Kiss My Knits!

Ah, I love it when I get to open up a new ink pad for my stamps. They’re so crisp and strong. It’s the little things in life.

A rush of kit orders meant that I ran out of padded mailers, so I had to purchase some from Office Depot. I’ve ordered more of the recycled kind that I like. Again, it’s the little things in life.

ETA: By the way, we’re up to more than 700 hats and kits sold now. Browncoats, represent! That deserves an icon!

In terms of geographic origins of hits for Jayne hats, the US is far and away the biggest country to visit http://www.wearwithstyle.com. Canada is next, with about 1/10th the hits. They’re usually neck and neck with the UK, although Canada’s ahead at the moment. Fourth comes Australia, then Norway, Germany, New Zealand, then it dwindles, with countries swapping places as there’s a flurry of Browncoat activity in any given part of the world.

But today, I got linked to in a Vietnamese craft forum. I have NO CLUE what the post says, except that it links to the Jayne hat. So today, locations like “Ho Chi Minh City” are moving up the charts. Watch your back, Brazil, you’re this close to being bumped down the Jayne hat lovin’ list!

Done!

This is that blue single I showed earlier this week, plied. I first plied it on Sunday, but I was in a hurry and did a lousy job. It was incredibly loosely plied. No amount of setting the twist was going to fix it. So I wound up re-plying it. In other words, I wound it onto a ball and ran it through the wheel again to twist it more. Much better! This is the second time I’ve had to do this, so clearly plying is an area I need to work on. Plying, for those who aren’t fiber geeks, is when you take two or more strands of fiber and twist them together. It makes a stronger yarn, and one that in theory doesn’t pill as much.

I had some of one bobbin left over, and rather than Navajo ply it onto the end of the skein, I decided to leave it as a single. This is part of what I spun at Simucon, which explains why the thickness and twist is all over the map. I actually think I like this yarn better as a single, though, colorwise. I worry that the plied is too random in its color shifts and may be a bit busy. Well, this was supposed to be a learning experience, so I call this a success, since I learned!

The final skein turned out to be 152 yards. Plenty to make a nice scarf or something with. , this yarn came from the wool that you gave me when we met up in Raleigh. You want I should make you something? It seems only fair.

A word of warning, though. In addition to gift projects for the other loved ones in my life, you’d be behind the Jayne line, which exploded last night as forward-thinking Browncoats geared up for Christmas. It now stands at 30 hats in line, including orders from this morning. (Brown Sheep, send me my #$*# yarn!) So you’d get your gift in, maybe… 2010. You can wait, right?

Because I’m just too proud, here’s the progression:

Big time fun. I look forward to doing this again!

I’m continuing to walk more, and carried mail up to the post office a couple of miles away yesterday. I don’t know that I’ll do that today, as kits and finished hats are going out, and I don’t have a good system for toting packages. I need a Santa sack. Or a shopping cart. Although probably our neighbors wouldn’t be thrilled to see a raggedy-lookin’ woman pushing a shopping cart up the street. Eh, maybe I’ll just drive today and work it out later.

Today I got a nice note, complete with photo, from a serviceman in South Korea who just got his Jayne hat. It really brightened my day, and it reminded me that I never shared the following bit of awesomeness!

Sometimes people send me art or goodies along with the nice letters and photos of themselves in their hats (note to self: stop back-burnering gallery already!). You should click on the pic to see a larger version, because it’s just too good to miss. I don’t want to use the customer’s name without her permission. I did get permission to post the pics. This is nice work, and I hope she will find a way to incorporate her art and creativity into her professional career.

This was part of a hat request that I just LOVED. When she got her finished hat, she was nice enough to write, “Ahhh! The box! The letter! Everything! It’s so beautiful! I love it! My friends will all be jealous. Thankyouthankyouthankyou!” I feel good that I brightened her day as much as she brightened mine. There are a lot of nice Browncoats in the world!

Today I’m putting together kits, but also driving up to Davidson. In spite of promises from the mill that they’d have their stuff out last week, I haven’t seen hide nor hair of my yarn. I almost never run low on earflap-red, because less of it goes into every hat, but I’m touching bottom in my Jayne inventory. No worries, it’ll all work out. Davidson always has my red. At least I can have confidence that if I buy more red, the red I already ordered will surely come in. It’s like losing something and buying a replacement. The old item turns up once you’ve already spent money. Or maybe that’s just me.

At the Needlecraft Center in Davidson, they have Koigu and Lorna’s Laces, but I’m feeling I can resist their siren call. After all, I’ve only had time to knit a few more rows on the Regia Bamboo socks pictured. However, I’ve finished sleeve one of Emily’s sweater, so that’s fine. It won’t kill me to wait longer to work on my own stuff – that’s what moms through the ages have done, isn’t it?

I managed to get a blister on my right hand while digging up volunteer trees in the side yard, but I don’t think it’ll affect my ability to knit. I’m going to do a some DragonRealms work, then test that theory. I’m still ahead of the line, and I’d like to keep it that way!

Hats up for: CA, PA, TX.

Will this become a regular feature? We’ll see! I suppose it depends on whether I’m too lazy to make regular entries, but still energetic enough to make one actual post with content.

Anywho, click to see the week in pictures.

These are the things in my day today which are of the good.

Apparently my Jayne hat got a link – not a review, not anything more than a four word link – from The Corner blog on the National Review site. As a result, I’ve gotten about 400 more hits than usual today. ETA: http://www.wearwithstyle.com just got a hundred more hits in the past 20 minutes, and it’s still rising. Let’s just call it “many more than usual” and leave it at that.

Behold the power of the National Review. Let’s get some more of those people watching Firefly while we’re at it – it’s a great show, it deserves more viewership!

My mother and I are returning to the ancestral family lands in Pennsylvania this weekend. We’ll be visiting spots I haven’t seen in years. Compared to Simucon last week, this should be very relaxing. I’m really looking forward to this trip.

Hats up next for: FL, CO, and CO. Colorado is a hotbed of Browncoat activity right now. Go figger.

My husband took my daughter with him to see his folks, because a) it would be unthinkable to visit without the grandchild, and b) I was going crazy. I’ve had a good day. I washed those Tofutsies socks machine-wash warm and hung them to dry, and there was NO pilling. I road-tripped up to Davidson for some much-needed orange yarn and stopped by Summit Coffee for a cuppa joe. I swapped my Season One Buffy DVDs with Turtlegirl76 for her Deadwood Season Three DVDs. Can’t start watching them until the husband gets home, though.

I put on Season Two of Buffy and watched some of those while writing out more Jayne hat notes. I have to finish a hat tonight to stay on schedule – there are a fair number of folks wanting theirs in time for DragonCon and I’m doing my best to accomodate everyone. Since I’ll be at Simucon part of the preceding week, the schedule has to be adhered to.

I also got some QCs and wedding work done for DragonRealms. In working to de-clutter the house, I looked up and realized that I had something pretty large and unnecessary still around. This is the big white board that I used to use to keep track of all the DR weddings. Since we are no longer living in caves and hunting wooly mammoths, the white board has been replaced by various computer spreadsheets. I kind of hate to lose it, just for sentimental reasons.


Speaking of tools, here’s the yarn counter I made last week based on the design from Hello Yarn. Hopefully this will let me measure my kit yarn more precisely – although I’ll still be giving some overage – so I don’t have to raise prices. It’s actually short a component. It needs another silicon bracelet to go around the wheel to help guide the yarn. Right now I have to keep my fingers on one side of the wheel and stop the yarn from falling off. Also, it winds the yarn a little tighter than I’d like, so I wind it twice to take some of the tension off. All part of our quality service!

Note the bracelet I have chosen to use. Very appropriate for a Firefly/feminist operation.

Okay, back to the Jayne mines! Plus, School Hard is up on the Buffy DVDs! Woot!

Emily’s going to Vacation Bible school at a very liberal Baptist church (liberal is good) this week, thanks to my mom’s gracious sponsorship. I asked Emily today if she heard any stories.

Emily: “Yes! I heard… ‘Baby Jesus 2: Search for the Wise Men.”

Wow. Let me tell you, it was quite the story. Apparently Mary and Joseph had to find the wise men. Then Mary and Joseph built the wise men houses out of straw, sticks, and bricks. Then the houses broke, so they had to live in the “manger scene” with Mary and Joseph (I imagine this part of the story as a wacky sitcom). Then the wise men took the angel to a playground. It reminds me of when she told us Noah sailed on the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria, but two of them sank.

I knew Mom’s church was liberal, but c’mon. (I kid, Mom!) Good imagination on this kid.

Here’s an artist’s interpretation of Emily’s new doll, who has apparently been demoted from Elizabeth’s sister to her friend. She’s also turned from redhead to blonde. Emily told me that she wants to take the doll to the beach, so now I’m on deadline. The two pieces of the head are done, and I’m making a leg. Dr. Frankenstein’s got nothin’ on me!

Today I’m calling around to various nearby cities to see who’s got more of my yellow. I’m perilously low (that’s a very old pic), and the order I placed to the mill won’t be ready for another couple of weeks. I could have made it if I hadn’t made the extra charity hats, but that was my call, and I’m glad I did it. It makes me happy to think of them out there, and it did seem to raise a fair amount for Equality Now. So I’ll be sweating a little today while I try to get my mitts on more yarn, but it’ll all work out. It always does!

Orders are up a little for Jayne hats, including one from a person who just missed winning a bidding war for the hat at the St. Louis screening. It’s not suprising that orders are up. However, if things follow the same pattern as last year, then orders will pick up more in about a week. What happens is that someone is dragged to the movie by an overenthusiastic friend, falls in love with it, watches the series, then wants a hat. A week or two is just about enough time for all that to happen.

Tanya Morris, our event coordinator, reports that we sold 194 of 200 tickets, and that our screening raised $2600 for Equality Now. Last year we raised $479, so that’s quite a jump. Go us!

The cards, by the way, were well received everywhere that I’ve heard so far. I haven’t heard from all the screenings yet, but I got a lot of compliments at the Charlotte screening, and Raleigh and another screening – I want to say Denver? – also wrote to say that the cards rocked. Good. Hopefully people will want to keep them.

I’ve got a non-Jayne project going for a client. A felted purple rose like this one, but without the bee. It’s almost dry. It turned out well, I think, so we’ll see if she likes it. If not, eh, someone else will want it. I’ll post pics once I’ve got it nicely formed and attached to its pin backing.

That purple purse from yesterday looked like it was the right size for Elizabeth, the doll that I knitted for Emily, so I slung it over her shoulder. This renewed Emily’s interest in Elizabeth. The two of them had a sleepover party yesterday. I was very pleased to see her playing with the doll, since I spent so much time and effort on it. Then:

Her: “You need to knit another doll.”
Me: “Another doll?”
Her: “To be a sister to Elizabeth.”
Me: “… um… well, would she be bigger or smaller or the same size?”
Her: “The same size.”
Me: “Would she look the same?”
Her: “She would have red hair. And white pants, and a blue shirt. I’ll think of her name after you make her.”

So apparently a very patriotic sister to Elizabeth is now on the knitting list. I should have just hidden the purple purse. Oy.

Emily’s off at a morning camp, so I’m off to get a few things done before she comes home.