Tuesday, March 26, 2013

April Craft Shows and More......


We have finished our Easter craft shows for this year. April we have something going on almost every weekend. Here’s our schedule:

April 6 – Brentwood EMS Spring Vendor and Craft Show at St. Sylvester’s Church Hall – 3754 Brownsville Road, Pittsburgh, PA 15227 – 10a – 4p.

April 7 – The Community Market at the Pump House at the Homestead Waterfront. We will be doing this one once a month and will do a whole blog on it next week.

April 13 – Girls Day Out Craft and Bake Sale at Penn Hills Alliance Church – 7605 Saltsburg Road, Pittsburgh, PA 15239 – 9a – 3p.

April 21 – Westwood Golf Club – 825 Commonwealth Ave, West Mifflin, PA 15122 – 11a – 4p.

April 25 – 27 – Swissvale Library Spring Book and Bake Sale – 1800 Monongahela Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15218. I will be blogging on this in more detail closer to the time of the event.

April 28 – Our Lady of Joy Parish Craft and Vendor Show 2000 O’Block Road, Plum, PA 15239 – 9a – 2p.


Animal World 

The stuffed animals have been very popular at this seasons craft shows. Many of them are finding new homes. Here is a sample of some of the animals.








































We will be creating a basket of small penguins to celebrate the hockey playoff games coming up. Be sure to look for that.

If you have a certain animal that you would like – let us know and we may be able to make it for you. 

The Vintage Sock Monkey 

Donna has made another cute baby toy – a sock monkey blanket buddy.



Think Spring!




Saturday, March 16, 2013

Knitting with Friends

Many years ago women use to get together for quilting bees. Now people gather to knit together. If you are just beginning to learn to knit or crochet joining a group can be very helpful. If you don't know how to do something someone in the group may be able to help you out. Donna and I helped organize two such groups. We meet each group once a month.

On Wednesday we met with our group that meets at the Waterfront in Homestead.

They completed their third square for their afghan sampler. Pictured here is Joan's daughter, Amanda. She is holding her mom's square.



On Thursday we knitted with some of our friends at the Swissvale Library. We have become friends with these ladies as all of us help raise money for the library through the Friends of the Carnegie Free Library of Swissvale.

Square of the Month
As promised here is the picture and pattern of the second square of the month for anyone who may want to make a sampler afghan.



Seed Stitch Block 

Cast on 40 stitches using size 8 needles

Rows 1, 3 and 5 (RS):  *[K1, p1] twice, k3; repeat from *, end [k1, p1] twice, k1.
Rows 2,4 and 6: * [K1, p1] twice, k1, p2; repeat from *, end  [k1, p1] twice, k1.
Row 7: Purl
Row 8:  Knit

Repeat Rows 1-8 until piece measures 10 inches from beginning.
Bind off

Next Craft Show
Our next craft show will be Saturday, March 23 from 10a - 4p at the White Oak Athletic Association at 606 Lower Heckman Road, White Oak, PA 15131.

Hope to see you there!

Sunday, March 10, 2013

Knitting Studio


You have heard of the man cave – well we have a knitting cave or studio.  A little over a year ago I enclosed my side porch to make a room for all the yarn and knitting accessories that we have accumulated.

I feel that where you knit is as important as what you are knitting on if you are going for total relaxation. Imagine sitting in the armless chairs - so there are no restrictions from the needles hitting the arms of the chair.


Sitting across from the fireplace.



We have our pattern books close by.


Of course we have our yarn readily available … this is just one area where we have yarn.


We also have our needles ready to use.


A renovation contractor that I have hired several times – in fact he enclosed the porch for me – thinks I don’t have enough knitting needles. What do you think? Believe it or not … we do use a lot of these since we work on several projects at the same time.

I have even hired other crafters to help decorate our studio.



What's In A Name - Letter Art by Lynne made these signs for us.
So that is our creative space.

Later on this week I will be blogging on our knitting groups that will be meeting on Wednesday and Thursday. I will also share the next knitting square pattern.

Stay tuned!