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The Adventures of Knitterman -- Independent Art Yarn Dyer

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Have you RED these?

Knitivity Posted on 7 August 2023 by Knitterman10 August 2023

Happy Monday!

And the heat goes on ….  (sigh).  Looking at the 10-day forecast there is barely a possible threat of rain …. next Tuesday (not tomorrow).  Between now and then, just a slim chance of late day pop-up showers.  I hope where you are it is a little more tolerable.  Here in Houston we’re under another severe weather alert for the high temperatures.

Anyway, I was supposed to dye yarns on Saturday, but the heat wiped me out and I was able to get up and dye earlier yesterday instead.  I got all my dyes selected for the day, did what I needed to do, and as you can see I used up all the colors!

Not a single Twinset was made with just one dye — I applied them in different ways, but they all have varying proportions of combined dyes.  Even Twinset #727-728 is a mix of yellow, a bit of blue, some brown, and a splash of purple, with a dip into each color separately layer by layer.

It appears I used a lot of the reds this week, ranging from a bubble-gum to a rust, with other variations as well.  The only actual reds I used this week were Fire Red and Deep Magenta. Other effects came from mixing with yellow, gold, or brown.

Twinset #715-716 started as a wash with a sort of pale pistachio, with a smattering of chartreuse, yellow, and sky blue.  Twinset #721-722 was a powder blue wash, with a splatter of sky blue with some handslaps of gray here and there, looking like a partly cloudy summer day.

If you need additional information or close-up pictures of a specific Twinset, please let me know today or tomorrow before I start reskeining them for final presentation pictures.

As I think I mentioned a while back, the ‘handslap’ dye technique is where instead of using the squirt bottle directly onto the yarn, I squirt the dye onto my gloved hand and then slap my hand onto the yarn.   Since I didn’t go to school for this, or even have formal training by another yarn dyer, once I got the basics from tutorials at Dharma Trading most of my techniques are my own.  Thus, my explanations may be different from what other dyers use.

All of these are Phydlbitz Sock (75/25 Superwash Corriedale/Nylon, 430 yards each).  Normally these are $27.50, or $49.50 for a matching Twinset, but for Monday and Tuesday you may claim any two or more (matching or not) for $25.50 each.

To claim the ones you want, just send me an email with your numbered requests.  I will make your requests off the Available Yarns tally chart below, and then send you a PayPal invoice. You can use your credit/debit card for the invoice even if you don’t have a PayPal account, as they process all payments for me the same way.   If you are outside the U.S. please let me know so I can calculate your shipping charges correctly.

I will be in clinic on Thursday, so I expect to be able to ship these on Friday.

Available Yarns:
Rack 1 –  705, 706, 707, 708, 709, 710, 711, 712, 713, 714, 715, 716
Rack 2 –  717, 718, 719, 720, 721, 722, 723, 724, 725, 726, 727, 728

pics herePhoto of yarns drying - Blog Reader Specials 23 - #705 - 716

Photo of yarns drying - Blog Reader Specials 23 - #717 - 728

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Vibrant, Subtle, and More

Knitivity Posted on 31 July 2023 by Knitterman31 July 2023

Happy Monday!

First, the good news: The new-size cones for my Phydlbitz Sock base arrived.  They are most definitely smaller than I used to get, but the weight marked on the cones doesn’t include the weight of the actual cone, just the weight of the yarn on the cone, so I am able to get my regular 4-ounce hanks.  So I don’t have to worry about switching to metric measures (with slightly shorter skeins) in order to get the most from the cones.  Having  sold my yarns at four full ounces for almost 17 years, I find myself resisting the idea of converting to 3.5 ounce/100 gram skeins.  I’m old and I’m stubborn, and make no apologies for it.  <*grin*>   I DO recognize the logic for converting, I’m just not emotionally there yet.

Someone on Facebook suggested selling the small remainder bits off the cones for people who want to experiment with dyeing. Since the cones weigh more than the remainder bits of yarn, I would manually turns the remainder yarns into butterfly bobbins and would sell in bundles of two or four ounces.  It would seem silly to pay postage for just a bunch of cones if all you wanted was the small amount of yarn on them.  But, I would consider selling them if people expressed an interest in buying a bag of undyed sock yarn put up into butterfly bobbins.

I went into the dye session yesterday hoping the dyes would tell me what to do.  I was not disappointed.  I ended up with some monochrome fades, a speckled, and several segmented.  There are several vibrant splashes of color as well as some subtle color changes.

Twinset #689-690 was particularly interesting to me.  Using very-very pale dilutions, there are four or 5 layers of different colors, including a light blue, a gold, some rich chestnut, and even some yellow.   It looks like a solid wheat, but I assure you there are several colors layered on that one.  This would be perfect for lacework,

I was concerned that this morning’s early light wouldn’t show the colors well, but even Twinset #695-696 is well displayed, showing off it’s many colors blending into each other along the strand.   I think this pair in particular would be an amazing lacework shawl.   Also, the two monochrome gradients (or fades)  #693-694 (blues) and #699-700 (smokey taupe) would also do well in either lace or simple rippled/wavey like Old Shale or a chevron pattern.  Twinset #701-702 is not a monochrome gradient, but a dusty sage-and-gray sort of color

The obvious speckle-dyed (#687-688) would make some amazing socks, as would the brightest Twinsets (#685-686 and #703-704).

All of these are Phydlbitz Sock (75/25 Superwash Corriedale/Nylon, 430 yards), and are normally $27.50 each.  For Monday and Tuesday this week, you can claim any two or more from this current collection (#681 – 704) for just $25.00 each, matching or not.

To claim the ones you want, just send me an email (ray@knitivity.com) with the numbered items you want.  I will mark them off from the Available Yarns tally chart below and then send you a PayPal invoice. If you don’t have a PayPal account, that’s okay — they will still process your credit or debit  card purchase and collect your shipping information.  If you are outside the U.S. please let me know so I can calculate your shipping charges; I will still mark your selections off, but will let you accept or decline the shipping before I prepare your invoice.

I expect this week’s collection to be ready to ship on or about Thursday or Friday of this week.

Available Yarns: 
Rack 1 – 681, 682, 683, 684, 685, 686, 687, 688, 689, 690, 691, 692
Rack 2 – 693, 694, 695, 696, 697, 698, 699, 700, 701, 702, 703, 704

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Last Full Week of July

Knitivity Posted on 23 July 2023 by Knitterman23 July 2023

July 23-29, 2023

Super simple deal! When you request any two or more skeins from the Blog Reader Specials page, I’ll take an additional 10% off your invoice total purchase.  Just make your requests by email, same as always, and I’ll do the math on your invoice.  Order as often as you like, all this week.

I am not dyeing yarns this week until next Sunday, so there won’t be any new yarns added to the Blog Reader Specials page, but I neeeed to empty as many bins as possible this week to make room for more yarns to come.

I will also be featuring individual skeins and Twinsets for one-day super special deals on Facebook, Instagram, and here on the Blog so be sure to check your social media pages Monday through Friday so you don’t miss these extra offerings.  🙂

Here are just a few of the many yarns ready for shipping, already at 10% discount, with your 10% discount on top of that.

_________

BRS23 – Twinset – 353 & 354 – SW Merino 3-ply – $28.00 each or $50.40 for the pair (10% Off)
100% Superwash Merino, 490 yards each

_________

BRS23 – Twinset – 315 & 316 – Silver Bling – $30.00 each or $54.00 for the pair (10% Off)
75/20/5 Superwash Merino/Nylon/Silver-toned Stellina, 2ply yarn, 500 yards/4oz each

_________

BRS23 – Twinset – 079 & 080  – Phydlbitz Sock – $27.50 each or $49.50 for both (10% Off)
75/25 Superwash Corriedale/Nylon, 430 yards each

 

_________

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In the Heat of the Moment

Knitivity Posted on 15 July 2023 by Knitterman15 July 2023

Happy Saturday!

It’s been crazy hot for a few weeks now.  I think my a/c turned off just once, the middle of last week after a brief rain and the temperature got down to 78º.  The only way I know it is actually working is when I go out for a while and come back inside, it is definitely cooler inside.  But it hasn’t been below around 82º inside for over a week, and that’s only been during the wee hours of the morning after midnight.  It’s part of the curse of living inside a mobile home, I guess.  🙂

So anyway, as it hit 100º in the afternoon, I waited until the evening after supper to start dyeing.  I knew I had to aim for more solids and not so many wild-and-crazy segmented combinations.  But at the same time I didn’t want to make solid colors just straight from the dye jar.  So all of the apparent solids are actually layers of color, some more obvious than others.  As always, these are one-of-a-kind dye jobs, as I don’t typically take notes or try to create exact recipes.  After all these years it is still more fun to experiment and play “What If…” with various combinations.

As with all my pictures, I use an automatic setting and I don’t filter or edit the coloring or adjust the  lighting to be anything but regular daylight.  I do, however, sharpen the focus on each image once I start to crop the images to fit the page and to add text.  I feel like this method gives you the most accurate representation of the yarns.

Also, because some of my Twinsets have several colors, I rotate one skein of a pair, and then twist the bottom of each skein so you can see all the colors on both skeins of a pair.  Thus, you can see the color distribution as well as the color sequence on each skein.  I dye Phydlbitz Sock as Twinsets, and while I do my best to ensure they really are Twins for color and sequence, there are small differences between the skeins.  When knitting a larger-than-socks project with multiple skeins, I always recommend alternating between skeins every 2-3 rows to get a more even distribution of colors throughout the knitting and minimize pooling.

All of these are Phydlbitz Sock, 75/25 Superwash Corriedale/Nylon, 430 yards each, and are normally $27.50 each.  For Saturday and Sunday, you may claim any two or more from this new collection (BRS23 – #657 –  680) for just $25.50 each.

To claim the ones you want, send me an email with your numbered requests.  I will mark them off on the Available Yarns tally chart below and then send you a PayPal invoice. It is fine if you don’t have  a PayPal account — they will process your credit/debit card for me.

I expect to have this week’s collection dried, reskeined, labeled and ready to ship on or about Wednesday.

Available Yarns
Rack 1 – 657, 658, 659, 660, 661, 662, 663, 664, 665, 666, 667, 668
Rack 2 – 669, 670, 671, 672, 673, 674, 675, 676, 677, 678, 679, 680

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Just One A Little Pale?

Knitivity Posted on 9 July 2023 by Knitterman9 July 2023

Happy Sunday!

What a weird week it was, but mostly good.  The best part was having a visit from a friend I’ve known almost 40 years, since shortly after my divorce.  A wonderful afternoon was spent on Wednesday, reminiscing days gone by and catching up to new things in our lives.  Fun time.

While preparing for the weekly dye session, I only needed to prepare seven new dye jars, since I had consolidated the remainders from last week into just three jars of blended dyes. While I try to blend remainder dyes into similar colors, it’s always a bit of a mystery as to how they will behave.  While some dyes may look similar in color they don’t always have a similar chemical make-up, so sometimes the dyes will blend well and sometimes the dyes will ‘break’ or separate on the yarns. I guess this is the ‘art’ part of the “art and science of dyeing.”  🙂

Anyway, this is how the day started, with all my dyes mixed and ready to go and the kitchen counter draped in a shower-curtain liner:

Prepared dyes in jars, ready for dyeing yarn

And this is how the day ended:

Emptied dye-mixing jars after a day of dyeing yarn.

I used pretty much all the dyes that I’d prepared, but surprisingly I didn’t use very much yellow at all, so I set aside a nearly full jar of yellow for next week.  I joked on Facebook that I wish I had a houseboy to come clean up after me, but we all know that isn’t going to happen.

These are all Phydlbitz Sock (75/25 Superwash Corriedale/Nylon, 430 yards each).  These are normally $27.50 apiece, or $50 for a matching Twinset, once they are posted to the Blog Reader Specials page. But for today and tomorrow (Sunday and Monday) you can claim any two or more skeins, matching Twinset or not but $25.00 each.  Sometimes knitters will see coordinating or contrasting yarns and don’t really need both skeins of a Twinset; this is your chance to split a Twinset and get the Preview Pricing discount.

Usually I try to create a mix of lighter and darker skeins, but this week I only created a single Twinset on the lighter side — Twinset BRS23 – #637-638 – the light lavender pair.  They aren’t solidly solid, but will knit up to look solid in most patterns.    The rest are a mix of splatters and segmented variegations.  Twinset #639-640 is actually two different blues, plus a green, though it is difficult to visually separate the blues as they are hanging; once knitted it should be more apparent.  There is a small amount of light purple on Twinset #649-650, on top of two different blues.

This week’s DumpDye is #655-656 — I literally emptied each jar onto the yarn then rotated the yarn  in the dyeing bowl before dumping the next jar onto the yarn.  It would be impossible to create this combination on purpose, and sometimes the DumpDye yarns are just “dark” overall, but  I really like how this DumpDye Twinset turned out.

To claim the ones you want, just send me an email (ray@knitivity.com).  I’ll mark off your requests from the Available Yarns tally chart below and then send your PayPal invoice.  PayPal will process your credit/debit card even if you don’t have a PayPal account.   And please do let me know if you are outside the U.S., so I can calculate your shipping charges

I expect to have these all ready to ship on or about Wednesday or Thursday.

Available Yarns: 
Rack 1 – 633, 634, 635, 636, 637, 638, 639, 640, 641, 642, 643, 644
Rack 2 – 645, 646, 647, 648, 649, 650, 651, 652, 653, 654, 655, 656

Picture of yarns drying to show colors. 8Jul23-Rack1

Picture of yarns drying to show colors. 8Jul23-Rack2

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