Auntie Mart's Yarn

Ok, here's the big thing I've been working on the last couple of weeks. I'm quite excited about it and well, I just hope you all are just as excited! Anyway, here it is :

Auntie Marts Yarn & Fiber

First of all a few explanations.

Why the idea?
I love dyeing up yarn, but there's a limit to what I can keep. I love giving stuff away of course, but in the end that's rather expensive as well. So then I saw Santa Cruz Handspun and the idea for this was born. My goal is in no way to make much profit out of this, it's merely to make money for my own addiction, and to share some nice fibers with you all!

Why the name of the shop?
That might be a bit of a weird one for those who don't know, but here it goes. My great aunt Martha died about 4 years ago. She was very creative, did a lot of stuff with her hands and was a great knitter and crocheter. She used to make slippers for everyone. She also made a lot of cozy's for clothing hangers, I still have a few of those. She always was an inspiration for me. She unfortunately died before I captured the knitting but again. I still think of her daily and this is kind of a tribute to her, and I hope she likes it! I'm sure she's proud of me :D.

What will I be offering?
A great variety of fibers, mostly very limited available. The lady at my LYS usually has batches of very rare fibers, straight from the mill or left overs from orders from big couturiers in Paris. All fibers she has for me are of super quality. As I said, most of them will be only available for a very limited time. I usually only have a few balls, but I don't want to keep it all for myself.

Aside from that I'll be also offering handdyed sock yarns. Mostly the regular kind, but also some specials. Some will only be limited, others I might have longer. It all depends on the stock I have!

Prices and shipping
As I said I'm not doing this to make a profit, it's mainly to make it possible for me to buy more yarn. And to do something usefull with my creations. So prices will usually be very low, as low as I can go, considering I'm including shipping.

That's right, unless otherwise stated I'm offering free shipping all around the world (remember, I'm in Belgium-Europe!). I'll ship priority mailing. The Belgian post does not offer tracking yet, so I can't offer that, do I can ship your yarn in a signed parcel, but you have to pay that extra cost. As said I'm using priority mailing which means it should get about everywhere in little over 5 days (that is working days of course, and over here the PO doesn't work at the weekends!).

Paying
At the moment I can only take Paypal! Email me with the yarn you would like, and I will send you an invoice!

Please remember, first comes, first gets!!!

Email me!


For now I'll be using my blog to offer my yarns. If people are really interested I might start an etsy store or so. It all depends.

Please keep in mind that I'm trying to take the best pictures I can, with the most acurate colours ON MY MONITOR. Please don't get angry with me if the colours are not exactly as you expected. I'm trying really hard here!

If you are not happy with the yarn or shipping, or anything else, please email me at rrej37AThotmailDOTcom!



Here it goes!


Handdyed Angora sock yarn

This yarn is of a batch I have very limited available. It's 45% Wool, 25% Angora and 30% Viscose. It's no longer available in this way and even the new blend is not available to me at the moment. It knits up on 2 - 3 mm needles (US #0 - #2). I recommend hand wash though it should be fine to put it through a gentle program in your machine. One skein is 50 grams, approx. 193 m (1.7 oz / 210 yards).

I dye this yarn in very small batches. Perfect for socks, shawls, scarfs and chirldrens garments. If you are interested in this for a bigger garnment you need to contact me asap! I can only do this as long as I have the yarn in stock!





#01 - Strawberry filled chocolate
$12/skein 2 AVAILABLE





#02 - Dark Roses
$12/skein 2 AVAILABLE







#03 - Dark Sunset (sorry for the blurry picture)
$12/skein 2 AVAILABLE






#04 - Blue Rain
$12/skein SOLD OUT




Handdyed sock yarn

Your regular sock yarn, 75% wool 25% Nylon. Great quality, hardly pills. Knits up on 2 - 3 mm needles (US #0 - 2). Approx. 210m/50gram skein (230y/1.7oz).

#03 - Dark Sunset
$8/skein 2 AVAILABLE
(more availabe soon!)






#04 - Blue Rain
$8/skein SOLD

More yarn to come soon!

Painfull

I have no decent post. I really can't get my mind together and it's just to hard to make a reasonable post. Why? Well, lets see ...


Yesterday we had very stormy weather. It wasn't raining but there was a huge wind blowing, very strong. The temperatures where ok so I decided to let the horsy on the meadow for a few hours. I went out to the back and opened up the door of his stable onto the meadow. Soon I noticed the brick that normally keeps the door open wasn't heavy/big enough now - with the wind - and I needed another solution. The upper part of the door is connected to a pole with a straw-string (very sturdy). So I decided to do that with the lower part as well. While attaching the string for the lower part somehow the upper part got loose and hit me full speed on the head, right above my left eye. If you knew the speed the wind was getting, and the fact that the upper door had been pulling on the string like crazy, you can imagine the speed the door hit me with. I was dizzy and feeling so bad I could hardly stand on my feet, but did manage to get back to the house. Then I called the boyfriend, who works here but I hadn't seen him on my way back and I was feeling to bad to go and look for him.

Well, I have a major blue eye, but worse, I have a concussion. Not that I ever had this before but working in the medical field I do know what a concussion is about and that's what I'm having! I have major headaches, sometimes I need to hide under a blanket to fall asleep and feel better. I can't spend more then a few minutes on my computer. Driving a car is horror (I had no choice today, but did the very minimal). I just need to lay down, do as little as possible and take regular naps. I'm hoping I'll be feeling better tomorrow.

So no realy updates today. I'm hoping to finally post the big reviel thing - the stuff I've been thinking about for ages - later tonight if my head allows me too. Right now it's back to the couch. More later on the week!

Dye-o-rama

I don't know if I ever mentionned on the blog that I joined the Dye-o-rama swap. I loved the idea of dyeing sock yarn for someone and getting some in return! I love dyeing you see, I love experimenting and playing with colours. I have been dyeing up yarn for my pal, but it seems like the person dyeing for me was even faster! I got her package in the mail today :



The yarn is KnitPicks dye your own, and it's dyed with Wilton Cake Dyes (I whish I had these kind of food colours around, but they aren't sold over here). She also included the cute magnet and the little box of minths! The Colours of the yarn are a bit brighter then in this picture (at least on my monitor).

Oh, and you are probably wondering who sent me this? Well, it was Jennifer, aka Craftylilly! Thank you dear, I love the yarn and will start socks with it soonish!!


Now, I've been dyeing as well, and this is what's going to go out in the mail either tomorrow or on Friday, when time permits :



This is :
- 2 skeins of regular sock yarn (75% superwash wool, 25% poly)
- 1 skein of sock yarn with angora

Both are dyed with Dylon acid colours. My pal requester darker colours, but when I mentionned the angora sock yarn baby items were mentionned. I always thing of bright colours when thinking of kids, so I hope this will be ok. I can't really go wrong as I'm already including the darker skeins, right? The colours for the darker skeins are burgundy, navy blue and emerald green. I truly hope my pal will like this! I'll know more in about a week or so!

I need to update more, but it's hell over here. We are re-doing the showroom completely, and of course my boyfriend started to late. The open doors are coming weekend and so we all have been rushing to get things done. On top of everything I have to deal with a boyfriend in a not so good mood and with an angry FIL who couldn't keep himself and had to tell my mother he's angry at me because I'm not helping enough. Did anyone tell him that I'm THE ONLY PERSON WHO DOESN'T GET PAYED here? Yep, all I do is for free and I'm constantly giving them stuff to use that's actually mine. Oh, I'm not that bad tempered usually but I can't stand this. Of course boyfriend - angry and totally worn out - had to point out how much he's paying for me (well, not that much, but hey) and that I go on a holiday with the money from the business. Huh? Last time I checked he payed that with the money he made (ok, through the business, but he has an official paycheck) and I pay my part. Ok, I have to shut up here, it'll be hard enough to get through the weekend as it is.

Hopefully more knitting soon!

Picture time!!!

First of all, the promissed modeled shot of the Deep V Argyle vest, taken last Saturday during the big fest for the 50th wedding anniversary of my grandparents :



I have to day I look quite good in the picture, better then I usually do! You can't really see the colours in the picture, but you can see the vest is kinda fitting me perfectly (it tends to pull upwards but not really that badly, it still looks great!). Of course I had forgotten to ask my sister to take a picture earlier so it was taken inside rather late in the evening, as for the colours! But hey, you can see the shape, right? :D

Next off, today I got a super package in the mail : my sockapaloooza socks!!



Don't they look super? They are even more perfect in reality! They were made by Jo with natural painted yarn by Hand Jive Knits and she used a pattern from Nancy Bush' Knitting Vintage socks. She included a lovely letter.

Dear, thank you so much! They fit perfectly and I love the colour! Don't worry about the difference, I've done natural dyeing so I know you can't get perfect results! I love the colour and the pattern, thank you so much!


Last week I did some spinning and I'm totally in love with the outcome! It was some handdyed roving I did myself last Summer, and here is what I ended up with :





It's a 2-ply yarn, between sock weight and sport weight! I'm so in love with it and with the stability of the yarn, I just want to spin more! I can't wait to see how this knits up. Socks will it be of course! :D


I have a bit of big thing to tell you all but I'll probably keep it till tomorrow. I'm so insecure about this, but I just want to give it a try. So come back tomorrow to read about it!

I'm on a knitting rush here! :D

Ok, a quick post with proof of my knitting!! First of all, the Deep V Argyle vest.




Stats :

Pattern : Deep V Argyle Vest by Eunny
Yarn : Rowan Yorkshire Tweed DK, grey and white, the last I dyed
Needles : 3,5mm addi turbo circs
Started : April 4th 2006
Finished : April 27th, 2006
Mods : none made, I followed the pattern!

I loved this pattern! The yarn was bumpy at first but the whole thing blocked out so nicely. It was an easy and quick knit and the steeking wasn't as scary after all, probably thanks to the good yarn I used. The Rowan yarn really is nice. I used a pure mohair yarn to do the crochet before steeking. I still need to sew the edges in, but I'll do that one of these days.

I'll be wearing this to the jubileum of my grandparents coming Saturday and I'll sure be asking someone to take a decent picture of me!!



Next on, prove that I finished my Sockapaloooza socks :




Stats :

Pattern : My own, just a regular twisted stitch for the leg and a small lace cable down the leg and foot
Yarn : Fortisimma Socka in denim blue, don't ask more as I just mailed of the last lable I had with the leftover yarn to my pal
Needles : 2,25 mm inox circs
Started : April 6th 2006
Finished : May 1st 2006

They were blocked over night and shipped out today. I hope they will arrive in time, I'm sending oversea and I should have mailed them Friday or so. Lets just hope the postal services do their proper job! To bad my sockpal doesn't have a blog. But I'll hear of my socks, right? :D

I have more to write about, but I really should be headed to bed now, though I'm skipping work this week for several reasons really. To much preparation for Saturday, to much work here at the business (though I'm officially not allowed to help) and a few other things I'll talk about over here real soon!

Where is the world going to?

I'm off to the PO and to arrange some paperwork in the city, but I just needed to get this off my chest first.

Last week Thursday I was on my way into the big city to my LYS when in a very nast turn in the road another car hit me. Or I hit the car. It's kinda blury here. We were travelling in the same direction and it's a really nasty bend. My car is hit at the passengers side at the BACK door, so basically it's kinda obvious they really hit me.

It was a brand new small truck filled with 3 workmen. The one driving kept saying he did not leave his side of the road, but I know for sure that with such a car you can't even pass that bend without leaving your side. It was so silly. Nor my car nor theirs had big dammage. I agreed on filling out papers as their boss didn't want to take the risk. They did not have any papers on board.

I thought they would be reasonable about this. It was so clear the car could not have any true dammage. My car hardly has a scratch! And I hit at a "soft" spot.

Now they called and they want their complete bumper replaced and they are saying it's all my fault!!!!! I am totally upset with this. You believe people still have some good in them, and then you get this.

My boyfriend is totally right, I should have called the police. they would never have won this as they didn't have the neccesary papers on board. But I really believed they would just let it drop. I'm such a stupid ass.

So now my boyfriend is really angry with me. And my FIL - the actual owner of the car - will be too of course. I can cry right now, and I'm honestly going to hide after going into town. I'm so stupid. Can someone shoot me please?


Oh, a proper update later today.