Friday, January 26, 2007

Sol Joy

This is the moment we've all been waiting for! I'm so excited I can hardly stand it! The new Sol Joy sock yarn from Catalina is here. RIGHT. HERE. RIGHT. NOW. I have goose bumps.

I had the pleasure of speaking with Shaun, the owner of Catalina Yarns, earlier today. I must say that I wish everyone could be lucky enough to speak with him. He is amazingly brilliant and knows all the super details about the yarns he sells right down to the history of the animals the fibers come from. Fascinating. Both Shaun and Sue are decent, honest, and friendly people who take a great deal of pride in their businesses and I'm so incredibly proud to know them. And no, they've not paid me to say that. LOL

And now without further ado is a word from Shaun...

The response to Kerry's review of our new hand-painted sock yarn, Sol Joy, has been overwhelming. At the time and even now, we were market testing the new line with selected consumers and had planned a formal launch for some weeks from now as we are still in pre-production. The release of the yarn via Kerry's blog has turned out to be, truly, a happy accident.

Many knitters and several of our retail customers read Kerry's blog and asked us to move up our launch of the new line even if it meant releasing one color at a time and in limited quantities. The response has been so intense, we have been persuaded to move up the release using pre-production stock.

1. Starting today, Friday, January 26, on her Blog, Kerry will preview with you a new color for the Sol Joy sock line. We will release one new color every Friday on Kerry's Blog.
2. Available stock will be limited because these are pre-production quantities. First come, first served. If we run out of that color you can place a back-order with the retailer.
3. Adirondack Yarns will be filling the online orders of visitors to Kerry's blog.
4. Anyone buying Sol Joy, via Kerry's blog and Adirondack Yarns (see Link), will be the first consumers in the US to receive this new yarn and in that color.


SOL JOY: A Review of the Yarn and More Detail.
Sol Joy is a new hand-painted sock yarn offered by Catalina Yarns.
. The basics:
o Superwash merino wool,
o 100 gram braided hank,
o 328 yards,
o $19.95 suggested retail.
o Woollen spun!
o Eight initial colorways
. The yarn is woollen spun rather than worsted spun. Thus the fibers are not parallel. The overlapping fibers trap air and insulate more than worsted yarns in the same fiber. Your socks will truly be woolen socks.
. Woollen spun yarns have an uncommon spring or bounce (or 'sproing' as Kerry says). You won't believe it.
. The colorways are designed to be more subtle and understated than most sock yarns now available. The method for calculating and creating the color-way repeat is proprietary and prevents unwanted pooling.
. The yarn is re-hanked after hand-painting so the yarn, as you see it in the braided hank, presents a truer sense of what the colorway will look like when knit up.
. This hand-painted yarn will never bleed.
. This yarn is actually super-wash fiber. Knitted socks will not shrink.
. Knitters and fiber enthusiasts are tactile. So we added some fun and another layer to the sensory experience of fiber. Smell the yarn when you receive it. What do you smell? Strawberries? Green Apples?

The first color-way we are releasing is called Meadow. See the image below.



If you would like to order this yarn, contact Adirondack Yarns by email. Tell them what you would like to order (Sol Joy), how many hanks, and provide your shipping address and phone number. Adirondack Yarns will confirm your order by email and call you to secure payment information. Starting next week you will be able to order this yarn directly from Adirondack Yarns website rather than by email.

Thursday, January 25, 2007

Buttercup Beauty

I have been trying to post for the past 2 days and haven't been able to get photos to upload. I blamed it on Blogger. Turns out it was just the format the pictures were in that was preventing them from loading. Live and learn right?

What I've been dying to show you is the progress Barb has made on her Trinity. She's working it in this gorgeous soft yellow color and it's amazing. She wrote on Monday and said she had started it over the weekend.
Doesn't it just scream SPRING???
Barb also shared with me a picture of her sweet little girl. Look at that face! You'd never guess she was responsible for ripping out 3 hours worth of Barb's first attempt at the jacket and destroying a hank of Alpaca. Think she's lucky she's so darn cute?

Saturday, January 20, 2007

KAL Update

Barb in TN just received her yarn and is hoping to start hers this weekend. She ordered buttercup and I can't wait to see how it works up. It's going to be gorgeous!

Here is Jo's progress:

Isn't it lovely?

And my progress:


I hope everyone sitting on the fence decides to jump in and join us. I can't wait to see this jacket worked up in some different colors!

Thursday, January 18, 2007

Clear as Mud

So many of you have expressed interest in joining the Trinity KAL and I can't tell you how excited I am for that. It would be so much fun to have lots of company! Lots of you have had questions so I'd like to give you all a little more info...

1. It is sized small, medium, and large. The finished measurements (unstretched, of course) are 38, 42, and 46 inches. This jacket has lots of give and seems to run big. My middle monkey normally wears a womans large shirt and she fit fairly easily into the small size. If you need a smaller or larger size it would be very easy to adjust the pattern to fit your needs.

2. The small and medium sizes require 11 hanks of yarn and the large requires 12.

3. Sue sells the Catalina chunky yarns for $12.95 per hank. This is the price BEFORE applying the 10% discount Sue has so graciously offered. When shipping outside NY there is no sales tax. I think the sales tax for customers in NY is 3% but please don't quote me on that. It might be 4%.

Now about my hubby...

1. He asked for a hair cut. A hair cut for him means shaving his head.

2. He had not had a hair cut in quite some time. His hair was a little over 2" long.

3. I shaved all but that one spot on the side of his head.

The thing that struck me as being so funny was that he didn't realize that his entire head was bald except for this spot on the side of his head. He hung out down here with me for almost 45 minutes before he went upstairs for his shower. He WASHED HIS HAIR and still didn't realize that he had a CLUMP OF UNSHAVED HAIR on the side of his BALD head. I laughed and laughed. It wasn't until he got out of the shower and was standing (for the second time mind you) in front of the mirror to shave that he noticed the clump of hair. He came down and headed back to the kitchen so I could shave the spot after he finally noticed it. I refused. He didn't argue and offered to go to work as is. That totally knocked the wind right out of my sails. I shaved the spot. He's still going to forget things (he did tonight) but I'll always have this memory. :-)

Wednesday, January 17, 2007

Lesson Learned?

I'd like to start this post by saying that I love my hubby. I could list a million things about him that I like. Tonight, however, I'm going to list one thing about him that drives me crazy. He's forgetful. I'm not talking once in a while forgetful. I'm talking ask him to take the garbage out and 30 seconds later he's standing in the kitchen scratching his head wondering why he's standing in the kitchen.

Sunday he threw his $150 tool box loaded with $200+ worth of tools and headed out to a friends house about 15 minutes from home to help him with his car. He told me when he left he'd be about 2 or 3 hours. Imagine my surprise when 30 minutes later I heard the truck pull into the driveway. He walked through the door and I asked what he had forgotten. Turns out he had forgotten to close the tailgate on the truck. He got to his friends house and realized this when the tailgate was already open for him and his tool box was missing. He had looked for it all the way back home and couldn't find it. He went back out and home again and couldn't find it. I drove out and home again so we could both look and we couldn't find it. I was sick to my stomach.

I called the town and state police and asked if anyone had turned in a tool box. No such luck. Monday he called the local radio swap program and let them know he had lost his box. They announced it for him twice. He called the paper and asked them to run an ad offering a reward for the person who had "found" it. It started yesterday. No luck.

Tonight his cell phone rang and I answered it. "Hello? Is this the person who lost the tool box?" Why yes, this is the person who lost the tool box. "I have it." Really? So I got my hubby to the phone and he got the dudes address. His wife found the tool box on the side of the road right at the top of our street and brought it home to her husband. So hubby drove the 20 minutes out to get his tool box. An hour later he returned with his tool box and all his tools. Less $40 for the reward.

I decided tonight that I needed to teach hubby a lesson. And we all know there's no better way to get the lesson to stick than doing something that really grabs the learnee's attention. Right?


The best part? He didn't notice it until he got out of the shower about an hour after I did it. I was hoping he wouldn't notice at all and someone at work would point it out to him tomorrow. Oh come on, you gotta admit it's a little funny.

Tuesday, January 16, 2007

Dandy Discount

I just heard from Sue and she's offered to give a 10% discount on the Trinity jacket kit if you mention the blog! How cool is that??? I've added a link to her email in the sidebar so it doesn't get lost in the posts. I hope you decide to join me. It's an awesome pattern and will make the perfect jacket for spring and fall! I've wound all the yarn for the one I'm starting and will be casting on in just a little bit.

Monday, January 15, 2007

Trinity KAL

Remember the Trinity jacket?


100% pure Catalina Baby Merino Chunky goodness. I'm getting ready to start another and was hoping we might start a knit a long. The pattern is free with the purchase of the yarn and you can get the yarn from Sue (who designed this gorgeous jacket, BTW) at my wonderful LYS. She has lots of gorgeous colors and she loves to ship! Check out the Baby Merino and Baby Alpaca colors that are available.

If you'd like to join just send me an email with your name and a link to your blog if you have one. I'll add you to the sidebar and post progress pictures here each week.

I thought this might be a fun thing to do to keep my mind off the sock yarn that's coming. BTW, be sure to keep an eye out as Shaun (the owner of Catalina Yarns) and Sue (the owner of my wonderful LYS, Adirondack Yarns) have an incredible surprise they're putting together and it'll be announced here first! You have no idea how excited I am! I still get goosebumps every time I think about it.

Friday, January 12, 2007

From the horses mouth...

I wanted to post this comment from the owner of Catalina Yarns here so you'd all see it...

"My name is Shaun Koch, owner of Catalina Yarns. This yarn will be available in limited quantities in about 3 weeks. We are rolling it out to selected retailers at that time. So, stay tuned to Kerry's blog and we will update her and she can share availability information with fellow bloggers. The yarn is a superwash merino from South America and hand-dyed in the US. The yarn is woollen spun, not worsted. The woollen spin is what produces the 'sproing' as Kerry says. Better yet, woollen spun means the fibers are directionally mixed rather than combed parallel. This creates minature airpockets, resulting in a warmer garment/sock than the exact same fiber spun worsted and knit up. Thus these will truly be woollen socks. The yardage is 325 yards in 100 grams, and the weight (thickness) of the yarn is closer to sport than fingering. Best of all is the handpainting. Our dyer is one of the best in the country bar none and her colorways are to die for."

I want to thank Shaun for sharing this info with us. I found it absolutely fascinating. I also want to thank my wonderful LYS owner Sue for giving me the opportunity to play with this yarn. She totally rocks!

Oh, one more thing about this yarn...

It doesn't lean. I know, you all think I've really lost it now. Sproing. Leaning yarn. But really, you know how sometimes when you're knitting along with an awesome pattern and it should have nice straight lines but instead you get lines that look like the Leaning Tower of Pisa??? I can't for the life of me think of the term for this right now, bias is coming to mind but I don't think that's it exactly...anyway, this doesn't do that at all. My rows of blueberry waffles are just as straight as a row of soldiers. I like that. Alot.

Thursday, January 11, 2007

The Unveiling...

This, my friends, is my latest sock project. It was knit from a new sock yarn which is soon to be released by Catalina Yarns. This is the same company who deals the chunky Baby Alpaca I'm so head over heels in love with. Seriously, their stuff is fabulous crack to the yarn world. Before I go on and on about the other yarns let's get back on track with the sock yarn...AMAZING. That's it. Period. I'd like to compare it to STR because of its sproing. Yes, I said sproing. It has a nice tight twist that doesn't split at all while you're knitting and the fabric has an awesome soft, spongey feel. I don't have a wrap do-hickey but I can tell you it's definitely heavier than fingering weight. It's superwash and after it's maiden voyage through my washer it came out just like new. And, the colors didn't bleed. This really impressed me. I thought for sure they would. The picture above doesn't even come close to showing the true colors.

This one is definitely a little better. The colors are much more rich in person. Imagine deep green pine trees, dark blue lake water, and fat ripe purple blueberries. Moving on...I don't even want to tell you how many times I knit and ripped this yarn (I do want to tell you how amazingly well it held up though...incredible) before I settled on the Blueberry Waffle pattern. I cast on the 52 stitches but I used a size 4 Addi Turbo for the entire cuff. When I got to the heels I switched to size 2 Bryspun dpns. Since the yarn doesn't have any nylon I wanted a tighter knit fabric for the heel and toe. I knit the foot on a size 3 Addi Turbo and then again switched back to the size 2 Bryspun for the toe. The fabric was incredibly comfortable on my foot. I wasn't sure what to expect since I used needles much larger than I normally would. I've already cast on for the second sock and am half way through the cuff. Since the yarn hasn't hit the store shelves yet I don't have a lot of details other than what I've already shared. I will be sure to post more news as it becomes available. My wonderful LYS will be carrying this as soon as it's available. I can't wait to be able to get more. I'm hooked already. Be sure to keep your eyes and ears open because you're definitely going to want to get this stuff in your hands and on your feet!

Thursday, January 04, 2007

3 Going on 40

Monday morning we were getting ready to go to my parents for breakfast. Brandon and the baby were arguing over her choice of clothes. She wanted to wear a skirt and he told her it was too cold. They went back and forth on the subject for a few minutes until Bran tired and sternly told her she was not wearing a skirt because she would catch cold and have to go to the hospital. She put her little hands on her little hips and said in her best grown up voice, "Ah Dad, don't you think you're over reacting just a bit?" Bran didn't respond for several minutes but when he did he asked if she could quit talking like an adult for just a bit.

Then (yup, I've got another one for you) Tuesday night she was on the phone with her cousin. He's 14 and even though he's incredibly good to her he's still a 14 year old boy with bigger and better things to do than talk to his 3 year old cousin on the phone. I put the phone on speaker and asked him if he had a lot of homework and suggested that she tell him good night. I told him before he answered that this was his chance to save himself. He told her he did have a lot of homework to finish. Her response? "Very well then. I'll talk to you later. I love you." With that, she hung up.

Wednesday, January 03, 2007

Punked

So early Monday afternoon I was on my way to Lake Placid to do some quick grocery shopping. You see, my parents invited us to dinner since Dan and Darcie were finally coming home from spending the last half of winter break with their ass of a father and my mom decided it would be lovely to make a fruit salad. Of course she didn't have any of the ingredients to make the fruit salad. On the way to Lake Placid there are 2 spots where the east bound lane goes from one lane to 2. At the first one I stayed in the left hand lane since I was doing the speed limit and just kept watch behind me to be sure there wasn't anyone there who would want to go by. I'm not unreasonable and I realize that not everyone is as attracted to doing the speed limit as I am. There wasn't a soul in sight. Just as the right hand lane merged back with the left I spotted a red car coming up on the right. It was already past my back bumper. There was my lane and about 1 foot of the right hand lane left at this point along with 4 cars in the west bound lane and a nice steep, deep bank to my right. I'm no rocket scientist but I knew damn right well the car on the right of me wasn't going to fit on the shoulder and that 1 foot of road that was left unless I stopped and let him go by or hurtled myself into the oncoming traffic. I slammed on my brakes, hit the horn, and prayed that the car would make it by without hitting me. It made it by and continued past at an incredibly high rate of speed. I sat there for a few seconds and then quickly accelerated hoping I'd be able to catch up with the car to confirm the license plate number. Nope. There was no catching up although the car (a red Cadillac) did have to slow down once it caught up with a Jeep that was up ahead of me.

So at the second spot where the road changes to 2 lanes the Cadillac pulls out and passes the Jeep on the right side. By this time I'm almost to the grocery store and even though the Cadillac has a substantial lead, I can still see it when it goes around the corners. I thought for sure they would speed right by the entrance to the shopping plaza and head downtown but they didn't. They pulled into the parking lot just a few cars ahead of me. They parked close to the end of the parking lot while I opted for a spot closer to the building. By the time I got out of the van they were already a foot away from the van. They were looking over at me and laughing. That pissed me off. I told them that the way they were driving and the fact that they had almost caused a very serious accident was no laughing matter and that they were lucky I hadn't called the troopers. One of the smart assed kids (I'm assuming the driver) laughed, shrugged his shoulders, and said "Whatever. I thought it was funny." That made me even more angry. I told him he should think about the other people sharing the road with him that have families and young children. He mumbled something I couldn't make out and kept walking towards the store. The pack of kids (there were 5 or 6 of them) were heading towards the doors on the left side of the building while I was heading towards the doors on the right side. One girl broke away from the pack and started rushing towards me. She got in my face and told me the first smart ass has a family and that she was his sister. She then told me I was an asshole who needed to learn to do the speed limit. I pointed out to her that if I were indeed as big of an asshole as any of them that I would have run them off the road and left them in the ditch. She backed away and kept hollering as she walked into the store. I took my phone out of my pcket and called the troopers.

Since I had to shop quickly and get back home in time to put my stuff away and then head to save my babies from the ogre, I was told I could stop to the barracks later that evening to sign a statement. Which I did at 8 that night. That's when I learned that the kid driving the car is only 18 years old. Only 3 years older than my son. I was disgusted. What the hell is the world coming to? He is an 18 year old child driving a $40,000 vehicle. Recklessly. And to top it off, he and his sister are disrespectful and obnoxious. Sad.

I went home and told my kids that if they ever even thought of acting like that they'd be peddling their bicycles for a very long time. Of course this came after I gave them the "just because I've never spanked you doesn't mean I can't start / I'll blister your ass so hard you won't be able to sit for years" speech.

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