Fiber Week in Review: March 23-29

I learned a valuable lesson this week. Don't schedule a big editing project when I have a fiber festival in the middle of it. Even though I didn't count the days I'd be at DFW Fiber Fest in my time for my project, I realized that I needed an extra day or two after the festival to decompress. But I couldn't do that because I had to finish up a project. So the bags sat around unpacked, laundry undone, and  goodies from fiber fest unloved (I even forgot to bring them to my knitting group last week for our show and tell!). But I got the editing done on time and then was able to catch up on other things.

I spent Thursday doing inventory from fiber fest, taking pictures of the remaining yarn, editing said picture, writing listings, and preparing for the update I had announced would occur that evening. And that's when I learned another valuable lesson. Setting up a massive update like that takes way more time that I thought. It took me all day--literally. And when the update time rolled around, I had only finished listing 3.5 of the 6 bases. I finally finished adding everything about an hour and a half after that. Next time, I'll make sure that I don't save everything all for one day. It was pretty stressful. But the shop is updated with yarn and patterns!

Onto the rest of my fiber week.

Knitting: I've made progress on my Purplicious socks! I got through the heel and finished the gusset decreases so now it's straight on to the toe.

I planned the heel of the second sock a little bit better than the first so it doesn't have the skinny stripe that the first has across from the heel. Not that I don't like the first sock, but I do like the second one a bit better. But although the slip stitch heel with the flap and gusset fits my foot well, I'm really going to have to try out another heel to help keep the stripes going. If I remember right, the heel on the OMG Heel socks seemed to work better with self-striping. When I made them before, my gauge was a bit loose so the socks are a little big around but I think I'll give that one a try again. I'm not a super big fan of the fit of the afterthought heel. Perhaps it's time to try the Fork in the Road socks. Actually, I should probably go ahead and pick up a copy of Sock Architecture by the same designer, Lara Neel. Be right back.

Okay, I just picked up the PDF copy of Sock Architecture. I'll do the Fork in the Road socks next and also dig into the book and try out some other options. Because I did get a few skeins of self-striping sock yarn recently... First up will be the Fishknits -- and I'll be using my new Signature DPNs for the first time.

In other knitting, I've been working steadily on the baby blanket. I can do about 4 rows during one hour long TV show (fast forwarding through commercials, so roughly 40 minutes). I'm trying to do a little on it every day although some days have been better than others.

I've also been working on another Dorigen Cowl, this time out of my Round Table Yarns Galahad. I'm on the last repeat of this one.

And I started a new design. More details in the Design section. Sneak peek:

So I've gotten a fair amount of knitting time in this week despite being super busy with everything else.

Spinning: This is what had to give this week. No spinning. :( But I have lovely new fiber (as well as lovely old fiber) so I need to get back into spinning just a little each day.

Stash Enhancement: Nothing this week. At least not personal stash. I did place an order for more undyed yarn. But that'll be discussed below in Dyeing.

Designing: I've finally gotten to the point in the baby blanket where I have a good idea of how many repeats are going to be needed. So I sat down at my computer and got the pattern written out. My plan is to get to the halfway point to confirm the numbers and then start the test knit. Based on how long it's taking me to do this, I think I need to give a good 6 or even 8 weeks for the test knit, so I want to make sure I leave plenty of time for that. Maybe I'll divide the test knit and ask for the first half to be finished within 4 weeks and the final blanket within 8. Pondering...

I also am feeling the itch for getting a pattern ready for testing, so I went back through my notes and picked out an idea for a cowl design that I had sketched out a while back. I wrote up a rough draft for it, picked colors (it's a 2-color cowl), and cast on last night. I'm already making decent progress, so I'm hoping it I concentrate on it this week that it will be ready for testing next week. In case you're interested, it's going to take 2 skeins of worsted weight yarn in 2 colors (one skein each). I'm using madtosh vintage, which now that I'm knitting with it again feels very much like my Lancelot base--wonder if we are using the same supplier.

Dyeing: I had brought some kits for my Don't Blink Illusion Hat and Scarf (enough yarn to knit both) to the DFW Fiber Fest and sold out. The dyepot was quiet early in the week, but yesterday I got it all set up again and started dyeing for some more kits. I did enough grey yesterday for 3 kits and will be doing the blue today. I hope to have these ready for an update this Thursday (again 7 PM CST), but will know for sure after today if I'm able to get enough blue dyed (that way they will dry in time for me to reskein by Thursday so they can be ready to mail immediately). I'll post an announcement on my Ravelry group and through my mailing list for when this update will occur.

I've also been trying out a couple of potential new bases. I wanted to get a DK weight 50/50 merino/silk to go with the Brynhild Cowl and I found a winner. I also wanted a fingering weight MCN because, well, MCN! (Plus it will be good for the Blanchefleur shawl as the original was knit in MCN.) And I have one more base that I ordered. That is going to be an experimental base for a technique that I've been wanting to try. I want to make sure it all works out before I announce it, so I'll keep you in suspense for now.

And I think that's it for this week!

Week in Review: DFW Fiber Fest

This week's review post will be a little different as the bulk of the week was taken up with DFW Fiber Fest (and preparation for it), so it'll be a recap of the event.

This was the 10th year for DFW Fiber Fest. It has grown from a very small event to a large yet still personal event. It is organized by a board of volunteers, and I don't think I can even imagine how hard they work to put everything together.

Two years ago, I went to DFWFF as a shopper. I didn't take any classes; I just met a friend on Saturday and shopped in the vendor hall. Last year I decided to take some classes and was a full weekend student (with a little shopping time thrown in). This year I was a vendor (sharing a booth with my friend Taya from Handspun Homestead).

The beginning part of the week was taken up by preparations for the event--making sure I had packed everything I would need and get everything situated at home (especially with the toddler) so things would run smoothly while I was gone (even though the convention center is not a long drive away from home, I decided to stay at the conference hotel this year, so I was immersed in the event). I did a little bit of knitting, and tried some techniques to produce some variegated yarn, but that's about it on the creative front.

New colorways: Olwen (x2) and Camlann

Thursday was set-up day. Thanks to the help of the wonderful Ted (from my knitting group), Taya and I were able to get the booth set up fairly quickly. We used Ikea shelves so there was some assembly required but it wasn't too bad. After arranging everything (and rearranging), there was just enough time for me to eat a quick dinner (thanks again to Ted for making a food run for us!) and check in at the hotel before the kick-off event: a talk from Stephanie Pearl-McPhee (aka the Yarn Harlot). She had given the talk at the previous year's event so I was really looking forward to this year's talk and was super happy to have made it in time.

As I was heading up to my room in the hotel to drop off my suitcase, who should walk out of the elevator but Jacey Boggs and her husband. Meeting Jacey in person had been one of my main goals for the event since I've been copy editing for her amazing spinning magazine, PLY. I still had my hamburger in hand (so I was tired and hungry) and my suitcase, so I smiled at her but didn't stop to introduce myself at that moment. I hoped that I'd be able to run into her again. I ran up to my room, ate my hamburger (which tasted so good since I was so hungry), and grabbed some knitting to take with me to the talk. When I got there, the doors were already open, so I went in and had a seat toward the back of the middle. I realized that I didn't know who from my knitting group was going to the talk, so I was looking around to see if anyone I knew was there, and on the opposite side of the aisle a row back from me, I again saw Jacey and her husband. Feeling this was a much better moment, I got up and went over and introduced myself, asking if I could sit next to them. Both Jacey and Levi are really great people and were welcoming and friendly. And Stephanie's talk--for all her nervousness about it since it was a brand new talk--was truly fantastic. It was a great kick-off to the fiber fest.

I went back to my room after that because I was really tired and went to bed not too long after. I'm not sure if I was nervous or if it was just sleeping in an unfamiliar bed, but I was wide awake at 4 am and couldn't get back to sleep. Not a great start to what would be a long day. But after some coffee and breakfast, I was ready to get back to the vendor hall and do some last-minute prep before the vendor hall opened.

Because this was my first time at DFWFF and was the debut of Round Table Yarns (so I didn't have any name recognition), I wasn't sure what to expect. I was pleasantly surprised within the first hour to have two knitters come over and ask about the Don't Blink Hat and Scarf kit (I had posted a preview on Ravelry), so I sold two of the four I had brought (another sold a little later in the day and the last on Sunday). That was exciting. So many people who came by over the course of the weekend stopped to admire the Blanchefleur Shawl sample that was sitting in the front of the booth. And people bought my patterns and yarn. Such a relief. There was a group who was especially excited about the yarn--the names were a big attraction--and came back multiple times. Seeing their enthusiasm and excitement is exactly what I've been hoping for (thank you gals so much for your enthusiasm!! It helped me feel a lot less nervous about the yarn launch). I want people to be excited by the yarn and patterns and want to use them. I'm looking forward to checking Ravelry over the next few months to see projects going up.

I also got to learn a lot more about SpinOlution wheels (my booth partner is a dealer), and it was a lot of fun to see people, both experienced spinners and brand new spinners, trying out the wheels. I had a lot of great conversations and met so many wonderful people throughout the weekend. I've been trying to decide which route to go for my business--should I pursue more wholesale types of options or more direct sales (which means me going to festivals) options and I realized that connecting with other knitters on a more personal basis is really what is important for me. I like seeing who buys my yarn and meeting them in person. I'm imagining a day when someone comes back by my booth to show off what they made from yarn they had bought the year before (as I saw happen with other vendors). So I'm going to see what I can do to pursue the fiber fest route (and perhaps some trunk shows) so I can get to more events and meet more knitters. (I'll still have my yarn and patterns available online as well.)

Even though I was in my booth most of the weekend, I took some time before the hall opened each day to walk around to the other booths and check out what was available. So many pretties! I decided that this year was the year of self-striping sock yarn for me, so that's what I focused on overall. I had been told that Sunday morning was fairly slow in the vendor hall so that was the time to do our own shopping. Since I had made a list of everything I wanted from my pre-show walks, I was able to zip around to each booth and get the items on my list fairly quickly. Here's my new stash:

I got some E-tomic Balm from Goodies Unlimited (which should help with some of the shoulder pain I've been having). For the sock yarn, I got yarn from Gynx Yarns, Wooly Wonka (whose dyer, Anne, and I had a lovely conversation about her venture with Elizabeth--the graphic designer who designed my Round Table Yarns logo--which is called Stitch Definition. In particular we discussed photography for some of my patterns), Brazen Stitchery, Must Stash, Tumbleweed Yarn, and Fishknits. The fiber came from Four Hens Fibers, October House, and Dawning Dreams. And I got some Signature DPNs in my most-used sock knitting size since I'm apparently going to be working on a lot of socks in the near future!

It was a tiring weekend and it felt good to be home, but it was such a great fiber fest. Thank you to the organizers and volunteers who worked hard to make it run so smoothly. Thank you to all the other vendors who made their wares so enticing. And thank you especially to those of you who stopped by my booth; I hope to chat with you again next year.

Finally, I'll be posting a shop update in my Etsy shop which will go live on Thursday, March 26 at 7 pm (CST). I'll have most of the following in the update:

Fiber Week in Review: March 9-15

It's been a busy week both personally and professionally. We had a weekend visit from my in-laws (which was lovely), so I didn't get any dyeing done this weekend as I had hoped (I wanted to make one last run before DFW Fiber Fest). And on a sad note, my mom had to put her dog to sleep on Saturday. He's been sick and in failing health for a while now and he was finally at the point where his quality of life just wasn't there, so she made the tough choice. We enjoyed teasing her about "one-fang" Clifford (he had bad teeth and kept having to get them pulled until he had just one left), but I know he was very important to her and she's going to be missing her companion.

Knitting: I finished the booth sample I had been working on: my Lyonet Hat in my Lancelot base (colorway Morgan le Fay). I wasn't truly worried about finishing on time (on time meaning for DFW Fiber Fest), but it does feel good to have it done (and even blocked).

I also made some sample swatches of three of my other bases. From top to bottom in the picture, I have Perceval (Lady of the Lake colorway), Guenevere (Nimue colorway), and Gawain (Tintagel colorway). Because I don't have time to make the full items in each base, I did these swatches for my booth for DFW Fiber Fest. I do plan to start a project (Dorigen Cowl) with the Galahad base, which will be my project to have with me to work on at DFW, so I'll have that as the sample for Galahad.

And with those projects crossed off the to do list, I was able to get back to work on the baby blanket. Each row takes quite a while, but I feel like I've actually made progress. And this will be my project to focus on now (the baby is due in May), so I hope to have a lot more to show in future updates.

Spinning: Once again I did a little bit of spinning this week. I finished the first bobbin (of two) of the fiber I started working with last week. I probably won't get a lot done this coming week with DFW Fiber Fest, but after that I hope to get back into spinning a lot more.

Stash Enhancement: Nothing to see here again. Looking forward to my after DFW update as I expect this to be the biggest section for next week's post!

Designing: The baby blanket is the focus right now. Once I get to the halfway point, I will write up the pattern (since by then I'll have a good handle on the overall size and amount of yarn needed). I have a friend who has expressed interest in test knitting it, so I'll probably send it her way at that point. I may go ahead and do the full test knit at that point or I may wait until I have the blanket finished first. I'm going to see how long it takes me to work on it myself to figure out how much time I should give the test knitters.

I also worked on some swatches for the shawl collection I had mentioned last week. I've gotten two finished with basic plans in mind, so I think I'll more fully flesh out those two and then start knitting the sample of the first one for whenever I want a break from the baby blanket. The swatches in the picture just used leftover bits of yarn as I was testing out the stitch pattern rather than actually swatching with the intended yarn. That's coming in the more fully fleshed out plan.

Dyeing: This week was a bit low key on the dyeing front. I didn't want to get overwhelmed with a bunch to reskein and label at the last minute so I've only done a little after the big push of last weekend. But I'm looking forward to having Round Table Yarns debut at DFW Fiber Fest. After that, I'll be posting regular updates in my shop and will be working on new colorways (I have some great ideas for some variegated colorways that I've been itching to try) and even a couple of new bases (I need one for the newly released Brynhild Cowl pattern, for example).

Sewing: I dusted off my sewing machine this week to make a craft apron for DFW Fiber Fest. At Knit Night, I found out that Joann's recently got some Doctor Who fabric, so the next day I ran up there and found three of the five that had been available (the two with the TARDIS were already sold out), so that's what I used. I don't know how to best fit sewing into my already packed schedule, but I did have a good time making this, so I'll need to break out the sewing machine every now and then for sure.

Luke: Oh my gosh, Luke was definitely acting like the three year old he is this week! From having to chase him all over the Nature Park (we went to see a demonstration with raptors and owls, but he didn't want to sit still and look at them--they were so cool though!) to having to figure out how he changed the theme on my computer and change it back (as well as cleaning off the pencil marks he scribbled all over my track pad), it's been crazy. I'm thinking that because it was Spring Break and he didn't have preschool or Little Gym, he just had way too much pent up energy. We'll have to figure out something for the summer. He will have Little Gym then, but no preschool, so we'll have to get some more activities in our routine so he doesn't drive me crazy!

Throwback Thursday: The Slippery Scarf

One of my best friends, Emily, is also a knitter although at first she was more of a crocheter. And she was sensitive to (if not allergic to) wool. I decided to knit her a scarf, which meant I couldn't use wool, but I also didn't want to use acrylic. So I got some Knit Picks Shine Worsted, which is a blend of cotton and "Modal® natural beech wood fiber (rayon)." Shine is definitely an apt name for the yarn. Not only did it have a sheen to it, it also was quite slippery. That meant that it felt nice and it was actually fairly nice to work with overall. But then it came time to weave in the ends.

And that's when the scarf changed from a pleasant project to a nightmare. Even though I wove in the ends like I always do, which seems fairly secure, this time the ends did not feel secure. I just knew that as soon as I clipped the leftover tail the woven in end would just pop right out and I had horrible images running through my head of the scarf just unraveling as my friend wore it. I was a bit desperate.

And in my desperation I did something that seems rather shocking--I used glue on my knitting. Yup. I took some fabric glue and put a little dot at the end of the yarn where I clipped it. I thought that it would help keep the end in place and the scarf wouldn't unravel. And it's true. It did do that. But there was one thing I didn't take into account--the glue dried and created a hard little lump. Oops. Well, at least it didn't unravel!!

Before weaving in the ends--a traitorous end can be seen in the upper right corner

(The pattern was the Rainy Day Scarf by Beth Collins, which produced a nice undulating effect. Also, it's amazing how pregnancy can change a woman's body--after having her daughter, Emily tried wool again and the sensitivity/allergy seems to have gone away. She's now a very happy wool knitter.)

Fiber Week in Review: March 2-8

Knitting: I finished the Palamon Hat with plenty of yarn leftover, so the hat and cowl can indeed be done from two skeins of King Arthur.

Pre-blocking picture. Blocking helps to even out that cabled section a bit more.

I think I worked on the baby blanket a tiny bit at the beginning of the week, but that wasn't my focus this week. Instead, I cast on with my Lancelot base in the Morgan le Fay colorway to do a sample of Lyonet for my DFW Fiber Fest booth. I got a little further along than this picture shows (almost two repeats of the pattern). It's been almost a year since I designed this pattern and I forgot how fun it is! And the yarn is super squishy, so I'm really enjoying working on the hat.

My other knitting for the week was swatching for some design ideas, so I'll save discussion of that for the Designing section below.

Spinning: I did some spinning this week! I looked through my fiber stash and originally thought that I would go for something with a lot of color. But this fiber jumped out at me:

It's alpaca and bamboo and is so soft. I got it during the DFW Yarn Crawl in 2013 when I visited the Fiberlady stop. It was a fun visit because I got to see the back of the shop with the machine that makes the yarn. Very neat!

I didn't do a ton of spinning, but I did spin for at least 15 minutes on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. So if I can do 15 minutes each day, I'll feel much happier about my spinning life. I'd love to do more, but I think making it a special part of each day is better than having one day every so often where I just spin all day. Here's my progress after Sunday's spinning:

The plan is to do a 2-ply. And it wants to spin up pretty fine so I'm thinking it'll be a fingering or even light fingering after plying (although the alpaca will probably puff up). I'm doing a short forward draw to make it more smooth overall (the bamboo seems to want that).



Stash Enhancement: Again, nothing here as I'm saving for DFW Fiber Fest. I did have a realization this week--I can dye yarn for my own projects. If I want to make a sweater, I could dye my own yarn for the sweater. I don't know why that didn't fully sink in until this week, but it was a neat realization!

Designing: I have had a shawl idea running through the back of my mind for a couple of weeks. I picked out yarn from stash for it and even have a name for it already and was planning to start it this week. But then I watched the Craftsy class on short rows (the new longer one, not the free one) and I've become smitten, especially with German short rows. My mind started flashing through a lot of different ideas, and I decided to focus on one (which is a shawl idea) for now. But then I was looking at various options for edgings and found five that I loved. I couldn't decide.

So that's when I had "the idea"--I'm now planning out a five-shawl collection that uses short rows for shaping and knitted on borders. Each will be in a different weight of yarn (well, I'm not going to do lace or bulky, so there will be a repeat, probably the fingering weight) and some will be one color and others will have two (or maybe three) colors. I've done swatches for two of the five so far and have picked out yarn for one. I'm really excited about this and looking forward to how it all comes together. Oh, and I already have a name for the collection and for each of the five patterns. But it's a secret for now.

I also have another unrelated to the collection but still using short rows idea for a shawl, so that's also in the back of my mind. So I guess that makes seven shawl ideas that I'm excited about and want to work on. Yikes! I'm sure I'll throw in another cowl or hat in there to break up all the shawls, but I'm having lots of fun thoughts about designing!

The blue/white on the bottom is the yarn for the first shawl idea that got bypassed for the shawl collection idea. It is Kauni Effecktgarn and the original skeining made it look like just blues so I was a little surprised when I caked it to see so much white. The top skeins (JulieSpins) together are for one of the shawl collection ideas.

Dyeing:  Still dyeing up a storm for DFW Fiber Fest, although I'm slowing down a little so I don't get too overrun with reskeining and labeling. I'm actually all caught up on reskeining and just have a few labels left to go. Of course, there's yarn still drying and yarn still dyeing or to dye, but it feels good not to have a huge backlog like I had built up. Just 1-1/2 weeks until booth setup, so I also need to create signs and get all the booth details situated. The fiber fest is sneaking up on me so it'll be here before I know it! If you're anywhere near the Dallas area, I hope you'll make it to the fiber fest and come by my booth to say hi.

Throwback Thursday: The Stocking That Wasn't

Socks. I've knit quite a few socks now, but one of my first experiences was doing a stocking for Christmas. I figured that doing what basically amounted to a large sock would be helpful in learning about sock construction. I was right in that sense. I did learn a lot with this project. But it did not turn into a useable stocking!

 

It does almost look a bit like the Grinch's stocking. So what went wrong?

After I turned the heel, I think I got mixed up over which way around I should go. I even think I may have somehow flipped the knitting inside out. I was working with DPNs which I wasn't very experienced with quite yet. After a few rounds, I noticed that something looked wrong. But instead of ripping back (because I didn't feel experienced enough to rip back to a certain place so felt that I would have had to rip back all the way to the beginning and didn't want to do that), I just figured out where I was supposed to be and kept going.

Then came time for the toe. Surely the pattern used a Kitchener graft, right? But apparently I must have either not done that--just decreasing until I had a couple of stitches or decreasing too much before the graft. I don't still have the stocking so I can't go check what actually happened.

The good news is that I tried the stocking again and the next time, I got a much more presentable and useable sock. Unfortunately, I didn't take a very good picture of it and I gave that one to a friend so can't take a better one. But even with the bad picture, surely the difference between the two is apparent.

Fiber Week in Review: February 23-March 1

Knitting: I finished my Arcite Cowl. The KAL runs through the end of this week. It's been so much fun seeing other people's cowls, and now I can add my finished version to the list. Although I still think this pattern is fantastic for variegated yarn, doing it in the more solid color isn't too bad. When I did the tutorial video, I used a grey color and although I rather like grey, it seemed a bit flat in the swatch I made for the video. I'm wondering, though, if it's less the color with this Arcite version and more the yarn, as it's a thick and thin yarn, so different textures also bring a dynamic to the finished object. I need a better picture, but here's the finished Arcite done in Round Table Yarns King Arthur in the Ganieda colorway.

After finishing the cowl, I decided to make the matching hat. I had to dip into a second skein of yarn for the end of the cowl (last 3 rounds plus bind off), so I want to be sure that both the cowl and hat can be made from two skeins of yarn before I start telling people that it is true. I took this picture yesterday afternoon and then worked on the hat more last night so I'm almost finished with the second section now.

And I got a little bit of work done on the baby blanket I'm designing. This has been a bit of a beast of a project. My original plan, once I started swatching, didn't turn out quite as expected, so I went back to the drawing board. My next plan, which actually got to the knitting stage, also didn't turn out as expected, so I ripped it out, and planned some changes. Now I think I'm finally settled on where the blanket should be so I should be able to make some good progress on it. But it is one of those things where the rows are long so even if I spend an hour or two on it, not much progress seems to be made.

Spinning: I looked longingly at my spinning wheel this week. Right now the bobbins are empty since I finished all the other projects that had been on it. I think what I need to do is go through my fiber stash and pick out something pretty and at least put it out next to the wheel so I can at least have the decision of what to spin next already made. One step closer to getting some spinning done.

Stash Enhancement: I was really good this week and resisted all fiber temptation. Actually, since DFW Fiber Fest is coming up in a few weeks, I don't anticipate having any stash enhancement until then. And I already have plans for things I want to get while there.

Designing: I hit a snag in my Brynhild Cowl which is currently in testing. The test knitters are using a lot more yarn that I used in my sample. I had wanted to release that cowl before DFW Fiber Fest, but I need to figure out what is going on with the yardage. Better to hold off on releasing the pattern than to rush it and have problems when people buy either too little or too much yarn for it.

I have a shawl idea percolating and have even picked out the yarn and wound it. I've sketched out the first section and just need to get started on it. I think I'll finish the Palamon Hat and then cast on for this.

In the latest issue of Cast On magazine, the technique section was about short rows. I've used short rows before and think they create really great possibilities. One of my favorite projects that I've made that uses short rows is 53 Moons. But I haven't yet moved that possibilities of short rows into my designs yet. And after reading that article I'm not sure why I haven't. So I'm going to ponder some ideas and see what I can come up with for some future designs.

Dyeing: I'm still working on getting inventory up for DFW Fiber Fest. My list of colors to dye on specific bases that hadn't been dyed yet (e.g., previously Excalibur had only been dyed on Lancelot, so I needed to dye it on the other bases) is getting smaller. I think there are only five more skeins to dye until I have an example of each color on every base. After that, it's working on more skeins so I have more than one skein of some colors (especially for Guenevere since using it for my Astolat shawl would require two skeins--I've actually been dyeing Guenevere in pairs to make sure of this).

Lots of reskeining this week and more still to do. And with the reskeining has also come a huge pile of yarn that needs to have glamor shots. This week has been our ice and snow week in Texas so I haven't been able to get outside to get pictures in natural light. Yesterday I finally broke down and opened the blinds on the back door, letting in the light and taking pictures right there. The shadows were a bit of an issue, and I don't think the pictures are quite as good as the ones actually taken outside, but they are useable so it's good to get something else checked off the list of things to do. I edited the pictures yesterday and will add them to the website later today or tomorrow.

Now to label all of those skeins!

Editing: One of the things that seems to keep happening in my editing business is that I go through dry spells and then all of a sudden it pours. I did fill in slots in January and February, but I also had about two weeks where no major projects were scheduled. I used those times to get ahead on the Round Table Yarns stuff. But I was looking at March with a wide open calendar. And suddenly that calendar isn't wide open anymore. In the past week, I've gotten three new projects and now I'm booked through March 24. And I have a returning author who hopes to be ready for editing at the end of March. It feels nice to be able to block out those spots on my calendar and also to block out the spots for projects that I'm excited to work on.