And now for a little R&R

The Southeastern Animal Fiber Festival (SAFF) 2015 was great.  I was again tied to the Workshop building.  But the classes went off without more hitches that I could handle, so I remain Unflappable Annie.  In a year with LOTS of changes, there were a few bumps in the road.  So we learn and do a very few things differently next year.  Here is a shot of the Friends & Fiberworks booth.  My gradient yarns are to the left of the Uber-Blanket. Thanks Lucky Fibers!     So it's now just a few days after SAFF, and as I wind down, I'm happy to chill, tie up loose ends and get ready for the next big thing. 

Hopefully it will be a small thing, but I'm going in for foot surgery soon.  I have a condition called Morton's Neuroma (http://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/mortons-neuroma-topic-overview) always annoying, often painful, and it just won't fix itself.  So now I'm going to get it fixed.  It's an un-busy time at the day job, and again, post-SAFF, so the time is right to put my post-surgical foot up   I will be the model patient.  OK, I'll try to be the model patient.

My LYS fiber customers are well-stocked, my Etsy shop is shut down(except for the digital patterns) and my desk at work is getting cleaner.  My desk at home...well, we won't talk about that.

A very nice man will be taking care of me as I knit, watch movies, knit, read, knit, pet the cats, knit...you get the picture.  I'll be knitting felt hats for one of my shops, socks for holiday giving, a sweater for me, dishcloths because the drawer is looking skimpy and ALMOST anything that the very nice man wants.  No sweater though...do not tempt fate.  Beware the curse!

Socks 2015.1 Log Cabin Latte

Last evening I grafted the toes on my first completed pair of socks for 2015.  I used this pattern:  Vanilla Latte.  My first time with the pattern, I liked it.  The sock was a bit big, but that's okay as they are intended for the Strategic Gift Reserve.  Even though my feet are a generous 8.5, some of my sisters (the main sock recipients) have feet that are even more generous, as are their spirits. 

The yarn is Knit Pick's Felici in 'Rustic Cabin.' I am glad they brought that yarn back, and I particularly like the colorway.  As I found the link, I see that it has 'disappeared' again.  I guess I'm not the only one who likes it.  Glad I bought more that one colorway.

I have 2 other socks in the pipeline.  One is a cable sock made in a sport weight yarn that I purchased in error.  Turns out I really like both the yarn and the pattern.  Add the fact that sport weight socks knit up a bit faster, even on a size 3, and I had a hard time putting them down last evening. I'm already planning a variation for the next pair.

Upcoming events (for which I need to hustle):  Friends & Fiberworks annual Winter Retreat.  I'll be staffing the store and teaching a dye class.  Shortly after that the gang will head to the Statesville (NC) Quilt Show where my dyed fiber will be in the FFW booth.  Guess I'll be dyeing quilt show fiber in class.  Not that there is anything wrong with that.

Going Analog

Although the blog is quiet, the world headquarters of Smoky Mountain Fibers has been a flurry of color.  I dyed lots of fiber for a felting class and even more fiber for my retail business.  I am a contributing member of a local yarn shop here in Asheville (NC), Friends & Fiberworks (aka FFW).  As one of the friends, I work at the shop several hours a month and they carry an array of my patterns and fibers.  The shop participates in a number of fiber festivals and knitting and crochet shows, so my fiber travels in the booth.  If you were at the Pittsburgh Knit & Crochet Festival in March or Stitches South in Atlanta a few weeks ago, you may have seen my work.  They'll be at the Kentucky Sheep &Fiber Festival in May, so my fiber will be a large part of the shop's display.

So in the interest of all this retail business, I've been keeping the dyepots warm.  I try to dye around the spectrum, so this weekend I concentrated on the reds.  Rosy golds, rusty oranges, fiery reds.  Last week it was all about the greens - blue-greens, olives, froggy, grassy, emerald, chartreuse, every green I can make - even one that was a rather poisonous neon green seldom found in nature.

But with all this dyeing, why am I ignoring my Etsy shop (and my blog)?  I say that it's my lack of a decent camera.  I tell myself that it is the time factor.  I am right on both counts.  I don't have a decent camera, though I could buy one.  The camera built into my phone is better than any stand-alone camera that I own.  Not bad as you can see here.  Not fabulous, but not bad.  I think that researching the perfect camera (and they keep changing) is standing in the way.  My essential cheapness is an issue too.  The perfect camera is scary expensive. 

The time factor is more telling.  Even though I have a demanding day job that requires considerable travel,  I work most Saturdays and an evening every week in the yarn shop.  I design workshops and teach classes as part of my day job, but I also write patterns and knit samples for the yarn shop and it's fun! I've also taught a number of classes and hosted a knit-along or two.  I'm also doing a good bit of knitting for myself.  This winter I completed 5 sweaters, although 3 were in timeout since the previous spring.  (I couldn't help it.  Spring came in February, 2012.  Who wants to knit on a wool sweater when it's 70 degrees out? I have another one on the needles, but need to figure out what I want to do for the closures, so that will likely marinate until next fall.  Hmmm...maybe a zipper?   I've already started a cotton top.  See what I mean?). 

I think the real 'problem' is that I'm involved in a strong, lively, in-person fiber community, so the pull of digital is not so strong.  I get positive feedback from my colleagues at the yarn shop, for my customers in the shop and the felting teachers who purchase my fibers.  I'm teaching knitting and dyeing classes.  People seek out my help with knitting problems, they want my advice in choosing yarns for projects.  Cyberspace is a wonderful place to visit and indeed I go there everyday, but it is not my main sense of community. 

As I make choices about how I spend my time, I am liking the present time and space.  Yesterday I spent my time doing what I love to do:  I took a walk. I cooked.  I dyed fiber. I worked played in the garden.  I even packaged fiber for the upcoming KY show, but I didn't post a one of those luscious rovings to my Etsy shop!

This doesn't mean I'm going offline - not at all.  I'm getting ready to host an online knit-along on the FFW Ravelry group & Facebook page.  I'm back on the blog.  Watch for some new patterns!  But I'm living in the real world as well as the digital.  They're both good. 

On the line

It's been all about dyeing at Smoky Mountain Fibers this season.  Between 3 very nice orders and my regular business, I've been keeping the dyepots pretty darn warm.  My collaboration with Friends & Fiberworks has resulted in a good uptick even in the traditionally lean fiber months.  And with SAFF and the rest of the fabulous fall fiber frenzy, I won't stop until well after the winter holidays.

Although I'll be holding down the fort at the shop, my fiber, hats and patterns will be going to lots of shows this fall.  Some are local; others are far away - Stitches East in Connecticut to be exact.

One the production schedule this weekend...

• Overdyeing some lackluster yarns
• Pumpkin orange
• Leafy greens
• A bit of spinning
• Work Saturday afternoon at the yarn shop
• Taking care of my SAFF responsibilities
• Updating my bookkeeping (the decidedly unsexy part of the business).

I'll also go to an English dance, do a bit of yard work, and tackle the pile of paper on the dining room table.  What would life be like without a bunch of things (and people) I love!

A Trip out West

I'm currently writing this from Davis, California.  I'm here for an Advisory Board meeting that rotates through the member cities.  I hosted the August Meeting in Asheville, so it's nice to travel to see other campuses and organizations.  UC Davis is a large campus with 33,000 students.  It started as the Agricultural college for Berkeley and continues its heritage with a vet school, equestrian center, actual cows and experimental and demonstration gardens and vineyards.  The picture to the left is the Arboretum walkway that follows the creek that runs down the east (I think) side of the campus.  The redbuds are in bloom, the stand of California Redwoods is remarkable and the whole trail is just lovely.  As we walked along we saw 2 sweet baby horsies (foals I believe they are called) nursing on their mamas.  The first day we were here was lovely, students cycling around (no cars on campus), spring in full bloom.  Then the storms moved in and the rains began, but it was still quite nice as long as you don't mind getting wet.  We even walked into town for dinner last night.  Wonderful food, both American and Thai.


Before I came here to the Valley, I spent a couple of days in Portland, visiting with family and had an opportunity to go snowshoeing on Mt. Hood.  More fun in wind and snow, walking through the woods with my sister and her Springer spaniel.

All this travel means knitting time in the hotel rooms and airports and on planes.  I started the Jujuba top using Seduce yarn, the yarn it was designed for.  I'm not sure I like it, but I'll continue on, as I think I might like the top once it is finished and washed. The yarn is a bit stiff and snags on any rough places, including the wood needle and my cuticles!  With about 6 hours of knitting time today, I should get a good bit done.  The top has a very interesting construction - from the cuffs up, sleeves are knit in the round, then the side 'seams' then in toward the center.  I took the approach I often use with socks:  first both sleeves, then the sides to the neck decreases, then both fronts, then both backs.  Eventually I'll join both halves with a 3 needle bind off, front and back.   I sure hope I like it!

Saturday, I'll be teaching a dyeing class at Asheville's Friends and Fiberworks.  It should be lots of fun - join us if you can

Leap Day!

Isn't it interesting that every 4 years we have a bonus day.  Seems like I should do something special, though I'm not sure what it is.  Oh, wait - I'm blogging!  Later I'll go to yoga and then it's spinning night at Friends & Fiberworks, so I guess that doing some of my favorite (though perfectly normal) things is a fine way to spend the day.  Since one of the things I'm doing at work is some interesting graphic design work, that counts too.  I am just so happy that I love my life enough that I don't have to look for extra things to make it special.

Last week was slammin' - - one of those weeks where there is something to do every evening - - workshops to teach, meetings to attend, contradances to call.  I also went to a wind symphony concert here at the college in which several of my students were playing.  Each of the events were delightful, in its own way, but this week it's nice to be home most evenings-  cooking, dyeing, putting my house to rights as the dining room table was stacked with mail and the coffee table was smothered in knitting detritus.

Yesterday, my Etsy shop was featured on the Phat Fiber blog, as I participated in the February sampler box with two hand dyed samples from my 'Skin Tones' multi-pack.  I enjoy participating in the box and am so impressed with the work that other fiber artists are doing.  If you read this post in the next day or so, and then go on over to the Phat Fiber blog you can get in on the drawing.  There are always nice prizes  - donated my fiber artist as a promotion for their shop.  Don't blame me if you decide to support these fine people.  I have found some lovely yarns and fibers this way!


 How are you spending your Leap Day?

Happy Fibery New Year

The new year has gotten of to a roaring start, in my fiber world, work world and personal world as well.  This upcoming weekend is the Winter Fiber Retreat hosted by Friends & Fiberworks, a yarn shop here in Asheville.  I'll be teaching a few classes along with some of the big names in fiber, including Kathleen Taylor and Chad Alice Hagen.  All my classes have people signed up, plus last year there were quite a few on-site registrations so it looks like I'll be teaching dyeing and knitting.

In preparation for the event, 2 cool things have been underway.  To help promote the Fiber Retreat, I appeared on the local midday news's Craft Corner. Click here watch the video, preceded by one of the most annoying commercials ever!  Now granted, I had all of about 3 minutes on camera, but it was LIVE and I got to sit in the studio while they filmed the broadcast.  It was a fairly slow news day, so I got to simply enjoy the technical crew and on-air talent as they did their thing.  I knit almost the whole sleeve of the Eloise sweater while I was watching, giving me something to do while keeping calm until the last 5 minutes of the program.  It was lots of fun, the crew was super nice and I had so much fun!  I dyed a roving similar to the one shown here, but a bit more blended since I immediately put the crock pot in my car, drove 25 miles and let the dyeing finish in the sunny car.

In addition to my close up, I now have my dyed fiber, yarns, hats and patterns in its own section at FFW.  In exchange for getting 100% of my sales, I'll work a few hours a week at the shop.  During the spring and summer this should not be difficult, though during the fall it could be a crunch.  I did my first shift last Saturday and will go in after work this evening to fill in the rest of the display. 

After a lovely break from work that included a trip to Portland, Oregon, I'm back in gear.  With only 2 sections of the same class to teach, I'm going to think I'm on sabbatical.  But I love my job and am feeling very refreshed and happy to work with students and teachers again.

Some changes on a personal note:: The Curse of the Boyfriend Sweater came true.  My partner of 6 years and I have broken up.  We both realized that although we like and respect each other very much, we are better suited to being friends that lovers.  It's all very pleasant and civilized -after all Asheville is basically a small town and we are likely to see each other around town.  

Note that this is a Happy New Year post without resolutions - knitting or otherwise.  How about being happy, healthy and creative?  Is that enough?  I hope so.