Fearless Fibers Yarn

A Year Gone By

I can't believe a year has gone by since I stopped posting here. I blame Ravelry. And life.

For a long time one purpose this blog served was to share photos of finished objects made with Fearless Fibers yarn. Many of you shared your photos with me and were kind enough to let me post them here. It not only provided inspiration for others but over time also became a great reference to see how a particular color might look once knit. Now, Ravelry provides this resource but in a much broader way and of course, searchable as well. Asking people to share project photos and then posting them here became duplicative and unnecessary, even boring. The "groups" function on Ravelry also provides a place to post news and information, so to an extent even that function is covered elsewhere. Although not very active, there is a Fearless Fibers group on Ravelry. And so that's why I say (jokingly, of course) that I blame Ravelry in part for the year long death of this blog.

The greater reason that this blog has gone dark for so long is really just life. My life, that is. Although it's no secret that this is a business blog and is meant to promote Fearless Fibers, it's also a personal blog where I share my own knitting, along with occasional stories about things that happen in my life or commentary about whatever may be on my mind. For the first several years of this blog, there were plenty of stories and commentary that related to knitting and yarn for me to share. Not only was dyeing yarn my business but knitting was my hobby and passion.

Now, dyeing yarn remains my business and knitting remains a hobby but now it is one among a wider selection. I find myself with little time to knit and other than an occasional quick gift knit now and then, I must admit that I've barely knit in the past year. I still love everything related to knitting and yarn, still find myself browsing patterns and making mental plans for new projects, but the reality is that I haven't followed through with much of anything. A scarf for a friend, a hat for my husband, perhaps a pair of fingerless gloves for myself now and then. I need to get on the sticks already and make my mother her annual hat and scarf.

Now I know some knitting enthusiasts may wonder what on earth could draw someone away from the greatest pastime ever. Valid question. I myself at various times in my knitting career have reached a fever pitch of enthusiasm during which it seemed completely impossible to go a day without knitting, much less stretches of a month or more at a time! But things change. I still love to knit, but at the moment I also love to train and garden.

If any of the old FF blog readers from way back when are reading this, you may remember that over two years ago my husband dragged me kicking and screaming to the gym. A woman in my mid 40's, I had somehow gone my entire life without ever going to a gym. The whole thing made me uncomfortable and anxious and I truly hated it. My husband, however, pushed me because - as he so kindly put it - if we didn't get fit soon, it was going to be an accelerating downhill slide for us both.

It took some time, but I learned to accept the dreaded gym as part of my life. It was a long and winding path to find what kind of exercise and food intake worked best for me, but I've got things pretty well figured out now. I could write for hours and hours about my experience and opinions on the subject, but this is a knitting and yarn blog after all.

The other new passion that has taken much of my time is vegetable gardening. Again, for those who read this blog over the years, you may recall that I had a brown thumb. Other than one half-hearted and utterly unsuccessful attempt to grow a few things, I most definitely was not a gardener. That all changed this past year. Once my husband and I decided to give gardening a more serious go, we never looked back. In our usual go-big-or-go-home fashion, we jumped in headfirst. We built a greenhouse. We created five raised beds, each roughly 4X15 feet. We installed hoops over the beds so that they can be covered with plastic and serve as mini hoophouses in the fall and winter. We had our successes and our failures this spring and summer, but most importantly we fell entirely in love with vegetable gardening. I signed up for the Master Gardener class through Oregon State University's extension office and am taking that now. When the class is over I hope to find time to volunteer with the Extension Service and officially earn my "Master Gardener" title.

And so finally we come to what this post is all about. Since it's about time to launch another sock club, I've decided to use my newfound gardening interest as a source of inspiration and so I am planning a Winter Harvest Sock Club. The club will be inspired by vegetables that harvest in the winter. I've already got the colors lined up and I have to say that I find them to be nothing short of delicious!

Signups for the club will start very soon, perhaps even as early as tomorrow. I'll be sure to post all of the details here when the time comes.