Thistle
August 31,2008
Thistledown Shoppe Newsletter
       The Wee Shoppe with a Big Heart
In This Issue
Classes and Workshop
What's New
Join Our Mailing List
Two weekends ago, Susan and I had a booth at the GT Woman Expo.  We met lots of wonderful new folks and picked up some great ideas to use this winter.

It is amazing to experience the interest in fiber arts that is occuring in our community.  We are honored to be part of it and we appreciate your patronage.

And if you want, join us on Wednesday nights to pick up a new interest, or just watch.  Spinning Away......

 

We will be open on Labor Day from 10 am on.  Then we will have our Yarn Lover's Night until 8:30 pm.

If you have some free time, stop by and help us celebrate a day that is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers.


Classes and Workshops


Baby Surprise Jacket - Sundays, September 7, 14, and 21, 1 pm - 3 pm.

Skill level: You should be a basic knitter, i.e.: casting on, stockinette stitch, garter stitch.

Techniques you will learn:
� long-tail cast-on
� paired increases
� paired decreases
� picking up stitches
� one-row buttonhole
� attached I-cord
� how to plan stripes

Before class, read the instructions for the sweater, and decide what size Baby Surprise Jacket you want to make. There are suggestions in the pattern.

Buy your yarn and needles--the weight of the yarn and the size of the needles will determine the finished size of your Baby Surprise Jacket. Bring some safety pin type markers.

Before class make a swatch in garter stitch about 5" by 5". As explained in the pattern, the number of stitches per inch in your yarn on your needles will determine the size of your BSJ.


Cost: $50.00. Pattern is included in cost of class.

Sign up deadline is August 31, 2008.


Pi are Square Shawl - Saturdays, September 13 and 20, 4 pm -6 pm.


Garter stitch shawl based on the proportions of the circle, made with an opening down the front.

Will learn how to make the body of the shawl and the lace edging.

Make a sample, then plan and start to knit the project.

Techniques taught:  Increasing at regular intervals
                             Using markers
                             Planning based on gauge
                             Knitting on an edge

Materials:  Yarn, needle (circular preferred), book, markers, and other usual knitting notions.  Graph paper, pencil, and ruler would be helpful.


Cost is $40.  The book, Knitting Around, is extra.

Sign up deadline is September 6, 2008.

 
Felted Clogs - Wednesday, September 10, 17, and 24, 6 pm - 8 pm.

Learn to make soft, cozy slippers with the popular Fiber Trends pattern.

Skill Level: Ability to cast on, knit, purl, and bind off.

Skills you will learn: Following a written pattern, make one, SSK (slip, slip, knit), wrap & turn, picking up stitches, and three-needle bind-off.

Materials needed:  Worsted weight wool that felts, US 13 24" and 16" needles, markers.

Cost:  $50.  Pattern is extra.

Sign up deadline is September 4, 2008.


Dyeing Workshop - Sunday, September 14, 2008  10 am - 4 pm.

Learn to dye yarn using the plant world.  A little chemistry, a little magic, and a lot of fun!  Our focus will be on local plants and ancient dye materials.  The weather and season determines the plants that we use.  We will select from the ancient dyes of weld, osage orange, logwood, cochineal, madder and others.

The ancient art of natural dyeing is being rediscovered. It is a joy to work with natural materials. Flowers, leaves, barks, roots, berries, lichens, minerals, and even insects are sources for dyes. Each dye pot is unique and individual.  You will discover that nature provides us with a rainbow of colors that show up in our everyday lives.

We will use a variety of dye stuffs to color yarns in this one-day session.  We will also talk about local plants that can be responsibly collected and used in season.

We will learn to prepare the yarn (or fibers) for dyeing, make the dye liquors, and dye mini skeins of yarn. * If you want to dye fleece or a larger amount of yarn for a project, please let us know whne you sign up for the workshop.  We will also experiment with various mordants and after bathes to enhance/vary colors.   In addition, we will discuss safe dyeing techniques and how to dispose of spent dye baths in a responsible and respectful manner.

Pre requisites:  None
Materials needed:
                   Rubber gloves (thick kitchen gloves to protect your hands from heat and dye)
                   Wear old clothes (we are working with permanent dyes)
                   Notebook and pen or pencil
                   Thin permanent marker (black or blue) for labeling
                   Masking tape (small roll) for labeling

Optional:       Apron (plastic or cloth) and a dust mask

 If you have any buckets or plastic dish washing pans we can use for the day, please bring them along.

Things you may collect and bring include:  carrot tops, onion skins and /or avocado peels (wash the avocado peels and let them dry), sumac tops and leaves.

Bring a propane camp stove or propane turkey fryer (if you have one). The more stoves we have, the more dyeing we can do!  Please let us know ahead of time if you can bring a working stove.  Enameled (no chips) or stainless dye pots. These cannot be used for foods after dyeing in them, so go to a thrift shop if you want to begin your dye studio.

Presented by: 

Kathryn Rowe Drescher.   Kathy is a dyer, weaver, knitter, and spinner from Traverse City/Rockford, with 30 years of dyeing and teaching experience.  She is looking forward to sharing her love of color and the magic of dye with us.

Kathy Kolenda is a dyer, knitter and spinner from the Rockford area.


Workshop fee:  $80  Registration closes September 5, 2008.

Materials fee:   $14., payable to instructor on day of class, covers the cost of fuels, pre-wound sample yarn skeins, dyes, mordants, and handouts. 


Please bring a sack lunch.  Water and teas will be provided.     

The class is limited to 15 participants.

 
What's New

Yarn

 
Cascade Eco Wool

Eco Wool skein

A while ago Clara Parkes from Knitter's Review wrote this about the Eco WoolSince then Cascade has added dyed colors.  We have ordered sixteen different colors.  Each skein has 478 yards and uses a size US 10 needles.  Cascade will be sending us a sample so you are able to see how it knits up. 

Eco Wool sweater

You may download the pattern for this sample and make one for yourself.



Cascade Sierra Quatro

Santa Ana Cascade

We have been looking for some quality cotton/wool blend with varigated colors and found it with this yarn.  It is cool and comfortable with a nice sheen of pima cotton, with just enough elasticity added by highland Peruvian wool.  This is a worsted weight that knits up at 5 stitches to an inch on a size US 7.

We have received five different colorways, so come in and check them out.





Patterns

Figheadh Trellis Lace

Trellis Lace Window Topper


Add a delicate touch to any window with this quick knit. You can stop after one repeat of the lace pattern or keep going to make a full-length curtain of any size. Just the topper requires approximately 200 yards of worsted weight yarn and will fit up to a 33" window opening.

Figheadh Traveling Vines

Traveling Vines Wine Cozy

If you really LOVE your wine, keep it protected as you travel with this artful holder. You could also make a wine gift even more special encased in this gorgeous felted bag. The pattern requires 525 yds each of two colors wool yarn. Beginner crochet skills needed.


Figheadh Lachlann

Lachlann

Knit this classic set for newborn up to 12 mos size babies. Instructions include knitting the cardigan flat and the pants either flat or in the round on 2 circular needles. This is sure to become a family heirloom and the set may be fashioned for a girl or a boy.




Figheadh Mairead

Mairead

Wrap your newborn in this cozy cabled set. The blanket, bunting, and cap included in the pattern are classic enough to become family heirlooms. The bunting is knit in the round, with a bodice of the same cable rib used in the blanket. The cable rib watch cap with pom-pom is knit in the round. It calls for a total of approximately 1220 yds of worsted weight yarn: 440 yds for bunting, 750 yds for blanket, 30 yds for cap; and size 7 needles.



The shoppe is continually adding new yarn, patterns, books, and notions.  If you do not see what you want, please let us know and we will work with you to find what fits your needs.

What I am Knitting


Send out the banners.  I have finally finished some knitted items.  A hat, Robin's Ebb blue hat, with the pattern here  and  Donna's Darling Poncho from Farmhouse yarns.  I used Cascade 128 for the hat - one skein and Farmhouse Silk blend for the poncho - another one skeiner.  In the meantime I am working away on my thigh length rib warmer. If I had listened to Jill and Susan, I would have attached my i-cord as I knitted the vest, but instead I am attaching it now.  So check back with me in a couple of week and I should be crowing about the Bea Arthur!
 


Thistledown Shoppe
Fine Yarns and Notions
Suttons Bay, MI  49682
231-271-YARN (9276)

The Wee Shoppe with a Big Heart

Monday through Saturday 10-6 
Sunday 12 -4

Yarn Lover's Night: every Monday 6:30 pm - 8:30 pm
Spinning Night: every Wednesday 6:30 pm - 8:30 pm

Kathy Dawkins, Melody Jakubiak, Betsy Eike, Jillian MacLellan, and Susan Curtis