It's Almost Farmer's Market Time!

It's hard to believe that summer is almost over...seems like the year is flying by!  Now that I'm out of school, the end of summer isn't such a letdown.  Now that I'm a "big girl", it means cooler weather, llama shows, and of course the beginning of *my* farmer's market season!  (I specify *my* farmer's market season, because the market has actually been running since May, but I only sign up for the second half, since I figure it would be hard to sell wool hats in 80* weather!)

I've really begun to enjoy going to the farmer's market.  I wake up nice and early every Saturday, drive to Hamilton (a college town about 30 minutes north of where I live), set up, and then spin and talk to people (and hopefully sell a few things!) for 5-6 hours!  What fiber enthusiast could wish for much more?  Of course on the days when the weather is iffy it is a bit less fun, but the gorgeous fall days make up for it.

All winter my mom and I have slowly been building up my inventory of knit items to sell at the market.  I take other things like handspun yarn and insoles, but the knit accessories really steal the show.  I think I've got a great selection this year, and hopefully my future customers agree!

The market starts for me in just under 2 weeks...August 8!  Hopefully I'll have my new llama by then.  (Long story short, the original transporter changed her route so she couldn't pick up May.  I'm still searching for a new one, but I do have a promising lead!)  Can't wait!

Farmer's Market!

I was so busy getting new listings up on Etsy that I almost forgot about the blog!

I got to spend a beautiful day on Saturday at the Hamilton (NY) Farmer's Market!  I once again signed up for the second half of the market season (August 9-Novermber 1), and Saturday was the first day for me.

It started out quite cold for early August, and my spot is right under a tree so it was pretty chilly for most of the day.  I'll probably regret that decision (wanting to be under the tree) once it gets really cold, but oh well.

I'm using my awesome new A-frame display to showcase most of my small knit stuff, and it worked out great.

I also debuted my new poop tea...aka soil health improvement tea.  Unfortunately no one bought any, but hopefully it will catch on!

Overall it wasn't a bad day.  It is hard to sell wool knit clothing in the summer, but things will pick up once it gets cold!

Busy Weekend at the CNY Fiber Festival!

I need to apologize for not posting on Saturday, but I have a good excuse...  I was at the CNY Fiber Festival all weekend!

Batts, roving, and finished items.

It was my first time vending at a true fiber festival in a long time (I did the Fiber Event and the Hoosier Hills Fiber Fest in Indiana when I was in high school and college), and it was a great experience.  The campground where they held the festival was only about 40 minutes from our farm, so my husband and I went up Friday afternoon to set up.  Saturday was cold and cloudy, but there were tons of shoppers!  And probably due to the cold, they were buying finished items (knit hats, cowls, mitts, etc.)!  I've never sold so many finished items at a fiber festival before.  Sunday was much nicer in terms of weather, but there were a lot less people.  Luckily the sales I made on Saturday made up for Sunday!

My awesome new display covered in handspun yarn.

Rugs and felted wool bags.

Overall it was a great weekend.  It is always fun hanging out with other fiber nuts, and catching up with people you haven't seen in awhile.  Plus I was able to do a  lot of llama education, which is awesome!

The other side of my yarn display.

Can't wait for next year!

Countdown to the CNY Fiber Fest!

It is getting close...the CNY Fiber Fest that is!  Just a little over a week away, and I still have a ton of stuff to do!

I have been busy though...  I've been spinning like mad, finishing up some last-minute knitting patterns, and sanding my new display.

At my "day job", I've been carding 4 final batches of fiber.  One was done last week, I did 2 more today, and I think the last one will get done tomorrow.  The first batch is all wound into 4oz balls, but I still need to do the last 3.

Unfortunately I still have a ton of stuff to do!  

• One last batch of skeins (8 so far, we'll see if I get any more done before the weekend) that need to be washed
• Lots and lots of batts to card, wrap, & label
• Tons of skeins to measure, weigh, and label
• Patterns to fine tune and print
• Signs to design & print

Luckily I'm not too worried about getting it all done...I'd just like to get it all done before next Friday night!

Yarns

I have a bad habit of spinning what I'm comfortable with...which typically ends up being a smooth 2-ply yarn, either DK or worsted weight.

My default...DK-weight 2-ply yarn.

In preparation for my first big fiber festival in several years, I'm trying to break out of my shell and spin a greater variety of yarns to sell.

As far as the smooth 2-ply yarns go, I'm hoping to have a good variety of sport, DK, worsted, and aran/bulky weight yarns.  I also hope that I will have original patterns to go with each weight of yarn.

More smooth 2-ply yarn.

And then there are the "art" yarns...my achilles heel.

Last spring I was gifted a bunch of gorgeous rayon embroidery thread, so I've been doing a lot of thread/spiral ply yarns.  The smooth-spun singles end up being worsted/aran weight when plied, and I've also done some thick & thin singles that end up being bulky weight when plied.

A thick & thin single (dyed) plied with a smooth single (natural).  I really love how this one turned out.

A TNT single plied with rayon embroidery thread.

I still feel like I need to try some new art yarns though.  I have a couple great books that talk about spinning art yarns, but nothing really seems to catch my fancy right now.

One example of "art" yarn, in the middle.

I think I might re-visit corespinning or lockspinning.  I traded for some gorgeous locks last summer, and I finally got around to buying cotton crochet thread to use as a core!  I think there is some grey mohair calling my name...

A corespun, spiral-plied yarn.

Lockspun suri alpaca (black) plied with dyed multicolor tencel.

Lockspun suri alpaca plied on itself.

Extreme tailspun Wensleydale/Gotland fleece.

CNY Fiber Fair

I don't think I ever officially announced it...I got a booth space at the CNY Fiber Fair in June!  I'm really excited.  I've heard from friends who were past vendors that sales weren't great but they are improving every year, so hopefully they will continue to grow!

I have 3 big projects to work on before the festival...

First and foremost, I need to SPIN like crazy!  I do have quite an inventory (at least by my standards, maybe 60 skeins), but more is always better.  I've been pretty good though, trying to spin at least a skein or two each week.

Handspun yarn that I've finished in the last 2-3 weeks.

Second is figuring out and building a display.  I brainstormed ideas for a display with my mother, and we decided that something like an a-frame spool rack (typically used for winding rug warps) would be perfect.  I can display 2 rows of yarn on both sides, and the yarn can in a loose skein rather than twisted up.  I'm secretly hoping my uncle is going to make it for me...not sure if it is something I could figure out on my own.

This is originally what I wanted (metal grid panels), but they are EXPENSIVE!!

This is what we are thinking of now, with dowels on both sides.

And last but not least is writing more patterns for my handspun yarn!  I really need to get motivated with this, I wrote my last pattern more than a month ago.  I still need patterns for DK, Aran, Bulky, and art yarns.  I'd greatly appreciate suggestions if you have them!

My latest pattern, a sport weight cowl.

Yarn, Yarn, and more Yarn!

Well its day 1 of my new organizational scheme for this blog, hopefully I can keep it going!

I had intended to post a new knitting pattern today, but I still haven't gotten around to writing it up so I will try again next week.

A sneak-peek at my next knitting pattern.  This is using some of my handspun yarn, a sport-weight mohair/merino blend that I had processed at the mill I work at.

Until then, how about some yarn?!

I've actually been pretty good for the past month or so when it comes to spinning.  I'm hoping to get a booth at the CNY Fiber Fest in Bouckville, NY in June, and want to debut my handspun yarn and patterns there.  So...I need to get spinning!

My yarn display at a previous craft fair.  I'll have to come up with something a bit bigger for the CNY FF!

Technically I have quite a bit of inventory (at least it seems like a lot to me), but most of it is at 2 yarn shops in NY and PA.  If I do get my booth I plan on getting all that yarn back (probably adds up to 40 skeins or so), but I felt like I should still spin as much as possible before June to build up some inventory.

One of my favorite skeins that is at the yarn shop in PA, a luscious blend of superfine merino, cashmere, and silk.

Most of what I spun the past few weeks is fiber that I got in various trades.  I found a great fiber trade group on Facebook last summer, and did quite a few trades since then.  It has really turned out to be a great deal for me (and hopefully my trading partners)!

So...onto the yarn pictures!  All of these skeins will end up in my Etsy store in the next week or so.

Merino.

Wool blend spiral plied with rayon embroidery thread.

Merino/silk/bamboo.  One of my new favorites, I'll definitely try to trade for more!

A Christmas present, BFL/tussah silk.

American-grown (and spun) wool.

My other big project before the CNY FF is to write up several more knitting patterns to use with my handspun yarn- my plan is to sell yarn (and fiber) with the patterns as kits.  So far I have 3 patterns done, 2 for worsted weight and 1 for sport weight.  I still need a DK, bulky, and art yarn pattern (2 of each would be even better!).  So, if you have any suggestions for patterns that you'd like to see designed, please leave a comment!  I'm thinking about a hat, ear band, and maybe a buttoned cowl.

One of my other knitting patterns, thrummed convertible mittens!

Don't forget, check back on Thursday for a llama update, and Saturday for my first gardening post!

Busy Knitting Month

January has been a very busy knitting month.  After spending most of November and December knitting big projects (namely my first handspun sweater and the convertible thrummed mittens that I designed and knit for my sister), I was ready for some instant satisfaction-type projects!  I'm trying to build up inventory for the farmer's market this fall!

My first goal was to finish a cabled scarf that I started back in undergrad.  I took it back to Indiana for Christmas to be my plane knitting project, and managed to get most of the second half finished.  Another few days of knitting and it was done!  After checking my Ravelry page for the project, I realized it took me 5 years and 9 days to knit the scarf!  Don't worry, there was a HUGE hiatus in the middle!

Before Christmas, I bought 4 skeins of blue-face leicester yarn from the fiber mill where I'm working to make my husband a fair-isle ear band.  The project only called for about 150 yards of yarn, but I needed 4 colors so I ended up with 4 times that much!  For the past year or so I've really been trying to use up scrap balls of yarn rather than buying new, so after I finished his ear band I decided I should use up the remaining 4 balls of yarn.  I figured that I would have enough to make 2-3 more hats, so I found some cool striped patterns and got to work.

I made 2 adult-sized hats, and then decided to make a toddler-sized one in case I ran out of yarn.

But I finished that hat and still had more yarn!  So I took the softest of the bunch and made a cute (and semi-original) bear hat.  With the remaining dyed colors I made an ear band, thinking that would definitely use up the rest of the yarn.

NOT!  By the end of the 4th project I still had parts of 2 balls left...not enough for an entire project, but more than I wanted to waste.  Luckily I had some gorgeous tan handspun llama yarn sitting around waiting for a project, so I cast on yet another striped hat!

Technically I still have 5-10 yards left between the two colors, but I'm calling it quits!  Eventually I'll make a few flowers and leaves out of the scraps, and use them to decorate other projects.

In between the knitting projects I got a little spinning done.  I had been wanting to sample one of the roving blends I had processed at the mill back in September, but never quite found the time.  So I broke out 8 ounces and went to work!  I really love how it spun up!  This is 80% llama, 10% turquoise merino, and 10% firestar, and is available in my Etsy shop!

In early January I was able to get 4 more fiber blends made into roving.  One was a gorgeous fawn alpaca/black baby cormo blend, and it really spoke to me.  So of course it had to be my next spinning project!  I just finished spinning the 8 ounces of singles this morning, and sometime this week I will get around to plying it all.  It is a bit more uneven, but oh so soft!

It looks like my last project of the month will be one of my own design.  I'm trying to design a few more patterns this spring, so that I can offer kits with my handspun yarn or rovings.  The project I have in mind will be a simple lace and texture cowl knit with sport weight yarn.  I should be able to post the pattern here and on Ravelry in a few weeks!