Ready, set,

Go!

First off, thank you to everyone who made my sale awesome! I still have a lot of stock left that is put away until fall, but I want to thank those of you who made purchases. I really appreciate the support!

My new prices are live in the shop as of today, and I'll have a shop update here in a little while.

I've tried to leave on of each category in the shop so that you can see the new prices, but I thought I'd list them here for easy reference:

BFL worsted ....................................... $22.00
Andy/Andrea  .......................................$18.00
Calcaneus .............................................$24.00
Swagger ...............................................$26.00
Soy Beautiful ........................................$21.00

Untreated BFL fiber............................. $14.00
65/35 SW Merino/silk ..........................$20.00
Untreated Merino (22 micron) ...............$14.00

I've got another wholesale order placed, and as you might have noticed (especially those of you who spin & have been closely watching the fiber I carry) the Untreated merino will be new to the shop. I'm also getting a couple new fingering weight yarns to play with, along with Swagger lace- As I play with them I'll have a couple of trial skeins up in the shop, and depending on how well they are received we might be looking at adding them as new lines for the fall!


I'm off to post today' update- I hope you have a wonderful day!

Changes around here

Hi everyone!

If you've been following my twitter, Facebook page, or Ravelry group, you know that yesterday I gave a heads up for a big announcement regarding OurHumbleCastle. Ready for it?

This week, there will be a clearance sale at Ourhumblecastle at never seen before low prices. Once the sale is over, all the yarn & fiber dyed before May of this year will be gone until the fall. The shop will be closed the day after the sale, and will re-open with new, lower prices on almost all of our products.

I've been doing a lot of thinking about why I dye yarn- about what is important to me. I haven't had as much time to pour into the business since summer started, with all the outdoor work to do on top of my regular schedule. This has really pushed me to evaluate why I do what I do. I started to dye yarn & fiber because I love having the freedom to play with color- mixing new shades, coming up with awesome color combinations, & simply watching how each yarn takes the colors differently depending on it's own personality. I continue to dye yarn & fiber because people have let me know how much they enjoy my product. I love watching projects pop up on Ravelry, and hearing tales of appreciation- such as one customer's husband saying that one of my colors was one of his favorites of all the yarn his wife has purchased- it's the best part of my job. Early in this career choice of mine, a good friend & fiber mentor gave me the advice to not undersell myself, or my product. I totally agree, and while I do honestly believe that my yarns are worth every penny of their current price, I also have decided that I'm willing to work with a lower profit margin in order to make my product more accessible. The joy of seeing people use and love my product is way more important to me than the money.

Well, fellow fiber lovers, there you have it. Thank you for your continued support as I work out the exciting future of this business, one step at a time.

~Sarah-Ashley Ortiz

Spring Fling tomorrow!

Super fast post to let everyone know about the spring fling multi vendor even that I am participating in tomorrow. Details:

SPRING FLING MULTI VENDOR EVENT

Thursday March 17th – 3:30 – 6:30

In the Cricket Ridge Office 

(4465 Cricket Ridge Drive, off Aurelius in Holt)

Lia Sophia Jewelry – Try on before you order from the new catalog; super buys on retired pieces; drawing for a free piece of jewelry.

Handpainted yarn from Sarah-Ashley (OurHumbleCastle on Etsy)– she dyes the most luscious palette of yarns in all weights. Your fingers will be itching to start a new knitting or crochet project.

Jane’s Silk Flower Arrangements – it’s springtime all year round with these lovely accent pieces.

Erin (Rosie & Peni.etsy.com) brings Crocheted Cuties and Gorgeous Gift Cards to this sale

Come and look; have a cookie; go home with something pretty and unique.

Questions? Call Sharon at 694-9036

Or email sharonslp@ameritech.net

I meant to blog about this sooner, but I've been so busy dyeing up some beautiful new yarn for tomorrow that I haven't had the time. Funny how that works eh?

FO Duet

I have a new FO to show off- my Summer Squiggle Socks. These were part of the July sock club kit from Rae's Yarn Boutique. The pattern was designed by LynnH, and the yarn is Summer Love by Rita at the Yarn Hollow. 

I had finished the first sock last summer while we were on our mini vacation as a family, but once we got home (we're talking August) Christmas knitting sort of took over. As part of my self imposed sock of the month challenge this year, I decided to use February (the shortest month) to finish up the second sock. I didn't quite make it by the end of February, but it was close. My official finish date (ends woven in and everything) was this past Friday, March 4th. 

I'm pretty happy with them. It's nice to have a second pair of hand knit socks- my first ones could use some darning.









The second FO that I get to show off is not my own. It was knit by one of my customers out of some laceweight I had in the shop back in January. She knit up a beautiful morning dew (ravelry pattern) out of a skein of  "candy mountain" single ply laceweight.

I know some people don't like pooling that much, but look at those sleeves! I love the way the colors play in them.

A few more pictures of her modeling it:

Gorgeous lace isn't it?

Her husband says that he loves the colors of the yarn that "it's the nicest you've bought!" I thought that was a great compliment. I can't tell you how much joy it brings me to see finished objects that people have made using what I've created. Pure bliss!

And on that note, remember the sherbet fiber I showed you in a previous post? The one on merino silk? I  gave it to a friend of mine as part of a care package a group of us put together for her. She stopped in today and showed me this:

she got 558 yards of near laceweight single out of 4 oz of fiber!

She's looking for a pattern for it- if you've got any suggestions I'll be sure to pass them along. I'm pretty sure she'll let me blog about her FO when it's done too!

That's all for tonight. Happy Tuesday!

Lights!

Lights.

My dyeing studio is in the basement, where there is no natural light. (not like it would make a difference, most of the dyeing I do is at night once DJ is asleep) I've been working with one little light bulb...

...and not only that, but that little light bulb is located behind my back as I stand at my table. I have to lean to the side to cast any light at all on the project!

I've had two sets of florescent lights above the table, but they don't turn on when I flip their switch. My wise dad suggested that I try plugging a hair dryer into the circuit to see if the problem was the power source or the bulbs. It was the power source, which actually works out nicely for me. All I needed was to rig some extension cords and plug the lights into a wall socket, and:

I have light!

The dyeing table before:

The dyeing table after:

You can see the difference- even with the camera automatically adjusting for the different light levels.

That's my tale about light.

Photo Catch-up

I keep taking pictures and meaning to share them with you, and then life gets in the way. But not tonight. Are you ready?

First, the shawl that I've been working on : (The test knit for LynnH- she blogged about it here)

is now done:

I needed a model, and DJ gladly obliged:

Last Thursday (Feb 24th) I had a mini trunk show at my Thursday morning knitting group (SSK) I had trouble fitting all of them on to one lonely table:

I have been dyeing some top, as I'm going to start carrying braids of fiber in my shop soon. Hopefully by the end of February. Just kidding- that was a typo. Let's try the end of March. Much better. Anyway, here is Sherbet on Merino/silk: (two sides to the same braid)

Here it is on Andrea (sorry, this particular skein is gone- I can always dye it again on any base you like!)

And again as top, this time Corridale:

Oh. This one is from a while ago. More top that I have dyed:

The one on the right? It's called "Madhouse" I'll be carrying a line of "madhouse" top in my shop, but they probably won't look quite like that one does...

I'm spinning that one up right now for my March spindlers challenge. (that's a link to the Raverly page) It's VERY crunchy wool, but to be honest, I rather like how it spins. I might be relegated to making pot scrubbers out of it, but at least the colors are playful?

I'll tell you more about my plans for madhouse later. I also wanted to show you the results of my February spinning challenge. It's fiber from the lovely ladies at Two if by Hand:

I might have finished (barely) my February spinning, but my February sock is still a work in progress. I'm too lazy to take a photograph right now to share, but I promise you'll see the finished product.

I'm headed off to bed now, but one more thing: That shawl I made? A little bigger (I.e.- make two) and you'd have a rocking skirt:

And the winner is...

Nine people followed my blog during the month of February. Now that it is March, it's time to draw and find out who the winner is. I did the drawing the old-fashioned way- none of this random number generated stuff, although it does have its place. I started by cutting 9 strips of paper:

Then I wrote down the names of those who had entered:

A quick search of the closet located a genuine hat to put them all in:

I thought about having DJ draw the winner, but I was pretty sure he'd end up pulling out all of the names and chewing on them, so my hubby drew the name instead.

Congratulations Debra! I'll contact you personally and make arraignments for you to get your prize. You've got till the end of March to pick something from my shop, or make a custom request.

To everyone else who followed my blog, thank you so much! I hope you enjoy reading my blog and following my yarny and fibery adventures. :)

Dye studio

Happy Wednesday! Just stopping by with a picture of my dyeing studio this morning:

It's nothing more than just a table in my basement, and there are definitely still things  I could use to help make it a better work space- like shelves for example. But - it is a start- and it is my very own.

And yes, that is a batch of fiber that I am working on. Merino silk! I'm hoping to introduce spinning fiber to my shop sometime early March, so watch for it!

Green

I've got a lot of green going on in my shop right now. I honestly don't know how it happened- but I have 5 -- no wait -- 6 skeins that are predominantly green. For a while, every week as I sat down to decide what I was going to dye, I decided on green. I don't know if it was my bad memory of what I had already, or if it was just my subconscious trying to help spring along, but here they are all lined up pretty:

L-R "Moss" "The Colors of the Sea" "No Imagination" "Understory" "Seaworthy"

And this one: (he missed out on the group picture)

"Swamp monster"

A little overkill don't you think? Well, I think I'm over green now. However, I have dyed two pink-dominant skeins in a row... Maybe pink is my new green. Uh oh.

How does 15% off sound?

In preperation for the official introduction of my new lines next week (Feb 28th) I am having a 15% off "clearing out the castle" sale this week. As usual, this excludes gift certificates, and prices will be as marked. I'd love to move out some old inventory so that I can dye up a huge batch of my new yarns for March.

I had hoped to get this post out earlier this morning, but the tall, white, heavy Michigan snow did not get along well with the bottom of my car this morning when I attempted to take my husband into school. It took us 45 minutes to get from our driveway to a main road. Once I was out, I ended up staying out until noon, when the neighborhood roads had been driven on a bit more and I was able to get my car into the driveway. (just barely- I had to shovel my way the last little bit. Seriously, crazy morning.

The view out my front door- to give you an idea of the amount of snow we have:

And to think, yesterday I could see green grass, and the only snow was a tiny bit where it had been plowed up! Now we've got over 6 inches! Michigan amazes me some times.

The colors, they remind me of spring

Greetings from a white, white Michigan!

While the weather outside may be white and bland, at least there is some bright pretty color coming out of my dye pot! I'm going to show you four new things- two new yarn lines, and two new colorways- and I'm going to do it in only two pictures. (sneaky of me eh?)

First, there is this pretty skein on Swagger:

Isn't it cheery? It's so light and airy, with all the little pops of soft spring colors coming through. And the yarn itself- Oh my goodness! I would like to take it to bed with me and use it for my pillow, it is so soft and cuddly and amazing! I'm calling this yarn line "Swagger" because I truly believe that having socks out of this yarn will instantly add swagger to you. It is fingering weight with a luxurious blend of 80% supper wash merino, 10% cashmere and 10% nylon.

Then there is this skein of worsted BFL:

It is a test run of a custom colorway I was asked to design. I'm really happy with how this shade of pink turned out, and once again- I love the pops of color. I really think this one is going to knit up spectacularly! The actual custom order will be dyed on Calcaneus, but this particular skein would be perfect for a little girl's soaker.

Both of these skeins will be in the shop tomorrow- a week ahead of schedule. I'm not officially launching the new lines until Monday, Feb 28th, but I don't think it is fair to tantalize you with these pictures and not make them available for sale.

I've got one more element in store for this coming week. You'll have to check back then to find out the details!

As a side note- I apologize for the late-night pictures taken on the top of my computer. My old camera would have been able to crank out a decent photo even under those conditions, but alas, the lens is stuck and it won't turn on. Sigh. Sad face. If you can't tell from my complaining, I sure miss Keisha a lot! (Yes, my camera has a name. So do most of my other valuables.)

See everyone tomorrow!

Bare...yarn

I am so excited! My first wholesale shipment of yarns & fibers came in today. This is a huge milestone for me. I feel like a real businesswomen now! I was sharing over on my Ravelry group that I both want to dye everything all at once, and save it all until I have colorways that I think are worthy of this yummy yarn. I hardly know where to begin!

It was really cool to watch the Fedex tracking page for my package- I refreshed the page as the box was delivered- and sure enough, it said delivered! Right the very minute the box came. I had to take a picture to share with you, even though I'm sure it won't be nearly as exciting to you as it is to me:

I'm excited the way a painter is at the sight of a bare canvas, the way a new teacher is when they see all their students as having unlimited potential, as a musician with a new violin in hand, as a mother at the news she is expecting, but she doesn't know who it is she'll give birth to yet.

Ah. But it doesn't stay bare for long. as soon as I post this, I'm heading to take a skein out of the dye pot. Swagger. (That's the name of the yarn) MCN. (That's what's in it) Swoon. (That's what I'm going to do)

I should mention...

That if you don't follow my blog publicly, I can't see you to put you in the drawing! Just so you know. 

And... If you win and don't like any of the yarns I've got in my shop, I'm always willing to design a custom color! 

That is all. Short & sweet. 

This Week's Spinning

Since I got my spinning wheel a couple of weeks back, I've spun two 4 ounce braids of fiber! I absolutely love the process. I enjoy my wheel, I enjoy the feeling of the fiber running through my fingers, and I doubly enjoy knitting with the finished product.

This week, I got around to spinning the very first braid of fiber I ever bought: a beautiful braid of BFL from Tomorrow Farm in the colorway "tranquility" (link is for the colorway in merino- it doesn't look like they have any more BFL) 

I split the fiber in half and spun the first half as it was- aiming for a fairly thick single (especially for me- I tend to spin on the finer side) The second half I split in half again before spinning it, and again aimed for the singles to be on the thicker side. Here are both of them- I'm holding the first one, and the second one is still on the wheel:

Plying was the next job. I don't have a lazy kate, but I do have old straight knitting needles that fit through the bobbin, and through the hole where the lazy kate is supposed to be on the wheel. See the head of the needle circled in this picture?

Another pretty shot of the plied yarn still on the bobbin- I hardly got it all to fit!

There was a little bit of single left after I had plied everything off the other bobbin. Usually I will ply the left over bit with a spindle, using the andean plying bracelet. 

This time, after I had wrapped the bracelet, the single decided it wanted to become art all by itself:

The energy of the twist in the single causes it to keep it's shape, even when you poke and prod the sculpture a bit. it's pretty sweet! I currently have it on display in a dish on an end table in my my living room:

While the left over single was sculpting itself, the rest of the yarn had been skeined up and put in a bath:

After it had been finished and dried, it became this lovely skein of the softest, squishy-est yarn ever.

The "Follow me!" contest

I'm running a little give away on my blog to get things started. The rules are very simple- follow this blog by the end of February, and you will be entered into a drawing for your choice of an item from my shop! (excludes gift certificates) If I get a significantly large number of followers, I may just add in 2nd and 3rd place prizes as well. Tell your friends! I'll be posting on the 1st of March to announce the winner. 

Happy Tuesday everyone!

On the needles...

And a couple of tiny things recently off the needles as well. I've been working on two large projects, and while I don't knit painfully slow by some definitions of the word, I definitely knit slowly enough to be painful to myself sometimes.

First up, a sweater that I've started for my husband. It is for his birthday, which was today, so obviously I haven't gotten it finished in time. My new goal is to finish it by the end of February- but we'll see. At least then would be finished in the same month as his birthday.

It's got cables and... see that stripe? It is the first stripe in a three color fibonacci sequence.  (more on that here)  The third color, you ask? Well, here is another picture with a ball of the third color in it:

Brown, grey, and blue. Manly colors, if I do say so, and in very beautiful yarn. It's Artesanal from Aslan Trends - a blend of alpaca, cotton and nylon, with a wonderful heathered texture.

The second big project that I've been working on is a test knit/shop sample of a pattern for LynnH of colorjoy.com (The pattern is still in progress- for now, you can read about it on her blog here and here. I'll be sure to let you know when it is published.) Words can't say how much I love this pattern. There is so much room to play with color. The stitch pattern itself is fairly simple, making it accessible to pretty much all knitters with a project or two of experience. I am not purple's biggest fan by any stretch of the imagination, but when I'm working this pattern, I am hardly aware of the fact that I'm working with purple yarn. A quick sneak peak:

Just you wait till I get it off the needles and blocked out.

When I work on these big projects, I get itchy to just get something finished. I ordered yarn samples from a company so that I could choose a couple new lines of yarn for my etsy shop. I finally got to dyeing my favorites over the weekend, and managed to knit up a few and come to final decisions. Because of the minimal yardage when it comes to sample skeins, I was able to crank out 4 FO in 24 hours. (Even if they're really not that functional.)

The first new line that I will be carrying is untreated BFL worsted weight yarn. This is a wonderfully soft & lofty yarn that will be perfect for soakers & longies (used in cloth diapering) I hope to come up with some beautiful baby worthy colors that moms will be proud to put on their baby's bottoms.

The second line that I will be introducing by the end of February, if all goes well, is this:

Merino, Cashmere & nylon sock yarn. The sample they sent me was in sport weight, but you get the idea. It is as soft as a day-old chick, and strong to boot. It will be perfect for that pair of luxury socks you've been wanting to make, or perhaps a pair of gloves, or a hat.

I know I said that I cranked out 4 finished objects- but the other two will have to wait. They belong to lines of yarn that I will be introducing to my shop in a month or two- so I'll save showing you those samples for another day.

What's on your needles? Or what's recently found its way off?