sweetgeorgia

Monday Meanderings

It’s Monday and my brain has become complete mush since I worked until midnight last night. Without the requisite amount of sleep, everything, and I mean everything, makes me exhausted. Even flipping through my keys to find my house key is exhausting. Sometimes I wish I had an extra arm… maybe that would make things easier. But it’s all good because the work included massive updates to the online shop:

* Speed Demon Sock yarns in both handpainted colourways and natural kettle dyed colours
* Superwash Sock yarns
* Spun Silk laceweight yarn
* Heartcore Heavy aran weight mohair and wool yarn
* Handpainted Lace yarns
* Schacht weaving shuttles, warping tools and more weaving things (we have these in-stock at the studio)

There is also more fibre and more CashSilk Lace to come, but it’ll take me some time to get those photos done and posted.

###Studio Space + Rentals
The most exciting thing here is that we are now starting to take reservations for dye workspace and floor looms at the studio. You can have a look at our new one-pager site with all the details and rates. Also, you can subscribe to our Google Calendar which will show all our open hours, including exceptions to the general hours, plus upcoming events. If you are in the Vancouver Lower Mainland, we’d be happy to help you reserve a floor loom or rent a spinning wheel.

http://www.sweetgeorgiayarns.com/studio/

###Knit + Spin Afternoon

And finally, I’ll be hosting a knit/spin-in on December 6th. Come spend a relaxing afternoon at the studio with your knitting or spinning! On Saturday, December 6th from 1pm to 4pm… Bring your spinning wheel, your knitting project, your questions or ideas… Feel free to browse through our resource library upstairs or play on one of the floor looms.

Over the next few days, I’ll be making up a blanket warp with “seconds” of my hand-dyed yarn. The yarn itself is still fabby, it’s just that the colours aren’t quite what I’m willing to sell… We’ll have one of the floor looms warped up for the blanket and you are welcome to come and try weaving a shot or two or twenty. Once the blanket is finished, we’ll be donating it to a homeless shelter in the Vancouver Lower Mainland. We’d love to have your participation.

Please RSVP by email to info [at] sweetgeorgiayarns [dot] com since I’ll need to know how many chairs we should supply… if you’ve seen the studio, you’ll know that seating is kinda limited, so please RSVP soon.

###Dye Workshops

Soon, soon, in January, I will be offering a number of dye workshops at the studio. Everything from the absolute basics of dyeing on wool to handpainting yarns to natural dyeing. If there is something in particular you are interested in learning, drop me a line and I’ll see what I can accommodate as I put together the lesson plans. Ahh, now back to work.

SweetGeorgia Studio Opening!

Thank you so much to everyone who took the time out of their busy days (it was civic election day!) to come down and visit the studio this past Saturday. I was overwhelmed with the support of old friends, new friends, old weaving classmates, pharmacy colleagues, dancers, online knitter friends, and family. Half an hour into the opening, we were standing pretty much shoulder-to-shoulder in the space and my heart was so happy but also racing. Here are a few photos from the afternoon:

I feel so very blessed to have such wonderful family and friends… none of this would have been possible without them. My mom baked all the cookies and cakes and prepared all the nibbles and drinks so that I could focus on getting all the new loom equipment built and arranged. Friends came over to help label yarn, move the heavy things and fix up the studio. It was really quite amazing.

Finally, after all these years, Kim Werker of Interweave Crochet and Crochet Me fame and I met up for the first time. She is hilarious, generous and so engaging… especially the bits about Joss Whedon. I’m looking forward to hearing her interview soon!

Donald from WeaveThings also came up from Washington to visit me! I’m humbled by the efforts people made to come visit for the afternoon. Thank you so much.

###Shop Update!

Lest you think I have forgotten about the online shop, never! I’ve just posted an update today and you can find some of the new yarns and fibres that I’m going to be stocking regularly:

Superfudge: The ultimate super skein. It’s 100% superwash merino wool. It’s 1/2 lb… that’s 1120 yards in 225g of light fingering weight wool. Make some super long knee socks or knit a substantial and squishy shawl or scarf.

Heartcore: A huge 1/2 lb (225g) skein of light worsted or DK weight yarn. 55% mohair and 45% wool with approximately 485 yards per skein. Knit a hat and matching wrist warmers… or some warm, hardwearing socks for winter.

Superwash BFL: It’s superwash. It’s Bluefaced Leicester. It’s the best of everything rolled in one. And it’s seriously the softest and fluffiest fibre I’ve ever seen.

As for the studio, I will be posting about the facilities there soon. We’ll be offering the space up for people to reserve dye workspace, the new Schacht Baby Wolf loom, the Leclerc Nilus 36″ loom, and all the carding and warping equipment.

For now, if you would like to come visit, we are officially open on Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 9 am to 6 pm. Come visit us at 4th and Main.

Ideal space. Studio space.

Time and space to breathe now. I have, indeed, secured an absolutely gorgeous studio space that is the studio space of my dreams. SweetGeorgia is now officially housed in a two-level studio loft with 18′ ceilings and a spectacular 4th floor view of the North Shore mountains and downtown Vancouver. The place is flooded with natural light via floor-to-ceiling windows on North and West sides. I will have more and more details about the space soon, but first I’ll be moving in this weekend…

… and then I’ll do more dyeing…

Here’s a teeny glimpse at the space and the iron spiral staircase…

Finally, we have a properly equipped studio space where dyers, spinners, weavers, knitters, crafters and fibre artists can converge, work, teach, learn, interact and innovate with other designers and artists and the community. Everytime I visit the space, I think it’s breathtaking. I can’t wait to be here.

Working spaces

My parents dropped by our house last week — the first time in many months. Even though we live less than five minutes away from them, we see my parents only once in a while — yes, yes, I’m a terrible daughter… In any case, my mom was a little horrified to find that yarn, fibre, equipment and books seem to have _exploded_ in our living room. I think her exact words were _”oh my god, you are almost getting to be like your father”_ — except that she said it in Mandarin.

You see, my parents’ house is not and will never be a spread out of a fancy interior design mag — it’s a working space. My dad’s studio _is_ the living room. Their ‘living room’ is now sort of a tiny area between the the painting studio and the dining room, marked by the presence of a paint-covered sofa. There is paint on the floor, of course, and oil paintings stacked a foot deep all around the living/dining room area. But this is the only way… there is a massive north-facing window in the living room that my dad paints by… the view of West Coast mountains and water… it’s perfect. I mean, really, where else would you set up your workspace?

This is my workspace…

My so-called “knitting/dyeing/spinning/weaving” workspace is also our living room, dining room, bedroom, and second bedroom… it’s freaking everywhere. Sometimes, I don’t know how Richard can live with me. In July, we’ll be reclaiming our entire basement, so many many things (like rarely ever used golf clubs) will be able to move down there, including my design/work studio. I’ll get one half of the space for my office and fibre/equipment storage and Richard will get one half for his office…

That will leave the second bedroom empty for a nice, big floor loom (suggestions are welcome!). This room gets gorgeous, diffuse daylight and I’m looking forward to the days when I can wake up and weave or knit a bit with my morning coffee before going down to work. _Ack._ Can you tell that I just can’t wait to come home?