Happy New Year Best Wishes for 2009

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

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

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

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

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

Pocono Manor

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.