Visiting Battenkill Fibers on the Farm to Fiber Tour

We've been fortunate to have some beautiful fall days to spend outside. One weekend in October we visited the Battenkill Fibers Carding & Spinning Mill as part of the Farm to Fiber Tour. The owner of the mill gave us a tour and we explored a bit on our own as well!

This mill is special because each sheep (or alpaca) owner gets back their original fleeces. It's not a cooperative where what you get back might not be the same quality you sent in. Everything was carefully labeled and while it seemed a bit chaotic to us, the owner knew what everything was and where it was going!

Scroll through the photos below to see the process:

1. Fleeces ready to be worked on
2. Washed wool that is drying
3. Ready to be processed
4. Carding
5. Drafting
6. Spinning

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A post shared by Marion's Mittens (@marionsmittens)

It was definitely an interesting look at where much of our local yarn comes from. And beyond, too! There were fleeces from Maine to the Midwest in for processing. 

#Fiberuary Challenge 2020

The #FiberuaryChallenge provides a daily theme for posting yarn art photos to Instagram. Here's what I've come up with at the halfway point:

@MarionsMittens

Seventh Year of Marion's Mittens on Etsy

We just completed our seventh year on Etsy! This was a slower year than in the past - my real job has been busy and so knitting has taken a bit of a backseat. We still accomplished quite a bit in the past year.

800 Sales Milestone

We reached 800 sales in our Etsy shop! Thanks to everyone who supported us in achieving this milestone. 

Wonderful, Happy Customers

Again, we are always excited to work with and hear from our customers. The have such nice things to say, and are pretty awesome themselves!

"Great product and speedy delivery! Thanks so much!" - Cheryl, November 21, 2019

"I absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE these mittens!!!!" - Heather, November 17, 2019

"Just about to start this cowl and look forward to completing it. Love the stitch design." - Sue, August 9, 2019

"This blanket was very well made and made a beautiful christening blanket for my godson" - Leslie, April 10, 2019

"These mittens were absolutely perfect! So warm and well made, and they were sent really quickly as I had a deadline! Thank you 😊" - Milly, March 24, 2019

The Hook Nook Collab

I had the opportunity to guest post on The Hook Nook blog again this year! This time around I wrote about the pros and cons of selling made to order vs. from an inventory. You can read the post here.

shop scarves | buy pattern

Pattern Releases and Updates

I worked with the Ravelry community to test and update my thumbless mini mittens pattern, as well as release a new double moss cowl pattern. Read about my pattern making experience over here.

Read more of our anniversary updates: 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015

Marion's Mittens >> Handmade Seller Tips on The Hook Nook

My blog post is over on The Hook Nook this week! You can read about my tips for handmade sellers who are trying to decide whether to make items to order or sell from an inventory of pre-made items. Click here to read the post on THN website!

You can also check out my previous post on THN about strategies for selling handmade part time.

Find me on Ravelry

Shop Marion's Mittens on Etsy

Busy November & Sign up for Savings!

We've been having a busy and fun November! The month kicked off with a wedding in the family and over the weekend we celebrated a milestone birthday. There hasn't been a whole lot of time for knitting but I've squeezed in just a little bit.

THN Feature

The month kicked off with a guest blog post on the Hook Nook. I shared my strategies for selling handmade items when you also have a full time day job. Read the post.

Custom Knitting

No matter how many pairs of mittens we knit and keep stocked in our shop, someone's bound to request a custom order. This hat will be worn by a toddler during his family photo shoot over Thanksgiving! View Marion's Mittens on Etsy.

Big Sales Happening Soon!

Our best and biggest sale is always during Black Friday / Cyber Monday weekend. Marion loves a coupon and always shops on sale, so we like to extend the opportunity to our loyal shoppers! Sign up to receive our biggest promo code of the year in your inbox.

Marion's Mittens >> Fall Maker Series on The Hook Nook Life

This week's blog post is over on the Hook Nook! I was honored to be chosen for a feature by the team at THN. Jessica's Instagram is beautiful and inspirational.

I decided to write about strategies for success when you have a limited amount of time. Marion's Mittens is not my full time job. It's what I do for fun after work. But to make it work for me and my customers, I have to plan ahead.

Read the full post on THN!

If you're new and just finding me from THN - welcome! I'm Laura, and my grandmother and I knit all the items you'll find in our Marion's Mittens shop. We use her vintage 1940s patterns and super soft yarn to make cozy mittens and a lot more. You can see what we've been up to on Instagram @MarionsMittens

Finding and Cleaning Up an Antique Sewing Cabinet

During my road trip to Green Mountain Spinnery and Basketville I also stopped at several Vermont antique shops. Big Red Barn had some reasonably priced treasures and almost everything was on sale.

Buried beneath trinkets, the popped open top drawer of this piece caught my eye. Nothing catches my attention like a secret compartment or a unique piece of furniture like this!

It's a sewing cabinet with a swing out top drawer that has built in thread spool storage. It even came with a little bit of thread inside.

It just looks like a normal drawer when it's closed. As you can see, it wasn’t in the prettiest shape when I found it.

A good cleaning and some beeswax polish made a big difference in how the cabinet looks.

I did a little research and found similar swing out drawers for spools but nothing just like this one. It looks like the base might have been attached later, so maybe this was re-purposed.

See a little video clip of how it works on my Instagram

Read about my other piece of vintage sewing furniture, a Martha Washington 

Martha Washington Sewing Cabinet - Antique Storage for Knitting Supplies

I have inherited many pieces of antique furniture but this is the first one I've purchased. It's a Martha Washington sewing cabinet that will be perfect for storing all of my knitting supplies! (I already have another grandmother's wooden sewing caddy for those supplies.) 

This particular piece was produced for John Wanamaker department stores. I found a copy of their advertisement offering Martha Washington cabinets for the low price of $12 back in 1914. That's about $286 in today's dollars! 

My cabinet is likely made of mahogany. It may date to the late 1800s as it has irregularly sized (handmade) dovetails. 

That's about all I was able to learn in my initial search. If you know anything else about this piece, I'd love to learn more! In the meantime, I plan on applying some beeswax polish and looking for some matching knobs to replace the broken ones.

100% Cotton Wash Cloths

Sometimes I get a little tired of going around in circles. (Knitting, that is... all of our mittens are knitted in the round.)

For the last couple of months, I've been knitting squares instead! Our new washcloth pattern is simple and creates a great texture for cleaning.

The yarn is 100% cotton. It's an ombre of blues, teals, and green and winds up making an irregular striped pattern on the finished item.

Use these washcloths on your face, in the kitchen, or for cleaning. The mini size is about 7" by 7" and is versatile enough for just about anything. The texture would probably be great for dusting, too, but I haven't tried that yet!

See all washcloths

Crochet Top Hanging Kitchen Towels | Housewarming Gift Ideas

I wanted to write this post about the history of crochet top dish towels. After half an hour spent searching on Google, I couldn't find a single thing about why people started crocheting the tops of their dish towels. There are lots of posts with patterns, and quite a few on the history of embroidered and handmade dish towels, but nothing on why crocheting the tops is so popular.

Crochet top dish towels are a staple at craft fairs. We often received them as gifts when I was growing up. You can see the appeal: they're a lot harder to lose when they stay attached to the oven door.

Some people who make these cut the towel in half first, and then crochet the top half of each one. That way they have two to sell or give away, but the down side is that they're thinner.

Our crochet top dish towels are "double thick" which means it's one regular dish towel folded over and then crocheted to hang.

Here's a sampling of the ones that we have made. There are lots of themes to choose from. See our shop for more.

Do you know anything about the history of these crafty towels? Let me know!

Shop crochet top double kitchen towels

Holiday Delivery Deadlines with USPS for 2015

Wow, it's already December! I hope you had a great Thanksgiving this year. I know I had a good time with Marion and family last week. Some kitties, too!

If you haven't already started your holiday shopping, now's the time to begin thinking about it. We may be 24 days away from the big day, but shipping deadlines end well before December 25.

The USPS announced its shipping deadlines way back in October.

Here are the deadlines for the shipping options that Marion's Mittens customers choose most often:

• December 19 for First Class Mail - typically delivered in 2-9 days
• December 21 for Priority Mail - typically delivered in 1-3 days
• December 23 for Priority Mail Express - guaranteed overnight delivery for the procrastinators!

The Marion's Mittens shop will turn off the First Class Mail option on December 15. We want to make sure that your package reaches you in time for gift giving, so we'll only offer Priority Mail or Priority Mail Express shipping after December 15.

The First Class Mail shipping option will be turned back on after Christmas.

Shop Marion's Mittens for 150+ gifts that are ready for next day shipment: mittens for all ages, chunky infinity scarves, and soft afghans.

Catching Up With Marion's Mittens in November

So much has been going on with the shop that I thought I should blog about it! This post will be a mish-mash of chit-chat. (How's that for a tongue twister?)

Organizing the Yarn Stash

I think that all of the yarn dances and plays at night. That's the only explanation I can come up with for its being so tangled! I've spent quite a bit of time trying to get it organized again. This yarn stash is pretty small compared to most knitters... but you're not seeing the boxes and boxes of yarn at Marion's house! This is just the tip of the iceberg.

In addition to full skeins of yarn, there's also quite the collection of leftover pieces. These are great for making mini mittens or the crocheted strings that connect a pair of kids' mittens. Keeping them under control is another story! I'm working on it...

Mini Mittens for Babies & Toddlers

Sales for mini mittens have taken off! More of you have ordered mini mittens from the Marion's Mittens shop in the last month than in the whole time I've been on Etsy. They were always popular at craft fairs, but I'm glad to see them getting some love online.  :)

I've been knitting a bunch to keep up with demand. This week has been all about pink. There are at least four pink shades to choose from now!

see all of our mini mittens for babies & toddlers

Preparing for the Holidays

Could it really be that the holidays are almost here? The year goes by so quickly! I've been stocking up on shipping supplies - poly mailers, labels, and tissue paper - so orders are ready to go out the door ASAP. New this year are bubble mailers for small quantities of mini mittens. There was an issue with a lost package and hopefully this method will keep them from getting lost in the shuffle.

Instagram

I've really been enjoying Instagram. If you don't already, consider following @MarionsMittens for more updates like this blog post.  :)

Visit the Marion's Mittens shop on Etsy for hand knitted mittens, afghans, scarves, and baby sweater sets. There are more than 150 items in stock and ready to ship!

Cozy Afghans for Chilly Fall Nights

It's starting to get chilly here but I'm not ready to turn on the heat just yet! I try to wait until the end of October for that since heating costs are high. Instead, I snuggle up with cozy blankets!

There are many afghans in our shop right now. Although these are listed as baby afghans, they would be perfect to tuck around yourself as a lap afghan while you watch TV or read.

Here are a few of our color choices:

cream afghan

blue ombre afghan

pink and blue afghan

Shop all afghans

Click here for our white afghan

See You in September!

It's finally warming up and the snow is mostly melted! Spring is just about here. We'll start posting on this blog again in the fall. Until then, here are some other places to find us:

• The Marion's Mittens Etsy shop remains open year-round. Our baby afghans and sweaters make perfect shower gifts!
• If you're looking for our home decor, it's moved to our new Etsy shop called Best Bet Design. Shop table linens, printable art, and more!

See you back here in September!  :)

P.S. Follow our blog on Feedly or follow our blog with Bloglovin so that you know when we're posting again!

Marion's Mittens Featured in Salem Style Blog

I just wanted to take a moment to thank Lianna over at Salem Style for featuring Marion's Mittens on her blog last week! Lianna and I met in one of the Etsy teams. She features lots of Etsy sellers on her blog, as well as posting about fashion ideas and inspiration. She's got a great personal style!

If you have a minute, click the image below to head on over to Salem Style and read the feature.

You can also check out the other places that have featured Marion's Mittens.

How to Keep Your Hands Warm During Frigid Winter Weather

multicolor mittens for adults

Brr, it's been cold! I've been living in my mittens for the past week. Here in New York the temperature hasn't risen above 20 degrees, and it's often closer to 0 or below.

As someone who suffers from Raynaud's phenomena, my hands are particularly icy. Having poor circulation is not a good thing in the winter. So, from years of experience, here are some of my tips for keeping your hands warm when it's super cold.

Wear Mittens or Gloves

This is kind of a no-brainer, but keep your hands covered to maintain warmth! I prefer mittens in most cases, because my fingers seem to stay warmer when they're together.

One craft fair customer asked me if Marion's Mittens are warm enough for the winter chill. They're fine for average days, but for someone like me, they're not quite enough on frigid days with major wind chills. For those days I either layer two pairs of Marion's Mittens or wear insulated and waterproof LL Bean mittens. 

Use Hand Warmers

The Grabber warmers are awesome for keeping you warm over an extended period outdoors. I stick them in my mittens or in my pockets.

extra long scarf

Layer

Keeping your torso warm holds heat in that areas so it isn't pulled from your extremities. Wear a few layers of tops and consider a scarf, too! 

Try Fish Oil

While I take a prescription medication to keep my Raynaud's in check, it's often not enough, especially in the winter. A daily fish oil supplement can make a difference in keeping my hands warm.

Cozy up With a Heated Blanket or Heating Pad

My heated blanket and heating pad are my best friends! The blanket is great when I'm on the couch or at my desk. I wrap it around like a shawl and am nice and warm while I work. I use the heating pad to warm up the bed before I get in at night.

The heating pad is also great for warming up my clothes in the morning. Who wants to go from a warm bed to icy clothes? I lay the clothes on the heating pad while I brush my teeth and then they're warm and toasty when I put them on.

Keep Moving

I tend to get cold when I sit for extended periods of time. A walk, some yoga, or even housework can all help you to warm up. 

It can be tempting to take a hot shower to warm up your hands. Resist the temptation of they're extra chilly - the hot water can be painful! Instead, make sure your hands (and feet) are reasonably warm before hitting the shower.

Hopefully some of these tips will help you stay warm this winter. Bundle up and stay cozy!

Shop Marion's Mittens

Attending a Craft Fair in Ballston Spa, NY on November 22

Marion's Mittens will be attending our last craft fair this holiday season on Saturday! At least I think it's the last... I usually find at least one more to attend. But if you'd prefer to choose your mittens in person, this is the last one on the calendar.

This weekend's craft fair will be at the Ballston Area Community Center from 9 AM to 2 PM. Mittens for kids and adults will be $5 off the Etsy shop prices! Plus, there's no shipping when you shop locally.

Please come out and support us, the other crafters, and the vendors at the event. We'd all appreciate it. 

Look for our display!

And if you can't make it, don't forget you can always shop online at Marion's Mittens' Etsy store.

Marion's Mittens & Handmadeology Encourage You to Shop Unique for the Holidays!

I've joined Handmadeology's Shop Unique initiative to encourage you to choose handmade gifts this holiday season. While it's important to shop locally, ordering from artisans on Etsy also supports small businesses and individuals all over the world.

photo courtesy of Handmadeology

The folks at Handmadeology explain it best:

"We are the real sellers on Etsy – some of us are running our shop as a side-business, while others are selling full-time. We are moms, dads, sons, daughters. You see us selling at craft shows and boutiques. We are entrepreneurs, risk-takers, and passion-sharers. We want to share our creativity with the world and help connect you to real-life makers – not a robot or a disconnected manufacturer."

Check out Handmadeology's website for a blog post about this idea and to see a list of hundreds of places where you can purchase handmade gifts. I'm sure you'll find something you like!

And if you're looking for cozy gifts to keep your friends and family warm, Marion's Mittens are always a perfect fit. We offer hand knitted mittens in four sizes for babies, four sizes for kids, and one size for adults. We've also got scarves, baby sweaters, baby afghans, and some vintage items. Visit us on Etsy to find your perfect gift today!

Marion's Mittens Attending Colonie, NY Craft Fair on November 8

Come and visit us at the Pine Grove United Methodist Church Craft Fair on Saturday, November 8!

From the event website:

Forget the long lines, find easy parking and unique gift ideas. You can get all of this and more at the event. There are over 30 businesses to choose from this year. Its our largest event ever!! There will be at least 2 baskets over $100.00 that will given away that day!!! See you there. The holidays are coming faster than you think, make your life easy and shop early.

Want a free or extra raffle ticket? Print this flyer, bring it to my table at the event so I can sign it, and drop it off!

Facebook event link

Etsy event link

Selling Hand Knit Mittens at Craft Fairs vs. Etsy

Today I had planned to write a post about the craft and vendor fair I attended yesterday. Since I don't have anything nice to say about that event, I'll write about something else, instead!

My Etsy customers are the best. Many of them (67 as of today) have taken the time to give 5-star reviews and write some really wonderful comments. I love sharing that feedback with my grandmother. She's always so happy to hear that people are enjoying her mittens.

Each and every one of my sales on Etsy has been a great experience. I'm so grateful that I've been able to sell our mittens to customers all over the world. The mittens have gone all over the USA, to Canada, to the United Kingdom, to Ireland, and more! They've been used on movie sets, as Halloween costumes, and just to keep people warm.

As for yesterday, at least our display looked nice. I'll continue to count on Etsy as a way to provide mittens to great customers.  :)

Shop Marion's Mittens on Etsy!