Ahh... after months of working on it, the new version of the website is finally up. Actually, it's been up for a little while already, I just needed to some space before I was ready to blog about it. Sitting at a computer screen editing photo's, text and code all day is exhausting! But I'm thrilled with the final result. The layout and the functionality of the site are still exactly the same, we've just taken better photo's and made them larger so it's easier to get a real idea of what the yarn you're buying is like. We still kept it simple, that seems to really work for us, just bigger and better. Hope you all agree!
The next update on the agenda was in the label department. We updated the labels about a year ago, but since then things have changed, my business has grown, and my old labeling system had become way too labour intensive. I was spending hours printing, cutting and signing labels, not too mention a fortune on ink! The time had come to make an upgrade. And I couldn't be happier about it! The new labels are glossy, and I don't know why, but to me glossy = professional! So I feel good about that. They also involve a round sticker where I print the colourway name, which I also find looks much more professional and slick. Since I'm not printing them myself, I now also have the luxury of having writing on both sides. This is a very cool bonus because I have been wanting to add more info about garment care and knitting with hand dyed yarns on my labels but didn't have room before. Look for my slick new labels this spring!
In knitting updates: I'm blocking two sweaters today, my little baby cashmere sweater from heaven. It's just too cute, and so huggable! It's still missing buttons, but I've got months before my friend's baby is due to pick some up. I'm also blocking my mulberry silk Wispy cardigan. I am very, very excited about this one. I have an FO outfit all picked out and cannot wait to wear this cardigan. I'm giddy! I'll save all my final comments and remarks about this knit for my FO post, but for now let me just say that I think it's a home run. (I haven't tried it on post-blocking, so I could be getting ahead of myself here, but I am very excited!)
And lastly, now that I've got one lightweight cardigan done, I think I'm going to step right up and start another! This time I'll knit another Hannah Fettig pattern (I'm on a lightweight sweater kick, and nobody does it better then Hannah!) the Featherweight cardigan in Purple Label Cashmere Sock yarn (yum) knit in a large stripe in two lovely neutrals, sand and shadow. This sweater is very directly inspired by Ulli's dusty mauve featherweight which I think is just perfect and gorgeous and the moment I saw it I knew I had to make one for myself.
Picking the colours to stripe was very difficult. I really love the way that tonal yarns stripe and I really like to pair similar colours together, shades of turquoise, shades of autumn-y red. I'm very tempted to go with a bolder colour palette, but I think that these two soft shades will make a really beautiful soft look, so I think I'll stick with them. There are just too many options!