Ready for new colors?

Pantone has released its new 2012 color report. And the winner is……………. Tangerine Tango!  I had never heard of this color before but when I followed the links and saw what they were talking about I instantly recognized this as a red orange that has been slowly creeping into fashion this Fall.  It’s a color I like and have been seeing in the bright red/orange tree leaves around town. Its bright but not flourescent, more red than yellow and warm but not dull or muted.  It feels more vibrant than most of the traditional Fall colors and I can see how it might be nice in the Spring or Summer too. Can you picture wearing it? I’m warming up to it!

Sock time!

I’m so excited to be a part of the new Fall 2011 Knitcircus issue. Not only is this issue packed full of great articles and gorgeous photographs but the patterns are show stoppers too! I can’t decide which to do first, continue reading “How to Design a Lace Cowl”, the essay on “Bad Attitude” (great advice here!) or the interview with Jared Flood…….or start baking the “Candy Apple Scones” while casting on with my favorite sock yarn!

Candace Eisner Strick designed these lovelies in So-Soft Sock, Peach Blush for this issue:

Cashmere Gems

I just finished dyeing 100% cashmere yarn for the fall yesterday as the stock market was falling. How ironic to be handling such a luxurious and valuable fiber as the economy takes a downturn. It almost seemed inappropriate to have so much luxury in my hands. But then I thought of the comfort small things can bring to us in times of upset or worry. Each small skein is so soft, soothing and lovely to hold. It  connects me to the remote places in the world where goats produce the fine soft undercoat that makes up this irresistibly luxurious yarn and the small mill in the UK that spun this unique long-staple cashmere into such a high quality sleek yarn. Comfort in holding it, knitting it and supporting the people (and animals!) along the way that created it.  Timeless.  Cashmere gems. Black Pearl, Amethyst, Jade, Sapphire, Teal Tourmaline.

 

Fall Colors are coming…..

The phrase “fall colors” conjures up  the beautiful fall colors of trees as they change from greens to golds, reds and browns. There are also muted  fall colors of olive, pumpkin, rusty-brown, and harvest reds. Seasonally inspired colors seem natural, soothing and logical.

So how  do we go from these colors, that nature is broadcasting to Fall Fashion Colors?  Every year I look for  connections. This fall we have almost the full spectrum from gold, dark peach, red-violets, light olive, teal, brown and hazy shades covered in mist. For the Pantone versed, they are bamboo, emberglow, honeysuckle, phlox, cedar, deep teal, coffee liqueur, nougat, orchid hush, and quarry. Sounds poetic! http://www.pantone.com/

Does it feel like Fall to you? Are you inspired?

dyelots and batch dates

Lately, I’ve been getting more requests from customers for an additional skein to match a yarn that they purchased previously from me or from one of my retail vendors. This has happened to me too.  I completely understand this dilemma; you buy one skein that you love with no intended purpose, later you decide what you want to knit only to find that you really needed 2 skeins! Then comes the mad search for another skein with the same dyelot and the worry that the skeins won’t match and your projected will be ruined forever!

Up until now I have not been putting dyelots on my yarns. I generally dye in small batches of 5-10 skeins per colorway. However, as my business has grown I am doing more lots of 10 and some lots of 20 of my most popular colorways. I’m keeping more dyed yarns in stock, at the ready, to send out on a moments notice.  This is all good!

So, I’ve decided to start writing “dye date lots” or “dye lots” on my labels. They will be in a “monthdayyear” format. I hope it will help with
identifying and locating similar skeins.  (I don’t want anyone to confuse the date with an “expiration date”, luckily I have found my yarns never “expire”!)

The dye techniques I use create variations between skeins even in the same pan, so the dye date is not a guarantee that the skeins are identical, just that they came out of the same batch. It has never been my goal to mass produce large numbers of identical skeins. I instead love the subtle nuances of each skein as it comes out of the dye bath.  Overall, my colorways are consistent as I create my own color formulas and dye to the same formula each time I dye a new batch of yarn.  I keep careful records of my process so that I can recreate the look of the original batch.  Some of the yarns with multiple colors can have more variation between skeins as they depend on the movement of the dyes in the water to create tertiary tones. As always,  if you know you will need more than one skein for a project ahead of time it is best to let me know when you order and I will do my best to send out similar skeins.

Thank you to all my wonderful customers for helping me come to this decision. I love the feedback and I truly appreciate your business.

Inlay

I’m honored again to have the talented designer, Hunter Hammersen, use Sock Plus 8 in the new sock pattern, Inlay. Inlay is available in latest issue of  Knitty, First Fall 2011.  I’ve added this to my que, lovely!

Trunk Show at The Golden Fleece

In case you haven’t heard The Golden Fleece, 317 Potrero St, Santa Cruz, CA, has a new owner. Tomorrow (Sat, June 4) is the Grand Re-Opening Event. I’m thrilled to be a part of it and will be there with trunks of yarns and patterns from 12-2pm. If you are in the area, chase away the rain clouds and come on by. Its going to be fun.

Silk Road Socks

I’m excited- Hunter Hammersen’s new book Silk Road Socks is now available.  Not only, can you purchase the book in the standard paper format but its also be offered in a digital form. I think that’s so cool – so for those who like to have eveything at the ready on their laptops or e-readers there it is! In addition, for those who want to curl up on the couch with good old paper you can have that too!

Either way the photos are stunning and I love the historical information about the Silk Road and the amazing carpets.  Hunter’s patterns are, as always, are easy to follow and the socks are fabulous. Ok, you can see I love this book, I love socks, I love sock yarn!

I’m offering a promotion on my Sock Plus 8 in honor of this book.  “Salor” uses this yarn and I am so thrilled to be included in this wonderful book!  Just enter the promo code

SilkRd20

to receive 20% off Sock Plus 8  from now until Feb 15, 2011.

Happy Sock Knitting to All!

Stashbusting time

I’m cleaning up … always seems to be an ongoing project around here. It’s the end of the year and I have to do a physical inventory of my business yarns as well as an accounting of what I bought from myself for personal use. It’s a BIG project!

I’m pretty good about keeping the business yarn separate from the personal stuff but …. sometimes the two piles get pretty close together and there is some skein jumping that goes on. Gotta get that all under control today! ( or at least by Jan 1)

I went through a pile of papers sorting out teaching notes, patterns, stitch ideas and project notes as well as a few random receipts. Here is my cowls class notes as a freebie for all of you trying to tame your sock yarn stash. 

Sock Yarn Stashbuster Cowls  look in the patterns section of my website for the download link.

Pumpkin Pie!

Just in time for Thanksgiving…….. two limited edition colorways:

Hachiya Persimmon

Pumpkin Pie

Thanksgiving is about my favorite holiday.