First Freaking Friday

August is here next week, and you know what that means: 1st Friday!

For those of you out-of-the-loopers, on the first Friday of the month, we, along with most of Silverton's stores, don't close up shop at 6:00 -- oh, no-- we stay open until 9:00! Wahoo! We gather around the big red table and knit and gab and eat. There's always fun. There's always cheese. And this month, there's Stella.

No, we're not talking "A Streetcar Named Desire" Stella. This Stella is a tape yarn from Rosetti Yarns that makes super funky ruffle scarves. (Check out the pic of Jenna modeling one for us.) They're easy. They're fun. And Celia and Gail will show you how right here next Friday evening.

O Spinner, where art thou? It's Friday morning and The Purl District awaits you...

Spin 'n' Yak sessions have been on hold, but people have asked us to start them up again, so here we go -- grab your wheel and a latté on Friday mornings and chill out with us.

Elizabee, here at the shop, has been spinning for the Tour de Fleece. While bicyclists worldwide have flocked to Europe for the Tour de France, spinners of a different sort have taken their wheels to the web for the Tour de Fleece to spin yarn out of their stash. Here's a photo of a merino/mohair blend that she's racing to finish. She keeps mumbling, "Too much twist. Too much twist." It must be her mantra or something.

Anyway, if you're in the Tour de Fleece -- or even if you're not -- there's no need to spin alone. And while you're down here, maybe you can give her some pointers, we think she's spinning out of control!

Never Felt Better in My Life...

We've got some pix for you from our Felting Workshop in May. Fifteen felters descended on the Silver Falls Convention Center along with fiber from Skacel and ArtFelt paper to learn a new-fangled method of feltmaking where you build the art right in.
Instructor Jo Ann Ellis shows how easy it is....to get carried away!

Ready, set, felt!



It's so easy that Nita can do it with her eyes closed.


Look at what they made!








And after a full day of fiber-wrangling, there are only two choices: more fiber-wrangling --aka knitting, as chosen by David, Mary Lou, and Gail -- or a soothing massage. Thanks, Tracy!

Wow! Here's some inspiration for you:

And just a little something to think about if you're one of those people who think you can never learn to knit...

This is Chloe Nealon, of Silverton, wearing one of the two -- yes, we said two -- scarves that she made this week. Amazing. She came in with her mom today to buy four more skeins of yarn, because she can't wait to create more.

Amazing Thing #2 is that she learned to knit last Sunday, so she's been a knitter for six days and has already finished more wearable items than some of us crank out in a year.

And since good things come in threes, there has to be an Amazing Thing #3. This is it: Chloe is five years old!

Now, you may be saying to yourself, "But I'm not a five year-old knitting prodigy." Good news: you don't have to be; we can help you out. Come on down and sign up for our Beginning Knitting class with Gail. It's perfect timing; the first class starts this Tuesday evening, July 8th, at 6:00 PM.

And Chloe, welcome to the wild, wacky, wonderful world of knitting. You rock!