Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day to everyone who reads my Cherished Moments blog!  I truly love each and every one of the people who have helped cheer me on, laughed with me, cried with me and been an inspiration to me over the past year.  Have a great one!

Design
I know it's been a while since I last posted, but I'm having a blast getting Midwest Yarn up and running.  The tentative website launch date is February 27th and with the way things are slow to arrive, it looks like that was a good date to pick.

Katya Rose
Size 6-12 months

In between website building and Peanut entertaining, I've been working on a few new projects.  I published another pattern on Ravelry.com called the "Katya Rose". 

It's a jumper and pant set featuring picot edging.  It ranges in size from 0-3 months to 18-24 months.  I love working with merino wool and this project was no exception.  I picked out the colors Fuschia and Snow from Millamia, purchased at Ruhama's, my favorite LYS.  I also crocheted a flower and put it on the jumper to decorate it for the picture and for sale on Etsy.

I always feel self-conscious about the photos I take because we have a small, poorly lit condo, and I can only get semi-descent pictures in a few areas of the house and at specific times of the day.  Being that we're in Wisconsin and in the middle of winter, sunny days are also few and far between.

Knitting Madness

I've been feverishly knitting in the few minutes I get in my spare time as well.  I knit a scarf out of Noro Kureyon Sock, using a pattern from Sock Yarn One Skein Wonders.  I figure, since I have so much sock yarn in my stash, I might as well work through the book a little bit to bring down that stash, if that's even possible.  If I have time, I might even do Sock Madness through the Ravelry.com group (and that's a real big IF, but I missed last year's because I never had knit a sock before).  Now that I've learned/mastered a lot of new techniques over the last year, I'm hoping that I can stand a chance to even keep up with the sock pros.

Yea, I've been knitting for over 20 years, but I'm a young one compared to a lot of my knit/crochet counterparts.  I just want to prove that I can do it, even if I only make it through the first round.  I'm a slow knitter.

Coming Soon

Midwest Yarn's launch and more pattern designs.  On deck for a pattern: sweater vest.

Yarn, Yarn Everywhere...

Design
I guess online yarn shops are somewhat taboo in the LYS industry.  I knew that, but I'm still plunging forward with the Midwest Yarn project.  I keep telling myself, "You're not WEBS, not Yarn Market, you're Midwest Yarn.  You're online to raise capital for the brick-and-mortar shop."  I'm hoping that this mantra will help me through the Grand Opening jitters.  This is a HUGE investment and I don't want to fail.  Small business profits go to feeding families, not paying for undeserved bonuses or padding the bank account.

I'll still be knitting, I'll still be designing, and at some point, maybe I'll be able to hire an assistant or bring on a business partner to allow me to be more involved in the industry.  My mission is to promote the longevity of needlecrafts like ours.  I don't want to step on any toes, I want to bring people my age and younger on board. 

When at the indoor playground with Peanut, I was asked by one little boy, "WHAT are you doing?!"  Of course, he saw me working on a bright pink pair of knit merino pants.  Another mom, who looked to be about my age, said she admired people who could knit and crochet and wished she had the time to learn.  C'MON knitters, let's do it!  Let's get my generation and the next into the mix!

In the meantime, I'll be promoting the heck out of Midwest Yarn's products (*wink* NORO) and website (*wink* Juniper Moon Farm).  You can also check out Midwest Yarn's blog for updates and if you follow the blog, the Ravelry group, Facebook page or Twitter (@midwestyarn), you'll get a discount.  We're still set to open within the next few weeks, so stay tuned!