'Tis the season....

...for yarn reps. Ugh. As you may already know, I dread this a little bit because it is so difficult to pick and choose what EVERYONE will like. I know, I can't please everyone, but it is very hard to see all the yarns, want most of them, but know I can only have a few. And then picking the colors! Don't get me started. Ok, I already started. But, that's hard too. (On the other hand it is so cool to see and touch all the new yarns ahead of time. And I get really excited when I know there is new stuff coming to show you!) I met with one rep today and have two more scheduled to come in the next couple of weeks. So, if you come into the shop and my hair is going in all different directions, you'll know I just met with a yarn rep!

Wow, I can't believe tomorrow is May. Can't believe how fast April went. This Saturday is the village wide garage sale. If you are coming to the shop, be prepared for a little traffic (but don't let it deter you!). There is a municipal parking lot on Maple Ave that you can use - the entrance is right next to the Altamont Enterprise building).

I knitted like crazy this week, but don't have any pictures to share yet. I've been working on my Estonian Lace Scarf with the Cascade Alpaca Lace. I'm about 1/2 way done and will have pics soon. I also started the Einstein Coat, which REALLY easy and will be very comfortable. It is in the book "The Knit Stitch" and I will be having classes with a couple of the patterns in it this summer (including the Einstein Coat). Again, a picture will be coming when I have a little more done.

Some show and tell:
Laura's Breathe Deep mittens made for Robin (Robin made Laura a Grazing Sheep Bag - see how that works? You should try a swap sometime!):


And Dottie's cardigan made with Encore Colorspun - beautiful!

Dottie also won yesterday's anniversary raffle!

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!

Today marks one year since I purchased The Spinning Room! It's been a whirlwind year -- I've met so many wonderful knitters, crocheters, spinners and weavers. I've also learned a lot about knitting, crocheting, spinning and weaving. Thank you to all my customers who have supported me and hung in there as I worked through the bugs of being the new owner.

Those who come into the shop today will be entered into a raffle to win a $25 gift certificate to the shop, so come on down!

(The drawing for the winner of the raffle will be at 8:00pm tonight at the knit-in; you do not have to be present to win, but you do have to come to the shop in order to enter.)

Ta Da's!

Ta-da! New sign for the shop:

Made by David (and Sarah) at Twilight Printing (http://www.twilightprinting.com/). I love it!

Also have some show and tell.... My finished Absinthe sock:

I stayed up really late two nights in a row to get it done. This was my first attempt at a toe-up sock and it did it on 2 circular needles, which I'm also new at. I really enjoyed working the pattern. It came out great, except that I bound off too tightly. Must fix that before the second one is done. This will be a class this summer (for more experienced sock knitters who want to take it up a few levels!).

Started my Estonian Lace Scarf (for another summer class):

I taught the beginner lace class last night and they experienced some of the frustrations of lace, but also the reward when their knitting actually starts looking like the pattern. Franklin Habit talked about nupps on his blog the other day (see it here: http://the-panopticon.blogspot.com/2009/04/nuppin.html ) and how frustrating they can be in the beginning. Nupps are the little puffs of stitches (7 stitches purled together!) that you can only sort of see in my example above. I experienced the same frustration but then you get the hang of it and it's no problem!

Got the grommet tool for my feltd knapsack but now can't find the knapsack - think I left it at home (it's been a busy week). Stay tuned for the final result....

And now some show and tell from customers!:

Tina's Woodstock Knits Market Bag Kit made with cotton:

Great, simple pattern and it came out great!

Mara's absolutely adorable and wonderfully soft baby blanket made with Mirasol Tupa:

Those are sheep on the blanket and they have little ears sticking out!

Mary Kate's Cabled Fingerless Gloves (made during a class here):

Gorgeous! (also made with Mirasol Tupa)

Kathy's cute dog paw hat (with bone tassel!) made with Encore:

This goes with the dog sweater she is making, and hopefully we'll get a picture soon!

May Kay's very chic felted hat made with Fjord and Pastaza:

Andrea's first felted bag!

Cathy's yummy Nancy's Scarf made with Baby Alpaca Grande:

Phyllis' shawl which she has been working on for a loooooooong time!:

Absolutely beautiful!

Bony's cabled beret made with Cascade Eco Alpaca:

Lisa's very cute clutch (made with 2 colors of Ella Rae Classic) with glass buttons:

And her equally cute baby blanket!:

Keep those projects coming!

Ketchup, mobile advertising and lots of projects

Whew! Busy week. Finally getting a chance to post.

First, must tell you about the Wet Felting Boot Camp that Yvette held for school kids during this vacation week. They had a great time learning to wet felt roving to make purses and DS video game cases. Here they are:

They had so much fun and it was fun to see them creating these wonderful purses. During the class, Yvette was telling the girls that they needed to use very thin sections of roving, layered upon one another to beging to create their purse. She went on to say, "Remember, less is best," at which point one of the class participants said, "Unless it's ketchup!" So. Funny. It had to be the funniest thing I've heard in a long time. A conversation then ensued about what everyone eats ketchup on and lots of eww's and gross's were heard. (I eat ketchup on grilled cheese and that got some eww's...)

Other very exciting stuff:

Mobile advertising! Now you'll know it's me if you see this out and about... or Paul. Can you picture this on a pickup truck? (magnet made by Twilight Printing: www.twilightprinting.com ; david@twilightprinting.com )

Now for some more show and tell:
Sarah's beautiful handspun yarn!

My particular favorite the second from the right, called "Jaded Ruby". She is selling these handspun yarns on her Etsy site: http://www.valentinearts.etsy.com/ and sometime soon you may see some of her yarn here at the store! She also sells other hand-knit items including these DS video game cases:

(also made with her handspun yarn)

And here are Mary Jane's adorable baby hat and sock sets made with Plymouth Jeannee:


Kathy's very pretty cabled fingerless gloves which she learned to make at the class we had here:

These are made from an alpaca/merino/bamboo blend.

Susan's wonderful log cabin blanket, made with Encore:

This will be going to college with her daughter in the fall!

Joan's crocheted scarf made from Baby Alpaca DK:

She has just returned to crocheting and knitting and is already at work on another scarf!

And, finally, Jean's crocheted beach tote made with Plymouth Fantasy Naturale cotton yarn:


Beautiful shade of yellow!

Thank you for continuing to bring in your projects. I've been getting a lot of feedback that you are liking to see them here on the blog.

As far as my current projects.... I'm waiting for my grommet tool to come in to the hardware store so I can finish my felted knapsack. I felted it and it came out great. I just need to felt the straps a little more and then it will be all set. I started the Absinthe socks that are on Knitty.com http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEspring09/PATTabsinthe.php . I've only got the toe done so I didn't take a picture yet (kinda boring). I'm also working on another baby surprise jacket since we had another class in that. It will match my Rambling Rows Baby Afghan! Also getting ready to start my crocheted lightweight cardigan, or the Estonian Lace Scarf. This will be more advanced than the one made for the beginner lace scarf class and will also possibly be a class this summer.

The Kitchener Stitch

Do YOU like it? I used to not like it. I used to have to look at the directions EVERY time, no matter how many socks I've made, because I just couldn't seem to get it. Well, I've been cured of that and here's why:


See the red line with the arrows? That is 12" (TWELVE INCHES!) worth of kitchener stitch; 43 stitches on each needle (EIGHTY-SIX STITCHES!). I'm used to 4 or 6 or 8 stitches on each needle. No wonder I never remembered. Now, I don't think I'll ever forget. And now I don't dislike it so much.

So, this is my felted knapsack in progress. (By the way, I'm testing this out on the suggestion of Diane G. who would like to see a class in it. As long as it goes well, I'll schedule a class in the summer. Thanks for the idea Diane!) It is currently 23" long and 17" wide (12" wide at the front of the base). I'm proceeding to the straps today and hopefully will felt by the end of the weekend. (My other weekend "goal" is to finish weaving in the ends of my Rambling Rows afghan....ugh.)

Lots to get to...

Lots to get to today! I'm trying to get over the snow thing that happened a couple of days ago. While it didn't last long (it was gone by noon), I was still discouraged. I'm just tired of the cold. Today, though, is nice and sunny and a little bit warm!

So, first is Show and Tell. I'll go first:
My finished Rambling Rows Afghan:

I. LOVE. IT. I made it with the Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran and it is just so soft and wonderful I can't stand it. What you don't see are the millions of ends I still have to weave in on the back, but that will hopefully be done by the end of the weekend. As a reminder, there is a class scheduled for this afghan on June 21, 2-4pm.

Next is Bev and her first ever knitting project!:

This is the Plymouth Shrug pattern, made with Mauch Chunky. Can you believe she learned to knit and purl making this??? It looks great!

And Laura's beautiful Bird In Hand mittens made with Malabrigo:

Don't they make you want to make some?
And her Striped Scarf made with Noro and Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran:


Jana's hat exchange hat made with Baby Alpaca Grande:

Ravelry had a hat exchange where you signed up and got the name of someone to make a hat for. They indicated colors and potential styles, then it is up to you to make them a hat. Sounded like fun! She'll be getting a hat from someone else, hopefully soon.

Needle felted chicks by Sue (yellow chick on the right) and Yvette (red chick on the left):
This was their Sunday afternoon project. Also in the picture is an adorable wet felted egg/chick that Sue got from Etsy!

Finally, Dierdre brought in some of her most recently completed projects.
Her Toe-up Felted Christmas Stocking made from Pastaza:


Her adorable Baby Surprise Jacket made from Cascade 220 Superwash:


And her Crocheted Beach Tote made from Cascade Sierra:


Finally, her herringbone scarf made from Nature Wool Multy:

Love the colors in the Nature wool. They all look great!

Next is to tell you about Dietrich Gehring and his wonderful photographs that are now for sale in the store. While he takes all kinds of pictures (see his gallery at http://www.dietrichgehring.com/ ), the pictures in the store are all of sheep. Here are some of them:

More have arrived since this picture was take and will be hung soon. Check them out the next time you are here.

Next, some other changes to the store:
More pictures that are not for sale but beautify the space:

These were taken by a Union photography student and she graciously sent them to me so I could use them.

The new Spring/Summer window display that is still-in-progress:

A big thanks to Paul for all of his ideas for how to arrange the window (99% of this is his work - in other words, I put things where he said I should so that's my 1% contribution!). Who knew he was so good at the decorating thing?

And finally, the Sheep Tote Class! The final session of this class was last Saturday and the participants had fun learning how to needle felt. Here are Janell and Margaret working on their needle felting, first on the foam mat, then on the fabric:

And here is Cindy's bag, with the first stage of needle felting done, now ready to be needle felted to her bag:

And here are the finished totes!:

They came out great!

Here is a close-up of Dierdre's because she decided to needle felt a rabbit instead of a sheep, using angora from her angora rabbits:

So adorable!

Finally, a close up of Janell's bag, which she has decided to line with fabric:

It even has pockets in there! So clever and very professional looking!

That's all for now. You are caught up on the goings on here at the shop. I really am trying to post on a regular basis, but things have been quite busy and it was hard to find time. I'll work on it.

April 7, 2009

Ridiculous.

Another sign of spring!

A mallard couple! They are over across the pond, near the rock. It was getting dark, and I sat in my dining room waiting for them to swim closer, but they wouldn't, so I had to take the picture. Still, a sign of spring. Yippee!

Show and Tell from Florida

Look what Joan learned to make while she's been in Florida!:

So beautiful! Joan says the picture doesn't do it justice....

She's sharpening her beading skills so she can keep making those great stitch markers! (She insists she is NOT ADDICTED to beading...)