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Oct 30

Happy Halloween!

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Our very own Witchy Poo not wasting any precious knitting time!!!

As I have said…we love to celebrate All Hallows Eve here in Blue Moon land. Usually it’s our Witchy Poo Becky who is our inspirational force. If you have met Becky you understand what I am saying here.  Well…Becky has a new playmate. Turn out our new team mate Kalia is as much of a prankster and lover of all that is Halloween as Becky. Becky is thrilled and they are wreaking havoc in the barn.

Yesterday we had a Halloween themed potluck for our lunch break.

So much fun and yum!

Speaking of fun, we still have a few of our Trick or Treat and Mystery Mill End Bags left if you missed those last weekend.

We are putting up more of our holiday hues next week (probably Wednesday) along with a few new ones. So look for these guys!

As much as I LOVE my homage to Frozen with our Let It Go colorway, I have to say I think my favorite of this bunch is Ten Lords A Leaping.  I knew it as soon as I had the dye on the skeins too.  I did my little happy dance and told it how special it was. That’s the trick in all of this, you know? Letting the yarn and colorways how wonderful they are. Happy yarn makes happy knitting!

In the header above you can read all about our next Big Ass Skein release!  Warm and toasty gorgeousness!

I hope everyone has a spooky and wickedly fun Halloween!

Be safe!

Oct 23

Trick or Treat…

smell my feet give me something good to…knit!!

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As you can see from the picture we have been busy pulling out all kinds of magic from our cauldron of color in honor of the approaching All Hallows Eve celebration. It has been quite spooktacular in the barn as of late with lots and lots of tricks and also a few treats!

Okay so here is what we have for your Halloween trick or treating!

* Remember a few years back we did actual Trick or Treat color themed bags? Well we have a few of those and are offering them for sale this weekend. There are not a ton of them so get them while you can! We are sending out a newsletter this afternoon and they will be live for sale then when you get it.

* We are also offering our Mystery Mill End Bags for sale again since the mystery of it all is a bit like trick or treating! Don’t worry no tricks, just the mystery of me picking your colors. I was putting these together last night and was thinking of how much fun I have making up these bags. It really is just the best color matchy/matchy game. I wait until everyone has gone for the day. I crank up the tunes and just have myself the best time. If it is late enough in the day I might even enjoy a cold beer while I pair up skeins.  I think it would make a great party game, for knitters of course. I also have these lovely moments as I choose a pairing, when I am remind of a friend, designer, or one of you dear knitters. I have them in my hand and I think to myself; well, wouldn’t Nathania just love all of these maroons and teals, and oh my,  this peach would just tickle Hazel to no end and these fall rusts and reds would make Gaily so very happy and this orange would have Lisa and Shannon both weak in the knees. It’s just lovely and one of the ways I feel like my job is a blessing. So many lovely people I am connected to through a shared love of yarn and color!

Happy sigh!

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These two made my heart sing! I still put them in a bag for shipping out on Tuesday which was super hard.

We have all three weights of sock yarn available and as with the Trick or Treat bags the numbers are limited so get your treat while they are hot so you do not end up being tricked by time. Time is a wicked trickster! These will also be live when the newsletter goes out thi afternoon.

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See this skein of beauty?

 

It is our SilkMo in Sadie Sue Tipsy. Stunning yes? And I will tell you so very soft and airy, a joy to knit with and wear or snuggle under.

 

I love our SilkMo!!! Because of this love I am on a bit of a mohair mission. I am starting this mission by running  a special on our SilkMo.  We sell it to you in a 3.75oz. /106g and 794yds / 726m skein. It comes to us twice that size! So for a limited time when you order SilkMo instead of getting the usual size skein you will receive a 1452 yd skein. So very much SilkMo…the things you’d could make!

I want a throw and am contemplating color for such a luxury. I am pretty hooked on Sadie Sue Tipsy at the moment but we’ll see.

What would you knit with all that lovely SilkMo?

Here are a few thoughts: Mohair Bias Loop from Churchmouse Also form Churchmouse their Simple Wrap and Afghan and Easy Fold Poncho.

Last Christmas my buddy Janet and I went a little pom- pom crazy. I might have used some SilkMo scraps for a few of them. They are the best ones!!!

I will post pictures of some of my favorite SilkMo hues to our instagram over the next week, so look for us there.

A note: We will not be re-skeining these huge hanks to mix up the color. It’s just too easy to break and none of us would want that.

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Here is a picture of Sadie Sue all mixed up in SilkMo and then as it is dyed in Socks that Rock.

If you have a mohair issue  then maybe you have not worked with the right blend. Silk and nylon soften mohair . You know what time it is? Time to, Let it go…let it go…. . ( Get it!)

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*The Rockin’ Whorl Club!

The next installment of the Rockin” Whorl Club is Live!  I know. I said I was done. I said I had no time and all that but, I just miss it too much. So here we are. I’m pretty excited about this next grouping. We are going to play with differing types of Superwash blends for spinning sock yarns. Don’t knit socks? No worries, there are also all kinds of other yarn types we can cover with these blends. So excited to explore this theme a little more. Last time I delved into sock yarn making, Socks that Rock was born.

I hope you’ll join me on this spinning adventure.

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*Last but not least a contest.

You know how I feel about stories. So I thought since it is Halloween and us witches here at Blue Moon do love a good ghost story I thought maybe we could have a tell your favorite scary ghost type Halloween story contest.

The contest will run until November 1st . Please post your stories in the comment section of this blog post. We will pick the top three ghostiest stories as winners. The prize will be a 20% off coupon code good until December 31st.

One thing…not too much straight up gore please. We are talking, around the campfire ghost stories.

A peak at our most critical judge/dyer taking a much needed knit break.

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I think that covers it for now. I hope everyone has a fabulous weekend!

Oct 16

Welcome to the flock….

Remember those three new yarns I mentioned that we were going to add to the website a few weeks ago? Well we have tested them every way we know how to test a yarn or fiber and have found them to be as awesome as we thought and hoped them to be.  We already have designs brewing in a them.

One of them might even be in the Winter Twist Collective issue.

Okay, so where to start? How about with the addition of our new BFL yarn.

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I think of this yarn as a more of a refined version of our rusticly woolen spun BFL Sport. I love Blue Faced Leicester! I like the staple length and the luster. As a dyer it is a dream to work with, it takes the dye all shiny and vibrant. So why not add in a little silk to soften things up a bit, put a semi-worsted spin on it, then add a single making a lovely round 3 ply yarn. No reason really.

I think the mill really got it right on this one. We are so please to add Silky BFK Sport to our Blue Faced Leicester flock of yarns! Thank you Jim!!! Yes….you were right.
Those of you who normally do not like long wool yarns because they might be a little bit itchy will be thrilled with out Silky BFL. It’s all in the spin!  I t is a dream to knit with all silky soft loft. Those stitches just bloom right into place.

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Next we have the seriously lofty and  delicious Gaea Fingering.

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I have been wanting to add in a fingering weight version of our Gaea for awhile now. So when I was presented with a stellar reason to this summer ( thank you Kate!) I gladly waltzed right through that door. Gaea Fingering is a 2ply version of our beloved Gaea which is made from 21.5 micron Certified Organic Merino from Argentina.  It’s combed in Germany and spun in the U.S., both mills certified organic.

I know we are all about the local right now and I agree but there is also something to be said for the global working together approach. I like that about these yarns.

It has a beautiful hand, all soft and airy with the superfine merino bounce we all love.

I see a wide range of applications for Gaea Fingering from lace to sweaters!  Since we are still waiting on our Marine Silk Fingering order from the mill I’m considering using the Gaea for  this….

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Carol Feller’s Diamante Center-Out Shawl for her new Short Row Knits book.  ( I want to knit everything in this book!) It won’t have the drape that the Marine Silk does but I think I might be okay with that!

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Okay now onto something brand spanking new – Cloud Nine.

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It’s hard to go wrong with the addition of cashmere. It’s possible. I’ve seen and felt it, but it is hard.  I have been dreaming of a well rounded cashmere blend yarn that would stretch over a few knit applications and I believe Cloud Nine is just that yarn. It’s that lovely blend of super soft cashmere, fine superwash merino and nylon, that we have all come to know and love and… it’s a 4 ply sport weight. Cloud Nine has stunning stitch definition and just enough bounce! Perfect for anything close to the skin so you can feel the softness and warmth. I want a Cloud Nine hat as soon as I can decide what colorway to dye it in maybe a cowl, and after that…a sweater.

Yes, a sweater! Joy of joys!

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So I was all prepped for this bog post with my swatches and they were even blocked. I know…  look at me. I grab them this morning to take their swatchy pictures and then I noticed I no longer had a Gaea Fingering swatch. I looked and looked and all the while Bruce the kitten is sitting on a kitchen chair with that smug cat attitude laced with guilt.  I figure that only she knows where that swatch is, and the shape it is in. After an unproductive stare down with her I sit myself down to knit another. About halfway in I am called to the barn for some sort of yarn emergency. When I return I met with my half done new swatch on the floor half unraveled and in the clutches of the aforementioned spawn of evil, Bruce the kitten.

It’s been a bit of a week here so I really just wanted to cry and then, I remembered it’s knitting and I love to knit. So I made a cup of my favorite tea and sat myself down to finish my sad little swatch. Up side is that Gaea holds up to kitten play pretty well!  It did give me a chuckle when I realized if I did not meet my swatching, blog posting deadline I could just put a note in the space where the swatch would be that basically said the kitten ate my homework (swatch).

Oh Bruce! (Otherwise known as the swatch monster.)

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Cute yes, but super evil!

Oct 9

Fall Color Change, Rhinbeck and New Yarns

I know. It has been awhile. I have no excuse really. Although, I have noticed that when I have a huge creative burst I tend to not be very chatty! So please excuse my creative absence.

I cannot believe that it is already October 9th. New York Sheep and Wool is next weekend and the holidays are following right behind it.

We have sent so very much yarn and fiber to Toni of The Fold for her booth at Rhinebeck. I have to tell you it was really hard to pack up  and send off these roving braids. I just wanted to sit myself down at my wheel and have a little spinfest!

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I made a special Rhinebeck colorway!  It’s name is Rhinebeck 2015.

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So stop by and see Toni and check out all the new hues in person!

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I also have been busy with some new yarn play! Swatch party!!!

swatchingAren’t they pretty? You are going to LOVE them! Soft, dreamy and silky and one them is just all kinds of cool! They are all kinds of weights too. we have a fingering-weight, a DK, a sport and a heavy worsted single!!! Exciting! we have some BFL and maybe some more Targhee and we’ll just throw a wee bit of cashmere and silk in because we can!

So stay tuned next week for more about those beauties.

Of course it is time to change colorways, as we do. Below is our list of ones there are taking a hiatus on Tuesday the 13th. We will put up new ones on the Friday the 16th so look for those and some of the new yarns too!

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Our buddy Shannon  has been very busy as of late! If you have not seen her Crimson and Clover in our Worthy Fingering well…here it is! So pretty!

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Crimson and Clover, over and over… .

Have a lovely knit filled and colorful weekend!