New Website!

The new website is live! We have been working on this for months and are so excited to be able to finally unveil it! We tried to keep the ordering process very similar to the old website to make the transition easier. We added several new features which we think you will enjoy:

• PDF purchases will now be sent immediately and automatically
• You shopping cart summary is always visible in the green column at the right to make it easier for you to update your cart
• You can create an account and log in to check on the status of your order and review past orders. 

The biggest improvement has been in how our Search bar functions. The search box is always present at the top of the green column. We have added a lot of new photos to the site and the search bar is the best way to explore them. To see photographs of a certain colorway on several different base yarns and even examples of it knit up, simply type in the colorway name in the search bar. Give it a try yourself- for example, search for "silverlode" to see eight different photos of this colorway on different yarn bases and 4 photos of it knit up. We will be adding more and more photos to the site in the future to give you more examples of our colors on different bases, as different sized sets,  and knit up into projects.

Have some fun and do a bit of exploring. If you find any broken links or mistakes please let us know! Our goal is to make our website as easy to use and helpful as possible so please let us know if you have trouble with any part of it!

Most of the credit for this project goes to Leanne Mitton, our very patient and always helpful web designer. 

Website Changes

We will be revealing the new website this weekend (!!!) which means that there may be a brief period of time when the website is unavailable while we switch things over. Thank you for your patience while we make this change. We think you'll like the new website. Once its uploaded I'll post again telling you all about the new features!

Happy New Year

Wow- Laura and I just celebrated 5 years together as "Your Unique Sheep dyers"! I may sound like a broken record at the beginning of each New Year, but I am still so happy to be partners with such an amazingly talented, intelligent and beautiful person. I feel like I have to say it publicly, at least once a year.

We are also very lucky to be able to work with great designers. Every time a designer decides to use our yarn in one of their projects it gives me a happy shiver. Somehow they always make our yarn look better in a finished object than it does just laying in the skeins. So thanks to Janine, Laurel, Merike, Julia, Susan and many others who have joined our design flock.

We are always happy to hear from people who want to carry our yarn in their online and/or bricks and mortar retail shops. If you do not see your LYS on this page, then tell them about Unique Sheep. If they already carry our yarns, but are not listed, let us know and we will update our site right away. A special Thank You to Ellen at Earthfaire, who has partnered with us for almost all of our Mystery KAL's and provided beautiful beads to go with our yarn and patterns. Ellen also carries a large selection of Signature Colorways, only available through Earthfaire.

The biggest Thank You to all of our customers. Take a look on the Ravelry pages to see many of the projects you have all stitched using Unique Sheep yarns. Every time I visit that page I am delighted to know that you trusted us enough to buy our yarns and stitch them up into finished garments. We hope you enjoy using our yarns as much as we love dyeing them for you:)

May 2013 bring all of your Peace, Joy and lots of Love.
 

Winter Vacation

Happy Holidays! We will be taking next week off to spend time with friends and family. You can place orders like usual on the website and we'll be checking our email in case you have any questions but we won't be shipping orders until after the new year. We hope that you are able to take time off to celebrate the holidays as well!

Craft Lit

The Unique Sheep is sponsoring the pod cast Craft Lit for the month of December! The first episode of the month went live today and includes an interview with me. If you haven't discovered Craft Lit yet, check it out. Its a wonderful free podcast that combines two of my biggest loves- knitting/crafting and reading. The host is an award winning high school and college teacher so she knows her stuff and she shares bits of literary trivia and history to put the books into context as you listen. Previous books include classics such as Dracula, The Scarlet Letter, Pride and Prejudice and A Tale of Two cities. The current book is Jane Eyre. Each podcast episode includes a bit of chat about knitting/crafting/etc, background on the current reading and a chapter or two from the book. The books are all wonderfully read and the information that Heather shares is interesting and helpful. It is by far my favorite podcast. So check it out, listen to my interview (which I hope is good- I haven't had the courage to listen to it yet. Its so weird to hear myself recorded) and enjoy!

Website Redesign

As we prepare for the new year we have decided that its time for a new website. The Unique Sheep has outgrown the little site that I created with bits of twine and newsprint years ago and its time for someone who really knows what he or she is doing to give her a face lift. Well, more than just a face lift, really, as its the bones of the site that need the most work.


We'd like to hear what changes you'd like to made. We are already planning to re-do the way the photos are managed to make them consistent in size and quality, add a customer account option so you can log in and check the status of your order, past orders and saved shopping carts and make the website work on tablets and phones. You can click here for a list of things that we will be working on. What else should we add to our wish list??

December's "Give Away"

During the year 2012, at the first of each month you have received an email from us featuring a designer or artist. We have had a wonderful year full of talented designers and crafters and all the inspiring things that they create. We hope you enjoyed learning more about them, as well as getting the free goodies in your packages with qualifying orders.

We have decided to do something a little  different to wrap up the year. Philanthropy is such an important part of who we are, that this month we are featuring two of our favorite charities- one for Kelly and one for Laura. Instead of including a free goody with your order, we will be making a small donation to these charities for every order* placed in December.

Kelly's Pick: Ruff Love Rescue

Lovey

Sam

Shep

Our 3 dogs are all “rescue” dogs. Our oldest and youngest were picked up off the street, and I had no luck tracking down their former owners, so Bradley and Shep became adopted members of our family. We could not ask for more gentle and appreciative dogs. 

That is why my choice for the December charity is Ruff Love Rescue. Our middle boy, Sammy was adopted from this wonderful organization. The people that run this rescue are always looking for help, and I always wish I could give more, so I thought that this would be a great opportunity to be able to send a few more dollars their way. 

 Laura's Pick: One Parent Scholar House

 I believe that education is one of the best ways to solve many of the problems our world faces. Education gives individuals the tools to improve their own lives rather than being dependent on the help of others. Unfortunately, not everyone has access to education or the ability to fit classes and study into their lives. One Parent Scholar House allows single parents to pursue education by providing housing, mentorship and childcare.

*donations will be made for each non-club order placed in December for $30 or more.