But first, some sad news.  The fiber mill that I was spinning my cashmere line of recycled yarn has closed its doors.  Sustainable Fibers out in Elgin was the only fiber mill in all of Texas and it breaks my heart that they had to close.

Their closing impacts Yarn Harvest greatly, as we had spent a lot of time and effort working out the kinks on spinning recycled cashmere.  Unfortunately, this means I only have the last few skeins of blue and grey cashmere yarn left from the first two batches.

Being an optimistic kind of guy though, I’m very excited about the Holiday Season.  I know for sure that Yarn Harvest will be setting up at least the 3 Sundays in December leading up to Christmas at the HOPE Farmer’s Market.

The dates we will be at HOPE are December 4, 11, and 18.

We will have our 100% recycled wool yarn, our Knit Kits, and the remaining cashmere skeins.  I’m also working on a secret project using some sweaters I have that are not fit for unwinding.  Hush, hush, can’t say anything more at the moment!

Cheers,

Greg

There has been some interesting developments over the past couple of weeks.

From last post, my plan was to spend the summer spinning a whole bunch of different colors of cashmere, so that we’d have truckloads of it in time for the fall’s first cold front.  Unfortunately, the mill that we use to spin our cashmere (which just happens to be the only fiber mill in all of Texas) has had a unforeseen catastrophe… they’ve lost their milling equipment for the summer!

Needless to say, this changes up Yarn Harvest’s plans for the summer as well.  I won’t be able to produce any cashmere during the summer.  Fortunately, the mill is getting new equipment installed towards the end of the summer, so I’ll be able to get my cashmere line back up and running without too much delay.  I’m still very optimistic for when the cold weather returns.

Speaking of optimism, I feel very strongly for what the owner/operator of the mill, who goes by the name Red, is trying to accomplish.  Red sees a bright future in locally sourced, locally produced, and locally enjoyed fiber arts.  At a time when it seems like everything is made in China, she is trying to buck that trend and keep alive the tradition of Texas made yarns.  Did you know, something like a a third of the world’s production of sheep’s wool comes from Texas?  It makes no sense to ship that out somewhere far away, only to have to pay for it coming back in as a finished product.

This locally focused, sustainable dream is something that resonates with my beliefs and what I’m trying to do with Yarn Harvest too.  That’s why I am going to stick with Red as she goes through this tough patch.  I’m not going to take my spinning else where.  And I’m going to put my Yarn Harvest yarns in her retail space to help her make it through the summer.

If you want to see what grit, determination, and hard work looks like, go to Sustainable Fibers in Elgin, TX.  It’s an easy trip from Austin and they’re open Tuesday through Saturday.  And did I mention their yarns are fabulous?

View Larger Map

I’m in your corner Red.

Best,

Greg

Needless to say, I’m working overtime to get the ship back up to speed.  It may take a while and until then, I’m going to go ahead and pull down our inventory from the store to keep any confusion minimized.  I’ll update everyone via this blog, facebook, and twitter, as things progress.

Again, I really sorry for the technical difficulties.  Best wishes and happy knitting.

Cheers,

Greg

We will be at the Barton Creek Farmer’s Market on:

Saturday, March 5
Saturday, April 23
Saturday, May 28
June – To be decided
July – To be decided
August- To be decided

I also wanted to update everyone on the status of the green cashmere that is currently in production.  We’ve gotten it back into it’s fibers and is ready to blend.  I’m very curious to see what the final color of the yarn turns out to be.  Here is a picture of it at the moment.

Now that the green cashmere is closer to being spun, I can say with almost certainty that it will  be ready for the April 23 Farmer’s Market.

Hoping all’s well with everyone.  Cheers.

Greg

]]> http://www.yarnharvest.com/2011/02/update-on-green-cashmere-and-spring-market-schedule/feed/ 0 http://www.yarnharvest.com/2011/01/we-will-not-be-at-barton-creek-farmers-market-this-saturday/ http://www.yarnharvest.com/2011/01/we-will-not-be-at-barton-creek-farmers-market-this-saturday/#comments Wed, 12 Jan 2011 23:37:59 +0000 Greg http://www.yarnharvest.com/?p=502 Something has come up and unfortunately we will not be at the Barton Creek Farmer’s Market this Saturday, January 15.

I apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.  We’ll be back the week after though.

Best,

Greg

They have 99 trees that need adopting and I’m going to claim one!  We need as many knitters as possible volunteering for this event, so come on out if you can.  Here are the event details, including more info on the meeting this Saturday:

Explore UT | Textile Installation
Call-out for Knitters to Participate

Whether you knew it or not, The Blanton’s outdoor plaza was built for a knitting extravaganza!

On Saturday, March 5, the museum’s plaza will be turned into a knitted wonderland in conjunction with the University of Texas’ annual open house, Explore UT.  All 99 trees will be covered in works of yarn.  This extraordinary concept is the vision of guest artist and international textile phenomenon Magda Sayeg, who will lead the project.  But, to make this vision a reality we need your help!

Sponsor a tree and be part of the largest yarn artwork on the UT campus. To learn more and sign up for a tree come to the Community Meeting on Saturday, January 8, from 1 – 2:30pm. Meet Magda, choose your tree, and let the creativity begin! Knit works will be installed on the trees on the evening of March 4.

Hope to see everyone there.  Cheers,

Greg

I hope everyone is having a splendid new year.  So far, so good for me.  I’ve been busy brushing away the holiday hangover and getting back into the swing of things.  And that means that we’ve finally gotten our recycled cashmere up for sale on our online store.

Along with Sustainable Fibers out in Elgin, we’re writing the book on how to recycle cashmere.  It’s been quite the fun process and we’re finally getting most of the kinks worked out (hehe, get it? hehe…).  We’ve done three runs so far: a blue, a cream, and a charcoal.  The feedback so far has been amazing.  The yarn is super soft, but with enough weight to it to give it a good heft.  And what I personally like the most, it has these wonderful slubs throughout the yarn, which give it so much textural goodness.

Now, we’ve actually already sold out of the blue cashmere, so all that we have up online at the moment is the cream and the charcoal (which I so here name “The Dream Cream” and “Charcoal del Sol” respectively as the official, Yarn Harvest color names).  The next batch, which should be started tomorrow, will be a darker green color.  No date yet on when it will be finished, but when it is, it will be added to the online store.

Staci Perry, of verypink.com, has created a hooded scarf pattern using our cashmere.  She did an amazing job (as always).  It’s free to download… Yarn Harvest – Cashmere Hooded Scarf

More news for the new year.  We have changed markets.  We will now be setting up every Saturday morning at the Barton Creek Farmer’s Market.  This market is the one that used to be called the Sunset Valley Farmer’s Market.  They’re located in the parking lot of Barton Creek mall.  The market’s hours are from 9:00 am 1:00 pm.  A really top-notch market.

We might be back at the Gibson St. market on South Congress at some point, but as for now, we’re holding off.

I hope everyone is having a great start to the new year.  Best of wishes!

Greg

The knitter who is responsible for the pattern is non other than Staci Perry, the same woman who did the patterns for our Knit Kits.  She does really fabulous stuff and if you haven’t checked out her website yet, do… www.verypink.com.

Take a gander at this glamorous cashmere hooded scarf.  The yarn has a multitude of slubs in it, so the end result is a scarf that has tons of texture and gobs of personality.  And of course, it’s super soft since its cashmere.

Looking forward to seeing everyone at the Eastside Knit Night this coming Tuesday, Nov 16th.  The party starts at 5:30pm and the film screening is at 8:30ish.  The location is Starving Art Studios at 2324 E Cesar Chavez in Austin, TX.

See ya there!

Greg

So now, on to the next fun holiday event.  We’ve teamed up with the wonderful ladies of The Wondercraft to host a knitting and crocheting party during the East Austin Studio Tour.  EAST is a fantastic event held over the second and third weeks of November, where artists who live and work in East Austin open up their studios to the public.  We’re going to be throwing our party on Tuesday, November 16 at a cool new studio/gallery space called Starving Art Studios located on E Cesar Chavez.  Knitting party kicks off at 5:30pm, film screening at around 8:30pm.

There’s going to be a ton of knitting at all skill levels, knit-tastic giveaways for the first 30 guests from Gauge Knits, and a screening of the indie-documentary “Handmade Nation,” featuring Austin’s own visionary crafters Jenny Hart of Sublime Stitching and Magda Sayeg, of Knitta, Please.

Yarn Harvest is going to be showcasing our brand new line of recycled cashmere yarn, as well as our Knit Kits and our recycled wool yarn.  In honor of the celebration, we’re going to raffle off a cashmere hooded scarf kit, with 3 full hanks of cashmere, needles, and the pattern… a $75 value!

We’ll have several experienced knitters on hand to help introduce the basics to new knitters and show-off some advanced techniques as well.  Our knitting/crochet teachers will include Tara Tschillard of Fifty Acorns, Maggie Murphy of Assorted Musings, Julia Chambers of Pixie Worx, Andrea Harris-Giron of Bitch Stitch, Kelly Minton of kellymagelli, as well as the in-house teachers from Gauge Knits.

And since this is a party, we’re going to have libations and snacks too!  Free beer from St. Arnold’s and popcorn by Reel Popcorn.

So, circle November 16th on your calendars and get ready for a rocking good time celebrating the fiber arts in East Austin.  Til then, happy knitting and crocheting.

Greg

We’re proud to announce the arrival of our Yarn Harvest Knit Kits.  Many, many hours went into its planning and design and we think they are worth every second spent.  The kits come with a full hank of our recycled wool yarn, a pair of bamboo needles, a tapestry needle, and patterns for either a scarf or headbands and smart-phone sleeves.

We will be selling Knit Kits this Sunday, September 26, at the HOPE Farmer’s Market.  We wanted to make sure that everyone that stuck with us through the hot summer got first dibs at the kits.  After HOPE, we’ll be adding the Knit Kits to our online products.  I’ll make another blog posting when this happens.  Shouldn’t be too long though.

And as part of the kits, we’ve added an instructional video page to our website.  I ended up in front of the camera for the first video, and oh boy, it’s weird seeing and hearing myself in a video.  I must admit that I don’t like what I sound like on camera, but people say that’s what everyone feels like their first time.  Overall, though, not too shabby for my first ever youtube video.

Your really, really happy to offer Knit Kits finally writer…