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Archive for July 14th, 2004

You Get First Dibs on New Yarns

Wednesday, July 14th, 2004

WooHoo! I finished the web pages for my new batch of ColorJoy yarns. I will be announcing them just after midnight, to the Socknitters list. However, you loyal folks get the first notice if you want them. If you don’t need yarn, I understand. But several of you have been very loyal and I wish to be loyal to you in return.

The top skein here is called Kathy The Confident. It is named after a friend who encouraged me to actually use the colors I loved again, at a time when I was wearing black more often than not. That was 1985 and I’ll never forget the loving words she spoke to me. She said… “Lynn, if you love turquoise and want to paint things turquoise in your house… Go for it!” She kept telling me to go for it (regarding using colors I loved), until I listened. I owe her much.

The second skein is called Mom’s House. My mom has surrounded herself with calming blues and greens in her home. Everything is simple but beautiful. She often wears brighter colors than this, but her home is calming and serene.

The half-pound skeins in ColorSport (knits to DK gauge) have 450 yards, and can make a baby sweater or one to two pair sox. If you have small feet and knit shortish stockinette cuffs, you’ll get two pair. If you knit cables or texture, if you like taller cuffs or have larger feet, you can get one pair for you and a smaller pair for a kid you love. Or enough yarn to combine with a second yarn for a scarf, perhaps… or a small purse/cellphone holder. Or wristwarmers! I love wristwarmers!!!

The half-pound skeins in ColorSox have 875 yards, a lot of yarn. According to my resources, this will make a sweater up to about a 29″ chest for a child. Two skeins would make a luxurious baby afghan. One skein is enough for 2 pair ladies’ sox without worrying about running out (in comparison, Regia 4ply has 229 yards in one 1.75oz skein, and I always have leftovers from 2 balls, even if I’m knitting for Brian who wears a size 8 or 8-1/2 shoe, the equivalent of a woman’s 10 or so).

Oh, and I do have some smaller skeins in both ColorSport and ColorSox, left from the last offering. Some colorways sold out but some did not. I also have some of my once-only yarn offerings left, including some wool/silk yarn in pinks and purples, and some ballerina eyelash in a light version of Seaside.

A Night with Other Knitters
I went to the knit-in last night for the Mid Michigan Knitting Guild, and went home with four skeins fewer than I had when I got there. That was encouraging and exciting. The anonymous woman who finished her In the Garden sox this week, bought another 100gm skein (3.5oz) in a new colorway for her, which I still had in stock from the last batch. It feels good when people like my work well enough to come back again. Thanks, Anonymous!!!

I don’t often go to knit-ins for the guild, as I have so many Tuesday guilds out of town, and classes to teach when I’m lucky. However, I was able to make two weeks in a row this time! I don’t know when I’ll ever feel comfortable in a large group like that… I like all the people but I get sort of overwhelmed trying to listen to more than one conversation at a time.

I am much happier having coffee with Sarah P or Sharon P or Tony or some other individual friend, one at a time. I don’t lose track of conversations that way. Structured guild meetings are different, even though they have more people. There is one thing going on in the room most of the time, and I can enjoy that easily. But I am just getting less and less happy with gatherings where I can not keep up with all the conversations going on within earshot… especially when I find them all so interesting.

I saw Sarah’s finished sweater! She wrote such humorous things about her process of finishing it, that I figured she enjoyed the process (of knitting most parts at least 2-3 times to get them just right). Maybe she didn’t enjoy it so much, but I think she will enjoy wearing the sweater. It has a wonderful texture.

You know what? It seems that every time I see Sarah P, she has a new finished sweater. What is with that? Either she knits like a speed demon or I don’t see her enough. I wonder if it might be both…

The last photo here is a picture my friend Vince took when he visited us a year ago next week. (He gave me permission to put it on my weblog.) It shows the turquoise color of paint I have been using, in four different homes, since I took my friend Kathy’s advice to go for it. It is a lighter color than I usually wear, but houses do better with more subtle colors than people do, in my estimation. That peach color I’ve also used since the mid-1980’s.

I picked these colors originally to go with some natural wood trim that was a bit orangey, in the first house I ever owned (with my ex)… but the colors have looked great in all my houses since then. Can you see the little bit of purple on the baseboard? I added that when I bought myself a house after my divorce. The outside of our footed tub is painted that color right now, with turquoise feet. Such fun!

I’m off to dance rehearsal tonight. Actually, we are having a photo shoot for publicity photographs. This means we get to all dress up, one reason we all enjoy dancing so much! Dress up for grownups, you gotta love it. It should be fun. See you tomorrow.