Sale Nov. 19 & 20 Dragon Fly Studio Slippery Rock

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

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

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

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

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.

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.