Surge Update

Check out the new Surge Yarn update.

Next week...dyeing roving

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socks

I began the year with a little sock revolt. Why? I don’t know. I just did not want to knit socks. Yes, I started a few pairs, but I only finished 1 pair. Well apparently the void in my sock knitting has caught up with me and now all I want to do is knit socks. I’m really trying hard not to cast on every single sock in the cookie a. book Sock Innovations, I’m fascinated with sock knitting machines, and I want to order a metric butt ton of sock knitting needles. What is with the socks? I’m pretty sure this has something to do with the envy I felt for all those sock knitters who were able to attend Sock Summit. It might also have something to do with the new knitting technique that I’ve been able to learn and gradually have become comfortable with using. I’m a Flicker. Using this technique makes the knitting so much faster and smoother, for me anyway. The one this that hasn’t been part of my “I Must Knit Socks” revelation is the need to buy sock yarn. How weird.



Back to Sock Summit. How jealous am I? Wow, to have been there with all those like minded knitters and surrounded by the love of knitting socks. And all that color. And all those patterns. And knitting geniuses. And the accessories. And the colors. Speaking for sock accessories, I need some sock blockers. I think I’m going to make some using this tutorial. I’ve always thought that blocking a sock was kinda unnecessary. I mean whether you block it or not it will still stretch to fit your foot when you put it on. But I do like the look of a nicely blocked sock. So I’m going to gather up some placematts and make some sock blockers. I need several pairs as I usually wash mine and hubby’s socks all at once.



Okay, so which socks did I decide to cast on? I’m limiting myself to 2 pair at a time. First I decided on “Sam” by cookie a. The second pair will be for the hubby, just a plain ribbed sock. I haven’t knit him any socks since Christmas, I think he is due a pair. Ooh Ooh, and I’m going to try an afterthought heel. I’m very excited to try out a new technique. Maybe I’ll even try the afterthought leg pattern Houdini Socks by Cat Bordhi. This seems to be a very interesting way to knit a pair of socks. Now if I didn’t have to be at work all day maybe I could get some of this knitting done. Stupid work getting in the way of my knitting time.








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website website website...YES!

I'm so excited about this. So excited to have a website just for 1,000 Petals. I never thought I would get to a point when I would have a website. happy dance happy dance

Check it out.
1000 Petals

To celebrate the launch of the new website I'm offering 10% off your entire purchase until Sunday. Oh and don't forget, I'm now offering to refund the shipping charge when you buy 3 or more items. Score!

running off to play with the new website


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Too long

It’s been over a week since I last dyed a batch of yarn. I’m not counting the odd-n-ends skeins I dyed for myself. I’m so ready to get back to the dye pots. Is this an addiction?

News:

I should be receiving 10lbs of Surge yarn by next week (I hope to get it Saturday). I can’t wait to get the cones skeined up for some experimental solar dyeing.

Speaking of solar dyeing…here’s the plan. I’ll use essentially the same process for dyeing the yarn that I use now (well, wrapping it in plastic wrap may be eliminated…we’ll see), anyway, I’ll put all the skeins into a glass large mouth jar and set it in the sun. I’ve got some experimenting to do but that’s the plan as of yet. I don’t have much direct sun exposure in my yard, but I do have a spot on top of a shed. Let’s hope this works.

In other news, I had a meeting with a LYS Saturday morning and this LYS will be carrying my yarns. Yippee! I’ll let you know the store name and such once she receives some stock.

And in more news, I was contacted by an event coordinator who has requested 50-100 skeins for an event in 2010. Again, I’ll have to give more details once this has been finalized. My first reaction…silence. I just couldn’t believe that someone would like my yarns that much. It amazed and shocked me. I also had a little bit of a panic moment, which has since passed and because the event isn’t until 2010 I know this can be accomplished.

The last bit of news. 1,000 Petals has a dot com address. It’s not ready for publishing yet, but I have registered the domain name and my web designer (Color Mode Studio) is working on the site design. This is the same firm that created the 1,000 Petals logo that you can see below.







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We're going solar

There are some hugenormous things in the works and I have to have more space to dye. So, ever since hearing Miss. Violet talk about using a solar oven to heat set her yarns, I've been contemplating this also. Now, one problem...I live under about 12 large oak trees. There's not much sun that penetrates through to the ground at my house. I'm not going to get rid of the trees, I love my trees. So, we've got some planning and building to do to get around this problem. I guess it's a pretty big problem, solar oven with no sun. Hmmm...

Edited to add a link. And I've figured it out...remember Sun Tea?
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Growth is good, and stuff

I live 2 lives. One is lived in a very straight back insurance world. The other is lived in a free-formed fiber world. And to my surprise and delight, my fiber world has been growing.

As some of you might have noticed, the beginning of this year brought from me a huge dedication to the growth of 1,000 Petals. All my focus was to be directed to this fiber world. I’ve devoted many hours to this and it has started to pay off. It’s August now. 7 months of focus. 7 months of tears, sweat, and enjoyment. Yes, I do enjoy this fiber world very much. Where’s the dilemma? Okay “dilemma” is not the word I want to use. Where’s the challenge? The challenge is to find balance. Balancing both worlds to work for me. There has to be a balance. Has to be.

I’m going to put myself on a schedule and allow for “time off”. I do not want to get burned out. I need to spend time with my family, fur babies, and friends. And I do mean “need”. This time is to recharge my creative and emotional energy. We all should have some recharge time.

This all became very clear to me in the last 3 weeks. It started with getting the yarns dyed for Sock Summit. I had a week to get the coned yarn skeined, dyed, and shipped. Then, the following week, I had to repeat this process and add photography and uploading yarns to etsy for the launch of a new ad on Ravelry. I know it doesn’t seem like a lot, but when you work full time, this process became hairy. This week, I’m on vacation from dyeing. But, even though I’m on vacation from dyeing doesn’t mean that I’m on vacation from creative energy. This never stops. Being away from the dye pots has given me such breathing time and the ideas are flowing. Love this!

Surge Update

Boy o' boy have I been busy. This is by far my favorite yarn base. It's the new Surge Yarn base, same great merino but with a tighter twist. Fabulous!





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