I picked my first jalapeños yesterday and I slice it up and cautiously took a tiny bite and… nothing! They have no spice to them at all. I quick internet search revealed that it may have been how I planted them, how I watered them, the weather, magic… They still taste like a pepper and I like peppers so it’s no all a loss but I wanted some spicy salsa. I’m picking more and more tomatoes so I might have to go buy some spicy peppers. 

On another topic I only have 5 chart repeats on my shawl before I can start the ruffle! I've been a slow knitter lately.

I finally finishing knitting a shawl I’ve been designing. I just powered through those last few really long rows so I could block it today. I wanted a shawl that had some feminine details without being too frilly or over the top. This shawl is in the shape of a trapezoid with a block of eyelet lace in the middle section and a slight ruffle on the edge. I’ll post some more pictures after the shawl finishes blocking. I’m hoping to release this pattern later this month but I don’t know what I’m going to name it. I made this with some three ply cashmere that I had in my shop. I’ve sold out of grey but there is white beige available as well as this hand dyed cashemere.

It is officially the start of my Christmas in July promotion! As I announced previously I will being giving out free samples of my other yarns with every order during the month of July. There is also a 15% off coupon code (CHRISTMASINJULY) and with each item you purchase I will send you a free holiday greeting card. These cards will be handmade by me and if you purchase multiple listings in one order you’ll get multiple cards all free of charge.

I decided to give my customers greeting cards because many knitters and crocheters like to make Christmas gifts for their friends and family. If you are purchasing yarn or a hand knit item to give as a gift, having a cute card to go with it makes it just that much better. If you are planning on giving an item to someone for another occasion (baby shower, birthday, just because, etc) let me know and I’ll make a special card just for you!

If there is a type of yarn that you aren’t sure about and would like to try this is a great chance to test it out. Let me know ahead of time what you’re interested in and I will try my best to include that sample with your order. There isn’t a minimum or maximum on any of these promotions so shop as much or as little as you want.

Link to my etsy shop

I wrote up the scarf pattern today and took some pictures of the finished scarf. I’m naming it the Ramona scarf (after my mom who will be getting this scarf for mother’s day). Before I print it out or publish it I need to measure my scarf again and I need to proof read one more time. I should probably have someone else read it too. It might not be nearly as clear as I think it is.

Monday I’m going to my sister’s so she can help me with making the tags for my yarn. I’m hoping that by Tuesday I’ll be making my Etsy listings! I have a laundry basket full of prepped yarn that just needs to be tagged. Well there’s still the yardage issue… but I’ll get that worked out on Monday or Tuesday as well. As of right now my Etsy to do list is: figure out my yardage, create and print tags, attach those tags and label them with the yarn info, create listings, create a ravelry ad to announce my grand opening, and then watch the sales (and money) roll in. That last one is mostly wishful thinking ;)

I’m still washing, weighing, measuring, and documenting my yarn. The washing and weighing are fairly straight forward. Even the documenting isn’t bad because I think I have a pretty good set up in place for that. It’s the measuring that’s getting me. I measured around my yarn swift, then count how many times around my yarn went, then multiply. From that measurement I should be able to get the yards per gram for all of the yarn that came from that sweater. The kink in this plan appeared when I did this measurement for a few skeins of the same kind of yarn and came up with different numbers. One was 1 yard per gram and the other was 3… That is a big difference when the skein is 70 grams.  My next plan is to carefully measure out one yard of each kind of yarn and then measure that and hopefully I’ll come up with something a little more accurate. I know my measurements will be approximate but I want them to at least be close!

I’ve been stocking up on sweaters that I find in thrift stores for the past year. Each time I find a good one I think that it’s too good of a deal to pass up! Well I have a pretty serious storage problem when it comes to my yarn and sweaters and such so I really need to follow through with my plan to open up an Etsy shop to sell my reclaimed yarn.

I have a few sweaters unraveled and yesterday I had a yarn washing adventure. The fastest way to wash a large amount of yarn is to use the tub. This means I need to clean the tub and make sure it’s very thoroughly rinsed out. Then I fill it up with warm water and some mild soap. As I was letting the tub fill I started to gather the yarn and realized that I need to wash way more than my tub can fit. I also realized that I don’t have enough hanging space to hang it all up to dry. I think this means I’ll be doing several rounds of yarn washing. This also means I’ll have a very clean tub several times a week. I’ve had people suggest that you wash the sweaters before unraveling. It does clean them up but the process of unraveling unleashes a lot of stray fibers. There’s also dust and things that I fear may be stuck in the stitches or between the seams that washing the sweater whole won’t get to.

In summation, I have a lot of work to do but at least I enjoy it :)