Djinni Un-lottery and other un-related matters

I believe I mentioned that the elusive Djinni is back, yes? We will be celebrating New Year's with a fabulous NewYear's day un-lottery. Go here and join in the fun! I'll be giving folks the choice of 1 or 2 skeins. The skeiner is here and to be assembled and put to work tomorrow, so I think i can spare a few skeins. Then, I'll be getting to work on that Loopy Ewe order!

Now, onto Christmas Day, and such:) When not eating, we did this, thanks to the snow gods.

Dragonfly Dad and dog.

Not sure what Dragonfly Mom is doing here; kinda looks like this maybe? I think she is joining me in wishing you a very fun and exciting New Year!

p.s. No mermaids were harmed during the making of this blog (and, yes, she did eventually go down the hill, but on her own terms, as always:)

We are SO dreaming of a White Christmas...

Although, by the time Christmas actually gets here, we will have a grey or black Christmas with a bunch of dirty snow:) Better enjoy it now! This is the life; we are snowed in, so i'm sitting in bed in my jammies blogging while the kids play in the snow. Snow forts seem to be the name of the game. Soon, I'll have to go down and start running the dryer and directing traffic.


Our whole family is coming in, so we will essentially have three days worth of party in my tiny little house. Meanwhile, giant shipments of yarn come in and get stowed...somewhere. My big giant multiple skeiner also comes, probably on Christmas eve, just to make things interesting. Luckily there will be a few engineers in the house; maybe they can put it together! Sounds like fun, for engineers, right? I haven't seen a weather forcast, but I hope it's not too cold for my poor southern family:)


These people are ready!

Now onto business~! I updated my shop last night, with lots of seasonal colors, including some lovely roving. This is Fig Merino. Soft and squishy winter hat spinning anyone?


Next week, there will be no update. I have just received the amazing news that I will have skeined Djinni at my disposal as soon as i can get it from Sarah, courtesey of Elissa and her Dream Team at the Sanguine Gryphon. Thanks so much my friends! This means we will be able to celebrate the New Year properly-with a Djinni un-lottery, of course! Stay tuned while we figure out the mechanics of that!

Another thing that has arrived here is the first batch of my new yarn, so i'll dye some up for a proper introduction - after the Christmas family deluge. It seems to me that 'tis the season to leave one's work behind as much as one can, even work as lovely and charming as dyeing yarn in 20 degrees F can be:)

But one more thing. We will have signups up for a few more weeks for Club Dragon Witch. This should be a very fun sock club with some amazing yarns (cashmere, silk, or bamboo anyone?) dyed by well, me and Brittany of the Knit Witch. But also, we have plans for some excellent giftees and the designer list is quite good. Gryphon is creating a special Fairy Tale sock of our very own; I probably shouldn't tell you which story, but let me just say it is relevant to the theme. ok? I have my own ideas, and as i'm the April designer, I better get busy:).. Maybe I'll wait til after Christmas. So, go tell your loved ones that "all you want for Christmas" is a spot in Club Dragon Witch, cause i assume you already have your two front teeth:)

Now, Trudge, who is anticipating lots of delicious turkey and ham,

and I, who have been staying warm while shooting yarn photos

and all of us Chez Dragonfly wish you a very warm and cozy holiday season and much Joy in the New Year!

So this is Christmas

Or very nearly so. We have in fact begun the week countdown to the mermaid's 12th birthday, which really begins the week of Christmas for us. This year is extra exciting because we will be home for the first time in maybe 5 years. Usually we travel to new orleans to see my family, which is usually warm and always festive but like the song says, "there's no place like home for the holdays."

We know this is what the song says because Aquaman already gave me my christmas present early: a Squeezebox, which is a digital music player that hooks into the computer network and we have been discovering all sorts of christmas music via Pandora. I like it because it has good sound:)

We are moving slowly toward holiday readiness. not only are we home but it seems the whole family is coming to us. And maybe there will be a party involved as well as hosting christmas eve and christmas day. And then, everyone leaves and we collapse! And then, the mermaid has her birthday party. And then, New Years! which i am, of course, hoping will involve lots of knitting!

So, there will be some changes in the shop update schedule to accomodate all of this excitement. I will be having a regular update on Iriday night, at 9 pm est. I will not, not surprisingly, be having an update on the following friday as it is Christmas, and I will be enjoying my family (I hope:) I might have am update on New year's Day, depending on whether there is any yarn.

I have heard that Djinni may have actually reached Maryland this time. It may even be in Easton by now. three cheers for that! I may even have some at some point this week. Just when we were beginning to doubt its very existence... I must get confirmation on when it will enter my hot little hands, and on when my skeiner will actually really be here, but we may be in shape for a holiday or new year's special edition Djinni lottery, who knows? Of course, we won't be calling it that. Maybe an un-lottery?

In the meantime, i have brought on another lovely old friend and neighbor to help keep Dragonfly Headqurters running smoothly. My friend Carol started last week and took care of the update shipment, for the most part. She is going to be getting my next shipment to Fibrespace out, and shipping out fridays' update. When the skeiner comes (cross your fingers for this week), she will be number one skeiner. Her son, now 15, was one of my boy's first gods. And her dog Henry is the cutest Cardigan Corgi ever:)

Meanwhile, there hasbeen knitting. Behold my slightly wonky Golden Pear Pomatomos in Djinni sock. It is a very fun knit, even if I do get distracted sometime and throw the pattern off-kilter. Looks like I'll have to knit two, so i can have a more attractive sock to bring to bring to shows as a sample.

This is the third beginning of my scoop neck Hourglass sweater in Heroine Dragon Worsted. I am loving this knit! Ihe yarn is wonderful; i just wish i was capable of following a pattern with out having to modify it, which of course requires thought, which may require too much for me for right now:) I am working on dyeing and listing tons of this yarn in quantity, because sweaters are the thing for right now, especially once holiday knitting is done. We are talking on the Dragonfly Fibers Rav group a bout doing a sweater KAL after the holidays. Come join us?

Drumroll please...

It's time to announce my big fabulous surprise! Remember Brittany, of Knit Witch fame? As you can see from this picture from SAFF 2009,
Brittany is the person to involve when you want to do something fun, and maybe a little crazy?

We had such a great time together that we began talking joint projects. We have more plans, but today, I want to tell you about Club Dragon Witch, our new super fabulous 2010 sock club!

Club Dragon Witch is a year long joint sock club. Shipments will come every two months, for a total of 6. Each package will include a skein of some yummy sock yarn (either Knit Witch or Dragonfly Fibers yarn), a pattern designed especially for our club and some fun goodies! We have some really amazing designers on board and we are so excited that they will be working with us! Our first design is already underway (thanks Barb!). Brittany is doing the first shipment with her, and let me tell you, the color is gorgeous, and the yarn is yummy. All the base yarns will be delicious (mostly nice blends) and yes, there will be some cashmere involved.

Spaces are LIMITED so please be sure to sign up early if you want to get in on the action. Sign-ups will run from now until January 7th unless the club fills up before then - in which case we will close the sign-ups.

Check out who will be designing socks for us:

Barb Brown of Wild Geese
Me! (you know where to find me, right?)
Cristi Brockway aka Turtlegirl76
Sarah Eyre of Sanguine Gryphon
Rosi Garmendia
Gryphon of Sanguine Gryphon

You can find all the information HERE on the new website, created by the fabulous (yep, there's that word again) Mr. Knit Witch, the Barefoot Potter.

Wayne's amazing knit bowls and spindle vases not included. Of course, you can find them here:). I just went and bought ANOTHER one.

Unveiling

I hope you had a lovely holiday weekend, and that this weekend is relaxing and fun. We have, or I should say, the mermaid has, a swim meet this weekend. The lovely Jack, or Aquaman as we are coming to experience him, has prepared the obligatory delicious spaghetti and meetballs (good one! or meatballs, if you prefer) and we even had spumoni, my favorite! The boy is back on the basketball court, and we are back on the tread mill, or hamster wheel.

But, before all that, I have some important things to tell you about. First, the amazingly talented Laura Blueswirly has made some winter wall papers for us Dragonflies. You must go see them here, and if you want, download them to your computer. I understand that she is working on a wallpaper for your mobile phone too:) She has been working on some very cool things for me, and for you too! Laura is one talented person, and a rather fabulous human too, while we're at it.

Thanks to those offering inspiration through my Winter Colorway Inspiration contest, I have developed four (yes, i know I said it would be three:) new colorways for the winter season. I am offering these tonight in my shop, and will continue to do so through the end of February.

This is Blue Spruce, inspired by Molly's picture and Sarah's words. Evergreens are definitely part of the mythical winter landscape, especially if they are covered in snow:)

Red Wine by the Fire was a go on the first try, and alot of fun to do. Thanks to Vicki's image of , well, a glass of red wine by a warm crackling hearth, with hand knit socks on feet and one's next sweater on the needles, of course!


Winter Twilight was inspired by several images, most notably this one. I just couldn't resist! Although, it did take a few tries to get it done right:) I do love tolook up at twilight, and see the light disappearing through the bare trees. I have a friend Mary, a non-knitter, who paints this scene in endless beautiful variations. Her favorite things to paint are wooden birdhouses. She really gets the moment just right, to my way of thinking:)

And finally, Fig. I didn't need a fourth colorway, but i just couldn't resist these colors! I may be the only one in the world, we shall see:) But that's okay. Sometimes, a woman must do what a woman must do. These last two were inspired by the fabulous Laura, who took herself out of the contest, but i'm sure I'll figure some way to thank her!

Oh look, it's after 9 pm! Must go start shop update now. More later. Oh, and watch the blog for a cool announcement Monday or Tuesday, ok?

Why I'm not dyeing today

It's not the rain, per se. See, with help from the Lovely Jack, I had this great idea for a set up. Three double burners and a dye table out in my "open air dye studio", otherwise known as the peeling, rotting back deck. In fact, if you look carefull at the above picture, you will notice the white line drawn by the mermaid, across which no more of stuff can go. So much for that idea, sweetie. A commercial grade canopy tent is to go over much of this, apparently not over the pots themselves, though, as Gryphon learned yesterday.

I thought it would be brilliant to move a few things out of the way, and put up the tent to stay out of the rain. I learned fairly quickly that this piece of equipment is not a one-woman set up job. i have persevered anyway, and have managed to get almost all the way spread out, with the covers on, but just need an extra human for the last bit. Why oh why did I choose to do this on a day when everyone in the world is apparently travelling for Thanksgiving? Unfortuately the dye studio is dismantled and now the half-assembled tent is in the way. The lovely Jack will help me later; unfortunately, as i will not be allowed to dye on Thanksgiving Day proper, Friday's update will be rather tiny.


Of course, this may not be a disaster as I may then have time over the weekend to play with the new Winter colorways. So, if you want to win a free skein of yarn, and have some input for the next set of seasonal colorways, do go leave me some inspiration!

These two clearly have the right idea, don't they?

Before I go put my feet up with a cup of tea and my yet to be photographed because it is only two inches long Pomotomous, I would like to take a moment to tell you about my lovely friend and new "Number One", Karen. A very smart and talented lady, seen here in the hat at our divisional swim meet from this summer, she is a fellow swim mom; an experienced project manager; with Fig (also pictured), the team rep for the awesome Glenwood Tigers; and perhaps most importantly, a Knitter and lover of hand dyed yarns.

In fact, we met years ago at the pool because she and I were, at that time, the only ones knitting. Our twelve year old girls swim together all summer; mine like a mermaid; hers like a shark! She also taught me the magic loop technique for knitting in the round and introduced me to the wonderful world of sock knitting.

She can hank a skein of yarn, pack and ship orders, write elegant notes, and even suggest that it is good also to turn the microwave on if I am expecting it to heat up my lunch. I like the way she handles my kids too: "athletes need good nutrition so they can have enough energy to play" to my candy-stalking boy. In the end, she will help me organize my business so it runs efficiently and grows somewhat smoothly. If you buy yarn from me, there is a good chance you will receive a thank you note from Karen, my yarnprentice. Now, you have a face to go with the name.

Many cute words have been tossed out to describe the indie yarn company employee: SG and Loopy have elves, Miss Violet has minions, Karen calls herself "yarnprentice" (cute, yes?), but I call her Number One.

Learning Curve Roller Coaster

Phew! It has been a week! We've had the snots over here, not too be confused with the flu, thank goodness. Last week, I had the princess home (that's right, the mermaid was earthbound:); this week the boy desided he needed to stay home. Oh, and the dog injured herself jumping down a hill. I think she may be ageing a touch. Used to be anything and now, well, there are consequences. Kind of like me.

There have been many fabulous new things going on here at Dragonfly headquarters thanks to all my wonderful customers and friends and family. I have tripled my dyeing equipment and am expanding my output. Laura, my high priestess of Marketing, and I are working on advertising both through the Group and on Ravelry specifically. I have been looking at expanding Team Dragonfly in various ways and may have someone who can really whip me into shape (very nicely). And, i have a ordered a big yarn skeiner! I am starting to give up worrying about where things will go and am going it to "make it work" mode. If you build it, they will come. Right?




Now specifically, if you haven't already, you need to go on down to my Ravelry group and join it. and while you're there, you need to check out my Winter colorway contest. If you're not on Rav, you can still play:) Here goes:

As a way of introducing a new concept, I am having a contest for inspiration. It may be obvious that there is nothing an indie dyer loves more than creating colorways, yes? In an attempt to rein myself in a little and keep the colorway list under control, I am introducing seasonal colorways. These color will be produced only during their season, and then will go into hibernation until next time. but it’s more fun if we all get to play, right? I am looking for some inspiration for Winter; you can submit anything for inspiration: pictures, poetry, movie titles, travels, etc. Just needs to be related to the season of choice. I will choose, with input from the Dragonflies, and members of the Dragonfly team, 3 (give or take) inspirations and interpret them for sale through the winter months.I actually started this concept this fall and just didn’t actually tell anyone(silly me). I bet you can guess at least one of not two of these colorways:) (Pumpkin King and Cinnamon Spice). Then, i added Holy Cow, which started as a goof, because you all liked it so much. Winter colors will start in mid-Fecember and run through February. Fall colors will end December 31st.Oh, and the 3 winning colorway inspirers will be awarded a skein of yarn in their base and colorway of choice, as long as I have it in stock.

So, if you want to play, and aren't on Rav, just leave a comment. Okay?

This lovely vase is a spindle vase made by Wayne, the Barefoot Potter, who is married to the lovely Brittany, of Knit Witch fame. He is developing this vase as a new product at my request, because once one starts collecting spindles, it's tough to stop, right? So any comments you have for me would be most welcome. We know it's a touch short. but isn't it gorgeous? i love it. Brittany and I have a few other fun things cooking up, too. Soon to be announced:)

The mermaid and Mr. Trudge would like you to know that Gryphon and Sarah have moved the sanguine Gryphon out of Gryphon's house to an actual, real commercial space. If you haven't been following their move this week, go see. It looks very cool!

And speaking of the lovely Sarah, I dyed this colorway for a fairisle design project she is working on as a collaborative venture (just yarn dyeing, from my end, but one never knows where things may lead.