Time keeps on turning

First things first, the recipient of August's laceweight yarn giveaway is Knitmish! I've msg'd via Ravelry.

It was fun to see how many other people craft in the evenings or even late at night. Especially the late at night part. *insert long analogy that ties in to The Frisco Kid and the term "londsman" here and then delete it because it's just too complicated* Thanks for playing, everyone!

Meanwhile, back at the ranch I've realized that the Garden State Sheep Breeder's Festival is in less than 5 weeks. I... have a lot to do. This week I'm pulling out all my boxes of undyed stock, retaking an inventory of it and deciding just what I'm going to dye up for the festival this year.

o.o;

Among other things I need to do is aaaaallll my NerdWars knitting, and I've really been letting down my team with regards to housekeeping and cheer leading. And I need to dream up a few simple patterns to give away at my festival booth.

I've also been debating listing finished projects in my old Etsy shop as a sort of shop sample sale, since I'm accruing more pieces than I can display. That's on the back burner but it's been percolating for a while now. Hopefully Etsy will have implemented its multiple shops under one owner changes before I'm ready to do this.

I have managed to do a few things that are long range productive, however. OK, one thing. My concert sock is complete! ... Yes, I know it's just one sock. *looks shifty* I never said I was a sock knitter!


But this sock will be a lovely addition to my festival booth, demonstrating how Three Hares works up and how a colorway like Happy New Year looks. It's 9st/in and I worked it up on 0s. The mill suggests US#2s, but I like my socks, even my display socks to be "bulletproof".

That nifty sock blocker is one of a pair I purchased from SevenYaks. I decided that simply stuffing a sock into the wire of one of my cubes was not conducive to showing off the fabric at all. Now that I have two sample socks, this one and the cabled one in Jackrabbit, I think it's time they graduated to a more polished presentation. I bought the medium size and they're exactly my dimensions as a size 7 wide.

OK, now I have to go back and do some critical NerdWars stuff and work on my listing titles. Etsy is working on its relevancy search and my listing titles are really poorly set up for relevancy as they've described it. Hope everyone's having a good Sunday! I'll leave you with the little Aurora figure I knit up for NerdWars (BSG reference, of course). She's flying high above my work table as a reminder of something or another profound.

A day late and a...n update!

First things first, I should have done this yesterday but I was figuratively snowed in under digital photographs. The recipient of this month's giveaway of itty bitty needles and yarn miniskeins is Rebecca! I'll be emailing.

Meanwhile, back at this also figurative ranch, I have finally updated the shop again, and will continue to do so as I can get the pictures done. Not with the entire backlog, that's still overflowing. I have pictures for a few more things including Silksheep fiber and some Arctic Hare, and I want to get that done asap. Still, I've listed the entire backlog of Jackrabbit. It feels really good to have 6oz skeins back in the shop.

I'm still amused by the Cobalt colorway in Jackrabbit.

I did a few "looks like a semisolid even if it isn't" in what could be considered a straight "color" instead of a "colorway" for the festival last autumn. Mostly for completeness' sake because I always have big gaps in my spectrum. Of course no one paid any attention to those colorways. I should really stick with my strengths and leave the rainbows to other people.

Still, I'm rather proud of Cobalt as I think it manages to capture that almost cadet blue of the lighter portions but the inky purple tones in the deep parts that cobalt colored glass has. Well, depending on what one considers cobalt blue, of course.

More nattering under the jump cut.

A tale of two bulbs

See that? That's a 42W warm CFL and a 65W daylight CFL (6500 Kelvin, full spectrum, CRI 80), behind a piece of white tissue paper I'm using to soften the light. A 65W CFL is about equivalent to a 300W incandescent bulb, so it's bright.

The 65W bulb isn't bright enough on its own, and tends to cool things down just a little too much; it's just a little bit flat.  Pairing up both lights seems to give me a better range of color.

Light and helices

First up, today's the last day to enter my January giveaway for a pair of earrings from WrittenInsight, so do pop on over there!

Next, I wanted to talk about two things today.  The first is my latest knitting project and the second is trying to take product photographs when the light doesn't comply.

So, knitting.  I got itchy fingers and decided to try a technique that has intrigued me for lo these many moons.  Helical knitting, or spiral knitting for single row stripes. There's a short description here at Grumperina's blog.

The idea is that since knitting in the round is actually a spiral, it should be possible to stack those spirals for single row stripes that positively do not jog. And it works. It doesn't even have to be just two colors, it can be as many as one likes. So, I decided to try with 6.  I dove into my stash last night and picked out 6 skeins of yarn that seemed like they would combine well, if unconventionally, and set to work.  Helices (Rav project page)


Lots and lots more pictures and blather after the jump.

Pro-crastination

At least I'm a pro. :P

Before I get into the why of all this procrastination, one very exciting thing and one fun thing. First off the exciting thing; my yarn was recommended in the Knitcircus Holiday edition gift guide on page 15.  It looks rather lovely with all those other beautiful yarns, I think.  And if you didn't see it when it came out, two of my colorways were used in a gorgeous sock pattern in the Fall 2010 edition, as well (pgs 70-71 and 90-91). They happen to be two of my favorite colorways, too.

Secondly, the fun thing. There's a gallery of pictures from the festival over at MyCentralJersey.com. Most of the shops I purchased from are pictured in some way, at least the fiber shops. Here's a closer-up of the handspun angora plied with beaded silk which I bought. And the two giant vintage buttons that I adore.  The angora shop was pictured, but the button shop was not.


Anyway, on to the procrastination. :P I'm feeling a little attenuated and blocked. It could be post festival blahs, but I think it's mostly because I want to play with the new fiber and my continued lack of netting means I can't. I went to every shop in the area that might have had it, and none of them did. So now I've ordered some and I'm waiting impatiently for it to arrive. Really, I should have got into the car and made the trek to Fabricland. It would have been a drive, but I would have my netting!

ZOMG

So, yes, it's Wednesday and the GSSB festival has been over for days and I haven't said a peep about it until now because ZOMG I feel a little like a hamster in a ball rolling around with So Much To Do!

First things first, the festival. The festival was wonderful. This was my second year vending at it, and it's bigger, better organized, better advertised, and all around a great weekend for me. I met lots of great people and saw some old friends, bought some incredible fiber for the shop, spent far too much money on treats, and sold twice as much as I did last year. To say I was pleased would be an understatement.

This was the morning of the first day when we were all busting our butts to get set up in time. The weather was gorgeous, brisk and clear and not horribly windy.

Shop update and a note on prices.

The number of times I have to retake pictures because the color temperature is off is really starting to annoy me. I have to retake some pictures this weekend, while I try to finally get all the skeins I dyed in July listed. This, so I can dye up more this week and then list them. I have a lot to dye up before the Garden State Sheep Breeders festival in September (Sept 11 & 12, in Ringoes, NJ).

Additionally, I wanted to give everyone a heads up that my prices are changing. My yarn costs went up considerably in March and sadly, absorbing the difference has become impossible. So a month from now, on Sept 13, I'm going to raise all my yarn prices 6%. For example, Jackalope and March Hare are both going from $18.80 up to $19.95.

I'll be taking all the yarn to the festival in September and vending there with the old prices. The shop will be empty of yarn for the weekend. Then, all the stock returned to the etsy shop on Sept 13, the Monday, will have the new prices. Meanwhile, I do intend to stock the shop as full as I can before the festival so there will be plenty of selection at the current prices.

Please do ask any questions you may have. It's always an uncomfortable sort of thing to have to raise prices, but I'd rather not spring it on people unannounced. This way, it's like a long sale.


Phatfiber colorways, clockwise from the upper left: Red Desert, lapis lazuli and brass widgets, Agate, and Papyrus.  Image links to the shop.

The theme this month was Africa, and these were some of what I contributed.

Through the roof

Last night was full of moment. There was a lot of not getting enough work done (which is why my next shop update starts tomorrow come hell or high water), mangoes with coconut rice, and a mystery. The mangoes with coconut rice will be at the end of this post because I'd like to talk about the mystery. If you just want the recipe, click through the jump cut and page down until you see the food picture. :)

So, the mystery has to do with visitors to my shop and shop hearts. I check Craftcult several times a day to see my shop hearts. I know that hearts don't equal sales, but I think of it as a general barometer of how appealing my shop is. And really, it just makes me feel good. It's a bit of harmless affirmation.

Last night, the number jumped. It jumped so much that I thought it was a glitch and wondered if Craftcult was having problems. There was more than a page of new hearts. That is not typical for my shop! So I went to Craftopolis to see if it also had the anomalous hearts.


Look at the visitors, views and hearts for Aug 9. 821 unique visitors, 2611 page views, and 44 new shop hearts. I was gobsmacked. And I still thought it might be a glitch.

Keep in mind that in May a skein of my yarn was in an Etsy front page Treasury. That day I netted 300+ unique visitors and 26 shop hearts. This blew that day away.

I was still skeptical so I checked and everything kept saying it was real, so I started hunting for the source. I googled my shop, I checked for any more front page treasuries, I checked treasuries in general, I checked Ravelry, I even checked Etsy finds on the slim chance. I came up blank everywhere. There was nothing to explain why people had suddenly decided to heart my shop right and left starting 8:48pm last night.

I waited for midnight so I could check my analytics, and there was the completely unexpected source. Facebook.

Pigment, not dye

I'm covered in pigment ink. My new stamp pad came today so of course I had to drop everything and try it out. Trying it out led to stamping 25 shopping bags until I could reliably produce something halfway decent.


I did say "halfway". This is actually one of the first ones I did. I consider the "oopses" as part of the rustic charm. *cough*

As long as I'm careful, they turn out well. If I get careless, then I forget and lift the stamp before I've checked that all the points have made contact. This is where a flexible stamp works *really* well. I can lift just the corner and check, and press down on just one spot to mould it around the handles and creases.

All in all, it does what I intend it to do and it's colorful and fun. I'm very happy with it. Even if I'm covered in ink.

Luckily pigment ink wears off after a few washes. This is quite unlike the turquoise dye I spilled all over my hand earlier today. That's going to linger. Not exactly how I want to have a green thumb!

Oh, who am I kidding? All us crafty sorts know that getting messy is half the fun.

So this is one more thing done. I've signed up to accept credit cards, I purchased new insulated gloves, and now I have logo shopping bags. Can you tell I'm excited for the Garden State Sheep Breeders Festival? :D

Busy busy busy

Remember, tomorrow is the last day to enter the most recent giveaway in this post.

I've been very busy and not very productive. We have family visiting which makes it difficult to get things done, and the weather has decided to get ridiculously hot and humid again. I had to bring in all the yarn I dyed over the weekend and crank up the dehumidifier. This means that my workroom is unbearably hot, but at least my yarn is all dry. Once the room cools down, I have to label all the yarn so I can photograph it.

One thing that was dry enough to photograph, however, is the sample I received from the mill. It's a beautiful merino/superfine mohair blend in a DK weight. It's all domestically produced fiber, and it's not a superwash.

100g/300yds of DK weight merino/mohair in the Poseidon colorway. The reduced saturation of a non-superwash really shows how the Poseidon colorway is a darker version of the Cleito colorway.

I love how it responded to my usual technique, and I'm really happy that there was no felting or matting. I'm not actually in the market for a DK weight for the shop, but this blend is also available in a laceweight. I'm definitely considering the laceweight for the shop. I know the mohair will put off some people, but personally I prefer mohair to alpaca and I love how this blend takes dye. I'm keeping this skein for meeeee.

But before I can think of adding new things to the shop, I have to take care of the current stock. Which means it's back to the Gimp mines for me. I have to list my August Phatfiber colorways and stitch markers and clear the path for the next big update.

Doughnuts, only not. And putting my stamp on things

I have two things today! First up is the hand carved rubber stamp I purchased from Brown Pigeon on Etsy. It's a representation of my logo in a 4in square stamp and I love it.


Mynah insisted on joining the picture.

Meagan does great work and I received the stamp a mere 12 days after I initiated conversation about the design and what would be possible.

It's a big, beautiful stamp that I intend to use on my shopping bags for festivals. I still need to decide on what kind of pigment ink stamp pad to get. I'm thinking that rainbow might be the most fun but it will depend on how expensive the pads are and how visible the finished image will be on the brown paper of the bags.

The other half of today's post is Doughnut Muffins. Or, in my case, Doughnut Hole Muffins. Picture, recipe and chitchat after the jump.

Fiber Co-op

I'm busy busy busy trying to get things done in the ridiculously sweltering heat, but I'm very excited about something so I'm dashing in to post. What is it, you say? It's The Fiber Cooperative, which will go live in July.

Basically, it's like an online fiber festival, with yarnies and other such folk presenting their "vendor tables" with the best and most representative of their wares each month. It's not a shopping venue, but rather a browsing venue. If you see something you like or are intrigued by the shop, you can click through to the shop and browse everything the shop has to offer.

It should be fun and informative and full of eye candy all collected handily into one location.

It actually reminds me a little bit of the Etsy Promotional Tool someone posted about on the Etsy forums last week, but on a much grander scale.  The EPT is a simple tool that collects the 5 most recent items in one's shop (or the top of one's 'featured' list) and displays them linked back to the shop.  It's very new and very simple as of yet, but it's fun to scroll through.

And in something completely unrelated, I leave you with a YouTube video gleaned from my cousin. Lenny Kravitz crashed a choir performing one of his songs (none of them minded!). It's a delight. Can you imagine being one of those kids? Event of a lifetime, truly.  It goes a little out of sync by the end, but it's still eminently watchable.


Now I've got to go back to editing yarn pictures. I'm planning a big shop update starting tomorrow since it's too hot to dye. Mostly Jackalope (merino/nylon sock yarn) and March Hare (light worsted superwash merino).

June 1 - What a year! And a giveaway.

A year ago today, I officially opened my Etsy shop and tried to make a real go of this yarn dyeing business. And in the last year I've learned so much and done so much that my head it buzzing with all of it still. I vended my first festival, I made my first ad banners, I sent my work out there and people came back for more.

When I think about where I was a year ago and where I am now, I'm glad and hopeful and grateful. I came to this out of near desperation and it's giving back more than I can express. And I have so many people to be grateful to as well, good friends and family who've put up with this thing eating my brain and my time and my patience, and gone well above the call of duty helping out.

So thank you to everyone who has participated in this whirlwind of a year. I have so much still to learn and do to grow this business right, and I hope you're all with me through the next year as well. :)

And to celebrate all this and to launch this blog officially with something fun, the giveaway! Specifically, this skein of yarn:

Three Hares, colorway: Colonial Day, hanging out in the persimmon tree

Details of this giveaway and more pictures after the jump-

Shop update

Click on the image to go to the shop, as a large version of this collage would be huge.

Colorways are from top to bottom: (in the first row the first three are Jackrabbit 6oz, the last one is Arctic Hare 6oz. The rest are all Three Hares.)
Granite, Moro, Poseidon, Lupines.
Promethean Fire, Moro, Poseidon, Common Violet.
Taiga, Banana Cream Pie, Sand and Sky, Bluebell.
Toffee, Morning Fog, Sunbleached, Silver Lining.

Big update in the shop as I toiled in the GIMP mines all night and finally got most of April edited and listed. It takes up most of the first two pages. I'll move them into color order when I list new things.

Ponderings

I'm sitting here waiting for my turn in the kitchen since it's my turn to cook (chicken braised with tomatoes and onions and some herbs, I think, and pasta, and some sort of green veg). And since I can't get anything significant done in the next 20min, I thought I'd blog. (:P)

First, I wanted to flash a picture of what keeps growing. Namely my in progress Widgets. I assemble them and then they languish like that for a while until I get around to hammering them.

It's never done. *facepalm* I assemble a whole bunch and then realize I've not done the ones I need for the next month and then pull out more beads and and and. Yeah.

And then I wanted to muse a bit on how the Phatfiber Box has morphed from what I expected of it. Namely, I thought that the samples were the thing, you know? The bits of fiber or yarn in hand. But it turns out that the pictures are the thing. There's more to it than that, but I'm just going to talk about a general trend, here.

Graphic ponderings

I spent today making ads for the widgets.

Ad making is a weird thing. I have no training in graphic design and no background in marketing. But from experience both as a consumer and as a person who used to watch people debate the merits of assorted publications and ad copy, a few basic things should apply:

1. It should be clear - who and what's being advertised, where to get it, etc. If a person seeing an ad can't easily answer "who, what, where", then something is likely wrong. 
2. It should be clean - clutter obscures the information, and the key to an ad is getting across a specific bit of information to entice people into clicking through to the shop. This means text should be as succinct as possible and images shouldn't obscure what there is of text.  And images should be clearly comprehensible when it's tiny because dude, I'm not getting any younger and my screen resolution is set pretty fine.  Folded into this is the fact that the text should be proof read and free of errors, and the images should be free of random artifacts and obvious cut and paste markers. 
3. It should be attractive for the target audience - which is to say if you're advertising to people who are interested in fake blood and gore, then fake blood and gore is the way to go. I'm not, so no big, splashy zombie parties in my ads.  I'm selling yarn and stitch markers, so my ads figure yarn or stitch markers, and I try to go for pictures that will tantalize.
4. It should make sense - And by this I mean all aspects of it. There's got to be some sort of internal cohesion, and random things just popping up don't "make sense". 

These are the basics, and it's almost all based on aesthetics which are totally subjective.  I was making ads for Ravelry, so I'm really familiar with my competition's ads.  Tonight, I realized I got bit with the minimalist bug.  To whit, this is what I ended up with for the dalmatian jasper ad:
   ETA: 
 (eta: the spacing was bothering me, and the smallness of the foregrounded widget.)

Now, it's kind of chilly in color which is potentially off putting, but I decided to keep it because it's a counterpoint to the warmth of the tiger eye ad. But look at all that white space!  I think I could have tweaked the spacing of the words a little bit more to make the white space a little more emphatic, but I'm happy enough with it as it is.