August 31, 2013

Toe-Up Socks Knitting Workshop....by me.

This is only one of the marvelous photos from the Homesteading
Fair website. Check it out to see a complete slideshow!
Hello, all!

I hope this finds all of you well and healthy, and full of knitterly joy and creativity! It has been a very nice summer here in the Pacific Northwest--excepting the peculiar humid and stormy days as of late, which are very foreign to our region.

Even as the calendar suggests it is time to start winding down into cooler days, it is not. It looks as though we are going to have some continued sunny and warm days around here. This might not be as much fun as some early, crisp fall mornings for those of us who long to wear woolen shawls and sweaters and socks, but it is nice weather for late summer activities like concerts and fairs.

Speaking of fairs, I have been fortunate enough to have been asked by the good people over in Lyle, Washington to teach a sock knitting workshop at their second annual Homesteading Fair this year. My class will be on how to knit socks from the toe, up and will include Judy's Magic Cast-On and a short row heel. It will be my first time teaching others besides my friends to do this, but I am very excited to try and have been working hard to prepare! And I am only one part of a very fun event.

The fair takes place on September 21st and will be from 9a.m. to 6p.m. and will include lots of workshops and events like sausage making, soap making, a pioneer living museum, and goats, chicks and alpacas. There will be a gal there spinning alpaca and selling her own handmade, hand-dyed yarn, too. There is so much fun that I cannot list it all! Please check the fair out on their website/blog or on Facebook! There is even entertainment too!

As one who loves the idea of pioneer-style living, I am very excited and honored to be a part of this. Anyone else out there like me? You read the entire Little House on the Prairie series, were sad that it ended, picked it back up and started all over? After my second or third time through, I sought out some of Rose Wilder's books, just to keep that good feeling going, as if I could somehow find a way to climb into the stories.

My husband thinks I should have been born on a farm, but since I cannot live on a farm right now, I can do my own bread baking (though for me it must be gluten free now), canning and jelly making, sewing, gardening and sock knitting.

If you are going to be in the good ol' Pacific Northwest where we love our pioneer heritage and feel like one those folks yourself, or if you just want to knit your own toe-up socks, plese join me for a fun filled day in Lyle, Washington out the beautiful Columbia River Gorge, one of my personal favorite places on the earth.

Admission is free and so are many of the workshops. My workshop is free, but each participant must bring their own materials, see the Homesteading Fair website for details and R.S.V.P.! There will be about 15 spots in my class.

Hope to see you there!

Sincerely,

Janelle, The Knitting Muse