Falling In Love

So I got a little sappy this week in the dye studio. If it was pink, red, purple or white you'll see it in the yarn.

Introducing: Amethyst, Princess, Be Mine, Bleeding Heart, Truly
I am in Love!!

There is a set of these at Twisted along with semi solid colors in Bling that are also V-Day related. I'm putting this set in the shop. (They are sold individually!) I also have a Rose City, Shades of Grey, and Ladies That Lunch that are in the shop. Pretty productive if I do say so my self! This week in the dye studio is a focus on blues and browns thanks to a friends inspiration. Look for some new color ways.

A new focus for me is making repeat colors that I can duplicate. From now on stores and you can order from however many color options I have. Any testers or ones that I just like will end up at shows with me like Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival. The colors will be repeated in all the yarn/fiber choices I carry.

On to other exciting things: I'm going to have a table at the Aloha Grange Hall on February 20th! You can come pick out some new fiber to spin up and hang around and get started spinning. I think the even is from 10-4 and free I'm assuming. I can't wait! The night before e is spending the night at Oma's. (e helping me during my little photo shoot) A little practice for when Bubba gets here or is on his way. So, E and I will have Friday night to ourselves and I'll have Saturday morning to myself to get ready, then spin all day and hang out with other spinners. A little piece of heaven is in my future!

New Colors

It's been really great having a dye space to go to every week. I'm amazed every week how much work I get done in such a short time. It's easy to getting work done when there's no distractions like the internet, a couch, a fridge, a t.v.!


New Merino Knots drying.

On the knitting front I finished the booties, the hat is started. I've gotten a little distracted with sewing felt food for e to play with. Well, maybe for me to play with! I spaced taking pictures of those. I also posted Mermaid in the shop. $5 from every skein will be donated to Doctors Without Borders for Haitian relief.

Mojo

It's back! Last Thursday night was knit night. I really went to tell everybody we're having a boy and to eat the yummy food. I brought my obligatory knitting project that keeps getting ripped out and pretended to work on that. Then I got to help somebody with their knitting project and I think something rubbed off on me. I realized that I was trying to work on something that I have no interest in right now. I should knit something that has interest. So on Sunday while the wee one napped I cleaned up some crafty mess in the garage and in the process found yarn and needles. I also found some fiber and spinning wheel. I found things I wanted to make instead of struggling along in a project going no where. I know that's not life style advice but it works for knitting and for me right now. So I now have a pair of completed booties, which I finished Kitchener-ing yesterday while e bathed. If you've ever had trouble with that stitch I recommend this tutorial. Changed my life. Changed my life in that I can now Kitchener with confidence.

What else is new you ask? Well, Knitted Wit yarn and fiber is now at Make One in Milwaukie. I visited the shop yesterday, very nice. A beautiful space, a great selection and very helpful.

Also new, a color way called Mermaid. I just dyed it up today and will hopefully have pictures at the beginning of the week. $5 from every skein sold will go to Doctors Without Borders for relief work in Haiti. I hope I'll be selling this yarn for the next 10 years. When the emergent need has been met I'd like to find an organization that is working with artist and cultural preservation in Haiti. Mermaid is inspired by the colors often seen in paintings and the legend of Mermaids in Haiti. With so much of the population displaced traditions can get lost, especially with the great loss of family members. But for now the immediate need is food, water and shelter. That is where the efforts will go.

I'll hopefully be back soon with pictures and have the yarn listed in my Etsy shop, which is quite sad and lonely! I hope you find your mojo if it's been missing.

Oh Boy!

That's right we're having a boy! I can't tell you how excited I am! I also feel like life has been simplified on many levels. We can stay in our currant house for a long time, the boys will have bunk beds for much of their lives. I really don't need to buy baby boy any clothes, this doesn't mean I won't, but we really have all the clothes we need. I think also the confidence. We know what to do with boys! Now I just have to wait 20 more weeks to meet him! That feels a little like forever. You can remind me I said that in June!

This has been a busy week. On Tuesday we moved Knitted Wit over to the new dye space. I'm headed over there after this to put things away properly and get ready for dying next week. Yesterday we painted e's room and moved furniture around so it's just his room now and not part office. He'll be sharing the room in the future with baby boy, but for now it's just him. I feel great having these two major projects done, moving Knitted Wit and the boys room. Now to organize all my junk in the garage! I guess that's what nap time on Sundays is going to be for a while. Before baby boy gets here I'll definitely be having a stash sale. I have so much yarn that I won't get a chance to knit with and it should go to a good home. Maybe in May we'll have a sale under the carport.

I think the next big thing for me to figure out is what to do with my Etsy shop. I'm terrible about posting things for sale in there. I suppose if I did repeat colors it would be a lot easier to post items, not so time consuming. A problem to be solved later...

I'm off to clean and organize. I think I've entered a nesting phase, I hope it lasts!

Out with the Old and In the New

Happy New Year! What a year 2009 was! (funny thing, I just wrote 2008) It's exciting starting a new decade, especially as an adult. At the beginning of the last decade I was in college, about to start dating E and had a world of options. In some ways it's more exciting to have a narrowed focus. I have my family, a job I've been at for more than six years and my growing business. It's funny those three things keep me so busy. On the paper they're just three words, family, job, business. But there is so much that encompasses each of those three things. In the next year my family will be getting bigger, I'll be working at my job less, and hopefully my business will be growing.

I just realized that I don't have anything to show you! I haven't been knitting or spinning. I was able to make some Christmas gifts, E did a ton of baking. I've had to take some time off from Knitted Wit because my day job is retail is super busy in December. I'm about to move into a dye space with Pico Accuardi Dyeworks. I just have to make it through inventory this next week and then I'll be back to dyeing in a big, dry, warm space!

What are you looking forward to for the new year? The new decade? Any big plans or goals?

Now that life is getting back to the slower routine hopefully I'll see you around these parts a little more.

Hello Winter!

If you live in the NW I hope you have a lot of layers on. The low today was 14 degrees F. Brrr. But the forecast does call for rain and warmer temperatures by the weekend so there is an end in sight! But I'm sure you didn't stop by to get a weather report. Where have I been? Sitting on the couch for the most part. Well maybe just mentally. It's been a big year for me, my family and Knitted Wit. Next year is going to be even bigger so it's been nice to be a little reflective but also to plot out some plans for the new year.

With no Sock Summit in the near future I've been trying to figure out how to grow the business in other ways. I can't seem to get it together to take pictures and post them on Etsy. Way too time consuming. I've had great shops buying from me this year and I hope I can continue to add to the list in the coming year.

My family is also trying to figure out where to keep Knitted Wit. Currently everything is in the garage. And I mean everything! The business plus all the personal stuff: sports equipment, camping equipment, art supplies, wood working tools, books...The list goes on for miles. In the summer it's not too big of a deal. I can do all my dyeing, drying, re-skeining outside under the carport. In the winter it gets a little too cramped to do much in the garage. We're hoping a storage shed under the carport for Knitted Wit, downsizing a bike (or three) and possible losing a saw contraption will open up the space.

I think in some ways I'm experiencing some growing pains. I work almost full time so trying to figure out how to dedicate enough time to the business to make it successful is hard. I can't be too successful in some ways and start losing hours at a job that pays health insurance. However, this is all going to change in a bit when baby number 2 gets here. Limbo is a tricky place to be.

This blog post probably isn't so much for you as it is for me. I've been mulling in these thoughts for a while. I think getting them out of my head will help. I'll try to be back sooner with something a little more festive!

The Quease

I've been having all my morning sickness in the evening. Super frustrating considering I have a free hour every night but I can't seem to get anything done. I'm doing pretty good today so I thought I'd stop by and say hi. Sadly I don't have much to report.

I have realized that I should do my spinning in the morning after I drop e off at daycare. I have a few minutes before I have to leave for work and I usually feel pretty good. So that's the plan for tomorrow. Then maybe I'll have something to report!

For now I'll leave you with some photos of life lately

Helen's baby blanket that knit night made her. I did the dyeing of the yarn, a great group project. Thanks ladies!

e at the pumpkin patch. He was standing on a giant tower of hay. He's pretty beautiful if I do say so myself!

Last weekend we went to Oma's house up in Welches. There were puppies, geese, bunnies and a nice fall walk.

I need to be doing more of this! It's hard to move the dye studio inside after a great summer under the carport.