People ask us what we're in the process of making on a daily basis. Often the answer is (at least from me): What am I NOT making? But in all seriousness, each week we'll be posting pictures and information about what one of us crafty genius people are in the process of making. For ourselves, for our loved ones, for the shop. We don't get to share this stuff with one another often enough. And I know I'm totally inspired by what everyone is handcrafting! So without further ado, here's what Sophie's making! (We all know Sophie's Ravelry profile could use some help but she's too busy knitting. Sigh.)

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Pattern: Quest for a Man by Laura Nelkin

Material: Shibui Merino Alpaca in artichoke

Why? "Knitting this for a friend at my other job that's always harassing me about my knitting. He wants a hat."

Pattern: Toe-up sock with cables. Favorite sock book is Sensational Knitted Socks from Martingale Press.

Material: Zauberball Crazy color 2092

Why? "Just because."

Don't worry, we won't just post our in-progress projects! When we finish things up, we'll post completed pictures. Swears.

Our first ever crafty genius chat happens this week! This Thursday evening from 7 to 9 p.m. we'll be spending the evening with Tara Swiger aka the Blonde Chicken. She is a writer, maker, and Starship Captain in Johnson City, Tennessee. She explores creating smart businesses through her own yarn company, Blonde Chicken Boutique, and by serving as First Officer and Community Manager aboard creative, crafty and downright adorable ships (from tech start-ups to copywriters). She creates tools (the Map-Making Guide) and spaces (The Starship) for teeny tiny crafty businesses to explore their own best businesses and marketing plans. <PREVIEWEND>

Tara's new book, Market Yourself: A Marketing System for Smart and Creative Business Owners is now available in select shops (we're one of those shops!) and as an e-book. Published by the amazing Cooperative Press, we've already poured over the book and it gets two thumbs up. It has worksheets! It has diagrams! It has the answer to so many small business owner's questions including mine. Seriously, it was like finding my future-self who's been through it ALL once and can help me make more informed decisions. A resource at your fingertips that you can return to again and again as you and your business change. Brilliant.

check out Tara's amazing yarn!!!! amazing!!!!

So join us on Thursday, May 10th. We'll provide some snacks if you provide the beverages. I'll be knitting my next pair of toe-up socks using DyeKnittinKDye's Batgirl sock yarn (did you know we carry Ady Bee's hand-dyed, one of a kind yarn in the shop???). And sipping a Pimm's Cup. Just like they did back in the 18th century...or something like that.

(If you happen to be by the shop today (Wednesday, April 25), it's Naomi's last day. Drop in and wish her well. We're all going to miss her so very very much. That's the greatest thing about opening Gather Here, we meet the most amazing people and get to call them our friends.)

As some of you may have heard, I am no longer going to be working at Gather Here.  I have come across two amazing opportunities that I could not pass up, one to survey lizards in the Bahamas in May, and the other to study shorebirds in the Arctic for June and July.  It is with great sadness that I am leaving this amazing community and so in order to help me process these sad feelings, I'm writing you love letters! Here goes.

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    I also want to thank you for being so inspiring in your crafty endeavours.  There was hardly a day that one of you didn't come in with a brilliant idea that I had to go home and make right then. I honestly don't know how I'll stay inspired when I'm not surrounded by such amazing people!

left: crochet pillows, right: parson gray quilt

I will miss you all so much, but don't worry, I'll be in to craft every chance I get!

left: handmade t-shirt, right: schoolhouse tunic

When I first moved here I was pretty lonely.  I went for a walk one Friday night and found myself on Broadway street.  During my pity-party/walk for one I had been thinking about how much I missed my community in Vancouver.  Then I saw it. It was a beacon in the dark. I walked in and couldn't believe my eyes.  Yarn! Fabric! Cool folks that would maybe be my friends? Then you asked me to come to knitter's brunch.  I was in.  

Naomi

left: spring colorwork cowl, right:whinnie with the knit jack-a-lope

While I was down at Juniper Moon Farm, Susan Gibbs launched the By Hand Kickstarter Campaign to fund a new lifestyle magazine for people that make and do. A few months ago Susan contacted me about possibly contributing to the magazine. To which I answered with a squeal, "Heck yeah! I'm up for anything!" When I saw her on the farm she asked if I'd be willing to be the sewing editor. Once again, I squealed, "Heck yeah!" A magazine dedicated to people that are makers! Folks like you and me! I am 100% behind this.

<PREVIEWEND>The first week I checked on the campaign with my limited cell service each morning while holding my phone above my head in the middle of the pasture. WOW! Susan and Jeannie have to be jumping for joy, totally funded in 5 days! But here's the thing, just because their first goal was met doesn't mean they couldn't use your pledge. Additional funding means MORE digital content. The ability to post full online tutorials in all areas of the magazine (cooking, gardening, woodworking, knitting, crochet, sewing, and more).  Additional funding means I'll be able to launch actual downloadable patterns! And serious all out stitching tutorials by some of my favorite stitching geniuses (Like Lizzy House!!!). It's going to be the bomb[dot]com. For reals.

This magazine is for every kind of maker, too. You can expect to find articles and tutorials on woodworking, vegetable gardening, cheese-making, canning, block printing, do-gooding, and re-purposing. Everyone involved is first and foremost a maker. With a wealth of useful magazine making knowledge to boot. (Did you know I have a BA in English? And wrote for most of my college career a monthly column for the Drake Times-Delphic? Hah, that degree is paying off!)

Have I convinced you to pledge yet? Well, if my involvement isn't enough consider the incredible gifts for your pledge. (Besides just my gratitude!) The By Hand tees and letter-press posters are amazing. I want all seven posters for our shop. Can you picture them all on the studio wall inspiring you to make something? Because we all know that "The Revolution WILL BE hand made." You betcha it will be. And I know you will all be a part of it. If you are feeling wicked fancy and wealthy, you could pledge $3,000 and enjoy dinner for 10 in the sheep pasture. Local food and wine whipped up by Zac and Susan which is totally worth every penny - I know. This sheep pasture dinner is a dream of mine and I really want someone I know to enjoy this. (If you invite me to your dinner, I'll sew you a garment to wear.) So please, if you have the inclination, please pledge your support today. And be a part of the Hand Made Revolution.

xoVirginia, By Hand Sewing Editor (yep, that does sound good!)

Last fall Susan Gibbs of Juniper Moon Farm announced that Lizzy House would be doing a quilting and block printing workshop at the farm. It was six months away and I decided to sign up. I still haven't figured out how to tell the future so I booked myself a trip so far in advance that it would have to all work out. I'd be totally lying if I said the week before leaving wasn't crazy and stressful. It was the first time I would be out of the state and not just a text message away from the shop since we opened in February of 2011. But I still got on the plane and left. The promise of great food, excellent conversation and new friendships helped me set aside any anxieties I had about leaving the shop for an entire week. <PREVIEWEND>

Clockwise from left: Amanda with Jerry the llama, Caroline feeding the sheep, Zac and Lizzy with a lamb,Lizzy is ambushed by goats and sheep!

I'm so very glad I did. Lizzy House is exactly the person she says she is. The woman behind the enthusiastic tweets, the hopeful soul behind the honest blog posts, the gifted artist behind each inspired fabric collection. She is all of this and more. Plus she raises her voice in song when the mood strikes her, serenading a room of students cutting out fabric with "You're the Top" from Anything Goes.

Clockwise from left: the quilt Lizzy designed for the workshop, Lizzy sports the dress we made, Lizzy gets llama smooches, detail of her new Hello, Pilgrim! quilt

The farm is truly the magical place you've seen on the JMF website. The faces of the JMF pattern books smiling in real life. Susan is a gracious hostess leading her guests on a tour that would make you never want to leave. I stayed in a yurt! With a wood burning stove! I woke up to sheep grazing under the yurt and miniature donkeys frolicking in the copse. Homemade yogurt and granola waiting in the kitchen. And each evening delicious meals prepared by Zac were served and devoured by us as if it was our last meal.

Clockwise from left: first morning of the workshop, Monday morning snow fall, SHEEP!, one of several amazing meals by Zac.

And the people. The people who came were gems. Amanda, Peggy, Mary, Lisa, Amy, Caroline and Therese were the other students in Lizzy's workshop. Each of them truly amazing and all of us with such different yet beautiful fabric. I can't wait to see each of their finished quilts! Kimm would join us for garment sewing on Monday and made the most adorable sweet pea skirt this side of the Mississippi. I swear.

Clockwise from left: Mary's blocks, Caroline in handmade skirt, Amanda's blocks, Kimm hemming her skirt.

The next time Juniper Moon Farm offers a weekend workshop retreat, GO! If you ever have the opportunity to take a class from Lizzy House, DO IT! The experience will be with me forever. I'm pretty sure this is true for everyone who came. (A blog post dedicated just to my week of making to follow...)

Clockwise from left: Susan leads us on a tour of the farm, the sun setting on the farm, the interior of the yurt, picturesque barn

Who knew a whole year could fly by so quickly? It feels like it was only yesterday that I was painting walls white, putting together shelving and scrubbing old concrete floors. To be honest, I'm still scrubbing old concrete floors but the walls are barely visible now that the shelves are stocked, the many samples hung, and there is now so much inspiration on the walls made to share with all of you.

<PREVIEWEND>Some folks have referred to the 19th of February as our anniversary. But we've been calling it a birthday. Perhaps because Noah and I don't have children. Perhaps because she was just a tiny little seed of a dream in 2009. Then a reality by October of 2010 when we became an actual Massachusetts business. Gather Here was a concept, a logo, a business plan, a website and a pile of Ikea shelving. Boxes of stuff from all over the world arrived in January 2011. And the blood, sweat and tears of a village of believers made her greater than the sum of her parts by February of that year. Noah and I have watched this shop wobble, stumble and finally get her bearings and walk proudly into the community. We hope to see her run before she is two years of age.

This Sunday we celebrate the dream of one crazy crafter and the people that make it possible for gather here to grow up. We've got lots to share including some of our favorite local crafters and artists. Opening Gather Here has created opportunities to collaborate or witness the collaborations of the talented community. It's our pleasure to share these folks with you.

Who's going to be at the party:

Made in Lowell will be returning! We just began carrying her awesome cupcake pincushion rings in 2012 but we know she's bringing full-sized cupcake pin cushions. And perhaps a mushroom pin cushion, too.

Ady Bee of Dye KnittinK Dye is back with her gorgeous fibers (including vegan yarns!!!) as well as an amazing collaboration with the incredible designer, Ann Weaver. We'll be showcasing Ann's trunk show and books, too. Our professional sample knitter, Koren is in the middle of the Whiteness of the Whale cardigan out of Juniper Moon Farm's Findley. It's going to be gorgeous.

We're excited to introduce many of you to our friend, Patti of On the Edge Knife Sharpening. She'll be sharpening scissors in the shop from 3 p.m. until 6 p.m.! She can do left-handed scissors as well as pinking shears. She sharpens all the Gather Here scissors every couple of months and we think she is the absolute bomb-dot-com.

Danielle of the Merriweather Council will be opening her embroidery exhibit in the studio space with over fifty newly made and framed pieces just for this occasion. You'll have the opportunity to meet this inspiring artist and wrestle for one of her pieces. We are a bit frightened that once the wall is covered in her hoops we won't ever want to take them down.

We are fortunate to also be hosting Amy of Knit Collage who has been collaborating with our very own knitting genius, Danielle Shields! She'll have a full-fledged trunk show with lots of luxurious yarn, the newest Knit Collage pattern book as well as some free patterns. If you've never met Amy in-real-life then this alone should get you down to the shop. She is honestly the bestest person we've ever met.

And finally, we have some of our own goodies to share. There will be "craft or die" t-shirts that are hand-screened by the amazing Megan Mary Creamer right over at the Washington Street Arts Center. Limited edition draw string bags designed by Marissa Falco and also screened by Megan Mary Creamer. (I adore both of these ladies so much!) The fabulous Joe Barillaro designed the postcard for our birthday and will have some limited edition posters screen printed by James Weinberg and available for purchase. We can't wait to add this to the other two prints he created in the past year. Some of the samples that we've made will also be for sale. Like the Oliver + S dresses out of Cloud 9 Organic fabrics and a few A-line and wrap skirts. If the fabric is gone there's no sense in keeping these and we hope they'll find good homes. And we've stitched up our very own lined box bags. We don't have many of them because we want you to do-it-yourself but we couldn't resist the combinations of fabrics currently in the shop.

See you Sunday, February 19, 2012 from 2 until 6 p.m. We're excited (aren't we always?), we'll have cupcakes, and we'll have little gifts that we'll be handing out throughout the party compliments of the many companies that supply our shop with quality goods. And like our holiday party, with your $25 purchase you can enter to win a raffle prize! (Ask the holiday prize winners - those prizes were pretty sweet!)

Who's a fan of Lizzy House? (raises both hands)

Maritza (our quilting instructor and crafty-genius) and I saw on the twitter-verse that there was some interest in doing a quilt-along for Lizzy's awesome pattern, The Colorist. And somewhere between too many Friday night cocktails and tweets we volunteered to put together the official group! Which is a pretty cool thing to find out you've done on Saturday morning when you check your twitter feed. <PREVIEWEND>

The flickr group is officially up and already has 40 members! But we know there are more of you peeps out there. Don't be afraid of curves! Don't be afraid of color! Bottom line - don't be afraid!

You have plenty of time to join us because I'm just now blogging about this brilliant idea. Here's the official timeline that Maritza and I worked out. We spread it out over a couple of months because we know you're busy. We know we're busy but if you get bit by the piecing or quilting bug, don't let this timeline stop you from getting it done! Just go easy on the rest of us when we post pics at midnight...

February 14th (it isn't a coincidence that we chose Valentine's Day - WE <3 Lizzy House!): Choose and post pics of your "color wheel" fabrics. (You'll need at least 30 fabrics for the color ring and 4 1/2 yards of background fabric.)

February 21st: Sew your background and cut out the circle pieces.

February 29th: Cut out all your pieces.

March 14th: Piece all the "warm" pieces. Don't just stitch the wedges but stitch them together as well. (Warm = yellow, peach, orange, red, pink)

March 28th: Piece all the "cool" pieces. Don't just stitch the wedges but stitch them together as well. (Cool = green, teal, blue, indigo, purple)

April 9th: Stitch the color ring to the inner circle.

April 16th: Stitch the color ring to the outer circle.

May 7th: Quilt and bind (obviously).

You can post pics prior to the dates listed (of course) and if you don't post by the date we've penciled in, that's totally fine, too. We figured having some deadlines might inspire us (the big huge community of The Colorist admirers) to get crackin'. And because I volunteered to organize this, it means I can't just look at the pretty stack of fabric I've chosen. I must "make something"!

Maritza and I will both be writing blog posts about the process. Lizzy's pattern instructions are super user-friendly but since some folks are a bit afraid, we thought it might be helpful to see pictures of us doing it all. We hope it not only inspires you to get down to Colorist business but also helps you get through any tricky parts.

We certainly hope you'll join us! Pick up the pattern from Lizzy's shop here or ask your LQS if they have it in stock (we still have a couple copies). And send any questions to us via our blogs or twitter (sotosofties or gather_here).

From the pattern:

Only those who love color are admitted to its beauty and immanent presence. It affords utility to all, but unveils its deeper mysteries only to its devotees. - Johannes Itten

A couple of us are going to be presenting at the ignite craft Boston event this Friday. Yes, Friday the 13th! We wanted to invite you to join us for some really interesting five minute craft presentations by all kinds of crafters. I'll be presenting my own craft journey from costume designer to owner/crafter of gather here. Mike, the nattily dressed gent who works in the shop, will be presenting on his passion for a nearly lost craft, carving horn. And there are other folks, like Maria of MOLTENi Net Works and Lucinda of Sew Wrong. We're crazy nervous and wicked excited! Hope you'll be there!

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If you can't make it, all the presentations will be recorded so you'll get a chance to see us speed through our five minutes. (Embarrassing high school photos of me!) And if you want to see what people talked about last year, check this out! Our fave Stacie Dolin gave an amazing presentation!

It's the night before our Handmade Holiday Show and Party! We're busy making little thank you gifts and hauling sewing machines into the backroom. It's a haven of making here and we can't wait until tomorrow! So thrilled to welcome back Stacie who was so much fun at our First Ever Fiber Trunk Show (I stare at my skein of her yarn each morning imagining all that it will become). Did you know Stacie was a bookbinder, too? Well, now you do!

What's your name, what's your business name and where are you based?

I'll be bringing some handbound journals, some mini-haiku-books, some paper cutouts, and some handspun yarn! I think any of the items I'll have will be delightful treats for crafters to receive and use in the new year, or to give as encouragement to future crafters!

I've got some big book plans for the new year, and I'm going to try to keep my shop more consistently stocked with handspun yarn!

You can shop via Etsy, read all about Stacie's adventures on her blog and meet her tomorrow at our Handmade Holiday Show!