Once More With Feeling!

Posted by on 2012/11/27 No comments

So much has been happening, it’s been nigh impossible to remain on top of this bloggy business. We weathered Hurricane Sandy all right here in Roman Hills central, and since then I’ve been busy dyeing up a storm in preparation for this weekend’s Bust Craftacular.

That’s right! Your favorite (well, I’m hoping, anyway) Brooklyn-based yarn dyer is making another appearance at the Bust Craftacular, this time with a holiday theme. Come down to 82 Mercer Street in SoHo this Saturday and Sunday, December 1 and 2, to visit me and pick up some fabulous hand-dyed yarn as a gift to that special crafter in your life. (Hint: You can be that special crafter if you so decide.)

I’ll be selling yarn as well as debuting my new collaboration with Shannon of Second Avenue Swag. Shannon makes beautiful project bags of the utmost quality, and I’m so thrilled to work with her on our kits. You can get a sneak peek in the Roman Hills store and just below here. Click on the photo for the full listing and more information.

If you can’t make it to the Craftacular this weekend, be sure to let me know what you’ve been up to in the comments! Have you knit anything with Roman Hills yarn lately? Link me, please!

30 Days Hath September??? WHAT?!?

Posted by on 2012/10/17 1 comment


It recently came to my attention that September had THIRTY days, not 31, so for those waiting for the 31st, like mygoodself, you’ll find that the seasons are passing and holidays are happening in the interim. This leaves me questioning my “Are you smarter than a 10 yr old” stance.

So allow me to begin by saying CONGRATULATIONS to the winner, Michelle from My So-Called Handmade Life! I’m going to try to figure out how to reach this – message me please if you get this (via facebook or any other way!!)

In other news, the BUST Craftacular at Maker Faire was a resounding success! I had such a great time, and the Roman Hills Booth was *wonderfully* received! This bodes very well for future shows, most definitely!

This was where I spent about 24 total hours the weekend of the 29th. Loads of fun, really!

Maker Faire this weekend!

Posted by on 2012/09/27 No comments

If you’re in the New York City area this weekend, come by the World Maker Faire at the New York Hall of Science in Queens. There will be a bevy of wonderfully creative and talented makers there to talk to and buy from including… ME!

I was fortunate to be accepted as a vendor for the BUST Magazine Craftacular at World Maker Faire, and I’ve been dyeing my ass off. Literally. Come see me to see a woman sans derrière this weekend, along with all the yarn I’ve been dyeing in anticipation of the weekend. Roman Hills will be there with a truck-ton of yarn, including some brand new colors making their debut.

There will be big piles of skeins as far as my 5′ x 10′ side of a tent can see…

The Roman Hills booth will be peddling one-of-a-kind handpainted yarns both Saturday and Sunday, and I’d love for you to stop by and say “hello!” Squish some yarn, take photos of the assless woman, whatever, I’ll be there!

Don’t Blink – Roman Hills is in Holla Knits!

Posted by on 2012/09/20 34 comments

Some time back Allyson of The Sweatshop of Love fame contacted me with a sweater design that she thought would look great in Gissing.  I was *delighted* to be given the opportunity to offer yarn support for the Fall Holla Knits and told Allyson that I would create a colourway specifically for the pattern. She gave me creative license to do something fun so I dug deep.

After some real soul searching I reached out to my dear friend Sally Sparrow.

Isn’t she adorable?

She was inspired by the pattern!  Jilted, by the ridiculously talented Jennifer Dassau, made her hum.  She said that the design was edgy and beautiful, and the name was deliciously sad.

“What’s good about sad?”

“It’s happy, for deep people”

I got to work.  And “Don’t Blink” needed to be dyed.  DEMANDED it.

You can’t kill a stone

 

 

 

 

 

Such a clever, flattering pattern.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Working with Holla Knits has been a delight.  Such a clever collection of designers and patterns, paired with some indie dyers who I’m squeeing to be among.  I’m so grateful for the experience and looking forward to seeing these patterns in project pages on Ravelry soon!!

I had every intention of having my very own Jilted knit up myself, but time, as it does, got away from me.

“People assume that time is a straight progression of cause to effect, but actually, from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint, its more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly, timey wimey…stuff.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Not to worry, though.  Stay tuned and I WILL post pictures of my progress.  Follow me as I knit this up in Gawth.  Sally loves Gawth.

So are you jazzed yet for this pattern? I’m sure you’re dying for me to sweeten the deal, and who am I to disappoint.  Leave a comment to this post and be automatically entered to win a copy of this fabulous pattern.  Leave a comment after subscribing to Holla Knits?  Then you get an *obscene* discount on your sweater quantity yarn of “Don’t Blink” – say, 50%? One winner will be chosen, but how much that winner gets is determined by whether or not they’ve subscribed! (Do it!  You won’t be sorry!) Pick up an extra entry or two – Like Roman Hills on Facebook and get another entry – just comment again below to let me know (if you already like the page then comment again anyway!) Tweet a link to this contest and comment below – another entry! Pin the pattern with a link to my shop?  Comment!  That’s FOUR entries that you can earn! Winner will be chosen on the 31st to give you all plenty of time.  Social networking can get you stuff – how cool.

To check out the other fabulous designs and yarns, take the Holla Knits Fall/Winter 2012 Blog Tour:

Sept 10th: The Sweatshop of Love – entire collection & New Girl pattern giveaway
Sept 11th: I Knit 2 Purl 2 – Devon Cardigan pattern giveaway, and subscriber exclusive yarn giveaway
Sept 12th: Wooly Wonka Fiber – Devon Cardigan pattern giveaway, free shipping when you order a sweaters worth of yarn
Sept 13th: Stash, the Knit Picks Blog
Sept 14th: Knits in Class – Bombshell Shorts pattern giveaway, subscriber exclusive discount
Sept 17th: The Owl and the Bee – Sexxxy Librarian pattern giveaway, and subscriber exclusive yarn giveaway
Sept 18th: Periwinkle Sheep – New Girl pattern giveaway, subscriber exclusive yarn giveaway
Sept 19th: Knitting Vortex – Jilted pattern giveaway, subscriber exclusive yarn giveaway
Sept 20th: Roman Hills – Jilted pattern giveaway, subscriber exclusive discount
Sept 21st: Under the Red Umbrella – Bombshell Shorts pattern giveaway
Sept 24th: Springtree Road – Henri pattern giveaway, 2 skeins Praline DK giveaway
Sept 25th: Magical Grammar – Henri pattern giveaway, subscriber exclusive yarn giveaway
Sept 26th: Dirty Water Dyeworks – Sexxxy Librarian pattern giveaway, free shipping on all orders with coupon code ‘Holla Knits’

“Because life is short and you are hot”

A quick shout out

Posted by on 2012/07/11 No comments

I am really working hard here at keeping up with the blog. It’s hard work thinking of content that will be interesting to more than a select few!! Kudos to those who have mastered this art.

So, in keeping with the “let’s point out all of the fabulous mentions” theme I’ve set up in my last post, I’m going to post something that should have been posted a while ago.

The amazing Threadpanda posted her Skew socks here ages ago and I’m just now showing them to you.  Eep.

These are just the heels!! THE HEELS!

I love these so much – she completed them in Thar Be Dragons on Slope.

And….in an interesting twist of good fortune (for me) they ended up in *my* postbox. Love them.  I love love love them.  She knits art.

Honestly, nothing gives me a bigger thrill than seeing the yarn knit into amazing things.  And to see it photographed this well makes me squee.  Really.  You should hear me.

Also!!! knitcircus mentions Roman Hills in her TNNA summary!!

I’m all aflutter here, ladies and gents.  Really.

 

 

Let’s play a game of catch up, shall we?

Posted by on 2012/06/26 No comments

Holy cannoli, Batman. It’s been a minute since I’ve sat down to this blog.

A few huge developments have happened in the land of Roman Hills (this sounds far more exotic than it actually is). One, we were in a couple of blogs.

Well, one, back in December, I was interviewed for Knitnook, and since then I’ve decided that Kristin has to has to help me design my own knit nook here in my steadily shrinking apartment. Ya see, between the boys and the business I may have to move myself into my walk in closet – *everything* seems to be growing around here! Check out her blog as she’s since interviewed some *briliant* individuals and her aesthetic is delicious.

A very talented film maker, for some strange reason, thought that she wanted to actually *film* us speaking! Thank bejaysus for her editing skills – it appears that we’re actually able to speak in full sentences. The result is that Knit York City started her new video series and it truly is beautiful and sweet. See below – she’s honestly great.

Knit York City

Finally, the immensely talented Megi Burcl used our yarn in a pattern that was featured in this year’s Knitscene Accessories! Her Lokken Kercheif uses East River Skyline, a self striping that is measured to achieve the look of this kercheif – please note, though, that most self stripings will work for this pattern! It is intuitive and beautiful, and an absolute pleasure working with her.

Is this not BEAUTIFUL?!? LOVE!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That, my dears, is Roman Hills in print. I have also, as it turns out had a huge month.

I’ve just gotten back from TNNA. The weekend was like a dream, really. I couldn’t have anticipated that people would be *as* nice to me as they were. It’s hard when you go into these things on your own – you don’t know what to expect if it’s your first time. I was absolutely the greenest dyer there that I ran into, and it’s pretty well intimidating to be faced with your own inexperience when going into a huge tradeshow like this. My anxiety was unneeded, however. I happen to fall in with the most welcoming group of people that the industry has to offer.

The publications, the designers, the fellow dyers – I’m so humbled and flattered and just…FANGIRL about meeting all of them. And more to the point, hanging out with them and getting to know them! It is no exaggeration that more than once the *squee* threatened to leave my lips in loud, ear-piercing tones. I, somehow, found it in me to keep it together. I’m sure they thank me for that. And I in turn thank them for their welcome, their patience, and their interest in getting to know me and my yarn.

AND SOME OF THEM EVEN KNEW WHO ROMAN HILLS WAS BEFORE I EVEN SAID ANYTHING!!!! Can you *imagine*?!?!?!?

Whew. This is a very long post. Let me sum this up by saying the past several months have been a rollercoaster of epic proportions. I’ve laughed, I’ve cried, I’ve nearly passed out from disbelief, but looking to the future now I am filled with unbridled excitement and anticipation. There are big things on the horizon, boys and girls. I’ll announce them when I can, but meanwhile, hold on to your hats. And bear with me as I stop every so often to try to process it all!

We are in print!!

Posted by on 2012/01/10 No comments

It is our pleasure to bring to you our very first appearance in print!  Interweave’s Knitscene Magazine will have swatches that we have dyed using different methods to illustrate the differences in multicoloured yarns.  Amy mentions us in her Knitting Daily Blog and we’ve also been given a nod in the editor’s note.  This issue, with all this aside, looks to be a fantastic one and I’m looking forward to knitting up some of these patterns myself.  Mercedes Tarasovich-Clark!  LOVE!!!

Look for me and pick me up right away!!!

 

Patience is not really *MY* virtue

Posted by on 2011/11/10 No comments

So we updated the site yesterday. I couldn’t really wait. It can’t be helped.

I’m just really popping in to show off this colourway that I’m kinda in love with mucho.

Aurora Borealis. It makes me swoony.

Developments!

Posted by on 2011/11/08 No comments

Well hello there!
So last week we were interviewed by one Miss Threadpanda for her blog! Exciting stuff! You can read said interview here.  It’s super flattering to even be asked, and is interesting to see what our own answers to some of these questions are – it was the first time we were asked “how did you come up with the concept of your company.”  Amy Panda is a brilliant writer and it was fun doing it – she made us sound half interesting!

Last week was a busy week – we also updated our shop to include our first lace offerings.

Lantern Laceweight, from our Comic Semisolid series

This weekend I made a discovery.  Making my way down to Brooklyn Flea on Saturday (I daren’t bother Amy, who lives just nearby – poor woman had a case of the sniffles or the bubonic plague, we’re not quite sure which), I had the opportunity to participate in one of my favourite North Brooklyn weekend rituals – Smorgasburg, a local artisan food market that is AMAZING.  The Mister had his anchovies (they were delicious!) and I bought my Granola Lab and….wait for it…my mayo.

Knowing my near obsessive love of mayonnaise, The Mister insisted that I stop at Empire Mayo’s wares.  Oh.  My.  God.  OMG.  Two words: Walnut Mayo.  PLEASE.  If anyone offers you walnut mayonnaise, don’t turn up your nose.  IT.  IS.  REMARKABLE.  I’m addicted, and am trying to not find excuses to eat sandwiches at 10am.

So, again, big shout out for Brooklyn businesses!  We feel incredibly fortunate to be surrounded by so much energy.

Today, I made pumpkin chocolate chip pecan cookies.  You read that correctly, and they’re just as delicious as you think they are.

Back on the fibre front, we will be updating the shop again this Thursday – this time with our Slope fingering weight and we are introducing our DK weight, Blalock.  He is 80/10/10 Superwash Merino/Cashmere/Nylon and will be offered at 215 yards a skein

A sneak peak at what Thursday has to offer

In summary…yarn, yarn, food, food, yarn. I think that is a pretty accurate reflection of my train of thought most days.

Vogue Knitting Live

Posted by on 2011/10/19 No comments

Kind of excited because we just registered for our first official outing: the Vogue Knitting Live event, to be held January 14-16 at the Hilton here in New York. I’m planning to wander the aisles in awestruck silence while Lisa knits up a storm behind me and talks to everyone who’ll stand still long enough. So yeah, pretty much par for the course. Does anyone have any tips to offer from previous Vogue Knitting events?