October 1, 2012

"if there ever comes a day when we can't be together, keep me in your heart, I'll stay there forever." - Winnie the Pooh

my friend debbie sent this saying to me upon hearing of the death of my beloved RaggZ yesterday.  just typing that sentence has me overcome with emotion all over again and i can hardly see through my tears.  a couple of weeks ago i could see that she was declining in various ways.  but ever hopeful that she would get through it, i am still in disbelief that she is gone.  my little bff brought us so many happy memories in the twelve years since she came to live with us from the pound.  

saturday when zach came home from virginia, she and i were out on the porch enjoying some nice weather and it was the first time i had seen her wag her tail in over a week and that was totally not like her.  i hated to call deni and tell her because she is coming home for a brief visit this wednesday and raggz was the one she wanted to see the most!  she was so upset that she hadn't come home sooner to see her.  zach emailed me this morning to ask me how i was doing and he said every time he thinks of raggz he thinks of happiness.  that says it all.

now for a brief newsletter that i'm not really up to writing:

the crocodile stitch bootie class as well as the pagewood silk scarf class have been postponed to a later date.  sally has agreed to teach another 4 week sock class beginning this month.  details will be out within the week.

congratulations to kathy acita for winning this months prize - a beautifully-embroidered 'love to knit' dishtowel from town's edge farm.  

DATES TO REMEMBER

october 4 and 18 - purl n girls latrobe coffee bean

october 16 and 30 - KA - 1 to 5

open every friday from 10 to 5 with the exception of october 26 when i will be in north carolina for the southeastern animal fiber festival 

WHAT'S NEW?

recycled sari silk, banana fiber, hemp, nettle yarn and more from Darn Good Yarn; new closures and shawl pins from JUL.  also new to the gift shop are more of town's edge farm's 100% cotton knitting dishtowels.

MY FIRST SALE-- gotta make room for more yarns i continue to discover!

this month 25% off cascade yarns bulky leisure (50% superfine alpaca, 50% pima cotton), pima silk (85% pima cotton 15% silk) , serendipity tweed (60% cotton 40% wool), and cotton fine (80% cotton 20% merino wool).  also 20% off all red heart yarns in stock.

also the sale basket in the entry way has doubled, so come check it out.

have a wonderful october and hope to see you soon.

love

t

August 31, 2012

this is a test:  how many of you remember what i said back in the may newsletter?  well was i right?  labor day is upon us already just like i mentioned and the first day of autumn is sept 22.  tomatoes are almost done, the kids are back in school, the last of the hay has been brought in, the sheep are getting sheared - all signs of my favorite season.  cooler days reminds us that its time to start doing some cozy knitting especially for the upcoming holidays.  

students arent the only ones learning this fall! this is a great time to start that pair of socks or other project for someone special for christmas.  beginning your projects this early assures you time to finish them up in a more stress free environment. 

SEPTEMBER CLASSES

CROCODILE STITCH BABY BOOTIES:  

for those of you with new babies or grandbabies in the family, this is the perfect shower or baby gift taught by sally holbein.  see picture below!  these booties are not knitted (yes it's is the 'c' word) but i understand even for those of us who dont crochet it is a very easy stitch.  the cost for the class will be $35 and will include yarn, pattern, and instruction.  you need to bring a size D crochet hook.

FRIDAYS SEPTEMBER 21 AND 28 FROM 1 to 3 at RaggZ.  please sign up soon because class size is limited to six.

if anyone is interested in three dimensional needle felting, laura tepke, of raspberry patch fibers, will be holding a 3 day class at her shop on harrison city - jeannette road.  friday night's class will be a needle felted cat and the cost is $90; saturday/sunday class will be a pumpkin doll and the cost for the two day class is $180 but if you take the both classes, the entire cost is reduced to $225.  all materials are included and you will learn how to do armatures, attaching limbs and how to make fingers.  this class is being taught by carol messick of west virginia.  carol is a blue ribbon award winning needle felter.

OCTOBER CLASSES

pagewood farms, maker of the lovely unusual funky yarns i carry at the shop has designed a needlefelting kit called the garden path silk scarf.  

the photo doesnt do it justice - its prettier in person and is available in 7 other colors.  even if you've never done needle felting before, this scarf will be easy to accomplish in an afternoon and results in a beautiful lightweight scarf perfect for fall.  the kit includes a hand dyed habotai silk scarf (also known as china silk), wool/silk flowers, and yarn.  a sample scarf can be seen at the shop or in ligonier. class size is limited to 8.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 5 at 1 pm.  $45 class fee includes ALL materials.  if anyone is interested in an evening class, let me know.

sally has agreed to teach another sock class in october for those of you who missed the last set. watch the october newsletter for dates and times.

nancy miedel is doing a craft show october 6 and has graciously offered to take with her and sell things that any of you want to sell.  if you are interested, please get in touch with me and i will put you in touch with nancy unless you already have her email.  we can set up a date and time to get your creations to her before the show.  

DATES TO REMEMBER:

thursdays, sept 6 and 20 -- purl n girls at latrobe coffee bean at noon
tuesday, sept 6 - alzheimers fundraiser spaghetti dinner at green meadows assisted living in latrob

flax scutching festival in stahlstown september 8 and 9 (i will be there on sunday)

tuesdays, sept 11 and 25 -- K.A. at the shop from 1 to 5

mother earth festival fri - sunday september 21 - 23 in somerset

september 21 - international day of peace
shop open every friday from 10 to 5

if you havent seen knitting daily's article on the crochet cast on sent out august 13th, check it out.  it sounds really interesting and easy.  also their article on august 28 on knitting ergonomics gives exercises for knitters to relieve stress and tension in your hands and wrists was very informative.  just go to knittingdaily.com

august door prize was won by sheila mckeever.  sheila won a knitting tea towel, embroidered by debbie snyder of town's edge farm in ligonier.

what's new at the shop:

imperial yarns double stranded pencil roving - perfect for knitting a soft and lofty afghan or cowl; pagewood yarns has three new yarns out - aw knots, kimono, and amazing;  dyepot yarns from west virginia is new to the shop with hand dyed, hand spun yarns in beautiful natural colors, some with three dimensional curls; and of course several different varieties i found while in boulder including some new manos wool clasico, silk blend, and naturals - all in gorgeous verigated shades.

KNITTING TIP: when making a row of eyelets for a drawstring purse, have you ever noticed that the openings are kind of small after felting?  try this next time -- when you make the yarn over for the opening, yarn over twice!  when you come back around, knit only one yarn over and drop the other yarn over, thus making the opening larger.  i did this with two small ribbon drawstring bags that were not felted and the handles slide through much better.

friday august 24 at the shop was a day like no other -- the dollies celebrated sally holbein's birthday here and on top of that, i had two new customers all the way from indiana AND O.T. and marge brought three new friends and cathy brought a friend - i had SEVENTEEN PEOple here at ONE time!  people were waiting in line to be waited on and lucky for me linda and carol didnt need their yarn wound!  thanks to all my wonderful friendz who have helped spread the word about my little shop tucked away in the middle of nowhere - it is very much appreciated.  i hope i have enough of a selection and good enough prices and a fun place to come back to. 

i find it interesting the way things happen and how sometimes my knitting evolves into something i never imagined.  case in point:  last month i knitted up a quick 'kim shawl' with some new noro karuta in a fabulous teal color.  i chose it for the color and content but also because it was bulky!  after i finished it, it sat folded on a shelf for over a month waiting for me to weave in the ends and somehow come up with a 'finale' for it.  last tuesday i made yet another to do list and grabbed about 4 things on my 'not quite finished' shelf in my workshop and brought them downstairs, determined to check them off my list.  i put the shawl on one of my mannequins and kept glancing up at it while finishing two other felted bags that have been completed and were beginning to collect dust.  i love the added texture and interest knots give to projects so i proceeded to tie some knots on this shawl, figuring they could always be removed should i change my mind.  back to working on a purse, all the time looking at that shawl out of the corner of my eye waiting for it to tell me something.  i then grabbed some hand dyed pagewood farms silk yarn and wove it through some of the rows i had done either with an elongated stitch on or an eyelet row.  turns out i added three rows of ribbon and some long soft silk fringe at the bottom of the back only.  i put the shawl on myself to further scrutinize it in the mirror and see how it fits an actual person and to my delight i noticed that the two points at the wide end actually curved outward.  i have absolutely no idea how or why so i cannot duplicate it unfortunately but i was very happy the appearance.  kind of like life - sometimes things dont turn out as planned but end up being wonderful once all is said and done!

by the way, have you signed up for our birthday club yet?  keep in mind you get a $5 gift certificate from the shop for your special day.  i have several here that i've been holding for some of you so be sure to ask about it next time you're here.

Upcoming craft shows if anyone is interested in securing a booth:  

sept 29 and 30    faith united methodist church in delmont  724 468 0040

november 11       st mary's ladies guild in bradenville  724 423 7140

have a wonderful september and come have a cup of coffee and a few laughs at the shop soon!

t

"beautiful young people are accidents, but beautiful old people are works of art." (eleanor roosevelt)

Return from Colorado August 14, 2012

i'm baaaaaaack!!

A-MAZING is the word that comes to mind.  colorado is always beautiful.  even tho i only went hiking once but i enjoyed the closeness of the mountains every day.  some of the days were just entirely too hot for me so we went for an evening hike.  we were lucky enough to be there for several boulder farmers markets and i was lucky enough to meet monte's daughter, wendy, our first saturday morning at the market.  she gave me a lot of pointers about our upcoming trip to utah.

zach and i spent a day in nederland which was fun.  on the way there, there had been a rockslide closing the only road we knew how to get there on so we headed up another road to a town called sugarloaf.  no cell service so no way to find an alternate route but zach said he saw it on the map, so off we went.  it did indeed take us to nederland (the scenic route) but it was great because it had been over 90 in boulder and the higher we got the cooler.  when we arrived in ned, it was only about 70 degrees and perfectly clear and sunny.  we strolled around ned for a while and i asked a local where the best place to eat would be.  he suggested a restaurant called 'katmandoo' which was a nepali restaurant.  i wasn't sure if i wanted to try it but we did and i have to say it was one of the best meals i ever had.  we went home a different route and stopped to hike up this huge hill to see a view of the mountains.  this was the only place i have a picture of me knitting (see below).  but what a view, huh?

we decided to spend a few days in utah because i came up with the brilliant idea of whitewater rafting down the colorado river in moab.  of course everyone was excited about the prospect of it but the closer it got, the more i wondered why i ever made the suggestion.  for those of you who don't know, i am afraid of deep water. a swimming pool deep end is fine so i guess what i'm afraid of is the unknown.  my imagination gets the best of me with thoughts of snakes and fish with huge teeth just waiting to brush past my legs or take a chomp.  (yes i know its ridiculous)  when i made the reservation, i lucked out and all they had left on the rafting trips was the scenic route.  when i expressed my fear to the lady taking the reservation, she assured me that five year olds can do this trip.  ok smartie pants -- five year olds don't KNOW there could be snakes and potential monsters lurking in the muddy water, so there!

my fear was falling out of the raft but the nice lady assured me that there was not a chance of that happening, as this was after all the family/scenic route and also with the drought conditions, the water was especially low.  my good fortune again.  somebody up there likes me.

the other brainstorm we had was that we would camp....not my gig but it was actually fun.  we arrived in moab wednesday early afternoon and it was 104 degrees!!!!  when we got out of the car at our campsite, i thought i literally walked into an oven.  think of it - if you have an internal temp of 104 you could die!  so we climbed down to the river and proceeded to get wet and a little muddy.  since deni has been to moab several times, she suggested we hike the dead horse canyon.  it's a 3 mile round trip hike with the most breathtaking scenery i have ever seen.

the next day bright and early we proceeded to the moab adventure center to begin my first whitewater adventure. after checking in and signing liability forms (wha?? liability forms??) they handed us a life jacket.  i could NOT get mine to close - i'm pretty sure it was meant for a girl with a training bra, so i loosened it up.  at which time one of the female guides promptly tightened it up again, thus cutting off my breathing.  i mentioned that it was too tight and she said 'believe me, you will thank me once you're in the water because they grow.'  i said 'what do you mean ONCE I'M IN THE WATER??'  she just laughed.  so now i'm being hugged by a boa constrictor and panicking that i am indeed going in the water with this thing around my chest.  i tried to calm myself with some yogic breathing and remain positive.

off to the bus we go for a 35 minute drive up the river to the spot where we put the rafts and kayaks into the water.  i did open my vest on the bus ride to keep the blood vessels in my eyes from bursting.

now we get the safety speech from the head honcho which pretty much makes me want to turn and run.  obviously i can't - i have NO idea where i am and the bus has already left.  be brave....

now we get paired up with the rest of our raft-mates and our guide is chosen.  lucked out here too because the guide was an adorable young guy named evan who was funny and smart (and not bad to look at either).  the other mates were a fun and interesting family of 4 from somerset, england and an elderly couple named tom and liz who have done just about everything you can imagine. liz does a website of their adventures called bikenfly.org (please do check it out - you will be amazed at their experiences.)  i have a feeling our own paula and ted are a younger version of this couple.  by the way, we kept asking questions of the english family so we could listen to them talk.

needless to say the trip was fantastic, swimming in the river was great and cooled you off immensely even tho the temp that day was 'only' around 100.  those doggone life jackets really do come in handy - the current is such that you just float down the river.  of course the entire time i was in the water i was flailing arms and legs to scare away anything that might want to swim up and investigate.  OMMMMMMMMMMMM

if any of you have already done this you will laugh when i say this next sentence:  the easy part was jumping in the cool water and flailing to keep the creatures away.  but once i was in the water, i realized -- oh wait now how do i get back into that raft?  turns out the guide grabs you by the shoulder straps of that previously-mentioned very tight life jacket and hoists you into the boat.  what happens next is that your jacket is now around your ears, the top buckle is in your nose, and you are bouncing off the paddles which are situated in the middle of the raft.  all you can do is lay there like a heap of wet clothes and laugh and secretly wonder if everything that is under that life jacket is in its proper position...  nothing graceful about it!

part of the package was stopping at the red river ranch for a fantastic lunch of grilled dogs and burgers, fruit, several salads...  back into the water for the other half day.  yes there were a few of what i call rapids but evan promptly corrected me and said technically they weren't even a category one because the water was so low.  hmphhhh so technically i wasn't 'whitewater rafting' it was more like the lazy river at kennywood with a few minor white bubbly water spots - but it was fine with all of us - very relaxing and much fun.

six hours later, after we arrived back at the adventure center, we were all tired and sunburned and we decided to go to arches national park.  no hiking for me this time but we did stop at a few of the formations and gawk.  of course the kids hiked a little but i laid down on a warm rock to nap (like a lizard) with tourists of all shapes and sizes and nationalities. perhaps it was better i didn't understand what they were saying because they were probably saying something about the stupid american sleeping on a rock. i probably inadvertently ended up in someone's vacation photos.  ahhh it will give them something else to talk about.

our last evening there i had dinner with wendy and her bf joe at a fantastic little mexican restaurant right on pearl street that wendy had been wanting to try.  it was extremely good - i had vegetarian enchiladas with goat cheese.  my mouth is watering as i write this remembering how good it was.  as a surprise, monte treated us to dinner as a thank you for my delivering a few things to her daughter.  thanks, monte - i got the best end of that deal.

and by the way for those of you who saw the vest monte sent out to wendy, wendy LOVED LOVED LOVED IT!  she has the most beautiful bluish/green eyes and that vest was made for her (literally!!).  will send a photo when we get one from her.

zach and i left colorado saturday morning around 10:30 mountain time after buying up loads of organic fruit, grass fed beef, borscht and home made cheese blintzes made by a german lady, etc. from the boulder farmers market and packing them into a giant cooler to bring everything back with us.  he suggested we drive straight through without sleeping so we could enjoy today being at home, as he heads back to virginia tuesday evening for his teaching job.  saturday evening found me driving straight into a perfectly formed crescent moon, almost like it was dangling on a string in front of me leading me on and sunday morning arrived in indiana with a sunrise the soft colors of the rainbow straight ahead.  how lovely it was.  the long night time drive gave me plenty of time to reflect on the wondrousness of my life filled with so many wonderful people.

(hmmm so this is why people go on vacation)

on a different subject, my plans for dolly llamas meeting at my shop this thursday have to be postponed but i will indeed be open friday.  i found a local church in my mom's hometown who is willing to come and pick up the contents!  i pretty much have no choice in the matter, as i have an agreement on the house for september 1 so it has to be emptied out now.  i am delighted to donate it all to a good cause and that they will come pick it up.  

by the way, i have some sound investment advice i would like to share with you:  buy stock in the company who makes the orange and white construction barrels... 

be in touch in a couple of weeks with the september newsletter.  plans for some new upcoming classes that i'm very excited about.

love to all

t  

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

class update for june

reminder:
fridays june 15 and 29 at 1 pm here at the shop is the drop stitch shawl class.  see picture below - but the picture doesn't really do the shawl/scarf justice - must see in person.  check the june newsletter for the material requirement, as it varies depending on the yarn used.  cost is $20 and includes pattern and instruction.  there are only a few spaces left!  if you are purchasing your yarn from RaggZ, please come early to decide and get your yarn wound - the shop opens at ten.

NEW CLASS ADDED TODAY:
maia olivenstein has agreed to teach a class to make an 'out of the ordinary vine necklace' on friday, june 22 at 1:00  also here at the shop.  maia is the creator of many beautiful and unique jewelry items.  she assured me it is easy enough for even a novice jeweler.  the cost for this class is $25 and includes all materials, so just bring yourself!  check out the beautiful sample below:

June 3, 2012

ligonier country market is now in session, so it must be summertime!  looking forward to beautiful summer saturdays filled with good friends, good food, and lots of arts and crafts. 

june dates to remember:

thursdays june 7 and 21 - purl'n girls meet at the bean in latrobe 12:00

thursday june 14 - 1:00 dolly llamas meet at panera

june 21 - knotty naughty knitters meet at alicia's  12:30

tuesdays june 12 and 26 - knitter's anonymous at raggz 1:00

every friday store hours 10 - 5

what's new in the gift shop?  framed scherenschnitte (don't ask me how to pronounce it) and cross stitch pictures by our own ardis mock and framed nature photographs by her talented photographer daughter, alison.  be sure to check them out on your next visit.

new yarns!  cascade pima silk and ultra pima cotton - perfect for those summer knits - in pink rose, lime, aqua, and lavender.  these colors conjure up a summer sunset! pima cotton is named after the pima indians who first grew it here in the US but its origins date back to its cultivation in peru as far back as 3100 bc.  peruvian pima cotton is called the king of cottons.  thanks to ideal growing conditions, extra-long staple length and hand harvesting, peruvian pima cotton is the world's finest pima, prized for its exceptional softness and brilliant luster, as well as its durability.  one touch is all it takes to show you just how luxurious a cotton can be.  i just finished a drop stitch shawl in aqua and lime and it feels divine on the skin.  for free patterns using ultra pima, go to http://cascadeyarns.com/patterns_pimaUltra.asp 

also several other cascade brands new to raggz includes lana d Oro (50% alpaca, 50% wool),  220 super wash, sitka (80% merino wool, 20% kid mohair), cash Vero (55% extra fine merino, 33% microfiber acrylic, 12% cashmere), and pima silk (85% pima cotton, 15% silk).

imperial yarns have been ordered and are being shipped and should be arriving the first full week of june.  more details on this yarn when it arrives.

new patterns:

the drop stitch scarf/shawl.  this was knitted in crystal palace panda silk (52% bamboo, 43% super wash merino and 5% combed silk).  i am very pleased with the finished product.  almost 5 skeins were used for this particular shawl but it would only take 4 if one color were used!  

in the second version of this drop stitch shawl, cascade ultra pima was used in aqua and lime (one skein each).

i love this pattern, as it is a perfect summer shawl, so i decided to run a two week class.  the classes will be held on fridays, june 15 and 29.  the two week interim will be time enough to get all 72 rows done in order to complete the dropped stitches the second week.  the cost will be $20 and will include the pattern.  if you get your yarn from me, please be sure to purchase it ahead of time.  class will run from 1 to 3 each day.  the pattern calls for approximately 500 yards of yarn on a size 7 needle (depending on yarn of course but we can discuss this).  the ultra pima cotton or silk/bamboo combo make a very light shawl with wonderful draping but other yarns could be substituted.

you may note that these classes are on fridays, when i am normally open.  the shop will still be open on fridays from 10 to 5.

another pattern i just finished is topografie's passion vine shrug by andrea marquis.  andrea is my rep for the organic wool from mountain meadow as well as JUL designs, so that is the yarn and embellishments i chose to use.  this shrug took a little over 4 skeins and i used two of JUL's fern wood portable buttons for the embellishment on the sleeves.  the pattern is available at the shop, along with the yarn.  

what else is new at the shop you ask?  stop by and see some recently purchased items, including a wonderful wooden antique washing machine and new table & chairs, as well as a totally different layout of the first two rooms.

a new knitting group has met at the shop now for the past two months.  these ladies have been getting together for quite some time and they have decided that their group would be called the knotty naughty knitters.  their leader, betsy,  is an expert knitter who teaches the girls something different each month - fair isle, entrelac - and this month cables.  they are knitting cabled headbands to donate to charity.  another very friendly group of ladies that i am lucky to be associated with and hope that the other groups may get to meet at some time.

the first of the chemo caps was turned in may 25 by donna chianese.  several of the ladies from latrobe are working on caps as well and we should be seeing more coming soon.  laura mentioned that when the caps are donated to children's hospital, perhaps several of us could accompany her and consider teaching these kids to knit if they want to learn.  will keep you posted on this.

the winner of this month's prize - a set of double pointed needles is.......  drum roll......  donna chianese!  these will come in handy for donna because she is still in the process of collecting all the sizes she needs.

well ladies, nuff said for june. 

love 

t

"money can't buy happiness, but it can buy yarn which is kind of the same thing."