State Fair Vs Montpelier Fall Fiber Festival

I find myself again in a quandry. Do I submit my entries to the Virginia State Fair or Fiber Festival Competition/s. They are yet again overlapping.

...So would you rather your masterpiece be viewed by the general public and promote our craft to many or would you rather it be viewed and judged by your peers/masters...???

I have queried the Fiber Festival folk to the necessitity of these events are running concurrently. My thinking being they are smaller and it would be easier for them to move their timeline. Still your entry to them has to be in by Sept 19th for a Oct 3 & 4 viewing and the fair runs Sept. 24th to the 4th...If you'd like to let them know how you feel, the Fiber Festival competition e-mail address is skeinandgarment@gmail.com.

Summer happenings

My summer has flown by or so it seems. We have been busy going to WV for our club meetings and to South Carolina for South East Linux Fest (Linux/Fedora is a free operating system for computers). My hubby is a Fedora Ambassador which means he helps others fix problems and promotes the one laptop per child program (in the fall you can purchase a laptop for a needy child and receive a second laptop for your child, for only $400.00). This month I have spent 3 weekends helping my mother in law with a yard sale. This weekend (July 25th) we have a picnic in Blacksburg with our WV Club (Fan Club of Star Trek) which also puts on Rising Star (http://www.rising-star.org) a Science Fiction Convention. August 1st we will be Bluefield, WV or VA for Lemonaide Days with the above club which sponsers two soap box cars for the underprivlaged children to race. August 8th is my hubby's family reunion which we will be attending (close by home) and then we leave for Walt Disney World on August 15th and will return home on August 23rd. We will be taking our son and his girlfriend with us to Walt Disney. September and October are full of travel and activities as well but dates escape me at the moment.

What is everyone up to this summer

I am sure everyone is busy knitting away this summer or gardening or traveling or, like me, keeping grandchildren and/or grandpuppies.

I have been knitting on a series of little cotton dresses in Paton's Grace for my grandaughters. It is a pretty yarn, but heavy. I hope to get the patterns worked up to sell on Etsy... to support my habits. I don't know what I'll do for the boys, but they will want equal knitting.

You can skip this rant if you wish:

This is going to be a very expensive year. Hannah has graduated high school and starting JSRCC in August to get the courses she needs to start with Bon Secours Nursing School in the spring. Bryer is 8 months old now. Hannah is losing her very meager child support right when we need to buy her a car, pay school fees and put health insurance on her and the baby... Would you believe, because we are farmers, she does not qualify for financial aid???? Something is wrong with this system. Poor hubby works 16 hour days 24/7 365 days a year for less than minimum wage and they think he should sell something to put his stepchild through school while we support her and the baby.... Our health insurance alone is half of our regular monthly income and I suppose most of you know what has happened to the little bit of investment income we used to have.

Sam has come back home to live, but we have yet to move everything out of my stash room to give him a place to sleep...Perhaps this weekend...Will I ever have my own space? I am trying not to complain too loudly. I'd rather have the kids here where I know they are okay than elsewhere...

The Rascals are doing great. Pepper and Rascal have enjoyed brief visits with their daughters recently. The former Darla, now Gracie, will be coming to stay for two weeks starting the 23rd with her sis the former Jacquie, now Darla, while her mom is visiting family in Paris. Hopefully her sister Jetta, formerly Jennie, and the former Dottie, now Georgia, will be able to visit for a puppy party. We do have a lot of name confusion when they visit. Perhaps I should revert to "girls" again. It is fun that they don't seem to forget each other.

We also have an extra big mouth to feed. Gizmo is staying with us. She is a foster that belongs to a friend of my son. You can look her up on Craigslist pet forum. She is a lovely dog that is supposed to be a lab dalmation mix, but working with her, I get an inkling she may also have some border collie in her. We have a goat and she shows classic border collie behavior with him and she will fetch for hours non stop. I am working on her with basic obedience and she is coming along nicely. She is a great dog, but I really can't keep a fourth dog. She in turn has adopted a tabby male kitten from the barn. Why he chose her over the three dogs that are more his momma's size and color I can't tell you, but he is her constant companion....so if anyone wants a lovely dog and a kitten let me know... I'll deliver...

In the meantime, I'd like to stimulate some discussion. What is everyone up to and would we like to plan a get together or some get togethers? I am still in need so some spinning instruction. The spinning wheel and I went all the way to visit her former mom, Diana at their studio in WV for Rustic Tarts and Old Farts... with Eugenia in tow, but we never got around to a lesson. It was a lovely day...Eugenia enjoyed visiting on the drive. Found we had a lot in common, like being bookaholics as wells as fiber addicted. One of our members, Pat Kirkland of the YarnBarn brought a van full of yarn and I bought some great Melody selections. One a beautiful teal mix is going into a Reverse Farose Peacock shawl. I have the center portion worked out in the shape of a peacock's body and Leo (Dear MM or MMarioKKnits) is going to help me adapt the feathers in the tail to fan out behind it.

Pat is currently doing a design workshop on EZasPi(@yahoogroups.com). If you haven't dropped in recently, it promises to be very informative, especially for those of us who find we don't fit the norms in most patterns...

Ya'll pipe up now and start some chatter.

Rustic Tarts and Old Farts

Is any one in the Central Virginia Area planning to go Sunday the 7th? I'd love to have a few people to car pool with. Cat may or may not be able to go and will ride with us if she can. I am happy to drive my Camry.

Berkeley Springs Studio Tour + Knit-In and Spin-In

The Studio Tour is coming at this weekend. We are planning a special event here — a "modified" sheep-to-shawl demo (modified because the sheep were sheared a month ago! and because everybody is invited to help).

We are inviting your participation! I'll show you how to prepare and spin from longwool locks, so bring your drop spindle, wheel, and knitting needles (size 5 or 6). Our spinning teams will handspin the dyed longwool locks, and the knitters will create small squares (any size) which will be pieced together for the shawl.

The finished shawl will be donated to the Morgan County Art and Elegance fundraiser in November.

Please note that individual instruction in spinning or knitting for beginners will not be possible during the event (there's only one of me!), so some basic skills will be needed to participate, although everyone can help with fiber prep!

I hope to see some of you here!

Info on the shop is here:
http://pocketmeadowfarm.net

Lucy Neatby to Teach!

It has been a hard year to wait on this !
Lucy Neatby will be here this coming fall doing her double knitting classes and her workshop on steeks as well.

ABOUT LUCY
Lucy Neatby is an internationally recognized teacher, designer, and writer who thrills knitters around the world with her inimitable charm, knowledge, and uniquely colourful designs. Her passion of nurturing and empowering knitters, and putting them in control of their art, is legendary!

I have never tried knitting socks inside one another or knitting a tube within a tube and I am looking forward to trying this as
I and others learn new skills. Lucy is a wonderful teacher and a great person. Lucy is so well know for her fabulous teachings that she is well booked 2-3 years
in advance. After waiting over a year for an opening, we are proud to offer her illustrious classes to you!
Below are the classes we will be offering the weekend of October 9th.


Dabble into Doubles: 3 hours
Gain an insight and deeper understanding of your knitting. Try a variety of types of double knitting to produce 2 layer fabrics.
You will start with tubular knitting on straight needles, open and condensed bind-off methods and learn the
magnificent double-knit pocket trick. Using 2 yarns you will be introduced to positive and negative dk color knitting and quilting techniques for added
texture and warmth.

Double Up and Around: also 3 hours
Make an Exploratory journey into other realms of double knitting. ( which produce 2 layer fabrics)
Beginning with tubes within tubes, worked in the round, starting with one color of yarn, then yarns and
then with color patterning. You will be learning different ways to handle yarns for maximum efficiency
and how to incorporate shaping into double fabrics topped off with tubular bind offs. this technique is widely used in mittens and socks.

She will also be offering her workshop on steeks if enough people are interested.

The First Cut is the Deepest: 3 hours

Cutting your knitting is a liberating experience. It really isn’t scary. It offers many benefits and opens up new construction and design possibilities. What exactly are steeks? Whilst knitting a sample for with centre front and armhole steeks we will discuss suitable yarns and how to plan for cutting. We will practise fully fashioned shapings, use of markers and securing methods. We look at possibilities for disaster management, adapting armholes and necks for cutting, making mixed gauge fabrics fit and Siamese sleeves. For our finale, we will make the first incision!


There is a maximum of 20 seats per each class session. Sign up and advance reservation are required. $50.00 per class to hold your place is required.
Classes are expected to be $100.00 each per session. Balances are due on or before October 1, 2009.
We will also be keeping a waiting list.

If you might be willing to host Lucy for the weekend, please give us a call or come by and see Sherri. Lucy is very open to stay with another knitter and is good company.




Wednesday Sit and Stitch group will be working on learning to do hats. They will be donated to our charities. Lesson and help are free.
Use our patterns or yours.
Please join us from 12:30 on.








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


757/874-3939
www.coordinatedcolors.com

Hampton Roads Largest Yarn Shop

Designing an Aran sweater

Hi all: I am new to this blog, so I hope I am "blogging" correctly. I have several projects in mind that I need help with beginning. I would love to learn how to design my own Aran sweater, but first, I have a pattern for an Aran sweater that is designed to fit very loosely, and I wanted to make it more fitted to me. I already have supposedly the perfect yarn for this sweater (20 sts to 4", using size 7 needles), but I can not achieve gauge, even on a size 5 needle. The pattern consists of Charts A-E, and to achieve gauge, it says to knit Chart A. The pattern is written for separate pieces, and I want to knit it in the round. I know Richmond has several yarn shops that offer lessons to groups, but I wanted some one-on-one instruction. Do any of you know of someone who would be willing to work with me on this pattern to help me get going? I could probably do the rest of the sweater on my own, its just difficult for me to get started. You can leave me a comment here with your email address and I'd love to contact you. I live between Richmond and Charlottesville. Many thanks! Gwen

(phone number deleted by CAT, new sentence re: contact options added, to be on the safe side!!)

Ladies I have not died. I did get every little germ going around this winter. The babies are keeping me very busy. The puppies should be going to a new home soon and Bryer (the baby who lives here) is getting much bigger. For the last three nights she has slept through the night. Hope she keeps it up. Maybe I can get back to a more human schedule and get some stuff done...I have dozens of newly started projects...Serious "startitis" going here...Every yarn I pick up has to be tried out...

I need to get back to a swatching program and maybe I can stop this. With FOUR new grandbabies I am itching to keep knitting, but it seems my hands are so frequently full....

Meet Wendy D. Johnson in Person!

Wendy says:

"I can tell you right now, I’ll be doing a book signing at Knit Happens in Alexandria, VA on Saturday April 18, beginning at 2pm. It’ll be an informal event, and I’ll have the actual socks from the book for you to take a look at. I hope to see as many of you there as possible. Bring your socks."

Silent Auction of Fiber Stuff

The Tavern Spinners and Weaver's Guild of the Northern Neck, Virginia will host a silent auction to raise money for our future guild studio on the second Sunday in March from 2 p.m. until 4 p.m. at the Rice's Inn/Hughlett Tavern Transportation Building.

Everyone is welcomed to bring an item to donate for auction. You may put a reserve on the item and if it doesn't sell, you can donate it outright to the guild for the guild's use or take it back home with you. Any fiber related item (weaving, spinning, fibers, yarn, baskets, and other items such as gently used tools and even large items are welcomed).

Or, if you would like to shop for a deal on a gently used, previously loved item, please come along and put in a bid.

Refreshments provided.

Call 804-450-2652 for more information.

14th Annual Sheep Shearing Day

The 14th Annual Sheep Shearing Day at Thistle Cove Farm takes place 4 April 2009.

This working day on a sheep and horse farm is open to the public and begins around 9 a.m. when Clinton Bell, Master Shearer, arrives to shear my small, rare and primitive Shetland sheep and Merino, Romney and crossbred sheep. He's usually finished shearing around 1:00 p.m. but the day goes until 5:00 p.m.Lost Arts Guild members demonstrate and sell traditional Appalachian crafts such as hand and farm spun yarn, woven rag rugs, baskets, brooms, iron courtn' candles, mountain dulcimers, wooden benches, decorated gourds, knitted/crochet/felted goods and more. Everything is hand crafted by folks living in the Appalachian Mountains of southwest Virginia.

Cove Community folks will sell hot food and drink to benefit educational programs throughout the year.

Directions are on the Thistle Cove Farm website; please call first to make sure the event hasn't been cancelled due to weather or shearer emergency.

Yarn and Fiber Tasting!

If anyone is planning to be in the Berkeley Springs area next Saturday, please stop by for our 2nd annual Yarn and Fiber Tasting. More details here.

spindles

Just wanted to let you spinners know that I've just gotten in some of the really cool SpinOlution drop spindles. Email me if you're interested!

Ellen

What NOT to put in a news letter

Over the years, I have tried to teach my children to be kind and giving. I try to also be and hope that what I do and how I help others will reflect in the actions of my children. I think all mothers feel the same way. Recently the number of hungry people in our area came across my desk. Statistics of people in this area needing help and I felt sick. The numbers have grown and have continued to grow. As a family, we have participated in all the local food drives and this year that has not been enough it seems for the growing need in our community.

When I was approached and asked if my store would become a drop-off location for one of the homeless shelter's food collection drive I pondered the idea. Of course this wasn't any problem!

Still I wanted to help make a difference. I knew that in my own pantry were many items bought with every intention of being used however these items had for some unknown reason had not been and were sitting there hiding behind the newer items. Cleaning out these items would help but if we all did that would it really be enough?

So I made one of those executive decisions....Why not send the info out in the news letter and instead of a discount coupon inserted, give a discount of 20% off any item of your choice when you bring in a food donation? And do this year round, not just a certain time of year.

So I put that in the newest news letter with the little bit of new yarns info and a reminder that we have a new and wonderful supply of gifts and stocking stuffer. Much to my surprise, we had someone complain!
Oh well....Cant please everyone.

I still think helping others in any way I can is a good thing to be doing.

Berries

My suggestion for any type berry that's ripe, or even a day past prime, is Cobbler.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F

Melt one stick butter, no substitutions, in 9x12 glass baking dish.

Mix well together
~one cup self-rising flour
~one cup sugar
~one cup milk
~one tablespoon baking powder
~teaspoon vanilla OR almond - both taste wonderful with berries

In sauce pan, heat one quart berries - black, blue, rasp or mix berries until you've got a quart

Pour flour, sugar, milk mixture over melted butter.
Pour heated berries over all and bake about twenty minutes or until brown.

This is really, really good with ice cream while looking at a beautiful knitting book.

BTW, Fiber Femmes blog has some great book reviews today.

My stove is a 1914 Acorn and to say the ovens are cranky is to put it mildly. I've learned to bake visually.

Sandra @ Thistle Cove Farm

We're making our flight arrangements this weekend. Can't wait to see you.

*** Holiday Mail for Heros ***

The American Red Cross is sponsoring a national "Holiday Mail for Heroes" campaign to receive and distribute holiday cards to service members and veterans both in the United States and abroad.

The goal is to collect and distribute one million pieces of holiday mail.

"As we enter this holiday season-a time to celebrate with family and friends-it's important to remember the thousands of men and women who serve our nation in harm's way and those who are recovering in military and veterans hospitals," said Army Col. Norvell V. Coots, commander, Walter Reed Health Care System. "The Holiday Mail for Heroes program is a wonderful outreach effort and a great way to acknowledge the sacrifices of our men and women in uniform."

Holiday cards should be mailed to:
Holiday Mail for Heroes
P.O. Box 5456
Capitol Heights, MD. 20791-5456

All cards must be postmarked no later than Dec. 10. Cards should not be mailed or delivered to Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

For more information, visit www.wramc.amedd.army.mil or www.redcross.org/holidaymail for Holiday Mail for Heroes program guidelines.Walter Reed is not accepting mail addressed to "A Recovering American Soldier."

If we pass this on and everyone sends one card, think of how many cards these people, who have sacrificed so much, would get.

Peace.

Thursday's child

Congrats to Olivia's family - she has a brand new granddaughter today - Bryer Elisabeth came into the world at 8:19 am. She weighed in at 7 lb. 9.5 oz, 21 inches long, with reddish brown hair. I am sure she is a beauty!!!

Coordinated Colors Yarn Shoppe Receives 2008 Best Award

U.S. Local Business Association’s Award Plaque Honors the Achievement

WASHINGTON D.C., October 20, 2008 -- Coordinated Colors Yarn Shoppe has been selected for the 2008 Best of Yorktown Award in the Yarn category by the U.S. Local Business Association (USLBA).

The USLBA "Best of Local Business" Award Program recognizes outstanding local businesses throughout the country. Each year, the USLBA identifies companies that they believe have achieved exceptional marketing success in their local community and business category. These are local companies that enhance the positive image of small business through service to their customers and community.

Various sources of information were gathered and analyzed to choose the winners in each category. The 2008 USLBA Award Program focused on quality, not quantity. Winners are determined based on the information gathered both internally by the USLBA and data provided by third parties.

About U.S. Local Business Association (USLBA)

U.S. Local Business Association (USLBA) is a Washington D.C. based organization funded by local businesses operating in towns, large and small, across America. The purpose of USLBA is to promote local business through public relations, marketing and advertising.

The USLBA was established to recognize the best of local businesses in their community. Our organization works exclusively with local business owners, trade groups, professional associations, chambers of commerce and other business advertising and marketing groups. Our mission is to be an advocate for small and medium size businesses and business entrepreneurs across America.

What would you do with a quart of VERY (found in the back of the refrigerator) left over blueberries?

What would you do with a quart of VERY (found in the back of the refrigerator) left over blueberries?

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