Business Announcements - Knitting Notions

Spring is definitely here

I found the perfect use for my Cestari Heather Collection since I decided I didn’t like how the Gemini was working up. Yes, that is past tense. I frogged it the other day. So, what is the new project you wonder? The new Cinnie cardigan by Bonne Marie Burns. I think the Cestari yarn will be a better fit for this sweater. I will need another skein, but that’s not a problem. I haven’t cast on for it yet, but I have the pattern and it’s in the queue.

I am finished with the body of the baby sweater and have started the first sleeve. I am a little doubtful of my yarn supply. I should have enough, but it will be close.

I am itching to cast on a little pair of fingerless mitts in some lace weight. Have you seen Anne Hanson’s new ones? I am trying to be “good” and finish the stuff I have going first but these would make for perfect booth knitting at Stitches South next weekend, yes? I just need to decide what color to use…hmm. Should I use a semi-solid or a hand paint? What would you choose?

If you clicked through, you may have noticed that all the new colors are now on the website.

You may also have seen a new section called Limited Editions. I have explained what this is in more detail on my recent Newsletter.

To summarize though, what you will occasionally find there are offerings from our dye pots that are not repeatable. If you are old enough to remember Bob Ross you will also recall that he said there are no mistakes with art, just "happy accidents". What he meant is that sometimes things don’t go as you planned but they are still pretty. Often we are experimenting to formulate new colors and have extras in color ways that aren’t quite what we were going for. Other times I make make mistakes when mixing formulas and they are slightly off from the color I was intending to mix. Anything like that can show up here. All the skeins are free from defect, but aren’t part of our regular repeatable palette. We mark them down a little to sweeten the deal. :-)

Oh, I almost forgot about something I was going to share with you until I was uploading the pictures from my SD card. You have probably noticed the large playhouse/tower in our backyard.

Jerry built that about 9 years ago, and it gets used quite a bit. It’s a great place to go read. Which is why I was surprised when we found this in it.

At first there was only one egg. I thought the bird had left that one and then thought “What was I thinking?” and abandoned the poor thing.

To my astonishment it returned and there were two, then three! I hope they will continue to attend their family despite our presence. We’ll keep you updated on the progress. Smile

Posted on April 13, 2012April 13, 2012 by yarnmama — 5 Comments

All loaded up for the road

We were back to work yesterday bright and early, and it’s a good thing we got it done when we did since it’s looking like rain today.

Believe it or not it is a full day’s work just to get all the new inventory properly packed and loaded into the trailer. It would be easy enough if we just simply stuck it in new totes and put them in there, but if we did it that way it would get immensely complicated to find everything and to set up our booth.

We devised a system which allows us to take out a minimum of totes to set up at shows and still have our whole line displayed. The remaining totes have all the rest of the inventory for restocking the booth, sorted by yarn type and color family. It is easier to find what we need this way, but it also means ALL the totes have to come out when we incorporate new stock.

Add to that, the new colors moving in to their respective totes and moving to separate totes all the discontinued colors that they are replacing…and yeah, it’s a big job.

My plan for today is to get all the computer related stuff done. That involves updating my inventory software with the new totals and adding new entries for the new colors. Then there is photo editing of those new color pictures and uploading them to the website while creating the new entries for them at the same time. After that is updating the website with the new inventory totals for the current yarn colors that we restocked. THEN comes all the promotional stuff so our customers know that we have new products. People like to hear about the new stuff, you know. We are all about the “new and shiny” aren’t we? LOL!

You know, I doubt many people who haven’t run a business, have a full understanding of the extent of work involved in it. I know I didn’t. But you know what else? Aside from raising my family, it is both the most demanding and most gratifying work I have ever done. I am darn proud of what we have accomplished thus far, and wouldn’t trade the last six and a half years of learning for anything. Smile

Before closing, I want to mention that I finished 11/22/63 yesterday and Wow! It was worth the read. Of course as a long time Stephen King fan I was not surprised in the least by this. He has a gift of storytelling that appeals to me in an unique way. I am not sure I can put my finger on it, but I think it’s in the characters. No matter whether they are likeable or not, you want to know more. You are right there while you are reading and even when you aren’t, they are in your mind. They seem somehow real. Anyway, give this one a read. You won’t regret it.

Posted on April 10, 2012April 10, 2012 by yarnmama — Leave a comment

Lots of new stuff on the way

Still slow on progress on my knitting. For such a little thing it sure isn’t knitting itself. That’s the problem I suspect. No doubt if I actually had more than 30 minutes at the end of the evening to work on it, I would already be finished with it.

Production is still in high gear around here. We added some more swifts to the website that were waiting for pegs and bags. We have been in yarn dyeing mode since mid March and are in the final stages on that. It’s finally all labeled and waiting to be loaded in the trailer for the spring shows.

All that will be left after that is some inventory software and website updating. The new colors will be on the website by next week. I have the pictures taken, but haven’t gotten the editing and uploading done yet.

There are, as we speak, a big batch of Sock Keepers in the works too. This is just a few of them. I think we have close to a hundred coming.

After a few hitches in the work due to the demise of the motor on the jointer, a jig breaking, and a router bit wearing out, they are nearing completion.

The finish work and tagging should be done be the end of next week, if not sooner, and they will be added to the website as soon as they are ready to ship. Sorry to anyone who has been left waiting for these to be back in stock.

Okay, that’s it for tonight. Easter pictures may be coming tomorrow. Smile

Posted on April 7, 2012April 7, 2012 by yarnmama — Leave a comment

Knitcircus Spring Yarn Review

I am most excited to have my Classic Merino Superwash Sport mentioned in the Knitcircus Spring 2012 Yarn Review! I met Jaala at a fiber festival last year when she visited our booth. I was honored that she offered to review my yarn which she also says will be used in her forthcoming book, Knitting Recipes: Hats and Cowls. I can’t wait to see what goodies she “cooks up” in there.

Okay, that excitement out of the way, I did finish the Gust on Sunday night. I got it blocked yesterday afternoon and am very pleased with it. I made mine with one skein of Classic Merino Lace in one of our new colors, Earthshine, which should be available by mid-April.

This design is so wearable and great fun to knit. It’s easily worn with both dressy and casual clothes. It’s a great project for a budding lace knitter but not at all uninteresting for a more experienced one. I don’t mind at all having a less challenging project to intersperse with the more complicated ones. When someone is looking for a first lace project this is the one I recommend first.

Speaking of spring; it’s looks like spring alright, but as far as temperature goes, we seem to have skipped it and gone straight to summer here in Tennessee. We had the windows open for several days last week when the temps were in the 50’s and 70’s for overnight lows and daytime highs. Then there was an abrupt change on about Tuesday and it has been in the 80’s ever since. We turned on the AC and are expecting what is surely a record high of 87F today.

The maples are making little helicopters as well as dusting my truck with yellow pollen.

I have forgotten what these pretty bushes are called that make these lovely blossoms. We put them in many years ago and Jerry is more the horticulturist than myself.

We put in this mountain laurel about the same time and wow, it has probably quadrupled in size. Look who I saw perched there this morning.

Speaking of Jerry, I want to share a cute picture of him with his newly growing stash of man toys. He is very proud of them. Smile

Posted on March 20, 2012March 20, 2012 by yarnmama — 2 Comments

Earthshine and a SALE

Progress on my Gust scarf is coming along nicely. I am about 30% complete. I never get tired of knitting this lace. It’s rhythmic simplicity is soothing and easy, but somehow not boring to knit. How does she do that? This is my third time using it and that is rare for me.

I love how this color-way is knitting up! The name Earthshine looks even more appropriate to me after seeing it in a fabric. I named the color-way for a Rush song from their 2002 album Vapor Trails, which is one of my favorites, both the album and the song. It was their first album after a long break in their work due to the tragic loss suffered by one of the band members. No one, including themselves knew if it would ever happen, and so this was a special album to me. Their music speaks to me and it would have been sorely missed if they hadn’t been able to continue. Here’s some more info about this song in particular where you can also listen to the track if you are curious.

"Earthshine"

On certain nights
When the angles are right
And the moon is a slender crescent

It’s circle shows
In a ghostly glow
Of earthly luminescence

Earthshine
A beacon in the night
I can raise my eyes to
Earthshine
Earthshine
A jewel out of reach
Form a dream to rise to
Earthshine

Floating high
In the evening sky
I see my faint reflection

Pale facsimile
Like what others see
When they look in my direction

Earthshine
Stretching out your hand
Full of starlit diamonds
Earthshine

Reflected light
To another’s sight
And the moon tells a lover’s story

My borrowed face
And my third hand grace
Only reflect your glory

You’re still out of reach
Form a dream to rise to
Earthshine

I see in the colors of this, the beautiful glow of the moon in contrast to the dark colors which create the shadows. The dark colors I use remind me of an evening sky.

Anyway, back to knitting. I am thinking about casting on another Classic Baby Cardigan in the smallest size. I have discontinued some of the colors I used to knit up the first ones and would like to use these colors to do something stripe-y maybe. It might need another color too, maybe some Azure?

Speaking of discontinued colors, did I mention that we have marked down 50% all the colors we will be ceasing production on this year? No? Well we have, and you can check them out on our Specials page while they last.

While you are there, we are having a SALE through March 7th on all our fingering weight sock yarns. For every skein of Classic Merino Superwash Sock yarn and Classic Merino Bamboo yarn you buy, you can save $3 with the coupon code sockyarnsale . The coupon will even apply in combination with our volume discount prices when you order three or more of a yarn in the same color. Carpe diem!

Posted on March 5, 2012March 5, 2012 by yarnmama — Leave a comment

Cast your votes!

First up today; progress on the Spiral Effect Cowl is coming along nicely. I am on the 6th out of 8 repeats, and then just the edging to go. I can see finishing this in the next couple of days I hope. So, the pattern should be available very soon.

As soon as this is off the needles I am itching to make up a little lacy scarf using some Classic Merino Lace in my new color Earthshine. I dyed up a skein last week when I was testing the new solids. I am thinking I will do one of Anne Hanson’s Little Nothings scarves; probably a Gust since it works nicely with a variegated color-way and the one I knit before is in a color-way we have discontinued.

Now speaking of the new colors; I have gotten quite a few great ideas for names from you and have narrowed it down to two choices for each color. So, just to refresh your memory here are the colors in several different base yarns.

First the green one:

Does it look more like Green Tea?

or Peridot?

And here’s the orange one, which you will notice, looks even more varied on different yarn bases.

The name choices are Tiger Lily or Nasturtium.

The top two are Nasturtiums and the one below is a Tiger Lily.

I have devised a couple polls to get some feedback on the final choices. So cast your votes now. I will make a final decision and close the poll by my next post.

Posted on February 27, 2012February 27, 2012 by yarnmama — 4 Comments

New designs to share

We had a warmer and sunnier day for the first time all week so we headed outside for a photo shoot of the new designs we have knit in my yarns. If you remember in my last post that I mentioned we have some new designs by my daughter Heather Alwood and you will find her patterns in our booth this coming year as well as in her own Ravelry Store which is the official place to go if you prefer a download copy.

I showed you a sneak peak of the Spiral Effect Cowl, which was still un-named at the time. She will have a download link for you as soon as I finish my test knit of the pattern and it is ready to be published. I have a few better pictures to show you now though.

Like the Spiral Effect Cowl, the Summer Showers Shawl is made from one skein of Classic Merino Superwash Sock yarn. She used the Winter Sky for this one.

I like wearing it this way, like a scarf. But it’s sized nicely as a shawlette too.

The Wings in Flight Shawl is also knit from the Superwash Sock but in the warm, French Marigold color.

Again, this is my favorite way to wear this little shawlette. It’s perfect with a sweater for an accent, or to keep off the draft on a chilly day.

The Ode to the Butterfly Shawl has a whole different feel to it. It is light weight and delicate, with exquisite detail. I love it so much in the Classic Merino Lace, which has the most wonderful softness and stitch definition. Well you will see for yourself in the close ups I took.

She used 3 skeins of Damson Plum, which is a deeper, more saturated color than the photos show. It is notoriously hard to get this color to display accurately in digital imaging. The shade is right, but deeper.

Another thing I love about this shawl is the way it hangs when worn. It perches just right about the shoulders without constantly feeling like it is sliding off. It’s similar to the way a Faroese shawl fits, but it’s a triangle.

It is warm and cuddly despite it’s delicate look.

See what I mean about the stitch definition?

The knitting is perfection too. I think she may be better than me, LOL!

I am especially taken with the edging.

Okay this post is rather long so I will save my knitting updates for my next one. Go buy some patterns and cast on a shawl!

Posted on February 17, 2012February 17, 2012 by yarnmama — 2 Comments

It finally happened

Can you believe this is for real? What a great Valentine’s Day present! I received my copy today and literally squealed. LOL!

When I saw the revision up for pre-order on Amazon in March 2011 I didn’t even hesitate to reserve my copy. Now for those of you who may not know the history, this was an out of print book which is so legendary that the originals were going on eBay for obscene prices. There were rumors for years of a revised edition being published but it never materialized. Knowing all this, I placed my order with hope it would happen this time but not holding my breath, if you know what I mean. Well, it is finally a reality. I am looking forward to spending the evening thumbing through the pages. I bet this will become my new go-to reference book, and a nice companion to my trusty copy of Vogue Knitting.

Oh, look there! My Sweet Tea scarf is all done! I finished it in Pittsburgh. These loop scarves are certainly growing on me lately. I got it all washed up and blocked, but this is the best shot I could manage of it today. It was gray and drizzly all day.

I cast on last night for the matching Slouch Hat in hopes that it will work for me. Fingers crossed.

Speaking of bad weather and Pittsburgh…it did end up snowing all Saturday. Ugh! Am I the only one who thinks it is ironic that the ONE weekend I needed to be on the road during this mild and snow-free winter is the SAME weekend that winter decided to rear it’s ugly head? I think about 3-4” fell in Pittsburgh and it even snowed a little here in Nashville. It got VERY cold too, which was pretty miserable since we are not accustomed to it.

Despite all that we did have a lovely time at the festival, due to the good company and knitters who braved the elements to come out. Thank you!

We also decided to use the show to launch our new wholesale operation to any yarn shops who are interested in carrying our products. We are at this time accepting applications for new accounts on selected lines, which include all our hand dyed yarns and some of our tools. We aren’t quite ready for some of the tools to be available, but they may be in the somewhat near future. If you would like your local yarn shop to consider our products for their shop they can contact us for more details by email at catherine@knittingnotions.com

Speaking of new; here is a sneak preview of a new designer whose patterns we will be carrying at festivals, who also happens to be my lovely and talented daughter, Heather Alwood of Alwood Design. This is a loop scarf that she designed using my Classic Merino Superwash Sock in the Malignant Narcissism color. This arrived while I was in Pittsburgh and I love it so much that I wore it all day today. I will link you up and give you more details as soon as she has the pattern ready. I can’t wait to show you the other shawls she knit up for us, as soon as we get enough good light to do a proper photo shoot. They are so pretty!!

Okay that’s gonna have to tide you over for now. More details on my next post!

Posted on February 14, 2012 by yarnmama — 2 Comments

Almost Groundhog Day

Well that was fun. No, really it was. Don’t let my attempt at artsy self portraiture led you to the conclusion that I am anything but thrilled with it.

It was so fun in fact that I cast on right away for another infinity scarf; Mindy Wilke’s Sweet Tea.

Actually I plan to make the Slouch hat to match since I bought the set when she had a sale running on her blog recently. I knew it would be perfect in my Classic Merino Sport and my hope is that this hat will be wearable on my silly little pea-head. I know I will love the scarf at least.

Back to the Pei; I took a pre-blocked picture

but it didn’t change tremendously afterwards other than the design opening up more and the edges smoothing out. It also softened some, but it wasn’t scratchy to me to begin with.

I like this yarn quite a bit and would use it again without hesitation. It would be great for a light weight sweater for spring. I can see this as fingerless gloves too since it doesn’t look like it will pill too easily.

Remember a little while back we were talking about winter blahs? With Groundhog Day only a few days away, I am betting for the prediction of an early spring. We have had a very mild winter here in Middle Tennessee, albeit on the wet and gray side. We have had some nice sunny days since my birthday and we have been taking opportunities to get outside and do some neglected chores like washing the trucks,

working in the shop,

and enjoying the daffodils.

Yes, they are up and blooming about 5 weeks early. I hope the poor dears don’t get a blast of winter, like usually tends to happen when they bloom this early. We usually see their sweet faces by the first of March, but late January is early even for here. Is it too optimistic to hope that winter is really gone? Probably. But that won’t stop me.

That’s Meredith up there working on the lathe. She has been making our Shawl Pins for going on six years now, and has this year taken over the Darning Egg and Nostepinne production as well.

She just finished some new eggs and is working on more Nostepinnes for Pittsburgh. Pretty huh? Smile

Posted on January 30, 2012January 30, 2012 by yarnmama — Leave a comment

I like the Change

We just got our new banner back from the printer and I am very happy with it. I can’t wait to see how it looks hanging in our booth next month at the Pittsburgh Knit and Crochet Festival in Pittsburgh, PA.

We have been redesigning the labels too and the wood tools will have them now. The yarn inventory will need to be transitioned over to the new labels. As much as I would love to do it all at once for consistency, it doesn’t make sense economically. It would be a big waste to just toss thousands of the old labels not to mention time consuming to do it, and there is also the dye lot marking to contend with. Sigh. So my pretty new yarn labels will be a bit slower at making their public appearance.

I spent the last several days doing some year end business bookkeeping stuff and taxes. Yes, I have already done my federal income tax return. I finished that up this morning using TurboTax online and e-filed it. I am glad to have that behind me. Whew! It’s a big job, but I learned early on that keeping good, organized records really helps and is worth the time spent. I try to tackle my file of receipts and expenses at least once or twice a month. Keeping the job to small bits on a regular basis is my key to not being overwhelmed by it. What happens with me is that if I let a job get too big, I procrastinate about dealing with it, which of course just makes it snowball into a bigger and bigger pile which I avoid even more. See where this is going? I have to keep myself disciplined or I lose it.

I don’t have any knitting to share today. I have been working on finishing my socks which only have the last cuff to go. I may get them finished tonight or tomorrow.

Posted on January 21, 2012January 21, 2012 by yarnmama — 1 Comment

Category: Business Announcements

Spring is definitely here

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All loaded up for the road

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Lots of new stuff on the way

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Knitcircus Spring Yarn Review

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Earthshine and a SALE

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Cast your votes!

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New designs to share

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It finally happened

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Almost Groundhog Day

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I like the Change

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