…have you any Wool? Blog

We couldn’t have a State Fair post without any animals now could we?

Beth continued to collect ribbons winning third place for her sassy purple bag.  It’s an updated version of the “loopy bag” using new yarn and adding an additional row of loops.  Leave it to Beth to get a little fancier! 

Jody Florkowski won a third place ribbon for his adorable felted dog.  Jody also received an Honorable Mention for his woven towels.  In addition to being multi-lingual, an educator, a computer whiz and an actor/director Jody is quite the knitter.  Maybe next year we won’t have to twist your arm to enter the competition!  

Erika received two third place ribbons for her shawl and for her mittens.  I haven’t seen the shawl in person but I know that it was knit using Jamieson’s wool.  I have seen the fair isle mittens and they’re fabulous!  So creative! 

Congratulations Beth, Jody and Erika!     

Beth won a second place ribbon for her handsome fair isle hat knit in Malabrigo lace weight yarn.  She saw a pattern for this hat and in true Beth fashion took one look at it and practically changed the whole thing.  Patterns are inspiration for Beth and not meant to be followed exactly.  She truly lets her creativity soar. 

Pam Hildebrand won second place for her charming Christmas stocking.  You should’ve seen the face Pam made when I suggested that she enter her stocking in the competition.  It was priceless!  In the end I think Pam is happy that she entered.   

I won second place for my ruana.  Watch the workshop page in the coming weeks to see when the ruana workshop will be offered.  It was fun to knit and it’s very warm!

Congratulations Beth, Pam and Me too! 

Here are our Blue Ribbon winners!  Elizabeth Krause (left) won for her adorable child’s jacket knit from Noro yarns.  The pattern and the yarn are available here in the shop of course.  Beth teaches here on Saturday mornings and afternoons in addition to teaching numerous workshops.  

Erika Proschkow crocheted a beautiful necklace to win first place in her category.  When she isn’t travelling, Erika is a guest instructor here at the shop.  She’ll be on the schedule soon to teach continental knitting and a variety of ways to cast on.

Congratulations Beth and Erika! 

Beth was busy with her star pupil teaching her all kinds of knitting techniques.  Lindsey made a hat (it’s on her head) because she thought it was cool and she wanted to learn to knit in the round.  She got that out of the way and went straight to “no fear fair isle”.  Great job Lindsey!  

Happy felters!  F.Y.I. Beth entered her vest with needle felted embellishments in the Michigan State Fair.  As a matter of fact, a few of us here at the shop entered garments.  I’ll let you know how we did when the results come in. 

Beth has added another skill to her embellishing repertoire.  Needle felting!  You begin with roving, felting needles and a piece of foam or a mat designed specifically for this purpose.  You can see the colorful roving onthe table in the picture at left.  Beth is teaching her students this technique using a template although you could take a more freeform approach as well.

Beth and some of her students are busy transforming their plain felted bags into works of art.  Needle felting is a very simple technique with a variety of applications.  Give it a try!

Beth and her students had a blast dying yarn using Kool-Aid drink mix.  You’re limited only by your imagination.  If you missed this workshop we may offer another this fall.  Check the website for updates. 

 Here’s my sock in progress.  The colors are incredible!  Have you used Stitch Keepers to keep your knitting safely on your double pointed needles?  They’re fabulous!  There’s nothing worse than pulling your knitting out of your bag and having the stitches come off the needle.  Stitch Keepers are made in the U.S.A. and they keep your knitting on the needle where you want it.  We have them in stock in a range of sizes. 

You don’t have to wait for the 4th of July to wear these socks.  You can show your colors anytime!  Someone told me that if you knit this yarn in a feather and fan pattern it’ll look like a waving American flag.  I just had to try it myself so I cast on my stitches and got busy.  These socks are fun to knit!  You keep going just so you can see the wave pattern taking shape.  It’s the simple things in life that keep me amused.  The yarn is by Schoeller Stahl and it’s from the Fortissima Colori collection.