Packing up the Baby Ull

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.

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.

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

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

Sleepless

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

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

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

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

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!

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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

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.