Even though I couldn’t hack it in the full-time graphic design employment world*, I really love handling all my own artwork for Gritty Knits. Today I’m having a vinyl banner printed to hang at my Fiber Christmas in July booth. I think I’ll be squished way in the back, so if you need help finding me, look for this sign:

* I’m good at design, but very bad at office politics and professionalism. That’s why the only client I will ever be able to please is myself. Here’s every design job I ever had, in a nutshell:
Client: “(Request for ugly design filled with clip art, out of focus photos, & five different  headlines all on one page)”
Me: “That’s hideous, and you are dumb. I will make the design my way instead.”
Client: “Um, yeah. You’re fired.”

How about some new hand dyed 60% merino/40% bamboo tops to cheer us up after that painful trip down memory lane?

I’m scrambling to make as many new products as I can before Fiber Christmas in July. Today there are 6 new colors of hand-dyed Firestar in the shop, and I’ll have more dyed merino tops available as soon as they’re dry.

I’m still carding every day for the Tour de Batt, but I’ve fallen behind on taking pictures.

Edited to add: Here’s a cheater-update with some new dyed top!

This month’s merino & superwash merino clubs:

Nom of the Month: Darling Clementine self stripe. Golden orange/peachy yellow, subtle color changes every 54”

Novelty batts of the month: (which never seem to look as cool in pictures as they do in person)

Biggest Tour de Batt day so far: TWELVE batts in one day today. Some nice squishy, smooth merino batts with just a hint of angelina:

There are 2 of each color for sale in the shop, as well as the batts from the past few days:

On day 6 of the Tour de Fleece, I’ve carded 13 batts. Not too shabby. My wrists are feeling a wee bit better after the rest I’ve been taking, so I ordered some fiber from my favorite Etsy shop and I decided I will spin ONE yarn when it gets here. It seems only proper, since this is, you know, a spinning event.

For the opening day of the 2011 Tour de Fleece Batt, I carded 2 prizes that will be given away to my team members (one random draw, one for most loved batt entry). I wanted this to be a really great prize, so I pulled out all my bestest, most favoritest fibers from the bin.

The finished batt:

It’s not too late to join us!

FINALLY! July 1 is here, and I can load up the shop with tons of new batts & braids! Click:

This month’s item on the Never-Ending-Sale almost seems like an afterthought. I feel guilty, like I should make it up to the ribbon somehow:

Sari Silk Ribbon 20% off – $7.50 $6.00