Happy 2012 Everyone!

This year I have decided to branch out and start a website. Well, the ads on TV are, shall we say, misleading?? Click here, click there, add a few words and you have a website! Yeah, well, it’s not that easy. I’m learning an awful lot about things I didn’t want to know. Google Category Taxonomy. Forgive me for getting that confused with Taxidermy.

SEO. At least I know what that one is. I’m not sure I’m using it correctly, but I know what it is. Once I’m all done getting data into the site, I’ll have to pay someone to make sure my SEO is relevant. Or some such thing.

Pictures…..well, I thought I was pretty good at taking pictures. The ones on my Etsy site look fine. This is a nice picture:

Apparently the website size is different than the Etsy size. Now the pictures on my website looked funny. Well, not as professional as my Etsy site. Good thing I had someone redo ALL my pictures for me. She did 190 pictures in less than 4 hours. It would have taken me 4 months! Or more…..

Inventory…I thought I knew a lot about inventory, seeing as I was an accountant for 20+ years. But no. Do you search for yarn by weight? Do you search by fiber type? Depending on which you choose dictates your subcategories. What are you calling your product? I name my color ways, but that might not be such a good idea any more. The product titles can get pretty long, Mohair Merino Yarn Sunset Ltd; Mohair Merino Yarn Blues Taking Flight. I could do SL and BTF. I can’t remember my passwords, how am I supposed to remember all these acronyms? And how many shades of blue can you really name?

Hopefully, www.tayored-fibers.com will be launched…soon….

Last we heard, I was going to knit a beautiful scarf in purple and pink Rowan kid silk haze with a glitzy silver border. I did start said scarf. Right before I was ready to start on the pink side,  I found a mistake. No one would have known it was a mistake since I designed it. But I knew it was a mistake, so I un-knit four rows. I knit half the scarf again. So here I am ready to add the silver border. And it’s not right.

The scarf will be too short. Beautiful, but too short. It has to be undone. to stay with my original design would require I cast on 400 stitches and when I bound off I would have 3200 stitches. I really don’t feel like knitting 3200 stitches!!

Plan B: Another design based on some of the most beautiful shawls ever created. This will be my inspiration:

I’ve also decided that the scarf will only be purple, no mix of pink and purple. I have no idea what I’m going to with the silver though….

Rather than working on my blog, I’ve been busily working on my Etsy shop. I joined a fabulous new group called PhatFiber. They are a fiber-licious group of people and I’ve signed up to start contributing to their Sample Boxes. In doing all of this, I realized my banners and logos just weren’t working for me. Lauren is a part of our group and is a graphic artist so she is busily working on a new logo for me. She also has an Etsy shop. In her shop is the cutest little furball…a Chinchilla! Isn’t she the cutest thing? Now I’m really interested in spinning chinchilla. I’ve never heard of spinning chinchilla. I guess if you can spin cat and dog hair, why not a chinchilla?? I’m going to order some of this fiber from Lauren and spin it on my most favorite drop spindle.

You know why I bought this spindle….it had nothing to do with actually spinning!

Who could resist such a beautiful piece of craftsmanship? I picked this up at Rhinebeck last year from Golding Ring Spindles. Tom and Diane are fabulous people and they produce some of the most beautiful ring spindles that I have ever seen. I am no expert at drop spindle spinning. I do better on a wheel. This spindle is very lightweight and is crafted for fine yarns. It will not spin anything heavier than a lace weight yarn. Which seems perfect for chinchilla. The staple length is short which is the only thing I can spin on a spindle. Since I don’t know how much chinchilla will make how much yarn, lace weight will be perfect. Get as much out of little Yana and her mates as possible.

Not that I don’t have enough on my plate, but I’m pretty excited about this new adventure!

Don’t you just love unexpected packages? It’s better than Christmas. At Christmas, you know Santa came and there are packages under the tree. But when you go to get a drink of water and…hmm? What’s this on my porch? Could it be…. Do I dare hope….More Fiber??? Oh Boy, Oh Boy….

A package from my supplier! I was not expecting this. When they said they were out of Alpaca Lace and the wool/nylon blend, I thought they meant they were out. Out of luck. No more. You’re not getting any…. But no!!! It just wasn’t in the first shipment, silly.

My most favorite yarn, Alpaca Lace. Well, okay, one of my most favorites. Oh, all right! They’re ALL my favorites. This yarn dyes up so beautifully. I can’t wait to get it in the dye pot. Soon….

And a new yarn! I’ve worked with this once. I don’t like the way it turned out, but I was new at dyeing too. So it’s not the yarn’s fault. I’ll overdye that skein and it will look beautiful. But now I have three big cones to play with. Doesn’t this yarn look fun? I have an order for a scarf, hats and mittens. I think this yarn might be perfect. I love this texture. I wish I could do this all day. But there’s that whole eating, sleeping, cooking, cleaning stuff that just gets in the way…

New fiber shipments! Isn’t this just the prettiest thing? Two big boxes of fiber delivered right to my door! Not that I need any more fiber. I’m certainly running out of room as it is. This time, I had to place an order. Honest!! I ran out of the grey alpaca for a customer so I had to get another skein for her. It’s not like I can order just a skein. Well, I probably could, but where’s the fun in that?

Here’s her beautiful alpaca with some new stuff I’m trying. I’m expanding my horizons with this order. I found that I tend to order the same weight yarns all the time. Time to branch out into some new stuff. I got some worsted weight curly stuff. It’s combed cotton, another fiber I’ve never worked with. Can’t wait to get it in the pot.

I got a bump of superfine merino. Yum!! Merino is so, so soft to begin with. Superfine merino?? Well, that’s the whipped cream, nuts and cherry! Doesn’t it even look nice and soft? Holding up those beautiful cones of a wool/mohair blend?

Here’s all the other cones of yarn I have to break down and dye. I’m really excited about the cotton/linen blend. I’ve never dyed that blend before. With the different colors in the yarn, it should produce a wonderful, shaded yarn after dyeing. There’s some merino and bamboo; bamboo and cotton, some more organic merino…. A little bit of everything. Just no alpaca lace and no wool/nylon. I think that’s the first time they didn’t have something I ordered. Bummer… 

And of course, the icing on the fiber cake. My superfine alpaca top. I love this stuff! It’s so great to spin, even to handle and dye. This is probably one of my most favorite tops that I carry.  Doesn’t it even look super, super soft?

Time to unpack all my treasures and get them ready. A perfect way to spend the evening….

I am about to embark on a journey. I’m really excited to go. My provisional cast-on is done and I’m off! If I don’t come back, don’t look for me…don’t send a search party…I don’t want to be found. What is the big deal about a cast on you ask? Oh, it’s not the cast on. It’s this: Rowan kidsilk haze. For those unfamiliar with Rowan, this is Knitting Knirvana. A small little bit of fluffy heaven on earth. This is the yarn your mother warned you about; the yarn your friends are secretly jealous you’re playing with. They act happy for you, but they would rip it off your needles and run home with it in a NY minute.

So, Amber, whatcha gonna make? Well, the design is still taking shape in my head. I know it’s going to involve the dark purple and pink yarns. I am definitely not double stranding them, I am really going for the light, airy garment that this yarn excels at. Of course, it won’t be a garment. Rowan is a classically fine (read expensive) yarn, so I didn’t pick up much. It will definitely grow up into a scarf of some sort. A lace scarf to really show the yarn. It probably won’t be striped, I think that would be distracting. But, who knows what the yarn will tell me? Once it’s all done, I am going to top it off with a little glitz. I love glitz.

Stay tuned to see how the Rowan adventure turns out. I’m off!