Dye for Glory Contest

Tomorrow is the last day of the the Dye for Glory contest. We're pretty darn proud of the colorways we put together. If you are on Ravelry, please take a minute to vote.

For the time being, the only place you'll be able to get any of these colorways is at Sock Summit. We'll make the popular ones available at your LYS later this fall. Let me know which ones you'd like.

We entered in nine categories. Some of them were right up our alley, like Painted and Dipped. Others required a little more interpretation. We had fun with that and came up with some techniques that were new to us like in Primary and Out of the Box.

When it came time to name these colors, we took a detour from our usual scheme. Often, we name colors after locations that have a connection somehow to Lorna's Laces. For example, I used to live on Bittersweet Place, the studio is in the Ravenswood neighborhood so we have colors named Bittersweet and Ravenswood. We don't always name things that way, but it gives us a starting point.

For the contest, we decided to have a little more fun. We worked with a "Monster and Event" framework. You'll see what I mean when you read the names.

Watercolor Category: Hydra Pool Party


















Pooler: Zombie BBQ



















Mosaic: Vampire Tea Party


















Painted: Frankenstein's Cotillion



















Dipped: Hobgoblin Hoedown


















Primary: Medusa's Masquerade


















Shaded Solid: Ghoul's Gala


















Out of the Box: Nightmare's Night Out


















Random Stripes: Lorna's Lazers (This name is not Monster Event. It's the name of our imaginary bowling team.)



















As biased as I want to be here, picking a single favorite in many categories is going to be really hard. The beauty of the colors is astounding. I guess the best way to remedy that is simple...you can buy as many as you want!

P.S. It's my blogiversary. Two years. I suppose I should have done a post looking back and waxing poetic. Maybe next year.

Small Shawls

The small shawl is very popular around here lately. I know that everyone is making them, but it really hit home for me the other day at lunch. Four of the six of us at the table were working on some variation of one.

I have an Ishbel on the needles. This pretty color was an experiment for the Shaded Solid category in the Dye for Glory contest. We didn't enter it, so that means this little shawl will absolutely be one of a kind. I'm a little farther along than this now but I'll wait to show more pics until it's finished and blocked.















Emily is working on Milkweed by Laura Chau. This is the second one for her. Speaking of one of a kind, it's in her own handspun. Because the yarn has a bit of a thick and thin thing going on, she's opting not to do the 'pods' in the pattern.













Stefanie is also doing Milkweed. Hers is knit from that yarn that has silver in it. We didn't dye it here, she got it on Etsy. It's fun stuff!













Last up today is Amanda's work. She's doing Stefanie Japel's Reclamation Scarf from our Shepherd Sock. This is the Courage colorway.













I wonder what is so appealing about these little shawls right now. Is it because the are quick to knit? Is it because they can be worn right away in our air conditioned world? Is it because it gives us something to do with sock yarn that isn't socks? Is it because they are great to use up odd skeins in our stash? They make great gifts? They will always fit?

I guess I'm answering my own question here. There seems to be a mother lode of reasons to knit one or three of these things. I already have the yarn for another wound into balls and ready to cast on!

Fall Knits is Live!

The online issue of Interweave Knits went live today. Check out the Farmer's Market Sweater. We had this in the booth at TNNA and it got lots of attention. The cable pocket detail is really something else.

It's designed by Connie Chang Chinchio and knit in Lorna’s Laces Green Line Worsted. It's shown here in 7ns Cedar.












We liked it so well, we had a model knit for TNNA. That one was done in Fiddlehead. I can't decide which I like better. They are both great greens.

I usually like to keep the colors simple when there are cables, but Fiddlehead's color changes are subtle enough that it works really well.

I also think Green Line Worsted is a great yarn choice for this project. It's firm enough to really make the cables pop but at the same time it's merino so it's nice and soft.

Friday Cuteness

This is Smelvin.

That is all.

Good husband

I had a crappy day yesterday. There was nothing specific I could put my finger on, but things just didn't go my way. When I got home, these were waiting for me. I feel lucky to have such a good husband.

Lacy Summer Socks

A few weeks ago, we started a Ravelry KAL for our Lacy Summer Socks pattern. Everyone else around here finished it up awhile back, but it took me a bit longer. Better late than never, right?

I like this pattern for a couple of reasons. First, since it's a shorty-sock, most folks can get a pair out of a single skein of our Shepherd Sock yarn. What is it about one skein projects that makes me feel so good? Even if it's a 1250 yard skein of Helen's Lace, I always get a kick out of one-skeiners.

Another thing I like about this project is instant gratification. (Probably related to the one skein thing, huh?) I made the entire second sock yesterday afternoon and evening while I was relaxing on the couch. I even took time out from the knitting to go on a long walk with the dog and get coffee and still finished with plenty of time to need to pretend to be too busy to help with the dishes.

I also love the fact that it is lace, but not the kind of lace that requires big charts and lots of concentration and counting. Just a YO here and PSSO there and voila!

The last thing I loved was my color choice, Firefly. Firefly always brings a smile to my face. It doesn't take itself too seriously and brings back so many great childhood memories.

As kids, we spent countless summer nights catching lightning bugs and putting them in mayo jars that had holes punched in the lid. My folks used to let us run around with glass jars back then. I don't remember specifics, but I'm sure there was at least one trip to the emergency room to stitch up a kid who fell down with one of those jars.

I grew up calling them lightning bugs but Firefly seemed like a better name for the colorway. I wonder which is more popular?

These socks are heading out to one of my Pay It Forward winners. I haven't decided quite who yet.......

New Knitscene

The new issue of Interweave Knitscene goes up today! Check out these cute socks designed by Star Athena! They're the Freshman Cable Socks knit from our Shepherd Sock in 15ns Chino.

Re-Boot

Well, the foot I broke way back on March 21st isn't healing. It turns out I have something called a Jones Fracture. A Jones Fracture is in a part of the foot that doesn't get much blood and because of that they don't heal very well. In fact, close to 30% (!) of them end up requiring surgery.

Unfortunately, that means I'm back in the big boot. It's been this way for a couple of weeks now. I tried the smaller boot for awhile, but I was still in pain and had to take a step back. Thank goodness we're having a cool summer because 90 degree weather and the boot would make me one seriously unhappy camper.

The medical term for what I have is a "non-union" or "delayed union" of the bone. One of the treatments for this condition is an Ultrasound Bone Healing System, or as it's more commonly known, a "bone stimulator". (Leave the jokes alone people. I've already heard them all.)















Once a day I squirt a little bit of that ultrasound goo on the device, strap it around my foot, push the orange button and let it do its magic for 20 minutes.














Other than watching the timer wind down, I can't tell anything is happening. It doesn't pulse or tickle. Nothing. I have to believe it's doing it's job. I just can't bear the thought of surgery.

Keep your fingers crossed for me. Thanks.

P.S. Once this whole thing is behind me, I will have a slightly used, very expensive machine. I will gladly sell it to you for a mere fraction of the exorbitant price I paid for it. But today, I won't bore you with yet another sad story of the state of health insurance in the US.

The Pot at the End of the Rainbow

It's been one of those weeks around here. Some of it is my fault, some of it is "our" fault, some of it is Microsoft's fault and some of the blame belongs to the universe.

The first part of the week is all my fault. I've been merrily going about my business secure in the thought that Sock Summit is a month away. I kept thinking that a month is long time, nothing to worry about. Then the big lightbulb went on....the yarn has to out of here in time to get to people so they have time to organize it and get it shipped.

That means we have to have it ready yesterday. Yikes! I began looking under the furniture to find the extra hours I'm going to need to get it all done. So far I've looked under my desk, under the dye tables, behind a box of Shepherd Sock and up in the loft. No luck. I'm going to look between the couch cushions when I get home. If anyone has seen the time I've lost, let me know and I will come get it directly.

Then there was phone incident. The phones were working when I got in yesterday, but by 10 AM, we weren't getting dial tone. The phone company wouldn't be able to get a tech here for at least 24 hours. No phone? That's the kind of thing that sends me into a tailspin. We were able to do a work around and have our calls forwarded, but I still didn't like it.

For some reason I decided to double check to make sure that we hadn't missed anything before we paid for a tech visit. I went around to all the phones to make sure there wasn't anything I could do to fix the problem. Hmmmm, do you think the fact that one of them was unplugged might make a difference? Thank goodness we figured it out before the tech came and thought we were all a bunch of morons.

So, I'm thinking that life is back on an even keel. I know there's much to be done, but it's good to be busy. Then I came in today to find that the printer is not working. Apparently Microsoft did one of their updates overnight and something they did upset the printer. It was on strike and not going to work today.

That tailspin I mentioned earlier came back and deposited itself squarely in my lap. I don't know why, but when technology isn't working, I get really agitated. I should probably learn more about the inner workings of it, knowledge is power and all, but frankly, I'm not that interested. So instead, I got an upset stomach and paced around alot until it was fixed. I'm lucky enough to have people around here that know how to make things work again. And are smart enough to steer clear of me when I melt down.

Somehow Kristi Porter must have known that I was having a tough day. Look what came in my email about an hour ago:

A testimonial for Lorna's Laces Shepherd Worsted.... Eight year old Ella says of the new hat I crocheted (crocheted! I have a new skill!) "I usually always do not like to wear hats because they itch me, but this one is really fashionable and not itchy at all." She wore it all day yesterday and again today. (Also featured the one fingerless glove in unknowing homage to Michael Jackson...)



All is right in my world now. Just in time for the weekend!

Contest Winner

Ummmm......somehow the information about the contest didn't post yesterday. Mea culpa.

Marnie is the winner! It turns out the the list was of shops that we don't currently work with that came by the Sample It! event at TNNA to buy one of our Pearl kits. Marnie's entry jogged my memory enough to remember all the details. Thanks so much.

To claim your prize, contact us at yarnATlornaslacesDOTnet. We'll set you right up!

While I'm at it, Happy Canada Day to our neighbors to the north!