Studio Tour Teaser

The Toe River Studio Tour comes up in just three weeks! On December 2-3 over 125 artists in 75 locations all over Mitchell and Yancey counties* will open their studios. The arts council publishes a new and improved map and has an exhibit to help visitors find their way. The tour has been going on for more than 15 years and has grown each year. This will be our 4th tour in my (not so new anymore) studio.

Since this is Lucas's first tour he gets to be first. These are two of his large pieces, but he has been working hard on a variety of items. So far I've heard about mirrors, candlesticks, bookends, end tables and flowers. With three weeks to go there's no telling what else he will come up with.




Having worked all summer at a real job Mom doesn't have quite the selection she's had in the past, but with her time more focused she has some especially great pieces.



Please ignore the top view carpet shot, I take full credit for last minute laziness.

And in my studio I've turning out pots at an amazing speed. Most days.


I've got two kiln loads of pots in the works, and I should have a good selection of everything. For the first time in two years I might even have enough mugs! I also hope to have a dozen or more yarn bowls ready to go along with....
the debut of my very own hand dyed sock yarn!


This is what's ready, I'd love to get another day to work on it, but at this point there is no telling if it will happen. The pots of course have to take precedence.

I hope to see many of you here! The maps are available all over the area. Pick one up when you get here at either of the arts council centers while you see the exhibit, the studios, galleries, or the Chamber offices. Or if you just can't wait, we can send you one in the mail as well. Just let me know.

You can also see more of our work at the website SKH Pottery

*And for those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about and didn't get here from the newsletter, we're in the mountains of Western North Carolina. The hotbed of crafts in the country. More artists per capita than anywhere else in the US.

Stash Score!

My local yarn store, Yummi Yarn, has a sale table this week. Bad news for those of us who pride ourselves on small yarn stashes. This is 4 balls of Debbie Bliss Cotton Angora, $4 each! and 10 skeins of Berroco Softwist, (deep breath first) $2.25!!!!! These are all destined to be scarves hopefully before the winter is over.
There has been very little knitting accomplished this week. I'm franticly trying to get lots of pots made for the studio tour, and my body is complaining. Looks like I've got to prioritize. Pots first, then the one stealth christmas knit for the year.

S

Sockvember?

I finished up a pair of socks. I did finish the knitting on the 31st in time for Socktober, but I didn't kitchener the toe of the second one until the next morning.


I forgot the details, the yarn is Cascade Fixation, with my usual basic top down sock pattern. I'm please with the fit, we'll see how well they hold up to wear.

And since despite all the other projects in progress I always like to have a sock going. I cast on a couple of toes last night. I'm combining Wendy's Toe Up socks with the Jaywalker pattern from Grumperina. I'd promised myself that the Jaywalkers were next, but I was really in the mood for toe ups. We'll see how that goes. I'm using 2mm needles! Kind of like working with toothpicks, but I seem to get getting the gauge I want. This is also my first real project with my own dyed yarn. And finally just to make things more interesting I'm going to try to work them at the same time. I've done it before and got annoyed, but it's time to try again.