Author: beverly

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The Return of the Yarn Review

I am here to announce the return of the yarn review.

Negligent. that’s what I’ve been. But I am now focused and I see the path. I will return to doing yarn reviews and I will start with a yarn I’m about to become obsessed with after using it for years.

One of the fun things about having access to the domesticated yarn is discovering what has been laying dormant for a few years. I pulled two bins from the closet and I can already see a couple of I Love This Yarn – Print. They’re not the color I’m usd to and I don’t even know if it’s an active color. Hold on a minute. It’s one skein and a remnant and there’s no ball band. Looked on the website and can’t match it up. Could be discontinued. Oh well.

So, here’s the deal: i am starting with the items I made in January and if I haven’t done a review of the yarn, I’ll do one. So, you can read what I have to say about this yarn here. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You can see all the domesticated yarn. It is a wonder there hasn’t been a revolt. Each time I look in that closet, something calls out to me and I just want to grab it and work with it.

But discipline has to be the principle and is my 2023 buzzword. I have goals that depend on my developing discipline. I will get to the fibers calling my name.

Do you see the HUGE flowers on the left of the yarn? I’ll tell you about them a little later. I also have a free pattern to share as soon as it’s written up.

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What I Made in January

You can see what I made in January. Seems a little heavy on the Hooded Scarf.

What can you do? The heart wants what the heart wants.

All in all, 41 items made and 50 balls of yarn used. Three balls of yarn came and stayed so it is a net total of 47 skeins of yarn gone from the massive stash.

 

 

 

I have photos of the great yarn sort but I will save those for another time. Suffice it to say, I like how the room looks. But by no means, is it a pretty kind of sort. It works for me because the floor is clear for when I work out and I have access to the domesticated yarn in the closet. I pulled a bin from the closet to start building the items for 2023. You can find the video of what is in the bin on TikTok @designbcb1. I’ve started the double knit headband but I still have orders so that’s not going as quickly as I’d like.

Each morning when I walk into my space, it feels good because it isn’t cluttered and the floor space is cleared. Also the work table is cleared enough for me to take photos. A great way to start the day. A great way to start February. Already have several items made.

I feel good about the coming year.

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My Knitting Identity

Works in Progress

I embrace my knitting identity.  I didn’t always. But that wasn’t the fault of knitting. If someone said I was a good singer, I immediately thought they didn’t know I was a good project manager. If they said I was a good project manager, I wondered why they didn’t know I was a writer. I didn’t want to be pigeon holed.

But being known as a knitter has a great deal more depth than just being seen as someone who knits. There is a difference.I have noticed recently that folks refer to me as a knitter. They no longer say, you know how to knit or since you knit. They now say, you’re a knitter.

This is both a source of pride and humility.

 I am pleased knitting and crochet have managed to stay in my life these many years. 20+ orders still to be filled and a room filled with yarn, is a sign of my passion. Other hobbies that held my passion have long given up hope of finding a permanent place with me – but knitting remains.

The great yarn sorting is complete. Didn’t take weeks like I thought but then again, I modified what I was doing. I am in the process of moving all the collapsible bins and other things out of the studio so I can vacuum the floors. Then we’re going to figure out how to put things back somewhat neatly since nothing else will fit in the closet. I have an idea on how to tackle bringing down the stash. I am going to start with the misc. yarn that didn’t make into the sorted bins. Those bins are packed and there’s not enough of any one color left over so there are three bins of unsorted yarn. I will start with using those and then moving to the ones in the closet. The hope is to make room in the closet and move the collapsible bins in there. This wil definitely take some time.

It would be a daunting project for someone who knits. But I am a knitter. I can get this done.

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Plan B

If you have a Plan B; you don’t have a Plan A

  I learned this in my business coaching class.  Then my coach said Plan B is to get Plan A to work.

I am feeling progress in my faith, business and health aspects of my life and it is a hopeful sensation. I know I will survive and get to where I’m going.

The first product for launch has been selected for designbcb on Go Imagine and on Etsy. The plan for my health map to success has been procured and faith is the unbrella that covers it all. I’m not setting this up for 2023. I’ve started now – today. There’s nothing magical about the first of January but there’s all kinds of magic in today.

So how goes the yarn sorting?

 

This is from the first day of the sort. Bins just filled wily-nily with yarn. That used to be fun until it was very efficient. A change had to come.

yarn stash 1

This wasn’t exactly the change I had in mind but the bins needed to be emptied and the yarn had to go somewhere.

And so it went all over the room.

It was madness. You’ll have to wait and see how it turned out for that section of the sorting. It is not glamorous by any means. But it is functional and I smile when I see it. That’s pretty much all that matters. The idea is for it to be functional for me to use. That’s the only plan – there is no other. Gotta make it work.

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Progress Progressing

Progress progressing on the organization front. I have to admit I like the fact there is some order to the bins. I also have to admit how surprised I was to find certain yarns I didn’t know I still had and how much of it. 

I suppose that’s what organization is about. Marie Kondo would be proud. Well, not totally proud. Some would say it’s still a little messy. They would be right. But I’m taking my wins where they are.

 

I am nowhere near done. There was a pile of yarn on the desk. Little piles all around the room. It’s making me a little anxious. On the other hand, I can kinda see a little down the road and it will be better. I will have an issue with having a boat load of one color and just a canoe load of another. When I get to the collapsible bins, there may have to be a lot of color sharing in one bin. I’m curious to see how that will eventually come out. The hope is to get to the domesticated yarn in the closet and see what surprises await in there. I have been in there looking around and I know I am going to be surprised at what I find.

I am seriously close to declaring I have too much yarn. (She writes as she’s had a delivery of yarn this week and expecting another one soon.)

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Organize the Stash

 

yarn stash 1Organize the Stash. I have 20+ orders to get out. I’m getting ready for a craft show. It’s Christmas season so things are busy at church. And I decided to organize the stash.

This is the time you all hop in and tell me I’m crazy. I cleaned up a little messy area by my chair and it looked so good, it put me in a deep cleaning jag. So I started sorting the yarn bins. Decided to do it by color since the stash is mostly worsted acrylic. Thought I would start with the 18 bins behind my chair.

yarns stash 2Some yarn got moved to the table. Seemed as good a place as any until I needed the table to photograph an order. Didn’t quite think that through.

There’s yarn everywhere. OK, there’s always yarn everywhere but now it’s going back in some semblence of an order. I have to admit. I’m liking it. 

It’s going a little faster than anticipated but I also anticiapte running into a problem because there’s not an even distribution of colors. I have way more brown than I thought and not nearly as much purple. Some colors are sharing the same bin: white/cream, orange/yellow, black/gray. That should help. 

The photos are from day 1. I’m on day 2. We’ll see how long it takes and what issues I run across. 

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New Beginnings

New beginnings. This is the time of year when we start to think of them. Let me tell you about New Year resolutions, if you think they need to start in the new year, chances are they won’t be around on Valentine’s Day. Just sayin..

See this merry group? This was at my house over the weekend. Had a few folks there for some knitting, crocheting and tree decorating. Laeh did most of the tree decorating. This is the first time she’s decorated a Christmas tree. Laeh is Jewish. For the past few years, we’ve hosted Laeh, her brother and her sister-in-law for Christmas Eve dinner. This is the first time we’ve had the tree at new place. I brought back the tradition of decorating the tree on my birthday – or around my birthday.

This year, we combined it with starting the work for the Community Closet. I will have more to say on that when the rest of the deets are worked out. So Cat and Heavenly are working on items for that. Laeh worked on that as well. What you don’t see if Robin knitting. She had to have a quickie knitting lesson and was making progress over at the dining table.

The grey bin to the right? That has some yarn donated by one of the knitting group’s original members. She’s no longer able to craft and her daughter gave us the yarn. We are using that yarn to make the items. Cat is working on a hat, Heavenly a scarf. Laeh did a hat and I managed a hat and twisted headband. Fun for the entire family! We ate pizza, Mr. Honey baked a spice cake. We made a tentative date to go and do some glass blowing. And we are moving forward to give of ourselves to others. What could a better way to celebrate a birthday?

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Making Sausage

No one wants to be around when they’re making sausage. Just give us the plate, thank you very much. Yet, the sausage must be made. That includes knit sausage. There is a process that happens before something shows up in the shop. With the new shop, I have forgotten it takes a whole lot of behind the scenes work. But it all starts with making…….something.

The first thing is to decide what to make or decide what yarn you want to use. Sometimes I start with the item I want to make and sometimes I’m itching to get my hands on a particular yarn. Those are always the first two steps and that means I have to raid my yarn stash.

Let’s be clear: I do not have one of those fancy, staged yarn rooms. I believe they are real (kinda) but I don’t have the mindset to keep it in order. This room is a real life working studio/office. Stuff gets everywhere. I have time carved out in my schedule to spend around 10 minutes almost every morning just for clean up. Keeps it manageable. Despite what the photo might suggest.

Once the project is decided and the yarn is pulled. I decide whether to use a pattern or make it up. For the project I’m showing, it was a little of both. There were two written patterns and I still improvised.

This afghan took a lot of work; more than what is usual for an afghan. That’s because it’s made in blocks. There were 20 blocks to this afghan.Emily afghan

After they were made, they went on the blocking boards. I needed them to be as exact as possible. Pinning them to the board and then lightly steaming them, gave me the size I needed.

I sewed the blocks together to form four strips of five blocks and crocheted the blocks together for a little texture. And then about eight weeks later… Some pretty beautiful sausage.

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designbcb Bestsellers

My designbcb bestsellers and why you need them! I guess there are different ways to define a bestseller. I define it as those items which have sold the most. Short and sweet. Looking over the past year, 3 items stand out: a hooded scarf, a slouchy beanie and a stocking cap. Here are my top 3 best selling items and why you should consider putting them in your Etsy shopping cart.

#3 Black hooded scarf.  This versatile item is a three season staple. From late fall through winter to early spring. The hood can work any number of hairstyles and the long scarf can be wrapped as tightly or loosely as needed. This is a self care gift to keep you warm and fashion forward as it works with jackets, coats and long coats.

 

#2 The Rasta Slouchy

This has been a best seller for years and is the all time best selling item. It has gone through three fiber changes as past yarns have been discontinued. I admit to loving this color, Mahogany, best off. This is a great first time gift for a girfriend or potential BFF. If they love wearing hats. It’s small, affordable and not intimate while still being personal.

#1 The Autum Stocking Cap No one is more surprised than me that this hat has been the bestseller for the past two years. But feedback from customers is giving me some insight. This hat has been featured in several stage productions from A Christmas Carol to Peter Pan. It’s also been gifted for Mommy (or Daddy) and me giving. It’s also just plain fun. This is a family gift idea. Whether the family is just the two of you or there’s a parcel of kids that would make the captain and Maria sing a new tune, this hat provides fun for a day in the snow and will look great in the family photos.

 

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Holiday Shopping Tips

Here’s some holiday shopping tips – and if you go to my social media pages: Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, you’ll find different tips than the ones here. So, you can get real informed, real quick!

  1. Who you giving to? Make list of everyone receiving a gift. The prioritize it. You can sort by how much money you’re willing to spend on each person; you can sort family from friends. Then place a dollar amount of how much you’re willing to spend on them. Don’t worry, no one will see. It’s not a question of their worth; it’s a question of your wallet. If you have a great deal of disposable income, then dispose of it with abandon. If not, you’re gonna have to start with knowing who you want to give to and how much you have to give.
  2. Use a shopping app. I have three on my devices: Honey , Capitol One and AA (yes, American Airlines!) They have found me sales, coupons and discounts over the year and I love them. They are free to use. I’m not sure if you have to be a member of the Advatage program on American. You put your items in the checkout and then the apps popup to let you know if they have discount codes to apply. Sometimes you get nothing but  there have been times when I’ve gotten a big discount on top of sales prices for a bigger win-win for me.
  3. Those electronics are so last year. And you should get them. It’s the latest tech that costs the big bucks. If you can get the previous version of whatever and can live without the latest dohickey, you can save some serious coin.
  4. Don’t fall into the Black Friday/Cyber Monday rabbit hole. If you’re shopping in person, don’t follow the crowd to the big sales. For the most part, there’s not that big a savings during that rush week. Check prices on line and, if possible, order on line and then pick it up.
  5. Do It Yourself. C’mon, you know I was saving the best for last. If you can sew, knit, crochet, draw, bake or have some crafting skill, consider making gifts. You can get the thrill of shopping for great materials (always a rush) and then feel great making unique items for people. Win-win all day.