Growth

Watching my dyeing expand and grow can be a bit overwhelming. This coming month I have several large orders that will be going out the door. I am dyeing yarn for a special holiday kit as well as fulfilling a co-op order. Should be busy but also fun!

I have a few new colorways in the works, and fun holiday "scrappy" kits. Except that my scraps aren't actually scraps. They are all hand wound lofty 33g skeins grouped together in packs of 4. The yarns come in a white box with a clear lid which makes gifting very convenient.

Toddler Feet

I think only a mom could say this, but there is nothing sweeter than toddler feet. I had some yarn bits that I didn't know what to do with so socks it was!


I think this picture shows the colors better


I also finished a pair of longies, a hat, and a shawl (boy am I behind on photos!)

And just so that Elliot doesn't feel left out, here's a picture of him wearing the Everyday Pullover (which he in fact does wear every day!)


In business news, I have pretty much every one of my usual bases in stock at this moment. I have a huge coop coming up so I am going to be busy with that soon. But before I start on the coop I hope I have some time to work with my most favorite base, the Ambrosia MCN. I have waited for two months for this yarn to come to me and its as lovely as I remember it from last time!

New Toys & Yarn Samples

There is nothing I dislike more than having to drive down to the post office, wait in line, and pick up a package I've been waiting for for the last two weeks. This visit almost ended in a fist fight, I wasn't involved, but it was kind of scary. I guess the holidays are almost here...

But back to the pleasant news. I finally got my hands on some amazing luxury yarns I've been waiting on.

Yep, that's right, the package did come here all the way from China. Sometimes I have a hard time wrapping my head around this global market we live in. I regularly order from the US, Australia, Canada, and now China.

The four samples I ordered are (from left to right)

Silky Cashmere (55% silk, 45% Mongolian Cashmere)

Silky Merino (50%/50% silk merino)

Pure Cashmere (100% Cashmere)

Cashmerino (80% Merino, 20% Cashmere)

Now the trick is deciding what to get. Because what I didn't expect to come in the package is swatches for every single yarn the company carries! This is when I felt like I had just made it into paradise!!!

So yeah..... OH MY GOD! (I'm still not over the excitement)

For now I am probably going to focus on some of the silk bases as I have a large order of Ambrosia Sock MCN on the way here.

Now, I also picked up a new toy. I have been using my hand-crank swift for about a year now and it was definitely the time to make an upgrade. I happened upon a local dyer who was selling her two swifts and when I realized that the swifts were motorized I jumped on the deal. Were, more like I stalked the dyer until her other offer fell through and then I snabbed the swifts for myself!

I can now reskein two sock yarn skeins in 3 minutes! *happy dance*

Monster Mash

A custom colorway on its way to Norway! I love love love how the colors pop.

New fun colorway. I've been on a black kick lately. I especially love how the colors blend with black.

A photo of the staging area. These are the skeins on their way to new loving homes. I'm getting to the point where I've almost outgrown this space. And to think that this is where I used to dye!

This week I'm working on a major project of setting up a new studio in the garage. I've been dyeing in that space for about a year now. But just now I've decided to make some serious renovations and make my space more functional.

One Last Post

Okay I swear this is the last time I mention Sock Summit!

But here are the photos of my booth... I just had to share these....

Drawstrings in 3 minutes or less!

Sometimes the i-cord or twist string is the only thing standing between me and a finished project. For some reason I just hate working on the cords as they seem to take so long. One day I thought of using the drill to speed up the process and the results were fantastic!

So what you'll need for this tutorial is: yarn and a drill. You will also need some sort of a peg, like a door knob, or a chair knob; anything that you can loop the yarn over.

Step 1: Cut a strip of yarn, about 6 times longer than your desired drawstring length.

Step 2: Fold yarn in half and tie off the cut ends.

Step 3: Wrap the center fold over a door handle, peg, or chair top. I like to use the top of my son's rocking chair.

Step 4: Stuff the tied off end into the tip of the drill. Make sure the drill is open all the way.

Step 5: Change the drill into forward direction and support yarn and knot while you close off the chuck. This will ensure that the yarn doesn't come out while twisting.

Step 6: Take a few steps back away from the chair/knob so that the yarn is gently stretched. Step up on the trigger and let the drill do all the work. I let mine go for a good 30-60 seconds. The yarn will start to twist on itself.

Step 7: Free the yarn from the drill. Pry the ends open to create a loop, and loop this over the same place where the other end of the cord was looped.

Step 8: Starting with the the end of the drawstring that is looped over the chair begin tugging and pulling on the two cords and help them twist onto each other. Due to the twist in the strings they "want" to do this on their own. So just guide them to twist neatly onto each other.

Step 9: Hold cord with one hand while with the other pull the loops off the chair. Tie off the two loops together and cut off excess yarn. To make the ends match, tie the off the other end of the drawstring and cut the tip.

Voila!

To make a thicker drawstring you can add several strands together.

Honeymustard

I am taking dyeing to the next level (for myself). I started experimenting with mixing custom colors!

They can't all be winner....

I ruined my first dye job. Really, majorly, ruined it. I want to cry. It was a whole pound of yarn too.

I'm going to over-dye it black and make some sweaters for the boys. But it doesn't take away from the sadness, especially since the yarn was for a customer.

But to make myself happy again I'm going to post of some pretties from earlier this week.

aaaaahhhhh I feel better already!

Secret Garden

We built an elf house today under the old grape vine. I can't wait for the leaves to grow in and cover it up. The boys are going to love hiding in there when the summer finally comes.

Working in the garden and getting my hand dirty inspired me to create a 'Secret Garden' colorway. I really love how the colors distributed and how well the cloud cashmere (MCN) took the dye. This MCN is from a different supplier and I am trying to make sense of how I could carry both lines of cashmere in my store. They are different enough that I can't just call them both Cloud MCN, but on the other hand I just don't know if it makes any sense to carry two different types of a luxury cashmere base.

In other news KnitPicks accepted one of my patterns to their IDP program. The pattern is almost written and I just need to finish my final sample.

Lullaby

I am taking my commitment to only knit with my own yarns pretty seriously. What I am discovering is just how much I love using my own yarns, talk about a "farm to table" approach. Now if only I could have my own sheep, and spin my own yarn - a girl can dream right?

This is a colorway that I did using a low immersion technique. What I like about it is that colors maintained their integrity but still mixed to give a random color distribution. This dye was done on a tester skein of organic merino. I am considering adding a supplier to my repertoire but I wanted to test the yarn prior to committing to it. This organic merino is not the same as what many know as "Gaia". I would say the strand is fluffier and reminds me much more of a cashmere/merino blend than a merino. Yes, its that nice.
Since I only had one skein, all I could make was a newborn set.

In other news, I am thoroughly enjoying my first co-op. I was very anxious as I was waiting for the group order to come in. But once the order was in I just settled into a hyper dyeing mode and now two weeks later the 60 skein order is more than 50% finished. I'm a little sad that I am taking the summer off, dyeing is quite an addiction.

Well that was a crazy week!

I have a new goal for 2011 - do better long-term planning! I forgot about spring break and the fact that I would have both kids at home and not have any time to work on custom orders. Then on top of that we left for a weekend getaway, again preventing me from doing any dyeing.

Somehow I still managed to keep my schedule and get everything done, but it was certainly hectic.

At least I have something to show for all this stress. Actually, it wasn't that bad, it was just strange because I didn't have my usual dedicated work time slots. But this week we're mostly back to normal and life is good.

I absolutely love this March club. It came out absolutely drool worthy and of course now I am sad that all of this yarn is going to live somewhere else.

Sometimes mistakes are meant to happen....

....or why Raya should be labeling her dyes....

Over the weekend I had some spare yarn I wanted to dye up. I had the colorway in mind, I had the name picked out and the dyes that were going to go on it. Well imagine my surprise that as I started rinsing the yarn after the dye has been set when I realized that something wasn't right. My black wasn't black at all, instead it had turned a silvery blue gray. I thought I had made some kind of a mistake, or that perhaps I forgot to set the dye properly. But a closer examination of the dye bottle made me realized that I was never using black, but instead something called "gunmetal" which is exactly what I got. So, silly mistake, but gorgeous results.

So... here is "Fenrir" on Mountain Meadow Rambouillet

Getting ready for sock summit

I could not be more excited when the postman dropped a huge box at my doorstep. My 50/50 silk merino blend finally arrived. It took it about two weeks to get here from Australia.



Can't wait to get started on dyeing this, its going to be so amazing!

Yarn yarn yarn and more yarn!

I have been dyeing up a storm this past week. I try to commit myself to dyeing nightly once the kids are in bed. I have been able to streamline the dyeing process and make myself a little more efficient. Once I can get the sink hooked up in the studio it will make life even easier!

I have been on a girl kick lately with lots of pinks and purples. I discovered an unopened box of magenta dye and I just went crazy with it. How did I ever live without magenta???

Here presenting Novela Rosa

And Very Berry

But no worries, the boys have some fun new colorways too!

Muir

I swear I'm not procrastinating!

I've been so busy working on patterns that I have forgotten to give myself a few extra minutes to write in the blog.

This past week I released the Charlotte Collection pattern, the pattern can be knit as either a tank or a sleeved dress, tunic or sweater. I've been told that it has very modern and stylish lines. I am pretty sure I've shown it off before when I knit up the samples, but here it is anyway.

Tank:

Sleeved:

Both were knit with my Rhea Silk blend yarn.

Of course in parallel I have also been working on a new cardigan design, here's Reid modeling :)

As usual I'm playing catch up

Things have finally settled down around here and I am no longer feeling the pain of saying goodbye to our beloved sitter. The baby is now in childcare twice a week for a total of 6 hours. I have also had the husband help me clear out the garage and now I can officially say I have a studio! It was so much fun moving everything out of the kitchen and into the garage. The biggest perk is that I now have a new microwave and kettle!

My first dye project was Koi Pond, along with other vivid girly colors. I also dyed Princess Buttercup, Wildflowers, Full Bloom, and Spring Delight. I must have hit the spot with these colorways as most sold out within minutes of stocking!


Knitting wise I am an effort to only knit up with my own yarns. So I used Rogue on Licorice Twist to make a super cute pair of overalls.

Weekend update

With so much going on and with me back to dyeing strong I don't even know where to begin.

Last week I stocked a series of sock yarns on MainStreet.


After a nice holiday break I went on a dyeing spree. Here is 'Woodhaven' (it does not actually contain any red). Lots of browns, golds and green. This one is done on a superwash DK yarn and should be stocked sometime next week.


I have probably a gazillion (not really) more colorways coming. I just need to get them all photographed and edited.

On the business side of things there has been much progress done.

• I have been putting together a sample package to take to local yarn stores.
• The Charlotte and Vagabond patterns are now being tested.
• The Wildwood pattern is almost ready for release.
• A third romper pattern is in the works (eventually the patterns will be released together as an e-book).
• A cardigan idea has been born
• I have a new wool supplier of amazing 2 and 3 ply USA grown and spun yarns. They take dye like a dream and are incredibly soft
• I ordered a professional book on size grading for men, women and children. I hope it comes with baby grading too. It cost me a pretty penny but I think its really going to make a huge difference in the way I design patterns.

I feel like I am at a point where I need to "go back to work" one day a week. or a few half or even third days. Right now I am working _all the time_ I try to be efficient with my time. So when I'm playing with the boys I'm knitting, when the boys are asleep I'm dyeing, and when I get "mommy time" I work on patterns.

Ruffled Sunhat Pattern

Before packaging up the romper and hat to be shipped off this afternoon I just had to do a quick photoshoot with Reid in the hat. I'm going to hang on to these until his senior yearbook >:) Doesn't he look just darling.

I also wrote up the pattern for the hat and its now up for sale on Ravelry

Reid's Romper in the Pheobe Colorway

Gosh I just love how this colorway has knit up. I always like knitting my own colorways as it gives me good insight into my color placement and repeat.

The hat is a top down pattern I made up, maybe one day I will write it out. Its super easy. The hat is going to be a surprise. I had a bunch of yarn left over and I just thought it would look totally adorable on the little girl.


Top down view of the hat

New and Exciting

The last few weeks have been a complete whirlwind. I finished knitting two versions of the Charlotte Collection; a tunic and a sweater. I wrote up the pattern for said collection and have sent out copies for testers to work on.

For the sweater option I went with a 50/50 silk merino blend dyed in shades of lilac. The yarn has incredible sheen and drape and is baby soft. Perfect for a holiday dress. I think the satin ribbon ties the look together.


For the tunic I went with the same yarn base but in a different color. The emerald green is absolutely stunning.


I hope that the testers can get through the pattern in the coming few weeks and then the pattern will be up for sale on Ravelry. I have also began working on two additional patterns. One is a modification to the romper, and another is a quick and easy cabled sweater.