Happy New Year!

Thank you so much for being our customer in 2008. This was The Unique Sheep's first real year in business (we started in 2007 but the first few months don't really count!) and we can't believe how much we have grown. The Unique Sheep started out as a dream so unlikely that I actually filled out all the start-up paperwork without telling anyone about it. I was afraid that if I told anyone about my idea they would point out how unrealistic I was being. A recent college graduate, I thought I could make a living selling...yarn? But I did it anyway and by the time my friends and family realized what was happening I had my business license and was beginning to receive suspiciously large boxes of undyed yarn in the mail! A few months later Kelly approached me with the idea of partnership and, well, as they say, the rest is history. 

In the upcoming year we have a LOT to look forward to. In addition to the Ram Club II and Lord of the Rings Sock Club, both beginning in February, we are continuing our Rubber Ducky cotton club and Color Co-op multi-dyer club (both are always open for new members), and in May the 6 Kingdoms Yarn Club, the follow up to The 7 Deadly Spins, will begin. We've also got a few more club ideas brewing but we'll wait till spring before we reveal anything else!

We are always coming up with new colorways, of course. If you have an idea for a colorway you'd like to see, please let us know. We love to collaborate with our customers!

We will be adding a couple of new yarns this year and they will all be ORGANIC! If you keep up with our blog you know that our environment, and our impact on it, is very important to both of us and so it makes sense for us to include organic yarns in our line up. We haven't finalized all the details yet, but we are thinking about adding a sport weight wool, dk or worsted weight wool, bamboo/cotton blend and possibly a fingering weight wool. We would love to have your input about what is most important to you in a yarn.

We hope that in 2009 we'll have the opportunity to dye for you time and again. Thank you so much for your business. Your purchases allow us to stay in business doing what we love most!

Your Unique Sheep Dyers
Laura & Kelly

Holiday Slow Down

Like most of you, Kelly and I took some time off this past week to spend time with our families. Because of that, we are a bit behind on our emails and having spent much time dyeing. But now that all the suitcases are put away (well, almost..) and the festitivies are over, we are ready to get back to work. If you sent us an email or an order this week, we promise we haven't forgotten about you. It might just take us a day or two to get caught up! 

Thanks for being patient-- we hope you all had a nice time taking a break too and spending time with your friends and family!

Happy Holiday!

From Kelly and Laura

Still need a gift?

Though its too late to order yarn and receive it in time for Christmas, there is still plenty of time left to purchase a gift certificate! We have gift certificates available from $15 to $100. After you check out we will send you an email with the gift certificate "code". Then, to redeem their gift certificate, your loved one simply enters the code when she or he checks out. Because we are busy celebrating this week, too, you might have to wait a few hours for me to get to my computer and email me the code but I promise to check the lap top several times a day, so you won't have to wait long! 

Donations

A few posts ago I mentioned that we were trying to decide which non-profits we wanted to donate to this year with our annual "5%" donation. Well, there are so many great organizations out there that we couldn't decide on just one. So we are splitting it up between three very worthy organizations. First is the Entrepreneurship Program at Wake Forest University. We both feel that small businesses are critical to our country. Not only do they employ over half of the workers in our country (and growing!), but they provide more options than if we just had a few big countries. Peopoe who work for small companies are usually passionate about what they do and in touch with their customer base in a way that sometimes isn't possible in larger companies. Small businesses, like ours, are started by entrepreneurs. And Wake Forest's entrepreneurship program educates and supports entrepreneurs. In fact, The Unique Sheep might not even exist if it weren't for the program. They gave me (Laura) my first financing, lots of (free!) classes on all manner of business matters which were completely foreign to me before the program, and the opportunity to give The Unique Sheep a chance. So thats why we chose them as one of our non-profits. 

We continued the education theme by donating to a local Montessori school. Montessori schools provide education to young students using unique and alternative techniques. Unlike regular public schools, they focus on different learning styles and the potential of each child as an individual. Our future rests with today's children, and Montessori schools are one way to prepare them to become tomorrow's leaders. Though the Montessori method isn't for everyone, Kelly has seen how positive it can be in the lives of friends and family. 

Our third non-profit is also related to children-- Victory Junction! This one was recommended by my husband, who has classmates (medical students) who have volunteered and worked there. Victory Junction is a camp for children with chronic medical problems or serious illness and their families. It gives kids the freedom to be a kid and enjoy all the normal camp activities- arts & crafts, horseback riding, swiming, canoing, hiking, etc., tailored to meet their individual needs. Whether a kid is confined  to a wheel chair, needs daily medical treatment or is the "sick kid" in his or her every day life, at Victory Junction camp he or she is just a normal kid. A fully functioning clinic makes daily medical care easy, and if an emergency occurs several world renowned hospitals are nearby. When I was growing up I went to summer camp almost every year and, like most kids, took it all for granted. I spent more time complaining about the food or itching at my mosquito bites than being thankful for being healthy enough and physically able to go to camp. Now that I'm a little older, I can see how fortunate I was. Every kid deserves to be "normal" and have fun getting muddy and sunburnt for at least one week a year! Oh, and everything is completely free for the campers-- their families have enough expenses with all their medical treatment. Donations, like ours, pay for everything.

A New Stole

Ever since I dyed the first set of Gradiance yarn and knitted The Gluttony Socks there has to be at least one project OTN using Gradiance yarn.

My latest FO is the Earth Maiden stole designed by Ilga Leja. The pattern calls for a DK weight yarn but I used Leili, a fingering weight yarn, so extra stitches were added and the pattern was modified by including several more repeats of each of the stitch pattern segments.


I used, Henry, one of the newest colors in the Gradiance collection:

and made sure to alternate colors as we suggest here, so the transition from one skein to the next really is seamless.

The final project came out better than expected!


























We will add Henry to our list of Gradiance colors soon, but do let us know if you would like to order a set by putting it in as your color choice when you order from our site.

We do not have the Earth Maiden pattern available on the Unique Sheep site, but of you use Moonshadow, you will get a similar effect as it is also knitted with stitches cast on from end to end, plus you would get the extra enjoyment of knitting with beads!

Kelly

What I have been crocheting

Our 1st Rubber Ducky Club shipment went out a little over a week ago. Here is what I made from the test skein of yarn.

Frosty(the yarn) was inspired by the famous snowman with the icy blue background, the orange to represent his carrot nose, and the dark teal to represent his hat. The blue in the test skein was a bit darker than the yarn the club members received.

I used the center part of this pattern ,with some major modifications. The final cloth is 10" in diameter and took
less than an ounce of yarn.

We would love to have you join us in the Ducky Club!

Kelly

The Nutcracker

A few weekends ago my husband surprised me with tickets to see the Nutcracker ballet. Growing up my family would often go see the Nutcracker performed by the local art school and I've always had a love for the music, costumes, set, dancers..the whole thing. But this year I noticed something for the first time-- the beautiful colors! The whole evening I couldn't stop thinking about all the COLORS and how great they would look on yarn! So of course as soon as I got home I started experimenting and I ended up with 6 new colorways that I am pleased to introduce to you now. Like all our colors, they can be ordered on any of our yarns or fibers. But, if you'd like a skein of each colorway, you can get a very special deal-- $20 or more off the regular price!

Lord of the Rings "Teaser" Sock Patterns

As you know, the Lord of the Rings Sock Club begins in February (sign ups end Jan 1). But because February is still soooo far away, we are very excited to introduce two "teaser" patterns that are available for individual purchase NOW! Because they involve irregular yarn amounts I would highly recommend purchasing the kits (available in child and adult sizes), but the patterns are also available on their own as PDFs or print. Enjoy!

Hobbit Feet

When Laurel, the designer, started thinking about socks based on the Lord of the Rings Trilogy she thought to herself "What socks would Hobbits wear?". Well, as we all know, hobbits don't wear shoes and so they probably don't wear socks either. Their tough hairy feet make it unnecessary. But for us humans with our soft, unprotected soles we need something to keep our toes toasty warm. Hence, the Hobbit Feet pattern. Knit this up for your favorite Lord of the Rings fan- child or adult- and they can pretend to be a hobbit too!

Prancing Pony Socks

For a pair of socks that can be worn under your riding boots, or down to the local tavern, try the Prancing Pony socks! A basic top down sock pattern is livened up with a fun intarsia pony on the side of the leg or the back of the heel. Options are given for boot-high socks, short "ankle" socks, adult sizes and kid sizes. You can make a pair for everyone in the family! The pattern is written for our Tinsel Toes fingering weight Tencel/Merino sock yarn for a bit of silky, shiny elegance. We've been told by many customers that Tinsel Toes makes the most comfortable, hard wearing socks in their collection!

Helllloooooo out there?

Sometimes I feel like I'm talking to myself on this blog. I know thats not true because I've checked the website statistics and I know you are out there. But when you don't leave me comments, it makes me lonely! More importantly, your feedback is really important. We are always coming up with new ideas for yarn bases, colorways, clubs, patterns, etc. But without your feedback is hard for us to know if they are good ideas or not. The reason we are in business is for you all- our customers. So help us out by letting us know what you like. Really-- we want to know! 

To encourage a bit more dialogue every so often (maybe once a week-- we'll see how it goes) I am going to randomly choose someone who has left a comment and send that person a little gift in the mail. A bar of handmade soap, a mini skein, set of stitch markers, 10% off coupon...something like that. The only rules are that a) you have to leave a comment on this blog-- it can be on any of the posts and be about anything b) I can figure out who you are from your comment and c) you have placed an order from us in the past (otherwise I won't have your mailing address on file). 

Christmas Giving

You may have noticed that on everyone of our ball bands or patterns, right below the little Sheepy logo it says "at least 5% of Unique Sheep's profits are donated to charity". Did you ever wonder what we meant about that? Of course we have our Yarns and Patterns for a Cause Collections, but thats different. At the end of the year, when we do all our financial paper work and figure out how we did for the year, we donate at least 5% of our net profits for the year to one or two charities that we personally feel are worthy. We haven't made up our minds yet about where we want our money to go this year-- there are so many great causes out there. 

I know we aren't the only ones who give a little more around the holidays. What charities do you donate to (or wish you had the resources to donate to)? 

Unique Sheep Meets Miss Violet!

Guess who Kelly and I got to meet this week---- Miss Violet ala Lime & Violet. Thats right, THE Lime & Violet. As in, the Lime & Violet Podcast and the Daily Chum. Probably my favorite knitting celebrity in this country (though I have to admit to having 'favorites' in a number of different countries...). Miss V was in North Carolina for some businessy meetings and decided to extend her stay by a few days to visit with knitters, yarn shops and other must-sees in the state. On Monday my friend Alli from Winston-Salem played hookie from school (shes a teacher, shhh don't tell the principle!) and we had coffee with Miss V at one of my favorite Carrboro coffee shops. Then Miss V came over for a tour of the "studio". I think she was pretty impressed by how much I managed to cram into my little apartment! I had a very nice time and it was so great to meet someone who's voice I hear so often on her podcast. You know, I love the yarn and the knitting and the dyeing and everything, but my favorite part of this job is meeting all the great people from around the country and even around the world. I feel like I "know" so many of you-- customers, designers, fellow dyers and yarn shop owners--even though I've never met you in person. Having the opportunity to meet face to face is like icing on the cake! 

Today Kelly had the opportunity to play tour guide for Miss V in Greensboro and Highpoint, visiting all the great yarn shops (Knit Picky Yarns, Gate City Yarns and Common Threads-- all of which either carry or are soon to carry Unique Sheep yarns!)  I'm sure she'll share her stories/photos with us tomorrow after shes had a chance to rest up from all the fun! 

Introducing....Something Blue

The Something Blue Stole was designed for The Unique Sheep by Marie Haigh.

This stole symbolizes the structure of a happy marriage. The knitted columns ebb and flow into each other just as one half of a married couple shoulders the majority of the responsibilities and provides unconditional love during times of hardship. Later, such support is reciprocated by the other half of the married couple.

Knit the stole as a gift for a bride, as an anniversary present or as homage to your own happy marriage.

May the stole bring you or your loved one many years of marriage bliss.

A little bit of Holiday Cheer

More pictures of Honeybun in her Santa hat can be seen on my personal blog.

Gift Shopping

Everyone has holiday gift shopping on their minds right now. Most holiday knitting has been started already (unless you are a really fast knitter!) but what about the knitters on your list? We have a few suggestions.

Our no-rinse Sheep Soap is a great stocking stuffer for all the knitters in your life. Sheep Soap is an all-natural, handmade liquid soap that easily dilutes in a tub of water to gently soak your hand knits. And the essential oils that make it smell yummy also deter moths and other pests!

And because people need soap too, you can now buy our Human Soap by the bar. Its the same great, handmade soap included in our Wash Set Kits. I have a bar in each of the guest bathrooms, a couple bars by the bathtub, and one in the kitchen. Oh and of course I have a few hanging in their Soap Sacks in the shower.

Shawl Sticks are great gifts for knitters who knit wraps or shawls. Our wooden shawl sticks are simple and subtle enough to let the beauty of the knitting/crochet to be in the spotlight. We have lots of different styles available!

For the sock-knitter on your list, our mini sock blocker kits fit the bill. Each keychain comes with a pattern and mini skein of Unique Sheep yarn to knit a tiny sock!

And if you just can't decide, gift certificates are always great gifts!

Holiday Feet

I made these socks using the pattern from our 2nd Ram Club shipment. The pattern is called Harbour Tweed and was designed by Charles Voth (aka StitchStud on Ravelry). The socks were originally designed for men, but I just used the smallest size to fit my foot. I made a slight pattern modification by carrying the really cool woven slipped pattern and tuck stitch down the heel flap of my socks.

Charles is a wonderful designer and comes out with some very innovative ideas. If you would like to see more of his work, you are welcome to join one of our clubs, as he is also designing socks for our second Ram Series and one of the secret projects for The Six Kingdoms.

The Harbour Tweed pattern is not available to the public yet, but worked as a great showcase for the Christmas Gradiance color way. That color way can be used with most any sock pattern if you use the Gradiance tips for socks.

Knitting with a Holiday inspired color way helped make me feel very festive and my socks will get a lot of use over the next few weeks :)

New Patterns!

This sweet pattern makes me think of that classic Christmas song--- "a beautiful sight, we're happy tonight, walking in a winter wonderland..."

The Victorian Cowl and Beanie pattern will keep you and loved ones snuggly warm this winter--- in style! Each piece takes one skein of any of our DK weight yarns; we recommend House Blend for its soft alpaca halo and silky

 drape. 

And, because a set this cute just calls for matching socks, we are also introducing the Victorian Lace Socks pattern! This pattern is written for both fingering weight and sport weight yarn so you can use any of our sock yarns. I knit my pair out of Luxe in the Hope colorway.

Hard Times

One of our favorite small businesses-- a little tea shop called Felicitea-- is on the verge of going out of business. Summer lives in Charlotte, NC which has been hit very hard by the problems that the banking world has been experiencing lately. So if you've been craving some great, hand blended loose tea, I encourage you to go ahead and place an order. She's even got some really cute gift sets that would make wonderful holiday gifts. I just ordered one myself!

The Creation of a Pattern

Normally we don't talk about our upcoming patterns until we are ready to publish them so it probably seems like they just spring out of nowhere. But really, a lot of hard work goes into every one of the patterns we sell. The original creative idea is just the start and is, in my opinion, one of the easiest parts. Then the designer has to figure out how to turn that idea into something real. Often math, geometry, sketches and planning are involved. And plenty of swatches. Then, in my opinion, the hardest part. Trying to get it all down on paper (or on digital "paper") so that another person can reproduce it. What makes sense in the designer's mind doesn't necessarily make sense to anyone else. Its hard to anticipate the questions that future users of the pattern will have, and the different ways that they can interpret the same directions.

Once the designer is comfortable with the instructions, the pattern and yarn are sent out to a test knitter who works through the pattern, highlighting mistakes, marking confusing language and noting where further explanation would be helpful. Even when the designer has gone over the pattern again and again, test knitters always pick up more things. And sometimes they don't. Sometimes we'll have a pattern tested several times and no one- not the designer, nor the test knitters nor us--will notice a mistake until we've published it and get an email from a customer. Sometimes after the test knitting there are major changes needed, so the designer has to go back to the beginning. Usually, though, the pattern just needs a few minor changes. Then we take the photos of the finished items, neaten up the type and formatting, and, ta-da, a new pattern is created. Often the process takes several months to complete.

Because its so time intensive, and because there is so much great talent out there, most of our patterns are created by independent designers. But occasionally Kelly and I like to stretch our creative muscles by designing patterns ourselves. Lately I've gotten this bug and I've got two designs in the works. One is a cabled toboggan (beanie) hat inspired by my brother. Its got broad black and red stripes- his favorite colors- ribbing at the bottom and "those twisty things" going up the sides-- but nothing too girly, of course. Super Wool is the best choice for that project-- its warm, soft and easy to care for. Winters here in North Carolina aren't so cold that you need a really thick hat, just enough to keep the wind off your skin, so DK weight is perfect.


My second project is a top-down triangular shawl using Sashimi. Sashimi is a great yarn but we rarely get orders for it. I think thats a real shame because its probably the softest yarn that we sell (except maybe for Singularity in Silk). Sashimi is a bamboo/merino blend and that bamboo is an amazing fiber. Its sooo soft and has the neatest sheen. Its not shiny like tencel, its a softer sheen than that. And even though its a very soft and fluffy yarn, its got enough twist to it that it will show off a stitch pattern pretty well, especially if its knit at a loose gauge. Though I call the shawl triangular, its not a true triangle. The ends curve around and will be very long and thin so that it can be wrapped around the torso and tied at the back. I've found that I really enjoy wearing shawls in that manner because it leaves my arms free to do other things and I don't have to fuss with keeping my shawl on and drapped correctly. Though I've only got about 1/6 of it done, so far, you can see the shape in the photo to the left. The stitch pattern is a simple lace stitch from Barbara Walker's First Treasury of Knitting Patterns. The thing that is going to make this shawl really special is that its written for use with our Gradiance color collection. Its hard to tell in the photos because so far I've knit through one of the 6 skeins I'll be using and just started on the 2nd. But if you look closely you'll see how it changes from purple to blue near the bottom. Eventually it will change from blue to green, then to brown and finally to golden ochre on the very edge of the shawl. The colorway is called Insecta and is inspired by the metallic colors found on the bodies of many beetles. I wanted to use deep, rich colors but not just your tradtional jewel tones. I guess I've been thinking too much about our 6 Kingdoms club because insects immediatelly sprung to mind! I'll keep you updated on my progress; since this shawl is knit out of DK weight yarn its moving along pretty quickly. So hopefully I'll have some more interesting photos soon!

New Yarn Ideas

Recently, Kelly and I have been talking about adding a new yarn (or two) to our collection. We both feel strongly about the importance of treating our environment well. In our personal lives we recycle and compost and avoid wasteful purchasing. I dream about one day having solar panels (somehow I doubt my apartment manager would agree to that, though). And we try to make The Unique Sheep as eco-friendly as possible, too. Most of our yarns are milled in the US, which makes us feel more comfortable about labor rights issues, keeps our money in the country and cuts down on transportation (i.e. using less gas). We reuse the water we pre-soak our yarn in for dyeing (halving the amount of water required in the dyeing process). Our skein winders are human-powered, not electric. And we feel very comfortable with the eco-impact of our dyes-- very little excess dye gets dumped down the drains, especially with our wool yarns. BUT, our yarns themselves are not organic. The superwashing process uses chemicals that makes it impossible (to my knowledge) to have a superwash yarn that is organic. And superwash yarns are very popular, for good reason- they are easier to care for than regular wool.  So this brings us back to the idea of new yarns. The yarns we are considering are all organic wool in worsted, sport and fingering weight. We can add all three, or just one or two. These yarns would all need to be handwashed, of course, but could also be used for felting. When we have a new yarn milled for us we have to commit to a LOT of yarn, so its a big decision for us to make. And thats why I'm letting you know what we are thinking about. Is this something that you'd be interested in? To make room, we are also thinking of getting rid of our Leili yarn. We love Leili, but it just doesn't seem to be selling as well as the other yarns. 

So what do you think? 

Tinsel Toes Holiday Sale

With the holidays coming up we've decided to put Tinsel Toes on sale for 10% off. We think that Tinsel Toes is a great yarn for holiday projects because its shiny and elegant, and it has a festive name. Enjoy!  

Shawl Pins and Mini Sock Blockers back in stock!

After almost completely selling out at SAFF, more shawl pins and mini sock blocker key chains have arrived!

Sheepy Washcloth

Our Sheepy Washcloth pattern is now for sale! This pattern was originally created for our Seven Deadly S(p)ins club. We keep our club patterns exclusive for 6 months, but those 6 months have passed so now the pattern is available for anyone who wants it! We recommend knitting it in our Pima Petite-- 100% pima cotton and perfect for all your cotton projects from washcloths to baby items to saucy summer tops!

That Color is SO "you"!

Everyone knows someone like this. The person who just loves a certain color. When they start a new project you are never surprised to see what color yarn they have picked out. Its the same color you'll see if you open their closet door or take a peek in their den. For my mom is chartreuse. For Shanna its pink. And for one of our customers, Sephrenia, its red. This customer stopped by our booth at SAFF and I was ashamed to be unable to offer her anything in a strong, true red. Oh we have plenty of burgundy, brick and wine. But very little that is really, really RED. So as soon as we got home I knew I had to do something. So let me introduce you to our newest colorway-- "Sephrenia" - fire red with hints of blue, yellow and orange.

As soon as I reskeined it this evening I had to take a photo to post immediately. Unfortunately red is the hardest color to photograph, in my opinion, and I'll need to wait for the sun to come out to get a really good photo. So for now, this photo will have to do (and no-- there is NO magenta, thats just the camera flash!)

ETA: Better picture!

Bunny Needs a Name

My husband and I have decided that Honeybun, though a fine "baby name" for our new rabbit just isn't quite right as her 'real' name. Shes going to be a big rabbit, which is fitting since she already has a big personality, and Honeybun just doesn't seem big enough. Chris thinks that she needs a "drag queen name" (his words). But we just can't seem to come up with the right name. So, I'd like to hear your opinion. What would be the perfect name for this little basket of trouble? 

Introducing....The Rubber Ducky Club!

The Rubber Ducky Club is now open for new members! Every other month, starting in December, members will recieve a skein of handpainted cotton and a bar of handmade soap. And, off course, they will color coordinate :). You can sign up anytime for as many shipments, or as few, as you'd like. And you have the option of paying for each shipment on its own, or for paying for three shipments at a time and saving 13%!

ENJOY!

In Memory

Laura and I had a really nice time at SAFF. Our favorite part was meeting the people who enjoy stitching with Unique Sheep yarn. Well, at least that was my favorite part. Laura's favorite may be the acquisition of Honeybun. :)

Unfortunately upon arriving home I found out that we had lost our little Min Pin to kidney failure on Friday. We had no idea he was that sick, as he had been mostly normal up to a week and a half ago when he got a bout of diarrhea that would not go away. We never considered kidney problems as he has been on organic dog food most of his life.

DH and I are devastated over losing our little guy. We are the type of people who consider our dogs to be part of our family. They travel with us, are allowed on the furniture, and even sleep with us. Spike was 13 yrs old so was an integral part of our lives.

So it may take a little extra time to ship some of your orders. I am trying to get back to work, but do need a bit of time to grieve over the loss.

In Memory of Spike (AKA: Peeky)

Rest in peace my little guy......

Ravelry Buttons

You know those "Hi My Name Is" Ravelry buttons that are so hard to get b/c they are always sold out? Well guess what-- we just got a big bag full of them! And they are all for YOU, our lovely customers, for FREE! All you have to do is add one to your cart when you place an order (this page can be found under "accessories"). 

 This offer isn't valid with orders for PDF patterns or club memberships, sorry! 

More photos from SAFF

We are back home now after spending the last 4 days at SAFF. It was so great to see our customers in person and to meet new ones! We've sent a newsletter out to everyone who signed up to receive it, but some of the email addresses were hard to read. So if you signed up for our newsletters but don't receive one tonight check your junk mail box and, if its not there, send me an email with your correct email address so I can fix it!

Now that we are back home we are ready to take your website orders, sign you up for one of our clubs or get you in touch with one of the many yarn shops that carry our yarn. Many of you mentioned that you wished your LYS carried the Unique Sheep. We'd like to encourage you to have your LYS owner to contact us at kelly@theuniquesheep.com to get a free wholesale packet with information, prices and yarn samples.

We were pretty terrible about taking pictures because we were so busy with the booth, but we are having fun looking at the photos that everyone else is posting on their own blogs and on Ravelry. One of the only pictures I got of Kelly and I with any of the great people we met is this one of us with Charlene Schurch (author of the Sensational Socks series) and Beth Parrott, co-authors of The Little Box series.


And I also have a few photos to share of my new baby--Honeybun! Honeybun is a 2 month old German angora hybrid that I purchased from Millennialway. She is my first bunny and I have a LOT to learn but thankfully the angora group on Ravelry has answered many of my questions already, and pointed me in the direction of more information. I'd welcome any more suggestions of books or websites I should check out. The husband is still undecided about whether or not he likes Hunbun, I think, and the dog is very concerned that the bunny is going to become our new favorite pet. She has been unusually clingy, refusing to get off of Chris's lap even, since I brought Honeybun home. Hopefully she will relax soon and they will become friends, or at least comfortable aquaintances!

SAFF

Today was the first day of SAFF- the Southeastern Animal Fiber Festival and it was tons of fun. We got to meet so many customers who we'd only talked to online before, and made lots of new friends and customers! We are pretty proud of our little booth. Its not as impressive as some of them, but its our first show and I think we have a pretty nice, albeit little, set up! 

The Autumn Gold shawl got a lot of attention today, and I'm hoping to show off the Lacey Yug more tomorrow. 

We even came home with a new Unique Sheep mascot- Honey Bun! She is a baby German angora and she is all mine! I luuuuuv her. If you are at SAFF stop by and say hello-- shes absolutely adorable and silky soft. Unfortunately my cell phone battery was dead so I couldn't call my husband and ask his opinion, and I was afraid she might be bought by someone else, so I just had to go ahead and buy her....oops!

Autumn Gold Reformatting

We just got the reformatted Autumn Gold pattern from the designer. There weren't any errors in the original pattern, but there were some typos and some parts needed more explaining. So we've cleaned it up a bit. If you have purchased a copy of the Autumn Gold pattern and would like an updated version, please email me at laura@theuniquesheep.com and I can send you a PDF. 

Introducing...Moonshadow!

Lace in a midnight garden! This lengthwise-knit stole features beaded edges and borders, conjuring images of enchanting waves of moonlight. The lace pattern is easy enough for beginners, while intriguing enough for seasoned lace knitters.

Moonshadow was designed by Sivia Harding and, like most of our shawl patterns, calls for 3 skeins of any of our fingering weight yarns. The sample shown was knit with Leili. 

Unique Sheep Gear

A while ago I set up a cafe press shop to make t-shirts and aprons and things with the Unique Sheep logo, just with myself, Kelly and my mom in mind. But whenever we wear our shirts we have people ask us where they can get shirts of their own! So, if you'd like one, they can be bought here. We don't make a profit off of selling them or anything (Cafe Press's prices are high enough on their own), but we certainly would love seeing our friends and customers sporting the Unique Sheep logo! 

Introducing the Miss Austen shawl

Even though I consider myself primarily a knitter, I've been getting into crochet more and more lately. Patterns like this are part of whats been driving me to become more crochet savvey. This stunning circular shawl, named after the literary figure, is crocheted on a size E hook using Tinsel Toes. The combination of the open "Love Knot" stitch pattern, the smooth drape of Tinsel Toes and the satisfying weight of the beaded edging makes this shawl a delight to wear. Unlike most lace shawls it even looks great in heavily variegated yarns! I think I'm going to make one to wear over a little black dress for holiday parties this winter! 

Another Baby Cardi

The All-in-One Baby Cardi by Charles is so much fun to make. This time I used Pima Petite in a new Gradiance color way called October Breeze. The finished sweater is incredibly soft.

The only problem is that I have no baby around to wear it!! We will have to just have it as a model until Laura and Chris decide to have children!

I think Pima Petite would work great for all types of Baby items and even adult projects, like the Into The Woods scarf.

Kelly

New Shawl Pins

We have a new style of shawl pin available, and I think you are going to like it. These shawl sticks are shorter than our others which makes them perfect for delicate lace shawls that can be weighed down with heavier shawl pins. The twisting design carved into them isn't just decorative-- it gives the sticks "grip" so that they'll hold your shawl securely.