A Great Show of Yarn Bombing in Pittsburgh

I love yarn bombing. I can't imagine being able to have enough time to do it, but I think it's super fun, and I'm in awe of those who cover buses, bridges, and statues. I love the idea of decorating stationary objects in colors. The one thing I wish Central PA would have is more color! (Kim and I are trying to change this.)

When I heard that Pittsburgh was doing a project called Knit the Bridge, I wanted to see it. I looked at my schedule, and it looked fairly hopeless. Until I realized that I had this past Saturday off. And that it was supposed to be sunny all day. So I called a friend who was able to go on a whim, and off we drove to Pittsburgh!

The bridge, which was the Warhol or 7th-Street Bridge, was just as wonderful as I had hoped. It was actually more crocheting than knitting, but that makes sense: Crochet is faster, and there was a lot of bridge to cover. Rather than talk about it, I'll just show you photos. I took well over 80 that I liked, so it is hard to narrow it down.

 

 

On Saturday, they were still sewing the black, knitted railing coverings on:

 

This is Amanda, the person who started it and put it all together. I'm assuming that she never stops hanging out at her bridge!

For more info, go to Knit the Bridge. The exhibit will be down after September 6, so get there if you can before then!

Catching Up

At the beginning of the summer, I had no energy or interest in doing anything new with knitting or quilting. I knew exactly why: I was on complete overload--or should I say, need-to-complete overload. I decided to fix this.

I made a list of all the projects in my closet. And it was long--well over 40 projects. No wonder I was feeling so burdened.

I have spent the summer tackling them. I've gotten many, many of them finished, and I'm starting to feel out of the woods about the whole thing. I don't have to be completely done to start new things in the fall, but I wanted to feel that I had accomplished enough to have some creative energy.

I divided my project list into several categories:

Super-Urgent Projects
Urgent Projects
Things that are Bugging Me
Leisurely Projects

I started with the super-urgent projects, of which there were three. I tackled those. And every time I finished one super-urgent project, another project seemed to become super urgent. It seems as if three is the magic number of projects that one can concentrate on at a time. I had determined that several years ago, and the same thing happened by happenstance this summer. I think we need to remember this lesson.

But the project I am actually here to tell you about is a sweater that was on the list. I had started it about 7 years ago. It was called Silver Belle, and it was a gorgeous thing. It had a skirt that was cabled from large cables at the bottom to small cables toward the waist.

Now as a sidebar, I have to tell you that when I finished the skirt part (years ago), I bound it off and discovered that it was way too big. Not a big deal. I steeked it (sewed it and cut it), and then continued on my way.

The top of Silver Belle was supposed to be seed stitch, but I knew that on my figure, it would be disproportional. After stewing about this for months and months, I decided to make up my own patterns for the top. I looked in a number of stitch books and combined a bunch of highly complex cables.

And so the journey on the magnificent sweater continued. Year after year, whenever I had some spare time, I inched my way up the sweater. And by this summer, I had gotten almost to the neckline.

One day, I got it out to continue on. I happened to notice that one cable was crossed wrong on the back of a sleeve. It was crossed under a raglan decrease, and while I am pretty brave about taking out most things, I knew that it wouldn't be worth the risk. I decided to leave the cable.

I kept the sweater out, and Kevin walked in the room. I told him about the cable, and as I lifted the sweater to show him, we both saw a major problem at the same time: a dyelot difference. A big dyelot difference.

"You have to rip that out," said Kevin.

"I know," I said.

And for one of the few times in my knitting life, I was depressed. It would probably take me 2 months of fairly hard knitting to get back to that spot, and the charts, which were spread out on about 8 pieces of paper, would be a horrible pain to figure out.

I kept looking at this sweater.

Then I had an idea: What if I would get rid of the top part, and turn the lower part of it into a capelet. It would be cute! And it would be easy because I had already bound it off at the waist.

The next day, I took scissors to it and cut off the top. I held the capelet over my shoulders and decided it would work.

So the day after that, I picked it up to put a buttonband and collar on it.

And that's when I noticed a hole from the steeking.The yarn was merino and a bit slippery. I thought that I could probably repair it or at least kind of hide it.

But suddenly I realized that I didn't care about this project anymore. I didn't want to knit on it at all. Nothing was working. I had the feeling that wearing the capelet would just remind me of the problems. And you know what I did next?

I threw it in the trash.

And I instantly felt a great wave of relief crashing over me.

The sweater was finished.

I not only crossed it off my list, I deleted it from my list. I deleted it from my Ravelry page. And that was that. It is a gorgeous sweater whose design I will always love, and Debbie Bliss is a genius. I still love, love, love the way the sweater looks--but this one just wasn't working for me.

Here is the moral of the story: If you have a project that is not going well, and if you love the feeling you have when you throw it in the trash, and cannot visualize ever wanting the thing for any reason, and the yarn or fabric will not rip out well, then you have my permission to throw it in the trash.

Throwing away Silver Belle has given me more motivation than you can imagine. As soon as I did it, I was free to work like crazy on other projects, and I have accomplished unbelievable amounts. I finished many things, including....

A baby blanket I designed for Made in America Yarns.

Another pair of mittens made using my top-down mitten pattern (and I finished writing the pattern!):

My new quilt pattern, Checkers, made from 2 1/2" strips of fabric: 

 

The design was Kirsten's, but I finally got the pattern written for Antonym, a double-knitted scarf:

I have the ribbing for one sock left on a pair of toe-up socks that had languished for a few years. I made a paper-pieced cat table runner that is adorable. I wrote up final versions of a number of beginner quilting patterns.

 

I also finished a couple of things that need to wait before I can show them to you. I made a hat that is going to appear in a book sometime this fall. (The publisher kept my original hat.) I thought it would be sad to have no hat to show the design in person when the books arrived in the shop. So the hat is now done ahead of time, ready for whenever the books arrive, which is a rather lovely feeling. 

I think you'll like the hat.

And finally, I'm almost finished piecing my Black and White Block of the Month. I am so excited about it! It is a little different from what I was initially planning, and I think better. But sorry--you have to wait till December to see it in the Big Reveal! 

I still have a number of projects I want to finish--you know, a couple of sweaters, some cowls, and maybe another pair of mittens--but I no longer feel overwhelmed. 

And I'm starting to get excited about some new design ideas that I will work on this fall. Who knows where this all will lead, and what I'll come up with. Wherever it goes, I look forward to the journey. 

I have my mojo back.

Happy Birthday to Us!

Ten years ago this month, Kim and I started Stitch Your Art Out.

Many of you have been with us the whole time. Others have joined us more recently. Let me tell you about a bit of our history, and please join me in either reminiscing--or learning a little more about us!

Kim and I met in a writing class that I was teaching at Penn State. (She was taking a few classes just for fun, and serendipitously happened into mine.) She always wrote about interesting things, and often about fabric or color. For obvious reasons, I enjoyed her papers.

After the class ended, we stayed in touch and became friends. We soon thereafter thought it might be a great idea to own a knitting and quilting shop.

People often ask me if I've always wanted to own a store. The answer is that it had intrigued me for much of my life. So in the late 1980s, thinking that I wanted a gift shop, I bought a book called Run Your Own Store. I started reading, and determined within a few pages that running my own store sounded like a horrible job. I threw the book away without finishing it, and continued teaching for the next 15 years.

*****

When we started Stitch Your Art Out, I thought that maybe I should buy that old book again to learn what to do. But I decided not to; sometimes you know in your gut that ignorance is bliss, and that bliss is a great choice. 

And so we began putting together a business plan. (One detail that we never did get around to: "We will keep a basket of magazines for husbands:  Sports Illustrated, Popular Mechanics, Popular Science, a current newspaper." Sorry, dudes.)

Even back then, however, we wanted Kaffe Fassett fabrics and Mountain Colors yarn. We still love them both; our vision, sans Sports Illustrated, has remained consistent.

The business plan took a back seat soon thereafter; we were quickly overwhelmed with simply getting our shop up and running! Things had happened faster than we expected, and on our opening day, we looked like this:
 

On that same day, we got our first sign. We didn't have time to go to a professional sign maker, so we used my Kevin. He made it by printing letters on laminated paper via a laser printer. He even found a quilty heart and some clip-art yarn--see bottom-right corner:

I knew that the store was going to look mighty bare, so I went out and bought two large vases of flowers to make things look a little more "filled in." You can see them here on each end of the table (Hi, Kim! Awesome white sneakers!): 

We had no phone line, and cell service was tricky in Pine Grove Mills. With my Sprint phone, which worked only on the back porch (about half the time, if the wind was blowing in the right direction) we made some phone calls to companies, and at last the yarn and fabric began rolling in. 

*****

Remember this? 

This was from September 2003, when we held our first event--our grand opening! That side, which is all fabric now, was the whole store. Our office area was on the other side, where the yarn is now. There was a kitchen back in there--remember it? (Sorry, no photographic documentation.)

'Round about November, we decided that we were getting established and should write a brochure for the Visitor's Center. We had a random customer take our picture. I'm not sure that this is the one we used, but it was the best of the bunch. Kim had checked a mirror and primped her hair right before the shot. I thought that it wouldn't matter whether I did that or not.

While I am often cheerful, I had no idea that I could possibly even form such a smile. 

Awesome white collar and cuffs, Kim. 

*****

Remember how computer monitors looked in 2005? 

We had a whole handful of buttons!


This was also the year of the scarf craze! Kim made a particular fuzzy black scarf with colorful eyelash held in it (far left in the picture below). I can't tell you just how many balls of yarn we sold for that scarf! We used to see people wearing them all over town!

We sadly don't have pictures of it, but we held an event that year called Scarf Fest. Scarf yarn was hard to get, and we desperately called all our distributors and got whatever colors they had of whatever scarf yarn we could find. We bought bag after bag of yarn. We excitedly hid all the yarn in the back closet and made a big fuss over how we were going to surprise everyone with our huge selection the night of Scarf Fest. 

Scarf Fest was to begin at 6:00. At 5:30, we locked the doors and covered all the windows to do our secret work. We took the yarn out from the back, and started unbagging it and putting it on the back table. Quickly we realized that it would never all fit nicely. So we started heaping it! 

At 6:00, we had a line at the door. We opened up, and the customers rushed in! They took one look at the heap of the yarn, became incredibly confused ... and all ran past it to buy their normal yarns that were on the shelves! 

*****

Anyone remember the trend in hairpin lace? Lots of you took that class! Here is Kim at a trade show in 2006, wearing the hairpin-lace shawl she made:

(In the same picture, you can also see another great, but discontinued yarn, Oceania. And another--Sinsation.)

Our shop started to take shape by 2006 as well. Back then, we hung some of the yarn on grids. (They only fell over once or twice.) There are no words that could explain our display of a heap of fabric bundles on the floor.

Kim and I started out using mainly grid-cubes to hold our yarn. Did any of you buy these hand-dyed yarns from Steadfast Fibers? Sadly, they are out of business. But their yarns were beautiful!

I feel as if I must apologize for a moment. I'm showing you discontinued things as I reminisce. 

But don't be sad! I have learned over the years that there are so many beautiful yarns and fabrics that take the place of the discontinued ones. It gets better and better. Our yarns and fabrics today are the best we have ever had.

By 2007, we started getting rid of the grids. What a relief! (We have always built every shelf in our store, by the way.We know our way around Lowe's and Ikea pretty well.) Behold the new Ikea Billy shelf for yarn:

And by 2007, look at all the fabric!

I like seeing this picture. By now, we're starting to take shape. But isn't it interesting how much brighter our colors are today than back then? (Compare this to the fabric in the next picture.) At the time, however, our shop was radical! Quilters didn't know what to do with such contemporary fabrics! 

Oh, I should say here that many people have been telling me lately that they don't remember the color of the carpet before. You can see it in the above picture--kind of a brown. (If you look back through this blog entry, you'll see the many attempts I made through the years at covering the brown carpeting, none of which really worked!)

At that point, while there were certainly refinements to come, we had a store that was very much like the one we have today.

So let's fast-forward 5 years, and look at us today! If you're from out of town, this is your first glimpse of our latest incarnation! We were so happy that we were able to spiff up again just before our 10th anniversary!

And just look at all those buttons:

So that is our story. Despite all the fumbling--or actually because of it--we have had a lot of fun over the years. To me, that's the only thing that counts. I wouldn't change a thing about our little journey.

....Except maybe that time in New Jersey when we were driving a huge, yellow Penske rental truck, were starving, pulled up to a high-end restaurant, and Kim leaned over me to call to the valet, "Is this a dress-up place?"

*****

Our anniversary celebration is the best we have ever had. It will run just a few more days, through June 15, so stop by soon! Be sure to pick up a Stitch Your Art Out tape measure!

Kim and I are grateful for all of you--for all the loyalty, love, and kindness you have shown us throughout the years. Before we owned a business, we never knew that these words were not a cliche at all--but instead, so literally true: "Without you, we wouldn't be here." Thank you so very, very much.

We look forward to many more years with you.

My Favorite Notions Pouch Ever

I like to try out things before we get them in. A few months ago, I saw this notions pouch on one of our vendor's websites. I thought it looked kind of neat, so I ordered it in and have been testing it ever since.

I have tried all kinds of things to hold my notions, but this one is without question the best.

It is the perfect size to hold everything but not be too big. It rolls conveniently and compactly to go with you in your knitting bag.

It has a number of compartments, all with see-through vinyl, so you don't have to hunt blindly for your stuff. The zippers work like a dream.

And as of yesterday, the test is over. We have them in the store for you, too. They come with green or blue trim. Stop by and pick one up, and I guarantee you'll also love it more than any other notions bag you've ever used.

Thanks, Knit Happy, for living up to your name!

It's Spring at Stitch Your Art Out!

I know it's cold out, and that we had a snowfall yesterday, but today is sunny, and it just feels like spring. I'm thinking about our retreat (which is less than 2 weeks away!), and I am gathering up things to take along! As usual, I'm going back and forth between sewing and knitting. There is no need to choose.

I haven't sewn in a while, so I'm feeling a strong sewing mood coming on. I have in mind two tumbler quilts that I'm planning to cut, perhaps even today! One is mainly Kaffe Fassett fabrics. The other is bright batiks. We all need bright right now! We'll shortly have kits here for them. Give me a call if you want one, and I'll put it aside for you as soon as it's ready.

 

 

And our spring yarns are here as well! Misty generously loaned us this pretty little cowl she made out of Simplicity. Simplicity is a great yarn--it's merino and nylon, machine washable, in soft, spring colors. This cowl has several stitches to keep you interested, and Misty says that it's particularly fun to make because of that!

 

The cowl can be made with either four different colors of yarn, as Misty did--or perhaps you'd like to make it out of a self-striping yarn. We have a bunch of new ones from several companies, just waiting for you! Here's just one:

 

We also have bulky yarns for faster knitting. I always love Florafil from Made in America Yarns (so much that I have designed a baby sweater and hat for them, and now I'm designing a baby blanket). We have in some new colors of their beautiful Florafil yarn. It's a bulky-weight yarn in fabulous, bright colors! You can download patterns from their website that inspire you, and then come in and choose the yarn in person! Check out the modular baby sweater and that green bobble hat!

 

I could go on and on about our new variegated linens from Claudia, our new variegated colors of Ultra Pima, a new yarn from Ella Rae called Cozy Soft, and perhaps best of all, this:

 

But I think you should stop by to see it all!

Creating Your Own Project(s) at the Retreat

I had a question about the retreat today, so in case someone else has the same one, I’ll answer it  here: “What if I don’t want to do the projects that you and Kim have planned?”

And the answer to that is, NO PROBLEM. Come anyway! 

Whether you are sewing, crocheting, or knitting, here is the view you will see out a huge wall of windows for 3 days....

Bring along your UFOs, or bring along a new project of your own to start. Kim and I will be there all weekend. While we are both teaching, we also both have long stretches where we don’t have a class. (We are never teaching at the same time, in case there is someone out there who wants to take every single class.) We will be more than happy to help you with anything you wish to do.

If you’re not normally a class-goer, the retreat has many benefits in addition to attending classes. You can hang out with a bunch of kindred spirits doing what you all love best. You get great meals served to you so that you don’t have to cook. You can take walks or even bike rides in a beautiful setting. You can get help when you’re stuck—right then and there. You can talk knitting, crochet, and quilting. Best of all, you do this by getting away from it all—no dishes, no laundry, no cleaning allowed. And we grieve to tell you that the cell service at Raystown is spotty. People may not be able to call you easily. (We have a number they can reach in case of emergency of course!)

The retreat is like a 3-day slumber party for grownups! It gives you me-time, which none of us gets enough of. It gives you quiet if you like, chatter if you like—whatever you wish. It is your weekend! Give yourself permission to relax and have fun!

So spend 3 days knitting, crocheting, and quilting with us, which I bet you never do on your own at home—and think of everything you can accomplish! 

The retreat will be held April 5-7. As I said in the last post, the earlybird deadline has been extended to Saturday, February 9.  (You can still sign up at the regular rates through Feb. 22.) Call us at 814-238-4151 to sign up! We'll be excited to hear from you!

Join us for our Retreat!

First, let's talk turkey--more specifically, Early Bird.

By popular demand (i.e., after that all important "end of the month"), we are moving the Early Bird Deadline to Saturday, Feb. 9.

So you still have plenty of time to sign up for our retreat and save a few bucks! (Perhaps between 10 and 4 during our big sale on Sunday, Feb. 3, would be a great time to sign up!)

Now let's talk about how the retreat works and what we're doing.

You start out on Friday, April 5. You can arrive in the morning or you can wait till after lunch. We of course recommend getting there ASAP to get your weekend started! We'll have a few projects that afternoon to get you going--or you can, as is true all weekend--bring along and your own things and we're happy to help you out with those instead. Your choice.

If you do choose to work on Friday, we've got a couple of projects to choose from. Kim is going to start you on a leaf bowl. It is a very cool, 3-dimensional leaf made from fabric, thread, and a stiff interfacing that can be shaped after heating.

And that afternoon, I'll also teach a class on knitting a Fair-Isle mug cozy. I'm still designing patterns, but maybe something like this would be fun:

Or maybe this:

Oh my. I like that latter one a lot. I think we definitely need to do something with it.

My idea is to learn not only Fair Isle, but also steeking (cutting the work). More on that later.

Friday night we'll have a chicken dinner prepared by a real chef. This is not just regular chicken. The food at Raystown is truly resort quality, and it is delicious.

And after dinner, you can work until 9:00 p.m. And then you can go back to your room to relax and get ready for Saturday!

On Saturday, we'll have breakfast, lunch, and dinner waiting for you. You will be served, and you will not have to do any dishes. Raystown will do all the clean up. (And the cost of the retreat also includes a generous tip for the waitstaff, so no worries!)

Saturday morning, Kim is teaching her "contemporary strings quilt." It will look something like this:

Or maybe this...

...depending on the fabrics you choose!

Meanwhile, I'll be helping people learn to make a cute skirt called Lane Splitter (many thanks to my new best friend, Carol from Toronto, for this wonderful photo):

Saturday afternoon, one of us (or both!) will teach how to knit a beaded necklace. Beads make it special! We're looking through bead books and patterns, and still trying to choose, but we guarantee it will pretty!

And then you can work until 9 p.m. that night. Get a good night's sleep, and be back in time for...

Sunday brunch is at 10:30. (Of course you can start working before brunch if you like!)

Sunday morning, you have a choice of three classes:

Woven basket:

Or, if you crochet, learn Tunisian Crochet with this handy washcloth:

It is nice and thick and wonderful to use!

Or, if you are making the Fair Isle mug cozy, then it's your chance to try steeking! Cynthia will have sewing machine set up and will hold your hand while you cut your knitting and learn how to finish it neatly. Steeking will provide a nice little opening for the mug handle. After you do this, you will be able to bravely cut sweaters and make button bands. Start small, become brave!

In the afternoon, we'll have a choice of making mitered placemats or felted soap--or both!

We'll leave Sunday with only a short drive home, an evening left at home to ... well, let's not think about THAT.

The thing we love best about Raystown (after the food), is that it is close to home so that we can spend more of the weekend crafting rather than driving or flying.

To sign up, just give us a call.

Sign up by February 9 to receive a single-occupancy price of $425, or a double occupancy price of $350 per person. Prices include two nights of hotel, all meals, all gratuities, a nice little goody bag, and all class fees (supplies are extra or you may bring your own). We will have supply lists for you in late February.