August...the calmest part of summer. LONG days and waning sunlight. A great time of year to ponder plans for the future, but not get energetic about them just yet.  Still time to recharge your batteries before the chill of fall gets you up and moving again.

The Fall Knitting Retreat at Winter Clove Inn is filling up. A whole group of friends got together to come...what a great idea! We still have 10 spots open, so ponder what you'd like to be doing the first week of November and take a look at the projects lined up. If you love stranded knitting and color in your hands, you will LOVE the small projects for this retreat. They would make wonderful gifts for anyone.  Check them out by clicking on the picture below.

We are taking August to play with a few new ideas here at Countrywool. Our first ever SOAPMAKING CLASS and HAND SEWN PATCHWORK POTHOLDERS classes are listed below. These homemaking classes will be part of our summer lineup in the future, and we hope you enjoy them when hot weather arrives.

We are also working on our presence. So many of you check in there and at that we decided to make it easier for you to see what is happening here. When you  us, you will hear all about the FACEBOOK ONLY sales for the month of August.  When you come by to shop and say the magic word...voila...you'll get the sale price for the yarn mentioned that week!

If you are a wanna-be yarn dyer, there is a special class just for you at Columbia Greene Community College. Check it out!

Knitting on Sundays has been put on hold until September as everyone is doing fun things outside. But watch for it next month along with our extended FALL HOURS.

NEW IN THE SHOP:
........100% cotton and 100% wool quilting batts.
........100% cotton quilting fabric
........100% cotton quilting kits
........Quilting threads and notions

CLASSES THIS MONTH:

Tuesday, August 7: MAKING SWEET ANNIE SOAP: 8 am - 1 pm. Learn the whole process of creating lye based soap using all natural ingredients and organic Sweet Annie grown at Countrywool. Take home over 4 pounds of soap.  LIMITED TO 4 SOAPERS! All ingredients provided. You may bring all your own ingredients (up to 16 oz frozen goats milk) if you wish but results will not be guaranteed.  You may come to just observe the process at a reduced fee. Bring a bag lunch. $105.

Sunday, August 12: Hand Painting Yarn at Columbia-Greene Community College: 12noon-3pm.  Call (518)828-4181 to sign up. $36.

new!  Sunday, August 26, 12 noon - 3 pm. HANDSEWN POTHOLDERS: Log Cabin. Our introductory class for those new to hand sewing and quilting. Make beautiful pieced traditional Log Cabin patchwork squares and turn them into potholders. No experience needed.  Bring your own fabrics or pick up a 100 % cotton kit with everything included except the sewing needle and thread ($13.50). Pattern supplied. $25. Prepayment required.

Friday through Sunday, November 2-4: North Atlantic Knitting Techniques at Winter Clove Inn, Round Top, NY. Come and relax with a fabulous group of knitters while you learn a few new things and laugh a lot. $175 for the classes; $230 for your room and meals. Bring your friends and have a grand time in the gorgeous Catskill Mountains.

Happy Knitting and Spinning!

Claudia

Sheep To Sweater Class: Sunday, July 22 at Columbia-Greene Community College: 12noon-3pm: Dyeing fleece and fiber. Call (518)828-4181 to sign up.

Sunday, July 29: SUMMER GARDEN PARTY KNIT-IN: A Circular Shawl: 11am-3pm. Come and enjoy a vegetarian buffet from the Krisniski's vegetable garden and knit all day in the company of good folk. Want to make a beautiful lace shawl easily in the round and learn how to wear it a few different ways? Pick up a kit and we'll help you get going. Fashion show at 11:30!

    Knit In and buffet only: $25
    Knit In, buffet and shawl kit (8 colors available...please inquire): $54
    you'll need to bring (or buy when there) double pointed needles #8 or larger;
    16" + 24" circular needles # 8-10, 20 ring markers; G crochet hook.
sign-up on the CLASSES WEBSITE

Friday through Sunday, November 2-4: North Atlantic Knitting Techniques at Winter Clove Inn, Round Top, NY. Come and relax with a fabulous group of knitters while you learn a few new things and laugh a lot. $175 for the classes; $230 for your room and meals. Bring your friends and have a grand time in the gorgeous Catskill Mountains.

Happy Knitting and Spinning!

Claudia

When you get up in the dark on a January morning, and it is 5* with a wind chill of -12* and you look at what socks to put on, how do you choose?

I have a slew of hand knit socks. Some are from handspun yarn. Some are made with Kroy, Tuffy, Durasport, Peace Fleece, Peace Fleece Sport, Bearfoot, Step, Berroco Sox, Inca Alpaca, Mini Mochi, Naturespun, Lamb’s Pride. Lush,  and Cascade 220. Some are knit with 2 strands, some with one, one pair felted.

Do you know what? The warmest AND most versatile pair of socks I own are knit with Peace Fleece Sport and Durasport. The above TALL TREE SOCKS were featured at the Sock retreat last year and the pattern may be downloaded by clicking on the BUY NOW button. After 30 years of making socks, I think I have found the perfect fiber combination for wear and super warmth.

I am working on a new pattern with these yarns this month in anticipation of the Rip Van Winkle Sock Knitting Retreat next month. SWEDISH SOCKS will feature a heel I had never done. Necessity is the mother of invention, and it was created to fit the needs of the color stitch pattern.

But, aside from wearing good socks made from warm natural fibers in this weather, I highly recommend legwarmers knit with Lamb's Pride, Peace Fleece or Lanaloft Worsted. Legwarmers can go on over tights, over jeans and get you through any blast of frigid air. If you do yoga in chilly rooms, these will save your muscles. I manage a 3 mile walk daily in any weather in comfort with these on. The mentioned yarns are simply fabulous and hold up while holding warmth in. Lamb’s Pride is my go-to yarn for January and February socks, mittens, hats, sweaters and legwarmers. Peace Fleece is a little more rustic, and Lanaloft much softer, filling the needs for all knitters.

Want a simple pattern that I make and wear?

Weigh a skein of yarn with a kitchen scale, and mentally divide that # by 2. Write that weight on the label. Grab a 16” circular needle size 5, or 6, or 7. Cast on as loosely as you can: 40 stitches. Join to work in the round. Work in K1, P1* ribbing until you have knit through almost half the weight of the yarn. Bind off VERY LOOSELY.  Make the 2^nd legwarmer to match the first.

 Enjoy the winter by getting outside in it and BREATHE.

Happy knitting and spinning!
Claudia