You gotta love Blue Bonnet Yarn in Cedar Park, Texas.   Ever since they found out about us in May we get a monthly order from them for more Pagewood Farm Yarn. It's getting to be like clockwork.  And their customers can’t seem to wait for the Pagewood Farm yarn to arrive. I hear it gets a little rough when the Pagewood Farm yarn order comes in. How do I know?  I have ways.

We get lots of e-mails from customers of LYS (Local Yarn Shops).  That's one of the nice things about being an Indy Dyer.  People know that when they e-mail Pagewood it's read by someone in charge.  (In charge of myself, that's about it)   Sometimes we get one that really stands out. Remember Kitten early in our blog history coming up with new yarn names. Our latest "stands out" customer is John Francis (The Dude). His LYS is Bluebonnet Yarn Shop in Cedar, Texas.

John Francis writes and tells us about what goes on when the orders come in.  He writes other stuff too.  If you want to get to know him better, you should check out his blog at http://knittingwithjf.blogspot.com.

Back to the why did he stand out?   I ask for photos of samples of what people make out of Pagewood Farm yarn.  John Francis sends me this beautiful Chugiak Table Runner photo.

Pattern: Lace Leaf Scarf from Janet D. Russell on Ravelry
Yarn: Pagewood Farm, Chugiak Sock, 1 skein
Colorway: Olives
Needles: 4, straight, 12” bamboo
Blocked: 82” x 11”

Here's what it looks like in his dining room.

I make another request for sample photos and here's another he sent.  Chugiak in our Meadow colorway.

And here's still another Chugiak shawl (Mardi Gras).

Why else did he stand out?  When I saw his picture, I thought "The Dude" knits? And the e-mails keep coming.  A little male connection to the knitting world out there.  When I was down because nobody liked my t-shirt idea and I thought that knitters would never represent (knitting bags don't count), here comes an e-mail from John Francis "The Dude" telling me he'd represent in a Pagewood Farm tee-shirt.  Picture this guy in a Pagewood Farm Tee.

Almost as cool as me.  Maybe more.   Dude.  It's in the mail.

I decided on a name for my new yarn shop series of  blog entries.  It will be called "Featured Yarn Shop."  Which means that I got permission to post the photos, so our initial featured shop will be Lila & Claudine's, located on 86 Mahtomedi  Ave., Mahtomedi, Minnesota.

The shop is owned by Kirsten Skoglund and her sister, Polly Hart. Kirsten told me that Polly is the artist and has done all of the really cool stuff in their shop. They have been open for 90 days and are having a blast. It’s become a local "destination" and from these pictures you can see why.

They named the shop after their grandmothers.  According to Kirsten, Polly is like Lila was and Kirsten is more your Scandiavian type like Claudine was.  This photo of the two grandmothers marks one entrance to their basement shop.

Another entrance can only be described as the bottle wall.

The interesting glasswork on the wall came from next door.  Apparently, Polly taught herself to cut glass.  Then they scrounged bottles from the bar next door.  You heard it right.  The bar saved all the bottles from one day's sales.  This glasswork is made up of beer bottle bottoms and tops that Polly cut off the bottles and attached to the wall.   This next photo shows more of the glass wall and I think one of the grandmothers?  pointing the way to the shop.

Down the stairs into the shop.

Another great idea that Polly had was covering up some unsightly pillars that were, to put it mildly, unsightly.  She got bricks of all shapes and sizes.  Then she stained them and made a mosaic-like appearance.  One workman wondered if they wanted to have a professional bricklayer do it.  No thanks.

Here is a closer view of the wall.  Yes, there are little stuffed critters in the walls.  They are great for child-care.  The kids can gather up the little stuffed animals and find spots for them in the brick walls.

What follows can only be described as "WOW!" as I let the rest of these photos speak for themselves.

Check out the floors.  Polly painted them.

It's Coloricious (I think I made that up)

And this is just a small sample.

Kirsten and Polly.  Thanks for the tour.  If you want your shop to be featured, send me some photos.