This post is mostly pictures as I need to get out to the studio!

Here’s yesterday’s wall of fiber and yarn – yummy!

Wall of Yarn from 8-9-10

Here’s some Windsor Sock yarn on the rack:

Fresh! Windsor Sock Yarn

And last but not least, a new sample made with Bamboo Baby, which is our show special.  This is the Citron Shawl from “Knitty”.

Citron made with Bamboo Baby

That’s it for today!  Oh, and the wedding chapel is starting to look like a wishing well.  More pictures soon!

So much seriousness, so many tears either shed or wanted to be shed, so much effort!  But now the reality is that life really does just keep going on in spite of all efforts to have your best temper tantrum, your best whine, your best pot of self pity.

Here are some pictures and the words to go with them:

About a month ago, I went into my bathroom and saw this bug hanging from the wall (we always called them mosquito eaters) with its foot in what looked like a pool of blood?!?  Weird??  And then Jen had to add the yellow crime scene “tape”.  So do you think the picture should be taken with the light on? or off like they always seem to do in CSI?

Lights on! Bug on the Wall!

Lights Off! Bug on the Wall!

Then we have the daily scene in the afternoon of the Dottie dog doing her nap….

Dottie's Daily Nap Spot

How does she do that? and not choke herself?  Is she really comfortable?

Now to fiber and yarn!

Here’s today’s wall of yarn (which is yesterday’s efforts.)

Daily Wall of Yarn

Then, last but not least, I thought you might like to see the progress on the rack of Fiber.

Fiber Rack Starting to be Filled

So all is not sadness here…there are always some antics of the dogs, or butterflies to watch, or new colors emerging from the table and pots!

And it is sunny today and not too hot without a crazy thunderstorm on the horizon, that’s nice.

This day, today, my heart is hurting.  I am feeling grief over the loss of so much work.  I am one of those folks that has delayed reactions to loss as I am a “get up and let’s do what needs to be done” kind of gal.

Over 1000 skeins of Sock yarn went to the dump.  Over 700 skeins of Sport yarn went. And a good amount of Yowza, plus other stuff.  Just a lot of work.  You may think of it as yarn, but I think of it as evidence of my creativity and of my hard work.  And not just my hard work, but the hard work of everyone who works with me. It was the only choice to make, but it doesn’t make it easier…and that “body of work” will never be recreated in just that way ever again.  Which is good, because it means I continue to grow and change….but damn.  My mother would have said “Hell’s bells and diddly damnation!” That was about the worse she ever cursed, but that meant that things were really messed up.

(If you are reading this and are wondering what happened, please go back a couple of blog entries for the explanation.)

I am dyeing a lot to get ready for Stitches Midwest, but my heart hurts today.  There will be enough (as I believe God says to us)…just definitely not as much as I would have had.

Here’s some fiber I dyed last week.

Mixed BFL - Unnamed at this Point

Denim Yowza on Left and Merino/Bamboo/Silk on right

Merino/Bamboo/Silk - "Walnut"

Then construction of the Cook Shed is occurring.  Okay, we have been calling it the Chapel as my husband says it looks like a Wedding Chapel at this point.  But this is where my gas burners will be so I can have cover year-round.

The Cook Shed aka the Wedding Chapel

Another view of the Chapel:

The "Chapel" beside the Studio

Okay, so you know the old joke is that normal is a cycle on the washing machine…and well, maybe that’s what all this feels like, swish, swish, back, forth, washing the dirt out, getting everything clean!  My studio has never been this clean…this uncluttered…this unencumbered, except when we are gone for shows.  But even then, there’s always been a bunch of stuff on the shelves, leftover, half done projects, leftover ideas of how to make things work in the business.  Now, well, there’s just the “going forward stuff” in the studio.  It’s very different!

I want to thank everyone for their support during this time.  I love all the comments and support you have given me and my crew.  I continue to be incredibly grateful for those who work with me all of the time Jen, Kathy, and Sally…plus the incomparable Mr. Babs as my husband calls himself. These wonderful people are willing to just show up and do whatever needs to be done next. But I am also grateful to the folks who have come through for us in the past couple of weeks–Craig and Cody and the volunteers…Sandi B., Jane G., and Tamara–just as we have needed the help. I also need to thank my sister Jeanne for just listening.

I have started dyeing again!  Yeah! The first color I did was Hope, a nice blue, a new blue…It was needed for a special order.

Hope

I also did a 2-day dye of something I can’t show you . And now I am dyeing for the website inventory and for Stitches Midwest.  So far there is some Blue Teal and Vlad’s Red on the website in a number of different bases.  We will be dyeing Coventry today and hopefully Waterfall.  Coming soon is French Marigold and My Kelley.  I will probably have a broader selection of monochromes first with a narrower selection of my normal colorways.  But I will also be doing a lot of yarns in the  “A Day at (TM)” style.  This creates a random knit for socks…is absolutely lovely in sweaters and other flat knitting.  I will have samples at Stitches Midwest.

One of the volunteers, Jane G. brought a shawl she had knitted with the Yet in Blue Teal and Forest Afternoon.

Jane's Shawl

Another Picture of Jane's Shawl

It turned out lovely, and what a great blocking job she did! And the butterfly bushes are calling all the butterflies right now.

Butterfly in the Bush

Well it has been an interesting month, and an especially interesting week. Interesting is probably not a good word for it, but I try to stay positive…so keep that in mind as you read on.  This is also going to be a long post.

This morning, as I was making my coffee, I was trying to figure out what “lesson” or “gift” I am supposed to pull from this week’s experience.  This on top of the experience 2 weeks ago when my trailer broke down on I-84 just at exit 7 and 8 in Danbury, CT.  Trailers having problems on busy highways can be disastrous for the truck and the trailer being pulled, but it can be equally bad for those traveling around a trailer.  Every day as I travel on roads and highways, I realize how much faith we all have that we will get somewhere safely and that all the other drivers will do exactly what needs to be done to get there and stay safe themselves.

But this week, well I suppose it is one of the worst things that can happen to a small business. I have had smoke damage to almost all of my dyed inventory, and to some of my undyed yarn base. How did this happen?  Very simply.  I went over to the studio on Sunday and dyed a pot of yarn. Then I walked out of the studio thinking I had turned it off, but hadn’t. Thank God for stainless steel pots! as over the course of the next 16 hours it smouldered but never ignited.  Jen found it the next morning when she came in.

The Pot - (Yes, the water was added when it was found)

So we immediately opened the studio up and removed everything and as the day went on I became convinced that the damage was worse than I could imagine.  The smell more penetrating than I could believe.  There is nothing so sad as a carport full of yarn and fiber that simply reeks of smoke.  On Monday, we also took almost everything on the website down to zero as it was clear we could not sell anything.  I put a vacation notice on the front page as I have just needed some time to think.

Day One

Moved all yarn to the carport

Another picture of the carport

Rack of toes - Stinky!!

So here is what is happening.  After conferring with my insurance adjuster, we are taking all of the affected items to the dump. None NONE of the smoke damaged yarn will be available for anyone to purchase at any price.  I have a few skeins that I have hung outside as they were my “dyeing guides”, but as soon as the colorways as repeated, those will be gone from outside.

As we started the process of getting rid of the yarn yesterday, it was amazing how much the smoke had affected the color of the yarn.  Hmmm….. hand-dyer….color….feel…smell…texture….isn’t that what you are buying when you buy yarn from me and from other dyers?   I have had so many suggestions about…can’t you just air it out? can’t you wash it? and then air it out? Don’t you want to do a fire sale? Can’t you use an ozone generator (we are in the repainted studio.) Well, maybe the smell will go away, but I have been told that ozone can pull some color out of fabrics, oops…that darn color thing!  So, about 900 pounds went to the transfer station (dump)yesterday and more will follow today.

Sport weight yarn

Sock Yarn

To be clear about my thought process about the yarn and you, my customers.  The quality of the yarn, its colors, its feel, its smell (or lack thereof) is what you are buying from me. I cannot let any one of those things be less important than the other. I cannot let making a buck be more important than the quality of my yarn.  My reputation is on the line. And no doubt, I will see many of your sniffing my yarn at shows to make sure I am telling the truth about all of this.  All I can say is here are the pictures.

Yowza skeins

Yarn Headed to the Dump

Yarn in the dump.....

Load ticket from Trip #1

As to the studio itself.  Thank God it did not go up in flames, and it lives to dye another day. (Probably a bad pun, but I was brought up on bad puns.)  The entire studio has been painted with Kilz.  The floor has been painted a lovely milk chocolate color.  We are getting fresh plastic supplies for using with dyes and so on.  The stove has been removed and will be going to the dump today…yes, it still works, but I will no longer be doing that kind of dyeing inside the studio.  Can’t risk it!  Can’t trust me!

Craig painting the floor of the studio.

New yarn is on its way to us.  I expect that I will start dyeing again on Sunday or Monday.  We have a Stitches show in 3 or so weeks in Chicago.  Yes, we will be there with a substantially smaller stock for folks to select from….but it will all be freshly dyed.  The yarns I will be focusing on dyeing for now is Yowza, the two Yummy’s (2 and 3-ply), Sojourn (cashmere-silk), Yasmin (my new lace), and my Bamboo Baby show special.  I will also be dyeing BFL, mixed BFL, and Merino/Bamboo/Silk.

I would also ask that you be patient over the next month or so in terms of communication with me.  I tend to get up early and answer e-mails, and that is the best way to communicate with me as I do not keep a phone available during the day in the studio.

I need to thank some very special people who have been helping me through this. First of all is Jen who found the offending pot and the smoke-filled building and who has been right there through moving all of this. Kathy who is the wonder who twists most of my skeins.  If you have touched my skeins, you have touched her handiwork. She is a working/cleaning/painting wonder! Sally has kept shipping flowing (I have certain items in the house away from the studio) and done the myriad tasks I have asked of her. And Craig…who showed up on Monday because “something” told him to come by. Within 10 minutes of arriving, he had paint in the pan and started rolling. What more could I have asked of a friend! And then my lovely husband who has kept me steady in the face of all this. He is my biggest cheerleader and supporter!

So back to the beginning of this post.  What is it that I am supposed to take away from all of this? Now mind you, even though I am a production craftsman with yarn, I consider myself to be an artist too.  I can only believe that out of destruction will come new inspiration for creativity, for new colors, for new willingness to try things in new ways as I try to figure out how to achieve effects that I used to do in the pot to now be done on the table.

So what are we working on?

Jen has been working on a Lacy Baktus shawl that she started using the Windlass Shipwreck in Windsor. Really like this!!

Lacey Baktus Shawl in Windlass Shipwreck

And I have started the Annis shawlette that was published in Knitty last week. Susannah IC from Germany is the designer.  I am using the Tuscan Clay color.  There are already 160 projects on Ravelry!

Annis Shawlette in Tuscan Clay "Yet"

Plus we have been busy with trying to get some new colors onto the website, finish some orders, and get ready for upcoming orders, plus take a little time for us and our families before we get busy with dyeing for the next set of shows and big orders.

Babs here:

The other day….a grey day at that…we had visitors outside the studio.

Pileated Woodpecker Searching for Dinner

Profile of the Pileated Woodpecker

I love these birds.  This is one of a pair.  I almost had them both in a single shot and then I must have moved and startled them.

Babs here:

Well, I am an erratic knitter.  By that I mean I start a lot of projects and don’t finish them.  That means I have about 10 socks still on needles, a sweater on needles, a scarf or two that are about half done.  I often call myself a serial starter.  But why do I do this??  My justification is that I need to see how a colorway knits up, or test a yarn and see how I like knitting it.  But honestly the cabinet and shelves littered with these UFOs is starting to wear on me.  Especially since I have actually finished a couple of projects lately.

One finished project is the Damson, which I knit in a one of a kind colorway called Belle.  I used my 2-ply Yummy Sock Yarn.  It took a little over a skein of yarn. So I will use the balance of the skein for something else.

I am including this picture because I love the point of view…

The next project that is almost done, except for seaming and a button or two is a Baby Surprise Jacket that I made in my 3-ply Sport.  Gosh, I LOVE knitting with this yarn.  It has a cottony feel, but the give of merino.  I used one of the Day at (TM) colorways which is another “one of a kind” colorway (not repeatable) and used 3 Toes (small skeins) for coordinating colors.  The Toes were in pewter, lilacs, and bruin.

The last project that I am almost done with is the Citron which is so popular on Ravelry.  I just need to tuck the ends in and wash and block.  I made this in my new colorway called “Firecracker” as it reminds me of the Firecracker flowers that show their orange heads all around here in gardens.

The picture here is from when we were on the west coast at Stitches and had stopped for a much needed caffeine infusion.  The shawl is barely begun here….

Jen here:

It didn’t look good as we came down through a snowstorm at the Charlotte Airport.  It didn’t look good as we stepped off the shuttle at the long term parking lot into slushy puddles.  It didn’t look good as the Rav 4 warmed up and the wipers pushed the frozen snow off the windshield.  Had we really left ALL signs of spring back in San Jose?

We did leave a jolly good time, a great show at Stitches West, and gorgeous green and blooming spring.  We left a fabulous group of people who helped set up, bought lots of yarn and fiber, traded stories and projects and smiles, helped pack up, and made us look forward to next year’s show 30 minutes after the market closed!

But what about Spring?  Is it time yet here in the mountains?  There ARE a few signs!  The mating pair of Canada geese have returned to our pond.  The daffodils are poking up through the soil down the road.

Daffodils Poking Through!!

Crown of Daffodils!!

The driveway has turned from icy ruts to muddy ruts.

Muddy (Not Ice and Snow) Driveway!

Best of all, we have had some sunny, warmish days.  We are all tired from our trip, but strangely renewed.  When the boxes arrive from the west coast, we will update the website with new stock and new vigor.  Having a better, fuller website is a big focus for us this year!  Babs and I are both working on new knitting projects.  Maybe posting the progress here will encourage more FO’s.  One can hope…and that is what Spring is all about!

Jen here!

This has been a wet week!

This is not a complaint, merely an observation!  After 2 years of drought, with our spring running dry, facing the choice of laundry OR showers, and 75% of our foundation plants dying…I will not complain about what has been falling out of the sky!  But, that clarified, we have had a little bit of everything!  We had ice, rain, fog, sleet, freezing rain, frost, slush, and lots of different snows.  I like to look at snow like I look at popcorn…its all very different!  This week we’ve had icy needles, little syrofoam balls, splaty slushy stuff, powdery stuff, and some big cookie decoration sized flakes that we all stood and admired in some slushy bootprints on our way to lunch!  I know…snow can be a major pain in the butt…’specially when it’s the consistency of mashed potatoes and you can’t walk or drive in it…but it is rather pretty if you take a closer look!  Then you can shovel the crap outta yer way!!!

Cookie Cutter Snowflake

All this moisture makes it hard to get the massive amounts of Yarn and Fiber Babs has been dyeing to DRY before we wind it up pretty!  There is wet stuff hanging everywhere.  There is dry stuff hanging everywhere.  There is wound stuff, and braided stuff and boxes of stuff, and piles of stuff, and…wait till y’all see this stuff!

One of the Piles of Stuff!

We are in Pre-Show Mode so there is less than 2 or 3 feet you can walk in a straight line in the studio, and we hafta move 2 or 3 things to get to anything…the Rubix Cube Effect!  But we laugh and have a great time in the chaos…and dodge the precipitation in its many forms!  We haven’t had raining frogs…but we named some fiber after the phenomenon!  We also have Glacier and Pond and Lake Michigan…It’s been a Wet Week!!!

Blue Lagoon in Merino/Bamboo/Silk

Mariner in Mixed BFL

Glacier in Merino/Bamboo/Silk

Raining Frogs in Merino/Bamboo/Silk

Lake Michigan in BFL