thinking on Thanksgiving

I am busy in the throws of Christmas plans for the shop. I will be decorating next week for our annual Open House, and so my head has been flooded with multiple ideas and projects. Glitter, glue, papercutting, ribbons, what to do with this and that, and how to pull it all together to reflect the joy of the season, desiring to inspire the sacred in the midst of a commercial environment. And so it lies, between our Net Loft Open House and Advent, a very special holiday that I hope and want to not get lost in the sea of the oncoming season. It is hard sometimes, because before the brown and rusty gold have a chance to fully mature, I sense the red and green encroaching everywhere, pressing on us, demanding our attention.

For me, I just want to savor these remaining fall days. I feel a need to take the time I need to settle myself, to organize my projects, to reassess my goals, to reflect on that which is around me and for that which I am grateful to God; to make this be a time to cast aside all the differences within my family and come together, bake, make place cards, eat and rest in one another’s company. I don’t want to miss thinking on Thanksgiving, even though everywhere I turn I am being told to think about Christmas. In light of this I have not abandoned my half finished wool appliqué fall apple candle mat, in hopes that it will be ready for the culmination of fall at our family Thanksgiving celebration. I will continue to savor the sweet autumn images of apples, acorns, pumpkins, and squirrels, and I will take the time I need to make this Thanksgiving be a special and meaningful celebration and appreciation of our family’s many blessings and how best we can be a blessing to others.

Enjoy your remaining fall creative projects, and, in doing so, I hope that this time will also be for you, a time for thinking on your own Thanksgiving, and provide for you that necessary reflective and inspired calm before the storm of the oncoming holiday flurries.

All the best in needle, thread, yarn, ribbon and paper....

with love, Dotty

Mushroom Dyers Update

I had a chance to weave a scarf with my mushroom dyed wool and wanted to share a photo of the results.

The Net Loft Custom Totes

For those of you who saw our custom totes on Bonnie Hunter's website, these are the ones we currently have in stock. There are two kntting needle cases at $59.95. and two different totes with vinyl zip storage for $70 each. We are expecting more in the near future. Give us a call at 907 424-7337 or email us at thenetloft@gmail.com and we can mail order, if you need us to.

They are great bags, made in the United States with quality construction.

On a fall day...

So what's to do on a fall day?

It is cozy up fall time. There is so much inspiration out there lately I can hardly keep my my excitement contained. How about you?

Need some inspiration? Come on in and breathe in some fall creativity at The Net Loft.

So much inspiration, I hardly know where to start.

Fall is the time for settling down with family and friends, lighting candles, trying out a new recipe…cozying up on the couch with needle or needles in hand or spreading out a craft project on the kitchen table.

Ah yes, crafts… there are SO many new books and patterns and projects to be made. I feel like we are bursting at the seams with all the great new projects and yarns and ideas for handwork. Lots of new scrapbooking papers and embellishments, plus new hand dyed wools, threads, and cross stitch patterns.

Knitting, Wool Applique, Punch Needle Embroidery, Papercrafting… Projects for fall, and projects to get started on for Christmas...

Take an opportunity this fall to learn something new. There is so much to learn from and be inspired by. There are some great Fiberart DVD’s that can lead you through many lessons right in your own home. I think the one on designing your own crochet hat looks VERY interesting.

And there is always just a shopping excursion…More Maruca bags have arrived and more Atendi bags are on the way…New lamps, Fall serving dishes, Paddywax candles, and diffusers to fill your home with sweet fragrances. Let the fall winds blow you into The Net Loft door. It is our pleasure to serve you and help you find YOUR fall inspiration.

This Saturday we are planning a “Fall Inspirations Open House” . We will have hot apple cider and the upstairs tables will be set up for you to flip through the notebooks of all the new patterns. We are hoping for a release of a new Snowcapped Yarn Color, PLUS we will also be having a Trunk Show of “Never Not Knitting” patterns. Come see the lovely samples of her patterns and plan for your next projects.

Churchmouse is known for it’s absolutely lovely pattern line and we have their new set of fall patterns just released. I just love the tea cozies.

So...please set some time aside this Saturday and join us at our OPEN HOUSE... prepare thyself to be thoroughly inspired!

PS....

We will also be holding a fundraiser on Saturday for the Cordova Library. We received some slightly damaged candles and diffusers from the Paddywax Library Collection, and the Paddywax Collection is allowing me to donate the proceeds of the slightly damaged collection to a local organization, so I thought the library was a perfect candidate. Support the library and purchase a fall home fragrant candle or diffuser at a reduced price, this Saturday, October 15.

pps... if you haven't seen the new Snowcapped Yarns yet by Cordova's own Shelly Kocan, do look at her blog and see.

http://southofultimathule.wordpress.com/2011/09/19/snow-capped-yarns/

We will be releasing her latest Autumn colorway this weekend. This is an example from her first release. Colorways are limited edition seasonal short run in a variety of yarn weights.

THERE IS JUST NOT TIME ENOUGH IN A DAY IS THERE?

Fall Distraction

It happens this time of year. It goes like this...I am driving to the shop, with a very very long long list of "very important" things I must do, and my car somehow swerves to the side of the road, and I find myself in waterlogged dressy shoes, in boggy puddles with hands full of what I call "my fall distraction". I cannot help myself. "They" beg me to visit the forest and escape the walls of the shop which have held me in all summer. Something about the dusty orange gills that somehow beckon me to check that little spot in the woods with the vibrant green moss and lure me with the exciting prospect of finding fall treasures growing along the base of ancient stumps and roots. It is "their" fault.

There is one tree that holds the polypore with the golden dye, and one beaten down spot that yields a little treasure, whose cinnamon claret gills shed spores that turn persimmon when in contact with wool and heat. It is my fall delight to swerve to the right, let my eyes peruse the mossy roadside, and then allow my feet to wander into the secret places.

Every year this happens to me. I find myself wandering into the woods, even in torrential downpours. I cannot help myself.

And then there are the many pots and jars that follow.

The handfuls of fungal treasures fill jars and buckets, and after the rituals of washing and mordanting, the excitement of dyeing begins. I am never quite sure of what I am doing other than escaping what I am supposed to be doing. But for some reason, something tells me that more than

anything else, this is what I am supposed to be doing. And, I would say, the previously white wool would agree.

After a heated bath in Cortinarius water, how the delightful tangerine becomes them.

Rain and sun, the crispness of fall, the mushrooms are here....I hear them call...now really, how could I refuse them.

They could be calling you too, if you let them...Come and see...it's a perfectly wonderful...

" fall distraction ".

In the summertime, one day you can drive down the road and the lupine are wonderfully in bloom and then you can turn away, be very busy, and poof, the lupines are gone..

Gone, gone, gone... Missed them. Hardly picked more than one bouquet of them. And then one day, you notice a single fireweed in bloom, and then, in a blink of an eye, a field of fireweed have exploded and are as tall as the sky. Just like that. In that blink, they have become plentiful, bold and beautiful, and I am in awe of the absolutely striking massive magenta pink of them. From out of nowhere, the grass of parnassas appear in meadows out the road. Fragrant, graceful, lovely. In my garden bed, harebells nod their heads in the wind, lilies pop from their large buds...at Alaganik, the iris appear and the purple is glorious. But, we know well, now you see them, now you don't. If you put off seeing them, you will miss them. My one thought, they come and go so quickly.

For me, this summertime life is like that. One day there is a face that walks through the door. I have to take a good long hard look at this face, savor the sound of the voice, for like the blooming wildflowers, in a blink of eye, they will be gone, and so will I. Sometimes, I feel like if I don't take that moment and be with them, I will miss it. If I am not attentive, that friend, like that flower, will come and go without me hardly seeing it. They will be off on boats, or ferries or planes, or just occupied somewhere. That is how summertime is.

Today, this early Sunday morning, I had an old dear friend over for tea and conversation. I went to pick a little bouquet to put in a teacup for our table, and I went to pick a rose from my bush out front of the shop. When I went to cut it, the petals all fell to the ground. I was too late for that rose. I gathered up some other flowers, but the thought of that rose carried with me throughout the day. I have felt like this all summer. It reminded me of the importance and value of taking time out, because opportunities pass by so quickly. If I don't take the time, the flowers and friends will be gone, and I will have missed them.

I love to paint. I love wildflowers. I especially love painting wildflowers. I think that is because I get to spend time looking and appreciating them as I paint them. I look and I look and I love drinking in their color and beauty. I love looking so closely at them that I see things in them I never saw before. It is a different thing to paint them from memory, and a far better experience painting them face to face. I not only love painting them, but I also love stitching images of them in thread, felting their colors into wool or even just placing a bouquet of them into a vase. It takes time, you know, but it is one of those simple pleasures in life that brings me great joy, and so worth the time I take out.

And so, please know that I consider you to be the wildflowers that wander before me into my shop, and that I treasure and hope to savor these summertime moments as they arise. Hope you are having a wonderful summer. Still lots going on at the shop. We have several open studio times, as well as weaving, needlework and papercraft classes coming up. There's still time...and some good summer fun to be had. Let us know if there is a class or event you would like to see happen, and do soak in those friends and flowers that the rest of the summertime still has to come.