Newsletter and New Soap Added to Shop!

I've been slacking on the blogging again, I know, but I;ve been working tirelessly on the business end of things.
I've got a new handmade soap to introduce: Scarborough Fair.
Scarborough Fair has, you may have guessed, Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, and Thyme. I've also added Lemongrass essentail oil, which results in a lemon-minty scent. The soap is as gentle and moisturizing as our other soaps, and is seliing well at the Farmer's Markets. Here is a pic:



I've also added a monthly newsletter sign-up link to the shop's home page.


Each issue will contain a coupon code worth 10% off the purchase of that month's featured item. It is a small newsletter, really, but just another way to keep in touch. Sign up if you like....August's letter is ready to go!

In knitting news, I've got a tiny bit of Kauni Cardi progress to show (embarassingly little):

It is such a fun knit, I don't know why I've ignored it this week. All this talk of knitting is making me want to, so I will!

Soap Gift Sets added to Shop!

Progress on the Kauni cardigan has been slow. We had visitors (Mom amd my sister), and I've also been working on a new section of Tread Lightly Herblas: Gift sets!


I'm excited about this new aspect of the business as people often buy my soaps to give as gifts, and the gift sets help make it even easier for them to do so. The sets can be mailed directly to a recipient or to the giver's address, and a gift card with a handwritten message is enclosed.

See the selections here.

I'll post pictures of the cardigan progress when I have more to show, and next week a new soap will be added to the shop!

Kauni progress, and Free Knitting Pattern

I don't have a lot of progress to show, but here it is:

I used a twisted german cast on, which is supposed to keep rolling of the cast-on edge to a minimum, but as you can see it is still curling. Blocking should fix that; after all, as a Sheep once said, "Blocking is a girl's best friend"!

In other news, I ve added another free knitting pattern to the shop's knitting pattern page:

The Fingerless Cabled Mitts. I wrote this pattern for Margaret at Inspirations Yarn back in 2005, and she has decided to offer it as a free pattern now, so there it is. I made my pair with her handpainted "Latte" Merino yarn, and just love them.

DH's phone broke this past weekend, so he (we came along) spent the better part of today (and this weekend ) agonizing over whether or not to get an iPhone. I'm tired of looking at phones, and iPhones, and phone/PDA's....I just want to sit on my couch and knit for a while. The Kauni Cardigan a fun knit, rather addicting, really, as you eagerly knit to see what the next color change will look like. My colors are not contrasting sharply, which I guess is what I wanted, but it would be fun to see orange against blue, or green against prurple. I've heard of people frogging to change the way the colors blend, but I think I'll leave it as is for now. Muted is good, muted is good, muted is good......

Kauni Yarn, Wound Up at Last

I lived one of my worst yarn-mares: the tangling of the skein during ball-winding! With a lot of time, perseverance, and some carefully chosen expletives spoken under my breath (littlest one was here), I was able to weave my way through knots, broken yarn, and poorly skeined strands to bring you:

The Kauni yarn balls.
It was actually only the first skein that was a mess. The second sailed through my fingers, and I had to use my Yoga talents to conitue winding through the burn in my bicep....my face was soft and non-reactive, I tell ya!

That little 3rd ball is the yarn I wound off so that my color repeats would be 1 color apart from ball to ball. I'm not completely sure that will work (mine is not an engineer's brain) but it makes sense to me to do it that way, so far.

I'll update as I progress (or digress as the case may become) through this project.

The Kauni Yarn Has Arrived!

It is more beautiful than I'd expected, since it is more muted than it appears to be in photos. Of course, once I knit the contrasting colors side-by-side, it'll look more vibrant, but hopefully not garish!
My camera batteries are charging, so I don't have a photo of the yarn to share today....maybe Sunday after I wind it into balls.

I'll be working at the Farmer's Market tomorrow, so if you can come out (Tess, are you out there?) please stop by and say hello. I need to clarify the location:
The market is on FM 1863 in Bulverde. If you take HWY 281 N, you'll exit "FM 1863, Bulverde", turn Left onto 1863, go for 1 mile, and you'll see us on the right. The market runs from 3 to 6 PM on Saturdays, and is a bit of a one-stop shopping spot for organic fair and such.

Hope to see you there!