yikes its hard to believe its november already.  i dont want to even consider how many days are left til christmas so i will put my head in the sand and just plug away.  i, myself, am getting ready for my two biggest christmas shows, the work of our hands open house and the ligonier market christmas show.

'The Work of Our Hands' is the mock's second annual open house located at 5807 torrrance drive, export pa 15632.  basically on this side of murrysville with an export mailing address.  this year the mocks are featuring no less than 18 local artists.  last year this open house proved very successful and you are all invited.  the hours are 10-8 on friday, nov 8, and 10-4 on saturday nov 9.  there is a facebook page called 'the work of our hands' as well so check it out.

Ligonier Country Christmas Market annual show has a great track record and you will see only your market vendors here.  the show is saturday november 30 from 10-3 at the ligionier YMCA.  again another good place to shop for the holidays.

Greensburg Art Center is hosting their annual Snowflake Showcase

featuring local artists as well.  the show runs from november 16 through december 21.  the opening reception is november 16 from 2 to 4.  light refreshments are served and its always a good time.

i would like to encourage everyone to shop small, meaning buy from local businesses and craftsmen.  enough money goes out of this country on a daily basis.  lets keep the money here and support local!  speaking of which, jennifer gallentine opened willow mist boutique last september in latrobe (right across from the library).  jennifer features many varied items.  she is having a christmas open house on december 5th.  check out her facebook page 'willow mist boutique' for details and hours of her store.  all of her items are handmade by local as well as artists from all over the country.  you will recognize some of the artists' work there - donna charlesworth and her daughter have items there, the mocks have cards, wool pumpkins, wooden goodies, etc.  check it out! 

WHAT'S NEW?  

more beautiful rovings on the porch as well as sparkly beads from jesse james - perfect for embellishing a scarf or felted project/

please note that the next two fridays, the hours will be shortened:  on friday november 8th, i will be open 10-1 so that i may attend the mock's open house, where i will be demonstrating spinning yarn and on november 15th, i am hosting a private event for the pittsburgh felting club; therefore the shop will be open to the public from 10 to noon only.  sorry for any inconvenience.  i am always open by appointment so if you need something, just give me a shout.

CLASS UPDATES:

the wet felting bowl class was a smash with many varied bowls and even some hats!

of course kay was showing off with her needle felted apple!

and we learned a lot at dottie's beaded pendant class with branch fringe.  we still have a little work to do to finish our pendants but that doggone peyote stitch is harder than it looks (for me anyhow!)

i was lucky last tuesday to get a visit from laurie ball-gish of the lavender fleece farm.  laurie, daughter mikalah, and her friend chris and were on their way to the coverlet museum in bedford then onto virginia for a leicester longwool sheep association meeting.  laurie wanted to pop in and visit the shop and was kind enough to deliver more of her delicious leicester longwool and icelandic rovings and yarns.  i am planning on obtaining a few leicester longwool and icelandic whethers from her next year and will make the trip in july when the little ones are ready to be weaned.  she also informed me of a great fiber festival in that area that i plan to go to as well.  i also purchased one of laurie's handmade knitting bowls and another of her lovely curly woven rugs - this time in all white! dont like to rush winter away but i'm really looking forward to july to see her farm, attend the fiber fest, and get some new babies!!

today was a fun day at the shop - more customers than chairs and coffee mugs!!!!!  yeeha!  below is kay showing off her extra long crocheted christmas hat and judy with her very first knitted project - a lovely soft scarf with fringe!  great work ladies!

 

upcoming events:

sunday, november 3 TURN YOUR CLOCKS BACK 1 HR AT 2 A.M.*

thursday, november 7 purlin girls latrobe coffee bean 12-3

friday, november 5 shop open 10-1

monday, november 11 greensburg fiber art meet up 2:00 panera

tuesday, november 12 KA at raggz 1-7

friday, november 15 shop open 10-12

*we gain an extra hour of knitting time!  woo hoo

UPCOMING CLASSES:

wednesdays november 6, 13, and 20th felted snowman tote*

thursday, december 5 alysa's jump ring bracelets*

* see website for details please

happy birthday to  eva p and carole m on the 15th!  have a sweet day ladies!

if you're looking for a good cookie recipe for the upcoming holidays, and if you love salted caramels, try this one:

Salted Caramel Dark Chocolate Cookies

Ingredients:

2 sticks of Butter, softened

1 Cup of Sugar

1 Cup of Brown Sugar

2 eggs

1 Tablespoon of Vanilla Extract 

2 Cups of All Purpose Flour

1 1/4 cups of Unsweetened Cocoa Powder

2 teaspoons of Baking Soda

4 tablespoons of Milk

1 b ag of Dark Chocolate Morsels

1 bag of Rolos Chocolate Covered Caramels

sea salt

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Cream the butter with the sugars until light and fluffy.  Beat in the eggs and the vanilla.  Add the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and beat until mixed.  The mixture should be thick and difficult to manipulate at this point.  Stir in the milk and add the chocolate morsels. Refrigerate the dough for a few hours so that it will be easier to manage.   The caramel might leak through to the pan so save yourself clean up time by lining a cookie sheet with parchment paper or a silicone liner. 

When the dough has chilled, take a golf ball sized bit of dough and wrap it around an unwrapped candy.  The cookie will spread as it bakes, so I usually only put a dozen on each cookie sheet.  Sprinkle each cookie with a few grains of sea salt.  Bake for about 10 minutes.  The cookies will look very soft when you first take them out of the oven but they will be perfect when they cool down.

  

YUM!