Something fun to look forward to after paying your taxes this week…..

Why do I dread tax day? It comes every year and it’s not really a suprise, we owe money. It happens….sigh. Oh well, I’ve paid my taxes and now I’m looking forward to this weekend when I’ll be at The Golden Fleece, 317 Potrero St, Santa Cruz, CA., Saturday, April 21 at 1pm. Jocelyn, aka Fiberdev, will be there with patterns and samples. I’ll bring the yarn! Its the shop owner’s one year anniversary. Now that’s something to celebrate!

 

Trunk Show this week at Uncommon Threads

Trunk Show! Saturday, Feb 25, 6:30-9pm

 

Uncommon Threads, 293 State St., Los Altos, 94022

(Just 15 minutes from Stitches West, lots of free parking)   10% off all Handwerks yarns this evening

 

Join us for a great evening enjoying hand dyed yarns, silk, cashmere blends, superwash merino, sock yarns, lace, refreshments and more with local dyer Laura Schickli of Handwerks! Enter to win a gift basket and meet designer Jocelyn Blair with her patterns and many gorgeous samples.  

No reservation necessary, just come and join the fun!

TNNA, winter show in Phoenix

TNNA has been an amazing exhausting whirlwind experience. This is the second TNNA I’ve been to and I keep learning new things about the yarn industry. It’s so interesting to see the new trends (think sparkle, ruffles, cotton blends and the 1970’s) as well as meet young designers and other indie dyers. I’ve picked up some new ideas for rigid heddle weaving and knitting classes and ways to improve my business. I’m really excited about teaching weaving and hopI’ll  be able to inspire a few fellow knitters to expand their repretoire . I’ve crafted with yarn most of my life, and now working in the business has given me a new perspective. I’m still sorting out how I fit in and what my goals are. In the meantime it’s fun to be with liked minded people and imagine the possibilities.

Fall Sale

There is nothing quite like getting away and having everything out of sight and mind to help me look at things in a new light. It’s so much easier to see something with a fresh eye after I have been away from it for a while. I’ve just returned from a 3 week traveling spree of two completely different trips back to back. Both trips fun, relaxing, hectic and exhausting all at the same time. So nice to get away and so nice to be back. New ideas and directions are popping in and out of my head.

I’m putting all the So-Soft Dk (wonderful 80% merino, 10% cashmere, 10% nylon 4ply Dk weight superwash) on sale, 25% off for the Fall. While supplies last…….great for heavy socks as well as scarves, mitts, hats, vests and sweaters.

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 KAL

Since Hunter is having an Inlay KAL on Ravelry in the Silk Road Socks group, I decided to offer 20% off on all colors of Sock Plus 8. Just enter the word: inlay in the coupon code box at check out to receive the discount.  Enjoy and happy Knitty knitting!

out with the old…..

I’m forever reorganizing and tweaking what I do. I started Spring Cleaning, that lead to going through closets, the garage, the attic, selling off unused equipment, rearranging the studio furniture and  rethinking what I do and how much time I really have to do…… or finish that project… and then do I even want to finish that?

 I find it refreshing and exhausting at the same time to “go through stuff”.  So once I finished looking at and sorting all the personal yarns and projects I decided to do the same with the “business” stuff. I’m tidying up my website, consolidating some categories and putting some yarns that I’m no longer going to carry on clearance.

Cranking out socks on my csm is going on the back burner for a while and I’ve got both looms warped and ready for weaving. I have plans for some new knitting projects and yarn colorways. A little shifting of priorities and focus is a nice way to move in to Spring.

Winter garden ready for harvest:

Fire

February seems like the perfect month to celebrate “Fire”. Fire has so many associations. There is fire as in emotional fire; passion and Valentine’s Day coming right up and something actually on fire, accidental or otherwise. Fire in fireplaces, in campfires, forest fires, gas stoves burning, smoke, candle light, flames, burnt toast, songs about fire, ring of fire, come on baby light my fire, flowers named after fire, sparks, fire in gemstones, firey redheads, …. After a fire there is renewal, healing, green lush vegetation, calm, a starting over.

Why am I thinking about fire?? The SolidSocks group on Ravelry is having a Fire themed KAL and I’ve just dyed a bunch of yarns all based on some aspect of Fire for them. Take a look. (P.S. They are all 20% off for the month of Feb while supplies last.)

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!

Sale

Here is what is left – of the Sock Plus 8 skeins on sale. Some colors are already sold out. If you’d like a small sample of this yarn, send me an email and I’ll send one out to you.