An Introduction

Well, July is here.

And with July comes the looming opening date of my yarn shop. (The 17th... mark your calendars)

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't absolutely terrified. Being someone with anxiety, my brain is constantly trying to undermine me and tell me that everyone is going to hate my yarn and that I'll be stuck with a whole bunch of stash that I'll never be able to get through. Not to mention all the money I'm out.

But I can't sell yarn if I don't, y'know, show it off...

But I've still been weirdly reluctant to write this post... to introduce y'all to my yarn. Even though I adore it all. Like REALLY love it.

So, I'm going to fight against my instinct to apologize for it all and instead just show you what I have to offer.

Without further ado, here are Black Goat Fibers official repeatable colors.

For the initial launch, I'm offering three repeatable colors and a whole butt-load of one-off's. Like a TON of them.

But let's just focus on the three.

First up is Moonwashed Lavender.

It hovers between silver and purple, depending on lighting and what you pair it with. 

I accidentally created this color when I was just chucking random dyes together to see how they worked and absolutely fell in love. 

This is shown on my lace weight base, Omen.

Next up is probably my favorite name so far, Goat Feathers.

This is cooler than a celery color, but more green than sea foam. Not quite mint, either. 

But it's A Good Heckin' Green, if I do say so myself.

This is on Familiar, a fingering weight merino/nylon base.

And lastly we have Cloaked.

A very deep cool grey, Cloaked is a great neutral and pairs well with practically everything. Especially with the other two colors in the collection.

I don't want to overwhelm y'all with everything I have, so I'll leave this here for now.

This is also on the Omen base. I do have one other base, but I haven't gotten those photographed yet.

Good lord, there's still so much to do...

*panic intensifies*

Anyway, next time I'll show you the shawl I made with these three colors and share what it felt like to actually make something with my own products.

For now, here's a teaser.

Cheers!

Show and Tell

I just looked at the calendar and realize that it's been two weeks since GLFS and I haven't bothered to make a post about it.

I could lie and say I've been busy, or that it's hard to write these without access to my laptop (damn macbook cords)...

But the truth of the matter is I've been in a rut again. I feel paralyzed by indecision about pretty much everything at the moment. No idea why, but I'm hoping to hell that it goes away soon.

In the meantime, let me remedy the blog situation with some pretty yarn porn.

Last year's theme seemed to be "giant fuggin skeins". This year...

Well, this year, I'm sure that everyone at Harps and Thistles is going to get a good laugh.

Everything I bought was either grey or green.

Yes, I know. I tried hard to stay away, but I saw one hank that I wept with deep emotions over and it all went downhill. But we'll get to that in a second.

This year, I once again got to meet up with my lovely Mikayla. And she brought her mom. Which, I admit, was a little nerve wracking to me. I don't think I ever make a good first impression, but Mikayla assured me that all was fine. I guess I'll trust her.

There were two things I was looking for in particular this year. I needed something to compliment the gradient I had for Mystic Star because I didn't think I'd have enough with what I already had. And I needed a second hank of the barber pole alpaca I bought last year because one hank wasn't enough for my wrap.

The complimentary color was quickly found and actually purchased from the same company I bought the gradient from.

I think it'll work up nicely. Assuming that I can focus on it and actually get it done...

Barber pole was also found quickly. And was a little too beautiful apparently, because both Mikayla and her mom purchased some as well.

I found this awesome hank of mohair and wool from Morning Star Fiber. They were super fun to talk to and have some great stuff. Highly recommend checking them out,

And mohair, for the uninitiated, is goat. So this is a goat/sheep blend. A black goat at that.

*finger guns*

Caitlin wasn't able to attend this year, so I *had* to get her a little something. Ended up with this gorgeous hank from Destination Yarn.

The color name is escaping me at the moment. Something like Paris Night or Night in Paris or something? I don't know. And I can't be arsed to walk upstairs right now to check.

Just go to her site and search around. You'll probably end up wanting to buy everything, just to warn you.

At one point, nature called and I had to run to the little llama's room. When I came back, my husband and Mikayla's mom were mysteriously gone. And Mikayla tried to BS me into thinking that they went to get a drink.

Really?!

Like... really?!

I knew *exactly* what was up.

Earlier, I had been drooling over the same colorway at Destination Yarn that I fell in love with last year. But I was trying to be good and stick to budget, so I walked away with a sigh.

Those two sneaky sneaks went back and bought me two hanks of it.

The colorway is Irish Bog. Isn't it just gorgeous?

I'm really awkward about saying thank you, so I'll just do so here. It's lovely and I can't wait to make something with it. Thank you both, truly.

But, as much as I love these little beauties, my heart belongs to another. This siren utterly bewitched me and enchanted me and I could not walk away.

IT MATCHES MY HAIR, PEOPLE!

AND it's got a whopping 770 yards! Enough for a good size shawl for yours truly.

And the color name?...

SEA WITCH!

THIS YARN WAS MADE FOR ME!

Mikayla had to practically drag me away from the stall because she *insisted* that we had to do a whole lap of the place before I was allowed to buy anything.

I love her. I truly do. But at that moment, I was ready to call for a divorce.

Lucky for me (and my yarn wife) there were quite a few hanks left, including the one I kept petting to start with. So into my basket it went.

And, oh baby, I've already got a pattern in mind.

Mermaid's Lair anyone?

The excitement, she grows, cap'in.

Once again, it was a good year. I got lemonade and pretty yarn and got to hang with some nice people.

Now, let's see if I can resist the siren's song long enough to get Ren Faire stuff done.

I highly doubt it...

Stash Flash

I realize that it's been a while since I've really showed off any of my yarn purchases. I mean, I used to post just about every week with new bits of wwooly goodness.

So where have I been hiding all these purchases?

Well, the truth is, I really haven't been purchasing that much yarn.

I Know, I know. You should probably sit down before you pass out.

But it's really hit me that I may have hit SABLE already. (Stash Accumulation Beyond Life Expectancy, for those not in the know.)

I'm not even thirty yet.

Yeah.

So, I've slowed down on my yarn purchases.

Slowed down, mind you. I didn't say I stopped entirely.

So, prepare yourself for some hot, wooly action.

First off, we have some of Latte and Llamas' limited edition DK weight yarn for March.

 

The colorway was called "Hyrule." How was I supposed to pass that up? My poor nerdy heart nearly exploded as is.

Next up, we have some lovely lace weight yak/silk blend that I bought in a buy-in on one of my facebook groups.

I seem to be on a silk buying spree right now. Raineshine was a silk blend, this is a silk blend. And then I kinda fell into a spell at Harps and Thistles clearance sale.

Yep, that's all 100% silk. Two different colors of Malabrigo on either side and some lucious Alchemy silk in the middle.

I also picked up this delightfully squishy hank of Blue Sky Alpaca's Extra.

 

This baby is destined for some sort of cowl that I will probably live in when it's done.

To finish out the post, I've saved what I consider the best for last. 

At the last pj party, the Three Irish Girls trunkshow had just started. I was going to honestly try to not buy anything, but you know how that goes. At least I talked myself out of the $100 gradient set that matched my hair perfectly .

Instead, I bought these two beauties.

The one on the left is Kraken. The other is an OOAK named Under the Sea. They're destined for some sort of shawl together. There's no way I could break them up.

I would say that this is all the yarn porn you're going to get for a while, but the Great Lakes Fiber Show is tomorrow. I have no faith in my willpower.

Wish my poor wallet luck, friends. It's gonna need it.

A Change Will Do You Good

It seems that lately, my creative endeavours are shifting.

I mean, I'm still knitting and painting. Let's not get wild here.

But I seem to be branching out and trying new things within those crafts.

For one thing, I'm trying color work again.

It's a bag with the Gryffindor crest on it. (hashtag nerd alert)

Don't get me wrong. I am absolutely loathing actually knitting it. It's a struggle to convince myself to work on it. This is definitely a product project rather than one I'm doing for the joy of making on it.

Color work knitter I am not.

But at least I'm trying.

As for my painting, I finally figured out something I've wanted to do for a long time.

Paint some space, yo.

This was my first attempt. It was based on a photo of the Milky Way that a quick google search yielded.

These have quickly become an addiction.

This one I just did by playing around with colors.

And of course I had to make one for John's desk.

I suppose the biggest news about my painting though is that I FINALLY have my pendants up in my etsy shop.

That's right. You can head right over and buy one of my watercolor painting necklaces.

Black Goat Crafts on Etsy

More will be in there soon, so if you don't see one you like now, be patient!

Lest you think I've completely abandoned all my ways, I did start on a new shawl for April.

Except, it really wasn't scratching the right itch.

So....

This beauty gets to come out and play.

And let me tell you, the change did me good.

Block Party

I have often been accused of witchcraft when it comes to my knitting.

I get it.

To outsiders, it looks like I'm just waving sticks about with some string attached, all the while muttering to myself. After completing this ritual, I magically have a beautiful item in my possession.

I hate to break it to you, but that's not magic.

But you want to know what is?

Blocking.

Yep. Add some water and pins to your lace knitting and BOOM! You've completely transformed the piece better than McGonagall ever could. (Ha. Harry Potter reference. *high fives self*)

Don't believe me?

Okay, well, I'll just have to show you.

I recently completed my Grey Skies shawl, which uses the Easy as Pie pattern as its base. Which happens to be my *favorite* pattern for showing just how drastic blocking can be.

Here she is, looking completely like a pile of garbage.

As you can see, the lace is all scrunched up. You can't really see the pattern at all.

This is after a good washing and a soak.

It's definitely looking more promising. The fiber has relaxed and opened up a bit. But to truly transform it, we have to get a little aggressive.

Ta-da!!!

It looks completely different. The gorgeous edging is now clearly defined and those points are... on point. (sorrynotsorry)

Look at just how much that lace opened up. It's wonderful.

Now, it does relax quite a bit when you take it off the blocking board. But it's still lovely and absolutely fantastic to wear.

You can see that the points aren't quite as drastic, especially with the tassels hanging on them. But the shape of the lace itself is still an amazing turnaround from where it began.

So yes, blocking. It's an essential tool for every knitter, but especially so for lace knitters.

Yep, that's right. Every knitting project can benefit from blocking. It's not all just stretching out your knitting. I highly recommend searching out for the thousands of tutorials that I'm sure are already out there.

As for me, I'm going to go work on a project that actually doesn't have any lace in it for once.

Shocking, I know.

Did I mention how much I hate colorwork?

Setbacks and Amphibians

You know how sometimes everything just seems to be going perfect? It's all turning out fine. Your project is flying by and you, in fact, are going to have it finished in a ridiculously short amount of time.

That's how it was going with Orchid Thief. I flew through my chart repeats. There was a small little scare when I got to the last color in the gradient pack, but I had the perfect amount.

It was time to move onto the edging and have this thing cranked out in less than 10 days.

But, I ran into a little snag.

You see, in reading through the pattern, there was nothing about not being able to enlarge the shawl. I just assumed that I'd be okay.

God, I wished I had looked through the other projects on Ravelry. I would have seen others notes about it. That if I had just enough yarn to do an 8th repeat, the edging would line up beautifully.

But I didn't. All I had left was the edging color.

So, I decided to just forge ahead and figure out my own edging.

Yeah...

To say that it looked terrible is being kind.

So, Orchid Thief got shoved into the timeout box in a fit of rage.

What could I do? I wasn't about to go and buy another gradient pack of yarn. My best hope was to find something I could blend in to what I had and do an extra repeat.

I found something that was the wrong weight (dk instead of sport) and fiber (a mishmash blend of everything compared to the 100% merino I had been using), but the color would blend in wonderfully.

So I bought it and decided to start working again.

But first, I had to visit the frog pond and rip out my edging.

This was right after ripping my needles out and about giving John and a few other knitting friends a heart attack.

It took me all of 5 minutes to rip out an entire days worth of work.

I got all my stitches back on the needles and started in with the new color with a great amount of trepidation.

I mean, what if my gauge was SUPER wonky and I screwed up the whole thing?

But I'm happy to report that it is, in fact, working out. I'm over halfway done with the last repeat and plan on finishing the whole thing in the next week or two. Got some other projects to work on first, as well. Secret projects that you'll see at the end of January.

Also, I have some zombies to kill with my lover. And let's be honest, that's pretty important, too. And pretty damn fun. And if we're being honest here, more appealing than dealing with nearly 400 stitches per row.

So, I'm going to go do that instead of anything productive. Deadlines? Huh? Can't hear you over the sound of the angry hordes of undead.

374

The number of days it has been since I started my blog.

Yes, I'm a little late on the anniversary post. Great Trails always tends to wipe me out.

Anyway, I'm not feeling over sentimental at the moment, so rather than some flowery speech about gratefulness and nostalgia, let's look at this from a pure numbers standpoint.

My very first post was on September 3rd, 2015. I ended up with 16 pageviews on it (half of which were probably my own before I figured out you could turn that off).

My posts for the first couple of months averaged around 20 pageviews per post, except for a few that did exceptionally well and averaged over 75.

Current posts receive around 30 - 50, effectively doubling my numbers.

By far, my best post was the one I made about Celestarium, which blew past all the averages and is sitting at 276 views.

My total pageviews (at the time of this writing) sit at 2,997.

My humble little blog has been read nearly three thousand times, a fact that is a little mind blowing.

From a project standpoint, I've gotten a heck of a lot more done than I realized.

Completed projects are as follows.

• Hats
• Blackberry Cobbler Hat
• As a note, this was my very first hat.
• Green Bean Hat
• Splattershot
• Deathflake Hat
• Ashwyn Beret
• Dried Flowers Hat
• My first self-designed hat.

• Gloves/Fingerless Mitts
• Leydon Mitts
• Maize
• Green Bay Fingerless Gloves
• Leafy Lace Mitts

• Amigurumi/Plushies
• Mini Mini Jaws
• Mandibles of Death
• Fox Doll
• Maxamillius Scampani the Shrimp
• Bulbsaur...with a Surprise!

• Cowls/Triangle Scarves
• Victorian Cowl
• Lace Edged Shawl
• Cabled Bandana Cowl

• Miscellaneous 
• Honey for Tea Cozy
• Mocha with Lavender Socks
• My very first socks!

• Shawls
• Dragon Scale
• Funkia
• Where I realized that I can actually do crazy things.
• Also, discovered talent of making giant-ass shawls
• Time Vi-Tex
• First shawl that I really branched out and cobbled together my own pattern.
• Passe-Partout
• Maori
• Golden Tree
• Celestarium
• You already know that this is my most precious of babies.
• Love Street
• My second shawl to be featured on the Ravelry pattern page.
• First shawl that I'm actually super excited/willing to knit a second time.

That brings us to a grand total of 28 knitting/crochet projects completed. Which feels like a goodly amount of stuff. Especially because that's not including all of my other creative endeavors. 

In my first blog, I also talk about my newest interest, book binding. I didn't realize at the time that it would quickly become my other go-to craft. Which means that I have yet another craft that I have to buy ALL OF THE SUPPLIES for.

Speaking of which, shall we take a look at all the yarn that I purchased in the past year?

Yeah, probably not. John would weep if he realized just how much of our income was sacrificed to the wooly gods.

I know I said I wasn't going to get sentimental, but I really do need to take a minute and talk about just what this blog has meant to me. In total, I wrote 51 posts, covering everything from yarn purchases, to mental illness struggles, to adventures we had. That averages out to almost one a week. I've tried several times in the past to commit to maintaining a blog and up until now, I've never succeeded. 

I've had times where I have struggled so hard to write something, anything, for a post. I had to fight to get it done, force myself in to not letting my mind get the best of me. I had to do a post. I had to keep going. I made a commitment, and I was going to stick to it. 

Did I backslide a couple of times? Of course. 

But the fact of the matter is that I did stick with it. And I'm damn proud of that fact.

This blog has become an extension of myself. A tool to help keep track of my life and my accomplishments. A reminder that I am capable of great things.

It has helped me to gain a sense of confidence and self-worth. Something that has already caused drastic, positive changes in my life.

It has helped me say thank you when spoken words have failed me. It has helped me say goodbye to loved ones. And it has helped me to truly learn who I am in my head and my heart.

So thank you, my dear readers, for your support, love, and comments. 

Here's to the next 374 days.

Get It Out

How are your Ravellenic games projects coming along?

I must admit that I haven't gotten very far.

To be fair, though, I had a rather busy weekend that didn't really avail itself to delicate lace knitting and bead work.

Friday, we went to the Harps and Thistles pj party. John hung around rather than going to see a movie as he usually does. I knit a couple more rounds on the damnable void that is my second sock, but mostly just enjoyed hanging out with Vi.

This is from Thursday.

Now I have about an inch and a half left before the toe, but it seems like no matter how many rounds I knit, it's always an inch and a half left. At this point, the damn thing is in timeout. I'll pick it back up after the Oly- sorry, Ravellenic games. (Don't want to get sued!)

Saturday, John and I met up with Bethany and FINALLY went to the ren faire. There was a nice breeze blowing, so we didn't absolutely melt. I picked myself up a pair of pretty nifty tiefling horns. I'm starting to work on my D&D character costume and these things are perfect for it.

I also got to see Caitlin run around in her fairy garb. She volunteered for the Fairy Forest this year.

Here she is trapping Gluteus Maximus, who was forced to recite something from Sir Disney.

Sunday, Vi and Emmy came over for a damning (and damn funny) round of Cards Against Humanity. We didn't actually keep score, just played until we ran out of black cards. Just saying, though, I had more black cards than anyone else. But who's keeping track?

On Monday, I ended up going out to lunch with both my sisters and my grandpa. It was fun, if exhausting for me and my anxiety, but I ended up coming home with a few new books and a Sherlock Holmes graphic novel. I'm also starting the Legend of Drizzt and it's really, really good. Like, I powered through the entire first book in a couple of hours.

I came home to an absolutely lovely surprise on my front porch. Kevin and Renee (check out their shiny new website!) had went to the 127 sale and brought me back some absolutely delightful skeins of yarn!

Which I'm just now realizing that I haven't taken a picture of yet. Remind me to do so for next time, would you?

For now, here's a picture of some of their beeswax they so kindly gave me. I needed it for waxing my cord for book binding.

Speaking of my love-bee (heh) neighbors and binding, I recently finished this journal for Renee.

It's leather that I (somewhat badly) embroidered. And this puppy is big. The pages are 8.5 by 11.

Well, I heard that Kevin kept walking by and petting it, so I spent yesterday putting together a little something just for him.

I'm not going to lie, this thing almost stayed here with me. The buckle and hinges are functional. And the leather is just beautiful.

Alas, I am a kind person and I did give it to him. And it was much appreciated.

The idea of this journal has been stuck in my head and I just felt the overwhelming need to get it out and get it done. It's pretty good for a prototype. And my brain seems to have emptied itself out enough that I think I can finally work on my shawl.

Which brings us to today. I've got my knitting beside me and some podcasts loaded up, so I think I'm going to dive right in and get some proper work done on this thing. Assuming I can resist the temptation to read the other two Drizzt novels I have...

Going for the Gold-en Fleece

As most of you know, the Olympics start this Friday in Rio. What some of you may not know is that Ravelry (the yarn smith's favorite place) also hosts it's own set of games.

And this year, we've got us a team.

That's right, this is your official welcome to join Team Black Goat and bring home some golden fleecy glory.

Why bother, you ask?

Because anyone who participates, even if you don't finish, will be entered in to a prize drawing for some scha-weet prizes.

We have an Official Chatter Thread to hang out in and talk amongst ourselves.

Now, there are rules to the whole shebang, and Ravelry has set up some great FAQ's to help you along.

For those of you new to the games entirely, check out A Good Place to Start.

When you're ready, create your project page or pages. That's right! You can do more than one project! For help on making sure the project is properly set up for the games check out Ravelry's Guide to Project Creation.

Not sure what event you want to join? Check out the Event List.

This year, laurels are being awarded by team captains. These are elements that your project may contain, like beads or cables. That list is also included on the Event List link right above. You may also want to take a glance at the Events FAQ if you have any questions.

Now, your project page is going to need some fancy tags to make sure it's put in the right category. DON'T PANIC! All of your tagging questions will be answered in the helpful Tagging Tutorial.

JUST A NOTE! TO MAKE SURE YOUR PROJECT IS PART OF OUR TEAM, IT NEEDS TO BE TAGGED WITH OUR TEAM NAME!

Use the tag teamblackgoat (all one word, all lowercase) when adding the rest of your tags to your project.

As you can see from my project page, I am entered into the Shawl Sailing EVENT. I have added the bead and lace LAURELS as well. I've joined Team Black Goat and my project is an official part of the games.

I have used the Official Ravellenic Games graphic as my placeholder image. If you'd like to do so as well, the image can be found HERE.

I plan on making an official Team Black Goat avatar soon. When I do, it will be posted in our Chatter Thread.

Now, prize info. What you're really interested in.

My plan is to have two giveaways. One is for everyone who participates under the Black Goat team. Join the team and become an official "athelete" to be entered. This means that you'll have to have a properly tagged project page.

The other is for everyone who COMPLETES their project. It will have a little extra umph to it, too.

So, I think that pretty much wraps it up. If you have any questions, feel free to leave them in the Chatter Thread or ask them here.

This is going to be so much fun, people.

For Gold! For Glory! FOR THE YARN!!!

Little Things

A coherent blog post with lovely flow doesn't seem to be happening today. Instead, we'll go with a handy-dandy numbering system to bang out the particulars.

1. Since finishing Celestarium, the universe seems to have imploded and rained all kinds of shit all over my friends. This is my sincere plea for it to knock it off.

2. A few weeks ago, I decided to start getting a rough idea of Christmas presents. I picked up this skein of TIG in Ewe Rock My World to make a pair of Christmas socks.

3. Yes, the pictures are crap because it was much too hot and muggy to go take pictures outside today. And also because I got sucked in to continuing my foray into the Yarn Harlot's archive. I'm up to November 2010.

4. Celestarium was a hit at the yarn tasting. And I discovered that if someone tells me that green yarn is almost never purchased in the shop, I have an immediate emotional connection to it and bring all of it home. Two skeins of Dragonfly Fibers Valkyrie in Dragon Wagon that just so happen to match my Dragonscale Shawl. Maybe a hat and mitten set to go with it?

I also picked up a few skeins of Dovestone DK, which is ridiculously pleasant British wool blend. It's destined to be a lovely and thick cabled shawl.

5. Yes, I am playing Pokemon Go (Team Instinct 4 lyfe). No, I am not ashamed. In fact, I am so enamored that I decided to pick up a crochet hook for the first time in forever and crank out this little bulbasaur.

He's got a little surprise hiding in his bulb.

I was inspired by a Tumblr post that had a bunch of Bulbasaurs with different flowers blooming on their backs. My flower, as you can see, is knit rather than crochet, but I think that just adds to his charm.

He's so friggin sweet.

6. I ended up with a whopping 258 page views on my Trekking post. That blew me away. Thank you so much, you beautiful people. You make a girl blush.

7. My grandma's neighbors were replacing all of the windows in their home. Which meant that I managed to score 31 beautiful, old wood windows that set my grubby little heart aflutter.

I can't feel my arms due to loading an unloading all of those.

8. My mom made my nails all pretty.

9. I fell in love with the Split Back Tank pattern from Knit Picks and was tickled when I discovered that it actually went all the way up to my size. I ordered the suggested yarn, Lindy Chain, in the Tumeric colorway.

10. With the yarn also came the THIRD PAIR of sock needles. Which meant I started working on my socks again.

And actually managed to finish.

Well, one of them at least.

I find it rather fitting that I finished my very first sock while reading through the archive of the traveling sock queen herself. She's rather inspired me to try and push myself outside of my comfort zone with my knitting. I mean, a year ago, I wouldn't have even imagined that I'd be willing to do projects like socks and actual garments. But now, I'm finally understanding myself better as a knitter and just what I'm able to accomplish.

I'd like to think the Harlot would be quite proud of my first sock attempt. Even if it is a little loose around the leg.