Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Flying Carpet Socks

These are the Flying Carpet Socks that Cat Bordhi designed for the Duets series of patterns that we're collaborating with Mountain Colors on. Could they be any cuter?!

The model shown is knit in Lorna's Laces Gold Hill and Mountain Colors Wilderness. There will be 5 other color combo's:

LL Mixed Berries & MC Winter Sky
LL Sassy Stripe & MC Sun River
LL Tahoe & MC Mountain Tango
LL Rainbow & MC Meadow
LL Iris Garden & MC Wildflower


We'll start shipping them on Monday, May 5th so they should be in shops by the end of next week. You can check with your LYS to see if they have them coming.

Thursday, April 24, 2008

Color Series

A few weeks back a very popular blogger, Grumperina, had been showing us how to make stripes in socks without jogs using four shades of Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock and a spiraling technique. Even though there were lots of pictures, I had trouble envisioning how it would work, but once I put yarn on needles it all made sense. Very cool! I am a sucker for the technical side of knitting.

I thought the colors she was working with looked very nice together, so I contacted her and asked if she'd like a special Grumperina colorway. She said YES! And a new colorway was born. It was a huge success and we've been dyeing like crazy for Birds 'n Yarn to keep up with the demand.

I got to thinking that it might be fun to collaborate with a bunch of bloggers on colorways and turn it into a series. I've contacted three or four and they all said yes! My scheme is to bring a new one out on the 15th of the month starting in July or thereabouts.

Sound good?

I have several bloggers in mind that I'm planning to contact about getting involved, but I'd love to hear who some of your favorites are.

Thursday, April 17, 2008

Naked Face

I suppose it is in bad form to scream (just a little) upon seeing one's husband after a long day at work. I did just that yesterday. It wasn't really my fault though. He shaved. I have never seem him without a beard or goatee and we've been married twelve years. A little warning would have been nice.

I sent off a check to Living Beyond Breast Cancer today. I was a little late getting it out this time, I usually try to do it as soon as I close the books each quarter.

One of the nice things about these donations is being able to do them in honor of someone. The woman who owns Millea Furnishings, Anna, is a survivor. She used to be in the studio right across from us until she moved to St. Louis. We are both early birds so we would have coffee together most mornings before we started in on our workdays. St. Louis is where her family is, and the move made sense, but I sure do miss her.

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

A Fond Farewell

With a very heavy heart, I wrote Becca's last paycheck today. She'd been with Lorna's Laces since the fall of 2004. She is already sorely missed.

Becca has been working on her masters degree for the past couple of years. She's doing her work in gerontology and has another semester of classes and then her thesis to go. She decided to leave Lorna's Laces because she wanted to have some experience in her field under her belt before she finished with school.

Before she left, she designed a colorway for Jimmy Beans Wool's series of limited edition colors. It will be available starting May 1. She sent a short message to go along with it.

Leaving Lorna's Laces is bittersweet for me. It is hard to leave an environment that has become like a home to me. With the good friends, the bright colors, the dance parties and lots of memories it is hard to believe that leaving is the best option. But, sometimes you have to jump into change with both feet and trust that you will land safely. So, thank you to Beth and everyone else at Lorna's for nurturing me (and putting up with me) for the past three and a half years. I hope that you all like the color that I created, and I hope that it encourages you to jump into change with both feet.
Lots of love,
Becca


I am honored to have worked with her for as long as I did. Good luck Becca!

Wednesday, April 9, 2008

Sock Contest

This was originally posted on Ravelry. Thought it made sense to put it here too.


Hi everyone!!

It is getting to around that time of year again! The TNNA summer market is just around the corner and new colors have been popping up here and there around the studio for premier at the show. It’s all VERY exciting if you ask me!!

We love to get a chance to see what new and budding designers are up to and figured what better way than to have a sock design contest!

So, with no further delay here are the details:

Designs must be in Shepherd Sock yarn (color does not matter).

Submit 1 sock along with a written version of your pattern by May 14th to:
Lorna’s Laces Yarns
4229 N. Honore St.
Chicago, IL 60613
(Please securely attach your name, address & contact information to your sock so we can return it to you.)

You may also submit your design via high resolution digital image to yarn@lornaslaces.net with the subject line “sock contest submission” by May 14th.

The winning sock designs will become the sole property of Lorna’s Laces for distribution in our pattern line.

1st Prize: Publication of your pattern in the Lorna’s Laces pattern line, 3 copies of your pattern for yourself & 8 skeins of Shepherd Sock yarn in assorted colors (enough for 4 pairs of socks).

2nd Prize: Publication of your pattern in the Lorna’s Laces pattern line, 3 copies of your pattern for yourself & 4 skeins of Shepherd Sock yarn in assorted colors (enough for 2 pairs of socks).

3rd Prize: Publication of your pattern in the Lorna’s Laces pattern line, 3 copies of your pattern for yourself & 1 Little Can of Paint sock kit.

If you have any questions please feel free to contact me. I can’t wait to see what you come up with!

Cheers,
Amanda Allen

Please feel free to cross-post this to any other forums you think might find it interesting.

Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Knit.1


Wow, I got the new Knit.1 over the weekend. What a gorgeous issue! I'll admit to being biased....the cover is a Nicky Epstein design in our Green Line DK.

We have started shipping the Green Line in earnest over the past couple of weeks. It feels so nice to have it out in the world. Once we got the dyeing figured out, I love this yarn more than ever! It's nice and soft but has a firm enough hand that cables are really going to pop. I really hope folks like it as well as I do.

Lately we've been busy working on new colors for fall. We've got four figured out for the Purple Line right now. I'd like to have one or two more.

Even more exciting is putting together multi-colors for the Green Line. We'll work with some of the nearly solids we already have as well some new things. I'm not sure what we'll end up with, but this week should be lots of fun. I find designing colorways just about the most satisfying thing we do around here.

Friday, April 4, 2008

Wee Tiny II


My Wee Tiny Sock has arrived! It's even wee tinier than the one I knit. Thanks Dawn!

Thursday, April 3, 2008

Persnickety

Isn't it funny how the stuff you learn in grade school sticks with you?

When I was a kid, my parents made great sacrifices to ensure all their children went to Catholic schools. Let me tell you, those nuns didn't mess around when it came to the basics. We memorized multiplication tables, state capitals, the Gettysburg Address. (I still know that one by heart, complete with punctuation.)

Proper letter writing was high on their list. Business letters had a salutation that was followed by a colon. For personal correspondence, you followed it with a comma. My brain is full of minutia.

I know times have changed and I am all for living in a more relaxed society. Goodness knows that I don't want to go back to the days of full slips, girdles and untold other "foundation garments".

But, I do find myself cringing when email comes across my desk with no salutation or regard for upper and lower case. Now, I don't mind when it's a note from a friend, but I think business correspondence, even email, should have at least some regard for proper form, particularly when it's early on in that relationship.

Maybe I shouldn't be so fussy. Is it crazy to worry that a person who can't be bothered with punctuation will be able to write an error-free pattern? Or that someone who doesn't run spellcheck will be a reliable test knitter? After all, they are different skill sets, aren't they? Arent' they?

I suppose you are wondering what brought this all on. Well, Monday was opening day at Wrigley Field. A statue of Ernie Banks was unveiled. Ernie Banks is a member of The Baseball Hall of Fame who played his entire career with the Cubs. He's a legend around these parts.

The statue is beautiful.













The caption of the base is another story.


In case you can't tell from the photo, it reads: "LETS PLAY TWO". The apostrophe in "Let's" is missing. Can you imagine? I'm not privy to all the details, but you have to figure that this sculpture has been in the works for months, probably years. I'm dumbfounded to think that in all that time no one took bothered to make sure every single detail was correct before it was engraved in granite.

Given the press that this has received in the past few days, I'm just glad it wasn't me. Yikes!