Prom nite

Last night was Eden Prairie's Prom. Six couples met for photos at one of the families lovely home. They have a backyard to die for. A lovely deck, patio, fire pit and beautifully landscaped yard, so it worked well for photos. Does he look nervous?

Knitting along on my new summer shell today and noticed on my circular needles that I had twisted the circle - I didn't want a mobius look so I had to take it out - only 3 inches but I could not I believed I did that. I guess I must be a little distracted. Putting my house on the market, prom, graduation and running a business. It makes me wonder what else I've goofed up on.

Needle felting class today! What fun - They made a very cute purse and embellished with all those designer yarns you have left in your stash. Kay & Judy are very creative ladies. They came up with this product, carded roving in blended colors, designed yarns, beads, etc. and wha-la! you have acute bag. There is definitely more to making this bag than meets the eye. I learned so much with Judy. It was a treat!

Laying on the fibers

Lisa getting started

Judy keeping an eye on the progress



Sewing on the edging

Now just for the handle!

Unfortunatley I didn't get a photo of all the purses but they all turned out gorgeous. Thank you Judy for your expertise.

Started sock of the month for May 2007

New Dye Work last week! - A few of us are getting together this sunday to do some dyeing. I can hardly wait! We may never go home.

I started this sock and had a few other people join me this month. It was such a treat. I love the pattern on this sock - it's an easy four row repeat pattern. It looks so much better in person.

The next sock will be a winter sock. I'm using the Ann Norling pattern for a basic sock using 3 different weights of yarn. I'll get a photo up here and on the website soon.

The Tie Dye season is upon at the shop. Summer Camps really enjoy doing this with the campers. The School art teachers love it, church youth groups love, scouts, etc. It's easy and fun and you get a great shirt, socks, baby romper, etc. for the summer. Try it, you'll like it.

It's been a busy week at the shop - lots of new customers looking for creative ways in which to express themselves in weaving, felting, knitting, tie dye, and back again. It's exciting to me and fun for me to help people plan their projects. I have my favorites, of course, and try not to be too pushy about certain yarns, but I love to get people excited about their projects.

A couple of men came in today at separate times. One wanted to buy a small loom to weave cloth for children's clothing. We discussed this at length and then moved onto knitting a garment. He liked the looks of the knitted garment as opposed to woven. At least for his designs. He was here all the way from the East Coast. I told him he should definitely go to TNNA this year. I hope to see his designs someday.

Another man came in shortly after this to look for yarn for an afghan someone was going to knit for him. He was told to come and find yarn. After asking the basic questions, what pattern is she using?, what gauge yarn, needle size, wash or dryclean? He was totally overwhelmed and will be back with more information.

Another male stopped by while I was in the ladies room. He locked me out of the shop and I was a bit startled to find the door locked and ya know how your brain works when your expectation is that the door will open and it doesn't. I tried again and then the third time it opened but I was a little nervous to walk in until my friend peeked his head around the corner and I was relieved to see his cute face. I then locked the door every time I went to the ladies room. Learned my lesson.

Happy Knitting, weaving, spinning, dyeing or felting - just keep doing it!

Como Zoo

Here we are at the Como Zoo - Monday - this was my Nanna Day.

I met Nicole and her friend "H" at the zoo. I walked up and noticed they both had the same color on and at closer range noticed it was the same pattern too.

These two have been friends since 9th grade. They look alot alike! They married within a couple years of each other. "H" was pregnant first and a year later so was Nicole. Both boys. A year later they both were pregnant again with Girls. Born a few weeks apart. Now they are both pregnant again with Boys. They showed up at the zoo in the same print! A little scarey, don't ya think.


It was almost 90 degrees this day so the animals were laying around sleeping inside. Unseasonably warm for a fur coat!
I have never seen a lion do this before but the male was laying on his back with back legs splayed outward, his arms curled up together on his chest and his head resting peacfully. Not a care in the world for this Beast of the Jungle. This guy was not worried about a thing! He didn't even look at us!


The Urangatangs were lolly around in their hammocks - I wish someone could tell me why two of them were sporting T-shirts! There were a couple baby Giraffes, buffalo, polar bears, puffins, penguins, a zebra, a giraffe, leopards and tigers and of course the seals (they were just floating in the water). We had lunch in the back of the van and headed home. Too hot for everyone.

Return from Shepherd's Harvest

I am so glad everyone left some fiber for me. My friend and I had a great time. She had never been before and is a new spinner so we looked at everything. Saw lots of customers and talked to lots of vendors. Didn't get any photos, I was too busy. Lots of new felters this year and more baskets than I remembered.

Michelle is interested in buying some sheep so we spent some time in the animal barns getting lots of information. Lots of lambs for sale.

The Alpacas were sporting their Poodle Cuts. I just don't like the looks of a lama with shaved bodies. They must be embarassed. poor things.

I bought some beautiful 100% Lamb's wool 2 ply (sport wt) from Riverwinds Farm and a bag of Cormo fleece. I really like this Farm and their products. Every year I go back for more. They are at www.riverwindsfarm.com.from There were a couple Alpaca/Lama fiber people that had excellent products. Michelle bought some yarn from them.
I managed to make quite a dent in the pocket book.








Iwashed up the Cormo fleece today. Here it is in the pre-soak. I put in detergent and let it sit for a couple hours, drain it, refill with soap and water.
Then I cook it for about 1/2 hour.










I drain it in the sink and rinse out the soap





Here it is washed and rinsed - drying








Dried and fluffy-ready to spin



I bought some 10/2 natural dyed cotton from the Chamomile Connection, Organic colorgrown cotton. I believe they originated in Indiana. I got four cones - if anyone is interested they will be at the shop - I also bought four cones of natural colored cotton chenille. I don't have a photo yet. Will get more info later for you.

We had a gyros lamb sandwich for lunch and bought a bag of kettlecorn for the ride home. It was very cool all morning, I had to wear a polar fleece jacket and by afternoon it was 80 degrees.

Jenna and Dan took me out to dinner that evening at "Jimmys". Cute restaurant in Eden Prairie off Shady Oak Road. Great food and service. Mother's Day meals were 1/2 price and we got desert free because they were out of cheesecake and we had to order the chocolate cake instead. Aw Darn!
Cannot get much better than that!

Shepherd's Harvest

I am so excited for this weekend. Besides Mother's Day, all of us Fiber people love to go to Shepherd's Harvest. There is something for everyone. It's kid friendly, so bring the family.

I'm going with a friend and spending most of the day. The children and I will get together later in the evening. I recommned bringing lots of money and plan on making several trips to the car with fiber. There is everything from handspun yarn, to handdyed rovings, batts, clouds and all kinds of fiber. Unfortunately, I cannot make it out there until Sunday but I'm sure there will be something left for me.

I had such a triple tasking week last week that I ended up being ill Saturday night. My sister arrived Friday and we ran to see the babies, came home and made birthday cards for Josh and crashed.

Sat. morning I got up early went to pick up the babies and took them to" paint a plate" place on 50th to make a mother's day gift. Brought them home, had a little lunch and then Sandy and I headed out to look at a property in Victoria. It was a cute little cottage on Lake Bavaria but it was too little for year around. Would be great for a summer retreat.

Dropped Sister off for a rest and headed over to the shop around 4:30 pm. On the way I to the shop I suddenly didn't feel well. Finished at the shop and headed home to call the doc. ; Found an Urgent Care by me and went immediately. I was having symptoms of a Urinary Tract infection. As anyone who has ever had this before knows, the minute you feel it coming on you better get to the Doctor immediately. Within an hour I was very uncomfortable. Got drugs and headed home to rest for the evening. We watched movies and knit and ate cake and gave myself a manicure.

Sunday was the party. Made a pasta salad, wrapped presents, picked up sandwiches and headed for the party. Josh was very good all day. He's got this birthday thing down. I got him a big wheel, Grandma/Gramps got him a sandbox and Papa got him Playmobile trucks, Uncle Dan got him a rug at Ikea that has roads on it for his little cars. That was his favorite! Jenna got him playmobile sets and Aunty Tia got him a water ball for outside. I'd say it was pretty darn good!

It was windy and a little chilly that day but in the afternoon we were able to get outside and let them run around. Ellie loved standing on the hill with her arms spread out and letting the wind blow her backwards. They wore me out and themselves too.

So, my advice, be careful when triple tasking, it's get ya!

Knitting squares

I saw a post last night regarding Hokie Healing for the Virginia Tech families. A little knit shop in that town is collecting 8 X 8 inch squares and they will put them together to make blankets for the families of this tragedy. Great Idea!

I put it on the website so I hope we get a group together that will knit some squares. Our Monday night knitting group is a great place to start. You can go on the Mosaicyarnshop.blogspot.com and get more information or bring your squares to me and I'll send them off for you.

Finished up the Summer schedule last night. Should be posted today. It's not a big schedule because of summer. Classes are difficult to fill in the summer in Minnesota so I went with a flexible schedule this time.

I'm trying to fit people's time frame during the summer.

Rearranged the shop today with Sonja's help. It looks so nice! It needed a little face lift and I think we did it. I'll get a photo up tomorrow. We're into the swing of knitting summer garments. So many cute things to knit - I wish I'd started in January, but I always say that!

May 1

May 1st was Josh's 3rd birthday - I knit him a cupcake! This is out of the "One Skein" book - very easy and uses up your left over yarn quickly. I found putting cardboard in the bottom or weighting it down helps keep the shape. I think it would be cute for a tea party too!

This Month is going to be triple tasking. My sister arrives Friday from Arizona for Josh's bithday party on Sunday. Meanwhile I'm packing up my house to get ready to put it on the market. This is such a pain in the.....! This new idea of staging a house is really bugging me. I have sold probably 15 houses over my lifetime so far and I have never worried about staging just declutter and clean. Now, you have to set your house up like a model so people will be interested and think it is bigger than it is. *+@!

Whenever I look at a house to buy I always envision what I would do with it, not what is already in it. How insulting to think that a person cannot do this. This is a whole new generation of realtors and I'm not liking it. They say if you stage a house you will get 33% more money than if you don't. Don't believe that. I think somebody is making money off this but it's not me.

As you can probably tell I'm not looking forward to this process. It won't be ready for a few more weeks but the guy that came over to stage it today just gave me a few simple tips so I felt a little better about it. This is also a new career path - "Staging Houses." I think I'll apply!

Wish me luck!