And my recollection is slightly different. I remember Karen coming up like she says, and Susan being enthusiastic because their posters were so pretty and she loves nature, and I'm thinking "WTF, I'm not going to Buffalo, WY!" So I asked to see their fiber. Because most lightly processed fiber is rough and I can't wear it, so it seemed a perfect out. Well the posters were pretty, but the fiber was luscious! Like any of us, common sense flies out the window when fabulous fiber is involved. And I liked the connection to the ranchers and their Basque heritage. So I said sure, we'd go to Buffalo.
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Beginnings
Karen Says:
This is the story of the beginnings of a great pairing and it started with two young companies.
We (Karen and Valerie) are Mountain Meadow Wool, a very young company with beautiful, locally grown merino wool yarn. We are engaged in what few others are – processing beautiful fibers here in ranch-country, focusing on the natural aspects of the wool raising, and processing in order to make a wonderful product.
June 2009 was our first time at the TNNA tradeshow in Long Beach, CA. We had a small booth, stuck back in the boonies with other newbies so not much traffic and Valerie and I do not do well just sitting and waiting for things to happen….BORING….so we took turns wandering the floor, making connections with other companies we thought looked interesting. Well it was my turn and I had seen these two beautiful red-headed women walking around. When I found their booth and saw the beautiful patterns I went straight back to Val and said “hey this company puts on these knitting retreats - lets ask them to come to Buffalo – it can’t hurt to ask, I just know they would looove it” Val is great she doesn’t discourage creativity or craziness so she just said “Are you nuts!”. That said we both went over and just blurted “You guys need to come to Buffalo, Wyomin’ and have one of those knitting retreats” or something really profound and smart like that. Susan and Jill looked at us and smiled and then we left……the rest is history!
We (Karen and Valerie) are Mountain Meadow Wool, a very young company with beautiful, locally grown merino wool yarn. We are engaged in what few others are – processing beautiful fibers here in ranch-country, focusing on the natural aspects of the wool raising, and processing in order to make a wonderful product.
June 2009 was our first time at the TNNA tradeshow in Long Beach, CA. We had a small booth, stuck back in the boonies with other newbies so not much traffic and Valerie and I do not do well just sitting and waiting for things to happen….BORING….so we took turns wandering the floor, making connections with other companies we thought looked interesting. Well it was my turn and I had seen these two beautiful red-headed women walking around. When I found their booth and saw the beautiful patterns I went straight back to Val and said “hey this company puts on these knitting retreats - lets ask them to come to Buffalo – it can’t hurt to ask, I just know they would looove it” Val is great she doesn’t discourage creativity or craziness so she just said “Are you nuts!”. That said we both went over and just blurted “You guys need to come to Buffalo, Wyomin’ and have one of those knitting retreats” or something really profound and smart like that. Susan and Jill looked at us and smiled and then we left……the rest is history!
Y2Knit and MMW meet
Susan says:
In June 2009, we were standing in the Y2Knit booth at TNNA when Karen (unknown to us at the time) came up to us and said something like, "Meredith from Fair Trade Knitters says you do the best retreats and we think Buffalo, WY would be a great place for a knitting retreat." She went on to enumerate some of the highlights to Buffalo and gave us some lodging possibilities. Jill walked back to the Mountain Meadow Wool booth with Karen and checked out the yarn. She was pleased and gave me the nod to checking further into this as a retreat location.
Back home a few days later, we checked out the Occidental Hotel and Paradise Guest Ranch on the web. We began to see the possibilities: not too difficult to get to, interesting history, shopping, places to eat, minimal transportation needed, and, of course, this new Mountain Meadow Wool Mill. Certainly that would be a draw!
In June 2009, we were standing in the Y2Knit booth at TNNA when Karen (unknown to us at the time) came up to us and said something like, "Meredith from Fair Trade Knitters says you do the best retreats and we think Buffalo, WY would be a great place for a knitting retreat." She went on to enumerate some of the highlights to Buffalo and gave us some lodging possibilities. Jill walked back to the Mountain Meadow Wool booth with Karen and checked out the yarn. She was pleased and gave me the nod to checking further into this as a retreat location.
Back home a few days later, we checked out the Occidental Hotel and Paradise Guest Ranch on the web. We began to see the possibilities: not too difficult to get to, interesting history, shopping, places to eat, minimal transportation needed, and, of course, this new Mountain Meadow Wool Mill. Certainly that would be a draw!
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