Rittenhouse Needlepoint

Wow.
A beautiful store with so much to see. They have a ton of needlepoint yarn and they have many, many examples of things you can *do* with your needlepoint! That has been my struggle... how many needlepoint pillows can you possibly own? And I suspect my family does not want a ton of pillows, either.... We are not cutesy pillow people. Nor are my friends, for that matter.... it's an internal struggle for me....

I am not in love with all the ornaments or three dimensional pieces, though the variety of stitches on the pieces are really pretty and very creative.

An aspect of this store which is new to me is that at Rittenhouse Needlepoint they both create custom canvases and they make the pillows or the boxes or the backgammon sets which can be the final product.

Clearly I have been extremely limited in my vision as to what one can make with needlepoint. At Finishing Needlepoint you can see a variety of things to make - from hair accessories to coasters to the aforementioned backgammon sets.

I spent a good amount of time speaking with Kaitlyn who custom paints canvases for the shop. Kaitlyn is trained as a graphic artists and she showed me an example of her work. Not inexpensive to get a custom canvas.... But for those of us who like the process of creating but are not artistic, seems like a nice collaboration.

The intriguing thing about Rittenhouse Needlepoint is that they encourage lingering - as they even clearly print on their windows they are for needlepoint-coffee-conversation. They also encourage the meditative aspect of needlepoint. (I have been struggling with the feeling that I am wasting my time when I do my fiber art/crafts; this gives me 'permission' to work away during the day when I think I should be doing something at my desk. Of course, in all cases, needlepoint or desk work, is going against our intrinsic need to be standing and moving. How can we combine exercise and needlepoint?)

Kaitlyn kindly let me photograph one of the canvases.

Terrible photograph, but I didn't want them to think I was taking the photograph to copy it; and I was taking the photo just to show my husband who knows about my llama and alpaca fetish. A nice combination of interests... now if only there were an exercising, healthy eating llama canvas.

Here is a very colorful and playful foot stool from their web site:

Check them out at 18th and Walnut Streets in downtown Philadelphia, on the second floor. Plan to spend  while - heck, bring your project with you. I bought a ton of beautiful yarn to complete a geometric piece I am currently working on.

Go back here to see the discussion of one of my recently finished pieces. Here is the photo, though:

Llamas at the Festival!

I probably spent an hour talking with the owners of the llamas. These were the same llamas as last year... and of course I did not catch the llamas' names. Nor did I catch the last name of the owners, Steve and Denise. They have 8 llamas, four males and four females. And of course they both have day jobs; this is a hobby.

Me and the admiring children all wanted to pet the llamas, but the llamas would have none of it. Steve told me that they will put up with it some times, but mostly the animals were dodging our hands as we reached in to lovingly touch them. Finally after I had been with them for the better part of an hour Steve gave a child some pellets to feed them. I was like - 'WHAT! How come you didn't offer me any pellets to feed the llamas?' He had two responses, the first I don't recall, and the second was that I wasn't six. Hmmmm. I should probably learn from that.

Southern Adirondack Fiber Festival

This will happen on September 26th and 27th this year. (The card below is old! I had picked it up in 2014, but was unable to attend.)
I went in 2013, but not since. It is a small festival, but growing, I am sure.
Check out their web site to get more information.



The Washington County Fairgrounds are only 30 miles from Troy, NY - where Herb grew up.

Beauvoir in Biloxi, Mississippi

Beauvoir is the coastal home of Jefferson Davis - the president of the Confederacy during the Civil War. It is here that he wrote The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government.

Though the homes/historic structures on the property are quite small, there was once a soldiers home on the property and currently there is the 'Presidential Library.'

 

The main house.

 

One of the out buildings.

The other out building which was used as Jefferson Davis' office.

View from the house to the Gulf.

Here is the library building itself - and inside there are records and muster rolls for Confederate soldiers. I suppose I should check and see what I can learn, as any family members from Texas might be found here.

I had to include this picture because Andrew Kirkpatrick, Jr., fighting for the Union, dies at Fortress Monroe.

And this might be morbid fascination - a death mask. I haven't seen many of these. (How do you suppose they got the plaster out of his beard?)

And who would have thought there would be an over lap of my interest in the Civil War and fiber art... It seems that perhaps Jefferson Davis, a graduate of West Point, came up with the idea to use camels in the American Southwest.

A gravestone for a military camel.

Ok, and finally.... Llamas.... and donkeys, and Shetland ponies, and goats and sheep... these are here to amuse the school children after they have gone through the house and endured the lecture on history. I am including the video I took of the animals chasing a truck in hopes of being fed. Made me laugh out loud, as one can hear. By the way, I was told that the house has acquired a juvenile camel and they are expecting another one soon. I must return soon to meet the new arrivals. How often does one get to be that close to a camel. (Though the llamas were a little skittish.) And can I say...? There is a graveyard on the property for the Confederate soldiers who chose to be buried on site. The tombstones are now carefully arranged, however previously that was not the case. But it made me laugh that the animals are free to wander and contemplate (and poop on) the graves.

One of two llamas

No relation - that I know of.

And finally...

Camel Fiber

You learn something new every day. (Hopefully, I suppose.)

While reading Volume 11, Issue 1 of Wild Fibers magazine I noticed a photograph of camel moms with their babies. (Do baby camels have a name, like kids or cria?) One frequently sees llamas, alpacas, etc., but I don't ever recall seeing photographs of camels in a context of knitting fiber. Maybe I just haven't been sensitive to it in the past, but it struck me as worthy of investigation.

The advertisement is for Weaver Creek Fibers. According to their web site they are wholesale purveyors of luxury fibers. I'm afraid they do not have a terribly long list of locations where one can buy their product, as I would love to feel camel fiber. They will blend the fiber with merino wool or silk.

Camels may be creatures of the desert but they need a downy undercoat to keep the suns rays away from their tender skin. Camel down has been prized for centuries and in modern times was in every gentleman's wardrobe, in the quintessential Camel Hair Coat.

OMG, Camel hair coats really are made of camel hair!

The Baby Camel Down is a warm golden brown and so very soft. This short stapled fiber is prepared in a manner that makes it very easy to spin and will do well, whether spun with a lot of loft or tightly for sturdy garments. It pairs wonderfully with merino and silk in our spectacular blends and will take dye beautifully. Camel down is the soft warm inner down of a bactrian camel with a fiber structure similar to cashmere. The down is usually 1-3 inches long. Camel down does not felt easily. Baby Camel Top has been becoming more popular every year.

I wonder if camel fiber is generally used for knitting, as well as making men's winter coats. I will have to ask around. I notice, too, that they are discussing the use of baby camel fiber, not the fiber from an adult animal. What do they do with all the adult animals? I did a google search on the address, and one cannot tell if they have a lot of land and they are raising the animals. (But, perhaps they are not raising the animals, given that they mention yaks, rabbits, alpaca fiber, too.) I was disturbed by the thought of all the adult animals.... So, I conclude, perhaps naively, that they have a source of fiber from a place that has more 'use' for adult animals.

As I read further, I see them discuss the animals. They indicate:

Bactrian camels have two humps, weigh about 1600 pounds and stand about 7-9 feet tall at the top of their humps. Their gestation period is 370-445 days and give birth to calves weighing 80-130 pounds. Their life span is 40-50 years. Bactrian camels have two coats: the warm inner coat of down and a rough outer coat which is long and hairy. They shed their fiber in clumps consisting of both coats and is normally gathered. They produce about 5 pounds of fiber annually.

What I conclude is that they do not raise their own animals, as the photograph shows animals with only one hump, not two...

I have swiped this image from a google image search.



Ok, I am disillusioned. And I wonder why they would use a photograph of animals with one hump instead of the two humps they discuss in their description.

A baby camel is a calf.

A Shout Out for Wild Fibers Magazine

I just wanted to give a shout out to Linda Cortright and her small team for their magazine Wild Fibers. Linda travels all over the world and takes beautiful photographs. She publishes 4 times a year. Wild Fibers magazine elucidates the reader on the subject of all sources of fiber - rabbit, yak, alpaca, goat, etc.

Our mission is to understand the role natural fibers have played in developing cultures and supporting communities throughout the world. We are as devoted to the people who spin, weave, and create "magic" with fiber, as we are to the farmers, nomads, and shepherds who have tended these endearing creatures from the start.

I learned about Wild Fibers magazine at an Alpaca and Fleece festival in Maryland.

LaMalot Farm in Breezewood, PA; they are retiring

One my trips between Maryland and State College, PA I have occasionally stopped at LaMalot Farm. It was a large llama farm in Breezewood, PA. I spoke with the owners, I am afraid I don’t recall their names, to let them know I was driving through town and hoping to stop in to visit the herd. I spoke with them on the mobile phone in Florida. It turns out that she has culled her herd from roughly 40 llamas to just 4 – one sire and 3 females. One of the females has been with her a while – the llama is 22 years old. She indicated that she has reduced the price on the animals, and two of them are pregnant; she will sell mother and cria together.

It was at this farm that I learned about the relaxing effect of llamas. The proprietor told me that she noted that many of her buyers are emergency room nurses; people with high stress jobs. There was an article in the New York Times a while ago how these animals are used in nursing homes and the like to help with patients. Llamas are so good, as they prefer to eliminate in a communal dung pile and are not messy animals.

This is an interesting couple – they told us several years ago that they own much of the land under the interchange between 70 and the Pennsylvania Turnpike. The man had to leave school after 8th grade when his father passed. They raised cattle, but the wife indicated that she was afraid of the large animals and wanted something more gentle. I hope I am remembering that correctly, as it was many years ago that she told me the story.

The husband indicated that, during the 70’s, he drove a tanker truck to Washington, DC to get a tanker full of gasoline which he drove back to Breezewood to sell locally. This was during the gas shortage of the mid-70’s. Entrepreneurial guy.

They are lovely people and I wish them well in their retirement.