Dog Sick
Lot at Oz Museum
Mom at WoolFest
Now all that left me at home taking care of the animals on Cold days. Well, I got on Ravelry and tried to find a group that just talked about blends of yarn. Not name brands but just blends and composition. For example mohair/wool or Alpaca/wool or Wool/silk (you get the picture) what percentages and what people liked or disliked about them. In order to improve products or come up with sucessful ones you have to have info. And to be honest it just isn't there... There are alot of sites that sell yarn and blends but they only post the reviews of the people that like their products. They all also have groups on Ravelry. Again only people who like their yarn join the group. That is fine with me but what about the people who didn't like the product? Why didn't they? Is there something that needs to change to make the product better? How do you know if a company is getting more "dislikes" then "Likes" The truth is you can't. And in this business you can only change your product at harvest time. Each harvest I look at our fleece and deside what to make... Yarn, Roving, Blends ... We came out with a roving blend last year and it didn't spin up so hot. All the shares sold out but not one person said anything ...Good or bad ... So I turned to my Mom and her friends. The Roving didn't spin smooth and while My Mother loved the Rustic look and feel I thought it wasn't the quality of my yarn So we didn't make it again this year.
So What am I going to do? I need real feed back. So I am turning to the what I know works You!! The trouble is that not all my readers have tried my products because they sell out so fast and are limited because of our small herd/flock sizes. So where do I get the info? Well, there is one thing to be said about you all and your friends. You see I have made friends on Facebook, Twitter and Plurk not to mention most of those people are on Ravelry. There are a ton of people with Ravelry Groups and those same people have Podcasts that reach even more people. So I went to a group (podcast not a yarn owner or Dyer and with permission) And asked a simple question ... Okay it was more then one and it was long ... But still ... This is the post ...
1 "Hi I am RJ and I have a question (okay more then one) Beside the over all quality of the fiber, the color and the staple length, what other Qualities do you look for in a yarn or roving blend? What blends of rovings or yarns are your favorite? What do you like about them and what would make them better? What blends do you dislike? Why? Can they be made better and if so how? Thank you for your honest input"
You know what happened ... Nothin' Not one person is willing to talk to me about what blends are better then others and why. What they like or don't like. I tell you with Mom gone and Me not getting any feed back I was at a stand still. So, I got Mom to pick up a little something from WoolFest to get everyone interested.... Check this out ..
Anyway, back to my story... Katie asked if there was anything she could do to help. Well, that is when it hit me ... She has what I need ... More of you... and I have animal lovers that could help Katie win her contest. (Just so you know she has prizes too for her contest I even provided some) So Katie and I have teamed up to bring you "The Great Flyin' West Give Away" Here is how it works. You can win that great fiber in the picture from Me and Katie. How do you win? All you have to do is go watch her podcast and get the secret code and then come back here and post it along with a blend of yarn you either hated or liked and why ... For Katie if there is any humanly way possible if you can make a snuggle for her project and you can win even more. You do not have to send the snuggles to Katie. You just post a picture in her Ravelry group on the thread and then donate them to your own local shelter. If you want to mail them to her you can but you don't have too. The idea here is to not cost you anything but get things to you at no cost ... LOL ... You can also get more info on her contest from her on Rav, Plurk or her podcast.
The drawing will be held Feb 1st, 2013 at 7:00PM CST and will be posted here that night and Katie will reveal to her viewers on her podcast on the 2nd (which is her podcast anniversary... to cool huh?) Just so you know here is the yarn I picked for Mom to make beds with for Katie O's snuggle team.