Happy Blogiversary!

This is my 4th blogiversary! It's quite exciting to think about actually. Here is a link to my very first post! It's just amazing so much time has passed by!

So, I have decided to do something a little different this year. I definitely want to keep all of my semi-solid colors, since they are all so popular. So I will definitely be keeping: Berry Pie, Bordeaux, Midnight Rose, Moss, Mountain Sunset, Purple Blackberry, Sea Turtle, Smokey Rose, Snapdragon, and Summer Sky.

So that left me with picking the top 15 (I was going to only do a top 10, but there are too many pretty colors) from the variegated yarns. So, from your votes I got this top 15: 1. Mine, Don't Touch! 2. Peninah 3. Espresso 4. Firefighter 5. Monet 6. Strawberry Shortcake 7. Truffle 8. Wild Violets 9. Childs Play 10. Cirque 11. Columbia River 12. Provence 13. Mech 14. Dragon Fire 15. Vineyard.

These will be the colors I dye year round. I may also add in some seasonal favorites throughout the year. I also have 4-5 new colors up my sleeve, I just have to do a bit of experimenting in the dye studio to see what comes up!

Ok, so onto the winners:

Winner #1 is Lizziek8!!! Her comment was:

OMG...how to choose?????
Mine, Don't Touch!
Firefighter
Child's Play

All are gorgeous!

Winner #2 is PghCathy!!! Her Comment was:

Happy blogiversay!
I'd choose:

Snapdragon
Candy Cane Lane
Autumn Splender

All bright, cheery colors...so different from what's outside my windows!

Since both ladies love such bright colors, I am going to send each one a skein of Tencel Sock yarn in Vineyard with Gardiner Yarn Works newly released Sunset Beach Sock pattern! So, email me your addresses and I will get them sent off right away!

Annual Blog Contest!

Every year I like to run a little blog contest in honor of my blogiversary, which is January 13th! I really liked what I did last year, so I am going to run the same thing again this year, with a little tweak.

This year:

• Go to the Colorways Page of the website
• Pick out 3 of your favorite colorways that you can see knitting any time of the year, this includes the semi-solids colorways too.
  
• Post a comment on this post with your 3 favorites

I have some good ideas for prizes, so let the contest begin! I'll announce the winner(s) on January 13th, along with the top color choices.

2009 Finished Objects

It's the beginning of the new year. So here is my list of projects from 2009:

Cuddly Baby Sweater
Baby Duck Socks
Super Natural Stripes
Blair's Neckwarmer
Grandma's Blanket
B's Sweater
Toby Mouse
Nautilus Socks
Smokey Autumn Socks
Brick Rib Socks
Kim's Garter
Blair's Socks
Pooling Samples
Frequency Hat
Bridget Socks
Venice Beach Tank Top
Cuddly Bear Cardigan
Stainglass Bag
Darkside Cowl
Doc-Moc-a-Soc
Purple Socks
Grandma Socks

So that's 21 projects in total. Here is the break down: 5 pairs of women's socks, 4 baby sweaters, 2 cowls, 2 pairs of baby socks, 1 pair of baby booties, 1 felted bag, 1 woman's top, 1 pair of men's socks, 1 garter, 1 toy, and 1 blanket. Not bad for a year's worth of knitting! I can't wait to see what will go on the needles for 2010.

Happy 2010!

2009 has been a year filled with many blessings as well as many sadnesses. For my own part I am looking forward to 2010 with the hope that it will be by far less eventful! I am looking forward to the birth of my little boy as well as many fun and wonderful yarnie things to come!

So with the new year, I have a special announcement!


As my little yarn business continues to grow I really want to reach out to you guys all the more and give you as many possible options for buying my yarn as possible. So I am announcing another way to buy yarn. I am now excepting credit cards over the phone! The number is 541-392-1828! The hours for phone orders will be as follows (Pacific Standard Time):
Monday: 10am - 5pm
Tuesday: 10am - 1pm
Wednesday - Friday: 10am - 5pm
Saturday & Sunday: Closed

Of course you can still purchase through the website 24/7 and the best way to reach me is through email. Thank you all so much! I hope everyone has a very happy New Year!

The Floor is here!

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday. I know I enjoyed mine! It was a little sad in places without my little brother. Sort of like something was missing that should have been there. Still I felt that he must have been there in spirit watching over and laughing with all of the festivities.


I received some very nice gifts this year. The very best was the floor for my new studio. My parents offered to pay for my brand new pergo floor as my Christmas gift. I am absolutely thrilled! Before this there was beige carpet, which works well throughout the rest of the house, but not so much in a dye studio. Now I just need to get all of the yarn and dye moved over here and I should be back in business dyeing up a storm! I have some great ideas for some new colorways for the new year. I can't wait to share them with you guys!

Super Natural Stripes

I finished my first sweater for the baby. I really didn't think it would take this long. I'll be 6 months along on Christmas! I have been working on some other super secret projects, which I can't reveal quite yet, maybe sometime in January...

So the baby sweater I completed is called Super Natural stripes (rav link). The pattern is free online. The yarn called for is Blue Sky Alpaca Organic Cotton, but I substituted Inca Cotton instead. The green is actually a color that the manufacturer can no longer get because of severe loss of the green cotton plants. I really wish they could, because it is my favorite organic cotton color. Luckily I had one magic ball left in my stash which I was saving for a special project. I think this qualifies! I have just enough leftover to make a striped hat to match! I think it would also be really cute and knit out of Ur, with contrasting Desert and Ecru. I might just have to make one up in those colors, since it was such a fun sweater to knit!


Here is a close up of the button. I found it at the Button Emporium in downtown Portland. I just love going in there. I really love the natural wood with the natural cotton. The oak leaves just add something super special to it too. Overall I love this sweater and would definitely knit it again!

Also on the needles and slowly coming along is this set of baby overalls. I started them before I officially knew I was going to have a boy. The pattern is Hermine from Dale of Norway Soft Treasures for Little Ones book. The book is currently out of print, but sometimes they reprint the same patterns in newer books, so make sure to keep an eye out for it if you want it. I have learned the hard way that when I see a DoN pattern I like to grab it before it is gone! The yarn is Dale of Norway baby Ull in Color #2203 yellow and #9436 Olive.

Early Christmas

I am so blessed by all of my great friends and family. Here is a little proof of how awesome they are:

First up the lovely ladies of Knot Another Hat put together a little yarn package for me. Included was 3 skeins of Blue Sky Alpaca's Organic Cotton (the blue yarn in the back), a pattern to go with it, and then a skein of Cashmere 5 yarn (the purple in the front). It all came with a lovely note explaining how I can think of my brother while I knit pretty new things for my new little one to come. I really believe that we put happy thoughts into our projects as we knit them, so I totally plan on doing that as I make my baby little sweaters.

So, what of the red ornament kit to the side? Well, Knot Another Hat also had their December Knit Night with gifts for everyone. I received the lovely ornament kit. It is just perfect, because for next Christmas I am planning a soft baby friendly Christmas tree. This is one of the many reasons why I love and support my local yarn shop!

Next early Christmas present is from my husband! He got a brand new phone, so I got his old one! He also signed me up for a data plan. So now I can check my mail on the go, which means staying connected with LavenderSheep no matter where I am! I'm still getting used to all of the new features, but so far it has been a whole lot of fun! The phone is the G1 Android phone, in case you were curious.

Lastly I will leave you with a picture that makes me smile! This is Blair with his wild winter hair! We had a few dry days in there and his fro puffed up extra huge. He also won't let me cut it because he doesn't want his head to be cold, so for now the wild hair stays!

Wool Single

New yarn! Well, actually I have had it around for awhile. I just recently discovered that it hadn't made it up on the site yet. Ooops!


So, I put it up! This was actually some fun I was having this last fall with kettle dyeing and some lovely wool singles I acquired. I think it will be a permanent fixture in the LavenderSheep line. I just love this yarn so much. It's your standard worsted weight wool single, dyed up in subtle kettle dyed shades. Make sure to check them all out!

500 and a Tree Hunt

Of all things, I noticed that this is my 500th post! I tried to think up something really cool for my 500th, but my mind went totally blank. Maybe I'll do something extra special for my blogiversary next month. So, instead how about we have some pretty pictures from our tree hunt today? Yay!

Blair found the perfect tree right off the bat! It was awesome! We just started looking around when we found a tree that somebody else had cut down earlier and discarded. This isn't exactly smiled upon in the tree hunting rules, but it happens. The tree looked just fine to us, only a little tall. So we trimmed a bit off the bottom and adopted it as our own!

Soon, my parents found a good tree. They are far more picky about things like symmetry and spacing of branches than we are. Their trees are always beautiful, while ours have a little more character. You can view our trees from 2006, 2007, and 2008.

Molly had a lot of fun wandering around exploring everything. My mom made her a couple of polar fleece jackets, which she just loves during the cold weather months.


Lastly, we need some knitting content! I posted awhile ago that I had knit a Neckwarmer for Blair. Well, I finally got a picture of him wearing it! It kept his nose and chin very warm. He kept moving it between warming his neck and warming his nose. I might take it back out and make it long enough to cover his neck and face, but I'll have to get his final word on it before I decide. Most of the time he folds it over on his neck because he doesn't like it too long.

One last note: I received a message from my website without a return email address. It was as follows:

i would like to order roving for my niece who has just started spinning. could you tell me what quantity of roving to buy, to make leg warmers for a teenager

To answer, I would say 4 oz would probably be enough, but mileage may vary. As in depending on how fine the fiber is spun into yarn will determine how much of it there is to knit. If it is spun at a bulky weight probably more like 6-8oz, whereas there would definitely be more than enough yarn with 4oz of sock weight yarn.

Hopefully, this message gets back to whoever left it on the website. Also, any added advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Happy December!

Well at least, hopefully, calmer than last month! I think I can live with less of the ups if it means less of the downs as well. My family is holding up well. Thankfully my little brother was always an upbeat kind of guy. Even when he was upset it was easy to get him laughing again. So there are plenty of happy memories to think about and not all sad and tears. I'll probably share more as time goes on, especially around Christmas time, which was one of his favorite holidays.

Ok, back to normal, or at least semi-normal.


Last year I ran a sale for Free Shipping ANYWHERE in the world, so that is what I am going to do again this year for the month of December! Check out the shop for more details!

Also, a big THANK YOU to everyone who commented on my brother's passing. Your words have meant more to me and my family than you can ever imagine. We are truly grateful. We hope everyone out there stays happy and healthy this holiday season!