In the time a social distancing
Honestly I am not quite sure how to start except from my heart. So…here goes, first I hope you all are taking care as best you can. I know we are all scared and doing our very best to not only protect ourselves and each other.
As most of you know Blue Moon has been around for quite awhile (20 years this year) and is my sole support and also a few of our team. In order to protect everyone’s health and well being here we’ve been a skeleton crew for a few weeks now. It has become clear as this all progresses and our Governors issue shut downs that all of us small business owners are going to have to make some very hard choices. If you own or work for a small business you know how heartbreaking this all is. Small teams easily become a family of sorts. We spend our days together working for the greater fiber and knit good in the world.
I just want you to know where we are in all of this. I am here working as much as humanly possible with the support of 2 part time team members for now. We are so very careful with so very much hand washing, space and cleaning. Luckily we are rural and on 5 acres in the woods so it’s a bit easier to distance form the world at large. Since I am one of those at risk people I am not working in the same space as others! We’ve gotten seriously creative. We have meetings in the driveway in a big circle. It took quite awhile to get this team together and I am so proud and honored to be able to work with each and everyone! Goodness this is sure not how I thought we would be experiencing our 20th year.
We are all in this together! As I have said many, many times we would not do what we do without you, our fiber loving artists and creators. If you are in a position where can support us and other small businesses you value at this time we are so grateful for that support. Right now we will offering a 20% gratitude discount which covers shipping costs and a little more.That code is: supporteachother2020
Okay let’s move on.
So everyone is predicting a baby boom in the next year with all of this social distancing togetherness. It’s a fair assessment. I am going to predict a design boom and much sooner than 9 months. I think we are already seeing the beginnings of one. Here are just a few that struck my fancy this week.
Photo Credit: Joji Locatelli
Far Away Dreams by Joji Locatelli
I can tell you right away why this one appeals to me. I do love a plain bit of knitting framed with a bit of lace. Also it’s black and a white speckled with black which is right in my most wearable wheel house. I know I am looking for more simple knits with just enough patterning to keep me engaged and my mind from wandering. I think this fits the bill perfectly. I’m thinking our Feahterlight, Soft Rock or …our La Luna Fingering are wonderful options. I’m gonna use our Black Onyx and DotCom colors I think. Although really there are so very many color options here like make the lace part darker and the garter fabric lighter or one a solid and one not and one and on! If you need help choosing let me know I would LOVE to help.
Photo Credit: Raina K
Brioche Starter Hat by Raina K
One of the things it might be fun to do during this time is learn a new skill or technique. Right?! True confessions time, believe it or not, I have yet to master brioche knitting. Even though years and years ago, JC Briar our tech editor at the time turned me onto the joys and wonder of Brioche. I have yet to give it a whirl so that is my challenge. I thought this hat was super cute and and good beginning point. So that is what I am going to do. I noticed on the pattern that even though she calls for worsted weight that sport weight was what most people were getting gauge with so I am going to use our brand new yarn (yes we have a new yarn) Comet. It’s so lovey and perfect for this project and seriously reasonable priced which is one of the reason we brought it in. Hmm…what colors should I use. Oh and did you see the coordinating pom? Too cute!! I see these as a good knit and save for presents.
Photo Credit: Hannah Maciejewski
Peasant Surprise by Hannah Maciejewska
Summer is coming! The first day of Spring was on Thursday so warmer sunny and brighter days will come! I think this would be a great summer topper of a tank or sundress. It’s light and lacy and sized for pretty much all of us! Thank you for that Hannah!!
I would use our Soft Rock for this one or our La Luna Lace both are lovely light fingering weights that will not be too warm for those cooler Summer evenings. Actually for the Pacific Northwest it would be absolute perfection!
As I mentioned we have a new yarn. We actually have a few I have just not had the time to get them up.
This is our Comet in our Sturgeon Moon colorway. Comet is a sport weight and is quite a lovely yarn. I wanted a yarn that was seriously suitable for baby knits and also blankets. I really wanted a blanket yarn so we could all make moon blankets with the full moon colors. Give it a try and let me know what you think. I think you are going to love it!
And look…
Colorway shown: That 70’s Skein
SilkMo is back finally!! We have made a few changes so I am looking to get those up on the website also. We are calling this one SilkMo Lace since it is a bit finer and softer too!! Also we are offering it in either 300 yd skeins or 900 yards skeins. I know a lot of us are holding the finer silk mohair yarns with other yarns in bigger projects so we though the bigger skeins a good idea. I might go ahead and get this up as yarn choices and then add the colors as we go. So you would be able to order it and just type in the colorway you want in the comments section. hmm…
okay my friends that is a lot and I have yet to get out to the barn today to dye so I need to wrap this up.
We are all in this together and …We’ve got this!
Love!!!
PS: Love notes are welcome we will be sending a bunch out your way. Also looking at setting up some live knit session via zoom and or FB.
