Tag Archives: yarn

Freshly Spun Yarn…

 

This beautiful white yarn…

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…was spun from this incredibly soft roving by my daughter.

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The DIY Mojo is Back!


Watch out! I'm getting that itch to make clothes again! Bought a sewing pattern after receiving some lovely new fabric from a friend. Bought yarn for the first time in over a year, and am now putting together some new DIY projects. 

Knitting:
Sadly our local LYS, the Loop & Leaf is closing, and Celeste the lovely owner of the shop had to sell all her yarn stock to prepare for the sale of the building. This meant steep cuts in price to the yarn and so I bought two small lots of yarn: 5 skeins of Juniper Moon Farm's Zooey and 7 skeins of Berroco Maya. We didn't have any stockists in Germany who carried Juniper Moon Farm or Berroco yarn so I was happy to finally get to try some of the more American brand yarns in warm-weather varieties. The Zooey is a cotton/linen blend and the Maya is a cotton/alpaca blend (chain structure).  I don't have too many warm weather yarns so it was perfect.

My first swatch in over a year! (Juniper Moon Farms Zooey)

Berroco's Maya yarn

Sewing:
We took a short trip to Germany, and I was able to catch up with friends. One of my friends is going super-minimal-no-waste in her household so she foisted some beautiful fabric on me (see the first pic). It didn't take much to convince me to take it! I want to make a blouse and a skirt for work.

Quilting:
Finally, I finished both sides of the fun "blue-green" patchwork quilt I started last year. So now all that's left is the actual quilting!


And that's what's happening in my craft-room (which is also the living room and art studio and general multi-purpose room)!

Weekly Challenge: Details…

For this week’s challenge, try to look past the big picture and take a more intimate approach. Zoom in on details in unexpected places — it can be something from the natural world, or it can be human-made.

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My daughter Deb is a knitter and one of the things she enjoys knitting are shawls.  The patterns are so intricate and detailed, I am always in awe of how beautiful they are, and how talented she is:)

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https://dailypost.wordpress.com/photo-challenges/details/


DeStashing

new studio wide

I have been on a journey for the last ten months. Most of this adventure has taken place inside google docs and 3 or 4 manila folders full of scratch paper. I have written my novel 5 times over and finally landed on a draft that I can make into something. The feeling is sublime., and I have taken a few days to revel in it. I sent it to my beta readers, had a drink to toast it, and gave myself the reward of Maria V. Snyder’s Glass Series. (I have devoured them. Seriously. We need to talk about book more often, reader friends.)

This journey of mine, however, has not just been about writing my novel. I have been on a highly introspective, speculative path that’s had some confidence building detours. I won’t say I’m completely done with it all, but I feel like I could wear this shirt honestly, and get some shit done.

If you’ve stuck with me over the last couple of years, there’s been no surprise that I didn’t know what the hell I’ve wanted to do. I’ve been bouncing around from one crafty infatuation to the next, without ever really settling on anything. One thing about writing my novel that helped me was that all of my passions kept popping up. That book incorporates so much that I love–coffee, textiles, modern small business strategy, men’s fashions. (True confession, I say I subscribe to the New York Times for the book review, and the comprehensive news, but the only thing I ever get through cover to cover is style magazine.) Through the writing process, and examining what worked for my characters, I was also somehow able to wrestle out what gives me the most joy.

Strangely enough, they are the two things I do the most already: writing and retail. I don’t know why it took me so long to figure out that I should put the two together and write about retail. Except that I am really excellent at getting in my own way.

Comical metaphorical stumbling aside, I have a head full of specialty retail knowledge, and if I don’t get some of it out on the page, I’m in danger of exploding it all over the place. And let’s be honest, there’s a time and place for telling someone they need to reexamine their pricing strategy. (But hey, if you wanna talk about pricing, check back tomorrow!) Meaning, that you, reader friends, can expect to read some tricks of the trade right here.

I am excited. Are you excited?

wool rainbow

So what does all this self-helpy, soul-examining, navel-gazing have to do with destashing? It means I need to transform Tiny Dino Studios from a fiber studio to a multipurpose studio. There is a ton of awesome stuff that I’ve basically stopped using, and I want you to have it.

Through October 31st, my etsy shop will be open and all the yarns and spinning fibers I have stashed away will be up for grabs at 60-75% off. That is a steal of a deal on some really high quality yarn. I will be updating the shop on Saturday mornings with everything I can find through the end of October or as long as supplies hold out.

Mr Drum Carder

In addition to everything on etsy, I am selling my drum carder. I bought him right before I started to lose my enthusiasm for selling yarn, so I’ve made maybe 12 batts on the guy in the last couple years. (I have cleaned him up since I took this photo.) The card cloth is 120tpi/90tpi. I’m asking $200, and I’ll thrown in a bag of loose locks and fluff and stuff. Local only, I’d prefer not to ship this guy. Email me or leave a comment if you’re interested.

Check out etsy, and hang around for what’s next!

Weekly Challenge: Connected…

This week, show us how two (or more) things — people, objects, places — come together.

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Two paintings connected by knitting.

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The Dingmans Ferry Bridge connecting NJ and PA.

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Nubble Lighthouse, Cape Neddick, York, Maine

Except for boat the only way this island is connected to the mainland is by this bucket/gondola on a cable of some sort … something you’d ever get me in :)

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https://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_photo_challenge/connected/


Three Bears …

…and an afghan

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And They’re Outta Here!

That’s right! All of you lucky Juniper Moon Farm shareholders (after waiting patiently for what seems like FOREVER) will be getting delivery of your share yarn starting this week, depending on how close you are to the farm.

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Trina and I spent the day getting ALL the orders sorted and packed and processed for shipping.  We powered through and you should start getting tracking info in the next day or two.  Full and Double shares will be arriving in boxes; half shares in the envelopes.

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The color is a lovely light grey/brown, with maybe slightly more brown than last time.

The biggest difference, however, is that the mill sent them in a different size than we ordered.  Normally share yarn comes in 4 ounce skeins. This time it was a motley mix of assorted sizes and weights.  Trying to make sure everyone got the proper amount STRESSED ME OUT.  And here is why:

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The size difference!  This is why we had to weigh everything and fill orders by that metric. I meant it when I said motley mix. We had a hard time of it, but we got as close as we could for everyone.

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A full share.

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A double share.

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All loaded up and on their way to the post office!

Keep an eye out for your packages, and happy crafting!!

The Very Hungry Baby Gift

My friend Cris is one of my favorite people in the world. She is funny. She is kind. She has more empathy than almost anyone I know. And she is thoughtful in the sense that when you ask her a question, she really takes her time to give you a considered answer. The only thing I don’t love about this woman is that she lives all the in Kentucky, which is entirely too far from me.

Because Cris lives so far from us, and because she is raising two young sons and managing a career in academia, she was unable to attend the little baby shower get together that my friend Jeannie had for us a couple weeks ago. Instead, she sent us this gift, and I am still sort of stunned by it’s awesomeness.

Cris knitted our baby a Very Hungry Caterpillar sleep sack.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar Sleep Sack for baby

Have you ever seen anything so sweet in your life?

The Very Hungry Caterpillar Sleep Sack for baby

The Very Hungry Caterpillar Sleep Sack for baby

The Very Hungry Caterpillar Sleep Sack for baby

She got the idea from a crocheted version that we saw on Facebook and tracked down to Ravelry. Since she wasn’t able to find a knitted version of the pattern, she kind of made it up but studying other sleep sack patterns and experimenting.

Everything is knit, except the eyes which she crocheted. Basically, she cast on 96 stitches for the sleep sack and changed colors when she felt the urge. For the hat she cast on 80 stitches. The whole thing is made in JMF’s Neve yarn so it’s cotton and washable.

You can get more details about yarn usage on Cris’s Ravelry project page. There has been a lot of demand for her to write up a pattern and I’m sure she will oblige when she has time.

And I promise to post pics of our little man wearing it as soon as he arrives.

 

 

 

Cheerio and Willkommen!

Several months ago, I had every intention of doing a blog post about the exciting news that Juniper Moon Farm yarns are now available in the U.K. . I’m not entirely sure what happened, but that blog post never made it from my head to my laptop, which is really odd, because I was terribly excited about our yarns being on shop shelves across England, Ireland and Scotland.

Then today I got the great news that very soon, JMF yarns will be available in Germany as well!

I’m really excited that Juniper Moon is spreading around the globe but it’s also sort of surreal. When I started the farm back in 2007, I just wanted to tend my flock of sheep and make high quality yarn with integrity. I wanted knitters to have a deeper connection to the animals that made the fibers they created with. That was my only goal really.

I never could have imagined that one day I would be hearing from knitters living a world away about how much they love knitting with Moonshine or Herriot. I never even dreamed that skeins and skeins of JMF yarn with our little logo would be sitting on shelves across Europe.  It’s all like a lovely dream.

Juniper Moon Farm yarns. Now available in Europe!

 JMF yarns in the wilds of Ireland

Juniper Moon Farm yarns. Now available in Europe!

I am so happy to welcome knitters and crocheters from the U.K. and Germany Juniper Moon Farm. We would love to see what you are knitting with our yarns!

 

You can  find a stockist in Europe that carries Juniper Moon Farm yarns right here.

 

Weekly Photo Challenge: Orange …

What’s not to love about orange? It’s vibrant. It’s cheerful. It makes a statement. It’s the perfect punctuation for a punchy photo.*

This week, share a group of photos where orange is either the dominant color, or provides a bold highlight.

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https://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_photo_challenge/orange/