cool!

I am working at my food co-op today through Saturday this week (where I am a sub in the deli, and I jump in when someone is sick or takes a day off) - but I wanted to stop and let you know that "crapshoot" was included in another etsy treasury.

Thank you to the creator of the treasury! Her stuff is way cool....SO much more hip than I'll ever be.

crafters for a cause

I've just been informed that my yarn is once again included in an etsy treasury by an etsy devotee- this time in the company of crafters who all make beautiful things AND support a cause!!

Thank you so much for including me, and thank you everyone for being so thoughtful and caring.

shop is stocked!

New offerings in the SHOP! I am currently taking a break from lace knitting but oh boy! am I having fun dyeing up some beautiful skeins of lace weight yarn....it's 1300 yards of 80% merino/20% silk pure gorgeousness!

merino silk lace - colorway craving

merino silk lace - blue sky

merino silk lace - silver lining

merino silk lace - dark cloud

 Then there's merino silk, a 50/50 fingering weight the drapes like a dream. 437 yards will allow you to make a nice sized lacy scarf, or a lace shawlette.

merino silk - chai

merino silk - dark cloud

merino silk - crapshoot

Thanks for stopping by and taking a look! I keep daydreaming about all the things I might knit for myself come January....how about you?

heads up!

The Lame Blogger returns to announce a give-away in the coming week, and a pattern release for quick holiday knitting (in case you still need to make something for someone!).

There have been some milestones recently, and I need to celebrate with you. It just so happens to be in the middle of holiday season, so what could be better than a give-away?

There is a facebook for Periwinkle Sheep lovers, and it has 150 fans right now.

Then, sales on etsy have climbed over the 100  mark in recent days, there are new yarns to announce,

merino d k - hydrangea

merino d k - silver lining

and also,

I got into Sock Summit 2011!!

Stay tuned!

interlude

spilled wine

embers

just peachy

silver lining

memories of summer

sophisticated

Lest you think I only jet around the world all the time, I have been busy dyeing the new watercolors sock yarn (75% superwash merino, 25% nylon, 460 yds/100g). Today I managed to style and photograph a few, put them up on etsy, label them, and later will go to The Spinning Room to make a delivery. Trumpet Hill is getting theirs on Friday morning, Rochester's Yarn Boutique the beginning of December. I have several more colors such as greens and teal and past midnight...I must ask you to check back here to see them!

I will also be at the Troy Farmers Market every Saturday until Christmas, and on November 21st, I will be at my friend Ricky's Annual Holiday Open House in Delmar (deets to come).

For the Tight Knit/Farmers Market I will bring a selection of all of my yarns, including a colorful sale bin! I hope to see all my local fans there starting this Saturday at 9 am!

note

Got news this morning that I've been included in another etsy treasury. 

One of these days I'll have to curate one myself. Just to explore etsy and help showcase crafters!

a giveaway!

To celebrate 103 hearts in my etsy shop, I am having a giveaway. A triple giveaway, to be precise.

I have set aside three colorways of yarn from my etsy shop. To see them you will have to go to the etsy shop. (Since I am giving away three skeins of yarn, I had to say the words "giveaway" and "etsy shop" three times, of course.)

The three colorways are:

pool side

retro

sweet plum ( in the suri merino laceweight).

Go check out the shop, and report back here in the comments. You have until Friday, July 2nd, midnight, to leave me a comment. Any comment at all will do, but I prefer the nice ones. :) Tell your friends, too!

On Saturday morning, July 3rd,  before Germany plays their next World Cup game at 10 am EST, I will randomly select three winners and announce them here.

And to keep the theme of threes going, there's two more pieces of good news to report:

The shop is featured in the Local Lovelies section on etsy.

AND: Bluepeninsula started a Fans of Periwinkle Sheep group on Ravelry!!  Thank you so much, Bonnie.

road to Rochester

Here's a selection of colors going to the Yarn Boutique in Rochester, NY next week.

The top three are  colorways inspired by three lovely ladies (may have something to do with Tall Son's girlfriend, her mom and her sister, all of whom are knitters). Not sure the dad wants his own colorway, too?

Yanni

Please let me or your local yarn shop know if you are interested in these.

Tasha (left) , Tina (right).

Below is a new colorway: Embers

The new edition of Suits Him

And a color which I can never resist dyeing: Hot Pink

There are also some new offerings in my etsy shop.

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!

Happy Ravalentine's O'Lympics Day!

The Winter Olympics are upon us, as is Valentine's Day weekend. I know that a lot of you are busy participating in the Ravelympics (an event of olympic proportions on ravelry, in conjunction with, you guessed it, the winter olympics.) I am going to make a traditional colorwork norwegian cross-country ski hat, and I will attempt to finish several works in progress by the time the flame is extinguished in Vancouver.
I'm baking a batch of brownies today, for dessert after an early Valentine's Day dinner. Chocolate-y dessert somehow always helps my knitting along, don't know why...


And why, you may ask, are there picures of yarn here?

Well I got to thinking that some sweet pink yarn might be in order. So I updated the etsy shop . This is the Periwinkle Sheep watercolors II sock yarn, 100% merino wool, approx. 400 yds/skein; kettle dyed.

hot pink

sophisticated


lovely

I think that 'lovely' and 'sophisticated' would go together really well in a lace shawl, with one being the border to the other, but that is just my humble opinion.

I also decided to discontinue one of my yarns.....I've loved this yarn. It is a sportweight merino yarn that is very soft and has great yardage. But it was time to make a decision, the result of which is that I am putting the sportweight merino on sale until it is gone. There will be more colors posted next week. (Hopefully the construction in my house will be over and done with soooon. Cross you knitting needles for me!)

Happy Ravalentine's O'Lympics Day/weekend!

freebies!

front to back: highliter, robin's egg, chinese lantern, lemon drop, special edition/rusts, chai, goth black, vanilla frosting.

Hello there dear blog readers,

while you are here, peeking over the fence to see what I am up to, why not check out my etsy shop?

January is my birthday month and I want to give you a gift: if you order anything from my etsy shop during the month of January, I will add a FREE skein of sock yarn to your order. These skeins are NOT seconds! Please indicate color preferences, and give me several choices. I will try to accomodate you.

I will put more colors on the site itself soon, but please don't hesitate to ask for colors you may not see on there. I have pinks and purples and blues...so why not take advantage?

new yarn on etsy!

Periwinkle Sheep

merino sport

100% merino wool

approx. 400 yds/skein

kettle dyed

5.5-6 sts /in

retail: $15

above: top to bottom: suede/sweet plum/juniper

antique pink

suede

juniper

I am having one of those moments where it is hard for me to put the yarn up for sale...the colors want to jump right on my needles! The 'sweet plum' is especially fine and festive.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Where are you with your holiday knitting? I still have lots and lots to do. I actually bought more yarn today, can you believe it? My friend Stephanie is closing her yarn shop and it was imperative that I take a few skeins home...I have planned an Entomology Hat, two We Call them Pirates hats, some Norwegian mittens...we'll see how far I get.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This weekend, I'll be delivering more sock yarn to The Yarn Boutique in Rochester, NY. I'm going out there to see Tall Son play in a concert with the University of Rochester Orchestra.

And that's all the news I have time to print right now! I hope you have a great weekend.

shop update

Just a quick note to let you know the following colors are now uploaded to my etsy shop.
They are all

Periwinkle Sheep watercolors sock yarn

80% superwash merino wool, 20% nylon (fingering weight)

approx. 420 yds., kettle dyed

7-8 sts/in

machine wash delicate, dry on low, or dry flat.

Suits Him
Navy


Stonewash Denim

Memories of Summer (I've sold out of this several times, so I am stocking up again)

Chai

Thanks for taking a look!!

PS: I am dyeing more Caramel Apple tomorrow, so I can stock that, too. :)

etsy shop update - free shipping thru Nov.1

Just a quick one - I am offering free shipping on all orders placed through midnight EST November 1st.
Good on all in stock items.
All orders will be shipped out FOR FREE within 48 hrs.

Click HERE to see!!

On November 2nd, I am pulling most current colors.
The shop will be restocked and updated on November 4th.

Always something up my sleeve (or is it pantleg? Since I dye mostly sock yarns?).

uncategorized

What a week!
On Thursday I was still sort of hung over from what happened on Wednesday. Which I got to spend with my friend Abi and her family and a whole crew of professionals from Berroco who were there to do a photoshoot for an upcoming pattern book. As soon as I walked in they made me (in a nice way) swear and cross my heart that I would not publish any photos with any of the model garments in them before the official release of the pattern book in January, so unfortunately you will not get to see very many of the 175 pictures I took that day. Some may have been of chickens and changing leaves, which was my way of pinching myself. I could not believe what I was witnessing - it was so cool.

Here's Abi getting her hair done by Cheyenne, the stylist.


Here's our beloved Norah Gaughan, who supervised the whole shoot. Thank you Norah for letting me take your picture.




Cirilia Rose designed the line of sweaters. Watch out for her - a major talent at Berroco! Also one of THE nicest people on this planet. I just love her. Here she is discussing ....I'm so sorry I was busy with the pictures I didn't get what she and Norah were saying....

Don't you love the setting??



I am sure I will be able to show you more pictures once I've sifted through them all.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To switch gears on you, here's a fingerless mitt I made last night, a pattern from the Fall 2009 issue of Knitscene magazine, Lace Twist Mitt. I used Periwinkle Sheep watercolors superwash merino worsted. My favorite worsted weight yarn, if I may say so myself.

Poor mitt, I wonder if it will ever get a mate. I followed the pattern exactly, but for future pairs would make a couple of changes, such as decrease more stitches than indicated at the top. I think it flares a bit too much. Also I needed more stitches for the thumb. However I really like the stitch pattern and will definitely make more of these!

And here comes the point of shameless self-promotion: I just listed these four colors on etsy. Just in case you would like to try a skein yourself. If you need several for a bigger project, please just contact me.

Periwinkle Sheep watercolors superwash merino worsted

in Juniper, Sweet Plum, Suede, and Caramel.

And if you're not tired of reading yet, please remember I will be in the

• Sliver Moon booth this Saturday and Sunday, at the Southern Adirondack Fiber Festival (Washington County Fairgrounds)
• Dyenamics Yarn booth at the Vermont Sheep and Woolfest on October 3 and 4, in Tunbridge, VT
• Sliver Moon booth at Rhinebeck, the New York State Sheep and Woolfest, October 17 and 18.

There will be lots and lots of hand dyed goodness.

Have a great weekend!

a pain in the elbow

I have finally had to admit to myself that the pain in my right elbow was beyond being a nuisance and was begging to be dealt with. Yesterday I took myself to the doctor and assented to a cortisone shot - tendonitis.
Funny enough, knitting has not bothered me at all, up to this point, but the shot completely incapacitated me for the last day and a half. Nobody told me it could be this bad. I can't eat or brush my teeth with my right arm, and I feel like someone else has been doing these things for me. I am so incredibly right handed...my left hand is learning to take over, but it feels awkward.

Anyhow, I am told that resting the arm will help speed the recovery, which means no knitting (!) and no dyeing yarn (!). Thank goodness I still have some yarn in stock for now and was able to put a few colors up on etsy. The response has been a good one so far - thank you!! Now I need to figure out how to further spread the word.

I hope you will have yourself a nice fall weekend - I'm debating whether I should drive to Vermont and go to the Bennington Quilt Festival, since knitting, gardening, and housework are off limits...what do you think? Drive left handed?

don't ask, but do tell!

This is just a very short post telling you that I have an etsy shop. Finally.

I am still getting the hang of it all - photographing the skeins in the most favorable light, writing appropriate descriptions, tagging, etc.

The shop is called The Periwinkle Sheep, of course.

My user name is franknit. I am from a part in Germany called Franken, which is a beautiful region in Northern Bavaria. I like to remember and honor my roots as I look to the future with my new endeavor.

My first posted skein already sold last night - thank you to the angel that bought it!