EWE ALL are invited to my Services Auction brunch!

As you all know, I sponsored another knitting brunch for the 2007 Services Auction. It will be held on Sunday, January 13th at 1pm at my place and all you UU Ewes are cordially invited to attend. The bid price was $15 and I'll again do a gourmet brunch and light the fire, etc. We will have several guys there this time (UU Rams? doesn't work quite as well) and it would be wonderful to have you there too! Please RSVP to me. Thanks! Maria

Mission accomplished!!!!!

Stocking completed!!!!!

Phew!!!!! I'm pretty proud of this one.

If I do not see you all before Christmas, please have a peaceful holiday. By the way, check out Rev. Sinkfords 2007 pastoral message. It is outstanding. Visit the UUA website or YouTube (search Sinkford pastoral).


Kathryn

What was lost is now found!

Do you remember, dear friends, that I had started (pre Maria's party) a Christmas stocking for Clark to replace his 1951 sock knit for him at his birth by his aunt (every child and spouse got a stocking from her as the years past). In the bag was both Clark's old stocking and mine (knitted by the same aunt in 1974, the year of our marriage). Where the H... did I put them. Well, I have been on a crusade to clear the piles that occupy nearly every room in our house and garage - especially the garage. I was looking for a hook to hang the empty baskets in the garage that I had cleaned out. One hook hosted a bag and in the bag were the lost stockings and the one in process. Wow did that make my day!!!!! So, on the 16th, I hope to bring my completed or nearly completed sock (deadline is the 24th, in Florida, but that's years away, right!).
YOU NEVER REALLY LOSE ANYTHING - ARCHAEOLOGY IS REDEMPTIVE!
Kathryn

Holiday stamps feature knitting designs!

For the 2007 holiday season, the U.S. Postal Service is issuing Holiday Knits, four stamps featuring classic Christmas-time imagery designed and machine knitted by nationally known illustrator Nancy Stahl. There is a dignified stag; a snow-dappled evergreen tree; a perky snowman sporting a top hat; and a whimsical teddy bear.

Here's the link -- I for one will definitely be ordering!

http://shop.usps.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10152&storeId=10001&categoryId=17901&productId=35601&langId=-1

Holiday Party at The Knitting Corner

Thursday, December 20th, "for some goodies and holiday cheer." Owner Terri adds: "I sure hope everyone is having a happy, healthy holiday season. Try and remember to take a knitting break once in a while and give yourself a chance to gather your thoughts. Knitting has a wonderful way of letting us do just that."

Wild & Woolly Reopens by Private Appointment

Although her storefront in Commack is closing, owner Shoshana wants her customers to know that she will be reopening the second week in January out of her home, offering a select group of yarns and needles, classes and private lessons, and a monthly knit night. For more information, check her website after the holidays: http://www.wildandwoollywools.com/.

Don't forget that her storefront on Jericho Turnpike will be open until December 24th, offering yarns and needles at mostly 50% off, and books, patterns, bags and other items at 40% off.

Free Holiday Knitting Patterns!

See the following links for some great holiday gift ideas:

http://www.dailyknitter.com/patternsdetail.php?type=HY

http://www.knittingpatterncentral.com/directory/christmas.php

http://www.knittingonthenet.com/holxmas.htm

And we've added "101 Designer One Skein Wonders" to the Bookshelf, as well as some new Sales!

In Defense of the Stash

"It's not a stash ... it's a collection."

The writer goes on to describe the various types of yarn in her "collection": ambition yarns, shame yarns, dessert yarns, one-skein-wonder yarns ...

http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEwinter06/FEATcollection.html

Important reading for those who have ever had to hoard, hide, rationalize, apologize for, or otherwise defend their stash!

10 Reasons for Multiple Simultaneous Knitting Projects

from another blogger:

(1) variety (so I allow myself to start new projects before finishing old ones, if they are different)
(2) easy *small* knitting that I can take with me to doctor's offices, on planes, etc.
(3) easy knitting that I can do while watching movies at home
(4) learning new techniques
(5) working with delicious yarn
(6) making clothes that fit me
(7) stashbusting
(8) practicing my design skills
(9) experiencing the delight of wearing homemade socks
(10) making practical things (hats, shawls that will keep me warm when my cat insists on having the window open in winter)

Pretty good, eh?

The Battle over Alpaca vs. Acrylic

Here's a really interesting thread on "yarn snobbery", prompted by a writer who contends that luxury yarn is not always more expensive to knit with than cheaper brands:

http://goknitinyourhat.blogspot.com/2005/12/myth-of-cheap-big-box-craft-store-yarn.html

Sincerely,
The person who willingly paid $30 recently for a small but dreamy skein of baby camel hair yarn (you have to touch it to believe it!).

Jackie A gifts the Ewes

Jackie A. showed up at the Fellowship on Sunday with two huge cartons of yarn that she is donating to the Ewes! It is mostly gorgeous fiber strands (i.e. eyelash) that you weave in with other yarn. I will add some to the Services Auction basket and bring the rest with me to the next knitting circle. Give Jackie a big "thank ewe" when you next see her!

NYS Sheep & Wool Festival review

Here's an online review, complete with photos, of the recent fiber festival in Rhinebeck, NY!

http://www.knittersreview.com/article_event.asp?article=/review/profile/071025_a.asp

Ravelry.com

Have any of you checked out www.ravelry.com? It is a beta site with a waiting list (I am in the 34,000's to sign up, 7,000 + ahead of me to enter, 7,000+ behind me. Wow!). You can organize your stash, needles, patterns; look at other cool projects, get yarn reviews, etc. DISCLAIMER: I am not responsible for luring you away from your life by this website. It definitely has the potential to threaten all meaningful work in exchange for blog surfing!!!

Kathryn

knittiquet

Hi to you all -

I got this message from a friend of mine:

Hi, I had an uncomfortable experience last night in a restaurant with another couple. I took out my mindless knitting project to work on between courses when the other couple complained that I was being rude, that my knitting was going to take my attention away from them. Even after I explained how automatically I knit without looking, they were not assuaged. They insisted that knitting should take place in one's home. I stopped knitting, of course, because, as they say, perception is everything. But I wasn't happy. I felt that the other couple had somehow stepped over the line in trying to teach me proper behavior. And I lost many precious hours of work. Has this ever happened to you, my knitter friends? Do you have any comments regarding this confrontation? Please do not hesitate to say what you think.

I answered:

Hi - not that I agree with them, because I don't consider it rude in that circumstance. But if it made them uncomfortable, then that should be taken into account, and I think you did the right thing by stopping.

Question: do you knit in temple? That question has come up in our Fellowship knitting group (the "UU Ewes").....our minister has said he wouldn't mind, but others disagree.

And she said:

Thanks for your response to my query. I did stop knitting at the rest't to appease the friends but I was miffed. When we went back to their home afterwards, I left the knitting in the car and felt badly that I was missing so much time. Oh, well. It takes all kinds.

No, I do not knit in temple and never would. That is not a social setting.

Any comments from the Ewes?

Sylvia

Kripalu Knitting Weekend Jan. 11-13, 2008

Hi all,

I am seriously thinking of attending Karen Allen's (yes from Raider's of the Lost Ark fame, although clearly she has moved on!) knitting class at Kripalu. I'm due for a healthy food, yoga, winter in MA fix again. Here's the course blurb from the Kripalu catalog:

Come enjoy the yogic aspects of knitting and celebrate the imaginative and artistic possibilities of color, pattern, and design. Join Karen Allen, experienced knitter, designer, artist, actress, and workshop leader, for a weekend of knitting, conversation, and creative discovery.

You will learn and practice the techniques of "tying on" and "weaving in" of intarsia (multicolor) knitting (used by extraordinary knitters such as Kaffe Fassett). You will also experience how using your own sense of color with simple geometric patterns can open you to new creative freedom and possibility.

Knitting teens are warmly welcomed and must be accompanied by an adult. All participants should have strong basic knitting skills: knitting and purling, casting on and off.

Note Bring a notebook, as many colors of same weight yarn as possible (some yarn will be available for purchase), and needles appropriate to the weights of yarn you want to work with (medium to lightweight yarns are best). Bring any geometric patterns you are interested in trying.

Her web site is www.karenallen-fiberarts.com

Talk it up.

Kathryn

Services Auction Basket (11/17/07)

Hey all, don't forget that we are putting together a UU Ewes basket for this year's Services Auction! What can you contribute? I have 2 skeins of some great self-patterning sock wool, for example, and Sylvia has extra double-pointed needles, and I am adding a free basic sock pattern. I also have a mug and some tea. We could add wool, fun needles, books, patterns, buttons, supplies (tape measures, stitch holders), etc. I know all of us have some great yarns in our stash and maybe even books and patterns that we could let go of! I am also going to approach our two Huntington knitting shops for donations (yarn, book, gift certificate, etc.).

I offered to collect the items for the basket, so do let me know how you might be able to contribute! Thank ewe! (I guess we really have to stop the "ewe" puns.)

Welcome!

Welcome to the website of the UU Ewes!

Here's your chance to "blog" about knitting! Please share your favorites: yarn, local yarn stores, online stores, knitting sites, patterns, knitting tips, sales, and links!

Any questions or suggestions, let us know. We look forward to hearing from you!