Ivy's Bombadil Socks

Maybe I'm a little bit silly and sentimental, but whenever I see our yarn out there in the big wide world its a tiny bit like seeing an old friend. I want to go up to it and say "How have you been? Has life been treating you alright? What have you seen since we last were together?" Maybe that's one of the reasons I love it when you all post your projects on your blogs or on Ravelry.

Today one of our customers, Ivy, posted pictures of her recently completed Bombadil socks on her blog, along with some helpful tips about binding off toe-up socks using the sewn bind off method. The Bombadil colorway is a bright, variegated colorway and, because of the nature of handpainted yarns, those colorways are always exciting to knit up. Depending on your gauge and the size of your project, they might stripe, be totally random or pool in interesting ways. Its as much about the knitter as it is about the dyer. So its a real treat for us to see what happens when our yarn and your hands work together to create something new!

The Valentines Day Gift that Keeps on Giving!

Chocolates go right to your thighs, flowers end up in the trash. This year, how about a Valentines Day present that you can both enjoy for months to come?

The Fiber Fetish yarn club by The Unique Sheep is a fun and sexy club with projects that are a little bit sassy and a tiny bit naughty, but mainly just a lot of fun. This is a yarn club even your husband can get behind!

Find out more here!

Yarn Donations

I just received this note from my friend, Elizabeth, who is collecting yarn donated for Girl Inc: 

I'd like to issue a HUGE thank-you to all of you who responded to my "call for yarn" announced on The Unique Sheep Blog and Lime and Violet Blog a few weeks ago.  The response was tremendous... and now we've got more yarn than we know what to do with!  Over the next two weeks I will be implementing some sort of organizational system for the yarn.  Once that's in place, I'll embark upon the task of passing on my - or should I say OUR - passion for knitting to the my wonderful girls at Zona del Sol.  They are all truly excited about learning to knit and crochet and are impatient to get started! 

 

Unfortunately, we have limited space for storage here at the Zona del Sol center (we're in the process of expanding and our addition isn't finished yet), so I would like to ask that if you have NOT sent yarn yet, to wait until at least August before sending any more yarn our way.  We're grateful for all of the donations we've received, but I'm afraid if we get any more at this point, our center will be so full of yarn, we won't have a place to put the girls!

 

There is really no way to express my gratitude for your generosity.  Thanks again to all that donated, and I will pass along pictures and stories of the girls' knitting projects once we get started!

 

Sincerely,

Elizabeth Crumpler

Program Manager, Zona del Sol Center
Girls Inc. of Santa Fe

Inspirar a las niñas y a las jóvenes a ser seguras, inteligentes, y decididas

Inspiring all girls to be strong, smart, and bold

Introducing...The Green Sheep Collection

We are so excited to finally announce our new line of organic yarns- The Green Sheep Collection. We have super soft, squishy organic merinos and cool organic cotton/bamboo yarn. Right now the sport and worsted weight wools are available as well as a worsted weight cotton/bamboo, but we will be adding to the collection in the future!

New Spring Needle Felting Kit!

Our needle felting kits are a fun project for anyone-- even if you are new to the fiber arts--because they include everything you need to go from fluffy, colorful wool to a miniature sculpture of your own. But up until now all of our kits have been fall or winter themed. That's why we are so excited to announce our new Spring Chick needle felting kits. But be careful, I've been told that making these little cuties is addicting!

Knitting for Good: Chapter 3

I just finished reading chapter three of Knitting for Good by Betsy Greer. This chapter was about Knitting as Therapy. It talked about knitting as a form of meditation/relaxation and as away to distract oneself from chronic pain. I'm fortunate not to suffer from chronic pain, so I can't talk to that point. But I think that the mental and emotional affects of knitting are interesting. I think thats one of the reasons I like to have so many knitting projects going at once. I need to have a really simple project for times when I just can't handle anything more challenging that stockinette, and when my brain needs to just go to that special quiet place where it can rest. If I'm worried about something and can't stop thinking about it, a complicated lace pattern is ideal because it takes all of my concentration, not leaving me any room in my brain for anything else. This chapter mainly talks about knitting alone as a way to deal with emotional pain, but for me knitting serves other functions. Like many of you, I love going to open knit night at my LYS, or just going out for coffee and knitting with a friend. But just because its social doesn't mean that this type of knitting isn't serving an emotional purpose, too. Sometimes I think that knitting allows us to go into social situations that we wouldn't be comfortable in otherwise. I'm not naturally very comfortable in social situations. I need an excuse to spend time with people, not because I don't like people, but because I tend to feel awkward. But with knitting in hand, there are less demands. If there is a break in conversation and its quiet for a few minutes, you aren't just sitting there staring at each other. And for me, thats a type of therapy too!

How does knitting play into your emotional life, if at all? Do you knit when you are stressed, sad, happy, tired, energetic? Does knitting calm you down or energize you? Do you mainly knit alone, or with other people? 

Also, if you do suffer from chronic pain, have you noticed knitting helping to distract you?

My Mess

For the last couple of hours I've been in my studio winding yarn, as I do most nights (really, we should be called yarn winders rather than yarn dyers, since I feel like I spend 90% of my time winding yarn and only 10% dying). And as I looked around I thought to myself "This place is a mess!". I have a very small studio and so it doesn't take much for it to become 'a mess'. But then I stopped complaining to myself for a minute and actually looked around. I had my camera handy, so I took a couple of photos sitting in my spinny chair. And I realized that I was like a man who lived in one of those secret treasure troves (the type guarded by dragons) complaining about how there is gold everywhere-- such a mess! I am literally surrounded by yarn. Spread out covering the entire floor are skeins of yarn awaiting labeling and packing to be sent to customers. On the table are baskets filled with samples and odds and ends of yarn that I use for swatching and experimenting with designs. Behind that are the bins I keep the undyed yarn in, and further back you can see the closet filled with cones of yarn. On the other side is a pile of yarn awaiting re-skeining. Yes, its a mess. But its not a bad mess to be in at all!