Unpack Already

We live in an apartment, which means even though we have three bedrooms, space is still tight. Unlike a house, which usually has an actual dining room and living room as well as some sort of play or family room, apartments (unless you truly pay through the nose) don't. So the third bedroom is our computer/storage/workspace room and has been home to an absurd amount of boxes for the last year. I've picking away at them slowly, and we've carved a space for two desks, but that isn't a tremendous amount of progress for twelve months. Monday I decided, subconsciously, to remedy this situation. My motivation: my husband needs some documents of an official sort to renew his DL. So, after two days of searching, sorting and carting away the rubbish, no appropriate documents have been found.

My house is a righteous mess. For instance, in my search I found nine years worth of shredding to get done. I am not kidding, and my ex who is responsible for four of those years worth of junk, kept every bleeding receipt. I think I'm about two thirds of the way through, and there's a (second) thirty-gallon garbage bag full waiting to go out. There is also a small vacuum that no longer works, a several unusable children's toys ready to head out as well. It's, well, without belaboring the details, a freakin' nasty untidy mess. Anybody want to help?

The upside to this is that once all the sorting has been done and the two and half years of comics and bill filing done, and the storage boxes and various things put away, the computer room will be a much pleasanter place to be. Certainly not an extra guest bedroom like I'd hope - we have too much crap for that - but much, much better.

I guess this is my bonus for finally deciding which road to take this summer. My family and my home are still where it's at for me. The yarn business isn't a hobby - I can't stand the idea that someone would start something like this as a hobby and put their customer service second place because they aren't building a long-term business - but my own business is still not so important that my child (and future children) should get second place either.

The place is a mess, but I'm taking the day off. Dishes and laundry is it for me, and I'm still hoping I can get the kid out of the house for a walk at the Nature Park. Yesterday was stunningly beautiful, but somehow I prefer the shade and the ability to wear wool.

As an added bonus for you, if you could actually stand to read all the way through this boring post, is that I'd like you to have free shipping on any orders you place before Saturday morning. There are about three days left to get my yarn at a discount, and I love to get the shop down to zero items if at all possible. Just mention "unpacked" in the buyer's notes.

This is "Claire" by the way. Named after a friend who inspired a really gorgeous custom colorway, I've decided this one is a keeper. I have two of them rattling around, and it would look fantastic with "Margeaux" knit up as something stripey or as Spot Check from the new handknit sock book.

Take care and happy knitting!

Monday: Listed

In publishing this list I hope to keep track of enough things to actually get a few done.

1. Write up Scrip Order Processor job description. (it's a co-op preschool thing which has to be done by Wednesday)
2. Draft interview for CFF fundraiser walk - want to help by posting something on PCZ.
3. Start socks for Mother's Day gift. Size 2's and vanilla basic sock. Should only take a few days to finish these.
4. Resend letter to J. The one I didn't send was very quickly outdated. Joy of snail trail mail and hand-written letters.
5. Vacuum. The whole house.
6. Choose pattern and yarn for Q2 challenge at Loopy Ewe.
7. Make a dent in financial paperwork for Black Trillium. (this is the one I keep avoiding) With taxes finished, the rest should be cake, right?

Okay, seven is enough, right? Let's see what I forgot to remember come tomorrow.

Afternoon addendum:

8. Scrub the pink out of the bathtub before it gets unsightly.
9. Scrip order. By Tuesday morning.
10. Send out BTFS orders.
11. Pay some bills, enter some receipts, reconcile, then freak out because we spend too much money.
12. Transplant pea starts and get some compost into the other pots (for tomatoes!).
13. Clean and hang hummingbird feeder.

Odds and ends I should squeeze in there somewhere...

14. Get zoo pics from sister. My son and my niece were totally cute, holding hands and being sweet. They looked like they could be siblings.
15. Dye some yarn. Site needs Twilight Garden and backup Rainbow Black. Plus a skein or two of the PCZ colorway and some more Crushed Berries. All space-dyed, which I detest.
16. Start packing up April birthday gifts to be sent out.
17. Grocery shopping.
18. Write review of Disney discs for PCZ before another deadline completely blows us by.
19. Respond to emails.
20. Get more color photos up on BTFS Facebook page...

Alright, this list has gotten out of hand...

21. Darn hubby's DIC socks. Which begs the question: Tear out current WIP DIC socks?

Big Orders Out

...Very Little New On For Etsy.

Over the course of having two shops, one successful one not, on Etsy, the thing I've learned that works if you don't have a ginormous advert budget is to post a new thing every day in your primary category. This week at Black Trillium hasn't been the epitome of practicing that knowledge. And actually, that's good news on other fronts.

You know when somebody's opinion means a lot to you because they have accidentally become a rather important part of your life? Well, that would describe my LYS's Knit Night group, and our fearless leader, Jami the Owner. Our lovely Wednesday night soiree is filled with a diverse group of local knitters that are funny, articulate, kind, generous (you should see the blanket they all put together for a new baby in the group!), and talented. So the idea that they get to see my yarn in a retail setting is a bit daunting.

I've been enjoying my time as a customer at The Knitting Bee for about two years. Today, I became one of their wholesalers.



I'll have lots of competition this spring to sell my sock yarn at The Bee: Malabrigo Sock arrives next week, the new Mini Mochi arrived today, Jojoland Melody arrived earlier in the week. I have heard rumors that my old dyeing partners, now known as Frog Creek Fibers, have received an order from Jami, and that she has also ordered Madelainetosh Sock Yarn and a couple of others. All of this fun new yarn coming in makes it all kinds of fun to go in every Wednesday and browse and chat with friends. (I'm secretly hoping those friends don't notice my yarn while I'm there, or I'll get terrible stage fright.) But I'm stoked like all heck that my very own LYS is interested in my Black Trillium Merilon Sock.

So wish me luck, folks, because I've reached my 2-store quota for Portland, and I have my sights set on Seattle next.

Snowpocalypse 2008

Or Snowmageddon. Either way, we've been stuck inside for a couple days now. Yesterday, I finished a ton of knitted gifts, today my bedroom got cleaned from top to bottom, including moving everything out of the closet to vacuum. At this point, if tomorrow doesn't ease up just a little (and I don't think it's going to) I'll either wind up dyeing every single ounce of raw fibre and yarn I own, or we'll risk life and limb to a.) go somewhere or b.) play outside and get some exercise. Our school has already called Uncle, and as far as I know I'm not getting any hours at Wil Sonoma.

Maybe these fun pics can distract you:

Coming soon...a finished child's garment in HMS. I can't knit enough of this stuff! Also keep an eye open for the aforementioned fibre - I have some undyed roving that is just begging to become Gorgon, Roy G Biv, Chocolate Cherry and Black Trillium.

Your Portland Local

I have a wonderful thing to tell you - my yarn is now available in a store other than my own!

Twisted over on 23rd and Broadway, owned by the lovely Emily and Shannon, placed an order a couple weeks back. I delivered it today, much to my relief. (It seems I cannot sit and knit peacefully when I have work to do.) Shannon seemed to enjoy it, and I hope her customers will as well. We shall see.

I dropped off some HMS, (oh this yarn is becoming my all-time favorite, it's so soft), Merilon Sock and Meriamboo sock. If you're local, and you go by Twisted, I'd love to hear what you think!

Betrayed by Sock Yarn

As happens every so often, I recently did a reorganization of my stash. It helps me get a clear picture of what holes I have in my stash, and what projects I bought yarn for that maybe I've forgotten about. I also get to play with color, which is fun and enlightening. Oh, and who doesn't love the manhandle a whole bunch of cushy, sweet-smelling wool?

I found out two things about myself in my last yarn reorg that I thought I'd share:



1. I am a fetishist. Can you see a common thread in those colorways above? The same can be seen in the bin where I keep my greens, blues and purples. I like particular color combos and tend not to deviate from them very widely. This is not good news for our dyeing.



2. I like pink. Wait, what? I've told people outright (Emily, I can hear that smirk all the way over here) that I hate pink. I used the word hate. That's a pretty strong word, right? Well, I stand contradicted.

If anyone would like to find out just how OCD I am about sock yarn and particular colorways, you can check out my stash on Ravelry. The whole thing should be up there, as I've found it to be an excellent dose-of-reality tool. Here's the link.

We've been dyeing away in anticipation of our Ravelry ads going up. Here's a sample of what we've come up with in the last week or so:







We've been working with a new wool and nylon blend sock yarn that is absolutely fabulous. Nicely plied, very soft, very little halo (unlike some of the other wool/nylons we've worked with) and takes dye like a sponge. I can't wait to see how it knits up.

Here's a bit of a laugh to end with, especially if you're a Trekkie.

Tangled Up In Blue

Free of deadline gift knitting, I've gone right back to my old flame - Socks. Okay, so I was checking out the lines on a Sunrise Circle Jacket pattern, knitting, ripping, editing to match gauge and bodily peculiarities. But that isn't cheating. I didn't spend more than a week on the sweater before I slagged back home to the Socks.



Above is my most recent attempt to reflavor vanilla. Koigu, baby. I'm totally in love, and it shows. I knit the entire first sock in 24 hours, and I've actually cast on the second instead of moving to the next yarn and letting the single snooze.



Strawberry Fields. Love them.



Schaefer Anne. A colorway I like to call Buffy. Yes, as in the Slayer.



Jade basketweave socks. Shibui sock yarn. Gack. I have 2 more skeins, and that's all I'm ever going to buy. It was like knitting with cheap unmercerized cotton, only not as good. The socks are pretty, though.



Jaywalker, second attempt. I cast on the larger number of stitches this time. Still no success. I'm inclined to stick to Vanilla for the time being.