Design & Dash!

Hi! I'm Alyson, and I was delighted to design the "extra" that was included in the March shipment, the Ribs & Seeds pattern. These little drive-by posts (zoom!) are a great way for me to say hi, and to thank you all and Roxanne for giving me the opportunity to play and create along with you! I hope you like the pattern design - I'd been wanting for a while to do a cabled design on the back of a sock, and lately I've been kind of fixated on the look and feel of seed stitch. I don't normally do "resolutions" each year, we did decide at the first of the year, when evaluating our budget, to start eating out way less. In rediscovering how much I love cooking, I've been looking at tons of recipes - and since I like a little spice in my dishes, I use quite a few recipes that call for hot peppers. When I saw the phrase "ribs and seeds removed", I had a little revelation: Ribs! Seeds! Seeds...cables...ribs...seeded cables...seed rib...ha! Some of my favourite elements, all put together, with heat!

Often my patterns are inspired by something I see, like the cathedral that inspired the Reims stocking pattern, or maybe I'll see a clever stitch pattern that I can adapt or tinker with - this is the first pattern I've designed that came more from an idea, a simple phrase in a recipe, rather than from a visual. I had a lot of fun sketching this one up, and I was also trying to keep in mind something a bit more unisex, something with a little pizzazz but that my husband would wear. Not that he'll necessarily get the ones I made...but that's beside the point, right? It's the thought that counts! ;-)

I never get tired of working with Roxanne's yarns - I know you all love them every bit as much as I do! Thank you, Roxanne, for giving me the chance to work with you and your wonderful rich yarns once again. It's always such a treat!

Happy knitting!

March's "Spoiler"

I hope most of you have received your March yarn! If not, don't click on the photo or you'll see the yarn up close and personal! I hope everyone's enjoying the Sun Kiss colourway - hopefully it'll make Spring hurry up and get here??!!! ;) No signs of Spring coming quite yet!

I've started a Hedera sock - what are your plans for this yarn?

March's "Teaser"

Ahhhhhhh, Spring...it needs to get here soon! I couldn't resist doing something entirely different for the month of March - Spring is around the corner and it was time for a bit of a cheery colourway! I hope everyone enjoys this colour! I had to do a last minute sub on the yarn so this month is a surprise blend! My yarn supplier was late with my order by 3-4 weeks so I had to improvise so everyone didn't have to wait :) It's a lovely blend and it is just as cheery as the colourway this month. Enjoy everyone!

And a thread was started on Rav about yarn bleeding - just a quick note here as well - some colours have a tendency to run (blue and red being the two worst offenders) so if you see a bit of colour in the water when you're either blocking or washing, don't worry - it's excess dye coming out and your colours will be just fine. When I dye semi-solids there tends to be a lot of mixing of colours so blue and red can show up often :) With any brand spanking new yarn, it's just inevitable that some colour will come out - I have heat treated the yarns for 30-45 minutes so don't worry, colour will not bleed right out of your yarns. If you want to help the colourfastness last longer then I suggest a bit of vinegar in your wash and if you really want to be doubly sure, make your socks damp in a solution of a bit of vinegar and water and put your socks into the microwave on high for about 1-2 minutes. Remove them and let them cool off. Make sure they are damp so they don't get crispy :) This just doubles up on the heat setting treatment I've already applied to the yarns. Hope that helps for anyone who was wondering about this tendency for handpainted yarns.

Happy Spring everyone!

Registrations Open!

I've opened up registrations again for 3-month and 6-month terms! If you'd like to register, please either register through my Etsy store (USA) or through my online store (USA, Canada & International).

Shipment dates for this new round of memberships will be:
April 15, 2008
May 15, 2008
June 15, 2008
July 15, 2008
August 15, 2008
September 15, 2008

If you are already registered for the next 3 months of April, May and June, please don't re-register now as I'll open the registrations up again in 3 months to give the opportunity for everyone to re-register if they like when your current term is over. Thanks and if you have questions, please email me at zenyarngarden AT yahoo DOT com.

February's "Spoiler"

Hopefully it's been long enough for everyone to receive their yarns for February! Here's a little Aubergine spoiler for everyone. I had a lot of fun dyeing this colourway - I wanted something in the "red" family because it was Valentine's month after all but I didn't want to just do plain ol' red so this one is a multi-layered colourway with even a dash of chocolate in it - very Valentine's isn't it?! I can't wait to see this one knit up to see how the colours look when knit!

Enjoy everyone and can't wait to see your projects :)

March will be here very soon! I am going to open up 3-month and 6-month registrations again for April 15's mailing so if anyone's interested in continuing on for April and are just finishing up their 3 months, stay tuned! I also have a nice little surprise coming with March's shipment :)

February's "Teaser"

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!! Hope you're all having a great day.

Yarns will go in the mail tomorrow and just to whet your appetite a little, here's a little sampling of what's to come! This semi-solid is a blending a few different tones of colours so I hope everyone enjoys it.

What inspired me this month? The month of February and Valentine's of course but I didn't want to dye a plain ol' red yarn so I did a bit of mixing and blending and got this colourway. If you are ever curious what colours went into the making of the colours, don't hesitate to ask! You might be surprised to know what I used for this one!

What's up for February?

I'm dying with the suspense! :) The teaser gave me an idea of what to expect for January so I'm sort of glad we haven't seen February's yet....I love to be surprised but then again, I can't wait to know! LOL

January's "Spoiler"

Yay, everyone seems to be receiving their yarns for this month! Here's my spoiler - don't click unless you want to see it up close and personal :) The colour is probably going to show more blue when you photo it as digital cameras tend to go to that end of the colour spectrum when they see blue-green. I have tweaked my photo as best I could with my monitor being optimized but it still may show differently on your monitor. Ahhhhhhhh, the joys of colour on monitors and how digital cameras pick them up....LOL Don't worry if yours photos more blue - it did for me too.

I can't wait until February...I have something a little different planned...this one soft, next month should be a little "bolder".

Can't wait to see your knitted items from this colourway...I find it very soothing :)

January's "Teaser"

This colour was really hard to capture with the camera but I think I got it :) All yarns are being mailed today and I hope you find this colourway calming, cool and refreshing! It's done on a fingering weight merino/bamboo/nylon blend yarn which is one of my favourites - very soft and wonderful to work with! Enjoy everyone!

Here We Go!

Wow, it's that time already! I really can't believe how quickly the dates come up for the clubs...and here we go with new 2008 colourways! I'm excited to get this yarn and this colour out to everyone!

For those who are new to the club, you will receive a Paypal notice of shipping tomorrow and airmail delivery time from Canada to the USA is 4-10 business days. In non-busy times it tends to average about 4 days but some packages will take just a wee bit longer. For our international clubbers, airmail delivery times is also 6-10 business days so hopefully about a week and you'll get your packages too! Those who are in Ontario, it's usually overnight service and if you're in another province in Canada, the wait can be a little longer depending on where you are but shouldn't be more than 7 days.

Here we goooooooo......

Just under the wire

Hi everyone!

I read about this yarn club on someone's blog and was SO excited to join! I have so many "varied" colorways but not very many semi-solids! I can't wait to get the first shipment!

Happy New Year

Happy New Year to everyone.
I am excited about joining the sock club.
This is my first club.
Can't wait to see the colours Roxanne has chosen.

New Year-New Yarn Colours

Happy New Year! I just signed up for another 3 months. :D I made gifts from Harmony Solids and Art Walk yarns. They all turned out lovely. My only regret is I did not take photos. I cannot wait for the next three colours. :)

I Finished One!

I'm so pleased with having finished this sock! Not only because it's the lovely REIMS STOCKINGS pattern but also because I learnt how to do magic loop! Love the technique and I don't think I'll go back to DPNs...it's just "faster" with the circs. Now onto the second one :)

How's everyone doing? I'm looking forward to starting up again in January and if I don't post again before Christmas, here's to wishing you and yours a wonderful holiday season.

Can't wait to see more of everyone's projects!

November's Midnight Rose Spoiler

It looks like a good majority of you have your sock yarns already for November! I'm mighty impressed with the postal service this month - I surely hope this will keep up but maybe it's the approaching holiday season and the post office working overtime already?! It'll be nice if packages continue to move this quickly in the New Year too :)

Don't click the photo unless you want to see the yarn all big and in its glory :) I had a great time dyeing this one for everyone - it was an experiment in layered colouring. I can't wait to see some of your knitted items!

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone in the USA! Me and DH are going to venture over the border this weekend and see what the sales are like - we figure we might get into some stores...maybe...if "Black Friday" is anything like our Boxing Day sales here in Canada after Christmas, we won't hold our breath...LOL