How The West Was Spun

Treading water.....

Well, maybe.  Just barely.  I actually have nothing to post about, except that all my dreams are Tupelo Gold-colored and the sound of the printer churning out another order from the onsite store is giving me a little twitch.  (A good twitch, but ya know.... .a twitch.)

The Other Anne and I have been completely flabbergasted by the response to the Bee Fields shawl.  I was thinking maybe 35 or 45......50 if we really got going.  We hit 200 orders this morning and they are still coming in, although the deluge has slowed a bit.

So if you are here to see what's happening, rest assured I am dyeing and skeining and mailing kit packages as fast as I possibly can get them out the door.  New orders are looking at a 2-week wait period or so right now, but I am happy to keep dyeing for as long as y'all keep ordering.  I greatly appreciate everyone's patience and good humor while we are getting the kits out the door.

And extra special thanks to Margene who arrived home from vacation, turned around and drove down here to my place in the semi-boonies and helped me skein not one but TWO nights in a row this week.  She's a trooper.

All for now....

Bee Fields Shawl

So, if you are one of apparently only 3 people on the planet who haven't asked me about Anne's Bee Fields Shawl, which is our kit that we will be selling beginning Sunday, July 15th, here are the details. As always, kits of the month can be purchased through our online store at Wooly Wonka Fibers by clicking on the "Online Store" link and then "Kits".

I originally approached Anne about designing a shawl pattern for me back in April or so.  She said she had an idea percolating for a while, but hadn't been able to find a yarn that suited what she envisioned, so thus began several packages from me to her, filled with samples of different colorways that we thought might suit.  She eventually fell in love with two, and got started on her knitting.  You can visit her blog for more details on the pattern development process - a fascinating one.

Without further ado, then, let me unveil the Bee Fields Shawl pattern and colorways.

First, Anne's beautiful pattern which comes in the kit, printed with her usual great written directions plus charts to duplicate this:

And now for the colorways.  You get 1200 yards of merino laceweight, which is a 2-ply merino wool yarn.  This is a slightly heavier laceweight, almost fingering-weight yarn, which has a nice bounce and blocks out wonderfully, as you can see from the pattern pictures.  You just add needles to suit the gauge you wish to get.

Tupelo Gold:  This is a blend of grass and apple greens with highlights of sunshine yellow.  Anne knit the original shawl (pictured above) in this colorway.

Buckwheat Honey:  A rich golden blend of honey (what else?), pale wheat highlights, and hints of moss.

As always, free shipping for US customers and discounted shipping for Canadian or international/overseas customers for orders placed between July 15th and August 1st.  I will note that because of the high interest in this kit, I am going to do my darnest to have everyone's kit shipped by early August, but there may be a short delay as I'm already hyperventilating a little over the response to Anne's posts about the shawl. I'm off to skein more yarn.

All for now......

July Kit - Ceilidh Lace Socks

Just in time for summer, we are offering a brand-new lace sock pattern through The Shop!

Ceilidh (pronounced "kay-leigh") is the Gaelic word for a social gathering with entertainment.  These socks feature two Celtic lace patterns.  The large pattern, which runs down the front of the sock mimics the lace-up ties found on girl's traditional Celtic dancing shoes.

The calf portion of the sock features three smaller vertical lace panels interspersed with ribbing.  The sock has cuff-down construction with a picot cuff.

The pattern is written with both charts and written descriptions of the lace patterns.  It is knit on US size 2 needles.  While the size is written for a women's medium, the foot length can be extended simply by knitting a few extra rows of stockinette before beginning the rounded toe decreases.   The kit comes with enough of our hand-dyed merino superwash/bamboo yarn to make a pair of socks plus the pattern printed on heavy cardstock.   

Colorways available Nantucket, pictured above.

Seashells (A blend of soft grays and pinks)

or Sunflowers (cheery, summery yellows and oranges)

As always, free shipping within the U.S. and discounted shipping for international and Canadian customers if ordered before July 1.

I'll hopefully get my pictures of our Montana trip downloaded, and maybe share a few D took of our tour through Yellowstone in the next couple of days!

All for now.....

June Kit Preorder

This month, we are going to be changing things up a bit and offering a small lace project that is perfect for the warmer summer weather.  The pattern for this is designed by Susan and is yet another one of her beautiful designs.  This kit features a lace smoke ring or wimple.  It has a slightly scalloped edge which will nicely frame your face if the smoke ring is worn up over your head.  The body of the piece is worked in the lily of the valley lace pattern, which cascades down to a slightly flared, scalloped edging at the neck, which will settle around your shoulders.  The smoke ring can be worn up over your head, or down around the neck like a cowl.

Here's a picture of the smoke ring laid flat, so you can see the details in the lace.

This would make a great summer travel project, to be ready to wear in the fall when it starts to turn chilly, or would be equally stunning as a non-traditional head covering for a summer bride. 

The kit contains the pattern, printed with charts and color pictures on cardstock, plus enough hand-dyed Zephyr silk/merino laceweight to complete the project.  I'll be offering the kit in 3 colorways:

Fern - a pale mossy green - which is what the prototype was knit from:

Mourning Dove - a pale grayish purple:

And White, which is a true white (not cream).

As always, free shipping in the US with discounted shipping to Canada and the UK until the first of June.  Just be sure to choose the Parcel Post shipping designation in the US and the storefront will take off the cost of shipping as you check out. 

All for now.......

Shop Stuff

Whew!  Busy weekend getting all the preorder kits skeined and batched for shipping from Miriam's sock pattern.  I actually completely ran out of BFL sock yarn in the colorways for the kit, and was nervously awaiting the arrival of another couple of large boxes, but my stalwart UPS delivery guy showed up with those today.  Bet you can guess what I'll be working on the rest of the week, eh?

The first festival of the season is rapidly approaching, so we are trying to get not only the actual product but all the doohingies needed to sell said product purchased, put together and/or organized.  We are using the spare bedroom as kind of the staging area.

I picked up a couple of new roving blends from Lynn and those are now available:

80% chocolate brown alpaca, 18% camel down and 2% bronze angelina/flash in the colorway "Toffee"

75% sandstone-colored alpaca subtly streaked with 25% hand-dyed silk in oranges, reds and yellows in the colorway "Desert Sunrise"

I also have 4 ounces of a non-standard colorway (one of the new jars of dye powder I got was mislabeled) of my Cormo/Angora roving.  There's nothing wrong with it - just not a colorway I'm going to carry - in shades of blue/purple and gray.  I'm discounting it from the usual $8.00 per 2 ounce to $6.00 for 2 ounces (a total of $12.00 plus shipping for the 4 ounces), so if you would like it, please shoot me an email (see the link in the upper lefthand corner under Digger's picture).  (EDIT:  Sorry, this is gone away to a nice new home.)

Also, check out the very cool swatches Anne is working on using hand-dyed merino for a kit I'll be offering later this summer! 

All for now....

Boudica Socks

I've got a new sock kit available at The Store from the exceptionally talented Mim of MimKnits!  I am so excited about these - I love everything about them and as usual, Mim did a fantastic design job.  Please note that these socks are exclusive to us!

Here's the design concept:

These socks are named after Boudica, the rebel Celtic queen who fought the Roman Empire after they refused her daughters' claim to the throne of the Iceni people.  A Celtic knotwork-inspired braid runs up each side from the toe to the upper cuff, where travelling stitches and a horizontal braid cleverly hide calf increases.  Finished off by a rolled edge, these socks are simple, but stunning.

These socks are knit from the toe up to the top of the cuff.  The toe is started with a provisional cast on, followed by some stockinette to make a little flap, then stitches all around the flap (including the provisional cast on) are picked up to begin work in the round.  The final toe increases are integrated in the beginning of the braid that continues up the sides.

A closeup of the cuff detail:

And a cable and heel detail shot:

This kit is available in 3 colorways:  "River", which is what the prototypes were knitted in, which is a soft, gray-blue semisolid solid; "Wasatch", a new colorway in the store, which combines dark and light grays, with highlights of pale purple; and the popular "Sagebrush and Cedars" colorway, a combination of dark and pale greens with yellow highlights.  Pictures of the various colorways can be seen in the "Sock Yarn" section of the storefront.  We are again offering free shipping through the end of this month for this kit on all preorders with shipping to begin May 1st.

All for now.....

Organized

I'm trying really really hard to get organized.  It just doesn't seem to be happening around here.  More than not, the house has been looking like a bomb has gone off in it.  A fiber bomb, but a bomb nonetheless.  I sat down on Tuesday night and started making a list (I do so love to make lists) of the things I needed to get completed for the fiber festival preparations and to see if I needed to order any extra supplies, dyes or yarn, or fiber.  And while I'm still sort of scattered, I did find it helpful to create a dye priority list, so I can tackle some things before others.

I've also been trying to wash and sort and get ready for the mill the fibers I've gotten for the exotic fibers club.  Rambouillet is coming from Idaho already in roving form in the next week.  I've gotten most of the 2 fleeces I need for the cormo washed and hand picked of any VM so that run can go to Lynn next week for her to process into roving.  I've got half the pygora washed (I ordered half in gray and half in white, and the gray is done) and that may (if I'm really lucky and have nothing else going on) be ready to also go to Lynn on Tuesday to be roving-ized.  Chris is going to be taking care of getting the angora/silk processed for me and we are waiting for the alpaca to be sheared and the bison to finish molting.  I think there is a Christmas song in here somewhere.....

I've also gotten a few new products listed at The Site.  I really like the new merino superwash/bamboo yarn that I got in.  I've dyed that up in a few colorways, but if you want to try it but none of the below appeal to you, please shoot me an email.  I likely can have or will have it dyed in some other colors at the end of the weekend.

MacIntosh

 

Carmen Miranda

Nantucket

And finally, D has a page worth of spindles up and ready for sale.  Most of these are midweight and up. He has a nice mix of woods in there, but if you don't see something you like, there is a section where you can order a custom mix of woods. 

This weekend, I'm going to try to get my roving supply replenished, and tag and bag what I've gotten dyed for the festivals.

All for now....

Weekend Wrap-Up

We had a lovely, albeit busy, weekend here.  After the change in temperatures last week from spring back to winter, we've started a slow warm-up.

First off, some shop notes (other knitting stuff below).  The winner of my March Blog Madness contest for the person who left me the keyword "Digger" for their purchase through my Etsy store was none other than Carole!  She's already picked a few very nice additions to her fiber stash and those will be going out to her this week.

Secondly, most of you have probably already seen it in the sidebar, but my private domain store is now up and functional at Wooly Wonka Fibers.  I'll be gradually moving things over there from my Etsy store.  This will allow me to better deal with shipping for international folks, as well as be able to have unlimited products listed.  There is a New Products section link where you can keep track of .....oddly enough...new products.  I'll be showcasing our Kit of the Month offerings there in preview as well.

Edit #2:  I have had 1 slot open up just now, so if you are interested, first come, first serve to fill that slot.

Edit:  All the Exotic Fibers Club slots have been filled as of Monday morning.  I may have individual packets of fiber available once the subscribers have gotten their roving.  If you want to be on a waiting list for any of the extras, please email me and I'll put your name on that list. 

And speaking of the Kit of the Month..... the extremely talented Miriam (who recently got a well-deserved book cover for her Icarus Shawl) is designing a sock pattern for the May offering.  Preorders available after April 15th or so.

On to the knitting now.......

This weekend, I did manage to sneak in a little knit time for myself.  It's amazing how much you can get done driving around doing errands.  I finished up the first sock of my "Bamboo Socks" pattern from Susan's Spinning Bunny's sock club.  This is the merino/tencel blend that I chatted about in a previous post.  I'm still not sold on this, but I do like this sock pattern and I'll wait to see how the finished pair turns out after a bath and run through the dryer.  (Lovely helper kitty toes, courtesy of Emma, help model the shot).

Tomorrow I'll have a scarf I started out of the cormo/angora yarn I had spun up by Lynne, and Digger's prize from the cutest toes contest!

All for now.....

Q&A

A few answers to some questions I received yesterday, both through comments and offline in my email.

1.  Superwash wool:  Yep, I'll have some sock yarn in that - both a merino superwash and actually the BFL is superwash, although it doesn't really feel superwashy.  Update on that:  My first order arrived yesterday, so I was back busy dyeing again last night.

2.  Roving:  I'll also have more BFL roving to post when that arrives.

3.  Kits:  I had a couple of questions on exactly how all that was gonna work.  Good questions. :)  Each month I've got something different lined upon, including some guest designers, and I'll spring those details on you a little closer to the time when we'll preview the patterns and yarn. I will tell you we've got tentative plans for 2 socks, 2 shawls, a wimple and a set of mitts between now and the end of the year, with a few other things as well.

This isn't a club where you have to sign up for a year.  Everything is a la carte.   

Here's how the details will work for April:
Mid-March I'll preview the pattern and yarn for y'all here at the blog.  If you want to pre-purchase the kit, you can do so at The Site and receive free shipping.  The kits will then get mailed out the first week of April.  After April 1, you can still order the kit, but it will revert to normal shipping costs at that point in time.

April will be a little different, as I'll be offering several colorways for the sock pattern.  Some months the yarn will be tied to the pattern, and only 1 colorway will be available.  Some other months will have yarns that I'm purchasing from small fiber producers (in an effort to support family farms) and these will be limited runs; once they are gone, they are gone.

Finally, thanks everyone who jumped on the wagon first thing yesterday and snapped up a few goodies.  I greatly appreciate your support of my venture.  If I didn't get questions answered for you, or I missed anyone, please feel free to shoot me a reminder email.

Regular blogging on the usual topics will commence shortly.

All for now.....

Wooly Wonka Fibers

I dunno if it's a bang or a whimper, but at any rate, I announce with pleasure the opening my on-line store:  Wooly Wonka Fibers.

Let me get a few administrative notes out of the way, and then you can all venture over there to have a look around, alrighty?

1.  This is not a finished/done deal.  I have the following things I'm waiting on suppliers for before I can post, but they will be forthcoming in the next 2 weeks:

• BFL sockweight yarn.
• Merino laceweight.  This will be a somewhat mid-range laceweight.  Think Koigu but thinner.  One of my elves is trying this out for me this week.... assuming the Pony Express into Colorado isn't closed from all the mountain snows. 
• More alpaca laceweight.  Right now, I just have 1 batch ready to go.

2.  I will be getting back a limited run of cormo/angora in both sockweight yarn and in roving form, as well as some more roving blends from the mill by mid- to late March, and I'll try to keep you posted here as those are available.

3.  Something I'm really excited to offer is a Kit Of The Month deal.  You get a pattern plus yarn dyed for that pattern and a price break on the package to boot.  The first one of these will be kicking off in April with a cabled pattern sock, which Margene has been kind enough to test knit for me (THANK YOU, MARGENE!).

4.  Finally, as a special to my blog readers, any purchases made in the month of March will enter you into a drawing for a gift basket with your choice of up to $25.00 worth of yarn or roving, plus a few other special goodies I've got hand-picked, as well as free shipping, as a thank you for your business.  Just put a note (there's a field where you can add special instructions/notes when you order) with the blog special keyword Digger and you'll be entered into the drawing with results announced the first week in April.

Any questions, suggestions, queries, special requests, or general chit-chat:  Please feel free to let me know.  If things pick up with this small venture, I'm going to move the site to a domain of its own, but we'll just see how things go for now. 

Tell your friends, tell your enemies, tell random strangers. 

All for now......