We Have a WINNER!

Meet WOOLMA, the Greenberry House Greeter!

It was a tough decision. The judges deliberated long into the night. But finally the vote was taken and the ballots were cast: Judy of Happy Acres submitted the winning name and Woolma will preside over the Greenberry House front porch, greeting visitors while busily knitting her cranberry scarf! Judy has been notified by email, and will receive two skeins of Greenberry House yarn and a pair of Rosewood knitting needles.

Many thanks to everyone that submitted a suggestion! There were some great suggestions (a minority vote went to "Purl" and "Minnie Purl") and it was really fun to see the creative ideas that everyone had. Special thanks to the judges for taking the time and for taking this seriously!

Saturday Sky

Saturday Sky

Over the Blue Ridge Parkway in Meadows of Dan.

Today's the last day I'm accepting entries for the Name the Doll contest. This evening I'll print out all your suggestions and take them to the judges; they've promised to get a winner back to me soon!

I Have Awesome (and Generous) Relatives!

New little bitty camera!

I would know that CTG and Jagosaurus were awesome even if they weren't generous, of course. If you've seen any of their artistry in photography and have been entertained by Hillbilly, Please, you know a little bit about how talented they are. Last summer Tom came in with a laptop computer and gave it to me. It had one minor problem, with I managed to fix, and it has been wonderful to have it along on trips. Makes running the business from afar so much easier! This morning he came in, announcing that he and JAG wanted to give me something... a delightful little Olympus FE-210. It didn't work out for him, so they thought of me, since I'm using a big dinosaur of a Sony Mavica. Many, many thanks once again, y'all!

I'm still taking entries for the Name the Straw Doll contest until December 1. Come up with your wittiest ideas!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Seraphina's Shawl

I have so much to be thankful for that I couldn't possibly make a list. Hope you and yours are feeling the same on this special day.

With the beach vacation and some traveling time, I've finished a couple of projects and have been working along on others. Above is Seraphina's Shawl, made with two colorways of Brooks Farm Four Play yarn. Pure luxury and all purple for me!


First Socks!

And I finished my first ever pair of knitted socks, thanks to Jane of Fiber on the Mountain, who is the most patient instructor in the world. She was here on Friday, and was able to teach a new spindler and knitter and help me turn my heel! There are all sorts of faults in this poor little pair, no blame to Jane, but I enjoyed making them!


Jane, students and a fascinated little audience!

I've finally caught up on most things, and feel myself relaxing into the quiet times of late fall. The autumn leaves are gone, swept away by wild winds over the course of a couple of days and hunting season is in full swing. We're wearing blaze orange, provided by sister-in-law Sue, to walk the dogs in the morning and evening. My Hot Head orange hat is coming in handy to cover up this white hair. Crisp mornings with frost alternate with warmer mornings and fog. There is a forecast of ice for Sunday.


Oh, dear, I went shopping...

A meeting I was supposed to have was cancelled on Tuesday morning, and I didn't find out until I was on the road. So I took the opportunity to play hookey and headed into Blacksburg after picking up my rabbit feed in Price's Fork. Naturally my first stop was Mosaic, an awesome LYS just a minute, maybe, from 460. I've been there before; everyone was friendly but I just had time to dash in and out with purchases. Tuesday I took my "first socks" along and was delighted to walk in and see Cheryl. She's one of the students pictured above with Jane and took to spindling like a natural! She and Belinda welcomed me with open arms, sat me down to knit with them and even admired my poor effort at sock knitting. We had a wonderful visit, talking about yarns and books and movies and knitting and the perils of the plumbing in an old farm house!

Cheryl showed me around, of course, and I was blown away by all the beautiful yarns and colors. I found myself most drawn to fibers I don't have here by my handspinners, of course, and my mind is buzzing with ideas for wonderful cotton, linen and silk yarns.

And I was able to meet the incredible Gina! Just as I was headed out the door with a bag full of amazing sock yarn (yeah, at that point I hadn't even finished one pair yet) Gina came in with lovely little Purl. Purl appears regularly on the Mosaic blog and is just as precious as her pictures. Gina is awesome in person, beautiful, obviously talented (Cheryl showed me some of the shop samples Gina knitted) and charming. I'm enjoying the Mosaic Ravelry group because of all her fun comments and her mention of something on Ravelry made me think to go to Mosaic on Tuesday.

And I met the lovely Indigo Muse! Tanya was my first friend on Ravelry and is a talented knitter, spinner and designer. I knew she was somewhere in Virginia but didn't realize that she was so close to Blacksburg. I've seen some of her designs in different places; her Fortune Cookie pattern looks terrific!

I listened to Lonesome River Band and Sammy Shelor DVDs on the way home. After a visit with Mom and the aunt on the hill, I settled in for an evening of knitting socks and a Doctor Who: Season One DVD from Netflix. For some reason this one disc leap-frogged over the list of Northern Exposure: Season Four that is supposed to come next. I've been a Dr. Who fan for a long time; the episodes used to be on PBS here a long time ago. My TV reception is limited but I've been having a great time getting old BBC shows and old movies on Netflix!

Don't forget about the contest! There have been some wonderful suggestions for names for my knitting straw doll but we're still looking for more. My judges will have the list on December 2 and decide soon after that. Details here.

Contest!

Name the Knitting Doll!

This little lady now resides on my shop porch, beckoning to weary fiber folk that pass along our way. She needs a name; I already have a Penelope that models my hats and scarves at Mountain Meadow Crafts. Iris is my bag lady.

Add a comment to this post before December 1 with your suggestion. An impartial panel of judges will chose their favorite name from the entries and the winner will receive a pair of Rosewood knitting needles and two skeins of Greenberry House Yarn. Multiple entries welcome!