While I was getting ready to make the previous scarf, I had an idea for a fun spring/summer design to create on a chiffon. The idea was vaguely inspired by cherry blossoms and tiny spring flowers, and involved having tiny white circles dotting one end of the scarf. As you can see, it worked.

I’m thinking I might offer these for sale for this coming spring. Any idea on what colors? I’m liking the green, although I might go a bit softer with it. A nice, distinctive pink would be pretty. Something between peach and petal. And a soft, French blue-grey would be gorgeous. Maybe a golden-yellow, like a mango? Does anyone even wear mango?

This one is a very smooshy single-ply of a wool and nylon blend. I think it would make gorgeous scarves, cowls, or even a shawl. I’ve already gotten to dye some up as a test, and this yarn is begging to be dyed in rich tones of a kettle-dyed nature.

As a side note – I will also be carrying a more familiar fingering base. The 70/30 merino/silk blend I’ve had in before. It’s a nice four-ply, non-superwash yarn with a little bit of shine to it. Lovely lovely.

In case you’re wondering, I’m moving Maiden Yarn to mainly fingering weight (my favorite to knit with) and spinning fiber at the beginning of October. It’ll simplify things for me, and allow me to offer a wider range of colors in the same weight (if not same fiber blend) of yarn. Plus, who doesn’t like fingering and sock weight?

I’m really rather excited, but I shall try to remain rational.

One moment while I get a grip on myself –

- ahem -

The second new base is this two-ply superwash merino. I’d call it more of a lightweight fingering, but we’ll see what it does after being dyed. I haven’t worked with this particular yarn before, and I’m really eager to see what it does. If I’m reading it right, it will probably have a lovely shine, and look great in variegated tones.

I bet it would do great fingerless gloves. Or maybe a hat. (Ooh, a tam or beret! I must try this now.) The two-ply construction seems fairly durable, while still being plush enough for comfort. (Yes, definitely a beret.)

Alright. Back to the subject at hand.

I have grand plans to have skeins in each of the two new bases dyed and in the stores during the first week of October. We’ll see how it goes! I can hardly wait to get that superwash one in the dye pot.

~Rebekah

Spinning and general crafting levels have been down as we’ve had lots of wonderful house guests for the last several weeks, but now things are grinding back towards normal and I can get back to spinning. And dyeing. Lovely dyeing.

Here’s my first stab at dyeing some mohair/silk laceweight in my Blackberry Jam colorway. I still get the yarn quivers whenever I look at this. Gorgeous.

I also managed to get way too much purple on a batch of Dawn Treader lace, and it turned out amazing. My only problem is that now I’ve got to come up with a name for the new colorway.

And then there’s the two-skein set of bulky weight that I just amazed myself with. How does one go about naming a combination of black, emerald green, and purple? I may wind up having to put a picture up here and run a name contest.

Spinning-wise, I’ve been working away on some merino/mohair fingering weight. I decided to spin it as a single-ply yarn, primarily for quickness of spinning, but (to make it legit) also for color separation purposes. But that sort of undermined my idea for using it as sock yarn as, supposedly, socks of single-ply don’t stand up to wear and tear as well. (Although I do have a pair knit from Mini Moochi, and they’re lovely and squishable.)

I have a project in mind for the yarn, believe it or not. Really.

Be amazed.

What happened to the days of just spinning at random and letting the yarn fall where it might? I don’t know, but if they ever stop by again I hope they bring some ideas with them, because I don’t think my yarn bin can hold much more. You see, I’ve discovered the problem with spinning. You end up with two stashes. One of fiber, and one of yarn. Trying to get rid of your stash is like trying to have all the laundry clean at once.

But, back to the pattern. While wandering around on Ravelry I came across a very fun scarf/mini-shawl pattern called The Hatter’s Party Scarf. It’s knit from tip to tip, going back and forth across the shorter way, so it’ll help keep my yarn colors from mushing together.

I’m very pleased with how this yarn turned out. Fiber Fancy did an excellent job on the dyeing—not one dye leak when I set the twist—and I love the colors. Ironically enough, they’re not my usual diet of reds, blues, and greens. How did that happen? At least it isn’t a mid-knitting-life identity crisis. I’m just broadening my color horizons.

(Like I need that.)

Oh, and to make things even better, somehow, someway I ended up knitting one sock on size ones, and the other on size twos. No, I’m not ripping it back and starting over. They both stay on my feet, and the difference isn’t too huge unless you notice that one is an inch or so shorter than the other. A good reason to not repeat the “it takes a year to finish these” method.

About the same time I finished those up, I finished spinning the singles for my “Violet, You’re Turning Violet.” Hurrah! A lovely bluefaced leicester and silk blend. I’m thinking it will turn out as a DK or light worsted weight. Two ply.

While I was photographing the singles, I started playing around with a clock key and wound up with this photo. (No pun intended.) The colors are slightly off, but I like the feel of the picture.

Of course a yarn store stop was involved in the trip, and it dawned on me there that I hadn’t blogged for quite some time. Therefore, I am taking the necessary steps to share some of the neat things that have happened lately.

First off, the new purchases, because everybody likes seeing shiny new yarn. Three balls of Jo Sharp wool. They’re not amazingly soft, but I really like the colors and the subtle sheen.

Believe it or not, I actually wound up starting a project with them at least four times. Quite probably five or six. This is what happens when I don’t have a pattern and keep changing my mind twelve rows into a scarf. First it was going to be stripey stockinette, then it was going to have purl diamonds to keep it from curling, then cables, then twists with ribbing, then cables and twists but no ribbing . . . you get the idea. I really think I should find a pattern as soon as possible, otherwise it will become the knitting equivalent of trying to rhyme with orange. It just doesn’t work.

You may be wondering why I bought yarn when I already have so much at home. Well, I was silly enough to only bring one knitting project along on the trip, and what looked like it would take all week (six sections of lace) was practically finished in the car. The lace sections were so very easy. Next time, I’ll actually read the pattern to double check how long it’s going to take me.

And here’s the “finished project” — a little bitty neck shawl called Little Shells. Still needs to be blocked. I knit it from some handspun DK weight silk which I spun up way back when, after hand dyeing it. It was actually the first silk I ever dyed. Memories, you know, memories. And I got to make some more memories while knitting the silly thing. Such as chasing the stitch count all through the project (I was always on the stitch count that belonged to the row before the one I just finished!) and knitting while laying out on a blanket by the lake.

Here’s a couple pictures of the area that I borrowed from my sister. It was a lovely day, and the bugs were few and far between, and none of them dared to go after my silk yarn.

I finished the silk laceweight for my sister.

And, while I was at it, I almost finished up the Willow fingering weight. (That’s due to be finished as soon as possible so I can dive into some lovely merino.)

And I’ve been simultaneously (well, not quite simultaneously) spinning this gorgeous thick and thin yarn. Again, it was on that super secret device, which was perfect for this kind of yarn. The thick bits wouldn’t fit through any of my wheel orifices, and the Walking Wheel keeps me at arms length from controlling the thick and thin variations.

And big news! The Phat Fiber “sneak peek” videos are now up, and you can see my samples in the first video. Hooray! I’m about the fourth one in on the first video. If you’d care to see it, you can find the Phat Fiber videos here.

On the one wheel I have this gorgeous stuff. It’s the laceweight silk I promised my sister a year ago.

And on the other I have this. Cinnamon alpaca laceweight that will probably wind up in Filigree Willow Laceweights. (Sorry about the nasty photo. I have concluded that TV rooms are out to sabotage photography everywhere.)

The only problem with this new obsession is that I have multiple spinning projects calling out in their plaintive, soft voices for me to come console them after their long imprisonment in my closet. Stuff like this unfinished indigo and cochineal dyed sock yarn.

And this.

And my soysilk. And those batts I’ve been hoarding. And some of the black llama.

And you get the idea.

Here’s hoping I’m able to spin a lot these next couple of weeks!

So I’m nuts. I want to finish my sweater project before the nineteenth. I see many late night efforts in my future.

As you can see, it’s grown quite a bit, and I’m now into my third ball of yarn out of nine. I’ve had to make a conscious effort to knit tighter once I got to the easy part, because the garment was expanding when it wasn’t supposed to. By now I’ve gotten down to the waist decreases, so it feels like I’m making more progress faster. I have a feeling knitting sweaters with heavier weight yarn could become addicting. They’re so quick when you actually take the time to knock out four or five rounds at a time.

And, I have a lovely new fiber product up on MaidenYarn! It’s the perfect Valentine’s gift for a spinner or felter. A gorgeous assortment of luxurious fibers. I’m very excited about the way it turned out. I mean, really, how cute is that? And you get to take it all apart and spin with the “flowers” on top and a stash of extra fibers underneath.

This is the red and chocolate one. I’ve also put up a cream and red one with all sorts of great stuff in it, like bamboo and angora. I’m hoping to create more of these in future that are less seasonal. Those would be perfect for hostess gifts at a spin-in or felt party, or great for a gift swap! Or a birthday present for one of those people who already have everything and its cousin. Or the ones who don’t tell you what they might want.

Perhaps you remember the little slipper socks I made for some favorite kids last Christmas? My, it seems to official to say last Christmas. It was only a couple months ago, for crying out loud. Well, anyway, one of the pairs was far too small for the poor little guy, so I promised him that I would make him a new pair.

One thing led to another which led to another, and I only just started working on them a week ago. But here they are, almost done. It’s KnitPicks Stroll Multi in Riviera Multi. (Sounds repetitive.)

I knit it double stranded so it would come together faster, and I’m quite pleased with the way they’re turning out. Knitting with doubled yarn was not nearly as scary as I thought it would be. I’m going to take these over to him later today and hopefully finish them to fit. And, if possible, I’ll take a camera along to capture the final creations. Otherwise this will be the last you see of them.

I spun quite a lot yesterday. Mainly on the Willow sock yarn, but a fair bit of indigo merino was accomplished too. I’m getting very close to my third or fourth bobbin full.

While spinning this I very nearly asked my sister if she wanted any handspun yarn for her birthday (in a few months) but I caught myself before saying anything. Something tells me she would like the indigo dyed silk laceweight I promised her for her last birthday. In my defense, a good portion of the singles are already spun! Just not all. Almost half.

Beech Leaf - Corriedale Cross Fiber

It’s been so long since I’ve dyed anything. I really enjoyed this stint in the kitchen. In fact, I had only planned to do one, possibly two projects — but, true to form, I wound up doing four. Thankfully I was able to do them without feeling pressured to hurry things up and get out of the way. Going so long without dyeing made everything seem new and interesting once I started again. Of course, it also meant that I was way out of practice. Nothing irreparable, though!

Sky Worsted Weight Wool

These were all new fibers and yarns for me. I had quite a bit of jittering over whether they would behave nicely or not — those horror stories about commercial fibers having spots of goop on them that resisted the dyes were playing through my head with frightful intensity — but they came through beautifully. I’m very proud of them.

Maple Red - Corriedale Cross Fiber

I tried a slightly new technique on this last yarn. It was a modified version of hand-painting which consisted of a controlled pouring and patting with a brush. Then I wrapped it up in cellophane and steamed it for a while. (During the wrapping part I managed to wind up with red fingertips. Remind me to wear gloves next time!) The colors are slightly more muted in person than the picture shows, but I’m quite pleased with the way it turned out, and I’ll be using this method again, because . . .

Alpaca/Silk Laceweight

Dun, dun, dun! I have four more alpaca/silk yarns to dye, and they shall be going up on my Etsy store. Yes, I’ve had the store for a while. Forgive me for not mentioning it before. I wanted to get any kinks taken care of before raising the curtain, so to speak.

Not to mention I’m suffering from a little beginning knitter’s naivety. On being told that my gauge was seven and a half stitches per inch instead of eight, I promptly thought I would have to knit more loosely. Because, as everyone knows, if you want seven and half to become eight, you have to add.

I’ll just leave that one alone for awhile.

And speaking of not boding well, I got smart and decided to sample a yarn. Remember the fall fleece/green silk blend I was going to do? Well, I tried a little piece to see how it looks.

Scratch That

I think it’ll wind up at about three ounces of fleece. If I like how it turns out in singles I can always dye more, then when I ply I’ll just trade out between balls. That way it won’t matter if my dye lot shifts a bit.