There is no friend like an old friend.
Almost 26 years ago, I made friends with a very dear and very talented person who absolutely changed the course of my life.
We were venturing through New Zealand and a friend had given me the name of someone on a small slip of paper in a letter, which had been from another friend of hers, when they heard mention that I was to be traveling through New Zealand. I had learned to knit (as an adult versus my feeble attempts as a child) from another good friend only weeks previously, when that friend heard I was to be traveling through New Zealand, so I was a fresh out of the stable knitter still wrestling with the needles, as my husband, Bob, and I wove to and fro through the countryside with our then three year old daughter Rosemary. I had been making hand made dolls at the time and I was on the lookout for yarn for doll hair, and whatever else struck my fancy. The endless green countryside was lovely and the friendly and hospitable faces of the Kiwi folks were even lovelier. Anna was a kind soul, and the day we spent at her yarn shed, I bought my first batch of her beautiful handyed multicolor New Zealand wool, as well as the wonderful naturally colored shades that have been our staple, sturdy, well wearing wool ever since. On that same trip I purchased yarn and fibers from a variety of sources, but none surpassed the quality and special touch of those from Anna. And so, our relationship across the miles began, and continues to this day. It is not often that I get to spend a morning and cup of deliciously strong coffee with rich New Zealand cream in the courtyard of Anna's lovely garden, and so, as I sat face to face with her once again, I savored every single moment, and held in my heart and memory the sound of her voice and the features of her face and long hair as we discussed life both backwards and forwards. From there, we wandered through the yarn colors and behind the scene mill… the combers and spinners, machines to make hanks, and all the bins and bags that are the source of what eventually becomes that lovely yarn we have all come to know and love as Little Wool Company.
When I think of all that goes into what we run through our fingertips, and eventually we and our loved ones wear in Alaska and beyond, I am in awe. It is not often that the one who raises the sheep takes it from the sheep in the pen through the whole process, going all the way through to beautiful dyeing and on to the New Zealand post office and to us here in Alaska. It is a marvelous thing. It is wonderful to reconnect to the source of my love and passion for knitting, and for that which was the seed of The Net Loft’s growth into a full fledge yarn shop, and all from the making of a brand new friend from a tiny slip of paper.
Thank you Anna,
And thanks to those of you whose appreciation for Little Wool Company yarns through the years have helped keep Anna dyeing , as well as helped nurture the fledgling Net Loft into what it is today.
I hope you are enjoying this time of family and friends, of festival and celebration.
For, after all,
There is no friend, like an old friend.
Make new friends and keep the old..
One is silver and the other is gold.
Grace Akhrem
Tree Knitter
