Stargate SG-1

Tomorrow I will be unveiling my latest collection inspired by the series Stargate SG-1. I have an endless amount of ideas because there is so much to the series. The idea for a collection inspired by Stargate came from one of my customers. I was getting tired of dyeing the same colorways over and over again and needed something new to challenge myself with. So I asked on Ravelry.com for ideas and my favorite was Stargate SG-1. Thanks to Netflix I was able to watch the shows and get ideas. Tomorrow is the big reveal so Stargate fans be watching for the new collection. This is just the beginning of what colorways I will come up with inspired by the show so more is to come. Also, one last thing. Something BIG is coming, something that will change everything. Be watching!

Finally Fall!

There are 3 ways that I know it's officially the start of Fall every year, 1. there's a chill in the air in the morning, 2. I find myself in the mood to go buy my yearly bushel of Jonathan apples, and 3. sales start to pick up. Number 3 is always my favorite. Fall and fiber just goes together so well. It's time to get started on all the seasonal knitting and how nice is it to sit down in front of the TV in your knitting chair and snuggle up under your latest project. I like to spend summer time getting spinning projects done in preparation for my fall and winter knitting. I have my knitting chair set up with my Ott light right behind it and a place for my latest projects next to it. My husband hates my knitting chair and is constantly trying to get me to get rid of it. It's old, it's broken, the fabric is worn in several places but it's comfortable and it fits the space between the wall and the couch so perfectly. It's the worst piece of furniture we own but it's my favorite place to sit. I think he worries about what the neighbors think of it but I don't care, if someone decides they hate it then they can buy me a new one. I started getting ready for fall when I was in the dye room on Monday. I have a bunch of Halloween and Fall colorways ready to list so be watching!

Soon I will need to make my yearly trip to the little farm we like to go to to get my bushel of apples. I get an entire bushel every year and then spend the next few weeks cooking all kinds of yummy things. Pies, apple sauce, apple bread, sausage stuffed apples, everything you can imagine. My favorite apple pie to make is called a french topped apple pie. Instead of putting another crust on top you mix up a blend of butter, brown sugar and flour and then sprinkle it on top. It is the best kind of apple pie! I made two of them and brought them to one of my husband's thanksgiving's and Grandma Mildred asked me with a tone of incredulousness if I had made the pies. My husband's family is from the country and I guess grandma thought that a girl from the suburbs couldn't possibly know how to cook. But one thing I definitely know how to do is cook! I often joke that the secret to mine and my husband's marriage is the fact that I love to cook and he loves to eat. He always looks forward to coming home for dinner and it's not unusual for me to call him around 8:30-9:00 in the morning and ask what he would like for dinner. He usually is like, "Uh, it's 8:30 in the morning I haven't event though about lunch yet." He looks forward to dinner the most when it's something I've never made before.

So Fall is here and I LOVE Fall! Nothing is better than knitting season so Happy Knitting and Happy Spinning everyone!

Pictures of the Tardis Cake

As promised in my last post here is a photo of the Tardis cake I made. The party we had was so much fun! We barely had enough room to fit everyone in the family room to watch the show. A couple of our friends came dressed as the Doctor and Amy Pond. The cake turned out about as good as I could have hoped for considering my limited cake decorating skills! Happy Dr. Who watching!

Dr Who!

Finally tomorrow is the day that the new Season (well, 2nd half of the season) starts! Jake and I are having a Dr. Who season premiere party to celebrate and today I've been working on a Tardis cake. I hope it turns out and if I think it looks good enough when I am done I will post some pictures. We're having Dr Who themed food and drinks, I found a recipe online for Sonic Screwdrivers out of the original Dr Who cookbook. All of our friends who are Dr. Who fans have said the same thing. "What is up with them splitting the season in half?" I'm sure there is some reason for it that I am not aware of but regardless, tomorrow, FINALLY! I have been working on some new Dr. Who colorways and there will be some based on the second half of this season. I usually sit with a pen and paper and write down ideas as I'm watching the show. Happy Dr. Who Day tomorrow everyone and be looking for some new colorways!

2000 Sales!

As of right now I am 6 sales away from 2000 in my etsy shop. Once I hit 2000 I am going to run a 3 day 20% off sale. I opened my shop 3 years ago and I can't believe I am on the precipice of 2000 sales! I remember when I first got it started I would look at other indie dyers shops and see their sales in the 1000's and think it seemed like an unreachable goal. So to be on the verge of 2000 is so amazing. The best thing about the etsy shop by far has been my customers. I have some of the most super awesome customers! The notes and photos I get from them always make me very happy. Just today I got a message from one of my customers who just opened an etsy shop of handspun yarn (her shop is AuntPeggy'sCloset and it opened yesterday go by and check it out) showing me what she had made from the spinning fiber she purchased from me. One of the braids was from Sophia's line "Sophie's Choice" called "Sophia's Favorite Colors." Sophia was bouncing with excitement when I showed her what someone had made from her fiber and she immediately said, "I want to spin right now." I've been teaching Sophia how to spin and even bought her her own wheel. She has a Kromski Mazurka which is the perfect size for her. She's planning to start offering her handspun yarn in the shop once she gets a good handle on the whole spinning process. Basically I feel very lucky to have built this little etsy shop into something I enjoy and make enough money from to allow me to stay home with my babies. Thank you everyone who has ever purchased from me and esp. to my regular customers! Here's to at least 2000 more sales!

Back to the Land of the Living

That is exactly how I feel! I wasn't sure I was going to survive the last week in April but I did and I'm here to tell about it. Allow me to explain. Way back in October Novemberish 2 things happened, my daughter got a part in her districts high school play and I went on a women's retreat at a church I had never been to before. I was very happy she got a part, I did high school theatre and loved it so I knew how much work it would be but knew it would be worth it for her. The retreat was something I was invited to by a friend. I'm technically Catholic and it was at a Catholic church so I was looking forward to a couple days of that Catholic experience. I had also just been put through the emotional wringer and was not a happy camper and I needed a couple days escape from reality. The retreat was supercalifragilistic wonderfully awesome, it's amazing how a couple days away helps you put things in perspective. So I was really excited to help with out with the next retreat. When I went to the first meeting one of the women mentioned that she had to go because her son was in a play that night so she left early. I then thought to myself, "Uh oh, Sophia is going to be in a play in April I hope the retreat doesn't end up being the same weekend, surely it won't be the same weekend." So a few days later I get an email entitled something like "Date for women's retreat." And as you probably guessed, yes, it was the same weekend as the play. By this time I'm not just helping with the retreat I'm one of the 2 directors, fantastic, how am I going to pull this off? Two important things the same weekend and I can't miss either one, at least not really. So I go through all the retreat planning meetings once a week and play practices once a week that turn into twice a week as the play gets closer. Then comes crunch time, the last week before the retreat and the play. About 2 weeks before the "last week." My husband calls to tell me, "Just to let you know the "last week" I'm going to be flying to Panama City Panama on Monday and coming home on Thursday night." "Please tell me you are joking." But no he wasn't joking, that week I had to take my daughter to play practice Monday night, dress rehearsal Tues. night and at the same time as dress rehearsal I had to be a retreat planning meeting, play practice wed. night, Thursday night the first performance, Friday night performance AND set up for the retreat that started on Sat. morning retreat directing all day Sat. and then a Sat. night performance and all day Sunday retreat directing. And I got to do it all with Jake out of town for most of the week and I should also mention that I had a 3 year old in tow the entire time. But, I made it through the week and was able to meet all my obligations which is a miracle unto itself. The play was wonderful the retreat was again amazing! Hosting the retreat was so much better than attending. So it was all worth the stress, but, I am very much enjoying not having anything to do but work and take care of the girls. (be on the lookout for more frequent listings now that I have more time to work) Yesterday I spent an hour playing a Tinker Bell game on my daughter's Nintendo DS and it was fabulous!

Sci FI Yarn Queen, Yarn Crack Dealer, Pusher (Wo)man

Some of the things my customers have called me over the years. My reputation as the go to girl for all fibery goodness Sci Fi and other TV show related has gotten around over the past three years since I opened my etsy shop. I get contacted all the time for yarn dyed up based on characters that much of the time I have never even heard of. My husband is always telling me about Sci Fi shows I should watch so that I can come up with a line of yarn based on the characters. He has been pushing me to watch Farscape which I vaguely remember hearing of before he mentioned it. One movie trilogy that I have never done a collection for is Star Wars. I'm not sure why but I just haven't and I should. I loved those movie's when I was a kid. When return of the Jedi came out me and my friends used to fight over who would marry Mark Hamill when we grew up. We also used to pretend we were Princess Leia in the slave girl costume. I always wanted to dress up as her for Halloween but never thought I was thin enough. I have a friend whose having a baby and her husband is trying to convince her to decorate the new babies room Star Wars. I have to admit I think that is just AWESOME! But we'll see who wins that argument, she wants to decorate with a monkey theme. So I'm thinking that I need to do a collection based on Star Wars mostly because I love all the movie's. But that will have to wait until after the new season of Dr. Who starts, the day before my birthday, talk about an awesome birthday gift!

Firefly Reruns and Organic Merino

On March 6th the Science channel is going to start showing the old episodes of Firefly with some info about the science behind the series. I have been loving the Science channel lately because of that show "An Idiot Abroad." I feel a little mean because I think it's so funny but, it really is funny! When I found out that Firefly was returning to network TV it put me in the mood to dye up a bunch of Firefly fibery goodness! So I have a bunch of Firefly in the shop right now and I'm trying out a new yarn base that's organic superfine merino worsted. If it does well I'll add it to my list of bases that I always carry. I also want to thank everyone that has purchased some yarn and spinning fiber from Sophia's line "Sophie's Choice." Sophia is so excited whenever she makes a sale and she is ALWAYS asking when we are going to go work in the dye room again. Happy knitting happy spinning!

New Collection Sophie's Choice

We have been getting a lot of snow here lately which means snow days for my oldest one. The other day while she was home I was packaging up some shipments like a do everyday when Sophia said to the little one "Baby, look Mommy has sold a bunch of yarn to a store!" I replied, "Well honey Mommy kind of IS the store I don't sell my yarn to stores." She said, "Someday I want to have my own store too." That got me thinking that even though she is too young to sign up for an etsy store she's not to young to come up with things for me to sell for her in my etsy store. So I asked if she would like to design her own collection of yarn and spinning fiber to which I received a very enthusiastic "YES!" So during her snow days last week she spent her time coming up with the names of all her designs based on her favorite things and telling me what colors to use. Then we spent the afternoon working together in the dye room. I didn't let her work with any of the dyes, she mostly just ran around the basement while I asked her what to dye up next, what yarn of fiber to use and then what colors we needed. She had such a good time though she kept telling me how much she loved working with Mommy. After we were finished we came upstairs and I overheard her tell her sister, "Baby guess what?! I am going to have my own store and sells things on my own internet!" When everything was dry she helped me reskein all the yarn, and then set up everything to photograph. The entire time we were working she kept saying things like, "I just love this day! Don't you just love working together with me Mommy? We are having so much fun, you are the best Mommy in the whole world! This is the best day ever!" She's very animated. I just listed her collection a little bit ago and I can't wait to see the look on her face when I tell her that she sold something for the first time. She will be helping me package up all the things she sells too! Please stop by my etsy store and take a look!

All of the profits made from her collection will go to her college fund that we set up in her name. I will let her spend a little sometimes but this will be a good way to teach her responsibility and instill a sense of pride and accomplishment.

Happy Holidays!

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"Just the Doctor"

"Who are you, if not human? Who's not human? He's not human. He's not human? But he's got a Northern accent! Lots of planets have a North."

You know it! Dr Who yarn and fiber! I was asked by a customer in Australia to come up with some yarn based on two of the characters in the new episodes of Dr. Who which got me thinking about creating an entire collection. I had never watched the new episodes so I checked the netflix instant que, found all the seasons, and then started watching. My husband and I LOVE Sci Fi TV shows and movies and we were having such a good time watching the show that I really almost forgot to get the collection together! I unveiled the new stuff a couple weeks ago but I updated the shop recently with more colorways added. I have even more ideas that I'm planning to dye up so there will be lots more to come!

Fall is here!

Fall is finally here and I have lots of fall and Halloween colorways that I have been dyeing up. As always if you see anything that I am sold out of but you want to order you can send me an email and I can make up a custom order. I am in the process of working on a new colorway line (teaser it's Sci Fi based big surprise!) that I hope to unveil in about 2 weeks. I am also looking into adding a new spinning fiber to the line up but I haven't made any decisions yet and if there is something you would like to see send me an email.

Now that it is cooling off I have been planning to spend more time sitting out on the patio with my wheel. I love to sit outside to spin but during the summer it's too hot to do that. I have a few projects that I am planning to get started on for fall and winter. I recently finished a tea cozy that I started knitting while laying out at the pool for that last time this season. The water at the pool that day was freezing so it was a perfect time to get some sun and knit. I can't tell you how many funny looks I got this summer because I like to take my knitting to the pool! I just started The Lacey Hug-Me-Tight pattern out of "Knit 2 Together" today using some black alpaca DK weight that I got from my supplier. I have noticed those circular cardigans more and more when I'm out shopping so I figured knitting one of those up was in order. The next project after the cardigan I finally want to get started on is a pair of the mermaid gloves based on the sock pattern Pomatomus by Cookie A. I was given a skein of Wollmeise in a swap (because I'm one of the luckiest girls in the world) about a year ago but I have been afraid to touch it. Since I'm finally ready to knit it up I was looking for the perfect pattern to show it off and remembered how I wanted to knit those gloves and I think the Wollmeise would be perfect! Life has been entertaining to say the least this summer but now that I will be able to be inside more I am hoping to remember to blog more and yes I will be doing a new podcast soon. I would have done one before but laziness prevailed. Happy Knitting and Happy Spinning!

Podcast Interview with Kim Werker

Last week I was able to interview Kim Werker about her time with Interweave Crochet, all things Sci Fi and what she is doing now. We had a wonderful time talking and I think you will really enjoy our interview. So pick up your needles and sit down for a listen!

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Links to the wonderful websites Kim talked about!
http://lexpubli.ca
http://crochetme.com/blogs/kim_werker/archive/2008/12/6/joss-whedon-on-crafts-and-craftiness-interview-transcript.aspx

Alice In Wonderland!

Everything is listed and ready to purchase! Alice In Wonderland was my inspiration for this fabulous collection. I am planning on adding more colorways after I get to see the movie but for now this is what my inspiration drove to produce. I am so excited about this collection and I have to say that my personal favorites are Mad Hatter Cheshire Cat and Alice in the Garden. I am planning on dying fiber based on the same colorways so if you are a spinner at heart there will be plenty of goods for you too! Happy Knitting!

New Collection Coming Out Today!

It is time for another new collection! This one I have been working on and thinking about for a few weeks. I am really excited that I was able to get it together this early and when you see what it is you will know what I mean by early. I was flying a bit blind with this one because so far I have only had internet photos for reference but I am planning on adding more colorways later (again when I reveal what the collection actually is in my next post you will understand) Don't forget to check back for more podcasts I am planning on doing interviews with lots of my favorite people!

Very First Podcast!

FINALLY! After a lot of planning and work and editing my very first podcast is ready! I had so much fun putting it together and I hope everyone enjoys it. I interviewed my friend and customer Jennifer Pace of Pipps Purses. She and I had so much fun talking and laughing that I am really happy to share our conversation with everyone. So take a listen and let me know what you think.

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6 Month Spinning Fiber Club

Today I posted up my first ever Spinning Fiber Club on etsy. Since I recently started carrying a bunch of new fiber blends I thought a fiber club was in order. The way it works is each month 4oz. of a different fiber is shipped. I left the colorway choices up to the purchaser they can either be purprised or they can choose all 6 color combos. The various fibers that will be shipped are:

Superwash Merino Tencel
Superfine Merino
Corriedale
Superwash Merino
Merino Bamboo Tussah Silk
Superwash Blue Faced Leicester

This would make a great gift for the spinner in your life or of course yourself!
www.christinamariepotter.etsy.com

New Spinning Fiber!

I am so excited! I recently picked up a new supplier and I have some new fiber blends on their way! They have some many fibery goodness options that I can't wait to try out. So far I've ordered bamboo, hemp, merino bamboo tussah silk, and superwash merino tencel. I've also decided to discontinue carrying my Belle yarn base so I bought some superwash merino tencel sock yarn blend to replace it. If it doesn't sell well I'll try something different but I loved the feel of it from the sample. So stay tuned for lots of new fibery goodness!!!

Lord of the Rings Yarn and Fiber

I love sending samples in for the Phat Fiber sample boxes each month. Not only because it's a good way to get my name out there but also because I love getting a free box for being a contributor. This month I sent in some Lord of the Rings themed stuff because the monthly theme is "Fantasy Fairytales and Folklore." I was so inspired thinking up color combos that I decided to make up a new collection based on LOTR. I have my stuff drying right now and it will be posted for sale on Friday. I will add photos to this blog post after I have everything listed for sale. In the mean time there are lots of good things for sale in my etsy shop!

Awesome New Bag and Needle Case

A few weeks ago I began searching for a new case to keep my Addi Clicks in. The case that Addi provides is nice but so bulky that it's impossible to take anywhere. So I decided I would buy myself something new. I had thought about sewing one up myself but then I remembered how much I HATE sewing. I know how to sew but I just HATE it. I started looking on Etsy because I would rather support other Etsy sellers like myself when I came across this really nice store called Babylove Designs by Rose Evans. I liked her stuff and her prices but at the time I didn't see anything made in a fabric that I liked. I favorited her store and then continued the check it from time to time to see what she had posted. Then about a week ago I saw this awsome bag in this asian print fabric that I loved. I looked to see if she also had the same fabric sewn into an interchangable needle case but she didn't. The other thing that I loved about the bag was that it was, wait for it, $10!!!!!!!! And it wasn't a little unlined bag it was a good sized bag, fully lined, with this awsome magnetic closure and this cool little handle. I decided that I had to have that bag and a needle case to match so I sent her a convo. and asked if she could make me a case in the same fabric. She said she could and within like 2 days she had the case finished and ready for me to purchase. The price of the case was $18 and the bag was $10 so for $28 I have this amazingly awsome little set! She even threw in a couple stitch markers; I couldn't be happier with my new set and would highly recommend her store, here's the link www.rosevans.etsy.com