sweetgeorgia

Year One

Technically, today is exactly one year from the grand opening of the SweetGeorgia Yarns Studio. It’s been four years since I started dyeing yarn as SweetGeorgia Yarns, a year and two months since I moved into the studio and exactly a year since we had our open house. It’s been a whole series of learning opportunities and growing pains, for sure, but I imagine that we’ll always be changing and learning. With my personality, there’s a lot of attempting to run before walking and a lot of falling on my face in this business. But there is also the joy of discovering new things and meeting amazing people in the process.

One of the first challenges I had was trying to define or describe this space to people. Located on the fourth floor of a live/work building, it’s not a typical retail environment. It is an industrial-looking workspace, complete with concrete floors and walls, where we make hand-dyed yarns and spinning fibre. But I know that people came to the studio expecting to see every single yarn in every single colour and often I received (and still receive) phone calls asking if I carry Rowan yarns. No, it’s not that kind of yarn store. Maybe one day, but not today.

And so it was very important this past year for us to begin working with real, beautiful yarn stores again. I so much want for people to be able to touch and feel the yarns in person and to be able to experience that in their local yarn store. Nowadays, when you come to our studio, you will very often see (and smell!) yarn drying, yarn in the middle of being packaged or yarn being dyed. There actually is just a little bit of yarn on hand for retail sale. Most of what is in the studio now is being made to go out to shops. I love that the yarn shops can focus on beautiful displays, great customer service and keeping their shelves nicely stocked. And I love that by working in this way, I can focus on making beautiful yarn for those shops.

Absolutely, you can come visit our studio and see work in progress. And absolutely you can come see colours in person and make a custom order. And definitely, you can request dyed-to-order yarns and fibres from our studio online. But I encourage you to visit the fine local yarn stores that are now carrying SweetGeorgia Yarns… including L’Oisive Thé in Paris, France… our first time in France.

So this is kind of why we didn’t host a big party at the studio on this very rainy Vancouver Sunday. Well, because the studio floor is being taken up by yarn racks and bins of undyed yarn.

Instead, we are celebrating our Year One anniversary with a brand new website, a Free Shipping over $100 sale (for US & Canada), and a new pattern in Twist Collective featuring our Superwash Sport yarn. I’m sure that in the upcoming year we’ll have a few more falling-on-face-type experiences, but we are committed to focusing on developing more beautiful yarns and fibres, distributing our yarns and fibres through our website and fine retailers, and also designing more knitting patterns to inspire you. Happy anniversary.

Everyone, but me.

There is much weaving progress going on at the studio… among all the students and weavers, except me! Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it, I’ve been so busy with dyeing and writing the never-ending cardigan pattern that I haven’t had time to touch my loom. So instead, Carina is making good use of the Louet Spring loom at the studio.

Also, the summer set of weaving students has been great so far — I opened an evening weaving class on Wednesday nights (as opposed to Wednesday mornings) and it filled up almost immediately without any announcement (I didn’t have a chance to)! Some of the students are working on the initial plain weave and twill sampler to start with… and Susan is working on threading her doubleweave sampler.

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After all this time (it’s our half anniversary)

On Thursday night, I managed to finish plying the silk that I had started spinning way back in the summer of 2005… I had just learned to spin from the fold and I was spinning this glorious silk that I had purchased on a trip to Salt Spring Island. It’s hard to believe that it’s been this long. It seems like just yesterday, I was taking a float plane over to the island to take a natural dye class for sock knitters… and that Jen was at the kitchen table making lavender sachets.

The yarn is not perfect. At 2644 yards per pound, it squeaks into the laceweight category. Some parts are slubby. Some parts are under-spun and some parts are overly fine and over-spun. But it started out as something so beautiful, ideal, and full of potential. And in the end, it’s still beautiful, but in it’s own imperfect, awkward way.

And now, it’s hard for me to believe that I’ve been at the studio now for six months already (it’ll be six months next Friday). I’ve been madly creating lesson plans, teaching, dyeing, starting the fibre club, creating new sets of repeatable colourways, and just getting settled in. I think now might be a nice time to catch a breath and sit for a bit.

I’d love to have you come join us at the studio for a Knit + Spin afternoon in celebration of our Half-Anniversary! It’s going to be Saturday, May 23 from 1 pm to 4 pm at the studio.

We’ll have our hand dyed yarns and fibres at 20% off for that one day in the studio, so even if you don’t have time to come knit or spin, drop by and shop for a bit! I’d love to see you there!

Moving forward on all fronts

I am inching towards completion of many, many things. Yes, indeed, that is five pairs of socks at my desk. Not including the two pairs that are currently in my knitting bag. I don’t think this is the ideal situation, but things are the way they are. I knit two rows on one then two rows on another… two rows is about all my attention span can handle right now. Having finished a little February baby sweater for a friend (she’s due anytime now!), I’m satisfied with just working on simple stockinette socks… that have been in my in-progress bin for the past five years.

There is this handwoven scarf on the loom that is distracting me… the kettle-dyed colours of Malabrigo plus the texture and groundedness of the tsumugi silk weft and making me very happy. I have maybe 10 or 12 inches more to weave and then it will be cut off and washed. It seems silly that after all the expense and space of getting a 44″ wide 8-shaft loom, I end up weaving 9″-wide scarves in plain weave. Nothing makes me happier. Maybe one day, I’ll become one of those pattern-structure weaver types and lust after some computer-driven crazy shaft loom… but not likely.

Actually for three days in March, I’ll be attending Jane Stafford’s weaving workshop, “Pushing the Boundaries of Plain Weave”. It’s hosted by the Greater Vancouver Weavers & Spinners Guild and about 14 or 15 students will be doing a round-robin style workshop where we’ll all weave on each other’s looms and take home a complete set of samples. I’m really looking forward to experimenting freely with my very beloved plain weave.

Yet another plain weave scarf from both handspun warp and weft. It’s hand dyed blue face leicester handspun in the warp, 2-ply and about DK weight, plus very fine merino laceweight weft (the same yarn I used to knit the Lotus Blossom Shawl ages ago). Seeing as how there is about 10 cm of snow in tomorrow’s forecast, this brand new scarf might just come in handy.

Our weaving studio classes just started last Wednesday and we’re getting the first sampler warps on the looms. Plain and simple Quebecoise wool in bright, happy colours. I’m excited to see these samples start to take shape for the students.

This past month, I’ve found myself at the studio nearly full-time. And even though we don’t open the studio to the public on all days, I’m here bright and early every day… winding bobbins, skeining yarn, receiving orders of natural dyes from Earthues, dyeing yarn, weaving, spinning, knitting, doing my accounting and designing. Hours and hours are spent updating the website and entering inventory. Daily, I get calls to advertise in this medium or that. But even though I am constantly, productively doing things, I still feel like completion is always so far away. Bobbins are full and need to be plied. Those few inches could be woven off. That other loom needs to be warped. And I’ve got this pattern here that I need to finish writing out…

Long and winding roads.

Today is the 36th wedding anniversary of my parents. My mom spent the afternoon working with me in the studio and my dad joined us for cake and coffee at “tea time”. He took photos while we worked.

Thirty six years is a long time. I try not to worry too much about the future anymore and there is not a lot you can do about the past, but lately I am reminded of how uncertain all of our futures are. I try not to be anxious. I try to take things as they come and try to be flexible enough to accommodate it all. I don’t know how you could go 36 years ensuring that everything was perfect, manageable and in control. Tread softly, for the path is long and narrow, winding and rocky, and I always seem to be falling down.