| home | index | n e x t > pg11 | SHOP | SHOP by mail | how to | story3 | links |

"I have a red Miata with black leather interior
and bucket seats. In that little sportscar
I need a booster seat ! so I made a red and black
Shirret two inches thick! My husband's the
practical one - he drives a Forrester. I made
him a Shirret car seat and after that packed
down, I made it into a 3 x 5 foot rug."
––Lois McAnally, Whitney Island WA

Gail, in south Florida says "We sold our house
in northern Maine AS IS, and someone up there
is SHIRRET ing !

Charted pattern by Grace Ingles from >
The Art of Shirret book

Call me with your Shirret story
1(800) 4SH-IRREt Eastern time zone.

"Everyone will love it. It has the feeling of a quilt!"
––– Sue Schwartz, Crochet Guild of America

" It's just double crochet! You only think about
relating the colors" ––Steph White, architect,
publisher of OnSite Magazine and professor U.
Calgary, awarded Canada Council for the Arts
grant.

"I'll Shirret with all my old dance costumes
from the Royal Ballet and Ballet Rambert in
London while I sit outside my daughter's ballet
class. I'm making her leg warmers.
––Terry Cain, Yale dept of Liturgical Music

"I've been looking for 43 years for the needle
and directions, as my husband's grandmother
made many of these rugs. When I found your
website, I screamed !" Now after studying the
video and reading the book I have a beautiful
30 inch round rug of wool. I am having the time
of my life. It is especially gratifying since I'm the
only one to carry on the Family Tradition."
––Ann Saxton

Linda Little was discovered at a holiday festival
on Fronadina Beach, Amelia Island Florida, with
peppermint Shirret squares made of red and white
cotton ticking.
Gail Sapp couldn't resist, at $12 each.

Where Ideas Come From
"If I've got an idea, I hate to put my Shirret
down. The ideas are there and they've got to
come out."
–– Marilyn Mitts, Northeast Washington

"I deliver Meals on Wheels. There was a really
old lady in her 80's and her floor was covered
with Shirret. My friend Jan Bond, who got me into
doing Meals on Wheels, dyed a blanket and
started doing Shirret! My daughter gets old coats
at the Goodwill and sends them to me. I tell her
which colors, and I make ovals and rounds. We
have a circle of family that taught one another.
It's so neat that you're doing this. You feel a
connection to a whole line of your family - your
mother and your daughter. Parents don't take
the time to teach their children the things they
know. Everyone's so busy. It's neat when your
mom and grandma did the same thing you're
doing."––– Kay, Eugene Oregon, learned Shirret
in the midwest

Five oval carpets sent in by Susan McKearney
Colorado Springs CO > including runner 5 1/3'
long wool > > and a 9x12 by her cousin

Oval by Deb Boulant, Paradise CA >

"I made a Shirret rug for my grandaughter's doll
house and she was real tickled with it. I gave a
Shirret rug for a wedding shower and from the
way the bride reacted you'd think it was the
most precious thing she got. The kids are thrilled
to get my Shirret."
––– Wilma Connor, Cedar Rapids, Iowa + niece
Betty Forrest

"There's a mat on the table in historic Old
Deerfield. Now I realize - it's a previous rag rug
version of what we now call 'Shirret'! And it
makes me think of rugs they made in England
during the war of old nylons!"––– Judy Croucher,
Hub Mill Massachusetts, New England Needlework
show, Sturbridge

JEWELDINE BLACK of Monpezallo AL says
"buying wool for Shirret has gotten to be habit
forming!" She sent me a newspaper ad for MISS
MARY'S ARTISAN CRAFTS in Columbia AL, in the
S.E. corner by Florida near Chattahoochee Georgia.
MISS MARY, Marion Pitchford, taught rugmaking
with the Rugbee needle, similar to the Shirret
special needle, until they stopped making it.
"We can't get wool, it's so hot and there are no
mills anymore. Before your Shirret book, learning
for the first time took persistence. You had to
have individual attention. If they haven't seen
the rugs they don't have a preconceived notion.
You take something somebody out of it. One
thing I did - so many of the ladies wanted to buy
the strips, so in those days I cut the fabric and
sold strips for 10 cents a yard. They said "Give
us the wool at a price we can stand ". Alot of
these people wouldn't be caught dead in a
thrift store looking at other people's recycled
garments to cut up." She continues, "When I sell
my rugs I charge 25 cents a square inch. A rug
less than 30 inches takes 6 yards. I sell pine needle
baskets and Shirret rugs. They go well together.
They're HERITAGE SKILLS. Even though we may lose money on paper, it may have benefits. I usually don't know what its going to be. It's totally mindless. It's kind of haphazard. It's a funny jumble - it makes me cheerful and happy."

"Shirley Wood's grandmother during the Depression made these rugs. Branson Missourri was a poor area, in the Ozarks. Silver Dollar City is now filled with theaters and country music. I said to Shirley "If you're ever traveling in Southern Alabama, come and teach classes", and she did. It was a huge success. She taught 3 classes a day here."

In Japan it is bad luck to waste even one grain of rice. I make shirret handbags from silk neckties. ––Hideko Ochiai NYC

Please hurry - I can't wait to start my new craft !!!––– Sue of Bay Village, Ohio

Lois McAnally wins Best of Show ribbons at the Washington State Fair with Shirret. "It's so satisfying. If I win at the Island County fair in August, I go on to the state fair in Puyallup where there's a whole building of needlework. I love Shirret. Until you came around, it was a Lost Art and now it's not Lost anymore."

"I haven't had any formal instruction, the lady just showed me how to do it. I'd like the book to follow a pattern" for targets. ––Wanda Seward, Missourri

Liz Grace made Shirret with a bedspread from Grandmother's house upstate, where nephew Billy August lives. "I wanted to remember the feeling", she said.

Dear Ms. McCrady:
Thank you for letting me know that my order was received and for packing up my order on Monday. I was very surprised and delighted to receive the e-mail from you personally. I read about you in the Shirret book and on the website and very much appreciate the attention you provide to your customers. Thank you for the personal touch so often missing in today's business environment. It is a pleasure doing business with you. ––Lisa Carey

"I'm going to use the Shirret hook™ now that there are no more Rugbee needles. I'll get used to it. And the Shirret rugs are so fantastic 'cuz you can make 'em fit any spot you want! ––Starr Lenz, Sun City

I am so excited about learning your craft. Last weekend I took a crochet class so I'd be ready for the Shirrét process. Now I'm hooked on crochét as well! I wish I'd discovered it years ago - oh well. It's never too late. The extra "Shirret tools" is for a friend. I'll get her hooked. Then I'll have some competition rug making! ––– Bonnie Molloy, Tucson, Arizona

n e x t > pg11