Holiday Sale c'mon out!

All of that creating has to show up somewhere...here it is, a sale and exhibition of the time honored traditions that have given character to our homes and personal expression in what we wear. Please join us for a sale Friday evening and Saturday all day (Novemeber 20th and 21st)!

Bring friends and feel the love…felted items, hand dyed yarns, photography, knitting bags and notions…lots of goodies for your holiday gift giving! Local artisans have plenty of handmade gifts for your holiday shopping or personal pleasure! Let us not forget the warmth of a gift that expresses the maker, not a factory!

We’ll also have some info about the potter’s home shows on the same weekend!

Friday 4-9pm, Saturday 10-6 Tyler Avenue, Berkley, MI (near Catalpa) Come to the side door…

Hope to see you there, let us know how you found us.....

Never too late to learn!

Maybe this is why I am a teacher. I love to learn! Ever since I saw the class listings for "Boot Camps" for weaving, spinning and knitting at Heritage Spinning and Weaving, I have been intrigued. I read constantly and love to try new techniques. But somehow, I find myself reading and learning during projects when it would have been better to get the exposure in practice first. It is like having friends over for a new recipe...sometimes it is a great outcome, sometimes an apology.

When I saw the Bridget at "...have you any wool?" was offering the Knitting Boot Camp, I was delighted! Here is a chance to take the skills, one at a time, and become familiar before using them on a garment!

Sure, there will be reading and homework (that I cannot wear) but I will be with other like-minded knitters, learning together and from each other.

Bonus...it is held monthly at the knit shop. I can't help but "look!"

Shop Hopping around Lansing

Yesterday was the long awaited Back to School Shop Hop. I was not going to go. I did not need to go, should not buy yarn, just got back to school, need rest, house is a mess, company is coming next weekend....get the picture?

I went.

I could not help it. I knit with the Black Sheep on Tuesday nights at Panera and heard the buzz. I pushed it aside for a good long time, but it kept buzzing. Then, the passports, talk of goodie bags and the plans for lunch at Threadbear. I could not take it another minute. I got the passport, ordered my lunch and spent the next couple of weeks anxiously awaiting the outing.

It did not disappoint. Each of 4 shops had sales and pattern gifts for us. Each store was mobbed with happy fiber addicts, arms filled with fluffy and colorful beginnings of projects that were no doubt started that night if not on the way home!

I do not regret going, and it was not a sign of weakness to buckle and change my original plan of bowing out. I figure this; if you are lucky enough to have a great group of friends and have the opportunity to spend a day laughing and sharing and shopping with them, why not. Life is too short to miss out on happy moments like these. I am still smiling!

Ahhhh Almost Fall

Boy, the summer has been great. Interesting sights, visits, weather. But a sure sign that fall is nearing is the Michigan Fiber Festival in Allegan, MI. I had the great pleasure of going with some of my Black Sheep buddies for the weekend and a chance to enhance the stash. As a teacher, the mention of fall makes me feel a little tense. Sure, I am excited to get to the kids and the creative ventures of the art studio. But there is much to be said for having a choice about when and where the creativity is taking place. This past weekend, it was all about fiber and friends and that felt "just right."

I went with a different plan for shopping. First off, I need NOTHING. Next, I have so much that I am anxious to knit just waiting for me. Add the new stuff that I got while I was in Colorado and Wyoming, and I am almost uninterested in seeing new fiber. Almost.

Briar Rose is always a great temptation. I just got enough wonderful yarn from her to make the Retro Sweater, so I felt that I should put off the pleasure of more of this stash until next time. Wow. What control...I was feeling powerful!

Next stop, Rita's wonderful Yarn Hollow. Hmmm, the power was fading. I got some sock yarn. Yeah, I need about 200 pairs of socks and I better keep getting more yarn for when they all wear out. She had a lovely worsted blend of merino and silk that is in my favorite colorway, Chai, and I could not say no. 500 yards will make the Sassymetrical, I was advised by Ravelry's "Sweatershy" and it looked great on her project page, so it was a done deal. But what if I need more? What if I make something else? Should I get more? Oh man....The strength returned, I stuck with my one skein limit. Even when I went back and got MORE YARN from her! What control (but what if?????)

Back to Briar Rose for a couple of wonderful patterns, no yarn this time either, but ideas are brewing.

The shopping continued and our bags grew full and we grew tired. Onward to Margaritas and ribs, yum. It is so rewarding to have friends that support each other and have so much in common. Plus, the thrill of the hunt and the exciting purchases are a great way to start getting into the new season.

I got home and started entering the new members of my fiber collection on my stash page in Ravelry. What a surprise... the Chai that I was agonizing over having only 500 yards...guess what? I bought the EXACT SAME THING at the last fiber show, so I actually have 100 yards. I guess that I must have really loved it. I bought it twice, imagine that.

The sky is grey, it will probably rain today. Oh well, let it rain or even snow, I have my fiber and friends to keep me happy!

Coming Home and Getting My Act Together!

This has been both the most whirlwind summer while simultaneously being the most relaxing and exciting. I began June vacation with a two week trip to Spain with Smithsonian Tours. I am not usually the organized tour type, I like the planning and flexibility of doing what I want, when I want to do it. But my teaching partner and I agreed that this would be a good way to see Northern Spain and the Basque country and get the most out of the time we had available. The tour was an architectural and art based venture, both being my interests, so we went for it. The organized trip itself was not as long as we would like, so we added days to the beginning in Madrid and at the end in Barcelona. Great idea and it sure paid off. If you ever get the opportunity to tour this part of the country, do it! The food is out of this world and the variety of cities and sights will surely please anyone.

A mere 3 days back at home, and my sweet husband was ready with the camper and the kitty to begin our usual wild west days. We had an eventful trip, some good and some scary. Good was the book I bought that listed yarn shops state by state. It really helped when I was asked "which way should we go?" The answer always being, "in the direction of this shop!"

I scored sock yarns from a number of sources as my samples, got a new book for knitting toe up socks, found Addi sock needles and circulars "buy one and get one free" in Buena Vista, CO, and added a drop spindle and some roving just for the fun of it.

Having such a HUGE collection of yarn makes it easier to travel and ask for the local specialty or unusual fiber. Since we go west every year, I have noted the return visit possibilities and those that we passed while they were closed. If you are ever in Fort Collins, CO, please drop in and visit "My Sister Knits." It is a charming carriage house shop in the back yard of a wonderful house. Upstairs was a grand collection of sock yarns and a well stocked addition to the lovely store.

Tomasina, our traveling cat companion, enjoyed the trip, as usual. What was NOT usual is the way that the chipmunk caught her eye as we were closing the camper door at the TOP of a steep canyon in Yellowstone National Park. Before I could even register what happened, she flew out of the door, over the guard rail and down about 10 feet of loose gravel that ended with a sheer cliff drop off. She luckily stopped at a small grassy knob, looked up and came to her senses just before completely going over. I kept my cool long enough to alert my husband, grab her treats and start calmly talking to her. Meanwhile, my knight is shining armour hubby managed to scale the side of the wall going down a bit, coaxing her to come to him and the treat bag that he held. There went one of her nine lives, and I am sure a bit of my one and only life. We are so lucky to have her back!

Our camper gave us a little trouble this year, giving out at the top of the Colorado Monument. We needed to creep down the winding mountain side without side rails at about 5mph and into town to have a mechanic work on it for a few days. Scarrrrrryy!!!!!! We are, again, lucky and the thing was fixed many hours and dollars later without injury to its passengers.

A day home and I am getting the plans together with my friends to attend the Michigan Fiber Festival in Allegan this weekend, so a busy week of laundry and bill paying, phone calls and maybe a little knitting will help to acclimate me to the real life that I live when summer ends.

Time is flying, faster than the speed of light!

It is so hard to balance the many facets of our lives. Who ARE the people that claim that they have nothing to do. I don't mean teen-agers, they claim that BECAUSE they should be doing something, but long to sleep. I know, I had three of them.

I finished the cotton, "Hey Teach" and am sewing the vintage buttons on tonight. The experiment in cotton for the cardi on the cover of Interweave Knits is teetering on the edge. I have a love hate relationship with the more open gauge, even though I wanted an open and light summer sweater. About 3/4 of the way through, maybe I will finish, maybe I will restart in another pattern.

Since the last posting, our guild had their annual retreat. Wow. It is so much fun and so rejuvenating to spend a whole weekend devoted to friends and fiber. We laughed until we cried, we ate too much, we got caught in the rain, bought yarn, took workshops, and made friendships grow. An impromptu concert by some visiting musicians became a sing along and we could not have had a better night! For those of you who were there...yes, we do have the body of a goddess (don't let anyone tell you otherwise!).

The school year is quickly coming to the end, my planning for a two week tour of Spain is drawing near and I have so much knitting to do!

The other night was our annual dinner and swap with the guild. What fun to see what treasures others are ready to part with and how exciting to go home with someone else's stuff and less of our own! Members are getting more savvy about this swap and displays are showing up. Just wait until next year! People will be joining the guild just to get in on the swap, not to mention the retreat!

Lucky we are, indeed, to belong to such an active and caring group. Knit on!

A sign of the times

I am busy making summer sweaters since I have recently fallen in love with cotton and linen for spring knitting! Whilst I am busy with my pursuit, the rest of the world is focusing on other issues. I have been washing my hands like the rest of them, but like this knitter's solution to the Swine Flu mania

http://blog.splendorknitting.com/2009/05/because-every-pandemic-needs-some.html

Anyone in on this project??