Stop on in ~~

This weekend I will have a booth on the lawn of our very own Dodge-Pratt Northram Art and Community Center in conjunction with the 62nd Annual NYState Woodmen's Field Days.


The Woodsmen's Field Days, a nonprofit organization, was founded by the Rev. Frank Reed in 1948. Due to the support of its many volunteers, (nearly 400) the Field Days have evolved into one of the predominant lumberjack contests in the United States today. Contestants come from as far away as Canada, Australia, and New Zealand to compete in the lumberjack festivities, which are held the third weekend in August. In addition to the Woodsmen's contest on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, there are displays of various forestry related equipment, covering a wide variety of interests from the professional logger to the occasional firewood cutter.




Our small town will be hopping this weekend with parades, fireworks, and events through out the town as well as the fair grounds.

Hoping you will stop by and say hello if your in the area!

New Items

As I await for the winner of my giveaway to reply to my notice, I will show you some of my newest bowls.

This brown bowl is semi-felted with wool and acrylic. I thought I would try something a bit different and am very pleased with the way it turned out. It makes a nice bowl for fruit, rolls or home decor, but would also make a great planter cover!



I am loving red lately. It is such a bold and happy color. This red wool bowl blends some orange and yellows throughout and is a nice size to hold all your little items.


This lovely grey wool scarflette is very versitile and can be worn in several different way and is super soft!


And keep you cellphone, camera or ipod scratch free in this pink knit cozy ~

Etsyversary Celebration ~~ 2 - 4 - 8

Come celebrate with me!!

On August 4 I will celebrate my 2nd anniversary on etsy. I couldn't be more thrilled and excited, and I want to share my excitement with you.

I will be running a two week long sale where everything in my shop is 20% off and FREE US shipping! No need to wait for revised invoices or paypal refunds... I went in and changed all the prices and shipping for easy check out.

Starting today - July 31 and ending August 14 - everything in valeriesgallery.etsy.com is on sale. Whether you want to stock up on some holiday gifts or just splurge a bit on yourself, you will find some great bargains!

And if that's not enough ~

I am giving away this beautiful hand knit wool braided cable scarflette to one lucky winner. Just in time for fall!


How to enter? Couldn't be easier - Just leave a comment wishing me a happy anniversary (don't forget to include your e-mail or etsy address!!) and I'll pick a winner on August 14th (my mother's 80th birthday!) Of course, I will have her pick the winner ♥♥ So just drop by and say hi and you will be entered. Good Luck!

Sunday Morning

Busy, busy, busy! That's the word for this summer. Not only is it flying by (I can't believe that it is the end of July already!) but if there isn't enough hours in the day, this summer is proof that we need a few extra.

Daryl and I are leaving this afternoon to pick up our daughter Erin and her boyfriend at JFK Airport. She is coming home for a visit from her 3 year stay in Japan. I can't wait to see Erin and finally meet Aleck. She has been in Japan with the JET Program as an English Teacher Assistant. Stay tuned in the coming weeks for some photos of my long lost traveling daughter!

I can't resist posting a pic of how the peppers are growing. This is the first year I've tried growing peppers and everyone has been telling me they are rather fussy, so I am very proud of this now dime sized pepper!


On to the old farmhouse saga - Last weekend we finally got the last of the clapboard up on our house. We have torn up the porch in preparation of putting a new one down next spring (we move a slowly on this place). The entire porch was filled with rocks, covered with cement and then had a wood floors on top of that. We tore it all up and will rebuild from scratch. We found some beautiful rocks that I will use for landscaping (more work!) and made quite a few trips to the dump. In a few weeks we will paint the clapboard to match the house - I can't wait for that!


I spent most of yesterday cleaning and getting the house ready for Erin's visit. I really need to have visitors often as that really inspires me to do some deep cleaning! Well, I'm off to bake a chocolate cake to celebrate her home-coming!

Getting ready for fall

Yes - I said fall. Even though we are in the middle of July, my thoughts are about all the wonderful fall colors. Last week I listed 3 new items in my shop and I've noticed that they are all fall-ish and I love the way they look together.

New items include an oatmeal colored knit wool blend clutch is a great shade that will coordinate with just about anything, a rich golden colored knit wool scarflette in ribbed cables, and a fabulous large felted wool bowl in brown and orange.




I have some lovely paprika, sage and red to add in the future weeks, so be on the look out!

Scarflette Knitting Pattern

After many inquiries, I am finally offering the Classic Cable Scarflette pattern for sale in both my etsy shop and artfire studio.


I never really followed patterns and when I make my own work, I just scribble notes to my self in a notebook. No one could decipher these notes, in fact, sometimes even I can't! But I've had so many knitters ask me to sell the pattern, that I took some time to write Classic Cables out properly.

I asked a sweet lady that inquired about purchacing the pattern if she would be willing to test the pattern for me and exchange, she would get the pattern for free. Well, after a few revisions and a few tips from my etsyhooker friends on how to use PDF technology, Classic Cables Scarflette Pattern is ready to debut!

The pattern includes photographs and a few tips that can be used with all your knitting projects. These tips will keep your work flat, even and easy to work. The pattern can be adapted easily for a full length scarf as well as a button up scarflette. All the photos in this blog entry are knit with the same pattern


I would love to share with you what my tester said about this pattern: I really enjoy making small projects. I like that it is done on big needles with two strands of yarn. I have arthritis and small needles are difficult for me to knit with. I like that the repeat is only eight rows - short enough that I could memorize it and not have to keep looking at the pattern and still be able to watch a movie while I'm knitting it.

I'm already starting to work on writing up a second one and couldn't be more excited that I am finally getting these documented. This pattern is available for $4.50 and will be sent to you via e-mail in PDF format.


So if you are looking for a quick and fun project and want to impress your friends and family with your knitting skills, consider this pattern. You won't regret it!

Sunday Morning

I am quite pleased with my garden so far this year. Things are starting to flower which means we will have some great fresh veggies soon. Each year I try something new and this years new item is green peppers. They don't seem to be growing very tall, but they are starting to get flowers so I'm just waiting to see what I get from them. I also have the regular stuff - beans, cucumbers, tomatoes, zucchini and yellow squash.














I've listed a few new items in my shop this past week. In addition to listing more vintage buttons, I've added 3 new bowls and a scarfette.

Summer Sun is a vibrant orange felted wool bowl with a large red dot on the bottom edged in brown. I think it is rather stunning.



Chocolate Blueberry is a felted wool bowl in blue and brown. I think it would be lovely in kitchen or dinning room.


This wool scarfette in avadaco is just right for fall. It is knit with 100% wool with three rows of cables.


I named this felted bowl Log Cabin as I think it would be a great accent in a rustic setting.



I have a full length wool scarf and a super size felted bowl getting ready for next week, so keep on checking in to my etsy shop and artfire studio.