The Hollyhock Blog

Felted mittens

They are finally dry (took several day!) and ready for sale.  They will fit most women’s hands.  They are heavy and will keep you warm! 

Also, thanks to all who came to Pie Day.  It was a good day – and we ate pie besides!  Yum.

A while back I got this:

Bags of fiber

That is 19 fleeces from Kinney Valley Alpacas.  All have low micron counts (that measures the diameter of each fiber) which makes nearly all of them fall into the ‘baby alpaca’ category of fineness.   Only a few were just outside the range considered baby alpaca.  Slowly that became this:

Going down, down, down

And finally, this:

All gone from here

Meanwhile, on the other side of the shop in the barn, this was appearing:

Two full bags

And then became this:

Six bags of cleaned fiber

Another angle – yes, I’m very proud!

These bags are big

Each of those bags average over 6 pounds of cleaned, very soft fiber.   Five bags will be sport-weight yarn, one bag will be lace weight.  All to be dyed and for sale!   This was left behind:

Under the skirting table

Tomorrow I’m making a run toRach-Al-Paca fiber processing mill.  I will be bringing these six bags as well as some from our animals – Vagabond‘s, Jose‘s, and Pelasia‘s.  I’ll get some roving and some yarn from each of these.  It will be a while before I get this back, but I do have roving from Toro waiting to be picked up.  I’m also picking up a big yarn order for Twisted Suri Alpacas.  They have asked me to dye some of their white yarn.  Can you guess what is on my schedule for next week?

Speaking of next week – we’ll be at Pie Day in Braham on Friday – Aug 6.  Come see us and have a piece of pie!  YUM!

Yes, I have knit 2 more pair of mittens, another skein of acrylic yarn used up.

Maroon mittens

I may have told this before, but I thought you might like to know the reason behind my charity mittens.   Some time in the mid-90′s, a group from my home town of Braham decided to start a knitting group.  We called ourselves the Knit Wits.   One of the founding members said she had a stash of yarn from a friend who had recently passed away.  That friend’s wish was to have her stash used for making something for children in need.  So that stash of yarn was our starting point for knitting for others.  Since then, we’ve been given yarn by many others and have made hats, mittens, scarves, blankets, lap robes, chemo hats, premie hats and more.   It seems our stash has been blessed as it never seems to run out!   So, I keep knitting mittens!

I felt Braham did I very good job on the first Annual Braham Craft Fair.  While the attendance was poor in the afternoon due to the local football team progressing to a regional game, the morning was busy and sales were better than I expected for a first-time show.  I was a little nervous seeing snow flakes flying as a I was driving there, but all turned out well with the weather and we even glimpsed a peak or two of sunshine through the windows. 

My felted soap sold like hotcakes!   I have to make more this week!  Only 6 days until the craft fair in Elk River.  I hope to see some of my farmer’s market regulars there.   Anyone else in the area – stop by and check out the crafts.   This show has been going on for years.  It should be fun!

Here’s how this short week went.  

another batch felted

I felted 15 bars of soap – citrus spice.  I smells really good.  I’ve had the batch here for the final week of its curing time and it has filled the house with a yummy smell.   (If you counted – the 15th bar is in my shower!)

baby socks

I have 4 new pair of socks completed.  Along with the pink pair on the shelf, I have a pair for each blanket set.   Another pair of each color only needs to be sewn up.

baby hats

I have 9 (yeah, 9!) baby hats completed.  I have another on the needles to work on during the show, should there be time.   The brown one in front is for a customer order from my Etsy shop.   I’m nearly out of enough yarn of any color to make another hat.   I’ll probably try to make a few more with stripes like the lavender / mauve one on the right. 

felted mittens

And lastly, I have these 2 pair of felted teen / small adult mittens. 

What has this experiment taught me?  

   1) it really helps to have a schedule set over a long period of time, that kept me from becoming discouraged when one day didn’t go as planned

   2) it helped to share my schedule with people (in-person and on-line), that kept me accountable

   3) I was glad I scheduled in previous commitments.  I looked forward to my fiber meetings as mini vacations

   4) Discipline is not always fun – even when I like what I’m doing. 

   5) I had to adjust and cut myself some slack.  I didn’t hit all my goals to completion, but I’m happy with the accomplishments.

   6)  it helped having the schedule on paper on my desk.   I checked it many times each day – can I move this? do that? 

Will I try this again?   What changes will I make?   So far, I’ve started putting some goals on my calendar on my laptop for next week, next month, January.  I’m not convinced that is a good idea, as I don’t use my laptop daily.  But I really shouldn’t have such a crunch as this again.   I think I have enough inventory to get me through Christmas, then I have until farmer’s market / summer before things start moving.  

Today was the day for packing for the craft fair in Braham tomorrow.   I hope to see you there.