Yarn @ Otter Creek

Reading and Knitting the winter away

2012-01-19T10:48:00.003-05:00

Knitting and reading. I knitted over 20 hats and at least a dozen pair of fingerless gloves and Mittens in the past couple months. I suppose I should be more focused on getting my house cleaned and stash in order but I just cannot get motivated. I am escaping my world and knitting my way into another.

WHY?? That is the question. Am I depressed? Am I Lazy? Am I avoiding reality? Time just seems to fly by and here I sit. KNITTING! and if I am not knitting I am reading. At least I stopped watching CSPAN; and watching the news and politics; it was way too depressing. Spring will come soon and I can get outside in my garden again.

I just finished reading The Winter Palace by Eva Stachniak I enjoyed it so much I wanted to know more about Catherine so as soon as I was finished I looked up other books about Catherine the Great. It is so easy to do on the iPad. I just researched and read the reviews on Amazon and with in a few minutes I was reading my next book. I am reading Catherine the Great by Virginia Rounding, this book is not as good as the other one. Too much detail and moves way too slow. I may not finish it since it puts me to sleep.

Reading on the iPad is way better than reading real books. I like being able to research while reading and look up words and events while reading makes the story more interesting. It is way too easy to buy books. The reviews are helpful in making decisions about what book to buy. Just click and the book is there. No more waiting till your next trip to the library or trying to find a book in a book store. It is way too easy to spend money this way.

I have been saving PDF patterns on my iBooks document shelf. Using patterns in this way has caused my knitting to become more complex; trying new patterns in multi color designs.

I got a new app for creating and recording changes to published patterns but have not been willing to take the necessary time to learn to use the app. It is more fun to just knit rather than fiddle with the pattern on the computer. I no longer feel the need to share my patterns and pass them on. When I had my shop I always thought about keeping my patterns simple and recording my pattern as I knit just in case a customer asked me for the pattern. I do not need to think this way anymore, however, old habits are hard to break and people still ask for the patterns. Keeping track of my knitting as I knit is easier with the iPad but it does mean stopping and taking pictures and writing down the details and some days I just do not care to stop and make notes.

Winter will pass quickly at this rate and I still will not have my studio organized and cleaned out. OH! well there is always tomorrow. I suppose you now understand why it has been two months since my last post to this blog.

Tom and I are snug and warm in our little brick house watching the snow pile up outside.

Tom has Parkinson's Disease and has been on medication for it since Sept. 2010.

He is taking Isradipine and it is working. He is better now than he was two years ago. The results of the clinical trials at Northwestern University have been very good. Here is a link: http://www.futurepundit.com/archives/004310.html

Sale Nov. 19 & 20 Dragon Fly Studio Slippery Rock

2011-11-18T11:53:00.008-05:00

I have been busy knitting and making handknit items for the sale this week end. Below are photos of some of my newest items and some scarves that were not sold last season that will be at Dragon Fly Studio this week end. I did not have much time to prepare for this. I was on a knitting cruise to Nova Scotia and just got back in time to get my garden ready for winter and make a few new items for this show. I made 6 pair of fingerless gloves and 4 new hats. I had a lot of items left from last years sale at the Pottery Dome so I was really happy to be invited to be part of this event. I hope you can come and enjoy some refreshments and see the beautiful handmade gifts that we will have on display. I always try to make a lot of my gifts or purchase gifts form local artists rather than buying from the big box stores. I hope you will consider coming to Slippery Rock and seeing what we have to offer. If you have any questions email me at ottercreek@mac.com. Nancy

Art Show and Sale at the Dragonfly Studio
135 Pink Road
Slippery Rock, Pa.

Sat., Nov. 19 - 10am to 4pm Sun., Nov. 20 - 1 to 4pm

Work by 5 area artists Hosted by Nancy Hogg Kneupper

Cash or check Bring a friend!

If bad weather, call 724-794-6317

Directions from Slippery Rock - From the intersection of 108/173/258 (intersection with BP/Kwik fill stations/First National Bank).

Go East on 108, 2.5 miles. Turn left onto Pink Road. 135 Pink road is the first house on the right.

If you missed the turn on to Pink road and reach the intersection of 108 and Rt. 8, you have gone too far and need to turn around. Go about .7 miles back on 108 and turn right into Pink Road.

Highlights from summer 2011

2011-09-08T13:03:00.010-04:00

Flowers in the pots on my deck did really well. The new boxes of veggies did well too.

I am still picking tomatoes.

My week at Chautauqua, Night before graduation
My graduation from Chautauqua Institute
My first year to have peaches. They were supposed to be white but turned out to be yellow free stone and delicious.

Summer Garden and Knitting

2011-07-05T17:37:00.005-04:00

This has been a summer of fancy cupcakes and gatherings with friends. Evenings with live Jazz music in the park or outdoor cafe.

I am knitting summer lace socks and gardening.

It is very dry here so I am out in the morning at 6 AM watering my garden.

My blue berries are starting to get ripe. I just finished three weeks of picking cherries and making cherry pies and chrisp and making Cherry pancake topping.

Life in Mercer is pleasant. Our weather is mild with daytime highs in the low 80's and 60's at night. No severe storms, forest fires or floods.

The economy seems to be ok. I see have seen some help wanted signs. We have no homeless folks that I know of. There is a new super WalMart coming near our Outlet Mall. There are a lot of houses for sale and prices have dropped but no one wants to move here. Why? To move here you need to be retired or self employed. There are mostly service jobs, health care and education; a lot of our factory jobs left in the 1980's. Its a good life here if you can manage it.

I had a bumber crop of Montgomery Cherries
This Yeasrs lettuce crop was fantastic.

I pulled up most of it except for a the ones I will be leaving to go to seed.

I now have Romano pole beans and cherry tomatoes planted in this space.

ART-Knitting Performance Mark Newport at Edinboro

2011-03-26T18:01:00.004-04:00

I got the following announcement from Anita Joslyn I went on line to the link she sent and checked it out. The knitting looks really cool. I probable will not make the evening lecture but the panel discussion and performance piece in the afternoon was tempting.

Each year the Visiting Artist Committee brings a guest artist to campus, and this year it is knitter Mark Newport. It’s a 2-day event with an evening lecture on March 31; then a panel discussion “Thinking Through Crafts” the next morning; and a 50-minute performance piece in the afternoon. Knitters invited to come and bring an in-progress project along to the latter. It’s all free admission. Feel free to share with your knitting friends and guild. Here is a link to the news release we sent out about it. http://www.edinboro.edu/news/detail.dot?inode=664471 If you decide to come to Edinboro for this, I can recommend the University Club for lunch. $6.50 per person, buffet style with a salad bar and beverage included. The food is always really good!

Feather Fan Tie Shawl

2011-03-06T14:17:00.004-05:00

I just finished another tie shawl. The yarn is Noro Silk Garden Light. I chose this fall colored yarn because I am knitting this shawl to wear on the Fall Knitting Cruise I just signed up for. The cruise will leave from NJ and go up the coast stopping in Portland and Bar Habor Maine, Nova Scotia to visit Lucy Neatby and return along the coast stopping in Boston. On board the ship I will take a knitting class from Joan Schrouder and another one from Donna Druchnas. I thought a shawl like this would be perfect for a fall cruise, Sept. 29 - Oct.8. You can link to more information about the cruise on the right. Please mention that you learned about the cruise from my web blog if you request information. I hope some of my knitting friends will be able to go along with Joyce and I on this knitting adventure.

This shawl pattern is my own; inspired by an article in Spin Off Magazine. This is the 6th one I have knitted and each one is a little different. I began this shawl by adding a cable section down the center. The same cable pattern as the hats in my last couple posts. I became obsessed with variations of this pattern back in November and knitted at least a dozen hats with variations of this cable pattern. As I continued knitting I wondered what would happen if I added a simple lace pattern. I placed markers every 18 stitches and began knitting Feather and Fan lace to the edge of this shawl.

I added the Feather and Fan Lace so I could use the shawl as a teaching example.

I will be teaching a class in Feather and Fan Lace at Knitters Fantasy on April 9 at Chaney High School in Youngstown. This will be the 16th annual Knitters Fantasy. I have been part of this event since it began and look forward to attending this year. If you want to find out more about the classes offered or details about the event check the link on the right side of this blog or google Knitters Fantasy.

2011-01-05T13:18:00.008-05:00

Wow 2011, the time sure does fly when you are 64. Tom explained it this way. When you are 6 one year is one 6th of you life experience so it seem very long. The summers seem endless when you are a child. Now that I am 64 one year is only one 64th of my life experience.

The summers fly by as do the winters. It is easy to just say I will fix that next year because next year is just around the corner.

So I look out my kitchen window into my sad garden covered with snow. The clutter of last years garden that for some reason just did not get cleaned up and put away before the snow started to fall is hidden by a blanket of white. This will be an ugly site when the snow melts. Will it be bad enough to get me out of the house early in March to clean up the mess so that the spring lettuce can sprout as it did last year? I had lettuce up in my boxes on St Patricks Day last year. I even posted pictures.

So it is January all ready and I am sitting in my warn cozy house knitting looking out at the snow falling. Lattice Hats in angora and wool. Knitting has dominated my days once again. I knitted 8 pair of mittens for gifts.

I became enthralled by a cabled hat pattern with lattice cables and have made variations of the design at least a dozen times, as you can see in the pictures posted. I tried one with a rolled brim, I tried various ways of decreasing the top. I put earflaps on a couple. I knit one with bulky yarn and a traditional folded brim. I tried different sizes of yarn and needle sizes 4-9.

I liked the sport or DK weight yarn hats knit on #5 - 7 needles best. I made 5 with angora blend DK weight yarn. I I made one out of baby pink Angora that I increased into a modified tam shape.

On the last one I am still knitting is with Noro Silk Garden Yarn. Pictured above. I changed to a large cable at the top. The variegated color and uneven spin of the handspun yarn sort of hides the stitch pattern.

I will keep knitting this lattice pattern as long as the ideas keep flowing. I want to try a few more tam variations. I will post more pictures. I do not have a pattern to share since each hat is different. You can begin as I did by knitting KOOLHAAS HAT by Jared Flood. The red hat pictured above was inspired by this pattern. I did not finish the top of my hat as Jared did in his pattern. I started with his pattern and once I got the cabled down I set the pattern aside and went on my own. I liked the way the hat fit but it ended up a bit too short. The second hat was the blue hat and it was too long. With each hat I made changes to alter shaping and size. Each hat is a little different due to changes in yarn, needle sizes and number of stitches. One idea leads to the next. Will I ever tire of knitting variations of this pattern and move back to socks? Check in here and see.

Dec.11 Pottery Dome Holiday Open House

2010-12-08T19:08:00.005-05:00

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

2010-11-23T15:36:00.005-05:00

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

2010-10-04T19:06:00.007-04:00

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.

2010-09-08T20:14:00.002-04:00

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

2010-07-26T12:38:00.002-04:00

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

2010-06-25T10:44:00.009-04:00

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

2010-06-16T14:18:00.003-04:00

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

2010-06-05T10:08:00.004-04:00

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

2010-04-21T11:44:00.002-04:00

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.

2010-04-16T11:02:00.002-04:00

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

2010-04-06T07:06:00.004-04:00

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

2010-03-27T12:00:00.005-04:00

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

2010-03-01T21:44:00.002-05:00

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

2010-02-23T18:29:00.004-05:00

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

2010-02-04T21:28:00.006-05:00

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.

Little red Christmas Sweater

2009-12-24T14:45:00.004-05:00

Christmas eve and still knitting.

I was inspired by a workshop I took at the Knitting Retreat last November at Bedford Springs Resort. Kathy Zimmerman had us knit three lace edges for scarves and shawls. We started with the lace edge and went from there. This is the bell ruffle knitted in reverse on the edge of a little sweater. I am knitting it out of worsted weight washable merino, #8 ndls. It is for a one year old little girl.

The sweater is knit top down without reading pattern, just making it up as I knit, the beginning is similar to a sweater I knit several years ago as a store sample. I had to rip it back a couple times but I enjoyed the knitting. I like how this ruffle edge looks. Thank you Kathy for the inspiration. We talked about the possibility of knitting this on an edge in reverse and I was happy to find that it was not hard to figure it out by just knitting backwards. I decreased the purls to two between the bells to get the bells to stand out more in the last row before casting off.

Now I need to pick up and finish the sleeves. I am considering a few bells on the sleeves edges. What do you think? Email me if you want to help me decide. I have to stop knitting and wrap gifts for tomorrow morning so I will not work on this again till Sunday.

Have a great holiday!

May everything you knit and give as a gift this season find a home with someone that appreciates your efforts and enjoys wearing lovely hand knitted things.

Nancy

Hats at the Pottery Dome

2009-12-14T10:42:00.005-05:00

My hand knit hats are at The Pottery Dome just 2 miles West of the Grove City Outlets. Hours: Tuesday - Saturday 10 - 5 and Sunday 1 - 5 phone 724-748-5001 www.PotteryDome.com
This is a wonderful gallery with beautiful handmade pottery and glass by talented local craftsman. I will have my handspun knitted items displayed there thru the winter. This is a great opportunity for me to get my stuff out were folks can find it. I have been making and selling hand knit hats and handspun yarn for over 20 years in the Mercer - Grove City community and I know some folks will be happy to know that they can still purchase these items from me. I still love making them and am grateful to Lois Hamilton for letting me put them out at the Pottery Dome.

Knitting another Tie Shawl

2009-11-27T11:32:00.006-05:00

I started another Danish style Tie Shawl over the Holidays. It is a perfect project to carry along to knit in the car. This one is on #9 needles, the yarn is a soft rose pink, Merino Frappe from Crystal Palace. I cast on 12 sts and knit 10 rows then picked up 5 on each edge to begin the shawl. This shawl has a wider panel down the middle (12 sts. ) with a cable chain running down the center panel. My previous versions had only 4-6 stitches in the center. This is my 6th tie shawl and it is for me to wear over the Holidays. The #9 needles will knit up quickly. This pattern will work with any size needle or weight of yarn. My first version was knit on a size 2 needles with fingering weight yarn. It is still my favorite. The key to the pattern is to increase 6 stitches every other row to create the wide round shape that will wrap around your body. There are two increases on each edge and two in the center one on each side of a center panel. I love knitting this shape of shawl. My next tie shawl might be knit with lace weight yarn and mostly seed stitch with perhaps a lace border. I have a lot of lace weight kid mohair yarn in my stash that is waiting to be knit. I will wait till after Christmas to knit it. I like to plan my next projects while I am finishing the one I am knitting. The possibilities are endless. Making the right choices takes time and l lot of planning. Some project will remain in the planning stage for months before I find the right yarn and stitch pattern to proceed.

I love knitting and wearing this type of shawl. It is perfect for keeping the chill off my shoulders around the house. Once the shawl is tied on it feel like a vest and is very comfortable to wear in the kitchen and doing chores around the house. I can see why it was popular with working women a hundred years ago. You will see ladies wearing these shawls in kitchens and in the market place in old period movies like Weathering Heights and Jane Austin films.

Below is the sample version of the Traditional Tie Shawl I knit for my workshop at Knitters Fantasy in OHIO last April. It fits perfectly on this doll. I will knit a couple more of these for Teddy Bears. This would make a nice gift for a little friend.

Well Thanksgiving is over and I have a lot knitting to finish for the Holiday Gift Season. I finished three pair of socks and have a forth pair with both socks on circular needles knit past the heels so they will be done soon.

I found homes for two of my kittens. I placed posters with pictures in several stores around Mercer and Grove City. We still have three kittens that need a home. One black female and two grey males. The kittens were born on Sept.3 and are ready to go. Please if you know anyone that would like a free kitten please call me. my cell: 724-877-1082 The kittens are litter trained and very sweet and loving. They purr all the time. I wish I could keep them but 4 inside cats is really two more than I should have. I hope I can find a home for these little guys I would hate to have to put them back outside with the strays for the winter. The kittens are confined to my bathroom for the time being. I posted pictures on my previous post. I will email pictures if you want to see more. my email: spinningotter@gmail.com I will even deliver them to your home if its within 20 miles of Mercer.

5 Kittens looking for a home

2009-11-17T07:35:00.002-05:00

I have 5 lovely kittens that need a home before winter. I cannot keep them I have way too many to care for. I have cared for them and played with them every day so they will make someone a loving pet. call my cell: 724-877-1082 or 724-662-0271

Knittreat at Bedford Springs Nov.5-8 2009

2009-11-13T11:34:00.009-05:00

I am still unpacking from the Knittreat at Bedford Springs Resort. Above is the hall outside of the classroom where I taught spinning.
This is a view of one of the cozy areas in the lobby where knitters gathered to knit after dinner.

What a wonderful experience. Great food, an elegant environment, beautiful weather and four days of spinning and knitting with inspiring teachers. I had a wonderful time. Below is a view of knitting friends in the lobby from the stairs above. I wish I had more pictures of the exterior of the beautiful historic hotel.

Knitting and gardening

2009-10-11T10:32:00.003-04:00

This is a detail of a scarf patten I am designing for a friend to make kits for selling her alpaca yarn.

I am still out here. I have not posted in awhile. I completed two pair of socks, two scarves, 10 hats, Three felted cat beds, a shawl and several skeins of handspun yarn in the past couple months. I did a program for the Butler spinners and weavers last wednesday, Friday I met with my knitting group and yesterday I met with knitting and weaving friends at Munnell Run Farm for our Mercer Guild meeting. So why have I not taken the time to post pictures of my work? I keep meaning to do it but the time just flies by.

October has been cooler than normal and the cool rainy days do not inspire me to go outside and finish up cleaning up my garden to get ready for winter. I am still picking a cup of red raspberries every day. We may have a frost tonight. A frost may stop the raspberries if it is severe. The raspberries can handle a light frost. I have several house plants that will need to come inside tonight. I just looked at the weather forcast and there will be only one day without rain with partial sun and a high of 50 in the next 10 days. This is discouraging. I need more good sunny days in the 60s to get outside and work in my garden.

Chautauqua-Lecture-RobertTherman

2009-08-15T13:13:00.000-04:00

Garden Club Picnic at DJ's

2009-08-11T15:57:00.003-04:00

Last night the Mercer Garden Club had their summer picnic in DJ's Garden. We had a heavy rain storm that quit just before the picnic. The air was fresh smelling and the flowers were beautiful. The temp cooled down and the sun came thru briefly. It was an enchanted evening in a beautiful garden with friends and way toooo much excellent food. I am glad I was there to be in the moment. I love being out in a garden after a rain. This was a perfect evening and everyone seemed to enjoy being there.

Mercer Spinners and Weavers Guild August 8 2009

2009-08-09T11:30:00.002-04:00

Yesterday our Buy, Sell, Swap or Trade Meeting turned out to be a huge success. We only had 5 members of our guild show up but we had lots and lots of folks come from other Knitting and Weaving groups. We had a full house. It was so exciting to see so many people. There was a group of knitters that work together in Grove City. There were a couple car loads of knitters from the Cranberry Knitters Group. A Weavers Group from Erie, Edinboro and Greenville stopped by to visit. There were knitters from Mercer, Sharon and Hermitage that used to shop at Otter Creek. There was a couple folks that Judy met at a recent show where she was spinning. I wish I had counted or taken some pictures but I was too busy talking to think about it. We probably had 40 to 50 people come.

There was wonderful food for the pot luck picnic lunch. I really enjoyed meeting new fiber arts folks and making new friends. Several folks join our club. Everyone had a great time sharing good food and there was lots of laughter. I hope we see some of these folks again. If you were there and happen to read this. Thank you for coming. Please come again. Email me and I will send you our next guild newsletter.

Summer Knitting and Natural Dyed Yarn

2009-07-22T18:08:00.004-04:00

Every year the Mercer Spinners and Weavers Guild gets together at the end of the summer for a natural dye workshop. It is an exciting day. Everyone brings a pot of some natural dye they have cooked up. Folks bring yarn, roving and loose fibers for spinning. We usually have a variety of pots to choose from. Last year I put rubber bands on skeins of natural undyed wool sock yarn and dipped this yarn into three different pots. The last pot was indigo and that is how I got the blue green spots along with the yellow and orange. The yellow was marigold and the orange jewelweed. If you would like to join us in dyeing this year check out our Guild Newsletter by clicking on the link on the right of this page.

I started another Danish Tie shawl. This is the 4th one. I am using #6 needles and a sock weight yarn that I had dyed at our Natural Dye Workshop August 2008. I really enjoy knitting and wearing these tie shawls. This one will be machine washable and light enough for a summer evening. I will post a picture of it when I finish. I am using a contrasting blue green sock yarn to add narrow stripes. The color matched the blue green indigo spots and I love to use up leftovers so I could not resist using these two yarns together. I don't know how many stripes I will get before I run out of this yarn. I may have to add another yarn to continue the stripes when I run out of this one. I am just going to go with it and see how it turns out.

Below is a picture of booties knit from the sole up. Beginning with tan suede yarn cast on 12 sts and knit a rectangle. Pick up stitches around the rectangle and knit 3 rows switch to the blue bunny hop yarn for the rest of the bootie The baby sweater under the booties was knit from Rowans All Seasons cotton a couple years ago and was used as a sample in my shop. A friend emailed me that her daughter just had a baby boy and I thought this little sweater would make a perfect gift. I made the booties to match. Now I need to locate some buttons before I mail this to Claire in Chicago.

Strawberries, Blueberries & Cherries

2009-06-25T16:01:00.004-04:00

Its been a beautiful summer. I solved several problems I had been having in my garden by adding nutrients to my soil in the spring. I just finished picking strawberries and my freezer is filled with plenty for winter smoothies. I am so tired of them that I do not care to see another berry till next June. The berries lasted a whole month. Every day I was able to pick a quart or two. Now my sour cherries are ripe and next will be the blueberries, raspberries and blackberries. I found several ripe blueberries yesterday. So I will having berries for breakfast the rest of the summer. The raspberries will continue till late frost in October. I am still picking and giving lettuce away.

My roses were amazing this year. I have 20 Antique Cottage Garden Varieties.

Knitting continues also. I have one more sock to finish. I am about 1/2 was done with the underskirt of my Sasha Lace skirt. I hope to finish it by Christmas. There is a lot of knitting. With 4 lace pannels it is quite a challenge. I am knitting mine out of Sojabama instead of the Euro Flax Linen. I had the Sojabama left from store inventory. I am not about to go out and buy yarn. I wish I had saved some EuroFlax for this project but I sold all I had when I closed my shop. We have 24 knitters coming to the Friday afternoon knit in at Lake Latonka. Usually there are a dozen folks coming to a meet up.

My Cottage Garden 2009

2009-06-10T20:45:00.007-04:00

I am trying to find homes for 6 kittens. Below is a picture on one kitten with Black Magic Woman. We call her Madge. She brought us one Mougie Main Coon Style Kitten about a month ago. This kitten is very shy.

Flowers and strawberries and kittens.

My Favorite Flowers for cut flowers Sweet Williams in my garden June 2009

Growing Lettuce in plastic storage boxes

2009-04-10T17:52:00.009-04:00

For the past 7 years I have grown my salad greens in large storage boxes. The picture above is from last August with the mint growing up around the boxes.
The boxes have holes drilled into the bottom and about 4 inches up the side of the box.
I used foam peanuts on the bottom to save on potting soil. I filled the rest of the container with commercial soil for containers. Every year I add a little more compost and soil to the boxes.
One year I was so busy I did not pull out all my lettuce and let it go to seed. In the spring I found that little lettuce plants came up really early in March. All I needed to do was thin them out a bit and I had wonderful greens from May thru August. I let the lettuce seed itself on purpose the last two seasons. Here is a picture I just took o with my I phone. Notice the little red and green lettuce plants. Pictures below are from other years.

Last Summer

May 2008 the Strawberries are blooming.

Spring Socks and New Toes for Old Socks

2009-03-26T12:09:00.006-04:00

Socks, socks and more socks I love knitting socks. The socks pictured above made out of Tofutsies. I have one sock finished and am working on the second. They were knitted toe up. I became bored with the random pattern of the Tofutsie yarn and started to add a dark blue cotton wool blend yarn that was left from the yarn I was using to repair the toes on my Koigu socks pictured below. I added the dark blue for the heel and two color design and stripes. I am doing a simple rippled stripes on the cuff ( two rows of knit+ three rows purl) with contrasting two yarns for the cuff. I always have a sock in my jacket pocket to work on when I have a free minute. I took my Tofutsie Socks to the dentist on Monday but did not get too much done. It is good to have something along just in case one has to wait for an appointment. I am always ready with a sock to knit on.

I started knitting these Hemp socks a couple years ago when the new Hemp Yarn came into my shop. I started with a garter stitch toe inspired by a Lucy Neatby video that I was playing in the shop. I left the socks partly done with the yarn to sell the hemp yarn as a sock yarn and several folks bought the yarn for socks. I never got around to making my socks. Last winter while going thru my UFOs from the store I came across these socks with the needles still in the yarn. Since I did not want to run out of the hemp yarn I added some left over dark green bamboo and nylon in dark green to the top of my sock. I finished one and was pleased with the results now I just need to get the second one finished I am ready to start adding the contrast dk green color in my second sock and the ball of yarn has gone missing. I hope my cat Bob gives it back soon or I happen to find where he has hidden it soon. I would like to have these sock finished and ready to wear to Knitters Fantasy on April 4. I will be teaching a class on Knitting a Danish Tie Shawl.

I love these old socks knit from soft Merino Koigu Wool Yarn.
The only problem is Koigu Yarn did not have Nylon in the yarn and I have worn out the toes and heels. The heels went first and were patched and replaced. Last winter I replaced one toe and I just finished replacing the other toe. I just cannot see throwing these socks out just because they are old. I have been wearing these for at least 5 years and with new toes I may get another season out of them.

Signs of Spring

2009-03-16T13:21:00.005-04:00

The snow drops and crocus are blooming at my house. I took these pictures with my iphone on March 15.
I must remember to plant more snow drops next year. I got this little bunch in a garden club plant exchange last year. What a treat to see them. Simple pleasures are sometimes the best to ones spirits after a long cold winter.

Pictures I took yesterday afternoon. The first day I could be outside working in my garden. It was 53 out side.

Mercer Garden Club Field Trip to Phipps Conservatory Orchid Show

2009-03-02T10:56:00.004-05:00

The orchid show at the Phipps this year was beautiful. Many beautiful orchids were blooming in the Phipps Orchid room this year. The special displays for the Orchid Show were outstanding. It was nice to see the glass sculpture that has been added to the Phipps Permanent Collection.

On Saturday two car loads of Mercer Gardeners headed to the city to see the Phipps Conservatory Orchis Show. We left Mercer at 9:00 and arrived at the Phipps at 10:15 . We toured the conservatory and met back at the Phipps Cafe at noon for lunch. To a slide show of pictures I took with my iphone at Phipps you can copy and past this address http://web.mac.com/ottercreek/iWeb/Site/Phipps%20orchid%20Show%20Feb.2009.html into your browser or click the link on the left of this page.
Diana took my picture with my iphone

E. Z. Surprise Baby Sweater

2009-02-26T13:06:00.004-05:00

Over the years I have heard so much about Elizabeth Zimmermans Surprise Baby Sweater that I finally got a copy of the CD a couple weeks ago and kit the sweater. I could not understand why this pattern was so popular until I knit it. It is easy but also a challenge since it is knit in one piece from the top down. The way the sleeves go together is trueley unique. You have to knit one to understand.

It took me about three days to knit. I do not know how many hours at least 10. Since I used knit 200gms of yarn. 150 gms of Crystal Bamboozle 3 balls and I made the stripes from one 50g ball of Panda Cotton knit double stranded since it was fingering wt sock yarn. It worked fine. I had verry little yarn left over. less than a yard of each color. Both yarns have stretchie elastic quality. I knit the jacket on #8 needles beginning with 160 stitches. I figure if I add 12 stitches 4 to each section then it would come out bigger.

I suppose I could use bigger yarn and #10 needles to make a bigger jacket. I could try to felt it after knitting on the bigger needles. So many possibilities and so little time to knit. I took my finished sweater with me to visit Elizabeth for her knitting lesson on Tuesday. She wanted to knit one for her baby brother. We tried the one I made on him and found it to be too small. Francis will be 1 in March. So If I am to help Elizabeth make her sweater we will have to knit it a bit bigger.

I will be teaching the Danish Tie Shawl at Knitters Fantasy in April and I wanted to knit another Shawl before the event also. I should try to focus more. I have so many projects on needles. I should really be working on the shawl instead of this pattern. However this pattern fascinates me so I will start another sweater anyways.

My Third Tie Shawl Finished

2009-01-26T09:21:00.004-05:00

I just finished my Noro Silk Garden tie shawl. I cast off my shawl with an applies i-cord edge. I then continued to add the icord ties. I love wearing this type of shawl. It is similar to a vest that crosses across your chest. It provides added warmth. You can move freely while wearing it and it looks good too.
I plan to put the shawl in the fashion show at the Pittsburgh Knit and Crochet Festival. If I get a picture of it on I will post it.

Sunrise on a New Day Jan 20 2009 Yes We Did!

2009-01-20T09:53:00.003-05:00

Today is Inauguration Day I have been watching C-Span since 7AM. I took this picture out my front door looking across the street on my neighbors house as the sun rises on a new world.

I am so happy. I was part of the 13 million people in the grass roots movement. I did not do much but when millions of people each help a little it is truly amazing how they can change the world. I am hoping to continue to be part of the grass roots movement to change America. I am not sure what I can do here in Mercer PA. But if each of us changes our lives and helps each other thru these hard times we will change the world.

After all I am an old lady now. I was in high school when President Kennedy first inspired me to become involved in my country. President Kennedy said to Ask not what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country. I was so inspired by Kennedy. I was involved in the civil rights movement and anti war movement. After the Kent students were killed I dropped out of political activity. I lived in the woods for 25 years and had given up on my government. This has been the first time I have been inspired to become involved in politics since the 1960s.

I feel like We Have Overcome! and we have finally taken our country back. Living here in Mercer PA I really had my doubts. We liberals are in the miniority here. Not many people were willing to speak out for Barack Obama. People would come by and steal the Obama campaign signs out of your yard at night. The email war was fierce.

When I started to go to grass roots meetings there would be a hand full of folks and by the week of the election there were hundreds of people coming out to get involved. It was so inspiring to watch folks become involved and to speak out. After years of being polite to our conservative republican friends we were finally standing up and telling everyone how we really feel about our present government. People coming together with hope and working for change. Wow!

The pictures I am seeing on the TV are amazing it is 10:24 AM and I am seeing millions of people waiting in the cold to here Obama take the oath of office. I would love to be there.

National Day of Service

2009-01-19T20:31:00.003-05:00

I joined members of the Mercer Garden Club today for lunch.

We are a small service organization dedicated to planting and maintaining the flower beds around our Community Library and Courthouse Square. We do some fundraising to pay for the flowers and mulch.

In the summer we visit each others gardens and go on field trips to tour gardens. We learn from each other and exchange plants and seeds. It is amazing how everyone can pull together and get a big job done. Our next meeting will be about growing African Violets. I will try to remember to post some pictures after the meeting.

There is over a foot of snow outside and it has been bitter cold. Spring will be here in a couple months and the planning has begun. Check out the new widget on the right. There are a few slides of flowers from 2008 and the meeting agenda for our February meeting. I will attempt to keep this information current so members can check this site to see time, place and meeting agenda for future meetings.

We welcome visitors to our meetings and encourage anyone join us in maintaining the gardens in Mercer. In other words if you are walking around the Square and see a weed, feel free to pull it out or dump a gallon or two of water on a wilted pot of flowers. These are your gardens too! Enjoy!

Danish Tie Shawl

2009-01-15T15:01:00.004-05:00

It is a very cold snowy winter day outside. A good day for knitting. This is another Danish Tie Shawl inspired by a traditional pattern that was in Spin Off Magazine . The first one I knit on #2 needles. The secon was knit on #9 and this one is on #7. I am knitting with Noro Silk garden. I am about half done and I am on my third ball of yarn.

Happy New Year Best Wishes for 2009

2008-12-31T18:27:00.004-05:00

Happy New Year
It has been a year of changes for me. Closing my store and beginning my new life. I really like being at home. I had a great garden and have lots of indoor plants. I have orchids, begonias, paper whites, and Pink Princess Lillies blooming in my bay window. I still have more yarn than I will ever use and hope to continue selling off store inventory thru next year. Sales this holiday season were really slow. Perhaps next year will be better for selling handmade items and supplies. I will spend the winter turning my huge stash of yarn into hats, mittens and other useful items that I can give as gifts or sell at a craft show next fall.

Here is my happy little house covered in snow. I am warm and cozy working on my knitting and spinning.

Last Year Dec. 31 2007 an empty Otter Creek Store

Wearing my shawl on my Birthday

2008-12-06T17:22:00.007-05:00

Last night I went to a baby Blessing shower for a Kim and my friends surprised me with birthday cakes. I really did not expect anyone to know it was my birthday. At 62 I am not used to having a cake and candles but I will admit It was fun and I am grateful to have so many wonderful friends.

The cakes were excellent very rich and topped with real flowers and red raspberries.

I wore my Danish shawl that I posted a picture of in my last post. You cannot see the cake dur to the flames of the candles and bad photo. You can see how the shawl wraps around making the shawl into almost a vest. I really love the way it fits.

Traditional Danish Tie Shawl

2008-11-24T10:14:00.005-05:00

Well I suppose you all have been wondering what I have been up to. I am still going thru my huge stash and collection of UFO's from the store. In 2001 I went on the Nautical Knitters Knitting Cruise of the Balkins. In a day trip to Tallin Estonia I bought a huge skein of indigo dyed two ply sock weight 100% Estonian Wool handspun yarn.

This shawl was inspired by an article in SpinOff Magazine Spring 2008. The shawl wraps around your body and ties around your waist. Tie Shawls like this are common attire for women at work in Denmark, Germany and other European Countries. The picture on page 76 shows a woman wearing this shawl working in a market. I love wearing this shawl. It provides warmth over the shoulders and ties so that it does not slide off you and the tails are not falling into your work. The knitting is mindless, with knitting every row and increasing 6 stitches every other row. I did not crochet the edge as shown in the article. I cast off with an icord edge which worked well for the ties too.

The Day After Full of HOPE for the New World

2008-11-05T12:05:00.004-05:00

Knitting on election eve. Booties for Kim while watching the returns come in. Knitting hope for the future. Booties for a new baby to be born into this new world. I am full of hope for the future.

Tom and I were out for two days before the election going door to door for the Get Out The Vote for Obama. We are thrilled with the outcome. The network to get out the vote was so amazing. So Many people working so hard to make this happen. We hope that the Obama Folks use this network to bring about the changes we need in out country.

Finish up the bootie this morning. Later I will go outside and work on putting my garden to sleep for the winter. It is a beautiful day here in W.PA.

SOAR Spinoff Autumn Retreat Photos

2008-10-24T09:03:00.018-04:00

Otter Creek booth. Although I am still in business this is probable the last booth I will have at a show like this. I am enjoying my retirement and hope I can just sell off all my inventory and be free at last. It is just more fun to be able to go to events like SOAR without the added stress of bringing all this stuff and being confined to a booth. I would much rather be spinning or taking a workshop that sitting in the market.

I always wanted to attend SOAR but I could not justify the expense and time away from the store This year I won a lottery to have a booth and the location was with in driving distance so I went. SOAR was a lot like the weaving and knitting conferences I had attended in the past. However, I found spinners to be a little friendlier than knitters and more laid back than weavers. I felt very much at home with this group of spinners. There were spinners attending the conference from all over the world. I was the only person in Patsy Z. High Tech Fibers workshop that had not lived in several differ parts of the country. This was a well educated and well traveled group of people. The knowledge and skills of the people I met were impressive and an inspiration.

Deb and I drove to SOAR together. Here is Deb and Cindy spinning at the Market in the booth across from Otter Creek.

The pictures above are from a three day workshop with Patsy Z. where we explored the world of the new high tech fibers. Soy, Corn,seaweed, bamboo and various rayon fibers. We spun samples of each as we learned about their properties and how they are created and used. Modern science is truly amazing. However, I still prefer to spin animal fibers from sheep, goats, rabbits and alpacas. Silk and cotton are fine but merino wool is still my favorite. Below are some pictures of the feltedfish workshop.

Felting a fish
Whinnie from The Butler Spinners and Weavers Guild went to the felting workshop too. We had fun felting fish. felt fish from the Feltafish Workshop
Christeen and Carol from the Butler Spinners and Weavers Guild also were at Soar and had item on display in the gallery

The hansdpun Gallery. My Handspun woven wallhanging is on the left. I donated this piece for the Scholarship Auction.

Some of our mentors Vivian H. and Nancy B. watching a presentation about Peruvian Weaving Center

2008-10-24T08:59:00.000-04:00

Pocono Manor

2008-10-24T08:51:00.002-04:00

SOAR Conference Oct. 5-12 Over 300 spinners gather to celebrate spinning and escape the world for a week in this beautiful resort in Pennsylvania. I was thrilled to be able to attend this retreat. I have been a spinner for over 30 years and this was the 26th SOAR Retreat and the first one I was able to attend.

Spinning yarn in public

2008-09-29T17:48:00.003-04:00

Hi Folks.
The last two Sundays I took my wheel and joined friends spinning in public. On Sept 21 Verna and I manned out Spinners and Weavers Guild booth at the Munnell Run Farm Day. Below is a picture of our booth. The picture above is from our natural dye demo at the farm. Although there were a few hundred people wandering into and out of our booth to check out what we were doing. Very few people expresses any interest in buying anything. . It is a good thing that I do not depend on selling crafts and we did not have to pay a fee for out booth. The folks I saw seemed happy to be at the festival and just buy an ice cream cone and enjoy the sunshine and the company of family and friends. They did not come to shop. The economy cash crunch is even visible out here in the rural peaceful country.
This past Sunday I took my wheel and joined some friends spinning and knitting at an Alpaca Farm open house. The animals were fun to see and it was a good day to just enjoy being out of the house and in company of good friends. I was so caught up in the spinning and visiting with friends that I did not take pictures to post.I did not even think about it till later in the evening. I wish I had taken pictures of the alpacas.

Natural Dyeing at the Farm

2008-09-14T10:53:00.012-04:00

Last Thursday our Spinners and Weavers Guild had their annual natural dye day. We met at Munnell Run Farm. I will admit that I was a little skeptical about being able to get everything together. However, to my surprise there was a alot of enthusiam and everyone pitched in and worked together to make the day a success.

We had a great turn out. There were 4 or 5 knitters from Otter Creek knitting group that came to help. People were feeding the fires and carrying water and stirring the pots. It was a lot of physical work. I thought I would have more time to just sit around watching the dye pots cook but that did not seem to be the case. We were moving around all day. I was so exhausted by the time it was over I did not have the energy to unpack my car. It is still filled with my dye stuff. I will have to take everything back to the Farm on Sept.21 next Sunday for the Farm Day Festival. Our group will have a booth and will have a natural dye demo. I am thinking about just leaving the pots and dye stuff in the car till next Sunday.

I ended up dyeing 4 skeins of sport weight Ultra Alpaca from Berrocco, 2 balls of Kroy sock yarn and 1/2 pound of wool roving. I brought a pot of tansy. The dye came out a wonderful warm yellow. some skeins were wrapped with string and rubber bands to get some interesting spots using Ikat and Shou bori techniques from workshops past. Judy brought Indigo and Lynn Brazilwood so I got blue and rose as you can see in the pictures. We also had pots of jewelweed, lady bed straw, onion skins, walnut , queen ann lace, and goldenrod.

We will have three pots next Sunday: Indigo (blue), Marigolds (gold) and jewelweed (apricot). So far only two people said they would come and help with the booth. Check out the poster for Munnell Run Farm Day on their web site. There is a link on this page in the right column. I am hoping to see more of my friends and customers from Otter Creek at the Farm Day Festival. Bring a lawn chair and sit and visit, add to the dye pot. I will have lots of yarn, books and needles for sale.

Natural Dyeing is fun.

2008-09-05T12:43:00.007-04:00

On Sept 11 the Mercer Guild will be having its annual natural dyeing meeting. I look forward to this event every year as we gather up our natural dye plant and cook them to release their colors into our yarns and fibers for spinning.

This year Judy will be bringing indigo and everyone is excited to see what shades of beautiful blues can come from this dye bath.

I will be collecting Tansy flowers and marigolds from my garden to dye with. We will be dyeing from 10 -2 at Munnell Run Farm for our Thursday September meeting. The public is welcome. You can bring a dye pot and join the fun.

We will be dyeing again on Sunday afternoon Sept 21 at Munnell Run Farm Day Festival see the link for more information.

Rochester Folk Arts Guild

2008-08-07T20:04:00.016-04:00

Last week end I went on a road trip with Diane to pick up her daughter Claire at The Rochester Folk Arts Guild in the fingerlakes region of NY. We spent two nights at THE FARM. This is Claire unloading the kiln containing all the pottery she made this summer. She made some beautiful pieces. I bought a lidded red jar with a cat on the t lid and a bowl that was like cut out lace that you can see in this picture.

This is a view from outside the Gallery looking towards the Boat Shop.

This is Diane sitting outside the Gallery. The skein of yarn around her shoulders is one of the ones I spun earlier in the day. Click on the pictures to see the details.

This is a view of the inside of the East Hill Gallery and the wonderful handmade items that are made by members of the guild and offered for sale at The Farm.

There are studios in separate buildings at the farm. There is a ceramic building, a wood workshop, a boat shop, A weaving building that houses a dye studio, sewing area and lots of space for weaving. There are agricultural buildings, a meeting hall and several residence buildings and small cottage homes for the members of the Guild. We stayed on the second floor of the main house where the dining hall, huge commercial kitchen, offices and Gallery were located. You can learn more about the farm by visiting their web pages. just google Rochester Folk Arts Guild or follow my link on the right under cool links.

This is the weaving building.

Weaving studio is on the second floor. I spent Friday afternoon and Saturday morning helping Alice warp her loom and spinning. I found a Louet wheel and bags of fiber ready to spin in the studio. I spun 5 skeins of multi colored wool in my core ply technique. I left the yarn with Alice to use in one of her weavings The wool was from sheep that once lived at the farm.

I really enjoyed being at the farm. The gardens and orchards were beautiful. The food was wonderful. The residents of the farm take turns cooking and everyone helps clean up. Everyone was friendly and welcoming. I hope I can visit again.

Dr. Horrible Sing Along Blog

2008-07-18T09:59:00.001-04:00

This is really entertaining and smart. Check it out. I love everything I have seen that Josh Whedon has done.
Firefly was my favorite.

Kittens keeping me company while I knit

2008-07-07T11:27:00.004-04:00

A cozy place to knit on a summer afternoon.

Kittens in a basket . These kittens need a home. Let me know if you know someone that will give a kitten a good home.

Baby Blanker/ Corner to corner

2008-06-30T08:57:00.006-04:00

Hi folks
I am really enjoying my gardening and knitting this summer. Just like a giant dish cloth I am knitting a simple baby blanket. It is mindless and looks good. I am knitting with two strans on #10 circular needles. My needles are 29" long. Just knitting back and forth so length is not important. I am knitting with Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece and Dale Flamingo a novelty nylon and cotton ribbon yarn.
I had this yarn left from my store . It is pricey and did not sell well so I am using up unsold inventory.
Simple Cotton Baby Blanket Pattern:
Knitting with only the cotton fleece cast on 5 sts.
Knit 2 YO knit to the end of the row and turn.
continue increasing this way at the beginning of each row. Begin to add Flamingo when you have 10 -12 stitches across. Knitting with two strans the Flamingo + Cotton Fleece in the center. knitting both yarns at once to last 5 stitches. Bring Flamingo forward and drop Flamingo. Finish the row with only the cotton fleece. This creates a lace edge with the cotton fleece. This is easy to do and the effect makes the blanket look like you did something special.

Continue to knit increasing this way till you use up one ball of Flamingo (you will have around 100 stitches across) then begin to decrease.

Decrease:
Knit one , knit two tog, yo knit 2 tog, pick up the Flamingo and knit across as before.
Continue to knit decreasing at the beginning of each row until you have only 10 stitches left now using only the Cotton Fleece finish decreasing till 3 stitches remain . I will post a finished picture. I am 3/4 done.

Felting Cat Beds

2008-05-28T06:01:00.010-04:00

Its been awhile since my last post and you may be wondering what happened. I have been very busy.

I will be leading a workshop on knitting and felting cat beds for the Mercer Spinners and Weavers Guild at Munnel Run Farm on June 14. The workshop is free and open to members and friends of Otter Creek Store. Want to come to the workshop?? Email me for details.

Pictures of the some of the beds I have finished and am still working on.

After finishing two of my Kitty Beds I set them on a stack of plastic boxes. When I came back into the room I found Emmet trying out the new beds. My cats love these beds. If I leave them out it is not long till one of them discovers a new bed and crawls in for a nap. If you have a cat you really must try knitting and felting a cat bed for your little furry friend. This quick easy project is a great way to use left over wool yarn and makes a great gift.

I am still knitting almost daily but gardening have taken over my priorities list this past month.

I will be giving a program on growing roses for the Mercer Garden Club in a few weeks. I am working hard to get my beds cleaned up and my roses pruned and weeded so they look good when the gardeners come. I will post pictures when the roses start blooming.

Felted Cell Phone Pouch/ Sweet Little Knits

2008-04-02T12:47:00.004-04:00

Knitting little felt pouches has been a fun way to use up left over yarn and make some little gifts.
N

Log Cabin Baby Blanket

2008-04-01T14:43:00.005-04:00

Here are the pictures of the baby blanket I finished for little Francis. A simple log cabin pattern inspired by the Log Cabin Afghan in Mason Dixon Knitting. #9 ndls start with only 10 stitches and 20 rows or 10 ridges. The following blocks evolved with 10 ridiges per block. A 4th color had to be added to keep my three colors separated. The tan was also used for the Icord edge to finish off the blanket. Yarn was Bernat Cottontots, 100% cotton. After washing the blanket and drying in the dryer the blanket looked worn and was pilled. A disappointment, this was a popular yarn in our shop due to it being 100% cotton and reasonable price. However I felt it did not hold up well to washing and drying. The tan yarn was an organic cotton from another company and it also pilled. Knitting the log cabin pattern was fun. I will do another one this way. The way the blocks built up in small sections kept my attention and it was just the right amount of time for one sitting. Total mindless patten a perfect blanket to knit while watching TV.

Spinning and knitting my time away

2008-03-31T17:15:00.004-04:00

I spent last Wednesday spinning all day. I ended up making about 200 gms of novelty bulky yarn and knitting a hat. I needed a new hat to cheer me up a bit. Spring is slow in coming this year. My ears are still freezing when i walk my dog. The March winds have been fierce and this hat makes it okay to be outside checking on the crocus and daffodils that are trying to come up between the snow and ice. Weather has been a little warmer this week I hope every day gets a little warmer so I can soon be outside working in my garden again. My newest handspun is rainbow colors for spring.

Spinning Reds Mohair and Wool

2008-03-09T17:34:00.013-04:00

Snow! snow and more snow. Since my last post. I finished my store inventory and sent all my 2007 tax info to my accountant. I have been inside my house for 4 days. Today is Sunday and snow finally stopped and the sun came out. The clocks were turned ahead so it must be spring. I planted seeds, basil and yellow grape tomatoes in small plastic drinking cups in my bay window. The wheat grass I planted for Bob and Emmet last week came up and was enjoyed by Bob this morning. Cats need greens and they love the wheat grass. If they do not have grass to eat I catch them trying to eat my orchids and other house plants.

Friday I got a phone call from Interweave Press letting me know my application was accepted to be a vendor at SOAR in October. I am very happy. I always dreamed of someday being able to go to SOAR. It will be in PA this year. Having a booth at SOAR will give my life some needed direction. Going through my fiber stash will take most of the summer. Pounds of silk noils and angora can be carded with wool. Merino wool can be dyed, spun or just packaged to sell at SOAR. Odds and ends of curley mohair dyed every shade of the rainbow can be blended with roving to create noro like colors for spinners. By now you, my readers are probable wondering what is going to happen to the huge yarn stash that needed to be sold if I spend all my time playing with my fibers. Well the yarn is stored in a safe place and eventually will be sold. Right now I would rather be spinning. One can only hold back the creativity for so long. I need to be spinning, it is good for my soul.

Here are pictures of the unspun fibers and a ball of my bulky yarn I just finished spinning. A core ply spun yarn in various shades of red wool roving and hand dyed locks of curley mohair. I feels good to be spinning again.

The yarn was spun on my Louet Wheel and then plyed with a fine rayon yarn on my Roberta Electric Wheel. The next step is to knit a swatch and decide if I want to make more yarn like this. I have been spinning this kind of designer bulky multi colored boucle like yarn for many years. It sells well and garments made from it wear really well. I have a few 20+ year old sweaters and vests that have been washed many times and just seem to get softer and nicer with each wash.

Yoga Socks and Handspun Mittens

2008-02-29T07:18:00.007-05:00

Yoga Socks. I take a yoga class at IXL here in Mercer two mornings a week and I love it. My flexability and strength have improved over the three years I have taken this class. It really helped when I was moving all the store stuff. The socks I usually wear slide more than I would like. My the yoga socks in the picture were designed with holes to grip my matt. I have not tried them yet since I am still working on my second sock. I'll post the pattern if they work well.

A logcabin cotton baby blanket is on my needles for mindless knitting. I usually have a couple mindless knitting projects on my needles and a couple pair of socks and mittens. I also like one challenging project to work on for times when I want to escape into my knitting. My new challenging project is a short sleeved top with lace detail in leaves up the front. I will knit a small one as a sample to take to Knitters Fantasy in April to show off some summer yarn that I am hoping to sell. I will use a Dale Pattern and some Cascade Tencel Yarn. I will post pictures when I get it going.

I am finally figuring out my new camera. I lost all the pictures I took at the Pgh Knit Fest and ruined the 2g memory card I had in the camera. The nice sales person at Staples said the card was hopeless and sold me a new one. I guess I pulled the card reader out of the USB or was it UBS Port while the pictures were loading and some how corrupted the data and then I initialized it again by mistake on my laptop.

I've been working on handspun mitts again. I really want to get back to my spinning, it's been tooooo long. I know once I get started I will be fine. I have had spinners block for a few months now, I have everything ready to go but just have not been able to sit down and ply off the beautiful red yarn that I spun about a month ago.
I need to get all the loose ends of closing my store and scaling back my business taken care of. I am still working on my tax stuff and time is running out. Today will be a good day to get a grip on the value of my inventory. I have been counting for a couple weeks but have not started totaling up the mess. In the mean time I have been knitting mittens for my little friends. I have one more set to finish up and I will have all 7 of my little friends in handmade mittens. It's been cold and snowy here so they have had a chance to try out their mittens this winter.

Happy Valentines Day

2008-02-12T17:27:00.002-05:00

Ellen and I drove home from the Pittsburgh Knit and Crochet Festival Sunday evening. It was nearly zero outside and very windy. The wind blew off the snow but made driving difficult. My little boxy Sion is not good on windy highways. I had to really work at keeping the car on the road. It felt really good to was very happy be home safe. The car did not get unloaded till the next afternoon before I went to Grove City to visit my knitting students. Elizabeth just completed her second knit heart Valentine. I am so proud of her. I have only been teaching her for a little over a month and she has made 2 hats, a knitted rose for one of the hats, a mouse cat toy, 2 heart dishcloths and several squares for a baby blanket. She is 13 and seems to really enjoy knitting. I try to teach a new skill each week. I really am enjoying teaching children again. We made some cut paper valentines last week and the children decorated a Valentine mail box. This week when I arrived there were Valentines for me too. I picked up some flowers at the store on the way home to go with my Valentines.

Verna Greenan's husband passed away on Friday. I went to the viewing this afternoon in a blizzard. 8-10 inches of blowing snow fell. I almost rear ended a car a block from my house on the way home. The funeral is at 10:00 am tomorrow. I am glad the Funeral is just a few blocks from my house. The windows are frozen over and covered in pebble like ice. You cannot see out so I suppose the freezing rain has started on top of the snow that fell today. It is a good day to stay inside and knit mittens. I still have 4 pair to knit for my young friends.

About the pictures I took at The Pittsburgh Knit and Crochet Festival. I was using my new camera and made a mistake and lost all my pictures. I was so anxious to see them Sunday night when I got home. I took out the memory card put it into the card reader and open my IPhoto program and clicked import and erase the card when finished importing button and a message came up that a disc error occurred. I was very tired and when another box came up I clicked a button that asked if I wanted to initialize the disk. I thought this might fix the problem so I clicked yes. This erased the memory card. I shut off the computer distraut and depressed. I went to bed. How could I be so stupid. Yesterday I got out my camera manual and learned that the disc erased if you click initialize. Ellen took some pictures also maybe she will share some to post.

Pittsburgh Knit and Crochet Festival

2008-02-08T06:17:00.000-05:00

Well its early around 6 AM I have to get up and pack my car for the trip to Pittsburgh.
I am wondering if all the boxes will fit in my little Sion. It will be fun to see just how much will fit in the car.
I am taking all the Lambs Pride, Step sock yarn, Ultra Alpaca. Sissi a beautiful lace mohair, all the 220 Cascade plus an assortment of books. Keeping the booth simple offering only a few choices. The yarn will be sold at a discount in hopes of selling most of it. I am teaching a class, Gauge Mysteries on Sunday. I ran out of ink for my printer yesterday in the middle of printing my workshop handouts. Tom finished them up on his printer but I did not get my new business cards printed and sale signs. So Magic marker and paper will have to do. I will make the signs at the show.

I am not looking forward to this drive into the South Hills. There is just no easy way to get there from here.
Ellen O. is riding with me and is bringing her GPS so I am sure we will make it okay. I was only lost for a little while last year. I am picking Ellen up at noon and I have much to do.

I will take my camera and post to the blog so you all that have decided to stay home can check in and get a feel for what the show is like. Next year it will be held at a hotel in Cranberry near the turnpike exit. It will be so easy to drive to.
Knit On!
N

Blue Felt Bag and sweater

2008-02-05T18:51:00.001-05:00

I finally got to finishing this sweater almost finished. I have one more sleeve to go. I started it a few years ago and then lost it when I moved the store to the new location and I found it again when I had to empty the back room when I closed the shop. I am trying to finish us or frog all the knitting that was in the store. I would start projects to show off the yarn and sometimes finish them other time I would sell them as is, sometimes take them apart when they served their purpose of selling yarn.

I finally finished the button hole bag. I ran it thru the maching twice so it is felted very firm and is a nice knitting bag. It is knit with two strans of bulky wool held together. The color shading is achieved by using two differrnt colors of yarn and changing them as it is knit. I really like how this bag turned out. I am using it as my take along knitting bag. It is the perfect size to put a couple small projects in. This pattern is a free pattern from the Mason Dixon Blog. I registerd my bag project on Ravelry and was surprised to find pictures of hundreds of these bags finished and posted on Ralvery. This was a very popular pattern. It is easy to kit and with #15 ndls it can be knit up in a week end. With the bulky wool knit double it felts into a thick sturdy bag. I added an attached icord finish around the top and button hole. I used Brown Sheep Lambs pride bulky in 3 colors and used a little multi color Desert from Classic Elite with the Lambs Pride on the top and in the finish icord.

Knitting and cats at play

2008-02-05T18:31:00.000-05:00

I am working on my yoga socks. I am writing the pattern as I knit.
This is what I found one morning. Poor little emmet had a little tooomuch of his new catnip mouse that I knit and just gave to him the night before. Bob saw me taking his picture and wanted in on the fun.

Return to my knitting Mittens

2008-01-19T06:38:00.000-05:00

This bag began months ago at the store. My goal for this week end is to finish it and get it felted. The yarn is mostly Lambs Pride Bulky plus some Classic Elite desert. There are 4 colors of yarn knit double fading from one to the next. I am anxious to see how heavy it turns out and how the color blending looks. I think it will be handsome. I will post a picture of the finished bag.

I have been pretty busy since my last posting. The days seem to fly by. I feel much lighter like a huge responsibility has been lifted from my shoulders. I do not miss going to work at the store. I do miss seeing my friends and knitting customers. Please email me and send photos of what you are working on. I am still willing to help with problems. We can meet at the Mercer Library to fix a knitting problem that can not be fixed thru email.

I joined Ravelry. It is fascinating to explore. I do not think I would want to share as much info about myself as I see some folks doing on this site. I keep wondering how secure it is. Check it out and add your name to the waiting list. I have joined a few groups on Ravelry and found a few friends that are also members. My blog is linked to the site.

I am still moving boxes around in my studio trying to find essential items from my office. It is going to awhile for me to get this mess organized. I have too much stuff. I need to have a yard sale to just get rid of display baskets and books and magazines. I hope I sell lots and Lots at the Pittsburgh Knit and Crochet Festival Feb 9. & 10. Only 21 days from now. I need to find my workshop samples. I am teaching Knitted Felted Valentines and Gauge Mysteries Revealed. There is a link to the Festival Website to the right of this posting. Next year this Festival will be north of the city in Cranberry at a Hotel. I am so glad it is moving closer to us. The present location in the South Hills is hard to drive to. I got lost getting there last year and I might get lost again this year.

I just finished fingerless gloves. They are from Taos. I love the colors and the fit. I have been altering this pattern with each pair. I like the longer ribbing over the fingers. This can be folded back for working. I will post this pattern once I am happy with it. I need to make another pair and write down the pattern as I knit.

Christmas 2006 I set a goal for myself to knit mitters for all 7 children of a family we visit on Christmas.
Well due to moving and closing the store I only finished two pair. So last week I finished two more pair. On Monday I gave the mittens to the kids and they were very happy to have hand knit mittens. I was a little surprised. I even had requests for more mittens knit with very bright colors. One little girl about 6 years old said she felt these mittens would keep her hand warmer than the other kind. I hope to finish a couple more pair soon so my little friends will have warm hands for playing in the snow. Here are a few pictures of some of the mittens. I have a new job teaching knitting and art. There are 4 girls and 3 boys ages 2 - 15. I love working with children again. I was an elementary Art Teacher in the public schools when I was in my twenties and thirties. I love making art with children and look forward to my Monday afternoons with the kids.

New Beginnings, Knit and Spin

2008-01-06T11:41:00.000-05:00

I am still moving boxes around in my home. Last week I managed to get the computers up and running except for the imac that I was using at the store. It did not move well. It will not start up at all and i did not back up anything on it so i lost a lot of patterns and all my records of the purchases and the updated mailing list. I have most of the important stuff in hard copy but I am not likely to spend the time to re-enter this stuff. I do not need digital copy anyways I would rather be knitting or working on new stuff than documenting the past. I visited Margaret on Friday to deliver her new spinning wheel. She has a Kromski Sonata. Her first spinning lesson went well. I could hardly believe that in all the years Mags worked at the store that I somehow neglected to teach her to spin. She will catch on quickly with a little practice. Mags gave m a beautiful pair of handknit cabled red socks. I love handknit gifts and these socks are the best. A perfect fit also. I wore them yesterday and they kept my feet toasty. I will post a picture when I can find my camera. In the chaos my camera is lost somewhere. So no new pics till it turns up.
Tom asked me what I wanted for my birthday a month ago and I asked to go to go to see The Golden Compase when it came out. I read the book several years ago and wanted to see the film on the big screen. We do not go to many films prefering to watch films at home via Netflix. The reviews are bad for this film but since I read the books I wanted to go anyway. I am a fan of fantasy films like Lord of the Rings. So today is the day. The snow has melted and the roads are good so the 14 mile trip into the Valley will not be a problem. The movie is at 2:40 so I need to go get ready to go. I will post again soon. Let you know how I liked the movie.
N

Empty Store

2008-01-03T13:52:00.000-05:00

The store front is empty and I am still recovering. We worked till almost midnight on the 27th and were not able to move all the stuff. We got up at 6 and went at it in the morning and finished around 10:30. the closing was to be in Grove City at 11:30. With our car loaded with the last load we drove to Grove City totally exhausted like two zombies. We were so tired, our bodies ached that we could bairly get our selves out of the car and into McBrides office. Tom and I are just too old for this. We were 10 min early and no one showed up at 11:30. We sat and waited and finally Lucy our agent came and told us the closing was postponed till Monday. Mike was still in NY and called an hour and a half before the closing to cancel. We spent the next couple days recovering and moving boxes from one spot in our home to another. I got some of my office unpacked and set up the computer printer and phones. The closing took place on Monday at 11:00. I deposited the check in the bank and went to visit some friends to celebrate. New Years Eve was very nice. We has a lovely dinner with friends. Adriana and Aneldia prepared some wonderful food. We were home before midnight. I actually fell a sleep in my chair watching TV at around 11:30.

Packing up the Baby Ull

2007-12-23T08:15:00.000-05:00

Today is Sunday I will go in for a few hours this afternoon and pack the Silver Forest Earrings Displays in boxes to return to Vermont. This little company has been good to me over the years. I want to get the boxes to the UPS on Monday. I will also start to take apart my office and get my computers ready to bring home. The time is running out and I have so much more to do to get the store empty by the 27th.

Yesterday I finished packing up the Baby Ull and the other Dale yarns that have not sold. I am sure some of the knitters that bought these Dale Yarns on sale have not used wool of this quality before and when they knit items out of the Baby Ull they will want more of this yarn. It is so soft and light and warm to wear. I love my socks knit from this yarn. Many knitters seem to feel that wool is not good for babies because they have some memory from there childhood of having to wear some scratchy wool thing. I too have had to endure hours of having scratchy wool scarf or hat on while sled riding or ice skating in the 1950s. I wish my mom would have had Baby Ull. I will take the unsold books and yarn with me to The Pittsburgh Knit and Crochet Festival.

Knitters come to build their stashes in spite snowy weather.

2007-12-18T12:15:00.000-05:00

The weather turned bad and kept many folks from driving to Mercer on Sunday. We had several brave knitters that came out to take advantage of our sale. Saturday business was really good. Just take a look at the emptt shelves. I will spend this week clearing out the rest of the inventory. I will wait till the end of the week to pack up the yarn just in case some customers stop by had help me clear more of the inventory. I really do not need to take all of this yarn home. I am way beyond SABLE. I can sell at the up coming shows where I will have a booth at but there too much for a booth. So if you are reading this and want some yarn at really good prices please call and come by and check out what is left.

2007-12-16T06:17:00.000-05:00

Good morning knitting friends,
We had an unbelievable day yesterday at the store. Everything you see in this picture I took last week has been sold. These black shelves are empty. The big Golden Retriever puppet, ball winder, swift sold all gone to new homes. I had 34 sales slips to record, A lot of puppets and other gifts in addition to yarn. I was there till 6:30 recording the sales and closing down. This task usually only takes me 15-20 minutes instead on an hour and a half. The snow was almost 4 inches deep by the time I left the store. There was no snow when I arrived, With more snow moving in today, we may not see as many knitters driving 50 miles or more to come to our sale. I am hoping to have some local knitters show up to take away more yarn.

Some of the people that came yesterday are coming back to just sit and knit. They enjoyed the excitement of the knitters planning projects and everyone seemed to be helping each other plan projects. With so much creative juice flowing it was an exciting place to spend the afternoon. There is still so much yarn left. It seems to expand to fill in spaces that open up.

With all the blowing snow I was happy to only have to drive a few blocks to get home. I can see the courthouse dome from my house in the winter and hear the bell ring out the time. It is a good way to keep track of the time when I am working in the garden. I just read my knitu email this morning and found this letter about fixing holes in sweaters. It would be a great way for me to close a couple moth holes I have in a off my cream colored cashmere sweater that I just love. My only problem is that I do not own any felting needles. I sold them at the store but since I did not need them I did not bother to take any home for myself. I will place another order with notions Marketing on monday and get some felting needles for myself. If anyone reading this wants anything else needles, books, or whatever I would be happy to add your order to mine. This may be the last time Notions will let me order. The sales rep said they will not sell to me once my retail store closes. I have to build a web page with shopping cart and reapply for an internet account. Since I do not plan to be doing a big internet business I may not bother to get set up with a new account.

Hi Knitters:
I'm glad to hear that Colgate toothpaste is such
a good stain remover. It will be added to the arsenal.
I have used hairspray as a solvent for ink, and then
detergent to get rid of the hairspray.
At the last Knitting Guild meeting a knitter
brought her husband's favorite (storebought)
knitted hoodie which had a hole in the middle
of the front, by the zipper. Very visible.
The yarn store owner (and host of our knitting guild)
used a felting kit--centred the hole on the bristle
brush, right side up, and a piece of matching wool yarn,
and then pounded it with the sharp needle tool. She did
it a few times to make sure all the edges were tucked in,
trimmed the resulting fuzz from the inside, and VOILA!!
It was cured!! Invisible mending! She said it would probably
only work with wool. Possibly wouldn't be as invisible in
a light colour. We were amazed and delighted. We are all
searching through our collection of sweaters, looking for
holes to mend.
Marlyce in Windsor, Ontario

Two More Days

2007-12-15T06:07:00.000-05:00

Thank you Monica for helping me get thru these last few days. Your Noro Silk Garden shawl is a so beautiful. Thank you also for leading the Jacket workshop. Everyone seemed to be pleased with the experiene and love their jackets.

Well, it has been quite a week. I am beyond exhausted. I have been working 12 hour days since Thanksgiving. The store is looking good. Most of my fixtures are sold and will be picked up next week. Some are gone. Kindred Spirits Yarn Shop in Franklin got our antique magazine display stand and needle spinner. The new Natural Foods Store in Sandy Lake took one of our card displays and some shelving. The rocking chair and large antique Persian rug runner is gone. The store looks different but still looks good. I was surprised how fast the space fills in and in some ways it looks better. Less is more they say. We have a lot less yarn but we still have more to sell. I hope the snow holds off till Sunday night so the knitters can come and take away more yarn. It is a great opportunity to build up the stash for the coming winter of knitting. All prices are negotiable. Offering to buy all that is left of any yarn can really bring the price down. We have had several knitters discover this bargaining technique and walk out very happy with big bags of beautiful yarn to share with friends and family.

Folkmanis Puppets and Silver Forest Earrings and other gift items are still in good supply. The store will close at 5:00 on Sunday. This is the last official day we will be open. Next week our store hours are by chance and by appointment.

I will be packing and moving out inventory and fixtures all next week. Sorting out the UFO.s and throwing away the junk it will be a challenge. Any item not yet packed can still be sold. I will have the store open while I am there just in case someone wanders in. Most folks do not know we are closing. I did not advertise the closing anywhere other than email to my knitters list and this blog. I just felt that I did not want a whole bunch of people who did not support my store these past 20 years showing up and picking over all the beautiful yarn at bargain prices. I suppose I would have sold more but having to deal with crowds of bargain hunters did not appeal to me. It is hard enough to help my regular customer find what they need without dealing with people who are not familiar with good yarn coming in to take advantage of an advertised sale. Most of the local knitters did not support my store I could never compete with Pound of Love and Red Heart. Perhaps they would stop in to buy DP NDLS or some other odd notion but I could never convince them that they should knit with real wool. I would always try to convince them to try knitting wool mittens for a grandchild because they would keep their hands warmer. So often they would respond with, I am not paying that for yarn! The kid will just loose them mittens anyhow. I am happy to retire from fighting the Cheap Acrylic Yarn vs Natural Fiber Yarn battle.

Almost everyone that comes in looks around and says "WHAT WILL YOU DO WITH ALL THIS STUFF???? I know it look like a lot but I do not think there is all that much left to move. I have commercial spaces at two shows, one in Feb. and another one in April. I will be selling some on Ebay and if that does not work I can always donate stuff to a charity. Please stop by next week if you are in Mercer. If you are reading this you are someone who I would welcome.

Postcard Drawing Winners

2007-12-15T06:00:00.001-05:00

Sleepless

2007-12-09T03:16:00.001-05:00

I know it is the middle of the night. I could not sleep so I thought I would catch up on my email and some how I ended up finding this Handmade Pledge site. It is fascinating. Perhaps there is hope for the younger generation to make a better world,

Open House at the store was unreal. I think I am still full of the energy generated by so much excitement and that is why I am not sleeping. I am so glad Margaret, Monica and Robin came to help. I could not have survived with out help. We processed 44 sales one every 3-5 minutes for the first 4 hours without a break. It was truly amazing.
With Sunday sales added in I may be able to pay off the rest of the store debt. It would be wonderful to have everything paid off and not have to continue to hussle after the store is closed. My goal was to break even and walk away a free woman. It would mean that the cash that I earn at the show in Pittsburgh could be used to go on the Sock knitting cruise with the girls in May. It would be fun to get a whole group of Otter Creek Knitters going together. I will add a link to the Sea Socks site for you to check it out.

I need to get back to sleep now. Tomorrow will be another sale day and I am excited to see who comes and how well we do. The store is getting empty. The persian rug runner and rocking chair have been sold and are gone. Most of the big fixtures are sold and will be picked up next week.

I took the handmade pledge. I will make most of my gifts for the holidays. Will you be making yours?? You know I like it when you let me know you are reading this blog. I will post your comments. If you have suggestions for Handmade gifts for the holidays and pictures you can email them to me. Follow the link for the Handmade Pledge to see what other folks are making.

OUR LAST DAY DEC.22

2007-12-05T06:26:00.000-05:00

NEWS Monday afternoon we got a call from Lucy, our agent, the sale of the building is still on but the closing date has been changed from Dec. 20. to the original date of Dec.28. I do not know why this happened but I was happy to have the extra days to clear our inventory. So it looks like we will stay open till the Saturday before Christmas.

My stress levels are really peaking. This deal has changed so many times. I sent out email last week to everyone saying the last day will be Sunday Dec.16 and now I am not sure what to do. I suppose I should email everyone again to let them know that we will be open a week longer.

It has been wonderful to see so many old friends coming by to help me clear out the store. Most of the big fixtures are sold. I still have a lot of wood crates that I will need to sell.

We still have a lot of gift items. Folkmanis puppets for the little guys and Silver Forest earring for the young ladies.
All our samples are for sale. Alpaca sweaters, scarves and hats, shawls and scarves. Some items are priced at whatever you want to offer. Most of our yarn is on sale at prices that are a savings of 20% to 50% or more unless it is inventory I am planning to take to Pgh Knit and Crochet Festival. Our books are 20% off and single sheet patterns are $2.00 older ones are free with yarn purchase.

Knitting the UFO's

2007-11-27T09:10:00.000-05:00

I have so many UFO's unfinished knit objects around that I do not even know how many there are. They are everywhere around the store as samples. Some of these I need to just unwind and put the yarn on the bargain cart. I did finish a couple over the holidays. I really like the way these fingerless mitts fit. I need to make some in Black and Gold, Steeler colors, to go with the my hats. I started a new Steelers Hat from my pattern. I sold my samples and a few kits over the Holidays. I need to knit more samples using my pattern to edit the instructions before I sell more patterns. The patterns can always be inmproved. If you bought on of my patterns and have suggestions for changes please email me. I really like using Berroco Ultra Alpaca for this kit. I am anxious to get this kit and some of my finished hats posted on my Etsy Store.

The store was very busy on Black Friday. I hope folks continue to come and help me empty the store. We only have 16 more day to clear all the inventory. I have 100 skeins of assorted colors of Cascade 220 coming this week and a huge shipment of Lambs Pride Bulky. I will take home whatever does not sell and sell it in my booth at the Pittsburgh Knit and Crochet Festival.
See the link on the right for information about the Festival. Feb. 9 & 10 2008 A great way to lift the winter blues with a knitting week end in the city with friends.

Come visit soon.

Otter Creek Store Sale continues

2007-11-17T08:19:00.000-05:00

It has been an exciting week here in the Otter Creek world. My life here is coming to an end sooner than expected. I will be closing the doors on one phase of my life and walking into another. I do love being here. It is such a beautiful warm cozy place to spend the day. I love just sitting here in my rocking chair with all this beautiful yarn to inspire me to knit hats, socks and mittens. I keep seeing more combinations I want to try. Do not ask how many I have on needles. I do not count. I just leave them around with the yarn to pick up and knit whenever I get a free moment. Sometimes I sell them unfinished to knitters that want to finish them because they like what I have started.

On Wednesday evening I taught a smart young woman to knit while here children were at their Kung Fu lessons. She took it it immediately. She started on a hat and the next evening she was back with the hat almost done . I told her to return when she was ready to start decreasing. I did not want to add K2tog. to her first lesson. I was so pleased to see her with so much knitting done in just one day. She will be a great knitter. It is sharing the excitement of someone learning a new skill and knowing how this will change their lives forever that makes having this shop worth having. It has never been about $$$ for me. I love teaching when it works.

Every day more folks are coming and taking home tons of yarn to add to their stash. I love seeing everyone. So many folks that I have not seen in a while are returning to knitting now that the snow is starting to fly. The ground is too warm here for any accumulation but just 40 miles north the world is white and frozen. it will not be long.

I have been knitting ear flap hats again. I one in my handspun and one in an imported Italian varigated wool I love working with. I also seem to be knitting more and more cables into my hats. I do not know why my finger just seem to want to do them and I love experimenting with the twists.

I have included a few pictures of the shop. I keep taking pictures so I will have some to look at when I want to remember how lovely it was to spend the day here. It is impossible to capture the wonderful warm atmosphere and beauty that is here.

Wooly Yarn Sale

2007-11-09T07:24:00.000-05:00

Our Wooly Yarn Sale November 10 & 11
Saturday 10 - 5 Sunday 12 - 5
It should be fun seeing who comes. I love watching the knitters. They all seem to enjoy the events so much. They seem to love seeing each other and sharing their kitting experiences. You would not believe the amount of excitement is generated by just two sticks and some string. I will admit some of it is pretty exotic and fancy string. Cashmere from goats from the mountains of Mongolia and Tibet. Sheep wool from Australia that has been dyed and spun in China and Japan. The finest italian designer hand painted yarns and rustic handspun and alpaca from Peru, Uraguay and Bolivia. All of this in a little yarn shop in Mercer.
I love this modern world we share. Yarn from all over the world brought here to us to enjoy. We really are rich. I am going to miss all of this I may not be closing the end of December. I will keep you posted. I am proceeding ahead with the sales anyways. I can always buy more yarn besides you all could use a price break for your holiday projects. There is a link to the right to a page with details of the yarn offered for sale and the sale prices.
I tried to email it but there are 5 pages and it is really to big to print out so you can view it on line. Please let me know if the link is not working for you. I will also accept phone orders and mail the yarn to you.
Nancy

My Cat Wakes me up too!

2007-10-28T05:35:00.001-04:00

My cat Bob wakes me up very early. So I reach for my ibook and check my email. Yesterday Marla sent me a link to this cartoon since I have complained to her about Bob. I am still learning how to blog and post. I figured it was time for me to learn how to get a You Tube video posted to this blog. It is Sunday morning 5:30 I have been up awhile.

Last week seemed to be a very long week. I seemed to be experiencing some sort of time distortion. It just seemed to drag on and on. My cotton sale continued and we saw several new knitters and some others that were making their yearly visit. Next week I need to start preparing for the wool sale. Nov. 10 & 11 will be coming up faster than I realize. I will make a info sheet to hand out and signs for each yarn on sale. Some of our popular wool yarns like Noro yarns have been selling every day. There may not be much left by the sale week end. We have a good supply of 220 Cascade, Ultra Alpaca, Toas and others. I am sure with our huge inventory folks will find plenty of great yarns to choose from even if the Noro is gone.
I am still working on my UFO projects. I am on the second sock of two different pairs. The one pictured in the previous post is coming along nicely. I am knitting magic loop and I switched to the new Addi Turbo #5 lace needles that came in on Tuesday. I just needed to sample them so I could let you all know that they work really smoothly. One of the perks of owning the shop is getting to try out the new tools right?? My knitting seem to be moving along faster. I really have to force myself to stay away from the new basket of Step Sock Yarn. I keep wanting to start another pair. I really enjoy wearing the Step/green ones I made last winter. They feel so soft on my feet. I wonder how do they embed the Aleo and Jobo into the yarn?? It is 6:03 and Bob is sound asleep in the corner of my bed. I am getting a little sleepy so maybe I will shut down and turn out the lights and see if Bob will let me go back to sleep for a little while.

Remembering Mary Lou and unpacking boxes.

2007-10-24T07:22:00.000-04:00

The UPS man brought me two big boxes yesterday. I love unpacking boxes!!! Getting new stuff is the best part of having a shop like mine. One of the boxes was from Skacel with Addi lace needles and Trekking sock yarn, the Red White blue, Stars and Stripes sock yarn and Step sock yarn in a wonderful new fall 07 assortment. Step is the yarn with the aleo vera and jobo oil. Why am I still ordering yarn with the store closing?? I have had so many requests for this yarn. I may continue to sell it on my website.

The other big box had our new books, Ball Winders and other goodies. The new Fall 2007 Books from Interweave Press are really good ones. The Kimino book is wonderful. I want to try a vest but know now is not the time with all the store closing tasks that face me. I would love to help someone else plan and knit one. The Interweave Collection is a keeper and Folk Style and Bag Style are inspiring. Needless to say I did not get much work done yesterday. I kept escaping into the new books whenever I had a spare moment.

New Laurel Burch socks and bags came in with the books. We sold out of our Laurel socks over the week end. If you missed them and still want to reserve some for Christmas presents you can call me and I will send them to you, These socks sell out fast. I was sorry to learn that Laurel Burch died on Sept, 13 after a long illness. You can read about her on her website. Check my link list for a link to her site.

My dear friend Mary Lou passed away on Monday. My heart goes out to all her family and friends as we remember her. She was a very talented actress and singer. She had a wonderful sence of humor and was a joy to be around. She loved to direct plays. She was active in theater in Meadville for most of her life. She directed the Lion King at Grove City High School last year. Her son Ethan is a senior. She was one of the kindest most caring people I have known. She worked as a social worker for Childrens Aid here in Mercer. A truly beautiful person. I will miss her.

It will be raining for the rest of the week here in Mercer. The leaves are still beautiful, not as beautiful as they are when the sun is shining on them but still bright and cherry through the rain. Please come by and knit with me if you can. It is warm and cozy at Otter Creek Store. We can share a cup of tea and look at the new books together.

Nancy

Yarn Sale October

2007-10-18T04:15:00.000-04:00

I am getting ready for my first big clearance sale. I will sale off the yarn in several sales this is the first starting with the summer weight yarns. Whatever is left I will list on ebay or box up to tale to knitters fantasy in the spring. Pictured is one of my favorite yarns from Dale of Norway. It is an all season cotton silk rayon blend. Machine washable and beautiful to work with. I havw lots of this yarn as you can see in the picture. This yarn is selling for over $7.00 a skein in shops in the city. I have tried to keep this affordable at 5.95 a skein. It will go on sale this week end for $4.00 a skein. At that price folks may even make a baby blanket out of it or a childs sweater. It is wonderful for tank tops and all season sweaters.

I am a bit nervous about the sale I sent out hundreds of emails and post cards but WILL ANYONE COME?????
I am planning hot cider and some light munchies. I have rearranged the yarn to get the sale yarn organizen into one area of the shop. I need to make some colorful signs for each one so they are easy to see the sale prices. Yesterday I had only 3 customers but the day seemed to fly by anyways. Does anyone read this blog??? If you read this please leave me a message I need encouragement.
Nancy

Working on my UFOs

2007-10-07T11:35:00.000-04:00

Hello!
Its a beautiful sunday morning. I have been working on an email message to my knitting friends all morning. I need to send it today sometime. Later today I will work on more UFOs like the socks pictured above.

Last week I finished several UFOs. The Violet Feather and Fan Afghan that I started last March to show off the Merino Stripes Yarn is finished. This was knit from a Ann Norling free pattern from Crystal Palace. It is really beautiful and can be seen at the store on display with the yarn. I know many of you had given up on seeing me ever finish it. Knitting it was effortless, I knitted a 6 row pattern repete a couple times a week when the store was empty and I can hardly beleive it myself, I finished it with only 6 balls of yarn instead of 8. I finished a Noro Tam and an earflap style hat last week also.

Please vote for your favorite yarn. Help me decide which yarns to put in my on line store. I want to pick 5 or 6 of our best sellers to offer online. Email me at ottercreek@mac.com with your suggestions. I really appreciate your feedback.
Nancy

Beautiful cards plus two spinning raks for sale

2007-10-06T15:32:00.000-04:00

Hi,
Here is a picture of the card raks I mentioned in my previous post. I am accepting bids on these raks. They are a great addition to any shop. They are filled with cards to make money for you. Email me for info or to make a bid or call me at 724-662-2830 during store hours: 11-6 Tuesday thru Friday. These are top selling cards and the spinners are in great condition.

SALE, Sale Sale Summer Yarn Clearance

2007-10-06T13:30:00.000-04:00

Friday October 19 and Saturday the 20th Summer Yarn Clearance, I am working on publishing a list and getting post cards sent to customers. Most cottons yarns will be 20% off we have lots of odd lots of novelty yarns that are 50% off also.

Dear Fiber Friends,
It has been a stressful couple weeks with the future of our store uncertain. I will feel much better once I can get everything settled and know if I need to move and redesign my business again. I am hoping to find someone to sell my business and inventory to before Thanksgiving. If I do I will sell off my fixtures and move my favorite yarns to storage at home and sell through the internet and at special events. I have about a year and 3 months to go before my SSI benefits begin. I will keep you updated on sale dates and special events we are planning to have to clear the bulk of my yarn and gift inventory. If you have a shop and may be interrested in fixtures or inventory please come by and make an offer. I have two nice spinning card racks and a great spinner I use for needles and accessories. I post to my blog weekly you can keep track of me and the latest news. Click on the summer Yarn Sale Link to see some of the yarns that will be featured in our sale. You may also call me with offers or email me a bid on any inventory that may wish to purchase. I would be happy to mail yarn to anyone not able to attend my sale. Please forward this information to your knitting friends. We beautiful yarn from Dale of Norway, Cascade and Crystal Palace, and Classic Elite yarns to sell. All our designer single sheet patterns are buy one get one free. We have sweater kits with free patterns and odd balls at unbeatable prices.

Felted Pumpkin Bowl

2007-09-22T07:15:00.000-04:00

The other day a woman cam into the shop looking for a pattern for knitting a pumpkin. After she left I went did a search on google to see what I could find. I found a bunch of patterns . I became interrested in a pattern for a felt basket from MagKnits http://magknits.com/Oct06/patterns/1201.htm The store was empty so I thought I would experiment. The pattern used 300gm, three strans of 220 cascade knit on #13 ndls. I thought that seemed like too much yarn. I used one skein of Lambs Pride bulky and #13 ndls and made it a little smaller. I increases the sections of the pumpkin to only 12 stitches in each wedge instead of 14. I made a bowl instead of a basket with handles.

Sigrid Piroch Weaving at Westminster

2007-09-14T08:28:00.000-04:00

Last night Monica and I attended an opening of Sigrid Piroch weavings being exhibited at the Gallery at Westminster College in New Wilmington. It was really nice to see so many old friends and to see Sigrids newest work. She is an amazing weaver. The exhibit will is open to the public for a few weeks. It is well worth the drive to Westminster to see it. The link on the right will lead you to a page with pictures of most of the weavings that are in the show.
You can check out her web site to learn more about her weaving studio in Foxburg. www.artsstudio.org

Otter Creek Fall Knitting Workshops

2007-08-31T09:43:00.000-04:00

Entrelac knitting workshop by Pam Mahany
Saturday Morning Sept. 8 10:00
Entrelac is a series of building blocks, one row leaning right and one leaning left. It's started with a straight cast-on, then a row of triangles for a foundation. Then alternating rows, starting with an intial triangle, then rectangles, and ending with a row of triangles. It is most easily done with short rows - increasing rather than decreasing short rows. Entrelac is wonderful with self striping yarn like Noro or Toas. You will knit a small sample to learn the technique. This is not for beginners but it is not as difficult as it looks. You will need to bring # 7 or 8 needles and one ball of Kuryon or Silk Garden or several colors of worsted yarn.

Knit Along Jacket Group
Monica Ondrusko will lead a jacket knit along class on Thursday afternoons.
You will choose one of two jackets, Einstein Jacket or the short jacket knit side to side/ cuff to cuff, featured in The Knitting Experience Book 1 The Knit Stitch by Sally Melville. You will need a copy of the book, yarn and needles. Fee is $40.00

Knitting Around Workshop with Nancy Griffin
Sock, mittens or fingerless gloves, Wednesday Afternoon
Knit with 4 needles or try using the magic loop on one circular needle. Seamless knit in the round techniques will be explored. You can to choose to knit socks or mittens. Self striping yarn or learn to create your own patterns with two colors of yarn. The fee is $40.00 the class meets every Wednesday afternoon. Come as often as you can over the next two months. Let us help you make some really cool gifts for the holidays. Everyone appreciates a beautiful handmade pair of socks , glover or mittens. They are easy to make and carry with you to knit wherever you go. You will be surprised at how fast you can get a pair made if you take them along and knit in the car or anywhere

Saturday afternoon knitters meet up continues in September
Sit and knit or crochet every Saturday 2 - 4. no fee
See what's new!! Read the latest magazines. Make a swatch with our newest yarns. Plan your next project with a little help from your new Knitting and Crochet friends. Have a cup of tea and just relax Help someone, share your skills, pass on traditions, get encouragement and meet up with like minded creative folks inspiring each other. Escape from your world into ours.

Otter Creek For Sale Sign

2007-08-24T08:11:00.000-04:00

Meet Emmit out new kitten. This little guy loves knitted mice and his felted kitty bed.

Well its been a week since the Sale Sign went into the window. What a week! Everyone that comes in seems concerned. I did not know I would be missed so much. Although many of our customers only visit once or twice a year they look forward to coming. Some have been coming for many years. Two people yeaterday told me that every year when they come to visit family in our area they visit our store. They look forward to coming as part of their trip to Western Penna.
I did not think having the sign would create such interest. Almost every day someone has come by that is interested in buying our business. The store may sell sooner than I expected. In any case I am still going to be living in Mercer and will be part of all the local Knitters, Spinners and Weavers gatherings, guild meetings and our Monday group will continue. I will be helping Carol Capy sell her soap at the Farmers Market and at her shows. I plan to have a booth at the PGH Knit Fest in February and Knitters Fantasy in April.

Fall Knitting Workshops. I will post details soon. Pam Mahany Workshop in September.
Wednesday knitting around with Nancy, Socks Mittens and Gloves.
Jackets from the Knit Stitch book on Thursdays afternoon with Monica.
Charity Knitters would like to continue on Friday evenings. Perhaps a dinner meeting once a month?
Please email me if you are interested in coming to classes or gatherings.

Otter Creek Anniversary 20 years

2007-08-17T08:00:00.000-04:00

Hi Friends of Otter Creek,
On August 1 1987 I rented a small store front on South Diamond Street in Mercer across from the back entrance of the Mercer County Court House. My idea was to have a studio to work and teach. The back room was a studio and a small retail space in the front of the store would work to sell my left over handspun yarn and spinning and weaving supplies. I stocked the store with other craft items from friends and Otter Creek Store was established. That was 20 years ago.

The August the 26th will be my 40th year married to Tom. I spent half of my married life working at Otter Creek Store. Wow ! I did not plan to live this way it just happened. I have been living my life one day at a time since I was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1989. I did not think I would be seeing my 50th birthday. So I did not plan for retirement.

A couple years ago I started to tell my friends that I wanted to retire from Otter Creek but did nothing to hasten the process. Now I am 60 and I need to start finding someone to pass this job on to. With no likely candidates in sight I listed my business with Caldwell Banker. The sign arrived this week as you can see in the photo below.
It may take a couple years to find a buyer and I want to keep the business growing and healthy so it can go on without me. It took a long time to become established and I feel that it is a worthwhile business to keep going. I thought I should email you all so when you see the sign in the window you will not be shocked. Some of you have been coming here for a long time.

Our store is open and running as usual. I am still stocking the shelves with new yarn and gifts are coming in for the holidays. I am working on new fall classes to inspire knitters and will be updating the web pages and blogg soon.

Several folks thought that maybe I was ill. No, as far as I know I am aging normally, but that is the problem. I am just tired and need more time with Tom and my garden.

Thank you for suporting my store and letting me be a small part of your life.
Please come and visit soon, bring your knitting, we have air conditioning so its still cool here to come by and stay awhile.
Love,
Nancy

Friday Charity Knitting Nights

2007-07-15T09:51:00.000-04:00

I am sorry I missed Charity Knitting Friday July 6. I was on vacation. Last Friday July 13 was great.
Several folks who did not know about our store came by to see what was going on. Some took yarn back to their seats to knit.
We also met knitters that were on vacation in Mercer visiting family and came to the concert . They were happy to see our store and folks knitting. I feel that hosting Charity Knitting during the band concerts has been a good thing. Everyone that comes seams to enjoy the evening. Next week is the beginning of out Victorian Week End Festival. I expect more knitters will come once that they discover us. Below I have posted the general information I sent.

Friday Charity Knit and Crochet.
On Friday when there is a concerts at the bandstand in the park across the street from our store.
We will sit at an Umbrella table on the sidewalk in front of our store and listen to the music while we knit. If you love to knit as I do and enjoy knitting small projects out of your scraps between your more serious knits consider joining us for charity knitting at Otter Creek.. If you are involved knitting for a charity bring whatever you are knitting and join us. Please bring a lawn chair if you have one.
We all need not be knitting for the same project.
Some of the knitters from our Monday Knitting Group are knitting baby blankets for Navy Relief with Ellen Oehlbeck. I am collecting Caps for Kids and will be taking the caps to Knitters Fantasy. I spoke with someone from the Mercer County Red Cross and found out that they always need afghans for disaster relief. I down loaded some patterns from Warm Up America for us to we use for knit squares for afghans. If you are at the concert but did not bring any yarn etc with you. We have yarn, needles and hooks you can use to begin a square if just wants to stop by and join us for a little while.
If you want to learn to knit or crochet we can teach you during the concert.

2007-06-23T12:29:00.000-04:00

I just finished two hats in Black and Gold, (Pgh Steeler Colors). I am putting together a kit of Ultra Alpaca and the patterns for these hats. The Kit is $15.00 it includes three colors of yarn and my original pattern.

We had a busy week here at the Otter Creek Store. Last night was the first summer Community Band Concert on the Square. We had Charity Knitting night in front of the store. We had a lively group happily knitting Afghan Squares for the Red Cross listening to the music and knitting away. The desert was wonderful home made pie and IceCream from the Girl Scouts Booth across the street. Each Friday Evening a different group has an Old Fashion Ice Cream Social in the park during the Friday Evening Concerts. The Community Band was excellent.

2007-06-09T18:09:00.000-04:00

Here we are knitting outside the store on World Wide Knit Out, We had a wonderful group of enthuiastic knitters.
Many wonderful items for show and tell. I made two felt bags yesterday. Felted them this morning. The multi colored one is Noro + Merino wool 150 gms of yarn. The little blue one is one 100 gm skein of Merino wool. This is my newest pattern. I am calling it the Wedgy Bag I will knit a couple more to work out the details. I am not happy with the handles and am adjusting the size. I want a small bag somewhere between these two.

Word Wide Knit in Public Day

2007-06-06T16:03:00.001-04:00

On this day, knitters world-wide are encouraged to take their knitting to a public place and knit. Many knitters will get together as a group. Check out the Worldwide Knit in Public Day website http://wwkipday.com/to see if their is a group get together in your area. In honor of Worldwide Knit In Public Day. I am hosting at Knit out at in Mercer, PA at 139 N. Diamond Street
Otter Creek Store Saturday Afternoon. 2:00 - 5:00 I will offer a 10% discount on all yarn purchased June 9 Plus a free mystery gift to any knitter that brings one of your completed projects for our display table and show and tell. This should be fun getting to see what everyone has been knitting. If the weather is good we will knit outside the store. We have a nice tree and extra wide sidewalk and a sun umbrella.
I just got a shipment of Noro Yarn yesterday. The new colors of Kureyon and Silk Garden are beautiful. I could not choose one to start knitting. I want to knit a few small felt bags. If you have any patterns to share or ideas for small felt bags please send them on to me.
Please email me if you plan to come on Saturday. Phone 724-662-2830 I would love to have an idea of how many Mystery Gifts I need to wrap.

Knitting for Peace

2007-05-25T16:00:00.000-04:00

Hi,
just a quick note to let you all know that I am still planning on Charity Knitting or Knitting for Peace on Friday evening June 1 and during the Band Stand Concerts 6:30 - 8:00 in front of our store. The book Knitting for Peace is in the window of the store. You are welcome to come in and look it over. it has lots of patterns and good caused to knit for.
My plans for a project are still not decided. If we cannot decide we could do squares in wool and acrylic, Acrylic for the Local Red Cross and wool for the Afghans for Afghans. Go to the Warm up America website for instructions on making squares. 7" x 9" knit or crochet. If you have a charity project on your needles bring it along. We need not all be working for the same cause or group.

I hope you all enjoy reading about Major Laura a knitter in Irak, knitting socks in the new issue of Knitting Daily from Interweave Press. If you do not subscribe to this new online news newsletter email me and I will forward the info to you.

Nancy Griffin
724-662-2830
Tues. - Fri. 11 - 6 Sat. 10 - 4
www.ottercreekstore.com

New Bamboo Yarn and patterns.

2007-05-08T16:58:00.000-04:00

Knit a sweater of Stella along with us. This soft bamboo yarn has 191 yards . Cost to knit the sweaters in the patterns below is between $36.00-$45.00 Needle size #3. I know that seems small but it is really only as much knitting as two pair of socks.

New Cotton Yarn spilling into baskets.

2007-05-02T17:44:00.000-04:00

I need to find more spaces for all the new cotton yarn. We just got in a new shipment of one of our most popular baby yarns.
Knitters love that it is chunky enough to knit up quickly and it is all natural to please most natural fiber lover. As many modern new mothers are.
cottontots is a popolar yarn to knit baby blankets,
100% cotton 171 yds.100gms/3.5oz. $3.40
Gauge 20 sts - 26 rows = 4" (10 cm)
Knitting Needle #7 Crochet Hook 4.50 mm, US - 7
and its completely Machine washable, this is a very affordable soft cotton.

100% cotton yarn from Swedish Yarn Imports. It comes in 50gm balls 88yds knits up on #7 ot 8 ndls. A quality cotton for $3.50 per ball. A great yarn to knit up a quick summer tank top or childs sweater. Come and check out the beautiful bright colors for summer.

The last week of April, socks

2007-05-01T20:14:00.000-04:00

Last week was a sock week. Katie M. brought some wonderful knee sock she just finished. A lovely feather fan pattern knit from Clown from Swedish Yarn Imports a soft light weight summer cotton+wool self striping yarn, that we sell at Otter Creek. The other was a beautiful pink sock knit in a cable pattern. She was wearing socks knit from Trekking rainbow colored self striping yarn Thank your Katie for sharing your socks with us.

I finally finished my Step Yarn Green socks knitted toe up. This was a new pattern and i had to rip it out twice to turn the heel knitted in reverse from the toe up.

Not Just Sock Class

2007-04-20T18:36:00.000-04:00

Pictures from Margarets Class Not Just Socks