All you need is the wanting

About one week after Christmas, Shirley came into our shoppe. We had not met before and she announced that she had not knitted for about 30-40 years and she wanted to make five sweaters for Christmas and she wanted to start now. We introduced Shirley to Knit Pure and Simple and she started her sweaters. At this time, she has completed one sweater and has two more almost finished.



Kate is modeling the sweater for us. Shirley used Lamb's Pride Worsted and it is cosy. Makes me almost want some snow and a fireplace.


Laura knit this hat after our Lace Workshop with Amy.


This is the Picture Hat from the Gathering of Lace. Laura received this book as a give away and she promptly made good use of it. Her mother belongs to the Red Hat group and Laura knitted this for her. Amazing!

I told you we wouldn't lose Jill. She is making samples for our shoppe and this is her latest.



The top is knitted from Euroflax and the pattern is called Linen Top. Kate Coyle is also the author of the book Boho Baby Knits. A book we just happen to carry. Two skeins, easy knitting, and you are ready for summer.

Suttons Bay Fall Art Walk

Friday, October 24, 2008, the Art Walk. Ingrid Zotter was our featured fiber artist. Pictures are not that great. Sorry, Ingrid. As her knitted garments were amazing. Besides, with her New Zealand accent, what do you expect? They teach them to knit when they are still wearing knickers. (That is the expression, isn't it?)



She brought in doilies, shawls, vests, sweaters .....See the one with tea cups? The back of that sweater has a tea pot. Cute.





And here is my favorite landlord in the whole wide world. That is Joyce, yakking away. Can't remember if I have mentioned it, but for those of you who have not been here in person, we rent our space from Bayside Salon, where they have manicures, pedicures, facials, and fantastic hair stylists. Not to mention that all of them are wonderful ladies.


This is Dorte's 14 yr. old daughter, Erika, the bride of a corpse. She is on her way to an early Halloween party. Dorte is one of those wonderful hair stylists, manicurist, and pedicurist.
She moved here from Denmark many moons ago. Had to be love.


We had a great time.

With Friends like These

I have Thanksgiving every day. Look what was waiting for me when I came in yesterday morning.

Jill knitted this out of Louet linen. And as with everything in life, there is more to the story. She was over 1/2 done and her kitty found it and ate it. Poor Jill had to take most of it out and regroup. You have to come in and see it in person. It looks like an article from a museum, as it is absolutely lovely.


Makes me glad I named the shoppe Thistledown. It has obviously given folks a reason to play around. See this: Melody had this made by Pat McKean. Pat has some wonderful buttons and pins at our store. And she also makes items like this.


Then my knitting group surprised me with this flag last year. Think it lets folks know what we have here? And underneath the flag is a lamb that Kathy Herman put together for the shoppe. See what I mean about having a continuous Thanksgiving?

Is the summer gone?

It's September 1st and I have some time in between customers to blog. It has been almost 2 months and it feels like it was just last week since I last posted. What's been happening? We have met new folks, knitted items, brought in new yarn, patterns, book, and notions. Just the ordinary things that a yarn shoppe would do. Yet, it has been extraordinary.

What has made it that? It is the fact that we have become a part of the amazing fiber community in this area. We have learned from the folks who have come in and we have challenged them to continue trying out new ideas. It has been a wonderful experience for all of us.

Here is the Bendig family - 3 generations knitting away.


Joanne DuFour visited us from the UP. She is a spinner and lace knitter extraordinaire. She won Best in Show at the Allegan Fiber Fest in 2007 for her handspun alpaca lace shawl. I was able to see it and it was elegant. Unfortunately I did not take a picture of it (was in too much awe). But I do have pictures of other items she brought.

Hand spun alpaca and a lace shawl.





Then we have Susan Pandorf.


Susan designs shawls and we are carrying three of her patterns: the Cherry Country Shawl, Moroccan Day/Arabian Nights stole, and It is our hope to have Susan come and do a lace beading workshop for us. She has such wonderful patterns.

Susan and Jill went out and added some puppies to their homes. Meet Timmy and Lucy. (that is my daughter Kristina modeling a hat and holding Lucy)




Kate knitted a cute little cape made out of the recycled yarn. This is her design. And if you like her ideas, check out her paintings at the Tamarack Craftsmen Gallery in Omena.



This hat is Robin's Egg Blue Hat. I found it through Ravelry. It was a fun and quick knit (which I needed this summer). I used one skein of Cascade 128. My daughters saw it and both claimed it. So, I guess I will have to do a one for each of them, maybe, for Christmas.



And here is another one skeiner. This used one skein of the Pecan Pie colorway from Farmhouse Yarns. It is their silk, cotton, wool blend called Silk Blend. I will admit that I never thought of myself as a poncho type person, but once I finished it and put it on, I loved it. For this hot person, it is perfect for those over air-conditioned rooms.




Peg made the Sausalito sweater out of cotton fleece. It looks great on her!


The Bea Arthur ribwarmer. I just spent 20 minutes on Ravelry trying to see if someone else had posted a Bea Arthur and was not successful in finding one. I originally wanted to make the ribwarmer and actually knitted one up as a sample garment. I took it with me to Meg's workshop in May, 2007 and then saw the Bea Arthur. No question - that was what I had to knit. And here it is, almost finished. I am working on the I cord. And then I will block and voila! It will be done. Look and drool.


Susan found this and we ordered the yarn and the pattern. It is the Sea Lettuce Scarf by Lucy Neatby and it is knitted in Bonnie by Louet. Susan wanted me to display her finished product like this

and because I am left handed and therefore always contrary, I wanted to show it to you like this.


Either way, it is a fun scarf.


Next project on the way is the Criss-Cross Jacot Scarf. Susan is knitting this out of the Elegant yarn Fantasy. It is a favorite color combination of mine - browns and blues. (See what a great thing it is to own a yarn shop? You have some say about the samples that are made.)



Then we went to the Fiber Fest in Charlevoix and saw this.


Lorilee from City Knitting in Grand Rapids. Many moons ago, before shoppe, I was in Grand Rapids and as all good knitters do, I decided to stop by and visit a shop that was new to me. When I walked in I was greeted by the question of whether I had my knitting with me. When I answered that I had it out in the car, they invited me to sit and knit. And ever since then, I have considered City Knitting a home away from home. I also found a Kathy who knew a Kathy that I knew. (are we confused yet?) So, if you are ever in Grand Rapids, make sure you head on over and visit with them. And oh, bring your knitting. And don't tell her that I am jealous that she is having Jared Flood.

Here is what Melody did at the Fiber Fest.


Ain't she cute? She modeled the top she knitted.



Amazing how fast it all went.

Have a great fall.