NATIONAL SPINNING AND WEAVING WEEK 

OCTOBER 2-8

Didn't get a chance to sign up for Spinzilla Tean? 

Missed the deadline for Rogue Spinner sign-up?

Maybe you need some motivation to get those miles spun.

Perhaps you just need some new fiber to spin,

Come and join us for a SPIN-IN on Saturday, October 7th

Barbara has decided to host a Spin-In here at the shop. 

Call and sign up so we have enough chairs ready, 480-969-4346.

The entry fee will be a donation to the United Food Bank, either a cash donation in the can

or something for the food collection box. 

There will be contests with prizes!

Knitting and crocheting along with others appears to be a great way to stay on task, make new friends, and generally have a good time.  By request we have scheduled some more of these adventures. For crocheting, you can pick one of the Heidi Bear African Flower Animal toys. The KAL’s will be The Maple Leaf Shawl, the Optical Delusion: Conflagration Scarf and one of 4 other shawls: Find Your Fade, Free your Fade, Waiting for Rain, or Fight the Fairies.     Each of these includes one pattern with the fee and a discount on the yarn used for the project.    Karen Laudenslager is joining our teaching staff with a wonderful crochet series: Scarf of The Month. She has chosen some beautiful scarves for our crocheters to choose from. Be sure to see them in the shop. Sign up for one or all four! Here are 3 of them, The fourth is still on the hook.    Joy Lange will be offering a six week Tapestry Weaving class. This is the first time we have been able to offer it on a Saturday in years. We have come up with a fun idea for everyone who wants to improve their knitting skills and increase their general knowledge. Since most of us tend to get into a knitting rut, we are offering Stitch Swatch Boot Camp. On the second and fourth Tuesday and Thursday each month, a cast-on, a knit stitch and a bind-off will be randomly selected to learn that day. Sharpen up your tools, fingers, and wits and get knitting! A couple of our teachers have had to cut back on their teaching schedules for personal reasons this session. Some categories are a little thin in offerings but should be back in full swing in the spring. Sad for us but good for her, Molly has been offered an internship and will be moving to Texas for at least 6 months. This means bookbinding classes will not be offered for now. Yes, the Fiber Factory will be collecting scarves for the Red Scarf Project, sponsored by Foster Care to Success. We plan to ship out the scarves by December 5th. Information on the program and scarf guidelines can be found on the organization’s web page and our web page. You may notice that the cost of classes has increased. With the increase of the minimum wage in Arizona, we had to increase class costs to ensure that our instructors would be getting fairly compensated. Our classes are still the best value for your hard earned dollars in the valley. And finally, we will be having a Trunk Show with Marianated Yarns again at the end of November and early December. It’s exciting when the HUGE boxes of yarn from this talented, independent dyer arrive. As always, if you see something interesting and the time offered isn’t right for you, just ask! We can usually work something out. Don't forget our Yarn-a-Holics Anonymous 12 Stamp Rewards Program Come in and pick up your card. Get a stamp when you purchase $25 or more of merchandise in a visit. Turn in your filled card (12 stamps), and get $25 off on your next purchase. WOW!

So, we had a Knit-A-Long this spring. A number of folks wanted to knit the Exploration Station shawl by Stephen West. Since is it our knitterly duty to enable those who want/need to knit such items, we accommodated and set up 4 monthly sessions for help, encouragement. there we 8 who signed up and 6 who completed the project within the time period. We are happy to share the results!

It's July and we need a reason to go outside. 

How about Monsoon Madness!

Anytime it rains at Susan's or Terri's house this July, we will have 15% off of regular in-stock Yarn, Patterns and Accessories for the next business day. Watch for rain in Scottsdale or central Phoenix. {Unfortunately we cannot honor this on consignment yarns.)

Here are a couple of teasers: our summer shipment of Madelinetosh is being dyed and should be here soon. There will be some brand new colors in the batch. Watch Facebook for the announcement of it's arrival. 

For all you spinners, Anzula Fibers should be in house soon as well. 

Need something else to do? Here are the July classes.

Knitting

099 Learn to Knit

101 Movin' On

102A Intermediate Knitting

127 T-Shirt 

 147 Knitting 911

158 Toe-Up Two Needle Socks

160 Frosted Fern

167 Mosaic Scarf

171 Short Rows Simplified

173 Magic Loop Socks

Crochet

201A Beginning Crochet

279 Slouchy Hat

Tatting

303 Advanced Tatting

Dyeing

413 Fun With Stencils

Baskets

618 Round Hot Roll Basket

Weaving

702 Weave In A Week-4 Harness Loom

Navajo Weaving

801A Beginning Navajo Weaving

Everything Else You Want to Learn

939 Bookbinding: Strap Book

932 Bookbinding: Japanese Stab Binding

Kids

Kids2 Parent and Child Knitting

As always, if you see something interesting and the time offered isn’t right for you, just ask! We can usually work something out.

EVEN A LABOR OF LOVE DESERVES SOME COMPENSATION-Another Towel Project

I would like to take you on a little adventure with me. People often wonder why hand crafted items cost so much. Over the next few weeks, I will share with you what it takes to weave hand towels. Yes, I know that you can go to a store and buy half a dozen of then for what one hand woven towel costs. However you will be back in a year buying another half dozen, while the hand woven ones keep working for nine more years,

This summer, I have chosen to dye 15 yards of warp for a run of towels. They will be woven in the shop. Generally there are 15 or 16 towels when the work is completed. The yarn used is a high quality unmercerized cotton. By the way, the warp threads weighed 2 1/2 pounds when dry.

I dyed the warp in the back room of the shop. That is a standard 6 foot table. The plan is for each towel to have at least 2 colors in the warp so that there are no two exactly alike when all is said and done. The painting took about and hour and a half.

The dyed warp then had to rest for a couple of days for the yarn to  to take on the color. There is a bunch of chemistry involved. I just trust the process and know that the color will not be as intense after rinsing.

 Rinsing:Do you have any idea how heaving a soaking wet, 15 yard warp chain can be? It really helps to have a large sink.

 Drying: Hoping that the wind doesn't start up.

And finally,winding on to the warp beam!

This is going to take more than one shift.

To be continued...

The Back Room Dyers were busy this week. These skeins will be labeled and on the shelves Saturday. 

The Back Room Dyers are Barbara, Susan and whomever shows up to help on dye day. This month it was Alisa, we appreciate her help!. Barbara is the careful planner and dye mixer. Susan comes in and and uses all the remaining dye mixed for the day in unconventional ways. 

Guess which one has more repeatable results? 

THE BIG PINK CHAIR HAS A NEW HOME!

The artist that created The Big Pink Chair sculpture, which has served as a beacon for our shop for over a decade, has sold it. We have heard the the purchaser of the beloved icon is donating it to the IDEA Museum. We will be following up on this.

For now The Flowering Stiletto, which was on the corner of Main and Robson, is in front of the shop,

Summer is creeping up and for those destined to stay in the Valley of the Sun, we hope that you can find some relief here with us. To those of you headed to cooler climates we wish you safe travels and a speedy return.

The Summer Class Schedule is posted on our web page and registration is open. Some classes, especially weaving, fill up fast so don't wait too long!

There are two new Knit-a-Longs and a Crochet-a-Long scheduled this summer: Artesian, The Rain Outside, and the Dragonfly shawl.


  We also have one planned for the Fall that you need to dye your own skein of yarn for. That particular dye day is in August and the project is Optical Delusion: Conflagration. Check it out on Ravelry, we think you’ll want to get in on this one. Just imagine the color themes that can be used for this: flames, fall leaves, peacock feathers. Look at the shape with your eyes half closed, head tilted to one side and let your imagination run wild.

Some fun for the kids is scheduled in June. We have spinning, dyeing, weaving and felting, as well as knitting. If the days on the schedule don’t work out for you and your kids, please call and we can usually arrange a date/time that will. We honestly believe that children need an opportunity to experience the fiber arts. The part of their brain that gets to play and be creative needs nurtured just as much as the rest of it.

We have added shortened versions of the beginning knitting and crochet classes. If you have some friends who have been thinking about dabbling but couldn't make the four week commitment, let them know about this. We have all the patience in the world to help them grasp the concepts. Better to learn from us than risk your friendship, right!

Barbara has chosen a desert cactus garden theme for the summer window. Knit, crochet, or felt, a cactus 8 to 10 inches tall. Then watch our garden grow. A little bird whispered there is a $25 gift certificate to be awarded to the most creative cactus as decided by popular vote. It would be grand to have the submissions by June 15. Voting will be June 15-30 with the winner announced July 5^th.


Molly has 3 bookbinding classes this summer. If you are interested in this craft, this may be your last chance. She will be applying for internships and might not be in Arizona next year.

Been a while since there have been any postings here. Karen has moved on to other adventures in life, so I'm going to make an effort to put something fun, interesting or informative here on a somewhat regular basis.

For starters, there is this:

DREAM IN COLOR TRUNK SHOW FEBRUARY 21-25. 

COME SEE AND TOUCH THEIR BEAUTIFUL YARNS!

Hope to see you in the shop!

Susan