Monthly Archives: September 2023

I Aimed, I Missed

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Happy Sunday!

Beautiful day in Houston, and not a day too soon.  I could be horribly mistaken, but it looks like we’ve finally seen the last of the 100º days and moving into more autumn-like weather.  Yippee!  I walked a mile early on while the yarns washed and rinsed, and then just a few minutes ago walk another mile plus a little more.  Now that the weather is changing I don’t need to do my walk at the crack of dawn to avoid the heat, so that’s nice.

Since I was able to get my regular monthly yarn in early this month (my current supplier did me a huge favor sending me some yarn before they shut down their operation next week), I didn’t get a bunch of mini-hanks pulled out this week. That project is still on the list to be done however, since I do need to pay for the yarn I just got plus more yarn for October.

So, I set out the dye session thinking I would dye a version of Midnight Green, maybe a Midnight Green Fade, and then try a Midnight Red Velvet.  That’s what I was aiming for.  I’m not  super disappointed in the results, but I think I may have missed those targets.  I’ll let you fine knitters decide.

Twinset #872-873 didn’t come as dark as I wanted for Midnight Green, but the same dye mix was used for the Midnight Green Fade (#866-867).   Twinset #874-875 was supposed to be the Midnight Red Velvet.   Twinset #878-879 is a wash from the runoff of the Midnight Red Velvet.

When I apply a lot of a single color, or even using multiple dyes, the excess dye runs off into a little catch basin, which sometimes becomes the next Twinset dyed.  Depending on the color(s) it will become either a straight dye, or used as a pale undertone onto which I layer other colors.  Runoff dyes are always unique and cannot be duplicated (for obvious reasons) but are often beautiful in their own right.  As I’ve mentioned before, I try to follow a “waste not, want not” practice when dyeing yarns. Allowing excess dyes to run into the catch basin, I find some amazing results that I most likely could not create on purpose.

One such runoff dye job is Twinset #864-865, a sort of taupe color or gray-tan, similar to certain styles of women’s hosiery.  It may seem rather plain and dull, but the slight variation along the strand will give it life once knitted, and it is a perfect neutral tone to accent a variety of bright outfits as a shawl or scarf.

Twinset #870-871 has four or five different blues, teals, and even a little of the leftover Midnight Green, all randomly sprinkled around.  Twinset #858-859 is another randomly sprinkled pair.

As I said above, I’m not sure I hit the target colors I was aiming for, but I am not unhappy with any of this week’s collection.  🙂

These are all Phydlbitz Sock (75/25 Superwash Corriedale/Nylon, 430 yards) and each is normally $27.50 per skein, but matching Twinsets are 10% off ($49.50 the pair).

To claim the ones you want, just send me an email and I’ll mark your requests off on the Available Yarns tally chart shown below.  You can pay your invoice through your PayPal account or with a credit/debit card.

I expect these will be ready to ship on or about Thursday of this week.  When I process your payment and print your shipping label, you will receive a notice with your tracking number so you can follow your shipment once it leaves here. Due to quirks in my local mail service I have begun putting a notice on the Knitivity Facebook page to let people know their packages have been picked up so they’ll know to start tracking their packages.   If you are ordering from outside the U.S., most packages have a base International rate whether you order 1 skein or up to 6, and it is usually $35-$40USD.

Available Yarns
Rack 1 – 858, 859, 860, 861, 862, 863, 864, 865, 866, 867, 868, 869
Rack 2 – 870, 871, 872, 873, 874, 875, 876, 877, 878, 879, 880, 881

Rack of hand-dyed yarns drying.

Rack of hand-dyed yarns drying

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Into the Ber Season!

Knitivity Posted on by  

Happy Saturday!    And welcome to September and (as I learned yesterday on Facebook) the start of Ber Season — September, October, November, and December.   🙂

It’s been a crazy week for me with far too many things going screwy, so I’m hoping this long holiday weekend will provide some relief.  I hope your weekend is a pleasure.

A new-to-me technique: Foggy Mountain Mist.  These are done in a manner similar to the Baby Soft dye technique of dipping rather than pouring.  They all have at least 3 different dyes, and done in layers. But on the Baby Soft yarns I hold them together throughout the process of dipping and turning so that clearly distinct colors overlap and blend so that both skeins of the Twinset are nearly identical in both coloring and sequence of colors.  For the Foggy Mountain Mist, with each dipping I rotate one of the yarns so that the two skeins of the Twinset are not identical in coloring or sequence, but they both have the same dyes layered. This results in a fascinating depth of color that should enhance most knitting.

There are six Twinsets done in the Foggy Mountain Mist technique: Twinsets #806-807, 810-811, 814-815, 818-819, 820-821, and 826-827.  I think any of these would work up into some amazing lacework shawls, cowls, scarves, etc.  As hot as it has been the last couple months, it is hard to think of needing warm winter wraps, but we all know the cold will come as the Ber Season turns to Br-r-r-r Season.

As with all Twinsets, I recommend knitting from both skeins, alternating every 2 or 3 rows to minimize unwanted pooling, and to minimize the sometimes glaring visual disruption that occurs when you knit all from one ball and then change to another.  This is usually an important factor when knitting larger-than-socks projects.

Because nearly all my Twinsets have multiple colors, when I show them here for preview I rotate one skein and then give a half-twist on all skeins so you can see all the colors that appear on both skeins of a matching Twinset.  I hope this helps in your selection.  If you need additional images of a particular Twinset today or tomorrow (before I start reskeining on Monday), feel free to ask.

Besides the six Twinsets done in the Foggy Mountain Mist technique, there are some Fades (Twinsets #808-809 and 822-823), a Splatter-and-Fade combo (#824-825), and a couple of Twinsets that reminded me of a melting box of crayons (#812-813 and 828-829); they appear to have no rational rhyme or reason to them but the random splattering was done on purpose.  Either of the “melted crayon” yarns will knit up into some wild and crazy socks for someone not given to subdued subtlety.  🙂

These are all Phydlbitz Sock (75/25 Superwash Corriedale/Nylon, 430 yards), and are $27.50 each or $49.50 for a matching Twinset (10% off).

To claim the ones you want, just send me an email with your requests.  I’ll mark them off the Available Yarns tally chart and then send you a PayPal invoice.  It’s okay if you don’t have a PayPal account — they will handle your credit/debit card payments just fine and I never know your financial details.

I expect to have these ready to ship on or about Thursday.  I can ship internationally, just let me know your location so I can calculate your rate.  For one to six skeins, the cost will be approximately $35.00 – $40.00 USD, but I can find the rate to your particular location and will let you accept or decline the rate before I write your invoice.

Available Yarns:
Rack 1: 806, 807, 808, 809, 810, 811, 812, 813, 814, 815, 816, 817
Rack 2: 818, 819, 820, 821, 822, 823, 824, 825, 826, 827, 828, 829

Rack of yarns drying

Rack of yarns drying

I learned this week that my regular supplier will be closing shop and retiring later this month.  They have served me very well the last 12 years, and I’m sad to see them close but absolutely wish them well.  Because of their industry connections, they are referring their customers to a couple of other excellent suppliers, and I should be able to still acquire the yarn base for Phydlbitz Sock.  However, there will be a time gap between the previous supplier retiring, and the new supplier acquiring the inventory into their own warehouse and getting set up for new clients for that inventory.  Thus, there may be a time lag or gap when I won’t be able to get my Phydlbitz Sock yarn base.  With luck I should be able to obtain some other interesting yarns to finish September and start October.  If I don’t dye, I don’t eat, so it’s good to know there will be a hiccup and not a major obstacle.

Even so, depending on the timing of it all, I may need  some help along the way, but if that happens I will let you know.

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