2009 PERSPECTIVE

Yes, I know, this was a whole two and a half weeks ago. For shame! Well, the following weekend I had a three day show in Kirtland, and just this past weekend I flew to Wisconsin with my family to visit my grandparents for the 4th of July and their… drum roll please… 60th Anniversary! Have been busy. Just no way around that. But I’m talking fiber. So I know y’all will forgive me. Plus, there will be the yarn, the silks, the everything else that you saw listed in my shops in the next two weeks. So, settle in. It’s kind of a long post.

A candid shot of a shopowner at Knitters Connection. By my little girl!

Frontier Fiber Mill

You know how you love something and love to talk about that something, to the point where folks who don’t give two whits about that something eyes’ glaze over when you talk about it? Yeah.  That didn’t happen here. I love yarn. I love dyeing yarn. I love knitting yarn. I love fondling, ogling, and thinking about yarn. And roving, too.  And nigh on everyone there at Knitters Connection was. Exactly. Like. Me.

My booth! There's yarn there. I swear.

Ahh, there's the yarn. 150 skeins is NOT. MUCH. Plus, Jeremy and Leon. Well, Leon's head.

I can only review the vendors, the people, and the two marketplaces. In short, amazing. Next year, I’d sure like to finagle a way to take classes as well as be a vendor there again. Sure, there were a few things I didn’t like as a vendor (being in the far away marketplace, it was cold, and the lighting was terrible), but aside from that, in short, again, amazing.

Ellen & Bonnie of Stitch Sisterz. I'm still not sure they like yarn. Much.

Shelbridge Farms - lovely, lovely things.

ColoraturaYarns.com / HandPaintedKnittingYarns.com- these guys were fantastic. The overtired daughter had them nervous, but they were so kind. I, of course, purchased some yarn from them. Lovely dyed wool with metallic accents for some felted cuffs. Wait and see!

I was next to Bonnie and Ellen of the Stitch Sisterz, who are just two cards in a wild deck. They shared a large booth with Rita of Castle Fibers and her fabulous helper friend, whose name, forgive me, I forget. Many other amazing vendors, instructors, students, crocheters, knitters… it was a steady and fantastic stream of people!

Colortura Yarns and their gorgeous, giant, mixed fiber/same hue skeins.

Dusty Vintage’s amazing vintage button selection.No website, but you can email her for her show schedule.

Jennie The Potter’s buttons, plates, all things beauiful.

Ivy Bramble and their patterns, and Jerry - who I chatted with about his to dye (hehe) for sheep tees which he’ll try to get in a v-neck and child sizes; my kiddo, she does love the sheep. Smart gal.

Judy Pascale, an instructor at KC ‘09 and lively woman who purchased some of my dyed silks for her demonstration class. Hint: I would be beyond thrilled for a photo or update - bet the silks did not run, as promised <giant grin>.

Shirley Tinsdale - a woman who spins and dyes specialty and rare yarns… because. Best reason ever, right!

Glory-ous Knits and Gifts whose notions were so fun - especially their Culinary Colors dye kits.

Kathy and her husband Randy of Wise Man Woolens whose farm in Jackson, Ohio I cannot wait to go and visit!  They’re local to me, amazing people, love their animals - what better place could I ask to find for fiber to dye?

Bonnie’s Kozy Knit’s booth - alas, I can’t remember the name of the son, but he was a sweetheart and learning to knit at KC!

I also met two Columbus fiber addicts - one knits, one crochets. Yep, Leon and Jeremy, I’m talking about you. And giggling incessantly while I do so. Amazing guys I’ll never forget, they’re even Browncoats through and through.

My daughter with the camera - catching the gentleman from ColoraturaYarns.com. He was having a good time. Swear.

Oh the fun the daughter had!

Gorgeous beadwork shown by a shop I can't remember . The horror, I know.

For me personally, it was a little stressful. I have only about 150 skeins of dyed yarn, and about twenty 4oz peices of roving thus far - it was a debut of sorts. I’m only one person who works from her garage and is just simply in love with color.  I’m so incredibly pleased that folks were interested in my colorways, my ideas, my babies, as it were!

Jennie The Potter. Beautiful is all I can say.

The pattern I purchased from Ivy Brambles for my daughter. She totally picked it out. So I had to buy some cotton yarn from the Stitch Sisterz to make it with. Naturally.

In financial terms, I did not do as well as I would have liked - I know part of that was my selection, my display, my newness, but what I didn’t make in sales, I more than made up for in learning.  It was a joy to talk to shop owners, dyers, knitters, spinners and hear what people liked, what strikes them, how they dye, why they dye, why they sell yarn if they do not dye, how I could be better, how they were taking ideas from me (oh the pleasure in that I won’t deny!).  There is no price tag on those discussions.

A pattern from Ivy Brambles I will own. Soon. Very soon.

Ivy Brambles' lovely yarns - and awful cute sheep tees - which I requested in child sizes. Hee!

I also got to meet and speak with Joe of SWTC yarns; all y’all on Ravelry know of whom I speak! That man is a traveling fiber pimp!  Not only was he personable, he talks the fiber talk, and he doesn’t try to sell his products, he proves his products.  Three of SWTC yarns will be on my coming-soon list of standard yarns I will be dyeing.  And though I don’t sell anything that isn’t made by hand, folks need knitting needles for sure. Else I’m not a knitter.  Joe also introduced me and sold me on Hiya Hiya needles - hollow stainless steel that are as light as air. It was love at first stitch.  I’ll be selling those also, with pleasure.

The button seller, Dusty's Vintage, wow. That's all I can say. I'm actually going to stalk her at her next local show so I can peruse without the child in tow. It'll be worth it. Promise.

Child, please don't take pictures of mama. Love, mama.

And, of course, I bought yarn. And traded for some of Castle Fiber’s fibers (heh).

Rita (on the far left) and a poor shot of her lovely dyed Castle Fiber yarns.

My purchases at KC. Didn't seem like that much.

What I purchased is above. Doesn’t seem like that much, but it’s also more than I thought! There was so much more to have purchased. Really.

Top Row:

• 2 balls Crystal Palace Mini Mochi and 6 balls of an Italian cotton/bamboo/rayon yarn, “Vienna”, in a deep navy with a distinct shimmer to it from Bonnie’s Kozy Knit.
• Seven fluffballs of gorgeous roving from Castle Fiber.

Bottom Row:

• Debbie Bliss (delish!) Pure Cotton yarn - 4 balls in a dusky navy, and 4 balls in yellow for the daughter’s top - see said pattern from Ivy Brambles there under it.
• A partial ball of Toffuti yarn from SWTC’s Joe (shared it with Ez of Emerald Isla Yarns, a beautiful friend of mine).
• The ball with the needles in it is my yarn (Storm Sky, just so ya know), but the needles are hollow stainless Hiya Hiya’s. Which I love.
• Then a gorgeous earthy dyed hank of wool from Hand Painted Knitting / Coloratura Yarns that has these pretty metallic flecks in it.

I will be doing this again next year, all things willing. I am happy to have pleased those who bought my hand painted yarns, I am happy to have purchased some beauties for myself, and I have memories to last until I stop knitting. Which you all know, is like, never.

So, stay tuned, in about 24 hours I”ll have another post for Ohio Farmpark’s Woolfest. Tell you one thing in advance, that place was incredible.

Well, in my blog post about my “fabric diet” (yeah right), I mistakenly mentioned Tula Pink as having contract issues, when in fact, it was Heather Ross.  Both designers I love dearly. Well, Jen (the mastermind behind Tula Pink) contacted me to let me know about the error, which I quickly fixed. Funny thing was, she thought she freaked me out. What she might not have known is that I was thrilled that someone caught my mistake and that she! of all folks, took a personable, what the hay, approach.

Then, oddities of all oddities, she apologized and offered to send me fabric.  Though I asked her to comment on my blog, in lieu of fabric (mom, don’t have a heart attack reading that!), I didn’t turn her down either (I’m not completely crazy).  And, in what was a mere three days, I was sent 5 fat quarters from her Neptune line. Which I adore. And makes me very glad for the eight Neptune charm packs I’d ordered a week ago.

Though I blithely await the ability to purchase Hushabye, I have a very special dress for my daughter planned out from this. Thanks Jen, for just being awesome.  For realz. I have something special in the works and soon to be on its way to you as well for the Pay It Forward gift giving.  There are four colorways in Hushabye, Grass just happens to be one of four of my favorites.

In other fabric news - Patty Young’s Mezzanine.  Ya know, at first I didn’t jive with it.  Bold colors sometimes jar me the wrong way after dyeing yarn - which I don’t really do in bright bold colors. But after I took another look at it after making jewelry for a few hours - which I do do (heh) in bold stones and colors, I really admired it. Especially the stained glass and gothic flower prints. Can’t wait to get some of that either. I have a fabric problem. It’s medicated by purchasing more and making things that make me smile out of it.

Then, while perusing the latest posts in my Google Reader; I saw that Patricia, owner and designer of Art Gallery Fabrics had a new line up, Color Splash.  I love the asian / chinoiserie feel to this, and yes, feel the need to have may of these prints. In many yards.

And in my own tiny corner of the world, I have six new colorways! One isn’t pictured below since my good friend Val took her ball home, and left it there. Gawd, what is she, the underslept mother of two kids under four?  Anyway, here are the other five, and I gotta say, I love ‘em.

From left to right:
Top row: oranges are unnamed, the other is Storm Sky.
Bottom row: purples are unnamed, Leaf Sky Sun, Petals

That’s all for today folks. I have tons of stitching to do for shibori dyed goodies this week in time for Oddmall.

Keep dreaming y’all, it’s the stuff of life.

Most often, I just have an attitude - whether it be grumpy, smarmy, happy, excited, angry, disappointed, thrilled, cheery. I bring it all with ‘tude.  Just ask my loved ones [insert mocking grimace and slight eye roll]. Anyway, I’m sitting here making jewelry and thinking, wow, I’m really, really grateful. For A Lot.

The past couple of days have been hard, with looming deadlines, migraine warning signals, a delicious child who won’t.stop.asking.questions. (I know, I know), and just not enough time in the day to finish all the things that need to be done. So I shall take some time to just be grateful. For stuff. And list it. Here. Randomly. (you’ll see).

My husband. Has begun to really start giving me the time to work on this business. He’s always been for it, but just these past two weekends has given me time to work, in a steady stream. Which has done wonders for me, my mothering, and my wifeing.

These measuring cups by Preserve. Brand new from Drugstore.com - I was missing the 1/4 cup in my old set… can’t fathom how that might of happened (hey little girl, why are you cooking crayons in my measuring cups?). Anywho… I’m grateful because they’re made from recycled plastic and are 100% recyclable. That’s the way to do it. And adding those to my cart got me a free goodie bag from Seventh Generation. And now I have a 1/4 cup measuring cup. Even though it’s not pictured. It was just used in tandem with the next item. Good thing.

This waffle maker from Eliza. I was borrowing my friend Julia’s, so I’m twofold grateful to Eliza. We have good waffles, I don’t have to bug Julia, and well, Eliza is just awesome.

My eight new colorways went from looking like tangled skeins to pretty wound balls.  And yes the photos are full of suck, I just wanted to show them off a bit.  When they’re all skeined up and in the shops, they’ll look tons better!

Moonlit Dusk    ////    Fiery Fall

Herb Garden    ////    Sunrise

Forest Moss    ////    Giggling Gnome (no photo of the wound ball I gave away for sample knitting)

Spring Breeze    ////    Pixie Dance

My friends Val, Heidi, Kim, Brandy, and Ez (who dyes her own amazing yarn!) who are knitting samples for me in trade for the remainder of the skein of yarn.  Because I am so thoroughly neurotic about knitting my own colorways. Perhaps terrified is more apt?! That what I envision in my head is not as beautiful as *I* think, you know!  I’ve got four samples in my hands that I’m staring lovingly at. I have 16 coming and I’m all itchy antsy about it.

I have my first show of the year this May 9th, Oddmall ~ Emporium of the Weird. Won’t be taking the oodles of yarn I’ve been dying - but will be able to take lots of the funky other things I’ve been working on. Y’all will see come next week!

These shoes from Land’s End. My first new shoes in years. They’re so freaking comfortable. And the green ones are like tennis shoe comfortable, but pretty. Which is something I haven’t had in a long while.

My daughter. Who even while this past week I have had to tell her I needed 5 minutes of No Questions Being Asked, and the resulting meltdown of not being able to ask said questions for five minutes, I love wholly.

My nephew E had his tonsils taken out today, and is doing well. I’m grateful that it was an “easy” operation and that he’s going to be the better for it.

My jewelry is looking awesome.

I have tons of fabric cut and ready for the serger and sewing machine.

Last but not least, thankfulness, for being grumpy. Because when ya come out of the funk, your perspective is just that much brighter and full.

Keep on dreaming y’all, it’s what keeps us alive.

Yep, got all the blank silk hankies, scarves, long underwear, as well as some silk/rayon velvet scarves and silk/wool scarves I had left over dyed yesterday and today.  I can’t stand waste so I use all the left over dye from the yarn. Well, not all the dye, but all that I could and not mix any new dye. It can be a challenge, but it’s fun and the outcome is beautiful.

Anyway, the purpose of today’s post - I’ve been reading tons on shibori - wrapping, tying, folding, rubber banding, stitching - there are endless ways of doing each that create infinite and gorgeous results.  Here are five I finished today - each one either had marbles tied into it, was folded in a specific way, or both.  I. love. this. stuff.

I got over my fear of trying new stuff and just went for it. I folded in ways that looked interesting. I rubber banded plastic spoons into some pieces (none here), I tied marbles in 1’s, 2’s, 3’s and 4’s - all with different effects. I shadow dyed, over dyed, over wrapped. And I can’t wait to do more. Oh Dharma Trading Co., how I love thee.

And, dh totally helped me out - I couldn’t stand the thought of throwing away saran wrap after dying a single skein of yarn, or a few silks, wrapping it up in the saran wrap, microwaving (to set the dye), and then tossing it.   So, he thought of a pretty neat re-usable solution - visqueen. 1mil and 2mil plastic sheeting. I’ve been able to reuse one package of the 1mil thus far to dye 40+ silks and 40 skeins of yarn.  Shout out to the dh.  I rinse, hang to dry, and reuse. Until there are too many holes to use it.

Until later, remember to wear gloves while dyeing and rinsing, or be prepared to be asked what you did to bruise the hell out of your hands. Tsk tsk tsk. I can’t fathom anyone forgetting to wear gloves.

I’m dyeing, I’m dyyyyyeeiiiinnnng!!

No, not death dying, but yarn dyeing. I dyed 40 skeins of yarn from Saturday to Monday - 5 skeins each in eight new colorways. They are amazing!  I have the next 6 already planned out for this Saturday, and I am excited.  Since I don’t really like to show off the yarn until it’s been re-skeined, here’s two of my “favorites” (because I really love them all, don’tcha know).  And I apologize beforehand for the shoddy photo quality, this is in my garage. In the shade. Where I dye. Thank goodness for warmer weather. For sure.

Moonlit Dusk

Pixie Dance

There is one colorway I can’t figure out a name for that I’ll be putting up for a naming contest once it’s reskeined.  As a prize, you’ll get one skein of it!  Details on that tomorrow.

Also, congrats to the three folks who were the first three to comment on my Pay It Forward blog post: Jenise, Mich, and Jen of Tula Pink — who my mom in a quite gleeful moment, gave up her spot as the third commentor so I could give the designer who gives us sewers such great fabric designs, a gift of her very own.  (oh the pressure!)  Thanks mom, you are incredibly sweet.  I’ll contact you three once I’ve gotten back from errands and playing with the little one today.

I’ve seen this on FaceBook for a while, and while I shamefully didn’t take advantage of it from some extraordinary people I know, I jumped at the chance to do this when a blog I subscribe to (a la Google Reader, thank you very much), did her own. 

Here’s the dealio: the first three commenters on this post receive a handmade gift from the poster (me), then they post the same pay-it-foward giveaway topic on their blog  and pay it forward to their first three commenters.  I, and the subsequent bloggers, get to make anything we want - it’s the  joy of the gift giving and the gift receiving - of something made by someone. Which is utterly and supremely important to me.

Here’s the “official” part cut and pasted from Random-Charm’s blog, and the blog she got some of the info from, SnippityGibbit, with some of my own edits:

Do you like getting packages in the mail?
Would you like to get a package from me; a surprise package?

If so, it would be my pleasure to send you something that I’ve made for you and for you alone.

* I make no guarantees that you will like what I make.
* What I create will be just for you! New! Not something I made previously and have just laying around.
* It’ll be done this year (2009).
* You have no clue what it’s going to be.
*I’m pretty sure it’ll be jewelry, yarn, dyed silk, or a knit or sewn thingamajigie.
*It will be something made in the real world and not something over the internet.
* Yes, you may totally regift it.
* If you don’t have a blog, you may do your Pay-It-Forward on FaceBook
* Please also leave a linky in the comments when you post on  your blog or on FaceBook. Spread the handmade blog love!

The first three people to leave a comment will receive a hand made gift from me, the only thing you have to do is participate and carry on the gift giving to three more people . . . as soon as you have left a comment, do a “pay it forward post” on your blog and continue the giving.  I will contact the first three who leave a comment to get their addresses.

Now, Happy Earth Day, keep dreaming, and keep creating.