sweetgeorgia

Top 5 for 2007

I’ve been holding out. I’ve really been holding back from writing this post for a while. This is SweetGeorgia’s 4th annual Top 5 list… you can see 2006, 2005 and 2004… but those old posts seem so irrelevant now. Michelle and I frequently remind ourselves that 2007 is “the year that never was”. 2007 was supposed to be a year of chrysalis… of breaking down, blowing everything apart, re-examining each and every one of the shattered remains and then beginning to rebuild… consciously. It’s a year of rebirth.

Many of you were so supportive earlier this year when my workload and general life difficulties caused me to crumple in a sobbing, drowned lump of a girl formerly known as me. I am grateful for the time and space I have had this year to re-evaluate and thoughtfully consider what is important in my life and what is not. This year allowed me to make some painful but essential choices… among them, the choice to slow down my design firm of ten years so that I can pursue my work in textiles. Dyeing, weaving, designing… and yes, SweetGeorgia Yarns.

So, here is my Top 5 for this year. SweetGeorgia Yarns will re-open in 2008 with new products, new colours… new ideas and new ideals. But I need your help and your input… tell me…

1. What do you love about SweetGeorgia Yarns?
2. What do you hate about SweetGeorgia Yarns?
3. If you’ve purchased from us, what made you compelled to? If you haven’t purchased from us, why? Price, availability, retail distribution…
4. What would you like to see us offer? What kind of yarns, fibres, colours… you name it.
5. How important is pattern support to you? What kind of patterns are you interested in?

Of course, I will be sending one randomly selected responder some gorgeous, naturally dyed yarn. Please send me your thoughts BY EMAIL to info [at] sweetgeorgiayarns [dot] com by Monday, December 31 at midnight PST.

So, this is me. At the end of 2007. Looking forward to new beginnings. A brand new life. This is me now, but it won’t be me next year.

And this is indigo-dyed bombyx silk warps. It looks like a mess now, but I swear, it’s gonna be beautiful.

Top 5 for 2006? No.

Vancouver received a most gorgeous snowfall this past weekend. Outside our house, the snow is still a thick layer of fluffy, clean white goodness. It’s made us eager to get up the mountain and go snowboarding… The cold outdoors makes this a perfect time to sit inside, snuggle under your handknit or handwoven blanket and reflect.

For the past two years, I’ve made this list of Top 5 for the year — here are 2005 and 2004. This year, I want to do something different. I have four questions here…

1. How was 2006 for you?
2. What was the highlight of your year?
3. What did you want to accomplish that you didn’t get to?
4. What are you planning for 2007?

I would love to hear your responses. They don’t have to be about knitting or spinning or weaving… we’re talking about you and all that comes with it — yarn or otherwise! Post me your answers in the comments by Friday, December 1 at midnight PST and I’ll randomly draw someone to receive yarn (2 skeins of Superwash Sock) or fibre (a 100g braid of BFL)… your pick.

Over the past year, so many overwhelmingly challenging yet positive things happened to me that I couldn’t just reflect on my fibre-y activities. So here are my responses:

How was 2006 for you?

Productive. Passionate. Undeniably life-changing.

What was the highlight of your year?

Meeting Patrick Green and Paula Simmons? Yeah, that was awesome. Weaving on my own, beautiful floor loom? Yeah, also amazing. Having my handdyed yarns available at the newest local yarn shop, three bags full? Like a dream! And meeting the force of nature that is Michelle Whipplinger… also fantastic, but my highlight was…

…absolutely, positively the surf trip to Tofino this summer. There is no other experience in my life that has made me feel this strong and empowered… nothing like it. I don’t believe being a surfer has anything to do with your skill, your clothes, your gear, or even your attitude. I believe it has everything to do with being on the water, listening to the waves fall, feeling the relentless force of the ocean and then craving that same feeling every moment of your life. Even if it’s just spending a session bobbing in the saltwater… it’s worth it.

Spending those four days with close friends and away from the city really made me question the way we spend our time, our money, our resources. We, as in ‘Rich and I’, but also as in ‘our society’. That experience was quickly followed by a natural dye workshop at Maiwa where the owner, Charllotte, talked about dyeing in India without the need for external energy sources. It’s so hot there, the water is always warm and the sun cooks and sets the natural dyes. The concept of energy-free, synthetic-free dyeing is marinating with me now… actually lots of new thoughts are marinating with me now.

What did you want to accomplish that you didn’t get to?

Oh, I’ve been dying to finish my naturally-dyed, handspun and handwoven Gotland blanket. That is something I would love to see completed. To wrap myself in cochineal and logwood… like a hug from nature, itself. An option now to finish it quicker is to use a millspun warp that I just dye up so that I don’t have to spin all the yardage for both warp and weft… but somehow that feels like cutting corners. So, I’m determined to persevere and create every last inch of this blanket.

What are you planning for 2007?

Changes.

Top 5 for 2005

Ugh. I am behind on work, behind on holiday shopping and Christmas baking? Don’t. Even. Ask. I think I need an extra week to fit in holidays stuff. And now, all I can think about is January!

Last year, I set some knitting resolutions and I managed 3/5ths of it! Finishing up the TKGA Master Knitter thing has fallen by the wayside — their Cast On magazine is a drag and just plain uninspiring. Or that could be my excuse because I just didn’t want to write a report on blocking. And knitting up the stash? Hello?

Here are my 2005 notes:

Top Five for 2005

1. New (to Me) Technique: I learned to knit socks this year. Best. Knitting. Ever. They are fun, relatively fast — almost like large pattern swatches. Almost.
2. Favourite FO: Of course, it’s Birch. I may just make another one.
3. Favourite KAL: My favourite KAL is actually one that I haven’t joined. It’s the Crossed in Translation KAL that Cara is hosting — what a wonderful use for a KAL — actually helping each other with the translation of a gorgeous Japanese pattern. Oh dear. I just noticed that it doesn’t start until January 1st. I may just have to clear my schedule for this…
4. Favourite Shop: Unabashedly my own, of course! Last year at this time, a shop of my own hadn’t even crossed my mind. Life is crazy I tell you. But if I were to pick anything else, I’d say Lettuce Knit. I can’t get this little shop out of my mind. It is the most adorable half-lot in Kensington Market in Toronto. It’s painted bright green and the whole shop is only a little bigger than my bathroom. I didn’t actually buy anything when I was there last Fall, but this year my brother visited the shop and brought me back a bag full of Fleece Artist roving. And now, they carry spinning wheels and other accoutrements. Plus, Cosmic Pluto is even dyeing silk hankies for sale in store.
5. Favourite Tool: Schacht Dizzy Yarn Gauge. It’s a diz. It’s a wraps-per-inch tool. It matches my wheel. I love it.

Knitting & Spinning Resolutions for 2006

1. Starmore. I’m looking forward to finishing my first Alice Starmore design, St. Brigid, next year. Beautiful purple yarn, beautiful cables. Should be enough to keep me interested.
2. Big time handspun project. I bought 8 oz. of Ashland Bay Merino in May that I have been spinning finely ever since. I just plied up the last of it last night, so I’m looking forward to knitting this up into one of my first feature-length projects. This may become a shawl…
3. Spinning low-twist singles. The more I spin, the finer I get. I want to develop a full range of ability to spin whatever I want, whenever I want… starting with worsted-weight low-twist singles.
4. More Steeking! Yeah, I loved that Baby Norgi project. It gave me confidence to cut my knitting however I liked. Empowered, am I. I have a beautiful Meg Swansen Fair Isle Cardigan on the needles right now — and it’s waiting for me to switch to my new Holz & Stein Ebony circs… Can’t wait to have some time to spend with this lovely sweater.
5. Design by me, for me. Ok, again with the knitting up the stash. I’ve bought several packs of Filatura di Crosa Zara that stress me out. They literally stress me out. I’ve spent a year looking for a nice, interesting DK-weight pattern that I can knit using these yarns and just haven’t found anything I like. So this will be a meditative, relaxing activity, no?

Top 5 for 2004

So, it’s the nearing the end of the year. If you can get your hands to relax a bit from all that Christmas knitting, let me know what your knitting top five are for 2004 — the best yarn you’ve used this year, your favourite needles, the most successful finished object, or your most exciting discovery… While you’re at it, what about your knitting resolutions for 2005? Here are mine:

Top Five for 2004

1. Favourite needles for 2004: Addi Turbo’s. As a kid I knit with long aluminum straights from the K-mart in Toronto. The first pair of needles I bought when I restarted knitting this year were Addi’s and they are amazingly light, smooth and (of course) fast.
2. Favourite online shop for 2004: It’s a toss-up. E-bay and The Knitting Garden. I never thought I’d buy yarn of all things from E-bay, but you can’t say no to Jannette where she sells entire packs of glorious Rowan yarns at amazing prices.
3. Favourite yarn for 2004: Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran. Ok, so I haven’t finished anything in this yarn yet except for TKGA swatches, but it’s so soft and springy… and comes in fabulous colours. Really, I think I just like this stuff because it makes my stitches look good!
4. Favourite finished object and KAL for 2004: Audrey. Probably one of the best documented and well-attended knit-alongs I’ve seen this year! I even got a little label from the hosts of the KAL to sew into my Audrey!
5. Exciting new technique (for me) for 2004: Tubular cast off! Ok, so you have to plan in advance to do a tubular cast off and it takes forever to complete but once it’s done, you get a great stretchy bind off. Very good for necklines and collars!

Knitting Resolutions for 2005

1. Socks: I’ve already done all the book work — reading up about toe-up vs. cuff down, DPNs vs two circs, two socks on two circs, self-patterning yarn, joined two sock knitters KALs and harassed at least a few sock-knitting bloggers. I have at least enough yarn in the stash for three or four pairs of socks. Now, I just have to actually sit down and knit a pair!
2. Steeks: What an ingenious idea, steeks! Not that I have anything against purling… I think Wendy’s Baby Norgi is probably a good way to get into trying out a steeked sweater. Now, to find a kid who will wear my stuff.
3. Cables: Oh, this will definitely happen…once my Jaeger Luxury Tweed arrives. Then it’s off to “Highgate” I go!
4. TKGA Master Knitter Level 2: The plan is to finish all the swatches by the end of this year and ship it off. Hopefully if all goes well, I can start on Level 2 sometime in 2005!
5. Knitting up the stash: My DH keeps asking what I’d like for Christmas and when I answering, hesitatingly, “Yarn?” the answer is “uh, no.” There’s quite a few sweaters worth of yarn in the tub that need to be knit… including his Manly Sweater… Hmm, maybe that’s why I can’t get more yarn! It would distract me from finishing HIS sweater! Oh, I see the logic now.