don’t get a say in these mergers, and sometimes we don’t even hear until after it’s hit the news that one of the companies we work with has been sold. 1 1/2 ⬇️

Chapter 5 of Domestic Wool Doldrums is here, and I’m talking about just three of the things we count on having in local yarn shops that… you can’t get domestically in commercially viable quantities. Chapter 6 will drop Wednesday - the topic will be “what do we do next?”

Chapter 4 of Domestic Wool Doldrums: mills and other infrastructure. We’re losing domestic commercial-capacity mills at an astounding rate - and micro mills aren’t able to produce enough yarn to satisfy domestic demand. Plus, we only have 2 commercial-capacity scouring facilities left in the US.

Nothing like thinking you’re almost done with a brioche section of a giant circular blanket when you re-read the directions and realize you VASTLY miscalculated the rounds remaining on the section. 😭 📓: Starflanket by Stephen West 🧶: Berroco Vintage in Mochi, Fennel, Douglas Fir, and… not Sunny

Home. Relaxing with a good audiobook (Paladin’s Faith by @tkingfisher.com ). Working on a secret project, but will be taking a break later to re-scour some wool from shearing school last year.

Thrilled to share that I’ve had an essay published in the Middlebury College alumni magazine - who knew it would be so timely when Matt Jennings, the editor-in-chief, invited me to write it last fall? Also blown away by Ben Kirchner’s illustration and how well it embodies shearing school 😆

🤬 This would hit SO MANY of us. And it’s being done very deliberately. Call your Senators. Now.

Chapter 4 of Domestic Wool Doldrums will be out tomorrow (there are 5 chapters total). Today’s a travel day, so I’m not going to be able to record well.

Sigh. The vacation that was not really a vacation, but living out an existential crisis on behalf of my business and shop community while also pretending to be totally present with my family. I hate this timeline. Anyway, here’s a view of stuff I love, made/designed by good humans. Details below

Chapter 3 of Domestic Wool Doldrums: wool prices. They’ve been declining since WWII. They’re laughably low, and when you can slaughter lambs and sell meat for $15/lb rather than 83 cents/lb for wool… it’s a hard sell to encourage folks to look at wool as viable production income.

Yep, I’ve seen the story that most tariffs have been paused for 90 days. But I still got a new price list from Ashford that goes into effect on Monday. No word from other vendors so far. And I’m STILL going to finish my one-bite talks about why our domestic wool industry is in bad shape.

Many thanks to @handmadeseller.bsky.social for inviting me to share my thoughts for their series on how tariffs are impacting the maker industry here in the US. First installment is here: www.handmadeseller.com/p/we-re-gonn...

Chapter 2 of Domestic Wool Doldrums, in which I explain why the US wool industry can’t just reboot to replace imports in 2 weeks/months/years. 🧶 Today’s topic: shearers. #StillyRiverYarns #FullServiceYarnShop #LocalYarnShop #AmericanWool #SheepShearing #tariffs #CantRebuildWhatDoesntExist

AHA I remembered where the download capacity was in IG. Here’s Chapter 1 of Domestic Wool Doldrums, direct on BlueSky. #tariffs #SmallBusinessLife #SmallBusiness #StillyRiverYarns #FullServiceYarnShop #AmericanSheep #AmericanWool

Per viewer request, I’m breaking down the 30-minute MegaLive (on the topic of why we can’t just jumpstart the domestic wool industry) into easily digestible short reels. Even though I’m on vacation, the conversation isn’t - tonight’s topic: sheep. www.instagram.com/reel/DILA8rI...

I have been knitting outside on the porch in the rain all morning and my hands are numb, but DAMN, I love vacation in the PNW.

Here’s the link to my IG Live from today - I’ll be attempting to post it to YouTube as well, but I really really have to get a newsletter out first. 😅 #SmallBusinessLife 🧶 www.instagram.com/reel/DIC0AWO...

Game on. I’m going to be going live on the shop Instagram today at 4:15 PM Pacific to talk about my experience with the domestic wool supply chain and why we can’t just start it up and get it going over the next few weeks. I’m calling to invite my elected representatives. Invite yours, too.

Just left the maximum-length voicemails for all 3 of my federal representatives telling them how tariffs are endangering my small business and so many others in Washington. No script, just my story. Call your reps and tell them yours.

Soooo, I got righteously angry and made a live video about tariffs. My apologies for sending folks over to the bad place, but I haven’t made enough YouTube shorts to earn live streaming privileges yet. You can watch it through the shop’s Instagram feed: www.instagram.com/reel/DH-OhCB...

Here’s our first notice of direct tariff impacts on goods we carry in the shop. Tariffs are taxes. Our wholesale prices on everything will go up, which means unfortunately our retail prices will need to go up. We made it through lockdown. I hope we can make it through this.

Overheard from the laundry room: “These pants [trousers] are never NOT going to smell like sheep, are they.” (Answer: nope… that’s why you get work pants [trousers] for your farm work)