"Trouble at Mill"

That's Yorkshire speak....

Here's what REALLY happened at the Mill!

All Rowan Ambassadors were present and accounted for bright and early Tuesday morning when our man at Rowan, Karl, arrived to pick us all up in the "Last of the Summer Wine" tour bus!

You might not be familiar with this UK television show, but it ran from 1973 to 2010 and focussed on the antics of a trio of men, and the predicaments they got into with various people around and about the town of Holmfirth...yes HOLMFIRTH!

So, on the bus we go.....first stop!  The Green Lane Mill...home of Rowan Yarns!

Yup, that's the entrance.....and see that window above the entrance?  That's where Karl hangs out!  He has a great view of the comings and going at "The Mill" and has a lovely window seat in his spot too!  Lucky guy eh?



and I guess I already showed you this too right....so come on in!

Honestly, even though I'd been here before....I was totally in awe....because this time I was wearing this...


that's right, official Rowan Ambassador from Canada! 


First up on the agenda was to meet the Rowan Team!

official photos were being taken, and I did a paparazzi move...over here, over here!
It worked!

This was a big thing, even by Rowan standards
to have the Rowan designers at the mill at the same time!

I'm sure you can identify them...but just in case....
that's Martin Storey, Marie Wallin, Lisa Richardson
Sarah Hatton, Gemma Atkinson...
and Kate Buller, Rowan's Brand Manager



While they were all lined up....the Rowan Ambassadors and Karl, our man at Rowan joined in for this group shot!


Kate very kindly put out her personal collection of Rowan Magazines for everyone to look at
...and actually touch if the wanted to!  
Imagine!  
Then we split into two groups for a tour of the mill building....first we went "up" to offices where there where I saw XXXXXXXXXXX - one of my personal favourites coming back! Yeah!

This was hanging on a divider...and sums up my feelings about the yarn I use in my knitting!

All of the brochures for the fall/winter 2014/15 season were lined up!  
Just behind this divider, I noticed the mood board and design proposals for magazine 58....but funny, my camera wouldn't take a picture...strange...but I can tell you
I saw lots of XXXXXXX and XXXXXX!
I think magazine 58 will be fabulous!
shhhhhhh......I snuck this onto the post while the censors weren't looking!

Then we headed down another set of stairs....the office configuration at the mill is quirky and makes use of every available space!  We passed this wall of magazine covers! Someone was smart and started way way up....because if you subscribe you just received magazine 56...
and I think they are photographing magazine 57 right now!
Going down into "the basement" of The Mill, we were allowed into "The Yarn Room". 



I met Ann, the official holder of the key to "The Yarn Room" earlier, and made her my friend :)

This is where all of the yarn that is kept on hand for the designers to use....imagine going down to your "yarn room" and seeing this!  Eagle Ambassador eyes caught some unusual shades of yarns that are in development for future seasons!

ahh, Anne....no photos please ! 
 Can't blame me for trying right?

After the tours were done....Karl, our "Man at Rowan"....gave us a presentation on the future of the Ambassador Program!  Karl is a wonderful guy, a true diplomat....he has to be when handling 14 Ambassadors on two sides of the Atlantic....dealing with time differences and strong opinions :)

Karl always says that he enjoys our "strong opinions" because 
it shows that we are passionate about Rowan!

The morning passed quickly....and we were back on the "Last of the Summer Wine" tour bus for a tour of the scenic Holmfirth area.

Unless you are a fan of "Last of the Summer Wine" you wouldn't have any idea what our tour guide was talking about.  Married to a lad from Yorkshire, we have watched a fair few episodes.  Fortunately, the scenery around Holmfirth is spectacular, and even if you didn't know what the guide was talking about, or were having trouble understand because of his broad Yorkshire accent....everyone enjoyed the tour!

Just in case you are interested in "Last of the Summer Wine"...quite a few episodes are available on YouTube...and here is one that is particularly appropriate as the UK is experiencing record breaking heat right now....unusual for them....so here's "Last of the Summer Wine - a Merry Heatwave"



Lunch was at "Compo's Cafe" for traditional Fish and Chips.  I introduced Karl to the tradition of putting HP sauce on your fish - how did he not know that?

Back to the mill for a review and discussion of the Fall/Winter 2014/15 yarns and brochures.   No photos here...because you can see all of the designs for Magazine 56 and the brochures on the Rowan web site now.....



My next blog post will wind up the trip to "The Mill" and maybe give you an idea of what I will be knitting in the next 6 months.  My "queue" from these new publications is pretty exciting, and I have a couple of original designs to share with you in the coming months.

'til next time....I'll be finishing my afghan....what are you knitting right now?



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Anne

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