Whew, it's been crazy

Hello All,

Let me bring you up to speed.  Quit a stressful job with Doctor to run a business hand dyeing yarns and fibers.  Great right?  Right!?!  There was so much I wasn't able to do while at a day job, now I can.  Right!?!

OK back to blogging (one of my To-Do's).....

Latest Colorway:

Meet Babylon Nights:

Magenta to Black - on Merino Tencel it looks a bit more Charcoal, tough to get a true black.

Pretty Sexy Huh?  I've been doing a lot with this colorway, I'm in lust.

NOLAN is back in the shop.  I'll be posting a DYED TO ORDER for this colorway and you will be able to pick a DK or Fingering base.  Sweet!  Hoping for time to work on a nice coordinating color.    Deep blue-black??  Spring green?  Burnt Orange?   Hmmmmmm....  

Welcome our newest base a SINGLE PLY (love them!!) of 100% Superwash Merino.  OMGoodness is this soft.  It looks and feels like silk.  I'm calling the line "Seaside Singles"......what ya think?  I have the Plum Panda, Saunderstown and Beavertail (all beachy places in RI).  Oh damn another Hmmmmmmmm.  That's me thinking if you haven't gotten that yet.  ;)

Almost forgot this is also a new colorway, ELECTRIC RAINBOW.  Looks super cool on the sock blanks too......Spoiler Alert.

Another new colorway and technique (!!).  Its called UP A CREEK  and it is being shown here on our new Seaside Singles - Still not sure I like that name.....
Turquoise, sprout green and aqua screams Spring!!

Newest product to the shop is our Sock Blanks.  Now I see everyone dyeing these things.  I'm putting on my gradients and playing with self striping at the moment.  Check out Love2Knit in East Greenwich, RI  for more of my unballed blanks.

This is WATERMELON I dyed a double strand sock blank with this long gradient and then un wound it into two identical balls,  YES!  for you obsessive people who need their socks to be identical, here it is!  I being one of them.

I looks sorta like sushi, don't it??

Here it is pre-pull.  It's cool all you do is pull from the end and it unwinds super easy.  If you pull the wrong end there is a lock stitch, flip and pull.

Oh! Did I forget to add that the BABYLON NIGHTS comes in a CUPCAKE!?!

Love this!!  500 yards, 10 different color changes.... Yum

Huge excitement here.  I received an e-mail from Jacey Boggs!  Ply Magazine Editor!!  I was asked if I wanted to dye something for an upcoming issue!!
Hell yes!  I don't know if anyone else would be this jazzed, but I freaked.  It's like working for Vogue - well at least to me.

I needed to dye a superlong gradient for the "Singles" issue.  Pink to Wine.

Ok had to do some researching to do the one continuous piece.  Because any of you who have purchased fiber from me knows it comes in three identical pieces.  Well, this was going to be a learning experience for me.  And what fun it was too.  You will be seeing a whole new line of fibers, one continuous piece and new techniques.

Here is the "WINE FLIGHT" that I sent to the spinner. 

* I sent along a little note to her telling her how "excited" I was about the project.  Too queer?  Too enthusiastic?*

Here is what I came up with.  I had to dye a bunch of fiber to get the correct color and mottling.  yes, they will be in the shop soon.

There are two braids, 6 ounces for the spinner and 4 ounces for the photo shoot (yes, photos of MY fiber in PLY!!!)  or JIC she needed more.  Super soft and squishy BFL.  They match very well don't they?

Not the best photo but you see the gradient and the length of the crochet'd roving.  Yes, that is the top of my ironing board......

*************************SPOILER ALERT***********************

FYI:  I do clubs so I can think up new colorways and test out new techniques. My lovely, crazy knitter friend, Lia has purchased many clubs and now I really have to stretch myself to come up with something I haven't already done for her.  So.........

This is April's "Outlander Mini Club" order.  The green end is called Low Kings and the gold end is called High Kings.  This is two mini sets 1200 yards total, the cool thing is they flow flawlessly from one to another.  With this new technique I could just keep the colors going and going and going.  
Each skein has three colors.

Sooooo happy with it.

OK looks like that is it for now.  I'll try harder to keep you up to date.

Happy Knitting!
DD

Sum up Sunday

Hello All,

This is just gonna be a quick post on whats been going on around here, you know, to "sum it up".
Spent the last three weeks feverishly dyeing for my recent Trunk Show at Love2Knit in East Greenwich, Rhode Island.  Had a great time, wonderful people and lots of fun.  But I'm beat, exhausted if you will.
I've been burning my candle at both ends with the day job and the full time dyeing.   It has finally caught up to me, I am now sick.  Yup, some bug found me and said "Home Sweet Home".  It came on fast and refuses to leave.  *sigh*  It was bound to happen.  So I spend my day, drinking "Emergen C" and blowing my nose.

Regretfully, I am unable to continue on the oh woe is me train and I have  to get back to work.  Those lovely ladies and gentleman at Love2Knit cleaned me out.  I have to get back to work.  Jenn and I are also putting together a wholesale catalogue for one or two of my LYS.   So I've been working feverishly (or was that the cold?) on that.  Poor Jennifer's laptop has passed on, bought the farm, kicked the bucket (you get the idea) and she had our original draft of said booklet.  Bummer.  Now is the desperate, if not futile attempt to rebuild it and get it ready to send by tomorrow.  Yes, I'm wondering what I have been smoking too.

After getting three quarters of the way thru, my DH informed me that a power point presentation board would be a better, more attractive, bet.  Where was he four hours ago???  So I start again, dragging and dropping pictures and information.  So far, so good.  It looks beautiful.  

Next, I need to answer questions my, very patient, accountant sent me 15 days ago.  She is a saint, really.  My DH is the one freaking out.  We can not send our personal taxes out until I have the business ones done.  Something to do with the partnership, blah, blah, blah.  That's why I have Renee, I have absolutely no idea what needs to be done.  It will only take some research time to answer them, but God, MORE time at the computer???  Grrrrr  I want to go and dye, but nooooooooo paperwork has to be finished first.  It's like being back in school, you have to do your homework before doing ANYTHING fun and interesting.  I'm sitting here praying for a custom order to come in because that would take precedence to any desk work.
Hello?  Anyone? One little skein of yarn?  Anyone?  Darn, back to bookkeeping.

Let's see what else to tell you.......My youngest son turns 15 tomorrow and is at this very moment at the Airsoft games in Wakefield shooting 7 of his closest friends.  When they are done they will come back here for pizza and cake and a movie or two.  8 sweaty teenagers, I have to fumigate the house afterwards.  Yuck!

That's me for right now, what's goin' on with you?

Happy Crafting
DD