Southeast Animal Fiber Festival in Asheville, NC

My son returned to school this week so for me it's officially almost Autumn. I'm still adjusting to leaving the lazy days of summer behind. But Autumn is my favorite time of year and this year it will be even more exciting. I'm going to have a booth at the Southeast Animal Fiber Festival in Asheville, NC in October! I really need to start loading up on inventory and planning my booth. No, I have no idea what I'm going to do for a booth other than have tables with lots of baskets full of yarn! So I need to get thinkin' on this. Here's the SAFF website.

There will be a bunch of bloggers and ravelry-ers at SAFF and I'm excited to meet everyone. Here's a link to someone who doc'ed SAFF from last year.

One Word

ravelry

Christmas/Holiday Movie tvyarn contest results

Meet "The Polar Express"!

I really loved all your entries but the colors and the amazing emotional appeal of "The Polar Express" intrigued me. It's not one that I would have picked on my own, so I loved the idea of it. After 3 tries and 2 failures, I came close to what I was trying to capture. Midnight blue, shades of violet moonlight on snow, hot chocolate and shades of golden yellow for the beaming light. Ah.

So, both "emicat" and "vegasangelbrat" contributed to the idea and colors - so BOTH of you win 2 skeins of "The Polar Express". And then for the other 41 of you I did a random number generation and "kimncocoa" won. So will the three of you please send me your name and address? To whiteoakstudio at yahoo dot com

thanks! this was great fun! Jana

Chick Flick Movies Tvyarn Club

Hang on to your hats! It's time for a road trip in the convertible! I've decided to do a tvyarn club and for our first series we'll be doing Chick Flick Movies Tvyarn!

Details are in my etsy store - you can purchase month by month or for the entire series at once.

Come on and join the fun, Jana

You guys are awesome!

WOW! I LOVE all the answers to my tvyarn contest! There are so many interesting answers and so thoughtful too. What I love is that they are such great ideas and many I would NEVER have thought of on my own.

So.... I'll post the winners and a photo of the new yarn ASAP :-)

thanks so much, Jana

Christmas/Holiday Movie TVYARN CONTEST!!

Well, yes, it's August but just this week I started to get Christmas fever and I'm ready to create some Christmas/Holiday-themed sock yarn! I need help with ideas so let's have a contest. The prize will be 2 skeins of the yarn that you will help to create by participating in the contest.

So leave a comment and tell me
1) the title of your favorite Christmas/Holiday movie
2) what colors you would put in yarn inspired by the movie and WHY you would choose those colors for the movie. So give me an eloquent and passionate rationale. Or just a funny one.

I'll pick the winner based on what I think is the best Christmas/Holiday movie/colors inspiration and reasoning. Remember you can pick the same movie that someone else chose and give your own colors/reason. Then I'll dye the yarn and let y'all take a look. Make sense? (And do not choose Elf because I dyed that one yesterday :-) )

So leave a comment by 5pm Wednesday August 8, 2007. If I get more than 30 entries I'll give 2 prizes - one for best entry and one random winner. So tell your friends! Jana

sockapalooza sock #1

One down, one to go. Two days to send off. I think I can make it. These are Crusoe sock pattern using tvyarn in CSI Miami colorway from my etsy store.

I really like this pattern - it's a fast knit and easy stranded stitch. It works wonderfully with variegated yarn.

Next week I am on vacation. Again. This is for our family reunion in Michigan. We're staying at a cottage on Lake Michigan near Saugatuck. It's not exactly a carefree vacation for me, since I'm the "middle" generation and it's sort of my job to be "cruise director", as we like to call it. I plan activities and meals and "take the emotional temperature" every once in awhile to keep relationships running smoothly. Sometimes it's a challenge since we have folks from 2 weeks old to 85 years old! Mostly it's wonderful and this year we even have air conditioning so that will feel like a luxury.

My goal is to finish my sockapalooza socks while I am there! I am actually feeling too tired to get ready to go on vacation again, but somehow I'll pull it off and I know it will be worth it. See you in a week, Jana

My backyard

As promised here's some photos of my yard, which I really enjoyed this weekend. These freshly-painted, chartreuse shelves are going in my dye studio. My studio is in the basement on the far right. And I love my adirondack chairs, in hot pink. We washed our windows last week - a big once-a-year job where the whole family helps!

thanks Lora!

Lora did a great job "gifting" me for the June BLUE knitting swap. Gorgeous blue sportweight yarn from Sereknity. A beaded bracelet, did you make it Lora? And lots of other blue goodies. And a photo of Starsky!! yay!

slow, lazy, kick-back summer

It's almost the middle of July. I'm trying to truly savor each day of the middle-of-the-summer. We finally had some rain here and I loved the dark evening of rain. And the garden enjoyed it even more.

I had made a bunch of stitch markers so I decided to take some photos and sell them on etsy. To sweeten the purchase and provide more functionality (I'm always misplacing stitch markers myself) I ordered some summery beach-safe screw-top containers and they will sell as a package along with the stitch markers.

I'm really enjoying making my socks for my sockapalooza pal. I had a rocky start and some panic-y moments with the first pattern I tried but now I've got yarn and pattern that I love. I'll post pictures soon. The pattern is from Knitty and has some bad errors and since no one has posted the solutions (only lots of posts about the problems) I am hoping to post the pattern WITH the solution so others can benefit.

So I need to take and post photos of
- my garden which is now refreshed - today there were two goldfinches and a cardinal at the birdbath (really a bird fountain with water I keep fresh for them) at the same time! I loved the color!
- my sockapalooza socks and pattern
- my studio which will have new shelves that my son and I painted today in LIME GREEN :-)
- my lab Scout who has a fancy-shmancy hairdo after a bath and brush this week, she is gorgeous

I am also having a wonderful time getting in a lot of reading time this month. I'll update my reading list on my sidebar this week. Our library has a wonderful webpage where I can just "order" the books I want and they send me email when they have transfered them from another county library to my local library. Then I just stop by and pick them up. Same for renewal, automatic email that a book needs to be renewed and the 'click' I renew it! The libraries in the U.S. are just wonderful.

A new addition to the family

About a month ago, my husband phoned me at worked and said excitedly "a friend of mine will sell me a 1965 Mustang for 3K below blue book. Can I buy it?".
I replied "Uhh, no.".
A week later he asked "I really want to buy that car. ok?".
I said "no".
Two weeks later same thing.
Last week it made its grand entrance into our garage. Sigh. I did get a car stall full of hubbie's junk cleaned out, at least. Or did I?!

thank you secret pal!

thanks for the great package of goodies, secret pal! I'll post a photo soon. Hmm... I know you gave me a hint but so far I haven't figured out who you are. But I will keep trying :-)

Vacation in Grand Tetons NP and Yellowstone NP

This is where I'll be in a couple of days! We're off for a vacation of hiking, rafting, driving, reading, eating, relaxing, and sightseeing. And I'll be taking several knitting projects along, so I can get back to knitting again and away from the dye studio (which is always calling my name when I'm at home).


I shipped off my order to woolgirl so Jen should be putting it up on her shop next week sometime.


I plan to knit Cookie A's Hedera socks in the Gunsmoke colorway! Hey, I guess it's fitting to knit with this while I'm out west. I'll be casting on while we're waiting for our flight to board. Can't wait!


And I'll be taking several books to read too. I think I'll start with The Outlander. Hmmm... haven't decided what other books to take along.

a fun weekend dyeing new colorways

Hi everyone, I had a fun weekend dreaming up new colorways. I love greens and have been working to get a rich, deep avocado plus I decided to pair it up with an awesome, mixed violet! I am so happy with how it turned out. Meet "Casablanca"!

The colors kept reminding me of North Africa, Moroccan colors so I decided to name it "Casablanca". Yum!

a tour of my dye studio

I thought you might be interested in a small tour of my dye studio which is in the basement of our home. This photo shows the dye area where I presoak the yarn, mix the dyes, and and dye the yarn. I have a view of a 80 foot white oak directly out my windows, thus the name White Oak Studio.



This photo shows how I dye the yarn in small batches.


I'll post more info and pictures about my dyeing soon!

Knitter's virtual vacation questionnaire

I grew up in Michigan, but I currently live in North Carolina, and the American West owns my heart!

1. If you could visit any state in the US, which would it be and why? Montana - I love the west and Montana is simply breath-taking.
2. If you could visit any country in the world, other than your own, which would it be and why? Greece. I've never been there and think the Greek islands look amazing.
3. Have you ever driven across several states/providence/countries? oh yes, many times, my family drove from Michigan to Washington every summer. We took different routes, even via Canada several times.
4. Have you ever visited someplace you consider exotic? Where was it? I visited Prague in 1986 while there was still an Iron Curtain ala the Soviet Union and it seemed very exotic at the time.
5. What was your favorite "travel" vacation? Why? There have been many but one amazing one was a 3 week trip from NC to Chicago via plane, from Chicago to Seattle via train with a stop in Glacier National Park, biking and camping from island to island in the San Juan islands, and then back to NC. During the trip we visited my brother in Chicago and my wonderful aunts and uncles in Washington, where my parents also flew in to visit. Quite a trip.
6. Have you ever played tourist in your own home city/state (if international, country)? Explain. When we first moved to NC we visited the entire state - the Outer Banks, drove down the Atlantic coast, and also went all over the NC mountains on the Blue Ridge parkway.
7. Are you a museum visitor, beach comer or an amusement seeker? definitely not amusement seeker. probably a bit more beachcomber than museum visitor but that is a close call, in general we are more outdoorsy than museum folks but we definitely do both.
8. What's your favorite type of yarn? right now it's sock yarn, any kind, although I have been wanting to try a cotton blend or a bamboo blend.
9. What's your least favorite type of yarn? not into mohair
10. What items do you like to knit/crochet? sleeveless tanks and socks
11. What do you pack, knit/crochet wise when you go on vacation? whatever I'm currently knitting
12. What other crafts do you do/would like to do other than Knit/Crochet? right now my other crafts are art quilting and oil painting
13. Are you allergic to anything? (Yarn wise or treat wise) nope.
14. What is your favorite color? Least Favorite? favorite is red. least is...pastels
15. Sweet or Savory (Treat not personality)? savory
16. Anything else we are forgetting to ask that you think your partner desperately needs to know? I love coffee! And I love to read.

woolgirl will be carrying my yarn!

I'm very excited to announce that woolgirl www.woolgirl.com will be carrying my yarn! Jen is running a contest related to my tvyarn on her blog http://woolgirl.typepad.com/woolgirl/2007/06/woolgirl_wants_.html so be sure to go over there and place your entry in the contest.

www.woolgirl.com has an amazing selection of hand-dyed yarn by indie dyers and I am flattered to be part of this gang. woolgirl also has a monthly newsletter - here is the newsletter for may http://www.woolgirl.net/Wooly%20Woolgirl%20Newsletter2.pdf

thanks secret pal!

My secret pal from sp10 sent me another awesome package! Look at all the goodies! thanks pal!

knitters coffee swap

I'm running my first contest for the Knitter's Coffee Swap. I have a name in mind for the tvyarn above and whoever guesses the name (and reason for the name) will win the contest. Should be fun; I expect several correct entries so we'll have to pick a name out of a hat to decide.