Kits for Layer Cake Caps

These are four of the Kits that I have put together for the new Layer Cake Caps that I developed this weekend. They will come with a basic pattern for knitting caps and knitters will be able to vary the pattern depending upon the size needed, such as baby, child, adult woman, adult man. I am now obsessed with knitting these caps and putting together the kits. My goal will be to have 30 knitted plus 30 kits ready for Kentuck in mid October and then another 30 kits ready for SAFF at the end of October. I'm not so concerned about having FOs for SAFF, but I think the kits will be a big hit. One kit and one knitted cap have been listed on Etsy. I like that Etsy serves as a laboratory for what works and what doesn't. Well, it is time to spin.....

Layer Cake Caps at WhorlingTides

Layer Cake Caps are the newest item to be added to my Etsy shop. I really enjoyed putting together all the fibers last night. And then it only took 2 - 3 hours to knit it together. I guess the hardest part was weaving in so many ends that were created when changing yarns so many times. In addition to offering the knitted caps as FOs, I'm also going to post them as kits for people to knit themselves. I hope they have as much fun as I did!!

SAFF Update

Accepted! Sara, Heidi, and I took the first steps of forming our fiber and book cooperative. It is called Why Knot Fiber Collective. Today we found out that we have been accepted as a vendor for the Southeastern Animal Fiber Fair (lovingly called SAFF). Here's the link http://www.saffsite.org/index.php . There is also a group on Ravelry called SAFF (link for members is http://www.ravelry.com/groups/saff). The Collective has not yet been added to the official vendor list; however, I am told that we will be added soon. Last year the fair was attended by approx 7500 - 8000 people. We are going to have to be fiber prep machines between now and late October in order to have everything ready for such an important event. Plus we have Kentuck to get ready for in mid-October. I know that I will have to think through the quantity that I'd like to offer, the colorways, the fibers, and whatever else I might like to include like kits and gifts. I've got to get my "brand" stuff in good order, too, and in larger quantities. My 100 Moo cards just won't be enough for an event such as this. Sara is getting her wheel this week, which will really help her to get a lot of work completed. Heidi and I are talking about making some high quality but low cost letterpress printed materials. We need to look and be professional. SAFF will take me from a little Etsy shop where I sell a few items each week and transform WhorlingTides into a potentially profitable small business. I'm happy and terrified. It is my love of fibers that keeps me going. So, look here often for SAFF updates. And please, post any colorway, fiber, product selections you may want to offer. SAFF...October 24 - 26, 2008. Please join me there!

Amazing Find: Fiber Arts and Mixed Media Social Networking Site

Discovery. Social networking, blogs, uploading, downloading, html, http......I'm feeling bored tonight. Okay, bored is not exactly the correct word but it will do for now. But, if you don't like that word, then how about unsettled. Not rattled. Just a little off course. So in between spinning skeins of black bamboo for someone who has turned out to be an amazing "patron" of my little Etsy shop (Thanks Grace at abbigail714 on Etsy), I have wandered over to the computer in vain search of companionsip at least a dozen times. Going from Yahoo to Etsy to Blogspot to Ravelry to Ebay to AOL and any other fiber site that I could find I stumbled into the Fiber Arts and Mixed Media Social Networking Site. Here, check it out for yourself at this link. http://fiberartsmixedmedia.ning.com/

While there, I found a link which sported a phrase saying something like "create your own social networking site." "NO WAY" I think to myself. "That cannot be true!" But it was true. It totally IS true. So like Alice in Wonderland, I kept following links until...I just created a social networking site of my own at this place called Ning. Here's the link. http://www.ning.com/
I have called it Why Knot Fiber Collective: For the Yarn Arts. So when Sara comes over tomorrow, we will be able to finish creating the site.

In case you haven't noticed, I am in awe of the internet and all that it has to offer. It is a vast and creative world this internet. I'm loving it. Totally loving it.

Save the Sheep - Tikkun Olam Tuesday

Okay Fiber Artists,

WE MUST BOYCOTT AUSTRAILIAN MERINO WOOL IN ANY AND ALL FORMS.

http://www.savethesheep.com/default.asp

This Tikkun Olam Tuesday is hugely important to those of us working with wool. When my friend Sara told me about this issue I honestly couldn't believe my ears. Then, I went online and looked into it, and it is all TRUE.

Please look into these horrific and senseless actions that are being perpetrated on Australian Merino Sheep. Honestly, I felt so sickened by the acts of cruelty that I couldn't continue to read about what is happening. So, I posted the link above for you to see for yourself. We must boycott all Australian Merino wool and fiber in order to protect sheep from abuse.

A quote from the Save the Sheep webpage:
In Australia, where more than 50 percent of the world’s merino wool—which is used in products ranging from clothing to carpets—comes from, lambs are forced to endure a gruesome procedure called mulesing, in which huge chunks of skin and flesh are cut from the animals’ backsides, without any painkillers. Millions of these sheep are then shipped to the Middle East on crowded multilevel ships. These journeys, which can last for months, are to countries where animal welfare standards are non-existent. The suffering sheep are dragged off the ships, loaded onto trucks, and dragged by their ears and legs to unregulated slaughterhouses, where their throats are slit while they are still conscious.

As long as Australia is tolerating cruelty toward Merino Sheep, I promise that I will NEVER knowingly purchase Australian Merino Wool of any form and that I will actively seek to avoid purchasing Australian Merino Wool by asking sellers and wholesale venders whether they are selling Australian Merino Wool. I am asking you to do the same - even if it means spending a few more dollars on fibers. Please post your endorsement or commitment on my blog so that we can act in unity.

Sometimes making the world a better place is expensive. This effort will be well worth the cost.

Tikkun Olam Tuesdays

Do you love words ?
Do you like a word challenge to play with from time to time?
Do you want to be able to feed people by playing a word game?
Do you feel the need to participate in making the world a better place?

Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes!!!!

I just found this amazing webpage where you get to do word games and give free rice to hungry people through the United Nations food programs. Here's how it works...you are given a word and prompted to choose the definition from 4 multiple choice responses. For each definition you correctly select, you donate 5 grains of rice. In a mere few moments you could have fed an entire family for a day. Please mark their site as a favorite and go there as often as you can. Here's the link to FreeRice http://freerice.com/ so that you can go and play to your heart and mind's content.

And this makes me think...I will offer a special feature every Tuesday on doing something for Tikkun Olam...those are the Hebrew word meaning essentially "repair the world."

Here is the Wikipedia definition of Tikkun Olam: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tikkun_olam

As I understand tikkun olam...it is the responsibility of people inhabiting the earth to improve things rather than just maintain the world the way it is. I love it and I believe it completely. So play a nice word game today, feed the hungry, and enjoy the first ever Tikkun Olam Tuesday on RitaBooke's blog.

And the WINNERS are...