july 1 2013

first off, please note that the shop is closed the entire month of july.  the shop will re-open friday august 2.

i have been a wet felting fool these past couple of weeks.  since nothing had been working out right with my knitting, i decided to give it up for a while and try my hand at some wet felted flowers.  to my amazement, they turned out beautifully.  that put me into high gear and i was off and running.  monday i made about ten flowers (some nice and some not so nice); tuesday i made more flowers, a vessel, a bowl, several cuffs, a poncho, and some prefelt for other projects; wednesday i decided it was time to dye ;)!  so i dug out some dyes i bought at SAFF in north carolina last october and dyed some white chiffon which i have plenty of for scarves.  they turned out so pretty.  i was able to talk to the lady who owns the company and she gave me good ideas and pointers, as i had never dyed/(died) before (who has??).  it was so much easier than i had ever expected.  when you purchase pre-dyed chiffons, they are pretty expensive.  but when you purchase plain white chiffon, its about 1/4 the cost.  so now i dont have to buy the expensive dyed ones and i can just do my own.  my workshop looks like a cyclone hit it again but i am really energized at this point in time.  its a good thing, too, because i will be gone most of july and i start ligonier august 3.  so hopefully i will be ready. check out my basket and one of my vessels with a flower in the center and a silk cape/poncho:

 

our three new girls (boar goats) arrived safe and sound.  after much headbutting, everyone is settling into their place on the farm.  havent named them as of yet so now the task of thinking of three new flowers i have yet to use.  i decided the yearling will be buttercup but as for mom and baby i havent settled on a flower name yet.  am up for suggestions.  two dozen new peeps arrived as well but no need for names!

this must be an animal sort of month for me.  4 abandoned kittens fell in my lap last friday.  i posted pictures on facebook looking for homes.  one of them has five toes. did you know five-toe kittens are called polymorphic and are affiliated with ernest hemingway from the florida keys.. they are all very friendly.  obviously i dont know how old they are but they are young.  however,they are able to eat soft food and drink kitty milk.  anyone looking for a kitten?  i hope they dont forget me while i'm gone but i would like to find homes for them none the less.  (the buff colored kitty with the mitten paws is not in this photo)

on thursday, june 20, three of us had a play date at the shop to play with beads.  as i have been wanting to do some crocheting with beads, i decided this was the day.  i like the idea of free form, so i strung on a bunch of beads and was on my merry way.  when i had finished doing five rows of my 'design' i discovered i had used up all but about 2 yards of a newly-purchased spool of wire - 40 yards on a spool!  its very pretty tho and my plan is to wrap it around a wet felted cord.  

dates to remember:

july 4-7 twin lakes art festival *

july 8 greensburg fiber art meet up at panera greensburg

july 11 and 25 purlin girls noon at the bean

july 27 donna's fundraiser at ligonier beach (still looking for donations)

*check out the greensburg art center tent

upcoming classes:

wednesday august 14 basic needle felting

thursday august 29 spiral necklace

wednesdays september 4 and 18 bowl of cherries

please visit the classes tab on my website for further details.  also anyone wishing to sign up for one of these classes, pre-registration is required, so please do not just email me or tell me.  since i will be out of contact, i will need you to send your check to me at p.o. box 175, forbes road, pa 15633 so that when i return, i dont have to check all the emails and rush around to figure out how many will be taking the classes.  this way i will have check in hand and please specify which class you wish to enroll in.  note that if anyone needs the class in the evening or weekend, i will try to accommodate; however i will be starting ligonier market on august 3 so saturdays will only work if the class is scheduled for later in the afternoon.

what's new?  

i am now carrying colorhue dyes which i learned to dye with.  i will also be scheduling a dying class this fall so that others will learn how fun and easy it can be.

also some handspun yarn from billings, montana

june's raffle prize winner was rhonda pegg!

happy birthdays for the month of july go to:  paula and kim from the purlin girls, deb helsyth, lisa wilt, and carol hummel!  have a great day ladies!  make your way to the shop for your $5 birthday certificate! 

our own donna needlefelted the cover of a photo album for maia (of the dolly llamas) for the event of her upcoming first grandchild.  it was a very colorful butterfly on a black background:

 

sorry to miss you all this month but very much looking forward to my cross country trip with the offspring.  i will keep you posted with pictures throughout the month of my travels!  i plan on camping, sightseeing, and rafting in utah, then to northern california to enjoy the giant redwood forest, then to portland to spend about a week with anthony.  if anyone knows of any yarn shops or fiber festivals along my way, do let me know please.

see you in august when i will resume regular hours again.  re-open august 2nd.

june 18, 2013

oh my gosh i just realized it is the 18th and i hadnt sent this out yet!  i guess i must be having fun, eh?

last sunday tom and i ventured out to look at a mother/daughter pair of boar goats to purchase.  we ended up purchasing the mother, daughter from last year, and daughter from this year.  we pick them up this sunday.  this young farm couple had everything from goats to cows to guinea hens to rabbits, ducks, chickens, turkeys.....  i thought i was busy!  anyhow we brought a couple of guinea peeps home that day.  we purchased six and when tom went to put them up in the barn in the peep pen, he came back and said 'how many did we buy?'  i answered six.  he said he thought she miscounted because there were only five.  then we said 'uh oh' better look in the car because i was pretty sure there were indeed six in the box.  we looked under everything hoping the little guy didnt escape and then die in the car (that would smell good).  no peep.  tom looked in the ranger, and lo and behold there was the little thing sitting on the front seat like it was being chauffeured around.  funny!  i took some pictures of the cows too and will share one with you.  this particular heifer wanted to lick my phone for some reason:

cathy rosensteel, rhonda pegg, and i went to lawrenceville two saturdays ago to take a shibori class from amber coppings.  it was interesting to learn this ancient japanese art of dying and texture.  we only learned a little in the few hours we spent there and got to stitch up some fabrics with different techniques then put them into a dye bath.  the stitches cause different designs in the fabric when they are pulled very tight, thus not allowing the dye to come through.  sort of like tie-dying but a little more complicated.  

last monday, i did a program at seton hill adult day care making felted balls for necklaces.  the ladies (and one man) seemed to enjoy it but as usual, it was more difficult than i had anticipated and some of the balls were a bit wonky but once we put them on the strings, they looked very pretty.  check it out:

dates to remember:

wednesday june 19 6:00 close knit girls (lisa s.'s house)

tuesday, june 25 1:00-7:00 KA (shop)

thursday, June 27 noon purlin girls (bean)

thursday, june 27 1:00 dolly llamas (panera murrysville)

fridays open 10-6

remember - the twin lakes art festival is coming!  july 4-7

upcoming classes:

i apologize for the delay but i am working on some classes to start in august.  they include but not limited to:

- life is.. a bowl of cherries class

- spiral necklace

- basic needle felting

still working on the dates so keep an eye on the website.

for those of you who don't know, there will be a fundraiser held for donna on saturday july 27 at ligonier beach.  the event runs from noon to 6.  tickets cost $15 and includes swimming and live music.  there will be a chinese auction and donna is looking for donations of gift baskets.  if anyone would like to donate to this event, please contact donna or myself.  donna's email is byrd1961@icloud.com. as donna told me, she feels blessed to have been able to be part of the study for her 'designer' drug which has worked like a charm for her and she wants to give back to the Hillman Center for their cancer research.  i believe part of the proceeds will go to donna herself for continued care.  details later but mark your calendar.  donna is doing a lot of this work herself, which she probably should not be doing... 

i plan on being closed the entire month of july as i will be driving cross country making stops in colorado to see my darling daughter, utah to perhaps go whitewater rafting again, california to see the redwood forests, oregon to see anthony, and who knows where else my wheels will take me.

hope to see you all before i leave!

june 1, 2013

i got to see my beautiful daughter last week so suffice it to say my week was over the top.  and for paula and maryann, here are a couple of pictures of deni passing out the goat food you so graciously save for us:

i told you there isnt enough time to get everything out of the bags with them pushing and shoving!!

not a whole lot of new stuff arriving at the shop these past two weeks except some new handspun yarns from canada.

sheared the sheep may 19th.  what a relief!  shearers are so hard to find.  the year before last we couldnt find anyone to shear and when cris (our current shearer) sheared them the following spring, the fleeced were practically felted from the little kids standing on the backs of the ram and wethers consequently making it very hard work for the shears to cut through.  when the fleece is heavy like that, it pulls on the sheep's skin and causes the shears to cut on their skin.  i decided to keep gidget's fleece, wash it, and spin it and am excited to see how it turns out.  gidget is a southdown so the fleece is cotton-ish - no curls or crimps.

today's beaded pendant class went very well.  as i had taken this class before from dotty westerveld, i had an idea of what i was doing, but the other girls struggled to sew those tiny beads around the button.  eventually everyone was on their way to a beautiful finished project.  

maia had just returned from nicaragua but was able to join us and bring her mother-in-law, roz, along to keep us company.  roz was knitting a cute little bib for her first great-grandchild due in july.

dotty showed us her many beautiful beaded projects and we decided we wanted to learn a spiral necklace pattern.  stay tuned to the website to see when this class will be scheduled.  dotty is a well-known beader who teaches at many different bead shops and colleges.

as for me, i currently have two projects on my needles:  first i have a sweater pattern called 'lily - the softest leaf' out of the book essentially feminine knits.  it is a garter stitch sweater with a leaf pattern on the yoke and i am knitting it out of the natural off white raspberry hill alpaca yarn.  in addition, i am also on a pair of lady finkaas (a swedish shoe/slipper). last week i had made a different slipper/shoe pattern meant for my son, anthony, in portland.  however, they felted up a bit too small for him so i'm off to try again.  anthony loved the felted clogs i made for him a couple of years ago and requested another pair.  he also loves the year-and-a-half socks i finally sent to him last year:

this photo was taken on angel island, just outside of san francisco just prior to his moving to portland, oregon.  angel island was referred to as the ellis island of the west.

please remember to sign up for the blog.  i understand a couple of people indicated they were not able to.  has anyone else encountered a problem?  remember when you sign up and post a comment, your name will be chosen to win a gift certificate to RaggZ!

dates to remember:

tuesday, june 4 6:00 close knit girls (panera murrysville)

monday, june 10 2:00 fiber art meet up (panera greensburg)

tuesday, june 11 1:00-7:00 KA (raggz)

thursday, june 13  noon purlin girls (bean)

saturday, june 15 FREE broomstick lace class (see website for times)

fridays shop hours are 10:00-6:00

may's prize winner was our own donna charlesworth!!

birthday wishes to norma r and maryann w!  i hope your day is special!

and remember girls, my shop is air conditioned, so some hot sticky friday (or tuesday) head on over and cool off with us!