Look at that face

If you are anything like me, don't ya just want to snuggle up with that little face? Jessica and I went over to Crystal Springs Alpacas today for the Florida Alpaca Farm Day.




Jessica got to try out her weaving skills. This was such a nice well maintained farm. I was so impressed. Best of all, they had yarn, roving and fleece for sale. Yes, of course I bought some. I picked up 6oz of black sure alpaca roving and 4oz of brown baby suri alpaca raw fleece. I'll be posting pics of the spinning progress (I've already started the black alpaca). It spins beautifully.

Taking a Break

For the past 4 weeks I've been struggling with this decision. Fighting against this feeling. A feeling that something that was so important and loved has become insignificant. I'm talking about dyeing. I have to take a break from the dyeing business. I still love to dye, but the business portion has become too much for my already hectic life. The stress of finding time, space, and money has made the process as-a-hole so much less enjoyable.

Can I take time off and come back to it? I don't know.

Will I come back to it? I'm making no promises.

If and when I do come back, I want it to be enjoyable. I think I just need some time to re-organize everything. I actually said to someone "I do not have time to cook or clean or do family things because I have a business to run". Really? I got so involved in running this business that I forgot to enjoy my life. And somewhere in all the craziness, I've stopped enjoying dyeing. I love to dye, don't get me wrong, but I think I'm dyeing for all the wrong reasons.

The relief of making this decision is palpable. Because I've been dwelling on this for so long, I had no inspiration to do anything else. I've been avoiding getting online, avoiding knitting, avoiding spinning, and don't even think about stepping into the craft room. I feel unchained now. I feel like I can move my creative life in another direction.

This all came to light with a little + on a stick. The little + is the positive marker on a pregnancy test (in my case 4 pregnancy test). Paul and I have been trying for over a year to get pregnant and it finally happened. And with that + my entire view on my life has also changed. This little dyeing business has become less important. Honestly, I just want to be around friends and family and enjoy my life (which has been delayed because of the flu bug that has been circulating through the house). I don't want to be tied to the dye pots dyeing, or to the computer updating and trying to pimp my business. I want to dye when the inspiration hits and when it is suitable to my life. I want to turn my craft room back into a craft room, not the room of production that it has been. I can't even get to my sewing machine, it's surrounded by dye pans.

So how do I end a post about ending. Not sure. Just want to say that although the dyeing business has been stressful, the people I have meet have been fabulous. I truly appreciate all the wonderful support and wonderful encouragement that I have received. But don't fear, I'll still be around and still post, it might just be about more random things and more family things.

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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