UrbanGypZ Blog

I noticed this AM a spike in traffic and sales. I was on the ETSY front page…Well sort of…i was an alternate. Whatever, it was definitely a good thing!

I found a studio. It is absolutely a dream. Big, wall of windows, water access, a great landlord, great price, Perfect. It is in South Asheville in the basement of a mid century style office building. It used to be a hair salon. There is absolutely NO foot traffic. And while I would have loved to have been in the trendy River Arts District, this is the most perfect place to hunker down and work. And for the last 6 weeks that is exactly what I have been doing. Setting up studio and dyeing yarn and fiber. Tons of yarn and fiber. I have Indie Craft Parade and SAFF coming up.

I am also ending my part time job at the yarn shop. The shop is changing hands and my business is getting busy. It was just time. I have loved working there, meeting customers, getting a better idea about what knitters want. And hell just getting out of the house. I’ll miss it, but I am glad to just be able to focus on my business completely.

Here are some pics:

Some nights I just can’t sleep. Like tonight. 3:30am and I have been up for the better part of 2 hours. I think it is related to the heartburn I get when I eat the wheat I am allergic to (Pringles. Who knew Pringles contained wheat? WTF? They are potato chips…you know made from potatoes) I think I am not going to be making the 8:15 yoga class again this morning.

So I have been editing some photos for an update. I was floored when I realize they have been languishing since April. Has it really been that long since an update? I know it has been a while since I had been able to dive back into work. I have been spinning and carding like crazy getting ready for a trunk show (Purl’s Yarn Emporium in Asheville, June 25, 6pm) and Craftyfeast.

I have actually been looking at studio spaces. My 926sq ft house has been too small for me DH and the yarn for quite some time. I have been spread out between the house, the folks condo, and a storage unit for months. Let me tell you it is a pain in the ass trying to figure out which location I have what. I have driven back and forth so much.

So I have been on the hunt. I have so far scouted 16 spaces. Each one with that one major flaw that is a deal breaker. I was so close to a dream space in the trendy River Arts District. I mean the day of signing a sublease close. And I thought the space was so awesome, I was willing to sink some funds into a major up fit. But there was no guarantee past 6mths, so I let it go. My dream space in Black Mountain is twice my budget. The space with the most character had no heat. The nicest business man had a space that could not be plumbed for water access. And the one most viable option, just doesn’t seem right for some reason. Unfortunately, a strong gut feeling that I am thinking I need to heed. So the running around, phone calls, estimate gathering and redoing reredoing and rereredoing of the business plan has just halted production. And made me antsy.

Studio search set aside. Time to get back to spinning and dying. Keeping my eyes open for the right thing to come along. A little bit clearer about what I need.

I love this shawl.

I mean LOVE IT. I needed a simple pattern to test the new sari silk yarn I will be carrying in the shop. I remember the first sari silk skein I ever saw in the yarn Shop in the French Quarter in New Orleans. I had to have it. It was pricey and I did not care. It sat in my stash for months before I decided to make a simple drop stitch scarf with my 2 skeins. I have always been drawn ti this stuff. I even get the remnant sari silk fiber to card into my batts for yarn. I will be carrying this fiber as well. A glitch in shipping from my supplier lead me to a new supplier and access to some incredible yarns.

This pattern is base on Elizabeth Zimmerman’s Pi Theory Shawl which was published in Knitter’s Almanac. And this is really not so much a pattern as it is a theory. You can work it with any weight yarn and because of the large sections without increases, you can insert any stitch pattern or sets of stitch patterns. A very easy formula to design with. I however am not a big fan of full circle shawls, but i do love half circle shawls. They seem to stay on your shoulders better. This pattern actually knits up to be a little fuller than a half circle, so it actually hugs your neck and shoulders. For the sari silk shawl I worked the pattern rows in garter stitch. The yarn is very textural and colorful, so i did not feel any pattern would be necessary. I wanted the yarn to be the feature.

Half Circle Shawl

Cast on 5 stitches
row 1: knit all stitches.
row 2: Work increase rows as follows: *K1, yo* repeat to the last st, k1.
row 3: knit
row 4: work another increase row
row 5&6: knit
row 7: work increase row

From here, work an increase row after knitting double the number of pattern rows between the last 2 increase rows.
Since between increase rows 4 and 7 there are 2 pattern rows, we will knit double the number of pattern rows–4 pattern rows before we knit another increase row. Then knit 8 pattern rows before increasing; 16 pattern rows, an increase row; 32 pattern rows, an increase row; 64 pattern rows… continue until the shawl is as big as you’d like. BO, weave in ends

A word about sari silk…

I have seen a lot of mixed reviews about this yarn. And true it is fussy, unpredictible, and both delicate and hard at the same time. There are always knots, breaks and maybe even vegetable matter. No two skeins are alike and chances are you are never really sure of the yardage you actually have. This yarn is deceptively bulky. You may be tempted to use a smaller needle that you should. It is best knit with a bigger needle to give your fabric drape and the stitched room to showcase the texture of the yarn. Normally I am a stickler for weaving in ends, but in this case I think this yarn works better when knotted. Trust me I never would say it for any other yarn. Just go with it. It is a rustic yarn and the dangling ends will be fine with your finished fabric and probably hold better than trying to weave them in. Finally the big key to this yarn…serious steam blocking. I was floored how the fabric transformed from a stiff, ropey texture, to silky soft and drapey with steam. Take the time to steam it …absolutely necessary and SOOOO worth it.

I love my shawl. It is light enough to wear this spring, and goes with everything in my closet. I get so many compliments on this thing.

I am also working on a Clapotis made out of my new banana silk yarn. It works up very much in the same way as the Sari Silk Yarn, but shinier and less hairy.

Both of these yarns will be available at urbangypz.com and the etsy shop May 9th.

I started my spring cleaning this January, purging and reorganizing my growing yarn business in my tiny house. I pulled together all my WIPs, Decided what I was frogging, what I was keeping, unearthing bags of yarn I had totally forgotten about. And gathered the knitting notions and needles that have been scatter throughout the house. I have a very large collection. Mostly becase when I can’t find something, I often buy a new one. I needed a functioning system. I had been throwing all the knitting needles and notions in one big fabric basket, but that soon became an unruly mess. I know there are some great needle organizers out there, but all of them fall WAAAAY short of handling my insanely large collection. So last time mom was in town we set on a mission to find a workable system so I am not buying dozen’s of duplicate needles (been there, done that) and have them super accessible. Nothing worse than having a great knitting idea, or a new base yarn that needs working before I premier it only to be stalled out but missing needles/stitch holders/counters.

So here is what is now housing my stuff

Oh how easy it is to find just what I need.
Section for notions

DPNs bundles and organized.

And a killer filing system for ALL my circs.

As if 2010 has not handed me a steaming bag of poo so far, this week I had to make one of the hardest decisions I ever had to make concerning a pet. I had to give my favorite boy kitty up. This is not the way I wanted it to end, and I am a mess over it.

I have had Spiderman for 13 yrs. Hands down he has been my all time favorite pet. He was super friendly and vocal. And I loved him so much. He was my home when I moved here 8 yrs ago. He was my companion when Mike left and I was stuck living through home renovation hell. I loved him so much. Will never have another cat so awesome.

He has also been the most challenging pet that I have ever had. Constant cat fights when he was an outdoor kitty in Birmingham. The dozens of times he got stuck in the trees, never mind the time he ended up on top an office building, the rescue attempt ending with confronting the cops. And oh the things he has destroyed. Thirteen years of furniture, clothing, bedding, curtains, books, vital tax records, luggage, flooring, and…yarn. Every time I have rushed him to the vet thinking this time it MUST be a UTI and every time they have sent him home with a clean bill of health and $40 of behavioral Rx. Oh and the product. I am so well versed on every behavioral modification, and cleaning product out there. You name it, I bought it. You want to know about it, I can tell you about it. I am not going to even mention the poop. But let’s just say he has ALWAYS hated the cat box, and has never covered his mess when he did manage to use it. Yep I tried the $25/bag cat attract litter…nope he did not like it much.

So for 13 yrs, because I loved him, I adjusted and dealt with whatever he dished out. But as he got older, it got worse. And as my yarn business has grown to fill my house (literally, You should see the bins and bags of stuff in every room), it has been far more stressful trying to keep his bad behavior in check.

In May he broke me. We were on the verge of getting rid of him. Now mind you, my idiot neighbor across the street keeps alot of strays. We are talking easily 20. Not legally, but animal control will do nothing. But they do know exactly who she is and where she lives. At any given time there are no less than 3 stray cats on my porch each with some kind of abcess, injury or knocked up. And my street is also a cut through so these cats get run over in front of my house often. It is heartbreaking. But this is why my cats are inside. So in May when having a destructive cat and a booming yarn business in my 900 sq ft house got to be too much, we checked around for a rescue that would take him. Bruce was working with a couple of rescues through his job and tried to pull some strings. But believe it or not, no one would take cats. They were full up. We decided rescreen the back porch, cut a cat door and banish him out back, and peace was had until the cold weather set in.

For the most part, he stayed behind the wood stove where it was warm. But he was going out the cat door to the porch less and less. This week after spending another $100 we did not have on things to curb his behavior, cleaning more cat pee near the dye supplies, and throwing out 3 lbs of yarn and one project. I broke again. I could not handle the stress of one cat destroying the only means of income we currently have. We took him to the humane society in the morning. I would like to think he is such a friendly awesome cat that someone took him home, but truth be told he was 13, and they do not hold much hope for cats that old.

I know I may get hate mail from some people. A part of me hates myself. I hate the part that let go the sweetest cat I will ever have. I hate the part that is actually relieved to not have to be on constant guard with my house and business. I am still getting used to life without him, both the good parts and the bad. I hate that it ended this way. I can honestly say for 13 yrs he stretched my love to limits I never knew possible.

Good Bye Spiderman. No matter what I will always remember that you were an awesome cat.

I have always wanted to get a kaleidoscope to see how yarns blend for new colorways, or fair isle knitting. Found this great link. Had to try it with the yarn. If you ever wanted to know how some of the UrbanGypZ varigated stuff will knit up (or what you my yarn would look like on acid) , this might give you a little bit of an idea. Trippy…