Tilt-a-whirl

Fit to burst

The bins are bulging and the BAV is going to need more air in its tires. I swear, the housesitter and the dogs are going to be able to rollerskate around this usually crammed full home-studio. Of course it is going to be boiling hot here today and so there will be no pre-loading for The Husband, AKA Mr Tetrus the Packer. Sorry, buster...no sweaty yarn. :o)

I was so interested to see that the Market floor of Convergence is going to be open to the public on Wednesday at noon. That is very cool because usually at these conferences there is a special time set aside for attendees but this time everybody gets an equal shot at all of us. Not to be missed are the exhibits that always accompany this gathering...super art in all forms of fiber. I am very excited to see what people have done. A friend has included a strand of some of my precious handspun Royal Cashmere boucle in her big project where every strand has a story. I figure that it will be quite moving.

Sivia Harding, the designer of everybody's favorite shawl called Diamond Fantasy, has created a beautiful new sock pattern featuring Sock! in a beautiful Peacock. Check it out! I Rosemary Hill is kindly lending me the 'tween size DFS that she made from Sock Merino and so I will have those patterns as well as some of Sivia's sock pattern printed for you.

Oh, my buddy Sheila Ernst has finally joined the blog-o-sphere with her own offering. You have GOT to check out the Don't Drop Spindle that her husband Michael just made. Oh my...it is perfect for the Princess and the Pea. If you are going to be in the Eugene Oregon area this weekend, head to Black Sheep Gathering and give Sheila a squeeze for me. (I will bring her leftovers with me to Convergence!)

Here is some eye candy for you. Silk/merino and Wensleydale with a little fun skein of Wensleydale in...Mombassa! Be still my heart.

No Tom...no cashmere yet. You can wait until you come back from your dream trip to Italy. :o)

I look forward to meeting those of you that are making the trip to Grand Rapids and for the rest of you, I will be snapping and blogging along the way on our Lisa&Rod's excellent adventure across country. Of course, Tank doesn't know it yet but he is going to be a little bit lighter by the time mama comes home. Yeah, the sitter is going to take him to get a snip job. Do you think that he will mind?

Random acts of deadline on Father's Day

What? What is she saying? Doesn't she know that this will set off the language police? Listen, if some Snow boarder could say that he was "going to Podium" at the Olympics (!) I can put these words together for a title, dotcha think? (Librarians, hide your eyes.)

Well now...howareya? I am THERE, baby. This is packing week and so those of you that got your orders in yesterday are the last that will have quick turnaround service until after we return from Michigan. No, don't be afraid to click on the Confirm Order button at any time this week or while we are away, because I will fill orders as they come in, when I get back from the road trip. As always, I will be in touch, through my laptop so don't bother calling to bother the nice house-sitter (who knows NOTHING about yarn!) I will be checking in regularly.

Happy Father's Day to The Husband and MSIL (my son-in-law) and all of you guys out there...especially Tom, who is going to put on his Cathcher's Mitt and help his daughter deliver HER daughter, very very soon. The little family and I are going to take Grampy to an A's Game today. This is going to be the first time that Shnicklefritz will fit into his Chavez jersey...he IS a Chavez, after all! I can only imagine that his papa will be proudly holding his son today, wearing his (sorry, LA...hiissssssss) Dodgers hat while his son sports his A's paraphernalia. (You see, all of the Souza's are Oakland natives and so we prevail today!) When Shnicklefritz heads to Southern California for a game, he can be a Dodgers fan! How is that for magnanimous? Yes, I will snap some pix today but MAN...I feel like I am using an old Kodak Brownie after seeing Tom's beautiful pictures of Lucille Ball. Wowza.

So, that is my announcement and my wish. I may have more time to be social this week...we'll see how much Tinkerbelle can accomplish for me, eh?

Gendarme!

I dunno...it just came out. Something was making me feel out of sorts this morning and I even had to call my friend to throw a card or two in my behalf...nope, you are not sick...there is nothing wrong with the kids winging back from The Big Island...nope. There is a colorway caught in your craw, Lisa. Oh...yeah, that. It is on the whiteboard and I have been ruminating on it. I had to carry a small handful of cranberries out to the Dyeraj and have a talk with my muse. Melissa requested some colors and this is my interpretation. It is very French to me (I am very French to me...). I call it Gendarme! Just 5 Sock! went on the table in this experiment but I see it in silk/merino and other brilliant fibers. Like Mombassa before it, it will go on a bunch of things. (Mombassa has made its way onto a bunch of Petal and 100% silk and it is out of this world. Next, should the weather decide to clear, is fiber.) Mombassa is slated for cashmere, Tom...I admit it.

We were awakened early this morning to nobody on the line...just party noises and music; music that had been in my dream. Nope, I didn't dream the whole thing because The Daughter called this morning to remind me about what I heard. She was the guest of a friend, who married her Prince Charming at their compound on the BI. I will not mention any names but the whole thing about the phone call in the early morning hours was the performer at said wedding party...I bought this man's first 45 record when we were both 12. Fingertips part one and two. Oh my heavens. It still thrills me to no end to think that my daughter had the privilege of standing 10 feet from this Giant, who played for her friend's wedding reception. How lucky can a group of people get? Mazel tov to the newlyweds...I think that I was having an out of body experience because I dreamt the song I heard before the phonecall came in. Seriously.

Now...if the sun would just come out here, I could get some of this yarn dry!

Mombassa

So, I had some wine with dinner last night, after a VERY long and hard day of dyeing. The wine was delicious, Trish. It got me feeling very little pain and so I took the colorway that had been circling my brain for two days out through my fingertips. I was going for Africa and so I present Mombassa. To me it is like a dark maned lion or simply the colors of the bush. The muted version is Merino Sport and the sharp one is sock.

I just love it when this comes out the way I envisioned it in my head. I am truly in love with this colorway...it is of the earth.

Countdown to Convergence

Two weeks. I have two weeks to finalize the stock that goes with me in the BAV to Michigan. Honestly, I am feeling less stress than Tinkerbelle, who seems to think that she needs to make sure that I am taking bins stuffed to the gills with yarn and fiber. Tink...I think that we are going to make it.

I was muttering yesterday about how I was not sad to have made the transformation from 24 years of juried art fairs to just concentrating on my artisan dyeing. No looking back. I am sorry for letting down the folks in LA this weekend, people that are just so used to finding me in Santa Monica twice a year but the truth is, the ever expanding crazy prices of show fees for these events, for which I have to submit slides and hope that the powers that be want to take my money have pushed me to saying NEVER AGAIN. I could get on a soap box about my fellow artisans, people who pay huge money to promoters to have the "privilege" of being included in a craft show, only to be pushed further and further behind, trying to make up for those fees. I will just say that I am done. I will miss my fellow artisans and will just have to go visit them as a "civilian".

Now then, on to fun things. Some new knitted things have come through the inbox and I have cool pictures to show you. First of all, Kathleen Day of Fiona's Friends fame surprised me with an envelope of patterns for this CUTE hat!

I KNOW, it is so cute. She used one skein of Sock! in Mardi Gras for this hat she calls Faux Honeycomb. I love it. I get to borrow it and bring it to Michigan...so cool.

Fun thing number TWO. Holly Haynes finished the bag she had told me about, using Merino Sport in Little Devil. I am just too excited. The bag that she made with this yarn coupled with black was nice but this one using just the Little Devil is so great! Yay, Holly! Another piece to tuck into the BAV for the journey. She will have the patterns available soon but in the meantime you can drool along with me.

Oh and Holly also sent along a picture of some of her spinning...Biffle in Sky Drama. Beautiful!

Here's hoping that the weather is clear for the NYC Spin-out but no matter what...go visit Cara's blog and donate to Heiffer Foundation for a chance to win some wonderful things, while giving money to a great great cause. I give money to Doctors Without Borders (the guys that patch em up) but Heiffer Foundation gives women and families a way to make a living. Reach one, teach one. I am proud to be a small part of the event.

Ok...I have added black to my colorway line-up for Sock! and Sock! Merino. Do NOT ask me to do it in any other yarn...enn oh. :o) Seriously.

Charlie the Tuna? Nah...cuter.

Yes, feast or famine with this blogger. My pal Holly Haynes sent me a picture of the cute Starfish bag that she made with my merino sport in Little Devil. She coupled that yarn with some black that she had but I can't wait to see the one that she is doing with just that yarn, so that I can see how the color moves around. Yes, that is one of Sheila Ernst's gorgeous glass buttons. I am a sucker for those things and look forward to bringing Holly's patterns as well as Sheila's buttons (and some of those unbelievably fabulous orifice hooks) with me to Michigan. Look deeply into the button...you will be hypnotized. :o)

Brilliant

Today the light is brilliant here, inland from the San Francisco Bay, much like what I imagine fueled Van Gogh's cluster-of-color imagination. I see it. Want to see it? It is here in the things that have been dyed this week, in cotton, rayon and Tencel. It makes me stand a little straighter, now that I see it on a bright day like this.

It always seems like a crap shoot when pictures and text are laid out but they are: Cotton and rayon yarns in Festiva!, Cotton/rayon and Tencel in Cote D'Azur and the threesome of Tencel colorways, Old Gold, Starry Night and Cote D'Azur.

Life continues to be trying but it appears that we will get some much needed help with the MIL. There is an eldercare organization that will help us to choose the next step in care/living situation for her. She is getting antsy in the nursing home, now that she is physically stronger. Heaven's to Betsy.

Now then, Tink and I are forging on, preparing for the Michigan show. Of course every time that I think that sock yarn sales are slowing down enough for me to keep full bins, here comes another little bump. No, I am NOT complaining...really. Sometimes it is an out of body experience, growing this business these days. I did it once before, when I had my sweater line. I had employees and all that it entailed...college kids. This time I have another level of helper, who is doing this for the joy of it. Scrub nurse, is how I think of it all...anticipate things. Lucky me. The husband is anticipating the drive to Michigan and I am trying to keep the idea of it out of my range of vision. I will look upon it as an adventure and keep filling the bins with as much beautiful stuff as I can gather together.

I have not been doing one whit of knitting but Tink is merrily knitting up interesting swatches for very jazzy pieces. She is going to have to knit like the wind to finish these girly foofoo things (no, you will not see me modeling them) before I leave California. Knit on, Tink.