Thoughts...

So, I have been bad and haven't taken photos of just about anything. My two latest projects are currently in Portland at The Knit & Crochet Show. I also forgot to bring my camera yesterday to the show. I really wanted to get some photos of the setup because it was really cool. Instead I will give you a small list of my impressions of the show and set up.

-Yarn looks a lot smaller in a giant showroom than here in my living room. In my living room I felt like I was being overwhelmed by the huge amount of yarn. When I got all of it to the show it all fit snuggly into the display and looked like nothing at all. Don't get me wrong there is plenty of yarn to be had, but it just amazed me how much smaller it looked there.

-It is a small world. One of the girls that took my dye class last year is now a dyer. This was her first show to sell yarn too. I thought it was pretty cool that I had influenced another person into the dyeing world.

-Chrissy and Donna know a lot of people. It seemed every time we turned around they ran into another person that they knew. I knew a few people as well, but not nearly as many as they did.

-At one point I noticed that on one side of me was Janet Szabo and on the other was Judy Becker. It was a little surreal and completely awesome to see such famous knitters all in one place. Also, see point above.

Ok, those are all of my observations for now.

Coming Soon:
-Pretty purchases from The Knit & Crochet Show!
-New patterns from Gardiner Yarn Works!
-Soap!
-and more!

Hubby Interview!

I have seen this on quite a few blogs and thought that I would try it out too! I personally think it is funny. Though as one little note before the interview: I have taught my hubby to knit, so he is technically a knitter too.

Me: What is your favorite thing about my knitting?

Blair: Socks for me! but I've only got one pair. It also puts you at ease.

Me: What is your least favorite thing about my knitting?

B: Not supposed to say. The stash...but I'm not supposed to say it.

Me: What is something I have knitted, that you recall as good?

B: My Socks!

Me: Do you think knitters have an expensive hobby?

B: Sometimes I wonder...It's not video games. Not too terrible.

Me: Do you have any hobbies?

B: Messing on my computer.

Me: Do you have a stash of any kind?

B: Yeah! Stash of yarn, of computer parts, and pens.

Me: Have I ever embarrassed you, knitting in public?

B: No. I think it is cool. I think I would embarrass myself before you would embarrass me.

Me: Do you know my favorite kind of yarn?

B: I think it is an alpaca wool blend, um, sock yarn. (Actually the magic word is cashmere, but that's ok, I'll accept alpaca and sock yarn too)

Me: Can you name another knitting blog?

B: Wendy Knits, Yarn Harlot, Red Shirt Knitting, and I'm sure there are more...

Me: Do you mind my wanting to stop at knit shops wherever we go?

B: Sometimes.

Me: Do you understand the importance of a swatch?

B: Yes. It prevents lunacy later. Those who do not swatch are bound to failure.

Me: Do you read my blog?

B: I do from time to time.

Me: Have you ever left a comment?

B: Of Course!

Me: Do you think the house would be cleaner if I didn’t knit?

B: No Comment (As he looks around the living room that is filled with my yarn business, um, yeah...)

Me: Anything you’d like to add?

B: I want more socks!

So this interview reminded me of a funny/cute story. So, since I taught Blair to knit he does indeed have his own yarn stash. As soon as he finishes the socks he has been knitting for me for the past year and a half then he can knit more from his stash. On top of that stash he has a stash of sock yarn for me to knit him socks. This came about when a yarn store in Portland went out of business and they had a big yarn sale. I couldn't make it to the sale because I had to work that weekend. So I asked Blair to go instead with a careful list of acceptable yarns. He did pretty good getting me lots of Noro and pretty sock yarn. However as repayment for doing this he bought a small stash of manly sock yarns with the hope that I would knit him more socks. Since then whenever I go on a yarn shopping spree I try to buy at least one skein of yarn to add to his sock yarn stash.

Happy September!

September means a lot of things to me. First off there is the back to school and the back to wool knitting. I also start all of my Christmas knitting in September. However this September brings something new and fantastic and a little scary, my first show where my yarn is for sale. Not only one show but two shows! First off is The Knit & Crochet Show at the Convention Center in Portland September 12, 13, 14 then two weeks later there is Oregon Flock and Fiber in Canby, OR September 27 & 28. Understandably I have been dyeing yarn like crazy in preparation for both big events. With all of this going on I had a really hard time deciding what I should put on sale for September and here it is:


If you print off this coupon you can bring it to my OFFF booth and I will give you 10% off. I also think this is an awesome way for me to get a chance to meet all of you in real life. However, I know that not all of you are here or are able to make it to OFFF, so I am giving 10% off on all custom orders. That means pretty much all yarns are 10% off! The only little catch is that I am going to spend most of my time for the month of September dyeing stuff for the shows, so custom orders will be finished in October. Also most of the yarn will be taken out of the shop in about another week, so if you want something make sure to buy it before it is all taken to the shows! All patterns will remain in the shop and will be shipped as normal!

Dye Party v2.0

That's right, two dye workshops in two weeks! I must say that the first one definitely made the second one run much more smoothly. I had everything ready and didn't forget a single thing!

Here are some of the ladies applying dye to their yarn! The ladies took it in turns between snacking on hors d'oeuvres, drinking wine & raspberry lemonade, and dyeing yarn.


Here is one of the skeins of yarn all ready to go into the dye pot. I like to call these cinnamon rolls because the yarn is wrapped and then rolled like this to steam. The steaming is the last step and it sets the dye.

Here are most of the skeins sitting ready in the steamer pot. The ladies came up with some really pretty yarns! I did take some photos of everyone's skeins laying out to dry, but it was too dark to get really good shots. Most of them are blurry. We finished up a little after 8pm, so it was pretty dusky out.

Don't forget: August is almost over and the special sale on Silky Worsted will end! I have something special planned for September, so stay tuned!

Dye Party v1.0

It seems to be dye party central here! I had a dye party last Tuesday with my fabulous knit group in Stevenson.


Here is a group of them and some of the yarn they had dyed. It was raining out so the lighting wasn't the best. Still it was lots of fun! It is so interesting to me the different colors that each person dyes up. Everything turned out so pretty!

The dye party was held at Teri's house. She is an amazing knitter! She knit up all of these socks from handpainted yarn! She thought it would be inspirational to have them all hanging up while we dyed yarn. If you look closely the 3rd and 4th pairs of socks from the right hand side are knit from my yarn! How cool is that?! I just had to snap a photo of the whole line! On top of the dye party we had a potluck dinner. Those ladies can cook! Everything was amazing. Though the very top was Teri's homemade lemon meringue pie. So lots of good food and good company! I have another dye party tonight with the wonderful ladies of Knot Another Hat. Hopefully the weather will stay nice and I can get some good photos.


In other news: Take a look at what I got! That is nearly 50lbs of yarn all destined for the Knit/Purl Sock Club! I can't say much more than I am really excited. I also got a sneak peek at some of the Koigu for the club. Let me say it is totally gorgeous. Also if you want a sneak peek of the colorway I am dyeing check out this post on the Knit/Purl blog!

Escape to the Coast

This last week it was 106F out here! This is just insane! Of course the weather has changed to rainy and around 65F, practically overnight! That's 40F degrees difference! Anyway, to escape the hot weather Blair and I headed to the coast.


We started out by going to the Tillamook Cheese Factory. We had lunch there and the required ice cream cones. It was really good, even though the lines were really long everywhere! We finally got through them all and decided to head north. Please note that the sky is pretty and blue here!
We stopped by the side of the road about 10 miles north to snap a couple of photos. I just think the Oregon Coast is so pretty! I love it! You can start to see the mist/fog rolling inland. We kept heading north and decided we would walk a bit on the beach.


It was really misty out! If you click on the photo you can see the bits of mist accumulating on Blair's hair and eyelashes. It was so cool. We kept giggling at one another and the mist. We couldn't see more than about 20-30 feet. There weren't that many people on the beach either. So we felt like we were all alone in the mist. It was magical! I told Blair that we would keep walking and end up in Avalon on the other side.


We walked around barefoot on the sand, daring one another to walk in the frigid ocean water. It was just a hoot! The tide was either just about all the way in or just going out. We forgot to get a tide time table to find out. We decided we would keep going North on our adventure.


We ended up to Astoria, which wasn't more than 20-30 miles north from the beach we walked on. It was back to being sunny again. Still the weather wasn't more than 75 the whole day. It was the perfect break from all of the heat inland. We think we might need to make another trip sometime this fall in the off-season.

I should have a post about knitting in a couple of days. It has been cloudy and rainy this week, so I am waiting for the sun to take some more photos. I will have a post up about dye parties and such from the dye party I taught last night. Until then, I hope everyone is doing well and staying cool from the heat or dry from the rain!

And Now for Something Completely Different...

I know all summer I have pretty much been only knitting for my OFFF Booth. So I thought I would start a different sort of project:

One of our friend's sons is turning 3 in September. The father is part of our D&D group. He loves to paint miniatures and really gets into his character. I thought that a totally awesome thing to make for his son is a set of miniatures. I am going to make a knight, a monk, a princess, a wizard, a gnome fairy, and an orc barbarian. I figure that a good way to stimulate imagination is by having characters to make up stories about.


Here is my first guy almost finished. He is the Black Knight. I am knitting him out of some leftover black sock yarn that I dyed up. Actually this project is great for using up scraps of yarn. I am combining the yarn with a gold thread to make him look a bit shiny. What I like is that he is turning out pretty soft and squishy, but still bendy and posable. I am using Jan Messent's Knit a Fantasy Story as a starting point for the figures. Then I am making up the knitting as I go. I really hope that each character will get a little easier as I go along.

Silky Single Seeded Rib Mitts

I started a new project!



I whipped out this one mitt in no time at all! They are the Seeded Rib Wristwarmers Pattern by Chrissy Gardiner. I knit them out of my Silky Singles yarn in color Child's Play. I just love how soft and squishy this yarn is! It is just a joy to wear these mitts! Of course I only have one done so far. I am sure that I will have to finish a pair. They also would make a great quick gift. They are knit on 9s, so the simply fly off the needles! I dyed up a bunch of silky single yarn. This mitt weighs 22 grams, so that means that one skein of yarn makes 4-5 mitts. That's two pairs! It could also make a pair of mitts and a matching hat. These mitts are sized for both men and women! So many options!

Roving Along!

I have lots and lots of roving now available in the shop!


The first lot is my set of One-of-a-Kind roving! It is different fibers that I have picked up here and there and have dyed for your enjoyment! There is corriedale wool, alpaca, and a few blends. It is definitely worth checking out! Each fiber is labeled and priced individually.


The second lot is a set of superwash roving. It is really soft and squishy. It would be perfect for spinning your own sock yarn or making baby items. Pretty much anything you need a washable yarn for this roving would work. I just love how soft and fluffy it turned out!

The colors in both lots are vibrant and beautiful. Make sure to check them all out!

The Real August 1st

Ok, so today is actually August 1st! I feel that somehow I have magically gained a week. Though, not for long! August is so close to September and September means The Knit & Crochet Show and Oregon Flock & Fiber!!! So much yarn to dye, so little time! Speaking of yarn, the sale through August is definitely now in effect!


On top of that, with my extra week, I was able to finish one more thing to add to the sale: a free pattern to go with the Silky Worsted! I finished my entrelac scarf out of this amazing yarn! I only used two skeins of Silky Worsted in Color California Poppy! This made a scarf 92 inches long and 8 inches wide! It wraps a couple of times around my neck. It is so comfy and soft I want to wrap it around my neck right now! I love it!


This is how much yarn I had left over from the two skeins! I just love using as much of a skein of yarn as possible and that definitely happened with this yarn and pattern. That is the entire thing knit with the fancy single crochet border. Though if you wanted a shorter scarf you could always use the extra to make a matching hat or a pair of mitts!

I wrote this pattern specifically for this yarn. I added a few modifications to my earlier entrelac pattern, so that it is more compatible with this yarn! Now I need to pack it away safely for Oregon Flock and Fiber, where it will be on display. Though if we actually get some of the rain that the clouds outside keep threatening, then it might just get some use before then!