Knitting on Impulse

Sampler Follow-up

Thanks so much for all the feedback on the sampler idea!  What I'm hearing here (and on the Rav group) is that:

1. Lots of people like the idea - both for the project and for the opportunity to try different yarns before committing.
2. Some folk don't need it and are perfectly happy to buy without feeling up the yarn first - and thank goodness, or an online yarn business would not be possible!
3. There is interest in more colour choice - it would certainly be possible to do say... warm colours, cool colours, neutrals, as well as a mix like the prototype. I would list each pack with a photo of the actual mini-skeins, so you'd know exactly what you were getting.
4. There also seems to be significant interest in sample packs of different colours of the same yarn, chosen for their compatibility in a project - also an idea I had toyed with, and totally do-able.
5. Feasibility? Admittedly, my creative ambitions have soared past the bounds of reality at times, so the caveat will be that the packs go up as they go up. No reservations or self-imposed deadlines (because those things are a direct signal to the Universe for somebody to break something, or fall ill, or schedule a surprise committment. Seriously - it's downright spooky.) I am learning (at times painfully) that a simple, linear system of "dye it, upload it, put it in the mail when it sells" is the way to go. 

So... the concept is a go... but since Rob does 99% of the skeining around here (he had to laugh at the comments that asked if *I* would find it too much work) and is at the sliding track 14 hours a day for the next couple of weeks, the first packs likely won't go up until after that. (On a related note, this week's update will be going up Friday instead of Thursday, which is almost over now, in any case.)

Sampler

I've been tossing around variations of this idea for ages, but I got a sudden impulse to just work up a sample (so to speak) over the weekend. I thought it would be nice for customers to be able to play around with the different yarns I dye before committing to larger projects, but at the same time, I couldn't resist the possiblity of doing a little more with it.

Here we have 10 yards of each of my wools and wool blends (I left off the super-luxury silk yarns for the time being) - merino in lace, fingering, sport, worsted, and aran; BFL in fingering, sport, and worsted, the three sock yarns (merino, BFL, cashmere-merino), merino-silk, Merino Whisper, and Cruiser:

I think I'd probably do 15 yds of each for the actual sample pack - a little more manageable, and would work out to a little over 100 gms of yarn in total.  Enough to swatch, fondle, play with, or.....

Make something.

 
What do you think?  Is there interest in something like this?  I think I'd price it around $25.  I could do mini skeins or mini balls (all labelled of course), though I think the mini balls are actually easier to handle on the receiving end. Although the concept of a feather and fan cowl is hardly original, the stitch does a fabulous job of mixing up varying colours and gauges, and I could include a wee pattern for this cowl version. Comments and/or further ideas would be gratefully received!

Pumpkin Day

Second only to Christmas in our house... Pumpkin Carving Day!  The whole family gets in on the action:

 
  


Last, but not least - the outcome of a long exposure photo with candles lit, lights off, and a mildly freaked out greyhound leaping at the photographer's head for reassurance.

After Sunset

After the sun falls behind the mountain, as the light fades away, but before the heavens are quite black enough to reveal the stars:

 
the dark expanse is rich and magical, retaining hints of brilliant blue of a sunny day gone by, the warm glow of completed sunset, the smokey purple mist that invariably haunts the slopes.

Still available in:

Merino Whisper:

 
Bluefaced Bliss (fingering):

 
and Merino-Silk:

 
Summit Sock, Mere Sock, Camel Silk, Pure Silk Lace, and Silky Cashmere Lace will be coming in next week's update.

Echinacea

I did a very subtle semi-solid version of the coneflower last year, but deep down, I've been longing to do this - to celebrate the vibrant contrast of the candy pink petals and the flaming gold/orange/red/brown of the central cone. I think it's a perfect Samhain / Hallowe'en sort of colourway.

Mostly in socks, because it IS an awfully vibrant colourway....

Blissful Sock:

Mere Sock:

 
and Summit Sock:

 
Merino Whisper is a new yarn I've been playing with for a while - a lofty single ply merino that knits around Aran weight but has amazing yardage.  It is deliciously soft and would be the perfect yarn for cowls, scarves, mittens, hats, etc. Despite the soft hand, it is amazingly pill resistant - I ripped and reknit the bulk of one test skein three or four times while coming up with a simple cowl design (I was feeling indecisive) and it looks none the worse for wear!

 
 I did indeed do the sunset colourway, but I'll save that for another post so as not to overdo the images.

Teasers

Purple Broccoli

At a glance, it reads strictly purple...

Yet, if you really look, there's also a lovely range of pinks dancing with dusky royal blues:

Here's what I came up with:

Essential Merino Lace

Summit Sock

Camel Silk

SuperNatural Silk

 

Anniversary

It's our 14th anniversary today, and for the first time in many many years, I think (perhaps I shouldn't jinx it until it happens... there's always playground trauma, surprise restaurant closures, maybe a flash flood?  Anything could still happen.)  I think... we are going to have an actual couple's meal out on the actual day.  Today.  Alone.  Just us. Lunch, because it's a school night and we can't afford babysitting anyway, but still, if all goes well, a pretty awesome lunch. Check out the menu.

I'll let you know how it goes!

Meanwhile, here's a look at my marginally less glamorous Friday:

As the bus pulled away from the school for the annual North Arm Farm trip, full to capacity with screaming K-2's and a half dozen wincing adults, the radio crackled ominously to life with the day's forecast: "Heavy rainfall warnings are in effect for the entire Sea to Sky region..." They weren't kidding.

 

I did not regret my choice to leave the Good Camera at home - I've yet to see if the little one has revived after succumbing to rain ingestion.

 
Despite the chilly downpour, a good time was had by all, because who loves knee-deep gumbo mud more than a kid? (Actually, there was one poor little girl, culturally conditioned to extreme cleanliness, who found it very distressing.... though it didn't stop her from gamely hauling back a pumpkin half her own weight!)

Bad Dog

I created a lovely yin/yang spiral shawl pin today from copper - hammered, filed, tumbled and polished it - set it on the dining room table, and turned my back for a moment.  It disappeared.  Now I freely admit that I am somewhat distractable and have been known to forget where I put things, but this was pushing it.  After a fruitless and increasingly frustrated search, I had a hunch, and sure enough, discovered a wee something carefully buried in the duvet:

 So... for the record?  Copper shawl pins are not greyhound-proof. They do a pretty sturdy job of holding together shawls and sweaters, but should probably not be used to entertain a large dog (or for that matter as a floatation device, safety harness for rock climbing, etc.  You know, just to cover the possibilities.) 

On the other hand, maybe I could sell it as genuine greyhound art... she did leave the clasp intact after all....

Winter-ish Ramblings

The thermometer hasn't changed by more than a degree or two, but overnight the air has transformed from crisp to bitter. 

Snow flurries swirl before a biting wind, stripping the trees of their autumn glory and leaving their winter skeletons in fading rags and tatters.  "Very Hallowe'en-y," my daughter cheerfully noted en route to the bus.

The puppy was shivering a little even with her woolly sweater, and the children reminded me for the hundredth time that new mittens are inexcusably overdue. I may have to stop noodling around on a new cowl and get to work.

After I get the latest stack of orders bundled off to the post office, that is - I haven't had a moment to work on them since the flurry of orders late Friday, (and the post office has been closed the whole time, in any case) but they haunt me with their Not Mailed-ness. I have a fraction of the anxiety I used to endure in the old life, but if anything will wake me up at 2 AM in a cold sweat of fretting it's the feeling of failing a customer committment. (That and the usual nightmares about something happening to one of the kids...)  Nevertheless, neither sleet nor flurries nor nasty winds will stop me from sending the hubby out the door with an armload of packages. 

Lest you think he has the worst of it, I should point out that our present experiment in electrical austerity has our indoors a little on the chilly side, too.  Not sure how long that's going to last (kids aren't buying the "put on a sweater" line) but in the meantime, it's a perfect excuse to appreciate the warming attributes of my lovely new mug:

I rarely ever buy this sort of thing for myself - we have no money, no space (we gave away two thirds of our mug collection when we moved here) and no good practical reason to indulge so.  But it came about that the potters are an older French couple, and we were next to them a couple of markets ago and had a lovely day of conversation and reminiscence about France (I was born in Nice, she in Paris). They engaged our children with the sort of gracious dignity and delight that is rare and lovely and makes me endlessly wistful for more people of that sort in the world. I loved her work, and it embodied for me a whisper of lovely things half remembered from a childhood in Provence, and... I splurged. Just a bit, but it makes my hands, my heart and my eyes very happy.