Westward Ho!!! July 28, 2012

first and foremost, i will be in colorado visiting my darling daughter from monday, august 30 through approximately august 12, so the shop will be closed during this time; thus this newsletter will be short and sweet. if anyone has anything they would like me to bring back, just email me and i would be happy to do it.  colorado liquor stores sell many different kinds of beer from all over the world, so if you have a beer lover in your midst, i would be happy to look for some oddball beer for you.  don't hesitate to ask!

if you have not visited the Greensburg Art Center, August is the time.  they are holding their community art celebration the first 3 weekends in august (august 4 and 5; august 11 and 12; and august 18 and 19).  workshops from 10 to 4 and activities from 11 to 3. demonstrations on everything from painting, fabric flowers, etched glass, cooking demos, recycled jewelry, music and food.  they are a well-kept secret but are trying their best to get word out that they are there. my friend, cathy rosensteel comes to RaggZ to knit but is also a painter, jewelry maker, and paints on silk scarves (among other things) is a board member and she is always telling me about the center.  most of you have passed their location, just off of route 30 (exit before the mall heading east).  you may have noticed the tubes of paint but wondered what it was all about, as i had many times.  its actually very easy to get there.  they are all local artists trying to make a go of it and the entire place is run by volunteers!  they have what they call an artist's market where they sell items made by local artists as well.  check them out at greensburgartcenter.org for directions and more info.  i recently joined and plan on doing some volunteer work there as well as perhaps putting a few of my designs in their showcase and i encourage you to do the same.

august schedule:

purl 'n girls:  thursdays august 9 and 23 at noon at the bean

dolly llamas:  august 16 at noon here at RaggZ

knitter's anonymous:  tuesday august 28 at RaggZ from 1 to 5

shop hours:  fridays august 17, 24, and 31 from 10 to 5

the westmoreland county fair is august 17 - 25th.  all you genius, crafty knitters and crocheters out there should think about entering some of your fine work.  i strongly advise kim to enter that bag she made from cloth and curly yarn - its sure to win a blue ribbon!  entries must be postmarked no later than august 1st, so HURRY!  entries do not need to be delivered until august 16th so that gives you time to finish up that project.  go to westmorelandfair.com

what's new?

a variety of funky buttons from dill buttons as well as dream yarns containing cashmere!  too many things to mention, so come out to the shop when i return and check it all out.  by that time i should be carrying some recycled sari silk yarn as well.

july's prize was a coveted sheep mug and the winner was eugenia ship.  eugenia was here the day her name was pulled and was very excited because earlier in the day she said she wanted to buy one and i suggested she wait til the drawing.  mind you, i did not pick the name.  maia's mother in law, roz, was here visiting from florida and i assigned her the honor of drawing a name.  eugenia has won several times this year and i assure you it is not 'fixed'!!

speaking of roz, below is a picture of her with her free-form crocheted/knitted shawl.  she told me she never knits in florida and only knits when she comes here to visit her son and daughter in law (maia) and only then when she's with the dolly llamas or at my shop.  this creation was knitted with Patons Canadienne and started out to be an afghan but then she decided to make it into a shawl.  before she left the shop we got her started on crocheting an edge with one strand of the patons and one strand of crystal palace fling in the exact same color ways!  roz was concerned with the somewhat irregular shape of it but we all agreed a free form shawl would be great and she absolutely beamed with pride.  just goes to show you that there is no right or wrong way to do anything!  hopefully when she finishes the edging i can get a photo of it and show it in next month's blog.  (do not let on that i told you but roz is over 90 years old -- you would never know it)

in mid august when i return, i will update you on upcoming classes and anything else i may have forgotten.  meantime have a wonderful couple of weeks.  i will miss you all and look forward to seeing you all again mid august!

eleanore roosevelt once said:  "a woman is like a tea bag - you never know how strong she is until she gets into hot water."

love to all

t

July 1, 2012

the berries are ripe and the cherry bombs are blasting so it must be july.  are your dogs cowering in the corner too?  i lost my dear cat this past week so i've been feeling a little melancholy, so please forgive.

as i sit writing this new post, i am furious with my computer.  i try to stay ahead of the game by writing, saving, updating, and saving my newsletter during the previous month, which i kept up with the entire month of june.  just as i was getting ready to post, i lost the entire thing, so here i am writing from memory .  so here goes...

five more chemo caps were donated by wonderful paula massa, monte peters, and carole moyer.  thanks ladies for your generosity.

this month's prize winner is diane mogul.  congrats diane - you won a hiya hiya needle case.

june's friday classes - the drop stitch shawl and maia's not your usual necklace class were loads of fun.  check out the pictures below.  shawl pictures will be posted at a later date, because sally and i were the only ones who finished and i don't have pictures yet.

july's schedule of events:
purl'n gurls:  thursdays july 12 and 26 at the bean
dolly llamas:  thursday july 5 at maia's and thursday july 19 at raggz
KA:  tuesdays july 10 and july 24 at raggz
friday july 27 from 6 to 8 there will be an art exhibit at the greensburg library called 'nothing could be fine' featuring our own cathy rosensteel (pictured above in the white tee).  cathy is actively involved in the greensburg art center and is an avid painter in addition to her other talents.  light refreshments will be served so try to stop in.
store open every friday from 10 to 5

check out this picture of some of the friendz working on their feza shawls:  notice donna's lovely needle felted zebra purse in the forefront.

well you can't say i'm not doing my part to keep the economy up and running!  loads of new beautiful yarns arrived this month including:  handspun yarns by textile artist jennifer gallentine of willow mist acres, a local farm in normalville (yes normalville is a real town).  just want til you see some of her work.  she can be found at ligonier country market on saturdays as well as on etsy.  check out some of her beautiful yarns.  obviously this photo doesn't do her work justice so check it out in person!

also new is beautiful wool yarns from imperial stock ranch in oregon.  imperial stock ranch carefully manages their livestock in ways that enhance the environment.  they harvest the soft, versatile wool from a flock of columbia sheep and transform this natural renewable resource into a wide selection of fibers and yarns.  their wool is custom milled without harsh chemicals or extreme temps, leaving it comfortable, soft, and pure.  as soon as i received my first shipment, i whipped up this shawl out of their native twist yarn (a soft spun 1 ply yarn):

as i said above, i am doing my part to make the economy more healthy (at least the wool/textile end of it) by adding yarns from jojoland (including some delightfully soft 100% cashmere), lana de grossa,
and scrumptious (that's the name of it) -- a 4 ply sport yarn consisting of 45% silk and 55% super wash wool.    also new colors of feza alp dazzle, premiere, and oriental.  feza has a line called 'exquisite' which i was able to secure a few bags of.  it is a limited edition yarn similar to premiere but more monochromatic and made of higher end fibers including cashmere and alpaca.  some new colors have arrived from pagewood in their paparazzi, glitterati, and silk ribbons; and last but not least i have added some lantern moon shawl pins.  (phew) enough already!

now, what's new at the gift shop?  some lovingly hand crocheted baby blankets and sweaters by eugenia ship; wrist cuffs from sue hrubes; handmade shawl stix; and our own cherry hollow farms raw honey.

as of this date, i don't have any classes scheduled for july with everyone so busy with vacations and all but i will keep you posted.  upcoming classes include felted sheep, wet felting a bowl of cherries, and possibly a floofy skirt class by yarns in the farms.

oh hey one last point for those of you who are allergic to wool.  i have been researching this subject because i have recently purchased a lot of super wash wool (cascade and jojoland).  the yarn rep told me that super wash doesn't bother people with a wool allergy.  my research has found that most people who think they are allergic to wool are actually allergic to lanolin and will have a reaction to anything with lanolin in it, such as creams.  super wash really is supposed to be safe for these folks because the extra processing this fiber takes to become washable takes out the lanolin.  so who wants to be the guinea pig?  cathy p??

well as far as i know, i retrieved at least most of the information from my brain (or as much as i am able to) so i will bid you all adieu for now.  happy july and happy knitting everyone!

quote for this month:  i find it helpful to organize chores into categories:  things i won't do now, things i won't do later, things i'll never do.....


t
raggz & friendz