Monday, October 31, 2011

State Fair Ribbons

I went to the animal fair, the birds and the beasts were there, and I will be taking home some ribbons!  There are 11 other members from my guild that also will be taking home some ribbons.  There is such a moment of pure pleasure when you walk up to your artwork and see that spot of color next to it.

Happy Spinning and Weaving!
Regards,
Karen
OPYF

P.S.  Please scroll all the way to the bottom.

First Place-first project on a floor loom
First Place protein fiber and third place other than
This white one in whit is an honorable mention
My beaded shawl from my rigid heddle loom took fourth place
And let's not forget the 2 new babies, ZZ Top and the Mystery Ewe Shetland Lamb.  ZZ took a 5th place ribbon in his class and a third place pairs ribbon.  Mystery girl took first place in her division!
ZZ Top
Mystery Girl

Sunday, October 30, 2011

And then it knocks you down....by Mary Glendinning

In my last post, "The Perfect Vest" I was raving about a pattern I found to make for the Master Knitter Program Level 2.  I was so excited!  After going through what seemed like millions of patterns, I finally found the "perfect" pattern.  I loved this pattern so much that somehow I managed to miss the phrase "knit sideways" in the first sentence of the description.  My vest needs to have side seams to demonstrate my seaming ability so guess what - more vest pattern searches here I come!

Knitting is kind of like that though isn't it?  Just when we think we know something or the item we are knitting is going perfectly - something happens to put us back in check.  For example, I have been happily knitting a sweater for my daughter, Kaitlynn, called "Reindeer Games" from Knitters Magazine, Winter 2010 issue.

The pattern requires you to knit the sleeves first and put stitches on holders and then attach them to the body of the sweater later.  Finished the sleeves - no problem and on to the body.  Knit the ribbing on the first decorative edge and on to the legs of the reindeer.  I was humming along quite nicely - after all I had already knit this part of the pattern in the sleeves.  This is a snap - I know what I am doing...

Then after knitting  a few more rows I started to have that "feeling".  You know the one - you think there is something wrong with your knitting but surely if you  ignore it, the feeling will go away.  Knit a few more rows.  No more denying it -   the legs were going in the wrong direction.  That's right - the reindeer on the sleeves were moving from right to left and the reindeer on the body (300 + stitches, or a herd of reindeer) were running from left to right.  I had to knit back 6 rows of stranded knitting.  The reindeer are now running in the same direction.

This kind of thing happens to knitters all the time.  And the vest pattern?  Well, I was so happy to find something I actually liked I ignored an important part of the instructions!  Knitters bliss I guess.  Thankfully Karen has given me a few other options for vest patterns that I could use.  If anyone out that has a vest pattern, V, crew or U shaped neck, side seams and picked up stitches around the neck and/or arms - let me know.

Happy Knitting!
Regards,
Mary Glendinning
OPYF

Saturday, October 29, 2011

Must Have iPhone Knitting app!

I received some snail mail that talked about this new app for iPhones and iPads and I wanted to share it with you.  It is a free app!  

Knitters will appreciate this quick and easy tool to help manage their yarn stash. Yarnmarket's Yarn Genie 


http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/yarn-genie/id453223920?mt=8

Happy Knitting!
Regards,
Karen
OPYF

Friday, October 28, 2011

Welcoming Knit And Tonic Into The Fold



I am pleased to announce that the Knit and Tonic patterns are now available on the website for purchase! 

Wendy Bernard is a Southern California-based knitwear designer who has written two books published by STC Craft/Melanie Falick: Custom Knits and Custom Knits 2. A third book, Custom Knits Accessories is coming in the spring of 2012. I own both of her books and I am pleased to offer Wendy's unique style to the shop. Wendy also designed one of the patterns for the One Planet Yarn and Fiber store. It is for the Black Pearl cashmere yarn line.

Happy Knitting!
Regards,
Karen
OPYF








Thursday, October 27, 2011

Welcome To The Family! Lambs and Kids

Last year at the fair I purchased the Grand Champion Fleece from a lovely Romney sheep.  I found her again this year and was able to photograph her.  Her name is Ruby.

Ruby
Baaahhhh!!!
The next thing I did was to find the judging table for the mohair fleeces.  They had not been judged yet, but I managed to find the owners and arrange to purchase some of this lovely fiber.  I'll post more pictures once the fiber is in stock here.  Three of these bags are coming our way!  
Now the big news, my friend Helene has a property 25 miles north of me.  She has been so sad since she moved to Arizona a few years ago because she had to give up her flock.  She used the opportunity at the state fair to find some new babies to start a new herd.

Helene and her family offered me the opportunity to be able to have my own, my own sheep and goat.  I am thrilled beyond words to have this chance.  So now I had to go pick.  It was just too easy.

Introducing!  Moorit Shetland Sheep ewe lamb number 40, born 12/30/2010.  Yup, she doesn't have a name yet.  She is a beautiful Snack Size Sheep from breeder Cecilia Parsons.  Cecilia is well known in the industry and she has authored many articles in the agriculture world.  She is very well respected in her field.
Isn't my girl beautiful!!!!  Not bad for a city girl.
Next, I met up with Allen from Eureka Mohair Farm.  He had this adorable little Angora kid goat.  He is perfect!  I was told I could change his name if I wanted to.  I asked what his name is and said I would keep it.  Why?  That's another story in itself!

Back in the late 1990's my husband and I were in a different business.  We owned a custom knife business.  We bought and sold pocket and hunting knives created by individual artists from around the world.  We were one of the top 5 best known companies in the world.  We sold that business in 2002, but getting back to the story here-

One day in November of 1999 I received a phone call from a young lady.  She said she was the road manager for Billy Gibbons and that the band was coming to Phoenix to play at the America West Arena.  Now, I knew we had a customer from Texas named Billy Gibbons, but I had never assumed that he was anyone other than a person named Billy Gibbons.  (Unlike the time I had a phone conversation with Wesley Snipes, or the call from Jim Belushi on my birthday.  He's a Gemini too.)  

So the young lady explained to me that Billy wanted to buy some gifts for his crew for Christmas and could we come to the Arena with our stuff, go backstage, have dinner, see the concert....  Billy is Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top.  I said YES, of course.

I sauntered back to the bedroom to tell my husband about this.  What was he doing in the bedroom on a work day?  Ahem, we all had the flu.  I was on the road to recovery, or son was better too, he had caught it first.  Our daughter did not get it until after the visit with the band.  I told my husband that I had a date that Friday.  I told him I was going to ave dinner with ZZ Top!  I explained the rest to him and tried to find a baby sitter.

No luck, no babysitter.  I called the manager back and explained the situation.  She said no problem and that Friday afternoon we dragged ourselves downtown to the Arena where we spent a lovely evening backstage with Billy Gibbons and the rest of the band.  We sat at the catered dinner with Billy and the drummer from Lynyrd Skynyrd.  Oh, did I forget to mention that they were touring together?  The kids were given several souvenirs to take home.  

We also got to go on stage and had a tour of the set.  All of a sudden we heard loud cheering and clapping.  Our daughter, who was about 7 or 8 at the time, wondered up to the front of the stage and started dancing behind our backs.  The incoming fans loved it.  Right after that evening we found out our daughter wanted to sing and she had many years of private voice lessons, Phoenix Girls Chorus and performing arts programs.  Both of the kids are musicians and our daughter still plays piano.

But what does this have to do with our new kid?  His name is ZZ Top!

ZZ Top

Mohair with ribbons
The judge and helper
Grooming for the show ring
Here comes the next part of the story.  You thought I was done, didn't you.

I was invited back on Friday to SHOW ZZ Top in the show ring.  This was a place I had never thought I would ever be.  I, was in heaven.

I arrived at the fair in the morning and I was able to park in the exhibitors lot.  I went into the barn and met up with Allen from Eureka.  We spent some time pulling straw out of goat hair to prepare them for the show ring.

Next came getting the goats from the pens to the show ring, which is about 50 yards away.  Allen asked me if I had upper body strength.  I said no problem an he put a kid in my arms.  I carried that baby 50 yards to the show pens and went back.  I ended up carrying 3 of them to the show ring, including ZZ.

Next came the more mature goats.  Have you ever tried to get a goat to cooperate?  They do if they want to. Several of mine planted their feet and refused to budge.  There I am, grabbing a goat on either side of the neck and pulling them forward, with me backward, into the show ring.  I must have been quite the sight!

Allen had a crew of us to help him show his herd.  I probably showed about 6 of them including ZZ.  It could have been more, I didn't keep track.  And of course 2 of them escaped my hands while I tried to get them in to the ring.  There we were, chasing them down.

After the judging we took all the goats as a herd and put them back in their pens.  We had to make sure that they didn't go down any aisles or make a break for the doors all the way back to their pens.  I was a sheep dog!

Allen took home many ribbons, a few of them Grand Champion.  ZZ took 5th place, out of 5 and third in pairs out of 3, but we had so much fun.  I even got to wear a Eureka Mohair Farm shirt for the show ring.  Allen, thank you so much for letting me be a part of this.
In the show ring.  Allen is in the middle.
ZZ, after returning to his pen

Going home-



"Dreams Are Made Of These"
Regards,
Karen
OPYF

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

OPYF Coupon Code Apology



I am hanging my head in embarrassment about the last to e-newsletters that I sent out.  Here is the corrected version with the correct coupon code.  I can't apologize enough for my snafu.


One Planet Yarn and Fiber Halloween Blast Update and Offers.  Last across the board yarn sale for the holiday season.  Stock up now!

What's Happenning?
I spent a lot of time wandering around the Arizona State Fair last week . I took a ton of pictures and they will be appearing in the blog over the next several days.  Pay attention!  There will be a very cool blog posting in a few days.

Don't forget the October contest! 
Enter to win this lovely knitting bag that was donated to me by Lynn of Yarn Place Yarns along with 2 skeins of Fleece Artist Woolie Silk in Rose.  That's enough to make one of Never Not Knitting's Cedar Leaf Shawlette!  How do you enter?  By going to the blog and writing a note under the October Contest blog as to why you would like this bag.  Please make sure that you leave me your contact information or I will be unable to send out this prize to you.  The winner will be drawn on October 31st by the online random number generator.  Good Luck, and remember, if you don't win this time, there will be plenty of other opportunites to win something coming up this fall and winter.
What's Next?
 I'm still waitng to have time and a sunny day to take some pictures of the new Fleece Artist yarn.  New patterns will be posted in a few days from Knitting Traditions and Knit and Tonic.  New colors from Lanas Puras Melosa in the fingering weight are sitting in boxes over at our pen shop.  The shipment of a new yarn from madelinetosh is in!  I also spent several hours this week with the rep from Schaefer Yarns.  Yummy, yummy!

I made a mistake!  I ordered some Fleece Artist Woolie Silk for a customer and the computer ate the email!  Would the person who ordered the yarn in Madder please email me.  I am so sorry about this. :(
Don't Forget! 

Please sign up for the One Planet Yarn and Fiber Blog to receive news more than a few times a month.  I post there several times a week.
Blogs you may have missed-
    Don't Forget!
    The One Planet Yarn and Fiber My Rewards program is up and running.  From September 15th until December 31, 2011 for each purchase you make, excluding tax and shipping, you will receive one point for each dollar spent.  There is nothing that you have to do to participate in this program.  Every dollar you spend counts as a point.  After 30 days the points will be released into your account for you to use.  Once you reach 100 points you can begin to start redeeming points against purchases.  You can let the points build up or you can spend them every time you reach 100 points.  There is no limit to the number of points you can accrue.  Once the accrual program ends on December 31, 2011 you will have until January 31, 2011 to redeem them.  After that point, any unused points will expire.  The points that are redeemed are converted into a gift certifcate for you to use at any time.  The certificates do not expire.

    Other Important Things
    Make sure to visit the "What's New" and the "On Sale" section of the site as I add items here regularly! Join the Facebook Fan Club and be able to chat with other OPYF fans.  Read The Blog about all of the new items that are being added to One Planet all the time -I have many new yarns, fibers, patterns and more from around the world.  Please join the Ravelry group!  If you haven't joined yet, please do and then post an introduction on the thread titled  "Introduce Your Self!".And please join the mailing list for monthly special offers and news!  I send out at least one monthly newsletter with different offers each month. I never share your name or private information. I use it only for the newsletter.


    This week's special?  Last across the board yarn sale for the holiday season.  Stock up now!
    20% off all  yarns.  That's right!  All yarns.  Three days only.  Use Coupon Code:  OCT20  This offer ends Friday October 28th at midnight.  Limited to in stock items.  No special orders.

    Please let me know if you have any problems with the codes.  Also, please allow me a little time to ship out these orders as we are having a trunk show at Scottsdale Pen on Thursday and I will be there all day helping my husband.  Thanks!

    **Important-This coupon cannot be combined with ad coupons you might see. Discounts are not retroactive.  If you placed an order last week or the week before, we are sorry, we can't credit you now.  Discounts must be taken at the time of order.  Please do not write us after you placed an order and ask us to apply a discount.  We are sorry, but we just can't do it.  If you need help, please email us before you place your order.  In addition, these special offers are only valid for in-stock items.  They are not valid for special orders for new colors or yarns that we might not have in stock yet.  Excludes spinning wheels, OPYF Clubs and items already listed on the sale page.  Orders placed for unqualified merchandise will be refunded back to you.

    Remember, there is always free USPS Priority shipping on all orders in the USA over $99.00.  No  coupon code needed.


    Best Regards,
    Karen
    OPYF

    State Fair Critters And Rides

    More images from the State Fair from last week.  My husband and I wandered around the barns and found these delightful and exotic critters to share with you.  Enjoy!
    Regards,
    Karen
    OPYF

    What a face!
    Being groomed for the show ring
    His Honor the Turkey

    Fancy hats
    Sir Chicken
    Ducks of a feather
    Is your mama a Llama?
    This little piggy is enjoying the heat lamp
    Peas in a pod
    Is that your natural hair?
    Time for a massage
    Midway
    Bird's Eye Views
    My first Demolition Derby!

    Tuesday, October 25, 2011

    State Fair Guild Weavers and Spinners Demo

    I have been having so much fun at the State Fair.  Last Thursday was my first day there.  I spent most of my day with the Arizona Desert Weavers and Spinners Guild demonstrating on my new Pocket Wheel.  The pictures are not the best, but the message is still conveyed.

    Happy Spinning!

    My friend Helene teaching a young lady how to use a drop spindle.

    Great pride in a handspun strand of Alpaca!

    Our set up.

    A display of some of our finished products.