slow transition

When I was in Utah earlier this summer, my grandma gifted me a gorgeous green ball of Zauberball sock yarn, and I'm finally putting it to good use, knitting Iggy a little cap-sleeved raglan top.  It's my first sweater-type knit, and it's going well when I can get past the mind-numbing round-and-around-and-around stockinette body.

I just need to finish it before the munchkin (wearing my old dirndl in the photo below) outgrows it.

I love the Zauberball's slow color transitions, so I tried an experiment with my Supercard, creating a triple-carded batt that slowly slowly transitions from one color to the next.  The batt was about 3.2 oz., and I spun it  into a single ply DK weight yarn last night.  I can't wait to knit it up into a long stocking cap to match Iggy's red pea coat and see how the colors work out.

In other transitional news, I'm saving up my latest fibery creations for a huge update once my new site is ready.  That's why you haven't seen any new recent stuff in my Etsy store other than a listing for Gemmy batts, of which I have in fluffy abundance at the moment.  It's only a matter of days until my new site is complete, so I've been swept up in a whirlwind of dyeing/carding/brainstorming/writing/self-caffeinating.  New business cards are on their way, my Phat Fiber samples are in the mail for October, and I just finished up my application to vend at MDS&W next year (keep your fingers crossed for me!)

Oh, and new product previews are coming very very soon, perhaps Friday!

WWSIPD

Happy "Explain Yourself to Onlookers and Meet Fellow Local Spinners Day!

I signed up to spin outside of Gettysburg's David Wills House for WWSIPD, and ended up having an all around lovely experience.  While there was a tiny turn-out compared to what I expected, the few people that were there were amazing talented spinners who kept the conversation flowing, and the day whirled by too quickly.  We even got sang to by two onlookers, and a Civil War re-enacting banjo player strummed tunes for us for at least an hour.  After I ran out parking meeter moolah, I grabbed my wheel, two completed yarns, and a bag full of unspun fluff and treated myself out to lunch and a quick stroll down-town.

The only rotten part of the day:  I forgot my camera.

I'm so glad I cracked out of my agoraphobic shell for the day.  It was well worth it, and I hope to have a spinning day with new friends soon.

hello Fall!

My favorite season scattered crunchy leaves all over my balcony last week. The same day the leaves came, I re-discovered my comfiest maternity sweater (a huge wrap-around shawl-collared thing)  in a box of store-ables.  Yay, Fall.  And yes, I'm wearing that beast of a sweater because it's warm, because I haven't lost very much baby weight yet, and because... because .. I'm still clinging a little to those peaceful months of anticipation.

But there's still a little anticipation over here at the Hobbledehoy Barn- I'm rebuilding my business from the inside out to create what a good fiber business ought to be:  super diverse, fully stocked, lightning fast ship-capable, and above all -- fun, for both the owner and customer base.  To do that, I've got a fresh dot.com template in the works, I'm finally setting up a printer so that I can print postage and ship from home daily, and I'll slowly be incorporating new products into the works. By next year, I hope to even offer some simple free patterns.

The new stuff is the fun part, and I've already started tinkering with it:  hand-dyed bamboo "locks," tencel neps, loose soysilk staple, and silk noil.

Soon, there will be even more, including un-dyed luxury fibers such as tencel, soysilk, bamboo, bombyx silk, various wools, fine alpaca, and possibly (fingers crossed) a fresh line of multi-tonal hand-dyed yarns.  I'm also still experimenting with a line of superfine, triple-carded batts containing merino wool + luxury fibers destined for socks and lacy knits.

Hobbledehoy has outgrown it's infancy and childhood on Etsy, and though I will always maintain a limited stock there, a "room" of its own is long overdue.

spicy

I canned 60+ jars of salsa yesterday, and looking at my counter smothered in filled pint jars of perfectly sealed spiciness makes me so proud!  I have a loose recipe that I alter every year, and this year, I think my batch came out really tasty and chock full of jalapenos.  I also made two chipotle batches and one black bean + corn recipe (which isn't as spicy as I like- but it has a good smokey sweet flavor).

This past week made up for my missing week of lazy home-bound vacation.  I purposefully delayed ordering wool (partly hoping for a good deal which was promised but not delivered soon enough) in order to lounge about and knit and spin, but now I'm ready to get hopping again with "wool weather" only a couple of months away.

I had purchased some lovely Creatively Dyed roving at MDSW, and finally started spinning some.  In fact, I loved it SO MUCH, I had to order more.  I like how her rovings come in 8 oz. braids, and I adore the bases.

I spun the roving on the left (a freebie from her!) and plan on plying it with some of my own fiber- maybe a muted burgundy, and I'm half-way through spinning the pink merino/tencel roving on the right, which will be fingering weight and is destined for a weaving project.  The whopping pound of orange lusciousness is still untouched, but I hope to get started on it soon.  I want to spin a DK or light worsted weight yarn to knit into a hooded poncho for Ingrid. 

On a final note- I'm working on a new product:  super smooth batts intended for sock or lace knitting.  I'm going to be using my beastie Supercard machine to double card these, and plan on making them multi-tonal 50/50 merino and some other silky fiber (tussah, bamboo, soysilk, tencel- whatever). My problem is that I can't think up a clever name!  Next week, I'm planning on digging into my ravelry fan club for suggestions, and whomever thinks of the product name that will be used will receive 4 oz. of the new batts.

back

I'm back from vacation in Utah.  I didn't get very many photos since I was wrangling a baby (she was a very good traveler, I must add).  Originally, I planned on taking another week off from work when I got home, but soon realized that I was antsy to work.  So I did.  And I had an update on Wednesday, though not much is left in the shop from it.

While I was gone, I finished my Travelling Woman shawl, started a baby blanket (which I just finished a couple of days ago), and bought some new knitting needles.  Here's proof that I've been knitttting:

I need to block my Wool Leaves baby blanket and weave in the ends, but I'm totally happy-dancing over the fact that I started and completed two knitting projects within a month.

Pause.  I better knock on wood before typing the next bit.

Suddenly, things feel "in order."  I know I've complained and moaned about a colicky cranky baby, juggling household duties, and my business, but somehow things have straightened out recently.  I don't know if it's because Ingrid has turned a corner and is now the world's HAPPIEST baby, or if it's because my husband suddenly took on more householdy chores, or possibly the fact that I've finally given my brain something paradoxically challenging and relaxing to focus on, but I feel magically better. 


Now, all I have to do is light a fire underneath my business expansion plans and get things rolling.  Realistically, I'm aiming for the revamp to be complete by the end of September or early October.

travelling woman shawl progress

I've nearly finished my second repeat of Chart A, and I have so much yarn left to use, that I think I'll repeat it three more times before starting Chart B.  This is the most fun variegated yarn ever- a hand-dyed superwash merino / nylon skein from Creatively Dyed.

late night carding

I'm starting to think that folks out there think I'm lazy or a terrible time manager, and perhaps its true- I don't know how some women juggle it all.  My house would be total chaos if it weren't for my somewhat organized husband.  Between baby and housework and squeezing in a weekly update (if I'm lucky), this year is zipping by and I feel a little dumbstruck.

I took Ingrid to a cheap mall-studio type photographer for 6 month photos (well, she was closer to 7 months by the time we got there) and it hit me- the "baby" year is halfway over, my production level has been slashed in half, and I don't remember the last time I got a haircut.  (The haircut was quickly remedied when I asked my Mum to slash a few inches off, but I'm still unfashionably frazzled).    I feel compelled to make the most out of every second I'm with Ingrid, and I'm sure that comes from losing two siblings to childhood cancers.  Maybe I'm going a little too far though, and not giving her enough space to be independent.

Amidst this all, I took up lace knitting because I need something intellectually stimulating.  I've got brain sludge coming out of my ears and I think I can quote certain passages from certain Dr. Seuss books easier than I can remember the author of the last adult-ish novel I read.

Finally, however, there's a little bit of light at the end of this tunnel- Ingrid has FINALLY started to sleep through the night- about 4 times a week.  When she does wake up, she's usually ravenously hungry and will nurse for 20-30 minutes like she's in some kind of eating competition, so letting her self-soothe really isn't an option.  She's still in the 20th percentile for weight, so I feel like I should feed her all the time to fill in those funny skinny baby arms.  I remember reading in one of my parenting books something that suggested that most babies *should* sleep through the night at 8 weeks, and here I am at 7 months post-birth, finally getting a few solid nights of shut-eye each week.

Oh, and the lace knitting bit- it's wonderful!  The first pattern I'm doing is Travelling Woman by Liz Abinante, and I'm slightly reluctant to call it lace since it's so far a simple ripple.  Maybe I'll pull my hair out and scream LACE when I get to chart B, which looks slightly more complicated.   I'm half-way through the shawl right now, and have already picked out pattern #2, Blackbird by Kieran Foley of Knit/Lab.  Pictures coming soon, but don't be too harsh!  I'm not a very good knitter, so I'm sure my lace will be pure wack for the first few projects at least.