Slater Mill Marketplace

I'm doing my first craft show! I'm teaming up with a couple friends from Knitaholics RI to form Island Fiber Co-operative for the Slater Mill Marketplace being held Saturday for the Knitting Weekend. There's tons of classes and other knit-centric events going on. I'm excited and nervous and exhausted from getting everything ready to go.

I did a dry run with my new wire storage rack and found that it wasn't so easy to set up with my 8-year old sized hands. I figured out how to display my spinning fibers and realized how little reclaimed yarn and Maki I have. I really need to get the husband to help me cut up all the PVC we have to build my Maki winder that I designed. I'll be able to really crank them out then and custom orders will be easier too.

LSG-athon helps Haiti!

A bunch of us LSGers over at Ravelry are donating and raising money for the relief efforts in Haiti. So far we're at over $12,000 and we're hoping to reach $15,000 at least. There's many of us with shops and patterns donating a portion or in some cases all of our profits to the cause.

Play at Life Fiber Arts is donating 50% of all sales from this weekend to the Red Cross! So far I've had 2 sales but we need more. Stop by Play at Life Fiber Arts; everything is still 10% off for our first birthday. And then check out the list below - buy cool stuff - help people! WIN!

• AbbiePrime started the ball rolling by pledging 50% of sales of her October Leaves Fingerless Mitts
• LadyBright joined in to contribute 15% of the sales from her etsy store, Delshire Woods.
• LanieRedis contributing 50% of the Paradoxicality profits for the rest of the month.
• DurableDora is donating profits from her Zazzle store
• Niseema is donating 25% of club fees for the next 24 hours.
• CableFreak is donating all January profits from sales of LittleFreak Yarns.
• Retroknit is pledging 50% of all the sales from Harlow and Bob the Dog for the rest of the month
• eudy is donating half the pattern sales from the calm waters cowl for january
• CyberFiber is donating 100% of January sales from her etsy shop uglyshmugly
• Yarnpants is donating 50% of January sales from her etsy shop
• ButterflyKyss is donating $2 for every sale of pinwheel ruffle hat in January
• twistedredhead is offering 25% of proceeds at Works of Artemis to the Red Cross or MSF
• minou is donating $5 per item sold from her shop Ambrosia and Bliss until the end of January.
• Overbrewed is donating 50% of sales of her designs Melusine and Lucy in the Sky until the end of the month
• Antimony is donating all proceeds from the sale of her design Water Rescue Socks for the rest of the month to Doctors without Borders
• Lotus Yarns is donating 25% of all orders for the rest of January to Doctors without Borders

Base Preview

I received my new sport yarn base yesterday. I am so excited about dyeing and having this in the shop! This 8 ply 100% sw merino yarn is cable plied. Instead of taking 8 singles and plying them together, the mill has taken four 2 ply yarns and plied those together making a bouncy, round yarn with good stitch definition. And 8 plies means a strong yarn that will wear well (like that uber popular European sock yarn!) Sport weight yarns are extremely versatile; still thin enough for socks and lace, but less bulky than worsted for hats, mittens or cowls. I haven't decided how to dye it up yet! Its structure makes it perfect for cables and texture, so I'm thinking kettle dyed semi-solids and super short color repeat hand paints.

I also scored some gorgeous sweaters for my reclaimed bases. I love love love love overdyeing and the blues I picked up will be perfect for the Grey series. I also found some Peruvian bulky and a wool/cotton/silk blend with yummy texture. I can't wait to dig in and see what happens in the dye pot!