{this moment} – A Friday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment to pause, savor and remember.

If you’re inspired to do the same, visit Soule Mama and leave a link to your ‘moment’ in the comments for all to see.

{this moment} – A Friday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment to pause, savor and remember.

If you’re inspired to do the same, visit Soule Mama and leave a link to your ‘moment’ in the comments for all to see.

Pile of Sweater-Shame

It’s amazing how quickly small hurdles can derail one’s productivity. This is especially true now that I work at home and it’s easier to get distracted by other tasks, even productive ones like household chores. There’s nothing like an advertising deadline looming that you feel uninspired about to make the dust bunnies leer at you from underneath the bookshelves. And cleaning is “work,” right? This is one of the things that makes me miss having an office that I would leave at night and return the next morning to find that, not only had no one been living there overnight, leaving dishes and other items on the table, but someone had actually come in and vacuumed and dusted while I was gone.

Knitting projects, even though we do them for fun, are prone to these same distractions. Something happens to make us set them aside for a little while and then they sit there for months, gathering dust and hiding that #7 circular needle we needed for another project and couldn’t find anywhere. My biggest problem in this regard is sweaters. I discovered how much of a problem I have this morning as I was dusting around the knitting bin and the plastic bags of “overflow” that no longer fit in the bin as I avoided something more important. There, lurking under the end table and spilling over onto the floor, were no fewer than four sweaters at various stages of completion (and the missing #7 needle). There’s a sweater that was intended as a birthday gift last September, which is done except for the sleeve caps and some assembly. I believe this project got derailed when I couldn’t find the zipper I had bought (which I found as soon as I had purchased a replacement, so now there are two zippers in the bag with it). There’s a sweater for a baby who’s rapidly outgrowing it, set aside when I finished the skein of yarn and didn’t get around to winding the next skein into a ball. There’s another overdue birthday present from April of this year, done except for sleeves and a collar, which I put down in disgust after discovering it was not going to fit the recipient, even after selecting the right size and carefully measuring my gauge swatch (cables really pucker up when you knit as tightly as I do). There’s also a heap of yarn on the couch, in unskeined disarray straight from the dyepots, that was intended for the correctly-sized replacement sweater than I never cast on for because I hadn’t finished the first too-small sweater (now intended for a booth sample). And finally, in a huge plastic bag of its own, there’s the sweater than never stood a chance—the Dogwood Blossoms sweater, consisting of only one sleeve knit as far as the elbow plus the 18 balls of Knit Picks Palette that came with the kit. I knew an adult size fair isle sweater knit on #2 needles with 15 colors of fingering weight yarn was going to languish in my WIP basket forever, but I had to buy it anyway because the photos of the finished sweater are so stunning. Sometimes I go on Ravelry just to look at the half dozen finished projects for this pattern (most of them samples for Knit Picks) that people have actually finished, just so I can vicariously enjoy what my bag full of 18 tangled balls of yarn could eventually become.

After discovering this pile of sweater-shame lurking next to the couch, I’m tempted to spend the rest of the day finishing them. Three of them could be done fairly quickly if I set my mind to it (Dogwood Blossoms is doomed). But that would take me no closer to finishing the ad graphics I need to be working on than the dusting that started the whole problem. Still, I do plan to sit down sometime soon, knit some sleeves, and send the sweaters off to their intended recipients, just in time for the heat of summer. It would sure open up some space next to my couch.

What projects do you have lurking about that need to be finished?

This coming Sunday, May 13 will be the one-year anniversary of opening my Etsy shop! I couldn’t be happier with how things have unfolded since that day and I want to thank all of you, my customers and supporters, for making it happen! Last May, Wandering Wool was mostly still a dream—a dream with a logo, website and business license, but a dream nonetheless. I’ll never forget the feeling of waking up one morning, checking my email and seeing that “Etsy Order Confirmation” from my very first sale (and I still get excited when I see that subject line—it hasn’t gotten old yet). But the best part? Hearing your stories and seeing your finished projects. I still find it hard to believe that in the 12 months since then, Wandering Wool has turned into a real yarn company—one that is small, but growing. I also owe a big thanks to the local fiber community of the DC metro area, especially Looped Yarn Works and the DC Unraveled podcast for their support.

I’m thrilled to be able to do what I love and I know I could never do it without all of you, so to celebrate, I’m having an anniversary sale in the shop until May 13^th, with all items (clubs excluded) already marked down 15%. There will also be a small shop update on Thursday, May 10 at 8PM. Thanks again and happy knitting (or crocheting, or weaving, or your craft of choice)!

{this moment} – A Friday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment to pause, savor and remember.

If you’re inspired to do the same, visit Soule Mama and leave a link to your ‘moment’ in the comments for all to see.

Wingspan Shawl

Being a full time yarnie and supposedly having more time doesn’t seem to have made me a better blogger! But while I haven’t been blogging, I have been working on some other things. I’ve been knitting some and have a finished object to share: my Wingspan shawl! I love how it turned out. The yarn was perfect for this pattern (I had exactly enough—only 6g left out of a 150g skein) and I love the colors. The shawl goes really well with my favorite olive green corduroy jacket and with some of the cooler weather than has returned in this very odd spring, I’ve even had a chance to wear it. When I actually get “dressed up,” that is, rather than stumbling out early in the morning to drop packages in the mailbox down the street in my fleece jacket and sweatpants with a coffee stain on the knee—there’s not much of a dress code at Wandering Wool HQ.

I’ve also been working on a sweater that is in a bit of a time out right now after somehow failing to be the right size, even after I took the time to do a proper gauge swatch (I still have to figure out where that one went wrong). I also started and finished a small lace shawl out of Udaipur merino/silk during a three day “vacation” I took last week but it still needs to be blocked and photographed. I think it will look really nice once it’s blocked but right now it just looks like a purple wad. And I cast on a Color Affection shawl in more Udaipur, because I can’t seem to get enough garter stitch. The colors I’m using are Champagne, Copper Penny and Green Knight, inspired by the color scheme of my living room, which I see a lot of these days.

All of this knitting has taken place in between my first fiber festival, which was fun but massively time consuming to prepare for; taxes (train wreck from start to finish); a trunk show at Looped Yarn Works (lots of fun and way easier than the fiber festival); and a much needed break collecting prehistoric shark’s teeth from the shores of the Chesapeake.

Wandering Wool at Olde Liberty Fibre Faire

First, the fiber festival (Olde Liberty Fibre Faire in Bedford, VA) was a good first show and free of major disasters. It was over four hours from home, making it an overnight trip, and we were definitely pushing the carrying capacity of the car. I don’t know what I’ll do for a bigger show—rent a Uhaul? But at least the weather cooperated with a gorgeous sunny day and not too much wind (just a few gusts that made me nervous about the tent). It was also great fun to get to meet customers in person, because online sales are so impersonal. Of course I was manning the booth the whole time and didn’t get to check out the other booths or chat with any of the vendors except the ones right next to me, but that’s just how it goes. Bedford is in a gorgeous location, with farms and rolling hills and mountains as a backdrop.  It would be fun to go there and relax…some other time.

Fossil Hunting on the Chesapeake

As soon as I got back from the show and got all the yarn, tent, tables, etc. stowed away in the nooks and crannies of my apartment, I had to tackle a tax day crisis of epic proportions, doing everything myself at the last minute after plans to hire it out fell through. Regular income tax returns (state and federal) coincided with monthly sales tax returns (two states) and figuring out estimated taxes for next year (state and federal again). All of this made for an unpleasant couple days, although at least I should be more prepared for next year. Then it was off to St. Leonard on the Chesapeake for a well-earned break, collecting fossils on the beach and staying in the cabins where my mother has been spending her spring vacation for the past several years. I came home with a couple dozen teeth from prehistoric sharks to add to my collection from years past. I’ll have to think of what to do with them—shark’s tooth stitch markers anyone?

Since then, things have started to get back to normal. I’ve been dyeing yarn, updating the shop, finally updating the blog, and all the other things that go along with running a business (including planning a new yarn club, which I’ll be announcing next week via the newsletter). I’m learning that there’s really no “normal” when you run a small business and are responsible for every aspect of it. But that’s part of what makes it exciting.

Spring Blossoms in Washington DC

Things have been busy lately (as usual) and I haven’t been blogging very much. However, there have been some big changes in my life that I’m hoping will allow me to be a bit more present on this blog. A few weeks ago I put in my notice to my job and Friday was my last day. I’ll now be focusing on Wandering Wool full time and I’m hoping this will allow me to finally pursue all the ideas I have for growing the business, rather than struggling to get by. I’m really excited and more than a little nervous. I know there will be lots of adjustments as I settle in to running my own business from home and it’s going to take a little while for it all to sink in. But so far I haven’t had a lot of time to think about it because I’ve been pretty busy.

I’m getting ready for my first show on April 14–the Olde Liberty Fibre Faire. I received a UPS delivery of three large and very heavy boxes the other day, containing my tent and tables for my booth (they are now sitting in my tiny hallway taking up a lot of room). I got a banner printed up, lots of business cards, receipt books, a cash box,

Row Houses in Adams Morgan

Square for credit card processing…the list goes on. I still need to think about how to set up my booth and go through my inventory to decide what yarn I want to dye for the show. I’m glad this is a small event to start with. I’m planning to do some bigger shows in the future but I know I need some practice first.

I’ve also been dyeing up a large wholesale order for Looped Yarn Works. I’ll be having a trunk show at the shop from 3-5 PM on April 21 as part of Metro Yarn Crawl, which I’m looking forward to. Ideally I’d like to knit up a few more samples for the fiber festival and the trunk show, but that might be wishful thinking.

It’s also time to put together this month’s yarn club shipments–the mini skein club and the sock yarn club. Those ship between April 10 and 15 and dividing all those minis always takes forever. This month’s theme is Sweets and I’ve set up a Pinterest board of inspirations. These are making me hungry just looking at them… I’ve also just decided on May’s theme: Outer Space! That’s going to be a fun one. I’ll post inspirations soon, but first to

Church Steeple, Columbia Heights

finish dyeing up the April yarns. I have a few more colorways to do, once I empty off my three drying racks–they’re at maximum capacity right now with a fan going for faster drying.

Finally, I’ve been getting behind on updating the shop. I added a few items last week and there will be a few more coming this week, but I’m hoping for a bigger update next week. I will be restocking the new Cherry Blossom colorway this week in Rock Creek Sock and now in the 50/50 merino silk Udaipur Fingering yarn as well.

As I get back to my yarn and a three-month backlog of bookkeeping and other organizational tasks, I’ll leave you with a few photos taken during my post office run on Monday, my first day as a full time yarnie.

Wingspan Shawl in Lang Jawoll Magic

It used to be that I was always looking for something more challenging and more complicated to knit. Lace, cables, colorwork, really large projects on thin yarn and tiny needles…the more the merrier. But lately I’ve noticed that these are the types of projects that are languishing for months, untouched. Pretty much the only time I’ve had to knit recently is when I’m too tired to do all the other things I would otherwise be doing, which isn’t a condition that’s conducive to really complicated knitting. So I’ve found myself gravitating to something I thought I had given up as tediously simple: garter stitch. Knitting one stitch after another with no cables, no color changes, and no lace patterns provides just the relaxation my tired brain needs.

It does help that there have been popular garter stitch patterns popping up all over the place. My sock yarn blanket was a garter stitch pattern and that was mostly what I worked on in the beginning of the year. Then one day I put it down and haven’t picked it up since. After that I focused on the Ulmus shawl and actually finished it in a little over a month. Although it looks more complicated, 90% of it is really just garter stitch, alternating colors and with a slipped stitch pattern. And I didn’t get tired of that stitch pattern until I was nearly done with that section. Then (after finishing off a pair of socks that had been on the needles for far too long) I got caught up with the latest pattern craze: Wingspan. This is (surprise, surprise) basically a garter stitch pattern. It’s a stroke of brilliance in that it looks complicated and the effect is stunning, especially when knit in a self-striping yarn with long color changes. But really all it is is a series of offset triangles shaped with short rows, which used to intimidate me but are really not complicated at all.

So, I just finished my Wingspan shawl tonight and it is blocking on mats on the floor. I’ll post finished photos once it’s dry and I take some pictures in daylight. I used a skein of Lang Jawoll Magic 6-ply, which is actually a single-ply, sport weight wool with gorgeous long color changes in purple, red, orange and green. It was a 150g skein and I have less than 6g left. It was lots of fun to watch the yarn change colors as I knit. Plus, one of the great benefits of garter stitch is that it won’t have a tendency to curl when finished like stockinette stitch. Overall, an under-appreciated stitch, garter stitch is.

Now that I’m finished with my Wingspan I’ll need another project, of course. I actually think I’ll try to make some progress on my Nightsongs shawl, which I started almost exactly a year ago and have made little progress on. I’m not sure why this is because I love the pattern, really love the yarn, and think they are a perfect match. The yarn is a lavender-colored, hand-dyed BFL/alpaca blend from The Uncommon Thread and is some of the softest yarn I’ve ever knit with. It was actually my first Etsy purchase and that wasn’t as long ago as it seems, now that Etsy has taken over my life. This yarn really deserves to become something beautiful rather than languishing in a pile of UFOs (unfinished objects). But the pattern is lace with beading–a far cry from garter stitch.

I think I’ll revisit garter stitch soon though. There are so many other great new garter stitch patterns. Some, like Hitchhiker, are solid colored (or as solid as the yarn, anyway). Others play with different patterns of stripes, like Veera Välimäki’s Stripe Study and Color Affection. Despite its really long rows and lots of garter stitch, I think there might be a Color Affection shawl in my future. Unlike all the lacy things I like to knit, this would actually be a very practical shawl–I could see myself wearing this a lot, even around the house. I have an idea of the color scheme and I’m tempted to knit it in Wandering Wool Udaipur, if I can justify using that much silk blend as a “sample.” Except that I would probably not be able to use it as a shop sample because I would never take it off.

Rock Creek Sock in Cherry Blossom colorway

Actually, spring has been here for a while. In some ways, winter never came this year. But now spring is here in earnest–the cherry blossoms are in full bloom and it’s been in the 70s most days. Sadly, I haven’t been able to enjoy the beautiful weather that much, except walking to and from work. At least my walk is long enough that I get to observe the changing of the season. One of the things I love about spring, other than the fact that it means winter is ending and warm weather is returning, is that each day everything looks different. The trees look different, there are new flowers blooming, and old ones have dried up. So, inspired by spring, I’ve dyed up a few new colorways inspired by my favorite season in this city: Cherry Blossom (pictured) and Azalea. Both really remind me of the flowers they were named after and they are available as part of tonight’s shop update.

I’ve also been knitting a little here and there. I was able to complete my Iknitarod socks, also known as Paper Moon Socks, before the end of the Iditarod sled dog race. It felt good to accomplish a knitting goal (lots of those have fallen by the wayside lately) and it also felt good to have the socks finally finished. I remember when I started them

Paper Moon Socks in Rock Creek Sock

back in October as I was gearing up for fall knitting season. Now I can use them for a sample for some upcoming yarnie events I’ll be doing–the Olde Liberty Fibre Faire on April 14th and a trunk show at Looped Yarn Works on April 21st. This is the first project I’ve finished out of Rock Creek Sock and it’s about time, because this is by far my most popular yarn.

I have another small project I cast on for recently, and actually it’s in a yarn that’s not mine, for once. I’ll share more details soon once I get some proper photos. I’m really enjoying both the pattern and the yarn, and it’s going pretty quickly. I love patterns that are both interesting and easy at the same time.

Ulmus Shawl in Helvellyn Sock

It’s time for my favorite annual knitting challenge: the Iknitarod. It’s a knit-along on Ravelry during the running of the Iditarod dogsled race in Alaska that started on Saturday. It’s great fun to try and complete a project while following the mushers on their trek across the Alaskan wilderness. The race lasts approximately two weeks, although it seems to get shorter each year. This year looks to be no exception, so I’ll have to get working on my projects and try to carve out some more knitting time. I chose two WIPs (works in progress) that I wanted to finish. One was my Ulmus shawl (pictured), which was already done up the lace edging. I finished and blocked it over the weekend and I absolutely love it. I used Helvellyn Sock in Royalty and Cinderella colorways (the names go well together too, although I didn’t plan it that way). The yarn turned out to be just right for the project, with a nice drape and a bit of a sheen from the Blue Faced Leicester wool. And the colors are just right together–enough contrast to show the pattern, but not too much. This color combo in Helvellyn Sock has been a big hit in the shop–it keeps selling out. I dyed some more in both colorways over the weekend and will be listing it during this week’s shop update on Thursday (March 8 ) at 8PM Eastern.

My second Iknitarod challenge is my Paper Moon socks, which I started back in October. I’m knitting them toe up and two at a time, and I’m just working on the gusset for the heel. I had the make the foot section much longer than the pattern called for, partly because my feet are unusually large and partly because I knit unusually tightly. I’m making the medium size and in retrospect I should have made the large. I think (hope) they will fit me in the end, but I had to make them longer than normal because as they stretch width-wise, they shrink length-wise. The real test will be whether the heel is large enough, because that will be the difference between being able to get my feet into them or not. As I write this, I realize I could still go up a needle size when I start turning the heel. Knitting them both at once will also mean I won’t have to worry about making sure to change needles in the same place on both socks–it will happen automatically. That might keep the leg and heel from being too tight, and also help me finish by the time the last mushers reach Nome. At the rate things are going, it’s going to be a challenge to finish the socks before the Iditarod ends, and having to rip anything out will mean that will definitely not happen.

In shop news, I’m having a sale on all lace yarns until Friday, March 9, with those yarns marked down 15%, for those who are starting to think about spring knitting and have some lace projects in mind. There’s a good range of colors, some variegated and some semi-solid.

I also came across this blog recently, written by a woman in France who bought some of my Udaipur Fingering in Pinot Noir colorway last fall. She’s finished her project and it looks gorgeous. I also really love all of her photography. Something to strive for… The blog is in French but the photos speak for themselves.