What's In A Name?

There has been a lot of tweets on Twitter about names. It's been interesting to see how people chose their titles and how they feel about them. All this chatter has been making me think about my chosen alias.

I go by ontheround- obviously.

It's interesting because I consider ontheround to be an actual part of my identity. I am ontheround. If someone were to yell out, "Hey ontheround!" I would respond.

I like my name to be written like this: rAchel.jones and I like On The Round to be written like this: ontheround. Spell check and I are always fighting about that.

rAchel.jones was always my "brand name" in college, but when I started my Etsy shop I wanted something more subtle. I spent a lot of time brainstorming and thinking about a name that I could grow with. I wanted it to be something that represented my beliefs about life/ lifestyle and my love for fiber, with the possibility of creating an attitude/way of life for my customers/followers/friends.

So while brainstorming, I was doodling circles (like I always do) and writing words that popped into my head. When trying to write In The Round (like as in, knitting in the round), I accidentally wrote ontheround (just like that) and immediately I knew that was the name for me.

It's perfect for several reasons, I will go into some detail.

Literally:

I LOVE to knit In The Round. My nana taught me to knit when I was about 7 and somewhere along the way someone gave me a book called "Sunny's Mitten's". It was that book that taught me to knit using 4 needles in the round and that was pretty much all I did up until my first year of college. I couldn't figure out why my stitches looked so different when I used straight needles. In college when I got serious about knitting I realized that I was missed an important detail- the purl stitch. Still, everything just seems easier to me, in the round.

Also, in terms of spinning- hello, the wheel goes aRound and aRound. I think you get that.

Philosophically:

After coming out of a very dark time in college I developed this philosophy about "the full circle". I became very interested in "the process" and follow through, circles, cycles, individual parts making the whole, and so on. These ideas filled my mind, art, and attitude. It was these thoughts, belief's, and ideas, that strongly contributed in making me the person that I am today.



So that's pretty much why I'm ontheround.

Positive Vibrations

Anyone who follows me on Twitter or Facebook knows that I had a very busy weekend. Well, if you consider sitting and spinning busy. I cleaned, prepped, dyed, and spun 4 skeins of yarn from start to finish, and have about 6 more in various stages of the process.

I'm really excited about this series, for several reasons. First, I'm using wool that I purchased from Els Farm in Union, ME. It is Friesian wool which has a nice crimp, about a 4" staple, takes dye beautifully, and produces and excellent woolen yarn!

Second, I am hand painting almost all the the skeins in this series and playing with color combination's and saturation. It's been a really fun process for me because I'm using the dyes in a much different way than I usually do. And I'm loving it!

Both those reason's bring me to the third reason why I am so excited about this series; This yarn is a true product of Maine! Maine Sheep, Maine Dye, Hand Spun by a Mainer, in Maine! How cool is that?! Not to mention that the wool came directly from the sheep, to me, and then to you! That's only one degree of separation from you to the sheep! How many purchase's can you make where that is the case... I'm guessing not too many.

Even if you're not from Maine, by purchasing this yarn you are helping to support our local economy! Yay! Now that's something to feel good about... I always fill my yarn with positive energy, but this series is really bursting with positive vibrations!

Here are some working pictures:





Here are some pictures of the wool in various stages of the process:













Also going on this week I am beginning my Handmade Christmas! This will be the first year that my family is celebrating the holidays in our home. I'll be sharing the fun with you all month long!

Be well & be positive!