Saturday Workshops You Don't Want to Miss!

Saturday, October 17th 4:00pm
Tubular Cast on/off

This provisional cast on will not only make your knitting look more professional but it will end the worry of too tight a cast on for your projects.
The tubal ribbed cast on is probably the most elastic of
cast-ons. Stretching as far as the yarn will allow, this is the most preferred cast on for socks, cuffs, neck lines and any other smaller areas.

Come and learn this marvelous cast-on, while enjoying the company of fellow knitters.

Cost for these and other workshops to come is only $5.00
plus the materials.

Keep up to date by reading the news letters and our blog,
Equal Opportunity Yarns

New inexpensive yet highly educational workshops will be scheduled approxinately every 2 weeks.

Coordinated Colors Yarn Shoppe
2703 George Washington Hwy
Yorktown, VA 23693

757-874-3939
www.coordinatedcolors.com

Vegas, Death Valley and Date Milkshakes!

The furniture market was good -always fun to see the outrages things that are made. Haziza makes some really wild furniture and accessories using acrylic - take a look. I really wanted something for me but it is so expensive that you need a trunk full of spending money to get.

We stayed at Treasure Island and they gave me a bottle of champagne for my birthday. When they found out Ger's was around the corner they brought up another.

We left on the 18th and drove to Pahrump a really small town a little over an hour away. Their one and only yarn store is....Walmart. It is a friendly little place and a great base to see a lot of things, Death Valley being my favorite. Today, since it is Gerald's birthday he got to decide what he would like to do. We went to China Date Ranch and had a date milk shake then travelled a back road that we had never taken through Death Valley - really pretty vistas. I don't think we will ever see the entire park..but will certainly keep trying. We saw a baby coyote and some rabbits. At sunset we were almost at Badwater so we decided to stop and eat dinner at Furnace Creek Ranch (they have one of the borax 20 mule team wagons out front - a real one not a replica and it is so much bigger in real life than I expected them to be)... we shared a "Cowboy gyro"! It was a great day but now I need a shower and shuteye since we are up early again tomorrow for more adventures.

Crochet Along With Me

OK, so it's not knitting, but starting tomorrow I'm going to be leading a Motif Afghan Crochet-Along on the Lion Brand website. I'd love to have all the Virginia Knitters join me for a virtual good time.

I spent last weekend in Schaumburg, IL at Stitches Midwest. Always such a treat! The hotel and convention center there is the newest and spiffiest place I'm likely to be teaching in. There is actually lots of --gasp!!--natural light so four days in a hotel doesn't give me cabin fever.

Also, if you happen to check my website today, it's undergoing maintenance--hopefully will be up and running tomorrow.

Edie

KIS me ... what?

This past weekend, I attended a small knitting retreat with some girlfriends. We stayed at the oh-so-lovely Stonewall Jackson Hotel in downtown Staunton, Virginia. The hotel was very nice and the employees were so accommodating. Staunton, however, was - in a word - awesome! I am in love with Staunton! How is it that I had never been there before? I just don't know! It is quaint, friendly, pretty, picturesque, interesting, historic, educational... you get the picture. AND the Stonewall Jackson Hotel is on the National Trust Historic Hotels of America register - just how cool is that?

In addition to a shop and restaurant laden downtown area with neat old hotels and B&Bs here and there, Staunton is home to On the Lamb, a LYS tucked into a lovely old historic Victorian home that Joe (and John) are returning to its previous grandeur.

As you walk up to the front door



and enter, you are greeted by this phrase:

It was true.

We entered as guests and left friends!

Joe and Angel even treated us to dessert Saturday evening
-- I think it was just so they could visit some more:

I will leave you all with some more photos of our weekend - we had such a good time that I am looking forward to the next time I am blessed enough to spend the entire weekend with such a wonderful group of friends - old and new.
--

On the Lamb - porch

--
a pair of Jo(e) bookends

--
Holiday inspiration

--
More fibery goodness

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Walked down this road to dinner on Friday night

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Behind the Hotel, entrance to garage

--
one of the lovely sunflowers outside the fence at On the Lamb

Oh, KIS me, you ask? Knitting In Staunton of course!

"Unsighted" - The Tactility of Textiles

There is an opening reception at the Cultural Arts Center at Glen Allen on Thursday, from 7-9 pm for my fiber arts exhibit entitled, "Unsighted". The exhibit is an effort to invite the unsighted community into the "visual" art experience, changing it to a tactile art experience. Every piece is designed to stimulate the sense of touch.
Please come. Please introduce yourself once your there. I'm looking forward to meeting you.
It's mostly weaving and felting, with some hand-spun thrown in to several pieces.
The address is 2880 Mountain Rd, Glen Allen, VA
Thanks,
Cherri

9/11

Never forget.

"Unsighted-The Tactility of Textiles" opens Tomorrow!

I have a solo show opening tomorrow at The Cultural Arts Center at Glen Allen, 2880 Mountain Rd, Glen Allen, VA.
It's an entirely fiber arts show, and it's TOUCHABLE! The opening reception is next Thurs 10/17, from 7-9 pm. Please come!!!!
The object of the show is to open the art experience up to #1, the unsighted community, and to allow us to experience fiber arts the way they are intended.....by touch. Weekend hours are sporadic, so you may want to call ahead to confirm when the art center is open.
See you there.
Cherri Hankins

Yarn Shop News Blast

Want to get $5.00 off your next purchase? ( Free yarn -yeah!)
All you have to do is introduce a friend to our store.
If they make a purchase and sign up for the newsletter, you and your friend
each $5.00 off your purchase. Min. purchase $ 15.00. New email sign ups will be verified.
This is a great month to bring your group of friends.
Why not take that field trip you’ve been planning during September?

Just a note to let you know that the store will be closed on Monday, September 7 in observation of the Labor Day Holiday.

With school opening next week, we will soon be resuming classes.
Check out the website for the standard list of the usual and check the newsletter as we add more and more
special classes this fall. Including the crochet garment class, entrelac for beginners and mobius too.

Lucy Neatby Will not be able to come this October as not enough people have signed up for her to make the trip worth the cost.
We are truly sorry for this as we did expect a sold out class. Refunds will be given in person, so please ask for your deposit back next time you visit the shop.
This I am sorry to say is a big disappointment.

We are closing out the remainder of Tofutsies sock yarns at a super sale price of $9.55

For your knitting and crocheting projects we carry 65 current colors of encore and have stock of the additional
recently discontinued 16 colors. that’s a whopping 82 colors to choose from in the Encore line alone!

Universal Yarns has a wonderful free pattern booklet on line. Please feel free to download a copy for yourself today.
Bring it with you when you shop for their wonderful Poems yarns with us.

Free Universal Poems booklet
http://www.universalyarn.com/pattern.php?pattern=375

Please do remember that we do Price Match any of the other area shops. Find it for less or on sale somewhere else and we will
match or beat their prices. This excludes closeout prices, discontinues and special orders.

Sit and Stitch changes days…Have changed from Wednesday to Thursday by popular request
Please feel free to join us every week on Thursday from 12:30 to 5:00 pm. .

Limited Amount of Christmas yarns are in stock now.

We have the most wonderful and fun yarns back in stock for that one of a kind scarf or shawl.
Great Addirondack’s Potluck. These fun all in one yarns change textures and colors as you knit.

I have really enjoyed using these yarns and others like them. You never know what is coming next!
The colors are rich and bright and the simplicity of this is even better. No changing yarns as you go, the yarns do it for you!

News From Denise:

New and ready to ship!

Denise Interchangeable Crochet Hooks are ideal for Afghan/Tunisian crochet, double-ended crochet, and a wide variety of knitting applications. Hooks interchange with Denise knitting needles to open a whole new world of possibilities for creating unique fabrics.

Kit includes:

* 12 individual hooks, sizes F5 (3.75mm) to 19 (15mm)
* 7 cord lengths: two each 3" and 5", plus one each 9", 12" and 16"
* Four end buttons & two extenders
* Detailed Tunisian Crochet instructions courtesy of Interweave Press

Can be used as standard crochet hooks, or make Afghan/Tunisian hooks from 8-37” by using different combinations of cords in the kit. As always, 30”, 40”, and 52” cords are available separately to expand the possibilities even further. Hooks are also available individually packaged - ideal for double-ended crocheters or knitters who want to add a few hooks to their knitting kit.

A wide range of knitting applications includes easily picking up stitches for button bands, necklines, or modulars, expeditious cast-ons and bind-offs, and quickly picking up stitches after “frogging.” Add crochet to your knitting or knitting to your crochet with the flick of a wrist. Help your customers expand their fibercrafting horizons!

Since October 2006, the Pink Project has raised over $115,000 to support breast cancer research. Knitters are a powerful force! They’re planning to introduce the crochet kit in pink as well, but we haven’t settled on a timeline yet. We’ll keep you posted.

Feel free to contact us with any and all questions.

CPSIA Exempts Yarn

The Consumer Product Safety Commission has just exempted yarn from the rigorous lead testing and certification requirements required for children’s products under the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA). This is very good news indeed for the hand-knitting industry, which was worried about the implications widespread testing would have had on the manufacturer, all the way down the distribution chain.

For more on this ruling, go to www.apparelnews.net/news/manufacturing.

Coordinated Colors Yarn Shoppe
2703 George Washington Hwy.
Yorktown, VA 23693

757/874-3939
www.coordinatedcolors.com

Hampton Roads Largest Yarn Shop

Tico and Joe wanted me to invite you over to their site...

so that you could see their handsome faces! Click 'em here...

Come on by, ok?

A bit of housekeeping.

We have had some new members since we last discussed this. If you'd like to be on the map, have your blog address, shop or website listed on the side bar or be named in the member list you should let us know...okay let Cat know because I will just forward it to her 'cause Iam lame about those things... We used to do it automatically, but someone objected, so we haven't done it automatically since then. This is one site where it is okay to advertise so long as it is fiber related.

Feel free to add any of these to your signature line also.

Also I sent out an e-mail a few weeks back and got several returned as wrong address. If your information has changed please let me know. I have a Virginia Knits list and a Virginia Knitters list in my AOL mail box. I have been trying to reconcile these with each other to see if the mistake is mine, but it is very time consuming. I wish I knew how to print them off, but for the life of me I don't ...I told you I'm lame about this kind of thing.

Maybe it is time to do a roll call to see who is really listening.

I wish I were knitting.

Knitter Magazine /UK

Would anyone/s be interested in sharing a subscription to Knitter Magazine. The British one not Knitter's...

I figure we could circulate them round robin style...Maybe you gals in River City?

Does aanyone locally subscribe. Not that anyone is local to Beaverdam, but you know what I mean.

I'd love to get my hands on the back issues for a few days

Workshops/swaps/???

Who would be interested in planning, hosting or attending a mini work shop and what subject would you like to teach or learn....?

Would anyone be interested in a a secret pal exchange?

How about a meet up or swap...?

new member

Hello, all-
I found this site a while back and just joined. Thanks for having me!

I live in Waynesboro, and as you can see from my screen name, I both knit and crochet. Actually, it's my career as well as my hobby, so I'm blessed--or cursed, depending on deadlines. I'm happy to be a part of a more regional group, and hope to see some of you at the NoSo Knit in September.

My husband and I will be celebrating out 25th wedding anniversary that weekend, and we had already planned to go to Roanoke that weekend, so I'm going to drop by NoSo for an hour or so. It probably wouldn't be a good idea for me to spend hours of our weekend getaway at a knitting event; he's very supportive of the whole knitting thing, but that would be pushing it.
Happy knitting!

Edie

River City Knitters Guild Meeting ... aka Shopping Event

Yes, Olivia-Lee did finally drag herself into town on a Saturday morning for a guild meeting... and yes, I did tempt her with getting to meet the ladies behind TG Designs. She did, however, have a really good time - see above photo - O is the one in the bun. I am glad she was able to make it and I am also glad she got to meet so many of my other knitting friends! It was really neat for me to have so many friends in one spot for a couple of hours.

Chris and I got to Homewood Suites really early - about 7:45 am. I wanted to make sure we got there before any of the vendors arrived to set up. As it was, only TG Designs arrived early and I was even beginning to wonder (worry) about the others. Unfortunately, several folks - ok, lots of folks - got lost despite the directions. I don't know if they forgot to bring the directions or just thought they knew where they were going, but it was poorly marked signage wise and that did not help either! About 8:30 I got a call and one of the vendors had to cancel - she'd been stomach sick all night (I so hope she is better now)! The rest of the folks trickled in and I am glad I'd asked Chris to come along and play sherpa! He is such a good sport.

I think all the vendors had good sales and I had several folks asking about doing another shopping day next year and could I find MORE vendors! LOL I guess that is good feedback, eh?

The rain held off until we'd finished lunch (as reported by Olivia earlier) ... then it rained cats and dogs on the way home! Again, I am glad it did not rain on everyone coming and going from the Guild meeting.

Grand opening

Hi there! Pocket Meadow Farm is moving. We have found a cute little storefront in the heart of Berkeley Springs (19 N. Washington St.) and will be open for business there Sept.1. We're having our grand opening Labor Day weekend, so if you're up this way, please stop by.

Ellen

At long last...I escaped!!!!

Well !!!!


Cat finally got me to a guild meeting for the River City Knitters, by bribing me with, of all things, some bits of melted glass. I have recently bought a used Kiln that I hope I/we can make buttons with and I have been wanting to meet a glass artisan.

I got up early and found the surface of the kitchen table and fixed a major midday barbeque chicken meal/dinner for the crew cutting corn (a tradition for the last day cutting) and snuck out of the house before anyone could apprehend me.

She/Cat had arranged a mini craft show/sale for the guild with TG (Taylor Girl) Designs as one of the guest vendors and our own Pat Kirkland of the Yarn Barn as another. I was glad to see Pat alive and well after her recent health scare. I also finally got to meet Chan after many conversations...and so many other people that, if I have forgotten you names, please forgive me.

A good time was had and many dollars was spent by all... and River City now has my very tardy membership application...and my bank account is considerably lighter. I didn't buy something from every vendor, but I contributed to the coffers of quite a few.

I came home with two pins, and placed a custom order for one more, a bag of Melody and some adorable froggy stitch markers...I really don't use beaded stitch markers often, but my Mom used to collect frogs so I had to have them...Perhaps I will find a creative way to display them....A pin maybe???

I joined Cat and Chris for lunch...and then God tried to drown me for my sins. The radio was announcing flash flooding, and the rain falling at the rate of 3" to 5" an hour, as I rounded the bend past Echo Lake at about 20 mph. I should have stopped somewhere, but I was afraid if I did not press on I might not be able to get home. I had to cross three major creeks and the South Anna between there and the farm. As it was it had hardly rained at all when I got home.

...and not a dirty dish to be seen asnywhere when I got home...either they cleaned up after themselves... or took the whole mess to Grandma's...which is a more likely senerio...

Friday --- and not a day too soon!

Hi, all. It's Friday. Sigh. Glad to see the weekend come.

With the weekend comes River City Knitters' Vendor Trunk Show event. Saturday from 10 - noon (or a little later if we're having fun and a good turnout) RCK meets for a short monthly guild meeting and an opportunity to jump start any kind of buying spree you want to start, be it for the holidays or yourself - you can indulge.

Please check out the link for RCK where you can then click and see who is coming and what wonders they are bringing for us to feast on!

On another note, Robin C. and I went to visit with the Maidens Weaver on Wednesday evening. We had a good time meeting Cherri and seeing / touring her studio. Cherri is in the process of preparing for a show in September and has many lovely projects in the works. We met two students who were working on projects - one lady was dressing her loom and the other was working on a table runner using rag strips... both very interesting to see. I have little to no experience with weaving and am fascinated. Robin is anticipating the arrival of a loom which a good friend of hers is sending from Oregon... stay tuned ... I can't wait to see what Robin will do with it... she has lots of lovely fabric and yarns, any of which would make wonderful weaving projects...

I want to wrap up with some photos I took in Virginia Beach a few weeks back... we had a good time at the Cavalier Hotel... and hope to go back again soon.





The young yellow lab being hauled unceremoniously by her owner here had been a naughty girl. We saw her tromping down the beach; all of a sudden she made a bee-line toward two older ladies. These two ladies had just set up their chairs the way they wanted them, had pulled some coffee and breakfast out of a to-go bag and planted themselves in their seats -- only to be set upon by a huge, wet dog who proceeded to gobble their Mickey D's breakfast! They were nice about it, but the doggy-mom was not a happy girl!


On Wednesday, the full moon seemed to rise out of the Atlantic...

Breathtaking, isn't it?

Amazing Wedding Knitted wedding dress

Thought you all would appreaciate this. One of my scotty people sent it.


http://tinyurl.http://tin_ (http://tinyurl.com/mj5g4b)

Request an invitation

You must be a member to post here, that said, if you have come across this site accidentally and you would like to be a member, we would love to have you. While we are restricted to 100 members there is plenty of room for more. My address is olmommee@aol.com and Cat will supply her own if she wishes. The purpose of this group is to facilitate fiber related discussions and activities and invite people to find someone/s in their area to meet up with in a "safe" environment...Shop owners and other vendors are encouraged to post if you are having a particular activity or workshop you think will be of interest. Feel free to post a link to your personal or business website or blogsite and also to post your ravelry name in your signature line...We will post them to our side bar with your permission.

If you'd like to be put on the map also let us know. You might find someone just around the corner to knit/crochet/ spin with. That was my hope when we created this spot....and I still need spinning lessons.

NoSoKnit Roanoke

I just got this notice from Rae:

Registration for this year's NoSoKnit will soon open. To join the list to receive NoSoKnit announcements for this year AND FUTURE YEAR, you must join the Yahoo Group RoanokeNoSoKnit. (This is NOT the list you joined last year, which was used only for those registered for the 2008 event.)To join this list, either: * Join on the web at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/RoanokeNoSoKnit/, or * Send an email to RoanokeNoSoKnit-subscribe@yahoogroups.comPLEASE join this list ASAP. I can add people to the list, but Yahoo Groups will only permit me to add 10 people every 24 hours. If you want to make sure that you receive NoSoKnit email notifications, you *must* join the Yahoo Group.If you have questions, please contact me.Thanks,Rae