Monthly Archives: September 2017

From Dyepots to Runway, Knitivity’s there!

Posted on by September 18, 2017  

Joni’s Planned Pooling Scarf

If you are a teacher or mentor, you are involved in one way or another with the shaping of a young person’s future, and may often wonder what becomes of all those whose lives you touched early on. Then one day, one of your little wards grows up and is suddenly the talk of the town and you feel so proud.

In my work, I take plain undyed yarn, give it some color and send it on its way. Once in a while I get to see pictures of socks, shawls, scarves, and so forth, and I am delighted to see these glimpses into what my yarn becomes. This weekend I got to see pictures of the process involved in one of my dye jobs ending up on a fashion show runway! But I’m getting ahead of myself…..

Last January, I sold a Twinset of Phydlbitz Sock. They started like this after dyeing. Wtth matching Twinsets I always rotate one of the skeins to show all the colors that exist on both skeins.

And after rewinding for presentation they looked like this:

Little did I know what would become of it. Well, until this past weekend, that is!

These yarns were bought by Joni Lawver, who used my yarns to make a wonderful shawl. She started by warping her Cricket loom…. 

using a chip clip to hold the strands taut and aligned as much as my dye job would allow … 

so that the colors would stack … 

Joni used a light blue 8/2 Merino/Tencel yarn from WEBS for the weft.

In her own words:

“A twinset of your yarn has been a big hit at Stitches Texas. I just finally finished the planned pooling scarf I was going to weave from them and have been wearing it this weekend.  Tons of compliments and as I’ve been telling folks, they all go to you. [Even StevenBe…] stopped me as I was walking through his booth to ask about the shawl/scarf.”

With so many compliments on her scarf she was encouraged to enter it into the fashion show at Stitches Texas. And boy, was it a hit!  Check this out!  

In fact, several people messaged me on Facebook to tell me a project with my yarn was featured! How cool is that?

Joni said she would be sharing the project over on her Ravelry page – click here to see. 

In recent months I’ve been wondering if the neatly segmented dye jobs were a thing of the past, since many dyers are moving toward gradients and other techniques. Knowing there is still a market among weavers for the segmented dye jobs, I may just have to produce some more this week! 🙂

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Introducing “Luxury Fingering”

Posted on by September 16, 2017  

After many weeks of anticipation, I can finally show you the first batch of what I’m going to call “Luxury Fingering” – a blend of 85% 19.5-micro Merino and 15% Mulberry silk, at 550 yards per hank (~4 oz.).  As I’ve said previously, this is a heavy laceweight or light fingering, it is NOT superwash, and will be perfect (in my opinion) for lacework or other projects where you want good stitch definition and lovely drape.

I BLEW IT — These were supposed to have 550 yards apiece.  I miscalculated and only put 460 yards into each of these skeins.  Those who have already paid for the BRS have been refunded $3.00 per skein.   For those who ordered custom dyes on the new base, I am ordering new cones and will correctly measure your yarn out.  I sincerely apologize.

These were all dyed up last night, including the pair I showed you last night with the strange dye results (see previous post).   By the way, that Twinset is now showing as 583 and 584.   I dyed most of them at monochrome semi-solids and mild gradients.    Please ignore the last yarns showing in the second picture — that is a pair of custom dyed Primo Lace, but it was easier to hang those 2 with the other 18 to make the pictures the same size.  🙂

You  do not have to claim both hanks of a Twinset — these were dyed as Twinsets merely for convenience (on my part) and to ensure ample yardage if you want more yardage for a single larger project.

To claim the ones you want, send me an email with the item numbers, and be sure I know your state or country so I can calculate appropriate shipping to your location.   These will be ready to ship on Monday, Sep 18.

Already Claimed:  579, 580, 581, 582, 583, 584, 585, 586, 589, 590, 591, 592

 

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My Dye Broke!!

Posted on by September 14, 2017 2

We’ve all had the experience of dye ‘breaking’ during the setting process — some dyes set faster while other dye molecules wander around a while.

This evening I was dyeing up some of the new Luxury Fingering aiming mostly for nearly solids, or monochrome fades.

But this Twinset….. well, I have NO idea what happened because I was using ONE jar of dye.  Granted, it was leftover from *that* jar (which was a mix of a mix of a couple other mixes, so thoroughly blended), and leftovers from *this* jar, which was a tiny bit of blue-gray, into which I put a bit of pink.    So, anyway, I remixed ALL of this leftover stuff, added a little supplemental citric acid for good measure, covered the jar, shook it thoroughly and it was a single oddly sexy musty dirty green…..  I poured it onto the yarn …. and

OHMAHGAWSH!!!!

How the hell did that happen?  It broke even as I poured it!      I mean, it IS sort of cool-looking, but I am mystified completely.   Even so, after almost eleven years doing this (Yeah, for real — October 1 is my 11th anniversary!), I still say, “If I knew what the hell I was doing, I might could get a job somewhere.”    Hahahaha  🙂

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Double-Size Phydlbitz, plus Primo Lace

Posted on by September 13, 2017  

I’m getting pretty much back on track after the storm, but my days and times are still a little out of sync, so I’m trying to maintain order as best I can, just putting one foot in front of the other.

Last week, as I was pulling Phydlbitz from cones and making hanks, I was passing the time singing Allouette, and for one set of hanks I just went right on  past the mark.   Instead of unwinding 30-40 yards off the winder for each of the 3 hanks on the winder (can you imagine the mess on the floor if I’d done that!), I decided to just make double size hanks.   My mistake is your gain!

Anyway, after pulling a bunch of Primo hanks yesterday morning, I realized that even though our electric company has graciously chosen to NOT disconnect anyone for overdue bills until after September 30, I still need to pay them soon as I can, so last night I went ahead and dyed up the three double-size Phydlbitz and six Primo Lace.

I started out aiming for Mother-of-Pearl (the 575-576 Primo Twinset), and then used various combinations of those same colors to dye all the rest of the yarns. The big Phydlbitz 570 and 572 have the same Mother-of-Pearl colors but in different strengths, but they are not a Twinset.   So the 571  big Phydlbitz, and the 573-574 Primo Twinset are a smoosh of a blue and teal, 577 Primo Single is a smoosh of chestnut and salmon. and the 578 Primo Single is a gray fade.

Any or all of these should work up into an overall color theme without much pooling or striping (which is why I like the smoosh technique!).

These will all be ready to ship by Saturday, probably even by Friday.  Please note that shipping for the double-size Phydlbitz will be the same as for two regular Phydlbitz. 🙂

To claim the ones you want, just email me with your numbered selections, and (for first time clients) please make sure to include your state or country so I can calculate the correct shipping.

ALREADY CLAIMED:   570, 571, 572, 575, 577, 578

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