5/18/14

this has been quite a couple of weeks.  i just got back from kentucky, where i was taking a felt coat class as well as a fiber class on the feltLOOM.  i had such a wonderful trip.  the class was amazing, kentucky was beautiful, and i got to see all kinds of horse, sheep, and cattle farms.  i am not going to post any photos of my jacket until its done.  some of you know about the thoroughbred horse farms but let me tell you - the barns alone look like beautiful brick homes!  some of these farms are thousands of acres.  rolling green fields as far as the eye can see.

Lanette, from Lan Mark farm, is the inventor of the FeltLOOM, which some of you had seen at the Pgh Knit and Crochet festival.  she and her husband, don, were wonderful hosts.  they have a 330 acre farm and raise cattle, various breeds of sheep, donkeys, and an alpaca.  they have SEVEN month-old lambs which are being bottle fed.  don had a contraption where all seven bottles are together and all seven of them were drinking at the same time.  unfortunately my phone had died and i couldn't get a photo.  six of them were snow white and one was black.  i'm sorry i couldn't share the photo with you but it is an image that will be etched into my memory for a long time, i'm sure.

back home, the sheep were sheared yesterday and the washing of the fleeces begins.  in past years, i literally put the huge fleeces in ditches on the farm but now that i will be getting a feltLOOM this summer, i will be able to use my fleece for rugs so all eight of them will need to be washed.  not a LOT of work but a lot of time soaking them in hot soapy water, rinsing, and soaking over and over til the water runs clear.  they all look so skinny and i feel bad that the weather dipped down with them being almost naked.

NEW STUFF

today tom and i took a ride to the waynesburg sheep and wool festival.  its a small show but very quaint and unassuming.  i secured two new lines to carry at the shop:  river ridge fiber works -  beautiful handspun, hand dyed yarns from a talented textile artist, melody weed located in lusby, maryland; 

and Michelle's Assortment from aurora, ohio - decorative shawl pins and brooches for shawls, hair, scarves, cowls, cardigans.  

make sure to stop and see these new items at the shop as the photos do not do them justice.  also while in waynesburg, i found a couple of farms who carry the beautiful curls needed for the felted sheep class, coming up later in june.

clarice is still living in the house and is making regular appearances at the shop on fridays. i will surely miss her when she has to move up to the barn, which will be in the next couple of weeks. 

sheila giving clarice a hug

CLASS UPDATE

our embellished sweater class wrapped up this

week.   nancy premoshis is a great teacher and the girls are moving along with their beautiful sweaters. sorry to the afternoon class - i forgot to take a photo since i was in the class and happily embellishing for a couple of hours.  will post pictures as they are finished.

we are hoping nancy will teach more classes in the future, so stay tuned!  

UPCOMING CLASSES

EZ PEEZIE pin cushions -tuesdays may 20 and 27 from 10 - 12 at the shop (two spaces available)

TUNISIAN CROCHET - wednesday may 21 from 10-12 OR 1-3 at the shop. *

FELT FLOWERS - both a.m. and p.m. (classes are full)**

*overflow allowed us to put on two classes that day, making spaces available at this time

**if anyone else is interested, i can put an additional class on the schedule.

UPCOMING DATES TO REMEMBER

thursday 5/22 purlin girls meet at the bean at noon

saturdays 5/24 and 5/31 craftique fiber art group meets at craftique 10-12

tuesday 5/27 knitters anonymous - shop open 1-6

wednesday 5/28 close knit girls meet at panera murrysville 6-8

fridays 5/23 and 5/30 shop open 10-6

for those of you who wet felt, i have just received a small shipment of ball brausers.  ($25 each) these are wonderful tools for your wet felted projects.  get yours while they last because they are not easy to find.

cat not included

i was remiss last month in not announcing our april door prize winner:  kay farabaugh!

FUNDRAISER REMINDER

only two short weeks left for the silent auction fundraiser for sylvia elliott's grandson to raise money for his trip to boston then italy for the world ultimate frisbee tournament.  items include but not limited to:

yarn, books, roving, a drop spindle kit, knitting mouse, raggz gift certificate, and much much more.  please check it out, as we would like to help scott pay his way to this tournament that he has trained so hard for.  please support our efforts!

funny quotes at the shop last week: (i did NOT make these up)

"why is there a banana in my sleeve?"

"MOM!  YOU SHAVED YOUR HEAD!!"

"what makes the clay female?" (the subject was fimo)

"my mother was a ho, my grandmother was a ho, and her mother was a ho."  

credits go to cathy rosensteel for the banana quote, thea mc curry for the shaved head and ho comment - (hough is the last name officially), and kay farabaugh was questioning how clay could be female.  

just goes to show you, you never know what's going to happen on any given friday at RaggZ!

 

last friday at the shop.  our beautiful donna!

clarice checking out the roving

cathy holding baby cakes

the kiln has arrived!

zinnia riding on joey's back

may 3 2014

hey there!  what a busy couple of days i have had lately with my three beautiful children all here at the same time.  this blog will be short and sweet for that reason and also because my half brother, rich, is driving in from ohio today to visit for the weekend and also meet the kids for the first time.  for those of you who don't know the story, i only found out i had a half brother in ohio and half sister in nebraska in 2011, just before my mother died.  it still seems weird to me.  rich and i keep in touch more than jackie and i but she works a lot and is busy as well.  so i'll be sure to post a picture or two of all of us in the next newsletter.

anthony and deni both arrived on separate flights late tuesday night.  anthony heads back to oregon sunday afternoon and deni heads back to colorado tuesday afternoon, so the visit is short lived but better than nothing!

the other news on a personal/farm note is that we had premature twins born to black eyed susie last saturday (4/26).  unfortunately the mom just left them and zach found them after one little nanny had already died.  he came running in the house to tell me and i threw my car harts on, as i was dressed to go out to dinner in an hour, and went up and scooped the remaining live baby up.  she was so listless and cold it was pathetic.  we gave her the required subcutaneous shots of dextrose and B complex.  when they are hypothermic you do not feed them, as their bodies cannot process food.  we brought her home and put her in a warming box for a few hours, milked the colostrum out of the mom and when she awoke she was able to drink a little out of the bottle.  it was touch and go for the first couple of days but zach was home and he spent a lot of time with her, exercising her legs.  she was also born with no teeth which meant she is 10-17 days premature and was probably about 4 pounds.  a full term kid weighs approximately 7 pounds and has 8 teeth.

this is zach holding her when we first got her warmed up

now she is thriving, running the house, her teeth have come in and she is doing well.  she won't go up on the farm for another week or two until she is good and strong and when the weather gets a little warmer, as now she is acclimated to the house temps.  i will put her in a stall with her mom just for the company and companionship but the mom will not take to her well most likely and will not let her nurse so we will be 'stuck' with the chore of bottle feeding for the next few months.  its tough at first because she needs to be fed every 4 hours right now.  oh well she is a little darling and i don't mind.  zach is charged with naming her since if it wasn't for him she would have died as well but as of today, he hasn't given her a name.

deni,cristin, and aster at the shop with the baby

kay gets to hold baby

thanks to our little friend beth gray, the shop now has a cat.  its supposed to be temporary and i don't know what gender it is, but it is friendly and has taken over the table.  he/she is laying on my calendar as i write this so eventually i will have to slide his/her big behind off of it so i can list upcoming events.  he was found at beth's house so anyone knowing of anyone with a lost big orange and white house cat, please let me know.  i don't really want a cat at this time but i don't want him/her in a shelter.

NEWS:

i have just been approved by ravelry to be a LYS who sells ravelry patterns here at the shop!  i'm excited about that.  haven't figured out the particulars but i will do that soon.

new yarns have arrived from pagewood farms including hand dyed velvet ribbons.  kim mcguire in her infinite wisdom made some gorgeous purses out of ellarae yarn - a very bulky wool that felts beautifully.  one skein did a nice sized purse.  so i ordered some of that as well and it is available here at the shop.  new colors of gina yarn have arrived as well.

pagewood fusion

pagewood hand dyed velvet ribbon with fat cat in the background

ok here is where i slide the cat off the calendar…..

may birthday wishes go out to melissa m on cinco de mayo (5/5), and sylvia e. on 5/14.  have a beautiful day ladies and come get your birthday certificate worth $5 off of your purchases.

DATES TO REMEMBER:

saturdays 5/3 and 5/10:  craftique fiber art group  10-12

thursday 5/8:  purlin girls at the bean noon

monday 5/12:  greensburg fiber art meet up group at panera 2:00

thursday 5/15:  class 2 of 2 for the embellished sweater

NO KA tuesday 5/13*

shop open fridays from 10-6

*i will be in kentucky a couple of days that week to take a class on the felt loom

NEW CLASS:

PIN WOVEN NECKLACE

wednesday june 11th 10-3 (break for lunch)

where:  dotty westerveld's (we can car pool)

$65

cost of class includes pattern, pins, board, and warp thread

see website for details

remember to check out the other classes coming up including tunisian crochet, felt sheep, felt flowers, felt landscape, and ez peezie pin cushions!

that's it for now ladies.  gotta run - everyone will be converging on me soon (happy happy joy joy!)

hope to see you soon!