Poll

I would be ever-so-grateful if you could please answer a few poll questions on the right side of my blog.

Please comment if you selected an "Other" option in any poll, or expand your answers in a comment as well.

Also, as far as the Color poll goes- Gender Neutral means no pink/purples/glitz. It feels like a silly classification since I know several men (my husband included) who love the colors purple, lavender, and burgundy, but if you've got a little (or larger) fella who doesn't care for those colors but requires cozy knits, please select Gender Neutral in the poll.

love! 

Liz

Fall

I'm going to go ahead and declare it Fall. There's a steady stream of  yellow buses outside and all of the kids have new lunchboxes. The air is chilly and my toes found the grass too cold for sandals this morning.

I'm finally due to receive my new Merino bump today. You might not find this possible- but I only used up a single bump of wool over the course of the entire summer, due to unending time/financial restraints. I have no regrets though, there's nothing like a lazy summer outdoors with a cheerful tot.

Behind Ing, you can see my barn home/studio.

Now, I'm gearing up for Fall production mode! I'm going to be applying to several new fiber shows for next year and need to start plumping my stash. My studio has been re-arranged and most of the shelves are in place, so I have plenty of fresh floor space for drying racks and crates of orders. Last night, I added a dozen new sets of ClassicBatts to the shop, and will be adding some fresh ArtBatts to my Etsy as well. I'm also adding (again) a Clearance category to help me clear out stock that has sat a little too long on the shelves. I hate to see wool sit in its packaging too long- over long periods of time, it felts! I don't know exactly how long it takes, but I do know that the longer a package sits in a shelf or in a crate in my studio- the more jostling and  shuffling it receives as I dig for packages and shift items around. Fortunately, it is very rare for a batt or set to live with me longer than 6 months, and most find happy homes within a week of their creation.

My plans for the Etsy shop, in case you're wondering why batts are trickling into stock: I'd like to keep a semi-stocked shop in order to attract new fiber friends and customers. Exposure from Etsy has always been great for me, and their new uploading features are as easy to use as my own website now, so win-win! As always, if a customer orders from both shops within 24 hours, their order's shipping charges are combined.

Pinata ArtBatt available at hobbledehoy.etsy.com

My plans for Fall are basically to the carder cranks crankin'. I've discovered over the last half-year that ClassicBatts are a customer favorite, that the new wave of lace-spinners love to gobble up RollyBatts, and that the percentage of people who like glitz/sparkle and despise it is about 50/50. Spinning has taken a backseat, though I know I'll eventually get the bug again and will spin more art yarns. Confession: I prefer spinning finer yarns at the moment- fingering weight and lace. You'll probably never see them in my shop though- they take waaaaay too long to spin, and by the time I've completed one, I have dreamed up all sorts of lacy and delicate projects for it.

Coming soon!
-Gemmy Batts (!!!)
-Fresh colorways of hand-painted Merino, Merino/Bamboo and Merino/Tencel top.
-New novelty loose and textured fibers for ArtBatts.
-Small ArtBub (mini ArtBatt) sets
-Individual small ArtBatts for sale- averaging 1 oz.

20% off SALE + Shop update

Starting tonight at 9pm, my 24 hour 20% off End of Summer SALE begins. I sent newsletters out, but in case you look for updates here, the code is summer20. 

Happy stalking! I hope to clear out my studio so that I can build shelves and do a little decorating/reorganizing in time for the wooly season.

End of Summer

Cool days like today give me hope that the scorching parts of summer are fading. After carding for a few hours this morning, I canned a batch of heirloom tomatoes and started plotting out my Fall plans for the shop while listening to the silly pops of sealing jars.

I feel like I'm always blogging or pondering price increases due to rising product costs as well as better ways to manage my time, and after researching the market, I realize I need another small slide up the scale. Strangely enough, the product I have priced the highest has been ArtBatts- and they take the least amount of time (though can contain the highest amount of fancy ingredients, depending on the individual batt). Taking into account both fiber content and time spent producing different product types, I realize they should all be priced about the same, give or take a few cents instead of quarters. To simplify, I'm going to make everything across the board (all batts and dizzed roving) $7/oz with the exception of Gemmies, which will be $6/oz since they're just merino and angelina. Roving has started the price change, but I'll change the rest of the prices after an End of Summer Sale this weekend. The specific 24 hour time frame of the sale will be revealed on Friday- but it will be a 24 hour 20% off mad-dash.

I really need to build shelving in the studio, and this sale will hopefully give me the room to work/reorganize/destash. The sale will have a code that is valid both on the main site and in the Etsy shop. BEFORE the update, new product will be added at the new price of $7/oz, but the current product prices won't change until after the sale.

Good news for Classic Batt lovers: there will be GOBS of Classic batt sets, weighing anywhere between 2 - 6 oz. I've also got a dozen new rovings, three new RollyBatt colorways, and dozen ArtBatts at the moment- ready to be listed this weekend.

Watch out for a newsletter soon :)

hello again

I re-read my blog to realize I never posted what happened with my lovely Tour de Fleece yarns- I accidentally sent them through an agitation cycle in my washer.

insert panic.
delete sanity.
insert long bubble bath and many tears.
re-install sanity.

Now, I have beautiful felted art yarns that just need untangled and felted slightly more for a smoother appearance. They're destined to become either pillows for my tot's bed, or a giant silly plushie. It's going to be a great gift, and I promise I'll post pictures, once I have the courage to look at them and detangle.

Right after the close of the Tour de Fleece, T. and I went on a lovely anniversary get-away. It will be our 5th wedding anniversary tomorrow, and we celebrated a little early due to his work schedule, but the time away was divine. We went to Philly and visited the Mutter Museum, walked ALL OVER City Center, ate too many Chinese pastries, ate at Alma de Cuba, ate at Le Bec-Fin, and ate ate ate some more. You can tell we're rural folk by how we plotted our course around the city by cuisines we wanted to try but can't get anywhere near our home.You can also tell we're rural folk by the fact that we both confessed to one another while in the city that we had never before been to a Trader Joe's or Whole Foods or a Vegetarian restaurant (there aren't any nearby- just farmer's stands and "u-pick" farms). T also got us free tickets to see a Jolie Holland show at The World Cafe, which was really wonderful (what a cozy venue!)

We returned way too soon to our normal lives.

Tomorrow, I'll be carding lots of one of a kind Classic Batt sets for the shop, and possibly some other lovelies will be in the works. My production level has been low this summer, ever since Lump downgraded to half-days at the daycare. While I look forward to her return to part-time full days next month and more time with the carders and dye pots, I'll miss our lazy summer together: reading in the hot shade, visiting the kiddie pool before naps, picking mean ol' horn worms off my tomato plants and giving them to the little boys next door, summer music class at the local music academy, and bowls of freshly picked and frozen blueberries. This age/stage of hers is my favorite, despite signs that the terrible two's approach.