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.

Spinning Reds Mohair and Wool

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

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

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

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

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.