Our soon-to-be baby boy, due at the end of next January! We're so excited. And, of course, there's been a TON of knitting happening for the wee bean. 

The iminent arrival of our little tyke means some other changes, as well.

I've decided that, after 3 years of wonderful and hard work, it's time to close Wool Candy. It's time to move on to the next fun and exciting and challenging phase in my life.

So, thank you, everyone, for all of your support and friendship and enthusiasm over the years. I've met some fantastic yarn-y people, who I hope to know for a long time. I hope to return to the world of yarn sometime in the future, but for now, I'm going to work on my other little WIP. 

All of the remaining yarn in my Etsy shop is on sale -- 30% off of everything! Buy early, before it's all gone. (For those of you who are interested, I also have quite a bit of undyed yarn that I'll be destashing on Ravelry. I'll post about this in the Wool Candy group.)

Wool Candy is still also available at these fine retailers, but time is running out!  

Guess what's NEXT WEEK? 

Only one of the biggest yarn-stravaganzas in the country! 

Are you ready for Stitches West 2011? 

I just finished labeling about 800 skeins of yarn. Which means... I'm ALMOST ready. 

Come visit me in Booth 1334, conveniently located near the concessions and restrooms. Have a refreshment, take a moment to refresh yourself, and then binge on some Wool Candy! 

I'll have piles of Eclair Silk, Biscotti Sport, a variety of sock yarns, a big DISCONTINUED yarn sale bin (oh yeah!), and some very sweet baby sweater kits, along with the new Phydeaux/ Wool Candy Winter Joyeux Shawlette Kit, and some Phydeaux Designs patterns suitable for Wool Candy yarns. 

Stitches West will be at the Santa Clara Convention Center, February 17-20, 2011.

Hope to see you there!  

I was talking to a good friend of mine yesterday who also owns her own business. We were talking about Thanksgiving, about holiday shopping, about the economy. It's well known that the period between Thanksgiving and Christmas is the single busiest shopping season of the year. Many retailers make their entire year's worth of profit this month. The pressure if on, not only for the retailers, but for us, the shoppers, to buy buy buy.

Since November 1st, I've noticed that my inbox has been filled with all of these emails. You know the ones -- we're all getting them, I'm sure: 

"Get your Black Friday Deals today!"

"Don't wait for Cyber Monday! Shop NOW"

"60% off everything in the store TODAY ONLY!!!!!!"

There's such a sense of urgency to them, as if buying up their piles of stuff will somehow make the world a better place, my life more fulfilling, that by buying that new pair of Gap jeans, I'll singlehandedly be supporting the economy. 

My friend told me that a certain large, multinational retailer was opening at 3 a.m. on Friday with post-Thanksgiving deals. THREE O'CLOCK IN THE MORNING. Does this strike anyone else as insane? 

Hey, do you remember that time the security guard at a Walmart was stampeded to death by a crowd of early morning shoppers? 

It's all been making me think: What if we didn't go to Walmart, or Kohl's, or Macy's on Friday? 

What if, instead, we took that money that we were going to spend on things that we don't really need, supporting giant corporations that don't really need us, and instead put it toward something beautiful, something handmade, something filled with love and thought.

What if we spent that money locally, at the independently owned yarn shop, or locally owned gourmet foods store, or independent bookstore, or tiny Etsy shop run by a single mom in Colorado?

What if, instead of a pile of things, we gave our loved one a single, special, locally grown, carefully crafted piece of art?

I hope I don't sound all "I know better than you." That's not what I mean at all. Really, what I mean is that all these offers and sales and discounts make me feel like all of these corporations are saying, "you can't afford our stuff unless we give it to you for free." Or "You and yours aren't good enough to deserve this at full price." And: "Quantity over quality."

But I don't agree. I am worth it, and so are you.

As a retail shop owner who makes her living based on her customer's continued willingness to spend money in her shop, it might strike you as odd and rather insane that I'm going to say this, but I'm going to: 

Stay home on Friday. 

Don't go shopping. 

Don't buy into the frenzy of sales and slashed prices and discounts. 

Eat a leftover turkey sandwich, read the newspaper, hug your mom or your brother or your significant other. Watch football. Don't watch football. Pick up your knitting, or your quilting. Walk your dog or your cat or your armadillo.

Take a moment to breathe and enjoy the day. 

But Don't Go Shopping. 

Your money is worth more than that. Your time, your family, your friends, your holiday season are worth more than 60% off the latest fashions. 

This friend of mine owns a lovely shop, and they're closed on Friday. The "biggest shopping day of the year," and she's shuttering her doors, giving her staff the day off, and decorating the shop for Christmas. I think that's a lovely idea.

I've been thinking hard about this a lot lately. I own a tiny yarn shop, so I know the value of each and every dollar I earn. I know how much love and labor goes into each sale I make. And I know how much love and labor goes into each purchase each one of my beloved customers makes from me. I love each and every skein I dye, and I love each and every skein that I sell and I appreciate every home my yarn goes to.

We hear it often: these are trying economic times, for all of us. 

But isn't that all the more reason to value each dollar, value each person, and value each purchase? I want to make my holiday dollars go further not by buying ten things for a huge discount. Instead, I want to make my holiday dollars go further by giving things that count, by supporting someone like me, who owns their own business and crafts their own art, whatever that art is.  

Okay, rant over.

In the spirit of independent, art, local and love, I want to send out a big, fat Thank You to a small fraction of the independent and/or local businesses that have supported me and whom I have supported over the years. Thank you all for being here, for your independent spirit, for making my life better in some way.

Bobbin's Nest Studio

Diesel, A Bookstore

Phydeaux Designs

The Fiber Fix

Woolgirl

Knitty City

The Tinsmith's Wife

The Loopy Ewe

Etsy

Packwhiz

Backclip

Yoga Health Center

Planet Granite

Kepler's Books

Berkeley Bowl

 And thank you to all of the people in my life: friends and family, both old and new, fiber-y and climb-y. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

So.

Much.

Fun. 

I came home with a big order from a new retailer -- Knitty City, right there in Manhattan, and I've been crazy busy trying to get their order out the door before I leave again for the weekend, to go to Joshua Tree to camp and climb. And that's my way of saying -- sorry it's taken SO LONG to post my Rhinebeck Recap. But seriously -- 250 skeins in about 2 weeks. Phew! If you're in the NYC area, stop by Knitty City next week!! :) 

Anywho, our trip!! It was the perfect blend of mellow and exciting, with a train ride up north to Rhinebeck to get out of the City for a day. Mari and Yutaka are the best hosts in the world (except, perhaps, for Mari's mom, in Tokyo). They put us up, and showed us some amazing local places that we never, ever, ever would have found on our own. Not in a million years. 

I took quite a few pictures, which you can see in my flickr stream. I brought my "fancy camera" -- my Canon Rebel, but I also had my iPhone. And I found myself snapping a ton of pictures with the Hipstamatic app. It felt like, as great as my lens is on my Canon, the pictures I was taking weren't quite capturing the "essence" of what I was looking at. But somehow, Hipstamatic gave the impression of something, even though the image quality isn't quite as high. 

We landed late on Wednesday night, and Mari took us for a stroll to Times Square, two blocks from their apartment. Talk about being in the middle of it all! 

Thursday, George had to work a bit in the morning, so we just chilled a bit at Mari and Yutaka's, then headed to the Shake Shack, around the corner from Mari and Yutaka's place, for lunch. I have to say, and I hope West Coasters will forgive me, that it was better than In'N'Out. I mean, don't get me wrong -- I have such a weakness for In'N'Out, but the Shack Burger? The bun is all chewy and squishy, and the beef is thick and juicy and fresh, and the special sauce is fantastic. 

George got a Shack Stack. Which was totally crazy: a cheeseburger, topped with this cheese-stuffed, deep-fried portobello mushroom. 

And the crinkle cut fries: all those crinkles add so much crispiness.

Okay, I realize I've just spent way too long waxing ecstatic about one burger joint. Sorry. 

Moving on. 

That evening, we "took in a show" -- Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake. It was amazing. I had seen it in London about 10 years ago, and it really held up -- still totally magical. 

The next day, I met with Sylvia (moutons on Ravelry) and Pearl, the owner of Knitty City. I brought a slew of samples, and Pearl placed the above mentioned GIANT order of Biscotti. So exciting! It was great to see Sylvia again, and to meet Pearl and Jennifer at KC. Sylvia took me to the BEST place for lunch, just around the corner from Knitty City. 

I loved Recipe so much, I went back a couple of days later with George.

Seriously good, delicious, wonderful fresh food.

Friday night, we had one of my absolute favorite experiences.

Well, first was a failed experience. We tried to go  Lombardi's, the oldest pizza place in New York City. But the wait was about 2 hours, and we were just too hungry to wait. But here's me OUTSIDE Lombardi's: 

See? There's a pizza in the background! And the Mona Lisa's chin. Natch. 

We ended up at a lovely little wine bar instead, and had a plateful of delicious bruschettas. 

And then Mari took us to Small's, the most fabulous-est jazz bar I've ever been to. Down a steep set of stairs, filled with mis-matched little chairs and just the friendliest waitress ever. We listened to an amazing xylophone player and his quintet. 

Saturday was Rhinebeck Day. We took the train from Grand Central, early in the morning, to Poughkeepsie, then took the shuttle from Poughkeepsie to Rhinebeck. 

Rhinebeck blew me away. I mean, I've been to Stitches West a few times, and it's HUGE. But I think you could fit 4 Stitches Wests into one Rhinebeck. Sheep, yarn, wool, alpacas, funnel cake. It was amazing! 

We saw a sheepherding demonstration.

Also duck herding. 

Yeah... I dunno either. But it was pretty funny. 

And we saw a sheep shearing demonstration.

Oh.. and some Vicuna yarn. 

$300/ ounce. I need to get into that biz. It's super soft and pretty. But ... yeah... no. George did indulge in a ball of Qiviuk, though. In this lovely brick red color. I knit him a scarf. 

I wasn't shopping for anything... I almost made it out of Rhinebeck WITHOUT any yarn. But then... I met up with Sylvia and some of her Yarn Hoar friends from Ravelry. And we went over to the Maple Creek Farm booth. And it was over, with a skein of single ply silk bamboo. Yum. 

Sunday, we spent the day wandering around Brooklyn and the Lower East Side. We started with a delicious brunch at Brown in the LES.

Then we went to Brooklyn Flea:

And then went to Brighton Beach to wander the Russian markets.

George and I wanted to cook a nice dinner for Mari and Yutaka, to thank them for hosting us and showing us such a great time. So we made pelmeni, traditional Russian dumplings filled with beef and onions. 

And, of course, accompanied them with red caviar and a few shots of very cold vodka.

 I've been missing New York City since we got home.

I feel like we only barely scratched the surface, and I can't wait to go back. 

The Joyeaux Shawlette knitting kit is an exclusive collaboration between Phydeaux Designs and Wool Candy. it was such an incredible JOY to work with Brenda of Phydeaux Designs. We're looking forward to many more collaborations to come! 

The limited edition colorway, only available in the kit, is inspired by Arthur Rackham's wonderful, whimsical illustrations. "Joy of a Fallen Leaf" perfectly captures the dizzying joy I feel when the seasons change. The heat and bright, hazy sunshine of the summer gives way to a softer, glowing amber light. The skies turn gray, the leaves turn to browns and oranges, and blow away on the winds of winter. 

Brenda's design so elegantly expresses the swirls and shapes of autumn leaves. The simple stockinette bands really accentuate the textured points of the leaf lace sections. 

Not only is Joyeux just lovely (well.. in my little honest opinion), it's such a delightful knit. The lace leaf section add just enough challenge and interest (though the lace pattern is so intuitive -- it only took one repeat for me to memorize), and the stockinette sections give a nice brain break and let the fingers just do their thing. 

The kit comes with a skein of limited edition Meringue Merino in "Fallen Leaves," the Joyeux Shawlette pattern, pattern support from Phydeaux AND yarn support from Wool Candy. If you have a question about the pattern, you can contact Brenda. If you happen to run a bit short on your bind-off because you just REALLY wanted to get that last repeat in? You can contact me, and I will send you a little extra ball of yarn to finish up your shawlette.  

There are a very limited number of kits available, and they're going fast! They're available for purchase now, and will start shipping on Monday, November 1. You can find them in my Etsy Shop, Phydeaux's shop, and (as of next week) at Bobbin's Nest Studio in Santa Clara.

I hope you find as much joy in Joyeux as we have! ;) 

This year... I swear. It's been kinda crazy.

I have a big post coming up about my recent trip to NYC and Rhinebeck -- such an incredibly fun trip! But first, I want to talk about some other stuff. 

I've never really posted about "personal" stuff here. I've just never been sure if it's appropriate or not, or if you even want to hear about personal things, since it's supposed to be a blog about knitting, and yarn and fun, happy stuff. But heck, Wool Candy isn't just my business; it's inextricably bound up with the rest of my life. I can't separate "my life" from "my blog," That's just silly: I am Wool Candy and Wool Candy is me. 

And now, it's almost November, and, having gone through this crazy year without really mentioning it here, is making me feel like there's a wall standing between me and the rest of the world. Like, there are projects and trips and events that I want to talk about, but since I haven't really talked about anything that's happened this year, it would be weird. 

So, I hope you don't mind me telling you that 2010 has been kind of a doozie. When I look back over this year, I can hardly believe what a different place I am in now, compared to this time last year. 

First of all, I'm fine, happy and everyone in my family is healthy.

It's just, well, in a nutshell... last year I was married, this year I'm divorced. 

I don't need to go too deep into it. Suffice it to say that the end of one thing was the beginning of something else. Ending a long relationship was a hard slog full of pain and crappiness, but was ultimately and absolutely the right choice for me. Absolutely.

Because the end of that long, hard slog of a relationship was the beginning of something new and real and wonderful.

I'm happy. And now, I'm with a man who is really and truly my partner, someone with whom I'm so well matched. Something I didn't realize was missing until I met George. 

I've mentioned him in passing, but it's long overdue time for a proper introduction.

Here we are, at Brighton Beach last week:

He'll be mentioned a lot here. :) So, things are good. Great, even. 

Of course, with the end of a marriage comes a LOT of change. I moved from my ex-husband's house in Santa Clara back into my mom's house in San Carlos, high up in the hills above the San Francisco Bay, and set up my studio in her backyard. My dog's name changed -- he's just MY dog now, and the name he was given when we got him was never one that I liked. So, he's Stewie, and he's my buddy. He loves his grandma and his new, big backyard.

Oh, and his ball.

And things are continuing to change. Wool Candy is growing, and it's so exciting. George and I are moving in together next spring, back to my favorite town in the Bay Area, my home, to Oakland. I can't wait! 

Thanks for listening... I feel like a big weight has been lifted, and now I can share all the cool, fun, crazy stuff I've been doing, and share my excitement about the cool, fun, crazy stuff coming up.

And now... back to our regularly scheduled programming. Next up? Rhinebeck Recap!

I seriously can't believe Rhinebeck is next weekend.

This trip was totally spur-of-the-moment. In about mid-September, I saw someone mention something on the aforementioned Twitter about Rhinebeck coming up, and I had this thought: "When the hell is that? October, right? I could totally go to Rhinebeck!"

It made complete sense in my head. See, so, my good friend from high school, Mari, has been living in NYC with her husband for the last five years. They had moved there from Japan for Yutaka's work, and were only going to be there for five years, and Mari has been inviting me to come and visit them and I just haven't. And now, they're moving back to Tokyo at the end of the year. 

So I had this thought: why not go hang out with Mari for a few days, then take the train up to Rhinebeck and check it out?

See? Totally makes sense! 

A luckily, everything totally worked out. Including the fact that Mari isn't mad at me for waiting until the absolute last possible minute to visit her before she goes back to Tokyo. :) My mom even gave me her leftover United miles, so my flight was taken care of. I'm crashing on Mari's couch and we're taking the train up to Rhinebeck on Saturday for the day. And I'm meeting up with Sylvia at Knitty City to hang out and look at yarn and buttons. It's going to be awesome! 

So, according to tradition, you're supposed to knit a sweater to wear to Rhinebeck, right? I found the perfect pattern: Idlewood (Ravelry), by Cecily Glowik McDonald. It has a ridiculously, outrageously, wonderfully gigantic cowl that can double as a hood. The sweater is a long-ish tunic, with two very sweet patch pockets in the front.

Seriously, the cowl is as big around as the body. It's fantastic.

I'm using some Knit Picks City Tweed Heavy Worsted that's been sitting around in my stash for a couple of years. It's a pretty nice yarn: soft and cuddly, with lovely flecks of donegal tweediness blended in. 

I knit the pockets as swatches. They're just the perfect little swatch size. And, of course, my swatch gauge was right on. But as I cast-on for the actualy sweater, the weight of the yarn pulled my gauge a teensy bit large, so I had to make a couple of adjustments to size. I only cast-on 2 stitches under each arm instead of 6, and that seems to have done the trick. 

It still looks like a giant pile of wool right now... I have to knit one more sleeve (the tiny cap sleeves are only about 3 rounds each. hooray!), then weave in all the ends, block and sew on the pockets. I have two days until I hope on a plane for the East Coast. Plenty of time, right? :)

This is the Heart Hat (Ravelry) from Elizabeth Zimmermann's Knitting Workshop. Such a wonderful book, as all of EZ's books are. I used some Rowan Wool Cotton from my stash, in "Rich" and "Hiss." The colors remind me of those funny little Valentine's chocolates, that always taste like chalk but have pretty red and pink foil wrappers. Do you remember those? Do they still make them?

The garter stitch heart is an ingenious adaptation of a mitered square. You turn a mitered corner for the tip, and do some fancy short-row magic (not really. if it were "fancy," it wouldn't be EZ, but it is genius!) to create the two little heart "bumps," et VOILA! A sweet heart! Then, pick up stitches in the garter "ridges" all the way around the heart to knit the bonnet part. 

I love the texture of garter stitch. Nubbly and squishy and stretchy. Such a sweet hat. I should pop it in the mail so it gets to Alice before she's too big to wear it. 

In shop news: I have a big update of Fondant Merino DK coming up next week. The new colors, in sweater quantities. Isn't mustard big this season? How about Roasted Garlic? ;) 

Each skein of Eclair Silk Sock is 437 yards of shimmery, silky deliciousness.

50% superwash merino, 50% silk. 

I've shown you the Pogona I knit with this scrumptious yarn.

I've also started a pair of knee socks  that I'll share with you soon.

The point, though, is that Eclair is knitting up a treat at a variety of gauges. 

In 10 new fall colorways. 

Available in my Etsy shop tomorrow, September 7th. 

Yum!

Oh... and don't forget that the Wool Candy Labor Day Weekend Sale continues through midnight tonight, PDT. :)

What is it they say? Shop early for the best selection!

September 2nd through Monday, September 6th, all in stock yarn and fiber is 15% off. There's SO MUCH YARN AND FIBER, people! 

Additionally, Discontinued colorways are 25% off. Get them before they're gone forever. 

Candy Floss is going. As are Blueberry Buckle, Blood Orange, Brulee and Swamp Monster.  If you've been thinking about one of these colorways... now is your last chance. :)