A Few Sheep Shy of a Farm

Some days you just have to do the work . . .

Today I spent 7 hours rearranging a room, cleaning a closet and changing over the summer/winter clothing. I really didn’t want to spend a whole day doing this stuff, but the weather in in Boston is getting a little chilly for things like shorts and sun-dresses . . . and in order to get to the winter clothes I had to completely dismantle the storage room. The one that was full before I started a business and now was packed to the gills with our stuff and tubs of yarn etc. So I had to take pretty much everything out of the room, go through all the tubs, decide which tubs of stuff could be stacked out in the (covered) patio until the barn is done (or spring, which ever comes first) and reorganize everything to find the clothes and make sure that DH can get to his piano. Some of these tubs weighed a lot and getting them through the house, alone, is no easy feat . . . I still have a huge pile of the winter clothes on the bed to be put away but everything else is where it belongs. . . and I’m totally exhausted!

Since the game has started I’m calling it a day, time for a beer and some baseball . . . and maybe even a little bit of knitting.

Yesterday I spent the day working on adding some new products for the business. I’m waiting to make sure that I actually have them before I start offering them for sale, but we have a whole bunch of new things coming soon! I’m really excited about this and think its going to be a lot of fun! Stay tuned for an update soon.

To be added to my mailing list send me a note: martheme(at)inspirationsyarn(dot)com Change the stuff in () to @ and . to send the message, I’m trying to avoid the spam detectors . . . .

Finally, a posting!

I’ve been trying to get in to post for a couple of days now with no sucess! For some reason, today it decided to work.

First things first

Yesterday I received a wonderful package from my secret pal! My photo software hasn’t arrived yet, so no pic but I’ll describe it for you: Inside the box where 2 pairs of Brittany Birch needles (did my SP know I’ve been collecting them?), 2 skeins of green Silky Wool (I’m thinking hat & scarf set) and 2 boxes of teas! I have to say, My SP has really been paying attention! She sent needles I love, one of my favorite yarns and one of my favorite things to have in the evening while knitting! Thank you Secret Pal!!! Your the best!!!

SSK

Now, I swear I didn’t plan it this way, but SSK turns out to be the initials of our new sock kits! Sock Surprise Kits! How funny is that?

I sent out a newsletter a couple of days ago to those on the list, letting them know the kits are now available. (interested in joining the list? Send me an email Subject: Newsletter and I’ll add you to the list) We’re going to make the kits available until October 30th and we plan to have them in the mail November 13th. We’ve got a couple of surprises involved this time and I think its going to be a fun one! Stop by and check it out!

Rhinebeck

Okay, so the long over due Rhinebeck report: We drove out to DH’s Aunt & Uncle’s place on Friday. They live considerably closer to Rhinebeck than we do. So we planned to drive out, stay the night with them and then either go back to their place for a 2nd night (if the window we’re having made for the barn is ready, its being done out there) or if it wasn’t ready to drive back after the show. Unfortunately, it wasn’t ready in time. . . .

I don’t think I mentioned it here, but we had decided to relocate 2 of the rabbits, given the time restraints with everything going on. Debbie, from Iron Horse Farm, was kind enough to pass on the # of someone interested in 2 bunnies. I spoke to them on Friday morning, turns out they live pretty much directly on our route from here to the relatives house, so the buns went for a little car ride with us. Turns out the two women are sister, both have several kids (not little, little but old enough to be good to the buns) and want to keep the bunnies in the house as pampered house pets. We stopped to drop them off with one of the new mothers and I have a feeling they are very happy in their new homes.

Back on the highway, the car was making strange noises and smells . . . something seems to happen to whatever we are driving every time we go to this particular Aunt & Uncles, very strange, but anyway . . . we made it there in one piece. Had a lovely dinner with them, hung out with DH’s cousin and her husband for a bit and called it a night. DH and Uncle B investigated the car thing in the morning, turned out to be a problem with the Air Conditioner belt. The wound up removing it, since we won’t be needing A/C any time soon, and the car was fine.

We took the reccommended back route from their house to the fair. Very scenic, cute little towns, hills and foliage to see, very nice. At one point we stopped to get a coffee at this cute little cafe and found a great antique shop next door. They had a bunch of stuff we liked and plan to go back at some point.

We got to the fair, unloaded the 7 bags of wool from the back of the car and marched off to find Zeillingers. We were waved in at the gate, which seemed odd but okay, later we figured out it was most likely they thought we were headed for the fleece sale or something. Took us a few minutes to find Zeillinger’s, can you believe we asked 6 people before someone knew where they were? Once there, DH had a chance to ask all sorts of questions about wool that I hadn’t been able to answer for him while I set up the fleeces to go out. I had a silvery one, very pretty, that I’m having blended with a big bag of silvery angora from Blossom and another pretty white fleece that I’m having blended with another big bag of angora, from Jasmine. I can’t wait to see how they turn out! I also had 3 smaller white fleeces, all a bit different form one another but all pretty dirty too; I decided to have all 3 blended together and see how that turns out, should be interesting.

Once the fleece were done we went back inside to see what interesting things we could find. One of the first barns we went into was the barn with Alpacas and Llamas. DH seemed to really like them, started asking all sorts of questions about their care, how much were they, could they be trained . . . how much space do you need . . . I think another hour in there we might have had a new pet! Next I spotted Debbie and Skip from Iron Horse Farm and we had a lovely chat with them, DH hadn’t met them before but since they have Llamas we may take a ride out their way some time . . . .

As soon as we left that barn we ran straight into M & J! They’d been trying to call but I guess my phone wasn’t working out there . . . so we stopped and had some lunch together and the guys went off to do guys stuff for a bit while we headed for the fleece sale. We each found several things we would love to buy, but realizing they were only taking cash or checks, we had to reassess what we really wanted. I bought a lovely fleece for only $3/lb. and M got a couple of things, then we were back to Z’s for another drop off! From there we met up with the guys again. DH was very happy because he’d found the biggest item on our scavenger hunt list for the day, the Skein winder! So we split up again, this time we each went with our DH to see if we could find the things on our lists. . . . .

DH raced off to show me the treasure he’d found… Turns out he’d found Barbara at Stony Mountain! So we got the Skeinwinder (and it was even the right one, way to go DH!) and a few little odds and ends, which DH took straight to the car while I shopped a little . . . then we wanded a bunch of buildings just browsing some things, barns to look at sheep and goats. Now, my Step father and my Mom are planning to move to a great big piece of land up in Northern Maine, possibly as soon as next year! One of the things my SF wants to have when they go are goats! I’m working on convincing him that Mohair and Cashmere are the way to go! I’ve almost got him convinced, I think one trip to NH S & W next year will be all it takes . . . so DH and I went and picked out the cutest little Cashmere goat ever, if he weren’t so darned expensive he might have come home with us then and there! He would easily fit in the back of the station wagon, easily. And soft as can be! Anyway . . .

We ran into M & J again who told us where to find the person we were looking for to fix a part for PixieDust’s spinning wheel, you remember, the one she got for $30 at an antique store. So while we were headed in that direction we stopped off so I could join the mini-KR reteat going on over at Jen’s place! She had some wonderful things and I couldn’t resist buying some Polworth and CVM from her! It was fun to see everyone and cat for a few minutes. Things in Jen’s tent were very busy so we didn’t stay too long. DH even got to offer “guy color opinion” for someone shopping for fiber for a men’s scarf! We know how much DH likes to give his opinion

Then we were off to find the person who would be fixing PixieDust’s wheel. Turns out, based on what I did bring of it, its likely from sometime between 1870 to 1910! He’s fitting an Ashford Flyer for it and sometime down the road we may go ahead and have the reproduction flyer built. And get this, its worth something like 5-10x what she paid for it! Not bad for a kid, huh?

From there we grabbed some snacks, got the blood sugar back up and then headed for the road home. All in all it was a fun day and DH enjoyed his first trip to the fiber show enough that he won’t mind if we go again some time. This is a good thing

Sweater report

I’ve finished the 2nd sleeve on DH’s handspun sweater! I’m now working on the body of it. We’ve agreed that I’ll keep the collar simple and wide, he finds it a bit too itchy to be right on his neck . . . . so I may even have it finished by the weekend. The body is going fast (3 st/inch on sz 9s) and I get to use my Denise needles for it! Very fun. I can tell you, this is going to be one warm sweater! It weighs a couple of lbs already and its not finished yet. Good for working outside this winter at least. . . . Just so long as he wears it sometimes, right?

Well, its getting late and I have a few things I need to do before it gets much later . . .

We’re back!

Just a quick post for now, we are back from NY. It was great, and I’ll write a longer post later with details. I did get the skeinwinder, from Barbara at Stony Mountain, can’t wait to use it!

More later.

Mystery Knitting

Thank you to everyone who has contacted me about the Mystery Kits! I’m so relieved to hear you like them!

I had hoped to have the 2 colorways from the kits ready to be posted this weekend, however I’m having some software issues. I was using a trial version of the photo program I have everything in; it has expired; I tried to get the full download; it isn’t available, they are putting out a new version next month so the old one is no longer on the site! I can’t wait until next month! So I ordered it on disk from an office supply store (I would have just gone to the store and gotten it but my car isn’t working right now, long story) So now I’m waiting for it to arrive by mail, which could take 10 days! Very, very annoying!

Once we have this glitch straightened out, I have the 2 colorways from the Mystery kit, the pattern, a handful of other colorways and a couple of new yarns for you! Lots and lots of fun new stuff. Oh, and I need to update the site to have a button for the needles/accessories, but I can’t do that without the photo program since there is where I created the buttons! Its really amazing how one little thing can cause such a backlog!

I did manage to get the mail list stuff set up last night, took me a little while since I had to go into my email and write down all the addresses and then go into the maillist stuff and type them all in there . . . . but we now have a newsletter mailing list so I can keep everyone updated when I finally get allt these new things online. And the best part, people can opt in or out of it all on their own since its a real maillist thingy. I don’t have to do it all manually, which since I’m currently the only one doing everything, anything I can have done automatically is a big, big plus.

Speaking of which, I’m hoping to find that someone has brought a Fricke Skeinwinder with a counter on it to Rhinebeck when we go this weekend. I really, really need a way to wind yarn that doesn’t include me counting wraps around a noddy for each skein! My arm is getting rather worn out after all the Mystery kits . . . So if I don’t manage to come home with one this weekend, I’ll be ordering one online somewhere on Monday, first thing on Monday.

Speaking of Rhinebeck, I can’t wait to go! I’ve convinced DH that this trip totally counts as research and even he is getting excited about going! Doesn’t hurt that he can get a Lamb burger while he’s there . . . but he’s looking forward to talking to the wood working guys and investigating how to set up a booth for next spring and even looking at what others are doing for yarns. He’s actually becoming pretty literate in the whole fiber thing, which is really kinda funny for those that know him.

I’m looking forward, of course, to the shopping, but I’m also really looking forward to seeing all the fiber folks from online. I’m even thinking of wearing a name tag with Inspirations Yarn and Martheme, a little KR and a RAOK on it so others can spot me . . . just in case ; )

Today I’ve got to send out the last 3 packages, I’ve been waiting for some yarn to dry . . . and get ready for the weekend. I’ve got a closet full of fleeces which I don’t have enough time to scour myself so several of those are headed for Zeillingers . . . I need to bring part of PixieDust’s wheel with us to see if we can find someone able to build the rest of what we need . . . and I have to pack clothes etc. We are actually got to DH’s Aunt & Uncle’s house for the weekend, driving out tomorrow and staying until Sunday, means we can get to the fair a lot earlier on Saturday since they only live about 45 min away. Much better than a very early am 3 1/2 to 4 hour ride. Oh, must remember to pack car ride knitting . . . Oh, and we have dinner plans for tonight so I have to have everything done by late afternoon . . . .

okay, this list is getting long so I’d better run. I’ll try to post tomorrow before we go anywhere . . .

Isn’t this fun?

You appear to be a Knitting Goddess.

You are constantly giving and are unconcerned with
reward, you simply want others to love knitting
as much as you do. If someone wants to knit
miles of novelty yarns, you are there for them.
If someone wants to learn short row shaping,
you can help. There are no taboos in knitting,
only opportunities to grow. Everyone should
have friend like you around if they want to
learn to knit, and there’s a good chance that
your passion has rubbed off on a few others.

What Kind of Knitter Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

HAPPY DANCE!

I’m so happy and relieved to hear that so many knitters like the Mystery kits! To be honest, I was a bit nervous about the whole idea. Especially with so many people ordering them, what would I do if they didn’t like them? Actually, I think that is one of the hardest parts of what I’m doing right now, putting myself and my ideas out there and waiting to see if others really like them.

Its one thing to show it to friends and family and have them say they like it, they aren’t likely to tell me even if they don’t like it! Its another to put it here and have other bloggers say they like it. I know from experience, we tend to only comment or tag about the good stuff. You don’t find too many tags telling another knitter that their stuff is garbarge, now do you? Its yet another thing to have 80+ people order something, site unseen, and everyone be crossing their fingers hoping they will like it.

I was so nervous about sending them out that I’ve barely been able to sleep, not a normal thing for me. In fact, DH jokes that Isabelle and I must be related. She’s one of our cats, and she sleeps 20+ hours a day if no one bothers her. So you see, not normal for me to have trouble sleeping!

I’m thrilled to be getting positive feedback on the kits and I can’t wait to see pictures of others finished projects, for me that will be the best part.

Of course the real test to this experiment will be if anyone orders the next Mystery kit when it comes out. That will tell me clearly whether its a good idea or not. Fingers are definately crossed.

Speaking of Mystery kits, we do have some minor pattern corrections. I’ve posted them to the site here.

I actually have a couple of packages to prep for mailing today so I’d best be off to it.

Thanks everyone for the positive feedback, you have no idea how much it really does mean to me!