Goodbyes are hard, so we just don’t do them.

Change is inevitable. 
Change is a big fat fact of life. We might not like it; we might go screaming into that dark night, but it doesn’t negate it’s basic truth. Change happens every moment of everyday, some are obvious and cause us pause, some hit us over the head and leave us reeling and some happen without even us ever having a clue.
Personally I’m a huge fan of the ones that you don’t really notice until you are there and then it’s well look at that and you move on.  I am aware of the power and transformative gifts that change can bring us, nonetheless.

Curious as to where I’m going with this aren’t you?

In my life to date I’ve had the amazing good fortune to work with some pretty extraordinary people.
The most recent one of these gifts has been our man on Blue Moon, Mr.hizKNITS, Stephen Houghton.  Yes by all means let’s hear it for Stephen! Stand up and take a bow Stephen.
There is a whole lot I could say about this lovely man but I promised not to make us both cry. He is the brother that I never had, a friend, and a wonderful work companion and addition to Blue Moon.  He makes the best breakfasts and bread, has wicked IT skills, is a marketing genius and really… just fill in the blanks.
The past year working together has been quite wonderful for me and I believe the same is true for him.  We’ve gotten a lot accomplished made great plans and well… had a boat load of fun.
Because of life circumstances (thank you housing market, economy and...) beyond both of our control, and believe me we’ve tried, Stephen is going to be staying in San Francisco and as of today is starting an excititng new job .
It’s a great opportunity for him and his family that we all here are very excited about.  We really are. We are sad for us but thrilled for him.

We are not too sad because:
Stephen will still be a part of Blue Moon and Knot Hysteria (phew) on a project based scenario, just not on a daily 9 to 5 level.
He is still helping with the website upgrade and you will most probably see him at shows and KH events.
And that my lovely knitters is why we are not grief stricken and are happy for our friend.
Stephen starts his new work adventure today, Monday, so let’s all wish him the best of luck and thank him for being his dear wonderful self.

Good luck my friend, if they give you any trouble just let us know.

Love you and mean it!

Tina, Debra, Debbi, Paula, Becky and Rosie.

Fall Crush

We’re not talking about falling in love or the smashing of grapes here (although we would gladly accept a glass of anything that’s been properly aged). At Blue Moon, Autumn means a crush of of fiber festivals, a bumper crop of hands itching to make woolly things, and a bounty of well-prepared knitters readying themselves for the impending holidays. Needless to say, there’s a whole lot of dyeing going on in the barn. (Which we don’t mind, ‘cause we have a crush on making pretty colors!)

Because knitters can’t live on dye and yarn alone, we’ve harvested two new beautiful accessory patterns from Sivia Harding and Kyle Kunnecke to keep you warm as the weather gets chillier.

Sivia’s Drifting Leaves is an elegantly-beaded cowl and gauntlet set that combines twisted ribbing and eyelets for a heavenly treat in Marine Silk - Sport.

Inspired by hand-woven textiles seen in Southeast Asia, Kyle’s Angkor Hat is colorful & creative cap made from two skeins of Socks that Rock Heavyweight. If you’re new to colorwork and working with two yarns at once, Kyle has made a Fair Isle Knitting tutorial video that’s posted on his blog.

Lastly, just a few minutes ago as I’m typing this, the doors to the Stitches East Marketplace flew open in Hartford, CT. Debbi, aka Cockeyed, is staffing the Blue Moon Fibers Arts section of the WEBS booth. She has a truckload of gorgeous garment yarns, in addition to the Socks That Rock. Be sure to visit her if you’ve got a cozy sweater or luxurious accessory project in mind. May I suggest one of the two patterns above?

Look at that, we’re at the tail end of October already. How’d that happen so quickly? Tell us your Fall Crush in the comments below before we’re well into Winter.

Bits and pieces.

We have finally caught our collective breaths from this past weekend’s Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival. I do believe a great time was had by all. I certainly had a blast. I love this show. It has some of my favourite elements of a woolly good time: fiber critters, fiber folk, and anything your woolly heart might want or need.  Also there is really great pie. Oh and Irish Wolfhounds and music and ... .


We sold bunches of yarn and saw all kinds of friends, got lots of hugs and I even got a kiss on the cheek from a very beautiful sheep wench. It really was great to see everyone and have a moment or two to visit.
I even got to shop, which was boatloads of fun. And… I kept my promise to myself and left without one single fleece which I do believe is an OFFF first for me. However, I made up for it in spades at the Greensleeves booth, I had a smallish incident involving some spindles. The number is not important.(Remember Barbara you’re sworn to secrecy.) My name is Tina and yes, I have a spindle problem.  It’s ok I used to have a spinning wheel problem, a way bigger problem to have, but I got that under control, at least I’m making progress. Besides they are tools of my trade right?  A yarn-girl needs tools with which to ply her trade.
Buckets of fun!!  Thanks to all of you who came out to play, it was good to see you all!

Maxine of Island Wools isn’t her chicken tea or head cozy lovely?  It’s mine now along with coloured cotton and some wicked cashmere. I know.

This week is jam packed and as I type this and remember today is Thursday the week is also almost over.  Where does the time go?
We are shipping sock club and filling web orders and prepping for our next shows SOAR, Rhinebeck and Stitches. That’s where the time goes.

We were scheduled to put the price change for the 3 weights of sock yarn up yesterday but we are having a few Zen Cart issues. So you have a few days to squeak in your order if you have not already.  I doubt we get it up before Monday. So…

For those of you waiting for next years sock club pricing we should have that for you at the end of next week.

Today’s word of the day at Dictionary.com is woolgathering. They define woolgathering as: Indulgence in idle daydreaming. This struck me as funny this morning and then I got to thinking about it. I never really gave this word much thought other than being kind of charmed by it.  As an expert woolgatherer I would not describe any part of what I do as idle or daydreaming; thinking, planning, designing, and scheming maybe but not daydreaming.  I wonder is this a touch of sexism or just shows how we’ve valued this part of life in the past.  Even though the woolly arts started out as male dominated, knitting the families clothes or even knitting to pay the bills (working with wool) was traditionally women’s work. We all know us women as a group are just idle daydreamers, the whole sorry lot of us. 
hmmm… food for thought.
Thank you dictionary.com.
ps. I do not have anything against day dreamers or day dreaming. Ask Sister Margaret Claire she gave me an A+ in it.  Gotta love a sarcastic nun.

Anyway thats the news from Blue Moon where the women are strong and are woolgathers and would love a moment to indulge in idle daydreaming.