correction

change of plans.  i will no longer be at the mill house cafe in johnstown this friday, october 25th; therefore the shop will indeed be open regular hours (10-6).

happy mid october to you all - enjoy those beautiful bursts of color coming from the sugar maples!  this photo was taken in portland oregon:

its hard to believe that ligonier country market is over but it does give me time to relax and not have that deadline looming over me.  unfortunately, though, i am a deadline-oriented person, as i love to work under pressure (yes a procrastinator).  i am happy that i have several classes running at the shop between now and mid november and am looking forward to trying some new wet felting techniques.  i am working towards an open house in murrysville on november 7 and 8 as well as the ligonier market christmas show on november 30th.  more details on both in the next newsletter.


i am lucky enough to be included in a trip out to stramba farm this thursday to do a felting play date with barb grossman (pittsburgh knit and crochet founder) and a group of girls who belong to the greater pittsburgh fiber art guild to play with the huge felting machine.  we will be making centerpieces for the upcoming pgh knit and crochet show in march.  i've always wanted to see how these huge needle felting machines work so i am very much looking forward to learning and creating.  (pictures next time)


my last program at seton hill was fun - 
rhonda pegg showed me how to marbelize with shaving 
cream and fabric paint, so away i went.  the ladies did 
some gorgeous prints.  we then marbelized a mat to 
frame their favorite print in.  it was so much fun.  
i am thinking of trying it with fabric!

this is evelyn with her creation.  she's always so
colorful!

UPCOMING CLASSES*

wet felted bowl class:

tomorrow (wednesday october 16) will be the first of two wet felted bowl classes.  i have eight signed up so far but only four paid, so there may be room for one or two more if you're interested. 

dottie's beaded pendant class with branch fringe:

re-scheduled for thursday october 31st at 11:00 a.m.  still room for one or two more here.

sock class:

laura mcguire's sock class begins thursday october 31st at 7 p.m. and continues for three consecutive weeks.  sorry for the upside down photo!

snowman purse class:

this class begins on wednesdays november 6 at 1 p.m. and runs for three consecutive wednesdays.

*see the website for photos and details on each of the classes.

what's new?

JUL - some beautiful new shawl pins
JESSE JAMES BEADS - i have ordered an array of some beautiful beads to be worked in with knitting, crocheting, and felting
BROWN SHEEP - more seconds yarn in many colors and weights from worsted to bulky in orange, cream, sun yellow, turquoise, oregano, dark mahogany, and feather gold.  also some new variegated lambs pride worsted (the yarn i use for the sunburst placemats) in eucalyptus leaf, grassy knoll, forest shadows, tormented teal, elderberry wine, blue skyways, wine splash, dreamy night, and silver streaks.*

*the mill has increased their prices somewhat, so that increase is reflected at the shop as well (but you still wont get them for this good a price)

i have made three more of the sunburst placemats using the cranberry swirl (the color beth used) and another periwinkle.  i plan on using several of the new variegated colors to make several more for my upcoming christmas shows. they are very enjoyable to make and i've done enough of them now, i rarely have to look at the pattern.

where's raggz?  

friday october 25 i will be at the mill house coffee shop in johnstown so please note that i will be closing at 2 p.m. that friday.  this coffee shop is relatively new to the area and features local artists each friday evening.

schedule of upcoming events:

wednesday october 16 close knit girls at panera 6-8
friday october 18 there will be a lunar eclipse
friday october 18 shop open 10-6
tuesday october 22 knitters anonymous at the shop 1-7
thursday october 24 purlin girls at noon at the bean
friday october 25 shop open 10-2* NOTE EARLY CLOSING TIME
october 31 HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE!



ever wonder how to use that lovely pagewood farm garden party yarn (or any other artsy fartsy yarn that is usually a little more costly)?  check out this shawl that eugenia knitted.  she added a row of garden party here and there and was able to stretch that yarn out to make three shawls.  the body of the yarn can be knitted in anything else really but these flowers make a lovely statement.  this cuts down on the individual cost for each shawl as well.










maia's mother in law, roz, has been working on a little 
coverlet for her great granddaughter.  roz has been here visiting 
from florida and knitted this coverlet with crystal palace yarns - cuddles for the body and rave for the ribbony stripes and outside trim.  
it still needs to be blocked.  she was very proud of her 
accomplishment and anxious to see penelope bundled 
up in it.

happy october birthday shout out to  lougene w, diane m, deb s, mary l, and alicia!  dont forget to come to the shop to get your $5 off birthday certificate!!

hope to see you all soon!

happy october everyone!  fall is definitely in the air and i am in my glory watching the leaves change, munching fresh local apples, and wrapping myself up in a sweater.  now if those darn stinkbugs would just go away, things would be perfect!

october 5 is ligonier market's grand finale so try to come out and sample some of the wonderfulness there.  it has indeed been a very good year for me at market and i am sorry to see it all end.  but time to get busy with several christmas shows and even making a gift or two.

on sunday, september 29th, i was fortunate enough to go to the shenandoah valley fiber festival.  it was a smaller festival but full of good stuff.  i found some extremely artful handspun yarn and wonderful roving.  also met some great people along the way.  these are always a good time.  i even ran into an old fiber friend - melody weed from river ridge fiber works.  i met mel at the waynesburg fiber fest about 5 years ago and fell in love with her wonderful yarns and creative knitting.

i also came across quite a few curly mops there like me and i felt right at home.  all we had to do was look at each other and bust out laughing because only those of us who deal with hair like this understand it all!  they also had a little spinning contest there and there was a little girl no more than 8 or 9 spinning away on a spinning wheel made by a man who decided he could make one out of things he could find at a home improvement store and by golly he did!  the only part that was not from the home improvement store was the bobbin.  i should have taken a pictures.  i'll be certain to go again next year.

WHAT'S NEW?
some new sizes in hiya hiya needles PLUS 60" cords for those of you who are brave enough to learn the magic loop (i'm still waiting for beth to teach us).  speaking of beth, i appreciate her telling me that hiya hiya carried these accessories because i didnt even know.  i also purchased connectors for making your cords longer as well as adapters which allow you to use your small cords on the large needles.  i also stocked up on regular point protectors, panda point protectors, tape measures, safety pins, and cable stoppers.  thanks beth for the heads up.

i've been doing some rearranging at the shop.  the porch is no longer the sale bin.  had to make room for roving now that i am going to be getting into wet and needle felting more and teaching some classes in this.  so for now, the sale bin is in hibernation until i can find a space for it, which will most likely be upstairs.   below is a photo of just a smidge of the wonderful fibers migrating to the porch!

i am a member of the international fiber art guild, the greensburg fiber art meet up group, and the greater pittsburgh fiber art guild.  the latter has just formed a felting group and we have been meeting in pittsburgh once a month.  its been a great experience and several of the members are actually well known felters so i know i will learn a lot.  on october 17, we are heading up to stramba farm in wampum to play with her huge needle felting machine and we will be making centerpieces for the pittsburgh knit and crochet festival.  it should be a great experience and a lot of fun and i'll keep you posted.  if any of you have an interest in wet or needle felting, you need to become a member of the greater pitt fiber art guild to join.  let me know and i will steer you in the right direction.

october 11 is i love yarn day AND its a friday so come  celebrate with us as it is also a friday and the shop will be open.  there will be special treats for the occasion.  stop by and see!

DATES TO REMEMBER
saturday october 5 LAST ligonier country market 8-noon
tuesday october 8 KA 1-7 at the shop
thursday october 10 purlin girls meet at noon at the bean
NATIONAL KNITTING WEEK!  october 14-20
shop open fridays 10-6

UPCOMING CLASSES:
wet felted bowl class at raggz wednesdays october 16 and 30 (see website for details)
NOTE:  dottie's jewelry class on october 17 has been rescheduled - date to be announced soon

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO sheila mckeever (the 11th) and karen staab (the 12th)!  have a GREAT day ladies!

til next time!

mid september update

thanks for another wonderful birthday everyone.  friday at the shop some of the girls surprised me with a cake and gifts and i spent saturday morning at country market being totally spoiled!  (i'll get back to low carbs soon!)  you all made my day super special and i realize how very lucky i am to be blessed with such beautiful friends in my life.  this year, since i turned 59 and this is officially the beginning of my 60th year, i am going to take a photo a week so that on my next birthday (the BIG one) i will have a 'flip book' of my 60th year.  i tried to do this a few years ago but at that time was trying to take a picture a day.  bad idea - no one wants to look at 365 pictures, but i think 52 is doable.  so for those of you who constantly have new grand-baby pictures, its pay back time!

WHAT'S NEW?

with fall officially arriving in a few days, i recently received some leather leaves beautifully crafted from homestead heirlooms, maker of high-quality leather handles.  multi-colored oak leaves and bright green pumpkin leaves are  perfect embellishments for a fall purse or a felted pumpkin.  i have some which have been fashioned into pins for a coat or sweater as well. 

what else is new?  custom peg looms made by pat kintigh.  these looms are very versatile.  you can weave rugs, placemats, table runners, and even scarves.

  pat makes these looms in various sizes.  the loom pictured is 36" but they are available in 12" and 24".  this is a great way to weave a project without the expense of a table or floor loom.

i've said it before but now is really the time to start working on christmas gifts!  someone mentioned that there are only 14 weeks left - i dont know who spends their time counting but it will be here soon so better get started.

birthdays:  birthday greetings to jana kula on the 26th, dottie westerveld o the 29th and linda sue on the 30th.  and belated greetings to sherry on 9/7 (sorry baby cakes!).  

dates to remember:

wed, sept 18 close knit girls - panera murrysville 6-8

tuesday sept 24 1-7 KA

thursday, sept 26 noon purlin girls at the bean

saturdays, sept 21 and 28 craftique fiber art group 9-12

shop open every friday from 10-6

upcoming classes:* 

thursday, october 17 

dottie westerveld returns to teach a beaded pendant class with branch fringe.

 

wednesdays, october 9 and 23rd

wet felted bowl class**

*see website for complete details, which will be posted within the week.  advance registration is required, as class size is limited.  

**option to have a daytime and evening class

where's raggz?  

ligonier country market every saturday from 8 to noon through october 5

flax scutching was a lot of fun last weekend.  the weather was beautiful and although i was only a vendor on sunday, it was so enjoyable listening to great music, including cathy rhoades who imitates patsy cline and enjoying the sounds of the hit and miss engines.  got to see a lot of old faces there as well.   

i recently completed two computer classes on dying silks and hand weaving the silk or turning it into hand-made knitting materials. i hand wove a small scarf out of the silk and also knitted one as well.  these photos show what i have made out of them so far.  the photo on the right has the silk being knitted along with yarn while the photo on the left is all silk fabrics.

 toodles!

september 1 2013

august came in like a lamb and went out like a squirrel!  three baby squirrels came into my life, one right after the other...  it was like having a baby again waking up for middle of the night feedings. i was thrilled that paula's mother and dad got to see them here at the shop.  we have about six playful squirrels in our yard who amuse us on a regular basis and i had JUST made the comment that i had never seen a baby squirrel.....  so watch what you say! although one little guy died, the other two have gone to the animal refuge in youngwood so i am hoping if they survive, they can be brought back to my yard for release.  it was a fun learning experience indeed.

september is one of my favorite months of the year - not just because its my birthday month but it means that soon fall will be here and then my favorite season - winter!  i have never been a fan of hot, humid weather and september gently reminds me that it will all be over soon and the beautiful colors will soon be appearing on the trees.  i feel blessed to be another year older and another year happier. 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY WISHES go to donna on 9/6, beth gray 9/10, and ali mock 9/13.  have a great birthday month girls!

donna's one year anniversary for her cancer diagnosis was august 21 and to celebrate her beating the odds, we had a party for her at the shop last friday.  we coupled it with shirley taylor's birthday and a great time was had by all. 

 



NEW STUFF IN THE SALE BINS ON THE PORCH at long last.  i've been so busy with wet felting, i hadnt really been going through yarn stash, but i'm back to de-stashing again, so come on out and start digging!

WHAT'S NEW???

pagewood farms garden party and gossamer yarns.  garden party is a delicious thick/thin yarn with larger, three-dimensional flowers; and gossamer is silk chiffon ribbon with flowers needle felted here and there.  both will make a really special project. 

                                




i did a woven scarf with garden party:

august 25th was a fun day for me.  i got to meet laurie ball-gisch, owner of the lavender fleece farm in midland michigan.  i made a trip to ohio because she was making a trip to ohio to pick up some leicester longwool sheep.  since this saved me a few hrs of driving, i met her there and purchased some of her icelandic fleece and a rug she had hand woven for me out of the leicester longwool.  i also purchased some of her lavender products made on her farm.  such a nice lady and i will be heading to her farm next year to purchase icelandic and leicester longwool lambs and i will have my own flock of beautiful sheep.

                     

 ALSO on august 25, for those of you who dont already know, i got to meet my half brother, rich.  i only found out i had a half brother and half sister (who lives in nebraska) two years ago, shortly before my mom died.  he lives near where we met laurie so the day was double delicious!  here we are!  

dotty's bead class held on august 29 here at the shop was fun and informative. we learned how to make a spiral rope and we all had much success.  classes like this not only teach us something new but we realize we can apply the priciples to other crafts, such as making a purse handle out of larger beads with this same method.  dotty will be teaching a beaded pendant class with branch fringe in october.

dates to remember:
monday, 9/9 fiber art meet up group at panera greensburg at 2*
tuesday, 9/10 Knitters Anonymous at the shop* 1-7
thursday 9/12 Purlin Girls at monte's 12:30 (rsvp to monte please)
saturday and sunday 9/14 and 9/15 flax scutching stahlstown
*these events are open to everyone

WHERE'S RAGGZ?

ligonier country market every saturday from 8 to noon
september 14 greensburg art center - 'different dimensions' show art opening from 6 to 8 (all three of my items juried into the show... woohoo)  my first art show ever!

mileage contest ends!

well the drama is over.... drumroll.....  the mileage contest was won by none other than..... purse guru KIM MCGUIRE!!!  kim is the lucky winner of a skein of her choice from either pagewood farms, imperial yarns, or mountain meadow.  she guessed 6,527 miles.  see the odometer photo below for the actual miles from my july excursion:

and last of the photos - i promise!  remember the five kittens i had at the shop in july?  well, here are the two i have left.  they are so cuddly and adorable.  dont have names for them yet but am open to suggestions.

happy knitting and felting!  hope you got to see the andy warhol knit the bridge project, as it will be dismantled this week some time.

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!