august 15 2013

my first day back at ligonier country market was a bit damp but it didnt take away from the fun reunion i had with many wonderful people i hadn't seen in almost a year.  after grumbling about getting ready for market after my long vacation, it turned out to be so rewarding and energizing!  glad to be back!

i'm beginning to stock my shop with more roving choices, as more people are getting into needle and wet felting.  

my newest addition is some beautiful hand dyed icelandic and leicester longwool from a farm in michigan called 'the lavender fleece'.  it is so soft and lovely and i am anxious to use it.  this lady also spins rug bumps and weaves rugs with curls!  i am on the waiting list to get a rug and i have also pre-ordered one of her icelandic fleeces which is kind of a black and white polka dot.  but i have to wait til spring for the fleece.  also in the spring i will be purchase several icelandic and leicester longwool lambs from her so i will have my own beautiful fleece.

other new rovings i added came from cedar haven farm in oregon.  hers are mostly natural colors but are lovely as well; also pagewood farm has beautiful hand-dyed roving.  come to the shop to see!

here are a few pix of some of the things i have been wet felting:  the first photo is a cat cave and the second is a gnome home.

 

the following three items are projects i entered into a juried art show at the greensburg art center.  dont know if any of them will make it but i will keep you posted.  it will be my first art show.  it opens september 14 (my birthday - so maybe it will be a good sign?)

i also finally got around to using my rug loom with a skein of the rug bumps from pagewood farm.  i really like it but its definitely too nice to put on the floor.

another fun project with the folks at the seton hill adult daycare.  we wet felted little wall hangings with prefelt.  i will be doing this same project with seniors at the greensburg art center on september 30th.  (note:  the lady in the front on the right is wearing her felted ball necklace we made a while back.  she is the one who refuses to take it off!)

i've also been busy nuno felting some scarves, as this lovely cool weather has encouraged me to!  and canning peaches and blackberries!  no spare time for me these past few weeks since i've been home but that's ok.

 

think outside the box!

i'm always encouraging people to do this.  its ok to follow a pattern but sometimes you just need to do your own 'thang'!!  case in point:  remember the sun satchel purse pattern?  i made the purse the first time and decided it would make better placemats, so i proceeded to make ten of them in different colors.  well on my trip i turned one of those placemats into a slouch hat and it turned out very cute.  see what you can come up with as your own!  its fun and challenging.  monte is doing that now with her one-piece vest.  she originally knitted it as the pattern suggests with berrocco bonsai yarn.  this time she is knitting it out of cascade and for added interest, she has put a yarn over pattern in it every so many rows and it is beautiful!  i'll include a photo next month when she has completed it and before she gives it away!

chemo hats still coming in!  we received two more hats last friday and will be sending them off with laura mcguire to children's hospital.  i'm hoping to get some photos of the kids wearing our donated hats.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

wow the end of august is polluted with birthdays! BIRTHDAY GREETINGS to:  jenny helms, sally holbein, OT, jean marie chambers, pam (?), cheryl matthews, shirley taylor, mary ann mogus, and connie deemer!

dates to remember

thursday august 22nd purlin girls
tuesday august 27 KA 1-7
wednesday august 28 6-8 close knit girls
thursday august 29 1:00 dottie's spiral bead necklace class at raggz*
wednesdays september 4 and 18 bowl of cherries class at raggz*
fridays shop open 10-6
* see website for more info

where's raggz?  

every saturday from 8 to noon at ligonier country market
september 14 (sunday) flax scutching festival in stahlstown

dont forget my mileage contest:  

come to the shop and put your guess in the jar - how many miles did i drive on my last trip (round trip)????  the winner picks a skein of yarn from pagewood, imperial, or mountain meadow, PLUS an elizabeth zimmerman book!  hurry stop in and enter, contest is over august 31st!

toodles!!

august 1 2013

as most of you know, i have been on an extended adventure for the last three weeks.  i call it 'knitting across the USA".  it was one of the most if not THE most memorable trip i have ever taken.  

to sum it up, my son and i drove to moab to meet my daughter and her bf and arrived at her exact birthday time.  we camped a few nights by the colorado river amid the red cliffs.  the plan was to head to portland to visit my oldest son.  two hours after leaving moab, my daughter and her boyfriend were in an accident and their car landed on its roof - right in front of my eyes.  i cried a lot, even though they were both ok.  with their car being totalled, we had to put all of their camping gear in my car and stay in price, utah overnight til we could figure out what the next step should be.  we ended up buying a carrier that goes on top of the car and were able to squeeze (and i mean SQUEEZE) everything in PLUS all four of us into the car.  off we started to portland and decided in idaho to find a campground.  we stumbled on bruneau dunes state park and what a lucky find it was.  this park is located in the fourth darkest area in the US therefore they had an observatory!  friday and saturday nights in the summer they have star observations.  we attended a lecture by a man who worked on the Hubble telescope then we got to look at the moon, the sun, saturn, nebulas, etc etc.  it was so amazing!  the only drawback to this park was they have 'glow in the dark scorpions'.  YIKES.  they were small but still scary.  off to portland to finally see anthony.  we hiked eagle creek which was a 2 mile ascent to a double waterfall.  we also went to astoria one day to the pacific ocean.  it was overcast and actually kind of cold but beautiful.  after a week in portland, we headed down to crater lake - yet another miracle of nature.  the water was so blue i couldnt believe my eyes.  we got to hike down to the lake (another very steep hike) but it was worth just being able to put our feet in the water.  as this lake has no tributaries and gets its water solely from rain and the 500 inches of snow a year, it is considered the least polluted lake in the US, perhaps the world.  back to moab for a couple of days then to colorado for a couple of days before heading home.  pictures available upon request but won't bore you with them here.

three weeks with NO television, NO news!  utter heaven!

SO in light of what i just told you, i have decided to hold a contest this month.  HOW MANY MILES DID I PUT ON MY CAR DURING MY VACATION?  the person who is closest without going over will win a copy of elizabeth zimmerman's book 'opinionated knitter' AND a skein of their choice from pagewood, mountain meadow, or imperial yarns.  all you have to do is come to the shop and put your guess in the cookie jar.  on august 31st, i will read all of the entries and announce the winner in the september 1 blog.

i did visit a yarn shop in utah called desert threads, one in portland called close knit, and my usual favorite in boulder called shuttles, spindles, and skeins.  i did purchase some yarns but actually got more roving since i'm busy with wet felting these days.  i bought some churro roving in utah (a local sheep) and i was fortunate enough to find a shetland sheep farm in estacada oregon called cedar haven, so i went to visit this lady, meet her sheep, and get some of her roving as well.  the one common thread i noticed in visiting these yarn shops is that NONE of them carry any handspun yarn.  i was shocked to think that these shops didn't support local textile artists.  after some thought, i think i know why -- this yarn is so unique and labor intensive that these artists do not sell wholesale.  consequently, yarn shops are not interested in not making a profit on the yarns.  that is where we part ways.  i am happy to support local artists by purchasing their wonderful, artistic yarns and re-selling them.  i may add a few dollars to each skein to cover shipping costs paid, but in the end i dont make any money on them.  and why should i?  they do all the creating and all the work!  i am happy to make them available where they otherwise would not be seen, as a lot of my handspun comes from germany, the UK, australia and NZ, as well as many different areas of the united states.  

ok so i didnt knit as much as i had planned but in light of the events above, you can see why.  i had decided back when i was making all those round sun placemats that i wanted to try to make one into a hat, and that was my first project.  i used the cranberry swirl that beth used for her placemat and noro for the stripes.  i made it a certain size, then i begin ribbing.  i finished it when deni was in the car with us and i forced her to model it for me.

my second project was a small cowl with an interesting stitch knitted out of plymouth chunky alpaca and the third project is a market bag knitted out of hemp but it's still a wip.

in july, just before i left, i held a sundae monday at seton hill adult day care.  ice cream sundaes really do appeal to all ages - they were like kids in a candy store - who wouldnt be?  this is the same group who i did the felt ball necklaces with in june and one of the ladies, they told me, has worn hers every single day!  when i asked her about it, she said that her granddaughter asked her for it and she refused to give it to her!

upcoming dates to remember:

saturday august 3:  my FIRST ligonier market (stop by)

thursday august 8:  purlin girls, noon - bean in latrobe

tuesday, august 13:  KA at raggz 1 to 7  (my first KA in 7 weeks!)

wednesday august 14:  basic needle felting class at raggz 1:00 see website for more info

thursday august 29:  spiral beaded necklace class at raggz:  1:00 see website for info

fridays open 10-6

saturdays ligonier market 8-12

dont forget i am holding another beginning wet felting class in september (life is... a bowl of cherries) so check the website for dates and times as well.  class size is very limited due to space constraints.

its so nice to be home again and i am looking forward to seeing you all very soon!