In five hours, I was in Charleston.
Saturday morning, I woke up and explored Isle of Palm, SC.

then explored downtown Charleston.

On Sunday, before driving home, I checked out Angel Oak:

A 400 year old oak tree.

It wasn’t long. And it wasn’t a lot.
But it was enough.

Enough to interrupt my daily pattern.
Enough to  give me a new perspective.
Enough to remind me to branch out, to try new things, to grow with  grace and beauty.

It’s safe to say you’ll be seeing new inspirations in the Boutique. New colors, new clarity and new textures.

What are you doing this weekend to inspire your work?

PS. I was able to just drop everything because, thanks to my biz systems, I didn’t have to actually drop anything. You can learn more about systems for your crafty biz this afternoon, here.

In my own work/life/business, I have these crazy full-of-ideas periods, followed by amazing get-stuff-done periods, followed by…today.
Stuckness, tiredness, I-don’t-wanna-ness.

The cycle affects individual ideas (let’s make a Learn to Knit kit!) and my  general, day-to-day creativity.

It starts with an idea, then a flow of ideas, then I get in the flow of making the ideas happen. This revving-up is my favorite part of the cycle. I would live here if I could.
I would camp here and do nothing but generate ideas and journal and plan all day long.
But then I get anxious to DO, to implement.

At the apex of the cycle is not just the flow of ideas, but the production, the work, the actual doing. In other words, creating.

But after that apex, as the projects continue to roll forward and the rush of ideas turns into a rush of details, sometime in the midst of doing, I slow.

And soon, the slowing is the overwhelming characteristic. No longer creating the thing, I’m either brunching (introducing the thing to the world) or I’m slowing down in the middle of the thing.

Following the slowing, comes the fallow period.

Despite being raised in the agricutural heartland, playing in cornfields, my days measured by the height of the corn: I haven’t recognize or respect the fallow period until recently.

What does fallow even mean?

• cultivated land that is not seeded for one or more growing seasons
• undeveloped but potentially useful

I tried to ignore it.

Who wants to be “not seeded”?
Who wants “undeveloped”?

I tried to go right from the slowing, back to the doing.

But something in me resisted.
The ideas dried.
The inner pushpushpush halted.

I thought about napping.
I read for hours.
I baked, cleaned, strolled.

Before I recognized that this is a stage in the cycle, I kept pushing.
Pushing to get ideas.
Pushing to work on projects.
Pushing to work work work.
Pushing to get out of the un-doing and back to the doing.

But pushing got me nowhere.

Inexplicably, inexorably, unequivically the ideas came back.
First, just a trickle, then a stream and then a rush and I am back.
Back to doing, to planning, to creating.

Whether I push or not, my creativity cycled.
And, as Teresa said on Twitter today:

When you stop pushing it creates a vacuum that will fill back up with better ideas than you’d been pushing for!

When I recognize the fallow period, when I respect it, when I rest in it, I create a blank space, a well that is soon filled with ideas and energy.

Today, this week, I’m in a bit of a fallow period.
But it’s ok, it’s just part of the cycle.

This is my first published article and I’m ridiculously excited to see it!
But, even though the issue was published in the UK this week, it hasn’t made it’s way to the US yet.

I’m so anxious to see it that I’ve decided to hold a contest!

How to Enter:

1. Find a copy of Inside Crochet (all over the UK and in Barnes + Nobles and some yarn shops in the USA)
2. Snap a picture of my byline
3. Post it online (flickr, your blog, wherever)
4. Leave the link in the comments of this post, along with info on where you found it (town, shop, etc)

The winner will be chosen randomly on 5/10 and will win a FREE skein of hemp laceweight (or, if you don’t want hemp laceweight, you can take $12 off your next BCB order!).

Yesterday, the very first day of spring, my mom’s dairy goat, Emily, gave birth to two sweet little babies:

We all went in to check on Emily in the midst of celebrating my little brother’s 11th birthday. We had no idea that she had just given birth, until we saw sweet little brown kid standing there shivering:

Next to him was laying his little white brother, still, uh, shall we say, freshly born?

Within 30 minutes they were both trying out their new legs, mumbling to their mama and searching for their first meal.

Gerri Newfry!

She will get one skein of hemp in the color she suggested which is…black!

I’m calling the new shade Midnight and it is now available in the shop.

So many of you suggested yellow (or gold or sunshine), that I’ve also added that to the line-up.

Daffodil

And several of you requested a red (or wine or pomegranate), so we have this:

Pomegranate

Pumpkin got a bit of a makeover and is slightly brighter to welcome Spring:

Pumpkin

You can find all these shades and your old favorites, in the shop, until they sell out! Check them out here.

I’m not a big fan of V-day, but I do LOVE thinking about love and how we change with it and how we change it.
And of course, when I think about something, it seeps into my yarn.

All this love-thinking birthed the Month Of Love series of yarns, 2 years ago.

Month of Love is a month-long yarn-party from 1/15 to 2/14 (Valentine’s Day!); I make a yarn representing a famous pairing or couple (and this year: group) every weekday for the entire month and share it the very next day.

Last year I asked for your suggestions and that post became the MOST popular post on my entire website. I got so many great ideas and awarded so many prizes and the whole thing was SO much fun, that I’ve been dying to do it again this year!

And here it is, the day before the Month of Love!

Let’s get this love-y party started!

I think I said it pretty well last year:

I’m interested in how this interplay of colors and how the addition of a color (or person) to a yarn (or your life) can change a color or at least, the perception of that color. And some couples, they just have a single color to symbolize the pairing (ex. Cheech +  Chong = green). Of course, this applies to more than just romantic couples; it happens with any sort of pairing: PB & J or Bert & Ernie.

(PB&J, from last year’s Month Of Love)

I need help thinking up these couples AND the colors associated with them!

If you suggest a couple + color that I choose to use, you will win 50% off any skein in my shop.

To enter the contest: leave a comment below this post with both a COUPLE and their COLOR(S). You must include your email (no one will see it) so I can let you know if you’ve won. You may suggest as many couples as you like and if any couples are duplicated, the winner will be the first who mentioned both that couple and the colors I use.

For example: Sesame Street: red for Elmo, yellow for Big Bird, blue for Cookie Monster, green for Oscar
(note: I already made that yarn, so don’t suggest it!)

PS. To keep up with Month of Love yarns, you can see them on the blog every Friday and you can getthem in this section of the shop. Last year, the yarns sold out pretty much as soon as I listed them, so I’m thinking they won’t hang around for long!

And all this observing (combined with my own yarnie-experiences) taught me a few things:

1. Everyone really has their own style of yarny-ness
2. That own-style-thing means that everyone has something different to offer
3. A lot of yarnies aren’t highlighting their own, unique, awesomeness on their website, blog, twitter…in other words, on their public face
4. Many of these yarnies have scattershot marketing, if any at all.

These problems are so overwhelmingly universal (with a few exceptions like ColorBOMB) in the handmade world – this is so NOT limited to yarnies.

And this is a shame,  because there are so many awesome makers of awesome things that are toiling in virtual obscurity because they don’t know how to share their thing.

All this observing has ignited a passion inside me.
What was once just a vague thought (I’d really like to somehow, someday  help other handmade businesses) has turned into a solid plan.

I want to help handmade businesses reach their right people in a non-icky, super simple way.

I don’t have all the answers, but I’ve studied a lot and I’ve done a LOT of trial & error (& error & error).

I’ve put together systems that have worked really well for me (newspaper & magazine articles, showing up in books, etc) and that can be applied to ANY crafty business.

And as part of my Sharing-It Pledge, I’m ready to share this aspect of my business in a 3-week online class.

You can read all about the class here and the subjects we’ll cover, but the short version is this:

• You want to share your thing with the world
• You have something unique to offer
• Together we’ll discover the best places for you to share your thing, a system for doing it consistently AND ways to highlight your you-ness.

If this seems like something you might like, you can learn more and register for it here.

Have any questions or comments? Leave them below!

Diane from CraftyPod has answered the question thoroughly! In her review she shares some screen shots from the videos and what do you know, she learns to knit! Read her glowing review here and then get your own copy (for a non-knitting cousin!) here.

And just a friendly warning – December 17th is the last day to buy the kit for Christmas delivery!

In all this making-a-kit-for-new-knitters, I’ve collected a list of tips for new knitters. Instead of keeping it just for the people who buy the kit, I thought I’d offer it for free!

But the spinning department (ie. me) says “The more the merrier!”.
Actually, no, I don’t say that, because he’s sort of right. I can only handle a few more yarn-mailers before I turn into a yarn-making, yarn-mailing crazy person.

But I thought, before that happens, that I’d let you know: you can, for now, click here and get some wooly (or vegan!) knitterly mail.

For now, because very soon (maybe 5 more Mail-ers?) and I’m going to close it to new subscriptions). I’m not sure because, darn it, I love sending people yarny mail!

You can sign up for a subscription or you can pay all at once and never think about it again.

If your loved ones are asking you “What do you want for Christmas/Hanukkah/Solstice/your birthday?”, here’s your answer: A Year of Yarn! If they’re not asking you, what’s wrong with them?

This is a particularly good test of just how close a “loved one” is: could you ask them for a Year of Yarn? Or would they find that completely ridiculously crazy? If they don’t blink an eye and instead say something like “Hmm…that’s 12 months of yarn for the price of 10, what a deal!”, you know have a keeper. Like, forever. If not already blood related – marry this person! Put yarn in your vows! Knit yourself a dress like this!

Oh, right, back to the topic at hand: Yarn Mail! It’s tasty!

That is all!