I have been busy getting ready for the Tucson Wool Festival at the Withers Ranch this Saturday. Just in case you need more information. the location is The Withers’ Ranch 4010 W Palo Seco. It is from 9 am to 3 pm. with farm tours at 9 am and noon. Even if you are not a fibre person this is a great learning experience for the family. There will be all kinds of fibre demonstrations. and a lot of one of a kind items for sale. There is no cost to come to the Tucson Wool Festival. There will be a charity raffle and various vendors.
I have been making stitch markers like mad. I hope to have at least 1 more gallon zip lock bag filled with finished products by late Friday. I have also been knitting a few items to show case using wonderful hand spun wools and mohair. The great thing about buying a handmade item from hand spun yarn is that you can sometimes track the wool or mohair back to the ranch were the yarn is produced. In this case I will have a number of items ready that are totally local. Kathy Withers raised the animals, had them sheared, processed the fiber, dyed the fiber and spun the yarn. How lucky am I to be able to say that I actually got some of this fabulous yarn to knit with.
In case you can not make it to the Tucson Wool Festival I will include a link to Kathy's Etsy shop http://www.etsy.com/shop/uniquedesignsbykathy
Well I have to get back to the stitch markers. Have a great evening and enjoy your families.
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Halloween Candy
As of this morning I had still not bought the Halloween candy to pass out to the kids in the neighborhood. The house was not festooned with the usual Halloween decorations. All this had Eric very concerned. So John and I went and got the decorations out and got them ready for placement tomorrow.
While we were out we did finally get some candy. The good news was that it was half price the day before Halloween. I will have to remember this for next year. They even had coupons at the store for some of the candy. The even better news was that they had sold out of the candy that I liked so that there is less chance that I will be eating any of it.
OK we are ready bring on Halloween.
So have a safe Halloween with your families. Please remember to be safe and wear bright colors. Bring your flashlights. Only go to houses with the lights on. But most importantly inspect your child's candy and throw away anything that looks odd or is opened. Feel free to buy back your child's excess candy, most children don't want all that candy and like a little extra money.
This year we are doing something different with the left over Halloween candy. We are sending it to Operation Gratitude to go into care packages for our service members. You can find out more about Operation Gratitude at the following web site http://www.opgratitude.com/index.php .
Have a great evening and enjoy your families.
While we were out we did finally get some candy. The good news was that it was half price the day before Halloween. I will have to remember this for next year. They even had coupons at the store for some of the candy. The even better news was that they had sold out of the candy that I liked so that there is less chance that I will be eating any of it.
OK we are ready bring on Halloween.
So have a safe Halloween with your families. Please remember to be safe and wear bright colors. Bring your flashlights. Only go to houses with the lights on. But most importantly inspect your child's candy and throw away anything that looks odd or is opened. Feel free to buy back your child's excess candy, most children don't want all that candy and like a little extra money.
This year we are doing something different with the left over Halloween candy. We are sending it to Operation Gratitude to go into care packages for our service members. You can find out more about Operation Gratitude at the following web site http://www.opgratitude.com/index.php .
Have a great evening and enjoy your families.
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Life As We Know It
I had one of those humours moments yesterday. We are planning a surprise for Eric. No I can not divulge much to you except to say it involves a lot of planning. I was talking to the reservation clerk telling her what we needed to make the surprise happen for Eric.
To me it is normal to travel with an IV Pole, feeding pump, percussion vest/machine, nebulizer and assorted medical supplies. After all aren't we know for packing the entire house for any excursion. Clothes are usually an after thought and packed in over night bags no matter how long we are gone. Well I think I heard her jaw drop as she tried to regain her composer after we started discussing beds and bed rails. I tend to forget not everyone has a real hospital bed in their child's room. No, the surprise place has no hospital beds available for guests. Really!
But that lead to a very funny dinner conversation with John about what we consider normal living with Eric and what the rest of the world must think of us. After all doesn't every one take a car full of medical equipment and extension cords on vacation?
It has also occurred to me this morning that Teri and I had a very similar conversation this summer. Doesn't everyone plan their trips around where there are children's hospitals? And that I might actually inadvertently be scaring people with young and healthy children.
I find it amazing how we can get caught up in our own lives and forget that the rest of the world does not live just like us. Well it is time to get my day started. Have a great day and enjoy your families.
To me it is normal to travel with an IV Pole, feeding pump, percussion vest/machine, nebulizer and assorted medical supplies. After all aren't we know for packing the entire house for any excursion. Clothes are usually an after thought and packed in over night bags no matter how long we are gone. Well I think I heard her jaw drop as she tried to regain her composer after we started discussing beds and bed rails. I tend to forget not everyone has a real hospital bed in their child's room. No, the surprise place has no hospital beds available for guests. Really!
But that lead to a very funny dinner conversation with John about what we consider normal living with Eric and what the rest of the world must think of us. After all doesn't every one take a car full of medical equipment and extension cords on vacation?
It has also occurred to me this morning that Teri and I had a very similar conversation this summer. Doesn't everyone plan their trips around where there are children's hospitals? And that I might actually inadvertently be scaring people with young and healthy children.
I find it amazing how we can get caught up in our own lives and forget that the rest of the world does not live just like us. Well it is time to get my day started. Have a great day and enjoy your families.
Monday, October 25, 2010
Tucson Wool Festival 2010
The great news is that another Tucson Wool Festival is coming up on November 6. From 9 am to 3 pm.
The Withers Ranch will once again be open to the public for shearing and all sorts of fiber related demonstrations. Vendors from the southwest will be showing their craft and hopefully developing new fiber addicts.
Raffle Shawl 2010
A Freeform Shawl spun, woven, knitted, and crocheted with a more scientific slant will be raffled off with the proceeds going to the Casa Maria Kitchen.
The Withers’ Ranch
4010 W Palo Seco
(520) 572-3758/401-6117
Make sure you fill out an entry form to get in the drawing for great prizes. There will be one for knitters & crocheters, one for spinners, and one finished item to give away.
ONGOING EVENTS
TOURS of the animals will be given at 9 A.M. and 12:00 P.M.
Shearer: Danny Smith will be coming from Missouri to shear. If you are a breeder in the southwestern part of Arizona, he is willing to add you and your animals to his list to do around the November 6, 2010
PARTICIPATING ARTISTS AND SHEPHERDS
Rae's Wood, harryrae@vtc.net
Inkle looms, regular size and mini's, stick and inkle shuttles, pick up sticks, niddy noddys, loom benches, inkled items like hatbands and shoelaces, and bowls.
Campe Verde Llamas: Chris and Nancy Wilson, spinllama@msn.com, will have llama, alpaca, and Shetland sheep rovings from their animals. They will also have blends of llama and soy silk, alpaca and soy silk, llama blended with Shetland wool and mohair, and alpaca blended with Shetland wool and Firestar. Other items include books, knitting and crocheting patterns, Eucalan wool wash, Gaywool dyes, and the new bamboo carbon top from Southwest Trading Company.
Sara Sacks: Woolies - hats, kids sweaters and toys, and shawls. www.woolies.etsy.com
Alpacazona Farm: Claudia and Brian Klaus, www.alpacazonafarm.com. Fiber from start to finish. Alpaca fleece, roving, and yarn. Exotic fibers including cashmere, yak, camel, silk, and silk blends. Both commercial and hand spun yarns. A wide variety of finished products: commercial and hand woven.
Canyon Wren Ranch: Cathy Gorman will be selling fleeces, rovings and yarns from her Natural Churro Sheep. cgorman@wildblue.net
Acres of Blessings: The Smiths from Missouri will have raw fiber, rovings and yarns from their Merino and Romney and sheep crosses. Danny will be shearing. He also makes and sells drop spindles.
Karen Herhold designs - Artistic Fibers and Felting
kherholdtucson@aol.com
Chamomile Connection - Lynnae Mcconaha, specializing in organic cotton and silk, spinning fibers, handpainted sliver and yarns, http://www.chamomileconnection.com/
Handmade~by~Sheri - Me - I will have a large selection of stitch markers in all price ranges.
Rita Blocksom - wet and needle felting artist. Demonstrations throughout the day and mini classes. www.ritablocksom.com
9:30 Making Cosmic Spirals
11:00 Creating Silk Paper for Embellishment
12:30 Beads, Baubles and Bling
2:00 Crazy Felt
Karen Samson: Feltings Karensamondesigns.com
Celestial Designs Fiber Art from Minnesota: custom carded batts, original patterns, needle felting kits, hand spun yarns, and handmade knitting bags. Books, looms, and other fiber accessories. celestialdesigns@charter.net
Dove Mountain Alpacas: Donna Smith with Suri and Huacaya alpaca products.
WORKSHOPS
Drop spindling: Amy Shimel of Electric Sheep Fiber Arts will be giving mini lessons throughout the day.
Nuno felting with Karen Herhold - make a small scarf that can be used as a
hair bow or belt. $25 includes the cost of all supplies. Class will begin at
approximately 10 a.m.
DEMOS
Rectangle Loom Weaving: Judith Segel will demonstrate the continuous strand weaving technique to make a woven rectangle. The continuous strand weaving method means you do not have to "dress a loom."
Please stop by and show support for Kathy and the other fiber artists.
The Withers Ranch will once again be open to the public for shearing and all sorts of fiber related demonstrations. Vendors from the southwest will be showing their craft and hopefully developing new fiber addicts.
Raffle Shawl 2010
A Freeform Shawl spun, woven, knitted, and crocheted with a more scientific slant will be raffled off with the proceeds going to the Casa Maria Kitchen.
The Withers’ Ranch
4010 W Palo Seco
(520) 572-3758/401-6117
Make sure you fill out an entry form to get in the drawing for great prizes. There will be one for knitters & crocheters, one for spinners, and one finished item to give away.
ONGOING EVENTS
TOURS of the animals will be given at 9 A.M. and 12:00 P.M.
Shearer: Danny Smith will be coming from Missouri to shear. If you are a breeder in the southwestern part of Arizona, he is willing to add you and your animals to his list to do around the November 6, 2010
PARTICIPATING ARTISTS AND SHEPHERDS
Rae's Wood, harryrae@vtc.net
Inkle looms, regular size and mini's, stick and inkle shuttles, pick up sticks, niddy noddys, loom benches, inkled items like hatbands and shoelaces, and bowls.
Campe Verde Llamas: Chris and Nancy Wilson, spinllama@msn.com, will have llama, alpaca, and Shetland sheep rovings from their animals. They will also have blends of llama and soy silk, alpaca and soy silk, llama blended with Shetland wool and mohair, and alpaca blended with Shetland wool and Firestar. Other items include books, knitting and crocheting patterns, Eucalan wool wash, Gaywool dyes, and the new bamboo carbon top from Southwest Trading Company.
Sara Sacks: Woolies - hats, kids sweaters and toys, and shawls. www.woolies.etsy.com
Alpacazona Farm: Claudia and Brian Klaus, www.alpacazonafarm.com. Fiber from start to finish. Alpaca fleece, roving, and yarn. Exotic fibers including cashmere, yak, camel, silk, and silk blends. Both commercial and hand spun yarns. A wide variety of finished products: commercial and hand woven.
Canyon Wren Ranch: Cathy Gorman will be selling fleeces, rovings and yarns from her Natural Churro Sheep. cgorman@wildblue.net
Acres of Blessings: The Smiths from Missouri will have raw fiber, rovings and yarns from their Merino and Romney and sheep crosses. Danny will be shearing. He also makes and sells drop spindles.
Karen Herhold designs - Artistic Fibers and Felting
kherholdtucson@aol.com
Chamomile Connection - Lynnae Mcconaha, specializing in organic cotton and silk, spinning fibers, handpainted sliver and yarns, http://www.chamomileconnection.com/
Handmade~by~Sheri - Me - I will have a large selection of stitch markers in all price ranges.
Rita Blocksom - wet and needle felting artist. Demonstrations throughout the day and mini classes. www.ritablocksom.com
9:30 Making Cosmic Spirals
11:00 Creating Silk Paper for Embellishment
12:30 Beads, Baubles and Bling
2:00 Crazy Felt
Karen Samson: Feltings Karensamondesigns.com
Celestial Designs Fiber Art from Minnesota: custom carded batts, original patterns, needle felting kits, hand spun yarns, and handmade knitting bags. Books, looms, and other fiber accessories. celestialdesigns@charter.net
Dove Mountain Alpacas: Donna Smith with Suri and Huacaya alpaca products.
WORKSHOPS
Drop spindling: Amy Shimel of Electric Sheep Fiber Arts will be giving mini lessons throughout the day.
Nuno felting with Karen Herhold - make a small scarf that can be used as a
hair bow or belt. $25 includes the cost of all supplies. Class will begin at
approximately 10 a.m.
DEMOS
Rectangle Loom Weaving: Judith Segel will demonstrate the continuous strand weaving technique to make a woven rectangle. The continuous strand weaving method means you do not have to "dress a loom."
Please stop by and show support for Kathy and the other fiber artists.
Sunday, October 24, 2010
This Weekend
This weekend was fun but busy filled with cleaning. Laundry - when is there not laundry? Knitting. Shopping for new glasses for me they should be in sometime in the next 10 to 14 days. I also made time to work on stitch markers for the special packages of stitch markers that I will have at the Tucson Wool Festival on November 6 from 9 am to 3:00 pm at the Withers Ranch.
Well its getting late so I will write more tomorrow.
Well its getting late so I will write more tomorrow.
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Yesterday
I had a great day yesterday. After bagels and coffee with some good friends I ran my errands and then came home to have lunch and take a nap. I have a valid excuse for the nap, Eric was up until 12:30 am and I was tired.
The new blanket pattern is taking on a life of its own. I am 27 rows into the new design and the yarn did something very unexpected. I had envisioned the pattern going in more of a tumbling block pattern, but the yarn is taking me in a totally new direction. In about 120 more rows the 1st half of the blanket should be done and the other half will be a mirror image of the 1st half.
The creative juices did not stop there yesterday. I hit the beads and came up with over a dozen one of a kind stitch markers that will be unveiled on November 6th at the Tucson Wool Festival. I will be there from 9 am to 3 pm at Wither's Ranch located at 4010 W Palo Seco in Tucson. The Withers Ranch will once again be open to the public for shearing and all sorts of fiber related demonstrations. Vendors from the southwest will be showing their craft. I will add a post later to give a map and all the details of the day.
I am happy to say that Eric got to sleep at a decent hour last night so today should be more productive. Have a great day and enjoy your families.
The new blanket pattern is taking on a life of its own. I am 27 rows into the new design and the yarn did something very unexpected. I had envisioned the pattern going in more of a tumbling block pattern, but the yarn is taking me in a totally new direction. In about 120 more rows the 1st half of the blanket should be done and the other half will be a mirror image of the 1st half.
The creative juices did not stop there yesterday. I hit the beads and came up with over a dozen one of a kind stitch markers that will be unveiled on November 6th at the Tucson Wool Festival. I will be there from 9 am to 3 pm at Wither's Ranch located at 4010 W Palo Seco in Tucson. The Withers Ranch will once again be open to the public for shearing and all sorts of fiber related demonstrations. Vendors from the southwest will be showing their craft. I will add a post later to give a map and all the details of the day.
I am happy to say that Eric got to sleep at a decent hour last night so today should be more productive. Have a great day and enjoy your families.
Monday, October 18, 2010
A Breif Catch Up
I did not think that John paid much attention to my knitting or yarn in general, but I was wrong. Over the weekend when I started winding some yarn for hats his comment was that he hoped that the yarn was for charity hats and not for my Art Fire Studio. Yes the next batch will be charity hats. I still have a lot of hats in my studio.
I also found 4 sets of knitting needles on Friday as I was digging out a knitting bag for a new knitter. I wonder how many sets of knitting needles I would have if I had finished all my work in progress projects. When I went into the tub to pull out the empty bag I also pulled out 4 projects that were still on the needles that I had not worked on since before the remodel. Everything was gathered and put in 96 quart containers to get them out of the way and out of the construction dust.
I have also started writing out the baby blanket with mixed blocks that is knit in one piece. This also includes the boarder being knit as you go so the little ones can't rip apart the squares. The pattern will be in my studio after I finish writing it up. The blanket has been spoken for already but the pattern should be here soon. So you have something to look forward to.
Well I have to get back to my to do list. Have a great evening and enjoy your families.
I also found 4 sets of knitting needles on Friday as I was digging out a knitting bag for a new knitter. I wonder how many sets of knitting needles I would have if I had finished all my work in progress projects. When I went into the tub to pull out the empty bag I also pulled out 4 projects that were still on the needles that I had not worked on since before the remodel. Everything was gathered and put in 96 quart containers to get them out of the way and out of the construction dust.
I have also started writing out the baby blanket with mixed blocks that is knit in one piece. This also includes the boarder being knit as you go so the little ones can't rip apart the squares. The pattern will be in my studio after I finish writing it up. The blanket has been spoken for already but the pattern should be here soon. So you have something to look forward to.
Well I have to get back to my to do list. Have a great evening and enjoy your families.
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