Dying Desire

I hadn't had my dye pots out for over a year. . . A YEAR! That's not normal, so the Queen and I decided to remedy that problem while she was up.

We mostly dyed fiber, as we were on a spinning high from Oregon Flock and Fiber, but I did throw a little handspun in there.


On the bottom there we have the handspun (BFL) and some Corriedale roving that we threw in one pot with some weld. I really like it, but I've decided that I'm not really into natural dyeing. It takes a long time, and frankly, I'm more into the vibrant colors.
The other two are superwash Merino that I overdyed. I do love overdying. You never know what you are going to get.

This is also some superwash merino leftover from a project that I spun the fiber undyed. (My mismatched stripes handspun socks.) It isn't a lot, maybe 2 oz, but it was fun, because I felt like it was OK if I messed it up, I left quite a bit of white on purpose. I am excited to spin it.

I didn't realize it until just now, but Mernio seemed to be the favorite fiber of the day. The blue and green is Merino. The green/ gold/ black is Targee.

And a llittle bit better view.

Do you notice something unusual about the colors. . . like there is NO RED anywhere in all of it. I decided I needed to expand the color range in my fiber closet. It was kind of hard to stay away from the red, but I am delighted with the colors!

Again, it feels good to be doin' my thing again. Thanks to the Queen for getting me there.

Wow! Fiber. . .

Thank you all for your kind comments about the latest Yarn of Yarnnation. I know it was kind of long, my imagination gets carried away some times. Remember to leave a comment on the last part to be eligible to have the happy fiber come live either in your stash closet or your coat closet (as a hat or fingerless gloves or something.)

Now, as far as newcomers to the stash, some of you might know that The Queen, The Princess, PBTB, and "W" just got back from Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival. It wasn't the best trip, as The Princess' gall bladder decided to malfunction big time while we were there, but yarn and fiber were still procured. I was very restrained, though, the closet is getting a little crowded.


This is Sarah Anderson's Great Balls of Fiber- enough for a long sweater. Superwash Merino/Alpaca.


This is what the Princess picked out for me to spin for her. It's also the Merino/Alpaca. I am spinning it into a Navajo plied sock yarn for her.

I was a little dissappointed with Sarah Anderson's selection this year. Not that it wasn't all beautiful, there just wasn't very much of it. I asked her about it and she said that she just hadn't had the time and the weather hadn't cooperated. Ah well, I can't really complain, The Queen and I did a great deal of damage to both our wallets and her inventory!




If you want to see a WHOLE LOT of Socks that Rock, visit the Queen's blog in the next few days. I found her holding dozens of skeins of yarn with a wild, crazed look in her eyes. We had to do some deep breathing to bring her back to her senses. The smell of vinegar can do that, you know. Next time we'll remember the smelling salts.

I was wooed by this one "rare gem" skein. I didn't intend on buying any yarn, but how could I resist this? I mean, really!

And the reason I had no intention of buying yarn. Oh that would have been the previous day's trip to this enchanted little place.


Here you choose strands of any color and fiber your hearts desire and have it spun together onto a cone, ready for use!

If you are a knitter, crocheter, or weaver I suggest you visit as soon as possible. In the mean time, visit their website, where they sell pre-spun cones.


This is a wool/cotton blend that will be a sweater for Little Sir.


This is a wool/nylon blend in a sock weight.


Mohair/wool in lace weight.

Yes, there will be return visits!

Now before I sign off, I want to be sure that you all visit Princess P. to wish her a speedy recovery and also to read all about the BEST NEWS OF THE YEAR!

Last but not least, you can also visit the adoption blog to see pictures of the adorable cousins together.

Did you miss me?

I'm back. I'm mostly recovered from my first post-child quarter back to school. I'll be glad when it's over for good.

I'm on spring break.

I told someone that today, and visions of the not so distant past when my spring break included sun, water, and my boyfriend getting arrested, filled my head and made me laugh.

Truly, I'll happily take this handsome little devil over my "miscreant" old flame.


And while I would LOVE a little sun and water the beautiful people will thank my ghostly white and stretch mark decorated self that instead spinning and knitting occupied my leisure time this spring break.

This


is now this

I'm still working on the second bobbin full. I can't for the life of me remember where or when I bought this lovely stuff, or for that matter, even what it is. It feels like a very nice Corriedale. I think that it is either from The Artful Ewe or from Sarah Anderson of Great Balls of Fiber. I'm thinking that latter is more likely.

I also spun my first cabled yarn. It is constructed of 2 two plyed yarns plyed together in the opposite direction (say that three times fast.) It is very sproingy.

I loved it so much I wanted to knit something out of it right away. (The fiber is super wash merino.)

Little Sir needed a new hat and as it is a FOUR ply yarn, there wasn't much of it so it was a good match.


I am still slogging away on the never ending navy blue stst part of the Duke's SLC 2002 sweater. It has been great for classes. I still have about three inches until I start the colorwork. In between classes though, I've been wanting to do some small fast projects.


This is a sport weight I spun from a beautiful batt I got from High Prairie Fibers
in November of 2006. I was originally planning on spinning it all up in a heavy aran weight for a sweater, but I spun some, knit a swatch and didn't care for it so much in that weight. I love it in this finer weight, and it had finally marinated in my stash long enough. It decided it wanted to be a new pair of fingerless gloves for spring.

And lastly. . .

Little Sir gets another hat. Sarah wanted to see my stranded knitting method and I though I'd also take the opportunity to see if the said method would still work while carrying three colors. So a hat was born. (For those that are interested I hold both- or all- colors in my left hand, alternately dropping and picking up the strands, and yes, it does work with three colors, it's just a little bit fiddily.)
The yarns are bit and pieces from my collection of such. The green is Jeager Extra Fine Merino, the white is Nashua Creative Focus, and the brown in a mystery yarn that I bought in Astoria, OR a few years ago. It's a super wash wool and that's all I know.

I do have one more small FO to show you, but I really want Little Sir to model it, so consider this a little Yarnnation brand suspense.

Now off to bed!

Madrona

What do you get when you put two 4 month old babies and two fiber fanatics into an SUV and drive them to Tacoma for the day?


Chameleon Colorworks Optium (stretched merino- to DIE for soft. It has properties of both silk and wool, and it is machine washable- Amazing) in color way Briar Rose.
(this was a b-day gift from Sarah- thanks Sarah! I'm spinning it now- it's wonderful.)


Crown Mountain Farms Merino in color way "Light My Fire".
This is the same company I purchased the BFL roving from that I spun for this sweater. I loved spinning it, I loved knitting with it, I love wearing it. Recipe for repeat.


And the absolutely unbelievable 70/30 Alpaca Silk from Tactile. They are scheduled to have their website go live on 3 Mar. Until then, you can find them at Stitches West if you are lucky enough to get to go.

Pictures

Behold the future of pharmacy!


It's amazing what you find when you have film developed that's been siting in a camera for three years.



I actually thought my Duke was ageless. Doesn't he look young here? This was pre-second year pharmacy. It aged both of us.




From The Artful Ewe. Merino Wool in an unknown (but delightful colorway) and the "Miss Mavis" batt, whose tag I have all ready managed to loose. I think it is alpaca, mohair, and angora. Lovely!

Also, I've crossed another WIP off my list.

Duke's Aran Sweater
Lil Bro Hat
Headband
Duke's Shadow Scarf
Red Felt Bag
Leg Warmer
Baby Surprise
M. Vest
Striped Felt Bag
Green Sweater
Japanese Lace
Go with the Flo Socks
Mitered Baby Blanket
Silk Rumple Wrap
JD Baby Sweater
W. Baby Sweater
Charlotte's Shawls

I have also made good progress on the Duke's Aran sweater, I am up to the cap shaping on the second sleeve, as well as the Flo socks, I am ready to turn the heel.

Oh, and ultrasound pics (in all their creepy cuteness) as soon as I get around to scanning them. Soon I hope.

Thanks!

Thank you to all of you that commented on my last post. "The Yarn of Yarnnation" will become a regular feature here at Yarnnation. I was inspired by Erin over at Dress A Day and her "Secret Life of Dresses." If you haven't read them, go on over, they really are entertaining.

And to celebrate the first episode, naturally, I must share some yarnish love. As Bells was the first to comment, I thought she should get a skein of some Yarnnation hand dyed sock yarn. Send me your address Bells- yarnnation at gmail dot com.



Each time I post a Yarn of Yarnnation I will (from here on out) randomly choose a person from the comments to share a little bit of Yarnnation with.

Now, what else has been going on around here? Spinning? Yes, and Maggie was trying to her best to impede.



This is some slightly variegated orange supperwash Merino, 2 ply. I wanted some orange socks, and orange socks I will have. It came out at a perfect 16 wpi, and it hasn't dried all the way yet, but it doesn't look like it's going to bloom too much. It came out at 245 yds. I have plenty of this left over, but I'm not sure yet if I will spin more to get enough for a pair of socks, or (as I am sick to death of it right now) I will knit the toes, heel, and cuffs in something else. We'll see. They aren't even the next socks in the cue.



Also, because I have so much of this stuff, and because I'm lazy and my scale is on a different floor in my house, I didn't weigh or measure the fiber for each bobbin in any way, I just filled up the second bobbin until it looked like it about matched the first- this is what I had left over- can you believe it? Crazy lucky!



What else? Dyeing? Of course, and when else, but in the middle of the night.

This is my new favorite Yarnnation dyed sock yarn: Raspberry Ice Cream (I can't eat it, but I can wear it!)



The Yarn Queen also sent me some very nice Targee/Lincoln mixed roving. I kettle dyed it in two different batches. They both came out stunning, but I couldn't get very good photos, you'll just have to wait for the spinning to see the colors. . . which won't be long :)





And last but not least. . . I over dyed some worsted weight wool that was this kind of unpleasant dingy orange and yellow variegated. Isn't it stunning? I have enough for a sweater, my internal Creative Project Manager is working overtime.



Hope everyone has a great week. . . It's the Duke's last week of a his second to last rotation.

As he says

THE END IS NEAR!

Just What the Doctor Ordered

The Duke and I decided to take off to Portland for the weekend. We were in dire need of a little down time.

Before we left I treated myself (with knitter's credit of course) to a couple of Grafton Fiber's Batts, one is Cooridale, the other Wensleydale. I can't wait to try them out.





I got more knitting done this weekend than I have in the last three weeks.

I was part way through the first one of these, and now there are two. I love them. They were originally intended to be socks, but about 2 inches down the first one, I realized I hadn't cast on enough stitches. (How does that happen?) Not to fear, I have itty bitty wrists and smallish hands. Fingerless mitts to the rescue! They are in my handdyed sock yarn. I think I originally called the colorway "St. George."



I started and finished this, which looks terrible before it's blocked, so you just get a pretty fabric shot until then. The yarn in Jitterbug by Colinette, doubled.



I also started my next pair of socks (seeing as the last pair turned out to be mitts instead.)



In addition to all this wonderful knitting time, I got a little fun shopping in.

I visited Knit-Purl, my favorite Portland LYS. If you are ever in Portland you must go, and if you never make it to Portland, good thing for you they have an awsome website. Check it out, and be sure to drool over their own line of yarns, Shibuiknits.
I love the silk puff. I had a hard time walking away from it. Hilltop is awaiting our own order of their sock yarns, which Kalani was kind enough to inform me we can expect in the next 2-3 weeks. YIPPEE

So what did I pick up?

This- sock yarn and matching roving from Fleece Artist. It is intended to be a kit for thrumbed socks, but I won't be using it that way. I'm not too interested in thrumbing.


I also got another cone of this. I got a cone of it last year and Logan got ahold of it and killed about half of it before I got to him (little bugger!) I couldn't figure out what I was going to do with such a small amount. I decided that I would just buy more in a contrasting color. I have an idea of what it might become.



We also paide a visit to Powell's Books, my very first visit. Heavens to Betsy this place is HUGE! We were there for an hour and a half (not nearly enought time.) I didn't even make it all the way through one room and there are 7 very large rooms. You must go, it is, just as they claim, a book lover's paradise. I got these.



I'll be sharing out of both of them. The Knit to Fit is a hysterically charming vintage (early 60's) knitting book with some very useful info in it as well. The other is just a cheap cook book that looks like it has some good fast dinners in it. It has over 700 recipes in it and all of them only have 4 ingredients. I hope it has an index. ***looking*** It does.
Last but not least, I spet a great deal of time grooming Maggie, a long overdue chore. Have you ever wondered how much fur comes off of a Wire-haired Fox Terrier from stripping HALF of her body, and all this after all ready spending severl hours pulling out matts? You can see why some spinners might get it in their heads to spin their dog's fur. No, I will not be spinning this. It smells like a dirty dog!



And now we are home, and tomorrow we return to real life. Sigh. At least the Duke gets paid to go to work this week, and then, he starts his second to last rotations. We are gearing up for a serious CELEBRATION!