Black Trillium's March/April KAL

Its been fun to see folks get into talking about their Multnomah. I love the way mine has finished up:

Its really too bad there's only a few skeins left of this yarn, because it makes amazing lace. The color is Turquoise Gothic, which I will definitely be bringing back on a regular basis to my Etsy site.

Okay, so I'm beginning to see the fun in doing a Knit-along, which means its time to think about what to do for March/April. I'd like to try socks this time, and here's what I think looks interesting (but not insanely hard like the ones I'm casting on after the Ravelypics):

Skew by Lana Holden
- maybe this is a little too popular, but the original construction makes it a must-knit. If you're already working on them, great!

Pyroclastic by Marlowe Crawford
- another Knitty Winter '09 pattern, I really like the foot shaping and I'm always down with an Eye of Partridge heel with hand-dyed yarn.

Knee Socks! by Diana Parrington
- If we're giving ourselves two months to knit something, a pair of straight-forward knee-high socks would be a great challenge. I may be bad and use a couple of the fantastic Noro Kureyon colors in my stash rather than my own yarns.

Esther Socks by Stephanie van der Linden
- Sorry, I couldn't find a non-Ravelry link to this one. My friend Star knit a pair, which is how I found the pattern, and I love the look of them.

I'm not looking for a "so say we all" of 30 people, just a few folks that think "hey, that looks cool". The Black Trillium Ravelry group has a posting as well, if you want to chime in there, and I'll be sending out the final decision in my March/April (e)mailer.

By the way, if you have a write-in suggestion, leave it in the comments.

It Rains, But It Frakking Pours

Pop Culture Zoo colorway

Things are definitely building at Black Trillium, and a lot of it seems to be happening at the same time as Sock Summit. My dear husband, the Editor-In-Chief of Pop Culture Zoo (for which this colorway was named) is heading off to San Diego Comic-con 2009 starting with Preview Night on July 22nd, and isn't coming home until that following Sunday. I get to be in Seattle that whole time, which means no dyeing for five or six days(eek!), but I'll get to see my BF and her fam instead.

Then we come back from Seattle and the madness begins. I'm going to attempt to take part in Dye For Glory (what a great name) in two of the categories, and the judging should give me some idea if I need to dye mass quantities of my entries or just a few. I have colors picked out, but I can't reveal anything until I list them in my stash. I'll tweet the heck out of it, don't worry.

Then the Summit happens. I'm hoping to be part of the set-up crew, and I'm working Saturday, in the Twisted booth. You'll know me by the knee-high orange and red stockings I'll be wearing, probably with shorts because I don't think I'm going to have time to go skirt shopping between now and then. Maybe in Seattle on my forced mini-vacation from the dyepots.

Right around Summit, I'm delivering two more wholesale orders for entirely new wholesale customers. I'm as shocked as anyone, I didn't really know that anybody outside of local yarn stores had noticed my yarns. But apparently somebody in Canada thinks my work is worth looking at. There's a new feature on my sidebar to let everybody know where to get my yarns, and I'll post links there once I can share them.

So, if you're curious to hear updates in Ravelry, check out my new-ish group, or catch up with me on Twitter to see when I post new items.

Thinking Inside the Box: a contest of sorts

I've been thinking a lot about what I do with the insides of my yarn orders as I pack them up and send them off to their future homes. I decided to start a contest for ideas in my Black Trillium yarn group. Check it out here if you're interested in chiming in and getting your idea in the hat for a fun yarnie prize.



Today, I very casually listed a few more skeins of Meriamboo II, including the one pictured above. Within an hour, said skein, christened Tank Grrl by my dear sweet hubby, was gonzo. Well, it's technically still "here", but not for long. So, I'll be dyeing Tank Grrl up again and posting it next week, if not earlier.