Above: Blas and Ian Gammon, manager of Cold Harbor Mill. Cold Harbor is a 200 year old water powered spinning mill which produces worsted spun yarn in the UK.

Above: Felt artist Nicola Brown and her dog at their country home in beautiful Ballybrack, Ireland.

Some Upcoming Classes at the Studio

Monday 7.5 Fiber Club Night at Old Jerusalem Cafe* FREE This coming Monday we will resume our fiber night! We’ll be bringing some felting supplies and spindles for people who want to play. Bring your projects and come craft along with us!

Saturday 7.10 Drop In Clinic: Crochet and Knit with Barbara Barbara Iachini has been crocheting for 25 years. She holds the Master of Crochet Stitches designation from the Crochet Guild of America. Currently, she teaches both knit and crochet at a yarn shop near her home in Colorado. Have her help you start or finish your next project. By appointment. Please CONTACT US for details.

Sunday 7.11 SpinLab: Entrapment! $55 In this three-hour workshop we will explore various potential add-ins for your yarns and many ways to spin them securely in. We will also cover techniques that involve wrapping or trapping your yarn in threads, from lovely candy-striping to wild tornados of whirling thread.Instructor: Shannon Herrick

Saturday 7.17 Intermediate Drop Spindling with Wonder Mike $45 Now that you’ve mastered a spun single, let’s show you how to ply and finish that yarn. In this “Part Two” Intro class, Michael will show you how to Handy Ply (a version of Andean Plying), how to skein, and set the twist in your yarn. He will also review your technique and suggest ways of refining and getting the most out of your spindle spinning.

Sunday 7.18 Needle Felted Bird $16 This fun technique uses a special needle to transform wool fleece into everything from detailed surface embellishment to 3-D figures. Using a felting needle and wool, learn to needlefelt a lovely bird! You get to pick from a rainbow of colors to make your bird.

Photo by SpiderFelt

Saturday 7.24 Merino Wet Felted Flowers $25 With a wonderful kit by Spiderfelt.com and Blas’ help you will assemble 2 large or 3 medium sized 100% wool felt flowers using a wet felting technique.  

Sunday 7.25 Fiber Blending With A Drum Carder – Materials Included - $80 Do you love textured yarns and those fun and beautiful carded batts for sale at fiber festivals? Would you love to make them yourself? Learn to create blended batts for spinning using multiple fibers and colors with techniques for basic carding and a variety of techniques for blending fibers. Instructor: Keena Golden

All class registrations entitle you to 10% off the cost of supplies, yarn and fiber on the day of class! Private classes and fix it clinics are always available by appointment, e-mail us with your needs!

Upcoming Events

July 31st – August 1st Renegade Craft Show (Studio Closed)

August 2nd – Fiber Club Night

August 28th – Studio Anniversary Sale and Mini Fiber Festival – ONE DAY, BIG DISCOUNTS!

September 19th – World Wide Spin In Public Day for SF

For the latest news check our Event Calendar for full details

Summer at the Studio
We’ve adjusted our hours for summer and Kira will be in the studio regurlarly two Sundays a month! For private lessons and drop in clinics give us a call or e-mail to find out which days she’ll be here.
Mon 12-7 pm Tues, Weds & Thurs – By Appt. Friday 12-7 pm Saturday 12-5 pm Sunday 12-5 pm  

Show Us Your Creativity Contest

We’ve picked TWO lucky Winners from our Flickr Photo Contest! 
PJ_Church AND tizana682003 Please come by the studio to pick up a goodie bag for youself!  

We have picked a winner of for the FREE SIGNED copy of How to Knit A Love Song! Using a random number generator we have picked comment number 6 - helenlam! Congrats! We’ll be contacting you to get your address to send off your book. For all those who played along, we have copies at the shop for purchase if you still want to read this locally written knitty novel! Special thanks to Rachael Herron again for donating a copy of her book!

REMEMBER: Rachael is giving the actual prototype sweater that she knitted while writing the book. All you need to do is write a review of the book and let me know about it (details over at Yarnagogo). You have till TOMORROW APRIL 4th to get your entries in! Good luck and happy knitting.

]]> http://blog.urbanfaunastudio.com/and-the-winner-of-the-book-giveaway-is/feed 0 http://blog.urbanfaunastudio.com/how-to-knit-a-love-song-interview-with-rachael-herron-and-giveaway http://blog.urbanfaunastudio.com/how-to-knit-a-love-song-interview-with-rachael-herron-and-giveaway#comments Sun, 14 Mar 2010 08:51:59 +0000 admin http://blog.urbanfaunastudio.com/?p=553 When we were at Stitches West we got to meet a lovely knitter and local author Rachael Herron. Rachel is a long time knitter, spinner and now author of a new Knitting/Spinning Romance novel “How to Knit A Long Song“. We love that this novel has a focus on spinning and fiber retail. Having read an excerpt, both Blas and I agree it’ll be a great read for men and women alike. As long you love fiber and a good “yarn”   Let’s find out more from Rachel herself…

Your new novel is a knitting romance. Can you tell us about the plot?

How to Knit a Love Song is about a knitter and a sheep rancher. They both need wool, but not for warmth: they generate enough heat on their own. Abigail is more than ready for a change when she inherits a cottage from her beloved mentor, knitting guru Eliza Carpenter. Leaving the oppressive city for the greener pastures of a small California beach town, she intends to turn her cozy little windfall into a knitting shop and spend her days spinning, designing, and purling. But she’s not going to be welcomed with open arms by her new neighbor. Eliza’s disgruntled nephew, the gorgeous Cade, now owns everything surrounding Abigail’s ramshackle new home, and he views this sexy city girl as an unwanted interloper. But chemistry working overtime is drawing two very different people closer than they ever thought possible. And when the past that Abigail thought she’d left behind comes calling, she’ll have to somehow learn to trust her handsome adversary with much more than just her heart.

Tell us about your background in creative writing and fiber art…

I’ve been both knitting and writing since I can remember — I honestly can’t remember what I loved first, the pen or the needles. I think I really got into both around the age of five, and I’ve never looked back. Of course, at different times in my life, I’ve given one more emphasis than the other, but neither have ever been absent. I remember being about nine years old, hiding under my blankets with a notebook and pen with a wild desire to “write a novel.” I had no idea how to do it, but I just knew I wanted to. And the knitting was always around, even when I was a teenager, and there was nothing more uncool. The spinning came much later. I’ve only been spinning for about five years, but I caught the bug and now I have three wheels of my own, all Ashfords (my mother was from Ashburton, New Zealand, where the wheels are made).

Do you think there are certain aspects of knitting and spinning that lend themselves to the romance genre?

I think ever since Rapunzel and Sleeping Beauty, a certain legend has been attached to spinning, but I’m not sure the opposite holds true for knitting — in fact, I think we’ve had to overcome a level of prejudice when it comes to the myth of the frigid old maid with her sixteen cats and her acrylic granny squares. But in the last ten years or so, knitting has become much sexier, from the designs to the tools to the transmission of information. I think the internet has everything to do with that. And I definitely find that many knitters love romance, in all its forms. And why not? Cuddling up with a good book AND some knitting? Or both? Nothing better.

What is your favorite spinning wheel? What is your favorite fiber to spin?

I love my Ashford Joy. I have two Ashford Traditionals that I like very much, sturdy little workhorses, but my Joy is just that, a joy. And I love love LOVE spinning a merino/silk blend best, although alpaca is a very close second.

Current favorite yarn and  knitwear designer?

It might sound dumb, but my favorite yarn is usually whatever’s on my needles (at the moment it’s Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Worsted, lovely and smooshy). Designer: I love the work of Joan McGowan-Michael and Kira Dulaney.

Tell us about some authors who have inspired, supported and fed your creativity while writing this novel?

I’ve been lucky enough to have been supported and inspired by Barbara Bretton (another knitting writer — fantastic, you should check her out!) as well as amazing local writers Sophie Littlefield and Juliet Blackwell. I have a core group of writing friends in my Romance Writers of America group who have sustained me through everything. Anyone thinking of writing anything at all, if you can think of a reason to come to RWA, you should. I have an MFA in fiction which I’m very, very proud of, but I value my membership in RWA more. It’s a truly amazing organization of stupendously intelligent hard-working professionals who cumulatively know just about everything.

You seem to be a lover of coastal lifestyle, beach town atmosphere…what are some of the places in real life which inspired the novel?

Oh, yes… Pismo Beach, close to where I grew up, Half-Moon Bay, Pescadero. Anywhere there are tide pools, lighthouses, anywhere the coastal wind blows and the moonlight sparkles over the water. A pier never hurts anything.

Your novel includes the pattern to the sweater that Abigail is designing in the novel and you’re giving away the sweater!

Yep, I’m giving away the actual prototype that I knitted while writing the book. I love the sweater itself, but it’s a man’s sweater, and it’s too big for me. so I thought it would be a fun prize for readers. All you need to do is write a review of the book and let me know about it (details over at Yarnagogo). I’ll draw a winner at the beginning of April! Good luck!

Where can fans, both literary and knitty visit you and your book in the coming months?

Yay! My launch party is just around the corner, on Tuesday March 16th at Bookshop West Portal in San Francisco. I’ll be doing a reading and a Q&A, and there’ll be wine. It should be really fun, and I’d love it if lots of people came! Then I’ll be in LA with Crazy Aunt Purl on March 21st at the Knitter’s Studio, and at Fuzz in Boise on March 25. I’ll also be at Stitches South in Atlanta in April. That just got added to my itinerary, and I’m really excited about it. Thank you Rachel for taking the time to talk to us. Congratulations again!

Listed below are some of her upcoming appearances….

Tuesday March 16th 7pm
***  LAUNCH PARTY! ***
Bookshop West Portal, 80 West Portal Ave., San Francisco, CA

Sunday March 21nd 2pm
Knitter’s Studio, 8118 W. 3rd St., Los Angeles, CA
Special appearance with CRAZY AUNT PURL!

Saturday May 1st 11-2
Romantic Times Giant Book Fair ($5 cover)
Hyatt Regency, Columbus OH

Wednesday July 28th 5:30-7:30
RWA National Literary Signing
Gaylord Opryland Hotel, Nashville TN

BLOG GIVEAWAY: signed copy of How To Knit A Love Song!

Leave a comment on this blog post and we’ll enter you in our raffle to win a FREE SIGNED copy of How to Knit A Love Song! Drawing will take place on April 30th 2010 using a random number generator. We will send out the signed copy of the novel along with some fun knitting and spinning tools and yarn samples. ENTER TODAY! We hope to see you at the SF Launch Party…

Comment #5!

Rena contact us and let us know how you would like to collect your kit! Thanks to everyone who played along!

We’re GIVING AWAY one of our kits to one lucky reader! Leave a blog comment here about why you think this terrarium kit would be an ideal craft project for you and we’ll enter your name in a raffle for this kit. The winner will be announced on Dec 5th.

The fabulous folks of STC Craft have offered one of the patterns from Knitted Socks East and West for FREE download. You can CLICK THIS LINK to download the Tatami Sock Pattern! Come by the studio to check out a copy in person. Happy Knitting!

Congratulations to the blogger called “Kitty” please e-mail us with your mailing address and we’ll send that puppy off to you! Thanks again to everyone who commented on this giveaway. The next one is coming up soon!

We’ve been wanting to start a fiber meet up near the shop. The wonderful owners of Kaleo Cafe (1340 Irving Street between 14th and 15th Avenues.) have agreed to lend us their upstairs loft for fun fiber times! Our first meeting is this coming Monday May 11th 2009 from 6:30-8:30pm. Several of the Purl Jam group members are coming for sure. Blas and I will be doing a show and tell of the goodies we scored at Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival (Blas made a Bee-line for the Golding Spindles…much to the dismay of our fiber allowance!).  We’ll be bringing some spindles for people who want to learn about drop spindling. If you can support the cafe by purchasing at least one drink,  it would be greatly appreciated.

No RSVP needed. Please come anytime during our time block, they close at 9PM. We encourage you to bring any kind of fiber craft project  (spinning, felting, knit, crochet, etc…) to work on. Feel free to invite friends from other fiber/craft groups!

Blog Giveaway!

Our last giveaway was a success. We’re hosting another giveaway for a copy of One Skein on the blog: http://maryjanesattic.net/blog/one-skein-book-give-away/ Read Rachel-Marie’s book review and see some examples of finished projects (great for handspun!). She wants at least 25 comments before she’ll pick a name. So let’s give everyone a run for their knitty and go over there to comment. You just might win!  If you want to purchase a copy, we have them in the store.

Santa Cruz Sheep Retreat

We’re excited to annouce that the Santa Cruz Sheep Retreat on SUNDAY MAY 17th 2009 has been finalized and we’re taking registrations! Please frolick on over to the our webpage to read more about this fiber social event. LINK HERE

Why come? Fun with baby sheep – Fleece Washing – Natural Fiber Dyeing with Sandra – Head lady of Sheepie Dreams Organic Farms – Spindle Spinning – Needle Felting – Fiber White Elephant Swap No experience needed – Participate in the activities that interest you or just enjoy the scenery – Enjoy a catered lunch of farm fresh, local produce – Carpools available too!

Maker Faire San Mateo – The World’s Largest DIY Festival

A two-day, family-friendly event to MAKE, create, learn, invent, CRAFT, recycle, think, play and be inspired by celebrating arts, crafts, engineering, food, music, science and technology. We have been vending at Maker Faire since it’s inception in 2005. This is one of those events that crafty and tech loving folks cannot miss. It’s filled with robots, giant mouse traps, legos, knitting, music, art and more! Last year over 60,000 folks came to Maker Faire! We hope to see you there. http://www.makerfaire.com/ They’re also looking for volunteers if you have time to spare and want a free ticket to the event: http://makerfaire.com/bayarea/2009/volunteer/

Crochet and Amigarumi Knit Classes For June

We’ve got a couple great fiber classes for June. Join Kira Dulaney (Kira K Designs) on Saturday June 6th as she walks you through the basics of crochet in Beginning Crochet: Learn To Crochet a Bunny. This cute bunny is only made from simple crocheted swatch. What a fun way to introduce yourself or return to the art of crochet! On Saturday June 20th you can join Annemare Munn as she teaches you to knit some cute amigurumi animals in Amigurumi Knitting: knitting kawaii (cute) toys.  You will get your choice of knitting a frog, ladybug, or octopus, and will learn both the knitting and finishing skills in addition to basic designing skills!

May Shop Schedule

Shortened Shop Hours (Closing at 2PM)
Sat. May 9th and Sat. May 16th
Closed
Sunday May 17th for Santa Cruz Sheep Retreat
Monday May 25th for Memoral Day Holiday
Friday May 29th – Prepping for Maker Faire
Saturday and Sunday May 30/31st Vending at San Mateo Maker Faire

Entry Number 12!

1. Jodie Says:
   March 19th, 2009 at 8:29 pm eHello! My name is Jodie I would love to weave some fabric for art quilts–this little loom would be the perfect size!

Congrats Jodie! Send us an e-mail with your address and we’ll send it off to you. Your lampwork beads are lovely by the way…:)

What are ya giving away?   For this month we will be giving away one of our fun and portable Hazel Rose 4″ Handheld Looms! The HR Multi-Loom (Like the popular Weavettes) is the perfect 4″ square loom for all your favorite finer yarns! The sett is 1/8th inch and it’s called the Multi-Loom because there are at least three different ways to weave on it, each one gives you a different texture and a different type of fabric for your projects. The instruction book will illustrate all three of these techniques for you. Your loom comes with the instruction book, and a weaving needle.

 Awesome! What do I need to enter this FREE giveaway?  All you need to do is comment on this post with the following 1) Your FIRST NAME  and 2) One idea about what you would make with this nifty tool if it came to live with you!*

 I can do that, no prob. When will I know if I win? We will draw a name based on your entry number using a random number generator. The winner will be announced on Friday April 10th 2009! You will have 3-4 days to claim your prize or we’ll go to another entry.

OK…Start Posting Your Crafty Comments Here! If we get enough interest we will be posting a monthly giveaway on the blog with more fun fiber tools and supplies!

*If you do not answer both questions in your entry it will be disqualified. So be sure to leave us your name and a cool idea for using the loom! And your ideas can be similar to previous entries…after all, great minds think alike! 

Upcoming Shows
Don’t forget to visit us at the following shows:
Glen Park Festival – April 26th 2009
Maker Faire San Mateo - May 3oth & 31st 2009
Sock Summit 2009 - August 6th-9th 2009
For future show announcements, shop updates and fun giveaways join our mailing list at This Link