It takes a village to knit a pair of mitts...................

Lot of people talk about buying local. 

But a lot of it is just that ...  talk.  When it comes to a purchase, they seek out the faceless, lowest price of Wal-Mart. When you buy local ... you buy from faces.  People you know.  Places you have been.  Neighbors.  Friends.

This is a story of a pair of fingerless mitts......... and the four women it took to make them.

First on the list ..........is my dear friend and neighbor ... Sheepie Neighbor.  Corrine raises Shetland Sheep.  Very pretty Shetland Sheep with lots of incredibly soft fleece.  She has a wether named Rocky that has always been a favorite of mine.  An oatmeal colored yarn ... it is bouncy and has a lot of loft.  It actually doesn't matter .... Sheepie's yarn is wonderful to knit with so I always try to have some of it in my stash.

Last spring as always ....she sheared Rocky and took the fleece to Abi for processing into roving.  Abi does great color!  And now, along with washing and processing wool .... she  is spinning local fiber for her own line of yarn. 

Sheepie Neighbor gets the roving back and pays Abi.

Abi buys groceries.

Sheepie Neighbor now gives the roving to Cassie.  Cassie custom spins while producing her own fabulous yarn that she sells on Etsy and at local farmers markets.

Cassie gives the finished yarn to Sheepie Neighbor.  Sheepie pays Cassie.

Cassie buys hay for her sheep and goats.

(Notice .... Sheepie Neighbor is doing a lot of paying!!!  And up to now ... she has fed, sheared and cared for Rocky.  Its time for her to be paid!!!)

I had made a couple of hats and a cowl from Rocky's yarn and had them for sale in the Summer Kitchen.  But I had run out of the yarn.

A customer asked for a pair of fingerless mitts to match the hat and cowl she was buying.  I went right to my phone ... and called Sheepie Neighbor.

Do you have any more of Rocky's yarn?

She had one last skein. 

(Try that at Wal-Mart without pressing one for English,  hitting  two more buttons, hearing a sigh of disgust and the answer ... "No.  We're sold out.  We're not carrying that anymore.)

Now it was Sheepie Neighbor's turn to be paid.

She bought chicken feed.

And I knitted.

Four women with faces in eastern Iowa.  We all contributed to one pair of mitts.  Four women were able to pay one more bill.  Buy groceries for supper.... feed for the animals.... gas in the car.  Four women got a little farther along in their business because one woman made the decision to buy local.

Thank you, Angela.

From of all of us.