Please Add Me To Your Newsletter

Winter 2009

Winter has settled in for what looks like a long stay in Maine.  One reason we all choose to live here is the immediate and unavoidable connection to our natural surroundings, in this case to the deep blanket of snow, the wood fires it necessitates, children hurrying home early to ski at the Snow Bowl.  At Swans Island winter is a time for taking stock, weaving next season's products, and creating new designs. This winter we are busily revamping the dye house, increasing its capacity to prepare for our newest project: Swans Island Yarns. We often receive queries about whether people can buy the beautiful hand-dyed yarns we use to weave our blankets and throws. By this summer we will be able to answer ‘yes’. More on this to follow!

We have at last seen ourselves through the eyes of a group of Japanese artists and journalists who came to last year's shearing day on Nash Island.  A long article on Swans Island recently appeared in Kun:el (Eat/Sleep), a Japanese magazine focused on the most minute details of food and hand craft.  During their stay I Maine our new friends wanted to know everything about dying, weaving and finishing.  Rather than the broad, posed photos we are used to in Western media, the Kun:el article pictures the wash up sink, some dye substance in a container, and fleece in a cardboard box; a different and wonderful sensibility.  Through this relationship we are now selling successfully in a great Tokyo store called Quico, where twin blankets are preferred over king and queen sizes.

Winter is also a time to go to New York for “the shows”. This involves packing up our gear and making the pilgrimage to the New York International Gift Show in January at the Javits Center. This is a huge “to the trade only” exhibition and it’s a good way to catch up with current wholesalers and meet new ones. This year we are for the first time also participating in the Architectural Digest/NY Times show March 26-29 on the Hudson River piers (54th and West Side Drive). It’s a great opportunity to see the best in American art and craft, open to the public, and we are inviting our friends to come by and see us. If any readers are in the Big Apple in March please pay a visit.

Visit Us
If you have any plans to visit Maine this year, please include us in your itinerary. On the way up you could stop in Freeport to visit the Thomas Moser store where our blankets are on display, or even stay at the Harraseeket Inn's new Moser-furnished suite, where you can sleep under a beautiful Swans Island blanket.


Back to Current Newsletter

Past Newsletters
Winter 2010
Fall 2009
Summer 2009
Spring 2009
Winter 2009
Fall 2008
Summer 2008
Spring 2008