"Work" Shop

Hi everyone! It's Cynthia here again! Before I begin today's story, I would like to announce that Kim says I may take over the blog. I am excited about this because I love writing blog entries. (Hi Mom and Dad! This is what my degree in writing is useful for!)

Besides, Kim has her own blog anyway (www.fiberhaven.blogspot.com), where you can read thoughtful, insightful ideas on quilting (and of course my very favorite--a really neat entry on the spectacular coverlet my mother is knitting right now).

I will not promise so much thought or insight....

Today's post is all about our Friends' School quilting workshop. We do a lot of classes at our shop, but these workshops have always been among our favorites.

First of all, we like it because the school has a funhouse mirror near the bathroom. (Are you already sensing that so far there may be little or no insight from my posts?) I started my day by entertaining myself with that for a few minutes:



Time to go out and buy some new low-cut shirts!

*****

Where was I? Oh yes! The workshop!

We try to have at least one new workshop every newsletter. It's like a big party, with a lot of people having fun together; it allows us to cook some great food for them; and it allows everyone to make good progress on a project with an entire day of sewing.

You can knit in small chunks--but for sewing, it sure is nice to carve out a day.

We did two projects this time--one was either a braided wallhanging or tablerunner, and the other was a kaleidoscope wallhanging.

I didn't get photos of everything, but I do have a lot of gorgeous work to show you from the day:








People are generally camera-shy, but I loved how Keri-Lynn's shirt matched her project, so I took her photo with her kaleidoscope. I promised her that I would not put her photo up on the blog unless it turned out well. I think you'll agree that she looks great here:

As does her kaleidoscope!

But I did not promise a certain other person any such thing:


Want to join in on the fun? We'll have another Friends' Workshop this fall. Details will be in the newsletter, which should arrive in your mailbox around the end of August.

Animal Planet, Continued

After I got done making the penguin, I decided that I had better continue on with my animal production.

You see, we have a lot of brown fur yarn in our store.

Since you have just read about the penguin, you probably have it figured out: At market, I had also insisted that we buy a lot of brown fur. There was also a new squirrel pattern, and we needed yarn for squirrel tails. "Come on, Kim!" I said. "We live in Pennsylvania. Everyone here loves squirrels! We'll sell a million of these as kits! They are soooooo cute!"

A year later, the squirrel had made just as much progress as the penguin.

Now that the penguin was done, however, I felt motivated. Home I went, to knit a squirrel. It started out much like the penguin:


There was the cute little tummy!



I thought it was starting to look kind of quizzical as I knit around on its little head:


But as I kept going, it took on a rather disturbing, lifeless look:

(Please forgive product placement. I swear I am getting no royalties from Sony.)

And by the time it had a tail, it looked .... well .... like this:


Dinner anyone? I'm knitting stew tonight.

*****

Postscript: I did feel a little uncomfortable shooting pictures of a dead, knitted-animal squirrel as cars drove by. Especially since I kept picking up the squirrel and moving it from one side of the street to the other, to get the lighting and the angles the way I wanted them. The bottom line is, I'm not in the habit of picking up roadkill with my bare hands.

So whenever cars drove by as I moved the squirrel, I decided to distract them by waving hello! Hi, everyone!


It is a friendly neighborhood and a small town. They all waved back.

And I wondered if, after they had driven on, their brains started realizing what they had just seen.

*****

Finale: The squirrel looked way more perky after it was felted, dried, and stuffed.

Don't cross, cute little squirrel!

Penguin Love

Cynthia writes:
Anyone who knows me knows that I like animals. I like 'em a lot; I love their spirits. That is probably why I am always wildly attracted to little stuffed, knitted animal patterns.

But it's odd: I usually don't want to knit the animals that much. Yes, when it comes to stuffed, knitted animals, I admit that I am a so-called "product knitter."

Which is why I had yarn for a penguin that had been ready to knit ever since yarn market, June 2007.

*****

You should have seen me at market: I was embarrassing.

You see, we had just discovered the new Fiber Trends penguin pattern, and I was completely crazy over it. I had to make one. I made Kim run around with me all over the conference center, looking for the perfect yarns to make the penguin. I assured her that everyone else would also want to make one, and we could create kits.

Now, I am kind of picky about my stuffed animals. The beak color had to be just the right orange. The white had to be white enough--yet feltable--and the fur had to be fluffy--but of course not too fluffy. Kim was remarkably patient. (Although come to think of it, she did mention something about wanting to kill me; I ignored her idle threats.) We got everything I wanted. I was so, so excited.

And then the yarn and pattern sat in my office area at home.

*****

Fast forward to July 2008.

Ever had those moments where you just get annoyed at something unfinished? And you just get it out and work on it and finish it, even though it wasn't in the game plan?

Me neither.

But this weekend, that's exactly what happened to me.

Oh, I had had big quilting plans for the weekend. Brother graduating in a few weeks, quilt not done, blah, blah, blah.

And then for the millionth time, I looked at that bag of yarn, and a strong feeling came over me: That feeling, my friends, was nothing less than a fierce determination to knit the penguin.

[Hey! I just read your mind. No, no, I was not procrastinating about making the binding on my brother's quilt. Stop thinking that. You are distracting me from the real story.]

Suddenly, and without any prior warning, I opened the bag and started knitting. I couldn't stop. Why, it was as if the penguin was knitting itself, and I was its mere instrument.

I knitted:



And knitted:



And within 2 easy days, I had a penguin:


(Note to curious techies: Despite the implications of the above photo, I use Windows Vista, not Linux.)

I put it in the wash to felt, and then I put it out on a baking rack so its back would dry evenly:



Which gave Kevin an idea:



(Settle down, settle down. He did not turn the oven on.)

I still have to stuff it and sew it closed, and perhaps add a couple of eyes--but from my point of view, this bird is done, baby. Put a fork in it.

Local Support

For obvious reasons, we believe in supporting local businesses. We try to do so as much as we can. But sometimes you don't even know that certain businesses are out there. To help everyone support local business, there is a new website for Centre County.

Check it out: http://www.sustainablelocal.net/

If you discover one of these businesses through this site, let them know you found them on Sustainable Local! And of course be sure you bookmark the site for future reference.

Anniversary Memories: Scarf Fest

The first and second years we were open, scarf knitting was a huge trend. The number of people knitting scarves was breathtaking, and this was true not only in our shop, but across the country. Bamboo needles were in short supply; we heard that it was because there wasn't enough bamboo to make them fast enough. (Anyone who knows anything about bamboo growth rates would find this statement astonishing.)

So we decided to have an event around scarf knitting. We would call it "Scarf Fest."

We decided to buy extra yarn for this event. It was hard to find yarn at that point because novelties were so scarce, so we bought what we could. We weren't sure how much to order, but we knew we needed a lot. It arrived....and arrived....and arrived, in amazing amounts. We put it in the back room, in anticipation of the Big Night.

That, too, arrived. We closed at 5:30, our usual time, and then we had a half hour till Scarf Fest was to commence. One person wanted to come in early, but we wouldn't let her. We were sure she was trying to get a leg up on the other customers. (Later, she would tell us that she only had a few minutes between work and another appointment, and she was sorry she missed the event.)

In that half hour, we opened bag after bag of yarn. We piled it on our back table. The amount of yarn was amazing. We apologize for not having a photo. Words cannot do this story justice.

And then we opened the doors.

Our customers arrived--lots of them. They all looked at the heaps of yarn on the back table, got a glazed--or confused--look, walked past the table, and went to the familiar types of yarn they had been buying.

It took us years to sell all that scarf yarn.

To Market, To Market...

Greetings from Columbus, Ohio! While Misty watches the shop at home, we've been here since Thursday indulging in the fiberlicious annual event that is TNNA's Fall Market. Each June, we head to Columbus for a long weekend of browsing, comparing, and eventually buying great yarn, patterns, notions, and other goodies to fill our shop.

It is always summer-hot when we are in Columbus, right when we're purchasing warm, cozy yarns to keep you knitting all through the fall and winter. (Although buying winter yarns while wandering around in flip-flops sounds difficult, it's not nearly as painful as what quilt manufacturers put us through. Our sales reps arrive in February laden down with suitcases full of Christmas fabric swatches.)

We left on Thursday because we had an important and exciting event Friday lunchtime: the Retailer's Luncheon. As yummy as the Asian Chicken Salad was, that wasn't our reason for attending. Our main motivation was the lunch talk by the Yarn Harlot herself, Stephanie Pearl-McPhee. Stephanie taught us the interesting statistic that knitters outnumber golfers by 2 to 1, which got us also to wondering how many quilters there are in the world!

After Friday's lunch, we attended a class on making better use of our retail space. Basically, that meant helping us learn how to fit into our shop all the fabulous stuff we were planning to buy. (This is always our annual concern. Kim more than Cynthia.)

After a quick dinner, we headed to the main ballroom for the Fashion Show.

Now, maybe we shouldn't admit this on a public blog ... but the truth is that we are both fairly sneaky. (Hildegard--that's Cynthia's mom--if you're reading this, you can skip next couple of paragraphs.)

There was an enormous line of knitting shop owners snaked around the convention center waiting to get in. That seemed just too long. So we figured out where the door was and then just stood near the entrance in a nonchalant, "we're just chatting" kind of way. Just before 7:00, the doors opened and the line began slowly moving in. We sidled our way in with the early crowd.

The ballroom was setup just like a New York runway show. The runway ran out into the middle of the ballroom with rows upon rows upon rows of chairs heading out from it. Because Cynthia is short, she always likes being right up front. We immediately headed to the front rows closest to the stage. Just as we were taking our seats in the second row, Kim noticed that the front VIP row had two unreserved seats. So we moved up.

After viewing 130+ garments, we noticed a few trends for fall and winter. We saw lots and lots of lace, both in shawls and as detail work added to sweaters. Sweaters were fitted to flatter, moving away from oversized, and the general gauge of the yarn used was smaller. Thinner yarn may take longer to knit, but it creates a fabric that drapes better and is more flattering. Fair Isle is resurging, both in traditional patterns that reflects its Scandinavian roots and in updated designs that suit a casual, modern sensibility.

Saturday morning is when the market opens. This is our entire purpose for being here. From the moment the market opens on Saturday until we leave sometime on Monday, we are consumed by the enormity of the task before us. Hundreds of vendors set out their stalls offering their wares. It takes almost all of Saturday just to walk the entire floor, browsing in various booths, picking up literature and samples, and talking with representatives.

One walk through is never enough because there are always booths we miss. Very often, after leaving one booth, we are so engrossed in discussing what we saw that we walk down an entire row without even noticing what is around us. This leads to confusion as to whether we've actually been down that row or not.

Generally, we buy very little on Saturday, knowing that we can come back on Sunday and Monday. But this year we had a mission! We knew that we were in dire need of more buttons. So we decided to order them while we were fresh on Saturday. We ordered lots and lots of buttons from two new vendors. You can expect to see them in September. (Remember, we're always working 3-6 months ahead. There is no instant gratification allowed for shop owners.)

The rest of Saturday, we walked and walked and talked and thought and then walked some more. We petted yarn and tried knitting needles, sniffed some wool wash and tasted chocolate-covered huckleberries from Mountain Colors, and managed the bulging piles of order forms and brochures we were collecting.

Usually, Saturday night is full of comparisons and prioritizations as we evaluate and consider everything we saw that day. But this year, we got a bit of a reprieve as we met our friends Suzie and Myra from Woolbearers for dinner at BD's Mongolian Grill. (Highly recommended if you need to eat in Columbus.) After dinner, we took the hotel shuttle to the Columbus Arts Fest, where we coincidentally learned local quilter Sandy Garris had a booth. Of course we had to visit her!

Sunday was much of the same. One highlight for Cynthia was talking to Nicky Epstein about Nicky's new book, Crocheting on the Edge, along with an upcoming gorgeous new knitting book due out in November, Knitting on Rop of the World. (Nicky doesn't sleep much. We asked.) Nicky made Cynthia try on a shrug, and then Kim took their picture together. Nicky said that the picture may appear on her blog. We don't know if the picture will have turned well out enough to make the blog. But even if it doesn't, read her. Buy her books. We absolutely fell in love with Nicky. There is no one sweeter or more enthusiastic about knitting and crochet.

We walked some more and thought some more, and by the end of the afternoon began to have a plan for fall. We placed some orders right before close and then came back to the hotel where we've planned the rest of our orders. Tomorrow we will return and if all goes well, we'll be back on the road to State College by 2:00 Monday afternoon and arrive by bedtime.

And we'll see you Tuesday for the first day of our anniversary sale! (If we look a little tired, you know why! Who planned this crazy schedule?)

June 2: Our Birthday

Today is June 2. Exactly 5 years ago today, we opened our doors. It is a date that will remain with us, like any other birthday or anniversary in our lives. If you knew us that summer, you might remember a store that looked like the above picture.

We'll actually be celebrating our anniversary next week, from June 10 to 16, because of scheduling convenience--but there is no better time to reminisce about our opening than today, our real birthday.

*****

We said in our newsletter that we started with just a broom, a roll of toilet paper, and a dream. That much is true.

Reality soon hit that dream smack in its head, and the scrambling began. We had to figure out who our vendors would be, call them, and get sales reps to our doors so we could buy things to fill the store.

It seems incredible, but just 5 years ago, companies did not show their lines of products on their websites. Today, we would be able to hit the Internet, figure out what we wanted, call the companies, and wait for the UPS delivery. (Well, it's not quite that simple, but you get the idea.)

Way back then--all of 5 years ago--we had to wait for reps to come to us with their samples so we could see what we wanted to buy. (By the way, we still prefer seeing reps to buying on the Internet today. As everyone knows, with fabric and yarn, it's better to see the colors and textures in person.)

We scrambled hard, and lots of things fell our way. Within a month, our store looked like the top picture. That was looking in from the front. From the back, we looked like this:


We had so much empty space that when the quilt guild asked us if we would like to have a quilt frame set up so that people could come in and quilt, we happily accommodated them to make the store look more full. It was pleasant having the quilters in there working. We still love that the best about our classes--the store is full of happy, busy people.

We kept going. By September of 2003, the store looked like this, and we celebrated with a Grand Opening:


Looking at the short transformation in these pictures, even we're amazed. But the best part is that we kept at it, and we're still here. And now look at us:



We admit it. We like having grown up.