This week has been a little more laid back than usual, but I don’t mind that at all. Friday will be a dye day, with some “hired to dye” yarns in various colorways.

But last week I was able to dye a whole bunch of my Fall yarns, and I am thrilled to report that the new yarn bases behaved themselves better than expected. Here are three of the new single-ply fingerings –

And here is one of the two-ply superwash skeins. This one took the colors just like I thought it would – lots of brilliance and depth, and it held color changes quite nicely. I still really want to make something for myself from a skein of this yarn, and I finally found the perfect pattern. Now I just need to decide what color I want!

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

Speaking of, I’ve been very busy dyeing things since I got back from Colorado earlier this month. I haven’t done this large of a dye batch in a long time.
It stretched over two or three days. The first day was all sorts of fun, ha ha ha. I dyed four batches of various things, and of the four, none of them came out the color I was aiming for. God was so gracious in that they were still usable. They just weren’t coming out as intended. Rather frustrating at the time. I actually found myself not wanting to dye again. Ever. (Scary thought, no?)

But I took a day off from dyeing and tackled the rest with renewed vim, vigor, and some free choice in regards to colorways. In short: I got to play! Well, play with most of it.

I’m contributing to the September Phat Fiber samples, so some of the fibers needed to be inspired by “Farmers Market.” I actually wound up doing four or five different things I could send in samples from, but one of them is this Blackberry Jam superwash fingering weight.

Gorgeous! I dyed two skeins worth. One for the shop and the other to chop up into little 15-20 yard samples.

A couple of other highlights from the dye run, all alpaca laceweights—

And some more big news, I won a batt! It’s pretty and pink, and I have no clue what I’m going to do with it. I have been stalking Ravelry hat and cowl patterns, though. (I figure they’re something I can knit with stashed stuff, wear often as the weather gets cooler, and they won’t take long to knit!) Perhaps I can spin this up and turn it into a nice tam.

Come on over and take a peek. I’m so, so excited!

And, on that note, I am so, so loving custom orders. You probably remember my first custom yarn (Raven’s Wing) and the gorgeous yarn that came out of that. Well, prepare for custom order number two.

Absolutely gorgeous emerald yarn. This green took forever to achieve (no less than three times in the dye pot) but it was so worth it. The yarn practically glows from within. And it’s superwash, which means it is very soft.

I can’t wait for the next custom challenge, whatever it may be.

Crash. Bang. Shriek of car brakes. WHAT?!?!?!??!?

Last year I took ten days. Started on December the twenty-second. There I was, December twenty-sixth, thinking I would get even more fiber spun then last year. Ha ha ha. Ha ha.

So . . . my New Year’s Dash is becoming a bit more of a New Year’s stroll. What with an unfinished and late Christmas present, and not having spun for a long time (various muscles and joints don’t like to be thrown into the deep end, so to speak) I’m idling my way along. But I am spinning. Yes, I am. It’s some superwash merino with bamboo in it, and I think some nylon.
Gorgeous, soft stuff. I dyed it quite awhile ago and stowed it away, lost and forgotten. I absolutely love the way it’s spinning up. (Into a sock yarn, of course.) It shall be called “Willow” and may possibly make its debute in my Etsy store. If it stays here I shall find myself dropping all sorts of works in progress and plunging into a new pair of socks. I do not need more sock yarn. I am firm. I am resolved. And maybe I can make some more later.

The only thing I can think of is that the yarn didn’t have long enough to presoak (but we gave it a couple days of soaking!) or perhaps it had some sort of chemical in it, which would be odd because it was supposed to be organic cotton. Queer.

And to make things queerer, take a look at the picture. All these yarns were dunked twice. The one on the right was actually dunked three times. Notice anything odd about the color intensity? The brightest yarn (on the left) is a) superwash and b) soaked longer than the one on the far right. They’re both merino wool. Apparently the length of soak time does effect yarns… but the cotton soaked every bit as long as the superwash!

While we were waiting for the indigo to simmer itself into a usable state we did some more regular dyeing. Unfortunately I didn’t get pictures of the results, but my aunt promised to take some photos and send them along. However, I took some of the leftover dyes and did an impromptu multi-colored batch of fleece. Remind me not to put black dye right in on top of the red. It swallows everything up whole. Not that I don’t like this; it just wasn’t what was expected.

But, on a high note, my aunt knit up that fall-inspired single yarn into a gorgeous scarf. Didn’t she do well?

Then there was this yarn. Another two skeins of the bulky weight. Nice? Pretty? I love the jewel-like tones.

But this yarn was supposed to be purple with green and yellow flecks, and a few spots of brown. Do you see purple? Anywhere at all? I see blue, but not purple.
Every so often the carefully mixed dyes decide to separate and become new entities. The “red + blue = purple” combination separated.

So, we had two really good finished colorways and one that was still nice, but unplanned.

Fast forward a couple of days. We decided to dye some more yarn. Two skeins, this time. The DK weight turned out beautifully in pink, chocolate, white, and butterscotch.

The other skein decided to repeat the bulky weight’s quick change act. This was originally intended to be dark gray, light gray, and red. I didn’t have black, so I mixed brown and blue to get the gray tones. Guess what? The brown and blue separated.

Why is it that I’m only having trouble with it on someone else’s yarn? It must be the Bermuda Triangle of dyes. Mixed dyes usually behave just fine! Has anyone else had trouble with mixing colors?

Then I was going to dye the superwash sock yarn with browns and greens the way I normally do (pouring the dye over the top), but I really wanted a softer look.
I decided to kettle dye the yarn green, then hit it with the brown once it was done. Halfway through the cook time I pulled the yarn out and instantly decided that adding brown would be like adding garlic to an ice cream sundae. Both nice, but together—no. Thus, the superwash has remained a beautiful limey green.

It’s getting into birthday season!
I’ve received two wonderful fiber presents this last week. The first was from my aunt. Three Lincoln batts to go with the one I bought from Heartland Fiber Co. in Iowa.

Aren’t they gorgeous? And I found a cream colored wool (stashed away in my closet) that will go beautifully with them. Now I just have to figure out what to make out of the yarn.

Saturday I got a surprise package from Mama Mentor. It’s gorgeous soysilk. I can hardly wait to try spinning it. The fiber feels like a cross between bamboo’s crinkle and silk’s wispiness. Yet another fiber to find a project for. I wonder if it would make a good lace weight. It has an excellent shine to it that might go well in a finely knit shawl or scarf.