Greenwood Car Show on June 30th!

The Phinney Garage Sale Day on May 19th was very successful for us.  Thanks for your patronage!  We sold a truckload of items and had a great time selling and socializing.  The weather was beautiful and I was in my rhinestone sunglasses all day!   It was a good work out shlepping all that stuff to the PNA with a quick clean up.  We had to make it to Key Arena for Rat City Roller Girls! 

Next sale we can be found at 76th and Greenwood at the Greenwood Car Show on Saturday, June 30th.  Let's hope for good weather.  The cars, displays, entertainment, and food are worth the trip!  I love the 1920 and 1930's cars!

Link to Greenwood Car Show: http://greenwoodcarshow.com/

Greenwood Garage Sale Day!

We will have a booth at Greenwood Garage Sale Day FLEA MARKET on Sautrday, May 19.  The Flea Market is located in the lower parking lot of thePNA brick building  We open at 9 a.m. and will go until about 2 p.m.   We will have a fresh selection of  our potholders in pairs and singles AND a group of half price "random" for sale along with 2 truckloads of great stuff from the house. 

Lots of antiques, collectibles, frames, household, vintage clothing, etc.  There also are some leftovers from the PNA Capital Campaign sale last year, so you can support the PNA with your purchase!  Come early for best selction! 

Link for PNA Garage Sale Day: http://phinneycenter.org/events/garagesale.shtml

 

Application in for Urban Craft Uprising!

I completed our application for Urban Craft Uprising last night.  The juried craft show is July 7 and 8 at Seattle Center.  Notification will go out around April 23rd, so we will know soon.  Here are pairs of newly created BRIGHT potholders for the sale.....aren't they lovely?

UPDATE:  We did not get selected for UCU in July....must not be the type of craft they are looking for.  Next sales are Phinny Art Walk on May 11 and Greenwood Garage Sale Day on May 19. 

Special thanks for Chardell for the nice bag of GREAT socks!  I was really low on brown tones and the donation is very much appreciated!       Lauri

Big News! RSP will be a "Tasty" soon.....

"Tasty" is a cute shop near my home that features original art and handmade items.  I met with the owner earlier this year and she thought our potholders would be a good fit with other kitchen items to feature this spring and for Mother's Day.   The exact date is unknown, but it would be great to be at "Tasty" during the popular Phinney/Greenwood Art Walk in May!

We have 100 potholders NEW for "Tasty", including a very special PAIR in black, bright pink and green.  You might recognize these as the "Tasty" colors! 

The next scheduled sales are PNA Yard Sale Day on May 19 Flea Market in the lower parking lot and the PNA Winter Fest the first weekend of December.  We are currently investigating the summer "Urban Craft Uprising" (UCU) in Seattle July 7 and 8th.  UCU might be a good show for Recycled Sock Potholders if it works into our vacation schedule.   I would want to show a minimum of 600 potholders....better get busy!

Of course, we sell by appointment at the house on Thursdays, too.  

Thank you to friends and neighbors that recently made donations of old socks and socks without mates to RSP!  Recycling is a good thing....

The link for "Tasty": http://www.shoptastyart.com/#/home/

Exactly what is a "Recycled Sock Potholder"?

These sturdy kitchen wonders are woven on a large 9" or vintage 7.5" loom.  The loops are cut from used socks or left-overs from sock production.  Our used socks are purchased by the pound from the Seattle Goodwill Outlet!  We go there periodically for several hours and "mine" the bins for socks.  Sometimes, we find some great stuff.....vintage sweaters, antiques, antique linens, vintage lace, yarn, clothes, knitting needles, books,  a spare pressure cooker top for my very expensive Swiss pressure cooker.  Being a "bottom feeder" at the Goodwill Outlet is big fun!  Not many people are looking for socks, so there is little competition.

Fiber composition is a big unknown!  I do not use socks that are obviously 100% nylon or acrylic.  I prefer to work with cotton and wool blends. 

Caring for your "Recycled Sock Potholder" is very easy.  Machine wash as needed with your regular laundry.  Wash vibrant reds alone, just in case of color bleed.  They usually was up very nicely.  After laundering 100's of them, I have only had a few strange things happen in the wash.  Hang to let dry and stretch it a bit to make sure it stays a nice square shape. 

To tell the truth, I hardly ever wash mine!  When they get really dirty, I make new ones!   My favorites are RED, WHITE, and BLACK to match my 1930's kitchen! 

Potholder of the Week!

This pair of potholders was made with a pair of GROOVY tied dyed anklet socks and basic black socks.  They were really fun to make and made a great gift for my brother-in-law!  I would LOVE to find more tied dyed socks.  The black really makes the bright tie dye colors pop!  

A Big Success and Thank You!

The response to our potholder sale benefitting the PNA Capital Campaign was HUGE!  We sold about 500 potholders and made a large donation to the PNA Elevator Challenge!  Perhaps next year for Winter Fest  there will be an elevator!  

2012 Winter Fest was a great event!  I enjoyed chatting with new and repeat customers.  The new and larger size of potholder on the new loom was well received, but the smaller potholder on the vintage looms is preferred by some.  Perhaps next year, we will have potholders of both sizes.   Amelia brought out left over stock from 2011 of the smaller potholders on Sunday because sales were so brisk on Saturday.   Sales were strong in all colorways with a preference for matched pairs.  

My favorite potholder pair, the "Black Watch", which looked like the Black Watch Scottish tarten featuring dark navy & hunter green argyle socks, is destined to be a Christmas gift for a man in a traditional Scottish music group.  I want to find some more argyle socks for a "Scottish Tarten" line of potholders!

Link to the PNA web site about the news and see my picture:   http://www.phinneycenter.org/CC/challenge.shtml

Thank you so much for your support and purchases to benefit the Capital Campaign!   Happy Holidays and see you in 2012!   I am planning a "Potholder of the Week" feature with my new explorations into potholder design and weaving.....