Blue Moon Tonight!

Diane told me that there will be a Blue Moon tonight. Not in all time zones, but certainly in mine, so I had no choice but to announce the new pattern today. You know, my company name being "Once In A Bloomoon Creations" and all.....

So here it is. This is the Garden Gate Scarf.
The pattern will be available next week when I get home from TNNA.

Big Weekend Ahead!

Tomorrow afternoon Kim and I will be on our way to Columbus for TNNA. I have no idea what to expect, besides sore feet. I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed and pressed for time, trying to get things done before leaving. I don't even have any idea what clothes I'm bringing! I've been so focussed on finishing up my new pattern. I'm just about there. I need a few more photos for the pattern, and still need to finish formatting the print version. I really want to have this done before hitting the road tomorrow so I can add it to my (very small, but growing) catalog of patterns.

Here is a sneak preview. Hopefully I can announce the launch later today!



I'm really getting excited about the prospect of having my B4 Bag on display at TNNA. Please cross your fingers (whenever you're not knitting) that it will be seen by many, will be received well, and ORDERED OFTEN!!! I am hoping my new design will be a hit also. (I am trying to pay off an Ashford Joy spinning wheel and would love to be able to do that in a few weeks!)

One of my wholesale customers emailed me yesterday with a design request, and it's a great idea. So I'll have something new to work on when I get back.

I'll bring my laptop with me and try to post over the weekend with some of our experiences.

Excited!

I've been in contact for a while with Jonelle from Southwest Trading Company. She asked me to knit her a B4 Bag in Karaoke. She wanted to use it to help advertise the Karaoke yarn.

She sent me some yarn, and I knit it up, put on the buttons, and was going to line it, but she said, nah...just send it.

Last night I got an email that included a mock-up of what will be a 4 x 5 foot banner that will be in their booth at TNNA. The banner will then make its way around the country in a Karaoke touting event. My contact information will go along with it, so LYS owners can (hopefully!) order patterns before the trunk show gets to their store.

I believe this will also be an ad that will be in a couple of yarn magazines.



Cool, huh? So if you're going to be at TNNA, take a gander at the banner in the booth, and also peek inside the booth...I may be hanging out there at times (the bag will be there in person too!) I have decided to go to Columbus next month as an affiliate/designer. Just to get my feet wet, and see what it's all about. I am excited, and nervous, and expect to be totally overwhelmed. But hopefully it will be a good learning experience, and will give me some idea of what I need to do to further my business from here. My friend Kim of Knitting Matters will also be there on the same mission.

Meanwhile I've been working on my socks (almost done....soooo close!) and a mystery project done in Dream In Color (Happy Forest is the colorway). I must say I LOVE this yarn so very much. It's got such a nice feel to it, and has a lot of SPROING. There are such great colors to choose from. I can't wait to knit something for myself using this yarn. I got it from Threadbear in Lansing, sight unseen, (feel unfelt) after hearing Rob rave about it on his blog, and am not sorry. It's just lovely!

You might recognize what this is, but don't say anything....shhhh.....just in case the unknowing recipient might be reading.....

This is so "my color" :-)

FO, OTN and a Mile of Targhee

Here's a baby blanket knit for my neighbor's daughter Christie who had a baby girl earlier this month. Christie was only 16 when we moved here, and has grown into a woman, a teacher, and now a mother of 2. Her son is 3 and is the cutest little guy. Anyway, I finished this a few days ago, gave it a wash and dry, and it's sitting here ready to get delivered.

The yarn is Sirdar Spree which is a chunky cotton/acrylic blend and is really soft to the touch. Just right for a baby blankie!

On the needles is a pair of socks I started when I was going to Ann Arbor to see Stephanie (Yarn Harlot) I got as far as the heels and then the socks sat for a bit. Yesterday I decided to turn the heels so I could just go around and around at Kaitlyn's track meet later in the afternoon (which I didn't end up going to after all). I'm glad the heels are done though, because now it's almost mindless knitting to the end, and I'm hoping to make good progress on them tomorrow night. We are gathering at the home of one of the gals from my knitting group instead of at the coffee shop we normally meet at. We can get a little crazy if we want to. I'm making my famous guacamole and we'll have other snacks and drinks. I'm sure a good time will be had by all.

Yarn is Wildfoote from Brown Sheep that I got (REALLY CHEAP!) in February when I visited the factory. I love the soft pink...



I skeined the last of the plied Targhee (from the previous post) for Diane, and it came to about 250 yards. Added to the first skein which was 625 yards, I figured out that is 1750 yards of singles, which equals a mile....
a MILE!!! of singles. Oh my. No wonder it felt like I was never going to finish spinning! So I spun a mile of singles. Then I respun that same mile of singles to put more twist in them. Then I plied it into 1/2 mile of 2 ply yarn.

Diane is looking for just the right shawl pattern to knit the half mile of Targhee. (Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated!)

I'm now looking forward to spinning some Merino for my friend Linda who created the logo for my business website Once In A Bloomoon Creations as well as a Bloomin' Knitiot logo (which I have unsuccessfully tried to add to the top of my blog...not being too great with HTML....so if you can help with that I'd be grateful for that too!)

Oh Happy Day!

It seems like I've been spinning this Targhee forever! Last night I finished plying the first bobbin and today I got it skeined and washed. It's just about dry after a stint out on the covered porch this afternoon.

Particulars:

Targhee top from Susan's Spinning Bunny

I somehow was able to spin this really thin. Much thinner than I thought I could, and pretty consistently. It was actually thinner than I was trying for, but decided to just keep going since it was working out ok. More yardage is not bad, it just takes a looooooooooong time to spin each ounce!


Once I was done spinning 2 bobbins, I was worried that I didn't have enough twist in the singles since they were so thin. So, believe it or not, I sent every yard back through the wheel for more twist. Dang! Would I ever get around to plying this stuff?

Finally I started plying and wondered if I was getting the right amount of plying twist. When I skeined it, it twisted back on itself a bit, so I thought maybe I had overplied, but once I gave it a bath, it hangs straight. Yeah! It poofed up a bit in the washing, and I am so anxious to send this to Diane.


I haven't done a WPI yet...I forgot to do that earlier. Curious to see what it comes out to be. I still have some more plying to do, but the first skein turned out to be 625 yards and it is 4 oz.


Eye candy:

Panes Anniversary

It was 2 years ago today that I started selling the pattern for my first design, the Panes Bag, online and in stores. Wow, a lot has happened since then! I have another pattern in the works, and a couple more in the brain. I hope to have them available to you soon.

Thanks
to all of you who have shown your support over the past 2 years!

It

We know in our brains...we know "it" will happen. We get that burst of warm weather in early spring. We get all excited. We bring out the shorts. We put away the woolens.

We spin on the porch in the setting evening sun.

Even though we know "it" will happen. After all, this is Michigan...

In the week that followed 2 days of 81 degree record-breaking temps and in the same week it was 70 degrees ..."it" happened.

This is what is going on outside my window as I type

IT:

Happy Easter!

Oh, and look at these cute little sheepy candies I found at the drugstore!

April Fool's Day with Yarn Harlot

After weeks of anticipation, April 1 was finally here and it was time to go back to the Ann Arbor Library to see Stephanie again. I left the house at 10:40am, picked up Kim and headed out. We wanted to be sure to be there plenty early to make sure we had a seat in the main room. No "overflow" room for us!

After a bit of a detour, we arrived at the library around 12:30 and found many many knitters already in attendance. We grabbed our seats and settled in. Mike had packed me a lunch, so I had a bit to eat, and Kim had a couple of power bars to keep her going. Before too long, Tim from the library made an announcement (which I guess had already been made once before we got there) for any newcomers to let us know that Stephanie was not in Ann Arbor. Stephanie was not even in Michigan. Stephanie was in Chicago. She had been on a flight that was unable to land that morning because of fog. Stephanie was TRYING to get a flight, and they would keep us posted.

So, the couple hundred of us sat. We knit many stitches. We chatted. We knit some more. We snacked (even though Tim told us there was no eating in the library) Sorry Tim, but we were hungry, and we were there for the long haul. Kim is in this photo, on the far left, in lime green, 1/2 way back.



There was no complaining. There was no fidgeting. There was no uprising. We came, and we weren't leaving until we saw Yarn Harlot. There was no need to entertain us...we had all brought our own entertainment and it was in our hands. However, the library people thought it would be fun to give us a parade of kids in their April Foolery hats they had made elsewhere in the library. There were 2 of these parades. We clapped for the kids and they looked at us rather oddly. It helped pass the time.



We got several more (non)updates from Tim, then finally he told us she was on a flight that was supposed to land around 3:30 and that hopefully she would be there by 4:00. She didn't arrive until 4:30. She came running in to cheers from the crowd, walked to the podium, looked at us all for a moment, and said....

CRAP!

Roars of laughter.....

Poor Stephanie had started her day at 3:00 AM and was just walking in to the event 13.5 hours later. She explained some of how things had gone badly all day (I'm sure we'll read more details on her own blog when she wakes up and has a chance to write about it). Then she told us how the car that was to meet her at the airport OH SO MANY HOURS before was no longer there, and wondered how she was going to get to Ann Arbor, because..."it was too far to walk"...when some random dude named Brad said "I can drive you to Ann Arbor". She said she checked Brad's passport, but still.... Anyway, Brad was at this time pointed out at the back of the room and also got a standing ovation. But how crazy is that???? Well, at least she got there. And we were happy.

Unfortunately Steph cut her talk short because the library's closing time was 6pm. Well Tim had already told us that they would let us stay past 6pm due to the circumstances. But maybe they didn't tell Steph that. Or maybe she was just too exhausted to give us more. She was her usual hilarious self, looking lovely in her Bohus and we soaked in every funny word.

Just being surrounded by knitters for all those hours was fun. There was a round of applause for an FO (which I have since found out was completed by Tracey) , Dana was handing out nametags for bloggers and then taking pix of all the nametags. We met Kyle who works at Threadbear (and Kyle's mom) and talked with them quite a bit. Waiting in line to get our books signed we chatted with a few more folks. Fun fun fun. There were many more bloggers there whose names I recognized but I wasn't taking notes (DUH) so I can't list them all here.

Finally it was our turn. I got up to the table, and Stephanie looked up at me, read my shirt (which I had made with my blog logo and URL) and she said to me "Are you really the Bloomin' Knitiot?"....a recognition which thrilled me and made me feel like "someone". I had made Stephanie some personalized pens and a beaded orifice hook, all of which she seemed to love (and will soon be available on my website).




She signed my books, and when Kim was getting her book signed, I went around Stephanie's back with my camera and she laughed when I said I was going to macro her Bohus.



It was just a riot. She is so down to earth and approachable, and I am just thrilled for all her success and for sharing herself with us.....events such as the book tour, but also in letting us into her life by continuing to write her blog, no matter how tired she is, no matter how frazzled or busy...she knows we are there waiting to read more, and she comes through. (Sometimes the natives get restless waiting for updates...myself included....but it's always worth the wait.)

Thanks for a great time, Steph. We love you!

Sweet Spring Spinning

Today started with early morning thunder and lightning, (I love a good storm during the night.....) but the storm had passed by the time I got up. It turned out to be a beautiful, very warm March day. It was a record breaking 81, which is WAY more than the 48 that is average for this time of year!

I had some errands to run this afternoon and each time I got out of my car or came out of the store or the school, I was shocked by how warm it was, since it was such a sudden warm-up rather than a more gradual one.

After dinner, as the sun started to fall in the west, it shone on my front porch. I grabbed my wheel (which I have finally given the name of Ella) and took her outside for about 30 minutes of spinning in the fresh air and sunshine.

I can see many more hours in the future, Ella and I on the porch, doin' our thing.

Who's representing in Ann Arbor next weekend?

I keep checking Stephanie/Yarn Harlot's blog to see if she's written about the big event in NYC on Thursday but who knows when she'll get around to giving us the full story. I just read all the comments, clicked on links to blogs that belong to people who were lucky enough to be there.

If you don't know about "representing", go read the Feb. 16th post on Steph's blog.

It's only a week until Stephanie comes to Michigan. I went last year and I will go again this year. What a blast. I need to get a pair of socks on the needles to take with me.

Give a shout out if you'll be there, and we can say HEY to each other.

Bloom!

Happy Spring!

Finally, the first day of spring!
Ok, technically not until later today.... not the first FULL day of spring.....

Soon, things in Michigan will be in bloom.

Well, we can hope....
there could still be more wintry weather looming in April...

Having the last name "Bloom" lets me find many things with that word on it.
Here are a few of the things I've gathered.

Many have been gifts from my sister who makes a point of
finding bloomin' gifts for me!

This set graces my mantel every spring:*********
This sign is in our 'garden themed' bathroom.
I thought it was appropriate to see as we step out of the shower :-)

********
This cute little ducky is also a springtime decoration in our living room.
He brings orange jelly beans!

********
A garden stake.... Or what I might say to my husband if he's in the doghouse :-)

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This year's Valentine's Day flag: ********
This sign is in our entryway:
********
Bloom wine!
********
I'll plant something in this little flower pot soon
********
Also a flower pot, put into use for pens/pencils for many years now

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Sweatshirt from Bloomindales ********
Keychain from my friend, Maria


If spring weather has not arrived in your neck of the woods quite yet, I hope it shows up soon. It was well into January when we finally felt it was winter here, so it wasn't a long winter, but it sure was cold, and I'm SO READY for
Bloomin' Spring!!!!

If you never hear from me again....

It'll be because I've been sucked down into the quagmire that is the dirt (MUD) road from my house to the pavement. We've had a couple of really warm days, causing a thaw that is too fast for our road to adapt. If the thaw is slow, the water (melting snow) has a chance to slowly dissipate. Right now it is mixing with the dirt and every time someone drives down it, the mud layer gets deeper and deeper. The frozen ground is way underneath now, and it is becoming treacherous.

I drove Kaitlyn to the corner to catch the bus this morning, because there truly is nowhere to walk. I nearly got stuck on my way back home. I hopped back into bed to catch about another hour's worth of sleep, and actually dreamed that my car got stuck in the middle of the road. Then I drove Jake to the corner and it definitely gets worse every time I go through.

It's bad enough when there are big pot holes to contend with. You just go slow. But it's gone beyond that. You CAN'T go slow, because you will sink. I just have to gun it and hope I make it through. Oh, my poor mud-covered Yarnbox....when will I ever see your beautiful green paint again?

(ps...the year we found this house, there was a similar situation. We looked at the house for the first time in March. Everyone who lives on this road had to park their cars at the corner and walk to the houses...the road was impassable. So we did the same. Parked our car. Our realtor parked his car. We donned our boots. We hiked through the mud to look at the house. We bought it anyway. This is the first time it has been that bad again in the 14 years we've lived here. I do NOT want to have to park my car at the corner, but I fear that may be what's in store. I am actually hoping for some sub-freezing weather again so the mud will freeze/harden enough to drive ON it again, not IN it. UGH)