New shop: I haz it! And there’s a shiny new splash page up, too.
There are still a few minor details here and there to tweak with the cart software, and I’d love to have your help—so anyone who purchases something today from the new site and tells me how it goes will get 25% refunded from their purchase price. Happy shopping!
The good news: The handspun and kits are all finished and packed up,
diversion shawl is done and blocking, and the weather for this weekend looks awesome.
The bad news: I still have six spindles to finish, ALL of the spindles need to be weighed and labeled, I can’t find my spindle labels, I wasted an hour of prime packing time fighting with my stupid @#*%ing blocking pins to get the diversion shawl laid out, I’ve got a cold from hell, and all of my attempts at drinking hot tea to combat said cold are being thwarted by the 90 degree weather today.
Also, I tried to start a new sock project so I would have some travel knitting, but variegated yarn + lace pattern + not even using the right size needle = frog.
I don’t think I could be any busier right now if I tried. (Actually, forget I said that—no use tempting fate, here.) So, have a list.
1. Finally got the yarn to continue on with my sweater, and started a sleeve tonight.
I’ve also been working on mathing out the other sizes and writing clear, coherent instructions so that my test knitters can get started, but I gotta say, it’s a challenge. The thing is that once you’re knitting the sweater it’s really easy to see how the lace and cable columns fit together and everything lines up, but getting there is… an issue. Still, I’ll get it worked out. Hopefully.
2. Washing handspun is magic. I know this, and have known this for quite a while, but seeing it in action still gets me every time.
These skeins of laceweight singles are actually for cowl kits that I’m going to have with me at the MA sheep and woolcraft fair at the end of the month; there will be handspun versions and spin your own, and Jen will have a handdyed version both at MA and at NHSW this weekend.
(The kits include beads for the picot cast on unless you request it without; my original handspun sample was knit without, only because I hadn’t thought of beading it at that point.)
3. After MASW I’m going to be migrating all of my shop stuff (spindles, fiber, yarn, kits, and patterns) over to this site from Etsy. I’m telling you this now because a) I’ve already started working on it, but it’s going to take me that long to get everything set up, and b) the few items left over on Etsy are 30% off so that I don’t have to move them. 
So busy I don’t have a spare moment to write up a decent blog post about all that I’ve been up to. But here’s a sleeve:
(there’s two of them now)
And for all of you who might be interested, an anonymous (and fantastic) donor has offered to match all of my sales (pattern, spindle, and fiber) until Valentine’s day in a donation to MSF/DWB. I will also be donating 75% of proceeds from pattern sales for the remainder of the month.
Now if you’ll pardon me, I have to go card more batts and re-stock the store!
Stuff is going to start looking a little different around here. Nicer. Sharper. Cleaner.
I got a new camera.
I keep meaning to, you know, take a picture of myself and the camera together, but… I keep finding more interesting things to photograph.
I know it’s not Caturday. But lookit that face!
(PS New camera means new pictures means ye olde shoppe is re-opened—new stuff goin’ up just about every day. I have a lot of spindles!)
Eight days left and I’ve entered that point where mentally, I know I’m ahead of (or, at the very least, on) schedule, but emotionally, I’m in panic mode. What if I forget (insert important object here)? What if it’s cold? What if it rains? What if I’m not bringing enough spindles?
What if I’m bringing too many spindles? (I know, I know. There’s no such thing as too many. But what if?)
Obviously the only way to de-stress is to…
start a new knitting project.
Ten days left ’til I leave for Rhinebeck and I couldn’t be more excited or panicked. The shop is shut down so I can start labeling and packing spindles, because I am not waiting for the night before to do it like I did last year. Viv has been washed and blocked and fits perfectly—
so once the clasps get here I can sew ‘em on fast and that will be done too.
I was also hoping to get in one last skein of handspun before potentially handing over my bobbin to have copies made,
but this is only the first ply so that may or may not happen.
Still on the to-do list: finish up the last handful of spindles, label and pack them as noted above, figure out what knitting and spinning projects to take with me, and clean this place up a bit so I don’t come home to a disaster area.
(That last one might end up being too much to handle. We’ll see.)
Rhinebeck is just four weeks away, which is exciting and terrifying all at once. I have a million things to get done before then… hopefully I can get through ‘em all.
First priority is spindles, of course; as such, the store is slowly being stocked with some pre-show inventory, so all the folks who aren’t going can have a crack at the pretties. Of course if you see something you like and you will be there, I’d be happy to waive the shipping fees and bring it to you! I’m totally in love with the new rhinestone embedded square whorls that I just recently got in:
And there will of course be the usual assortment of polymer clay, stoneware, glass, and gemstones on offer.
I also promised myself I would finish my Kitri socks before then.
I’m pretty sure I can make it, unless something goes catastrophically wrong, like, say, misplacing the beads for the cuff. Um, wait a second. Where did I put the rest of the beads for the cuff? Uh-oh.
And I know it’s a day late, but we’ve got some new foster kittens, including the cutest little basement cat ever. I think I’m in love.
In which I managed to sell some spindles—
(Spindles on the right, there. Me looking snarky on the left, obviously.)
And spin a ton of yarn—
And do more than my fair share of chatting and giggling and just generally hanging out.
I may have gone a little overboard with buying stuff, but my wallet was full of birthday money and I spent less than I made, so it’s okay, right?
Tasty, tasty 100% silk laceweight from twisted fiber which is destined for something I’m hoping to design over the next couple of weeks.
Some drool-worthy merino/tencel from my dear Zarzuela, which I believe will turn into sock yarn.
Buttons! I should’ve bought more from these people; they had an overwhelmingly lovely selection.
And 3oz of some gorgeous border leicester from Kate at Roclans. As my sample tells you, it makes a fantastic two-ply laceweight; I’m thinking a large, very textural beaded lace shawl. Mmmmmfiber.
All in all it was a fun way to spend my birthday weekend. Hopefully next year we can do it again!
(By the way, for those who were inquiring after it, the Honeybee Cardigan pattern is now available! It is one of the best knits I’ve ever done so you should definitely go get yourself a copy.)
I was right; Catherine (that’s the wheel) spins much better now that she’s clean. Smoother, quieter, happier. So happy, in fact, that I spun through the second ply for a three-ply sock yarn in three hours.
Three hours. About 500 yards of singles. I think I’ll be a real contender for Team Suck Less, come next Tour de Fleece.
I’m also two-thirds of the way through my spindle building for NJS&W. Which is, uh, Saturday. I should get working.
