So cute--I just had to share

Not everyone has an art cake maker in the office. But we've got Christy--and boy oh boy can she come up with some delightfully clever cakes. Here's what she created for my birthday last week.

Join the Cricket Club

Gail and Rachel, mother and daughter, weaving on Cricket Looms.

Because of the tremendous interest in our Cricket loom, our very own Melissa has started a Cricket Club on Ravelry. This is the place to share your enthusiasm for rigid heddle weaving, your projects, get ideas, helpful hints, and become a part of the Cricket Loom weaving community. We've been hearing that people can't resist the Cricket due to its cuteness--as well as being easy as pie to use and take along, as well as super affordable.

Just go to www.Ravelry.com and join The Cricket Club Group. And if you don't know what Ravelry is, it's an on-line community of fiber enthusiasts. You can get patterns, information, enthusiasm with like minded souls. It's like Facebook for fiberholics.

Happy Weaving! chirp, chirp.

Join the Cricket Club

Schacht Anniversary Party and Contest Opening

Barry Schacht gets a spindle. Our Production Manager, Cindy Lair and our Technical Manager Filip Sokol constructed this exact giant (8 foot tall) replica of Schacht's first spindle. Thanks to Judy and Maggie of Shuttle, Spindles, and Skeins for loaning us the roving for the presentation.


Barry Schacht, CEO, started the evening's program donning a wig--to look very much as he did in 1969!


A sampling of some of the entries--do not worry specific details to come.


A scene from the showroom


The wall of skeins.

Thanks to Bud and Lois of Bountiful for sending the pictures!

The rest of the prizes

I know you all have been waiting to find out about the rest of the prizes. Thank you for your patience--and I apologize for taking longer than expected to announce them. In awarding these final prizes, we have divided up the prize winners into Runner Up Award Winners and Honorable Mention Award Winners. All kid entries will receive special recognition. What I've done today is just provide a list of the winners, but I really want to share not only the winners but all of the other finalists in the contest in the weeks to come. It is heartwarming and inspirational to see such a high degree of skill, creativity and exploration in the yarn and weaving on display here in the office. I want to share it all with you. We also received some wonderful stories from you and we'll share these as well over the next few months. We'll be posting the photos with details about the skein or woven item directly on our website. I'll try to keep you posted here as well. Again, I want to express my gratitude to everyone who entered, to all of the finalists, and award winners!

Spinning Award Winners
All Novice Runner Up Award Winners will receive a copy of Maggie Casey’s “Start Spinning—The Video”; all of the expert Runner Up Award Winners will receive our new Schacht Niddy Noddy. All Honorable Mention Award Winners will receive a Dizzy Yarn Gauge.
Jennifer Adams NOVICE HONORABLE MENTION
Mary Caldwell NOVICE RUNNER UP
Lindsay Dion EXPERT RUNNER UP
Alison Forsythe EXPERT HONORABLE MENTION
Jeannine Glaves GRAND PRIZE WINNER
Firth Gowan EXPERT RUNNER UP
Holly Jackson EXPERT HONORABLE MENTION
Yohannah Klingensmith NOVICE HONORABLE MENTION
Lori Lasher NOVICE RUNNER UP
Libby Llop EXPERT HONORABLE MENTION
Maureen McGuire NOVICE RUNNER UP
Marjorie Marker HONORABLE MENTION
Tami Mulder EXPERT RUNNER UP
Rochelle Ribeiro EXPERT HONORABLE MENTION
Lynn Ruggles EXPERT HONORABLE MENTION
Lois Scarbrough EXPERT HONORABLE MENTION
Theresa Schechter NOVICE HONORABLE MENTION
Eileen Scollan NOVICE HONORABLE MENTION
Anna Zinsmeister EXPERT HONORABLE MENTION
Susan Zivec NOVICE RUNNER UP

Weaving Award Winners
All Runner Up Award Winners will receive an end delivery shuttle with a package of pirns. All Honorable Mention Award Winners will receive a Limited-Edition Boat shuttle made of special laminated woods or specialty woods.
Sandra Anible NOVICE HONORABLE MENTION
Heidi Bates NOVICE HONORABLE MENTION
Barbara Christiaans NOVICE RUNNER UP
Rhonda Crosman EXPERT HONORABLE MENTION
Michele Dionne NOVICE RUNNER UP
Lynette Glass EXPERT HONORABLE MENTION
Elisabeth Hill EXPERT RUNNER UP
Jean Hill EXPERT HONORABLE MENTION
Victoria Klasch NOVICE HONORABLE MENTION
Eve Lindsey EXPERT RUNNER UP
Edie Love HONORABLE MENTION
Joan Williams Near EXPERT HONORABLE MENTION
Susan Porter NOVICE HONORABLE MENTION
Jill Sanders HONORABLE MENTION
Mary-Kay Tilden NOVICE RUNNER UP
Sharon White EXPERT RUNNER UP
Carry Wilcox GRAND PRIZE WINNER
Anna Zinsmeister EXPERT HONORABLE MENTION

Kids Weaving and Spinning
All entrants in the kid weaving and spinning category will receive special recognition. Each entrant will receive a 12” stick shuttle and a special certificate.
Spinning Entries
Megan Wallace
Renanah Yarden

Weaving Entries
Blair Joel Adams
Anna Beth Alexander
Tala Blais
Tokeya Blais
Patience Glueck
Lia Eggleston
Kaitlin Marler
Grace Smith
Mark Smith
Elizabeth Wheeler

YouTube Challenge Winner will receive a $250 shopping Spree.
Syne Michell for her Cricket Loom Weaving Demonstration.

Shop Challenge
We challenged our dealers to a contest for the most entries from their shop. The prize: We throw all of the entrants from their shop a party. Homestead Fiber Crafts of Waco, Texas won by a landslide: 50 entries into our “I Made It On My Schacht Contest”.

We are having a grand time planning their bash, which will include door prizes, activities, and treats. Thanks to Homestead Fiber Crafts for your enthusiasm and support!

Congratulations Carry Wilcox

Correction:
It's Carry Wilcox (sorry for the misspelling) who is the winner of our Cherry Wolf Pup Grand Prize. Congratulations.

I Made It On My Schacht Grand Prize Winners

Many congratulations to not only the Grand Prize winners, but everyone who entered. We announced the winners this evening at our 40th Anniversary Celebration.

The Grand Prize Winner in the Spinning Category is:
Jeannine Glaves. She'll receive our 40th Anniversary Cherry Matchless Spinning Wheel.

Kerry Wilcox is the Grand Prize Winner in the Weaving category. She'll receive a Cherry Wolf Pup.

We'll announce the other award winners and their awards tomorrow.

Thank you one and all for your participation and involvement. The people who came to see the opening and celebrate with us were so delighted with the entries. Really, we are over whelmed, moved and grateful for your enthusiasm.

Playing Around

When was the last time you messed around? If you’re like me, it’s probably been awhile. The reason I bring this up is that I was trying to conjure up the feeling (the excitement!) I had when I first started to weave. Was it just that everything was so new? Or was it that I spent a lot of time experimenting, messing around. This is what I want to do; this is what I hope you can do, too.

I encourage you to celebrate Weaving and Spinning Week this year by fooling around with yarn and fiber. Just for the sheer joy of it.