On a shelf at home, we re-discovered the book, “Mama Crosses the Door” by L.A. Davison. Mr. Davison lived across the road from Sievers (in the house with the windmill) and served as both the Washington Island School principal and a high school teacher for more than 20 years, covering the time when Butch, Ann, Cindra and later, Carolyn and Barb were in school. His book of poetry and Washington Island advertisements was published in 1956 by the local Lions Club. With the delicate flowers of May blooming now, it’s the perfect time to share his poem, “May on the Island”. The month of May has been away, but now that it’s returned it has brought back to Islanders the […]
Local Yarn Store Day is everyday at Sievers!
Today is officially Local Yarn Store Day 2023. Generally held at the end of April, LYS Day is a reminder of the importance of small businesses and a celebration of brick and mortar yarn shops. It serves as a spotlight on creating an enviornment of knitting and fiber art inspiration, something we’ve enjoyed doing for 44 years. Coincidentally and with perfect timing, the Shetland Wool Week annual hat pattern was released late yesterday. The Shetland Wool Week patron for 2023 is Alison Rendall, a talented and prolific Fair Isle knitter. Alison’s hat is a distinctive design that incorporates traditional elements together with a flower motif. Two of the versions use just two colours – a design led decision by Alison, […]
Pop-up shop and scenery
It’s time for another pop-up shop! Featuring a selection of items, we enjoy sharing the variety of fiber art and fine crafts handmade by our students and teachers with you including jewelry, handwovens, wearables, gifts, baskets and more. Earrings made with a variety of materials, etched copper, birch bark, jasper, wood with pyrography, leather and glass. We hope you’ve had a chance to visit in person, but if not, we’re happy to be able to share a little of the Sievers shopping experience with you in this way. The 2022 Shetland Wool Week free hat pattern was released early this summer and this year’s design is titled “Bonnie Isle Hat”. The waves and swimming fish sure made us think of […]
June pop-up shop
It’s time for our first pop-up shop of the season! So many beautiful, handmade items have arrived from our students and teachers that we wanted to share them with you. We’d also like to introduce you to two new members of the Sievers Crew who are working in the shop this year. Roxanne Boren first came to Sievers for a Painted/Beaded Scarf class in 2006. She followed that with classes in Rug Hooking and Woodcarving. Roxanne has lived full-time on Washington Island since 2015. She enjoys stitching, knitting and gourmet cooking. Her handwork has been in the shop for several years. Shawn Simmons came to Sievers for the Beginning Spinning & Dyeing class with Deb Jones in 2017 and has […]
The Sievers Shop
Last time we mentioned that the Sievers Shop at one point was the Jackson Harbor Store, selling groceries among other items. Since 1979, when Walter Schutz established Sievers School of Fiber Arts, the only groceries we’ve “sold” were a jar of peanut butter, a package of tuna fish and some crackers out of our staff lunch cupboard to a hiker who was on his way to Rock Island several years ago, late on a Sunday afternoon when Mann’s Store was closed. In those first years, the former coat room in the old schoolhouse was used to display Sievers Looms along with a very limited number of yarns for weaving. Visitors were greeted within the entry area (marked by the wooden […]
September
September… not quite summer and not quite fall. It’s one of those in-between months that gives the best of both seasons and we often wish it would last a little longer than it does. Re-scheduled to Saturday, September 12, Local Yarn Store Day was created by a committee of shop owners and yarn manufacturers to celebrate brick and mortar yarn shops. They note, “contrary to popular belief, the majority of yarn is purchased through local brick and mortar shops…”. As a local yarn shop, we started small, but have expanded our weaving and knitting yarns over time and in particular since 1996 when classes moved from what is now the shop into the (then newly-built) Sophie Studio. […]
Sievers Pop-Up Shop #5: The Hidden Items
We are lucky to have a lot of space in the Sievers Shop to feature so many beautiful handmade items from our students and teachers along with yarns, books and other fiber art goodies. In addition, we’ve got quite a few things which are pretty much hidden or cleverly tucked away from view. One of those spots is underneath the stairs that goes to the loft in the shop. Here we have Schacht Inkle Looms ($89), a cherry loom bench ($125), a Sievers cone and tube holder ($45), loom shelf ($90) and sets of two threading blocks ($20). Stacked on shelves, upstairs and down, are many silk, cotton and rayon fabrics available by the yard and as scarves of […]
Sievers Pop-Up Shop #4 : Handwoven and home
We’ve all been spending more time at home these days, so it seemed natural to focus this pop-up shop on items for the home, including a number of handwovens. This cozy, Scandinavian-inspired throw with a soft-as-a-cloud fleece backing is made of wool and cotton and is priced at $175. The display basket is $125. If dining out has turned into dining in, why not make it special with a beautiful table? There’s nothing like a handwoven rug to create a real feeling of homeyness. Whether they are made using llama fiber… …or cotton fabrics ( “rags” isn’t the right term to use for these rugs) to create just the right design, a custom rug can set the tone in any […]
