Blue Moon Blog

In honor of the Mother’s who knit us, a Rare Gem Mill End Sale!

2012-05-11T19:40:00-08:00

In homage to Mother’s Day this Sunday, we are having another one of our Rare Gem Mill End Sales. I’m so smitten with the whole idea of celebrating mothers with Rare Gem (one-of-a-kind as we all are) Mill Ends (a wee bit flawed, completely useful, and extremely thrifty) that I can barely get over myself. As a mother, which has been my favorite job, I am a work in progress, learn as I go kind of mom - most certainly not perfect. As I’ve been mulling all of this over, I’m thinking this might be one of the best gifts I’ve given my children, this ability to see that they can count on me, but that I am human and as such. I make mistakes—mistakes that I own up to and work on in whatever way is needed to remedy them and move forward. Some of my most memorable mothering moments involve saying, “I’m sorry, I was wrong,” not because I enjoy it—because believe me, I don’t actually like being wrong—but because of the depth intimacy and honesty it affords. So...I guess that makes me a mill-end kind of mom and that I’ll take. Mothers are all kinds of wonder, from that crowning first moment to...well, forever, actually. I think it’s rewarding on too many levels to count, extremely important work, and hard as hell. I wouldn’t trade being a mom for anything. I am so grateful for all three of the lovely people that are my children (you know who you are). One of the other things we are doing this weekend, in honor of all mothers gracing the planet, is that for every order that comes through our web portal starting at 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time today and going until midnight on Sunday, we’re going to donate $1.00 to Doctors without Borders. Those of you that are new to our Rare Gem Mill End Sales, a Rare Gem is a yarn that, for some reason or another, has not met our rigid color criteria for selling as a specific colorway. We save them up, over-dye them and take them to shows . A few years ago you, our not local online customers, requested an online sale so you too could partake. We weren’t sure about this because each and every single one is different so it isn’t cost effective to put photos up of them for you to see. This is especially true if they are also Mill Ends, which are already marked down. You, our customers, said it didn’t matter to you, so we took that to heart and had our first ever sale, and it was great success for us all. After I thought about it, I realized that I would also buy these products sight unseen because I really have yet to meet a Rare gem I didn’t love. There’s just too much color in there not to find something wonderful about them. (I might have several bins of them in the storage pod.) One of our barn rules is that if there are rare gems hanging to dry, I’m not allowed in for that very short window of time. I have little to no resistance at all in relationship to them. I’m not exaggerating one little bit...it’s bad. So bad that recently, when we dyed some up for a few of the shows, and I had to be in the barn, there might have been a small incident. Debra walked by the table where I was bundling some of these beauties and asked what the two piles were. I pretended I didn’t hear her and kept right on bundling and singing. If you’ve met Debra you know how well that tactic worked. She Tina’d me as she does in this way that makes me feel about 5 years old, and that I completely deserve, so… I told her one was for selling and one was for keeping. She sighed—you know that deep drawn-out put-upon sigh that on the out breath says, “You are on my last nerve and I can’t believe I have to put up with this again”? So, I did what anyone with a healthy sense of self preservation would do. I combined the two piles and continued bundling. I didn’t even mumble anything under my breath about how this is my business and, really, if I want some rare gems, I should be able to have them, dang it… Anyway… Rare Gems, Mill Ends, and how it works: We divide the Rare Gems into 3 different color categories: Fire, Water, and Earth. You order, with no small bit of faith in us, I know, sight unseen from one of these three categories and the descriptions there of. The descriptions are as follows: Earth: Picture a big pile of fallen leaves. As all the bright glowing growing energy returns to the earth it deepens and shades with browns, grays and black but mostly in browns. All shades of browns speckled with green and gold and a spot or two of red maybe and maybe some muddiness as it all breaks down. These rare gems are created by over-dyeing from the different colors of brown. Fire: Red hot warmth. All colors of fire here from rich and warm reds and oranges to bright hot pink in your face ones. Be careful when you open these. We would not want you to get burned. Water: When light hits water it reflects and shimmers, creating jewels. These watery colorways are over-dyed with blue, green and purple, which gives us our jewel like sea tones. A wee bit or pink might sneak it’s way in here,but it will be a cool jewel. Azure...emerald...amethyst. The world most certainly is our color oyster. The Rare Gems go LIVE tomorrow (Saturday) at 4:00 pm Eastern time and stay up until they sell out. They do tend to go fast. There will be a link to them on the homepage and the side nav bar after you go to Shop online. As these Rare Gems are Mill Ends and the pricing is $16.00 for the lightweight ones and $18.00 for the mediumweight ones. If you are a sock club member and want to use your discount code you are more than welcome to. You can even order other yarns to you do not have to just order Rare Gems! I think that covers the details. Happy Mother’s Day. I hope you have a beautiful weekend!

I might have a problem…

2012-05-08T14:59:00-08:00

....just a wee little one, I think, Although I believe Rosie is of a different opinion. Rosie: ‘hey Tina did you take that yarn that was on the table?” Me: “Maaaaybe.” Rosie, as she walks over, takes yarn back and looks me sternly in the eye: “ I thought we agreed. You could take yarn from the wall as long as you put it back, but you can’t touch yarn on the table, without asking.” Me: I was going to put it right back. I only need it for the briefest of seconds, because look Rosebud… it’s the perfect match up with Pond Scum and Neptune.” Rosie (as she puts arm around my shoulders): “It’s beautiful Tina and I usually find this part of you quite fetching but… maybe, just maybe, this can go back to being the thing you do at night when you can’t sleep and we’re not here. ok?” Me: I guess. So… because I love Rosie, knitters and life, and I’m paying her to get a job done in an efficient timely manner, I have reined it in. taken to scouring the barn for colour combo’s in the middle of the night when there are no witnesses. There are not enough hours in the day. As you can plainly see you could put these three together and see how well Pond Scum, Ciruela and Ursula play? But what if if you take the Ciruela and replace her with Mulberry? or… put Mulberry with Marina and Smoke on the Water. ...and then Marina spots her hue-mates Lunasea and Tempest and goes off with them while Bittersweet joins Mulberry and Smoke. You see my my problem right? Meanwhile… my shawl looks like this: While Deb’s shawl looks like this: So much colour… so little time! I add in the second colour today. I’m so very excited. ps. Yes there are a few new colourways there and they will be on the website this week. We have joining our shadey solid crew: Marina, Neptune, Ciruela, Mulberry, Grasshopper, Spores, Everyday Grey and Ursula. Multi-Colourway Lissa will also be sneaking in.

Knot Hysteria Gourmet Retreat

2012-05-03T18:05:00-08:00

As we were weaving in all the loose ends from our colour retreat last November, we started throwing around ideas for future retreats, what would be different, what would be fun. We were looking at some of the feedback we got, and noticed that many knitters had pointed out that our current class structure (a dye class, a knitting class, a spinning class) was fun, but left out those knitters who don’t (yet) spin. We sat down with the fabulous staff at Port Ludlow, and started to talk about what we could do instead of spinning, and the very first suggestion was brilliant, and we’re doing it. From June 22nd until June 26th at the Resort at Port Ludlow, we’ll try our first ever Gourmet retreat. The idea is for you to spend a little time with the nicest possible ingredients… both food, and fiber. Three days jammed packed with luxury fibers and yarns, beautiful foods and cooking, and anything we can think of to do with them. One day dyeing, one day knitting, and one day (be still your beating heart)- one day of gourmet cooking classes. The Executive Chef at the Inn is Dan Ratigan, who’s not just a wonderful chef, but a skilled teacher and he’s got an amazing day planned. Your adventure will start at the farm, learning how to select the best ingredients. From there you’ll go with Dan into the classroom and start cooking dinner for the rest of your retreat knitters. Chef Dan will lead you though everything you need to create a nutritious, delectable and stunning dinner, teaching you skills that will improve every meal you ever make. From planning, prepping, cooking and plating, all the way through the steps of service, and how to choose the wines to go with your creation. (We both want to take this class from Dan so badly that we can hardly stand it.) The class ends in the dining room - when you serve the meal you created, and we all eat! In the dye room, Tina Newton will help you work with all the amazing yarns, and how they can best meet their chromatic counterparts. We’ll learn about dyeing coloured yarns -how do you dye brown bison? You’ll create your personal recipes - not just any blue but your very own blue. We’ll delve into sophisticated palettes to go with our sublime yarns. Bring an apron it’s sure to get messy! In the pretty room overlooking the water, Stephanie Pearl-McPhee will host an all day exploration of knitting with luxurious yarns and the tools that go with them, and how to make the most of these precious ingredients. What are the challenges of cashmere, bison, silk and angora? How do you use them to their best advantage… and how do you take care these valuable projects when they’re finished? If you’re afraid of spending the money on these yarns because you don’t know how to handle them? This is perfect. The weekend begins when you check in on Friday night, when we’ll gather and welcome you in the Sun room. Over the next three days, you’ll attend classes during the day (punctuated by gourmet meals) and spend the evenings relaxing and learning more about the fibers we’ll be learning to love in really fun ways. (Reeling silk, anyone?) On the last night we’ll have a Q&A and a show and tell, and part from each other sadly. The price includes all three full-day classes, evening fun, all materials, and breakfast, lunch and dinner Saturday, Sunday and Monday. The food is fabulous, and we promise that there will be very good vegetarian options, and the same flexibility for those of you with food allergies that you’ve come to expect from Port Ludlow. Chef Dan is very excited about being part of our teaching team and we’re expecting even more beautiful food from him than usual - and that’s saying something. Accommodations are separate and you will arrange those on your own. We have negotiated special prices with Port Ludlow, and there are some shared accommodations (condos and town-homes) if you’d like to come with your friends. We’ll give you the promo code when you sign up, and you can always day-trip if you live close by. Price for the three day/three class intensive with meals: $795. (Credit card or paypal are fine) All Materials (except tools) included. Gift bags, presents and surprises forthcoming. (If you’re a vendor and you’d like to talk to us about putting a little something gourmet (food, or yarn or anything) in the gift bags, just drop us a line. We’d love it.) To register, simply send an email to with “Gourmet Retreat” in the subject line, and include your name, address and phone number and a good time to call you, and we’ll ring you to arrange it. We’ll leave registration open as long as there’s room, but it’s an intimate retreat. Don’t wait too long.

Posessed

2012-05-02T03:29:01-08:00

One of my very favourite games to play is matchy, matchy with all of the skeins of sock yarn hanging on the sock wall of colour in the dye barn. I like seeing compliments and contrasts who wants to be fast tonal friends and how they all play together. If there is a specific project that has my attention or the attention of the knitter brain at large, well then all the better. So… this evening I spent an hour putting together colour trios for our current obsession, the affection of colour. Here’s a few of them. I only used what was hanging there and we are a bit short since we are working on restocking the wall with the brand new larger skeins. Tumbleweed, Aurora Borealis and Aubergenuis. Jengu, My Blue Heaven and Twilight. Manly Yes but I like it to, Morticia and Smoke on the Water. Falcon’s Eye, Smokey mountain Morn. and Smoke on the Water. Blue Moonstone, Thraven Fledge and Thraven. Winter Solstice, Stormy Weather and Black Onyx. Bleck, Thraven Fledge and Stephen Philip. China Rose, Briar Rose and Brick. Winter Solstice, Cozy,Fierce, Dirty Orange and Copperline. Bleck, Cozy,Fierce, Dirty Orange and Copperline. China Rose, Grimms Willow Wren and Jade. China Rose, Chestnutty and Bittersweet. Just Jack, Rauen Fledge and Spinel. Midsummer’s Night, Aurora Borealis and Sapphire. Ocroid, Deep Unrelenting Grey and Pallas Athena. Rose Quartz, Happy Go Lucky and Mustang Sally Oregon Red Clover, Coppertree, Chestnutty. Saffron Jungle, Rauen Fledge and Meet Joe Brown. Oregon Red Clover, Dark Shadows and Stumptown. EOS, Smoke on the Water and Grawk. So much colour and so little time… I brewed up a whole bunch of new shaded solids today that we plan on having up by Friday. There’s a smokey beige and pale marine green that I’m so excited to see that, I think after I post this, it’s off to the barn to rinse them out. Sweet dreams!

Afflicted with colour affection

2012-04-29T15:39:00-08:00

Colour Affection or what we lovingly referred to it at Sock Camp, Colour Infection, is what is on my needles, in my basket and piled in tonal trio’s around the barn. Even before Josie showed up at camp with not one, but two shawls, and her wicked, “knit this you know you want to mojo”, that almost turned sock camp into shawl camp, I’d been thinking about knitting this tonal colour study design of Veera’s. Truth be told, I would like to knit quite a few of Veera’s shawls, they are stunning. I love how her knit brain works. I think Debbi was the first one to fall under Josie’s enabling spell. It wasn’t long before pretty much, knitter by knitter, the whole camp had caught the bug, as you can see here in Steph’s blog post. We were joking one of the mornings in the store as we helped pick colours and wound yarn, that affection was an infection and most certainly are far better one to get then the ones we usually walk away from camp with. Actually I do believe it is the only one we walked away with this time so yeah Josie!! As everyone else did, I mulled over a few hues and then picked my three colourways and went on my merry way to wind and swatch. Unfortunately.... someone ( I’m not naming names, you know who you are,) beat me to my appropriate needle for this. I tried my level best to get gauge with the size I had with me that was closest, but it was having none of that. Oh well… I’d wait. It’s not like I didn’t have knitting. It worked out for the best in the long run, as these things tend to do, since Stormy needed my Smoke on the Water to complete her trio. Yeah!! ( yo colour karma fairy! You caught that one right?) So we wrapped up shawl sock camp and when I got home, I went in search of needles and my missing second colour. While perusing the sock wall of colour with Deb (Again Accuardi, not Stone or McVae. I can’t even talk about the Deb thing going on here.) she suggested knitting them in Silkie. Being the mercurial soul that I am, I decided to take her suggestion and switch. In my defense, it has silk in it, what’s not to love about having that draped around you? Also… I had these beauties hanging on the wall. I was just not a strong enough woman to resist the scummy pull of this trio. I’m over the moon thrilled with my choice and I do believe I am going to keep this one for myself. Don’t worry about the trio I choose at camp, I have a friend I am going to knit that one for, her dark purple heart is going to be tickled. I started yesterday on the way to the beach with my girls for the day. A good place for a scummy cast on don’t ya think!

Odd and ends

2012-04-18T13:58:00-08:00

Really this post is mostly about yardage and price increases, but odds and ends sounds so… much better than, price increase. Nobody really likes to talk about money, especially these days. However, it is a fact of our lives and really, just a means to an end. After a good many years of resistance on my part, we’ve raised the yardage on both the mediumweight and lightweight sock yarn. So we’re offering both Socks that Rock lightweight and mediumweight in 405 yard skeins, which we feel is more than enough sock yarn for any size foot. (I feel a challenge coming on.) Along with yardage increase comes a price increase. I hate raising prices, it gives me a cramp. I work really, really hard to keep our prices reasonable for our knitters, that said, you can’t really add in more yarn without upping the cost. I did my best to keep it as low as I could while still making sure we all got paid. You’ll also notice that we raised the pricing on a few of the garment yarns. I mentioned at the beginning of the year that we were headed in this direction. I actually thought, as with the new colourways, that this would be a done deal by now. However,the website upgrade gods had a different plan in mind. I wish they’d send out memos, it would makes things a whole lot tidier. I believe we’re finally on the tail end of all of this website drama. ( Knock on wood!) Thank you dear knitters for bearing with us during all of this! We are packing up and getting ready to head to Port Ludlow for Camp Cast Away today. If you’ve emailed or called in the past few days you’d have noticed that Paula is back. Our lovely Rosie is on vacation visiting her family in Mexico and Paula kindly offered to come fill in while Rosie is away. Yeah Paula! I had a bit of an epiphany a few weeks after Paula left. I realized that she could easily handle a bunch of our customer service from Missouri and still be a part of our team which made us all very happy. So Paula is back and we’re all thrilled. If you have not already seen it the new issue of the Twist Collective is out. I spent an hour with a cup of tea scrolling through all of the really great designs and Spring colour. There’s two designs with our yarn that are quite wonderful: Xylem by Rachel Coopey using Socks that Rock Lightweight in The New Colour of Love. I love the lines on this sock, especially the back. and Nyame by Julia Trice using Marine Silk Sport in the colourway Nyame. I love this piece and… more importantly so did both of my daughters! And… Nyame is on the cover! Well.. I hear the natives rustling around the kitchen and Debbi will be here in 29 minutes so I better get rolling towards the barn. Have a lovely Wednesday! ps. We moved the girls ( baby chickies) to their new digs, the hen house, yesterday. I only got up twice last night to go check on them. I think that’s pretty good. Don’t you? ps. I might be a wee bit possessed. Don’t tell. ps again: The sideways pictures, can’t even…

Hunt and Gathering

2012-04-13T13:09:00-08:00

It’s Friday, which for some strange reason I am thrilled about. I don’t know why, since I have a mega- ton of work to do, so it’s not like I get the time off. I think it’s that all of the people I work with will be off so I feel that I’ll get more done since there will be little to no interruptions. Well… except from my inner self sabotaging demons. Dang demons! Anyway before we all head off to our weekends, whatever they hold, I wanted to post the chickie photos we hid for our Easter Hunt, as some of you requested. Aren’t they adorable? I’m so smitten by them I can hardly stand it. Also I’ve been wanting to put up this list of new colourways for, what feels like an eternity, now. I’ve been waiting for the techies to make triple sure that every little thing in the website upgrade was working properly. I see now, that this is one of those optimistic pipe dreams that I need to let go of or… I’ll be sitting here, old and gray, waiting on that proverbial cold day in hell. I seriously think calling this whole process an upgrade needs to be rethought. Upgrade implies better and leads to expectations that, in my not so limited experience, are not usually met. So maybe we call it change-over and are surprised when it’s an upgrade. Wow… I sound bitter. Ok, I’ll cop to, it I am a wee bit bitter. Maybe I need to work all my web related angst out in a colourway series., Hmm… what would we call that one? Alright enough bitters. In the brighter more colour filled part of my world, we have new hues and returning ones. We actually have quite a few returning colours. We had to, they were banging on the doors, raising such a raucous, that we couldn’t concentrate. There are also a whole lot of new colour friends to meet and play with. Multi-colourways: EOS Gasropod Shuffle Supercolourfragilistic Pussy Broadway Sea Scum, Sea Scum Run Smokey Mountain Morn. Saving Grace Girl Crush Just Jack Moon Jelly Single Cell Dating Pool Ooh La Lagoon Oaks Bottom Puddle of Bleu Surf’s U Blecker Zest Shaded Solid: Sky Blue Porcini Smoke on the Water Watercolourways: Sky Blue Pink PDX Rose City (coming on Monday the 16th) In a total and strange tonal turn of events it seems that I am having a bit of a love affair with purple. Shocking, I know. I’m a bit possessed, especially with the smoky dark side. I blame my friends Amy and Lara. I’m on to you two. If you have or see any issues at all on the website, please do let us know. There’s a gaggle of us editing and testing, nonetheless, things do have a way of slipping through the cracks. I hope you have a lovely knit filled weekend.

Easter Hunt Winners

2012-04-11T03:03:00-08:00

Well… that was a huge amount of fun, we’re going to have to do this more often. I was a little worried that maybe the scope of this hunt was too much. Ha, I of all people should know knitters better. I ‘m sure you’re all waiting to hear who our winners are so, without further ado… Our winners: 1st place: Sarah Dianne Jones 2nd place: Stariel 3rd place: Michelle Brauner 4th place: Hope Rudolph 5th place: Karen Skriver Lauger 6th place: Jennifer Kim Congratulations everyone and thanks to all, who joined our baby chick hunt. Speaking of chicks it’s time to tuck them in for the night!

Easter Egg Hunt: Hatched

2012-04-07T16:22:00-08:00

It’s Easter weekend! I love this holiday with its basket carrying, egg delivering bunny, hopping around spreading Spring joy, celebrating rebirth. Ever since I was a child (still am really), one of my favourite aspects of Easter, was the egg hunt. I like finding things in general, but the excitement and magic of searching for eggs to fill my basket, just charmed the socks of me. I especially loved the one our local fire department hosted in Cabin John along the banks canal and river. It’s officially spring and I have done something I’ve been wanting to do for years, I got chickens, baby ones. I can’t believe I’ve waited this long. How I have lived my life up until now without chickens? I just don’t know. They are here in the barn, all 20 of them ( I know.) to be exact. I’m working on pictures of each and everyone of them, so I can introduce you to them. You’re going to love them. And the colour… oh my goodness, the colour. Anyway… I had this thought, in the wee hours of Friday morning. I was thinking what better way to celebrate the rebirth that is Spring with our very own version of an Easter egg hunt? I don’t think it really matters that our eggs have already hatched. Do you? Chickens hiding amongst yarn and knitting? Serious fun! So… Welcome knitters, to our 1st annual Blue Moon Easter Chickie Hunt. All across the website we’ve hidden 20 chickies for you to find. All 20 are in frames just like all the product pictures. They’re hidden everywhere our twisted brains could think to put them, all tucked in with the yarn, patterns, kits, and roving. There are circle ones and rectangular ones and square ones. They look something like this: Your mission, should you choose it, is to find all 20 of them, then make a list with the page you found each one on and then send the list with your full name and address to with Easter Hunt in the subject line. Listing example: Mopsy> Obsidian or if it’s a pattern then the name of the pattern, same is true if it’s a kit. Easy peasy right? The very first person to do this wins a Blue Moon $100.00 gift certificate. The second person wins a $60.00 gift certificate After that, the next four, will get 1 skein of lightweight sock yarn in your colourway choice and a pattern (also your choice) to go with it. You have until Monday at midnight Pacific time to send me your list. If you have any questions please list them in the comments. I believe that covers all the bases. If you’d like a few hints there are some vague ones below: Yes, I am to blame, since I am the muse of hues. My kitty Valla should come with a warning sign, although she looks all cozy and inviting, really what lurks right below that purring calm, is fierce. I have found my thrill with this fine luxurious goodness, I am loopy with it. Sheep talk radio: “Look Betty, I know it’s the new fad and all, but really, I feel like such a #1 boobie, strolling the pasture in shoes. Don’t you?” And the hunt is on! FYI: (The picture might not be of the whole chickie. Our Jane has pond scum feet and how could you not want a photo of pond scum chickie feet?) Happy Easter! Happy Spring!

And the winner is…

2012-03-14T20:19:01-08:00

Thank you to all of you who entered our contest. Thank you so much for all the votes. It was quite wonderful to watch the votes as they flew in. This was so much more successful and fun than either Steph or I could have possibly could have imagined and we have some pretty big imaginations. Thank you and congratulations to lucky our number nine, Michelle, with her fabulous swashbuckling pirate sheep. You won Michelle! We’ll be emailing you about your prize. As I was scrolling through all of these beauties again this morning I kept thinking how everyone who entered should be proud. You did magnificent work! We know knitters are talented. We both see it every single day. Never in our wildest dreams did we expect such a spectacularly varied bunch of pirate knitting graphic wonder. I am so moved and inspired by your entries that I’ve decided that all the finalists should get a skein of sock yarn, for appreciation. We’ll be emailing you for your addresses later this week. Thank you all!