At last... the begining

This is one of my first Dance Recitals.....

This is my first show at The Music Room. I played Peter Pan : )

     About a year ago my fiance and I started formulating a plan..... I call it our 10 year plan, but we really have no time limit set.  Our plan is to open our own Dance/Music/Theatre studio for children(and adults) with a yarn store/coffee shop/performance space attached. Now... I know this is a gigantic plan.  BUT, I really think we can make it happen!

      When I was a kid, I went to a musical theatre studio called The Music Room School of Performing Arts.  My Mom always called it "The Church of the Music Room", because it was such a great source of positivity and happiness as we were growing up. There were no religious affiliations, it just kept us happy and kept us out of trouble.  The studio had two large dance rooms, a few smaller piano rooms, and a lobby with a few chairs.  Many of the parents would sit in the lobby while we were in class, but there wasn't much there to keep them busy.  Other parents would hang in their cars, in the parking lot.  How great would it have been if the parents could have been sitting in a LYS, taking their own class next door! Crocheting, Knitting or Felting while your children hone their craft! 

      What's better than spreading more love of art, and craftiness?  Food and drink while you work on what you love (or while you do homework).  We want to have a cafe with sandwiches, salads, juice, smoothies, tea and fresh roasted coffee.  When I was a student at The Music Room, the studio shared a parking lot with a Carl's Junior.  Somehow, we ended up spending most of our homework time between classes at this fast food joint. They had a salad bar, and the employees were all very nice.  But, I can't help but thinking how nice it'd be to have had a little cafe next door that was run by the fantastic couple who owned The Music Room (Sharon and Lee Westenhoffer).  

      And... how about a more "grown-up" cafe/wine/cheese bar at night.  In our wildest dreams of this complex, we see a small performance space.  How great to have a venue for our friends (and students) to share their music. I'd love to teach our students how to put together their own songs,  sets, or even full evenings of music.  

      In addition to taking many classes at The Music Room, I started teaching there when I was 16.  I continued to teach there all the way through college.  I so clearly remember the day I finally confessed that I just couldn't manage to continue teaching while pursuing my own career as a performer.  Boy... was that convo filled with a lot of tears.  I loved teaching and, while I feel so lucky to be a WORKING ACTRESS, I know I want to teach again someday.  My fiance also has several years of teaching experience.  He worked with an AMAZING nonprofit called First Stage Children's Theatre,  and the Milwaukee Youth Symphony Orchestra.  I could go on and on about those studios, but I'll save that for a later post. 

     I am so grateful for the millions of hours I spent at The Music Room. It provided a fantastic foundation for a fearless imagination and a place to work on my craft in a supportive, loving environment.  I'm even more excited about the idea of providing future generations with a similar playground.

  

My blog, it is a Changin'

After reading Kim Werker's most recent blog post...  I'm officially inspired to run things a little differently on my new little blog.  Check out her post on Crocheting blogs.  www.kimwerker.com.

   I have felt myself limiting my posts to updates on the LYS' I've visited. But... it seems that didn't excited me as much as visiting the yarn stores themselves did.  From here on out, I'm going to write more often, and write about thing that are exciting me or pushing me to look for new answers.  

    For now, here are a few of my recent goodies.  I wear this scarflette (mostly as a head

 warmer) all the time.  I'll be

 posting more like this for sale on Etsy soon.  This skoodie is a mock up for a

 pattern I'll be writing as soon as I sit myself down and actually write.  And... this shrug was just for fun. I found this yarn for sale at Yarns 2 Ewe in Houston. www.Yarns2Ewe.com It's so soft with gold flecks. The cutie in the red headband is my good friend Melissa who just moved to Huntington, Indiana.

All You Knit Is Love........

  This summer, I was lucky enough to fly to Europe to visit my fiance who was working on a cruise ship.  We went to many amazing places (someday I'll have to write about Croatia which knocked my socks off).  But our best day was spent in Barcelona.  We had only a day and still managed to fit in sight seeing, farmers market food eating, beach bathing, AND YARN SHOPPING.  For some reason the shop that we went to keeps popping up in my head and heart so... here's some info and some pics from their website.

   

THESE ARE FROM THEIR BLOG.  The artist is Daniela Edburg.

I wish I could read the blog.... but it's all in Spanish.  I do love the pics tho!

No explanation needed for this amazingness.

And this.... which might have been my favorite part of the shop.  Is the bag my yarn came in!!!  I mean come on!! How happy is this bag?

    I can't say enough about how much I loved this shop.  It is by far the happiest LYS I have ever visited. And... I took home a few very nice skeins. Do yourself a favor, check out their shop and read their lovely story.  www.allyouknitislove.com

   

           AND..... They were very crochet and needle felt friendly too!

Boston

We were scheduled to take a bus from Dayton, Ohio to Hunstville, Alabama. The day before our trip, I convinced three of the girls on tour to go in on a rental car so that we could drive ourselves to Alabama.  I must've had some sort of psychic premonition because the bus BROKE DOWN! Boy, were we lucky!   The poor group was stuck at a gas station for three hours.  We, on the other hand, slept in and had a fantastic southern meal at The Loveless Cafe just outside of Nashville and arrived in Alabama around the same time as the rest of the company.  Crazy!

    I was unable to keep the car for the rest of the week. So, a yarn shop was out of the question. I did manage to take a cab to an Anthropologie at a nearby mall, but that's a whole 'nother addiction. 

    A week later we flew from Hunstville to Boston.  I can't tell you how great it was to hear loud buses on dirty streets.  And... there was a great shop only a few blocks from our hotel!  Windsor Button had a large varied selection of yarn, a HUGE book selection, and an even BIGGER selection of notions and needles.  I bought several skeins ( ahhhh) but my most favorite is definitely the Brown Sheep Burly Spun.  I made a cowl (at the top of the page) the next day and I still have over half of the skein left!  I was generally happy with the selection at this shop, but it didn't have the warmth of other yarn shops I've visited.  It felt more like a large chain store that happened to have high end yarn in addition to more generic brands.  The woman was very helpful, but also very cold. I guess I'm just used to the warm and fuzzy feeling that comes along with a local shop.  

    

    In addition to the yarn I purchased I also bought a book I had been looking for called "The Sweater Workshop."  I'm still a new knitter and while I can read all sorts of crocheting patterns, so I think this will the perfect trick for getting me into sweater making.  If I find the time and the patience.   

  

    It's been a few weeks since we were in Boston, and I recently came across a blog and podcast called It's a Purl, Man. It is filled with great info on knitting/wooly goodness in the Boston area and wooly goodness in general.   From what I've read on his blog I am most sad that I missed the Boston Handmade Downtown.  According to their map, I must've passed it on my way to Windsor Button! Boo! I love supporting other artists.   Oh well... at least I know it's there for the next time I'm in Boston.

   The next stop on our tour is San Antonio! I'm sure I will be very happy with the warm weather and the RIVER WALK, but I've yet to find a yarn shop near my hotel.

    Happy Crafting

Dayton, Ohio

I've been very bad at updating this poor little blog!  Things have been crazy on the road.  Most importantly......... I'M ENGAGED! My wonderful bass playing man proposed in Chicago on February 8th.  He put the ring in this amazing star shaped box and painted the inside with blue sparkly paint so it looks like the stage from the first show we did together.  We couldn't be happier.  Our dreams of someday opening a dance/music/acting studio with a yarn store/coffee shop/performance space attached continue to grow. He even has a knitting machine which he is slowly learning to use! Life is good.

    Now.... yarn stores.  I was very excited when I saw that google had a yarn shop listed in downtown Dayton Ohio.  It's called the Yarn and Needle and it's on Main street.  UNFORTUNATELY I walked back and forth in front of what I thought would be 49 S Main Street about 100 times and could not find the shop.  I eventually called and learned that google was wrong.  This shop was actually in a suburb of Dayton, and about a 15 minute drive.  We are not provided with cars on this tour, so I never made it to the Yarn and Needle.  The theatre itself was lovely, but Downtown Dayton itself really didn't have too much to offer. 

    I, however, did find two great vintage clothing stores.  One (Feathers Vintage Clothing) was in the Oregon District and the other (The Look) was a short cab ride away near the University.

    It's probably a good thing I didn't make it to a LYS, my suitcase is packed with yarn.

                   

The life of a Gypsy - Appleton, Toronto, Baltimore

So... as I mentioned... I'm on tour with Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.  It's a great group of people a fun show to be a part of.. and a really cool flying car.  What more could a gal ask for?  I'll tell you - really great yarn stores all over North America!  I'm slightly limited cause I don't have a car... but I do have two rather long legs, so I'm making it a mission to see as many yarn stores as I can.  So far... I've been to three that I absolutely loved!  

    First - Iris Fine Yarns in Appleton Wisconsin.  www.irisfineyarns.com  Seriously LOVELY!  I failed to really pay attention to the map I had and ended up walking about 45 min in the wrong direction in a snow storm.  I ended up calling the hotel shuttle to get me cause I was frozen... IT WAS SO WORTH IT.  The owner was so helpful and she had the greatest method of organizing yarns.  First of all... it was packed with yarn, patterns, needles, hooks, felting items, loads of beautiful samples, and even a sale section.  A lot of times when I visit yarns stores with a selection like this the skeins literally fall off the shelves. However her husband came up with a great method.  The walls were covered with wide open shelves.  In each of the shelves was a wooden plank (basically a drawer with no sides) with 2 rows of long pegs.  The skeins of yarn were stuck through the large pegs so that you could pull out the "drawer" without loosing any yarn.  What a great way to keep the store organized!    I bought a pair of giant (size 17) Lantern Moon needles - that I love - and a few skeins of yarn. Some of which she swatched for me while I looked so that I could see if I'd really like it.  The broach I made for my Grandma (that is pictured in my last post) is one little project I made with that yarn.  I should also mention that there is a HUGE selection of books and patterns in the back that I unfortunately didn't have time to dig into.  I highly recommend this shop. 

   SECOND... Romni Wool in Toronto, Canada.  www.Romniwools.com I MEAN COME ON!!!! This is, hands down, the largest selection of yarn I have EVER seen.  Seriously.  It was about a half hour walk to get to this spot... it was FREEZING and I went twice. I would have been three times but they were closed on Sunday.    This shot that I've added is just of one part of the top floor.  There is also a large sale section downstairs.  Now, when I say large, I mean large.  The first time I explored the sale section I ended up missing half of it because I didn't realize what a maze it was.   I have a huge list of yarns that I purchased here.  I'm at a coffee shop in Baltimore now so I'll have to update the list later,  but off the top of my head I picked up... 

     Debbie Bliss Como  - in black and white (which I made into a neck/earwarmer for my dad)

     Trendsetter Bolero - in Ocean Water (which I made into two headband/neckwarmers - one of which I wear almost everyday... the other should be arriving at my friend Ashley's house in the next few days)

      Trendsetter Bolero - in another pink/orange colorway that was on sale... must be discontinued.  (it's now more neckwarmers that I plan on selling)

      Trendsetter Venus - in Blue Lagoon - which I was so in love with... but kind of dissapointed as I started using it.  I knit a very loose scarf, and as I went through the skein I kept coming up on KNOTS.  Why do they do that?? It was rather pricey and so many beautiful textures, but I might as well have bought several different skeins for the scarf. At least that way I could have woven in the ends.  Now I have all of these little bumps each time the color changes. Grrr... but I made it for myself, so it doesn't really matter.

     OK - so that's a small start to the list of great things I found at Romni Wools.  I should also mention that I stopped at Americo Originals on my way to Romni.  It was a nice sized shop with lots of beautiful very natural looking yarn.  www.americo.ca  They were all very helpful, but I didn't end up picking up anything at this shop.

    THIRD - The most recent shop I hit up is in Baltimore, Maryland.  It's called A Good Yarn.  www.agoodyarn.com.  In researching this shop I found several warnings... VERY SMALL SHOP! MOSTLY A TEACHING SPOT!  But, of course, I managed to do some damage.  Lorraine, who owns the shop was so helpful.  I do need to mention that this is not a shop geared to crocheters, BUT I brought my friend Trey with me to pick out yarn for a crocheted afghan, and Lorraine was more than happy to help us even though she admitted she does not crochet, nor does she want to learn : ). hahaha.  I am doing my best to convince the yarn crafters of the world to do both... but I'm still often hit with resistance on both sides.  I think there were maybe 5 or 6 brands of yarn in the shop... mostly wool.  One of my favorite finds was a section of brandless natural undyed handspun yarn from a farm in Bemidji, MN.  It was very reasonably priced and I got several skeins so I could embark on a felting experiment.  I felted my first bag but it didn't turn out exactly as I had hoped.  I think the hooks I used were too large - AND - I didn't think about the fact that different stitches would felt differently.  Duh.  (I did attach a needle felted try I had made in December, so that made me happy)  This shop has "help session" all day on Friday, so I might stop by this week with a list of questions.  I'm still fairly new to Knitting... and while I have help from the most fancy knitter I know, Liz (who is amazing and plays the Baronness), it'd be cool to get lots of little questions answered.      

    YEOWSA!  THIS IS THE LONGEST POST EVER.  Now, at least, I'm caught up.  I'll try and update more frequently to avoid psychotically long posts.   My next stop is Dayton, Ohio.  From what I can tell a shop called "The Yarn and Needle" is really close to my hotel.  I'm a little worried that they aren't listed on www.knitmap.com (which is my usual go-to for finding yarn around the world) but maybe I'll have to add them once I check it out.  

    

     I'd love suggestions for Yarn in Dayton, Ohio.   

 

       HAPPY CRAFTING

              

    

Quick

The holidays had me busy like a bee. I'm on the road with the National Tour of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, which has allowed me to check out some BEAUTIFUL yarn stores. I'll post details on that soon... but for now, here's a few of my newest projects.  Happy New Year!     

The first pic is a Monkey Skoodie! It's a work in progress and for a kid so it's a little small on me... but I love it. 

The Second is a broach I made for my Grandma.  I needle felted the back of it so I could attach a pin.  The beads are glass from our trip to Venice this summer.