Tapestry Weaving

Saturday and Sunday was the Tapestry Weaving class. This was so much fun to watch. It's like painting a picture while weaving. This is a sample Traudie designed. My favorite!

Traudie made the frames out of stretcher frames - wood ones that slide together at the corners and then she stapled them for stability. We got some Seine Twine for everyone and a few colors of worsted weight wool and they began.

This is the most lo-tech weaving I've ever seen. One of the students is demonstrating using a fork for the beater. This is so portable - you can carry it anywhere!

It was so much fun watching the progress. They didn't get too far on their weaving so I hope they bring them back to show'n tell.

At the end they all wanted an advanced class.

Snowmen

Every year Ace Hardware, across the street, haul in snow to make a snowman. It usually occurs after Thanksgiving. This year has been unseasonably warm and rainy so it was a challenge to keep this snowman alive. The owner constructively built a blind to prevent the sun from shining on the snowman and melting him faster than should be. This is a photo of him during a rain shower! totally covered with a tarp. Yes, he really is under there.

I didn't get a complete photo of him while he was still alive. Sorry about that. They had to bring in a second truck of snow just before Christmas to build him up again. (they bring ice from the Bloomington Ice Arena). Every year they make the news with the Snowman story. By the way, this is the best Ace Hardware in Town.

Shortly after Chrismas he was hauled away. Don't miss him next year. Now, of course it's below zero at the end of January and the annual "Winter Carnival" is in full swing. They had to haul ice from Lake Nakomis over to Lake Phalen to build ice sculptures this year. What a Winter! We're all a little confused here in Minnesota! It's just not normal.

Down the block is the old restaurant "Connor". Not much progress since my last post in the Fall. It is being refurbished into a new restaurant and after many delays it is supposed to open in a couple months.

We also have a new "Nail Salon" on my side of the block. Cindy, the barber, and her husband have opened this Nail Salon. I love it! Knitters always need their nails done.

A New Week

Well, the computer finally got the best of me and I had to take it in to Techs2go on Lyndale. Fixed it right up. The screen had become a negative--so I couldn't see what I was doing. It was black and white. They were able to get it up and running and cleaned up for me. The only problem left is a window that keeps popping up saying my printer cannot be installed. The printer is working but this window will not be banished. We tried one whole afternoon to try and get it out of there but it is still popping up. Meanwhile I lost a spread sheet I was working on and was almost finished with, oh well.

I also managed to get some dye work going this week. I died some shetland fleece I had from before Christmas. Came out very nice. The dark purple sold yesterday. Back to the dye pot. I died some roving also but don't have photos yet. This is really addicting.

It has been a busy week of wrapping up 2006 and beginning 2007 paperwork wise. I shifted all my paper files and filed all the other stuff lying around. Boy this gets out of hand for me at the shop and at home. My staff tolerates my mess very well.

Today is Spinning and Knitting in the shop. I will also be open to the public this third sunday of the month.

Nancy had her Bungee class yesterday. We had about 8 women and it was little crowded because we had Mighty Wolf loom in the room with us for awhile. The family finally came to pick up their loom and luckily it fit in their van. It was good to see everyone back after the holiday and we had two new people join us.

MOVIE REVIEW

N and I went to see the new Judi Dench, Cate Blanchett and Bill Nighy, movie last night and the name escapes me. Something like "secret papers". I'm so bad at names in general. I try, but it takes a few times before it gets registered. At any rate it was quite an interesting movie. It was about a young teacher (Cate's character,new at this school) and she falls "in Love" with one of her students (mostly lust), he's 15 and she's 30 something, (she is married to an older man, Bill, and they have a daughter (also 15)and a son. We've all heard these stories in the news and wondered how this could happen. Judi (Barbara) has the role of the unmarried old maid (so we think). She has a motive for helping this young woman out, but I will not divulge anymore at this point. It was an interesting, and tragic story of human frailities. If you like Judi, you will like her in this movie, she's wicked. She is quite the actress. I brought Dan's sweater to knit on during the movie and did real well until the lights were on and then my ball of yarn took off rolling down the slanted floor, dontcha know, and I had to crawl around and retrieve. Everyone around me was very gracious and even tried to help. They were men so they thought they were helping a woman in distress, I guess.

Tonight is Knit night at home with Desperate Housewives and the new sitcom after it with Sally Fields. I love Sally Fields and this sitcom is just about a crazy family.(momentarily forgot the name) I also watch Greys and Men in Trees. I get alot of knitting in watching these four alone.

CRAZY WEEK

A crazy week - I've been tallying up inventory for a week and my neck is sore. It's been very busy at the shop so I don't have time to work on inventory during the day - evening and early morning are the only times. Monday was crazy at the shop. We had our knitting group in the back and I was hoping to get a weaving group going at 7:00 pm. I was having difficulty reaching everyone but finally one student showed up - the other one will come next week. Therefore, we had to switch the knitting group up to the front of the store and let the weaver's in the back. Meanwhile I was waiting on customers and trying to set up a loom and working on a new ad I was placing this month which had to be done right then and my computer was not working. I finally got the ad taken care only to find out this morning that it cannot be run as I originally thought. My computer is still not working - the front page looks like a negative. I cannot read it ! I think it started when I began downloading updates. Now I don't have access to dsl or my printer. YEA! It's the end of the month and I need those reports!#####


I had been going full tilt all last week so when the weekend came I just had to put the brakes on and cancel a social engagement on Sunday so I could stay home and put the Christmas stuff away, hang up pictures after getting the walls painted (which was not such a good job and will probably have to be done again) Tried putting up the railings going up stairs and the brackets were the wrong size so the railing is a little skewed. Cleaned out the storage closet and found a few missing items. Cleaned and straightened cupboards that had gotten out of control. Organized my desk and my craft room. I got alot done.



I finished a couple of the felted jackets I'd been working on-These were
originally adult large sized sweaters that I bought at ARC. I felted them in the washer and embellished them. I was going to cut them up into purses but they were so cute after being felted that I had to cut them down the middle and make jackets.

I also finished a beaded felted bag that I've been playing with for a couple months-I needle felted it and then lined it and decided to add beads. Now I need a strap. This photo makes it look like a glob - it really does have shape.

I am not finished with Dan's sweater or the Christmas sock but I'm working hard on them. I really want to get into summer stuff so it's hard to focus on wool. Although I found a beautiful new yarn for the shop called Roma (it's viscose and angora) by Jaeger (I love their patterns) Well, I found a very cute pattern today so I may give it a try. (Julie inspired me with this new idea) I'm also working on a child's sweater in Heaven (very soft fluffy stuff from Plymouth) and that should be quick.

The grandchildren came to the shop today. They love the place and are really ver good. Josh loves the water tank in the back room. He takes a shopping cart and walks around like he knows what he's doing. He thinks he owns the place. Ellie just follows and does exactly what he does. I'd like to be a follower for awhile. Have a great one!

Snow

The first snow of the year and I thought I was prepared. Bought a used snowblower from my cousins and got gasoline and oil in November. All ready, right. Problem - I got the wrong oil. Complication: this machine requires 3.2 oz. of oil to 1 gal of gasoline and they sell the oil in an 8 oz. bottle. How do you figure this out. I'm not this good at math, especially in the cold weather when my fingers are going numb. The man at Menards (I really like this store) said he had the same machine and he figured out a method that helped him with this math problem. He bought the bottle that was 3.2 oz. and the larger bottle. Then he used the smaller one for a refill. YEAH! Now I have to guess how much gasoline I put in the can to begin with. Mix it up and pour it into the machine and hope it starts. We gave up, my son and I shoveled! Need I say more.

Back to Menards - they are having a great sale on 310 ct. sheets. $14.99 for the queen size. I've been back twice for the sheets.

We have snow on the ground but it is still warm out - great winter so far. D and I decided not to work on wool samples anymore but go right to the spring/summer ideas. We are currently paging through magazines and patterns.

I'm currently working on a City Sheep baby sweater using the "Heaven" . It's lovely for babies. We also are working up some shrugs and shawls with romance in mind for Valentine's day.

One of my very special customers brought in the snake scarf that she has made for many of her grandchildren. I'm making one for Josh - it is so cute! I'll have it done soon and put a photo up here. I'm also working on finishing the christmas sock and Dan's sweater (it's at the boring part where it is just knit, knit, knit)

Inventory is done, now to add it all up. Took 3 days and everything is counted and put back in place so the shop looks so nice. Now I just have to work on organizing my office.