Cast on for YenforYarn

I have a special request for all of you. My very wonderful and talented friend Lisa aka yenforyarn was diagnosed with stage 3 ovarian cancer last month. She is about to take a a very brave and long journey to battle her cancer and I have been searching for some way to make it all easier on her. Late last week this idea came to me and I hope you agree it's a perfect way to show support and love for a fellow knitter, spinner and dear friend. Many of us, if not each and everyone of us, has had cancer infect our lives and I hope that you can squeeze in a little time to help me show some close knit love.


Lisa came into my life at probably one of the lowest points it has ever been. (Just after the loss on my Mom to cancer.) She and another customer came to my at home studio to do a little shopping. Only to find me still in my jammies after pulling an all nighter at the carder. This was only made better by my then 3 year old son showing her all of the "pretties" in the shop and he may have quite possibly tied her to the chair with some ribbon. And she came back for more! lol Before we knew it we were chatting several times a day and yucking it up about just about everything. The true definition of a friend, Lisa has been there for me every step of the way. Through my healing process, my hair brained ideas and even when I just feel the need to be me. Many of you already know her as yenforyarn on Ravelry or Plurk but what you may not know is that Lisa is a very talented pattern writer. She has written patterns for Crystal Palace Yarns and is the writer of many patterns for the Wool Girl clubs. (I'm sure that she has written other patterns for others but she's just to humble to brag about it.)

SEDONA SOCK PATTERN



MANHATTAN SOCK PATTERN



So I ask this of you. Lisa will be starting her treatments on the 29th of December and as a show of support I ask that you take the time to cast on one of her sock patterns that day. When I spoke to Lisa about doing this she suggested her favorites: Sedona and Manhattan. If you would like to cast one of these on and do not have the pattern already you can purchase them through her blog A Little Bit of Knit or they are also available on Ravelry from her designs page. I will be posting a thread on my Ravelry group to post pics and just share some words of support and appreciation for the "Cast On for Yen". If you are not a Ravelry member you can post here. I'm sure she'll stop in and read posts. She has also posted a blog about her recent situation so you could probably post there also.


I thank all of you for taking the time to show support for Lisa as she begins her battle. Your time and thoughts are greatly appreciated.



Hugs and Overabundant Thanks!



~Coby

April Open House Review

On the 25th of April I opened up the studio at noon for all of my wonderful spinning and knitting friends to come on in and sit a spell. There was a wonderful turn out. I believe the count was 17. Everyone brought something to work on and a dish to pass. ((Yummy yummy!)) Creativity was flowing throughout the studio. Here are a few pictures from the day.







Lisa was spinning some "Midnight Desire" and Michelle is our newest spinning victim, errr, recruit.


Nice try Sandy....I know you are pretty quick with magazine but....



I got you here. :O)



The festivities went on until around 7:30. Maybe next time we can pull an all nighter. My thanks to everyone who attended. I hope you all had as much fun as I did.

There will be another open house some time in June. I'll keep you all posted with the date when I get it.

March Spin a Long Winners

I would like to start out by saying first that I know it's been awhile since my last post... 8 months to be exact. I want to thank all of you for standing by me during one of the hardest years of my life. During this time I have found out what true friendship really is. The sudden loss of my Mother and two close friends really took a toll on me and my desire to create. Thank you for standing by me and the wonderful words of encouragement. I am so very lucky to be able to call so many of you FRIENDS. ~CJ


OK...

Now for the first long awaited blog. :O)

The end of February I decided to host a Spin a Long on Ravelry entitled "Put Your Own Twist On It". When this brain child first surfaced I thought to myself "Maybe 10 or 15 will sign up." Ha, was I off. The tally for the March Sign Ups reached 37 participants! I was floored and humbled. The participants had to pick between two different colorways then post their finished handspun yarn in the Ravelry group. Then they and the other members of the group got to vote for their favorite entry.

I'll have links and info at the end of the blog post so you can find out more about this Spin a Long.
Colorway choices were Inquiry and Montana Moon.



Montana Moon was the clear favorite for the March fiber but there were quite a few participants who chose Inquiry also.

Here are the results for the March Spin a Long voting.

The Winner in the Montana Moon group was AkamaiKnitter who posted this AWESOME handspun creation. She won a $10 gift certificate to my Etsy Shop.



There was a THREE WAY TIE for the winner of the Inquiry group! I don't find it hard to believe...all the entries were so GEORGEOUS! Here are the winners...They all received a $5 gift certificate to my Etsy Shop since it was a tie.

shellebelle216's BEAUTIFUL blendiness



yenforyarns BOLD bulky spun



and boutrosbabe's WONDERFUL navajo ply



There were so many wonderful entries! I was thanking my lucky stars that I didn't have to personally chose the winners. There was no way that I could have done that. I was so delighted to see how many different techniques and creative ideas came from everyone. The possibilities seemed be be endless. I have decided to post a few of my "Honorable Mentions".

((drum roll))

In the category of Prettiest Photo I have chosen our Montana Moon winner AkamaiKnitter who also posted this photo (top) and cadabra who posted this wonderful photo of a knitted swatch of BOTH COLORWAYS! (bottom)


In the Motivation category I have chosen missviolet's sweater in progress photo with her Montana Moon entry (top) and RedHandedJill's handspun hand knit sock. (bottom)



In the Creativeness category I have chosen thenoviceknitter's 4 ply yarn (top) she separated the batt into individual colors, spun them and then plied them together and Peacecat's wild and artsy supercoil yarn. (bottom)



And the winner of the next two categories happens to be one of the Inquiry winners...boutrosbabe. She is the winner of the shameless use of Self Promotion without putting her cat in any danger (LOL) and the Mysterious Happenings with the laundry category. ;O)



There are many more entries for the month. I wish I could post them all.

To find out more about the Spin a Long you can go to my Ravelry Group and check out the Spin a Long Rules thread. The rules have been edited some due to the response to the SAL. Including a winner for each colorway every month and that voters get to choose an entry from each colorway when placing their vote. Oh, did I mention that all participants are entered to win a SIX MONTH FIBER CLUB MENBERSHIP?!?!?! The winner will be drawn in November. You must be a member of Ravelry and of my group there to participate and/or vote.

Ravelry is a great online forum for knitters and spinners. Check it out if you haven't already.

The April Sign Ups have already closed (with 40 participants) but May Sign Ups will start on the 17th.

Thank you everyone for your participation and support! I appreciate it greatly.

Take care and happy spinning!

~CJ