Silk Tidings
Tiding Newsletter
Janauary 6, 2013
Happy New Year!
The number 13 has always been lucky for me, so I’m excited about this coming year.
And, is there a better way to celebrate the New Year than with a luscious New Zealand wool fleece?! They’ve arrived and they are gorgeous!
This year we have nine different breeds for a total of 51 fleeces—only seven Gotlands so we’re handling those differently, with the goal of trying to be fair to everyone.
For the Gotland fleeces (and JUST the Gotland fleeces) we’re holding an “opportunity to purchase” lottery. Details are here but the concept is: you put your name in for any (or all) of the Gotland fleeces and then we draw seven winning names on January 18, 2013 and those seven people will be given the opportunity to purchase a Gotland fleece.
For all other fleeces, it’s the usual “first come, first served”. And, we carefully check the date/time stamp on phone answering machine and online orders to honor our “first come, first served” policy.
Our official office hours are Monday-Thursday, 9-4 Mountain Time, but you don’t need to wait for Monday morning to order—we’ll carefully ‘queue up’ all orders.
Forever in Silk! --
Susan & Richard & Kiku
NEW ZEALAND FLEECES
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| Polworth Ram |
The New Zealand fleeces have arrived! For complete details on the fleeces click here.
The year we’re offering:
AND, we also have Gotland Fleeces!
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| Gotland Sheep |
For the Gotland fleeces (and ONLY the Gotland fleeces) we’re holding an “opportunity to purchase” lottery. Details are here but the concept is: you put your name in for any (or all) of the Gotland fleeces and then we draw seven winning names on January 18, 2013 and those seven people will be given the opportunity to purchase a Gotland fleece.
As always, we include information about the breed, photos, micron and staple length, best uses for the fleece, and a few tips for spinning here.
Have fun picking your fleeces…each fleece is a one-of-a-kind so we are careful to process your purchases in the order they arrive. When you send in your order please include the fleece number, breed, weight and color. It is advisable to include a second and even a third choice in case your first choice has already been shipped out.
NZ FLEECE TRAVEL SAGA
This year it was an adventure to track the bale from NZ to Denver. It landed in LAX just before Christmas, but then was trucked to Denver rather than flown (contrary to the shipping instructions). I spent several days and many hours trying to figure out WHO knew where it was, plus how and when it was expected to arrive.
Precious cargo, but why so worried? Treenway Silks’ phone number was written incorrectly on the AirWayBill (!) so I was concerned no one could reach me! Plus, with the holidays, transportation office hours varied. Communication with the shipping company was in NZ so with the time zone differences, it took a while to hear back.
I managed to track the bale down literally two minutes after it was recorded in the system as “arrived and waiting to clear customs”. And, even better, 30 minutes later, just as I was leaving the house for the customs’ office, with paperwork in hand, the phone rang.
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| 4-ft high bale opened at warehouse and ready to unpack |
On the line was a very enterprising employee at Swiss Port Cargo. She had googled Treenway Silks and found our correct phone number and was calling to let me know the fleece was here! How great to know people will go the extra mile to solve a problem!
Once the fleece had cleared customs, there was a little miscommunication between husband and wife (does that ever happen to you? LOL!) Richard had gallantly unloaded the 350 lb bale from our truck. Only problem was we have no space here in the garage this year so the fleeces need to be at our warehouse.
What to do? I wracked my brain with several alternatives (storing them in the guest room—after all, they’re just visiting us!) but Richard is extremely enterprising. And, without me knowing what he was doing, he used a winch and got that bale, which is nearly three times his weight, onto the truck!
Kiku (our pup) Update
Kiku’s Total Hip Replacement surgery is less than two weeks away! Treenway Silks will close at noon on January 17, 2013 so I can drive Kiku to the Colorado State University Vet hospital for her prep work. Surgery is the next day.
It’s been cold, so between me being a baby about winter and busy with year end inventory and accounting, we’ve not been walking much the last couple weeks. But, Kiku went swimming again—BEST DAY EVER! We’re going to try to swim three more times before the surgery.
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| Kiku loves to swim! |
TREENWAY SILKS’ TRAVEL SCHEDULE
Treenway Silks will be on the road at TNNA (The National Needlework Association) trade show in Long Beach, CA. This is our first time exhibiting at this show.
We will stop shipping orders on January 25, 2013 and begin shipping again on February 8, 2013
We’ll be answering emails during this time (phone calls, too, but there will be a few day delay)
If your local shop owner will be at this show, have them stop by our booth #667.
COLOR NOW! SKEINS
We have a few new colors in…and many have sold. Check here for the latest colors and yarn types.
Remember, prices going up January 18, 2013 so this is a great time to build your stash!