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Sylvia Woods Harp Center
November 2020 Newsletter
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We're about half-way through the fall season in the northern hemisphere. For many of you, colder weather is just around the corner. Here in Hawaii, it will get "colder," too. The average high temperature in Kauai in September is about 85° Fahrenheit (29° Celsius), and by December, the average high will go way down to 78° (25°C)! The average lows will dip down from 74° (23°C) to a "chilly" 68° (20°C)!
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As you can see, it doesn't get very cold here. I recently got a call from my sister-in-law asking if I wanted a hoodie for Christmas. I thanked her for the offer, but confessed that I haven't worn a sweater, let alone a jacket, sweatshirt, or coat, since I moved to Hawaii seven years ago. And I never even wear real shoes!
However, many of you will be experiencing much colder temperatures very soon. So I'm proud to announce a free gift for you from one of my generous customers, Martha Dahlen. Read the next article for all the exciting info!
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Happy Thanksgiving to everyone. Even if Thanksgiving isn't a national holiday where you live, it is always good to take a moment to give thanks. Particularly in these crazy times, we can all be thankful that harps are part of our lives!
Aloha,
Sylvia
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Fingerless Gloves for Harpists |
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I recently received an email from harpist Martha Dahlen, asking if I would be interested in selling her knitting pattern for fingerless gloves. We corresponded back and forth about all of the options. She finally decided that she wanted to give away her pattern for free instead of charging for it. Hooray! I've sent her a $25 Harp Center E-Gift Certificate to thank her. Here's her story. |
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Last winter, my harp teacher mentioned that he had received a pair of fingerless gloves; they enabled him to play outdoors, but he said he used them only as a last resort because they were so cumbersome. I saw the problem: the bulk of yarn on the palm side would interfere with finger movement. And I took it as a design challenge: How to make a pair of gloves that were warm yet allowed the fingers to move freely? My first thought was mohair, which is really light, but it isn't very warm. My second thought was, what about regular yarn for the back of the gloves, but mohair on the inner, palm side? |
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I knitted up a pair just like that and sent them to my harp teacher. He reports that they are ”fantastic,” allowing free finger movement, just as I envisaged! With that endorsement, I would like to share the pattern here, in case there are other knitting harpists (or indeed, any musicians!) in cold regions who might want a pair of such gloves.
PATTERN
For these gloves. you need two types of yarn: a warm one (e.g., wool, wool/alpaca blend), and one that is very thin, very lightweight — ideally, I think, mohair. The strategy is to start the gloves with the wool yarn. After binding off the thumb stitches, add in the mohair and use it only for the palm — with double strand knitting for a few stitches to anchor it to the back of the glove.
DIFFICULTY LEVEL
These gloves do not have individual fingers, and the thumb is simply an increase of stitches that are bound off. You need to be able to increase, add stitches, bind off and sew a side seam to use the pattern.
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I mention our Harp Center E-Gift Certificates several times in this newsletter. They are perfect gifts for your favorite harp players or students. E-Gifts are available in any dollar amount, and recipients can apply them to any products on our website.
And, if Santa (or anyone else) asks you what YOU want for Christmas, send them this link, and get exactly what you want!
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New Music at HarpCenter.com |
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Here are a some of the excellent PDFs that I've added to my site this past month. Check them out!
Please note: None of the products in this section are part of this month's sale.
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The Hawaiians were skilled ocean navigators with extensive knowledge of currents, the stars, and the moon's movement. Their calendar had twelve lunar months of 29.5 phases, and every three to six years, they added a thirteenth month. The moon phases organized daily life: when to fish and gather seafood, plant certain crops, get married, acquire knowledge, and worship particular gods.
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There is a Hawaiian name for each phase of the moon. For example, they recognize four consecutive nights of full moons: Hua, Akua, Hoku, and Māhealani. This month, it just so happens that these occur on the four nights of our long Thanksgiving weekend. All full moon nights are good for fishing. However, on Hoku, you should only fish at sea and not onshore. Hoku brings blessings of good luck and health and is an excellent time to plant anything that grows in rows.
One of our local television stations reports on the moon phase in the nightly news weather segment, telling the moon's name and its guidelines.
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A personal aside
The moon played a different but important role in our family's life as I was growing up. Our father, Dr. Conway Snyder, was a space scientist who worked for NASA at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena from 1956 through 1984. He was associated with 14 space missions and was instrumental in NASA's explorations of the moon, Mars, and Venus. His solar wind spectrometer experiments were taken to the moon by Apollo 12 and Apollo 15 astronauts. (This photo shows him with his 1969 Apollo 12 spectrometer.) Dr. Snyder received numerous NASA commendations and awards, including an Apollo Achievement Award for "outstanding accomplishments culminating in Apollo 11's successful achievement of man's first landing on the moon, July 20, 1969," and the NASA Medal for Exception Scientific Achievement for his work on the solar wind.
I'll bet that ours was the only family that you know of who had an earth globe, a moon globe, and a Mars globe in our living room!
P.S. I worked at JPL as a secretary on the Mariner Mars '69 project for one year after college. I didn't work with my father, but we carpooled to and from work every day.
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Last month, I announced the six winners of our "New Site Proofing Contest." They each received a $25 Sylvia Woods Harp Center E-Gift Certificate.
For this month's sale, I thought I'd feature some of the wonderful products that they purchased in their orders. Most of the winners used their certificate towards harp music. But one winner said that this was the incentive she needed to finally get the Kart-A-Bag harp dolly that she had always wanted for her Dusty Strings harp. (Since this amazing dolly will be almost $50 off during this month's sale, I also sent her an additional $50 e-Gift Certificate towards her next purchase!)
To get the 15% discount on the products below, enter the code word Winners in the "Enter Promo Code" box on your shopping cart page and click "Enter Code" by December 1, 2020. For more information, see the "How to get the 15% discount" section at the bottom of this newsletter.
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(This cart can only be shipped within the USA.)
15% off with Winners code
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by Shawna Selline
15% off with Winners code
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by Kim Robertson
15% off with Winners code
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by Jo Morrison
15% off with Winners code
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by Stephanie Claussen
15% off with Winners code
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by Sylvia Woods
15% off with Winners code
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by Sylvia Woods
15% off with Winners code
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by Sylvia Woods
15% off with Winners code
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by Sylvia Woods
15% off with Winners code
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by Sylvia Woods
15% off with Winners code
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by Sylvia Woods
15% off with Winners code
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by Sylvia Woods
15% off with Winners code
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How to get the 15% discount
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15% off select sale items when you use the code word Winners
Our newsletter promo codes are redeemable online and are only valid for the products featured in the sale section of this newsletter. They are not valid for phone or email orders. This month's code word is Winners.
#1. Put the items you want to purchase in your cart.
#2. On the page where you view the items in your cart, type this month's code word Winners in the "Enter Promo Code" box and click "Apply."
The actual price of the featured sale products on this page will then automatically change to reflect the discount. For example,
Unit Price: $9.95 (which is the original price)
Total Price: $8.46 (the discounted price)
You'll also see a note below the Promo Code box saying the name of the promo code you entered and the percentage amount of the discount.
REMEMBER: you must enter this month's code word Winners in the Promo Code box and click "Apply" on your shopping cart page by December 1, 2020 to get the discount!
Offer expires at the end of the day on 12/1/2020.
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Sylvia Woods Harp Center
Lihue, Hawaii
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