04.24.08
Posted in Knitting, Redwood Living at 7:25 am by Lynette
I’m all about simplicity. This past weekend while making a chocolate cake it occurred to me that I AM all about simplicity. I like my chocolate cake simple - no filling, no chocolate curls, no sprinkles, just the uncomplicated taste of a Devils Food cake with a glass of ice cold milk. I like to taste the flavors of what I eat. I don’t want to have to guess what the ingredients are. The same goes for knitting. Sure, I can knit lace shawls. 
I’ve knit a few. I’ve also knit my share of cabled sweaters and difficult patterns to follow. The same with socks. While I can appreciate intricately patterned cabled and lacy socks, I prefer my socks to be straight knit and thereby let the yarn dyed pattern show off.
I spend a lot of time designing the dye patterns for my sock yarn. It takes 
about 2 hours to wind, dye and unwind each skein. All that time investment, I want to see the pattern of the yarn.
Clothing is the same. I’ve often said I am shopping challenged. When I attended public High School - in the 60’s - we had a dress code. Black, white or navy blue skirts with any matching top. Red skirts and white blouses on Fridays (the school colors). As a result of this strict dress code we didn’t have to shop. There was no competition for current styles, no malls to tempt us, no blitz of TV shows because we only had 3 channels. I didn’t attend a prom or dances so I never had to worry about what to wear. In my senior year when the dress code was voted out I was lost in the options. But it was too late for me,I found that plain and simple was what I knew and has served me well for the past 34 years.
Now you can see me in the same colors, jeans and tops. Black, white and navy blue with some red. Some would call me simple, easy, uncomplicated, homely or unsophisticated.
I prefer the positive - classic, clean, natural and sincere.
Simple is a good thing.
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04.23.08
Posted in Circular Sock Machine, Knitting at 11:48 am by Lynette
Newly listed in my ETSY store are Men’s Stone Washed Socks. The yarn is bamboo, wool, silk & nylon. The Bamboo gives these socks the added benefit of being antibacterial. Check them out shown here in their ‘natural’ setting.
Color: Stone
Color: National Blue
Color: Charcoal Black
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04.11.08
Posted in Knitting at 8:08 am by Lynette
First
Start with a double strand knitted blank, dyed in a semi-random pattern
Second
Let the dye bleed and squeeze the fabric to run the colors together
Third
Unwind your damp blank into two mini balls.
Fourth
Knit up your socks. They will match perfectly and be a one of a kind work of art!
To request custom dyed yarn, visit my ETSY shop and choose the custom dying item. You can pick up to 4 colors. I’ll dye your yarn and either return it to you or knit up into socks for an additional fee of $7.00.
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04.07.08
Posted in Gardening, Knitting, Redwood Living at 8:12 am by Lynette
When I awoke this morning at 5:43 I rolled over after sleeping in the same spot all night and thought. Is it Monday or Sunday? If it was Sunday I easily could have slept in which doesn’t happen much. If Monday, it was time to get up. We spent the weekend at the Riyescott Hill House (this is what we call it) which overlooks our property.
By 
staying there we were able to get alot of work done. The owners of Riyescott Ranch have decided to rent out their 3 bedroom 2 Bath house as a vacation rental. We were the first to try it out. If you are looking for a quite, secluded vacation home to stay a few days or week in, this is the place. Located above the Pacific ocean you have a 360 degree view of the ocean and mountain range in southern Oregon. It was quite, beautiful and restful. You can email Linda here for more information.
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Saturday we helped Linda sow one of her pastures with new rye grass seed. The kids learned the valuable lesson of throwing seed into the wind. Katie came home with grass seed everywhere; inside her shoes, hair, pockets and pants. That night we shared a wonderful dinner to celebrate the soon to happen close of escrow. Wine, tri tip and roasted potatoes/parsnips with green salad and strawberry shortcake. The company was good and the food great!
Sunday we finished loading the 3 raised bed with top soil we rescued from the soon to be cut away bank for our house. KT and I planted red pontiac potatoes and soft neck garlic. The third bed will get soy beans next weekend.
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It’s time to start thinking about what you will be knitting or corcheting for the Knitting Olympics this year. As you know, the summer olympics are in August. During the last summer olympics the Yarn Harlot floated the idea we knitters get involved in the Olympics by starting a project during the opening ceremonies and finishing it by the closing ceremonies. It was fun project to participate in and the idea really took off. You can go here to see more.
Since we will be moved by then I’m thinking about what I could challange myself to knit. A sweater seems like it will be too much. Especially a complicated pattern that I would really need to pay attention to. Maybe a top down sweater that is knit in the round, for me of course. I’ll need to start looking at patterns and decide which yarn to buy. Anyway, I encourage to join in the challange.
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Recession? Yes, I do believe we can officially call it a recession. Since my living expenses are not tied to my sock knitting business I had a revelation this morning in the shower. ( I always seem to get my best ideas in the shower.) I’m not going to let this downturn in my sales get ME down. I am considering this a good time to increase my inventory. In the past as soon as I would list a pair of socks they would sell. Now I can knit away, without pressure, and list the socks as they are finished. This way I’ll have loads of pairs ready for the fall/winter buying season.
How’s that for make lemonade out of lemons?
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02.27.08
Posted in Knitting, Redwood Living at 10:55 am by Lynette
I’ve been busy with finalizing housing and the purchase of land and move to Brookings. But it seems we’ve found ourselves in a Catch 22. (For those of you who are of my era, 50+, you will remember the book by the same name.) When I was in high school the book was banned from our reading list. It was removed from the library and anyone caught with the book in their possession was in big trouble brother! So, of course, we all wanted to read the book that much more.
Anyway, the Catch 22 is it seems we cannot finalize the loan until we have a building permit. Makes sense, the bank won’t loan money for a construction loan until they know we can actually build on the site. What doesn’t make sense is the banker told me this just 10 days before we wanted to close. Oh yah, he said getting a building permit can take WEEKS. Do you think he could have mentioned this sooner? Add to that the county won’t actually give us a building permit until we own the property. See the problem? No loan without building permit, no permit without a loan. Akkkk!
Hats off the L, the wonderful friend and seller of said property for working above and beyond her called duties to secure the various signatures for said permit in her name. Hopefully by next week we’ll have everything signed for the permit and will be ready to go forward. Of course we’ll have to pay transfer fees to have the permits moved over into our names but what the heck, it is a money making business for the county.
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Here is the latest picture of the pregnant one. 
Isn’t that just the cutest baby bump you’ve ever seen? The DH and and have commented that I never carried my babies like that. They all wrapped around my waist. I was very w i d e.
She is officially 7 months pregnant. Not only is she pregnant dealing with a nasty cold but she can still teach Algebra 2. Wow, superwoman! I have no idea what the blackboard says. When I eat lunch with her on Wednesdays I sit and scan the board and think, I hope she is available when the two youngest get to high school. I’m lost.
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Here is the latest outfit for the baby bump.
I picked the multi color opal yarn for the pants thinking the pattern would hide spit up.
Always thinking ahead as we all know babies do spit up at the most inopportune times.
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02.14.08
Posted in Gardening, Knitting, Redwood Living at 9:52 am by Lynette
Thursday, February 14, 2008
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Here is a photo blog of my day.
The cat, Calypso, and is always under my feet. Today she was very interested in my ironing socks.
Yesterday I received this box in the mail from Territorial Seeds with enough seeds to feed the whole town of Brookings.
I have to inventory it and start splitting the order up between me and Linda. See those square pots on the top row? Those are cow pots. If you are a fan of ‘Dirty Jobs’ as we are you will remember the show he did with the Cow Pot guy. I can hardly wait to try them. In fact, if you go to the above link you can actually watch this season’s first 4 episodes.
Today is packaging day. Here is an image of the socks I knit for a customer. These are all Lana Grossa, expect for the one Toofootsies which is a yarn made from shrimp. If you are interested in me knitting socks from your yarn, you can go here to print out the form to mail with your yarn. My current lead time is 4 - 6 weeks.
Finally, the Rainy Day Yarn Club packets are going out today. I’m a bit behind due to several reasons but never fear, they are on their way.
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02.12.08
Posted in Knitting, Redwood Living at 7:22 am by Lynette
I’ve seen it all
I don’t know if it is a phenomenon here in rural America or what. But it is very common to see senior adults driving around town with their small dogs standing in the lap, driving their car with their paws in the steering wheel or sitting on the dash board. What is most concerning is when these dogs are doing any of the above while some 80+ guy is driving a big honken motor home down the road with his significant other pointing out the sites. It is just scary.
Now I’ve seen it all. While taking more sock packages to the post office the other day a car pulled up next to me. A lady got out and said “I’ll be right back dear”. I thought she was talking to a DH but when I didn’t see a person I figured it was a dog. No, try another guess. A bird. Yes a bird, not in a cage like she was transporting it to the vet, but a bird on a perch in the front seat with the seat belt holding said perch in place.
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A Horse. No, not a horse in the front seat, a horse in my neighbors yard. Weird? Yes because no one owns a horse anywhere in our surrounding area. He called the radio station. Everyone listens to the radio station here. If the power goes out, tune in KPOD. If there is a good highschool football, basketball game, spin the dial to KPOD. IF you have a horse in your yard, OR are missing a horse, call KPOD.
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Picture this. Me measuring out the ‘footprint’ for our home-site. Walking along pulling the tape measure when my left foot sinks down about 2 feet into quicksand/mud. I lose my balance when trying to pull out the foot. The boot stays and I next put my foot, sans boot, down into the same mud. What to do? Borrow a socks from the DS. The only problem? Now she is minus one sock. My husband says “You’d think someone who makes socks for a living would have a spare pair in the car”. Guess what is now in my glove box!
Finally, thanks to Dale the wonder guy for the help putting the Socks Knit From YOUR Yarn form on my web page. This will allow customers to go right the the web store and print out their own forms. Check it out here.
The color designer for Fernwood Woolworks, Angie Banana Designs, has developed some great colorways for 2008.
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02.06.08
Posted in Knitting at 2:14 pm by Lynette
Lookie what came in the mail. JB from Omaha Nebraska sent her 18 skeins of sock yarn to be knit into socks in this pretty gold bag. It sure brightened my day.
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01.31.08
Posted in Circular Sock Machine, Knitting at 11:33 am by Lynette
I’ve spent the last day working on a knee sock pattern for a customer. I’ve found there are many variations in regular socks, wide feet, narrow feet, high arches, longer, shorter, narrow ankles, thick calves. For knee socks add to those options, length of leg to knee, calf measurement and reinforced heels and toes. You can see how complicated this can get.
Here is the finished product. Notice the matched stripes. That came out really great! The yarn is Lang Yarns, JA Woll made in Switzerland. I’ve never knit with this before but it is nice yarn with uniform gage and a nice pattern.
But the bind off on the top was the dilemma. Yes, these socks are knit from the top down. There is the rib on the top of the sock (which allows you to actually get them on your feet which is a good thing,) but makes it all but impossible to do the normal rolled hem.
So out the books came, which type of bind off to use? I know I didn’t find all the options but I did try out 4 different kinds.
What I ended up with is a stretchy bind-off that allows for a semi rigid top but still enough give to (hopefully) hold on to the leg.
It looks nice and finished. This little experiment in knee sock knitting has taken much longer than I thought it would but has given me loads of information and experience for future knee sock orders.
Now, on to mailing out this large order and on to the next one.
Enjoy your weekend and stay safe.
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12.04.07
Posted in Circular Sock Machine, Knitting at 7:54 pm by Lynette
I admit, I work well under pressure. Some people say that I procrastinate. I’ve thought about this and I definately believe I work more efficiently under pressure.I’m through the biggest order this year. A customer sent me 31 skeins of yarn to knit up into socks. I’d decided I would tackle that job first to ‘get it out of the way’. Last night I finished labeling and blocking the socks and today it is off the the post office.
She sent me beautiful yarns. Most were hand dyed and many were purchased from ETSY stores. It was fun to see what other dying artists are doing out there. So after 24 hours of knitting socks for the past 4 days I’m through. Can you see the smile on my face? My DH says I look a bit frazzled. Well, um, yah I just finished 31 pair of socks!
If you need socks for the Holiday season knit from you yarn, I’m sorry to say I am booked. But starting January 1st I’m back in production. Go here for the details.
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