Dec.11 Pottery Dome Holiday Open House

I am still knitting and weaving . I will have more hats and scarves at the opening of the Holiday Show on December 11. I just finished 3 more scarves and 10 more hats. It feels good to be creating again. I did not know how much I missed knitting hats till I knitted a few.

The open house is always fun with great food and beautiful music and beautiful things to delight your eyes and tempt your pocket book. Bring friends, meet old friends, shop for Christmas Gifts for the special people in your life. Open house is from 12 - 5

My previous post Nov. 23 included the invitation for open house so scroll down to see it if you missed it.

Here is a couple pictures of my stuff that is all ready on display at the Pottery Dome. i

Holiday Sale Pottery Dome Dec. 11, 2010

Warm wooly and wonderful just in time for the cold weather and holiday gift season.
Washed blocked and in the sun to dry new woven scarves and new knitted hats ready for the holidays. I have been busy knitting and weaving full time for the past month. It feels good to weave again. I have not been posting to my blog or doing much of anything else. I am getting the tags and labels made today and hope to deliver the items shown above to the Pottery Dome tomorrow afternoon. The open house is Dec.11 and it is usually a good time. Beautiful things to look at and great music and food too.

October Blues

What a Garden. Flowers and fruit I will be so sad to have that first killing frost and have to pull up and empty all my pots. I am picking red raspberries and cherry tomatoes and the flowers in the pots are beautiful. The leaves are turning orange and yellow so soon the flowers will be gone and the snow will begin again.



This is the same boxes that had the lettuce in the spring. Now harvesting tomatoes and beans.

Where did August go.

August just flew by. I spent a few days at Neshannock Woodworks log cabin textile museum. I will post pictures. I am still working on the loom this old barn frame loom warped.

I spent a few days at the Chautauqua Institution at the beautiful Athenaeum Hotel. What a treat. I am a life member the the Chautauqua Bird tree and Garden Club and I try to make it up every year for the Life members Luncheon. I won the centerpiece from our table pictured above. I also attended lecture by Ha Jin. and had him sign my copy of his latest book A Good Fall. I really enjoyed reading his book. It is a collection of stories about Chinese immigrants living in Flushing NY.

July garden and Blackberries

Today on the way back from putting my Netflix into my mail box, as I crossed the street I noticed my Apache Thornless Blackberry bush poking thru the picket fence surrounding my garden. I thought I saw something black and went to investigate and discovered some giant ripe berries. Wow! they were huge and delicious. I was surprised to see them. I usually look at this bush from the inside my garden and am looking at the north side of the bush growing on the inside corner of the fence. The berries are red as you see in the photo and look like it will be a few more weeks before they ripen. The south side of the bush faces the fence and is hidden by leaves and shaded by the fence. Some branches with berries are sticking out of the fence facing the street. These berries get more sun and must ripen sooner. I am glad I noticed these berries before a bird or someone walking by saw them. Last year I did not have ripe blackberries till the first week of August. Everything is a week early this year. Global warming? It sure has been hot and dry in July. We do not usually get this hot and dry weather till August.

My garden looks like a jungle. The remaining lettuce is blooming small yellow flowers on 3 foot high stocks. I am letting it self seed like it did last year. Right now it is not very pretty.

I have picked a few ripe tomatoes, green and yellow peppers, cucumbers, squash and green beans. I pulled up my garlic and harvested one container about 5 pounds of Yukon Gold potatoes last week, I have 3 more boxes of potatoes to harvest. My garden is small scale. Just enough veggies to run out and pick a little of something for dinner. There is always something fresh to add to whatever I am cooking.

The straw bale garden experiment is starting to improve. I was not able to keep it watered enough. The tomatoes and parsley look healthy but are very small compared to the plants planted in my other containers. I have one squash and a couple cucumbers that are surviving too and might be okay if I can keep them watered.

My earth Box is looking great. Last year I tried eggplant in this box and was a total failure. This year I have one red grape tomato, two cucumbers, a small leaf bush basil, three parsley and two nasturtium. All are doing well. I picked 4 cucs and 6 tomatoes so far from this little Earth Box. I have also been clipping parsley and basil every other day or so.

My experiments with growing Veggies in containers have been interesting. I get better results every year. This garden has been my most productive one yet.

Visitors are welcome. If you are in Mercer and want to see my garden you may stop by. I am usually home in the afternoon. If you have pictures of your garden to share please email them. I love to see other gardens.

My Antique Roses

Bayes Purple a single repeating rose, very hardy and thorny planted 2003.

I love to collect antique roses. I have 28 different kinds. I should have more than that but some roses just do not make it thru the winter. Some are carefree and others need more attention.

I really need to get outside today and care for my roses. I bought 4 bags of mulch yesterday and hope to weed and clear out some competing Iris and day lilies to give the roses more space. . They are a joy to have but do take a little more time to keep them looking good. I like the old fashion cottage garden varieties. I also like thornless roses and ones that are nearly thornless. I have a couple thorny ones that I am trying to get rid of. It seems the thorny ones area very healthy and need constant pruning to keep them from getting too big.

I love yellow roses, Golden Showers is a modern climbing rose. I also have 5 other yellow roses. Morning Has Broken and Golden Wings are climbing roses. Jayne Austin, Charlot and Enchanted Autumn are grandifloral planted in 2003 and still struggling for life. I thought I lost Jane and Charlot last winter but they are sending up new shoots and seem to be doing better. The moles have tunneled under these roses. I am not sure what they do. Eat the roots? Or just deprive them of water? Anyways I have been trying to dig around the roots to fill in the tunnels. I also leave Black Beauty my little black mole killer cat out in the morning. She has given me 5 moles so far this summer.
The soft pink rose below is New Dawn from Two Sister Roses. A modern climber it was wonderful this year. I have blue clamatis growing with it and hope someday they will grow together and bloom at the same time. Maybe next year.

Bonica a modern shrub rose. I love this rose it blooms all summer. It has pointed buds with long stems and is wonderful to cut and bring in for the table. I only wish the Japanese beetles did not like it so much. They eat the buds.

Veilchenblau, Germany 1909 also known as the the Blue rambler. Color is a pink to light purple with white eyes. Lasts a long time as a cut flower too.
Classic Old fashion Rose Veilchenblau, a classic rambler, bloom is small semi double, wonderful apple blossom fragrance, almost thornless, blooms only once but its spectacular.

I planted this rose in the spring of 2008. This year was the first year that this rose really did what I hoped it would. Eventually I want it to cover my garden fence facing east. Stop by and see my roses mid June before the beetles get at them.

Debbie Bliss visits Wolf Creek Yarns in Grove City PA

Debbie Bliss Knitting for Children
Yesterday I attended a delightful event in Grove City hosted by Wolf Creek Yarns. Debbie Bliss a famous knit wear designer came and gave a lecture, fashion show, book signing event held in the beautiful Alumni Building at Grove City College. Thank You! Wolf Creek for providing the wonderful refreshments and for bringing Debbie to Grove City. I have posted a few pictures in a slide show on line to give you a feel of the event. These are not great photos but you can get a feel for the experience.

Growing a garden, knitting on hold

The lettuce is spectacular this year. I have more lettuce than I can use. I have been giving it to my neighbor. I pulled up one big box of plants and half of another to planted potatoes under straw where the lettuce was removed. I will let some of each variety of lettuce go to seed so it can self seed the boxes for next spring. I keep thinning out the lettuce and in a couple days you cannot see where I pulled up the plants. I will add some pole beans to grow up the post in one of the boxes.


Strawberries all over the garden floor. I get about this many every day, its more than we can eat so they will go in the freezer for smoothies. I planted ever-bearing strawberries as ground cover around my beds and containers in my veggie garden and flower beds. It works really well. Sweet woodruff is growing with the strawberries and roses in the border of my veggie garden. The strawberries are hidden under the Sweet woodruff. They are hard to see but they grow well and bug free this way.

Spring Tulips

Yesterday 3 garden club members joined me yesterday at the Library for our gardeners midday meetup. Joyce and I walked the square and checked the beds. The tulips were wonderful. Thank you Rachelle for replanting them last fall. I was surprised to see so many tulips. The ones under the sign on Erie Street were amazing. If you get some time its worth a walk around the square to see the flowers.

For 8 years now I have been growing lettuce, cherry tomatoes, beans and cucumbers in 7 plastic storage boxes grouped together in the center of my little cottage garden. I let the the lettuce go to seed by accident a few years ago and was surprised to find it coming up by it self in March. This year I checked the boxes on St Patrick's Day and sure enough there was little sprouts. I have thinned and thinned the seedlings. I transplanted some but the transplants are not doing as well as the plants that I just thinned out. in a couple days I will thin again and this time the lettuce I thin out will be big enough to put in my salad. Here are a couple pictures. If you want to try this let me know and I would be happy to answer questions. It is so easy. These boxes provide all the lettuce I can eat from spring till late July when it becomes too bitter and goes to seed.

Knitters Fantasy in Ohio

Time is sure flying by. The daffodils are blooming and my lettuce came up again in my boxes in the garden. I thinned it our yesterday and transplanted some to another location. I dug out three small wild cherry trees along my picket fence. I moved some daylilies, dividing and potting them for our annual plant exchange. I was so busy working in the garden I just lost my focus on getting ready for my upcoming workshop at Knitters Fantasy this coming Saturday. It is a good thing that I taught this workshop on Feather and Fan lace several times before and have a lot of samples. However, I really wanted to finish the skirt I have been working on for the past year. The Sasha Euroflax Louet pattern with the three tiers of lace ruffles. One of the tiers is Feather and Fan. I was knitting every evening on my skirt with encouragement from my Friday afternoon knitting group friends that challenged me to finish it and wear to Knitters Fantasy when I teach my workshop.

This skirt was popular last year and I really wanted to wear it before it went out of fashion. I admired it on several folks that I saw wearing it at the various knitting events I attended during the year, including Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival, Knitters Fantasy and Pgh Knit and Crochet Festival. I am sure if you attend any of these events you also saw and admired this skirt too.

It is not a difficult pattern but there is a lot of knitting around and around forever on #6 needles. I have the under skirt almost finished and the top lace tier done. I would have had more done if spring hand not sprung and the sun had not come out last week and I could have kept my hands out of my garden. I just could not sit inside and knit with so much to do outside. Then I was so exhausted from working in the garden I could not even hold my knitting needles in the evening to knit. I am no spring chicken and just cannot work like I used to. I will post pictures of my skirt in progress soon. I look forward to seeing many of you at Knitters Fantasy Saturday. If you need info and directions check my links or google Knitters Fantasy.

This Thursday, April 8. Mercer Spinners and Wavers Guild is meeting at Munnell Run Farm for a workshop Knitting Eyelet Cast on and Mobius Join with Barb Wingert. I will be there knitting on my skirt.

Knits in China for fall

I found these photos of China Fashion Week on line. There were lots of really creative knits. Here are a few of the more reasonable ones.

Check out the novelties. Lots of colorful fur yarns. Does this mean fun fur is back? I wonder how long it will be before we see these trends here. Since we are 4th world here in PA it may be years. What do you think? Comments are welcome.

Hand dyed Fingerless gloves

I just finished these fingerless gloves. It took me Friday, Saturday and Sunday to knit these while I watched Mad Man Season 1 disk 4 and the Olympics on TV. I hope the person I knit these for likes them. One never knows how a hand knit gift will go over with someone that does not knit. Often they have no idea how long it takes to knit an item. I did not keep track of my time since I was enjoying the knitting challenge. I knitted the first glove twice because The first time I knit it I did not like the pattern after It was almost done.

Little Ruffle Seed Stitch Scarf

I came home from the Pittsburgh Knit and Crochet Festival with a skein of ACE 150 yards of 90% Suri Alpaca /10% Tencel . I knit this little scarf knitting from both ends of the ball at the same time. Beginning with the lace ends and knitting both at the same time till I ran out of yarn. I then grafted the two ends together with the Kitchner Stitch. This was fun to knit but I wish I would have made the lace wider and the seed stitch part of the scarf about an inch narrower so it would have come out a little longer. here is a picture. My pattern will be given away with the purchase of this yarn from PA Preferred , 100% Pennsylvania Grown Alpaca Yarn from Wini Labrecque/Star Weaver Farm, email: strwvr@zoominternet.net. www.starweaverfarm.com I shared Wini's booth at the Pgh. Knit Festival. I sold a lot of Valetines and enough yarn to cover my expenses for the week end. I had a really nice time. I enjoyed meeting Noro Bellows from Noni Knits. Her Felted bags are really worth seeing. I took a workshop from Daniel Yuhas Lace and Loop scarf. I will post a picture of my scarf soon. I am knitting the lace and loops I have 17 loops finished. There are 23 I cord loops on one end of the scarf. This is fun to knit but I am only getting few inches finished a day so it will take me a while to finish.

Knitting Valentines and writing patterns

I have been knitting hearts for over a week. It all started when I decided to donate my knit Valentine pattern to the Ravelry Goodie Bags at the Pgh. Knit & Crochet Festival.

My Knit Your Heart Out Pattern was posted here Wed. Feb. 14 2007. You can check it out in the archives. I designed this heart to sell at the Pittsburgh Knit and Crochet Festival. The Festival happens around Valentines Day every year. There are workshops by famous knitters and amazing yarn to inspire you. There is a link to the Knit Fest. web pages on the right under links. Sometimes the sun comes out here in February and the snow stops and melts off for awhile. This event is a wonderful place to escape into the world of yarn and fibers after a difficult winter.

About a week ago, I got our my old pattern and knit the heart. I wanted to revise the pattern, using other stitches than the Kf&B increase in the center. This increase came out uneven and I wanted to edit the pattern to make it easier to follow. I also wanted to add rows to the pattern to make the heart to come out a little bigger and better shaped.

I became completely consumed by this task. Knitting before breakfast and doing almost nothing else all day till late into the night. I am ever dreaming of knitting hearts and variations that I am anxious to try.

The lavender heart pictured below is the basic pattern. Very easy to knit, all the stitches are knit stitches, resulting in a simple garter stitch heart. I am happy with this basic pattern. It creates in nice round heart shape. The size is about 20% larger than my old patten. It takes about 22 - 25 gms. of knitting cotton. You can knit two hearts from a 50 gm. ball of yarn.
















Experienced knitters can experiment with alternating knit and purl stitches to create an endless combination of patterns that make the heart look interesting. Beginning knitters can use this simple design to improve basic skills and experiment with new stitch patterns. Seed Stitch, Double Moss, Ribbing and other combinations look good in alternating rows to make the heart look fancy and complex. It is much easier to knit the complex combinations of stitches and just make them up as you knit than it is to write it down as a pattern so someone else can reproduce the design. I gave up on trying write a complex pattern variations. Maybe next year.



Below are two of the hearts with stitch combinations that I did not write down. The pink heart was fun to knit. I love the way the stripes of k1,p1 ribbing make this heart more interesting to look at. It makes the heart look more like a Valentine Heart. I get bored just knitting every stitch. I have knitted 15 of these in the past 5 days while I was revising the pattern. Each one is different and I could not wait to finish each one so I can begin another one trying another combination of stitches. The ideas just keep on coming. I am really having fun knitting these.