Thursday, March 27, 2008

Open Again!

Springwater was at death’s door not three months ago. Now, thanks to contributions of over $110,000 to save Springwater, we’re open again! Supply store, classes, the works. Sure ways to know we are fully functioning, I think, are: that the postman actually delivers our mail; great staff is almost fully back in place; the UPS guy is learning our names again, slowly (which means we’re getting great stuff in on a regular basis); and the fibers in the store are actually matching the flowers coming up in front of our windows.








(photo courtesy Cori Martinelli)




New Supply Store Hours are:

Mon 11:30-5
Tue 11:30-7
Wed 11:30-7
Thu 11:30-8
Fri 11:30-7
Sat 10-7
Sun 12-5

Everything around here will now be happening in smaller steps. What we carry in the store will be driven first and foremost by the needs of our classes and students (please refer to our newsletter), by our mission to teaching and preserve the fiber arts, and by our commitment to pay down the remainder of the debt we carry.

There are still some disconnects: if you are not getting our newsletter or e-mail blasts, call us (703/549-3634) or email us info@springwaterfiber.org. Something happened in the technical soup, and many people have fallen from our mailing lists despite their unquestionable value to us. Please keep in touch with us. As Dionne says, it’s the Ghost in the Machine. If we’ve lost track of you, we want you back!

We're thinking about the website, but for the moment -- unless someone comes up with a huge pot of money to overhaul it -- the website will primarily be a tool to get you to our online newsletter (e.g., class information) and to this blog (check for updates every Friday).

New Arrivals

In the store: We’ve gotten in even more colorways of the fantastic bamboo fiber pictured above (Royal Bamboo, 100% bamboo); new summer yarns La Spezia (100% cotton) and Evita (cotton/acrylic/rayon) arrived last week in fab summer colors; and just today our books and magazines began to arrive. Get the Italian yarns while you can -- while they’re brilliant and light, they are also the end of their lineage -- we cannot get more.

Also check out the beginnings of what will inevitably be a felting department; some cool pre-felt squares and yardage have been added to our gorgeous merino top. For spinners and weavers, we’ve gotten lovely colors of domestic roving, both dyed and natural, and there are some nice fresh cones of all the basics. We’ve also just received a new dye lot from our own SPECTRUM line, dyed right here at Springwater.

Come by! Take a class! Join a group! We hope to see you soon!