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Happy Birthday Special!!

It’s my birthday this weekend! It’s a big one too. I turn 65  so I think that means this whole getting old thing is official . he he

Because of the horrors we are living through right now I was going to let this moment pass. And  then a few things happened, as they tend to do, to give me a different perspective. There is nothing quite like a glass bottle flying through the air,  hitting  and shattering your windshield to shift your attitude a little.

“We must never give into despair. Allow yourself to slip down that road, and you surrender to your lowest instincts. In the darkest times, hope is something you give yourself.”  ~ the Last Air Bender

So here I am remembering to be hopeful, to look for the light, use my voice and honor the lives taken by living fully and gratefully!!

Okay I am sending out a newsletter tonight so look for that!!

And… we are going to celebrate 65 years on the planet with a 10% off on ALL yarns and rovings starting now and going until June 1st. The code you need is: birthdayspecial  ( all lower case)

I also made not one but two birthday colorways.  I could not choose so I embraced my double Gemini self and am claiming them both as birthday colorways.

Here they are:

6A9A2A0E-760D-4A18-A2B4-46930E71EBAC 62F4B2FB-7E53-43BD-8559-3B7E823CC41EThey are both up on the website. The one called LIT might have a name change but we shall see. See why I had a hard time choosing?

I will be running instagram contests and give-aways so do check in there. If you want to get our newsletter and are not ont he lsit you can email me and I will put you on or you can sign up when you are on instagram. There is a link to do so in the bio.

Also…a little sock yarn news.

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I have decided to put up another Socks that Rock STAR Sponsorship package for 2022. The 2021 has shipped and thank you to all of you that supported our beloved Socks that Rock!! I have added this 2022 sponsorship because this last lot of yarn I have ordered which is due in the door soon is costing 8.00 more a pound than the last increase 6 months ago I know…
I can’t raise the price of the yarn to cover that big of an increase so I will be making other choices and am working on a new mill relationship which will be in place in about 8 to 9 months. In the mean time Blue Moon will be absorbing that cost of this increase. Just so you know, I have been in this business for over 20 years and never ever has there been that kind of price increase in such a short period of time. I am excited about the new mill though. It will put everything here in the US so way more sustainable approach of us in the long run.  Also the mill I found specializes in sock yarns for the hosiery industry so yay for us! In the long run this is a very good shift for Blue Moon and it will bring the price down for both you and me while supporting milling and ranching folks here! I’m hopeful and excited. See there’s that light shining through!!

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There have been a few questions about our Master Class that I thought I would address here just in case others folks were wondering the same.
Someone asked about the cost. The cost higher than the other School of Yarn Semesters because it’s a 14th month long class and you get 12 skeins of wonderfully made high quality yarn. It’s a whole lot of yarn my friends! The cost of the yarn in itself is the main reason for the pricing.
There is also a whole lot of research and writing involved for both Karen and I. I am hoping to add in a few zoom meetings we can all be a part of because there is just so much fun and exciting things to share with you. Like… lambing, shearings ( i have one tomorrow) and ranch visits and interviews with everyone along the supply chain along with their stories. And then of course there is the actual making of our yarns.
Another questions was could it be dividing into 2 semesters? It is one because this is truly how long it takes to make a new yarn. I wanted us all to have that experience in order to gain an insight and appreciation to what all goes into making the yarn we use and love.
Believe me if you can you are going to want to be a part of this adventure. In the next week indigo is being planted here to use for fresh plant dyeing on one of our shipments. You will be part of a community working toward positive, sustainable growth in our industry, country and planet.
I have already dyed a lot of the yarn for our first shipment. It’s so pretty and soft and pretty and honestly I am head over heals in love with it. We have named this lovely worsted wonder Larch and it will be available to the Master Class before everyone else gets it on their needles!!
Another question was about homework. Yes, of course, there will be homework. Karen would be so very sad if there was not homework. There will be exercises and such just like the other semesters of School of Yarn! We are going to make this as interactive as possible and put us all through our paces Karen and I both are seriously passionate about pretty much every aspect of this from the ranch to our hands and needles.
I hope you will join us!

I am working right now on all outstanding orders which finally are not so many and of course, sock club. I have also been giving talks on the Master Class and our Community Supported Yarn so my kitchen table is full of the Apsen samples right now. I just want to wind a bunch of it up now and sit and knit.  Actually the same is true for the Larch base. Hmmm…I just remembered that Karen will be here this weekend for my birthday and to help with sock club so I bet we will have some late night knit parties.

Happy dancing!!

Look at the visitors I had this week!

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Take care of your selves!

Remember we have a super power. We can create beautiful things to warm our bodies and hearts stitch by stitch!!

LOVE!!!

ASPEN COLORWAYS

ASPEN COLORWAY SKEIN PICTURES!

CLICK ON READ MORE TO SEE MORE!

 

New and pretty exciting things!

Hey everyone!

Yes, it’s been awhile!

I’ve had a bit of a shit hitting the fan kinda month. So much drama from a late April snow storm (feet of snow and now power), a propane leak, and electrical short (in same building at the same time), a clog in the septic system, and a few other less stop in tracks issues.  I know… it was a whole lot. At this moment in time though all are dealt with and  I am moving on. My hope is that it’s all out of the way at once but I know that the powers that be have one wicked and dark sense of humor so we’ll see.

Okay straight onto the exciting part of life. You know how I have been hinting at this exciting new yarn venture for almost a year now?  I tell you it’s coming soon and then it doesn’t and then it is but then it doesn’t?  Thank you powers that be!  I am also a firm believer in waiting for that right time and this happens to be that time. Also these things take time especially during a pandemic!

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See this? Isn’t it stunning?

Meet Aspen! Our first wonderfully woolen step into a more planet loving, community-building, yarn future. You are so going to love this!

Aspen comes in both Worsted and Sport (for now): it’s is a wonderfully soft and lofty 3-ply tweedy yarn! It’s made from a very special high quality luscious Merino (from Shaniko Wool Co. and Jeanne Carver), which is ranched and processed all here in the US. It’s completely traceable from ranch to dyer (Blue Moon) and compliant with the Responsible Wool Standards developed by the Textile Exchange. The Responsible Wool Standard ensures animal welfare, preserving land health, and ensures traceability. Blue Moon will be working on many more new yarns in partnership with Jeanne and Shaniko. Aspen also uses mostly black and brown repurposed acrylic/rayon nubs to create that lovely tweed effect. See? it’s worth wait right?

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Our Aspen yarns are the beginning of Blue Moon’s CSY Community Supported Yarn launch. It’s our goal to continue to supply high quality, well made, beautiful yarns for us all to create with while also supporting our beautiful planet and all the hard working souls along the wool chain that are invested in creating such wonderful yarn for us. I’ll be sending out a newsletter tomorrow with more details on how we see this all rolling out.

The initial plan was to be start out all of this goodness in a Master Class which we are going to offer. I felt like it would be more inclusive to make it accessible to you at different levels of involvement.  We are all different and some of us like all of the engagement and education and some of us want to be supportive and have yarn to hold, smell and knit! So we are doing both levels (both of which include yarn) within a Community Supported Yarn paradigm.

Why Community Supported? Because honestly in my experience the hand knit part of the textile industry already leans in that direction. I am big on community, ALL INCLUSIVE COMMUNITIES that support and build to a greater good for everyone. The textile industry needs to make changes so that it supports everyone involved with a living wage, has animal welfare at it’s forefront, and addressed land health and restoration and affordability, to name just a few aspects. The Master Class part of this venture will include all the ways we should be thinking about our yarn purchases along with what is involved in the process so we are more informed and can make better choices for ourselves and the planet. We will have all kinds of fun and will share the yarn-making adventure with you ~ we will be creating at least two bases together!! Honestly this has been a dream of mine for quite awhile so I am over the moon excited to share all of this with you!

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One element of the CSY is we will be offering these yarns as pre-sales only, at least in the beginning. Stocks are limited with this first offering since it s new base and this will be true for most of these offerings.

We will be shipping from this first batch starting  June 10th. I am offering the color a special pallet for these lovelies. I might add a few more but this is what we are starting with. I have chosen lighter colors to highlight the tweedy aspect of Aspen.  I will tell you that right now besides the Winter Blue one and the Sage I think I am pretty smitten with the Natural one. It’s seriously stunning and so very lofty and soft. It feels a bit like cotton.

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Karen knit us this beautiful sample. She knit size 41-1/2 and it used 8 skeins. Called for 1600 yds.

The pattern is: Uniform Cardigan  by Carrie Bostick Hoge the book “Uniform”.  Available as a single download from Lovecraft.

I love this cardigan!! It comes in a worsted  and fingering weight version. It fits so well and looks great on all kinds of shapes and sizes!!! Way to go Carrie! Thank you for such a lovely design and a great pattern to follow. If you do not have this pattern already you are going to want it!

Oh I almost forgot! We will be naming all of these bases after trees as a bit of a homage to all plant life that keep our planet healthy despite us!

I will be sending out a newsletter in the next day or so with a lot more specifics about Aspen and our Master class which I will have up for sale by this weekend. Cross my twisted little heart!

To those of you that are part of the Socks that RockSTAR Sponsorship they are shipping this week!! Thank you so very much for you undyeing support! You are the best! All of you.

Thank you for listening!  I know things are hard and a bit scary right now but we need to keep on keeping on. Be that light for each other!  Thank you for being mine!!

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