Steel Valley Yarn Crawl Part I

 

On August 1, Diane and SciFi Chris set off on the Steel Valley Yarn Crawl.  Seven shops are participating, from August 1 to August 10.  Details can be found on Facebook and Ravelry.  I've listed the shops at the end of this post.  At any of the shops, a ‘passport’ can be bought for $10, which includes a tote bag and raffle tickets.  At each shop, you get a stamp on the passport.  If you manage to get to all seven shops, then you are entered for the grand prizes, seven $25 gift certificates – one from every shop.  The runner up prize is $10 gift certificates from every shop.

Every shop also has their own raffle baskets.  The tickets that come with your passport can be used for these raffles.  Also, when you buy a given amount at each shop, you can get extra raffle tickets for that shop.  Each shop also has part of a shawl pattern.  I think that was a neat idea, to have a Yarn Crawl pattern.  The only downside, at least to crocheter me,  is that its a knit pattern.  It would have been nice for them to offer both a knit and a crochet version. 

Diane picked me up at 9:30 and we headed off to the first shop of the day.  Our goal was all five shops in the Pittsburgh area.  The other two shops are in Ligonier and Grove City, which we decided were better as day trips by themselves.  Ultimately, we only managed four shops before we decided we’d had enough driving for the day.

First stop, Yarn By Design in Oakmont.  We weren’t the only ones there waiting for the shop to open.  It was the same at the other shops, according to the folks we talked to in our travels.   I’d only been to YBD once before.  It’s a nice little shop, with a decent selection.  Many samples of knitted items hung on the wall and were displayed throughout the shop.   Several different types of yarn were on clearance sale, but strangely the sale items were cash only.  Regularly priced items could still be paid for with plastic.  Diane picked up some antique gold and olive green fingering weight yarn for a motif sweater.  I picked up a pattern book (Mission Falls Goes Crochet)  by 3RC’s own Robyn Chachula.  I didn’t realize it was Robyn’s designs until Diane pointed it out and showed me the sample that she had crocheted. 

 

 

Second shop was Natural Stitches.  I’d been there a few years ago and had not felt particularly welcomed as a crocheter.  There had been very few books, tucked away in a corner, and most of them were of the ‘arts and crafts’ type.  Crochet I was told, when I asked about books on that previous visit, didn’t have very many good patterns for clothes.  Therefore I was not expecting much.

Wow, was I wrong!  Somewhere along the line Natural Stitches figured out that crochet was more than toys and afghans.  There were many crochet books and they were no longer hidden away in the corner.  There were also other yarn arts represented throughout the store, such as spinning and weaving.  The staff was very friendly and eager to be helpful.  There is a huge selection of yarn, including yarn that is very reasonably priced.  The wall of Cascade yarn was amazing.  Another nice feature is the information cards that are posted for all the different types of yarn.  The cards not only describe the yarn, they give approximate amounts needed for various projects.  The amounts are for knitting, but those amounts can still be used to estimate the amounts needed for a crochet project.  By the way, the whole crochet uses 3x the amount as knitting isn’t that accurate.  It just depends on the stitch being used.  Basic double crochet uses just a slight amount more than knitting. 

http://www.loveofknitting.com/content_downloads/WB_BG_Yardage_WP13_F__2_.pdf

Diane picked up some very pretty pink yarn and she finally got a copy of The Book - Crochet One Skein Wonders, a favorite of 3RC.  I picked up the book Creating Crochet Fabric by Dora Ohrenstein.  The focus of the book is examining how different yarns create very different looks and textures.  Very informative and useful.

 

 

At this point, Diane and I were starting to think about lunch.  Natural Stitches had made a deal with some local restaurants, 10% discounts for yarn crawlers.  On the recommendation of staff at Natural Stitches, we headed to Union Pig and Chicken, a BBQ place.  The food there was fantastic!  Because Diane was doing the driving, I decided to get really wild and have a beer with my ribs. 

 

Full and well fed, Diane and I headed off to shop number three, Dyed in the Wool.

The trip to Dyed in the Wood didn’t go very smoothly.  My garmin went a bit wacky, recalculating at random and taking us on a bizarre round about route.  At long last, we found our way to Dyed in the Wool.  Unfortunately, I don’t think it was worth that much effort.  The shop is very small and cluttered.  Small doesn’t have to be a bad thing in a local yarn shop, but small does mean that its important to use the space you have wisely.  Placement seemed a bit haphazard.  It also contributed to a grungy feeling, as if the shop needed a good cleaning.  The woman behind the counter seemed far more interested in the knitting project she was working on than us.  Speaking of knitting, this is a knit shop.  Other yarn crafts aren’t really represented.  On a wall of knitting supplies, there were two pegs with just a few crochet hooks.  If there were crochet pattern books, I missed them.   On a positive note, the women who were sitting in the shop working on projects seemed to be regulars, enjoying themselves, chatting and knitting.  Diane bought a few skeins of yarn, I didn’t buy anything.

 

Our final stop of the day was Kid Ewe Knot.  Full disclosure, this is my regular yarn shop.  Its crochet friendly.  For example, they were the only shop so far that had crochet items in their raffle basket.  From my very first visit, I felt welcomed and the staff is knowledgeable and cordial.  Unfortunately, the person who created the unique hand dyed yarn for the shop is no longer doing so.  Kid Ewe Knot is making up for that by bringing in other lines of hand dyed yarn, some of them locally produced.  There is a great selection of yarn, with a nice range of prices.  Its very possible to get lovely yarn for a reasonable price.  There’s also higher end yarns for when you want to splurge a bit.   Despite having just been there last week for their Christmas in July event, I managed to find more yarn to buy.  Diane also found some yarn to add to her stash. 

 

 

Tired but pleased with our yarn crawling, Diane and I ended our day.  Four shops down, with three shops left for another day.

Shops are listed in alphabetical order:

Dyed In the Wool
3458 Babcock Boulevard
Pittsburgh, PA 15237

Kathy’s Kreations
141 East Main Street
Ligonier, PA 15658

Kid Ewe Knot
429 Washington Ave
Suite 4
Bridgeville, PA 15017

Natural Stitches
6401 Penn Ave
Pittsburgh, PA 15206

Yarns by Design
622 Allegheny River Boulevard
Oakmont, PA 15139

Yarns Unlimited
435 Beaver Street
Sewickley, PA

Wolf Creek Yarns
112 Blair Street
Grove City, PA 16127

 

 

Hiya all!  SciFi Chris here, with another post for 3RC.

On Sunday, July 20, several members of 3RC headed to PNC Park for the annual Stitch-n-Pitch baseball game.  It was a beautiful, sunny day, perfect for a Pirates game.  The freebie totebag was very nice and filled with spiffy things.  There was a skein of Hurray yarn from Berroco.  It’s one of those novelty lace looking yarns, that came with two pompoms and directions for a braided scarf.  There were also two skeins of yarn from Kraemer Yarns, one black and one yellow.  Finally, there was a pair of knitting needles.  In addition to the bags, we also got a $10 credit for food or merchandise.  All of us took advantage of the credits, for food and beverages.  There was a raffle for pattern books, Judy and I each won books.  Since it was a knitting book and I don’t knit, I handed mine to Rebecca C.  She seemed very pleased with it.  Judy seemed to like the book she won, too. 

Speaking of winning, the Pirates won the game.  It was an awesome afternoon. 

An upcoming event is the Steel Valley Yarn Crawl.  They have accounts on Ravelry and Facebook.  The Yarn Crawl runs from August 1 to 10^th, but 3RC is planning on doing our crawling on August 2.  We’ll be meeting up at Natural Stitches at 8 am, then heading out to Kathy’s Kreations in Ligonier.  The order of the rest of the shops is still being planned.  Here’s a link to the website of one of the participating shops, Kid Ewe Knot, that has more info on the Yarn Crawl and links to the official Ravelry and Facebook pages.

http://www.kideweknot.com/2014/07/14/steel-valley-yarn-crawl/

Here’s some photos of 3RC at Stitch-n-Pitch 2014:

SciFi Chris here.  3RC folks do alot of charity work, like Project Linus, premie hats, lapblankets/hats/scarves for vets, and raising money for Rwanda Knits and the vets.  Here's another charity project that 3RC member Judy has been working on.

 

Judy made many purple baby hats (they are purple, even if they look blue in the photo).  The hats are given to the parents of newborns to spread awareness of Shaken Baby Syndrome. The “Period of Purple” is the time period when babies tend to cry and cry, won’t be comforted, and it seems to go on forever.  Often folks call this ‘colic’ and it can be a miserable time, for parent and baby both.  Period of Purple organization offers strategies to parents on how to cope with the frustrations of a crying baby. 

Why purple?  It stands for  P – peak of crying, U – unexpected, R – resists soothing, P – pain like face, L – long lasting, E – evening. 

The website about Period of Purple, which includes coping strategies, can be found here: http://www.purplecrying.info/

The website about making and donating purple hats to help raise awareness about Shaken Baby Syndrome can be found here:  http://clickforbabies.org/index.php

The closest hospital to Pittsburgh that is participating in distributing the hats is in West Virginia.  This is where Judy sends her hats.  She is mailing off her hats at the end of September.  If you are interested in making some purple baby hats and donating them, she will include any hats folks get to her before the end of September.  Just bring them to a 3RC meeting (Saturdays, 2 -5, at the Panera’s near Magee hospital) and give them to Judy.

Hats should be washable, made of soft feeling yarn, and at least 50% purple.  The guidelines for the hats and some patterns can be found here:   http://clickforbabies.org/stitchers-club/

 

 

 

Hiya, SciFi Chris here.  Most crocheters and knitters tend to have a yarn stash.  Piles of yarn that have been collected – leftovers from projects, yarn bought because it looked so spiffy, yarn for projects still on the to do list.  Likewise, I’ve gathered a stash of photos from 3RC that need to be posted to the blog that have piled up.   This blog is a photo stash busting blog.  The following are pics from the past couple months, taken at 3RC meetings.

This is Dianne, making a wrap basket.  Yarn is wrapped around cord or clothesline rope, each round is sewn to the previous round.  Keep making rounds until the basket is the size desired.  Different colors and textures of yarn give a wide variety of possible looks for the baskets.  I love the way the fuzzy yarn looks on the top edge.

Edith made this lovely bracelet from a pattern in Robyn Chachula’s book, Simply Crochet.  Robyn is also a member of 3RC and has written several excellent crochet pattern books.  The beads that Edith picked for the bracelet are perfect, the tiny purple flowers stand out great next to the varigated purples she used.

 

Lynn made this beautiful lace skirt for her oldest granddaughter.  The photos don’t do justice to the details of each layer of the skirt.

 

Constance is holding a blanket she calls “The Owl Hoots at Midnight” which was given to Project Linus.  The squares were donated to 3RC, the owl head and eyes were scrunchies made by other 3RC folks.  Constance made the rest of the owl, the book the owl is holding, and assembled all the pieces.

 

Carol has completed yet another Project Linus blanket, this one with bright and cheerful circles in each square. 

 

 

This past winter, I was homebound for 6 weeks, recovering from surgery.  A lot of crocheting was done.  One project was plastic bag holders for a friend of mine, for the daycare where she works.  She asked if I and/or the “Yarn Ladies” would be willing to make a few more plastic bag holders, smaller ones that could go on the strollers when they take the toddlers outside to play.  The “Yarn Ladies” of 3RC enthusiastically stepped up and made some holders.   Its a very quick and easy project.  Using cotton yarn, crochet 30 sc around a large hairband.  For 3 more rounds, sc in each stitch.  On the fourth row dc and increase every five stitches for 35 stitches total.  For rows five to 12,  dc in each stitich.  Row 13, decrease every five stitches to 30 stitches.  The last three rows are sc in each stitch.  For the strap, just chain 2 then dc five, which gives you six dc, for 11 rows.  Row 12 is sc.  Sew on a button that will fit through the dc.  For a larger plastic bag holder, just make more rows. 

A Wedding Afghan

Marisa is at a wedding today and she has taken this afghan along as a wedding present. She was worried the color wasn't appropriate. But who would care about the color? the afghan is stunning. The checkerboard pattern is made up of black filet squares and each blue square is a different textured stitch pattern. I'm sorry the stitch patterns didn't show up well.
The design was from a mystery crochet along. She had just received the last square info but to be done on time she designed the border. Looks just right to me.
How could this design ever be wrong? It's got old fashioned filet squares and textural interest, great for any decor.
Hey Marisa, don't forget to do the chicken dance!

by Diane

Shelli's Very Yarn Enthusiastic

Shelli knits and crochets. I would have said that she was just so so about accomplishing projects when she fist joined the group. But friends' children and youthful members of her family keep getting married and having even more children. She seems to always be making things and I get such a kick at how joyful she is showing off her projects. She always does a great job. Unfortunately, I don't have pics of all she's done.
But there is a pic of her favorite production: her granddaughter Julia. This is a very early pic and she has grown some since then. You can see the poncho Shelli made for her.
Shelli recently finished a baby afghan for her grandnephew's child due anytime. I really like it because it is so pretty and uses one of my all time favorite color combos.