Enter your photographs...

..and it could be the inspiration for a new colorway! You will get a free skein of the new colorway, too!  Here's how it will work:

I want you to send me your beautiful photographs, I'm looking for content and color in the photo, it doesn't have to be a perfect photo technically, you don't have to be a great photographer for this contest!  We here at All For Love Of Yarn will narrow the photos down to the 5 that I think I can produce the most beautiful yarn colorway. Then it is up to you to vote on which one you like the best and that will be turned into yarn, on the base of my choice, that will work best for the colorway. The winner of the favorite photo will win 1 full skein (around 400 yards, either fingering or sport weight) of yarn in the new colorway!

Rules:
Submission of photos:
 November 1st through November 15th. Submissions before and after these dates will not be accepted.
Photo Specifications:
One entry/photo per person.
It might be posted on my blog, so don't send anything you don't want the public to see.
Photo must be taken by you, not snagged from the internet.
Photo cannot be of yarn. 
Respectful and tasteful photographs please.
No person's faces please.
I have all rights to accept or not accept any photo for any reason without explanation.
Send photos as an ATTACHMENT with these specs please: Jpeg format, around 1200 pixels wide. Please do not send links to online photo albums, only attachments. Thanks.
Send  photos to: allforloveofyarn@gmail.com
Include with your email a name I can use on my blog to give you credit for the photo.  

Voting will be November 17th through 28th. I will post the top 5 photos and you will have a chance to vote on your favorite, the one you would like to see turned into some beautiful socks perhaps, or whatever you can imagine!  The winner will be announced before the end of November.

I will dye the yarn inspired by the winning photograph and the winner will receive one skein at the beginning of December, sometime before the 15th of the month.  It will be a fingering/sock weight in either hand painted variegated, kettle dyed variegated, solid, or semi-solid, around 400 yards, my choice.

You may post your photo in my Ravelry group: All For Love Of Yarn! There is a specific thread for September photos.

Tea Cake Knitters...

...had a great time last night knitting, talking and learning how to cable! By request I taught everyone how to incorporate cables into their knitting. I got a few free patterns on Ravelry and they are making 2 different headbands. It will be fun to see the progress next month! I remember teaching myself to cable; I always thought it was so difficult, until my Uncle told me just the opposite and explained it to me without showing me, it then seemed to so easy, and really it is. I was so excited I went ahead and made my son ( not knowing he was a boy -- but I had a really good feeling) this sweater before he was born. I love cables!

I made delicious carrot cake, with toasted walnut cream cheese frosting, courtesy of Emeril Lagasse, mm-mm, so good, we ate what was left for breakfast this morning! It reminded me of when I worked in surgery; if someone brought treats, we always ate them on our morning break, or they would be gone by the time we went to lunch. Carrot cake was a favorite, a special lady whom I worked with for a while would often bring her carrot cake in, among other goodies she is "famous" for. That was a fun little trip down memory lane for me this morning...

I made peach tea to go with it, about all I had left in the cupboard to tell the truth. It was delightful with the cake I thought.
All the knitters in action, working on those cables...

Check out those pointy sticks! I've never been able to maneuver those myself, especially pregnant, I'm sure I would have poked myself a lot!
Remember those pots and buckets a few posts back? Oh, and they were hanging so pretty in the tree, too. Well here are a few all skeined up. Some may make it to my shop, but most are going to the festival with me. (Unless you beg me : ~)

September top 5...

...photos are chosen. I plan on doing semi-solids this month on a luxurious yarn base. I'm so excited to be doing this, because semi-solids are some of my favorites!

Hydrangia
Submitted by: Dina
I'm envisioning a beautiful periwinkle color, just between blue and purple.

Cliffs of Moher
Submitted by: Dobbylrr (ravelry name)
I would love to do two colorways from this photo, blues and greens.

Saskatoon Berries
Submitted by: ZoePaige (ravelry name)
I see a pinkish purple leaning toward blue yarn coming from this photo.

Rosa "Easy Does It"
Submitted by: Janet
This will make a beautiful rosy coral/pink. 

Golden Lilies
Submitted by: Jennifer
Gold/yellow orange, just in time for fall, at least where I live.

In response to your...

...comments (in no particular order):

1. A few of you have suggested worsted weight, you will be delighted to know that I plan on bringing it to my line up of yarns! It will be a 100% superwash merino wool. I can't wait for it actually, because I have plans to make myself a vest with it; I'm so excited!

2. Lace weight...until a few months ago lace weight was totally out of the question because I didn't have an electric skein winder, imagine winding 800 + yards with a niddy noddy! I didn't like doing 400 yards, no way was I going to do lace. My awesome husband made me an electric skein winder so I've been thinking about it. I don't knit lace myself, I've done research on the subject of lace yarn and what you all like, there will be more on that later.

3. Color Change/Runs, Knitted Samples...I would love to be able to provide a knitted sample for many of my variegated yarns, but unfortunately I can't. I've been thinking about this over the last few days: would 1 sample be enough for each length of color? One sample for 4 inch repeats, one for 2 inch, etc? In the round? In a square? And then I would have to do it for yarns with 4 colors, 8 colors, etc etc. It could be done...

I added this feature to the respective listings, stating how long each color change/run is. You'll notice it below the colorway/lot#. I hope this helps in your decision to purchase and type of project you could knit.  I'm not a big fan of pooling in my knitting so I try to avoid it when I dye yarn, with that said, it cannot always be guaranteed; it does depend on the pattern and your style of knitting. I try to keep color runs under 4 inches, most being 1-3 inches, unless I'm trying to achieve a certain effect.

I have a separate page with finished projects called: All Knitted Up in the right hand column here on my blog. There are also a few listings in my shop with photos of socks.

4. Driggs said "You tend to put fancier colorways on the fancier yarn bases. Sometimes I want a fancy variegated, but don't need the fancy fibers." I don't mean to put you on the spot, but I want to change this if I can. Can you tell me more about this, I'm apparently not aware I'm doing this?  Can you give me some examples of what you would like to see on less fancy bases, also define "fancy".  I want to have a variety of styles on each base to please everyone. Thank you, this was insightful to me!!

5. Gallery of yarn colorways: I do have many colorways photographed in each of my yarn pages in the right hand column, a gallery if you will. Also, you can browse through my sold items to see older colorways.  If you see something you like either here on my blog or in my shop, but it's not quite right for you, perhaps you want it in yarn, not fiber, like the colorway Oceania that is in fiber listed in the shop, I have done it on yarn a few times, it sells out fast. So, just send me a message via Etsy and let me know what you want; I'll be happy to accommodate. There is also the Alchemy feature on Etsy that you can use to request a custom item from a seller.

6. More superwash merino/nylon blend is coming; my supplier has had it on back order for 6 months almost!  I can't wait to get it back! It's called Nogi: 90% Superwash Merino, 10% Nylon. Also, I'm carrying in the mean time a 80% Superwash Merino, 20% Nylon called Lublu Sock. Nogi is my preferred merino/nylon blend coming in just under 500 yards and super soft and springy.

7. As far as having a clearer explanation of what each listing is, I state what the fiber content is, weight and yardage. I'm not sure what more I could say really. Be sure to have your pages set to list not gallery, they are the 2 little white squares on the top right, just above the listings and below the featured items.

8. Each new listing is going to have a photo of the yarn before it is re-skeined so that you can see what it really looks like so that you can plan your projects a little better. There are some already listed in the shop this way for you to check out. I normally dye yarn in the round, I will state in the listings how it was dyed, also.

Thank you all very much for participating in the critique of my Etsy shop! I appreciate it very much. Follow up comments are welcome, good or bad, but nothing is really bad, just helpful for me.
~ Angela

It's been...

...too long since I've posted here! Summer has arrived and we've been doing a lot of biking and playing at the parks! Waseca has some great parks and we love them all, there is something new at each park as far as play equipment so it's fun to visit them all, and even I don't get bored!

My dear husband is in the kitchen making truffles! Coffee truffles, and he keeps coming in with something new for me to taste, first it was the coffee flavored chocolate (whoever knows my husband knows he makes the best coffee ever! ~ I don't drink coffee so I wouldn't know, but everyone who has had some says so!), anyway, then the toasted coconut, so sweet and yummy! Oh, in between those was a kiss...how could I forget! I'll show you pictures later...of the truffles!

I've been doing some dyeing, though. I'm getting an order ready for one of my local yarn shops in Rochester, Minnesota. This is exciting for me!

Here are some goodies added to my shop. Stop by and take a look, they are pretty yummy! The blue and tan are sport weight, this is new in the shop and also, the tan is one of a kind, so get it while it lasts! Sometimes the one of a kinds are the best and it's a beauty! 

Phat Fiber...

...Blossoms and Bark Socks! As promised here are the socks in the kaleidoscope colorway for the May box! Thank you Robin for knitting these up for me in a flash! You're awesome!!

Tea + Cake + Yarn =

The TeaCake Knitters... I'm starting a knitting group with some friends once a month and I'll be serving delicious tea, scrumptious cake and we'll play with yummy yarn! I will be teaching something about yarn or knitting as well.  I plan on posting what I teach, the yummy recipe for the cake and the kind of tea, which I would like to also use for a colorway inspiration for my yarn. My first colorway is here. Our first meeting is June 9th. The second Wednesday of the month. I think I will make chocolate cake with ganache frosting and top it with strawberries, they are in season in June, unless I find something different in the mean time. I will have to use raspberries in August - oh, I can't wait!
So, the post cards go out tomorrow...now I'll work on some yarn and knitting education for the first meeting.
Until soon,
Angela