Village Knitiot

I drove down to North Windham and finally got to look in at The Village Knitiot. It has more floor space than Naturally Fuzzy or Down Home, but not so much yarn as either of those. It’s probably the best local source for imported and luxury yarns. There’s a big selection of Misty Alpaca, a good color choice of some Norwegian mitten yarn (I mean, stuff that looks a little heavy for socks but light for sweaters), and lots of super bulky yarn. There was a news clipping on display with a headline something like “Nothing but Natural Fibers at Village Knitiot.”

The woman who runs the place (that would be Heather Lemire) was talking to me about Bartlett yarns, which I made my first sweater from. She said, “The alpaca is just too soft to wear well. Bartlett yarn is much better for something you’re going to wear shoveling snow or splitting wood.” That’s Maine knitters for you. She has been up to visit the Bartlett mill, which is about three hours from here. “It’s in the middle of nowhere. Actually you get to the middle of nowhere in about two hours, and then it’s another hour.” From a third generation Mainer, especially one with ancestors from “the county”, middle of nowhere means quite a bit. The controls of Bartlett’s antique machinery, still in use, are small because the machines were run by child labor in the days when that was the norm.

While I’m looking at Heather’s card, the phone number for The Village Knitiot is (207) 892-1128.