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7/29/2005
The Hat
You know, I've been knitting a long time. A long, long time. And there's always something that I haven't tried before. For example, I have yet to make a hat out of 30 some-odd squares and half-squares. Out of 6 bright, clashing colors, with a background of black. Done in one piece with just double point needles.
Oh sure, it's nice to know I can do this. And it's nice to know how stunning this will be when it's done. But that means little when you think that for each and every square and half-square, I have to weave in 4 ends. That's 120 ends to weave in. Not counting the 3-4 dozen for the top and brim.
Still, it's nice to know I can do this, that I'm accomplished enough to do this. Should I ever be stupid enough to try it again, that is.
7/25/2005
Pygmy Puffs!
In the latest Harry Potter book, Pygmy Puffs are mentioned as small, furry balls that squeel in high-pitched voices. We've made up a quick model, and have ordered vibrating inserts... I love these things! Took only about 10 minutes to make, and the yarn is sooooo soft! (it's Artful Yarns, will post the yarn name when I get to the shop later today)
Sheep Mittens
One of my latest projects, the sheep mittens. Very soothing to work with more than one color, I've been cranking out boring things for far too long!
 A quick peek at the photo that I feel for...
7/24/2005
Pictures
Oh, wondrous Wool! And marvelous Mohair to boot! We got a dozen scrumptious colors in this past week, and they're already flying off the shelves!
sweaters1-794873.jpg"> The Baby Sweaters, finished and sitting on the box they were mailed out in just five minutes later. 
And another picture of the sweaters that gave my shoulder so much trouble this past week!
7/21/2005
Busy week
The baby sweaters are done and out the door, they should be arriving in Maryland within the hour! For those who haven't seen me crying over them, a dear friend of mom's asked for sweaters for twin boys. I started making them out of Cotton Comfort, and made a huge mistake, so ended up going with another design in some Jo Sharp Silkroad. I finished both yesterday and got them in the mail 20 minutes before the post office closed, it was that close! I did manage to take a few pictures, and will be able to post them tonight.
The classes for August are already half-filled, but there is still plenty of time left to sign up (just drop us an email info@theirishewe.com or call us 207-743-6263 to reserve your spot)
Socks on 2 Circulars - Thursdays and Saturdays at 11am. Classes met for two weeks, an hour or two each week. First week covers cast-on and working to the heel, second week covers the heel and gusset, and costs covers 30 minutes of drop-in help if you need it. You must know how to knit, purl, increase, decrease, and it helps to know how to pick up stitches. You will need 2 balls of Fixation or Sport weight yarn, and 2 size 3 circular needles. Materials available at the shop. $25.00 includes pattern. (Note - we are using a short row wrap heel, very nifty!)
New Knitters - Wednesdays at 11am. This month we're working on basic child's mittens for charity. Limited number of needle available to rent, pattern is free, and we even have some free donated yarns. $5 per week donation requested.
Needles and Specs - Fridays at 11am. Our knitting book club. This month is Harry Potter month, of course! Come discuss the latest HP book and work on Hogwarts Scarves, scarf bookmarks, or any other Harry-related item. $5 donation to our cookie fund.
7/14/2005
The Irish boxes 3
And the Irish yarn!! Look at all those bags, just begging to be ripped open!
So, of course, mom and I ripped them open...
How cool is this? Our own line of yarn, grown on organically raised sheep in Ireland, processed and spun in Ireland, and sold only here at the Irish Ewe! They are about $10 for 350-400 yards, that's a whole lot of yarn for the money!
The Irish boxes 2
In the smallest of the boxes, we found the scarves...
Oh yes! We've got scarves!!
Mom modeling one of the sheep. Many sheep are born with longer tails, and the stuffed sheep we received all had long tails too.
And me in one of the cloaks. I hate having my picture taken, have I told you that?
The Irish boxes 1
 So our ship came in, finally! The boxes of stuff from Ireland arrived, packed tight with loads of goodies.
Here's mom wearing one of the shawls and holding up two of the stuffed baby sheep.
And mom modeling the organic sheep scarves, hats, and mittens. These turned out to be popular, as the scarves are all sold and we had to reorder them!
 A closer view of one of the scarves. They should arrive in the store in a few weeks.
The Lopi Lite Sweater
While walking past our Wall O' Lopi, you pass this by.
When you back up, you can see that this is a sweater knit from Lopi Lite by one of our customers. Did I mention that we have a very talented group of shop knitters away up here in Maine?
I couldn't resist adding another picture of this increadible piece!
Kraemer hat
Here's one of our store samples, a quick hat knit up in Kraemer's Mauchu Chunky yarn. It took just under one skein for a man's hat with a very generous fold-back ribbing.
7/13/2005
Fixation socks
Fixation socks, done up by another of our shop knitters (are these girls good or what?)
Crochet necklace
And these are the crochet beaded necklaces, done by a local artist. Makes me wish I could find the time to learn to knit and cro with beads.
 And a closer view.
Candy hat
Isn't the hat cute?? This is made from Candy, a cotton yarn with a touch of elastic from Artful Yarns. The pattern is on the back of the labels, one thing I love about Artful.
Cabana Baby Sweater
I'm trying out the new blogger images uploader, so bear with me for a few moments as things may not come out quite the way I planned! In any case, this is the SweaterBabe Chunky Cotton Baby Sweater, done in Cabana. Take just over 1 ball for the smallest size, and oh boy it is cute! The buttons shown are from Incompairable Buttons, machine washable ceramic hand-made in Africa.
And here's me hiding behind the sweater!
7/12/2005
The Art Fest
... was a success after all! Saturday's events were postponed until Sunday. At first I was super-worried - who would come out on a Sunday? Wouldn't everyone stay home and enjoy the day?
I was wrong.
We didn't get any pictures taken, because there was no time. At the slowest, we had three customers in the shop, and around noon we had our largest rush - 8 people lined up at the counter, and so many others looking around that you could barely move past the hand-painted rack in the second room. Mom was floating around helping people, and I was frantically writing up sales slips. We ended up staying late for one last customer, and then we just had to treat ourselves to ice cream on the way home. And then we passed out from shear exhaustion!
Coming this week - our debate of the online shop!
7/8/2005
A computer!!
Guess where I'm posting from? Guess, guess!! The shop! Mom finally got a minute to dig out her old computer (remember Windows 98? Yup, that old) and we got it up to the shop. A half-dozen phone calls back and forth with the cable company to get online, and we're good to go! Now I can bring up the camera card reader and finally get a chance to post pictures of all the yarn and everything else!
(can you tell I'm happy??)
I'll be updating the yarn listings today and tomorrow, but tomorrow is the art festival so it may not be online until next week. Exciting stuff happening!
7/4/2005
July Newsletter
Instead of posting a general update, I'm posting the newsletter. Need to get the computer up to the shop so I can post more regularly!
Happy Independence Day! To celebrate, we’re offering 15% off ALL red, white, and blue yarns for the WHOLE month of July!
As the heat comes in, so does the new yarns. We’ve gotten more sock yarn than you can knit up in a year (with more coming soon) from local farms. We have heathered and variegated and hand-painted and solids galore, all in sturdy long wearing wool, plus some nifty new patterns to warm your toes this fall. And in August we will be starting our 2 Socks on 2 Circular Needles classes to get your motivated to start your holiday knitting early this year.
And yes, the rumors are true, the Irish yarn has arrived! To celebrate, all Knitty Purl Girls are getting their first skein of Irish yarn at 40% off! Not to leave out those who have not yet join the KPGs, everyone else will get 20% off their first skein’s purchase as well. We have sample cards and swatch samples available upon request (and yes, we can mail them to you!)
Oasis Fiber Farm continues to stun us with their fiber prowess, this time with two exclusive Irish Ewe shades of 100% Merino. Oh yes, Merino… yummy and soft and knits up like a dream. Samples may find their way into the KPG buckets.
More patterns have arrived as well, as well as some great kits. And then there are all the Irish woven scarves and shawls and Irish sweaters in wool and linen that have arrived – all SIX HUGE BOXES worth! We have a huge selection of affordable machine worked sweaters, the hand knit Aran sweaters, a whole bunch of socks, hats, and gloves from organically raised sheep, and even some cute little stuffed sheep too!
And finally, we’re pleased to announce that the Adopt an Irish Ewe program is up and running! Come in to see the adoption book or view it online, pick out your sheep and name it. Next year when your ram or ewe is clipped, we’ll import the fleece and ship it right to your door! We have a local mill willing to process it or even to spin it into yarn for you if you would prefer (additional costs apply)
July 9th is the Norway Arts Festival, and we will have our hand-spun and hand-painted yarns outside and on display. Stop by for so great sales that will pop up throughout the day. Hope to see you there!
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