Enhancing your stash of beautiful yarn with gorgeous tools is a must. Who doesn’t enjoy a practical tool with color and character?
One of the ways that I explore and bring new knit or crochet products into the store is when I am searching for something myself that would solve an imminent problem.
These products caught my eye. I love the designs and the colors.
The first one is a yarn wrist nanny. This was a game changer for knitting on the go, in the car, on a walk or anywhere. I don’t leave home without it.
I have recently gotten back into crocheting from a 30+ year hiatus. I am so glad that I did.
Because my daughters and I kept misplacing our hooks, we needed a tool that would keep all of our crochet hooks, stitch markers and whatever else in one handy pouch.
These are 2 designs we have in stock at the moment. More designs are coming in. I will keep you updated.
So, check these out in the shop.
Happy Yarning,
DawnAurora
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Inspiration comes in many forms. These colors were inspired when my daughter, Ossi, worked at the clothing store, Maurices. She would come home with sweater colors that I wanted to start creating.
What made it fun was that these colors had to be created with the dyes that I had. They weren’t just contained to only one dye.
I have been wanting to explore creating colors from various dye bases that I had. This was my opportunity to dip my yarn in the water so to speak.
Here is the lineup.
I have one more to add, but of course in keeping with my “one in left field” I have Shasta. It’s a colorway that is sure to please and add a pop of color just when you need it.
What colors are you attracted too ?
Happy Yarning,
DawnAurora
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I have been wanting to spin up yarn for a pair of slipper socks. And yes, I finally did it. I fell in love with this purple roving. To show people how to use the drop spindle, I started to spin it up. It turned out beautiful.
I ended up keep the purple roving for myself. I just had to create a small knit project with it.
I decided to spin up some natural black Coopworth.
I spun up my black with my spinning wheel because I wanted to hurry up and knit those socks.
I am definitely not well versed in the specifics of spinning. I used a size 4 knitting needle and I was knitting any yarn weight from lace to worsted. It was quite a knitting experience.
Here is the finished pair. They are my favorite to wear with my crocks. Nothing beats homespun slipper socks.
You will have to spin and knit your own.
Happy Yarning,
DawnAurora
]]>What an amazing year!
We enjoyed every show that we vended at this year. The weather varied from being rainy to sunny, but we didn’t have to tackle a mini tornado or snow. So, all in all, I would say is was perfect.
I can’t can’t enough of the friends that we meet up with year after year and the new ones that we make. You make our shows possible.
The energy of creativity that everyone gives off is so tangible. You can literally feel their vibes.
I am so inspired by their inventiveness and creativity that I start so many new projects when I attend these shows. I mojo slacks off when I am away from my fellow yarnmates.
Thank you so much for coming out and visiting us.
Here is a photo dump of some of our shows.
I hope we meet up in 2024. I can’t wait to see you!!
Happy Yarning,
DawnAurora
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It’s hard for me imagine, but this is our 13 year in business. 13 beautiful years where I am doing something that I absolutely love. I never in my wildest dreams visualized me playing with color this way.
These are the shows, so far, that I have listed on my calendar.
I am still working out some of the details. I will update it as I go.
Happy Yarning,
Dawn Aurora
]]>The PA Endless Mountains Festival was our first one of the 2022 fall season. This was the first show in a long time that my hubby couldn’t attend. That left my son, Oren, and I to set up the booth, our camper and meet with everyone.
I was quite nervous. It’s been awhile since I have backed up the camper and set up the booth with only 2 of us.
I can say that we survived and made things happen. I am so proud of my son. He helped me out so much and at times it felt like he was taking care of me instead of the other way around. He took his roll seriously.
I loved every moment with him and it was a great time to bond.
Enjoy some of these pictures of our weekend show.
This is our camper spot. We loved it and had the best camper neighbors!!
Our setup is complete.
Wonderful visitors.
This is my Oren, my tremendous helper for the whole weekend. He pulled his weight and some of mine too. I absolutely love him.
Love you!
Happy Yarning,
DawnAurora
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Meet up with us first hand and enjoy the atmosphere of a festival. In my opinion, nothing beats meeting up with you face to face.
Happy Yarning,
DawnAurora
]]>Right now I only have 1 sweater that is made up with this luscious yarn and I am currently knitting one up for my mom. I can’t wait to get it done for her.
I want to share with you some of my mohair colors that I have in the shop.
Have you worked with mohair? Do you like it? Leave your comments below. I would love to hear your thoughts.
Happy Yarning,
DawnAurora
I enjoy tonals and variegated. I am not biased towards on or the other. Using a mixed of both is major yarn eye candy that brings me happiness.
Happy Yarning,
DawnAurora
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You might be wondering what assigned pooling yarn is or simply pooled yarn. It occurs when you have a short contrasting color amongst a solid, tonal or variegated background. It stands apart from the rest of the yarn color. You can knit or crochet this short contrasting color in a variety of ways. The best thing is that you can do whatever your heart desires and make each piece creatively your own.
Here are our new assigned pooling yarns in our shop.
Daydreaming
Paris
Revelation
Deuce- I’ll knit a sample soon
Happy Yarning,
DawnAurora
Overwhelm paralyzes me. I can't make a good decision if my life depended on it. All the things I enjoy I have thrown to the side only to fill my days with mundane, and nonessential activities. I wasn't growing into a better version of myself.
I read a quote that said, " If you aren't growing, you are dead." I know this is true because I felt dead inside.
Okay! Okay! This isn't an intro that anyone enjoys reading, but it's today's intro.
I am here to say that if you have been in this place and maybe still here, I am with you. I am so sorry if you have found yourself here.
Honestly, I am not completely out of the slump. I take 2 steps forward and 1 back, but I am making progress.
What is the solution to get through this wilderness? There are probably many techniques that people use. Sometimes the techniques that once worked don't work anymore.
Understand this.... Give yourself time and grace to move through it. What are your triggers and figure out why they are shutting you down.
I can only speak from my experience. Normally I can knit right through overwhelm. This time it didn't work. I gave up knitting for Netflix and Tiktok, not the greatest use of my time. I knew this wasn't what I wanted to do. I have goals and dreams I wanted to accomplish and I wasn't making strides towards them. This bummed me out even more.
Normally I would try to figure out what was going on. In this case, I knew I needed to start taking action towards my goals and towards that activities that brought me joy.
That's what I did. I started taking action even if it was as small as blogging one line, knitting one row, looking at my dyes and reviewing videos of knitted projects. I slowly started to get out of the pit.
Not wanting to fall back in the pit, I evaluated what was going on in my life. What activities brought me joy and what brought me stress. I am slowly pruning the ones that brought stress.
I found that my life was full of unfocus. So, I redefined my life's purpose and focus. I didn't want to be 10 millions things, but only 1 thing for the life I wanted to create.
I hope this helps you out, if you are in the same place.
Happy Yarning,
DawnAurora
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We will be attending ( so far, unless the state says otherwise) these shows:
I can understand if you are hesitant on coming out to the shows. Always remember that you can check out my yarn at Lazy O Sheep Ranch. Visit the website 24/7.
Happy Yarning,
DawnAurora
]]>I am a challenge junky. So, when I thought of this idea I had to jump on it and I want you to join me.
It is a 5 day knitting challenge and at the end of the 5 days you should have something knit up that you can wear.
Here is a video with all the details and when it starts.
Can't wait to see you in the group.
** the walls are bare because we are getting ready for a fiber festival.**
Happy Knitting,
DawnAurora
]]>Grab your coffee or tea and join me for another shop update. What is restock? What shows are happening? What new colorways do we have going on?
Happy Yarning,
DawnAurora
]]>Grab your tea or coffee and join me in today's shop update. I can't wait to share with you the restocked yarn.
Prepare yourself for those spring knitting and crochet projects.
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Grab your tea or coffee!
This is my favorite time of the week to show off what I have restocked my shelves with. I love this part where I can hold, squish and smell the yarn. lol!
Happy Yarning My Friends,
DawnAurora
]]>Is your WIPs bundle at a standstill?
If it is, I can feel your pain. Currently, mine came to a screeching halt. I am ready to start removing those obstacles and jumpstart my knitting again.
I will show you how to get moving.
I did a current review of the projects that are on needles, projects I want to frog and use the yarn for something else and projects that I want to start now.
At times when my project pile is at a standstill I take a review of what it going on with my WIPs. Sometimes it's due to prioritizing your WIPs, or prepping your projects that you have on queue to get you motivated to finish others. Sometimes you just need to frog others because you didn't like the style or color.
I love moving forward so a review makes me happy. It feels great to get rid of obstacles.
Happy Yarning, DawnAurora]]>
I have been experimenting with a new dye technique and I love it. It amazes me that when you pour the next color in at the right time it melts into the next color. When I pour the dye on the yarn, the dyes dances on top and in between the fibers. It's so relaxing to watch.
You would think that the effect would make the color turn muddy, but when you pour at the right time it vaguely melts into the next color, but not all the way.
I am ecstatic to present these colorways.
Seascape, A Love Story, and Set Sail.
I have many more ideas for colorways using this style of dyeing.
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Nature was my inspiration. I focused on the greens, purples, tans, dark blues and greys. The colors melted together to give us a beautiful warm palette that can be worn through the winter months also.
These colors will make you want to grab hot chocolate, curl up in your favorite blanket with a beautiful sweater made with these yarns and watch a great movie.
Happy Yarning,
Dawn Aurora
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You can read all about my coral colored WOC Jacket here.
This pattern is so easy to read and so easy to knit up. I wanted to explore various colors for your own jacket.
Check them out in my video.
I would love to hear from you. Leave any comments below. Happy Yarning, Dawn Aurora]]>
The tool that I used is a hand turned drop spindle that my hubby made for me. It's a bottom whirl and oak is used for the whorl and maple for the shaft.
What the video and see how the fleece spins up.
Happy Yarning, Dawn Aurora]]>
FInally!!! The Stonecrop Cardi is almost done. It feels like I have been talking about this WIP for at least 3 months. It was a bit more involved, colorwork wise, than I normally do. I also had a couple impromptu projects that I had to fit in.
All-in-all it's been a fun project. What is left are the side ribbings and the actual steeking part. GULP! I will make sure to share with you my entire experience.
Sharon from Security of Casapinka is up to her daily shenanigans. She is put together a MKAL (mystery knit a long) shawl. It's full of quirkiness that only Sharon can do.
I have put together some kits just for this MKAL. Hope you join us.
Happy Yarning,
DawnAurora
]]>A great way to see new yarn colorways in action is to see how they work up. A 8x6 square shows off the colorwork very well.
I have new indie dyed yarn to share with you and then we will be going into the top 10 yarn colors of 2019 and spring 2020. It's so much fun to see what is trending in terms of colors.
Lastly, I have started an "Ossi's Color Combo" segment. Ossi is my assistant who helps me with yarn details. Her color combos are very different than mine. She leans towards earthy and dark. I enjoy her color instinct and inspiration. It helps me think out of my box.
Happy Yarning,
DawnAurora
Even though bulky yarn is used in constructing the jacket, it doesn't have a bulky look or feel.
It would look fabulous in your fall line up. I can imagine it worn with a pair of boyfriend jeans and cool boots. There would be other clothing styles that it would look hot with also.
These are our tonal colorways for the Wave of Change Jacket.
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If you love speckled yarn, this is the place to be. We have some great colorways that display the speckles so well.
It's taken me awhile to create the speckles that I enjoy on yarn. But practice after practice, I started to create the speckles that really catch my eye. That is why I am so excited to be presenting you with more of this color sprinkling.
Enjoy the video!
Happy Yarning,
DawnAurora
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Half the year is over and the world is still turned upside down. It's been full of emotional battles and even mindful breakthroughs. But we still choose to move forward and make good from a tough situation.
I have never relied on my knitting so much to carry me through. It's a meditation of sorts that allows me to clear my head. Knitting allows me to rifle through emotions that would try to creep up into my daily living.
Not today!
I have noticed now more than ever that yarn is the fiber that connects us together. We have created beautiful communities out of our love for fiber. And that has allowed us to love and accept each other no matter where we stand.
Why shouldn't it? All of us have differing perspectives, differing experiences and we all have learned through our trials to live in love.
Let's bring back the unity in our knitting/crocheting/fiber community.
Happy Yarning,
DawnAurora
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Join my son and I as we (really me) talk about new yarn sets. Don't miss out on knitting or crocheting your shawl or light sweater.
]]>My wardrobe is filled with blues, purples and greens. I am intentionally filling it up with reds and yellows. Orange is still on the back burner, but I will find that perfect orange that fits my skintone.
Yes, I am that picky when it comes to choosing my colors. If it doesn't work well with my skin tone, I refuse to wear it. What a shame it is to put a lot of hours into a project and not be able to wear it. I have been fortunate enough to gift some of those pretty sweaters. It does make me very happy that others wear what I have made.
Here a some fun new colors that will go perfect in your wardrobe.
Vibrant and perfect for the summer months. It's great to wrap yourself in a shawl or light sweater in summer colors.
Happy Yarning,
DawnAurora
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You are going to love the wonderful colors that have been coming out of the dye pots. They have been so much fun and very vibrant.
I will let you be the judge of that.
I would love to hear from you. Watch and let me know what you think of the flop yarn or any other yarn colorway.
Happy Yarning,
DawnAurora