11 - and continuing all month What’s in the dyepot? 

           Come and observe the dyeing process.

  14 -  SSK at Oxford Public Library - 2 to 4. 

           Bring you knitting and knit with us.

  20 - 28  - End of summer/back to school.  

           Enjoy discounts as we make room for fall stock

I have been dyeing yarn in the shop.  Last week coreopsis, Queen Ann’s Lace and Black Eyed Susans  were transformed into color on yarn.  I start the pot in the morning and by noon or 1,  I am checking the color of the yarn.  Join me in August beginning the 11th, Wednesday, to see what goes in and what comes out.   Dyeing in the shop will continue until I run out of dye plants or volunteers from highways and byways.

Pasture with one acre and two stalls available for rent. 

Call Lynn Ford, 610 255 0179

April Arrivals:     RoseSpring Farm Yarns

Hand dyed yarns - mohair/merino blend

Roving - natural brown alpaca, hand dyed wool/mohair blend

Mistralee -

Original lace designs by Bobbie Leis are on display through April.  You will receive a free pattern with the purchase of yarn for the project.

Fairthorne  Farm -

Natural alpaca (sport and worsted weight) processed by Green Mountain Spinnery.

Lanaloft sport - Brown Sheep Co.

Pur, In-Silk, Zauberball, Trekking 6-ply, Fortissima Teddy, Ambiente, Kid Seta and the Addi Click sets of interchangeable cords and tips from Skacel.

Rittenhouse, Silk Blend - Manos del Uruguay.  These are Fair Trade Yarns.

  Second Saturday Knitting will be at the Oxford Public Library beginning November 14th.  The library offers better light, comfy chairs and, yes, we will have refreshments.  Come and see what you think of the change.

My daughter posted some beautiful photographs of her trip to Turkey.  I wanted to share the weaving ones  with you the visitors to the website.

So, about midway through our trip around the coast of Turkey, my students realized that if we saw hand-woven things, I would be the last one on the bus. They have pictures of me in the middle of a Turkish Carpet store–sitting in piles of short pile rugs, flat weave kilim, silks, wools, natural and hand-dyed carpets of every size, color and tribal pattern imaginable. I have a tactile thing with textiles. Its the same when I return to my mother’s store after a year away–I have to touch the yarns, feel all the scarves, felted socks, baby blankets, shaws, and I usually–although its hard to imagine in this 100 degree weather–wrap myself in something: a head-hugging hat, a fluffy dark green sweater, earth-tone cabled mittens. (I think I inherited this tactile textile gene from her, truth be told!) The colors and tones are as touchable as the yarns– but I digress.
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New additions to the classes illustrated on the website include:

Reversible Scarf - using a yarn with a long dye interval and the technique from Knit One Below, vertical stripes appear. 2-1 1/2 hour classes, charge $30.

Durable Decorative Mitts - using the Swedish knitting techniques, warm thick mitts are created. 3 - 1 hour classes, charge $30.

RUG HOOKING  Beginning rug hooking - This is a repeat of the offering in January at the Arts Alliance.  Anne Donaldson is returning on Saturdays.  3  - 2 hour classes, charge $60.

Intermediate rughooking - An original Anne Donaldson design of a sheep using fleece instead of wool strips will be the focus of this class.  2  - 2 hour classes, cost $40.

ALL CLASSES ARE OFFERED WHEN YOU ARE FREE TO TAKE THEM.  JUST CALL AND MAKE AN APPOINTMENT!

 Keep alive the practice of creating rugs from used fabric.  Rug hooking has become an art form, more decorative than utilitarian.  However, the appeal of using discarded fabric to create, fills a need today as it did in the past.

Anne Donaldson will provide a design on burlap as a project piece.  Strippers to prepare the fabric and hooks will be available as part of the materials fee.

Bring woolens (if you have them), denim (jeans), or knitted cotton (T shirt or sweat shirt fabric) will work as well.  Bring a small quilt frame, embroidery hoop or other means of holding the burlap straight and taut for hooking.  If you have other equipment: strippers, rotary cutters, hooks or frames that may be shared  feel free to bring them.

Call StillWater Fibers (610 998 9808) to reserve a place with your class fee (check or cash please) by January 15th, 2009.  The first two classes, January 24, 31  will be held at the Arts Alliance Gallery on 3rd Street and  a finishing class at StillWater Fibers on February 14th, 2009, 10-12.  Class fee is $60 with a $5 materials fee.

StillWater Fibers will join the Oxford’s First Friday Art Stroll November 7, 2008. Anne Donaldson, an original Oxfordian, will be exhibiting her ‘primitive’ hooked rugs/wallhangings. She will demonstrate the process she uses to create her art Friday night the 7th 6 - 8 PM and Saturday November 1st and 8th from 10 to 2. Her pieces will be available for view during the shop hours through the month of November.
Anne wrote this introduction for me:

I’ve lived in the area nearly all of my life. I’ve been painting in various mediums including oil and water colors for over 25 years.
I became involved in rug hooking about eight years ago. I love rug hooking in a primitive style and think of it as “painting with wool”.
I have completed over thirty hooked peices, most are displayed and used as wall hangings.
Several of my rugs have been entered in local fairs.

What she doesn’t tell you is that she has won many blue ribbons at the SoLanco Fair. Come and meet this talented fiber artist.

We are trying “Knit-Alongs”.  These are a time when Barb or Sharon are knitting on their latest project.  It is not a class and not meant as an instruction time.  We let you know what we will be working on each month.  You call and find out what specfic day and time we will be working and if the project is something you too wanted to try, JOIN US.  We can share our expertise as we work through the directions.  Two heads are always better than one.  In October Barb is knitting the felted cuff mittens from Interweave’s Felting magazine.  Sharon is choosing socks from Cat Bordhi’s New Pathways for Sock Knitters, October is “Ocean Toes” and November is  “Robin Hood’s Fireside Boots”.  Barb will be working on a Green Mountain Spinnery pattern “Eric’s Glovelets” (fingerless mitts).  December will probably find us both in the middle of Christmas gifts, but we will share our choices here and our knitting time at the round table.  January until April will be “All Things Baby” for Sharon.

Just in time for Spinning and Weaving Week, we have added Lincoln locks,  Corriedale/Hampshire carded spinning batts.  All are lightly washed and ready for your wheel, drop spindle, or felting needle.  These fibers come from Elkton, Md. sheep.

Wallace & Gromit’s Children’s Foundation are attempting to set a world record for the biggest ever hand knitted Tea Cosy to celebrate Wallace & Gromit’s Great British Tea Party. We’re not planning the world’s biggest tea cosy, but we’ll keep you informed about Gromit’s project to give you some inspiration to start thinking about making your tea cosy for our tea party February 8th, 2009, 2009.

October 4 - 10 is National Spinning and Weaving Week.
We celebrate the crafts of spinning and weaving as part of our common heritage and we delight in the creativity of all fiber artists.

Every SECOND SATURDAY of the coming months we will knit/crochet together, sharing projects, and the peace of a different working(?) environment.  We look forward to seeing you March 14th from 2 to 4 p.m.

A great time was enjoyed by everyone who joined us for our first WWKIP day event at Starbucks Coffee in Jennersville.
A Saturday knitting group at Starbucks will be forming soon. Check back for more information.

It’s World Wide Knit in Public Day!  And this year we’ll celebrate our craft by knitting in public on Saturday, June 14.  StillWater Fibers is hosting a WWKIP event from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. at STARBUCKS COFFEE at the Shoppes at Jenner’s Village
35 Jenners Village Court
West Grove, Pennsylvania 19390
Call us at 610 998-9808 to reserve a place!  There will be door prizes and discount coupons so don’t miss it.  Bring your knitterly friends 

Interweave Press has released several CD collections from their “Knitting Out Loud” series: “Knitting Memories, reflections on a knitter’s life”, “Stitch ‘n Bitch, the Knitters’s Handbook”, and “America Knits”, stories of America’s leading spinners, weavers and knitters tell their stories. 

Try a new technique for the summer!

Introduction: One session just to try your hand
Wednesday, 9:30-11-30, June 4.  Class fee is $10.

Scarf: Now that you know how to make those wonderful rectangles, come and try your hand at a scarf. We will create the patterns.
Wednesdays, 9:30-11:30, June 11, 18 Class fee is $25.

Market Bag: Entrelac in the round and
felting produce a wonderfully jaunty bag.Wednesdays, 9:30-11:30, June 25, July 2, July 9.
Saturdays, 9:30-11:30, June 7, 14, 21, 28. These are opportunities to join others who are knitting Entrelac.

Class fee is $35 for any 3 class times or $5 per Saturday session for those who need instruction.

 

Kraemer’s Sterling:  alpaca, silk, nylon and silver in white
   Mauch Chunky: 100% wool, bulky weight
Cascade’s Spray Dyed Fixation: cotton with elastic in multi and solids
Skacel’s Urban Silk:  luxurious all silk yarn
Brown Sheep’s Burly Spun:  100% super chunky yarn
Punta del Este ’s Montoya: 100% linen
Mericash: merino wool and cashmere

StillWater Fibers welcomes Elaine Staunton, lover of fiber arts, to the shop Fridays through the SPRING and SUMMER. Elaine visited last year with her spinning wheels.  Put a Friday, 10 to 2 on your calendar and join us. Every fourth Friday is a SPIN-IN.  Bring your wheel for a visit.