Three things that turned out to be one thing
The shop began as an argument about whether a knitting chart and a USGS quadrangle map are the same object. They are. Both are a grid, and both are useless until somebody decides which squares matter. A dot-grid page is the third version of it, sold blank so you can do the deciding yourself.
Once you notice that, stocking all three stops being eccentric. The same person tends to want them: someone who plans in pencil, keeps the notebook afterwards, and would rather add a day to a walk than shave one off it.
How things are made
Journals are printed and sewn in western North Carolina in runs of a few hundred. The paper is 120 gsm and acid free, so the notes outlast the notebook. Wool is spun at a small mill in the same county, from three flocks in southwest Virginia, undyed or dyed in small lots, which is why two skeins from different months will not match exactly. Brass and oak notions are turned by one workshop in east Tennessee.
Itineraries are walked before they are written. Every distance is measured on the ground rather than lifted from a map, and every stretch with nowhere to eat is named as such. If a route changes — a shuttle service that stops running, a washed-out footbridge, a closed shelter — the PDF is updated and sent to everyone who bought it, at no charge.
Shipping
Physical orders ship within two business days, in paper and cardboard with no plastic. US delivery is $5, or free over $75. Canada is $12 and the rest of the world $18, both tracked. Digital itineraries arrive by email within a few minutes; if yours has not turned up in an hour, check the spam folder and then write to us.
Returns
Send anything physical back within 60 days, used or not, and we will refund it. You pay return postage unless the fault is ours, in which case we cover it and you keep the item. Digital itineraries cannot be returned once downloaded, but if a route does not work for you, write and describe what went wrong — we would rather refund you and fix the guide than argue about it.
Write to us
Questions about a fiber, a route, or an order go to hello@theplottedpath.com. A person reads it, usually within a day.