A Peek Inside My New Office

In early May our youngest daughter moved out. A few weeks ago we finally got around to turning her room into my new office. I have been putting it to good use ever since then. It’s nice to have a work space where I can leave stuff out if/when I get interrupted from a task in progress. In the past I would have to do most work from the dining table. Having my own office has been a wish that is at last fulfilled.

my desk and sitting area in my new office

I love that I also have this set up as my order filling/shipping station. Everything is at hand which is so wonderful! No more searching for the scissors, tape, packing material, etc.

office and shipping supplies in my new office

This weekend I am working on yarn labels. It’s quite a large batch (1,940 to be exact!) to print, cut and then color label. It is inevitable that I will not get this all done in one sitting so it’s nice to be able to walk away without moving it all to another location.

yarn labels awaiting color name stickers

I hope to get the labels ready to attach to the yarn by Monday. My work room is filled to overflowing at the moment with the yarn that we dyed Thursday, Saturday and Monday.

lots of sorted hand dyed yarn awaiting labels

It took three days of prep work before the first dye day. We also had one prep day in between each of the other two dye days.

soaking yarn for a days work and dye mix buckets
four dye pots set up with tables for sorting and rinsing

We had some rain on Saturday afternoon through Sunday evening. That caused a delay in getting some of the yarn dry but Monday through Wednesday were sunny, so all of the last two days of dyeing were dry by Tuesday evening.

That covers a good bit of what’s been happening around here. I better get busy on those yarn labels. Thanks for reading!

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Time for a Few Much Needed Upgrades

It was time for a few much needed upgrades to our business equipment. A few weeks ago we made a purchase that we put off for too long. We were making do with an under-powered belt sander for ages. We kept tinkering with it to make it work. We finally decided it was time to upgrade. It is so much better and it’s even quieter, which is a bonus. I think it was worth it. We should have done it years ago. We got a small batch of Yarn Boxes sanded on the new machine. Big thumbs up!

time for an overdue upgrade

We have also needed to replace the trailer for awhile. We bought the black 6×12 in 2007. It has seen much service and we have kept it going but on my recent trip to Houston I was having trouble with my back door bar lock. It kept slipping out of the top guard and I had to keep a close eye on it and rig up a bungee cord to make sure it would stay closed. It can be welded at the frame on the bottom to repair the damage. It’s probably best for local use at this point though rather than long distance road trips.

We decided that if we would rather replace it than repair it, why not go ahead and get a larger one? I have been maxed out on space for a long time. This is a picture from a few years ago, but it’s accurate as far as how full it was. The front end was full to the top too.

So on Thursday we got this 7×16 and I am so excited! It is so much easier to access my stock. It has a nice roomy side door with a bar lock which I have wanted for a long time. It even has a work light inside which comes on when the side door is open. In my old trailer, I had to use magnetic flash lights stuck to the roof when I was pulling booth restock after dark.

I hope that the V-front will help some with gas mileage. I have only driven it home from the place we bought it and it was empty at the time, so we’ll see. We spent all day getting all the inventory moved over and I am really pleased with all the room now. This is going to make it so much easier to restock the booth. I will have a much easier time accessing the boxes I need.

When my booth stock and fixtures from the front end, plus those tables and checkout podium at the back right, are unloaded, the restock boxes lining the sides will be easy to access. It’s gonna be awesome! It almost makes me wish my next festival wasn’t almost six weeks away. Nah, just kidding. I am glad for the time at home. However, summer break time means it’s also yarn dyeing time.

We got a bit of a head start before leaving for Houston Fiber Festival. By the way, it was a great show! It was hot as the hinges of hell, but a great show, nonetheless. We will probably be back. But, I digress.

We dyed a new color in all four bases. I decided to call it Wisteria. It is replacing the Lavender in our palette, so all of the skeins left in that color are on sale for $20 while supplies last. We have received our order of yarn from the mill. I am working on dye preparations at the moment. So there will be more yarn on the lines soon!

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And Finally a Little Break

My goodness! I have barely had time to breathe and finally a little break. Since my last post I have been to three fiber festivals. On Memorial Day weekend I was in Wooster for the Great Lakes Fiber Show. The weather was so nice and there was good turnout. I wasn’t going to bore you with more booth shots but I changed my mind since it’s what I have. Posts with pictures are more fun, right?

Great Lakes Fiber Show

The first weekend in June was Hoosier Hills Fiber Festival in Franklin, IN. The weather was pretty warm this year but that’s not unusual. This show has really grown and improved so much over the 16 years I have been vending there. I am very impressed with it’s progress and look forward to it every year. The organizers do a great job with every thing, from vendor communication, to classes, to promotion.

Hoosier Hills Fiber Festival

This past Friday and Saturday, I was back in Ohio. For the third year, I went to the Mid-Ohio Fiber Fair in Newark. This festival is currently one day only. I have given it a few years, and it’s a nice one for what it is, but it may be the last year for me. It’s mainly because it’s all in the one day. I drive up on Friday and then on Saturday I arrive at 5:30 am to set up the booth for the market which opens at 9 am and runs to 5 pm. Then it’s tear down time. I put in a long 13 hour day and it’s just a bit too much. Attendance has dropped off too, which makes it hard to make enough to be worth the effort and expense. If it wasn’t 400 miles each way requiring two nights away I would keep it, but as it is, for me, it’s probably not one I will keep going forward. It makes me sad to do it though. One bonus is that I have my trailer and truck right there behind the booth. Saves some time and energy during set up and break down.

Mid-Ohio Fiber Fair

So, not a whole lot of knitting happening lately. I did finish that first sock and the cuff if the second one. I am ready to start the heel flap when I get back to it. If you recall, I am making these with some remnants of discontinued colorways of my Classic Merino Superwash Sock yarn.

shorty socks for summer

I have also been working on my shawl design. I am ready to join on the third skein at this point. It is measuring about 45″ unblocked. I am probably around the half way mark now since I want it to be generous for wrapping.

We have put in a huge yarn order to get started dyeing when I return from my next show. I am home this coming weekend but am back on the road for one more festival, Houston Fiber Fest, before the summer break. More on that in my next post. See you later!

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A New Acquisition and Other Updates

Last week I went to get my oil changed at the dealership and something caught my eye. We ended up making a new acquisition which wasn’t as spontaneous as it sounds. We have loosely been planning to sell or trade our 2014 F-150 while it still has a good market value. When we spied this little number we decided maybe the time was right.

It was the color that claimed our attention. It looks a bit more orange than this picture depicts. The color is called Red Chili Pepper. This one is Jerry’s since I have my new one from last year. I love the wheels on it! They just go with the color perfectly.

Aren’t they a cute pair? We should be set on vehicles for awhile now.

You may notice my trailer is hitched to my truck. I took this photo the night before I left for Lexington, KY. Last weekend was the Kentucky Sheep and Fiber Festival. We had another awesome turn out despite the rainy start on Saturday. The skies cleared out by midday and then Sunday was gorgeous. It was cooler then it usually is too.

I set up our tents and booths under the Pavilion on Friday. When the weather is good, this is a nice spot to be. The natural light accentuates the products. A bonus is having my trailer and truck right next to my location, which is a aid in restocking the booth, as well as making set up and break down more convenient.

I am back home today but I am on the road to Wooster, OH on Thursday. I am setting up on Friday at the Great Lakes Fiber Show. This show is one of the ones I have been attending since our first year of full time festival vending in 2007. It’s one of my favorites. The trailer has been restocked already, including the dye order I did in February for Bare Naked Wools. I will be delivering that to them at the festival.

While I am running around doing the festival end of the business at the moment, Jerry is hard at work at the lathe. He’s been working on new Yarn Bowls for quite a few weeks now.

Here’s a sneak preview of a couple new Yarn Bowls that I will be bringing to the festival.

I am going to close and finishing my packing. Thanks for reading!

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Two Trips to Saint Louis

Since my last post in April I have taken two trips to Saint Louis. I went the first time for the Midwest Fiber Festival and it was fantastic! I already signed up for next year and can’t wait to go back.

One of my customers from the show contacted me about some wood they had if we were interested. She sent some pictures and it looked promising, so we emptied out the trailer and drove it back up to their place just west of Saint Louis. We got there in the early afternoon and spent the next several hours loading up the trailer. We stayed the night in Saint Louis and then headed home. Here is some of the wood after it was unloaded and sorted in the work shop.

It’s hard to tell yet what this will all end up as, but there is for sure quite a bit of usable stuff. It does take a bit of time to process because it’s mostly cut offs, but that works for some of our products. A lot of it was mahogany, with some walnut, oak and a little cherry.

So, once the trailer was emptied again we had the job of reloading and restocking the trailer for our next festival. That is where I am right now, actually. I am near Saint Paul, MN for the Shepherd’s Harvest Festival in Lake Elmo, MN. I will be setting up the booth today. The festival is Saturday and Sunday.

It’s a long haul to come up here every year but it is worth it. A bonus is that I get lots of audio book time while I’m driving. I finished Kristin Hannah’s Firefly Lane and am starting the sequel Fly Away I am also reading Justin Cronin’s newest release The Ferryman. I got hooked on his writing when I read The Passage trilogy. So good!

I also have done a tiny bit of knitting. I haven’t had much down time inwhich I also have the desire to pick up my needles. So, when I do reach for my knitting it has been my sock that gets the action.

It’s almost ready for the toe shaping. I will be switching back to the green for that. With any luck I may get this done over the weekend. I have a couple hours this morning before heading over to set up. Speaking of which, I better get busy. See you soon!

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A Little Bit of Interim Knitting

As I mentioned in my last post, I needed a little bit of interim knitting. The shawl is still coming along but some variety was called for. Here’s where my shawl in progress is at the moment. I am down to the last 30g or so of the second skein of Classic Merino Bamboo. I measured the main section, aside from the edging, and it is about 38-40″ unblocked. The edging adds about 3″ which means it is going to require at least 3 skeins of yarn to be long enough. I should have known that 2 weren’t going to be enough.

I apologize for the photo quality. I am currently in another hotel room, this one is in St. Louis, MO. I am going to be setting up the booth this afternoon at the second annual Midwest Fiber Festival. I am excited to be here. It was a great show last year. The staff are wonderful and the enthusiasm of everyone is contagious. I’ll share some pictures from the festival later. For now, let me get back to the bit of interim knitting I teased in my title.

We all have tons of fingering weight/sock yarn in our stashes right? I got an idea recently to pull out some of mine and make myself some summer shorty socks. The first pair on the needles are made with some of my hand dyed Classic Merino Superwash Sock yarn in some discontinued colorways. I have all sorts of remnants from booth samples and such, so I will be combining them in fun ways to keep it interesting. I am just following a basic cuff down sock formula with a 1×1 cuff (2 1/2″) and a slip stitch flap heel. I am using 68 stitches and my US1 (2.25mm) Signature Needle Arts DPNS. I have no affiliation for the link, but I am a fan of their needles. I only have two sets of DPNS and one circular US5, but they are great. I love the stiletto points. They are pricey but the quality is there.

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A Bit of Spring Cleaning and More

I have been doing a bit of spring cleaning in between fiber festivals. I think that we are firmly into spring weather. I hope most of the volatile storms are past and we can enjoy the warmth and sunshine.

Last week when we had a few days that were warm and sunny, I washed all the bedding, cleaned the windows, and then washed both trucks.

Of course by the next day they both had tree pollen and bird poop on them, but at least the inside is still clean.

Jerry is totally responsible for putting in the garden. The smaller bed (up close) has kitchen herbs, peppers and a few tomatoes. The larger bed farther away) has some more tomatoes and veggies that we plant from seeds. I think he put out some peas, green beans, summer squash, corn, and possibly some cucumbers.

I also spent part of a day washing, drying and labeling some more Organic Cotton Worsted to restock our inventory.

This past weekend I was in Greencastle, IN for the Greencastle Wool Show. We are long time vendors there and we thought last year was the end. It was thankfully saved from extinction. The weather was great and there was a nice turn out, especially on Saturday.

I have a weekend at home again this week. The next festival on our schedule is the Midwest Fiber Festival in St. Louis. This will be the second year for this one. It was well attended last year and we are looking forward to going back.

In knitting news, I have made some progress on the shawl but not enough to bother with a new picture. It is a nice stitch pattern that is easily memorized. I also love knitting with the Classic Merino Bamboo. That said though, I am getting to the point where I am ready for a change in my knitting, IYKWIM. I may need to cast on a little something for variety soon. I am trying to push through so I can get it ready for the booth and write up the pattern. We’ll see.

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Good Morning From Ann Arbor, Michigan

I am writing to you this morning from Ann Arbor, Michigan. I am going to be setting up the booth today for the Spring Fiber Expo. This will be the third festival for us this year. The first two, Carolina Fiber Festival and Middle Tennessee Fiber Festival, were fantastic! They met and exceeded our expectations. So, the year is off to a good start.

I wanted to write a post so many times in the last few weeks but you know how it is I am sure. So, here I am with a couple of hours before set up time and finally the energy to get it done. The weeks have been filled with the usual tasks. I have done a bit more dyeing to restock a few popular yarns that were already getting low. We have some more Shawl and Hair Sticks on the website. Thanks to my husband’s diligence and hard work, we have eight different woods available.

I made the drive up to Ann Arbor yesterday. I had a bit of time last night to knit on my shawl. I am into the second skein of yarn now. Here’s a picture I took this morning in the hotel room. It’s gray and rainy at the moment so it’s not a great one.

I need to get my lunch packed and head over to the fairgrounds in about an hour. See you soon!

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It Has Been Quite an Interesting Week

Spring time in middle Tennessee can be volatile and it has been quite an interesting week. It is typical this time of year to be in 70’s or even 80’s but then that can change on a dime and it’s chilly again the next day. We experienced some strong storms with straight line winds over 70 mph on Friday. We lost a few shingles from our work shop and a tree in the back yard. Thankfully that was not near the house. There is a pine tree in the front that was dangerously close to going down which would have taken out the power lines to the house. You could see the ground lifting at the base with the strong gusts. It was very scary, but the winds finally abated and it is still there. For now. It will probably need to come down before the next threat rolls through, just in case.

We did lose power, along with over 115,000 other Nashvillians. There were downed trees, power lines, and poles everywhere. Our electricity was out for about 13 hours. We were fortunate that it wasn’t worse. A little cleaning up is all we had to worry about. There is still the tree to deal with because it is hung in some other trees making it a possible hazard but it is at the back of the property where it’s less of a priority.

So, after all the excitement from the weather was over, it was back to the tasks associated with getting ready for the first festival coming up. Last week I was getting all the new yarn labelled. Then it all needed stored, some went in the trailer and the rest in our work room storage bins. There are also new Darning Eggs, Nostepinnes, and Shawl/Hair Sticks to be tagged/packaged and stored. Like the yarn, some go straight in the trailer with restock in the work room storage.

Yesterday I got the oil changed in my truck. I took along my computer and got some inventory updating done while I was waiting. We did some grocery shopping in the afternoon. Today has mainly been packing for my trip. I will drive to Raleigh, NC in the morning and set up the booth on Thursday at the Carolina Fiber Festival. I have a full schedule on my website, if you’d be interested to see what we have booked this year. If all goes as planned, we will be vending at 21 events this year.

I have made progress on my knitting project but will post a picture of that next time since it’s too dark at the moment to get a good one. I didn’t get started on this post until near dark. So, I’ll sign off for now. It’s almost time to start rummaging in the kitchen for some supper.

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What a Great Week for Dyeing

With the exception of Saturday, we had a great week for dyeing. What is even more exceptional is that it is still only February. The daffodils are in full bloom too. Of course it’s in the upper 40’s today, after a high of 84 degrees yesterday. Yep, that is totally normal for middle Tennessee.

Saturday morning had a very chilly start of 24 degrees, but work must be done. So, we got out there early and got the largest batch of yarn dyed. I forgot to get pictures while it was drying so here’s the buckets after taking them off the lines. The colors were the warm greens, purples, greys, pinks and teals.

We took a day off between batches to allow for drying time and to prep for the next one. Monday was much warmer and we got the second large batch done. The colors we did were cool greens, black, yellows, oranges, reds and neutrals. We took a day off again to let the yarn dry and prep for the last day’s work.

Wednesday was blues day and the weather was even better.

I am very pleased with how great they came out. I am also so glad to put away the dye pots for awhile. LOL!

I am working on labels today while Jerry is back at work in the shop on some new Shawl and Hair Sticks. We are adding back some exotic woods like Purple Heart and Mahogany, as well as restocking the domestic woods.

I have been working on my new design when I can, which is not as much as I would like. Progress has been made though. I completed the edging on the cast on end and have knitted 4 and one half repeats on the main body. The edging will look much better after blocking.

I apologize for the time between posts and for the brevity in this one, but labels await my attention. See you soon!

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