That's What It's All About...

Do you remember the words of the last line of  the song and dance called the "Hokey Pokey"?  I was just reflecting on the day today, and what I heard in the back of my mind was that short little phrase from that old familiar tune..."That's what it's all about...(clap, clap).    When the shop first began twenty something, (I think 29...could it be?)  years ago, we had a full schedule of classes. Now if you know me, you know that one of my favorite things is sharing ideas and skills, and putting together classes and workshops, and getting people together to make things.  Sometimes I get a little bogged down with shop busy work,  and  don't have so many classes going on, but as summertime approaches, the time for classes picks up, and I always love as the season of workshops in our upstairs room swings into full gear.  I think I mentioned before, that I have referred to our upstairs classroom as "La La Land". Step through the doorway, and everything beyond the classroom vanishes, at least for a short while anyway.

Today, for the Shorebird Festival, we had a painted watercolor feather garland drop in session, as well as a Needlefelted Sandpiper Workshop.  It was a lot of activity squeezed into one afternoon, but squeeze we did, and I just loved seeing what everyone ended up making.  All the great garlands and wonderful flock of  sandpipers that emerged from the two classes brought a big smile to my face.  With just a little bit of guidelines, so many fine finished pieces.  Simple projects with simple ingredients on my end, and lots of very wonderful creativity on the part of those who joined us...

Just a side note, we have decided to kit up the Sandpiper project into a kit, and the feather garlands, too.  Stay tuned on our website for availability, perhaps by sometime in June, and you can join us here at The Net Loft in spirit.

See for yourself what the day brought forth. It just brings on a huge smile watching a  room full of hand crafters busy at play.  Painting, and cutting, and poking at fleece and fiber...a busy afternoon in "La La Land" amongst  the company of friends, AND
That CERTAINLY is what IT is all about.

Craft away, dear Friends of the Net Loft...and always come show us, or post what you're making, because you know how much we love to share in the excitement.

Happy Making and Creating!
Net Loft Dotty

As Time Goes By...

Like it or not, time certainly does go by.. and for me it was evident that it was about time for a little creativity break.

Having spent many hours uploading information onto the new ecommerce website for the shop, as well as countless hours behind the computer with bookkeeping for tax time,  I felt helpless  to resist when I felt the pull of the powerful "creativity magnet" drawing me in.  You've felt that tug, haven't you?  How could I resist?   

We have a Wool Applique class happening in June, entitled "As Time Goes By" which uses a pattern published by Under the Garden Moon.  We had originally planned to teach the class last fall, but the timing has worked out best for us to have the class start this June.  The class will be a "Progressive Class", which means that we will start with Dotty at The Net Loft in June, and then progress to The Quilter's Hideout to complete the project in July.  We will be teaching the wool applique portion, and the Hideout will teach the quilted portion.  This is a convertible wall hanging.  The two sections are constructed as separate components.  There are mulitple center sections which may be made which are intended to change with the seasons.  You will be amazed  at how quickly one is able to construct the wool applique portion, which may be attached separately to the quilt hanging using magnets, snaps, velcro, or buttons.

I like hearts and flowers, and so this was the one I chose, and the object of my creative escape this evening.  There are multiple designs available:  a snowman, a bird, a schoolhouse as well as other motifs that may be used for the summertime and fall seasons.    I am going to use some flannels in my quilted border keeping the colors in a manner that will compliment my applique,  yet will be able to go with some of the other center pieces as well.  

Wool applique is simple and this particular project  can be made with hand dyed felted wool or wool felt. I still have to complete the embroidery, but I certainly have enjoyed this particular creativity break, and know you would enjoy stitching this project as well. We have expanded our collection of hand dyed felted wools and wool felt for you to choose from at the shop. We have a great rainbow of colors available, as well as a nice selection of hand dyed Valdani perle cottons threads available to purchase for the stitching.

We hope you will consider joining us in June.  Participants will have their choice of which center  applique they would like to work on in the class.  This makes for a great summertime project and fun class to  gather with friends and stitch. We will post when the class will be happening.  If you are interested, drop us an email at thenetloft@gmail.com and let us know if evenings or Saturdays work best for you as we draw closer to setting the date and time of the class.  whether you have done wool applique before or a complete beginner, all are welcome to join us.  I will be teaching the class and we are conducting it as stitch-along, and so cost of class is simply your pattern and materials.  I will post a photo of the finished project as soon as it is completed.  Hope you are able to have a creativity break for yourself.  It always does wonders for my mental and emotional health.  Certainly is a nice way to spend some of that precious time that goes rushing by...

All the best to you in felted wool and stitches,

                                                  Net Loft Dotty

At Last...

It's here...

The new Net Loft buying site is officially online. There are a few quirks, so please be patient as we work them out.  It is just a start and so we will be adding more items daily.  For the first twenty customers of the new site we offering a little gift with purchase. We will let you know when that number has been reached.  If we experience difficulties, we will shut down the site temporarily, but we think it should be fine.  Paypal will be available with option for credit card through Paypal  Tomorrow we will have the other credit card function up and running. If you want to see ALL items just click Catalog, then use browse button to sort and see group of individual yarn bases.  I know it is not a perfect format, but just needed to get online and will be working on this aspect of the site. We are excited and look forward to serving you wherever you may be.  We have made many wonderful friends over the years through the shop and look forward to this new aspect to connect and continue to make new connections, as well as to reconnect with those of you who are far away, yet still hold Cordova near and dear to their heart.

We truly appreciate your business and, as always,  thank you for shopping at the Net Loft.

Free freight over $125 in United States, $150 Canada and $300 International.
Here we go!

http://the-net-loft.myshopify.com/

Happy Spring,

Dotty

A Sneak Peek....

It may not be what I had originally thought it might be, BUT time presses on, and I decided to move forward in a different direction with our shopping website, and, good news... we should have an online purchasing shop coming VERY VERY soon.  So, I thought I would give you a sneak peak, especially for those of you far away and in need of a Net Loft fix...We will be starting with some of our custom Cordova Colorways of Three Irish Girls yarn and then go from there.

Keep a watch out, as the launch is right around the corner, a handful of yarns at a time...Thanks for your patience all of you who have been patiently waiting  (and that includes me!  I think I was the least patient of them all :) )

Here is your sneak peek...

More to come!!

with love, knitting and LOTS of yarn, 

Net Loft Dotty

Three Irish Girls Net Loft Cordova Colorways: Local Scenery Collection

We are trying to put all our Net Loft custom collections on line for you to see.

 Here is our Net Loft Cordova Local Scenery Collection. As you can see the color varies according to the base it is on.  We will keep adding more photos to give you a clear picture of the variety of these lovely colorways.  

Email us at thenetloft@gmail.com for availability on different bases. You can click on the photos to see them larger and more clearly.

Happy Knitting!  Hope everyone had a lovely Easter Holiday.

with love from

The Net Loft

Just for fun, here are just a few of some of the variations on Three Mile Bay...

Lots of wonderful bases to choose from!

Extra Fine Merino Lace  - Three Mile Bay

Finley Fingering  - Three Mile Bay

Springvale Supermerino  - Three Mile Bay

Three Irish Girls Net Loft Custom Colorways: Fisheries Collection

Just a quick entry here in the midst of the recent changes coming to Three Irish Girls distribution and the delay of our website launch, I am posting some photos of our custom colorways to make it easier to review colors.  This is a quick overview, and this entry will just cover the "Fisheries Collection".  Some of these photos have been posted previously and it is not complete in terms of photos, but just thought I would start with this for those from afar. Please email us at thenetloft@gmail.com with any questions.  These are available on a variety of the bases offered by Three Irish Girls, email us for availability on each base.  I will be  posting  the other collections soon.  PS. Colleen, our mail order manager is away on a trip right now and so all orders will be postponed until the end of next week, April 5.

Thanks!! Happy Knitting,
Dotty

More Amore

My husband Bob says Valentines Day should be every day... and he is right, hearts and love never really go out of season. I must admit, I do have an affection for hearts, not just on February 14, and, of course,  that goes for chocolate too, FOR SURE... Anyway, my computer was down the end of last week and so couldn't finish up what I had hoped to share in regard to heartfelt projects. I am beginning to wish I could just push the calendar back a week. I seem to be playing catch up ever since Thanksgiving.  I want to celebrate these holidays, but I just can't seem to catch up to them in time.  I seem to be be celebrating in another time zone that is a few days different than real time.  But... better then, than not at all.   You know how different cultures have different calendars? I think I am on the Dotty calendar...  :)


Anyway, I WAS able to make these wax paper and crayon chips hanging hearts shown above as inspired by Martha Stewart Crafts, and hang them  from a dormant branch and put them in the window behind my husbands chair in the dining room. I hope he will enjoy them as a little token of my affection.  They are just made by ironing two sheets of wax paper with bits of crayon gratings, using a flattened brown paper bag on either side to protect iron and board.  I precut some hearts made the old fashioned fold and cut way and then used those to trace onto the wax paper and cut the hearts, then punched holes, and put a thread  hanger for each heart that I attached to the branch.  I would have loved to have done this with my children.  I thought of them as I made this as it is just the kind of thing we used to do when they were home.  I did it with them in my thoughts and heart, and felt as though they were right there with me and part of my project.


I had spoken before about how the littlest things can make someone's day special.  I received a packet from a friend of our family who knows I love hand made things.  He  had cut these from the eraser like blocks (as well as some regular linoleum blocks) that we have from Speedball and printed them on a type of handmade paper.   I just love the whole set of them. Simple designs that make you smile.  We carry the blocks and the ink in the shop,  and I know our son Matthew has enjoyed cutting these and making his own cards when he was younger.  You can place on them whatever design you want, and they cut fairly easily.   They really make great handcrafted cards and  prints, which may be easily duplicated as you just reink and print however many you want.  I am inspired by this set of prints by our artist friend, Michael Sweem, and hope to try making something similar in a  spring theme.  As you can see, the designs don't have to be elaborate or exact to be effective, and you can even trace with carbon paper a design directly onto the block from a photograph or previous drawing by photocopying it and then tracing the image right on to the block before cutting. It was such a nice gesture to be given this set of prints.  I adore them. They are each about 5 x 7 inches.  They were such a nice surprise to receive in the mail, and definitely brought a smile to my face.  I think I was supposed to have them to give away for Valentines Day, but I haven't been able to part with them yet.  I just will enjoy them a little while longer before I give them away.  I like ALL of them. :)  SIMPLE yet SWEET...

And so...in light of the simple AND sweet things, I did something I have been wanting to do for a few years.  I can't believe it has taken me this long to just stop and do this, as I have had this idea for awhile to use our scrapbook papers and embellishments to decorate our Lake Champlain Fine Signature chocolate bars. 

I first started by taking off the Lake Champlain wrapper and slipping a little secret message on a piece of paper under the gold foil.  This was done with a rub-on on  a piece of handmade rice paper cut to size. and then placed on a sheet of clean white cardstock.

I then cut down a piece of scrapbook paper and wrapped it around the bar, and used roller type adhesive to seal. 

On the front I placed embellishments and of course some adhesive jewels.  I have seen something similar to this to buy, but I, of course, wanted to make my own with my own little treasures, stickers,  and embellishments. 

 This would also make a great birthday or Mother's Day gift. I was thinking it would be fun to do them as a Saturday workshop at the store sometime,  just for a fun get together, so we will keep you posted when we would do this. You could decorate more elaborately, but even just this was enough to make an ordinary chocolate bar extra special.  I like the gold foil and the thickness of these Lake Champlain Signature Bars.  They work perfectly.  The one pictured above  went to my husband. I placed it in a cello bag  for a nice finishing touch.  Now I just have to let HIM eat the chocolate inside.  He hasn't even started eating it yet. Are you kidding me?  If it was mine, I am afraid that bar would be LONG GONE....

I will surely continue my heart projects throughout the year as hearts continue to be a motif I am fond of.  I even recently started a Pinterest board of my heart finds.  http://pinterest.com/thenetloft/hearts/

Ah yes, my continuing Pinterest addiction...I may need professional help soon.

Last but not least, my heart love has brought me to share with you this sneak peak at some hand made totes with leather handles, wool and metallic embroidery, and some even enhanced by just a touch of sequins.  How can a heart lover (and bag lover) resist...isn't it funny that one can NEVER have enough totes and bags... they each have their own purpose and pursenality, and there are just TOO many cute bags and totes to have just one.   We will have these in the shop possibly by Mother's Day and they will come in multiple colors and  designs.  They are each one of a kind and have a drawstring closure.    I thought they would be perfect for knitting projects or for just "stuff".   You cannot see the metallic thread very well in the photo, but it has just the right amount of glitz with the gold to perfectly accent the wool embroidery.  We will let you know when they arrive. There will be a limited number and each a unique handmade creation of color and texture.  Love those hearts, especially the sequined ones.

So, my friends, happy hearts to you...  In the midst of all of life's struggles and pains and ups and downs,  a little heartfelt love and those extra little touches of handmade thoughtfulness and remembrances always go a long, long way. 

The best to you as February zooms by.

with love,

Net Loft Dotty